It’s quite poignant that the last spaceship seen in The Empire Strikes Back is also the final LEGO Star Wars set of 2020 – the year that marked the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.
For a long time, the spaceship that Luke Skywalker recuperated on after his fateful duel with Darth Vader on Cloud City has been one of the most asked for LEGO sets. The focus of many custom builders – including dranac who designed the ultimate Nebulon-B Frigate set – and just as many Chinese bootleggers, fans thought they’d have a reprieve when LEGO Ideas polled for the next UCS set and included the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate as an option, along with the TIE Bomber and Republic Gunship, at the beginning of 2020.
After a heated YouTube campaign, the Republic Gunship won and the Original Trilogy collective thought their one chance was gone forever. That changed in October when a set of instructions for a midi-scale version of the Rebel’s medical frigate mysteriously appeared on LEGO.com. Demarcated with the San Diego Comic-Con logo, word soon got out that this set was the pandemic-canceled event’s exclusive. It wasn’t long before Amazon – who accidentally listed the set and caused a flurry of panic buys – and LEGO confirmed that the set would be available on November 14th.
When it did arrive at the stroke of midnight (on LEGO.com) and at 6 am (on Amazon.com) every LEGO Star Wars fan with access to the internet was poised to strike and in less than 30 minutes each site’s stocks were completely run to the ground. Jubilant shoppers rejoiced, while those that struck out – or subsequently got their orders canceled – licked their wounds.
77904 Nebulon-B Frigate
Let fans celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back with this delightful LEGO® brick display model of the Nebulon-B Frigate (77904). A super gift idea for fans aged 9 and up, this collectible inspires memories of Luke Skywalker recovering from injury following his epic lightsaber duel with Darth Vader and other dramatic scenes aboard the versatile Rebel cruiser.
Designed for display
Packed with authentic details, the starship comes with a brick-built stand to complete a classic LEGO Star Wars™ centerpiece that will grab people’s attention wherever it is displayed.The LEGO Star Wars universe
Since 1999, the LEGO Group has been recreating iconic starships, vehicles, locations and characters from the Star Wars universe. LEGO Star Wars has become its most successful theme with a wide variety of sets to delight fans of all ages.
- Let fans mark the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and inspire memories of epic scenes with this collectible, brick-built version of the Nebulon-B Frigate (77904).
- The distinctive design of the Nebulon-B Frigate is beautifully recreated in LEGO® bricks and the display stand completes an impressive centerpiece.
- This 459-piece construction kit offers an enjoyable challenge for LEGO® builders and makes the best birthday present, holiday gift or special surprise for Star Wars™ fans aged 9 and up.
- Measuring 7.5 in. (19 cm) high, 12 in. (31 cm) long and 2.5 in (7 cm) wide, this buildable model is sure to draw admiring looks wherever it is displayed.
- Thinking of buying this set for a young Star Wars™ fan who is a LEGO® beginner? No problem. It comes with illustrated, step-by-step instructions so they can build independently and with confidence.
- LEGO® Star Wars™ building sets are great for kids (and adult fans) to recreate scenes from the Star Wars saga, make up their own adventures or simply display the collectible construction toys.
- LEGO® components meet rigorous industry standards to ensure they connect consistently and securely.
- LEGO® bricks and pieces are tested to the max to make sure that they satisfy stringent global safety standards.
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At long last the Medical Frigate is in hand! The box artwork is quite well done and honestly looks better in person than in photos. The box itself is larger than many of the other SDCC exclusives from prior years. The initial contents are quite simple: one instruction manual, one sticker, and two bags of elements.
Unlike some of the other canceled Comic-Con sets, the Nebulon-B kept the SDCC logo. There was an initial rumor that there would be two variants (like the Star Wars Celebration/Target REDCard Darth Vader bust) of the box since the featured images on LEGO.com did not match the ones that had been found in the wild. This has since been debunked, and the sets from Amazon and LEGO are identical.
The build is larger than expected, but once completed, its midi-scale design is clear. With the high number of small parts, this ship seems to be aimed at more mature builders whether this be older children or adults. This 459-piece set makes good use of greebling as well as multidirectional building techniques.
The rear thrusters are particularly well done and were my favorite part. As with many Star Wars ships there were lots and lots of gray, but LEGO does include some colored elements to break it up a little. Surprisingly there was not a single Technic beam or pin included. All in all it is appropriately challenging and is an enjoyable build.
Based on prior convention exclusives it is reasonable to assume that the total number produced is somewhere between 3500-5000 sets. The pre-orders from Amazon are thought to have been around 1000 units based on some early screenshots. When November 14th rolled around, LEGO and Amazon both allowed three sets per order, and as mentioned above, these quickly sold out.
After the first round, subsequent openings popped up on LEGO.com leaving collectors with a “Waiting on restock” status. Many were saddened to find out that 24-48 hours later their orders were canceled. This of course has been an ongoing area of frustration for collectors in other regions. However, in many ways exclusivity drives a hobby. That is why the “holy grail” of every collectible theme is written about and sought after. Of course the majority of collectors will never own these items, but it is all about the search.
Founder and owner of The Holo-Brick Archives, Kevin Downard maintains and curates the Database Catalog as a collecting resource for all fans and covers new product releases.
Getting in at the ground floor when the LEGO Star Wars theme first launched, Kevin has been collecting ever since. He is a self-proclaimed minifigure guru and has a passion for tracking down and cataloging every minifig variation – no matter how obscure. He has assisted Rebrickable and Bricklink in maintaining their set inventories, helped overhaul the rebelscum.com LEGO forum, and created the LSW Collector mobile app.
Disagree with exclusivity driving a hobby when its a retail collection, this has ended it for me with Lego and l have collected every star wars set back to 1999 from Australia. Using the 40th anniversary logo to make this part of a collection to drive exclusivity just means my collection cannot be complete without succumbing to the scalper and ebay prices Lego created. Nebulon is also a long sought after ship they know from the UCS poll. So these are not he usual convention exclusives that can be separated from a general retail 40th anniversary collection, l had all the 40th anniversary pieces unitl this and on principle l choose not to support lego treating star wars customers like this, plus its an indicator of future decisions. Nebulon was the most interesting set they have produced in a long time for AFOL. Hasbro black series much cheaper and they have really listened to fans on convention and exclusive items being variants.
This set is a smack in the mouth for every non US LEGO fan and reading about the mass cancellations of orders due to over selling is the icing on the cake. Something has to change or people will walk away and not come back!!!!