Tag Archives: Star Wars

LEGO Star Wars is one of the most popular LEGO themes of all time. Far beyond X-wings and TIE fighters, there’s a whole expanded universe of inspiration, and an army of LEGO fans ready to build whatever comes out of George Lucas’s head next.

Return of the Mon Calamari Cruiser

Once again, we find ourselves writing about an excellent LEGO diorama by swbuilds. And once again, it’s a Mon Calamari Cruiser full of life! After finishing the bridge, this build apparently followed close behind. But I’m not going to talk about Star Wars here. Instead I’m going to reference another space-faring LEGO theme: Life on Mars. For that is where all that glorious sand purple comes from! This is one of those colours with an extremely limited colour palette: only 18 designs, and six of those are minifigure parts. Fortunately, many of those other 12 parts were larger ones, so you can make them go a long way, as swbuilds does here. I’m particularly fond of the overturned pump from 7317 Aero Tube Hangar in the background!

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.

Explore Endor in this epic Ewok Village

Back in the 80s, I remember the older kids always showed a certain disdain for Ewoks. But I was just young enough when The Return of the Jedi came out that a giant alien treehouse manned by warrior teddy bears seemed like the coolest thing ever. And Simulterious has made my inner child beam with delight at the sight of this amazing Ewok village build.

Click through to check out the full build!

Heroes of the Star Wars Expanded Universe: Legends but not forgotten

The original Star Wars hadn’t even been released when Alan Dean Foster started writing Splinter of the Minds Eye, the first story in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (later called Legends). Prior to Lucasfilm’s sale to Disney, telling stories in the Star Wars sandbox was a fairly freewheeling business, guided more by a code of honor to not contradict what came before, and to be game to retcon anything that George made canon.( I had first-hand experience writing in this era, penning a choose-your-own-adventure style book full of EU easter eggs.) These days, the Star Wars Universe feels a bit trapped between three aesthetically very different trilogies, with Dave Filoni doing his best to fold EU favorites like Thrawn into the continuity between Clone Wars and Rise of Skywalker. I love The Last Jedi and Andor, but I also miss the era when the Adventures of Luke Skywalker was an endless blue ocean of possibility.

Jan Woźnica certainly carries a torch for the Expanded Universe. In the past, the builder shared an incredible LEGO model of the Moldy Crow from Star Wars: Dark Forces. Now Jan is back with a bevy of expanded universe characters, perfectly assembled from official LEGO parts and staged on custom stands. There are some pretty deep cuts here, so in the gallery that follows, I’ve added links to Wookiepedia if you need a refresher on who’s who.

Take a closer look at Jan’s minifig tributes to the Star Wars Expanded Universe

LEGO Star Wars 75428 Battle Droid with STAP: studs not on STAP [Review]

The Single Trooper Aerial Platform, probably isn’t one of the first vehicles to come to mind when you hear “A long time ago in a galaxy far away,” but by virtue of LEGO Star Wars debuting alongside The Phantom Menace blitz, the humble STAP was one of the first of the first to get the brick treatment. That pedigree aside, I think it’s fair to say some were surprised by the vehicle’s return in 75428 Battle Droid with STAP, which offers a large-scale version of that vehicle and its pilot. But you know what? As a big fan of Episode I, I’m all here for it! This set contains 1,088 pieces, and can be pre-ordered now for US $139.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £119.99. Shipping starts from July 1, after which point it may also be available from third-party retailers like eBay or Amazon. Is that price too steep for a STAP? Let’s find out!

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.

Step up to our STAP review!

Dark Lords and Durasteel – Sith happens [Minifig Monday]

The LEGO minifig scene on Instagram is a welcoming place with creative collaborations, friendly crossovers, and a supportive community… all virtues sneered upon by the subject of this week’s Minifig Monday. Today we’re spotlighting Dark Lords of the Sith dreamed up by some of our favorite builders. The prompt for these builds came from the #swminifigtournament started by burbricks. Which wicked fig is your favorite?

Our first Sith comes courtesy of Expansion Bricks. Per the builder, “Darth Taz is an ancient Utapauan sith from the Old Republic era, long before the rule of two. Taz fought in the Sith Civil Wars as a revered warrior and tactician.” The robotic arm and collection of trophies are incredible, but my favorite detail is definitely the use of the minifig ladybug wings as a collar around Taz’ head.

From kappa_o407, we have Darth Enophis, a highly unusual Mon Calamari Sith. Per Kappa, “He was best known for his ability to create Force Storms, an ability that allowed him to tear the fabric of space and create hyperspace tunnels, a power that allowed him not only to travel, but also gave him the ability to destroy entire planets due to the instability of the tears.” His storm powers were also ideal for laying traps.

The Sith revenge tour continues after the fold

Rainbow squadron, standing by!

It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of the squadron colours in Star Wars. First it was just Red and Gold, then Green came along in Return of the Jedi, Blue appeared – and disappeared – in Rogue One… And that’s before we even get to LEGO-specific ones like Teal Squadron. Let’s just get them all out of the way at once, shall we? Over on Instagram, Mark (lego_coffee) has brought together as many colours as he can to craft some miniature monochrome x-wings. And by LEGO’s official colours naming scheme, we have Mid-Stone Gray Squadron, Flame Yellowish Orange Squadron, Reddish Brown Squadron, Bright Purple Squadron… The only criticism I can make is that such names don’t exactly roll off the tongue!

Iced brickaccino for, uh, Jeff Vader?

Here’s a fun bit of AFOL lore for you, readers. One of my very first interactions with the online LEGO community – and indeed YouTube – was a brick-film of Suzy Eddie Izzard’s famous Death Star Canteen sketch. (It’s still online to this day, and having looked at the upload date I now feel terribly old.) I have to wonder if that might have formed the inspiration for Kelly Bartlett‘s fantastic Death Star cafeteria! It’s part of a collaborative display at this week’s Bricks Cascade event in Portland, OR: the Death Star Village. As the name suggests, it’s all the Death Star amenities we never got to see in the films. And Kelly has shown she has a knack for brand marketing… I mean come on, Death Starbucks?! It’s almost meant to be!

The barista droid has taken your order – why not take a look around while you wait?

This U-Wing takes a beating and keeps on smuggling

Rogue One gave us the U-Wing, with its four over-sized engines and two long s-foils. Star Wars: Rebels, however, delivered a slightly more used version. Liam Hunter has built the beat-up version in LEGO, with only two engines remaining and battered s-foils. If I am honest, I really prefer the look of the U-Wing in this shape. And thanks to Liam, I get to see it in a great level of detail.

K2-SO delivers safety, security and wit

Hopefully you met the KX-series security droid in Rogue One where we have the wonderful wit of K-2SO, or maybe you met the KX-series as a relentless enemy in the Star Wars: Jedi video games. Thankfully, this LEGO version by Leot is the rebel-supporting K-2SO. Given that we just had May 4th and Andor Season 2, Leot has been on a run of Andor themed builds. Here we get to see K2 giving the KX’s patented shove to an Imperial officer.

A LEGO AT-ST from before it was called an AT-ST

Every LEGO builder has a signature style. Some are more subtle than others, but everyone’s got one. In Matt (Classic Brix)’s case, his LEGO Star Wars creations often feature some nostalgic minifigures from the early years of the theme. Don’t let that retro snowtrooper fool you, though: this Hoth AT-ST uses thoroughly modern parts and techniques. Most obviously, you have the 2×3 curved wedge slopes, which are a perfect match for this walker’s feet. But there’s a delicious touch of irony in that printed part between the ‘eyes’. It is contemporary with the snowtrooper, and from a set featuring an AT-ST… But it sided with a miniature snowspeeder instead!

Cleave through the air with this clever LEGO speeder bike

Does anyone remember the LSB contests? For the uninitiated, LSB stands for LEGO Speeder Bikes. These days, it’s primarily a group over on Flickr full of wonderful speeder creations. But as Charlie Jones reminds us, there were a handful of contests run through said group, too. Charlie has been busy building a handful of speeders to remember them by – and we’re particularly taken by the Carmine Shard here!

Seeing it in such a dynamic pose is cool, but even members of the Guavian Death Gang need a rest now and then. And this shot gives us an insight into how this build started, too. It seems that a minifigure cleaver can slot through a minifigure’s legs and double as a speeder saddle! An ingenious connection, which is sure to be a boon for LSB builders everywhere. On which note – I’m going to see if I’ve got any cleavers myself…

The sun sets on Revenge of the Fifth

In Revenge of the Sith, we witness the twilight of the Jedi in the glow of lasers, lightsabers, and lava. Sam (dewback_bricks) brings cinematic lighting to Anakin’s fall in a LEGO diorama that infuses excellent brickwork with a powerful air of tragedy. The floor design is brilliantly done, as is the forced perspective through the tall window. (And no doubt many builders are envious of those sand red columns!)

Thanks to LED lighting and a few minor changes, the scene transforms as the Dark Side rises.

As George Lucas famously said about the prequels, “It’s like poetry. It rhymes.”