Random set of the day: Rebel Blockade Runner
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 10019 Rebel Blockade Runner, released in 2001. It's one of 10 Star Wars sets produced that year. It contains 1747 pieces, and its retail price was US$200.
It's owned by 2336 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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32 comments on this article
One of the many White Whales of LEGO Star Wars.
I looked through the instructions on here just for fun, and there are some crazy stickers that are applied over two curved panels and have notches in them to coincide with the notches cutout on the pieces for studs. Not the worst STAMP I've seen, but a very interesting sticker design.
I might have wanted this set more than the original UCS Star Destroyer in those years, which doesn't quite make sense, except that this could almost have passed for figscale, which tells you something about my priorities (then and now, really). You could undoubtedly get a better model today, but this one has charm
I like how the ship appears to be glowing. They really made sure you know it’s important.
@Mr__Thrawn said:
"I like how the ship appears to be glowing. They really made sure you know it’s important."
Tell that to the person that designed the box art. The image we see here are the instructions, but the box art has everything grayscaled. Makes no sense.
I finally acquired this model a couple of weeks ago. The proportions are completely wrong and the reliance upon stickers is frustrating. However, there is something about the design which is beautifully evocative of early-2000s LEGO Star Wars and I absolutely love it, despite those many flaws!
Dreadful packaging too, with the original greyscale. Again though, being so terrible is what makes it wonderful.
@CapnRex101 said:
"I finally acquired this model a couple of weeks ago. The proportions are completely wrong and the reliance upon stickers is frustrating. However, there is something about the design which is beautifully evocative of early-2000s LEGO Star Wars and I absolutely love it, despite those many flaws!
Dreadful packaging too, with the original greyscale. Again though, being so terrible is what makes it wonderful."
Any chance of a 20th anniversary review?
I originally owned two of these. I think I paid full price for the first one when it first came out, and I believe I bought the second one after they marked it down in the Lego catalog (I don't recall if they were selling them online way back then...) What was interesting about the two I had was that one had black & white box art, and the other had box art in full color. I ended up selling one on eBay probably 10 years ago (for about $1000)...but, I honestly don't recall which version I sold...I'd have to go upstairs to Lego Room 1.0 and see which one I still have. And, no, I haven't assembled it yet!
Edit/Update: I was looking into this further, and I came across the following explanation on reddit (At the time, I had assumed that one of my sets was merely inside an outer box...and, hopefully, I ended up selling the one that WASN'T packaged inside an outer box.)
"There's another answer to this question that no one seems to have answered, specifically for the older UCS sets (may only apply to 10018 and 10019 though). From what I've read elsewhere (since this was the middle of my dark ages, I could be wrong) the black and white boxes were used for the LEGO sets that were LEGO exclusives that weren't available anywhere else, prior to the current LEGO Shop @Home website and LEGO retail stores. There was no reason to pay for color boxes if they would never appear on a retailer shelf. When the decision was made to sell these larger sets at brick and mortar stores, a color box was made and the black and white boxes were just boxed inside the color versions."
This is a bold set for Lego to release in 2001. A rare VERY LARGE set for Lego from that era.
Also, unlike the modern 18+ sets, this set earns its black background.
A+ set, even if it's easily bested by the 2009 and 2019 versions. This is a wonderful, new look for Lego considering what other sets were being sold at the time.
Clearly accuracy to the movie only counts for so much these days. I mean, they didn’t even get the Playboy centerfold on the back wall of the bridge...
@Formendacil:
Judging from still shots of the movie, the pod in front should be a minimum of two decks high. It should fairly well dwarf the UCS MF sets in minifig-scale. You can get an idea for how much larger it would need to be by looking at its size relative to the ventral docking bay on an ISD vs the MF parked on the back of the bridge.
@MCLegoboy:
Got a time machine? Or would a 21st anniversary review work, since it would be appropriate for the studio that brought us Star Wars?
@duddym:
The B/W box art was certainly common for early LEGO Direct sets, but any plans to keep these exclusive to LEGO.com didn’t last long. The first time I heard about SW UCS sets was when I stumbled on the first X-Wing and TIE Interceptor at TRU. I went on a trip to Chicago with a college course, and remember seeing the B&W version of this set at FAO Swartz. SW was big business during the prequel run, and chains that were used to stocking the full line weren’t going to let an opportunity to stock a high-end SW set pass them by, no matter how little interest there was in offering it to them.
I prefer the look of this over the newer ones, even with the gaps, the front section looks way more like a LEGO set to me, while modern LEGO uses more smooth prefab parts and tiles to get studless areas.
Graphic designer went a bit heavy on the glow effect…even got the set number.
There was a recent discussion about expensive parts that are otherwise unassuming, that is, you could pluck it from a pile of bricks and have no idea it was worth so much...
The light gray radar panel is worth $60 used.
It's not bad for the early 2000s, but I'd take the other two over this in a heartbeat.
@WesterBricks
Blue 2x2 inverted corner slope.
Sorry for not editing my comment where I was going to explain about Alpha Team yesterday. I didn’t know that you can’t edit once time is up.
What a set
That’s a good one for me to keep in mind…
Some of my recent finds: blue palm tree top, white hose and bluish Gray door from market st., red corner “castle” panels…
@Norikins said:
" @WesterBricks
Blue 2x2 inverted corner slope.
Sorry for not editing my comment where I was going to explain about Alpha Team yesterday. I didn’t know that you can’t edit once time is up.
"
Not a bad set, really detailed for 2001.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @CapnRex101
Any chance of a 20th anniversary review?"
Seconded.
For a ship that's mostly curves, something Lego tends to have trouble representing, this is a really good representation. Bonus points for having those curves be actually brick built instead of using big round pieces like the next two versions of this do
I was never tempted by this set. I wished I’d picked up the original UCS X-Wing, but I was never a big fan of these corvettes. Also I never saw it in a store, as things were a lot different then with regards to retail.
Still one of my most desired Lego sets, and the only set I would ever be slightly tempted to buy from a knockoff brand due to how expensive a real one is.
I had the privilege of getting to see one of these in-person at Comic-Con a few years ago. Despite its inaccuracies and the stickers, this is still my favorite version of the CR-90 Corvette that Lego has produced. There's just something special about this design that isn't captured by its successors.
Also, this is another example of a Lego Star Wars ship that didn't use the ship's proper name on the box. No one's batted an eye about it for a good 20 years, just sayin. ;)
I am surprised no one has already mentioned the absolutely terrible quality of the stickers TLG used for this set. After about two years these would start to peel off. I managed to acquire a replacement reproduction sheet from eBay. Including a couple of elastic bands, since those were destroyed as well.
Aside from that, I somehow managed to order this set from LEGO.com when I was in college (!). It was phenomenal for its time and a true conversation starter. Ended up selling it on BL though. But why…?
@CapnRex101 said:
"I finally acquired this model a couple of weeks ago. The proportions are completely wrong and the reliance upon stickers is frustrating. However, there is something about the design which is beautifully evocative of early-2000s LEGO Star Wars and I absolutely love it, despite those many flaws!
Dreadful packaging too, with the original greyscale. Again though, being so terrible is what makes it wonderful."
Those were different times indeed. I have the Sopwith from that year with a grayscale box, which I rather like. It makes it look special, which in those days it was, containing a really good looking scale model.
The scale might not be entirely accurate but I still think this is the best looking version of this ship that Lego have done.
On mine the original stickers are flaky pealing and the rubber bands around the cockpit look quite perished and on the verge of giving up! but it has a real presence amongst my other UCS sets that I just love
I have the 2019 model, which is fantastically faithful to the source material, but it doesn’t have the robust presence this early version has.
I remember getting this for £50 from the Lego Store that used to be in Kingston upon Thames. I was officially in my dark age but it just seemed too cool, big and good value to pass up.
Oh, I forgot about those greyscale boxes! It's 'reassuring' to know that even back then Lego thought that AFOLs hate colourful boxes...
I remember eventually reading through the instructions for this model online only to be surprised by the sheer audacity of the STAMPs on this set. Not to mention finding out it used those long rubber bands to hold some parts in place. And those are not just any rubber bands... they are the black ones that would dry out after awhile and desintegrate, leaving black stains on the parts that they were clinging to. Not to mention that the stickers from that era would dry out and slowly wither away...
Oh, and the ship is white. The colour that discolours over time...
Yeah, I was strangely glad I never bothered to get this set.
Fun fact: this is the first set to use part 41770 Wedge plate 4x2 Left and part 41769 Wedge plate 4x2 Right. They come in dark red on the front of the ship.
I always thought they debuted in 2002, but with this set they appeared a year earlier!
Bought mine at retail price but still did not build it. Always something else to do or build. Now i am reluctant to open the seals :-(
@Binnekamp:
Sometimes sets experience running changes. The 6.6L umbrella stand was phased out for the 6L umbrella stand after 10179 went into production. If you ordered a 1st Edition copy, you got the long ones that rested properly on the radar dish at the front of the cockpit canopy. If you bought it from the general release, early copies may have had the 6.6L, while later copies got the 6L. This does not mean the 6L debuted in 2007 just because it came in a set that released that year.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @CapnRex101 said:
"I finally acquired this model a couple of weeks ago. The proportions are completely wrong and the reliance upon stickers is frustrating. However, there is something about the design which is beautifully evocative of early-2000s LEGO Star Wars and I absolutely love it, despite those many flaws!
Dreadful packaging too, with the original greyscale. Again though, being so terrible is what makes it wonderful."
Any chance of a 20th anniversary review?"
I am sure that can be arranged.
Friend of mine picked up copies for us at $50 each somewhere in Dallas back in the day. Sat on top of the TV cabinet for years with the Star Destroyer. Always been one of my favorite ships and still have great affection for this set.
I received this as a high school graduation present, and if I recall it took a couple of full days in the summer to build it for me. I stored it for many years and when I put it back together last year, the stickers were completely toast. It looks terrible. None of the other sets I have from this era had sticker problems that bad.
That being said, I have already ebayed my 7181 and my 10026 from that era, and I am leaning towards ebaying this one too. I never had any real connection to those sets, because they weren't great models, and the prices are insanely high right now.