Dargo draws first blood in the race to come out with Force Awakens bootlegs [Dargo Star Wars: The Force Awakens minifig set]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a big deal. That’s pretty much set in stone right now. With the film breaking all sorts of records already (and will only open in China this weekend), suffice to say, the film is an astronomical hit, not only financially, but also critically (93% at Rotten Tomatoes).

Where there’s a hit, there’s bound to be merchandising, too! And Star Wars as a whole is definitely no slouch in that regard. There’s a ton of merch Disney licenses, from t-shirts to, um, tape dispensers.

Also a big market? Why, bootleg Lego, of course! In due time, there are sure to be offerings from hard-hitters like SY and Decool in this space, but for now, Dargo takes the cake when it comes to getting to market first. This is most likely a good business decision.

So let’s do a quick look-see at what they have. Unlike oil, prices have not changed still for bootleg minifigs at this part of the world (PhP 25.00 still per minifig).

Included in the set are:
- Kylo Ren (but of course)
- First Order crew
- First Order officer
- First Order TIE pilot
- First Order Stormtrooper
- TIE fighter pilot (from the original trilogy)
- BB-8!
- some Astromech droid that’s not Lego canon
- some bounty hunter that’s also not Lego canon

While you the set has 8 boxes, you actually get 9 minifigs out of it, as that random astromech droid and BB-8 comes is bundled in one box. Good value!

What’s in the box? Here you go:




That’s the minifig, accessories, the usual character card (a non-starter for me), a base plate for the minifig, some extra pieces, and a small build manual. You’ll also notice that Dargo would rather not anger the powers-that-be at Disney and instead opted to label their set “Space Wars”.

What’s the manual for? Well, instead of the usual extra bricks manufacturers put in for buyers to build small weapon holders/base plate decorations/what-have-you, Dargo thought to instead put in extra pieces that, along with the extra pieces of the *other* minifigs in the set, form two micro (like, really micro) builds of one, a TIE fighter, and two, the Millenium Falcon.

Depending on your preferences (I don’t blame you if you’d rather have extra pizzazz on that base plate), that may or may not be a good thing. What it does for Dargo, though, is that it’s extra incentive for prospective buyers to buy the whole set, instead of just picking the minifigs that interest them.

Taken as a whole, the set is pretty okay. The plastic parts themselves are of decent form. There are wild variations from minifig to minifig when it comes to paint detail though. On one hand, you have this trio looking mighty fine:



And then on the other hand, you have this sad-looking Kylo Ren:



He looks even sadder with the hood piece (included in Kylo’s box):



So yeah, keep that hood off him, I guess.

And somewhere in-between on the detail quality scale, there are these two pilots (these are perfectly okay with me):



Here are the fronts for the minifigs:






And the backs:




That bounty hunter guy feels a bit out of place, not because I frankly don’t know who he is, but more so because he’s wearing a sleeveless top. I’m not sure if the photos show that clearly, but I will tell you that his arms are flesh in color. I dunno, I guess I’m just not that used to seeing bounty hunters wearing sleeveless tops.

Let’s get to the micro builds now. As I mentioned earlier, the extra pieces in each box goes towards making micro versions of a TIE fighter and the Millenium Falcon. Here are the two:



When I said micro, I meant it 100%! Here’s BB-8 straddling the Falcon:



That said, the micro vehicles are, for me, a nice touch. You can place them on your office desk, for example. They’re small enough to be unobtrusive and well-designed enough to still be recognizable.

All told, this is a pretty good set. I’m wondering if the Kylo Ren detail is just a pure factory defect and there are better specimens of him out there instead of a widespread problem. Even then, the rest of the set holds up well. Recommended.