Since it was first revealed in February 2020 when it was announced that the Republic Gunship was the winner of the poll the LEGO Ideas team ran to select the next Ultimate Collector Series, news on this hotly anticipated set has been scarce and the only mention of it since then came in the following May when lead designers Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Michael Lee Stockwell confirmed that the model’s development was well and truly underway.
Following on from yesterday’s roundtable that saw a number of Recognized LEGO Fan Media representatives attending a virtual LEGO Ambassador Network meeting to preview the upcoming late April/Early May releases (a number of which will have their official reveals next week), the LEGO Star Wars team took the opportunity to share news on the upcoming UCS Republic Gunship.
Wanting to keep the set’s design (the prototype of which actually lives Schlömer’s house) under wraps, the only physical reveal was the cockpit element, which Blocks Magazine states is the same piece used in 10215 Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter, released in 2010. The single piece, which measures 8 cm/3 inches, provides an idea of the model’s scale and puts the cockpit at nearly 20 cm/7 inches in length. Schlömer went on to say that the set would need its own dedicated coffee table to be displayed on, suggesting that it’s going to be large (Brickset estimates it to be 50 cm/20 inches long).
Observing that there was maroon printing on the cockpit element, Blocks Magazine pressed for hints on the ship’s overall design. Pointing to the image used to illustrate the Republic dropship option in the poll, Jens indicated that the model’s colorway would match the one seen in Attack of the Clones, rather than any subsequent Clone Wars or Revenge of the Sith variations.
Asked if the set would include any minifigures (in particular Jedi Bob, the generic Jedi Knight that has only ever appeared in 7163 Republic Gunship), Hans Schlömer’s – the set’s primary designer – response was to the negative. ‘I’d say if we were to have minifigures in scale with what a UCS model would be, the minifigures would have to be twice as big, so it wouldn’t even make sense to have an army of clones to go along with a model like that … any figure we choose to throw in, maybe is just for display purposes.’ recorded Graham Hancock, editor of Blocks Magazine.
As reported on the Blocks Magazine blog, the set has been confirmed as a 2021 release; however, the LEGO Star Wars team’s lips were sealed on what the exact shelf date would be. Anyone with any knowledge of the LEGO Star Wars distribution pattern would be placing bets on May or September/October, and those who know what the exclusive May The 4th Be With You set is will be holding out for the third quarter of this year.
Be the first to comment