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Are LEGO SMART Play Star Wars sets too expensive?

Ryan

The LEGO SMART Brick is promising to revolutionise the LEGO System in Play, adding in flashy sights and sounds — but Blocks News Writer Ryan Everleth wonders if the price of entry is too high for the target audience.

Three new LEGO Star Wars sets are launching soon to kick off the new LEGO SMART Play concept, with more models expected to follow shortly after. SMART Play utilises a new SMART Brick that is at the core of the experience, as well as special minifigures and tags that elicit reactions from the brick. Thanks to these new tech-infused pieces, models will be able to respond to what children do with them in an entirely new way.

Price-per-piece has been the baseline measurement for evaluating LEGO set value for years, and to be frank, the three LEGO Star Wars SMART Play sets coming out on March 1 have poor price-per-piece numbers. For reference:

75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, an “all-in-one” set
75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing, an “all-in-one” set
75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing, an “all-in-one” set

It would be easy to bash these sets for their poor price-to-part ratios, but it’s important to remember that all of them include at least one SMART Brick, SMART Minifigure and SMART Tag (plus a charger for the brick). That distribution is as follows:

Techy toys are expensive; adding in the SMART technology is naturally going to make these sets more expensive. So criticising them on the basis of price-per-piece is unfair. However, that does not mean that I think these sets are good value for money, at least based on the initial announcement and images (Blocks will give a full review once the sets are in-hand).

What’s really holding back the value of these sets isn’t how their builds look, though that is part of it. The real thing that bothers me is something hardcore fans barely even consider – the age rating.

75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing is a 6+ set. It costs £79.99 / $99.99.

The next cheapest 6+ set? That would be 75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack. £17.99 / $22.99.

75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack
75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor
75433 Jango Fett’s Starship

75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter is 8+ and is a bit cheaper, priced at £59.99 / $69.99.

Next cheapest 8+ set is 75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor at £39.99 / $44.99. That’s more in the ballpark.

Lastly, 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing is £139.99 / $159.99 with a 9+ rating.

You have to drop down to £59.99 / $69.99 to find the next cheapest 9+ set, 75433 Jango Fett’s Starship.

My point in doing this age rating comparison is not that LEGO sets are expensive. What I’m trying to illustrate is that these SMART Play sets are targeting age ranges who would otherwise be buying products below £59.99 / $69.99. Coincidentally, that’s the price of the cheapest SMART Play set, and that’s not even the one with the lowest age rating. The LEGO Group is targeting younger builders, as evidenced by the low age ratings, but is charging prices more akin to 18+ models than what children that age are usually getting.

The LEGO Movie did point out that the age ratings are just suggestions — there’s nothing stopping a 6-year-old from building a 10+ set. Which brings me to my next point.

I’ve held off commenting on the appearance of these sets until now because I feel like that’s low-hanging fruit. These aren’t 18+ models; they’re not even 10+ models. For a 6-year-old who wants to swoosh an X-wing around, the SMART Play version will get the job done. But by the time you start creeping up to that 9+ and 10+ rating, the look of the toy is going to matter more.

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When I was that age, I was obsessed with LEGO reviews online, learning all I could about the latest sets before deciding to just ask for everything with a Clone Trooper anyway. Point is that by the time I was about 9 or 10, I was taking accuracy and the look of the sets into account. And by the time I hit my early teenage years, I was diving into modular buildings and Ultimate Collector Series sets. This isn’t universal experience, of course, but my LEGO tastes grew up fast, and they do for many others as well. So that “+” on the SMART Play boxes isn’t actually doing all that much.

75402 ARC-170 Starfighter

A child in the 8+ range for 75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, the cheapest of the three SMART sets, may be more inclined to choose the 9+ 75402 ARC-170 Starfighter for the same price, forgoing the SMART features in favour of more figures and a more accurate ship design that doesn’t cut out space for a SMART Brick. Heck, the 6-year-old looking at 75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing might daringly choose the ARC-170, then tack on 75449 Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack. Doing that yields just one less build, four more figures and a few quid saved.

It’s honestly not even about the age rating at that point. You can get a larger, better-looking starfighter, plus a whole other set, for less money. Is a brick that makes laser sounds worth all that?

For some children, the answer will be yes. And for some, the difference between the 6+ X-wing and the 9+ ARC-170 will be too great. That’s why there’s a variety of age ratings to begin with. But why is the 6-year-old being charged more?

In fairness, 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing actually has 139 more pieces than the equally priced 75413 Republic Juggernaut, and one more actual minifigure. So it’s not all bad, but my point about the overcharged 6-year-old still stands. Given that 75413 Republic Juggernaut is a historically bad deal, it probably shouldn’t be the benchmark for the value of other sets. But it’s on shelves, so it leads to a win for 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing.

The real value of the SMART Play sets is something that will have to wait until they release and fans can get a better sense of what the light-up, noise-making bricks can really do. But with the LEGO catalogue already prohibitively expensive for so many, I can’t see a tiny X-wing and three side builds designed for a 6-year-old being worth £79.99 / $99.99 just because it makes some sounds. Doubly so when there’s so much more, at lower prices, also on the market.

The three debut LEGO SMART Play sets will be releasing on March 1, 2026. If you’re interested in preordering any of the new SMART Play sets, consider doing so via our affiliate links to help support the work we do here at Blocks, online and in print. Though no pressure if you’re on the fence after the initial announcement; Blocks will review each set in an upcoming issue once our review team gets them in-hand so you know exactly what to expect with LEGO SMART Play.

To get more details about how the LEGO SMART Play system works, you can head here and check out the above video.

And if you want to find out when new LEGO sets are announced, sign up to our free newsletter. Of course, if you really want to upgrade your LEGO hobby for the true insider experience, take out a subscription to Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine for fans.

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