Review: LEGO Star Wars 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship

November 5, 2023 | 0

There are few Star Wars prequel ships more iconic than the Republic Gunship, so it is no surprise that it has had a fair number of outings in the LEGO Star Wars theme.

The LAAT Gunship’s latest appearance features a distinct makeover, opting for a slightly reduced scale and a bold dark red colour scheme to represent the planet-specific 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship. With five desirable minifigures included, let’s find out if this set is worthy of all the hype!

This is a guest review from our LEGO Star Wars correspondent Vaderfan – check out some of his recent reviews below.

• Review: LEGO 75362 Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle
• Review: 75367 UCS Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser
• Review: LEGO 75359 332nd Ahsoka’s Clone Troopers Battle Pack
• Review: LEGO 75365 Yavin 4 Rebel Base

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship Set Details

Set Number: 75354
Set Name: Coruscant Guard Gunship
Pieces: 1083
Minifigures: 5 (Chancellor Palpatine, Padmé Amidala, Commander Fox, Coruscant Guard x2)
Theme: Star Wars
Release Date: 1 September 2023
Retail Price: US$139.99 / AU$249.99 / £129.99 / €149.99 / CAD$179.99

Unboxing

The front of the box shows the gunship flying through the Coruscant skyline, along with a minifigure graphic of a 332nd Company Clone Trooper in the bottom left.

The reverse of the box shows the gunship landed with its troop bay open, along with cutouts for all the play features.

Inside you’ll find ten numbered bags and a cardboard sleeve for the instruction manual.

Inside is a fairly thick instruction manual and a small sticker sheet.

5 stickers in a set of this size is acceptable, although the light grey ones are rather small and – as is a continuing trend among LEGO sets, the colour matching is slightly lacking.

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship Build Process

Bag 1 starts with laying the foundations for the troop bay platform.

Bag 2 constructs the nose section, adding the distinctive front bubble turrets.

Bag 3 builds a separate subassembly for the top, adding the Technic carrying handle.

Bag 4 expands on this area and connects the two subassemblies together.

Bag 5 adds the front panels and a folding ramp at the rear.

Bag 6 adds the crucial double bubble cockpit design, mounted at an angle using some simple Technic connections.

Bag 7 adds the left sliding door…

…while bag 8 adds the door on the right.

Bag 9 adds the missile pods and the large left wing…

…while bag 10 finishes up the corresponding sections on the opposite side.

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship Minifigures

All the minifigures in this set have a matching red theme, including these Padme Amidala and Chancellor Palpatine minifigures. The Padme minifigure is an update from her 2012 Clone Wars figure, with a slightly more detailed torso print and a normal face print (instead of the massive Clone Wars eyes).

Unfortunately her head piece is reused from Jyn Erso and does not really match Padme, making it somewhat of a downgrade from previous Padme minifigures that included unique head prints.

On the other hand, Chancellor Palpatine has received a huge upgrade, now featuring the relatively new minifigure skirt piece with printing on both front and back. He gets a blonde widow’s peak hairpiece and double-sided wrinkled expressions.

A brand new Phase II Commander Fox and a pair of Shock Troopers round out the minifigure selection, both of which have been updated to follow the modern Phase II clone style.

This is the first official LEGO Phase II Commander Fox minifigure, while the Shock Troopers have been updated from their previous appearance in 2014.

Both minifigures have the generic clone trooper face print and use the bright red colour scheme as opposed to the darker red of the Gunship.

The Commander Fox minifigure has, however, justifiably received criticism for its printing issues in multiple areas – the white stripe atop his helmet is too thin, the printed white chestplate on his torso lacks opacity and ends up looking pink instead of white, and the printed kama on his legs looks incredibly unsatisfying from most angles.

The omission of a cloth waistcape on this modern wave of Clone Commanders (including Cody and Rex) is unfortunate, as it leaves the minifigures looking unfinished which could have been easily avoided.

Colour matching also has been an issue with minifigure prints, but this is one of the more severe instances as the white on Fox’s chestplate and helmet markings does not look remotely close to the colour of his legs. The pinkish due on the torso is especially distracting.

On the whole, this is still a desirable lineup of minifigures, despite frustrating issues on the Commander Fox and Padme Amidala minifigures.

Perhaps a minifigure of Rush Clovis or Commander Thorn could have been included, seeing as they are both integral to the relevant Clone Wars arc that this set is based on.

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship Completed Model

The finished model certainly nails the key features of a Republic Gunship, and measures around 37cm (14.5″) in length and 41cm (16″) in width.

The model does a pretty decent job recreating all the angles of the Gunship’s design, although some sections like the panels towards the front look a bit blocky due to the smaller scale.

The shrunken size is most notable from the side view, where the section between the double cockpits and the missile pods has been significantly reduced. Consequently, this makes the model look slightly stubby from some angles.

The nose of the ship has been done quite well despite its reduced scale, and features the two rotating gun turrets that can be aimed in all sorts of directions.

Behind are the angled panels of the gunship. The brick-built angled white stripes at the rear of the door is impressive, while the colour matching of the 4×4 Republic logo sticker definitely could be better.

The rear of the ship continues the shaping well, and even features a stickered 2×2 Republic logo on the bottom left, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail from the in-universe ship.

There’s also a small cannon mounted on a ball joint for tail gunning, plus some cabinet elements for storage. Unfortunately these are not big enough to store the clone troopers’ weapons, but you can put the extra stud shooter ammo here.

Moving on to the iconic dual cockpit, these use the 4×6 bubble canopy piece in a clear colour. The entire subassembly is mounted at an angle with minimal gaps which is impressive, and features a pair of small 1×1 stickers with a dark red Republic logo.

Both canopies can be opened for interior access, and the pilots get a printed 1×2 control tile inside.

Two minifigures can be placed inside and they are attached with a pair of studs.

The Coruscant Guards look great here but unfortunately there is no storage for their weapons when they are piloting the gunship.

Next up is another important part of the Gunship, the opening bay doors. These are fully closed by default, but by pulling on a pair of Technic levers at the back, you can open them up.

This reveals the interior trooplift bay of the Gunship. It is worth noting the in-universe craft has bay doors that split in half and open in opposite directions, whereas they are just one panel each on the LEGO model – I anticipate the change was for stability reasons.

The Gunship’s troop carrying bay has a mixed of studs and tiles on its surface so you can pose minifigures here while the Gunship is in flight.

Unfortunately one of the biggest downsides of the downsizing of this Gunship is the reduced interior space – the minifigures’ headroom is limited and you cannot carry many Clones if you wish to have the bay doors closed.

The ramp at the rear of the ship also folds down, but it does not grant much interior access.

The front panels under the gunship can also be hinged open thanks to some Technic beams.

Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing to be seen here, just pure empty space. I would have much preferred if there was a slide-out weapons rack or missile rack just for some additional detail and playability, as in its current state you cannot even store the pilots’ weapons as the pieces will slide around and probably fall out.

The area behind the cockpit has the two missile pods, represented by some 3×3 round bricks. Unfortunately they do not fire off anything, but they look good despite their small scale.

In between is actually a Technic carrying handle, an increasingly common (and welcome) feature in larger LEGO Star Wars playsets.

You can pick up the Gunship with the handle and fly it around which is pretty fun, and it feels more than secure enough.

Unfortunately the centre of gravity is quite rear-biased so the model tends to tilt backwards in flight which is slightly awkward.

The wings themselves are plate-based subassemblies connected to the main build with a Technic axle each, and are mounted on slopes to maintain the right angle.

Perhaps the most controversial change on the model was to replace the Gunship’s wingtip bubble turrets with a pair of stud shooters.

I am not a fan of this change, especially as the stud shooter turret is fixed in position and cannot even rotate. While this area would likely have been too small to fit a minifigure anyway, I think a brick-built bubble turret without figures inside would have still looked better than these stud shooters.

Final Thoughts

On the whole, I think this set does enough to make itself a desirable set that will jump off store shelves. While some fans will lament the issues with the Commander Fox and Padme Amidala minifigures, the figure selection in this set is admittedly quite strong overall, especially given the popularity of the Coruscant Guard’s design.

The build also has several flaws, yet the sum of its parts is a justifiable purchase, as it is a playset version of a popular Prequel-era ship that has not appeared at this scale for a decade.

The price is probably my biggest gripe with the set – US$140 does feel a bit overpriced, although at a discount it becomes more acceptable, particularly if you are a fan of The Clone Wars.

Not everyone will like this set, but I think it does enough to appeal to Prequel fans and Clone minifigure collectors, and should be one of the more popular sets in the summer wave.

Build [3] – A decent rendition of a Republic Gunship with a striking new colour scheme, but hindered by reduced troop carrying capacity and occasional design shortcuts.
Minifigures [4] – Despite some issues with the individual figures’ designs, the overall selection is a strong wave of 5 desirable characters.
Real Value [3] – $140 is certainly expensive for the size and piece count of the final model, although LEGO Star Wars prices have been increasing in general. A discount makes the set more palatable overall.
Innovation [3] – Nothing particularly innovative, but some good build techniques are included and the model does a good job of replicating the ever-tricky Republic Gunship at a smaller scale.
Keepability [4] – This is a unique-looking set with some special minifigures – I doubt we will see a new version any time soon.

Rating and Score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Thanks for reading this review! 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship is available from LEGO.com, Amazon, your local LEGO Store or most toy retailers.

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