Review: 75391 Captain Rex Y-Wing Microfighter

May 5, 2024 | 5

LEGO Star Wars and Automotive correspondent

Jay Ong

We’ve only just gotten our very first look at the upcoming June 2024 LEGO Star Wars sets, and LEGO have kindly sent over all the sets for review! Vaderfan usually reviews LEGO Star Wars sets, but I thought I’d jump back on the saddle for two of the cheapest sets of the wave, beginning with 75391 Captain Rex Y-Wing Microfighter!

This set is all about the Captain Rex minifigure included, which as you may notice is the exact same minifigure as the one in the highly acclaimed 75367 UCS Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser which released in October 2023.

Yes, LEGO has done the “unthinkable” here, re-releasing a highly sought-after Star Wars minifigure that was previously only available in a US$649.99 / AU$999.99 set in a US$12.99 / AU$19.99 set.

Let’s dive into this quick review and explore the larger ramifications of what LEGO Star Wars has done here.

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set over for review.

75391 Captain Rex Y-Wing Microfighter Set Details

Let’s cut right to the chase. The Phase II Captain Rex minifigure is the big drawcard in this set. The chibi Y-Wing Microfighter is a nice little bonus you get with the purchase of Captain Rex.

With the Clone Wars era and Prequel Trilogy in vogue at the moment, Clones like Captain Rex are highly sought after by LEGO Star Wars fans, many of whom grew up with the Prequel Trilogy as their Star Wars, and are now coming of age and have a bit more disposable income to spend on their childhood pursuits.

Last year’s UCS Venator delighted fans with not only an exceptionally large and highly detailed display model, but included the long awaited return of a Captain Rex minifigure in his Phase II armour.

At the time, it seemed like LEGO had erected a massive paywall and locked a beloved character behind it, much to the chagrin of fans who simply can’t afford to drop a few weeks of rent or half a mortgage payment on a huge (albeit beautiful) LEGO Star Wars Model.

Something something cost of living crisis.

Enter 2024 and LEGO have flipped the Star Wars community on its head, with this reveal, and the fact that the minifigure included in this very inexpensive microfighter set is identical to the one in a set that’s 50 times cheaper.

Captain Rex is as good as he has ever looked, with highly detailed prints on his torso, kill marks on his helmet (complete with rangefinder that’s attached to helmet holes) and cloth pauldron.

Almost perfect, save for the lack of side leg printing, and of course a cloth kama.

It’s the exact same minifigure, and as such, it’s a terrific (and very clever) move from LEGO, and I’m fully supportive of it.

Unsurprisingly, the price of the minifigure has started to crash now that LEGO have reprinted it and stuck it in a US$12.99 impulse buy set.

There will be plenty of weeping and gnashing of teeth, especially from fans who bought the UCS Venator purely for Captain Rex (does anyone actually buy UCS sets for the minifigs and not for the model itself?), but for the most part, LEGO is being very consistent here with their penchant for re-issuing highly sought after minifigures and sets.

Yes, this is the same LEGO that rebooted the UCS Death Star and Millennium Falcon, and re-released a near-identical Winter Toy Shop, so I don’t get why people are surprised.

Overall, this is good for fans, making a very important Star Wars character accessible, especially to younger and less affluent fans who might not be in the position to buy a UCS Venator.

The model itself is a really tidy build. You get Captain Rex’s in 501st Legion livery, and it looks really good, even in the stubby Microfighter format.

I do wish the nose and cockpit would protrude slightly more, but I think it’s balanced quite nicely thanks to the twin Ion Jet engines at the back.

There are the new tile shooters included on the side which look awkward, but they aren’t too difficult to remove if you want a sleeker Y-Wing.

The cockpit has a printed control panel which is a nice little touch.

Final Thoughts

I’m very glad that LEGO decided to reprint Phase II Captain Rex and stick him in the cheapest possible LEGO Star Wars set, and as such, I think this thing will sell like absolute hotcakes.

LEGO have democratised Captain Rex, essentially making the very excellent minifigure available and accessible to anyone with some spare change when its released on the 1st of June 2024.

This set is going to be extremely popular, and will likely be one of the best-selling Microfighters of all time, so if you’re after it, I highly recommend getting it on Day 1, or risk having to wait until LEGO restocks it.

It’s a fun set, very swooshable and stands out thanks to the blue and white of the 501st legion.

There will be a very small subsection of Star Wars fans who will be livid about this, especially as LEGO has “degraded” the value of their investment, and some who feel cheated that they were duped into buying an expensive UCS Venator set for their favourite character, but only those hellbent on gatekeeping their interests will likely feel that way, and that’s never healthy for any hobby community.

I like having rare and expensive minifigures or sets as much as any other collector, but I don’t think it’s healthy for something as culturally important as LEGO Star Wars to remain only in the hands of the few and privileged.

Now LEGO, when are you going to reproduce the Princess Amidala minifigure?

Final Score

3

Build

A relatively breezy build that’s typical for a Microfighter

4

Display Value

A very cute set to display and you can ferry Captain Rex from the Venator around

5

Real Value

Phenomenal value purely because of the Captain Rex factor

3

Innovation

The build isn’t too innovative but I like the practice of timed exclusivity for popular characters or minifigures

5

Keepability

Prequel fans will likely keep this Captain Rex around for life

Audience rating

How would you rate this set?

1 2 3 4 5

Thanks for reading! 75391 Captain Rex Y-Wing Microfighter will be available from LEGO.com or your local LEGO toy store from 1 June 2024 onwards.

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