Lego Star Wars turns 25 years old as special gift deals revealed for May 4-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

The UCS TIE Interceptor is new for Star Wars Day (Lego)

Star Wars Day 2024 is a very special one for Lego, as it announces new sets, new Fortnite additions, and new gifts with purchase deals.

May 4 is international Star Wars Day and Lego is celebrating 25 years of brick-based sci-fi adventures with new sets and new free promotions.

It’s also the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace this year, which means plenty to celebrate for Star Wars Day on May 4 (May the 4th be with you, geddit?).

But not only did the prequel trilogy begin back in 1999 but so did Lego Star Wars, with the first sets coming out alongside The Phantom Menace and proving an instant hit.

Lego and Star Wars are such successful partners it’s now difficult to imagine one without the other, and both seem keen to keep it that way, with a series of announcements and special offers planned for the big day on Saturday.

Because of The Phantom Menace anniversary there’s a distinct prequel theme amongst many of Lego’s new sets this summer, but the biggest new release for Star Wars Day is the Ultimate Collector Series TIE Interceptor.

This is a completely new model for the souped-up TIE Fighter, meant as a nod to the original Lego set released in 2000, which was the first ship, along with an X-wing Fighter, to be made in the larger and more complex Ultimate Collector Series range.

The set is made up of 1,931 Lego pieces and the model is 40cm long when finished, complete with a TIE Pilot minifigure and Mouse Droid. Such a big set isn’t cheap, at £199.99, but thankfully there are plenty of other options at varying prices.

The Trade Federation Troop Carrier is only available as a gift with purchase (Lego)

If you buy any Lego Star Wars set from the Lego website, or an official store, between May 1 and 5, then you can get up to three free exclusive gifts, that aren’t available any other way.

Spend £35 or more and you get a small model of an AAT tank, spend £80 or more and you get a Battle of Yavin collectible coin depicting Darth Vader’s cockpit view from his TIE Fighter, and spend £145 or over and you get a Trade Federation Troop Carrier, complete with eight battle droid figures.

Now that’s podracing (Lego)

Mos Espa Podrace Diorama – £69.99
One of the most famous scenes from The Phantom Menace is recreated in a 718 piece display set featuring Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba’s podracers. This is the latest in a long line of Star Wars dioramas meant for adults, but it’s the first not to be based on a scene from the original trilogy.

The bad guys have all the coolest ships (Lego)

Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator – £59.99
One of the coolest ships from The Phantom Menace belonged to the evil Darth Maul and this relatively low price set allows you to get a minifigure of him (including his little anti-gravity scooter) plus Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker, and three probe droids.

Two Droideka for the price of one (Lego)

Droideka – £59.99

Lego doesn’t lend itself easily to round shapes, which has always made the Droideka from The Phantom Menace a difficult thing to portray in brick form. This set manages it twice though, first with a little minifigure scale model, and then with a 21cm tall version, made up of 583 pieces, that actually rolls up into a wheel.

BrickHeadz are cooler than Funko Pops (Lego)

The Phantom Menace – £49.99

If you prefer to focus on the characters then this special set, of what are basically brick-built Funko Pops, includes Jar Jar Binks, Anakin Skywalker, Queen Amidala, Captain Panaka, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Darth Maul. Or, if you prefer, you can buy Clone Commander Cody, from Revenge Of The Sith, separately for £9.99.

Grogu lived through the whole of the prequels (Lego)

BARC Speeder Escape – £24.99
Although it’s based on a scene from The Mandalorian, even this is technically a prequel set, as it shows Grogu being rescued from the Jedi Temple by the Jedi Kelleran Beq. It also comes with two 501st Clone Troopers, making for a neat low cost set for kids.

There’s been a lot to document in the last 25 years (Lego)

The Force of Creativity – £129.99
The final new release this month isn’t a Lego set but a coffee table book detailing the last 25 years of Lego Star Wars. It’s not cheap, but the 312 page hardcover book includes concept art and character designs, as well as interviews with over 50 Lego staff. A number of pieces of special memorabilia are also included, including art prints, new building instructions, and a replica of the super rare 1999 Toy Fair invitation box that was the first ever official Lego Star Wars product.

As if all that wasn’t enough there will also be virtual Lego Star Wars content added to Lego Fortnite from May 3, with Rebel and Imperial ships crash-landing into the game, so that you can build new items and use lightsabers.

To discuss the 25th anniversary, we got the chance to speak to Lego designer Michael Lee Stockwell via email, and ask him what it’s like to work on the sets and why Star Wars and Lego seem to work so well together…

Q. What is it about Star Wars and Lego that makes such a good combination? There’s certainly something in the design aesthetic of Star Wars that seems a perfect match, but how would you quantify that?

MLS: Many of the iconic Star Wars designs build on geometric shapes much in the same way that Lego bricks do. Add the element of Lego humour to this and the result is a very unique and special Lego Star Wars design language.

Q. Over 25 years vehicles and characters have been made and remade many times over but it feels like there’s several iconic ones that haven’t had their turn in a while, so when they come back how do you ensure the newer models are more accurate but also have new and interesting play features?

MLS: Our adult fan base has grown substantially, but our focus on children is as important as ever. There are ships like the Millennium Falcon that will remain among the absolute most iconic Star Wars vehicles, and every new Lego Star Wars fan deserves the experience of building their first X-wing or TIE Fighter.

Every time we design a model that we have done previously, we start from scratch. Our selection of LEGO bricks is constantly evolving making it possible for us to build in ways we couldn’t previously. We also listen to the input we get from fans to ensure we improve the building experience and functionality of the product.

One of the objectives with our midscale series of starships is to address the wish from adult fans for some of the iconic ships that we otherwise don’t often have an opportunity to make.

Q. In the last few years it’s seemed that the scale of some of the sets had decreased a little, with slightly simplified designs with less pieces. Was this an attempt to respond to the cost of living crisis and will it be an ongoing thing or will we slowly segue back to the original style and size?

MLS: When we did a small-scale Boba Fett’s Starship that was included in the Betrayal at Cloud City set (75222), the fan reactions were very positive. We decided to challenge ourselves to maintain a similar level of detail as with the larger ships, but at a reduced scale.

I was fortunate enough to be assigned the design task for both the 20th Anniversary version of Boba Fett’s Starship (75243) and the smaller scale Mandalorian version (75312). Both scales have their advantages, but one could argue that the smaller version strikes a better balance between scale and detail.

Q. Why is the TIE Interceptor grey instead of the more authentic sand blue colour? Is it because you don’t make a lot of the necessary pieces in sand blue or is it because some fans think TIEs are grey even though they’re not in the movies? Are there any other examples of models that have been designed to look like how people remember them, rather than how they actually are?

MLS: It is always our goal to be as accurate as possible and we study official reference images of model film props and compare these to the on-screen appearance. We always discuss and agree on choice of colour with our partner at Lucasfilm and we always agree on the final design. A number of years ago, the earliest Lego Star Wars TIE Fighter models were done in the standard bright blue colour. At a point we transitioned to light grey because we thought bright blue was too vibrant.

In recent years we have had a shade of blue in our pallet that we often refer to as ‘sand blue’. Although this colour comes closer than the bright blue, it is still not a perfect match. We know that fans also value consistency in our designs, so the decision was made to continue with light grey, as we still feel it is the closest match.

Q. What are the most asked for minifigures and sets at the moment from Star Wars fans? Are there still important ships or characters that have never been made as Lego sets?

MLS: Oh, I would need to check our list! Our graphic artists keep a watchful eye on what is on the top of the character wish list. With the 25th Anniversary sets, we hope to have checked some boxes, as we have included some very exclusive characters that fans have been asking for, for quite some time.

Regarding the choice of characters that is decided in collaboration with Lucasfilm. We always try to include the characters that are most relevant to the story.

Q. Has it been difficult to know what sets to make for the Disney+ shows, since it’s not really clear which will be most popular before they come out? Plus, there’s things like Andor, which kids probably won’t be interested in, and yet Luthen Rael’s haulcraft is one of the coolest new ships in Star Wars for a long time.

MLS: Whenever we are developing toys connected to new film releases, we run into this exact challenge. Our development timeline is running parallel to the creative process of making a new film. This means that we don’t always have all the pieces to the puzzle at the start of our process. We work in close collaboration with our partner and rely heavily on their guidance to make the best choices.

We are very focused on the fans when making our choices. Setting an assortment is a very complex task. We know before we even get started that we can’t do it all, but we aim to hit the passion points of Lego Star Wars fans of all ages.

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Q. The expanded universe also has a lot of cool designs and characters that you’ve dabbled in occasionally over the last 25 years but never much. Were these experiments unsuccessful or do you just find you have to be very specific which ones you do?

MLS: It’s always fun to dip into the expanded universe and when we have, the models have been well received. Again, it comes back to the assortment puzzle I just mentioned, there is a wealth of strong possibilities, but only a limited number of spots available.

Q. What’s been your favourite set from the last 25 years? Do you think there’ll be a celebration of 50 years of Lego Star Wars eventually?

MLS: Oh! The thing that makes this question so difficult to answer is that my favourite changes all the time. We continue to break new ground and my favourite is usually something the team is currently working on that I can’t talk about. That’s not a very satisfying answer, is it?

Recently, one of my colleagues stopped by my desk and said: ‘Hey, didn’t you work on the Sith Fury Interceptor?” (9500) ‘That is still one of my all-time favourites’. I had almost forgotten about that model, but it is one of my favourites as well.

50 years of Lego Star Wars? Absolutely!

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