LEGO Star Wars just broke a 13-year-old tradition

This year’s flagship LEGO May the 4th set breaks a 13-year-old tradition for the LEGO Star Wars theme, reasserting the focus of the Ultimate Collector Series in the process.

Like many UCS sets at this comparatively mid-range price point, 75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter includes two minifigures. And as you’d imagine, those characters are none other than The Mandalorian (Din Djarin) and Grogu, who also appear across plenty of other LEGO Star Wars sets this year in preparation for The Mandalorian and Grogu arriving in cinemas in May.

But therein lies the rub: neither of these minifigures are exclusive to 75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter. Din Djarin is technically unique because he features a combination of pieces we’ve never seen elsewhere, but neither of those pieces are brand new or exclusive to the UCS model, so it’s an easy one to put together yourself without buying this set. Grogu, meanwhile, is identical to the version in 75444 AT-RT Attack.

You have to go all the way back to 2013’s 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter to find another LEGO Star Wars UCS set that didn’t have at least one exclusive minifigure to its name at the time of release. That 1,559-piece set includes a sole R2-D2 minifigure that also appeared in nine other sets between 2008 and 2012. Since then, every single UCS or Master Builder Series set has given us at least one exclusive minifigure.

Some of those characters have since shown up in other sets, like Captain Rex from 75367 Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser or young Boba Fett from 75409 Jango Fett's Starship, but with the sole exception of 75341 Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder – whose exclusive C-3PO minifigure returned in 75398 C-3PO – they all still have at least one exclusive minifigure to their name at the time of writing.

75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter breaks that tradition by taking the focus away from the minifigures and placing it squarely on the ship itself. The minifigures have never been the primary focus of these sets – even while the furore around 75309 Republic Gunship’s line-up in 2021 might paint a different picture – but where the N-1 is concerned, they’re not really a selling point at all.

It’s hard to imagine how else the LEGO Star Wars team could have improved on either of these characters to give them more exclusivity here, though. While Jango Fett’s arm printing is reserved for 75409 Jango Fett’s Starship (the play-scale version 75433 Jango Fett’s Starship includes the same minifigure with unprinted arms), Din Djarin has been getting full-body printing for a while now in much cheaper sets.

Likewise, there was little else that could be done with Grogu, whose appearance doesn’t really change across the first three seasons of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The only other option was swapping out one of these characters for someone else we’ve yet to see from the show, and you were never going to get a UCS N-1 without both Din Djarin and Grogu.

Is there an argument to be made that we could have had a third minifigure here? Possibly, not least because Grogu is not really a traditional minifigure, and the price of 75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter is pretty high compared to its recent predecessors. There aren’t many Book of Boba Fett or Mandalorian characters left to tick off the list – especially with Cobb Vanth and Cad Bane both arriving earlier this year – but there are a couple of candidates who could have been included here.

The Wookiee Krrsantan, for example, would have been a neat deep cut that might have more clearly anchored this set to the Book of Boba Fett. Dr. Pershing is also a notable oversight from the first few seasons of The Mandalorian and could have put in an appearance here, or if the LEGO Star Wars team wanted to soup up an existing character, Greef Karga’s Season 3 costume could have fit the bill.

On the other hand, all of those minifigures would have felt like slightly tangential inclusions for 75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter. And that the LEGO Group didn’t take the chance to go above and beyond for the minifigures is really just a reflection of where the focus for this set is: on the ship and its 53 drum-lacquered silver elements (of which 11 or so are brand new).

Will future UCS sets continue to deprioritise minifigures? Probably not: this feels very much like a one-off scenario all things considered. But if you have your sights set on a 1,809-piece LEGO Star Wars set, you’re probably not in it solely for the characters anyway.

75442 The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter debuts on May 1 for LEGO Insiders for £229.99 / $249.99 / €249.99. Buy it during the May the 4th window – from May 1 to 6 – and you’ll also receive 40917 The Darksaber and 5010320 The Mandalorian and Grogu Display.

Head here for everything you need to know about this year’s May the 4th event.

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