Last week, gadgetnewsonline was able to report exclusively on one LEGO Star Wars set that would be joining the 2024 lineup. It was just a single bullet in our original coverage from the start of the year, noting that there would be a BrickHeadz bundle based around The Phantom Menace. Now a few others have corroborated the news, and we’re ready to speculate on just what might be included. After all, Episode I theming means there’s a chance we finally get a LEGO Jar Jar Binks BrickHeadz figure…
Let’s start at the beginning. The LEGO Group last year launched a Battle of Endor Heroes set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. This bundle of Star Wars BrickHeadz was the first we’ve seen from the theme in terms of including so many characters in one set, and gadgetnewsonline was able to report last week that the company would be returning to offer the same BrickHeadz treatment to The Phantom Menace given its 25th anniversary.
We already know that the LEGO Group plans on celebrating the anniversary of the film hitting theaters for the first time, in a milestone that also coincides with the 25h anniversary of the LEGO Star Wars theme. We already reported on just how that is all going to stack up after getting a first look at the logo.
Since our original report on January 2, Instagram user exabrickslegogo_ has also chimed in to say that they also can note we’ll be getting a LEGO BrickHeadz pack based around Episode 1. So now it’s time to play the speculation game!
We already know that LEGO set number 40676 will be launching to celebrate Star Wars Day on May 1. It’s the same date that we saw last year’s Battle of Endor Heroes kit released, continuing the annual launch of these character bundles. gadgetnewsonline can report that it’ll launch with an increased $54.99 price point from the 2023 version. That’s pretty surprising too, considering the deep discount that is and has been available on the Return of the Jedi kit courtesy of LEGO’s own online shop.
This time around, there will distinctly be four characters instead of five. This is subject to change, but as of now we can note that there are going to be four full-sized figures in the set instead of doing three regular builds and two smaller characters. As for who’s included, we can only speculate right now. But hey, that’s the fun part of these reports.
If I had to bet on who would make the cut in the LEGO BrickHeadz The Phantom Menace set, it would be these four characters. Young Obi-Wan Kenobi in his Padawon gear feels like an instant lock, as well as his mentor and Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. I would also suspect to see Darth Maul included alongside both of the Jedi, as he is one of the more iconic parts of Episode I.
It really does just depend on how the LEGO Group wants to handle the set. Last year’s was distinctly called the Battle of Endor Heroes set, with an emphasis on the Heroes part. We could see the same Battle of Naboo Heroes approach this time to throw off the guess that we’d get Maul, but I’d like to think that LEGO learned from last year’s and its apparent lack of sales.
For the fourth and final BrickHeadz included in The Phantom Menace set, I would think that the LEGO Group would give us Queen Padmé Amidala. Her red, royal garb is as indicative of the film as any other character or costume, and it would make such a good figure to balance out the set.
But let’s say that the LEGO Group does go with the Heroes theming approach again. Then we’d be throwing Darth Maul out of the picture for another good guy. Young Anakin seems like too small of a figure to include, and there is one character that LEGO fans have been asking the company for for years.
That’s right, I think there’s a chance that we finally get a LEGO Jar Jar Binks BrickHeadz. That’s a statement that brings up a lot of history in the LEGO Star Wars fandom. It all started all the way back in 2020, as the LEGO Group help a contest to decide which theme should have the honor of representing the whole BrickHeadz collection as the 150th figure in the lineup. It was no surprise that Star Wars easily beat the competition, but it was a bit of a shock that fans were overwhelmingly voting for Jar Jar to be the character who would be christened as the 150th release.
We ended up getting a LEGO Ahsoka BrickHeadz, which I previously noted was “not the figure we wanted, but the one we deserved” in our hands-on review.
Now all of this time later, and it’s finally the perfect chance for the LEGO Group to give the fans what we want. A LEGO Jar Jar Binks BrickHeadz would be a hilarious way to show fans and builders that the company is listening to feedback and what we’re pining for. It may be a joke to give the Gungan any love in a LEGO set these days, but I can’t think of a better chance to do it than this celebratory The Phantom Menace BrickHeadz set.
What characters would you want to see in a LEGO The Phantom Menace BrickHeadz set? Is it too much to dream of finally getting Jar Jar Binks in all of his Gungan-y and blocky glory? Sound off in the comments below or over on Twitter (X).
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