Star Wars Lego Minifigure Collectables

Legend says that the children of George Lucas, big LEGO fans, requested the Star Wars LEGO license. Legend also states that Lucas defers to his children's judgement on the suitability of these licensed sets, as well as their adherance to LucasArts standards.

The Star Wars LEGO license was launched in 1999 with the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. LEGO has released new sets with each subsequent prequel, as well as sets based on the Classic Trilogy. The first sets were generally well-received, but some fans complained about the poor design of some vehicles, as well as the absence of enough unique minifigs (and far too many Qui-Gon and Jar Jar minifigs).

Whether in response to these criticisms or not, LEGO has since released several redesigned sets, including the improved X-wing Fighter and Boba Fett's Slave I. New sets also include a wider variety of minifigs. ( Jake McKee has stated that fan input was considered when designing the Sandcrawler (10144) set, which includes nine minifigs.)

However, a highly controversial change occurred when LEGO changed the skin-tone of minifigs in licensed themes, including Star Wars (as well as Spider-Man and Harry Potter). While non-licensed sets continue to include minifigs with traditional yellow heads and hands, all licensed themes now include minifigs whose skin tones match those of the actors portraying them.

In other words, Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker now have pinkish heads and hands, while Mace Windu has a brown head and hands. The "flesh-tone controversy" occurred at the same time that LEGO also changed the hue of brown and gray bricks.

The Star Wars LEGO license has been renewed. The new date for it's expiration is 2011.

The success of George Lucas's Star Wars, which he first conceptualized in 1974, brought a considerable opportunity for companies to introduce new products and innovate current ones under the Star Wars banner or concept. These include mugs, mouse pads, t-shirts, masks, toys, and many more. Among the many, Lego released its own line of Star Wars Lego collectable toys in which kids and adult collectors may start building their own army of Star Wars mini figures, space ships, and other Star Wars Lego Collectables.

Star Wars was first introduced in 1977 as a science fiction movie. It has then expanded to two trilogies with prequel and sequels and it has spawned a considerable amount of media releases in different platforms such as television and computer games. Star Wars has since then became a worldwide icon in science fiction and a pop culture phenomenon. Now, the Star Wars culture has brought billions of dollars worth of income to all companies that legally franchised Star Wars as part of their product marketing. The entire series of the film alone has grossed about $4.3 billion US dollars. Star Wars Lego was the first movie tie in that Lego did in 1999 and has been very popular, with collectors after the mini-figures especially.

Star Wars Lego Collectable toys include patented and trademarked sets under the following names, among the many: Droids Battle Pack, Imperial Dropship, Rebel Scout Feeder, Anakin's Jedi Star Fighter, Hailfire Droid & Spider Droid, AT-AP Walker, Rogue Shadow, Trade Federation MTT, Jedi Star Fighter with Hyperdrive Booster Ring, Naboo N-1 Star Fighter, with Vulture Droid, Imperial Landing Craft, Y-wing Fighter, AT-ST, General Grievous Star Fighter, Clone Troopers Battle Pack, Imperial Star Destroyer plus the soon to be released sets . It is no wonder people around the world are collecting Star Wars Lego sets and minifigures.

Bricklink is great for tracking down sets or parts http://www.bricklink.com/

Lego, of course has lots of info http://starwars.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx

I will add more when I need. If you have some good ones post a comment please.