Tag: LEGO Star Wars

New Activity on LEGO Ideas: Brightly-Lit LEGO Star Wars Builds on “Galaxy of Lights”

After covering several 10-K product ideas and featuring a contest or activity, surfing LEGO Ideas is routine now. Only one day remains in the LEGO Harry Potter 20th Anniversary contest. In the no-prize-but-online-showcase activities page, the “Toy Photography in Rain” got 38 entries.

Speaking of activities, LEGO Ideas put up something new quite recently. And there’s something different with this one. Where past activities discouraged the used of licensed IPs in submitted builds, this one encourages it. In fact, the activity pushes a particularly popular IP for LEGO: “Star Wars.”

For the LEGO Ideas Activity “Galaxy of Lights,” the LEGO Star Wars theme is at center stage. What the Ideas crew is looking for this time are LEGO Star Wars-themed dioramas with integrated lighting. Members interested in participating need only build anything “Star Wars”-related and then light them up. How do they do that? Builders have their own discretion.

Christmas lights, flashlights, LEGO-compatible lighting accessories: just light the set brightly and you meet the objective. With a “bright” theme like the space operatic “Star Wars,” this activity should be cake. Do note that this activity lasts only for a week, ending next Tuesday, October 12. As before, the only prizes the participants get in a LEGO Ideas activity is possibly being featured on social media.

“LEGO Star Wars Battles” Relaunched on Apple Arcade

This past weekend saw LEGO, WB Games and Lucasfilm Games give a mobile game its greatest second chance. The original Android/iOS debut of “LEGO Star Wars Battles” in 2020 wasn’t so hot, closing only months ago. Its publishers however believe the mobile game app had potential. So last month they announced its revival for the subscription-based Apple Arcade platform. And this past Friday, September 24, “LEGO Star Wars Battles” went live anew in its new home. To commemorate the occasion and drum up interest with Apple Arcade subscribers, WB Games revealed a short launch trailer.

The half-minute “LEGO Star Wars Battles” trailer calls on “Star Wars” and mobile RTS fans to “Build, Battle and Repeat” once more. One-one-one multiplayer sees the struggle between the Dark and Light Sides from various “Star Wars” media. Players can collect troops and named characters from the “Star Wars” films, “Clone Wars” series and spinoffs like “Rogue One.”

Choose a planetary battlefield from the “Star Wars” Galaxy and deploy your forces. Construct LEGO-brick structures, defenses and combat vehicles as you command your army to victory. Whether it’s the beaches of Scarif, the ice-fields of Hoth or the Ewok forests of Endor, battle is always waiting.

Check out “LEGO Star Wars Battles,” available now on Apple Arcade for a $4.99 monthly subscription. A one-month free trial is also an option. Apple Arcade is open on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. For more info and discussion, you may visit “LEGO Star Wars Games” social media at Facebook and Twitter .

“LEGO Star Wars Battles” Re-Release Date on Apple Arcade Set for September 24

“If at first it doesn’t succeed, try again.” That must have been on the minds of Warner Bros. Games regarding “LEGO Star Wars Battles.” Released in beta on iOS last year, this mobile game app languished in extended beta before shutting down in July. Then WB Games and TT Games Brighton revealed its revival as a component of Apple Arcade. A renewed promotional blitz again showcased its tower-defense/RTS gameplay in a “LEGO Star Wars” skin. What the dev-publishers withheld from interested Apple Arcade subscribers was when “LEGO Star Wars Battles” will re-launch. We know now.

The Brick Fan has the scoop on a recent announcement from TT Games Brighton and WB Games. “LEGO Star Wars Battles” will come online as an Apple Arcade exclusive this coming Friday, September 24. The Apple Arcade service can be availed of on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. With a $4.99 monthly fee it’s still a notable expense, though interested gamers can try a one-month free trial. If somebody’s an Apple One subscriber regardless of tier plans, they automatically have Apple Arcade. One wonders if its new platform will get “LEGO Star Wars Battles” the needed player exposure. Its original iOS beta didn’t become a full release after all.

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“LEGO Star Wars Battles” sees players field armies of the Light and Dark factions in 1-on-1 multiplayer RTS action. Familiar characters and fantastic combat vehicles in minifigure and brick-built form battle across varied battlefields. The objective is to destroy enemy defense towers, build one’s own, and advance forces to capturing the enemy base. Basically RTS veterans would feel right at home. Again, the game goes live for the second exclusively on Apple Arcade September 24. We’ll see if the app has better luck this time.

LEGO Releases Halloween “Celebrate the Season” LEGO Star Wars Animated Shorts, with Compilation

A lot of seasonal celebrations tend to start celebrating early. LEGO is also up to starting the party days and weeks before the event itself. Take for instance their LEGO Star Wars “Terrifying Tales” animated special. It’s premiering on Disney+ the first of October, when Halloween falls on the last. Yet even before that rib-tickling sendup to horror anthologies starts streaming, LEGO’s already gotten more animated shorts out. No less than six Halloween-themed LEGO Star Wars shorts are up now on the LEGO YouTube channel. And as “short” as they are, they’ve been collected into a single compilation shown below.

Fans of LEGO Star Wars and the more recent “Star Wars” content streaming or coming to Disney+ will love this. Of the five animated shorts, three features “The Mandalorian” and one has “The Bad Batch.” That doesn’t mean other “Star Wars” properties are neglected.  Boba Fett shows up with Din Djarin in one short where they try to outdo each other in ship makeovers. Seeing Boba Fett’s Starship (75312) decked out in various Halloween motifs is a riot. Similarly hilarious is the short where Darth Maul and Ahsoka Tano duel each in a pumpkin-carving contest.

If you didn’t get the hint, these LEGO Star Wars Halloween shorts feature more recent sets from the theme. The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle (75314) is also there in a short about a pumpkins and a battle droid. Satirically reworking Din’s search of Grogu in a Star Destroyer as a Trick-or-Treat run? That was just marvelously hilarious. If nothing else, these shorts should tide LEGO Star Wars fans over until “Terrifying Tales” arrives on Disney+ streaming. It comes on this October 1, so don’t forget.

Yet Another LEGO Star Wars Rumor: Hoth-Variant AT-ST Walker (75322) Coming January Next Year

Casual viewers of the original “Star Wars” trilogy would believe that the Imperial AT-ST “chicken-leg” walker first appeared in “Return of the Jedi.” But they actually show up in the background of the Battle of Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back.” As you may have guessed, the AT-ST is the latest bit of LEGO Star Wars rumor about sets coming in 2022. Between a supposed Battle Pack (75320?) and a possible UCS AT-AT Walker (75313?), Episode V’s getting lots of LEGO love. Now Germany’s Promobricks.de is saying that an AT-ST could be joining the aforementioned Hoth-themed sets.

Leaked word is that a new LEGO Star Wars AT-ST set is due for release in January of 2022. This Imperial walker sports colors from the Battle of Hoth in “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.” That means it’s somewhat different from their more visible appearance in “Return of the Jedi.” “Star Wars” tech manuals indicate that the earlier Hoth model differs from the Endor model in weapon shape. The Hoth AT-ST apparently sports longer legs and closed viewports too. The LEGO Star Wars rendition of this Imperial walker variant will apparently bear the number 75322.

About that leak…

Details from the leak shared by Promobricks claim the Hoth AT-ST set has 586 pieces and three minifigures. That’s more pieces and less minifigs than the most recent LEGO Star Wars AT-ST. That would be the Raider variant (75254) as seen in “The Mandalorian” on Disney+. It had Mandalorian Din Djarin and his companion Cara Dune against two Klatoonians piloting the walker. The Hoth AT-ST (75322) would have one Imperial as pilot, facing Chewbacca and a Hoth Rebel trooper. Oh and there’s supposed to be an Imperial probe droid included.

Once this set arrives next year (if true), then the Hoth AT-ST could partner with the November-releasing UCS AT-AT (75313) and Hoth Battle Pack (75320) to create another LEGO Star Wars rendition of the big battle scene from “The Empire Strikes Back.” But of course, all three products remain rumors at present, until LEGO makes official statements to confirm them.

LEGO Shop@Home UK Marks Sets “Retiring Soon” by End of 2021

Even as several LEGO themes were assured of continuing into next year by the company’s VP for design over the weekend, that doesn’t mean specific individual sets will go on. That’s how it’s always been. LEGO can’t keep making the same stuff so old products must retire to make way for new offerings.

There were some LEGO set retirements announced in August. Earlier this week, LEGO Shop@Home UK updated their listings to indicate their sets retiring possibly by year’s end. As confirmed on their site, five LEGO Creator Expert sets and one each from LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Stranger things will be going bye-bye when 2021 concludes. Here they are, courtesy of The Brick Fan. We’ve listed them by year of release, with our Brick Show feature articles and their Shop@Home UK listings:

2018
2019
2020

So far their Shop@Home US counterpart listings are still available (some are marked Hard to Find though). Hopefully they won’t be changing to “Retiring Soon” as well.

LEGO Star Wars Rumor: New Star Destroyer Set (40484) as GWP for Still-Unconfirmed UCS AT-AT, All Coming November

It’s another day, and we have another rumor percolating for LEGO Star Wars stuff. While those of the Star Wars Helmets are not until next year, this one’s (probably) coming a lot sooner. And rather than a buy-alone set (though still a possibly), this one’s a gift-with-purchase. The tidbit comes to us from Brick Fanatics by way of LEGO_club_news on Instagram. It’s possible that this could be the GWP to yet another unconfirmed set, supposedly another UCS. And as it’s supposed to come out sometime in November the reveal (if any) will be even closer.

As you can see from this Instagram post by LEGO_club_news, we’re looking at another LEGO Star Wars Star Destroyer. Numbered 40484, this set is said to have 396 pieces. According to Brick Fanatics that’s about the same size as the Midi-scale Star Destroyer (8099) retired in 2010. Given LEGO’s penchant for revamping old nearly-forgotten sets with new numbering, this 40484 version sounds plausible. What’s yet to be substantiated is the LEGO Star Wars UCS set this one’s supposed to be GWP for. A UCS Imperial AT-AT (75313?) just over a year after the already-large 75288 version’s kind of too soon.

When it comes to rumors as we’ve said before, it’s not really real until LEGO says so. This rumor pegged the LEGO Star Wars Star Destroyer (40484) as coming in November, so we have until October. The same likely goes for the UCS AT-AT which has an alleged November 26 release. That’s more calendar dates to mark for LEGO Star Wars collectors. Let’s see if we get more pleasant surprises than disappointments with these speculations.

New LEGO Star Wars Helmets Rumored to Come Out Next Year

The AFOL section of the LEGO Star Wars fandom has gotten some awesome sets geared for them since last year. Perhaps the most memorable are the Star Wars Helmet collection. There’s nothing like brick-built recreations of the iconic headgear of the Empire (and one bounty hunter) to inspire imagination. Five sets have been released thus far. Last year saw the line’s debut with the Stormtrooper (75276), TIE Fighter Pilot (75274) and Boba Fett (75277) helmets. This past March saw them joined by Darth Vader (75304) and the Scout Trooper (75305). And according to Promobrick.de in Germany, more sets are coming.

That’s pretty much the gist of the rumor Promobricks has picked up: more LEGO Star Wars Helmets in 2022. Apparently, LEGO is considering the helmets of three characters, but will decide to make only two sets. The three in question are Luke Skywalker (Red 5 helmet), Imperial AT-AT Pilot, and Din Djarin. Indeed, the titular Mandalorian from the “self-titled” Disney+ series is getting a LEGO helmet. One has to wonder however at how to make these rumored LEGO sets distinct. The AT-AT Pilot’s helmet is almost a revamped, recolored Stormtrooper. Din’s helmet on the other hand comes across as duller and less fanciful that Boba’s.

Bear in mind that these are just rumors at the very moment. We’ll have to wait again until LEGO makes an official statement about these (supposed) new LEGO Star Wars Helmets. The same goes for rumors of new LEGO Star Wars Battle Packs that started making buzz earlier this month. About the only thing we can say is that we’re now wishing more heroic “Star Wars” characters wore helmets. This line of LEGO Star Wars sets is near-totally skewed in favor of the Galactic Empire.

Designer Video for LEGO Star Wars UCS Republic Gunship (75309) Pulled Following Fan Outrage at Franchise Terminology

This year saw the release of yet another masterpiece in the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series. The UCS Republic Gunship (75309) is a beauty indeed, with splendid details, poseable features and two minifigures included. Its completed form would look right at home inserted in battle scenes from “Episode II – Attack of the Clones.” “Star Wars” fans voted for the vehicle to become the next LEGO UCS. The same designer that created the UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) helped conceptualize this set. Only this time he appears to be in hot water with “Star Wars” purists due to 75309’s design video.

As told by Brick Fanatics, the designer video for LEGO Star Wars UCS Republic Gunship (75309) has received fan backlash. Posted this past weekend, a month after the set’s release, it featured LEGO designer Hans Burkhard Schlomer. Schlomer designed both the UCS Republic Gunship and the Millennium Falcon (75192). But his choice of words while discussing how 75309 came about led to immense criticism from “Star Wars” fans. They took offense when Schlomer described the gunship as coming from the “Original Trilogy” instead of the “Prequel Trilogy.” The pointed comments at this, and other statements by Schlomer, led to LEGO ultimately removing the designer video.

The incident comes across as a sobering lesson. While LEGO and “Star Wars” have successful partnership for many years, there’s still some friction between two fan bases. And the more purist elements of “Star Wars” fans still get upset at what they perceive as erroneous references to the franchise.  It’s too bad, given how the LEGO Star Wars UCS set at the heart of this issue is gorgeous. Nobody knows if LEGO will bother to put up a new version of the designer video. If not, then that’s the end.

Set Update

By this writing, the UCS Republic Gunship (75309) is temporarily out of stock at LEGO Shop@Home US. It’s got 3,292 pieces and priced at $349.99.

First Trailer Out for “LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales” Coming October 1 on Disney+

Last month, Disney+ revealed an upcoming “LEGO Star Wars” animated special. It’s themed for Halloween and asks the question: Do “Star Wars” and “horror anthology” go well together? Well, there was a short “Star Wars” young-readers horror-novel series in the 1990s, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, Lucasfilm and LEGO are about to demonstrate how mixing a Galaxy Far, Far Away with “Tales from the Crypt” is not only doable, but hilariously fun. That’s because the first trailer for “LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales” is out. And now LEGO animated series and “Star Wars” fans are laughing their heads off.

Why shouldn’t they laugh? Check out the trailer below, as posted on the official “Star Wars” YouTube channel. It’s a gloriously chaotic comedy with just the right amount of scary. It starts with Resistance Pilot Poe Dameron (Jake Green) crash-landing on planet Mustaphar. He and his trusty droid BB-8 then stumble upon…Castle Vader, former citadel of Darth Vader-turned-Sith-themed luxury hotel. Thank Graballa the Hutt for that. Poe, Graballa and his mechanic Dean (Raphael Alejandro) then meet Vanee (Tony Hale), former servant of Vader. He basically apes the Crypt-keeper and the Midnight Society in sharing three spooky tales of the Galaxy.

“Submitted for Your Approval…”

Tale 1 sees Ben Solo (Christian Slater) being recruited by the First Order. He becomes Kylo Ren and goes around…bullying droids by playing catch with their heads alongside his Knights. Tale 2 recounts how Darth Maul got his cybernetic lower body…and his struggle to master moving with it. The third tale takes canon off-track when Luke Skywalker wishes on a preserved monkey/Wookie-paw…and becomes an Imperial pilot. As Vanee tells these tales of the Sith, something dark begins to stir within Castle Vader. Even Emperor Palpatine (Trevor Devall) couldn’t miss it.

Packed with signature LEGO animation physics, quirky adventures and shout-outs from various horror films and anthologies with some sweet parental bonuses, “LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales” is going to rock the LEGO fan’s Halloween viewing list. Catch it on Disney+ streaming this coming October 1.