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.

LEGO Star Wars 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child (Baby Yoda) BrickHeadz characters [Review]

The appearance of “The Child” (immediately nicknamed Baby Yoda) at the end of the first episode of “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ last November caught the whole world by surprise, including merchandise and toy licensees like LEGO, who had to scramble to produce products based on the show. First revealed in February, right before Toy Fair in New York, where we got hands on with both LEGO Star Wars The Mandalorian sets, preorders for the 295-piece LEGO BrickHeadz 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child immediately went on back-order from the LEGO Shop (US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99), but has begun showing up “in the wild” ahead of its August 1st release date.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75317 The Mandalorian & the Child BrickHeadz

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LEGO Star Wars 75284 Knights of Ren Transport Ship from The Rise of Skywalker [Review]

As we continue our reviews of summer 2020 LEGO Star Wars sets, we’re moving on from The Clone Wars and Original Trilogy to the third wave of sets from the final movie in the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker. 75284 Knights of Ren Transport Ship includes 595 pieces with three minifigs, and will be available September 1st (US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £64.99). The set rounds out the full group of Knights of Ren minifigures, but is it more than a cash grab for minifig collectors?

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75284 Knights of Ren Transport Ship

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 Star Wars 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers with AT-RT & BARC speeder [Review]

The summer 2020 lineup of LEGO Star Wars sets has added a number of sets inspired by Star Wars: The Clone Wars, including 75283 Armored Assault Tank with Ahsoka Tano and one of her unique Clone Troopers. 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers adds the elite infantry that Anakin Skywalker leads into battle as part of the Grand Army of the Republic. The set includes 285 pieces with the four Clone Trooper minifigs and two battle droids, and is scheduled to be available in the US starting September 1st from LEGO (US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99), though actual availability may vary significantly due to COVID-19.

Before we dig into the details of the set, it’s important to briefly correct some earlier reporting, which indicated that this is part of the minifigure-centric Battle Packs line of sets within LEGO Star Wars. Although the set does include four “army builder” Clone Troopers and a pair of battle droids, the inclusion of two substantial vehicles places this within the realm of standard LEGO Star Wars sets, not Battle Packs.

(And yes, I inverted the torsos on a couple of the nearly identical Clone Troopers as you can see in some of the overall photos, but thankfully we caught it during photography and the detailed minifig photos are correct.)

Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers

LEGO Star Wars 75283 Armored Assault Tank (AAT) from The Clone Wars season 7 includes Ahsoka Tano and Ahsoka Trooper [Review]

Season 7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars concluded on Disney+ recently, converging the storyline from the long-running animated TV series with the events portrayed in Revenge of the Sith. The season also wraps up a key storyline about Ahsoka Tano, connecting to her appearance as “Fulcrum” in Rebels. Because of this, LEGO fans have been excited about the inclusion of a new Ahsoka minifigure alongside a special “Ahsoka Trooper” in 75283 Armored Assault Tank, announced as part of the summer 2020 wave of LEGO Star Wars sets. The set includes 286 pieces with two minifigs (plus two battle droids), and will become available in the US on Sept. 1st, but may be available already in other regions (US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99) due to logistics and supply chain challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read our hands-on review of LEGO Star Wars 75283 Armored Assault Tank

LEGO Brick Sketches featuring Star Wars and DC Comics portraits now available [News]

LEGO’s new Brick Sketches product line featuring brick-built portraits of popular characters is now available. The first four sets in the lineup include BB-8, a First Order Stormtrooper, Batman and The Joker.

The 2D portraits are the next collectible LEGO product line following BrickHeadz and are the work of recently hired LEGO designer Chris McVeigh who created the Brick Sketch concept several years ago (read our interview with him about how Brick Sketches became an actual LEGO product).

Take a look at the Brick Sketches sets available now.

Junk speeders are what we need in a galaxy far far away

I’m a fan of the realm of possibilities in the Star Wars galaxy and especially for vehicles that could have been taken a page out of the storylines. This Junk Speeder by Thomas Jenkins gives that vibes of a single-engine mashup of what a scavenger or thrifty junkyard dealer would have up for sale or trade. For a moment, I would think this would be a perfect transport for Ewoks if they decided to venture outside of their forest dwellings. What makes this a sturdy build are likely the technic parts and pins integrated across its wingspan.

Check out Thomas’s other features that we’ve covered from a galaxy far far away.

The talented IG-11. Assassin, Bounty Hunter or Nurse Droid, take your pick

Move over R2-D2, I have a new favourite droid in the Star Wars galaxy now. If you haven’t already watched Season 1 of The Mandalorian, what are you waiting for? Don’t come back here till you’re done, ok? The IG-11 is full of surprises and I could swear that the only reason I needed the Kleenex to wipe that tear off my eye was because of a dusty home and nothing else, really indeed! Build better bricks captured the best of IG-11 with a mixed bag of almost LEGO odd parts like ingots and barrels, just like how the actual IG-11 seems to be made up of random bits of metal.

Star Wars: Now serving Order 66!

The prequels are generally regarded as the least favorites of the Star Wars franchise for many fans. With that said, we can’t deny there were some iconic moments in the films. One such moment; Order 66. That’s when the Galactic Republic was secretly ordered to execute every Jedi they could find–and man that was some edge-of-your-seat stuff! Max Fudal replicates the scene nicely in LEGO and tells us this project took two years and 50,000 pieces to complete. I’d say this was well worth the time and effort. The terrain, from the planet’s liquid core to its craggy cliffs, is astounding. The man-made structures built into the cliffside offer up a change in textures and the minifigures denote plenty of action.

I can get lost in all these great details. I just want to play with this scene all day and maybe execute Order 66 myself! Does that make me a bad person? While you’re mulling that over let’s rejoice in the fact that this seems to be the first time we’ve featured this builder here on The Brothers Brick. If this is any indicator, we readily look forward to seeing what else Max is capable of.

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

This Star Wars R2 unit is all gummed up [Video]

In the Star Wars universe, R2 units are super useful droids. They can help navigate hyperspace, handle power routing, and even do spot repairs. That’s all great if you have a starship, but what about us here on Earth? What sort of assistance can we hope for? Well, John Cooper has a possible answer: this LEGO version of R2-D2 is a fully functional gumball machine. There’s a crank in the center of the chest, and opening hatches on the front reveal a hidden coin slot and gum dispenser. A hatch on the back protects the accumulated cash. I love the clear dome panels used for the head – the exposed gumballs remind me of an old Fisher Price Corn Popper toy. Sadly this version lacks that pop-o-matic type function.

Curious to see things in action? Check out the video!

John also shared a few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the build with us:
Originally the gumballs were going to come out a simple hinged door at the front. But when I decided to use the three-leg configuration, that tilted the body back. So I devised the drawer to capture the gumball when it exists the sloped vertical drop.

I have a deep and profound fondness for robots with gumball machines for heads. I can only hope this is just the start of a whole LEGO sub-theme.

In Star Wars, X stands for X-Tra Clean

When I think about the rebel fleet from Star Wars, “dirty and ragtag” are usually the watchwords. “Clean and sleek” don’t usually come to mind. But, as we saw with the Millennium Falcon from Solo, even the grubbiest vessels were once showroom-new. That’s what I like about this LEGO X-Wing from Sam K Bricks. Complete with redesigned triangular engines, this modification of the base design feels right at home in that blue sky. The additions of some front-facing sensors on tail fins change the shaping of the nose to make for a more streamlined look, too. It’s probably the first time a starfighter design has made me feel…relaxed.

If you like your X-Wings a bit more on the used side, be sure to check out another featured variation of Sam’s, this time with square engines.