Random set of the day: Gold Leader's Y-wing Starfighter
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 9495 Gold Leader's Y-wing Starfighter, released during 2012. It's one of 38 Star Wars sets produced that year. It contains 458 pieces and 3 minifigs, and its retail price was US$49.99/£49.99.
It's owned by 8,456 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $105.90, or eBay.
78 likes
36 comments on this article
Today, they'd add 250 more pieces. The Nnew model wouldn't be bigger or better, just more expensive.
So many excellent SW sets that year that this one is all but forgotten I think. But that Leia figure looks great.
This was my first Y-Wing set! I figured after 13 years, Lego was peaking in Star Wars set design, and I think this set shows it! So many great sets from 2012, but this is one of the few I actually built at the time. I liked the new astromech droid design and all the greebling on the outside. Even the stickers on the engines didn't faze me. I enjoyed even as an adult zooming it around. When I moved in 2014, I took it apart prior to transport, but I do plan to bring it out again whenever I rebuild one of my X-Wings (likely the 2003 version).
Ooh, I see he finally managed to shake Lord Vader!
Second best Y-wing. 75172 is probably still the best.
Got this one. Best Y-Wing set, I think.
why'd they call it gold leaders y-wing. I know he is the gold squadron leader but surely they could have called it Jon Vanders y-wing
Got this in a lot the other year for an insanely low price things considered. Love it. The Leia torso and cape is secretly good as a makeshift Episode II Padme Amidala before her capture.
"Stay on target!"...still love that line.:)
A decade later, this set still looks fantastic.
My only problem with this one (aside from those 1x1 plates with clips on top that would always break) is that the engine struts had to taper inward slightly toward the back because of the different building techniques used to attach them. Still a great set though.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"why'd they call it gold leaders y-wing. I know he is the gold squadron leader but surely they could have called it Jon Vanders y-wing"
The casual viewer of Star Wars will only know the character as Gold Leader.
First Lego set I bought as an adult, still love this set :)
Looking at this and the one I got (7150), I see now that I have to greeble up a bit and find a way to rotate the thrust vectors to match the correct angles. We'll see how it goes.
Hey, not only do I have all three random things today, but today's minifig and set are particular favorites! I was also quite pleased to get a Leia that would go with https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0257/luke-skywalker-celebration-yellow-jacket and https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0356/han-solo-celebration-smooth-hair Y-Wings are the main reason I wish Lego had kept the old-style macaroni brick (without the internal supports) in production. I've never been all that impressed with the engines on Y-Wings made after the change.
I've always felt that 2012 was one of Lego Star Wars' best years. This rendition of the Y-Wing manages to be really well detailed for it's size and price!
IMO, the third best version (not counting UCS) ... First >>> 75172 Second >>> 7658
I don't know enough about SW to pick this out of a line-up. I'm a nerd, I'm just a different flavour of nerd. I do really like the look of this thing though. It's greebly, it's got a splash of colour, it's got nice minifigs, I'd be very happy to receive and build (and swoosh) this thing.
As someone that tends not to get repeats of the same ship, I forget that there have been so many Y-Wings. At the time, my only interest in this version would have been for Leia in her Throne Room attire since I have the two books with Luke and Han with their medals (The Visual Dictionary and the Character Encyclopedia), but I can't justify buying a whole set for one figure, nor can I justify buying a figure by itself without the rest of the set because they're always way too expensive on their own, and it feels like cheating in the game of collecting (or at least the version I play). Now there's an actual set that has all I could ever want in regards to Yavin 4, and it's at least $50 overpriced despite the great selection of minifigures. I still don't have a Throne Room Leia...
This set reminds me of an update to some trivia I published a couple of years ago: Jon Vander and Padmé Amidala had appeared in the same number of sets, as of 2020. Both characters have appeared again this year, three months apart, so they remain level on eight sets each.
@jkb said:
"Today, they'd add 250 more pieces. The Nnew model wouldn't be bigger or better, just more expensive."
Just like in 75172.
7658 and 8037 are my favourites.
To be honest, I completely forgot that this one existed. It kind of came out between the more distinct 2007 version (classic smiley and technic axles for flick fire missles!) And the excellent 2016 Rogue One version (that working torpedo drop feature!).
It also was an 'exclusive' meaning it was arbitrarily chosen to not be available in most places over here.
It doesn't help that 2012, 2013 and 2014 were basically the peak of Lego Star Wars. So many great renditions of the subject matter came out in those years! And it was before the larger sets would be titanic sized or not even meant for play anymore.
Not that I managed to get any of course XD They were expensive then, and also bigger than what we get now.
@MusiMus said:
" @jkb said:
"Today, they'd add 250 more pieces. The Nnew model wouldn't be bigger or better, just more expensive."
Just like in 75172."
Except 75172 justifies the expense. And, 75172 was readily found at Wal-Mart and Target clearance for $40 or LESS!
@MCLegoboy said:
"As someone that tends not to get repeats of the same ship..."
There are some ships I've only gotten one minifig-scale version of (7660 is the only such Naboo fighter I have) and some I have multiples of, but I have every minifig-scale Y-Wing, except for 7152 (I didn't see the need to bother when I already had 7150) and 75365, which is not only underscaled, but part of a very expensive set. As I've said before, the Y-Wing is my favorite snubfighter, so I not only got all the minifig-scale ones, but both the Microfighters. A big part of why I like it is that the engines put me in mind of a Star Trek ship.
@MCLegoboy said:
"As someone that tends not to get repeats of the same ship, I forget that there have been so many Y-Wings. At the time, my only interest in this version would have been for Leia in her Throne Room attire since I have the two books with Luke and Han with their medals (The Visual Dictionary and the Character Encyclopedia), but I can't justify buying a whole set for one figure, nor can I justify buying a figure by itself without the rest of the set because they're always way too expensive on their own, and it feels like cheating in the game of collecting (or at least the version I play). Now there's an actual set that has all I could ever want in regards to Yavin 4, and it's at least $50 overpriced despite the great selection of minifigures. I still don't have a Throne Room Leia..."
Obligatory “Justice for Chewbacca!”
@ForestMenOfEndor said:
"Obligatory “Justice for Chewbacca!”"
So apparently in Legends, Chewbacca declined receiving a medal because he was above such things, it was his honor to help defeat the Empire, he didn't need anything flashy. At least, that's what I recall hearing.
In Canon, he did receive a medal after the ceremony, the Rebels were just hardpressed to make them in time because everyone was also trying to get the heck out of there since the Empire knew where to find them. He ended up giving it away to some kid not too long after because he didn't really need it. The one that's given to him at the end of Rise of Skywalker was Han's.
Honestly though, of all the things that were changed in Lucas' many edits of Star Wars, and of all the things that fans have always brought up, how did they never just CG on a medal to Chewbacca? Even as late as 2012, they were still making changes for the eventual 3D releases of the movies to help fund the Sequels until the Disney acquisition, that's why in 2019, we got yet another version of A New Hope because that's the version that found its way to Disney+. No evidence of there even being plans of giving Chewbacca a medal, but we must absolutely change the interaction between Han and Greedo even more. *uncontrollable laughter*
@MCLegoboy said:
" @ForestMenOfEndor said:
"Obligatory “Justice for Chewbacca!”"
So apparently in Legends, Chewbacca declined receiving a medal because he was above such things, it was his honor to help defeat the Empire, he didn't need anything flashy. At least, that's what I recall hearing."
I recall hearing "HHRRRROOOONNNK!", which is very open to interpretation. It could mean anything from "You hairless apes and your silly trinkets", or "I was just in it to kill some Stormtroopers and my bloodlust is not yet sated" or "Where's MY damned medal, Organa?!", to "I've clogged the drain in the Falcon again, fortunately it's Han's turn to clean the bathroom".
@MCLegoboy said:
" @ForestMenOfEndor said:
"Obligatory “Justice for Chewbacca!”"
So apparently in Legends, Chewbacca declined receiving a medal because he was above such things, it was his honor to help defeat the Empire, he didn't need anything flashy. At least, that's what I recall hearing."
I remember seeing on Wookieepedia that in one of the Legends-continuity comics he was indeed given a medal... but had to wait until after the ceremony, because Leia needed to stand on a table to be able to reach high enough to put it over his head!
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/c/c9/Chewie_medal.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20060430230815
I heard Chewbacca’s medal was late to the ceremony because they underestimated how long it would take to glue all the hairs on it.
My first Y-Wing. I think the later Rogue One version is an upgrade, but the two look nice together still.
Oddly enough my Leia figure came with missing eyebrows on one side of her head. Anybody ever seen a printing error like that were it is just the eyebrows missing?
It took them so long to get the Y-Wing right at minifig scale--and this still wasn't it (looking at those exhaust outlets). My favorite Y-Wing at this scale is 75172, but they did get better each time.
If I didn't have this set, I probably would have caved and bought 75365.
@xurotaryrocket said:
" @MusiMus said:
" @jkb said:
"Today, they'd add 250 more pieces. The Nnew model wouldn't be bigger or better, just more expensive."
Just like in 75172."
Except 75172 justifies the expense. And, 75172 was readily found at Wal-Mart and Target clearance for $40 or LESS!"
That's what I was talkinga bout: More details = more parts = more price. But Is it more Y-Wing? That's totally subjective I guess...
@MCLegoboy I heard that the website crashed when Chewbacca tried to redeem his “free medal” promo code on Rebels.com, but their customer support is top-notch so even though it didn’t show up in his cart they shipped him one later.
This joke is too meta, and I apologize.
This was such a good Y-wing, I bought two.
Obviously so my Blacktron had more targets to shoot at.