LEGO SMART Play is weird, silly, and daft, both as a concept, and with its ultimate execution, but needs to grow from its initial ideas.
The LEGO Group
The all-new LEGO SMART Play technology is a weird proposition, and its initial announcement at the start of January left people like me with more questions than answers. One thing was clear: it was the most cutting-edge, tech-focused range it’s ever developed, and this naturally led to a quick backlash.
Maybe it was due to its vague explainer, or simply a matter of principle, but some commentators went on as if it were a catastrophe, not just for LEGO as a company, but for Denmark’s GDP. It was most delightfully captured by Josh Golin, of children’s wellbeing group Fairplay, who said SMART Bricks were “completely unnecessary and undermine what was once great about Legos”, despite himself undermining LEGO by referring to it in the plural.
I thought it would be a little bit gimmicky: not quite on the same level as other electronic-infused, ultimately unsuccessful ideas like Vidiyo, which LEGO canned in 2022. (Side note: I thought the Vidiyo minifigures were spectacular.) Still, after building the Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (#75421) set — the entry-level “All-in-One” release that comes with the crucial SMART Brick and charger — consider me a bit of a convert.
LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (75421).
The LEGO Group
It’s obvious that LEGO SMART Play isn’t for collectors like me, a late-30s dinkwad who already doesn’t have enough shelf space, but the finished product really took me by surprise. The cynic in me melted away as soon as the tinny, lo-fi rendition of the Imperial March kicked out of the SMART Brick, and I noisily flew my freshly completed TIE Fighter in my hand, laughing like a drain, as my thoroughly nonplussed wife and baffled dog looked on.
LEGO SMART Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (75421) specifications
Age: 8+
Pieces: 473
Price: $69.99 (€69.99, £59.99)
Dimensions: 4in (10cm) tall, 4.5in (11cm) long, 5.5in (15cm) wide
Estimated build time: 45 minutes to one hour
The TIE Fighter (75421) set is broken down into five bags:
Bags 1-2: TIE Fighter body3: Central wing plates4: Four wing flaps5: Gun emplacement and refuelling station
There’s also a separate inset tray for the SMART Brick, a box for the charger, and the wire is separate in the main box, plus you get three sets of instructions for the TIE, the additional scenery, and the SMART Brick and charger. It’s understandable from a group-building perspective, but the box feels packed.
SMART minifigures have one body piece — presumably because the prongs from the legs take up too much space for the electronic gubbins to fit inside the torso — but at least you get the satisfaction of sliding Darth Vader’s head on, immediately and inevitably forgetting to put the jaw piece of his helmet on first. Old habits never die. The other new thing is the lightsaber shaft: the first time I’ve ever seen it a) matte and b) without even a hint of bubbling.
Is that a new TIE?
The TIE Fighter itself contradicts classic LEGO TIE designs on a few levels, but it’s because it has to hit a very specific brief: a set for ages 6+ that’s meant to be easy to build, actively played with, small enough to hold in young hands, and stable enough to take a few knocks — all without dumbing down the build too much, like the 4+ sets do.
As a result, Vader’s TIE is a squat little thing, with a shape closer to a classic TIE than his longer Advanced, or standard Bomber. It’s also completely open-backed, but for good reason: it’s where the rubberized trigger contraption is housed, which interacts with the SMART Brick.
The rear of the model is made for pleasure, not business.
Matt Gardner
The rubber pieces strike me as problematic in the long run — it’s hard to guess how resilient they’ll be with repeated play and time, but then again, you could say the same about the batteries in the SMART Bricks.
Once you put the brick in, the song begins, and its gyroscope picks up movement, translating them into the TIE’s textbook screeches. Pulling the trigger lifts the blockers on either side of the SMART Brick, firing the TIE’s lasers with impressively responsive quickness.
It’s mostly comfortable to hold and move, and fundamentally allows kids to use the triggers, but it’s an odd grip: your fingers spread across the model’s base, with your thumb over the top at the back, like you’re holding a pizza box.
The grip on the model is odd, but not uncomfortable.
The LEGO Group
The refuelling post fills the TIE with space juice via a satisfying hose, but a small, odd green hammer “fixes” it with a clanging sound, which admittedly feels like an afterthought.
Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (75421) is also a lot more resilient than past sets. Even recent builds of LEGO Star Wars spacecraft hold the wings on with just a couple of pins, meaning they always have that little bit of wobble. Here, four 1×1 clips, stacked 2×2 at the end of a square arm, hold the wings much more tightly, presumably given the possibility of contact through play.
Annoyingly, there’s nowhere for Vader’s lightsaber — I’m used to LEGO Star Wars sets usually hiding a 1×2 plate with side clips underneath — but given this is meant to be actively played with, and there’s limited space on the build, perhaps it just wasn’t an option. It certainly looks daft in the cockpit, though.
The smell of burning is strong with this one.
Matt GardnerOnly the start for LEGO SMART Play?
Ultimately, these LEGO SMART Play sets aren’t display pieces and don’t pretend to be. Even the most rabid LEGO TIE Fighter fan (and I’m not far off, with five of them) can be excused for not adding this to their collection. While I can’t fault the breadth and depth of the tech that’s packed into the SMART Play line-up, it still feels like this is a first stab at the concept, rather than the best design, even if it’s a great balance given the exacting brief.
SMART Play is weird, silly, and daft — both as a concept, and with its ultimate execution — but it doesn’t undermine a thing about LEGO. Whether it enhances the sets is a different story, but given this is the first foray into the technology, it’s a good start, and certainly less niche than Vidiyo.
Still, people will always vote with their wallets, and even with the Star Wars license at the heart of the experience, LEGO SMART Play’s value needs to be proved beyond these initial All-in-One packs, and five supplemental sets, if it’s going to stick around, especially with its higher price tags.