Five LEGO Star Wars sets that you blinked and missed

LEGO Star Wars fans have been reminded with 75178 Jakku Quadjumper that no amount of screen time is too little for a vehicle to be included in the theme’s line-up. Here are five blink-and-you’ll-miss-them Star Wars vehicles that still became LEGO sets

The recently released 75178 Jakku Quadjumper joins a number of LEGO Star Wars sets with minimal screentime across the Star Wars saga, and may very well top the list with less than four seconds of screen time to its name. Over the past 18 years, the LEGO Group has scoured the corner of every frame set in a galaxy far, far away, and discovered some pretty obscure vehicles. Today, as long as a ship’s hull is not covered in chrome (sorry, Naboo Royal Starship) it is a near certainty that it has been, or will be, a LEGO set at least once.

That doesn’t mean that they are bad sets necessarily – the Brick Fanatics review of 75178 Jakku Quadjumper found it to be well worth picking up – but they are probably not the sets that anyone would start a collection with. Long term LEGO Star Wars fans will know that they look to their collection and wonder how they ever ended up owning some of these vehicles.

Prior to the release of The Clone Wars TV series, this list was a lot bigger. That show took many vehicles which previously fell into the ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ category and gave them a little more exposure. Even with those hundreds of episodes of animated television now produced, some sets remain elusive with their on-screen inspiration seen by only the sharpest eyed viewers.

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7124 and 75091 Flash Speeder (under 10 seconds)

True fans will know this craft as the vehicle that briefly skims across the scene in The Phantom Menace when the Naboo Soldiers and Gungans are planning their climatic attack. There are actually several different types of speeder in this scene and a couple of others which follow. All told, including blurry shots of it in motion, this craft appears for just under 10 seconds in Episode I.  The first version of this set sort of made sense at the time, it was in the second wave of Star Wars sets – released in 2000 – after the movie’s initial batch of sets and the LEGO Group was looking for pocket money offerings. The second and far more accurate model from 2015 was mostly an excuse to pack a bunch of desirable minifigures from the 1999 film into a medium price point set.

4477 & 75081 T-16 Skyhopper (model version, 3 seconds)

This craft’s screentime is somewhat subjective. During the scene where Luke first encounters Leia’s message in A New Hope while cleaning up the droids he briefly holds a model of this craft which is visible for about 3 seconds. This is the only time the entire craft is visible on screen. However, the engine of Luke’s Skyhopper as well as a portion of its fuselage can be seen in the background as a set piece throughout the entire scene. Never is more than 30% of the ship visible, but if one adds up all the moments where some portion of it is on screen the total rises to just over a minute. A common theme with these all-too-brief glimpses is that, if a version of the craft was released early on in the LEGO Star Wars theme, an updated version gets produced about 10-15 years later. The first version of this craft was released in 2003 before being followed up in 2015. Be on the lookout for another chance to snag one right before 2030…

7260 Wookiee Catamaran (19 seconds)

Catamaran

The Battle of Kashyyyk is one of the better – of the many good – action sequences in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Seeing Chewbacca’s home planet in all its glory was a delight to those of us who grew up with Timothy Zahn’s novels and had long pictured the planet in our imaginations. It is here that we find our first obscure model that has only had one version of it produced, so far, most likely due to not having a lot of application outside the Wookiee home planet.

Tracking exactly where this vehicle shows up in the chaotic battle is challenging. There is a long sweeping show which features it that lasts for approximately 10 seconds. After that, the Brick Fanatics Super Timer tracks it appearing for an additional 9 seconds if one adds up all the split seconds it is visible during the battle, for a grand total of 19 seconds. Introduced in 2005, this set was notable not only for being a flying wooden boat but for being the first chance to own Luminara Unduli in minifigure form.

8096 Palpatine’s Shuttle (13 seconds)

8096_Emperor_Palpatine_Shuttle_Episode_III

Briefly seen flying over the hellscape of Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, this may be one of the hardest ships to even remember having been in the film when the LEGO Group released it in 2010. Clocking in with a mere 13 seconds, Palpatine’s mode of transport is one of the most forgettable LEGO Star Wars crafts on this list. 8096 could also make the ‘sets with most inaccuracies’ list. First it includes an odd hybrid Anakin Skywalker minifigure that clearly shows his burnt Jedi robes and mutilated flesh, but has him in the Darth Vader helmet which was clearly depicted as the last piece of his armour to be set in place (as the recent 75183 Darth Vader Transformation expertly achieves). Then additionally, the shuttle’s fuselage contained a table for transforming Anakin into Vader which did not happen until Anakin was returned from Mustafar to the medical facility where the operation took place. At least it gives the ship a play feature…

75154 TIE Striker (32 seconds)

75154_TIE_Striker

If a fan decided to divide the cost of a set by its screen time, then 75154 TIE Striker from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may very well come out as most expensive. While present at the battle of Scarif and visible momentarily throughout the in-atmosphere portions of the battle, it is hard to distinguish this vehicle from other craft, including regular TIE Fighters. In the Brick Fanatics Star Wars Viewing Room, after having watched the battle sequence multiple times with stopwatch in hand, is that the TIE Striker appears for a total of 32 seconds. The less generous reading, discounting the shots during which the ship is too blurry to be distinguishable, drops the total to 12 seconds. Despite the minimal on-screen presence, the LEGO set held one of most expensive slots in the Rogue One wave.

As has been illustrated here, no screen time is too little for a LEGO Star Wars set. For more LEGO Star Wars content, check out 75182 Republic Fighter Tank – Five ConnectionsFive pointless LEGO Star Wars sets you still own and Star Wars at 40: The impact of LEGO.

75178 Quadjumper is available now from shop.LEGO.com. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Daniel
When I was 3 years old my dad bought home 6659 TV Camera Crew as a gift — he had no idea what he had just unleashed. Three decades and no dark age later, I am still going strong. My love of LEGO led me to a career in Civil Engineering and I am now raising three budding LEGO lovers with my lovely wife who is, bless her, a huge supporter of my brick addiction. When not writing for Brick Fanatics or fulfilling my duties as the U.S. Editor of Blocks Magazine I enjoy collecting, MOCing, exhibiting, as well as running, climbing and home improvement.

Daniel

When I was 3 years old my dad bought home 6659 TV Camera Crew as a gift — he had no idea what he had just unleashed. Three decades and no dark age later, I am still going strong. My love of LEGO led me to a career in Civil Engineering and I am now raising three budding LEGO lovers with my lovely wife who is, bless her, a huge supporter of my brick addiction. When not writing for Brick Fanatics or fulfilling my duties as the U.S. Editor of Blocks Magazine I enjoy collecting, MOCing, exhibiting, as well as running, climbing and home improvement.

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