Les go, I have this.

These planet sets are so nostalgic for me!! This was the first one I got way back then, when I first started collecting LSW sets! They REALLY should bring these back in some way, especially since there are so many more planets added to Star Wars with every show, movie, or book!

I only got two of these back in the day, and they were two I wasn't a fan of, but I really regret not getting the rest of them. They seem like such cool display pieces to hang off the ceiling, and if I remember right the planet serves as a container for the figure and build. Really awesome line of sets, I just wish I could've gotten my hands on Tatooine or the Death Star when I had the chance!

I was always intrigued by these sets, so after the new year I decided I should just buy them. So now I have 8 of them and they are quite reasonably priced, only series 4 is outrageous. I’m not a big microbuild fan, but there is something about these sets that I love (probably the planet)

Man, I do wish I got more of these planet sets. I only got the Death Star and Interceptor and At-St and Endor. This was probably one of the best, alongside Bespin and Alderaan.

@MCLegoboy said:
"I've come to love Microfighters, but man, I miss Planet Sets. So many opportunities from Clone Wars and Rebels to be made that never were. How would they handle a planet with rings? Would there ever be a Death Star II? What exclusive ships could get representation because of the scale? But hey, I got all 12, and they're spectacular.

The only real downside to this set is Sebulba. Through absolute no fault of my own other than putting him together, I later discovered one of the clips for his arm/legs was cracked. UGH. It's not fair. All I did was put the guy together and left him alone, and this is how he repays me? I guess he knew I preferred the 1999 version anyway."

The same thing happened to my Sebulba

I had no interest in those things at the time they came out, because I wasn't into Star Wars at all at the time. However looking back, I really do wish I picked up at least one of those, because those planet pieces look super useful for creating scenery in MOCs!

@Robot99 said:
"Aw man, it's been ten years since these sets evaded my grasp? I was too broke at that age to collect Lego lol, I wanted these so bad."

They're not usually too bad on Bricklink

This series restarted my Lego collection as an adult about 10 years ago... I hold these 12 sets responsible for my current massive collection and large monthly Lego budget, but I still want the series back :D

@Jeff_Albertson said:
"This was one of the early sets that our son collected. He received this as a prize from his cub scout pack and we soon collected many of the other planets. He loved looking at the moon and stars and all the planets hung above his bed for a long time. He's at the university now, but those planets are still in his room at home. I wish they would return in some updated versions with additions for the newer series and movies."

This was a little bittersweet! Thanks for sharing. This set came out the year I graduated, it's crazy to think that the kids from then are now where I was.

I never got any of these. Series 3 was almost impossible to find for sale in the UK, for me anyway, and that was the one with most of the sets I wanted.

Got this as my only planet set (2nd hand without Sebulba sadly) just for the pink light sabers. My Mace Windu looks just perfect that way!
10/10 don't regret :D

@Formendacil said:
"Planets sets fell in my "Star Wars Dim Age" (not quite a Dark Age) between about 2004 (the end of the yellow figs) and 2017 (when I watched Clone Wars and Rebels for the first time). They might be some of my biggest regrets to have missed on, and is there anything more classic than Tatooine? The podracer's not bad either, and even if Sebulba is a bit too complex for me--not "LEGO"--enough, he's still a unique fig I don't have in any form."

I'm right with you - great micro builds! Lets have them back people, display quality micro builds with a stand! I'd buy so many!!!

I think this was my first Star Wars set. I haven’t gotten many since, but still, this was a great set.
I distinctly remember enclosing the set in the sphere.

Shame I can only find one half of each of the three planet sets I got (Hoth, Naboo, and this one).
I’ve been thinking of picking up a couple of these one of these days, luckily they’re not stupidly priced on bricklink (except for the Death Star). Seen them used in some wonderful builds.

@Jo3K3rr:
The format seems cool going in, but from the design side it quickly shows flaws. Aside from the Death Star (which was pretty cool), none of the planets were really based on anything from the movies. Oh, sure, the names match up, but they were covered in seemingly random blogs of color. The only other “planet” that actually worked as intended was the asteroid belt from the TIE Bomber.

Then there’s the problem of duplication. Sure, you can do “Hoth” for the Snowspeeder, and “Endor” for the AT-ST, but where does that leave a potential AT-AT? Do you start repeating the planets?

"Poodoo!"

@SirRobin said:
" @Robot99 said:
"Aw man, it's been ten years since these sets evaded my grasp? I was too broke at that age to collect Lego lol, I wanted these so bad."
They're not usually too bad on Bricklink"
That's fair, but I'm still broke lol. There's way too many sets pending on my plate right now.

This one's cool. Wish I had it. I only own the Bespin/Cloud Car set and the Asteroid Field/TIE Bomber. I used them (the globes) once as Christmas tree ornaments.

Seeing the nostalgia in the comments is a pleasant surprise here! These sets sat on my local shelves forever, even on clearance. I wish I had the presence of mind to snap them up then but thought the planets were a waste of space and money! I assume TLG didn't continue them and that retailers weren't keen on them because of the space they took up comparable to other $10 sets that were likely easier to box, ship, and shelve with their standardized shapes. Nice to see people remembering them fondly!

Still ticked off that Wave 4 wasn't released in the U.S. Why?

So, interesting note: this looks like the only time that Sebulba's podracer has appeared in Lego in its own set. In other occurrences, it's always been accompanied by Anakin's too: 7171, 4485 and 7962.

Looking at this series, which I missed due to my 'dark age', and as a result don't have strong feelings about... as far as I can tell, Dagobah, Geonosis, and anything from Revenge of the Sith are the major omissions as it stands - at least when considering only the movies that existed at the time.

Though speaking for myself, you know what I'd be most interested in seeing from a series like this? A bunch of characters / planets / vehicles that were exclusively from the pre-Disney EU (a.k.a. Legends). Make some of the most popular EU subjects in this form, and you just KNOW I'd be right there!

@Slithus_Venom said:
"This is one of the few sets where you can get pink lightsaber blades." You can buy any colour lightsaber you like on eBay and it doesn’t cost much at all. I wouldn’t usually buy fake lego bricks but even the genuine LEGO lightsaber pieces aren’t branded, so it doesn’t bother me as much.

@fulcrumbop said:
"Still ticked off that Wave 4 wasn't released in the U.S. Why?"

I'm right there with you. The B-Wing was a little awkward (although I'd still have bought it), but the snowspeeder looked cool, and I really wanted that Tantive IV.

@thefirst:
No, they _weren’t_. The original blades looked like they were extruded in a continuous bar that got chopped and annealed on the ends as it came out. Now they’re definitely injection molded, as you can make out a _TINY_ bit of text molded onto each end.

@PurpleDave said:
" @thefirst:
No, they _weren’t_. The original blades looked like they were extruded in a continuous bar that got chopped and annealed on the ends as it came out. Now they’re definitely injection molded, as you can make out a _TINY_ bit of text molded onto each end."

That's an interesting observation! I didn't realise they'd changed. Does that coincide with the reduction in bubbles?

Kinda makes me wish they'd try dual moulding a lightsaber with a white "core"

I guess he don't like sand either.

I -still- have a few of these on my wish list that were never released in the US. Underrated sets, I think they're pretty cool. We keep them with the Christmas decorations and put the planets on the tree and the models in the display case.

The build has some great play value for kids. It is very swooshable but can also break apart in memorable ways, just like the Podracers in the film do. Then, it can be easily rebuilt for the next race, and it shouldn't take too many pieces for kids to build a repair bay or grandstand.

@MisterBrickster:
Possibly. They’re small, and when molded under thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch, it should eliminate bubbles that extrusion might not, but I’ve also noticed that the flight sticks haven’t been plagued with bubbles like they used to.

One thing I’m pretty sure happened as a result is the fit became much more consistent. Early lightsabers, between the wonky nature of whatever mold they were using, and the inconsistent coverage of their chroming process, sometimes needed to have the two parts rotated in relation to each other to achieve a secure fit. I’m really curious about the original molding process now, because if it was extruded, it should have just had a hole bored through a steel plate. The old blades were clearly formed on some sort of 2-piece mold because there’s a rather badly aligned seam running down the sides. There’s no reason you can’t extrude through a 2-piece mold, but I can’t think of why someone would want to. On the other hand, both ends were inconsistently shaped. They weren’t flat, they looked kinda melted, and the length was not precise. Maybe they injection molded long bars and cut them with some sort of hot knife?

Anyways, there’s been a push to stamp a “(C)LEGO” mark on every part they produce, I can’t remember if minifig hands have it, but a lot of really small parts underwent noticeable design changes that often coincided with the addition (where completely absent) or expansion (where limited to just “(C)” with no “LEGO”) of the copyright notice. Some are easy to spot, but the lightsaber bars have text that makes the print on LEGO newspapers look like easy-to-read Large Print.

These planet sets were great. One more wave of six would have been enough to cover all the important planets from the OT and PT. For example: Geonosis, Utapau, Kashyyyk, Felucia, Mustafar, Death Star II.

I bought this set for the pink lightsabers and that Green Lantern/Sinstro set for the yellow lightsaber.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Jo3K3rr:
The format seems cool going in, but from the design side it quickly shows flaws. Aside from the Death Star (which was pretty cool), none of the planets were really based on anything from the movies. Oh, sure, the names match up, but they were covered in seemingly random blogs of color. The only other “planet” that actually worked as intended was the asteroid belt from the TIE Bomber.

Then there’s the problem of duplication. Sure, you can do “Hoth” for the Snowspeeder, and “Endor” for the AT-ST, but where does that leave a potential AT-AT? Do you start repeating the planets?"

Yeah, it definitely doesn't last forever.

On the other hand, if sets had a longer shelflife (think the 90s) or if they had done one at a time as more unique item, rather than waves at a time, I think you'd have had a better sense of the coolness--which is a real thing here--and avoided the burnout syndrome they ended up with: and if it were a cool, annual release, you could redo the Death Star five, six, seven years in, because everyone who missed out in 2012, etc, would be able to get it now: like how they cycle back to the most iconic ships every three-four years.