LEGO’s process of creating a set begins months before a product is launched and has multiple stages where the concept and design are tested and tweaked. As anyone who has launched a product can tell you, the ultimate test occurs once it is in the consumer’s hands. For this reason, there are times where running changes are made during a product’s lifetime.
Although there are many possible reasons for a change to occur, the majority of changes made to Star Wars sets have been to improve the structural stability of the set. Having said this there isn’t much more to add so we will jump right in with showing some examples!
The following changes were made to 7153 Jango Fett’s Slave I:
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- Addition of (2) black 1×6 arches
- (2) white 1×10 bricks changed to (2) white 1×8 bricks
- Addition of (4) light gray headlights and (4) white 1×1 tiles
- (2) light gray 1×2 bricks change to (1) light gray 2×6 brick
The following changes were made to 4477 T-16 Skyhopper:
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- Addition of (1) dark gray 1×8 plate
The following changes were made to 4482 AT-TE:
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- Addition of (6) blue 2×2 plates – one to each leg
- Addition of (6) dark gray 2×2 modified plates with pin – one to each leg
The following changes were made to 8017 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter:
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- Addition of (4) light bluish gray 1×2 plates – two to each side
- Addition of (2) tan 1×2 technic bricks with double holes – one to each side
The following changes were made to 8097 Slave I:
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- (4) dark bluish gray 2×3 slopes changed to (6) dark bluish gray 2×4 slopes
- (2) dark bluish gray 1×10 bricks changed to (4) light bluish gray 1×4 bricks
- Removal of (2) light bluish gray 2×4 plates
- Addition of light bluish gray 2×6 brick
- Removal of (4) tan 2×2 tiles
- Removal of (4) dark bluish gray 1×2 modified bricks with grill
- (4) light bluish gray 1×3 slopes changed to (2) dark bluish gray 1×4 slopes and (2) dark bluish gray 1×6 curved slopes
- (2) dark bluish gray 1×10 bricks changed to (2) dark bluish gray 1×16 bricks
- Addition of black 2×4 brick
- Removal of (4) dark bluish gray 2×2 round plates and (2) dark bluish gray 1×2 modified bricks with grill
- Addition of (2) dark bluish gray 2×3 inverted slopes
- (2) light bluish gray 1×10 technic bricks changed to (2) light bluish gray 1×8 technic bricks
The following changes were made to 75072 ARC-170 Starfighter:
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- (1) dark red 2×4 plate changed to (2) dark red 2×2 plates
- (1) white 1x2x2/3 slope changed to (2) white 1x1x2/3 slopes
- Removal of (2) dark bluish gray 1×2 plates
- (1) white 2×2 inverted slope changed to (2) white 1×2 inverted slopes
- (1) white 1x2x2/3 slope changed to (2) white 1x1x2/3 slopes – for the second time
- (2) light bluish gray 1×2 modified plates with clip on top and (2) dark bluish gray 1×1 round plates changed to (2) light bluish gray 1×2 modified plates with clip on side
The following changes were made to 75090 Ezra’s Speeder Bike:
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- (4) flat silver cylinders changed to (2) dark bluish gray technic double split connectors, (4) flat silver pin connectors, (4) dark bluish gray round 1×1 bricks, (4) black technic pins, and (4) blue technic half pins
The following changes were made to 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter:
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- (4) white 1×4 double curved slopes changed to (4) dark bluish gray 1×4 double curved slopes
- (2) light bluish gray 2×4 plates changed to (2) light bluish gray 1×4 plates and (4) black 1×1 round plates – per each wing
- (4) light bluish gray 1×4 plates changed to (4) light bluish gray 2×2 round plates with rounded bottom and (4) light bluish gray 1×2 inverted curved slopes – per each wing
- (2) black 1×2 modified tiles with grill changed to (2) black 1×2 modified plates with clip on top – per each wing
The following sets are also noted to have had design changes during their production run:
- 7184 Trade Federation MTT
- (4) brown 1×6 bricks changed to (2) brown 2×6 bricks
- 8002 Destroyer Droid
- 7258 Wookiee Attack
- (2) sand blue 1×2 modified bricks with studs on side changed to (4) light bluish gray 1×1 modified bricks with studs on side
- 7259 ARC-170 Fighter
- (2) white 1×9 technic liftarms changed to (2) white 1×10 technic bricks
- 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer
- 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber
- Addition of (4) light bluish gray 1×2 plates – one to each leg
- 30461 Podracer
As you may have guessed, or already know, it isn’t just a set’s design that can be changed during production. We will be covering other categories of changes in future articles, so be sure to turn on notifications so you are the first to know when the next installment in our running changes series is launched!
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.
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