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 40407 Death Star II Battle is this year’s May the Fourth giveaway [Review]

Every year for the increasingly merchandised “May the Fourth” Star Wars holiday, LEGO has produced an exclusive item to include for free when you buy other Star Wars products. This year’s promotional set is 40407 Death Star II Battle, a microscale vignette from Return of the Jedi featuring an A-wing and TIE Interceptor skimming the battlestation’s surface. The set includes 235 pieces, and will be included with Star Wars purchases between May 1 and May 4 from LEGO’s website over US $75 | CAN $75 | UK £75. LEGO is also offering double VIP points on all Star Wars purchases over the same timeframe. LEGO lists the set for US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £13.49, but it isn’t available to purchase directly, and likely won’t ever be unless LEGO ends up with a lot of extras after the promotion ends.

Click to read the full review

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Interview with LEGO Star Wars 75275 A-wing Starfighter designer Hans Schlömer [Feature]

Earlier this month, LEGO revealed 75275 A-wing Starfighter as the latest Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set in advance of the set’s release for the May the Fourth celebration, and normally we’d be bringing you an in-depth review of the set about now. However, like so many other areas of our lives these days, the coronavirus shutdowns have thrown a wrench into our plans, because LEGO hasn’t been able to get us an early review copy. So in the meantime, we caught up with the set’s designer, Hans Schlömer, to learn a bit more about the set.

75275 A-wing Starfighter will be available starting May 1, and will retail for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99.

I want to note up front that I usually conduct interviews after I’ve built the set and had a hands-on experience with it, but due to current events I don’t yet have it. So my apologies if a few of these questions would be obvious after building the set. But let’s start with learning a little about you. How did you become a LEGO designer?

Hans Schlömer: 12 years ago I was hired to design 3D models for a LEGO online game. Creating LEGO models in 3D was a hobby of mine for years. Little did I know that this would also be the perfect education and training for becoming a LEGO designer!

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LEGO Star Wars helmets: 75274 TIE Pilot, 75276 Stormtrooper, & 75277 Boba Fett [Review]

Twenty-one years and around 700 sets after its inception, the LEGO Star Wars theme has done something new. It has introduced LEGO sets with an age rating of 18+. No, they’re not risque models of Princess Leia, merely display models clearly targeting adult collectors who want display items for their mantle. Few LEGO themes have embraced adult collectors the way the Star Wars line has. With the multi-generational, massive fanbase for Star Wars, this isn’t surprising, since now more than 40 years after the original film there are certainly more Star Wars fans over the age of 18 than under it. And this focus on adult fans isn’t new. Back in 2001, LEGO introduced the Ultimate Collector Series, kicking off not just with an X-wing and TIE Interceptor, but also an 1800-piece bust of Darth Maul. Now LEGO has introduced a trio of new mantle decorations in the form of three iconic helmets from the Star Wars universe:
75274 TIE Pilot Helmet | 724 pcs | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99
75276 Stormtrooper Helmet | 647 pcs | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99
75277 Boba Fett Helmet | 625 | US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99

All three of the Star Wars helmets are available now, and run for the same price with around 600-700 pieces. So what makes these new sets worthy of an 18+ rating? Spoiler alert: nothing. However, that aside, let’s see how the sets stack up.

Click to read the full review

Millennium Falcon concept smuggles its way into our hearts

Based off of Star Wars: The Art of Solo Andrew Miller’s slick Millenium Falcon variant zooms straight out of hyperspace and into LEGO. I have to admit I’m a huge sucker for concept art, and I hold a special affinity for any bit of Star Wars-that-could-have-been.

This black-and-grey version has very few similarities to the white-and-blue edition we got in Solo: A Star Wars Story (and as the Kessel Run Falcon LEGO set.) The small black winglets on either side of the hull are interesting, and I especially like the souped up engine cowling and much longer prow. The builder even worked in an removable escape pod not unlike what we got in the movie. I suppose explaining how this Falcon became the piece of junk we all originally met in A New Hope would have been just a tad more difficult.

Check out the art this is based on:

Ilum, home to Kyber crystals and Imperials

Poland’s Jan T. has built an icy LEGO recreation of Ilum from Star Wars: Fallen Order and it’s an action-packed stage with a story to tell!

I have to admit I’ve never played the game but this model caught my eye for its boundary-breaking snowy clumps hanging off the edge of the edges of the scene. The stark gray face of the Imperial lair utilizes interesting paneling and some absolutely gorgeous cutaways reveal piping running through the walls. I also love the probe droid floating menacingly nearby.

Not content with only half the action, Jan has also included a backside to the stout Imperial fortress wall complete with an adorable little BD-1 hacking into a security droid.

Need more BD-1 in your life? We shared instructions from one of our favorite builders hachokoru24!

LEGO 75275 A-wing Starfighter revealed as next Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set [News]

LEGO has revealed the next Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set as the 75275 A-wing Starfighter. Originally sighted in The Return of the Jedi, the A-wing model comes with 1,673 pieces, pivoting laser cannons, and an A-wing Pilot minifigure.

The set will be available for US $199.99 | CAN $259.99 | UK £179.99 starting on May 1st, just in time for May the Fourth celebrations. LEGO will also offer a gift-with-purchase set featuring the “Death Star II Battle” with all Star Wars purchases more than $75 from May 1-4 or until supplies run out, as well as double VIP points on Star Wars sets and select Star Wars items on sale.

Take a closer look at the LEGO Star Wars UCS A-wing Starfighter

Level 1313, the OTHER Star Wars hive of scum and villainy

Minnesotan Hypolite Bricks gritty Coruscant Level 1313 diorama exhibits his penchant for dynamic, textured LEGO dioramas.

For those not familiar, Star Wars 1313 was a promising but ill-fated video game focused on the darker underworld of the Galaxy Far Far Away’s capital planet Coruscant. The concept has recently been revived on the final season of The Clone Wars. This model appropriately features Imperials, aliens, droids, Quarren and Twilek artwork (ads or graffiti?), and -of course- death sticks. There are some neat greebling and detritus strewn about, and you can imagine the sort of shady dealings going on in each alcove.

Check out prior featured works from Hypolite Bricks like the N1 starfighter in Rebellion hangar, and the bounty hunter attack on Republic senators. In all models, you can really feel the hustle and bustle of the “used universe” that is so instrumentally Star Wars.

Small, or far far away?

Some LEGO builders return over and again to the same subject — obsessively tinkering with a particular design, fiddling with the structure or details in an endless quest to “improve” their creation. My particular obsession is with microscale Star Wars — the attempt to capture iconic spaceships and movie scenes in the minimum number of pieces. Microscale building can be a dangerous time-suck of a pastime, as the smallest tweak in part choice or connection can make all the difference in the final appearance of a model. For as long as I’ve been an adult builder I’ve been fiddling around with tiny Star Wars scenes. I must have built these subjects in microscale dozens of times, but on every occasion, the design gets tweaked and revised and tightened. Maybe someday I’ll be content with them, but in the meantime, here are the current iterations. First up, Episode IV: A New Hope…

Click to see models from Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi

The brightest of battles amongst the stars

From movies to TV shows to LEGO models, we all love a bit of Star Wars action. But one of the persistent criticisms of the franchise is the peculiar need it appears to have to return to similar planetary environments over and again. In an entire galaxy of apparently habitable planets, it seems weird we keep ending up on desert or frozen worlds. Here’s a LEGO creation that decides instead to revel in the possibilities of alien environments, setting a battle between the Republic and the Trade Federation on the colourful world of Tealos Prime. I love the bright foliage and unusual tones in the scenery here — a brilliant contrast with the typical grey vehicles of the Star Wars universe.

The scene, a collaborative effort from Tim Goddard, Mansur Soeleman, and inthert is an absolute cracker — massive in scope despite the micro scale employed on the individual models. Check out this wider top-down view which reveals the full size of the layout, with scenery ranging from forest to cliff-side landing pad, and the impressive array of vehicles from both factions…

Relive the Star Wars Trench Run with a LEGO custom build kit [Instructions]

Early on when Jason Allemann from JK Brickworks first revealed and eventually submitted the wonderful Pursuit of Flight on LEGO Ideas. He also recreated two variations, a scene with Santa and his reindeers, and also modification of the scene that captured many Star Wars Fans hearts with the nail-biting Trench Run scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

While we’ll never get to see the Pursuit of Flight be made into an official LEGO set, he’s released the building instruction guide and parts for the Trench Run.

You can download the parts and instructions from the JK Brickworks website here, which consists of an add-on guide if you wish to motorise the setup.

LEGO unveils three buildable Star War helmets including a TIE Fighter Pilot, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett [News]

LEGO has unveiled three new buildable Star Wars helmets inspired by “epic villains” from a galaxy not too far away. Two of the helmets featuring a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett were made public last week, and today LEGO is revealing a third in the set featuring a sleek black TIE Fighter Pilot’s helmet.

The sets are intended for adult collectors with a recommended age of 18+ with dark, upscale box art reminiscent of LEGO’s Ultimate Collector’s Series (UCS) line Star Wars products. The sets contain anywhere from 625 to 724 pieces, though each is priced the same at US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £54.99. The collectible helmets are available for preorders online in the US today (tomorrow for everywhere else), with delivery and general availability beginning April 19 ahead of the “May the Fourth” holiday.

Take a look at close-up photos of the new LEGO Star Wars buildable helmets

Don’t be like a stormtrooper and miss this one.

So I know I’ve written about quite a few Mandalorian LEGO creations now, but to be completely honest, there’s just a lot of quality Mandalorian LEGO content coming out and it’s begging to be shared. And some, like this cute scene by Fuku Saku don’t even include our beloved Baby Yoda (though technically the Child is in the picture). While this vignette is small, it’s packed full of clever techniques and well-designed LEGO models. I’d like to highlight two aspects. First, the speeder bikes. LEGO has made a plethora of speeder bikes in the last 21 years, but I don’t think any of them compare to the size and detail of the bikes presented here. In fact, I like them so much that I’m going to try to build some of my own! The second thing I want to point out is the blaster bolt missing its target. The trans-neon orange robot hand is the perfect element to give the flame that extra oomph, while making the bolt look like it’s still flying through the air.