Are these the droids you're looking for? As mentioned previously, I purchased a few Star Wars sets during the LEGO Shop at Home double VIP point sale and one of them was the Droid Escape Pod #75136. This set is a recreation of R2-D2's and C-3PO's escape from the rebel ship and landing on Tatooine from Episode IV. This set is $24.99 in the US with 197 pieces or $0.127 per piece. This is quite high compared to the average of about $0.10 per piece, but as it's Star Wars, LEGO tends to set higher prices (and we keep buying them). This set contains 4 minifigures, R2-D2, C-3PO, and 2 Jawas. Should you get this set too? Let's find out.
Here is the box front. It's your standard container with a picture of the set, the minifigures listed on the bottom right, and then like the last few I've reviewed it has Kylo Ren in the upper right even though he wasn't in the original trilogy.
Here is the back. Again, it's pretty standard. It shows some of the features of the set and the Jawa's "weapons,"
Here are the contents. There are 2 bags of bricks, a sticker book, and instructions. As per usual, the instructions and the stickers were jammed into the box.
The first bag starts the pod structure. There isn't too much special about this build. Not a lot of interesting techniques and not a lot of interesting pieces. The large stickers that go on the outside of the pod are not easy to put on. It says for ages 7 to 12 on the front, but I doubt I would have been able to get the stickers on right at age 7. Well, they would have gone on... just crooked.
So the final build. Here's the pod itself all closed up. I haven't seen episode IV in a while so I couldn't tell you how accurate this is compared to the actual. With that being said, this set isn't designed for accuracy, it's designed for play... remember the front says ages 7 to 12.
The pod opens up and you can put the 2 droids in. It's designed to have C-3PO in front and R2-D2 in the back. Now shown are the hidden "Death Star" plans that C-3PO can hold. Other than that, not much else to this build.
Here's the final set with all the figures to include the 2 Jawas.
In my personal opinion, the selling point for this set is the minifigures. C-3PO, R2-D2, and the Jawas are the ones offered in this set. C-3PO has only been in some of the more expensive sets recently (like the $299.99 #75059 Sandcrawler or the $249.99 #10236 Ewok Village) so this is your chance to get him without paying a fortune. Same for the Jawas. C-3PO is shown with the Death Star plans.
So what are my parting thoughts? For an adult fan of LEGO (AFOL) or a Star Wars fan, this set is about the minifigures. This is not the set for someone looking for a good, fun build with lots of great parts that can be used elsewhere. As I've said in the past, it could be a good set if you are a landscape/scene builder. Although the desert of Tatooine doesn't sound like a very exciting build (do you have lots of tan plates/bricks?). Have you purchased this set already? What do you think?
If you're looking for Star Wars minifigures, you can find them here:
Clone Wars Minifigs
Episodes I-III Minifigs
Episodes IV-VI Minifigs (to include the minifigs from this set!)
The Force Awakens Minifigs