Midi Scale was the best.

I think you missed 9748 Droid Developer Kit.

@Glacier_Phoenix:
The first three microfighters were Maul’s TIE Infiltrator, Luke’s landspeeder, and Boba Fett’s Slave I. The problem is, all three were packaged in tin cannisters and available exclusively through SDCC, NYCC, and SWC respectively. Of the three vehicles, only the Infiltrator has been revisited, but it is a completely different model. I have no idea why they haven’t done the same with the other two.

I have the Planets series to thank for my two pink lightsabers.

> makes list of non minifig Star Wars sets
> third of the list has sublines including minifigures

Great article! It's amazing how the Lego SW realm has expanded. With Disney pumping out more content on future series and films, these categories will be around for a while.

Another category that was not mentioned are the Magazine Gift Foil Packs that come with the Star Wars Comic/Fanfare Magazine for children, available mostly in Europe. It's been around since 2015 and it has 71 sets to boast thus far. Though they have the occasional minifig as a gift, there has only been 15 of them. The rest of them are nice micro builds, in the likes of 911836 Quad Jumper and 911954 Kylo's Silencer. The Mag and the Foil pack is about 5 euros or less.

Another honorable mention is the Star Wars Build Your Own Adventure book with set. This category was jump started by Friends and Ninjago, but eventually Star Wars got on the band wagon in 2016. It does come with a minifigure, however the Exclusive model is the highlight of the pack, and is imperative to the book's mission. There has only been 3, and the latest ISBN9780241357590 being in 2019. With the SW popularity and current trend, we should be due for another one soon.

I thought for a moment that this was the Technic Darth Vader showing up as the RSotD, because I wasn't expecting this article! Though it's still strangely good timing; only a couple of weeks ago I grabbed an almost-complete Technic Jango Fett for a very low price on eBay and finished it with help from Bricklink - I've been interested in those sets for almost 20 years and finally saw my chance!

My friend had the Stormtrooper, Vader and Jango, and I thought they were THE COOLEST. My enthusiasm for them cooled in the intervening years, but I was still curious; and Jango was very much more impressive than I had come to expect :D

I'd love to see that line be revisited, honestly. I think they're my favourite of these ranges; that Droideka there looks epic (and is still on my unlikely-to-ever-get wanted list xD), and it just seems like a super-neat use of Technic to me, to build large-scale figures without needing a specialised system. Though I suppose it was the attempt to take it from droids to human characters that may have killed off the idea; the Battle Droid, which I had when I was younger, worked perfectly but Jango, as cool as he is, he essentially has a *completely hollow* torso with a few armour pieces over it. Doesn't bother me, but I can see why a lot of people wouldn't be impressed with that design; it might fly for a droid, but not for a human character.

On a different note, which of these categories does 10186 fit under, out of curiosity? The sculptures?

Where's the 2003 Hailfire Droid? That thing is still one of the most perfect SW sets ever released.

The Ultrabuilds of General Grievous and the Speeder Bike are amazing sets. Boba Fett and the Stormtroopers are pretty good, but all the ones with human faces are just awful.

Back in the 2000s, I owned a powered AT-AT, that would take steps. I think it was technic but didn’t see it in the technic link. Anyone know what set that was?

Impressive, most impressive

@Huw said:
" @ShadoWind said:
"Midi Scale was the best."

I have to agree. It's a shame they didn't sell well. Big enough to have a lot of detail, but small enough to be inexpensive. The lack of minifigs helped keep the price down too.

I guess last year's 77904 shares many of the same attributes."

If we go by piece count alone (and ignore the included minifigs) I would argue that this year's Imperial TIE Fighter 75300 and Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter 75301 fall into the midi-scale category as well.

Still peeved that the Planet Phase 4 sets weren't released in the U.S.

May the 4th be with you, everyone!

@Wellspring said:
"Back in the 2000s, I owned a powered AT-AT, that would take steps. I think it was technic but didn’t see it in the technic link. Anyone know what set that was?"
9754, Dark Side Developer Kit, maybe? The main set image on Brickset shows a different build, but it had various alternate models, one of which was an AT-AT (as seen in the catalogue page here: https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c00uk2&p=79)

Some of the categories included here Actually Have mini figures in them. Even one figure counts.

@Wellspring
Maybe it was 10178?
Not really Technic, but closest thing I could think of.

@ @Wellspring:
There were two, 9754 and 10178. Obviously only the former fits the format of the article, but what you described could be either set.

@josemiguel:
The Lars Homestead is still triggering in the US, as the far west has just entered May 4th, and the far east is on to May 5th.

@ThatBionicleGuy:
The AT-AT was the primary model for that set, taking up about half of the front of the box. It’s weird that the Brickset image shows something else, which I can’t even identify. Best guess is it’s supposed to be an animatronic based on Salacious B. Crumb from some failed pizza chain in Mos Espa.

The planets were an interesting avenue; mini-fig, micro model and planet with around 60 pieces at a bargain $10, although sadly very short lived. I really liked Endor 9679 and Tatooine 9675. Great to see some that have lived on in Orrery's and GBCs.

Im a few months behind on the magazine gifts right now, but at various points ive had EVERY Star Wars mini.

@CCC said:
"To me, the planet, micro fighters, and calendar sets are designed around Minifigures. Without the Minifigures in those sets, they would not sell anywhere near as well. Having them on a list of sets in an article called non-Minifigure sets seems wrong."

yeah, the real sellers are the figs in the sets, however, the builds do not accurately accommodate figs.

I actually love That 2003 Destroyer Droid. Looks really cool!!

I agree, I think Midi Scale would sell like hot cakes in the current AFOL market.

@SearchlightRG said:
"It's kind of a shame the Ultrabuild figure line died off. It was really the last vestige of the Bionicle/CCBS system that wasn't a hybrid with more traditional Lego builds. I feel like there's plenty more potential characters they could have done, not to mention the possibility of branching out into other themes, licensed and otherwise." I know, right? And the last two unreleased sets probably would have sold well, being prequel based and one being 501st. I’d say a major issue with the line was making entire waves based off of the new movies; like, yeah, people want Rey and Kylo Ren, but like, Blaze Malbus and young Han? Palpatine, Windu, or any number of other characters would have sold much better. I think LEGO didn’t realize how popular the prequels were at that time.
I always hope one day they’ll bring constraction back; it really seems to me that the idea is solid, and it’s marketing and the plans that mess it up.

Also interesting is the inverse: I believe 7111 is the only regular minifig-scale / System-scale set to not actually include any minifigs.

@yeetus_reetus:
That argument falls flat with the Microfighters. Every single one of them has a seat to accommodate the included minifig. They may not be movie-accurate, but that’s exactly what you’d see if they produced a Star Wars Kart game.

Why people buy them is also all over the map. I love the SW mini line, so I was buying the planet series for the models, and picked up a couple spares for the “planets” (the Death Star and asteroid field, but ironically no actual planets). The SWAC/DWAC, yeah, the big appeal there is most likely the exclusive holiday-themed minifig, especially now that they’re sticking Disney stuff in there (I actually skipped the first DWAC completely because there was nothing from Lucas’ movies, where I had bought two copies of every SWAC prior).

@B_Space_Man:
It already did. There just weren’t many copies of the Nebulon B available.

@KingTyrannos:
I hate CCBS, but I still bought both Fetts, Grievous, Maul, and the Biker Scout (I think that’s it, though). I totally would have bought Mace Windu if they made him. Beyond that, I’d have gone for the rest of the Ep5 bounty hunter lineup, Zam Wessell, Boba Fett’s other color scheme, and Mace in his Clone Trooper armor. On an extreme long shot, I would have also loved one of the underwater battle droids.

@gmonkey76 said:
"You forgot Mindstorms set 9748 and 9754 "

We don't talk about those.

@B_Space_Man said:
"I agree, I think Midi Scale would sell like hot cakes in the current AFOL market. "

They went after Funko with Brickheadz, they should go after Eaglemoss with that. Im not interested in the Helmet series, but give me a line of $40-$60 ships that wouldnt ever merit a system or UCS scale set and id be all over that.

Midi-scale always interested me, being a really good vehicle to design sets that would otherwise be difficult at larger scales (the Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship comes to mind), but I always thought the two models they released weren't very good. I think part of it is that I just personally didn't care for the designs themselves (though in terms of making recognizable sets that would ideally sell well, makes sense they chose those two). Shame it didn't sell, the concept was good.

I miss the technic line a lot, and seriously regret I haven't gotten either the Droideka or Hailfire Droid, since they are wonderful. Picked up the Super Battle Droid last year on the cheap, and despite being somewhat primitive comparatively to now, I loved the idea of it (also love the metallic blue they used for it).

Fun idea for an article though! Really puts into perspective how much they've done with the Lego Star Wars line over the years.

I have mixed emotions about this article. Overall, it's a fun trip down memory lane and a nice reminder of how diverse the Lego SW line has really been. On the other hand, it reminded me that the last wave of the Planet Series wasn't available in this country. I wanted that Tantive IV, darn it!

@Lordmoral said:
"Where's the 2003 Hailfire Droid? That thing is still one of the most perfect SW sets ever released."

Damn it, I’d forgotten the heartbreak of not getting that as a child.

@Lordmoral said:
"Where's the 2003 Hailfire Droid? That thing is still one of the most perfect SW sets ever released."

I consider that to be the tenth Technic subtheme set rather than part of the main AotC line, despite its 448X number.

@Rob42:
10026 looks like it may be minifig-scale (it's really close, if it's not), but it does still have an Artoo head, even if the body/legs are absent. There are also a few of the foil-packed magazine sets that qualify (911509, 911511). They actually look like they escaped from an Advent Calendar. But I just looked through _everything_, and every other set has a minifig, or is not minifig scale.