Set Review - 30240 Z-95 Headhunter Mini

I've certainly not been shy about my penchant for dark red and these Star Wars sets lately have been catering to that addiction.  It took several trips to Wal(star)Mart before they finally released a box of polybags onto the shelves.  This is a retailer exclusive set, don't search Target for it.  I was lucky to find at least a score of these sets.  I picked up one (and a Roller Derby Girl) for my personal collection.  A few days later my oldest KFOL and I sat on the bed and put this little ship together.

As soon as we dumped the contents out I was in love.  As a micro builder here were all sorts of parts that were useful to me.  I was struck by the 1x3 dark red tile (3 of them), the dark bley minifig brackets, the host of plates including a cheap source for the new 3x3 and other little bits that were useful but not overly abundant.

So KFOL1 and I built this little ship and proceeded to swoosh it all over arm's reach.  Then the words, "Daddy, can we play with that one?" pointing to my original old light gray X-Wing with yellow headed Luke.  "No" I said flatly.  "But I'll hold it and you can look at it."  So I let her activate some of the play features on that.  It suddenly occurred to me that the Z-95 and the X-wing had a whole lot of similar features.

"Hey sweetie, do these two ships look the same to you?"  Head nods.  "What parts?"  Fingers point to the nose, cockpit, engines, wings, and wingtips.  And the landing gear.  Yes, there is actual landing gear on the mini.  I later looked it up on Wookieepedia, your source for all things Star Wars.  Turns out the Z-95 was a first generation X-wing, or rather it evolved into it's successor.  Sounds just like the other Clone Wars series minis I've been building.

So after some more tender moments of swooshing the Z-95 up my nose we went on with the rest of our evening.

As for the build there's nothing special except for the fact that it's built as an odd wide, 13 to be exact.  The rear boosters are a 1x1 clip tile attached to a 2x1 plate with handle.  Usually I expect some bracket or travis brick work there.  The bonus to this connection is that you can position the boosters.  Not sure if this is a feature on the original ship or the larger build but it's there.  I'm also impressed by the presence of landing gear.  Some TLG designer threw in a few 1x1 plate with tooth (AKA minifig shoes) for ground contact.  The front one is attached to the nose via a 1x1 round plate which has the added feature of a quick release.  Not a good thing, mind you.

I later went back to Wal(asterisk)Mart prepared to buy a dozen more of these for parts.  Sadly there were only 2 to be had amongst 3 Wal(splat)Mart visits.  I'm not sure what the intended shelf life is for this set (Easter basket promo?) or what the distribution is per market.  Definitely worth the buy for the ship.  Also worth it for the parts it contains.  Fifty-four pieces plus 7 extras at $3.97 hits a beautiful price point of $0.07 per piece.  Even if you have a 7% sales tax it's still under $0.08 per piece.  If I were you I'd buy out the store.