LEGO® Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be… [Guest Review]

Like many people of a certain age, I grew up watching the Original Trilogy of Star Wars Movies as they rolled out in the cinemas. I then set watched the prequels as they played out, around the same time as my kids were born and in their early years. Finally, their first exposure to Star Wars came: not through the movies in the first instance, but through playing the TT Games – LEGO® Star Wars (covering episodes 1-3), LEGO® Star Wars II – Espisodes IV -VI, and then picking up the omnibus Complete Saga, on an alternative platform. This also served as part of their introduction to video games, and as a parent, I preferred this style of gameplay – mixed puzzles and cartoon gunfire, while tethered to each other, and taking the journey together. To be honest, I would have never completed episode VI if it were not for the cooperative play afforded by my son.

Now, 15 years is a long time in video games, but it might have even been a bit longer. Our kids have pretty well grown up (but are still at home), and the closest thing we now have in our house to cooperative regular game play is a game of Trivial pursuit (either via a Nintendo Switch or going old school, using a board, actual pieces and a 6-sided die.).

So part of me was quite excited about the prospect of sitting down again and replaying LEGO® Star Wars, covering the entire saga and spending some quality couch time with Harry. He has spent a little bit of time contemplating Games And Interactivity at university, while focussing on creative writing. I figured I could get him to write a review.

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Making Miniland Scale for May the Fourth. Delays Mean It Will Be The Revenge of the Sixth…

Last week, I presented my review of the new 75341 Luke’s Landspeeder. While this latest UCS set comes with 2 minifigures, the set has been designed at decidedly greater than Minifigure scale – greater even than Jack Stone or Belville Scale. And so I put together some figures using techniques used for building the figures populating the Miniland Displays at the LEGOLAND theme parks. Don’t confuse these with the Minilands in the LEGOLAND Discovery Centres – they just use minifigures.

One of the great things about Miniland figures is that they can be built with the bricks that many of us have close to hand, and there is no obligation to make them posable – but you might need to think about the pose to strike before you start building.

Today, we will take a look through the pictures I have of the Star Wars Minilands from over the years, and we will look at building Luke Skywalker at Miniland scale.

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75341: UCS Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder: Rambling Review

Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder was the first personal vehicle that we were introduced to when Star Wars was first released in 1977. It truly embodied George Lucas’s notion of a ’used’ galaxy – where buildings and vehicles seen on screen had a few years or miles behind them, and were no longer in brand new condition. While the X-34 Landspeeder has been produced in several forms in the past, typically at Minifigure or microscale, it has often been at the expense of being able to brick build the fine details. By producing this set at a larger scale, many of these details are able to be demonstrated without resorting to stickers, except where necessary.

This latest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series has 1890 pieces and will be available from 1st of May, 2022. I was sent a prerelease copy by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Without further ado, let’s take a look.

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75341 LEGO® Star Wars Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder Revealed

As May the Fourth Approaches at what feels llike an ever glacial pace, it is time to see the official release images of the latest Ultimate Collector Series set: Set 75341 has 1890 pieces, comes with a Luke Skywalker minifigure, as well as a new exclusive C-3PO figure and will be priced at $319 AUD/$269.99 CAD/£174.99 GB/€199.99 EU/$199.99 US. It will be available exclusively from LEGO Stores.

Luke Skywalker, like any young adult around our world, values the freedoms that he has, despite the pressures from his Uncle Owen, and his X-34 Landspeeder is the key to those freedoms. While it allows him to go out to service the vaporators around the Lars’ moisture farm, it also gives Luke the chance to head over to Anchorhead, and catch up with his friends at Toschi’s Station.

This model is remarkably large, measuring 50cm longx 30 cm wide and 17cm high – significantly larger than any of the existing 6- 8 stud wide versions released over the years.

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LEGO® Star Wars: Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama [Hands On Review]

When Star Wars was released back in 1977, I did not get to see it straight away. “Wait for your birthday,” I was told in July 1977. My birthday is in March.

And so I read the paperback (ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster), I bought a couple of action figures (Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. My brother got Princess Leia and R2-D2. Eventually, we worked together to buy the Landspeeder, with its authentic floating motion), and started to collect the Scanlen Trading Cards (On license in Australia from Topp’s).

In the absence of a colour picture book, streaming services, Blu-Rays, DVDs or a VHS copy of the film, the next best way to visually experience the movie was to collect these screen shots. As far as I can tell there were at least 4 series releated to the film subsequently known as a New Hope. I only ever found the first in our local shops. Back in the day, I am pretty sure that I collected all of these blue bordered cards, as well as the series of 144 Battlestar Galactica cards, and subsequently the Return of the Jedi Cards. As a kid, It made no sense to try and purchase an entire box. Why would I do that? I only wanted one piece of bubble gum. Unfortunately, I do not know what happened to my series of Star Wars or BSG cards. I still have those from ROTJ, and secretly hope that there will be a diorama related to that in the future, so I can wax nostalgic about them…

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Greebling is Good. 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama: Hands-On Review

This year seems to be the Official Year of the Diorama, with 3 LEGO® Star Wars dioramas announced last week, as well as one in Jurassic Park. Last week we took a look at the new LEGO Star Wars Diorama Dabobah Jedi Training Ground. With a clearly defined border, an exclusive R2-D2 minifigure, along with Luke and Yoda, this set gave us a glorious rendition of an organic swamp landscape, with different earth tones, greens, a swamp of varying depths and plant life. Today, I would like to go the the other extreme in design for these Star Wars models: occupying the same footprint as Dagoboh, the 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run diorama features 3 visible colours in the scenery, a more induction, inorganic design than Dagobah as well as no minifigures, 2 TIE Fighter’s; Darth Vader’s Advanced TIE and an X-wing fighter – All in microscale.

So, how does it fare? Is it a reasonable build, with interesting details? Or is it a big slab of grey, missing all of the things that made the Dagobah set such a highlight in the release calendar for the year? Read on, and perhaps you might decide that this is the set you have long been waiting for. Or not…

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Playsets Grow up with 75330 LEGO® Star Wars™ Dagobah™ Jedi™ Training Diorama [Hands-On Review]

I’d be fibbing if I were to say that this new range of dioramas did not take me by surprise. Of course, I’d also be fibbing if I were to say they made no sense. The history of movie scenes displayed at LEGO conventions has involved AFOLs setting up scenes from their favourite films and television series for the audience to admire. And so it was only a matter of time, given the current targeting of the Adult Market, before the LEGO Group started to produce fan favourite scenes from movies they share a licence to. This new range of dioramas presents the source material in a more appropriate fashion than might be expected in a playset, laden with play features, but not specifically designed to present us with comprehensive scenery.

This new range of dioramas brings us highly detailed vignettes, in a relatively small space, using techniques that you might have only previously find tucked away in the darkest corners of flickr, with occasional elevation to the front page of the Brothers Brick or Eurobricks.

There are three dioramas available for preorder at LEGO.com: 75329 Death Star Trench Run; 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training and 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor. We currently expect 75330 and 75339 to be available from April 28 while The Trench Run has been delayed for delivery on May the 5th 2022.

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LEGO Star Wars Diorama Series Revealed: Coming April 26th; Preorder Now

It’s almost April, and this means it must be time to start seeing some new Star Wars sets in preparation for May the Fourth. This year, we have something a little different: rather than focus on playsets or vehicles, this year we are seeing another 3 sets aimed at adults, based on pivotal moments in the A NewHope and The Empire Strikes Back

The LEGO Group is unveiling a new collection of LEGO® Star Wars™ Diorama building sets to help fans relive their favourite scenes from the original trilogy in LEGO brick form.

The three new sets span iconic scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back to give fans a new way of exploring their love for the early films while building a model they can proudly display once complete.

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New Star Wars Helmets Officially Revealed

The arrival of the first Star Wars Helmets a couple of years ago brought a new way for fans to build ‘serious grown up’ models to display. After an initial run embracing Stormtroopers, Boba Fett and TIE Pilots in 2020, followed by the Scout Trooper and Darth Vader in 2021, it’s about time we had some good to see, rather than just the forces of the Dark Side.

As such, I am delighted that we have Luke Skywalker’s helmet available for the first time, as well as Din Djarin, from the Mandolorian. And just to make sure the Empire is remembered, we have the Dark Trooper Helmet, also from The Mandalorian. These new helmets will go on sale on March 1 2022, and have a RRP of 59.99 EUR/ 59.99 USD / 54.99 GBP / 79.99 CAD / 89.99 AUD. read on for more details

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Release Date for LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga will be April 5, 2022 ; Gameplay Trailer Now Available

After what feels like years of delays, TT Games ‘LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga’ has finally been given a release date:April 5 2022.

The final gameplay trailer was released overnight,and it looks like, while the delays have been frustrating with large gaps between updates, as well as rumors of the game being cancelled, its might all have been worth it. Having been around LEGO Star Wars since the beginning, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy was probably one of the first games that I played with my kids. Now, almost 20 years later they are grown up, and seeking out gaming experiences of their own.

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