8 best parts of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy

LEGO versions of any franchise are always a tongue-in-cheek delight. The LEGO Movie was entertaining with its constant refrain of “Everything is Awesome,” but I feel like The LEGO Batman Movie letting its titular character be self-deprecating about his comic origins also outstrips anything in the live-action versions.

Star Wars finally gave us a holiday special worth remembering when bricks were involved, and I have a special place in my heart for the Halloween special. This weekend, I watched LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy in one sitting and regret nothing about the experience.

Here are the 8 best moments from the latest LEGO Star Wars miniseries.

1. Competitive Clone Troopers

It was funny enough to find that the clone troopers were all Admiral Ackbar, but the sound of “It's a trap!” wasn't what made me glad to see clones in the series. It was the scene where the clone brothers kept ordering each other to “Stop copying me!” The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch laid bare the eccentricities and individual characteristics of different clones. Still, sibling rivalry is a real thing in Star Wars, and I found this brotherly aggravation between anonymous clones to be a delightful moment. Ackbar makes sense since he's a tactical genius, but that doesn't mean every clone out there will be a carbon copy.

2. Dignity for the scruffy-looking

Sig and Dev Greebling, the protagonists of the story, are hard-working nerf-herders with devotion to their animals. They have different approaches but are good at what they do. That doesn't mean they only aspire to be scruffy-looking nerf-herders for the rest of their lives, but it's good to see people doing something simple and straightforward, even if it was originally an insult.

3. "I'm your WHAT?!!"

It was already amusing to see Darth Vader in his white armor as originally shown in the Star Wars Infinities version of Return of the Jedi. In Rebuild the Galaxy, the unexpected twist is when the big family reveal for Jedi Vader is handled by the Skywalker twins. We don't see the exact moment when the news was broken, but we can hear the Light Side version of Vader reeling with shock. It all seems to work out since by the time they need to draw on Luke's family fortune, the family connection is openly discussed. What I like best about this is that it allows Vader to have more of a paternal relationship with Leia than was ever expressed on the second Death Star.

4. The Landolorian

I personally think that this is a valid alternate path for Lando Calrissian to be a Mandalorian. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo identifies Lando as a “card player, gambler, scum; you'd like him” to Leia. Lando is meant to be a risk-taker with sometimes questionable approaches to things. So, him giving up his reformed ways to capture people as a dishonest day's work somehow makes sense. I'm still not sure what I think of Grogu's sinister appearance at the end, but it was a fun way to end the series. Getting Billy Dee Williams to voice his beloved character was a masterstroke.

5. The Force is with this dude

Speaking of voice actors of note, what a joy to hear Mark Hamill cracking wise and getting way too zen about life as a cheating podracer who spends too much time at the Marina Cantina. I loved that Mark got to come back for the sequel trilogy, but I've also watched him in a much darker turn in The Fall of the House of Usher, and he is as iconic as the manic voice of the Joker. Luke needing some direction in life and finding it in his family was a fresh way of approaching his hero's journey.

6. Jedi Bob or whatever you call him

It's hard to believe that it's been 22 years since LEGO included an unnamed Jedi Knight in its Republic Gunship set. The origins of this Force Builder hero is that the figure lacking a name, "at some point, fans started referring to the minifig as 'Jedi Bob' and the legend was born. It's even referenced in the book LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary." Rather than filling in a blank, Jedi Bob is an essential part of this story, and one can't help but sympathize with the guy who wants to be known by his true name. It's still heart-warming when he lets his friends call him Jedi Bob.

7. The craft

I admit that I am into Star Wars partially for the ships. I once amused a friend by responding to a Star Destroyer on-screen with "Ooooh, pretty!" My favorite aspect of Aaron Allston's Solo Command book is The Millennium Falsehood, and I've always been interested in the Uglies from Roger McBride Allen's Corellian Trilogy, which cobbles together different ships. Naturally, I loved seeing a Jawa Sandcrawler wobbling along on AT-AT legs and the Dark Falcon flying free in Rebuild the Galaxy. TIE-wings are my favorite new craft, but the best world-building (literally) of the series is the ability of Force Builders to create spaceships around people. It seems like something Douglas Adams would have done while also taking a page from Transformers.

8. The unexpected Darths

Darth Jar Jar Binks getting to flex his sinister muscles was fun, but as a huge fan of the Young Jedi Adventures, I wanted more of Darth Nubs. Darth Rose Tico and Darth Rey had moments of genuine intrigue for me. I would have liked to see more discussion of their motivations and natures on the dark side. The writers did discuss this with Gizmodo, but it has to be admitted that there is only so much that you can fit into roughly two hours of starting the canon from scratch. I love that Darth Hammerhead is apologized to because he wasn't given a proper name.