The best Star Wars Lego sets to celebrate May the 4th

Star Wars Lego ships for display

X-Wing Starfighter ($239.99/£209.99 • 1953 pieces) can be positioned in flight or attack mode and – according to Lego – used to “start a new Trench Run”. Assuming you’re mad enough to whoosh $200/£200+ of Lego through the air. There are minifigs too. Red Five (Luke Skywalker) can ‘stand by’, in out-of-scale form. And R2-D2 can be plopped inside the craft, ready to blow up nearby moon-sized weapons platforms. Your Lego Darth Vader will be quaking in his little black boots upon seeing this one.

Also from the original trilogy, TIE Interceptor ($229.99/£199.99 • 1931 pieces) is a striking slice of spaceship viciousness, ready to blast your UCS X-Wing. But what if you fancy something in minifig scale? Millennium Falcon ($849.99/£734.99 • 7541 pieces) is our favourite such set. The famous ship is reimagined as a whopping 83cm long Lego model, packed with detail. Alternatively, there’s the big hunk of brown that’s Jabba’s Sail Barge ($499.99/£429.99 • 3943 pieces). Along with the fat slug himself and a gaggle of minifigs, you get loads of scenes within the ship itself. And at least it makes a change from all that grey.

Speaking of grey, The Razor Crest ($599.99/£519.99 • 6187 pieces) starts out looking like how the Mandalorian’s ship ended up. But when built, it’s fab. You even get a brick-built blurrg. Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser ($649.99/£559.99 • 5374 pieces) adds a dash of colour with its fancy red stripe. You might need the power of The Force to swoosh that monster through the air, mind. And then Boba Fett’s dad gets to show off his ship from the time before his ungrateful offspring rudely redecorated, in the impressively detailed Jango Fett’s Firespray-Class Starship ($299.99/£259.99 • 2970 pieces).

Microscale ships for display

Is your wallet having palpitations that have nothing to do with nearby Sith doing a hand-squeeze trick? Yet do you still pine for display models that evoke the best Star Wars moments? Then you’re in luck.

Millennium Falcon ($84.99/£74.99 • 921 pieces) might not have minifigs – nor room inside for any. But it’s a surprisingly intricate, detailed build, which won’t eat up half your home. Tantive IV ($79.99/£69.99 • 654 pieces) is similarly impressive and has authentic details such as the famous 11-engine array.

Minifig masterpieces

All Lego is a mash-up in some people’s hands. But TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up ($109.99/£94.99 • 1063 pieces) has very specific ideas in mind. Drawing from Disney+ special Rebuild the Galaxy, it has you build two of the most famous Star Wars ships. Then you can swap their wings to make a TIE-wing and an X-fighter.

If the very thought has given you continuity shock, probably avoid The Dark Falcon ($179.99/£159.99• 1579 pieces), which reimagines the famous starship as a vessel for evil. Specifically, Darth Jar Jar. No, we’re not joking. 

Want everything to be normal again? Try Imperial Star Destroyer ($159.99/£149.99 • 1555 pieces). This triangle of grey features traditionally evil dudes, a bunch of interior scenes, and a price tag that won’t slice your bank account to bits with a lightsaber. Unlike the old UCS version.

Delightful dioramas

This duo of Lego diorama sets lets you chronicle Darth Vader’s life in brick form. In Mos Espa Podrace Diorama ($79.99/£69.99 • 718 pieces), he’s a young, irritating boy blazing along in a ramshackle craft that seems ideal for a video game. Cough. By Boarding the Tantive IV ($54.99/£49.99 • 502 pieces), he’s become a tad strangle-y as he plays a deadly game of knock and run. With less running than is traditional and quite a bit more murder.

Brick-built figures

R2-D2, it is you – it is you! Well, in brick form. R2-D2 ($99.99/£89.99 • 1050 pieces) is an affordable yet detailed take on everyone’s favourite Star Wars droid (sorry, C-3PO). You also get a standard R2-D2 minifig – which presumably has a massive inferiority complex. Want the gobby golden wonder to stand alongside? You’re in luck: C-3PO ($139.99/£124.99 • 1138 pieces) exists. And, yes, very clever, lego, with the reference.

Not wedded to the original trilogy? Chopper (C1-10P) Astromech Droid ($99.99/£94.99 • 1039 pieces) provides a trundling chum for R2-D2 (complete with his wobbling bonce) from Ahsoka. And Grogu with Hover Pram ($99.99/£89.99 • 1048 pieces) depicts everyone’s favourite baby Yoda/Disney merchandise sensation in brick-built form, complete with Sorgan frog ‘snack’ and a pram to hide him in when he’s polished off the rest of the local fauna.

Should the notion of building entire humanoid figures not click with you, there’s always Lego’s helmet range. Our favourite is the imposing Darth Vader Helmet ($79.99/£69.99 • 834 pieces). But you could always try AT-AT Driver Helmet ($69.99/£69.99 • 730 pieces), Jango Fett Helmet ($69.99/£69.99 • 616 pieces), or the hat of an Emo Vader wannabe, Kylo Ren Helmet ($69.99/£59.99 • 529 pieces). Whichever one you go for, just try to remove from your mind these being heads on pikes from a much darker incarnation of Star Wars.

Pocket money perfection

Lack deep pockets – or deep shelves? Here are the best Star Wars Lego sets for under thirty bucks.

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter ($29.99/£29.99 • 282 pieces) features a young Obi-Wan with a swooshy ship, the long-necked Tan We, and R4-P17, who looks like the combination of R2-D2, a tin of red paint, and a terrible mishap. Mando and Grogu’s N-1 Starfighter ($29.99/£24.99 • 92 pieces) also provides a bargain way to get your swoosh on, and spend happy hours recreating that grin-inducing moment from the end of The Book of Boba Fett.

Meanwhile, if you want a proper scrap, but for not much outlay, grab Clone Trooper & Battle Droid Battle Pack ($29.99/£24.99 • 215 pieces). It includes a bunch of droids and troopers who can go PEW PEW PEW at each other until the tri-droid gets bored and stomps them all into mulch.

Lego’s microfighters have long taken cute in the direction of budget-friendly Star Wars vehicles in miniaturised form with exaggerated features. Captain Rex Y-Wing Microfighter ($12.99/£11.99 • 99 pieces) is the latest, and is suitably swooshy, despite its low part count.

Then we have Lego’s latest ‘totally not a Funko Pop’, with Luke Skywalker (Rebel Pilot) ($9.99/£9.99 • 138 pieces) managing to make Luke even blockier than you’d imagine for a Lego model.

Finally, Luke Skywalker X-Wing Mech ($15.99/£12.99 • 195 pieces) is, we’re sure, an entirely accurate moment from the original trilogy. (We must have got distracted by popcorn and missed it.) All we can say is Luke might have had better luck against Palpatine and Vader had he not presumably carelessly lost this mech suit down the back of a Tauntaun. Tsk.

• Related: the best large Lego sets – the top enormous Lego sets you should buy