Tag Archives: Prequels

Storm the beaches of Kashyyyk with this faithfully recreated tank droid

Whatever your feelings toward the Star Wars prequels, it’s hard to deny the quality of their production design. This LEGO incarnation of the NR-N99 Persuader-class tank droid by builder Matt (from Revenge of the Sith) is just one example of the many instantly iconic vehicles the prequels bestowed upon us. The build does its on-screen counterpart justice—from the fencing foils used for the antennae to the “I” typewriter keys cleverly repurposed as the droid’s photoreceptors. You can almost hear the pew-pew-pew of those heavy repeating blasters.

NR-N99 Persuader Class Tank Droid

A fresh take on a retro Star Wars set

While LEGO releases newer versions of Star Wars sets — usually popular vehicles such as X-Wings and Tie Fighters and occasionally revamps of notable settings such as Palpatine’s Thrown room — one set that we haven’t gotten a remake of is the Bounty Hunter Pursuit, the original set dating from 2002 coinciding with the release of the film Attack Of The Clones. Hachiroku92 gives us a glimpse into what this LEGO set could look like modernized.

Hachiroku’s speeder builds could work great in the microfighters line of sets with their utilization of smaller pieces and simple but effective appearance. The models pictured are mostly comprised of slopes, tiles, and bricks in the speeders’ signature yellows, oranges, and lime green colors – a rare color-scheme in the LEGO Star Wars universe. Of course a few trans-clear elements are used for lights and windshields to complete the vehicular look.

A couple modernized flesh toned figures for Obi-Wan and Anakin are included in one of Hachiroku’s speeder models. It would definitely be great to see these speeders make their way back into modern LEGO Star Wars canon, and of course a new Zam Wesell minifigure would be embraced by many fans I am sure.

So love has blinded you?

I admit it. I love the prequel trilogy of Star Wars movies. It is not for the scintillating dialogue or the powerful acting, though, impressive as those are. No, it is for the cool spaceships and the deeper look at life in the galaxy. There’s more to the thousands of planets than a few military bases and super-weapons, after all. One of those cool spaceships is the Venator-class Star Destroyer, used by the Republic. Fans of LEGO have been clamoring for years for a UCS (Ultimate Collectors Series) model of the ship, and, quite frankly, I’ll be surprised if they ever get it due to an anti-prequel bias. For now, though, they can be content with seeing this microscale version built by Stephan Niehoff. It’s got everything it needs: blasters, thrusters, greebles, and most importantly, the dual bridges and the dark red stripe along the top. Now it’s time to take out some Separatists!

Venator

It’s not a view the Jedi would show you

The planet-city of Coruscant is magnificent in the setting sun, and the expansive urban landscapes were one of my favorite visuals from the prequel trilogy. This image by Malen Garek of a view from the Jedi temple may have been erased from the archives, but it’s breathtaking nonetheless. Malen has nailed the colors, and the forced perspective backdrop is one of the better I’ve seen.

The Jedi Temple - Coruscant