The latest in an incredibly long line of LEGO Star Wars sets is the Battle Droid with STAP. This is a big, impressive build that can be used for play (as suggested by its 12+ age rating) or for display (as suggested by the included stand and placard). As such, it’s one of those LEGO releases that works just as well as a set for kids as it does for adults.
Price: $139.99Ages: 12+Pieces: 1,088Item #75428
The droid in question is one of the B1-series battle droids that pop up all over the place in the prequel trilogy. They look seriously cool, even if they might fall in battle at the mere suggestion of a blaster bolt or a lightsaber swing. This LEGO battle droid is a bit stockier than the ones in the movies, but that’s probably because a droid this size with thinner limbs might fall apart under its own weight.
This set comes with 10 bags of LEGO blocks, plus a full-color instruction manual and a sticker sheet of decals. First you build the bot’s torso, followed by its legs, feet, arms, and head. Its hands are particularly neat, as they’re comprised of two fingers and a thumb, all of which can move independently (the better for gripping a blaster, or the STAP’s handlebars).
Its legs, arms, and feet are all attached using ball joints, so you can pose them in all kinds of ways. This comes in handy when you want to stand it up, because it lets you find the center of gravity for the pose you want to use.
With my son, I’ve built a number of the LEGO action figure sets, like Iron Spider-Man and New Captain America. This battle droid is similar to those, but it looks way better. Its limbs are too thick to look movie-accurate, but unless you’re comparing them side-by-side, you likely won’t notice. The gears on the knees and the thin rods connecting the forearms to the elbows are a nice touch. It’s just a great looking droid overall.
While most of the detail on the droid comes from how the LEGO pieces fit together, you’ll need to affix decals on some of the pieces. As with all stickers, you need to place them carefully, or else your droid may look a little wonky and amateurish.
After building the battle droid in full, you assemble its weapon, the E-5 blaster rifle. Next up is the minifigure version, which is like an artfully shrunken-down clone of the whole set. It looks terrific.
Lastly, you assemblie the STAP speeder and stand (the acronym stands for Single Trooper Aerial Platform). In Star Wars lore, a STAP is a repulsorcraft used by the Trade Federation, most famously in the Invasion of Naboo, as depicted in The Phantom Menace.
The STAP is a pretty standard build that starts with the skeleton of the structure, using various colored bricks that will later be hidden by the brown exterior of the vehicle. I love it when LEGO sets have colorful bricks hidden within them. First, the colors break up the visual tedium of what may otherwise be a bland build. Second, the colorful bricks make it easier to see which brick goes where in the instruction manual.
Once the inside of the vehicle is assembled, you add the exterior bricks, which are all a uniform brown color in this case. The end result is an exterior that’s satisfyingly smooth and curvy. The STAP has handles you can clamp the droid’s hands onto and foot rests you can secure its feet to. It’s a big, sturdy set, with a base that’s just wide enough to hold it up. The end result is really impressive. I’d easily recommend this set to any fans of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
