Rumoured LEGO Star Wars UCS TIE Interceptor’s minifigures are a puzzle

Next year’s first LEGO Star Wars UCS set is rumoured to be a TIE Interceptor – but exactly which minifigures might be included isn’t as straightforward as it seems…

In recent years, the LEGO Group’s Ultimate Collector Series sets have followed a familiar pattern: vehicles built beyond minifigure scale include two characters to place on an accompanying display stand. We’ve seen that formula in sets including 75144 Snowspeeder, 75181 Y-wing Starfighter, 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer, 75309 Republic Gunship, 75341 Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder and most recently in 75355 X-wing Starfighter.

There are exceptions to the rule: 2020’s 75275 A-wing Starfighter is not minifigure scale, but only includes an A-wing Pilot; likewise 2015’s 75095 TIE Fighter, which includes just a TIE Pilot. But for the most part, we’ve become accustomed to seeing at least two minifigures included in UCS sets, even where they don’t necessarily make the most sense (hello, Mace Windu and a Clone Commander).

This then skews expectations for future LEGO Star Wars UCS sets, including next year’s rumoured TIE Interceptor. According to Instagram user 1414falconfan (via brick_clicker), the Imperial ship first glimpsed in Return of the Jedi will debut on May 1, 2024, retailing for €239.99 – the same price tag as last year’s 75341 Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder and this year’s 75355 X-wing Starfighter.

Both of those sets include two minifigures apiece, one of which is a unique and hyper-detailed version of a returning character (in C-3PO and Luke Skywalker respectively). That chimes with the LEGO Star Wars team’s decision to include exclusive minifigures in UCS sets following the backlash to 75309 Republic Gunship’s line-up, and suggests we can expect to see something similarly unique in 75382 TIE Interceptor.

The question now is: what could that minifigure be, and will we see two characters or just one? The answer to the latter question could dictate expectations for the former, because the most obvious candidate here is a TIE Pilot. But we’ve already had a TIE Pilot with full body printing in 75095 TIE Fighter, and it’s hard to see how the LEGO Group could improve on that minifigure even nine years later.

If the rumoured TIE Interceptor only includes a single minifigure, odds are pretty much even that it will be a TIE Pilot, perhaps with only tiny changes to the 2015 version. But the LEGO Group might also seize the opportunity to include a second character, however relevant or not they may be to the ship, in order to give us something truly new and exclusive.

There are credible candidates out there, too. This is a Return of the Jedi ship originally, so an Imperial character from Episode VI makes sense: a named Imperial Officer, for example, with dual-moulded boots and a new face print. Darth Vader would also be semi-relevant to the set, but with the latest version of the minifigure (with arm printing) now commonplace in LEGO Star Wars sets, he wouldn’t be much of a draw for minifigure collectors.

The TIE Interceptor’s most recent appearance, though, is in The Mandalorian Season 3 (hence this year’s 75348 Mandalorian Fang Fighter vs. TIE Interceptor). And if the LEGO Group was to brand 75382 TIE Interceptor as a Mandalorian set, it would blow the doors wide open to any number of new and interesting minifigures. Top of that list would be Moff Gideon in his Mandalorian-inspired Dark Trooper armour, who has yet to appear in any LEGO Star Wars set.

That wouldn’t necessarily jive with recent non-minifigure-scale UCS sets, though, which instead of delivering brand new and exclusive characters have just improved on existing minifigures. If 75832 TIE Interceptor were to follow that template, we might expect something like an even more detailed Dark Trooper (with printed arms) – or for any exclusive character to later show up (in a less detailed format) in a cheaper set.

Or the LEGO Group might follow more literally in the footsteps of 75348 Mandalorian Fang Fighter vs. TIE Interceptor by giving us an Imperial astromech droid, only with back printing to match recent R2-D2 minifigures. Together with a TIE Pilot, it wouldn’t be the most exciting combination of characters – but then UCS sets are more about the build anyway, let’s not forget.

All this is to say that while a single TIE Pilot might seem like the most straightforward minifigure companion for a UCS TIE Interceptor, the possibilities for such a set are actually wide open. That’s if it exists at all: it’s only a rumour at this point, so could well end up being something else entirely.

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