LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures review, analysis and ranking

21/09/202421/09/2024 Chris Wharfe 111 Views 0 Comments

We’ve finally got all seven LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures in hand, so how do they stack up as a complete collection?

The LEGO Star Wars team is celebrating the theme’s 25th birthday in 2024 with a series of seven collectible characters sprinkled throughout sets, culminating in October’s 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder, which includes the first-ever (and likely only ever) QT-KT astromech droid minifigure. And it exemplifies the modus operandi of this super seven: characters that we would never have otherwise seen in sets.

How do they fare as a unit? Were there better choices to be made? And what do these picks tell us about the future of the LEGO Star Wars theme? Join Brick Fanatics as we dive into each minifigure one by one, consider the entire collection, and rank them by how compelling and impressive they are.

Darth Malak

A character pulled from the depths of ancient Star Wars video game lore, Darth Malak originally appeared in the Knights of the Old Republic series, and is probably the most niche of all the minifigures in this collection. His LEGO design aligns closely with other Darth Malak toys (such as Hasbro action figures) with a regular red body and legs, where the in-game lighting can at times make dark red seem like a stronger choice, but it’s the brand new element for his cybernetic jaw that’s the real standout here.

It’s not the only mould created specifically for these characters, but it pulls everything together for a more impressive result than a printed head alone could have managed. You’ll find him in 75379 R2-D2, a set that many of us bought initially only for Malak, but which many more will now want as a companion piece to 75398 C-3PO. It’s nice to have two excuses to buy a LEGO Star Wars set.

ARC Trooper Fives

The LEGO Group’s recent focus on Clone Troopers made the inclusion of one here almost inevitable, even if ARC Trooper Fives seems suspiciously like a character the LEGO Group could have jammed into a future Clone Wars set without thinking too much about it. That might have meant missing out on full arm printing though, and given how good it looks that would have been a shame.

Critics have called out Fives’ relatively poor helmet printing that can’t quite join up in the same way the character’s helmet does in the animated series, while his shoulder pauldron sits a little too flat as it comes out the box. He also maintains the current Clone Trooper standard of printed kamas, which isn’t going to change any time soon. But for all those tiny flaws this is still a very serviceable addition to the Clone Trooper ranks, and makes for a great addition to 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV.

Saw Gerrera

Of all the minifigures included in the LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary collection, none was more overdue than Saw Gerrera. This is a character who’s popped up in TV shows, movies, video games, books, comics – you name it, Saw’s done it. But short of returning to Rogue One for the first time since it debuted in cinemas eight years ago, the LEGO Group was probably never going to find an excuse to put him in a set.

In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Saw was the entire catalyst behind choosing this direction for the 25th anniversary minifigures, so clearly does he embody the line-up’s entire ethos. And he makes for a superb LEGO minifigure, from his printed armour piece (which is recreated on his torso if you prefer a more retro minifigure aesthetic) to his exquisite custom cape. You can pick him up in 75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator.

Cal Kestis

Perhaps the most disappointing minifigure in the selection only because it suggests we really are never going to get any more Jedi: Fallen Order or Jedi: Survivor sets (beyond 75335 BD-1), Cal Kestis is otherwise a pretty decent recreation of the boilerplate version of this customisable character. The good news is that this is LEGO, so if you want to add a poncho you could grab one from Qui-Gon Jinn, or if you want to give him a mullet and mutton chops, well, there are probably the pieces for that out there too. (The mullet at least.)

He’s slightly disappointing in another way though, and that’s for skimping out on the BD-1 figure. If Princess Leia can get a droid accessory (more on that in a sec), why couldn’t Cal? His lightsaber surely can’t have cannibalised too much of the budget, and like the missing Robin in 76328 Batman: The Classic TV Series Batmobile, this feels like another dynamic duo that’s only half-complete. It also doesn’t help that Cal is locked behind the most expensive set to include a 25th-anniversary minifigure in 75394 Imperial Star Destroyer.

Princess Leia

Okay, sure, we only got a few sets for the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series and none of them include young Princess Leia. But was anyone really clamouring for her to the point that she deserves a coveted slot in this line-up? She’s the only minifigure of the seven to revisit an existing character from a galaxy far, far away (even if at a much younger age than we’ve seen her previously), and as a minifigure she isn’t terribly exciting.

To give her some credit, Leia does add some nice variety to the full collection in both size and colour, and her printed face is pretty cute. You might also find some use for her torso in custom minifigures. But then there’s L0-LA59, or Lola, a palm-sized droid that is for some reason depicted using a 2×2 boat tile – and the fact that she appears in 75392 Creative Play Droid Builder, a set with relatively narrow appeal for hardcore Star Wars fans. Although at least that means she’s an easy skip if you don’t need the full series…

Nien Nunb

Just as Cal confirms we won’t be getting Jedi video game sets in the near future, Nien Nunb’s presence here all but confirms we will never see a Millennium Falcon with a Return of the Jedi minifigure line-up. It’s realistically the only place this Sullustan hero would ever show up, co-piloting the freighter during the attack on the second Death Star. Popping him in 75396 Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit feels like an admission that future original trilogy Falcons will always be hooked to A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back.

That makes sense in that you can’t have the Falcon without Han Solo and Chewbacca, so, fine, whatever – what’s important is that we have a genuinely really good minifigure here in Nien Nunb, and he’s at least available in an original trilogy set for the tiniest of thematic connections. He doesn’t have any accessories at all, but that’s fine here because he has that awesome new moulded headpiece, and a torso almost perfect for recreating Rebel Friend.

QT-KT

The final LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigure is probably the most unexpected of the bunch (even more so than Darth Malak), because it draws on a very specific piece of Star Wars canon. In the mid-‘00s, 501st Legion founder Albin Johnson created a pink-accented astromech droid dubbed R2-KT, in honour of his daughter Katie, who was tragically diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away in 2005.

Lucasfilm sought to pay tribute to Albin and Katie by including R2-KT in an episode of The Clone Wars, but to avoid confusion with R2-D2 the writers renamed the droid to QT-KT and gave her a more vibrant paint job. She’s Aayla Secura’s personal astromech in Season 5, and the LEGO version in 40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder captures her pretty much perfectly. It’s maybe not the most exciting minifigure in isolation, but the story behind it is sweet enough to look past that – and it really adds some depth and colour to the full line-up.

All seven LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures

In fact, it’s in assembling all seven of the LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures in unison that the bigger picture comes into focus. Here is a collection of characters that represents what LEGO Star Wars does best: capturing the most obscure names and faces from across the entire depth and breadth of the Star Wars universe and bringing them to life in a way that makes you say, “Hey, I’d quite like to own that.”

There’s such clear variety in these seven characters that it’s hard to argue with any of the selections (beyond Leia, perhaps). They pull from the original trilogy, animated shows, video games, live-action shows and meta sources, while offering distinct differences in colour, scope, weapons, character backgrounds and much more. Seven different Clone Troopers or seven Jedi or seven Sith would have been a bit dull in comparison.

The other benefit to the variety here is that you don’t necessarily need to collect them all. Where the 20th-anniversary minifigures recreated a bunch of classic LEGO Star Wars minifigures and ended up feeling like an all-or-nothing collection (which was a shame given three of their sets retired after just nine months on shelves), these 25th-anniversary characters feel like a more curated selection from which you can pick and choose your favourites without getting FOMO over the rest.

Some are better than others, and you can check out our ranking of them all below, but in total we’re chalking these up as a success from the LEGO Star Wars team. More of this sort of thing please. (Random Revenge of the Sith characters in 2025 sets for its 20th anniversary anyone? Yeah, yeah…)

For now, here’s a reminder of all the LEGO Star Wars sets in which you’ll find these 25th anniversary characters. None of these are due to retire in 2024, but several of them will hopefully enjoy deep discounts around Black Friday.

LEGO Star Wars minifigure	LEGO Star Wars set	Release date
Darth Malak	75379 R2-D2	March 1, 2024
ARC Trooper Fives	75387 Boarding the Tantive IV	March 1, 2024
Saw Gerrera	75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator	May 1, 2024
Princess Leia	75392 Creative Play Droid Builder	August 1, 2024
Cal Kestis	75394 Imperial Star Destroyer	August 1, 2024
Nien Nunb	75396 Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit	August 1, 2024
QT-KT	40755 Imperial Dropship vs. Rebel Scout Speeder	October 1, 2024

LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures ranked

What else can we do with a collection of unique LEGO Star Wars minifigures? Well, rank them, obvs. While they’re generally all strong minifigures, there are some stand-outs in the pack – and some that are more or less desirable than others. With all that in mind, here’s how we’d rank the LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigures…

Rank	Minifigure
1	Saw Gerrera
2	Darth Malak
3	ARC Trooper Fives
4	Nien Nunb
5	Cal Kestis
6	QT-KT
7	Princess Leia

Saw Gerrera takes pole position for being so long overdue and executed so well, while Malak and Fives slip in just behind him for their attention to detail – Fives missing out on second only for his helmet – and Nien Nunb earns fourth place on the strength of his headpiece alone. Princess Leia’s ranking should speak for itself at this point, while Cal represents a missed opportunity to bring back BD-1 and QT-KT feels perhaps not quite as desirable as the other characters in this series.

Do you agree with our ranking? Answers on the back of a postcard. (Or in the comments. That’s probably easier.)

Bonus: Darth Maul

For those playing along at home, there is one more LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary minifigure we haven’t mentioned so far. That’s Darth Maul, who’s included in the updated edition of the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary. But he serves a very different purpose to the rest, feeling more like a hangover of the 20th-anniversary minifigures than part of the main 25th-anniversary collection.

Like Luke, Lando, Leia and the rest, he’s a redux of a classic minifigure (this time the 2007 variant of Darth Maul) with a ’25 Years of LEGO Star Wars’ logo on his back. He also doesn’t come with a 25th-anniversary minifigure stand. Still, if you want to make him part of the crew, you can order the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary from Amazon now.

The minifigures in this feature were provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes.

Thank you for supporting the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.