LEGO Star Wars BARC speeders are still too big, but there’s a solution

25/03/202425/03/2024 Chris Wharfe 988 Views 1 Comment

LEGO Star Wars 75378 BARC Speeder Escape demonstrates the LEGO Group’s BARC speeders are still too big, but there are plenty of more accurately-scaled alternatives if you know where to look.

Playability and stability are two steel strings in the bow of the LEGO design team, unwavering and immovable – and that’s often at the expense of accuracy and authenticity. And that makes perfect sense for what is ostensibly a kids’ toy first and foremost. But the good news is that the rest of us don’t have to settle for those designs as they come out of the box, because this is also a completely customisable kids’ toy.

Take the BARC speeder included in the newly-revealed LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 3 set 75378 BARC Speeder Escape, for example. This isn’t the first LEGO BARC speeder, and it probably won’t be the last – but like plenty before it, it is grossly oversized. From the earliest version in 7261 Clone Turbo Tank to recent renditions in 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers and 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle, the majority of LEGO Star Wars BARC speeders are just that bit too big for minifigures.

There are exceptions – the speeders in 2011’s 7913 Clone Trooper Battle Pack and 7689 Battle for Geonosis, identical in all but colour, are closer to the ideal – but by and large, LEGO BARC speeders are overengineered playthings rather than accurate scale models. Again, totally valid for children’s toys; but if you’re after a design that looks a little better on display (regardless of whether it holds up for play), get yourself over to Rebrickable.

This is a problem the LEGO Star Wars community has already by and large solved, with instructions available for dozens of different custom BARC speeder designs tailored better towards minifigures. Some of those repurpose recent sets like 75280 501st Legion Clone Troopers, while others are ground-up designs created for specific Clone Trooper legions.

Some of the best examples include BARC speeders from INEEDBRICKS2603, Wurger Bricks and thelegowolfpack, the latter of which also includes the sidecar present in 75378 BARC Speeder Escape. That one toys with the limits of minifigure-scale to the extreme degree, removing the hips of its minifigures to create the illusion that they’re sitting down, but it’s still pretty effective. (It’s never going to fit Grogu’s pram, though.)

While the major selling point of 75378 BARC Speeder Escape is likely going to be the new Kelleran Beq minifigure, the pieces included in the set will hopefully lend themselves to recreating one of Rebrickable’s smaller and more accurate BARC speeders – or prompt the community to come up with an alternative build using that particular mix of elements. Either way, you don’t necessarily need to settle for giant LEGO BARC speeders in 2024…

75378 BARC Speeder Escape is expected to launch on May 1, 2024, and includes Kelleran Beq, Grogu, two 501st Legion Clone Troopers, a BARC speeder with sidecar and… a lamppost.

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Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.