Gial Ackbar is the Rebellion’s most famous admiral. Or as builder Djokson says, he’s the “screaming fish man from that one space movie”. Large aquatic eyes lend Ackbar an innate adorableness, and this version by does a fantastic job of rendering Ackbar’s stupified expression with the help of an upturned Hero Factory mask for the long forehead. I also love the simplicity of the uniform, which perfectly distils the Rebel coat using just a few elements.
You’re welcome to add your own joke about George Lucas meddling with the Original Trilogy as he cranked out the Prequel Trilogy, but I love Star Wars again so I’ll leave that to the unrepentant cynics. The last LEGO creation we featured by Kit Bricksto brought the wonderful planets of the Star Wars universe to the garden. The builder continues his strong streak with this utterly unique diorama featuring tiny scenes from The Empire Strikes Back on a brick-built film strip set against a larger Hoth hangar scene in a TV. The potted background ties this latest build to Kit’s previous build.
The T-47 airspeeder, adapted for cold weather use on Hoth, is the most memorable Rebel vehicle introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, and has been a staple of the LEGO Star Wars theme. Commonly called the Snowspeeder, this hardy little two-man craft first appeared in LEGO form in 1999, with more than a dozen variations since across a variety of scales. The latest iteration is also the largest, and the Ultimate Collector’s Series 75144 Snowspeeder packs a massive 1,703 pieces. As we announced last month, it costs $199.99 USD and is set to premiere on May the 4th (aka Star Wars Day).
Like other recent UCS sets, the Snowspeeder includes a stand, information placard, and two minifigure pilots. The displayed ship comes in at 16 inches long, 12″ wide, and 9″ tall (41 x 30 x 23 cm).
Let’s see how the Snowspeeder stacks up.
Click to read the full hands-on review
The Brothers Brick gives you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our Weekly Brick Report for the second week of April 2017.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: What a week for news! We learned about four new sets and reviewed three other sets for your LEGO enjoyment.
TBB INTERVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: Buildable droids and a Star Wars interview! What a time to be alive.
Read more LEGO news from around the web
Given his passion for recreating vintage Star Wars play sets in LEGO, it’s not a huge surprise to see French builder Eric Druon try his hand at recreating some classic Star Wars action figures too. And what better place to start than the beloved GONK power droid (especially given LEGO’s rather disappointing attempts to date). Over the years GONKs of various shapes, sizes and colors have been spotted shambling through the background in almost every corner of the Star Wars franchise, from the original movie trilogy to more recent animated shows and video games. But for his interpretation Eric has – not surprisingly – drawn inspiration from a 1st series 1977 Kenner action figure, which was modelled after the very first GONK ever to appear on screen, a rather snazzy blue number spotted at the Lars homestead.
As an added treat, Eric has also produced a short instructional video showing you how to build your very own little GONK! I for one plan to build an army of these. Especially since my original childhood GONK figure is now long gone (or possibly lost in a box somewhere in my garage).
With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story available for purchase beginning today, we’re circling back to some of the 2017 LEGO Star Wars sets we haven’t reviewed yet, starting with 75172 Y-wing Starfighter. This is the fifth minifig-scale Y-wing that LEGO has released since 1999 and the largest at 691 pieces.
75172 Y-wing Starfighter depicts a Blue Squadron Y-wing featured during the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One, with five minifigures. The set retails for $59.99.
Read the full review of this Rogue One set after the jump
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars saga, LEGO has revealed an exclusive set, Detention Block Rescue, which will be available for purchase by some lucky attendees at the annual Star Wars Celebration next week in Orlando, Florida.
Continue reading
Our continuing adventures led us to track down and interrogate Amado Canlas Pinlac (aka AC Pin). Amado was born in Angeles City in the Philippines, and works in the Information Technology field with previous employment with overseas airlines. He has called East Brunswick, New Jersey home for the last fifteen years, where he lives with his wife Marleth and their three sons, Milton, Marlowe and Myreon. Amado credits the support of his wife for being where he is today!
TBB: Can you tell us how you got into LEGO?
AC: First and foremost I’ve been a Star Wars fan/geek way before LEGO introduced the SW line, as I collected the Star Wars action figures, vehicles, and sets. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise for those who’ve known me over the years that I love to build Star Wars dioramas. In fact I’ve done Action Figure dioramas and was affiliated with various SW fan sites which featured them before I even started with LEGO. One of the problems/drawbacks that I’ve had to contend with the Action Figure dioramas was there was very little or none of the re-usability factor. Around that time, when I was growing disinterested with Action Figures, LEGO started producing the first SW sets.
The UT-60D U-wing gunship revealed in Rogue One (out digitally today and on disc next Tuesday) has inspired numerous LEGO models, from the official 75155 U-wing Fighter set to fan-made creations like the UCS U-wing by Mirko Soppelsa. Adding to his fleet of smaller-scale LEGO Star Wars vehicles, Tim Goddard has built a fantastically detailed U-wing, accompanied by a pair of updated X-wings representing Blue Squadron and Red Squadron.
Like the short-lived 7778 Midi-Scale Millennium Falcon, this scale gives Tim enough pieces to achieve lots of interesting detail (I love the gray section and those blue stripes on the sides of the U-wing) without a huge investment in parts. Naturally, Tim has built fully functional swing-wings for his U-wing.
Out with the Brickheadz and in with the BB-8’s? Apparently everything can be BB-8-ified, from other Star Wars characters, to DC or Marvel superheroes, and even the Sanrio franchise! I’m impressed by the way Handoko Setyawan has taken a simple spherical shape, and with clever interchange of colors and perhaps a distinguishing feature or two, transformed it into a range of familiar characters.
Two of my favourite spherical charms are those spikes of Darth Maul and Hello Kitty’s ribbon bow. Check out his Flickr album for a closer look at the rest of this ball-tastic invasion! And if you think you’re up to creating your own BB-8 inspired build, Handoko’s even provided an instruction guide to help you build one.
The Brothers Brick gives you the best of LEGO news and reviews. This is our Weekly Brick Report for the fourth week of March.
TBB NEWS & REVIEWS: Star Wars fans rejoice! This week we learned about the next Star Wars UCS set and took a friend into space.
TBB INTERVIEWS & INSTRUCTIONS: Take a trip back to the eighties with this cute cassette tape build and learn about a builder of tiny trucks.
OTHER NEWS: There was a massive amount of LEGO news from other places around the web this week. Here are a few items we noticed and thought you might enjoy.
This week’s LEGO deals from Amazon include Star Wars, Nexo Knights, Moana and City. Check out more Sales and Deals!
LEGO Star Wars 75095 UCS Tie Fighter is 13% off, currently listed at $173.99.
