I've ordered LEGO sets from Amazon before and they often show up trashed. For whatever reason UPS tends to kick them around the warehouse and truck before they deliver. Also I'm not sure what Amazon's packing plan is, but I got one small set once wrapped in a bag. It looked like the workers at the Amazon warehouse had stepped on the bag a few times before shipping. Luckily for me, the plan for that set was to open it and add the minifigs to the store so it wasn't a big issue.

LEGO Shop at Home tends to use FedEx for larger items and then smaller items arrive USPS or FedEx SmartPost (FedEx hauls the long distance and then delivers to the local USPS for final delivery). The LEGO distribution point is in Southhaven, MS which is just across the state line from Tennessee. More importantly it is right near Memphis, TN where FedEx's major hub is. So if you select the faster shipping methods, LEGO is right there to give it to FedEx so they can fly it to you. I would assume FedEx Ground is right there as well.

I'm not sure what the community's opinion is, but overall I've had good luck with LEGO Shop at Home in terms of damage. Everything is usually well packed and arrives via FedEx or USPS with minimal damage. It all changed yesterday when one of my May the 4th orders arrived.

I ordered #75142 - Homing Spider Droid as it was on sale for $23.99 vs. the regular $29.99. I'm not sure how well the picture captures it, but it looks like someone punched it before putting it into the box. The set was well packed with protection and there was little space for it to get jostled around during shipping. The other set in the box was not damaged either.

LEGO has a returns program and I could easily do that, but I wonder if it's worth it. I'm 99% sure that the contents in the set are not damaged. In the end I will either build the set or break it apart and sell the minifigs so does it really matter that the box is damaged?

I'm curious as to what your thoughts on damage to sets are? Does it matter if your set shows up with a damaged box as long as the contents are okay? Would it matter more if it was a larger, more expensive set? What do you think? Thanks for sharing!

Another Star Wars set review I must do. And I'll stop writing like Yoda now. This is the Homing Spider Droid, #75142. It comes from episode III in the second released trilogy. This set is $29.99 in the US and contains 310 pieces. That's $0.097 per piece which isn't too bad considering it's a Star Wars set. This set was released on 1 March 2016 in the US and is still available now. I got mine from LEGO Shop at home for double VIP points so I can't complain. So should you get it too?

So let's get started. The box front is pretty standard in the same theme that most of the other recent Star Wars sets I have reviewed have followed.

The back also follows the same pattern. It shows all the play features and the "weapons" included in the set.

The box contents are 3 bags of bricks, an instruction booklet that is shoved into the box and has a permanent crease, and the round Technic piece that serves as the main piece of the larger homing spider droid.

Bag 1 has 2 of the Battle Droids, completes the smaller homing spider droid, and starts the larger droid. The Battle Droids are the same as previous sets. The smaller homing spider droid is a simple build. Nothing too special about it to talk about.

The start of the larger homing spider droid.

Bag 2 continues with the larger homing spider droid. In my opinion there are some good pieces included that could be useful in some MOCs or other builds. It also includes a 41st Kashyyk Clone Trooper. Last year LEGO released a minifigure pack of Kashyyk Clone Troopers. This one is slightly different. Last years are here and here. The uniform is slightly different and they have the LEGO "shooting" blaster that flicks a 1x1 round plate. This set has the standard LEGO Star Wars blaster.

Larger Homing Spider Droid build at the end of bag 2.

The final bag includes Yoda with a green light saber and adds the legs to the homing spider droid along with the weapon on the bottom. The droid is a little flimsy and I think there was definitely a balance the designers took between making a larger, more expensive droid and a smaller, more affordable droid meant for kids aged 7 to 12 to play with. As mentioned, there are some good pieces to used for MOCs too so if you don't like the droids, use the pieces elsewhere.

Overall, it's not a bad set. The homing spider droid isn't a super exciting build, but if you're looking to recreate a Star Wars battle scene, this might be a good set to get. The minifigures are good. Yoda is always popular and you can't ever have too many clone troopers right? Well maybe you can. The battle droids aren't really exciting and tend to be in a lot of sets so nothing too special there. I rate this set as middle of the road. It's not bad, but there really isn't anything too special about it. What are your thoughts?

LEGO Shipping Damage

Set Review - Homing Spider Droid - #75142 - Star Wars