It's now official and the LEGO catalog for August / September 2020 currently distributed in the USA and Canada confirms it: the LEGO Star Wars set 75294 Bespin Duel will also be available for sale on the official online store outside of its availability at Toys R Us Canada.

This small box of 295 pieces stamped 18+ will be sold for $ 49.99 in Canada as confirmed by the photo above of the French version of the catalog currently distributed in the country. We know that it will also be available in the USA, visuals from the US catalog are currently circulating on social networks.

At this point, however, we still don't know if the set will also be available in Europe via the official online store and I'm not particularly optimistic on this point ... To be continued.

(Thanks to Damien for the photo of the Canadian catalog page)

Update : The set is now live on the official online store in the USA at this address et in Canada at this address.

The soap opera around the LEGO Star Wars set 75294 Bespin Duel continues with the online launch of the box by the brand Toys R Us in Canada.

The product is currently displayed "Out of stock", no doubt of waiting for its effective availability.

The brand specifies that this product is an exclusive and displays the price of 49.94 Canadian dollars or about 32 € at the current price.

At this stage, we are no further ahead regarding a possible availability of this box in France, but if the product mintage is limited and LEGO has chosen to offer it exclusively to the Toys R Us brand in Canada, we will probably have to go through eBay and treat a few dealers to add this product to our collections.

(Thanks to odieuxplastique for the info)

Today we're talking about the LEGO Star Wars set 75294 Bespin Duel with the posting by LEGO of the instruction booklet for this small box of 295 pieces that we were talking about few days ago.

As a reminder, we now know that this set is stamped 18+, that the box is stamped with the logo celebrating the 40th anniversary of theEpisode v, that it contains an inventory of 295 pieces and that it allows you to obtain two minifigs: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the latter being the version also available in the set 75291 Death Star Final Duel (109.99 €) on sale since today. Luke's minifigure is the one seen in the set 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City. We discover over the pages of the booklet that the small plaque that pays homage to theEpisode v is not pad printed and will have to be content with a simple sticker.

We still do not know when, how, at what price and under what conditions it will be possible to obtain this box.

You can download the instruction booklet in PDF format (11 MB) at this address or by clicking on the visual below.

We pretend not to have seen the visuals of the LEGO Star Wars set as usual 75294 Bespin Duel available on all social networks and today we are talking about this little box from the LEGO Star Wars range which we do not yet know when, how and where it will be sold / offered.

What we do know is that this set is stamped 18+, that the box is stamped with the logo celebrating the 40th anniversary of Episode V, that it contains an inventory of 295 pieces and that it allows to get two minifigs: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the latter being the version also available in the set 75291 Death Star Final Duel (109.99 €) which will be officially on sale from August 1st.

What we don't know at the moment is how and when this little box will be available. Last I heard, it would be a set planned for the Star Wars Celebration convention, the 2020 edition of which was to take place at the end of August in Anaheim (USA) has been canceled.

If this is really the case, one can imagine that this limited edition product was intended, as is usually the case with convention-specific promotional products, to be sold for around $ XNUMX to the lucky few designated beforehand by draw.

It is therefore unlikely that this small box is simply put on sale on the official online store at the same price and we should in my opinion expect a geographically limited distribution or possibly reserved for certain brands or even a promotional operation at LEGO with a relatively high minimum purchase amount. I could obviously be wrong, but we will be quickly fixed on this last point anyway, LEGO will eventually take control to confirm to us whether it is already necessary to prepare to pay for this product at full price on eBay or not.

Note: the illustration photo above is not from the set in question, it is the scene from the LEGO Star Wars set 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City marketed in 2018.

Today we quickly tour the LEGO Star Wars set 75302 Imperial Shuttle, a box of 660 pieces which will be on sale at the public price of 84.99 € from March 1st and which will finally take over from the previous version of the shuttle marketed in 2015 in the set 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (937 - € 99.99).

Even if the comparison with the previous interpretation is inevitable for many collectors, it is advisable to put this new set in the current context of the LEGO Star Wars range: LEGO has been offering since January simplified and a priori more accessible versions of the great classics of the Star Wars universe: sets 75301 Luke Skywalker X-wing Fighter (474 - 49.99 €) and 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter (432 - 39.99 €) marketed since the beginning of the year are perfect examples of this simplification with their reduced number of pieces and a low retail price which makes them more affordable for many young fans keen to build up a collection. The manufacturer's bias appears a little less obvious with this new box of 660 pieces which will be offered at the public price of 84.99 €, barely 15 euros less than the previous version.

The first visuals that had leaked on social networks suggested a rather successful version of the shuttle. We then discovered the packaging of the product with its photos with carefully designed angles to hide any weaknesses of the model. Putting the set online at the beginning of February on the official online store then allowed us to better observe the construction as a whole and to give us a clearer opinion. The assembly of the product confirms the few aesthetic compromises which will undoubtedly disappoint those who waited for a shuttle with an irreproachable finish.

With only 650 pieces, there are bound to be shortcuts and even if this LEGO version of the shuttle looks like the benchmark ship overall, it also accumulates approximations. The lower part of the cockpit, for example, lacks finishing and the black protuberance here is totally irrelevant. It reinforces the impression of having only a half-cockpit with its plunging nose which only deludes when looking at the shuttle from above.

Both wings would also have deserved a little more attention with even partial coverage in Tiles to double their thickness and match them to the center fin and the body of the ship totally smooth except for the few studs visible in the cockpit. Another revealing detail of this passage to the wringer: the landing gears are summarized here in their simplest form just like the interior of the cockpit. No stickers in this box, the only piece with a pattern is pad printed. Perhaps a grid effect is missing on the nose of the ship, it was enough to take the pattern of the part placed under the central fin. For those wondering, there is no deployable access ramp under the shuttle.

This product is mainly a toy for children and so it was necessary to think of those who will have fun with this shuttle. The upper cockpit hull tilts forward and the interior of the vessel is accessed by lifting the center fin which is held by a relatively inconspicuous latch. It's simple, it does not penalize the general aesthetics and these two features offer a certain playability to the product. Even if the cockpit can only accommodate one minifigure, the three characters provided can therefore take place in the shuttle, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader having "seats" in the back.

LEGO has nothing planned for those who would like to exhibit the shuttle with the wings spread, it will be necessary to DIY a support. I simply stacked a few bricks for the photos and by finding the point of balance it is possible to place the ship on a simple rod. Too bad that LEGO does not offer an integrated solution in the set. Even if it is a simple toy, it would be interesting to have a base to allow it to be stored on a shelf in its most interesting configuration and about fifteen pieces are enough here to achieve the desired effect.

On the side of the three minifigs provided, we find a mixture of parts present for many years in the LEGO Star Wars range and more recent elements: The torso and the head of Luke Skywalker are parts already seen for the first in 2015 in the and 75093 Death Star Final Duel then delivered in several boxes. The torso of the imperial pilot is a new reference to the minimalist pad printing on legs present in the Star Wars range since 2014. The character's head also dates from 2014 and the cap made its first appearance in 2016.

Darth Vader's minifigure uses elements already seen in the sets 75291 Death Star Final Duel et 75294 Bespin Duel but without the arms with the pad-printed shoulders. Note that the legs used here are also those of the festive version seen in the LEGO Star Wars 2020 Advent calendar.

To put it simply, LEGO continues to decline the iconic ships of the Star Wars range in frankly simplified versions which should in principle be more affordable. Unfortunately, this is not really the case here with a public price that seems too high for a slightly minimalist product that ignores several aesthetic details and the few finishing touches that would have made it possible to make a model. more faithful to the reference vessel. So we end up with a simple children's toy that is a little too expensive for what it has to offer.

Sooner or later this box will necessarily end up on sale somewhere, so you have to be patient to pay for it at the right price. Those looking for a slightly more accomplished version of this Imperial Shuttle can always turn to the aftermarket where the set 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium from 2015 is trading new at around € 140.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 28th February 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.