LEGO 75349: Captain Rex and LEGO 75350: Clone Commander Cody helmets [Review]

The Clone Wars era of Star Wars has been a subject of great interest to fans since Old Ben Kenobi first told a young Luke Skywalker about a time when Kenobi fought alongside Luke’s father. The prequel trilogy teased fans with the start and end of the war but left a pretty big gap in between. This year marks the 20-year anniversary of our first glimpse of what happened during the Clone Wars in the form of an animated series that aired on the Cartoon Network in 2003. Long-time fans of the 2008 animated series created by Dave Filoni will be very excited with the latest characters to join the LEGO Star Wars helmet series: Commander Cody and Captain Rex.

The 2008 Clone Wars animated series, which is now streaming on Disney+ included many episodes where these two clone troopers teamed up with Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin on several missions. Many of the series episodes aired out of order, but Cody and Rex both first appeared chronologically in Season 1, episode 16 titled The Hidden Enemy, which aired on February 6, 2009. Commander Cody has appeared in the new series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Captain Rex has appeared on Star Wars: Rebels, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

LEGO 75349 Captain Rex comes with 854 pieces and 75350: Clone Commander Cody includes 766 pieces. Both will be available on March 1 for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99 and US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99 respectively.

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

Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheets

Each set comes in the same tall black box as the other helmet sets with the 18+ adult series band across the bottom. The front of the box features the finished helmet on its stand, set at a three-quarter front view. The name of the set is printed across the top in white letters below the symbol of the Republic.

On the left side of the box, the helmet is shown in front view at a smaller size above a 20-year anniversary graphic and the helmet collection branding.

The back of the box shows the completed model again, this time from a three-quarter side view. At the bottom of the box is a row of 3 inset images showing a smaller front view of the LEGO helmet flanked by 2 images of the character from the animated show for Captain Rex, and from the movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith for Commander Cody, who was on Utapau when order 66 was given.

Inside the box for Captain Rex’s helmet, there are 7 numbered bags covering 5 building steps. There is also an instruction booklet and a sticker sheet.

Commander Cody’s box includes 5 numbered bags covering 5 building steps, an instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet.

Inside the instruction booklets, there are 2 pages featuring information about and a quote from each character, as well as a still image from their on-screen appearances.

Despite the set number order, I am going to cover Commander Cody first, since he sports a Phase I helmet while Captain Rex wears a Phase II helmet.

Commander Cody

The build starts out much like all sets in the series with an 8×8 plate stacked with a variety of outward-facing stud elements with a pair of clips on each side to attach the slightly angled side detail. The top portion of Cody’s signature orange visor comes next, along with a pair of attachment points for the curved top sections.

Next are 5 sub-assemblies to form the front, back, sides, and top of Cody’s helmet made by stacking several plates using techniques very similar to those used to create a Lowell sphere (a method for creating round spheres using plates).

The last detail for the top section of the helmet is a small red targeting laser on the left side, just above the visor top.

We next build a very standard helmet stand that attaches to the underside of the helmet base.

From here, we begin to sculpt the curving base of the helmet, which flairs out along the bottom edge. This is mirrored on the other side before moving on to the back of the helmet.

Next is the slightly angled section protruding from each side. The one on the right side includes a ball joint to attach another accessory in the form of a long angled orange slope. Let me know in the comments if you know what this does. We also build the two sides of the orange visor.

With both sides complete we are now ready to start shaping the front viewport and the rest of the helmet face. The complex angles of the front are built using a series of overlapping wedge plates combined with a collection of sloped parts attached to the front of the core using a row of classic LEGO hinges.

Finally, the aforementioned right-side accessory and an orange fin denote Cody as a commander.

Captain Rex

The helmet for Captain Rex starts out in much the same way, except that the core is built in two parts and attached after. The front of the helmet includes a decorative detail made from blue wedge plates and slopes that according to the booklet is a Mandalorian ornament.

The stand is pretty much identical to Cody’s except for the part at the front where the Phase II faceplate more closely resembles the future S=stormtropper designs.

The rear of the helmet is also slightly different from the Phase I helmets with a more rounded flare at the base.

Next, we add a few details to the faceplate, starting with the top viewport, and ending with the angled sides of the faceplate as well as the grilled mouth vent much like the one on the stormtrooper helmet.

From there, we move on to the top sides of Rex’s helmet where there are hash marks that represent victories in battle. then the focus shifts to the rounded side sections similar to the Imperial TIE fighter pilot, which connect to the air tubes of an environmental suit.

Finally, on the right side, we add the rangefinder that rotates down just like Jango Fett’s helmet.

The finished model

The finished helmets look great, especially displayed side-by-side.

The curved bottom edges and the built-in accessories are very accurate to their on-screen inspirations. Every angle shows an attention to detail that is consistent or even above the level found in the rest of the helmet series. The many complex angled and curved building techniques are inspirational and polished.

Cody

Rex

Conclusions and recommendations

While there may not be many new parts or even new colors, these two helmets were a blast to build and would make an excellent addition to any collection, especially if you are a fan of the animated series, which showed us a very different side of the clones from the movies, expressing their individuality and building their character over the many seasons.

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