LEGO Star Trek should embrace midi-scale next
LEGO Star Trek is only just warping into the portfolio later this month, but its next step is clear, especially according to the community.
10356 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D is launching later this month, at long last bringing Star Trek to the LEGO portfolio with a massive model packed with numerous exclusive minifigures. The 3,600-piece build costs £349.99 in the UK, $399.99 in the US and €379.99 in Europe and has proved divisive amongst fans.
Criticisms and notes from fans online since its reveal concern everything from the shape of the craft to its high price tag, especially with the exclusive minifigures and the set’s play features. To amend the price tag, the best solution would be to make the set smaller. While it’s too late to change the design of 10356 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D to be more affordable, fans’ calls make it clear that more affordable LEGO Star Trek sets are in demand in the future.
Thankfully, the LEGO Group has the ideal foundation in place already, and it wouldn’t need many decorations or any new minifigures.
LEGO Star Wars’ array of midi-scale ships has demonstrated that it can dip into other themes, starting with Marvel, and Star Trek is a perfect fit for midi-scale models to capture the shape of the iconic ships, all without the need for minifigures. These sets typically come at a much lower cost, and with a stand for easy display.
It’s a match made in heaven, given Star Trek’s focus on ships, many of which are far too large to be close to scale with minifigures. The online LEGO community agrees, with dozens of midi-scale Star Trek models populating Rebrickable, sometimes remixing existing sets to create convincing new designs.
Should the first Star Trek set prove the speculated demand for more LEGO sets based on the franchise, midi-scale models are a good path to take to cover other Star Trek ships quickly, and without the need for any new minifigures that might increase costs during the design process.
This is only speculation (and a dash of wishful thinking), and it’s only confirmed that 10356 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D launches later this month for £349.99 in the UK, $399.99 in the US and €379.99 in Europe.
Featured image: CreationCaravan
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This set is already “midi” scale, isn’t it? It’s clearly not minifigure scale, because at 1:40 it would be 52 feet long. Are minifigures really a significant additional expense? Each one is like 4 pieces, with generic hands, and often generic hair.
By midi-scale, we mean roughly the same size as the other midi-scale sets. None of those are at the exact same scale (look at the Millennium Falcon), but they’re a part of the midi-scale range.
OK, that’s reasonable. I agree the Enterprise D MOC there would be a nice cheaper option. But both sets have problems with the saucer section. It’s really tricky to make that oblong look right. I had this toy as a kid! Still remember playing with it:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/R9kAAeSwjXdokAIm/s-l500.webp
The Enterprise E MOC looks really nice though.
Is this MOC midi “scale” (size)?
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That last link doesn’t want to work right…
Yeah I’d say that’s roughly midi-scale. It might be a less expensive midi-scale set but I reckon it would still be part of the collection if it was real. I may be a relatively new Trekkie (Lower Decks got me in, and now I’m getting to know it all!) but I’m hoping we end up getting some midi-scale starships in the future (or really anything more affordable!)
I’m jealous you get to watch TNG, Voyager, DS9 and Enterprise for the first time but sad that you have to watch Discovery