Review:75098 Assault on Hoth/Brikkyy13
Brikkyy13
Country: Australia Gender: Male
Joined: December 30, 2012 
№ of Reviews: 15 
№ of Featured reviews: 0
Building Experience: Lifelong
Hello everybody! Sorry to keep you waiting for this review, but here it is! Today I’ll be reviewing 75098 Assault on Hoth, this year’s May the 4th set. Released in 2016, this set contains 2144 pieces and retails for $249.99 USD. Special thanks to the LEGO Group who has kindly offered this set to us to review, and to everyone in the community who voted for my request to review this set.
Assault on Hoth is arguably the single most hated set ever released by LEGO, receiving backlash from all areas of the community – even earning the unfortunate nickname of “Insult on Hoth.” Before I received this set, I tried to keep an open mind. I really wanted to like it. Now that I've got it in hand, I can give a definitive answer as to whether or not this is a set that is worthwhile. Is Assault on Hoth as bad as the community says it is?
Box, Contents and Build[edit | edit source]
The box is very large, featuring the new standard Ultimate Collectors Series gold and black packaging. The front showcases a battle scene, while the back shows off the set's play features. The UCS logo is present in the corners of both sides, something I know makes many people angry. I'll get to that later.
Included in the box are numerous bags numbered 1 to 13, the instruction manual with the sticker sheet and some loose baseplates and BURPs. There are a lot of pieces included, so please forgive my lamp for making a guest appearance in the picture.
Right off the bat, the building experience is hindered by one of the bags being open, with pieces falling out. I was worried there would be missing pieces, which thankfully there were not. I assume that the bag broke open due to pressure during shipping.
Trying to like this set before it's built gets really hard, with all the hate from the community, an open bag and now an instruction book with damaged edges. Ok, it's not that bad, but seeing the manual - which was protected in its own bag - have slight damage is a bit unnerving. Included is one extra thick instruction manual, which includes an interview with the designers of the set. Interestingly, this interview reveals that the set was originally supposed to be released in 2015. No word as to why it was delayed, but it could possibly have been due to the release of sets based on The Force Awakens.
The first bag builds the imperial presence in the set and begins to build the rebel trench.
Bags 2 and 3 finish the trench and build the turrets. Up until this point there really isn't anything interesting going on with the build.
Bag 4 builds the shield generator. This section is quite repetitive as the base is almost symmetrical and the 3 sections on the top are identical.
Bags 5 and 6 build the snowspeeder. In my opinion this was the hardest part of the entire build because of the included string that needs to be tied to the winch and hook. I expect others will have similar issues when it comes to this part of the build (however, it was quite late and I was half asleep. I don’t expect others to be up late at night building this set).
Bags 6 and 7 build the entrance the base. This section of the build is pretty straightforward, with a little bit of technic work to make the doors work.
Bag 9 builds the first interior section, the control room.
Bag 10 builds the wampa cave.
Bag 11 builds the second interior section, the tauntaun pen.
Bags 12 and 13 build the ion cannon. This section also gets repetitive at times as the outer covering is mostly identical. I’d love to be able to say that this was a fun and rewarding build, but it wasn’t. The build is simple, straightforward and at times repetitive. In no way can this build be compared to other UCS sets, it offers no challenge or advanced technique. This build took me approximately four hours to complete. The average build time seems to be about 8 hours, so it is time consuming.
Minifigures[edit | edit source]
The set includes 15 minifigures. Up first are two identical Imperial Snowtroopers. These figures are pretty simple but look great. They remain unchanged from their 2014 redesign. The only disappointing aspect to these figures is the continued use of the angry clone head.
The next figure included is a Rebel Officer. The printing on this figure is fairly minimal and simplistic. There isn’t even a double sided face on the figure. The figure also includes a blaster pistol as an accessory. The goggles on the hat can be adjusted.
The next set of figures included are 5 Hoth Rebel Troopers in 2 variants. Again, all of these figures are simplistic, included blasters as weapons and have adjustable goggles. Each figure has a different head printing. I like this, as it gives diversity to the rebel army. None of these figures include double sided faces.
The next figure included is Toryn Farr. This is her first appearance as a LEGO minifigure, and it is quite disappointing. None of her pieces are exclusive, with half of her pieces appearing elsewhere in this set. Why a new torso with the distinct feminine curves wasn’t designed beats me, it doesn’t seem like a new torso print is a hard request to fulfil. This figure includes a double sided face, but no accessories.
The next figure included is K-3PO. K-3PO has been updated drastically since his last appearance, and is better in every way. The printing is on par with all current protocol droids.
The next figure included is R3-A2. This is my favorite figure included. It has unique orange printing and a transparent head. I believe this is the first astromech droid to include a transparent head, with the second including one appearing on the new 75159 Death Star. I hope this increased use of transparent pieces hints at some force ghost figures for the future.
Edit: NovaHawk has informed me that the first droid with a transparent head was included in 75106 Imperial Assault Carrier last year. My mistake.
The next figures included are Wedge Antilles (left) and Wes Janson (right). These two figures sport the orange rebel pilot outfit, which has been seen numerous times before. I can’t really complain about that, but I can complain at the lack of individual heads. These two figures share the same head print, meaning they can only be distinguished by the individual helmet prints.
Up next is Han Solo, sporting a brown parka. The detail on this figure is nice, however it is almost exactly the same as the variant of Han included in 75138 Hoth Attack. The only difference is that this version does not include the parka and only his hairpiece. A blaster pistol is included as an accessory.
The last minifigure included is Luke Skywalker in his Hoth getup. The printing is good and detailed for what it is, and it’s nice to see that his alternate face has scars to represent him being mauled by the wampa. I do wish that his hairpiece was included. Luke’s blue lightsaber is included as an accessory.
Overall, the minifigure selection is poor, especially for a UCS set. The majority of the figures are nearly identical. I guess that this can be attributed to the source material, but that does not excuse things such as the lack of exclusive printing for Toryn, different faces for Wedge and Wes, and the inclusion of alternate headgear for Luke and Han. It’s a shame to say that clearly numerous shortcuts have been taken for the minifigures. Usually I don’t condone people calling the design team lazy, but on the figure side of this set, it is sheer laziness.
Other figures[edit | edit source]
Also included in the set are the Wampa and a Tauntaun. It’s nice to see the Wampa make another appearance after 6 years, and the Tauntaun is welcome. Both of these figures have remained unchanged since their original appearances. The Wampa includes no accessories, while the Tauntaun includes a saddle which can be swapped for a 1x2 brick with a 1x2 tile on top that represents the body.
Completed Model[edit | edit source]
The set is extremely disjointed, consisting of many small builds. It seems right to start with the imperial presence. The first build included for the imperials is an e-web heavy repeating blaster cannon. It looks fairly accurate to its on-screen appearance, but is extremely oversized. This is because minifigures harpoon pieces have been used for the legs and a stud shooter is included on top. Spare studs for the stud shooter are included in the container attached to the main blaster via a string piece (a spare is included, which may be useful in MOCs).
The second and final build included for the imperials is a speeder bike. It also looks fairly accurate to its on screen appearance, and I quite like the design except for the fact that the front can rotate freely. This design flaw is caused by the front being attached via a clip to the back and not being properly secured. You will notice that the front tilts to the left in one of the above pictures. Something I found interesting: lance pieces are used for the front end and the triangular attachments rest on the handle so they do not rotate too far.
Continuing with the vehicle theme, a small transport car is included for the rebels. This neat little build looks pretty cool. I especially like the use of the 1x2 arch pieces alternating with studs, it’s very aesthetically pleasing. The car rolls on the small set of wheels that are also occasionally used as dumbbells, and has storage on the back for crates that are included.
The last vehicle included in the set is a Snowspeeder. I don’t have any snowspeeders on hand to compare it to, but I remember building the original one from 1999. It is a great improvement. As for the last model from 2014, it doesn’t appear to be any different except for a few switched colors. I did look through the instructions of the 2014 model, and it appears to be 100% identical build-wise. Not much of an update if you have the last one.
Just because it hasn’t been updated doesn’t mean it’s bad. This version of the snowspeeder is excellent and represents its onscreen appearance very well. There are three main play features on the snowspeeder. The first is the spring loaded shooters attached to the underside of the ship. The second is the tow cable attached to the back. As mentioned earlier, the string can be quite difficult to attach. The last is a single stud shooter above the tow cable.
The cockpit lifts upwards in two sections to grant access to the interior, which can fit two minifigures back to back as well as storage for the blaster pistols. The figures fit quite nicely, however the gunner has to be leaned back quite a bit.
The next build included in the set is the rebel’s shield generator. This is the first time the generator has appeared in LEGO form. The design is quite nice and is fairly accurate to the onscreen appearance, except for the fact that it’s incomplete. There should be four – I want to say “round things,” (I don’t know their names. If anybody else does please let me know in the comments.) – but instead there’s only three. Why the fourth round thing wasn’t included, I’ll never know. There’s a nice little exploding function in the back, pushing down the lever will push out the round things. This build is nice, but I think we all wish that it was more accurate.
The next build is a trench. The trenches on Hoth have been represented many times before in LEGO, but this model brings new functionality to them by having the turrets being removable.
Included are two white turrets with spring loaded shooters, one turret with a rapid fire 6 stud shooter and two smaller guns that do not have any playability. All can be repositioned on small, 4x4 grey platforms in the trench, allowing you to create your own designs.
Though not part of the main trench, a separate build that continues the trench is also included. There is space for one turret on this build.
The next build is the ion cannon, another build making its first appearance in LEGO. It looks excellent from the front and sides, but not so appealing from the back. Many people have said that the back should be closed off to be completely round. The cannon can actually shoot, and the mechanism requires the back to be open. What could have been done to make the model more appealing is color all the pieces in grey instead of it just being a mess of color. The cannon is adjustable, being attached to the base by ball joints. The cannon can also be opened to reveal a control panel, with enough room to sit a minifigure.
The shooting mechanism works quite well. Pulling down on the lever at the back will pull back the main gun, shooting off two spring loaded shooters. One shooter is placed one stud behind the other, so they will not shoot at the same time. This design is excellent. Designers have been getting more and more creative with the spring loaded shooters; I can’t wait to see what they do next. When they were first introduced I didn’t like them, but they’ve begun to be incorporated into builds in ways that hide them and use them well. They’ve grown on me.
The biggest build included in the set is the entrance into the rebel base. This thing truly is massive, pictures do not do it justice at all. The walls are constructed with two dark grey BURPs and white pieces. The use of slopes and many “layers” give this a great realistic look. The look of this entrance is absolutely superb, being almost perfect in every way…
…except for this one mega blocksing red brick. The brick is used to attach a control panel to the wall, but is completely out of place. Why is it red? I don’t know. There are many things wrong with this set, but for some reason this single red brick makes me angrier than anything else. It’s the single most rage inducing LEGO piece I have ever encountered. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this piece makes me want to scream. (Or maybe this piece has just become the unfortunate victim of my rage. This review has taken much MUCH longer than usual. It’s been… difficult)
Along the bottom there are two separate clips. These clips are used to attach the smaller section of the trench and the ion cannon to the main entrance. Along the top of the entrance there are two platforms for the removable turrets to be placed onto. There is also a small lookout. This lookout was not present on the actual base, but rather the rebel’s base on Yavin 4. The designer explains in the interview at the start of the instruction manual that he took creative license for this aspect and included it anyway.
The lookout can be raised and lowered, and is held in place by a small connector piece on a technic hinge.
It appears that a recurring theme in this set is out of place colors… The back of the entrance looks pretty bad. It’s all open and there are some out of place grey pieces on the back of the door. This set raises many questions. Turning the white gear (right hand side, next to the lookout) will make the doors open.
The doors split in a zig-zag shape, just like in the movie, and open wide enough for the included snowspeeder to fit through.
The first interior section is the control room. The use of transparent pieces for the screen is nice, as is some of the grey detailing. There are no play features in this section, only storage for spare shooter pieces and blasters. I do wish this section was a bit bigger, as it does feel pretty small and cramped.
The next interior section is a tauntaun pen. Two treetop pieces are used as leaves, which is supposed to represent tauntaun food. The main feature of this section is a crane. It’s fully poseable and is intended for use with the small transport car, as it is used for lifting the crates included with the set. The crane design is fairly simple, consisting of a couple lift arms attached with a connector pin. It can also be moved side to side on a track.
The last build included in the set is the wampa cave. Though a little on the small side, the cave is a pretty accurate representation. Luke can be suspended upside-down, and the rocky/icy interior looks great. This section’s play feature is a small mechanism that will shoot Luke’s lightsaber, representing the scene in the film where Luke uses the force to pull the saber from the snow. This feature works, but only if it is hit with enough force. It’s a nice inclusion, but it probably could have been designed better.
The main entrance, ion cannon, control center, tauntaun pen, wampa cave and the small part of the trench can all be connected to form the set’s representation of Echo Base. When everything is combined, I feel that it is an accurate representation of the base.
In my opinion, the play value of this set is pretty good. Many scenes can be created with what is included and I know that as a kid I would have been able to play with this set for hours on end. Yes, it would be great to see an increased imperial presence. An AT-ST or perhaps more snowtroopers would have been great. As stated earlier, this set was intended for a 2015 release so it would be available alongside 75054 AT-AT. If you have any imperial Hoth sets already, this is a great companion set.
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
When I first finished building this set, I was extremely happy with it. I don’t have any previous Hoth sets except for 10178, so this set was a welcome addition to my collection. It doesn’t seem like it from the above review, but my personal complaints with the set are minimal. I can deal with less detailed minifigures, rereleased builds and “incomplete” builds to an extent. I’m not afraid to say that my personal rating of this set is easily a 4 ½ out of 5.
| Personal |   4½ / 5 |
However, when the set is taken from a pure, unbiased, objective standpoint this set is nowhere near as good.
The community has been fairly vocal about their dislike for this set. It’s my opinion that, as a whole, the community is being too hard it. The community calls out many things against this set, which I have touched upon above.
- The included minifigures are poor, which is such a shame considering how many are included.
- The set is ripe with inaccuracies for a UCS set.
- Almost all the builds included have been released in some form or another fairly recently, and this set is essentially compilation of those considering how little some of the designs have changed.
- There is no imperial presence despite the set being called “Assault on Hoth”
- The price is too high
These are all fair claims, as they are true. But if they are all true claims, how can they be going too far? It’s my opinion that the community has blown the negative aspects of this set extremely out of proportion, and it seems to be relating to one thing alone: The UCS label. Over the years LEGO has set a standard with their ultimate collector’s series sets, and in no way does this set meet those standards. Had Assault on Hoth been released as a regular set rather than being marketed under the UCS banner I think the set wouldn’t have received so much backlash. The ultimate collector’s series has been adopted by fans as the sets for adults, because the sets are usually large display models, and now there’s a “play set” being mixed in with their display model line. I touched on this in my Review of 75060 Slave I:
I know many people don't like hearing this, but AFOLs often forget that LEGO is a product designed for children first. While they do release models targeted for the older audience, the main consumer is children. This debate has always been going on, and has gotten quite heated with the release of 75098 Assault on Hoth. I know some stores have gone as far as to not stock the set because they do not believe they could sell it to the adult audience (I had a very interesting discussion with the clerk at the store I bought the Slave I from about this). Once again, the bottom line is that LEGO has always been a product for children. They will always release products for children, and design all of their products with children in mind. Assault on Hoth is simply LEGO creating a large play set for children.
To reiterate: LEGO is intended for children and this set is intended for children. LEGO will always try to cater to the adult audience, but in the end LEGO is a toy company – and a smart one too. I trust any business decision made LEGO. They have faith that they can market this playset better if it’s marketed as an Ultimate Collector’s Series set.
With all of this in mind, I think that one of the two biggest issues here is that “Ultimate Collector’s Series” was never properly defined by LEGO until now, with the inclusion of the UCS seal on the box. Some play sets have been considered UCS sets by LEGO from as early back as 2005, and all of those sets have been pretty much the same thing as this. So what makes Assault on Hoth different?
As stated earlier, pretty much everything in this set has been released before. The typical UCS buyer also buys the system sets, and now they’ve been presented with a “new” UCS set which they essentially already have.
From that pure, unbiased standpoint – ignoring the backlash and ignoring my feelings towards the set – I feel that this is a successful play set. I think the community is too caught up in the hate bandwagon to see its appealing features. The snowspeeder design is perfect, the ion cannon looks great, the base is an awesome representation. It’s such a shame that this set was released as a UCS set because people are just focusing on the fact that it’s essentially a re-released play set compilation rather than seeing the good in the set.
Many changes could have been made to make the set more accurate or aesthetically pleasing. Why those simple changes weren’t made beats me. As it stands, the set is solid. It’s a good play set that includes good features. It’s weak in some aspects but it makes up for it in other aspects. I think it does a good job of balancing itself out, making for a decent set overall.
| Overall |  3 / 5 |
| Build | 2 / 5 |
| Value for money | 2 / 5 |
| Play Value | 4½ / 5 |
Even though I give this set a decent rating, I don’t recommend you buying it. The price for what’s included is just too high, it is likely to include something you already have and it doesn’t offer much build wise. My final comment on this set is: leave it alone. It has bad aspects but it doesn’t deserve the hate. The fans have made their point, I don’t see LEGO releasing another UCS play set any time soon (the next UCS is a snowspeeder. I can’t wait to see how that turns out.), LEGO has most likely realized their “mistake,” just leave it alone.
Thanks for reading this review, and thanks again to everyone at LEGO and here on Brickipedia for giving me a chance to review this set.
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