I own a three-foot tall R4-P17 Astromech Droid Trash Can. That’s the kind of guy I am. And yes, I’ve lied in bed at night more than once, kept awake by the knowledge that I don’t have a proper LEGO Star Wars R4-P17 Minifigure in my collection (because, again–that’s the kind of guy I am). So when I heard that the 2013 LEGO Star Wars Planets Series 3 sets had finally begun hitting my area, I didn’t flinch when I had to drive for two hours to visit my three closest LEGO Stores to find the LEGO Star Wars Jedi Starfighter & Kamino 75006–a set finally giving me a LEGO R4-P17 minifigure for my very own…

The Right:

Let’s start this review with what I actually care about in this set: the LEGO R4-P17 Minifigure (I’ll talk about the rest of the set as well in just a few paragraphs–sorry). R4-P17 is a particularly important minifigure to be done right by LEGO, as he was one of only two playable astromech droids in the original LEGO Star Wars video game (I think we all know who the other playable astromech droid was).

Unbelievably, while this is the fourth time that R4-P17 has been given the LEGO treatment, it’s the first time that poor R4-P17 actually has a body. See, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, R4-P17 is just an astromech droid dome grafted onto Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter. As such, the past releases of R4-P17 have all just been a dome with no body (including the oversized UCS R4-P17 from the awesome 10215 Ultimate Collector’s Series Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter).

Anyway–we finally have Obi-Wan’s tragically doomed astromech droid R4-P17 in all his LEGO minifigure glory and, well… he looks pretty much like every LEGO astromech droid minifigure, except with a maroon dome and maroon body high detailing. Which is to say–he’s perfect. Thank you, LEGO.

I’ll shut up now about R4-P17.

Next up, let’s talk about the storm planet, Kamino. Kamino is the planet where all of the Republic’s clones are created, as discovered by Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones. Kamino is an aquatic planet covered 100% by water, making it one of the more interesting planets to receive the LEGO treatment. The plethora of storm clouds on the LEGO Kamino planet make it apparent how treacherous the climate on Kamino is, and though I’m typically not a fan of these LEGO planets, I find myself really enjoying the look and feel of this LEGO Kamino planet.

Finally, let’s talk about the main component of this set: the Jedi Starfighter. Supposedly this is Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter, though it honestly looks more reminiscent of Ahsoka’s to me. For a little ~50 piece build, I think LEGO did an okay job with this. The printed Republic logo piece is a nice touch, and I think LEGO captured the shape of the AOTC Jedi Starfighter as well as possible in this scale. The Jedi Starfighter is a very stable build that holds together great, and I’ve had an embarassing amount of fun flying it around one-handed while writing this review.

The set also includes a little display base that you can place R4-P17 and the Jedi Starfighter on. I had no intention of using it, but once I put Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter on the display base and saw how cool it was being able to rotate it on its pedestal, I quickly warmed up to the display base. It’s nothing amazing, but it is a worthy bonus to the set.

The Wrong:

There’s really only one thing that I dislike about this set, and that dislike teeters on hatred–I loathe the lime green LEGO blocks included in this set. Just as with the UCS Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter 10215 set, LEGO has overemphasized the green of the starfighter, and it makes the ship look a bit silly. I know there’s only two green bricks in this build, but given that the whole ship is only about 50 pieces, that’s too many. I could deal with the extra green if this was Ahsoka Tano’s Jedi Starfighter, but not for Obi-Wan’s. I’ll be replacing the green pieces with white ones ASAP, personally.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

The LEGO Star Wars Jedi Starfighter & Kamino 75006 set is part of the 2013 LEGO Star Wars Planets Series 3 assortment. There’s an official street date of March 1st on these sets (for some reason) in America, but there are plenty available for purchase online. These should hopefully be plentiful in stores after their official release date.

Overall: To be totally honest, I was never planning on buying any of these LEGO Planet Series sets ever. I passed on Series 1 and 2, and would have continued on that path if not for the inclusion of R4-P17 with this set. That said, LEGO has made a fan of my with the LEGO 75006 Star Wars Jedi Starfighter & Kamino set. I’m ridiculously in love with the fact that I finally own a proper R4-P17 minifigure, the Kamino planet itself looks surprisingly cool, and even the little Jedi Starfighter LEGO vehicle is a lot of fun. I’m certain I’ll never be a LEGO Star Wars Planet series completist, but I can definitely see the appeal of these sets now and think they’re well-worth their low price-point. Recommended.

GRADE: A-