LEGO Star Wars designers reveal why they chose such an obscure Republic Gunship

The LEGO Star Wars design team have revealed why they chose such obscure source material for the first minifigure-scale Republic Gunship in 10 years.

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship arrived on shelves in September, making its mark as the first playset LAAT/i since 2013’s 75021 Republic Gunship. But it also represents a significant detour from the design of earlier gunships by taking inspiration from an obscure episode of the Clone Wars animated series, swapping out the standard white and lime green hues for a transport that’s mostly dark red.

That’s because it belongs to the Coruscant Guard in-universe, or the red-tinted Clone Troopers included with the set. And – to the surprise of nobody – it’s proven a polarising choice among the LEGO Star Wars community. Some love the bold new colour scheme, while others have expressed frustration at not being able to buy a gunship in its classic livery. (If you’re prepared to forgo scale and budget, 75309 Republic Gunship could still fill that gap while stocks last.)

But no matter which side of the fence you’re on, the question on everyone’s lips is… why? Why did the LEGO Group choose this specific gunship design, given most of us will have needed a crash course on the source material to even know when and where it popped up in canon? According to the LEGO Star Wars design team, there were two major reasons for heading in this direction – the first of which was simply that it’s ‘cool’.

“It was because we wanted to make something new, never seen before in LEGO, and because we believe it looks really, really cool,” LEGO Star Wars Creative Lead Jens Kronvold Frederiksen tells Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media. “That was really the reason behind it – we wanted to try something different… and we just thought we can really give a twist to the gunship.”

Despite the gunship appearing on screen for a little over a minute, though, the designers didn’t harbour too many concerns around whether people would accept or recognise it (compared to a standard Republic Gunship).

“I think it’s one of those things in Star Wars where [you’re] like, ‘Oh, this is the Coruscant Guard gunship,’” says graphic designer Madison O’Neil. “You can assume that they’re being used a lot on Coruscant in-universe, and in a lot of the scenes that we’ve been familiar with.”

So, it looks cool and people will accept it. But there’s another reason the LEGO Star Wars team decided to head back to the galactic capital for 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship – and, unsurprisingly for a theme so often anchored around its characters, the minifigures were a real driving force. By moving the action to Coruscant, the designers devised an opportunity to include a few faces rarely seen in LEGO Star Wars.

“It’s nice to also get some characters that we were excited to include in this one that are Coruscant-based, in a way,” Madison says, referring to the specific inclusion of Chancellor Palpatine and Padmé Amidala – neither of whom are traditionally associated with action-heavy moments in the saga. “When you have a gunship, they’re used all over the galaxy. You could place it pretty much anywhere. But of course, [it’s on] Coruscant for those guys.”

75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship also includes Commander Fox and two Coruscant Guard Clone Troopers, and is available to order now at LEGO.com. You can find out more about the design process behind the 1,083-piece set by hitting play above or heading to our YouTube channel.

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