Warrior. Father. Co-pilot of the fastest piece of junk in the galaxy. And a true, loyal friend. Chewbacca is the best buddy that a Corellian scoundrel could ask for. And the latest LEGO Star Wars set, which launches today, pays tribute to our favorite Wookiee from a galaxy far, far away.
The set captures Chewbacca's physical look, but more importantly, it captures his lines and his body language—the tiny subtleties that make him the Wookiee, as opposed to some generic Kashyyykian.
The LEGO Chewbacca is the latest in the Ultimate Collector series—a line of sets that previously included both the LEGO R2-D2 and the LEGO Imperial Star Destroyer. It is one-and-a-half feet tall—small enough to find space in your home for it, but large enough to be appropriately imposing.
At its core, the build is a series of cubes and rectangular prisms, connected via ball joints to form the neck, hips, and shoulders. And after building these underlying "bones," you plate it with brown and dark brown bricks, which give it the cumulative appearance of flesh and fur.
You start by building the base and the feet. Then you build the legs, which are anchored directly into the base with a ball joint and clutch, to give the build some necessary stability Then the torso. Then the head. And finally, the arms.
The final touches are the accessories—the bandolier and pouch slung over Chewie's left shoulder, and the traditional bowcaster that he holds at his side. The set comes with a signature Ultimate Collector placard that displays Chewbacca's statistics, and a LEGO minifigure of Chewbacca with a bowcaster accessory.
LEGO Chewbacca's fur is simultaneously the most fascinating and tedious part of the build. Fascinating, because it's made up of every type of curved LEGO brick imaginable—hundreds of pieces of different lengths, widths and proportions. But when put together, in an order that seems random at first, it suggests musculature. Two bricks imply a curl of fur, another ten bricks accentuate a massive forearm. Have you ever seen one of those photo mosaics, where hundreds of little photos form a massive image if you step back from them? That's what it feels like to see all of these disparate pieces, working in unison to create a single, hairy effect.
The builder earns this effect the hard way. The process of putting Chewie's fur on, brick by brick, is slow, deliberate work, made more difficult by the brown-on-dark-brown color palette. The lack of contrast, especially amongst the dark brown pieces, makes it difficult to distinguish them from one another, especially if you're working on a wooden table.
Not since the monotonously black LEGO Batmobile have I had to recheck myself this many times—or squinted this many times—at the directions to ensure I was following them properly. But that is not the LEGO designers' fault either; a proper LEGO Chewbacca would demand such a color scheme.
The aggravation does pay off. LEGO Chewbacca nails something that is difficult to quantify, and photos don't really do it justice: It captures the essence that Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca, brought to the character. This doesn't look like a costume on display in a glass case. There's something about the way the knees are bent, and the arms cradle the bowcaster, that captures Mayhew's performance and the warmth he brought to it.
One final note: Chewie's head is exceptionally cute; you can tell the designers put a lot of work into getting it just right. From the high forehead, to the sunken, bright eyes, to the slightly opened mouth with fangs showing, it's as though we've caught Chewie mid-"Rrrruuuurrr."
It's special when you can look at a LEGO set and almost hear it.
The LEGO Chewbacca, Set #75371, retails for $199.99, and it is composed of 2319 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and LEGO Store.
