75050 B-Wing - The most interesting set in the world...
Posted by CapnRex101,
Today I have a rather unusual and (probably) one-off article for you. I mentioned in my review of the new AT-AT (75054) that I would not be reviewing any more of the Summer Star Wars sets, and as such this article will not be a review of 75050 B-Wing. Instead, I will be taking a look at some LEGO Star Wars trivia, which this set has more than its fair share of!
While building the model it dawned on me that although the set may not appear to be all that special superficially, it is in some ways interesting and even unprecedented! Read on to find out why...
Minifigures
There are three Minifigures included in the set, and each of them is interesting for different reasons.
The first of these is Ten Numb, a Sullustan pilot who fights at the Battle of Endor. Incredibly this is not the first time this character has appeared in Minifigure form since he was also included in 6208 B-Wing Fighter, despite appearing in only a few frames of Return of the Jedi. I suspect this is probably a record since I cannot think of any other character who appears for so short a time, and yet has been released in two sets!
General Airen Cracken is also interesting since he too appears only for a very brief moment in the film, and even that is in the far background inside the Millennium Falcon. General Cracken is certainly in the running for the record of the 'most obscure Star Wars character to be produced as a Minifigure' (that appears in the films), perhaps along with Aldar Beedo.
The Grey Squadron Pilot is the final Minifigure, and although he is not 'historic' in the same way as the other two Minifigures, he is undoubtedly my favourite of the three!
The Set
The B-Wing is highly unusual since it has been released in sets on five separate occasions, despite only appearing in the film for a matter of seconds. The B-Wing is not unique in this however as the V-Wing also appeared for only a very few seconds in Episode III, but has been released in three sets.
I have just rewatched the scenes in which each vehicle appears a couple of times and have measured how long they appear using a stopwatch. The B-Wing appears for just 4.3 seconds (that I saw), meaning that one B-Wing has been released for every 0.86 seconds!
The V-Wing on the other hand appears for 3.8 seconds, the majority of which is spent on a landing pad as Palpatine's Shuttle lands on Coruscant. Therefore, one V-Wing has been released for every 1.27 seconds it appears.
So the B-Wing holds the record for the most sets released when compared with how long it appears in the movie! This may be a dubious accolade, but it is certainly an interesting piece of LEGO Star Wars trivia.
Conclusion
The claim that 75050 B-Wing is 'the most interesting set in the world' might seem far-fetched, but it is undoubtedly unique and one may therefore argue that this a historic set. This was a set which I had largely ignored until now, and although the model is not a must-have in my opinion, I was surprised when it dawned on me how significant it really is.
I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the strange LEGO Star Wars trivia which has appeared in this unassuming set. I suppose it just goes to show that no set should ever be totally written off!
Would there be any interest in similar articles to this one in future?
4 likes
39 comments on this article
The amount of time of the appearances is very interesting. The B-Wing would be, without doubt, one of the SW Star-fighters for LEGO to focus on rarely, perhaps once in a decade. Instead it has been released five times in a decade. LEGO must L-O-V-E making cameo Star-fighters and cameo Minifigures. Perhaps we will see the B-Wing in Episode VII or Episode VIII. (2015 and 2016. ;-)) Hmm... :-)
The B-Wing was always my favorite fighter in the movies, so I'm happy to see it come out again. Apparently it was to show up more than we saw, but it was hard to film the models against the blue screen.
I am not sure about the claim of the B-Wing having the tiniest set to screentime relation. Many sets were made and barely used, not just the V and B-Wing. The Droid Platoon Carrier comes to mind with two sets and I believe two very short moments in TPM. The Snail Tank comes to mind too with 4 sets and very short moments on Kashyyyk in ROTS but we would need to make some more substantial rules since one of the Snail Tanks sets was unreleased and another one was TCW based and taking screentime from there into account would also change the results of most vehicles drastically.
Ten Numb gets a minifigure, yet Nien Nunb has not been released, as far as I know. This makes me sad, always had a soft spot for him, and he got to fly in the Millenium Falcon...far more than Ten did onscreen!
^^^ The B-wing has always been one of my favorite ships, too. I think it's partly because it was such an unusual shape and unsymmetrical design. Plus one of my favorite posters as a kid was a of a few B-wings in the foreground with an exploding Executor in the background. The B-wing was also one of the Kenner sets I always lusted over but never managed to own when Return Of The Jedi came out. The UCS model is a fantastic set and one of the few I've actually got round to building (unlike most of my other UCS sets that are still waiting to be built). I thought the UCS B-Wing was awesome even at $200, so I couldn't believe it when Lego reduced it to $100.
I've never bought a minifig scale B-wing, but this will probably be my first - mainly for the minifigs. The big thing that always puts me off has been the dorsal fin only having studs on one side. I'm assuming that's still the case with this version so maybe this set is ripe for MOCing. Surprised and disappointed Brickset isn't planning to do a full review though.
Yes, but B-Wing was only seen for a few seconds in the films, but what does that mean for the TIE Defender? That one was never once seen in a movie. :P Also, all of the "obscure" things about this set/figures aren't really unknown to fans.
On the other hand Minas Tirith is in the LOTR for at least 60 minutes but has not had one set produced by lego ..... yet.
There were Expanded Universe sets though. Tie Crawler Tank, Tie Defender, promo for The Force Unleashed (first one) video game. And would some sets have their appearances affected by the differing version of each, or all, films? There were, in late '90s, some added minutes of scenes to the classic trilogy. And there was that pod racer bucket, which has my opinion on the hover bike used by Darth Maul on Tattoine. And for those on The Clone Wars? Were sets released to tie in with that movie that had the purple Hutt with the South Park Cartman voice? Speaking of which, a purple Hurt would go good with Friends MOC...
^^ Not only is the location of Minas Tirith missing, but there are a multitude of main characters from LOTR who are on screen for a very long time across 2-3 movies who still do not have Minifigures (Eowyn, Faramir, Gondor Soldier etc.)
Regardless, great observations CapnRex101 I wonder if the unique nature of the ship has made it a quirky favorite amongst SW fans.
Good article, thanks. Was going to skip this set but now reconsidering.
@Navy Trooper Fenson - I wondered about the Droid Carrier but since it appears in some rather lingering shots during the approach to Theed I suspect it would not challenge for the title. The Corporate Alliance Tank Droid may have a shot though. I will look into it!
@SprinkleOtter - I agree that neither Aldar Beedo nor General Cracken are extremely obscure, but relative to other Minifigures they appeared for the least time in their respective films. EU sets were omitted altogether since they are not applicable here. For a vehicle to win the title of 'most sets relative to length of movie appearance' it has to have appeared in the films in the first place.
@BrainSlugged - I am afraid I do not have time (or the money) to review every Star Wars set in each wave. For that reason I only review the sets which I think people will be most interested in.
Perhaps some readers of Brickset should be aware there are multiple people who write articles for the site...
With that said, I guess I never really cared about the B-Wing. I bought the UCS set simply because it was so cheap. Now if I can unload it at a good price to buy something I actually want.
I really only like the figures from SW, although I don't know who most of them are. I haven't seen the OT in a long time and I watched them all in order so I don't have that childhood love for the movies. But as much as I want to collect the figures, I don't have that softspot for them. Am I filling a void?
The B-Wing has a pretty good amount of exposure on the Rogue Squadron series of games which appeared on GameCube a decade ago.
Being one of three people who owned a GameCube, I can say that it was pretty significant.
4.3 seconds? Maybe that's why I never got to love B-wings. I love my trivia though and for that reason I like your article.
I'd like to nominate another vehicle for most set per second of screentime: the snow speeder bike. With zero seconds in the movie and 3 sets I can think of that would be... infinitely more than the B-wing.
Did I miss something? What was your reason for dubbing this a "significant set"? Or "most interesting in the world"?
Because it doesn't have a lot of screen time, is that it? I thought you were getting to something the whole article, but it just kind of ended.
If you do have any similar articles in the future, you really need to have something of substance to say. No offense, but a ship that is not a focus in the movies being marketed is really neither significant nor interesting.
@DanRSL - I found it interesting to note that this overtly bland set is so rich in unique factors such as those described above. Therefore I decided it was worth commenting on this.
I appreciate your point that what is discussed is ultimately unimportant, but that is precisely the purpose of trivia. What were you expecting from an article devoted to discussing LEGO Star Wars trivia?
I thought I knew most that there was to know about SW trivia, but I had to look up General Cracken. I'm surprised TLG chose him for a minifgure. Obscure indeed!
I enjoyed your article, CapnRex. I've always been fond of the B-Wing, and planned on getting this set (even though it is less-than-spectacular). But now I have a bit more trivia under my belt regarding screen time and TLG sets!
And yet other iconic ships and locations that appear in multiple scenes only have gotten a few appearances in LEGO set (*Cough* Cloud *Cough* City).
I enjoyed the random trivia as well, I always did think it was weird how many times LEGO made this set. However I personally have always liked this model knowing the background of it in the Star Wars universe. Was pleased to see a redesign that actually looked stable.
Great little write-up, nice pictures of the minifigures. More articles like this - especially on slow news days - would be great.
Yeah, that 50% off UCS B-Wing was the deal of a life-time--any time I feel "short-changed" by Lego (ie, releasing some convention exclusive, or skipping out on North American altogether), I remember that.
Fascinating info! I've always felt Slave-1 had undo attention for the amount of time it showed on the screen (not counting the prequel trilogy, which of course upped it quite a bit).
B-Wing's a great ship--I think I love it becuase, yes, the assymmetry, but also it tends to be very powerful in the various games it's featured in (soloing a Star Destroyer with a B-Wing, anyone? :). The funny thing is, if you rotate it 90 degrees, it's no longer asymmetrical.
I only have the original version of the B=wing so I'm happy to buy this one. Especially, at this price point. I've never been a big fan of it but the build looks much better and the figures are great as they will all be unique in my collection. I love any set now that gives me different characters and I love that Lego is including so many new characters no matter how obscure they are. It's one of the many reasons I'm so pumped for SW Rebels and the new movies....new Lego Figures to collect instead of the same people over and over.
Thanks for the article. Always love SW articles no matter what the content is about and it's nice to see something that isn't just a review. It would be nice to see more of these mixed in with set reviews.
I think they should have instead included General Madine, redone accurately with his worst haircut in movie history.
A very interesting article, CapnRex, well done.
I have always considered myself to be a bit of a Star Wars nerd when it comes to trivia. But I have discovered some new facts today :-)
I like this kind of trivia things. They are some way funny. What about the PK Droids in Episode 1? They appeared for just a few seconds and in august LEGO released the PK Droid in the new MTT. It´s a great figure and I had been waiting for it´s release but still... Would some one know exactly how long they appeared in the film? By the way they were my favourite characters for many years because of the video game.
How about sets based on movies that have zero seconds of screentime....
(http://brickset.com/sets/76008-1/Iron-Man-vs-The-Mandarin-Ultimate-Showdown)
^UtarEmpire: Oh, you mean the weaponized-flame-throwing-golf-cart? :P
Regardless, thanks CapnRex101 and all the Brickset staff for the great articles they write about our favorite hobby. Having seen a lot of these reviews, the "Classic LEGO Sets" series, as well as miscellaneous other articles, I might suggest that adding a couple more "commentary" articles per week might be cool. Provided, of course, that writers can be found. Just bits of LEGO trivia, maybe, or other LEGO related stuff.
Just a suggestion, though. Maybe, for that matter, people could volunteer LEGO-oriented articles that they have written?
What about the Imperial Landing Craft from the Episode 4 Special Edition? That got a set and was only onscreen for about one second, and the T-16 Skyhopper is getting TWO sets and was only seen as a prop in Luke's hand. In fact, I have the Special Edition of Episode IV and couldn't even find the landing craft!! Last time I saw ROTJ, I saw the distinctive engines of the B-Wing, but not the actual ship. I did miss a good chunk of the last space battle, though...
The Skyhopper is a great shout, although it is visible in the background while Luke is flying the model around so it may be onscreen for as much as a couple of seconds.
This is more complicated than it would first appear!
Haha, love the stats!
Funny that I totally knew all about the B-wing but never even noticed the V-wing in the films...maybe that has to do with how many times I saw Jedi as a kid?
Not sure all that you counted (flight and battle scenes?), and I guess I could be wrong, but isn't the B-wing also partially visible in the background when Han is handing the Falcon over to Lando? I counted at least 4-5 seconds of it there, behind Han's shoulder.
http://www.starwars.com/video/not-a-scratch
@CapnRex101
Ok, get ready - HUGE devil's advocate rant here, doing this constructively, not to spread upsetment. With that said...
Why do you say this is even an "overtly bland set"? Furthermore, what are the "unique factors" that is is rich in?
For a SW fan it looks like a great set, and the screen time you've discussed in the article and commentors have mentioned isn't actually unique (nor is the product-crazy over-saturation of Lucasfilm to make money on absolutely anything).
Also, I didn't say unimportant, I said uninteresting. This wasn't posted as "SW Trivia", it was clickbait as "The most interesting set in the world" so I expected you to at least return to that thought at some point in the article. Is screen time rarity your yardstick for interest? Is the build surprisingly creative? Are their new prints or techniques in constructing it? To me, Lucasfilm's overmarketing is crass, not interesting. You conclude with it dawning on you just how significant this is, but without every explaining WHY. Sidenote, you say the Grey Squadron Pilot is you favorite minifig but similarly never say why. Neat hat? I personally like his face printing.
Like I said, this is meant as constructive criticism, since you asked for feedback. Typically your articles have been well written and I've enjoyed them, this isn't a comment on your overall performance, just this article.
bigw1974 - I have to concede since it is there in the background for at least five seconds. It is ironic since I did think to check the brief shot of the entire hangar at the start of that scene where the B-Wing is visible at the bottom, but the bit of discussion. Great spot though!
@DanRSL - Firstly I described it as an 'overtly bland set' as I think it has been widely overlooked in this wave with bigger name sets like the Cantina and Star Destroyer. I have no particular love for the B-Wing though which undoubtedly contributes to my opinion of the set as a whole.
The amount of screen time the vehicle had in comparison with the number of sets released is unique (or so I thought until it was correctly identified that it appears for a bit longer than I had spotted). I state that I am discussing Star Wars trivia in the introductory paragraph. The title is simply a reference to the common internet meme and I used it as it sounds catchy.
Anyway, thanks for your comments. If I write similar articles in future I will consider what you have said. Consider this one more of a pilot :o)
Nice article CapnRex101!
I'ld love to see more of these articles. They extend my knowledge about Legosets and the history of our hobby and are fun to read as well!
I would have liked to see images about the set and its features.
Screen time is not an accurate indicator of sales. Lego produces sets based on whether they think they can sell them. I had never even known about the T-16 in any of the movies when it was originally released by Lego. I bought it anyway because I liked it.
I second that questioning of how few seconds it was on screen for, it must be in loads of the frenetic battles scene shots, even if only in the background. (Did you count when you see the interior in the pilot chatter shots? ;) )
Plus, there's always been the X and Y Wing, and the A Wing is famous since one took down an SSD, so it's natural to know that the B Wing completes that pair, and the young mathematicians set of 4 favourite letters to use in algebra!
And I'd love to see more articles like this, though I doubt many sets will have so many strange yet compelling factoids, in fact it's the unusual concentration that makes this article work so if they came out all over the place maybe the magic would be lost.
(I'd love it if that darned "Post comment" did what it suggests it would instead of just wiping what I've typed too! I've lost and had to retype a lot of comments to it lately, is this a bug that is known and being fixed, or am I the only one getting it and just unlucky?)
The B-Wing was on screen for WAY longer than 4.3 seconds. There's the aforementioned shot in the hangar, and then there are B-Wings buzzing around the fleet during the scene prior to jumping to hyperspace and then again after coming up on the Death Star. It's only after the battle starts that they vanish, which is the larger problem for the B-Wing. In screen time, it actually outclasses Slave I. The problem is, insofar as the films are concerned, the B-Wings didn't do anything significant.
Not so sure Ten Numb is a less significant character than other Star Wars minifigs that have been made. There are numerous droids that were just background ambiance that have made it to minifig form. At least Ten Numb had a couple lines. What's odd is that it's included in this set, since he was with part of the Millennium Falcon crew piloted by Lando.
As for the ship being made so frequently, it is much beloved by many fans, so it's not surprising that Lego would want to milk that market. Frankly I was hoping the Star Wars license would eventually go away because they keep re-hashing sets like this, but with Disney now owning the property and ready to pump out more movies and TV shows, that doesn't seem likely any time soon.
@iabstract : Ten Numb is a different character than Nien Nunb, the guy who flew with Lando in the Millennium Falcon. Both are Sullustans, but Ten Numb flew as a B-wing pilot, while Nien Nunb could be seen as Lando's copilot.