With Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1 wrapped up and a further season promised, Blocks picks out some of the vehicles, locations and moments that would make for awesome LEGO sets.
Personally, I’ve found the show uneven and at times beholden to a group of clones who, frankly, can’t really sustain an entire show by themselves. That said, they say you should never bite the hand that feeds you and as a massive fan of this part of Star Wars lore and history, I can’t help but acknowledge that the show offers many opportunities for new sets.
And so I want to put forward five sets based on the first season of The Bad Batch that the LEGO Group could make. You might note how I’ve split the team across the five sets. I’ve done this for two reasons. Firstly, the LEGO group has a precedence for doing this with teams of characters, for example splitting the twelve dwarves of Thorin’s group across five sets in 2012 with the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Secondly, and more importantly, the team has already been assembled in full (barring Omega) in 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle. In splitting the team across different sets, I’ve been able to add other characters from and engage more widely with the series. This way, we all win!
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Escape the Bounty Hunter!
Suggested price – £20
Early on in The Bad Batch it becomes apparent that Omega, the female clone of Jango Fett, is being hunted by a bounty hunter in the neon-lit spaceport on Pantora. This hunter is none other than Fennec Shand of The Mandalorian fame. During episode four of the series, ‘Cornered’, Omega is captured by Shand, but Hunter gives chase throughout the port. This small set would therefore be a cross between the older 7133 Bounty Hunter Pursuit and 70607 Ninjago City Chase, with two speeders and some city-inspired props.
With sets like 75310 Duel on Mandalore, the LEGO Group has proven it’s not averse to putting highly sought after figures in small sets, and so this set would also be a cheaper way of getting both Shand (who appears in the substantial 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser) and Hunter. With the background builds hopefully being brightly coloured, this could be a fun and inexpensive set.
Battle on Kaller
Suggested price – £30-40
The Bad Batch series begins very much in the vein of the previous The Clone Wars show: an opening narration (by Tom Kane) explains how the clone and droid armies are still locked in a vicious war before introducing the setting of this opening episode. The show begins on Kaller where Jedi Master Depa Billaba struggles to hold off a droid force as she waits for her padawan, Caleb Dume from the Rebels series, to arrive with reinforcements (who, you guessed it, turn out to be the Bad Batch themselves). This opening pitched battle would provide a wonderful mid-sized playset between £30 and £40. The set would include Billaba and Dume as minifigures alongside a couple of droids, with snow-covered rubble offering a simple setting. Also included would be Crosshair who, from a slightly taller build, could act as a sniper and support the Jedi forces below.
Irling Attack!
Suggested price – £60
In ‘Infested’, the thirteenth episode of The Bad Batch show, the team must retrieve a shipment of spice from Cid’s parlour. To do so, the team must travel through an infested cavern using an old railway system. On the way, however, they pass through a hive of Irlings, insectoid creatures that have made this disused cavern their home. As dark and atmospheric as the episode is, however, the railway transportation to me screams the potential for a LEGO set.
The LEGO Group has used carts before to great effect not only in the larger 7199 The Temple of Doom from the Indiana Jones license but also in the smaller 4714 Harry Potter Gringotts Bank, to give just two examples. Add in a brick-built Irling – something akin to the Fantastic Beasts fun pack from the LEGO Dimensions line (71257) comes to mind – or two and some play features (falling crates, anyone?) and you’re onto a winner. For figures, I’m including Cid (the grumpy female trandoshan who gives the Bad Batch work throughout the series), Wrecker (who accidentally awakens the hive during the mission) and two Pyke henchmen, who are trying to stop the good guys getting away! Sounds fun, right?
Cad Bane’s Justifier
Suggested price – £70
One of the joys of The Bad Batch series was the return of Cad Bane, the Western-inspired, cowboy hat wearing bounty hunter who came up against the heroes of the Clone Wars show many, many times. In the newer show, viewers got to see the Justifier, Bane’s new ship. The ship itself has an interesting feature in the back thruster, which moves into a horizontal position when the ship lands. If that’s not the sort of unusual feature LEGO Star Wars ships need to make them distinctive, then I don’t know what is.
During the episode ‘Bounty Lost’, we see a significant amount of the Justifier’s inside: Omega is held in a prison cell inside the ship and her weapons are stored away in a cabinet. Again, easy play features right there. Cad Bane made a stylish return to the Star Wars universe, besting Hunter in a Mexican stand-off scenario. The set would therefore include Omega, Hunter, Cad Bane and Todo, Bane’s long-suffering service droid.
Daro Base Rescue
Suggested price – £80-90
One of the most intriguing new locations revealed during The Bad Batch was the new imperial base on Daro where non-clone troopers were being trained. During the episode ‘War-Mantle’, the Bad Batch are asked to extract clone commando Gregor from this facility. This final and largest set of this Bad Batch wave would include Tech and Echo, who must break Gregor from his confinement. A playset akin to 75180 Rathtar Escape, this set would include the elevator section where the batch fight the clone commandos (also included) and the side hallways would be the perfect place for two other non-descript troopers to take aim. Aside from seeing clone commandos in LEGO form, the other minifigure excitement would be seeing these new troops, who have updated armour. The design of the playset would be modular, encouraging the base to be moved around. Given how the series ends (no spoilers here), we may well return to Daro in Season 2 of the show, which also means the potential to expand this set. Either way, I’d be keen.
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