Star Wars Galaxies: Lego Unveils 2005 Star Wars Line

LEGO Unveils 2005 Star Wars Line
February 21, 2005

On Saturday, February 19, LEGO unveiled their 2005 Star Wars product assortment to attendees in a VIP Media Gala event at this year's American International Toy Fair in New York City. In addition to receiving a limited exclusive Anakin or Luminara Unduli gift figure with illuminating lightsaber, guests were welcome to try out the new LEGO Star Wars video game at demo stations, meet with company designers and builders, and preview events planned for Celebration III and LEGOLAND California.
Before the event, Global Partnerships and Alliances Director Jay Bruns outlined some features of LEGO's new Star Wars product line, and how the company creatively approached the design style of Episode III. "We wanted to focus as much as possible on strong vehicles and also on capturing the variety of characters from Episode III," explained Bruns. "We spent a lot of time looking at the reference vaults and the old LEGO sets to come up with the best overall representation for Episode III within the LEGO environment. We also had a great time finding ways to get the uniqueness of the characters into each item."

The 2005 LEGO Star Wars line consists of 11 new sets from Revenge of the Sith and the original trilogy, with the promise of some surprise announcements still to come. Click here for a gallery of the 2005 LEGO sets.

Among the new sets to be released April 2, Bruns admitted to a couple of personal favorites. "The Arc 170 Fighter is a great build. The Clone Turbo Tank is also a lot of fun to build and to play with. It has a great suspension and a lot of nice features and functions. It takes building it to fully appreciate how good it really is. Having a Mace Windu mini-figure with a light up lightsaber is also a huge plus."

Bruns said that the fan-favorite Ultimate Collectors Series will continue to expand, but wouldn't say whether these were based on the original trilogy or Episode III--"You'll have to wait and see..."

There will also continue to be occasional updates to previously released sets, when it makes sense to do so. "Since the first LEGO Star Wars launch in 1999, we've created a lot of new building elements. This allows us to make stronger representations of the iconic Star Wars vehicles now that we couldn't do in the past. Of course, we will balance the updates versus never before been seen as we still have a lot of material to cover."

On the subject of updated sets, Bruns offered a tantalizing glimpse of a surprise Toys R Us exclusive coming in March. The "Imperial Inspection" set features the Imperial Shuttle with a full welcoming committee of four stormtroopers with new decorations, two Imperial Guards, two Imperial Officers, the Emperor, and Darth Vader.

One of the latest innovations in the LEGO Star Wars line, the illuminated lightsaber, has caused a lot of excitement at LEGO. "When we first saw the lightsaber light, it was great. We knew that it had to become a part of the LEGO Star Wars experience," said Bruns. Asked whether fans could expect further technological enhancements to the LEGO Star Wars line, Bruns suggested that they'll closely gauge fans' response to the illuminated lightsaber. "Expanding the technology will depend a lot on what the consumer reaction is to that feature."

Judging by the response to the Darth Vader illuminated lightsaber available with the recent TIE Fighter release as well as the buzz surrounding the two Toy Fair gift exclusives, it looks like fans can to look forward to some pretty cool electronic features emerging from future LEGO Star Wars sets.

And for fans who'd like to see their LEGO sets taken to the cinematic level, Cartoon Network has an all-new mini-movie coming in March: LEGO Star Wars! The LEGO Company and Lucasfilm are teaming up to celebrate Episode III with a one-of-a-kind five minute computer-animated special that combines all the action of Star Wars with the imagination and fun of LEGO bricks. Watch for it May 8th at 7:00 p.m only on Cartoon Network!