HELO1{"id":105117,"date":"2021-04-06T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brickfanatics.com\/?p=105117"},"modified":"2021-04-07T10:06:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T09:06:44","slug":"lego-star-wars-is-changing-and-that-may-be-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brickfanatics.com\/lego-star-wars-is-changing-and-that-may-be-a-good-thing","title":{"rendered":"LEGO Star Wars is changing, and that may be a good thing","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The most recent LEGO<\/a> Star Wars<\/a> sets mark a potential new direction for the theme, and one that 75301 Luke Skywalker\u2019s X-wing Fighter<\/a> demonstrates isn\u2019t all bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEGO<\/a> Star Wars<\/a> in 2021 will still bring us huge, high-priced sets of aesthetic beauty and brick mastery. But as the first releases of the year suggest, a humbler, more straightforward avenue may have also begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The January 2021 LEGO<\/a> Star Wars<\/a> range is, on the face of things, one of the theme\u2019s most underwhelming waves of releases in recent times \u2013 for the comparatively low number of sets released, for revisiting too-familiar ships and for the downsizing those ships have experienced. We’re talking specifically about 75302 Imperial Shuttle<\/a> (review<\/a>), 75300 Imperial TIE Fighter<\/a> (review<\/a>) and 75301 Luke Skywalker\u2019s X-wing Fighter (review<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each is a set based on a ship that has had more than its fair share of previous LEGO<\/a> versions released \u2013 particularly in the cases of the TIE Fighter and X-wing \u2013 and each comes in at a lower piece count than its most recent predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst we have already alluded to the differences both positive and negative of the budget-conscious TIE Fighter in our review<\/a>, it is arguably the X-wing that makes for the most interesting wider comparison with respective predecessors. Like the TIE Fighter, its history in LEGO<\/a> design can be traced back over two decades and, more so than the TIE Fighter, in between has been a very high number of re-releases, updates, re-colours and overhauls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally, where there are obvious compromises made to both 75302 Imperial Shuttle<\/a> and 75300 Imperial TIE Fighter<\/a>, there are fewer to immediately spot across 75301 Luke Skywalker\u2019s X-wing Fighter (without saying there are none \u2013\u00a0just ask R2-D2…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it is, in pitting it against two standout LEGO<\/a> X-wings from LEGO<\/a> Star Wars<\/a>\u2019 history \u2013\u00a0the original from 1999, 7140 X-wing Fighter and the very best from 2018, 75218 X-wing Starfighter \u2013 75301 Luke Skywalker\u2019s X-wing Fighter pays clever (if unintended) tribute to what has come before, and forges an unlikely path forward for LEGO<\/a> Star Wars<\/a> as a wider theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n