The longstanding tradition of UCS sets has kept adult fans and other advanced builders largely happy for years. While collectors may argue what does and doesn’t count as an ultimate collector series set, the expectation for a couple of large expensive sets each year has been set.
The focus for this entire week has been leading up to the review for 75309 Republic Gunship. This most recent installment to the UCS line represents one of only a few Prequel Trilogy-based sets. After a failed fan vote in many collectors’ opinion, we are left with Mace Windu and a Clone Trooper Commander as the two included minifigures.
Clone Trooper Commander
In the hierarchy of the Grand Army of the Republic, these Clone Commanders led regiments of 2,304 Clone Troopers and answered directly to their Jedi General.
LEGO has given us ten prior Clone Commanders three of which have been unnamed like this one. Only the one included in 75019 AT-TE has had similar markings and also accompanied Mace Windu which suggests that the two are intended to be the same character.
Although he is unnamed by LEGO, this Clone Trooper Commander closely resembles Commander Ponds. He has bright light orange markings on his arms, chest, and helmet. If the coloration wasn’t enough of a clue, his rank insignia plaque with four circles demonstrates his status as commander. Unlike the prior version, this Commander comes with printed legs which are unique to the set. The head under the helmet is the same as some of the troopers from last year.
Mace Windu
Mace Windu is a Jedi Master and member of the Jedi High Council. He was one of the Jedi Generals during the Battle of Geonosis.
We previously covered all versions of Mace Windu in a Mini Steps feature. With the release of this version, there are now seven different versions of Mace in LEGO form.
This version has an updated head print with an angry face. Due to the fact that Mace Windu is bald, his heads can only be printed on one side unless a version is released with a hood. His torso printing is also unique to the set and features dirt stains straight from the Geonosian arena. The legs are similar to the ones found on the Mace Windu included in 75199 General Grievous’ Combat Speeder, but the dark brown wrinkles have changed positions. He comes with his unique purple-bladed lightsaber!
While they may not have been the minifigures that we asked for, at least they are two nice looking figures. The color choice for the Clone Commander is questionable, but he does look good overall. Mace leaves very little room for improvement, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see another for quite some time.
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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