Tag Archives: Rogue One

A Star Destroyer floating ominously...

With one season of Andor out and another season somewhere on the horizon, it’s a good time to revisit the beautiful shots of Rogue One. This LEGO model by Codyaner perfectly captures the fearsome presence of the imperial hammer hanging over Jedha. Codyaner has done a great job of capturing the weathered, rocky nature of the walls and stone surrounding the city by stepping through light tan, dark tan, reddish brown, and dark brown bricks for the surrounding landscape. There’s such a huge variety of slopes in the rock that it would be impossible to list them all. I’ll shout out four here: the 2×4 wedge, the claw piece used for many a roof, and the shell and slope combo used on the right hand side. This city may be ill-fated, but if you look closely enough you’ll see the sparks of a rebellion burning in those city streets!

Tensions are rising on the once-peaceful streets of Jedha

The movie Rogue One; A Star Wars Story introduced fans to several new locations, including the holy city of Jedha, a site of Imperial oppression as precious resources were harvested to power the Death Star super-laser. In this impressively detailed LEGO scene by HazBazBricks, a patrol of stormtroopers confront citizens while rebels gather in doorways and on rooftops, preparing to unleash violence in defense of their home and in defiance of the Empire’s relentless cruelty. The worn details of the walls and archways, along with the uneven ground complete with cracked pavement reflect the separation of the civilians.

Jedha Uprising

LEGO Star Wars 75338 Ambush on Ferrix – you might be blindsided by how much fun it is – [Review]

At the end of August, Disney+ will offer yet another glimpse of that galaxy far, far away with Andor, the TV series that serves as a prequel to Rogue One (itself a prequel to A New Hope). Not much is known about the series beyond the fact that Diego Luna is returning to play the title character Cassian Andor, the soldier who helped Jyn Erso steal the Death Star plans. Well, we’ve gotten our hands on LEGO’s Andor tie-in set, 75338 Ambush on Ferrix, and we’re ready to share its secrets with you. This 679-piece set will be available August 1st for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £69.99

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.

(No Bothans were harmed to bring you this information.)

Unloading on Scarif with the U-wing that could have been

Star Wars and LEGO have gone hand-in-hand for quite some time now. Uncountable LEGO User Groups are centered around the very concept of building models based on the Star Wars universe. Suffice it to say, there is a wealth of models inspired by the galaxy far, far away. As many ships as there are in George Lucas’ fever dream of a series, a whole can of worms opens up when you look into the concept designs for some of the most iconic vehicles. This ship, built by Jan Südmersen, was inspired by a concept design of the rebel U-wing fighter from Rogue One. Quite different from the movie design on a few fronts, the main difference is the lack of wing-like strike foils. For those that aren’t hip, the s-foils were apparently used more for increasing the shield profile of the ship and less so for aerodynamics in an atmosphere. I doubt this big boy needs much help from some wings, though, as it looks like it can take a few hits without a problem.

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This is Red Squadron Support, Calling In!

Every successful starfighter squadron has a team of support personnel and vehicles behind them. LEGO Builder Gruja shares what his support craft for Red Squadron could look like.

Red Squadron support craft (1)

I’m a sucker for LEGO Star Wars spaceships that are implied to exist. This U-wing variant is a perfect example of that. Not seen on-screen but hey, somebody needs to be ferrying supplies to squadron bases.

Gruja’s support craft illustrates what every Rebellion ship looks like; rough, tough, and a scratchy paint job. Lots of little greeble details give it that “lived-in” universe look, helping it fit right in with Star Wars lore.

Red Squadron support craft (2)

You can’t live on flight rations every day, which is why I’m sure that cargo crate is full of Socorran Sandwiches.

Not a very “chicken” walker

Known to fans as the “chicken walker”, this LEGO All Terrain-Scout Transport (AT-ST) model by builder Lewis Kiwi is anything but a wimpy chicken. I’d use this beast to stand up to rebel scum any day of the week.

AT-ST

This has to be the most well-built AT-ST I’ve ever seen. From the top of the highly-detailed roof to the bottom of the articulated feet, this AT-ST outshines even the Ultimate Collector’s Series AT-ST set. Just look at the joints! The blasters! The engine work!

Some of the best LEGO creations have a level of detail that implies more detail beneath it. Notice how simple pieces like tubing and fans draw your eyes into the walker’s interior, making you wonder where those tubes connect to and how the walker is powered.

AT-ST

Where Lewis shines the most, however, is in his color schemes. This AT-ST uses light gray as the main armor layer, while underlying dark gray form the walker’s structure. This effect establishes the battle-readiness and is a detail not seen in many of the AT-ST models built over the years.

A new take on a classic Star Wars troop transport

For the Rebellion! Arriving just in time to save the day is the Rebel Transport, as seen in this LEGO creation by Thomas Jenkins. If you know your Rebel starships, you’d see many similarities between this ship and the U-wing, made famous by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Jenkins’ ship features shortened wings and a pair fewer engines from the normal U-wing, but also sports a rear wing connector and a bubble turret.

Rebel Transport

Another detail I didn’t notice until my third look-through of this build is that the main body of the ship can slide forwards and backward within the wingspan. I’m honestly not sure what the purpose of this feature is, but frankly, I don’t care because it looks so dang cool.

Rebel Transport Interior

With several soldiers loaded onboard and a speeder bike prepped to launch, this Rebel Transport is ready to deploy anywhere the Alliance sends it.

Your behavior, Jyn Erso, is continually unexpected.

There’s an orthodoxy — often passing over into toxicity — within Star Wars fandom that states that The Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie of all time, and that anything produced after 1983 is inherently and automatically lesser. I am the rare heretic whose favorite Star Wars movie is not part of the nine-movie Skywalker Saga. While certainly not perfect, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took the story in a completely new direction while filling in one of the most mysterious gaps in the canon. Luca captures an incredibly poignant moments in the movie, when Jyn and Cassian must abandon K-2SO as they climb the interior of the data vault with the stolen Death Star plans.

ROGUE ONE - Data vault

The builder focuses the viewer’s attention on the two characters, but the scene is replete with wonderful detail. The round vault doorway and tunnel extends forward, further focusing attention on the minifigs, while in the background repetition provides the texture of the racks of data tapes. Scenes like this show that a great LEGO creation doesn’t need to be a 10,000-piece diorama anymore than a great Star Wars movie has to star a space wizard with a laser sword.

LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series returns with 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer [News]

LEGO’s next Star Wars Ultimate Collectors Series (UCS) set has officially been announced as 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer. The ship is the Empire’s and Darth Vader’s flagship from A New Hope named the Devastator. The set will come with 4,784 pieces and two Imperial minifigures of an officer and a crewmember. The Star Destroyer will be the third-largest LEGO Star Wars UCS set of all time and will be available for US $699.99 | CAN $849.99 | UK £649.99 starting September 18th for LEGO VIP members with general availability beginning October 1st.

The Devastator was the second spaceship ever on screen in a Star Wars film, chasing after the Tantive IV above Tatooine in the opening shot of A New Hope. Just like the movie, this LEGO Imperial Star Destroyer follows the release of the not-quite-UCS 75244 Tantive IV from earlier this year.

Click to get a closer look at the new LEGO Star Wars UCS Imperial Star Destroyer

LEGO Star Wars set designers share some secrets of the upcoming 75244 Tantive IV [News]

With May 4th on the horizon, LEGO will be launching the impressive 75244 Tantive IV, the Rebel corvette featured in the opening shot of Star Wars: A New Hope. LEGO set designer César Soares and graphic designer Maddy O’Neil sat down to share some of the secrets behind the creation of the LEGO set and talk about their journey working for LEGO. Some of the more interesting details include our first good look at the hidden handle embedded in the swooshable set, as well as the inspiration for the interior scenes, some newly recolored elements borrowed from the 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon, and how the Bail Organa minifigure came to be.

75244 Tantive IV will be available for purchase from LEGO for US $199.99 | CAN $269.99 | UK £179.99 starting at 9 am ET on May 3rd for LEGO VIPs and 12 am ET on May 4th for everyone.

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.

vader rage

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.

LEGO Star Wars 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle [Review]

The LEGO Star Wars sets from Rogue One, released in late 2016 and early 2017 to support the movie, include several of my favorite LEGO Star Wars sets of the past few years, like the fantastic 75172 Y-wing Starfighter and 75155 Rebel U-wing Starfighter. I’ve hoped that LEGO would return to world of Rogue One, and with the recently released 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle LEGO returns to the first Star Wars Anthology film.

The set has had mixed reactions from LEGO builders and collectors since it was first announced several weeks ago, but how does it actually stack up?

Read our hands on review of LEGO Star Wars 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle