Rumoured May the 4th promo is a smart approach by the LEGO Star Wars team

The rumoured May the 4th promo for 2024 sounds like a straight-up remake of a 2001 set – but more than that, a shrewd move from the LEGO Star Wars team…

Initial information on this year’s Star Wars Day promo from itavixbrix (via brick_clicker) suggests we’re looking at a new Trade Federation set among this year’s freebies, in the shape of 40686 Battle Droid Carrier. The 262-piece model is said to include somewhere between six and eight Battle Droids, and is rumoured to be available with qualifying purchases from May 1 (alongside an R2-D2 patch and keychain).

If you know your LEGO Star Wars history, you’ve probably already connected the dots back to the LEGO Group’s previous Battle Droid carriers. The most recent is 2015’s 75086 Battle Droid Troop Carrier, which packs in a Gungan Warrior, two Battle Droid Pilots and a staggering 12 regular Battle Droids. But the LEGO Group’s first foray into Battle Droid army-building actually came in 2001, with 7126 Battle Droid Carrier.

That 133-piece set only includes a single Battle Droid Pilot and six regular B1s, but that was still a good deal for (at the time) $10. And that’s seven droids in total, which we’d certainly class as ‘somewhere between six and eight Battle Droids’. The new May the 4th set may contain nearly twice the number of pieces – so the rumour goes – but that comparative number of droids is pointing to a remake of the 2001 set over its 2015 counterpart.

We could still be looking at a pretty substantial set, though, as 2011’s 7929 The Battle of Naboo – another droid carrier in all but set name – includes 241 pieces, Jar Jar Binks, a Gungan soldier, two Battle Droid Pilots and eight Battle Droids, along with a sizeable build. Throw in 21 more pieces while using fewer of them for Battle Droid minifigures and you’ve got a decent free gift going.

But that’s not all 40686 Battle Droid Carrier would represent. Following a string of exclusive May the 4th minifigures, the LEGO Star Wars team turned its attentions to exclusive builds for the annual promo from a galaxy far, far away. The community asked for minifigures to return, and so the LEGO Group found a happy middle ground in 2022 with 40531 Lars Family Homestead Kitchen – a new build that also includes an exclusive minifigure in Aunt Beru.

The LEGO Star Wars team then reverted back to a minifigure-free experience for 40591 Death Star II in 2023, presumably lacking the budget to stretch to a new minifigure just for a promo. (Each LEGO theme is allotted a certain number of new parts and prints per year.) If it’s used up all its new elements for 2024 in other, general-release sets, 40686 Battle Droid Carrier feels like the perfect alternative to an exclusive minifigure, delivering quantity over quality.

That’s a simplified way of saying if we can’t have a new character, we might as well have a bunch. And because Battle Droids have remained pretty much the same since 1999 – save for a new arm or two – not only can the LEGO Group easily bulk out any set with them, but they’re also the perfect way to celebrate the LEGO Star Wars theme’s 25th anniversary. Here are minifigures that have stood the test of time.

And sure, it would have been nice for a new Battle Droid Carrier to be more easily accessible than as a gift-with-purchase, but if you’re looking to bulk out your Separatist army, there’s always 75372 Clone Trooper & Battle Droid Battle Pack.

Click here to learn more about the rumoured LEGO Star Wars May the 4th 2024 promos, but bear in mind that nothing is confirmed until officially announced by the LEGO Group.

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