20 years of LEGO Star Wars

It is (probably more than) a tiny bit late, but in 2019, LEGO released a set of 20th Anniversary Star Wars sets (https://brickset.com/sets/tag-Lego-Star-Wars-20Th-Anniversary).

20th Anniversary Star Wars Sets (75243, 75258, 75259, 75261 & 75262)

5x sets were re-issues of previous sets:

• 75262 Imperial Dropship w/ Han Solo re-issue
• 75261 Clone Scout Walker w/ Darth Vader re-issue
• 75259 Snowspeeder w/ Lando re-issue
• 75258 Podracer w/ Luke re-issue
• 75243 Slave 1 w/ Leia re-issue

I finally caved after X-mas and bought the fifth and largest Slave 1 (7524) set to complete my collection. *shakes his head* #LEGOaddiction.

All 6 re-issue minifigs (including polybag/GWP Obi-Wan)

As part of the promotion, each set contained a replica minifigure that looked exactly like the first release. I've modified the display stand to show the re-issue (older) minifg on the left and a newer version on the right for juxtaposition. 

There are many great reviews on internet already. *However* I wanted to discuss here how far LEGO minifigures have advanced. (Seems somewhat timely after my post on creator of the minifigure: Jens Nygaard Knudsen's passing recently.)  When I stepped back to see the contrast, it is pretty amazing what LEGO has done!

(FYI - I updated Leia pics. I bought Death Star Escape set and found that a better comparison.)

Let's go...


#1 - Princess Leia

• Original: 7190 Millennium Falcon (2000)
• Style: Princess of Alderaan (Political Gown)
• Update: 75229 Death Star Escape (2019)

75243 Slave 1 - Leia minifig

The largest set, an updated Slave 1 (75243) included original Princess Leia. She was part of what could only be described as "primitive" Millennium Falcon set (https://brickset.com/sets/7190-1/Millennium-Falcon) in second wave of "Classics" Star Wars sets. The best part of 2000 set minifigs was the hairpiece, the minifig still had very basic printing, yellow skin-colour and pretty basic facial printing. TBH the red lips look ridiculous compared to today's LEGO minifigures.

The newer Princess Leia is from Death Star Escape (https://brickset.com/sets/75229-1/Death-Star-Escape). LEGO used a more accurate colour and a more accurate mould, slightly imrpoving the hair-piece. Her face has a much more detailed expression including eyelashes and pupils. The torso printing makes the robe look almost 3D.

Interesting point is that her outfit is supposed to be a full length dress! Yet even in the update, they gave her generic white minifigure legs. I've put together a prototype below.

Prototype Princess Leia

#2 - Luke Skywalker

• Original:7140 X-wing (1999)
• Style: X-Wing/Snowspeeder Pilot (Rebel orange jump-suit)
• Update: 75259 Snowspeeder - 20th Anniversary (2019)

75258 Podracer - Luke minifig

The Pod-Racer set (75258) included X-wing/Snow-Speeder pilot version of Luke from first wave in 1999 (https://brickset.com/sets/7140-1/X-wing-Fighter, https://brickset.com/sets/7130-1/Snowspeeder). Actually the same minifig was also release 2x more times (https://brickset.com/sets/7142-1/X-wing-Fighter, https://brickset.com/sets/4483-1/AT-AT) but #7142 seemed like re-release under a different set #. In the X-wing set, Biggs and Luke only differed from a mustache and in the Snowspeeder set, Dak and Luke only differed from printing on the helmet. However the minifig did have dual-moulded/coloured legs which was/is somewhat more rare.

The newer Luke in (yet another) Snowspeeder 20th Anniversary Set (75259) has amazing level of detail in the pilot suit. His facial printing is some of the best I've seen with yellow visor overlay. While they didn't have a physical tube like 1st Order Tie Pilot in 2015 (https://brickset.com/sets/75101-1/First-Order-Special-Forces-TIE-Fighter), he still had printing that ran from torso down to the leg over 3x different parts. Overall an excellent minifig and great addition for any collection.

I'm a little surprised these used pilot Luke. I always think that Tatooine Luke is much more iconic.


#3 - Lando Calrissian

• Original:10123 Cloud City (2003)
• Style: Baron-Administrator outfit
• *Update: 9496 Desert Skiff (2012)

The Snowspeeder set (75259) included Cloud-City version of Lando from original Cloud City set in 2003 (https://brickset.com/sets/10123-1/Cloud-City). Once again this set looks almost "primative" but one NIB set is listing for almost $2000 on BrickLink!!! (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=10123-1#T=P)

My apologies, as I never purchased the *extremely* expensive ~3000x piece Betrayal At Cloud City set (https://brickset.com/sets/75222-1/Betrayal-at-Cloud-City). I couldn't convince myself to do it. I do have the updated hair-piece which as been used for dark-skinned minifigs like Agent Nick Fury (https://brickset.com/sets/30453-1/Captain-Marvel-and-Nick-Fury) and MCU Falcon (https://brickset.com/sets/76104-1/The-Hulkbuster-Smash-Up).

Instead I compared him with Desert Skiff version from 2012 (https://brickset.com/sets/9496-1/Desert-Skiff). I find the mustache a lot more accurate and facial expression just reminds me so much of Billy Dee William's portrayal of him in ESB and ROTJ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lando_Calrissian).

#4 - Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

• Original:10123 Cloud City (2003)
• Style: Lord Vader Armour (SN E-3778Q-1)
• Update: 75093 Death Start Final Duel (2015)

I have to say Darth Vader figures have been some of my favourite minifigs. The Scout Walker set (75261) included the original Darth Vader minifig, again from original Cloud City set in 2003 (https://brickset.com/sets/10123-1/Cloud-City). Even the original Darth Vader minifig was amazing!!! The helmet still had so much detail and overall the minifig with cape looked so accurate. The minifig head was a little primitive in its printing, but it was done in a way that masked the limitations. It was not minifig yellow and contained a lot of detail (relative to other minifig heads).

I didn't know how they would top the original Darth Vader minifig, but in 2015 they did it with a 2-part helmet as part of the Death Start Final Duel (https://brickset.com/sets/75093-1/Death-Star-Final-Duel). True enough, going back to ROTJ in fact the bottom part of the helmet is indeed separate! The skin tone of the frail Anakin Skywalker is more accurate and even if the minifig had a slight grimace, it still conveyed a sad look. Possibly my favorite LEGO minifigure and I have over 2000 of them. I freak every time I think I can't locate him.

#5 - Han Solo

• Original:10123 Cloud City (2003)
• Style: Smuggler Outfit
• Update: 75243 Slave 1 - 20th Anniversary (2019)

The Imperial Dropship set (75262) included the original Han Solo and in a dark alley, someone could have probably confused him with Emmet from LEGO Movie (https://thelegomovie.fandom.com/wiki/Emmet_Brickowski). They gave Han brown eye-brows and his (slight) smuggler grin, but overall it wasn't very progressive.

The newer version of Han Solo from Slave 1 set (75243) is pretty much the same as one from the much more expensive Betrayal At Cloud City set (https://brickset.com/sets/75222-1/Betrayal-at-Cloud-City). The hair-piece is highly accurate. The smile, the wrinkles, the detailed printing on legs and torso, all top-notch. I can almost hear Harrison Ford's voice making snide remarks. Printing on the legs is even on the connecting crotch piece, which is still pretty rare (it's in none other minifigures shown here).


(BONUS) #6 - Obi-wan Kenobi

• Original:7110 Landspeeder (1999)
• Style: Smuggler Outfit (Old-Ben Tatooine robe)
• Update: 75243 Slave 1 - 20th Anniversary (2019)

For those lucky enough, either directly from LEGO.com website or from a LEGO retail store GWP (Gift with Purchase in AFOL speak) an Obi-Wan polybag (https://brickset.com/sets/30624-1/Obi-Wan-Kenobi-Collectable-Minifigure). This original Obi-wan was available in (again) a horribly "primitive" Landspeeder set (https://brickset.com/sets/7110-1/Landspeeder), part of the 10x set original Star Wars wave in 1999. Don't ask me why there are at least 4x version of the Landspeeder, more if you include Mos Eisley sets. Ironically, I feel the Obi-Wan minifigure was actually the 2nd best, after Dark Vader and people didn't get an opportunity to acquire him via mass-production set.

For comparison, I am using my 2018 Obi-wan from the Imperial Landing Craft (https://brickset.com/sets/75221-1/Imperial-Landing-Craft), which is really a Sentinel Class Imperial Shuttle (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sentinel-class_landing_craft). Beautifully detailed facial printing that portrayed the sad eyes of Sir Alec Guinness from the original trilogy, knowing his eventual fate with Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel. There isn't a physical robe/cape, but the printing tries to best replicate this with ink.

In Conclusion...

Overall, when I look back at 20+ years of LEGO-engineering with Star Wars licensed sets, it's remarkable how many improvements have been made in LEGO minifigure production. Star Wars gave way to so many radical changes, such as changing the skin-tone of licenses sets and spawned so many non-building set related items like video games and shows. It just doesn't feel like Star Wars Day/May The Fourth (https://www.starwars.com/star-wars-day) without a LEGO sale!  I'm excited to see what the next 20 years brings... roll the final scene in Star Wars: A New Hope!

https://youtu.be/tizZyM15VL8?t=90

Jens Nygaard Knudsen (former Chief LEGO Designer) passes at 78

I just found out from Brickset that former Chief LEGO Designer Jens Nygaard Knudsen passed away last week on Feb 19, 2020 at the age of 78 after battling ALS.

• CNN article - https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/25/business/lego-minifigure-creator-dies-scli-intl/index.html
• People Magazine  article - https://people.com/human-interest/jens-nygaard-knudsen-lego-minifigure-creator-dies-78/
• Brickset's post - https://brickset.com/article/49052/designer-of-the-minifig-passes-away

For those that didn't know, Jens Nygaard Knudsen worked at LEGO from 1968-2000, leading the design team in the 80s and 90s. During his tenure there he was responsible for inventing the LEGO minifigure (42 years "young" now) and designed the entire first LEGO Space (classic) line.

LEGO, and even more specifically LEGO Space had such an influence on my early years. Perhaps many are too young to remember, but before LEGO Star Wars, there was LEGO Space. That LEGO line totally captured my imagination and I spent much of my childhood on LEGO space adventures. It is not an exaggeration to say that LEGO helped shaped my decision to become an #engineer.

#NygaardMemorialFleet

To honour Jens Nygaard Knudsen, I'm joining Huw and others in building a LEGO space ship and posting with the tag "#NygaardMemorialFleet".

It's a variation of the Space Scooter set 885 from 1979 (https://brickset.com/sets/885-1/Space-Scooter). Unfortunately I don't have any of my original LEGO (one of my greatest regrets...) so I had to improvise a bit. I also thought it would be fitting to use the latest iteration of Benny the Spaceman  as well.

I found this quote from People magazine article (above) highly enlightening:

“His imagination was so fantastic,” he said of Knudsen, who reportedly worked for LEGO between 1968 to 2000. “If we had a brainstorm, it was more like a brain hurricane because he had so many ideas.”

Thank you Jens Nygaard Knudsen. RIP.

SAP HQ Waldorf "Stern" Buildings

Sorry for the lack of postings this month but I got a little side-tracked...

It all stared with a post on LinkedIn where I asked for input on my next build. One of my former co-op students suggested I do a MOC of downtown a Toronto. Turns out that I had never done a LEGO architecture type build. Ironic because I think I pretty much own a set from almost every LEGO series (but heavily favouring Star Wars and Marvel/DC). As usual, before I really committed to anything I wanted to “dip my toe in” and make a quick test build/prototype.

So I decided to do a LEGO architecture style MOC of a very unique building in Waldorf, WDF18. It is shaped like an asterisk (“*”) with a large circular middle column and six (6) arms or points. I thought this was a good challenge as it was a mix of curved/circular parts and also non-orthogonal parts.

WDF18 Prototype Build

Shortly after experimenting for a evening, I posted a “prototype” on my LinkedIn. I asked my network if they could recognize the build. I was absolutely shocked when in less than a week I had 10,000 views!

Prototype LinkedIn Post

As the views and likes were flooding in I felt obligated to respond. So I committed to try expand the build. In less than a week I had built out WDF19-20-21, two building that had the “star” shape and the atrium that connected them. I have been to SAP HQ in Waldorf, a few hours from Frankfurt many times, but not in the last two years (my last three trips had been to the Potsdam office near Berlin). So I went from memory and a few pics I could find the on web. A weekend afternoon and a few late nights and I had a much bigger build.

WDF19-20-21

Again my network totally blew away my expectations. While the “prototype” posting had 10,000 views in a week, this posting had 10,000 in 24 hours! (As of this writing it has over 27,000 28,000+ views and  360+ 370+ likes.) At one point it was the top trending posting in #engineering.

Larger MOC LinkedIn Post

I had been asked how long it took me to build it all. The initial prototype was done in a night and took about 3-4 hours? The larger build which is 6 sand-coloured base plates was built in the next week and couldn’t really be more than 21 hours? I still had a full-time job and two young kids, so I was limited to late night and one weekend afternoon. So my best guess is about ~25 hours.

I learned that my LinkedIn network clearly loves LEGO and loves SAP. Below is the latest slightly refactored MOC:

You can see more pics in my Flickr Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/181958180@N03/albums/72157713228607767

You can also watch a 30s video of MOC on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eGB3fkiJVpo

Look for a part 2 where I will talk about the various parts of the build and techniques used.

MOC: ROTJ Emperor arrives on Death Star 2 (Part 2)

So in Part 1, I did what everyone else is doing. I basically just showed a finished product: MOC: ROTJ Emperor arrives on Death Star 2 (Part 1) and left it at that.

However what I want to do differently in this blog (and I hope it makes it unique from other LEGO blogs) is to show you how I did it. A moonshot goal would be to help others with LEGO journey and pass on a lot of things I had to learn the hard way through trial and error (because I started with LEGO before the Internet was a thing...)

As I said in the original Part 1, I didn't have that much source material, I actually used a different screen to get a better idea of the hangar wall. The scene is Vader arriving to Moff Jerjerrod, to make sure the Death Star 2 is on schedule (prior to Emperor arriving).

(from https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tiaan_Jerjerrod?file=MoffJerjerrodGreetsVader.jpg)

You can be the judge, but hopefully my MOC did a good job recreating this.

(Landscape View)

As you can see from this small cropped section, the wall has bordered frame/bezel that is slightly raised. There is an angled portion near the bottom and between panels there is jetted out portion.

(Blown-up Hanger Wall)

So the first "trick" was to get main wall with frame/brezel right. I didn't want to go with a whole stud width, so I used a jumper (offset/centered) 1x2 plate for some rows which would indent part of the wall at the bottom. You need to add some plates at the back since I wanted to 1x2 bricks. (FTR - LEGO now has 1x3 version 2 studs, but I only have a very small number of these.) I repeated the technique at the top, which then corrects the offset.

(Bottom off-set plates.)

(Top with 2nd offset so stud pattern is corrected)

From the back-side you can see the 1x2 bricks protruding. I used a combination of regular and masonry bricks for added texture. I also used some other techniques to add more visual appear.

(Wall components broken out.)

(Wall from the back with 1/2 stud offset)

Next I had to awkward forward part of the wall. This was floating in-front of the main section and had a angled part near the bottom. It also did not reach all the way to the bottom of the floor.

(Blown-up Hanger Wall)

With the protruding part, I couldn't use the same technique due to lack of space. I needed something flatter and I wanted to add the white inner parts on the size. So I rotated my working plane and build vertically. I also used flat plate for the offset frame/bezel.

I also flipped inside middle. This gave a very smooth look. Using a combination of Technic and 1x2 with studs on single side, this worked nicely.

Then I used the fairly new hinged 1x2 plates. These are GREAT because they lock into place and can hold a good amount of weight. (No way I do this normally since they quire rare, but I got bunch once from LEGO store pick-a-brick.)

(Paired up hinged 1x2 plate.)

Lastly, to mount this new part, I used Technic 1x4 brick with 3x holes. Then I used a technique I use all.the.time and put Technic 1/2 pin with stud so I can work vertically. I then put round stud for a spacer (I could have used 2 to get even more space) and attached.

(Technic pin naked and with round stud.)

(Back-side of protruding panel.)

The only other part was for structural purposes. I used more 2x4 bricks at 90° angle to help support the wall since it was so tall. Lined the top of the wall with flat plates to hide all the studs. There are a total of 8 panels in a repeating pattern. There are 7 protruding columns in between the 8 panels that span the total 96 stud width.

Put it together and you got something like this:

(Portrait View)

(Blown-up Hanger Wall)

The bottom was with alternating columns of round trans-clear blue studs. On top of that I basic technique with slopped 1x2 bricks. However to get the offset here on the angle, I used my old friend the hinged brick, but with a 2x2 top. This allowed me to 2x4 studded plate on a angle to mimic the offset in the wall above. I decorated various panels.

(Hinged Brick for angled offset.)

I hope you found that interesting! I tried my best to show what the "guts" look like behind the final build, which often times obscures the techniques used. Also there are definitely multiple ways something can be done and it's nice to see what people come up with. 

(Table view from Part 1)

This was all to avoid what in LEGO Castle building the "Big Ugly Grey Wall". :) Let's see how you guys can make your stuff way more interesting...

MOC: ROTJ Emperor arrives on Death Star 2 (Part 1)

LEGO Star Wars started just over 20 years in May 1999, timed with the Prequel Trilogy film release. To celebrate this event, I made a new LEGO "rather big" MOC!

This is technically my second attempt at rebuilding one of my all-time favourite scenes from Star Wars: Return of Jedi where Emperor Palpatine arrives to a Chinese Army-like display of power. 

Until recently, I thought this was an epic set like Ben-Hur (which used 15,000 extras). Unfortunately this was just an amazingly painted backdrop and camera work. This made finding different viewing angles almost impossible. However I did my best, and this is what I came up with:

(Card-Table Sized LEGO Death Star Hanger Bay)

This was the closest I could get to the original scene:

(Matching Movie Screen with Royal Guard and Emperor)

This build came together in about a week, and:

• My biggest build so far, covering 4x large grey base-plates (totaling 96 x 96 studs)
• Approximately 11,400 LEGO peices
• 391 LEGO minifigs
• Including: Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Sandtroopers, Deathtroopers, Shadowtroopers, Scout Trooper, Shock Trooper, Jump(Rocket)Trooper and Patrol Troopers

(Birds-Eye of all 391 LEGO minifigs)

(My favourite Snowtroopers.)

(Peering over the shoulder of Stormtroopers)

I did not already have a T4a Lamda-Class Shuttle, so I heavily modified Sentinel-Class Shuttle I had. Given more time, I would consider building this from scratch. I tried to get the wings as accurately as I could.

(T4a Lambda-class Shuttle)

It took a couple of tried, but the back wall is about 26x blocks high and made of 8-panels that are 12 studs wide. The wall structure itself is a surprising 4,000+ pieces (.

(Hangar wall detail)

For those that have never tried, large scale LEGO models take time, space and money (aka LEGO pieces). I am just *rough* estimating that this is about 11,000 pieces. The biggest LEGO set EVER was the UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) and it only had 7429 peices and 8 minifigs. Definitely more complex and intricate, but I just wanted to contrast how big this LEGO build was and how more amazing some of the even bigger MOCs are, 200,000 piece Rivendell and 150,000 piece Helm's Deep.