Star Wars

R2-D2

The R2-D2 most of us can actually afford, and he's a charmer.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 75379 · 2024

Pieces1,050

Minifigs1

Year2024

Set number75379

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The verdict

For years the only proper LEGO R2 was the giant UCS one with a giant price to match, so this little guy landing at a hundred dollars felt like a small gift to the rest of us.

He's got the 360 spinning dome, the fold-down third leg, the whole silhouette, and honestly he looks the part on a shelf. The build itself is more pleasant than thrilling and those dome stickers will test you, so go in for the finished droid rather than the two hours getting there. If you love R2 and never wanted to spend UCS money, this is an easy yes.

Best for: R2-D2 fans who never wanted to drop UCS money on the big one

The full review

What it is

Some sets you fall for before a single brick is out of the bag, and this R2-D2 is one of them. He's a 1,050 piece LEGO® set that finally gives the little astromech a proper standalone model without the eye-watering price the big Ultimate Collector R2 always carried. That older one is gorgeous, but it's roughly 2,300 pieces and more than double the money, which put it out of reach for a lot of us. This set arrived for the Star Wars 25th anniversary in 2024 and quietly does most of the same job. Set them side by side and this one holds maybe eighty percent of the presence at well under half the cost, which is the kind of math that makes you feel clever for buying the smaller one.

The catch

I'll be straight with you about where the shine comes off a bit. The build is enjoyable but it isn't especially exciting, and the steps stay small and gentle throughout, so if you live for clever engineering you may find the middle of the body a little quiet. The bigger gripe is stickers. There are a lot of them, and R2's white curved panels are exactly the sort of surface where a sticker fights you, sliding around and refusing to sit straight, and the white of the sticker never quite matches the white of the brick underneath. And because he's built at this scale, the domed head can't be a true smooth half sphere, so if you get right up close you'll spot the stair-stepping and a few visible studs where a rounder shape would look cleaner. None of it ruins him, but you should know it's there before he's on the desk.

Who it's for

So who's this really going to make happy. If you love R2-D2 and you always wanted a display-worthy version without paying UCS prices, this is close to a no-brainer, and the finished droid genuinely looks great with his blue panels, silver detailing and that spinning dome catching the light. The Darth Malak minifigure is a real bonus too, since it's his first ever LEGO appearance and the sort of thing Old Republic fans will grin at. Where I'd pause you is if you already own the big 75308, because you'll notice every place this one compromises, or if what you chase is a rich, surprising building session rather than the object at the end. For most people though, this is the sweet spot R2 always needed, and he'll retire around late 2027, so there's no panic but no reason to dawdle either.

The parts story

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

The build works from the feet up, and the legs come together first with a satisfying sturdiness that lets him actually stand and pose without wobbling, which matters more than you'd think for a top-heavy droid. The body is the long middle stretch, lots of paneling and layering to get that cylindrical shape, and it's the calmest part of the process with plenty of small repeated steps. Things pick back up at the head, where four curved panels wrap the dome and a neat little Studs Not On Top move tucks the eye in before the whole thing drops onto the body and spins a full 360 degrees. Add the fold-away third leg, the periscope and the tool arms and you've got a droid you can genuinely fiddle with.

On the parts front, the real trophy is Darth Malak, an exclusive minifigure making his LEGO debut with a printed face, a lightsaber and his own little display stand and plaque. The rest of the value story is honest rather than flashy: this is a lot of white, blue and silver curved and sloped elements plus plenty of small round tiles and clips doing the shaping work, so it's a useful haul of everyday curves and connectors if you're a parts hoarder, just not a box full of exotic new molds. At a hundred dollars for 1,050 pieces the per-piece math sits right around the normal LEGO line, and given how much droid you get for it, that feels fair.

Fun facts

01This midi-scale R2 costs less than half of the 2,300-piece Ultimate Collector version, which is why so many fans call it the R2-D2 for the rest of us.
02The included Darth Malak is his very first minifigure ever, pulled from the beloved Knights of the Old Republic game and added as a Star Wars 25th anniversary exclusive.
03His dome rotates a full 360 degrees, so you can pose him mid-conversation or looking off at something the way the real droid always seems to be.
04He ships with a fold-down third leg, an attachable periscope and swappable tool arms, little nods to the gadgets R2 is forever popping out at the worst possible moment.