Tag Archives: Darth Vader

LEGO Star Wars 75294 Bespin Duel now available [News]

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of its release, and LEGO is honoring the occasion with 75294 Bespin Duel available exclusively from the LEGO Shop and Target ($39.99 USD | $49.99 CAD from the LEGO Shop and $39.99 USD from Target). The set includes 295 pieces, with minifigures of Luke Skywalker and his dear dad Darth Vader, and will be available on August 27th, 2020.

Two years ago, LEGO’s first “Master Builder” set 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City included a scaled-down version of this same scene, but this version is more detailed and includes a stand with a commemorative plaque.

Unfortunately, this LEGO Star Wars set will only be available in the US and Canada. The set was originally designed as the exclusive set for Star Wars Celebration, originally scheduled for August 27th-30th. With the cancellation of nearly all in-person events in North America due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this set is being made available online, but only in the United States and Canada.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Star Wars 75291 Death Star Final Duel takes us to the Emperor’s Throne Room [Review]

With beloved minifigures and generally excellent vehicle designs in the LEGO Star Wars theme, location-based playsets often get a bad rap by comparison. Back in 2016, I described 75137 Carbon Freezing Chamber as half-formed, oddly over-engineered, ugly, and ultimately baffling — one of the worst LEGO sets I’d reviewed in recent memory. Then in 2018, we argued that the $350 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City doesn’t even live up to LEGO’s own product description, despite some stellar mid-scale vehicles and improved carbon-freezing chamber. Given that history, we were skeptical of 75291 Death Star Final Duel (US $99.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99), which includes 775 pieces with five minifigs and will be available starting September 1st (with the now-standard caveats about COVID-19 shipping). But has LEGO exceeded our low expectations?

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75291 Death Star Final Duel

LEGO Art revealed as mosaic sets of The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Star Wars Sith and Iron Man [News]

LEGO has revealed an entirely new product line of mosaic sets featuring pop culture portraits called LEGO Art. The four initial sets revealed include Iron Man, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, and Star Wars Sith. Each of the adult-targeted sets contains an average of 3,250 pieces, a new brick separator, several new elements, an exclusive signature tile, and instructions and extra parts to build 3 or 4 different designs per set. Each set comes with a curated building soundtrack, and as an added bonus, three copies of either the Iron Man or Star Wars sets can be combined to make an “ultimate piece” triple the size of a single portrait.

Each LEGO Art set comes in a box the size of a pizza and will retail for US $119.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £114.99. The Iron Man portrait will be available globally (including the US) exclusively from LEGO on August 1st. The other three portraits will be available globally from LEGO and various retailers starting August 1st, except in the US which will have to wait a month until September 1st.

Get a close up look at each new LEGO Art portrait and see the ultimate versions from combining sets

LEGO reveals 7 new Star Wars sets for late summer 2020 including Galaxy’s Edge and upcoming 2020 advent calendar [News]

LEGO has revealed seven new Star Wars sets based on everything across the galaxy including the films, television shows, a visual dictionary, and even Disney’s theme park land, Galaxy’s Edge. The sets include two brand new ships, multiple desirable minifigures, a few refreshed models, and the 2020 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar. (Spoiler alert: we’ve included photos of the Advent behind the jump at the far end of this article.)

The seven new sets join four other upcoming LEGO Star Wars models already announced earlier this year, including 75288 AT-AT, 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers, 75292 The Razor Crest and 75317 The Mandalorian & The Child BrickHeadz. All these new sets should be available globally starting Sept. 1st.

Click to take a closer look at each new LEGO Star Wars set.

The Dark Side of nice part usage

Versatile as LEGO bricks are, sometimes there are pieces that are just…challenging…to work with. There are common but annoying parts like big ugly rock pieces. There are wacky things like a rare Duplo stand from a short-lived licensed theme. Whatever the case, it takes a special kind of builder to take these elements and see them in new ways. A kind of part mastery. Some might even say….Jedi mastery. For example, LEGO builder Logan W. has taken the normally single-purpose Bionicle Midak Skyblaster cannon and incorporated it into an impressive replica of Darth Vader’s iconic lightsaber. The cannon forms the emitter shroud, while the hilt is made from strips of black tile connected to octagonal bar frames and a Technic racing wheel rim.

Logan was inspired by a Two-Piece-Only lightsaber created by The Igzer. The two pieces in use there are the aforementioned Midak Skyblaster cannon and a bit of Bionicle shoulder armor. If you’re looking for a minimalist approach to Jedi weaponry, you should check that build, too!

Breaking News: deadbeat dad ruins kid’s life, hand

A Tatooine man known as Darth Vader has ruined his son Luke’s life and chopped off his hand, sources told our reporters last Monday. This creation by Joffre Zheng depicted the scene immediately after the lightsaber duel on Bespin where Vader and Skywalker took the kerfuffle onto a dangerous overhang. After slicing off Luke’s hand, a portion of guardrail and some other mechanical doodads, the two exchanged heated words. Vader had reportedly goaded Skywalker about the power of the Dark Side before revealing that he was his father.

Unbelieving that such a deadbeat could be his dad, Luke jumped hundreds of feet then slid down what might have been a garbage shoot. He later emerged, clinging to a radio antenna beneath Bespin’s superstructure. Skywalker was later rescued on board the Millennium Falcon by his friends Chewbacca, Princess Leia Organa, and Lando Calrissian. “The kid was bummed”, Calrissian told our reporters. “Like, totally bummed, man.” Authorities were not called to the scene of the incident, and it was reported that alcohol was not involved. At press time Skywalker had also learned that Leia Organa was his sister, making the passionate kiss they shared earlier quite awkward indeed.

LEGO Star Wars 75227 Darth Vader Bust now available from Target [News]

The highly sought-after 75227 Darth Vader Bust is finally available from Target for REDcard members. Originally announced as a limited-run Star Wars Celebration set going on sale starting April 11th, the retailer took its time posting the listing. The exclusive set contains 327 pieces and retails for $39.99 US.

(EDIT: It appears to have sold out in less than 15 minutes. We have reached out to Target to see if any other batch will be made available but have not heard back.)

For those of you who are either based internationally, not Target REDcard members, or just don’t want to hassle with the order system, we posted instructions on how to build the set from your own pieces, Bricklink or LEGO Bricks and Pieces service.

Exclusive LEGO Star Wars 75227 Darth Vader Bust [Instructions]

Last month, LEGO revealed the exclusive 75227 Darth Vader Bust set for Star Wars Celebration 2019. Convention exclusives are usually very hard to obtain and command a high price on the secondary market from scalpers. Thankfully, LEGO is somewhat addressing that since this set will also be available to Target REDCard members online starting April 11th until supplies run out (which we expect will be very quick).

(EDIT: Target did not make the bust available on the 11th and instead posted it early in the morning on the 12th. It appears to have sold out in less than 15 minutes. We have reached out to Target to see if any other batch will be made available but have not heard back.)

While we celebrate that the set won’t be entirely exclusive to the show in Chicago, it will still likely prove to be a hard-to-get collectors item elsewhere around the world. We know many of our international readers have bemoaned the fact they can’t get the set, so we are happy to report that LEGO has published the instructions and parts list for the Darth Vader Bust online. You can download the instructions from LEGO here (the file is 23 MB).

Our very own News Editor Dave Schefcik has already searched through his collection and built the Darth Vader Bust with only a few pieces needing to be substituted with alternative parts. Behold Lord Vader!

Dave also discovered that the Darth Vader Bust contains two new unique pieces: a pair of 4×6 right/left plates in black that help shape the back of the helmet. These wedge plates are relatively new and are only currently available in white on Bricklink (also available in red on LEGO Bricks and Pieces). Dave substituted them with the more common 3×6 right/left wedge plates and got close to the final look.

Luckily, the two new black pieces are currently available on LEGO Bricks and Pieces if you need your bust to be perfect. Dave actually priced out the entire set since 100% of the inventory is currently available from Bricks and Pieces, and it came to a total of $50.90 USD plus tax and shipping for all of the parts brand new from LEGO. (It may even be cheaper with used brick on Bricklink, though not nearly as convenient.)

That total cost is only $10.91 more than what the set will retail for ($39.99) so it is a pretty good deal if you want to just build the Darth Vader Bust with new sorted brick from LEGO using the digital instructions provided. Yes, you wont have the box or printed instructions–but for many fans who won’t be able to get their hands on the set mint-in-box anyway, we are happy there’s a way for everyone to enjoy building it.

Good luck and May The Force Be With You!

LEGO Star Wars 75227 Darth Vader Bust revealed as Star Wars Celebration and Target REDcard exclusive [News]

LEGO has revealed 75227 Darth Vader Bust, another set in their Star Wars 20th Anniversary lineup. The exclusive set contains 327 pieces and will retail for $39.99 US. The set will initially be available at Star Wars Celebrations, with limited general availability to Target REDcard members on April 11th.

Click here for the complete press release and pictures of the front and back of the LEGO Darth Vader Bust

What could be better than Darth Vader riding a unicycle while playing flaming bagpipes?

If you visit Portland, Oregon you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Unipiper, a unicycling, bagpipe-playing, costume-wearing street performer. He achieved fame for riding around as Darth Vader while playing a rendition of the Imperial March on bagpipes. Patrick Biggs has captured the Unipiper in all his quirky glory, right down to the flames shooting out of the bagpipes. Patrick claims this was a last minute build, but his model looks both well-planned and well-executed.

No one escapes Vader’s wrath

One thing we all learnt from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is that you don’t want to stand between a Sith Lord and his blueprints! NS Brick Designs has done an amazing job of capturing the iconic scene, giving us Darth Vader in full on rage as he storms the gantry corridor toward the fleeing Tantive IV.

It may only be a small LEGO build, but through the careful placement of the scattered Rebel troops — one being pinned to the ceiling by a force throw — captures the sweeping flow of the sequence. The interior is the other star, overflowing with accurate details. The panelled floor constructed from Technic bars showing just how far things have been taken in the pursuit of the perfect build.

An office with a view

Whatever people may think about Darth Vader’s regime, there’s no doubting his taste for classy work spaces. Whether he’s working from his head office or on a business trip to a distant system, the interior and the views he and his staff enjoy are to be envied. Brick Ninja perfectly captures his excellent model of the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Executor, so perfect it looks almost exactly like a shot from The Empire Strikes Back.

And it’s not just a pretty-looking diorama, but a proper copy of the ship’s bridge. While the front of the bridge is for admiring the fleet, there are some important business meetings happening on its other side.