A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there was a tiny plastic brick. Well, maybe not that long ago, but there are certainly tiny pieces of plastic depicting fictional events that happened a long time ago in said galaxy far far away. If you are confused by now, then I can explain it in 3 words: LEGO STAR WARS!  If you like LEGO Star Wars, this story will make you happy. Because in this story I will tell you about 4 of the new LEGO Star Wars sets that have been released in 2024. With each set I will tell you about how many imperial credits (dollars) they cost to obtain them, the minifigures included, and the techniques/play features used to put together these intergalactic toys. Stay around until the end for a comparison set.

The very first set I will tell you about is the Boarding The Tantive IV. This set is a LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary set. The Tantive IV is a rebel ship used by Princess Leia Organa before Darth Vader invaded it in the Star Wars movie “A New Hope”. This set displays the scene well with minifigures including, Darth Vader, Captain Antilles, 2 stormtroopers, and another 2 rebel fleet troopers. I like these minifigures because they are iconic to this original Star Wars scene. There is another minifigure released in this set because it is a 25th anniversary so it includes a Fives clone minifigure with a display stand. If you would like to buy this set you can do so on LEGO.com for $55, Or on Bricklink for $45. This set is fun because it captures the scene with many fun techniques. One technique I like is making it so you can have the door closed or blasted open (see picture 5 LEGO.com ). Another technique I like is you can make a minifigure fall down by flipping a switch(see picture 4 LEGO.com). So there’s one new set down. Now onto number 2.

To follow up that classic set I will move on to a set from the Clone Wars series. This set is the 2024 Clone Battle Pack.  There have been many different clone battle packs, but they cost $15 or $20, while this set costs $30. However, it is for a good reason because the older packs normally just had four clones and one or two small builds. This set includes one shock trooper, three plain phase II clone troopers, two clankers(b1 battle droids), and three B2 Battle Droids(super battle droids). Totaling nine minifigures, this is a good army builder. It is the newest set for droid armies, with the last coming in 2020 with two droids and four 501st legion clones. The 2024 battle pack has a Tri-Droid with a fairly accurate size scale compared to a minifigure. Another build in the battle pack is a separatist STAP, as well as a two-person BARC speeder. It is not canon and was invented by LEGO in an older Clone Battle Pack. It was re-released in this set. A fun feature that I like is the flick-fire missiles in the Tri-Droid.

The third set in this story is also a Clone Wars set, the UCS Venator. This set is part of the Ultimate Collectors Series (UCS)  which are normally bigger and more expensive than normal sets. This is the newest addition to the UCS crew. The Venator was a type of attack cruiser used by the Galactic Republic during the Clone War to fight against the separatist droid army. Now back to the great wide world of LEGO, this colossus weighs 17 lbs and is 3.5 feet long. This follows in the footsteps of the prior UCS sets being very expensive costing you $650 to get your hands on one of these cruisers. I like this set because LEGO has not released a Venator since 2009. The newer Venator is much bigger than the 2009 set. However, the older cruiser has an interior and the 2023 set does not. However, you can add an interior to it like Brickstory builds. Another downside to the 2023 Venator does not have an opening hangar like the Venators did in the Clone Wars but Forged in LEGO made a change in the cruiser so the hangar actually opens. Even though this set has no interior, all UCS sets include at least one minifigure. This addition to the series includes two exclusive Minifigures. The first minifigure is 

Wullf Yularen who served as an admiral in Jedi Anakin Skywalker’s fleet in the clone wars. The second and my favorite minifigure in this set is clone Captain Rex who was in charge of the 501st legion(beside Anakin Skywalker) during the Clone Wars. One technique used in this set is SNOT, and no, I’m not talking about boogers, I’m talking about “Studs Not On Top”. a technique where you are just building sideways. If you look closely, you can see this technique all over this set.  

To finish this story off, I’m going to be comparing the new buildable R2-D2 with the older R2-D2. The new one was released on March 1, 2024. The older astromech was released on May 1, 2021. These sets both portray the loveable character R2-D2 first seen in A New Hope. In Star Wars timeline order, R2-D2 first belonged to the Naboo defense forces and Padme Amidala, who then passed this droid on to little Anakin Skywalker (on Tatooine)who grew up and kept him as a beloved friend until he turned to the dark side. A few years later, the Imperials boarded the Tantive IV, and he and C-3PO fled the ship and landed on Tatooine (must be a very common place in Star Wars). While on Tatooine they were captured by Jawas and sold to Luke Skywalker( Anakin’s son. What a coincidence!). After that, Luke runs away to the planet Ahch-to, and R2-D2 goes into low-power mode and is put into storage in the rebel base on D-Qar. He then helps to locate Luke Skywalker and then becomes Rey Palpatine’s trusty companion. These two versions of this droid accurately display this Star Wars character. The 2021 R2 has more details and gadgets that come out of R2-D2’s body(see picture 3 on LEGO.com). The 2024 R2-D2’s tools are detachable and are separate from the build, but there are only 3 different tools. Another feature that they both have. Both sets have their upsides and downsides, but the most noticeable difference is the roundness of the body In the 2021 version, the body has a really good round body except the head is really chunky and just doesn’t look good. In the new model, the body is also round but is smaller. The head on the newer set is more round. Both sets have at least one Minifigure, R2-D2! Although the new set is a 25th-anniversary set it does have an exclusive Darth Malak minifigure. The sets have a large difference in cost. The larger 2021 model costs $240 but is going to be unavailable from LEGO by the end of 2024. The smaller 2024 set costs much less coming in at $100 and is much newer and should not retire for another couple of years. It would make sense that the older and bigger set has more pieces than the smaller design, which is right. With the 2021 R2-D2 having 2,314 LEGO elements it has over 2 times more parts than the new set only having 1050 pieces. If I had the option between these two sets, I would have to choose the older 2021 set just because it is bigger and has more features. But, if I were to design my own R2-D2, I would include features from both sets. Like the rounder head from the new R2 and a bigger body and more features from the 2021. 

After reading all of this (which I might not have. It is too long) I hope that you have a vague idea of what is new in the LEGO Star Wars galaxy. These sets are all available on LEGO.com for the price listed in the story(if you did not read the full story and read the price then shame on you). I like all of these sets but out of all of them, my favorite is the  UCS Venator because I like the Clone Wars and the set includes an exclusive Captain Rex who is my favorite Star Wars character. It is also the biggest set in the article. I will not tell you what my least favorite new set is because we are not a negative group here. But, I doubt you care about what I think so I will let you decide what set you like the most. So, if you did not learn anything from this article then, CONGRATULATIONS! You just wasted part of your day on a bunch of useless junk you’ll probably forget in ten minutes. If you did learn something and you want to read other stories like this stay looking on the EMS Sound.