As the second season of Andor comes to an end on Disney+, it seems a fitting moment to take a look at the recently released LEGO® Star Wars sets inspired by the show. Andor is a prequel series to the Star Wars prequel film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It tells how the Rebellion was born and will lead directly to the events of Rogue One. The show is named after one of the Rebels’ earliest members, Cassian Andor, who features in the new set alongside, reprogrammed Imperial Droid, K-2SO, ISB Lt. Dedra Merro and an ISB Tactical Agent. It also includes a U-Wing Starfighter. Here’s what this new LEGO Star Wars set has to offer.
Product Details
Set Name: Rebel U-Wing Starfighter | Set Number: 75399 | Pieces: 594 | Theme: Star Wars
Number of Bags: Bags x 6 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: sheet x 1 | Characters: Cassian Andor, Dedra Meero, an ISB Tactical Agent, & K-2SO
RRP: £59.99/69.99€/$69.99/109.99AUD/89.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & LEGO Retailers
The U-Wing is a heavy-duty troop transport gunship used by the Rebel Alliance and first introduced in Rogue One. The ship has also made several appearances in Andor, including taking Cassian and Wilmon Paak to Ghorman. The ship’s past LEGO appearance was in a set based on the Star Wars spin-off film. But the newer version is much smaller.
The U-Wing is quite a blocky ship, which makes its build fairly straightforward. The cockpit is quite tight, and placing a lone minifigure in there is a little awkward. But this part of the ship does hide a couple of cool features. There’s a small Technic axle behind one side of the canopy hatch. Pushing this in causes the canopy to pop up. Another play feature is hidden within the front part of the ship. There’s a 1×4 tile which can be pressed down to deploy two blaster bolts mounted underneath the ship.
The U-Wing’s wings offer the option to be closed against the sides of the ship, which causes them to extend beyond the front of the ship’s nose. You can also swing them out so they sit slightly beyond the rear of the ship. When open, the wingspan is expansive. The ship looks better with the wings pointing forward, but it’s nice to have the option to configure them in the two different ways.
It’s safe to say that despite appearing in a handful of sets, Cassian’s appearance hasn’t fared well in minifigure form. It’s the hairpiece used. The one here is too short, but despite that, the rest of the minifigure manages to capture the character’s Rebel outfit. K-2SO makes its second appearance in a set. Officially, these Imperial Droids are known as KX units, with K-2SO being created by a little tinkering by Rebel engineers on a destroyed unit from the Ghorman incident. The print detail on K-2SO is minimal but impressive. I especially like the tiny Imperial insignia on the arm stumps.
ISB lieutenant Dedra Merro has been an important character over the two seasons of Andor. Her minifigure has a foot in both being great and the other not so great. Her dual expressions do a good job of capturing the character’s stern looks. The Imperial cap and hair combo is also great, as it completely changes the look of a character compared to just a hat. Unfortunately, the white printing on the black legs is slightly inconsistent with the torso. I will say it’s not as washed out as I’ve seen on other minifigures, but it’s still noticeable. The final minifigure is an unnamed ISB Tactical Agent. Andor has done a great job of expanding the Imperial forces whilst also making them feel as if they lead into the world seen in A New Hope. So the ISB uniform has elements of both Imperial Officers and Stormtroopers.
Andor has taken the world of Star Wars by storm, but it’s certainly focused towards an older audience. Yet it has ships and some characters which will appeal to a broader Star Wars fanbase. That being said, I can’t imagine younger fans will have watched the show or just this set to roleplay the horrors which happened on Ghorman. The ship is much smaller than the previous one, but still manages to include several fun features. The ability to pop open the canopy and fire blaster bolts has been implemented well. But the ability to incorporate minifigures is less so. If you missed out on past U-Wings, then this new version is worth a place in your collection. The Rebel U-Wing Starfighter is available now, and all episodes of Andor are now streaming on Disney+.
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The LEGO Group provided this set to BricksFanz.com for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz.com and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Disney. Providing the set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
