LEGO Star Wars designers react to fake Force ghost piece

The LEGO Star Wars design team has reacted to the fake Force ghost piece that originally surfaced on Instagram earlier this year.

An anonymous Instagram user created the fake piece in rendering engine Blender. The finished result was convincing enough that it was picked up by YouTuber MandRproductions, and gave enough legitimacy to the source’s other rumours that they were also reported by wider media, including Brick Fanatics.

The same user has now confirmed that both the Force ghost element and all their other rumours were completely falsified, which means we’re probably not getting a Yavin IV set, or a drum-lacquered gold C-3PO minifigure. But before they pulled back the curtain on the entire ruse, the LEGO designers in Billund had already spotted the fake Force ghost piece.

During a recent roundtable interview, LEGO Star Wars Creative Lead Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Design Manager Michael Lee Stockwell told Brick Fanatics how they first reacted to seeing the computer-generated element.

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“We thought, ‘Wow, that’s cool!’” says Michael. “We had to check up and see whether or not we’re looking at something real or just a great idea.”

“We were asking, ‘Who did this?’” Jens adds. “Because this really looks like a real thing, but normally we are aware of what’s coming with new elements.”

Last time we spoke to the LEGO Star Wars designers about Force ghosts, they told us that while the characters have been in consideration for ‘many, many years’, their attempts to create a fully-transparent minifigure have been thwarted by the nature of the materials they’re using.

LEGO Star Wars designers say Force Ghost minifigures are ‘on the table’
LEGO Star Wars C-3PO, Yavin IV rumours are fake after all

“The reason for not doing it was that the minifigures are made out of many different types of plastic, because they need to have different abilities and characteristics,” Jens explained in June 2021. “That prevented us from making all the bits from the minifigures consistently transparent. We thought it will look bad if you had a Force ghost with a solid-colour hip element and hands or whatever.”

“The other thing to think about is, if you look up underneath in the receiving end of the torso, there’s a lot of webbing that’s used to clutch on to the hips,” Michael added. “All that becomes visible to a certain extent when you make the torso transparent. And so the question is, is that going to be perceived as good quality or not?”

All that said, the LEGO Star Wars design veterans did reveal that Force ghosts are ‘on the table’. So when initial rumours of 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training began circulating online, it seemed like a prime candidate for an Obi-Wan Kenobi Force ghost minifigure – indirectly lending further credence to the fake element that appeared on Instagram.

No such minifigure (or element) has materialised in the finished 18+ set, however, which was initially revealed by Amazon yesterday. So when we spoke to Jens and Michael again earlier this week, we probed for an update on LEGO Star Wars Force ghost minifigures – only to get virtually the same reaction as a year ago.

“We know that it’s high on the wish list for many people, so if we have something in the future, it could potentially happen,” Jens says. “But for now, we don’t have a solution for creating a transparent minifigure.”

That means we’re still playing the waiting game for our first official LEGO Force ghost minifigure, and likely will be for a while to come. Still, at least we’ll have 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training to pass the time – Obi-Wan or no Obi-Wan. The 1,000-piece set is available to pre-order from LEGO.com now.

Featured image: legohio

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Author Profile

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.

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.

5 thoughts on “LEGO Star Wars designers react to fake Force ghost piece

  • 27/03/2022 at 20:26
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    Hi, it would be better if Lego itself was clear ?

    Reply
  • 26/03/2022 at 22:06
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    So a series of fakes.

    Mind the clamshell ghosting addon for the minifig is a cool idea.

    Any chance on a plastics expert to chime in on the practicality of the design and how to make it as one self connecting part?

    Reply
  • 26/03/2022 at 11:46
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    The only way to do it is to use the force ghost shroud piece idea in the hoax.
    It also kinda works as a Star Wars blue projection shroud.
    Any Minifigure would instantly be able to be a force ghost (or tell someone they’re their only hope).

    Reply
  • 25/03/2022 at 08:38
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    Great article! But that’s not what blender is. Blender is an open source 3D modelling program, its not for converting 2D images. You build from scratch.

    Reply
  • 25/03/2022 at 03:47
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    I cry foul! Absolute poppycock! I am a brick guy and have seen consistently colored brick figures! Not necessarily manufactured by Lego but still… Prime example, Shredder from TNMT made by megabloks i believe. The varient is transparent red and each piece of the build is consistently the same color throughout the entire figure. Very well done and if the lesser of the 2 companys can make a superior product design, Lego, you can definitely do more than give excuses as to why you can’t do it. Not anything more than my opinion with a dash of passion, hence the exclamation points. Fun article and look forward to more.

    Reply

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