LEGO Star Wars 2015: Rumour Analysis

Jedi News have continued the site tradition of posting the first peek at next year’s LEGO Star Wars range, well the January sets at least. Will it be another year of X-Wings and Snowspeeders? Or full of newness? Or more realistically a bit of both? Read on for fan perspective on how the line-up looks. 


Check the original list out at Jedi News here.

January typically sees a range of lower priced Star Wars sets released, with the more expensive sets released in Summer as they are expected to be given as Christmas presents rather than purchases by the children themselves. The problem with LEGO Star Wars has been that low price point isn’t really what children saving up pocket money would define as low price point. This was resolved well in January 2014, which introduced the collectible Microfighters at £8.99 and more importantly the £19.99 range of vehicles which gave some choice in that price range.

So after a promising January 2014, expectations have been raised a little from the same-old, same-old that had crept into the Star Wars line. Let’s tackle these in the order Jedi News published them, and take a look at the Microfighters first. In brackets I’ve added a guess as to which mini-figure will be included.

75072 ARC-170 Starfighter (Clone Pilot)
75073 Vulture Droid (Battle Droid – again?)
75074 Snowspeeder (Rebel Pilot)
75075 AT-AT (AT-AT Driver)
75076 Republic Gunship (AOTC Clone Pilot)
75077 Homing Spider Droid (Surely a Super Battle Droid? It can’t be another Battle Droid!)

Not a bad line up, it is nice to see some prequel trilogy representation in there (in general Lucasfilm licensees are being asked to stick to Original Trilogy product in the build up to Episode VII). The best thing about the Microfighters line is that it’s something different, and these should add nicely to last year’s range, but still give room for some iconic vehicles to be added next year.

The next few sets are traditional sets and movie based. It’s amusing (slash annoying) to fans to see every licensee trotting out Shadow Troopers at the moment despite Lucasfilm having just relegated the entire Expanded Universe (in which they appear) to ‘Legends’ status. The two Battle Packs seem different enough to recent releases at least, the Geonosis Troopers could  be either AOTC Clone

Troopers or based on The Clone Wars Geonosis episodes.

75089 Geonosis Troopers
75079 Shadow Troopers
75080 AAT
75081 T-16 Skyhopper

If the AAT is based on The Phantom Menace then it will only be the second time the vehicle has been released based on that movie, which was back in 2000. The T-16 hasn’t been available since 2003. Of course building techniques and part selection in official sets have changed a lot since then, so these seem quite acceptable as far as re-releases go.

The last batch are the Rebels sets, which seem to be being released on top of the usual set quota, giving us quite the line-up for January (speculation: is this because there will be no Summer sets, and LEGO will simply hold off until an October/November launch for Episode VII?). 

75078 Imperial Troop Transport
75090 Ezra’s Speeder Bike
75082 TIE Advanced Prototype
75083 AT-DP
75084 Wookiee Gunship

Newness! Whether fans are excited or nervous for new content from the post George Lucas Lucasfilm, these new projects mean that LEGO don’t have to go back to the same well over and over for inspiration. So there’s the Imperial Troop Transport – Hasbro revealed they are releasing a version at Comic Con – which should be good for Imperial troop building. Ezra’s Speeder will probably be more expensive than it should be like the Freeco Speeder (8085) was. The TIE Advanced Protoype is the Inquisitor’s ship and the AT-DP as it sounds is a new Imperial transport so provides our villain vehicles for the line-up. The Wookiee Gunship was unveiled at Comic Con.

Overall this is a nice line-up, one of the best early waves for a while. Obviously the Rebels sets gives the opportunity for freshness, but these are balanced with prequel sets such as the AAT and a long absent classic with the T-16 (could it pop up in Rebels?). The only downside is that it’s going to be an expensive start to the year!