The LEGO Star Wars team is always trying new things and that has resulted in some weird and wonderful creations over the years.
After 25 years of creating hundreds of sets, it's inevitable that some of them have been more experimental than others. That's not to say those experiments don't always pay off; successful LEGO Star Wars collections like the Helmet Collection, battle packs, and more have their roots in some of these experiments. It's certainly fun to look back at some of the twists and turns that the theme has gone through – some of which are more recent than others.
Here's a look at six of the strangest LEGO Star Wars sets and experiments we've seen over the years, starting with the one that's surely engrained on any Star Wars fan's brain.
6 – 10018 Darth Maul
Released in 2001, 10018 Darth Maul could be argued to be the spiritual grandfather of the Helmet Collection. A whopping 1,868 pieces went into this bust of the iconic Sith Lord, recreating his dramatic features from the orange eyes to the pointed horns. The detail is certainly not at fault for making this set a little more strange than striking. In fact, it's perhaps just a bit too much detail. The eyes have a pretty unnerving gaze and we're not sure how much the extra pieces used on his neck and the tops of his shoulders add to the build overall.
If 10018 Darth Maul had to walk so that the Helmet Collection could run, then it's a happy little accident – but it's undoubtedly one of the strangest LEGO Star Wars creations to make it on shelves.
5 – Buildable figures
The LEGO Star Wars buildable figures, released between 2015 and 2017, come off so strange that you might not even instantly recognise them as LEGO. The faces are chiselled, the hands are uniquely moulded parts, and the proportions are unlike most depictions of characters in the LEGO Star Wars theme, or even other themes with buildable figures like LEGO Marvel. Made up largely of Technic elements, they are clearly designed for play and there are a surprising amount of them, covering everyone from General Grievous and Darth Vader to deeper cuts like Scarif Stormtrooper and Elite TIE Fighter Pilot.
Somewhere between a figure and a mech, these LEGO Star Wars buildable figures have something of the Uncanny Valley about them, especially those like 75110 Luke Skywalker that don't have helmets. The collection marks a weird but prolific couple of years in the LEGO Star Wars theme.
4 – The shortlived Planets series
Rewinding further back to 2012, the LEGO Star Wars Planets series looks more like something you might expect to get as a GWP nowadays, or even a Hallmark ornament. Once again, the collection is surprisingly varied, covering 12 different planets from across the galaxy far, far away. It's certainly a fun collection to build (no pun intended) and the minifigure and mini-build ship is a formula that has remained to this day in the form of the Microfighter Series. Why a planet was thrown into the mix as well, we'll likely never know.
3 – 2000's minifigure packs
Another strange blip in the long history of LEGO Star Wars is the minifigure packs released in 2000. Clearly geared for display, the stand has a little slot for a card, offering a dynamic backdrop for each of the minifigures. They were often grouped in logical ways, like 3340 Star Wars #1 - Emperor Palpatine, Darth Maul and Darth Vader, recreating the dramatic final showdown from Episode VI.
Four minifigure packs were released in 2000, seven years before the first battle pack in 2007. This could be an early version of that, grouping together similar minifigures but abandoning the 'ready to display' style of the stands that they come on.
2 – LEGO Star Wars Technic sub-theme
The more photorealistic buildable figures were not the LEGO Star Wars team's first stab at the concept. Back in 2000, LEGO Star Wars teamed up with Technic to create nine buildable figures. Instead of focusing largely on human characters, the blocky, technical nature of LEGO Technic lends itself well to recreating droids and even humans in suits, like Vader and Jango Fett, as pictured above.
The figures themselves are arguably quite impressive and hold up even more than 20 years later, but they don't feel particularly LEGO Star Wars, earning themselves a secure spot on this list.
1 – LEGO Star Wars Rebuild the Galaxy
You don't need to go too far back to find some recent strange and surprising LEGO Star Wars sets. Looking to the future, the impending release of 75389 The Dark Falcon and 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up proves that the LEGO Star Wars team is still not shying away from the weird and the wonderful. Turning well-trodden concepts like the Millennium Falcon, the X-wing, and the TIE Fighter on their heads is a bold move and it's certainly resulted in some unusual sets – but the excitement around them suggests it's a move that's paying off among fans.
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