Tag Archives: Luke Skywalker

LEGO Star Wars Helmets: 75343 Dark Trooper, 75328 The Mandalorian, & 75327 Luke Skywalker (Red Five) [Review]

The Helmets Series has been a massive success since its introduction, capturing iconic characters across Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. While the troopers and TIE pilot may excite some, Boba Fett and Darth Vader proved to be the great lures for dual fans of LEGO and Star Wars, especially those who grew up with the original trilogy. After all, the set’s 18+ rating was definitely targeted at the more…tenured fans. Given how many helmets have permeated the slew of related works though, the designers have a wealth of inspiration for their next models. Much like the fans, the designers must have felt like something was missing. We got plenty of “bad guys” but where were the “hero” helmets? Well, two out of three new helmets recently announced by LEGO may debatably balance things out:
75343 Dark Trooper | 693 pcs | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99
75328 The Mandalorian | 584 pcs | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99
75327 Luke Skywalker (Red Five) | 675 pcs | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99

Be sure to check out our reviews of previous reviews of the Star Wars Helmets collection:

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.

Continue reading

Two new LEGO Star Wars helmets revealed: 75327 Luke Skywalker & 75328 The Mandalorian [News]

This morning Amazon.pl revealed two new LEGO Star Wars sets from the ongoing helmets series, 75327 Luke Skywalker (Red Five) and 75328 The Mandalorian. Luke’s helmet has 675 pieces, while the Mandalorian’s features 584. While there’s no price listed for the sets yet, expect them to run about $59.99 each, in line with previous helmets from the series. We expect that they will be available starting March 1. Like the other buildable helmets, each set comes with a display stand and printed plate with the character’s name. Interestingly, the Mandalorian’s helmet appears to differ a bit in construction from Boba Fett’s helmet that was released in 2020.

Be sure to check out our reviews of previous buildable helmets:

Click to see more images of the new Star Wars helmets

This may smell bad, kid...but it’ll keep you warm...

The tenacious smuggler turned burgeoning rebel general, Han Solo, really saved the galaxy by cutting open that poor Tauntaun. Thankfully, his quick thinking made good use of the dead creature’s lingering heat. Before you start wondering if that residual heat would really keep Luke alive through a night on Hoth, just remember that Han says he’s putting up a shelter. The real tragedy is that Han knew he’d be sacrificing that, er, magnificent creature when he left Echo base. He was warned! Still, I’m sure Luke was grateful, both for being saved and for being unconscious during his nap in a Tauntaun carcass. Mostly. Anyway, this playful Miniland-scale Star Wars model by Ochre Jelly hits me right in the nostalgia.

The Miniland building style allows for playful details in brick-built figures. Ochre Jelly is fond of this style and has built some iconic scenes and memes in the past. Here he’s done a wonderful job with the Hoth versions of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker from the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. Their respective outfits translate well to bricks and plates with proper color blocking. Han’s fuzzy hood achieved with exposed studs is pretty neat and his stance captures his mood perfectly.

The scale of the figures definitely allowed for more detail and curves in the Tauntaun. Big, thick legs and distinctive claws, along with a saddle and amazing horns, match well with the source material. Those Minifigure arms used as guts are a real clincher, though. A mess of blue clips and plates seem like blood pooling under the multi-colored assortment of Minifigure body parts with hotdogs thrown in for good measure. Delusional Luke probably appreciates that warm goo a little bit, right?

I’m just glad that the LEGO Group hasn’t made scented bricks because we do not need to know the actual difference between the outside and inside smells of a Tauntaun.

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.

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 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.

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.

I'm your 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 75258 Anakin’s Podracer – 20th Anniversary Edition [Review]

While many don’t fancy the Star Wars prequels, I for one am a fan them, especially the Podracers from The Phantom Menace. Thanks to the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars, we get an Anakin’s Podracer to commemorate some of the iconic themes and sets from two decades ago. 75258 Anakin’s Podracer – 20th Anniversary Edition comes with 279 pieces and retails for US: $29.99 | Canada: 39.99 CAD | UK: £24.99. It is currently available.

Click to read the full hands-on review

Presents you must have, my young padawan

The Grinch isn’t the only strange green creature you’ll meet this festive season, Koen Zwanenburg would have us believe that Father Christmas is in fact a Jedi master, Yoda no less! Bizarrely it makes perfect sense — clearly, it would take a high-level Force user to achieve Santa’s intergalactic delivery schedule. There is also a sly nod to the commercial success of the Star Wars franchise: in a clever reversal of roles, Yoda carries a LEGO minifigure Luke on his back, ready to fill someone’s Christmas stocking.

Santa Yoda

If you like Keon’s model, he’s provided LDD instructions for you to make your very own Santa Yoda.

LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz: 41627 Luke Skywalker and Yoda, 41628 Princess Leia, and 41629 Boba Fett [Review]

Back in late 2017, before LEGO released any BrickHeadz characters from the Star Wars Classic Trilogy, we reviewed the New York Comic-Con exclusive Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite. I excoriated LEGO for creating artificial scarcity in what would inevitably be an incredibly popular set. That set is now selling for at least $200 on eBay, but there’s good news: LEGO has now released another wave of Star Wars BrickHeadz characters, this time including Boba Fett (41629), Princess Leia (41628), and Luke Skywalker & Yoda (41627).

Read our full review of the latest LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz characters