First Impressions: LEGO Star Wars The Last Jedi

We’ve finally got our first full look at the tie-in LEGO range for this year’s sequel from a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: The Last Jedi – and, truth told, it’s a mixed bag

Within the LEGO Star Wars: The Last Jedi wave of sets, due for release on September 1, there are hits and misses. But with seven sets in total, that was pretty much inevitable. Alas, they can’t all be home runs.

There are a couple of very promising sets in and among the mix, though – star of which is, of course, everyone’s favourite ball droid, BB-8, who’s had the UCS-style treatment. While the debate will no doubt rage on for millennia among AFOLs as to whether 75187 BB-8 classifies as a UCS or not, there’s no doubting we’ll all buy it anyway. After all, you also buy everything you can find with BB-8 on the box, right? Right…?

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Just like 2015’s The Force Awakens, Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII takes much of its inspiration in terms of vehicles from those of the original Star Wars trilogy. Instead of more X-wings and TIE Fighters (sort of), though, we’ve now got our First Order sequel versions of the AT-AT and Star Destroyer.

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The latter, 75190 First Order Star Destroyer, may look like just a giant grey slab at first, but then so did the original trilogy Star Destroyers. And the minifigure selection here will be a prospect sweet enough to excuse buying the whole set for most collectors, thanks to the first ever iteration of Supreme Leader Snoke. Decked in gold robes, he’s a pretty decent match to the character photo that landed online yesterday. The ship’s interior itself looks pretty decent too, with plenty of functions and opportunity to display your First Order crew.

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The AT-AT remix, meanwhile, which has the far less snappy moniker of 75189 First Order Heavy Assault Walker, deviates pretty heavily from its predecessors in both proportions and colour. It has to be said that the dark grey looks pretty menacing, and it’s nice to have some variety in our walkers, because Star Wars definitely doesn’t have enough of those already. This is also your only chance to pick up the updated version of Rey, at least in this first wave.

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Speaking of a lack of walkers, there’s another one in this range – 75177 First Order Heavy Scout Walker (these names just roll off the tongue, eh?). Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to wait until we get our hands on this one in person to really judge it. Its extremely odd shape looks like it has taken direct inspiration from the Strandbeest in its walking mechanism, but quite how well that’ll translate to LEGO bricks is yet to be seen. It’s pretty easy to imagine it kicking up the red dust of Crait, though, so chances are our impressions will probably improve after seeing the film anyway.

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Rounding out the First Order contingent is 75179 Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter, also known as the TIE Silencer. A sleek black, grey and trans-red beast, it’s another minor update from the original trilogy vehicles – those wings are basically a TIE Interceptor – but one that’s at least more accurate this time round than the LEGO Group’s last attempt at a Kylo Ren ship.

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There are only two minifigure-scaled Resistance sets this time around, 75176 Resistance Transport Pod and 75188 Resistance Bomber. The former is reminiscent of a slightly larger version of the cockpit from last year’s 75140 Resistance Troop Transport, but looks to be pretty packed with functions.

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75188 holds the rare accolade of being an entirely new vehicle, though much of its shape calls back to the Nebulon B Frigates of old. Decked out in Resistance grey and blue, it boasts a pair of rotating gunner cockpits and an entire contingent of Resistance pilots, alongside the pink-haired Admiral Holdo. Like most of the new vehicles from this trilogy, it’s definitely something of an acquired taste.

The only real downside with this inaugural wave? The lack of Luke Skywalker, obvs. We can’t believe after he was missed last time around, that now we have to wait until 2018 (at least) to get our hands on Old Man Luke…

The first round of The Last Jedi sets will be available on September 1, also known as Force Friday II. Let us know what you think of the sets in the comments.

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Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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