At its best, the Star Wars franchise is a genre mashup. At one extreme is the spaghetti western, outlaw genre embodied by Han Solo, about conflicted antiheroes who pursue power through dark means. At the other extreme, there's the fantasy genre embodied by Luke Skywalker, about heroes who rise from humble origins through magic and love.
The Mandalorian is a rare modern Star Wars success that embodies both extremes and balances them well – the former by the show's namesake, and the latter by Grogu, his pint-sized, Force-sensitive adopted son. Interestingly, we didn't learn Grogu's name until midway through Season 2. Until then, he was 'Baby Yoda' to the casual fans, who made him a viral sensation.
The newest addition to the LEGO Star Wars line is a Grogu set, available now at all places where LEGO is sold (Amazon, LEGO Store, etc.). It's geared toward this more casual fan, who may have watched Episodes VII, VIII, and IX and a handful of the TV shows several years ago, but otherwise needs a damn good reason to tune in and watch something brand new. To those fans, The Mandalorian was the last time that Star Wars felt like essential pop culture viewing, and LEGO Grogu is certainly ubiquitous enough to warrant this type of high-piece-count depiction.
The set has a decent price point; $99.99 is reasonable for a 1,048-piece model of this detail and scope, especially since Disney/LEGO partnered sets typically retail for 30% more than non-partnered sets with similar piece counts. (LEGO sets can be expensive). That LEGO Grogu is priced similarly to a non-licensed set is surprising, to say the least.
The set comes with two separate instruction booklets – one for Grogu, depicted in a standing position, and the other for his Hover Pram, which you can mount Grogu inside of. The entire build is quick, straightforward, and incremental; what you see is what you get, but in a good way.
There's no advanced layering techniques, where you're doing subtle work that builds to a final cumulative payoff later down the road. But that also means that you're getting constant, positive affirmation at every small step. You're building an arm and hand that looks like an arm and hand, and then you're mounting it onto the torso. You're building two ears, and then you're mounting them onto the head. It's one immediate gratification after another.
The ears and the head are both poseable, and the arms are attached to dials on Grogu's back, which you can rotate to raise the arms up and down. There's a small green heart piece that you insert into the chest cavity, an Easter egg similar to those in the Build-A-Bear models that you customize at the mall.
The Hover Pram has no moveable parts, but it is mounted on a small, black stand, and the Pram's base is wide enough to create the illusion that it is floating midair. Grogu comes with several accessories. There's a Sorgan frog and two blue cookies in case he gets hungry, and there's also the gear shift knob from the Razor Crest, which Mando gives him to play with.
A buyer should also know that this depiction of Grogu is not entirely accurate and proportional to its Disney Plus inspiration. The head is taller, for one. The figure is nearly the same size as the Hover Pram it occupies. The distinction between the green and peach coloring on Grogu's ears is angled rather than smooth – something more commonly seen on LEGO's exaggerated Blockheadz figures.
This is cuteness and mainstream accessibility taking precedence over exactitude. But interestingly, this set comes with a blue 'Ultimate Collector Series' placard, which typically implies that this set is as proportionally accurate as possible. It's clearly not. And yet, the casual audience members this set is aimed at are unlikely to care. In fact, the end result is so cute, that they might even prefer it.
LEGO Grogu with Hover Pram, Set #75403, retails for $99.99, and it is composed of 1048 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and LEGO Store.
Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.
