75387 vs. 40755: which is the better LEGO Star Wars original trilogy battle pack?
The LEGO Group has served up two ways to get your hands on Stormtroopers and Rebel Fleet Troopers in 2024, but which is the better battle pack?
Presumably due to a surplus of Stormtrooper helmets and Rebel Fleet Trooper torsos in Billund, the LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary collection includes two strikingly similar sets in terms of their minifigure composition. March’s 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV comes with two Stormtroopers, two Rebel Fleet Troopers, Darth Vader, Captain Antilles and ARC Trooper Fives (as a bonus 25th-anniversary minifigure).
October’s 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder, meanwhile, includes three Stormtroopers, three Rebel Fleet Troopers and a bonus QT-KT astromech droid figure. It also retails for only £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 compared to 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV’s RRP of £49.99 / $54.99 / €54.99. On paper, it’s clearly the better battle pack – but with them both in hand, which one is actually the superior prospect for army building?
The answer is maybe not as clear cut as it seems…
75387 vs. 40755: price
About those price tags: there’s some important context to consider here, because 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder is exclusive to LEGO Stores while 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV is not. That means we’ve already seen decent discounts on the March release – it’s dropped as low as £37 in some places – and can expect even more favourable reductions across Black Friday, while the October 1 set will perhaps never drop in price.
Last year’s equivalent release 40658 Millennium Falcon Holiday Diorama did receive sweeping discounts at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores, but then that was a seasonal sequel trilogy set only intended to remain in production for three months, and you only really needed one. By contrast, 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder has plenty of desirable characters worth buying in bulk and is currently scheduled to retire in 2025.
That means discounts are far less likely, so we’re probably locked in at £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 – while 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV will continue to come down in price the longer it’s on shelves, in effect levelling the playing field between these two different original trilogy army builders.
75387 vs. 40755: characters
It’s fair to call them both army builders too, because while 75387 includes a few named characters, it still has two Stormtroopers and two Rebel Fleet Troopers. Of course, nobody is out here trying to build an army of Darth Vaders or Fives – but if you do choose to buy additional copies of that set over 40755, you can always sell off your surplus minifigures to recoup even more of the cost.
Vader has popped up in enough sets recently that he’s only worth a few quid on the aftermarket, but the cheapest Fives on BrickLink at the moment rings in at £7 – with an average price of £15 new. That’s enough to put a considerable dint in the cost of picking up multiple copies of 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV, but it does require a little extra legwork.
Captain Antilles is even less valuable than Vader so probably not worth trying to sell, but his torso is useful for variation in your rebel army and the spare Rebel Fleet Trooper helmet is always good to have, so he’s probably worth holding on to (and arguably adds a little value from an army building perspective).
40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder, meanwhile, obviously comes in cheaper than its competitor from the outset, and includes more generic soldiers right there in the box. And you could just as easily sell the extra QT-KT minifigures as you could Fives, although it’s difficult to imagine that droid having quite the same value as the ARC Trooper: it’s in a set many more people will be buying in droves and isn’t quite as desirable.
If you want to follow the path of least resistance to build up an army of Stormtroopers and Rebel Fleet Troopers, though, 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder is probably the way to go about it.
75387 vs. 40755: builds
Here’s where the gulf between 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV and 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder becomes a little more apparent. While the former is a more expensive playset geared around a specific scene that just so happens to include minifigures ripe for army building, the latter is a remake of two 2008 battle packs, and so includes a couple of LEGO-original builds (as is often the way for battle packs).
It’s ultimately a set of two halves, too: the speeder is a satisfying build and a worthy successor to the original version in 2008’s 7668 Rebel Scout Speeder, but the dropship feels like a step backwards from both 2019’s 75262 Imperial Dropship – 20th Anniversary Edition and even the rudimentary but charming 7667 Imperial Dropship. It only seats two Stormtroopers, its proportions are odd and it’s very much function over form.
These are vehicles that you might want one or two of to pop into battle scenes, but beyond that you’re probably going to be left with a bunch of pieces to either assimilate into your wider collection or – if you’re a collector rather than a builder, and that’s totally valid – leave in their bags in storage somewhere to be forgotten about.
The Tantive IV hallway, on the other hand, has an immediate advantage in that it’s a genuinely interesting and iconic display model that also lends itself to being upgraded by combining multiple copies. So there’s a twin benefit to opting for 75387: not only do you get more soldiers for your armies, but you also get better and more useful pieces with which to build a fully-fleshed out Tantive IV scene (again, if building is your thing).
75387 vs. 40755: which is the better battle pack?
By now it’s hopefully clear that the answer to this question is not quite as straightforward as you might have first assumed. It really comes down to your preferences as a collector, your budget and how much effort you want to put into building your LEGO Star Wars armies. If you’re prepared to put in the legwork and sell off your excess named characters, fancy building up a bigger Tantive IV diorama and you can find it discounted, 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV could be the way to go.
On the other hand, if you just want a straightforward way of acquiring Stormtroopers and Rebel Fleet Troopers regardless of price, 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder is the set for you. But then there’s the secret third option – one that makes this question pretty much redundant, or at least means the answer is ‘neither’. And that’s just buying your armies directly from BrickLink.
Neither Stormtroopers nor Rebel Fleet Troopers are what you’d call expensive on the aftermarket, easily found in decent quantities on BrickLink (for example) for no more than £2 a pop. That’s a much more cost-efficient way to build out your legions than through either 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder or 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV.
Of course, it’s sets like these that make that possible in the first place, as the LEGO Group floods the market with its surplus Stormtroopers and Rebel Fleet Troopers. But if you’re most interested in those minifigures over the builds in either of these sets, that’s also a perfectly fine way to build up your Imperial and Rebel armies – at least while they’re affordable.
That said, you will probably still want at least one each of these sets for their named characters, because those 25th-anniversary minifigures are excellent…
40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder launches October 1 at LEGO.com and LEGO Stores, while 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV is available now (and is currently down to just £40 at GAME). Check out our initial reviews of both sets in the links below.
The sets included in this feature were provided by the LEGO Group for review.
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