The Lego Malevolence Set has been highly anticipated in my family, mainly because of it’s dramatic role in the Star Wars Clone Wars TV series.

Looking past the rather “Thin” dimensions, it really is a wonderful set and breaks the recent tradition of gray Star Wars vehicles…to a degree.

Play-wise the set is very strong – it has the benefit of some rare minifigures (from both sides of the Force) and a very swooshable ship which comes with a handle at the top so pieces don’t break off as you pick it up.

Let’s take a closer look.

Lego Malevolence
Set 9515

Lego Set Number: 9515
Pieces: 1092
Minifigures: 6 (Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, General Grievous, Count Dooku, 2 X Battle Droids)
Price: US $119.99 / £99.99 /AU $179
Ages: 9-14
Released: August 2012
Theme: Star Wars Lego
Instructions in PDF: Available at Lego.com
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Lego Malevolence – Set 9515 Description

Engage the Republic with the mighty Malevolence™!

The Malevolence™ is General Grievous’ flagship and one of the Separatist military’s most feared weapons. Unbeknownst to Grievous and his crew, Anakin and Padmé have entered the giant craft in an attempt to rid the galaxy of this deadly curse. The Malevolence features a cargo bay with transport train, detailed interior with removable/opening sections for easy access and twin quick-fire missile launchers.

• Includes 6 minifigures: Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, General Grievous, Count Dooku, Battle Droid Commander and Battle Droid
• Features twin quick-fire missile launchers, cargo bay, fold-away handle on top, removable front section for easy access, opening rear section
• Weapons include 2 medium blasters, blaster pistol, 6 Lightsabers
• Accessories include wrench and hammer
• Malevolence™ measures over 23″ (60cm) long, 7″ (18cm) wide and 5″ (13cm) tall

Lego Malevolence Set 9515
The Brick Life Review

This is a ship my son has been eagerly awaiting since he saw it in action on Season One of The Clone Wars cartoon.

I must admit, composited against a red moon, with blue highlights on it’s fuselage and a powerful Ion Canon, even I was enamored with the ship.

Skinny?

However when I first saw images of the official Lego version I was a little disappointed – It seemed too thin for my liking.

Can you see what I mean?

It is nice and long but the width across the middle combined with the height… it almost seems like there is nothing there, especially when you compare it to the Millennium Falcon Lego set which, admittedly, is more of a playset than a ship.

So, having seen the ship up close, this “thinness” factor still prevents the Malevolence set from becoming a “must have” set in my mind.

However if you can look past that factor, it has two other major factors in it’s favor
– the minifigures and the flight ability.

Minifigures

The Lego Malevolence comes with six minifigures and includes one of the best Padme figures to date.

In her spacesuit, she’s all action which is a nice change from the fairly passive figures we have seen before (not that I’m complaining about the new Queen Amidala figure which is a work of art).

This Padme is a really nice looking figure that matches the show version well and allows for numerous action-based play scenarios.

Set 9515 also comes with Count Dooku, who has been rather rare in the last few years as well as General Grievous who has also managed to elude my family for the last decade. What is it about the bad guys – I guess they really are hard to capture after all!

Also included are the ubiquitous Anakin Skywalker minifigure and two battle droids.

Colors

As I mentioned earlier, the colors really attracted me to this set. While there is a certain level of “Star Wars Grey” there is also some nice dark blue and the additions of the light-clear-blue of the Ion Canon as well as the orange highlights on the rear engines set-off the overall look of the ship nicely.

Now if only every set came with a poster of a glowing red moon to display it up against 🙂

Play Features

The Malevolence comes with a number of play features, most notable of which is the retractable handle on the top of the ship that allows kids (and adults) to fly the Malevolence around the room without fear of pieces falling off.

This feature is similar to handles on the Lego Republic Frigate from 2011 and the Venator Republic Attack Cruiser from 2009.

It is a wonderful feature for Lego ships as it really amps up the play value.

If you want to see how frustrating “flying” a large spaceship without a handle is, try swooshing the Lego Millennium Falcon around the house.

The Malevolence is much more manageable as a spaceship, though lacks the interior space of the Falcon.

Value For Money:  Fair price if you can get it a few dollars off and shipped for free.  4/5
Play Experience: Fun as a ship but not so much as a playset. 4/5
Pieces & Minifigures: A great selection of good vs bad figures and an exclusive “action” Padme. 5/5
Value For Kids:  Kids who are Clone wars fans will love it.  4/5
Overall Recommendation:  A nice set that has great play value.
Would be a wonderful set for boys and girls who are fans of the TV series.

Lego Malevolence Image Gallery

Malevolence Mark I

It is interesting to note that, although this is the first Malevolence set ever released by Lego, it is not the first time they have designed one.

As part of their promotions for the 2009 Quest for R2-D2 game and mini-movie, Lego hid four instruction books for an original version of this model, the pieces of which could be collated by buying many of the Star Wars sets from 2009.

My son attempted to make the model but as we have very few of the required sets, gave up fairly soon after and designed his own model. If you are interested in making a version of the malevolence Mark I then you can find the instructions here:

• Book 1
• Book 2
• Book 3
• Book 4