Star Wars

D-O

The little cone-headed droid nobody expected to love, built big.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 75278 · 2020

Pieces519

Minifigs1

Year2020

Set number75278

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The verdict

D-O was a bit part in The Rise of Skywalker, but that conical head and nervous little personality stuck with me, and LEGO nailed the likeness.

This is a proper display piece at 10.5 inches tall, with a clever uni-tread build and a head that tilts and spins on two hidden dials. The catch is the price and the fact that the wheel does not actually roll, which stings for a character whose whole thing is wheeling about. If you fell for D-O in the film, you will be glad you have this on the shelf.

Best for: Star Wars fans who want a characterful display droid rather than a playset

The full review

What it is

D-O turned up late in The Rise of Skywalker as a jittery little cone-headed droid that BB-8 more or less adopts, and I honestly did not expect to care about him. Then LEGO went and built him at 10.5 inches tall on a display base, and the likeness got me. The 519 pieces come across four bags, starting with the uni-tread disc, which looks like the dullest part of the box on paper and turns out to be one of the smartest. The head is the star, mind you, a beautifully replicated cone with every detail printed rather than stickered, which means his anxious little face arrives already perfect.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the sore spots, because there are a couple. The launch price of 69.99 dollars raised eyebrows when it landed in April 2020, and it is easy to see why when you line it up against other buildable characters of the era that gave you more brick for the money. The bigger disappointment is the wheel. D-O's entire signature move in the film is wheeling around, and yet the uni-tread here does not turn at all. What you get instead are two dials on the arm, one that rocks the head back and forth and one that spins it a full 360 degrees, both battery-free and mechanical, which is lovely but does not quite make up for the frozen wheel. This is a statue, not a toy, and you want to know that going in.

Who it's for

So who is this actually for. If you loved D-O in the film, or you just like a shelf droid with real personality standing next to your BB-8 and R2, this is an easy one to enjoy, and the printed head plus the mechanical detailing across the body make it feel special. It even comes with a little info plaque and a tiny D-O figure, a sweet touch that nods at the collectible display sets without being one. If you build for genuine engineering thrills, or you were hoping for something your kids can roll across the floor, I would look elsewhere, because the cleverness here is quiet and the play value is slim. For the right person, though, this is a warm little addition to a Star Wars shelf, and now that it is retired it has held its value nicely.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build is a gentle few hours rather than a marathon, split across four bags and starting from the ground up with that uni-tread disc. It reads as a flat plain wheel until you are in it, and then you realise how neatly the shaping is handled to match the droid's rounded silhouette. From there you work up the connecting arm, where the two head dials get quietly engineered in, and finish with the cone head itself. Nothing here is punishing, but there are enough smart little moments that experienced builders will nod along rather than switch off.

The standout parts are the ones doing the mechanical detailing. Pneumatic hoses are pressed into service as the powerbus cables snaking across D-O's body, and they look genuinely convincing, far better than a printed panel would. The printed head elements are the real value here too, sparing you any anxious sticker alignment and giving the droid his personality straight from the bag. For 519 pieces the part-count value is only fair rather than generous, which feeds into the price grumble, but the quality of what you do get, especially the printed and curved elements, is a cut above filler.

Fun facts

01Despite the display base and info plaque, D-O is not an Ultimate Collector Series set, though it borrows that presentation and even tosses in a tiny D-O minifigure for the sign.
02The whole model is battery-free and entirely mechanical, with the head tilt and 360-degree spin driven by two hidden dials.
03The finished droid stands about 10.5 inches (27cm) tall, dwarfing the little scene-stealer's modest role in The Rise of Skywalker.
04The set launched in April 2020 at 69.99 dollars and retired in September 2021, and sealed copies now sit above their original price.