The 2017 game Star Wars Battlefront II allows players to experience Star Wars battles unlike what is seen on the big screen. First Order Lego captures a snapshot of such freedom with a diorama of the Battle of Crait. The layer of salt carpeting the red soil and crystal underneath is textured well, with cracks and unevenness throughout upon closer look.
Click to see more of the Battle of Crait
It’s rare that a LEGO set on its own serves as a major spoiler for a movie. From the now-classic Indiana Jones sets to Jurassic World sets more recently, LEGO sets provide characters, vehicles, and locations without revealing much more than a character’s name. But 75201 First Order AT-ST reveals several fundamental plot points of a major scene late in the movie. The set includes 370 pieces with 4 minifigures. Beyond just our usual criteria of design and value, is the set worth the spoilers?
We’d normally add a SPOILERS! warning here before the jump to the full review, but hey, LEGO has already spoiled several key plot points by releasing the set, so let’s just dig in.
Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75201 First Order AT-ST
Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out in theaters for nearly a month, so we’re circling back to some of the LEGO sets released to support the movie. 75200 Ahch-To Island Training retails for $29.99 (US) with 241 pieces and features Luke Skywalker, Rey, and a porg.
We hope you’ve had an opportunity to see the movie, but fair warning that we’ll be discussing the movie’s plot freely, so consider this your standard SPOILERS! warning.
Read our full review of LEGO Star Wars 75200 Ahch-To Island Training from The Last Jedi
2017 has been a fantastic year to be a LEGO Star Wars builder and collector. As we celebrate the release of The Last Jedi in theaters today, we’re asking ourselves what the best LEGO Star Wars sets released this year have been. Since several of the sets in our best LEGO sets of 2017 list were Star Wars sets, a couple of these won’t be a surprise. LEGO released dozens of Star Wars sets this year, and although we’ve only reviewed about 10 sets so far, we have built many of the rest. For sets we haven’t reviewed here on TBB yet, we’ll include a brief mini-review. Let’s dig in!
The excellent minifig-scale 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter set included a pilot minifig who wore a standard Rebel pilot helmet. However, the U-wing pilots in Rogue One actually wore unique helmets reminiscent of helicopter pilot helmets. So, for a paltry $9.99, you can buy 75160 U-wing in Microfighters form and pick up the one accessory that should’ve been in 75155. Still, this is a wonderful little set on its own merits, with a fantastic minifig (I believe I’ve already mentioned his headgear…) and a nicely miniaturized U-wing built from a mere 109 pieces.
LEGO is notoriously stingy about doling out unique characters in large sets, while the Battle Packs have mostly been army builders with multiples of tertiary characters (like generic clone troopers or stormtroopers). However, 75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack includes a fully redesigned Bossk, brand new 4-LOM, and a new printed piece for IG-88. Oh, and Dengar, for some reason. Despite my criticism of the inclusion of old Mr. Head Wound, stud-shooters for weapons, and the basic design of the non-canon vehicle, this set really is a fantastic way to get several iconic minifigs plus a handful of azure parts (125 pieces overall) for just $14.99.
See the rest of our top 10 best LEGO Star Wars sets of 2017
With Star Wars: The Last Jedi in movie theaters in just a few days, we’re focusing again on the LEGO Star Wars sets released ahead of the film’s release. 75188 Resistance Bomber joins a substantial line of LEGO Star Wars sets from The Last Jedi, including 75187 BB-8 and 75204 Sandspeeder we reviewed previously. 75188 Resistance Bomber includes 778 pieces with 5 minifigs and retails for $109.99.
Read our full review of 75188 Resistance Bomber
The December flyer for LEGO retail stores that arrived in many mail boxes today includes the first official photos of 75204 Sandspeeder. The set includes 278 pieces with two minifigs and will retail for $29.99 beginning on December 1st (though it’s also showing up in the wild already).
The vehicle is very obviously patterned after the T-47 airspeeder used as snowspeeders on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, further reinforcing pre-release perceptions among Star Wars fans of the parallels between Episode IV and Episode VIII. We’ll be doing a comparison review with previous LEGO snowspeeders in the next couple of days, ahead of the set’s release.
See more photos of the new LEGO Star Wars 75204 Sandspeeder
We have a flurry of Star Wars reveals today consisting of several more System-scale sets, “constraction” series of buildable figures, and Microfighters. As the countdown to the release of The Last Jedi continues, do watch out for potential spoilers revealed by the LEGO sets — everyone has a different tolerance, so do take heed.
First up we have 75200 Ahch-To Island Training. In this set we have the Porgs that were only available with the 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon. Fans will probably rejoice for this little addition.
See more new LEGO Star Wars sets after the jump, but BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
The next wave of LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz just revealed earlier this week are available early from Target for REDcard members, ahead of their availability from the LEGO Shop and in LEGO retail stores on December 1st. As expected, 41489 Rey & Kylo Ren Limited Edition Collector’s Pack retails for $19.99. We’ll remind everyone when the two-pack is more broadly available, but some of you can can pick it up now if you don’t want to wait.
If you’re shopping at Target, you might also want to pick up the Mini Millennium Falcon for $4.99.
Adding to the LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz line, following Finn and Captain Phasma (and the limited-run Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite), LEGO today officially unveiled a two-pack set that includes Rey and Kylo Ren.
The 41489 Rey & Kylo Ren two-pack will go on sale on December 1st. LEGO’s tweet didn’t include pricing, but our guess is that the set will be consistent with other BrickHeadz prices and retail for around $20.
The full range of LEGO sets for Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be available in stores and from the LEGO Shop Online beginning tomorrow, Sept. 1. We got a brief glimpse of the line back in July when a few retailers mistakenly published the images early, but now LEGO and Lucasfilm have officially taken the wraps off the theme. Today, LEGO also revealed their biggest set ever, the new Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon.
Own your very own LEGO® BB-8! Turn the wheel to spin the head and turn another to open the hatch and see the welding torch pop out, just like it did in the movie! You can also sit BB-8 on the stand so you can show your friendly droid to all your friends when they come to visit!
The recent Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi teaser trailer has sparked a lot of dicussion amongst fans, but the visuals are undoubtedly breathtaking. The most impressive of all would be the speeder scene from the planet Crait, which has already inspired many LEGO builders to make their version. One of the earliest is this one by Grant Davis, and I am sure it will remain one of the best for a long time. Grant does an incredible job recreating the speeder with the already iconic red dust trail, inspired by a mere six seconds of blurry video. The speeder has excellent shaping and Grant’s signature greebling (which ironicaly he most often uses on pirate-themed builds), but the highlight would have to be the coloured lines, some of which he achieved with rubber bands.
Judging from this build, The Last Jedi will bring a lot of inspiration to LEGO builders, and I can’t wait to see what we see next.
