Lego story #025: The Tusken and the T-rex (there's trouble on Tatooine)

Said I wouldn't buy any more Star Wars sets, but . . .

While I had sworn off buying any Star Wars Lego, I said I'd make an exception for a Grogu minifigure, a speeder bike, or a scout trooper.

Trouble on Tatooine (75299) offered the first two—and more—at an excellent price. 

Besides its fantastic speeder bike and trio of great minifigures, I also made an exception for Trouble on Tatooine because I really like desert-themed stuff.

A Lego Star Wars fan might notice from the above pic that my Mandalorian is wearing a jet pack instead of a cape. 

Well, I didn't needed two Mandos. I listed the cape version for sale and packed it away so the cape wouldn't pick up dust. Here's what the cape looks like:

For photographing this set, I used my old Mando (from 75321 Razor Crest Microfighter) and his jet pack, as shown in subsequent pics.

Now I'll introduce the three builds of Trouble on Tatooine. Let's start from the least impressive and end with the best.

First up: the Tusken hut.

Tusken Raiders, also known as Sand People, are a species native to the planet Tatooine. They're one of the first non-human groups to appear onscreen in the very first Star Wars movie.

You don't see them much otherwise, at least not till The Book of Boba Fett TV series gave them a huge spotlight. I was very happy about that.

The Tusken hut looks pretty bare-bones. I suppose Tuskens don't own much, being nomads.

The hut is the least impressive of the three builds. But at least you can do one thing with it: open up the walls.

And the campfire serves as a great spot for minifigs to interact.

In the Mandalorian TV series, the Mando agrees to take down a krayt dragon, who's been eating the livestock of a Tatooine town. To accomplish this daring deed, he enlists a tribe of Tuskens.

I really, really, like the Tusken minifigure. Here he is, carrying a signature Tusken weapon called the gaffi stick. The weapon looks simple 'cos it is; it's simply for bludgeoning.

And Grogu is along for the ride, of course! (with an eye out for nibbles)

Unfortunately, their plan to spear the dragon, via ballista, fails.

The ballista is pretty cool, though.

It comes with two missiles. You can insert a missile into the front muzzle and fire it. Like in other Lego sets with a firing function, it's spring-loaded.

Many of the ballista's components move on hinges; you can twiddle them into slightly different angles. So there's a teeny bit of interactivity here, not just a static structure.

As neat as the ballista is, the best build is the speeder bike. And as much as I love the minifigures, the speeder takes the cake. Plus, it's got a child seat!

Ahhhh, what a beauty.

On Tatooine, you won't get anywhere fast without a speeder. Walking through the dunes: not recommended.

Fans wished that a minifigure of "Marshal" Cobb Vanth (sheriff of the town in trouble) had been included in this set. He was, after all, a key character in this episode with the krayt dragon. 

What I think more odd is titling the set "Trouble on Tatooine" with little reference to the source of said trouble. But of course, it's more economical to throw in a single dragon bone (stewing in a pot by the Tusken hut) than an entire dragon.

The idea was probably to make set 75299 affordable. USD 30 is a fantastic price, I think, for these these 3 great minifigures on top of the speeder, ballista, and hut. (Licensed themes like Star Wars and Harry Potter are generally more expensive than regular Lego.)

Anyway, I think I got a good prop for the krayt dragon!

Despite containing a modest 277 pieces, a lot of fun can be had with Trouble on Tatooine. 

The set can be converted into a large number of MOCs, including Cobb Vanth's speeder. I'm especially excited to build this bundle of 10 MOCs by MrBrickArtist.