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The LEGO Star Wars Master Builder Series

by Thita (admin) on September 4, 2018

in LEGO Star Wars

When the #75222 LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City set was announced a few days ago (see: LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City), there were questions from the LEGO fan community about the statement in the description that the set is “part of the LEGO Star Wars Master Builder Series“. Was the Master Builder Series title replacing the previously used Ultimate Collector Series title? Or, was the Master Builder Series a new sub-theme of LEGO Star Wars? Below is a bit of history on why this was such an important question for LEGO Star Wars fans, and the response from the LEGO Star Wars design team about the new title. 🙂

LEGO has been releasing large LEGO Star Wars sets for collectors since the year 2000. They were originally referred to as LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series sets – a line that the LEGO Star Wars fan community enthusiastically embraced. The original LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series included larger-than-minifig-scale versions of Star Wars vehicles, as well as sculptures of Star Wars characters. LEGO continued to release one or two large display models every year, which long-time Star Wars fans and adult collectors eagerly looked forward to. While LEGO fans have been consistently referring to the line as LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, LEGO themselves haven’t been using the designation with such regularity.

The Ultimate Collector Series title was prominently displayed on the first large LEGO Star Wars sets, like the #7181 LEGO Star Wars TIE Interceptor (see above) and the #7191 LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Fighter (both from the year 2000), however, LEGO later either dropped the title name from the boxes, or used some other designation, like the LEGO Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition on sets such as the #10134 LEGO Star Wars Y-Wing Starfighter from 2004, and the #10143 LEGO Star Wars Death Star II from 2005 (see below). Even though LEGO no longer used the title, LEGO fans continued to refer to large LEGO Star Wars sets as parts of the Ultimate Collector Series.

One of the reasons LEGO may have dropped the title is because they branched out to different types of large LEGO Star Wars sets. For example, the #10179 LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon from 2007 included “Ultimate Collector’s” in its name, but it also featured minifigs. The #10186 LEGO Star General Grevious from 2008 was a large sculpture, and the #10188 LEGO Star Wars Death Star, also from 2008, was clearly meant to be a playset instead of just a display model for adults.

A couple of years later, LEGO added a buildable plaque with a sticker to large LEGO Star Wars set displaying the stats of model. Such a plaque was included with the #10215 LEGO Star Wars Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter from 2010, the #10221 LEGO Star Wars Super Star Destroyer from 2011, the #10225 LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 sculpture and the #10227 LEGO Star Wars B-Wing Starfighter from 2012, the #10240 LEGO Star Wars Red Five X-Wing Starfighter from 2013, the #75095 LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter from 2015, and most recently, the #75144 LEGO Star Wars Snowspeeder and the #75192 LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon from last year, and the #75181 LEGO Star Wars Y-Wing Starfighter from this year. Some of these sets are minifig-scale, some are larger than minifig-scale but include minifigs, and some don’t include minifigs at all.

The earlier large LEGO Star Wars sets with plaques weren’t officially labeled Ultimate Collector Series sets, however LEGO Star Wars fans referred to them as such, as they were clearly meant for collectors. In the meantime, LEGO also released a couple of large LEGO Star Wars playsets; the #10236 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Village in 2013, and the #75059 LEGO Star Wars Sandcrawler in 2014. Interestingly, with the #75059 LEGO Star Wars Sandcrawler, LEGO also brought back the Ultimate Collector Series designation with a golden logo prominently displayed on the box with the title “LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Series”, but there was no included plaque. This gave LEGO Star Wars fans hope that LEGO will once-and-for-all clearly separate and label sets meant for display and those meant for play. Sets for collectors will have the golden logo and no more plaque, and sets for play will have neither the logo nor the plaque.

However, once again, LEGO threw Star Wars fans into confusion. The plaque was back with the #75095 LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter released in 2015, which was happily accepted by LEGO fans. But in the next couple of years LEGO also released two playsets with the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Series golden logo and no plaque; the #75098 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth, and the #75159 LEGO Star Wars Death Star re-release. In addition, they also released sets with both the golden logo and the plaque. In other words, the designation between display models and large playsets continued to be muddled.

Another interesting development is that the last two large sets – the #75192 LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon and the #75181 LEGO Star Wars Y-Wing Starfighter – no longer come with the golden Ultimate Collector’s Series logo, but the title is spelled out on the box, just like in the earliest sets in the series.

And here we are, with the latest large LEGO Star Wars set, the #75222 LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City. The box does not indicate that this is an Ultimate Collector Series set, or a set belonging to any other series, however, the description does state that the set is considered part of the LEGO Star Wars Master Builder Series.

After LEGO Star Wars fans spending a few days in nervous confusion and speculation about the new designation and what it means to the LEGO Collector Series line, the LEGO Star Wars design team made the following statement via the LEGO Ambassador Forum: “The Master Builder Series models are meant to be large playsets. Besides being complex builds, they are characterized by having many play features and functions, interior details, as well as a range of minifigures. The Ultimate Collector Series will remain highly detailed display models providing complex builds with a focus on authenticity. Both the Ultimate Collector Series and the Master Builder Series will continue as a way to highlight the unique characteristic of each style of model.”

So, LEGO Star Wars fans can now breathe a sigh of relief that the Master Builder Series playsets are not replacing their beloved Ultimate Collector Series display models. LEGO is just finally making it more clear which large Star Wars sets are primarily meant for play and which are display models for serious collectors. Of course, knowing the history of LEGO and how they name and categorize things, this may change yet again, but in the meantime, enjoy both the LEGO Star Wars Master Builder Series and the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series!

What do you think? Do you have any of the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series sets? Do you prefer them to be primarily display models, or you don’t mind if they also include lots of play-features? And what do you think of the new LEGO Star Wars Master Builders Series designation? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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The story of the LEGO minifigure – Part 1

by Thita (admin) on September 3, 2018

in LEGO History

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the minifigure, LEGO collected and sent out a big bundle of assets to LEGO fan sites to enjoy and share with their communities. The original date when the first minifig patent was registered in Denmark was August 29th 1977, however, the first minifigures weren’t launched until 1978. Today, we will look at the timeline of the development of the LEGO minifigure, as summarized by LEGO. Also included are some cool images from the LEGO archives, and some very interesting footage from the LEGO factory in Kladno, Czech Republic, where minifigs are made. We will follow up with other articles from the assets LEGO sent us in the following weeks. Enjoy the walk down memory lane! 🙂

➡ 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGO MINIFIGURE

In 1978, Disco was dominating the charts, mobile phones were non-existent and the Internet was still more than a decade away. It was also the year the very first LEGO minifigures went into production. Fast forward to today and those inaugural characters have evolved nearly as much as the world around them, offering endless roleplay possibilities. So, as one of the planet’s tiniest icons celebrates its big 4…0, here are some milestone moments from its very big story (click image for larger view).

➡ THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGO MINIFIGURE

It all started in 1974 when the LEGO building figure was launched, made mostly of large square LEGO bricks with moveable arms but immoveable legs. This was followed in 1975 by LEGO stage extra figures with solid torsos, immoveable arms and legs, and no printed features. Basically, very different to the LEGO minifigures we know and love today! Not that we had to wait too long for them to arrive, with 1978 ushering in a new era of LEGO minifigures equipped with moveable limbs and simple facial expressions comprising two solid black eye dots and black painted smile. Fast forward to 2018 and there are now more than 650 unique faces in the collection, meaning children can have fun roleplaying different characters and personalities – anytime, anywhere.

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: FROM 20 TO 8,000

To begin with, there were around 20 different LEGO minifigure characters, including a police officer, doctor, firefighter, knight and astronaut. But in the four decades since, the number of minifigures available has risen to more than 8,000. To put that into context, if the global population had grown at the same rate, there would now be nearly 144 trillion of us living on Earth!

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: THE PERFECT HEIGHT

Take away the hair or any other headpiece and LEGO minifigures are exactly the same height as four LEGO bricks fitted together. This means they fit perfectly into the LEGO System in Play. Oh, and if you stacked them head to toe, you would need 20,750 to reach the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: JACK OF ALL TRADES

Over the years, LEGO minifigures have shown they can turn their hand to pretty much anything. From pirates to paramedics, engineers to elephant keepers, veterinarians to Vikings, there have been thousands of different minifigure characters. Three LEGO minifigures even blasted into space onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2011. But one thing has remained consistent throughout: whatever role, character or personality children fancy playing, there’s sure to be a minifigure to match.

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: DIVERSITY CHAMPION

Did you know the traditional yellow color of the LEGO minifigure’s head was chosen based on focus group feedback in the early and mid-1970s saying this was preferable to white ones? Since then, minifigures have become increasingly diverse – from the first figures with natural skin tone in 2003 (Lando Calrissian from Star Wars and NBA basketball players) to 2016’s inaugural wheelchair. LEGO minifigures have also done their bit for unstereotyping gender roles with the likes of female firefighters and ninjas, through to fathers equipped with baby carriers. In fact, the whole point of minifigures is they let children create and be anyone they want – male or female, helmet or hair, freckles or glasses, anything. And if you’re worried about our robotic friends, don’t be. There have been plenty of C-3POs and R2D2s (not to mention other robots) too.

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: HOLLYWOOD STAR

The LEGO minifigure has starred in a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, and The LEGO Ninjago Movie. In 2007, the LEGO Group even created 10,000 gold chrome C-3PO minifigures packed in random sets to mark the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: 1978-2018 PRECISION MATES

Did you know that eight different moulds are used for the production of every minifigure? Two sets of these moulds are the same in design but reversed to mould the right and left minifigure arms and legs! The precision that goes into these moulds is exceptional, and because the original moulds are almost identical to the ones we use today, minifigures from 1978 can be mixed and matched with the more modern characters from today! However, one thing that has changed is the number of elements each mould can produce and the speed scale of this – for example, the minifigure head mould construction has improved from an initial eight elements per 9.8 seconds to 128 elements per 14.7 seconds today!

➡ THE LEGO MINIFIG: MORE THAN JUST A FIGURE

LEGO minifigures may be made for fun but there’s a serious side to them as well. By offering an endless choice of roleplay possibilities, they’re designed to let children play inventively, engage with different emotions and tell their own stories. First and foremost, that means a whole lot of enjoyment. But, crucially, it also allows young people to develop key life skills like emotional intelligence, creativity and communication – skills that, according to new research for the LEGO Play Well Report, parents believe will be vital to helping their children build their own bright future.

Fascinating stuff, isn’t it? I particularly like to see the early minifig prototypes, and how the design of the LEGO minifigure evolved. Seeing the minifig production from start to finish is very interesting as well. What do you think? How do you like these historic images? Do you have any of the earliest minifigures? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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The LEGO Star Wars Master Builder Series

The story of the LEGO minifigure – Part 1

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