LEGO Star Wars Helmets Collection: 75304 Darth Vader and 75305 Scout Trooper [Review]

When LEGO announced the first wave of Star Wars helmets many of our readers may have been scratching their heads over the 18+ age rating and the fancy black packaging as LEGO had only recently begun building their adult portfolio. Also notably absent from this line of iconic helmets was perhaps the most iconic helmet of all, the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader. Well, LEGO has corrected this with wave 2 of the Helmets Collection. It includes the ominous visage of 75304 Darth Vader, along with 75305 Scout Trooper, the Stormtrooper variant first seen on the forest moon of Endor, the lightly armored Scout Trooper. The new helmets include 834 and 471 piece respectively, and have price tags of US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £59.99 (Darth Vader) and US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99 (Scout Trooper). Both sets will be available for pre-order from March 25th, 2021 from LEGO.com and other retailers, and on general sale globally from April 26th.

Don’t miss our review of 75306 Imperial Probe Droid as well!

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

The box and contents

Both sets feature the same tall black box as the first wave, with the finished helmet model featured prominently with dramatic reddish lighting on the front of the box. The sides of the box include a straight-on view of the helmet and repeated branding elements. In contrast, the back of the box shows the helmet from another angle, above three images, a smaller front-view of the model with dimensions, flanked by two images from the movies showing the on-screen inspirations.

Each set comes with 5 numbered bags, which include other bags for smaller parts, an instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet with the Darth Vader set. This sheet includes one of the smallest and most difficult stickers I have ever attempted to apply with my 18+ fingers.

Both sets also include the same printed 4×6 modified tile style for the nameplate, but there are no other printed elements.

Similar to the previous wave, both booklets include an introductory spread from LEGO Star Wars Creative Director Jens Kronvold Frederiksen about the helmets series and the specific characters, which is a nice touch but feels a bit minimal considering some of the more in-depth introductions found in LEGO Ideas set and other themes like the Architecture skylines, for example.


The build

Even though the two sets include the stand at different stages, we’ll cover the builds in the same sequence for a better comparison. The stands follow the same design as the first wave, with a core of Technic lift-arms and a place in front for the printed nameplate.

Both sets start out with a fairly similar central core bristling with outward-facing studs and various blocky protrusions. The main differences are that Vader has more sculpted facial details like the angled mouthpiece and cheeks, and the Scout Trooper includes the dark visor and a bit in front for the iconic narrow mouthpiece.

Now, you might expect that a Darth Vader helmet would mostly consist of a bunch of bags filled with black, and while certainly, a large majority of the 834 pieces included in the set are black, the central core and pretty much any part not visible in the finished model is built from a veritable rainbow of filler, including several parts in teal, red, green, orange, and tan. By the end of the first bag, we are already beginning to see the iconic shape of the front of Vader’s visage.

Bag two continues the face of the helmet, including a lance on each side, used to form the pipe-shape at the edge of the mouthpiece. The small rounded 1×1 tile, which forms the very top of the triangular mouth from which Vader’s signature breathing emerges, is where that pesky sticker I mentioned before goes. The rainbow of filler continues, and we get a new color of lightsaber blade pipes in solid light green, inserted into the center of the face to which we’ll be attaching the cold rounded eyes.

The colorful core continues for another bag and involves many bar and clip attachment points used later in the set. While full of surprising parts and colors, this section of the build, like a tan window frame and several orange 1×1 cylinder bricks, is fairly uneventful. When we get to the fourth bag, we enter the slightly more challenging stage of building curved shapes by stacking black plates on top of black plates. Fortunately, LEGO corrected an oversight in the first wave and included outlines around the new parts to help builders spot where the parts go, which is quite helpful.

For the Scout Trooper, after attaching the partial helmet to the stand, we start in on sub-assemblies for the narrow mouthpiece, which gives the Scout its distinct look. The mouth section finishes with some angled sections attached with clips and a car fender. There are also some ingot pieces in white that fill in the slight gap on either side of the central nose area.

As we move on to the last few bags of the Darth Vader helmet, the process of stacking square plates to make a curved surface kicks into high gear, making up the majority of the remaining build. Considering the rumor that building a ball with basic elements is part of any prospective LEGO designer’s interview, it is no surprise that the end result is really quite impressive.

The bottom edge of Lord Vader’s cowl-shaped helmet includes a 2×6 wedge plate that I’m pretty sure is new to this set, and it works perfectly. The top of the helmet even features the seam down the middle with a series of curved slopes and tiles.


The completed models

Starting with the Scout Trooper, the finished model, while simple in construction, has just the right amount of detail to be instantly recognizable, from the slightly flattened top and the ear-like side vents to the black visor and straight shades. Also, in my opinion, it is a much better choice than a Snowtrooper, which would be one of the only other iconic helmets from the original trilogy.

But let’s be serious. The real hero of this wave is the Dark Lord of the Sith Himself, Darth Vader. As the franchise’s most iconic villain, and the central feature of the original movie poster, I’m a bit surprised it wasn’t part of the first wave, aside from the possible fact that they wanted to test out the helmet design before taking on the challenge of bringing what is sure to be a fan favorite of the helmets sub-theme to plastic life.

When you see the two helmets side by side, the proportions are spot-on, with Darth Vader’s helmet being considerably larger than the Scout Trooper and far more imposing. Every detail is perfect, from the angled pipes at the base of the cheek to the large curving eyebrows and that narrow nose with the angled grill on top. Even the small angled section just below the chin where the helmet meets the shoulders rounds out the model nicely.


Conclusion and recommendations

Whether you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, a casual collector, or anywhere in between, These helmets make a great display model and go along with the rest of the collection very well. I hope that LEGO continues to come out with more helmets and maybe even a few droid heads at this scale. I mean, K-2SO or even a B1 battle droid would be cool, right?

Ever since LEGO revealed their 18+ marketing strategy, it has become clear that they are looking to expand the adult consumer market beyond adult fans who may be inclined to purchase a set for the parts as much as for the model. Targeting casual builders, collectors, and people with a wide variety of interests with sets like the botanical collection, and even some LEGO Ideas sets like the piano and the recent Blacksmith shop. And so it is no surprise that the Star Wars team is getting in on the game. You don’t have to be strong in the Force to know that we can expect more Star Wars sets with the 18+ branding in years to come.


LEGO Star Wars 75304 Darth Vader includes 834 pieces and will be available for US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £59.99 | Amazon | eBay
LEGO Star Wars 75305 Scout Trooper includes 471 pieces and will be available for US $49.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99 | Amazon | eBay

Both sets will be available for preorder starting today from LEGO.com and other retailers, and on general sale globally from April 26th. They may also be available from third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

3 comments on “LEGO Star Wars Helmets Collection: 75304 Darth Vader and 75305 Scout Trooper [Review]

  1. Meilleur McCheese

    Thank you for providing such a picture-heavy review! At first I was severely disappointed with how the Vader helmet looked, but after seeing it from many different angles, it actually looks much better than in the official publicity photos, though I still can’t get over how they allowed an incomplete-looking mouth grill…

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