I loved pretty much everything in that color, but they definitely DID chip and flake all the time. Makes me wish we could find a way to make that color without the issues.
@@keltondavisLEGO mine held up surprisingly well but one took some damage. I agree, all bricks in that chrome are amazing. But Lego will probably keep using the new bland ones because they are cheaper.
The 2015 Yoda Vs Count Dooku set did have Dooku's custom curved hilt in chrome, but to my knowledge that's the last time they did something like that, and that was going on a decade ago
While I never had any of these, I was born in 2003, but these older sets have such a charm that I feel majorly lacks in sets now. I still love Lego (minus the price) and the newer sets are still really good but looking at these older ones they just have something else to them I feel. I think now with so many more brick types it allows for a scale of accuracy not allowed in these older more limited sets giving these ones more character in its jank and limitations
I actually picked up Mos Espa Podrace a few months ago. Great set. I actually picked it up after finding a near complete copy of the sequel set to this one, 7186 Watts’s Junkyard for the reasonable price of around $50. No Minifigs sadly in that one, but that got the price down to a price I could afford. Besides, it was the Podracers I was really after, so thus. I can safely say that all five Podracers and now complete, complete with period accurate parts, albeit still lacking minifigs. Enjoy!
Actually, the long brown pieces of the droid fighter were some of my favorite to use. Worked great as flying platforms for 2 figures to fight in air combat. Rebuilt a giant tub of lego sets post covid to let go and sell and found my brother and I had several of these sets and I never even remembered seeing them built since I was the younger. Was 1-2 weeks of a nostalgic overload undoing all of our leftover creations... :,-)
Had the X-wing & Snowspeeder! My Dad introduced me to star wars when I was 3 (2000) Starting with a New Hope. And so on. Saw Attack of the Clones in theaters for my birthday.
Exceptional quality video again, Kelton! Inspiring me to pull mine out of storage to build again. I'd rank them pretty close to yours, but with Lightsaber Duel lower and Gungan Sub higher. Hope to see the 2000 sets in a future video.
I like the old megaphone blaster builds so much that I actually utilize other colors of megaphones and 1x1 cones in my '90s space theme and even classic space MOCs sometimes! I, too, am impressed by the execution on the original X-Wing set; as an owner of that set since childhood, I tend to get nostalgic and overlook all other redesigns of the ship - including the ones from the mid-to-late-2000s whose execution was honestly better 😅 I, too, was 9 years old when this series first launched - I was born in April of 1990, and as I recall, the series was first announced in the Spring of 1999 Shop-at-Home catalog - of course, it was just the original trilogy sets, then; the Episode 1 sets entered the catalogs sometime in the Summer or early Fall, if I remember correctly. Of course, as someone who first saw Jar Jar Binks as a 9-year-old Aspergian with ADHD, I must confess that, facetiousness aside, he is a truly underrated and misunderstood character, and one of my all-time favorites from the franchise ☺️ One final note, and that's that I do have to correct you on one point: the mustached variant of the classic grin, while only appearing in Star Wars on Biggs Darklighter, wasn't truly character exclusive, having appeared in various town sets before then, most commonly as a chef, a butler, and a construction worker 😉 Anyway, great video as always! #NeverStopBuilding
Thank you for all your perspectives! And yes, I unfortunately trusted Bricklink too closely on the Biggs face. It claimed it was exclusive, and even though I could have sworn I’d seen it elsewhere, I went along with it 😆
As long as I live, one of my fondest memories will forever be getting the original LEGO X-Wing from the Star Tours gift shop at what was then MGM Studios at WDW way back in 1999, then putting it together in the hotel room after getting back from the park. I can complain about a lot of things, but my childhood really isn't one of them. EDIT: I was also a little surprised to realize how many of these I actually owned as a kid. The only ones I missed out on were the N-1, the Bongo, the Mos Espa race, and Vader's TIE/Y-Wing. I definitely had about five of those droid fighters (three of which were bought together at a KB Toys for a total of $5, if memory serves), ensuring that those long brown wing pieces clutter up my collection to this day 🤣
Tie Fighter and Y-Wing was my first Lego Star Wars set as well! I was probably around 5 when I got it. I loved the little comics they had at the end of the instructions that showed off alternate builds you could make
Fantastic video. You're one of my favorite Lego UA-camrs, you have some of the best presentation and editing on the platform. Plus, I really love your voice! Can't wait to see more. I really like the blue accents on the older Imperial sets, and agree on the yellow flesh- I honestly wish they never started making things totally screen accurate. The older sets just feel more Lego thematically to me, and the modern ones lack a lot of charm and play features to compensate for being "realistic". I can definitely see why they moved away from this approach, though.
Space Police II from the 90s is coming soon! Though since you mentioned Power Miners in the same breath, you're probably taking about Space Police III. I'm sure I'll cover both of those themes eventually.
Oh man, I remember so many of these, me and my friends would bring them with us when we went over to each others houses to play in case one of us didn't have a specific set. And that mos espa podrace set, I was so happy when I got it for my birthday, I was the only kid in the neighborhood who had it!
I absolutely love this series. Can’t wait until the next episode. And as a professional critic myself I understand that no matter how hard you try to be objective, there will always be a substantial subjectivity seeping through a best of-list. As it should. BUT putting the complex and amazing Gungan Sub with all of its play features below the sithy (see what I did there) Lightsaber Duel-set containing 2 figures, a floating mobility scooter and that utterly useless pile of bricks made me lose my sith man. “Yeah that Gungan ship is kinda cool I guess. But look at this set mom! You even get a moisture vaporator!!!” is a phrase you didn’t hear quite that often at your local Toys ‘R’ Us back in ‘99. Still appreciate all the effort and passion you pour into these videos though. Looking forward to what comes next. Keep up the good work! P.S: The Droid Fighter at the bottom of the list holds a very special place in my heart, since it was the first merchandise for Episode I that I ever saw and then owned as a kid. Long before I saw the movie or even a trailer. And the design of that ship really spoke to me, and almost hypnotized me. It was quite a magical feeling. And not knowing exactly what it was before watching the movie made it seem so mysterious and kinda eerie when you played with it without any real context. Then when you played the demo for the Episode 1 video game, and in this kinda secret room off track from the objective one of these metallic monsters would appear and slaughter you within a second. So the hype and fear got even stronger. And then when you finally saw the movie they kinda sucked…
Thanks for your perspectives! All I can say is that this particular kid got a lot more play value out of the Lightsaber Duel. I’m quite certain that if I was exposed to all of these sets right now as an adult, my list would be DRASTICALLY different. 😂
Whoa, this is really well made! You've got such a good voice for this genre! Definitely gonna be checking out your other videos. Keep up the good work 👍
I remember these sets felt so groundbreaking back in the day. Perhaps because, just as you mentioned it, they were shape and feel-accurate. I had your #6 and that one really captured the sense of action in the movies, not to mention those speeder troopers with shades are more useful without helmets than the latter bonnet-head ones.
They truly were groundbreaking and were a great stretch for LEGO designers. It was a perfect balance of emulating an existing IP, but staying true to their identity.
Thank you for the video! I have TIE and Y-Wing and Naboo Swamp from 1999 Star Wars and I like both sets very much. Sad that I don't have the Podracing set, I think it was the coolest in this wave. It would be interesting to see other Star Wars waves in future reviews.
The Endor Trooper is my all-time favorite mini-figure, as it's my favorite character of all Star Wars. I remember being in the Chicago LEGO store and they had two rotating displays that actually had the speeder bikes spinning on their own mechanism around Luke, and I think they also had a display for all the Ep 1 sets in its own right
8:30 Amazing! Despite growing up in the era of these sets, including some of this year, I never owned the Gungan Sub, so I never knew Obi-Wan used the exact same torso originally as Qui-Gon! I'm familiar with the next year or so versions of him, especially in the Jedi Defense sets, where Obi-Wan's torso had his braided hair as an additional and unique print on the torso - similar to what they would later print for apprentice-level Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones
Yep! I think they quickly realized they needed a bit more of a differentiating factor for Obi Wan, so they added the Padowan braid. It does make the Gungan Sub version set-exclusive, however.
You sent me back to my childhood with this amazing video, at that time I had almost all the sets that you showed...and the N64 as well. You have a new sub!
This takes me back, as someone who was born in 1994 and was starting elementary school/daycare in late 1999, I was lucky enough to own some of the early Lego Star Wars Sets. Great Video sir 👍 👏 👌
@keltondavisLEGO thanks, I'd been playing with Lego prior to the first Star Wars sets coming out, but am fortunate to have been there when the theme started. Also your number 1 choice is a no brainer, the 99 X-Wing is still a great set for it's time 25 years later.
The Naboo Fighter is a set I never owned at launch but in 2014 when I asked for the at the time newest Naboo fighter set for Christmas my mom had managed to find this one sealed and got it for me. So cool! Very neat set.
Love these videos! One thing that might be a helpful addition would be adjusting the original RRP for inflation to give an idea of what these sets may have retailed for in today's dollars. :)
The first two Lego Star Wars sets I ever got were Final Duel 1 and 2. I remember we bought them at K.B. Toys and I put them together at the Cracker Barrel before our food arrived!
The blue fish logo on the side of the naboo fighter is a neat little detail. It is actually on the ship in the movie, however its only seen briefly. Essentially a squadron insignia, or perhaps even a personal insignia (think WW1 or WW2 dogfighters) so perhaps some aquatic creature native to Naboo that was symbolic for somebody!
I had the X Wing, Gungan Sub, and lightsaber duel. Such fun. I was born in 2000 and found 4 huge totes of Legos in my grandmas basement when I was around 9 or 10. All the instructions were there I just had to sort through God knows how many Lego bricks to get ONE for a builds instructions 😂
17:06 I clearly remember as a kid just staring into the eyes of my lego Vader's helmet and thinking just how terrifying it would have been to be a rebel soldier in the diplomatic ship at the beginning of A New Hope.
Glad to see the hero of the Gungans, nay, the universe, getting some much needed recognition. I also somehow missed the weird Gasgano build for all these years... huh.
The Gungan Sub is super underrated. I love the LEGO vehicles that are 1 large vehicle that seperates into smaller ones. Legends Of Chima had a few like that. Yeah it's not film accurate but the play value is amazing.
I was about to leave a comment saying “what about the original Lego MTT?” But then I realized that set actually came out in 2000… Also, I find it funny how low you put the Naboo Swamp set, but that was literally my favorite of the sets from the 1999 wave
To be honest, I actually like some of the original Star Wars sets better than the newer ones - the reason might surprise you! I actually like that these were made with more traditional Lego bricks instead of all these curved and rounded pieces, and tiny 1x1 plates! While the new models look FAR more detailed, there's something about the blocky, angular look with exposed studs that just screams "LEGO!!!!!" Also, I find that the more traditional bricks and plates are more useful when building MOC's - even non-Star Wars related ones - I fid all these curved pieces to be less usable. Another thing I admire is the designer's ability to get the models to look as accurate as they do with the limited pieces back then! Now that's talent!
"Do not worry rebel scum, I am only here to showcase the power of the nostalgia side." 😂 Loved the intro! It's so cool to see where this theme all started. Honestly amazing it's basically the longest running theme ever! Also agree, I love the yellow skin for these older minifigures. The expressions and designs work so well! And, as blocky as it is, the theme had to start somewhere. It's a great start!
Thanks! Yes, that intro was too fun to make 😂 And also yes, I loved the first wave of Harry Potter for the same reason. Just love the classic yellow heads.
I’d put the Mos Espa podrace and #1, but I respect your picks, especially the X-Wing and TIE Advanced/Y-Wing’s placement. It’s really remarkable how much they nailed those three on the first attempt with such limited piece types. I’d be interested in seeing MOCs (or even official sets) of a TIE with modern building techniques but blue accents and a modern X-Wing but in light grey. Of course my dream set would be an MBS/UCS style Mos Espa podrace remake with ideally 5 racers (at least) and 15-20 minifigs, including Ben Quardinaros and Mawhonik (the Gran, same species/head mold as Ree-Yees) for the first time.
@@keltondavisLEGOone thing tho, the face of Biggs Darklighter isn't exclusive to him, as it was a standard Town face, mostly used for construction workers in the late 90s and early 2000s
@@AClassicBrick Yes! Several folks helpfully pointed that out. For some reason, Bricklink says it’s exclusive, which I thought for sure wasn’t true, since I’ve seen it elsewhere, but I just went by what it says 😂 oops!
I would have loved the Mos Espa Podrace set as a kid, but alas I never got it. I love that later on they kind of added to it with the Watto's Junkyard set, adding Aldar Beedo's and Mawhonic's podracers (sadly no Mawhonic figure though IIRC)
Oh the prices of some of these make me yearn for those days... even though I was born in '98. Now even those small sets would be like 30 bucks if they were released today.
An inflation calculator might make you feel better. Often times older sets have an even worse price/part ratio in today’s dollars than most sets today. That’s not an end all-be all metric, but in any case, LEGO has always been an expensive hobby.
I’m assuming Sebulba’s Podracer build and the Biggs Darklighter “character exclusive” mention are among those? 😂 I noticed both of those issues shortly after posting and did a nice 🤦♂️
@@keltondavisLEGO Haha yes, I also noticed the tree that comes with Luke and the scout speeders has a misplaced leaf brick. Also not sure if your aware of the lightsaber handles orientation as well as battle droid arm orientation. Especially on the Gasgano minifig. Many of these arms and lightsabers are assembled backwards.
@@LEGOkingJETTT Keen eye! I can never remember the way certain characters’ lightsabers are supposed to face. I didn’t care as a kid and I suppose nothing has changed 😂
I also got the TIE-Fighter + Y-Wing set on my birthday many years ago. It bothered me that the swivel cannon on top was too long and blocked the cockpit from opening, which wasn't accurate to basically any other version of the Y-Wing, I remember making my own custom swivel gun with 1x1 round open studs and cones
Great video. I found a small building mistake on Anikins Podracer. The two blue angeld pieces should be rotated 180 degrees and have the flat side towards the grey pieces
Because of the 1999 mold for Sebulba, I've always thought his people had legs and one arm. Especially with how my memories of Star Wars films being very jumbled.
I Still have Lightsaber duel in MISB condition, I am planning to open it for 30th anniversary of the movie. Also, X-Wing is my favourite one, I got it in 1999 for Christmas. What a suprise it was for me.
Life and Mars and Star Wars were both released in 2001. I imagine they designed these parts for the battle droids, but also used them for the Martians.
GREAT VIDEO! This first wave of the Star Wars theme is the closest I've ever gotten of a full collection. I have all of them except for "T Fighter - Y Wing", "X Wing", "Mos Espa Pod Race" and "Naboo Fighter". I'm getting back at collecting Legos, so I'm taking old boxes from my mothers house to my apartment. I know I lost a lot of pieces, but I hope to get most of them right.
I remember having Luke's X-Wing and Snowspeeder, and the Naboo Swamp. One of my cousins had the Pod Racer. I got everything from the Endor speeder bikes set aside from the troopers second hand or something; I remember going out of my way to get those little triangular sign pieces to use as wooden minifigure shields (with short bar connectors of some sort). That Qui-Gon head was extremely versatile and used for many characters throughout the coming decades; funny thing, I seem to have copied that minifig's beard and mustache in recent years. I always HATED chrome pieces and still do. I actually PLAYED WITH my sets, not just built/collected/displayed them, so the chipping was a huge issue to me. I will always be a pearl gold and flat silver over chrome gold and silver paint advocate. Colored plastic is better than clear plastic with a chipping-prone paint job. I will always be a "human minifigures should be yellow" believer. I get WHY they changed it - when they got to Lando, can you really have someone whose defining visual feature is darker skin than the other humans be YELLOW like the rest? And if you make him brown, doesn't that code yellow as "white"? Still, I think that peach and brown minifigures took the licensing away from the direction of depicting the CHARACTER abstractly into depicting the ACTOR, and too much face print detail does the same. Luke's, Han's, Padme's, and Qui-Gon's faces all work on minifigures of any theme. Likewise the first wave Harry Potter sets. I also think the less saturated colors look worse and not by a small margin.
All good points! The chrome silver was always TERRIBLE with chipping on my childhood sets, particularly my swords, but I wish they could emulate that look without the drawbacks.
@@keltondavisLEGO It would be nice to have legitimately smooth, shiny silver and gold plastic. Of course I'm someone who also wouldn't have minded them just using Light Gray for all silver elements, Yellow for gold, and Dark Gray for iron. As it is, a lot of things that are supposed to be iron/steel are still colored in basic grays anyway, it's like a mixed abstraction thing to me.
I also miss the chrome saber hilts dearly. They were so cool
I loved pretty much everything in that color, but they definitely DID chip and flake all the time. Makes me wish we could find a way to make that color without the issues.
@@keltondavisLEGO mine held up surprisingly well but one took some damage. I agree, all bricks in that chrome are amazing. But Lego will probably keep using the new bland ones because they are cheaper.
@@Joe-cr6uq unfortunately, you’re almost certainly right.
The 2015 Yoda Vs Count Dooku set did have Dooku's custom curved hilt in chrome, but to my knowledge that's the last time they did something like that, and that was going on a decade ago
Finally some i actually remember owning!
We gotta cover the hits SOMETIMES 😂
@@keltondavisLEGO this video still makes me jealous to this day that my buddy had all these . Haha
We all had THAT friend 😆.
I was showing my 1 year old the 1999 X wing just yesterday. He attempted to defile the retro LEGO by chewing on it.
Start ‘em young! (But protect the goods 😂)
I love the stop motion opening.
Thanks! Some of the most fun I have making these!
this channel deserves so much more
Thank you! 🙏
@@prod.flyboiyoda i 100 percent agree. Top notch
I don’t know why but I just love when the Lego Star Wars sets had yellow skin and I love the simple but so cool sets
I feel the same about Harry Potter. Just loved that aesthetic more.
Yea I currently own a final duel 2 set and though it’s small, I can’t resist staring at it on my bookshelf everyday. Just shows how quick Lego evolves
I always wanted the episode 1 MTT as a kid. Can't remember how much it was, but it was massive to my young self lol
That was certainly a highlight of the following year. Looks like it originally sold for $50 in the year 2000.
What a nice Lego channel! I really enjoy having these on when I'm working on my animations 😃
Being the backtrack to someone’s creative process is no small honor! Thank you.🙏
While I never had any of these, I was born in 2003, but these older sets have such a charm that I feel majorly lacks in sets now. I still love Lego (minus the price) and the newer sets are still really good but looking at these older ones they just have something else to them I feel.
I think now with so many more brick types it allows for a scale of accuracy not allowed in these older more limited sets giving these ones more character in its jank and limitations
This definitely describes my feelings as well. Limitations can often be a gateway to greater creativity.
I actually picked up Mos Espa Podrace a few months ago. Great set.
I actually picked it up after finding a near complete copy of the sequel set to this one, 7186 Watts’s Junkyard for the reasonable price of around $50. No Minifigs sadly in that one, but that got the price down to a price I could afford. Besides, it was the Podracers I was really after, so thus.
I can safely say that all five Podracers and now complete, complete with period accurate parts, albeit still lacking minifigs.
Enjoy!
That’s so great! These podracers were amazing right out the gate.
I am so happy you said "moisture vaporators" I just recently learned that is what they are called and I am quite happy you knew that as well!
I actually second-guessed myself on that had to double check 😂
The Y-wing set was always my favorite. I rebuilt it many times in different color schemes
Oooh that sounds cool! I’d love to see that.
Actually, the long brown pieces of the droid fighter were some of my favorite to use. Worked great as flying platforms for 2 figures to fight in air combat. Rebuilt a giant tub of lego sets post covid to let go and sell and found my brother and I had several of these sets and I never even remembered seeing them built since I was the younger. Was 1-2 weeks of a nostalgic overload undoing all of our leftover creations... :,-)
The great thing about LEGO is that even a (imo) lackluster set can be used to make something much better!
I don’t really care about Star Wars at all, but your content and presentation always earns a 👍🏻
Thanks! I always hope these can be of interest even to people without emotional or nostalgic connections to the theme being discussed.
Had the X-wing & Snowspeeder! My Dad introduced me to star wars when I was 3 (2000) Starting with a New Hope. And so on. Saw Attack of the Clones in theaters for my birthday.
That’s a great dad!
The old Starwars Lego sets are so satisfying
Amazing how well they did on their first try. Legendary.
Exceptional quality video again, Kelton! Inspiring me to pull mine out of storage to build again. I'd rank them pretty close to yours, but with Lightsaber Duel lower and Gungan Sub higher. Hope to see the 2000 sets in a future video.
DO IT! And yes, the 2000 sets are on the horizon. Some great ones in that wave!
Gotta love OG Lego Star Wars.. Brings so much nostalgia. Btw I subbed your channel!
Welcome aboard! Lots more nostalgia coming your way!
Please never stop making this videos. It's just too good!
I’m in it for the long haul!
He'll be in his grave still making them because his viewers won't let him stop.
@@TheFirstCurse1 Cursed to make LEGO videos for eternityyyyyyy.
Doesn't sound that bad, actually
🤣
I like the old megaphone blaster builds so much that I actually utilize other colors of megaphones and 1x1 cones in my '90s space theme and even classic space MOCs sometimes!
I, too, am impressed by the execution on the original X-Wing set; as an owner of that set since childhood, I tend to get nostalgic and overlook all other redesigns of the ship - including the ones from the mid-to-late-2000s whose execution was honestly better 😅
I, too, was 9 years old when this series first launched - I was born in April of 1990, and as I recall, the series was first announced in the Spring of 1999 Shop-at-Home catalog - of course, it was just the original trilogy sets, then; the Episode 1 sets entered the catalogs sometime in the Summer or early Fall, if I remember correctly.
Of course, as someone who first saw Jar Jar Binks as a 9-year-old Aspergian with ADHD, I must confess that, facetiousness aside, he is a truly underrated and misunderstood character, and one of my all-time favorites from the franchise ☺️
One final note, and that's that I do have to correct you on one point: the mustached variant of the classic grin, while only appearing in Star Wars on Biggs Darklighter, wasn't truly character exclusive, having appeared in various town sets before then, most commonly as a chef, a butler, and a construction worker 😉
Anyway, great video as always! #NeverStopBuilding
Thank you for all your perspectives! And yes, I unfortunately trusted Bricklink too closely on the Biggs face. It claimed it was exclusive, and even though I could have sworn I’d seen it elsewhere, I went along with it 😆
Hey man. I love you. Thanks it. Thanks for all the nostalgia.
That’s why this channel exists! Love bringing these back from people’s memories.
As long as I live, one of my fondest memories will forever be getting the original LEGO X-Wing from the Star Tours gift shop at what was then MGM Studios at WDW way back in 1999, then putting it together in the hotel room after getting back from the park. I can complain about a lot of things, but my childhood really isn't one of them.
EDIT: I was also a little surprised to realize how many of these I actually owned as a kid. The only ones I missed out on were the N-1, the Bongo, the Mos Espa race, and Vader's TIE/Y-Wing. I definitely had about five of those droid fighters (three of which were bought together at a KB Toys for a total of $5, if memory serves), ensuring that those long brown wing pieces clutter up my collection to this day 🤣
Oooooh that’s a warm fuzzy memory if I ever heard one!
Tie Fighter and Y-Wing was my first Lego Star Wars set as well! I was probably around 5 when I got it. I loved the little comics they had at the end of the instructions that showed off alternate builds you could make
Alt builds are one of the things I miss most about retro LEGO. So much creativity encouraged!
Really cool video man! I also love the chrome lightsabers. Seeing how much these sets cost back in the day hurt a little though!
Thank you!!
An inflation calculator will make you feel better. 90s LEGO was perhaps even more expensive than it is now!
Fantastic video. You're one of my favorite Lego UA-camrs, you have some of the best presentation and editing on the platform. Plus, I really love your voice! Can't wait to see more.
I really like the blue accents on the older Imperial sets, and agree on the yellow flesh- I honestly wish they never started making things totally screen accurate. The older sets just feel more Lego thematically to me, and the modern ones lack a lot of charm and play features to compensate for being "realistic". I can definitely see why they moved away from this approach, though.
Thank you!! 🙏 I love seeing people who appreciate these older sets.
Love the narration and personal stories. Footage was well captured too. Great video :)
Thank you! So many fond memories of these sets.
Great video, really well made and narrated!
Thank you! 🙏
Agreed with number 1 placement. One of my favourite LEGO sets ever. So much fun playing with that, and the Tie Advanced together.
Came out the gate swinging with that one!
I think you should do a video on both Space Police and Power Miners together since they were very popular among collectors
Space Police II from the 90s is coming soon! Though since you mentioned Power Miners in the same breath, you're probably taking about Space Police III. I'm sure I'll cover both of those themes eventually.
Adore the production value and stop motion! Very high quality and unique, and your commentary was succinct and entertaining. Subscribed!
Welcome aboard! And thank you for your kind words 🙏
Oh man, I remember so many of these, me and my friends would bring them with us when we went over to each others houses to play in case one of us didn't have a specific set. And that mos espa podrace set, I was so happy when I got it for my birthday, I was the only kid in the neighborhood who had it!
You were one of the lucky ones! Great times.
I absolutely love this series. Can’t wait until the next episode. And as a professional critic myself I understand that no matter how hard you try to be objective, there will always be a substantial subjectivity seeping through a best of-list. As it should. BUT putting the complex and amazing Gungan Sub with all of its play features below the sithy (see what I did there) Lightsaber Duel-set containing 2 figures, a floating mobility scooter and that utterly useless pile of bricks made me lose my sith man. “Yeah that Gungan ship is kinda cool I guess. But look at this set mom! You even get a moisture vaporator!!!” is a phrase you didn’t hear quite that often at your local Toys ‘R’ Us back in ‘99. Still appreciate all the effort and passion you pour into these videos though. Looking forward to what comes next. Keep up the good work!
P.S: The Droid Fighter at the bottom of the list holds a very special place in my heart, since it was the first merchandise for Episode I that I ever saw and then owned as a kid. Long before I saw the movie or even a trailer. And the design of that ship really spoke to me, and almost hypnotized me. It was quite a magical feeling. And not knowing exactly what it was before watching the movie made it seem so mysterious and kinda eerie when you played with it without any real context. Then when you played the demo for the Episode 1 video game, and in this kinda secret room off track from the objective one of these metallic monsters would appear and slaughter you within a second. So the hype and fear got even stronger. And then when you finally saw the movie they kinda sucked…
Thanks for your perspectives! All I can say is that this particular kid got a lot more play value out of the Lightsaber Duel. I’m quite certain that if I was exposed to all of these sets right now as an adult, my list would be DRASTICALLY different. 😂
Whoa, this is really well made! You've got such a good voice for this genre! Definitely gonna be checking out your other videos. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you very much! Lots of nostalgic content already up and much more to come!
I remember these sets felt so groundbreaking back in the day. Perhaps because, just as you mentioned it, they were shape and feel-accurate. I had your #6 and that one really captured the sense of action in the movies, not to mention those speeder troopers with shades are more useful without helmets than the latter bonnet-head ones.
They truly were groundbreaking and were a great stretch for LEGO designers. It was a perfect balance of emulating an existing IP, but staying true to their identity.
17:40 Jo(h)n (Marston) (Dutch) Vander(linde)??!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?
They were on to the Red Dead saga long before it came out!
Have some damn faith uncle!
I have a plan, John
Thank you for the video! I have TIE and Y-Wing and Naboo Swamp from 1999 Star Wars and I like both sets very much. Sad that I don't have the Podracing set, I think it was the coolest in this wave.
It would be interesting to see other Star Wars waves in future reviews.
Definitely planning on future waves!
Always have to like these before watching
Much appreciated! It really helps these get more traction.
your intro is amazing.
Those poor rebels 😂
The Endor Trooper is my all-time favorite mini-figure, as it's my favorite character of all Star Wars. I remember being in the Chicago LEGO store and they had two rotating displays that actually had the speeder bikes spinning on their own mechanism around Luke, and I think they also had a display for all the Ep 1 sets in its own right
Way to choose the eclectic option for your favorite character! That display sounds cool, too.
Great Video! This Video made me appreciate the LEGO Star Wars Sets from this Era more!
I’m so glad! It’s my favorite era.
Great sets, nice to see some I own myself
Went a little less obscure with this one. LOL.
Never had any of these as I was just barely too young but the Snowspeeder I would build with my own parts all the time. Still love it to this day
When finances were tight, I often used the Lego catalogs as a guide to build the sets I wanted as best I could. Ah, the good ol’ days!
8:30 Amazing! Despite growing up in the era of these sets, including some of this year, I never owned the Gungan Sub, so I never knew Obi-Wan used the exact same torso originally as Qui-Gon! I'm familiar with the next year or so versions of him, especially in the Jedi Defense sets, where Obi-Wan's torso had his braided hair as an additional and unique print on the torso - similar to what they would later print for apprentice-level Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones
Yep! I think they quickly realized they needed a bit more of a differentiating factor for Obi Wan, so they added the Padowan braid. It does make the Gungan Sub version set-exclusive, however.
they also used the same exact head for Luke Skywalker in the next year's sets
You sent me back to my childhood with this amazing video, at that time I had almost all the sets that you showed...and the N64 as well. You have a new sub!
Looks like our childhoods were equally awesome! 😎
The speeder was one of my first sets too! Amazing video and super high quality
Thanks! Love that little set.
Great video! I've been looking forward to the star wars reviews
good job Kelton! :)
Here we are! Planning on more for the early years of Star Wars.
I had the #7150 set (Vader's TIE + Y-Wing) when I was a kid... the memory shot right there, thanks for it bro !
Wonderful set with wonderful memories for me. Glad you seem to have had a similar experience!
Love that you covered old Star Wars great vids as always
Thanks! Loved these as a kid.
This takes me back, as someone who was born in 1994 and was starting elementary school/daycare in late 1999, I was lucky enough to own some of the early Lego Star Wars Sets. Great Video sir 👍 👏 👌
The perfect age to start the LEGO obsession. And what a series to get you started!
@keltondavisLEGO thanks, I'd been playing with Lego prior to the first Star Wars sets coming out, but am fortunate to have been there when the theme started. Also your number 1 choice is a no brainer, the 99 X-Wing is still a great set for it's time 25 years later.
I’m glad you agree! I’ll always love that set.
I’ll always comment this - thanks for putting so much effort into these videos! They’re a blast to watch.
Thank you so much for watching and enjoying! It makes it all so worth it.
The Naboo Fighter is a set I never owned at launch but in 2014 when I asked for the at the time newest Naboo fighter set for Christmas my mom had managed to find this one sealed and got it for me. So cool! Very neat set.
Your mom was tuned in! Excellent gift.
Absolutely. And obviously I had to build it. Can't leave lego in the box like that
@@geoffshaw2775 Good to hear! If ya don’t open it, you’re an investor, not a fan 😆
Love these videos! One thing that might be a helpful addition would be adjusting the original RRP for inflation to give an idea of what these sets may have retailed for in today's dollars. :)
Thanks! You're not the first to suggest that, and I think it's a good idea! Just need to find a way to integrate it into my workflow.
Now this is what I'm talking about! A fantastic video about the best lego series!
Thank you! This one was particularly fun to make.
@@keltondavisLEGO I've recently started collecting lego star wars again after 20 years. Jeez, lego is expensive.
@@MegacoreTeamJake Especially the old stuff!
Droid starfighter, N1 anakin starfighter, Gungan sub and Speeder bike sets my first sets on 1999 christmas:) to day 2024 i have this sets. I love it.
Great lineup to get all at once! And good on you for keeping them intact! I wish I had that foresight 😂
This video is amazingly produced, really love the content!
Thank you! Love your content as well!
The first two Lego Star Wars sets I ever got were Final Duel 1 and 2. I remember we bought them at K.B. Toys and I put them together at the Cracker Barrel before our food arrived!
It's little memories like that that make me so happy!
Of the Star Wars sets that came out in 1999, I had Naboo Swamp, Speeder Bikes, Snowspeeder, and X-Wing Fighter.
Excellent collection. 👍
The blue fish logo on the side of the naboo fighter is a neat little detail. It is actually on the ship in the movie, however its only seen briefly. Essentially a squadron insignia, or perhaps even a personal insignia (think WW1 or WW2 dogfighters) so perhaps some aquatic creature native to Naboo that was symbolic for somebody!
Thank you for sharing! You’re the first to address that. Interesting!
The prices 😩
An inflation calculator will make you feel better, though. They were still plenty expensive back then.
I had the X Wing, Gungan Sub, and lightsaber duel. Such fun. I was born in 2000 and found 4 huge totes of Legos in my grandmas basement when I was around 9 or 10. All the instructions were there I just had to sort through God knows how many Lego bricks to get ONE for a builds instructions 😂
Sounds like a fun challenge! 😂
17:06 I clearly remember as a kid just staring into the eyes of my lego Vader's helmet and thinking just how terrifying it would have been to be a rebel soldier in the diplomatic ship at the beginning of A New Hope.
One of the best minifigs of all time!
May the force be with you.
Live long and prosper… 😜
nice job and next retro lego set you should cover is the Lego studios sets. keep up the good work 👍
LOVED those sets. They got me into making Lego movies. Actually in the process of slowly acquiring them.
Love to see a Jar Jar enjoyer, and yea these sets looked so good and I love the way these look more than modern Lego
I'll admit that bit about Jar Jar was mostly sarcasm. LOL. But I will say that he's grown on me in the years since the film's release!
Glad to see the hero of the Gungans, nay, the universe, getting some much needed recognition.
I also somehow missed the weird Gasgano build for all these years... huh.
He’s the hero we deserve, but not the one we want…. or something.
18:58 The classic face with mustache was commonly used in Town sets in the '90s, most memorably for the pizzeria chef
Yeah, I thought that in the back of my mind, but instead I blindly trusted in Bricklink’s error. Oops!
Still have all 13 with original boxes and instructions (thank you OCD child me!)
LUCKY! I couldn't keep any sets together for more than a month or so as a kid. Had to replace a good many of these as an adult.
The Gungan Sub is super underrated. I love the LEGO vehicles that are 1 large vehicle that seperates into smaller ones. Legends Of Chima had a few like that.
Yeah it's not film accurate but the play value is amazing.
Pretty much the whole top 10 or so was like ranking my children. They’re all so great!!
I have all of them except the Gungan sub. Great sets for their time, no doubt. Great video, too. Cheers
Excellent collection! Are you thinking of grabbing the sub to finish it off?
18:51 the X-fighter was the one I got for my birthday as well as the Tie fighter!
The PERFECT birthday gift. 🎁
I was about to leave a comment saying “what about the original Lego MTT?” But then I realized that set actually came out in 2000… Also, I find it funny how low you put the Naboo Swamp set, but that was literally my favorite of the sets from the 1999 wave
Everyone’s got their nostalgia goggles. I never had the Swamp set, so it probably suffered due to lack of personal experience.
To be honest, I actually like some of the original Star Wars sets better than the newer ones - the reason might surprise you! I actually like that these were made with more traditional Lego bricks instead of all these curved and rounded pieces, and tiny 1x1 plates! While the new models look FAR more detailed, there's something about the blocky, angular look with exposed studs that just screams "LEGO!!!!!" Also, I find that the more traditional bricks and plates are more useful when building MOC's - even non-Star Wars related ones - I fid all these curved pieces to be less usable.
Another thing I admire is the designer's ability to get the models to look as accurate as they do with the limited pieces back then! Now that's talent!
Completely agree! The limitations of the time led to some incredible innovation.
"Do not worry rebel scum, I am only here to showcase the power of the nostalgia side." 😂 Loved the intro! It's so cool to see where this theme all started. Honestly amazing it's basically the longest running theme ever!
Also agree, I love the yellow skin for these older minifigures. The expressions and designs work so well! And, as blocky as it is, the theme had to start somewhere. It's a great start!
Thanks! Yes, that intro was too fun to make 😂
And also yes, I loved the first wave of Harry Potter for the same reason. Just love the classic yellow heads.
I’d put the Mos Espa podrace and #1, but I respect your picks, especially the X-Wing and TIE Advanced/Y-Wing’s placement. It’s really remarkable how much they nailed those three on the first attempt with such limited piece types. I’d be interested in seeing MOCs (or even official sets) of a TIE with modern building techniques but blue accents and a modern X-Wing but in light grey.
Of course my dream set would be an MBS/UCS style Mos Espa podrace remake with ideally 5 racers (at least) and 15-20 minifigs, including Ben Quardinaros and Mawhonik (the Gran, same species/head mold as Ree-Yees) for the first time.
It’s a truly breathtaking set. I think any of the top 4 on my list could easily make a case for #1, to be honest.
Awesome use of the tantive hallway in the intro!
Thanks! It’s perfect for stop motion, almost like it was built for it.
What a great Video! Now I really want those sets 😅😂
That’s the danger of watching these videos! 😆
@@keltondavisLEGOone thing tho, the face of Biggs Darklighter isn't exclusive to him, as it was a standard Town face, mostly used for construction workers in the late 90s and early 2000s
@@AClassicBrick Yes! Several folks helpfully pointed that out. For some reason, Bricklink says it’s exclusive, which I thought for sure wasn’t true, since I’ve seen it elsewhere, but I just went by what it says 😂 oops!
I would have loved the Mos Espa Podrace set as a kid, but alas I never got it. I love that later on they kind of added to it with the Watto's Junkyard set, adding Aldar Beedo's and Mawhonic's podracers (sadly no Mawhonic figure though IIRC)
That one is even harder to find than the Mos Espa one. Great set though!
I had all of these except the pod racers and I loved all of them!
My very first set I think was Luke's Landspeeder
What a great debut for LEGO Star Wars! The Landspeeder was the second set I got from this wave.
My first Star Wars set was the snowspeeder. I was thrilled to have “real” Star Wars Legos and I still think it looks great.
I hope that means you were one of those kids that made their own Star Wars builds before the official ones came out! I certainly was.
FIRST LIKE!!!!! Excited to watch!!! So many memories…
Thanks for stopping by! Hope the nostalgia is strong with this one.
I really wish they would bring back these Lego Star Wars sets as anniversary sets... It be so SO COOL...
Now that’s something I could actually see them doing.
Woo, I had the Naboo Fighter. Remember the new star Wars movie being a big deal and fun for kids my age!
I think My sister had Anakin's Podracer
This 9 year old was in heaven!
Oh the prices of some of these make me yearn for those days... even though I was born in '98. Now even those small sets would be like 30 bucks if they were released today.
An inflation calculator might make you feel better. Often times older sets have an even worse price/part ratio in today’s dollars than most sets today. That’s not an end all-be all metric, but in any case, LEGO has always been an expensive hobby.
I love the video! There are several errors in both the builds and information though. I won't go into detail unless requested. KEEP AT IT
I’m assuming Sebulba’s Podracer build and the Biggs Darklighter “character exclusive” mention are among those? 😂 I noticed both of those issues shortly after posting and did a nice 🤦♂️
@@keltondavisLEGO Haha yes, I also noticed the tree that comes with Luke and the scout speeders has a misplaced leaf brick. Also not sure if your aware of the lightsaber handles orientation as well as battle droid arm orientation. Especially on the Gasgano minifig. Many of these arms and lightsabers are assembled backwards.
@@LEGOkingJETTT Keen eye! I can never remember the way certain characters’ lightsabers are supposed to face. I didn’t care as a kid and I suppose nothing has changed 😂
I also got the TIE-Fighter + Y-Wing set on my birthday many years ago.
It bothered me that the swivel cannon on top was too long and blocked the cockpit from opening, which wasn't accurate to basically any other version of the Y-Wing, I remember making my own custom swivel gun with 1x1 round open studs and cones
I suppose that’s the best thing about LEGO. If you don’t like something, you can easily customize it to your liking.
Great video. I found a small building mistake on Anikins Podracer. The two blue angeld pieces should be rotated 180 degrees and have the flat side towards the grey pieces
Good catch! It came built from the seller, and I didn’t bother to check!
This was my first Lego Star Wars set too and got it also on my 9th birthday!
We’re literally the same age!
this is like going to a museum
That’s the hope! A virtual museum of LEGO’s past.
Ah yes our all time favorite hero…JAR JAR.
Speeder Bikes was always my favorite as a kid ❤
He's the hero we all need...
...But not the one we want. ;)
Star Wars Retro LEGO! YEEEEAAAA BOYYYY!
This one’s been on my radar for a long time! So glad I finally got it out there.
Because of the 1999 mold for Sebulba, I've always thought his people had legs and one arm.
Especially with how my memories of Star Wars films being very jumbled.
Haha! I don’t blame you. In my mind, the Lego versions are often the definitive version of something.
I Still have Lightsaber duel in MISB condition, I am planning to open it for 30th anniversary of the movie. Also, X-Wing is my favourite one, I got it in 1999 for Christmas. What a suprise it was for me.
Ooooh that’s a treasure!
In my opinion the snowspeeder is done so well I’d have to put that as my number one of these sets.
Definitely a case to be made! Excellent set.
The Battle droid body Arms and legs were used in Prior Mars Sets. The only Thing that was new in the days was the Head and tan color
Life and Mars and Star Wars were both released in 2001. I imagine they designed these parts for the battle droids, but also used them for the Martians.
Droid Fighter was my first ever kit and I subjectively love it 😅
Can't argue with that!
@@keltondavisLEGOit was great being reminded of Luke’s land speeder though! I’m gonna put capes on my Obi-wans now
RR Slugger sighting at 12:55 ❤
He’s everywhere!!!
These videos just hit right. I hope does damn near every series/year
That’s the goal!
GREAT VIDEO! This first wave of the Star Wars theme is the closest I've ever gotten of a full collection. I have all of them except for "T Fighter - Y Wing", "X Wing", "Mos Espa Pod Race" and "Naboo Fighter". I'm getting back at collecting Legos, so I'm taking old boxes from my mothers house to my apartment. I know I lost a lot of pieces, but I hope to get most of them right.
Bricklink is a great resource for completing partial sets. Welcome back to the hobby! I only recently came back to it myself.
I remember having Luke's X-Wing and Snowspeeder, and the Naboo Swamp. One of my cousins had the Pod Racer. I got everything from the Endor speeder bikes set aside from the troopers second hand or something; I remember going out of my way to get those little triangular sign pieces to use as wooden minifigure shields (with short bar connectors of some sort). That Qui-Gon head was extremely versatile and used for many characters throughout the coming decades; funny thing, I seem to have copied that minifig's beard and mustache in recent years.
I always HATED chrome pieces and still do. I actually PLAYED WITH my sets, not just built/collected/displayed them, so the chipping was a huge issue to me. I will always be a pearl gold and flat silver over chrome gold and silver paint advocate. Colored plastic is better than clear plastic with a chipping-prone paint job.
I will always be a "human minifigures should be yellow" believer. I get WHY they changed it - when they got to Lando, can you really have someone whose defining visual feature is darker skin than the other humans be YELLOW like the rest? And if you make him brown, doesn't that code yellow as "white"? Still, I think that peach and brown minifigures took the licensing away from the direction of depicting the CHARACTER abstractly into depicting the ACTOR, and too much face print detail does the same. Luke's, Han's, Padme's, and Qui-Gon's faces all work on minifigures of any theme. Likewise the first wave Harry Potter sets. I also think the less saturated colors look worse and not by a small margin.
All good points! The chrome silver was always TERRIBLE with chipping on my childhood sets, particularly my swords, but I wish they could emulate that look without the drawbacks.
@@keltondavisLEGO It would be nice to have legitimately smooth, shiny silver and gold plastic. Of course I'm someone who also wouldn't have minded them just using Light Gray for all silver elements, Yellow for gold, and Dark Gray for iron. As it is, a lot of things that are supposed to be iron/steel are still colored in basic grays anyway, it's like a mixed abstraction thing to me.
I remember taking the head off of the rebel technician and replacing it with Luke’s and trying to recreate the cloud city duel
Now THAT is a smart idea! It’s perfect.
I wanted that snow speeder set SO bad when I was younger!
It’s pretty much perfect! Still my favorite version.