LEGO Star Wars 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter review

Perfectly timed to season two of Andor, 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter offers a clear sign of a changing mood within LEGO Star Wars.

You may not want to be reminded of this, but it’s been a whole nine years since Rogue One was in cinemas and we had that excellent wave of tie-in sets that included the mighty 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter. Almost a decade on, and with the second season of the prequel television series Andor currently on Disney+, we get our second minifigure scale version of the blue-and-white ship in the form of 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter.

75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter

Release: May 1, 2025

Retiring: December 31, 2026

Price: £59.99 / $69.99 / €69.99

Pieces: 594

Minifigures: 4

Well, we say minifigure scale, but we probably need a new name for LEGO Star Wars sets built at this 3/4 sized-down scale, which the theme has seen an increasing number of in recent years. There’s still space within a lot of these sets for minifigure interaction, but as this design approach touches more and more ships we are seeing an increasing compromise with either the proportional design – see 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter and the overly-large cockpit – or with the comfort levels of the poor individuals we’re forcing into these tiny gaps, and with that, a possible impact of the play experience – see 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter here and the cramped lying-down cockpit up top.

Design-wise, sized-down sets like these can and do offer a lot of their own points of interest and interpretation, taking well-known and sometimes oft-visited ships from a galaxy far, far away and offering a new angle of design and an all-around novel LEGO experience. It has made for a refreshing build in a number of such sets, and 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter is no different.

We loved 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter for exactly this, because a lot of what worked at a larger, more plausibly-minifigure scale transferred down just fine, keeping the quality and intrigue around the model intact. That set also was, perhaps in hindsight, more easily suited to still offer good space and relative proportionality to the minifigure-size cockpit, in part because our eyes were already used it, having built a lot of LEGO X-Wings in the past at such a similar scale – think back to the very first one, for instance.

The problem with some of the other LEGO Star Wars sets releasing at this scaled-down size is that we’ve not always had as many previous LEGO models of the same ship at a similar size to compare them with. We’re either remembering these models against what we saw in the films, or against one or two much larger minifigure scale versions from years before. And, as a result, the compromises on scale and proportionality are far more noticeable and more strongly felt.

It’s not to take anything away from 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter. This is a smart, compact and well-designed rendition of the ship first seen in Rogue One and appearing now in Andor. Every feature and facet true and relevant to the ship is very much in place, and the core function of opening the wings out works excellently and makes for a highly-playable model. It’s highly comparable to 2023’s 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship, which ticked a lot of the same boxes in quality, concept, and LEGO experience.

But, as with the Gunship, this U-wing is still reflective of the state of LEGO Star Wars as a theme right now – compromised. Piloting with one hand tied behind its back. These sized-down LEGO Star Wars ships are excellently designed, but are the result of current parameters that are clearly budget-related, and they are parameters that are increasingly testing what’s actually viable. A little less seems possible while building at this scale, and how long can the design team keep working with a little less and fans accepting a little less work?

75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter just about gets away with things, thanks to the tightness of design and for a four-minifigure line-up, most notably for including Dedra Meero and an ISB Tactical Agent. But, for the physical size and weight of the set and the price it is set at, this very much feels like a product right on the tipping point of acceptable – not fair – value.

It’s worth pointing out that this sentiment, which is widely considered across other reviews too, is as much a sign of where we are all at in 2025, compared with where we were in 2021. Back when 75301 Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing Fighter released, it was priced at £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 – adjust that for inflation today and it comes in at £54.90, for 474 pieces and four minifigures.

With an extra 120 pieces for a relative £5 extra in 2025 prices, 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter actually isn’t so differently priced. But the concept of value has clearly changed around these sets, in part due to the ever-increasingly-unpredictable economic climate we live in, but perhaps also in part down to the fact that what worked well four years ago isn’t quite cutting it now and the limitations of this sized-down approach are becoming increasingly hard to ignore.

Our honest opinion: On paper, 75399 Rebel U-wing Starfighter isn’t as wildly overpriced as your gut may tell you. But trust that gut, because these sized-down LEGO Star Wars sets are beginning to overstay their welcome. We need to find a better way to ensure that play and value have a place within this theme. It can’t all be display and UCS sets.

This LEGO set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes.

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