LEGO and Disney haven’t been highlighting the Star Wars sequel trilogy much in recent years, but with The Force Awakens celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer, we are getting a pair of new sets based on the trilogy’s bright spot and villain Kylo Ren. 75406 Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle is the latest addition to the midi-scale Starship Collection and follows the two minifigure-scale versions that coincided with episodes VII and IX. Containing 386 pieces, the set will be available on May 1 and will retail for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99. Should we let the past die, kill it if we have to, and embrace the dark side and all the black elements that come with it? Together we’ll find out. Join me… please?
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
The box and contents
Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle is on a solid black background with a fitting Sith-red glow. The 18+ branding matches the packaging for the Home One Starcruiser and Acclamator released earlier this year. The back of the box shows the ship with its wings up in landing mode, as well as inserts of the shuttle’s screen appearances and a diagram with dimensions.
How to open the box? To quote Kylo’s dad, we “punch it!” Inside are three numbered bags and the instructions. As is customary in many 18+ sets, a notes and photos offer insights into the model we’re about to build.
The build
Emptying the first bag, we’re confronted with a lot of black elements. No surprises here – the ship is all-black and too slim to hide many colors inside. We start by building the body of the shuttle. The engine design has one SNOT technique that elevates a pretty routine build.
Keeping to tradition in these midi-scale models, the designers sneak in tiny versions of key characters inside the build. I do like the use of a Harry Potter wand in red for Kylo Ren’s lightsaber.
As we finish up the body, panel on a hinge plate snaps into place, sealing the villainous crew inside.
Bag 1 also includes the stand on which the ship can balance for display. The stand follows the same design as other midi-scale starships with bricks in a SNOT orientation. All that’s missing is the name plaque.
Bag 2 is full of the plates and wedges we’ll need for the port wing. While the piece count on this shuttle is relatively low compared to other midi-scale sets, the average piece size is surprisingly big because of these wings – they keep going and going! At three plates thick, plus greebling, they are quite sturdy too. One benefit of the large size is that there’s space for some nice texture work alternating between studs and smooth tiles, with ingots and grilles for detailing.
Bag 3 contains the starboard wing. It’s construction is identical to the other wing, just mirrored. Each wing is held in place by three sets of hinge plates. This bag also contains the printed plaque for the stand.
Once on the stand, the shuttle can be displayed with wings out for flight, or up for pre-landing sequence.
The finished model
For a set with under 400 parts, Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle has a commanding presence thanks to its massive wings. The ratio of wing to body size is decidedly more pronounced at this scale than in the minifig version last seen in 2019. The desingers did a great job shaping the tiny body with interesting textures and minimal gaps. If anything, the fuselage is too narrow, proportioned more as a two-seater than a shuttle. In flight mode, the profile is strongly evocative of a bat.
I’m not a big fan of the wings up look as it looks more like a black tuning fork than a spaceship and it makes the bare antistuds of the wings more prominent. In the films and past minifig scale versions, the shuttle’s wings break in the middle and slide down to a lower profile, but there is no comparable function here.
Should you decided to remove the shuttle from the stand to take it for a test flight, it’s sturdy and substantial as long as you don’t rotate it much, as the weight of the wings is too much for the click hinges to hold and they’ll flop. (Sorry, Peppy Hare. No barrel rolls here.)
Conclusions and recommendation
Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle is an odd duck (or bat) in the midi-scale lineup. The fuselage of the ship is well designed with some clever techniques, but it’s dwarfed by the enormous and very flat experience (in every way) of the wings. For an 18+ build, it’s quick and straight-forward.
The biggest sticking point with this model is the price. 386 pieces for $70 is a lot, but it’s not as simple a calculation as it might seem. While there are around 200 pieces less than the similarly priced Home One and Executor miniscale models, Kylo Ren’s shuttle uses much larger elements for those wings. It’s a lot of plastic. Those are the wings of a $70 ship! However, with no minifigs, new molds, interesting parts, useful printed tiles, or a nifty new windscreen, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the $70 isn’t earned.
The appeal of this set really comes down to how much you value the finished ship as a display model. In that regard, the Command Shuttle holds its own, especially if you’re a fan of Kylo Ren’s sith-infused aesthetic.
LEGO Star Wars 75406 Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle contains 386 pieces and releaes on May 1, 2025. It can be pre-ordered now for US $69.99 | CAN $89.99 | UK £59.99. After release, you may also be able to find it for sale at sites like eBay or Amazon.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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