{"id":77970,"date":"2026-05-08T14:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/77970\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:31:23","slug":"review-lego-75452-bb-8-astromech-droid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/77970\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: LEGO 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 8, 2026
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LEGO Star Wars & Automotive Correspondent<\/p>\n

VaderFan2187<\/p>\n

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Ever since rolling onto the sliver screen over a decade ago, the astromech droid BB-8 has become one of modern Star Wars\u2019 most well-loved characters. It\u2019s no surprise, then, to see another buildable LEGO set of everyone\u2019s favourite spherical droid, 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid<\/a> in the 2026 LEGO Star Wars wave.<\/p>\n

The original large-scale buildable BB-8 model was released in 2018, and there has inevitably been comparisons drawn between this new version and its predecessor. <\/p>\n

This variant is smaller, has less brick-built detail, and arguably looks less \u201cround\u201d in official pics. Accordingly, it has drawn criticism from some fans, particularly as sets based on the Sequel Trilogy are becoming increasingly few and far between. Let\u2019s take a closer look at 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid<\/a><\/a> and see if it truly deserves the critique it\u2019s been receiving!<\/p>\n

Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review.<\/p>\n

75452 BB-8 Set Details<\/p>\n

\n 75452 BB-8 Set Details\n <\/p>\n

\n Retail Price <\/p>\n

US$89.99 \/ AU$149.99 \/ \u20ac89.99 \/ \u00a379.99 \/ CAD$119.99<\/p>\n

Unboxing<\/p>\n

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The box has a nice black border despite not being an 18+ set; the front shows BB-8 rolling along the sands of Jakku. The back has the droid against a background of the Millennium Falcon\u2019s interior, along with a graphic of its main play feature. <\/p>\n

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Inside are four numbered paper bags and an instruction manual \u2013 no sticker sheet as all the decorated elements are printed. <\/p>\n

Build Process<\/p>\n

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Bag 1 builds the lower half of the lower \u201cball\u201d of BB-8\u2019s body. This section is flipped upside-down at the end to connect to the rest of the body to get a symmetrical spherical shape.<\/p>\n

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Bag 2 builds the Technic frame that goes inside the model and delivers some of the main functions. This has studded surfaces facing both directions (top and bottom) which allows it to connect to the upside-down lower section from bag 1.<\/p>\n

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Bag 3 adds the upper shell of the model, connecting to that Technic structural core.<\/p>\n

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Finally, bag 4 adds the extra panels, head, and display plaque to finish off the model. Despite some repetition, this was still a fairly unique build process thanks to the design of the source material. <\/p>\n

Minifigures<\/p>\n

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The minifigure included is the standard BB-8 minifigure that was first introduced in 2015. He hasn\u2019t been updated, but there is really no need to as it\u2019s still very well designed. <\/p>\n

Completed Model<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the completed model. It looks pretty accurate in terms of color scheme, with nice orange highlights scattered throughout the white design. The main thing, however, that stands out is its size \u2013 it\u2019s surprisingly small, standing only 20cm (7.5\u2033) tall (with its antennae) and 11cm (3.5\u2033) wide. This makes it in-scale with sets like 75379 R2-D2<\/a> and 75398 C-3PO<\/a>, but it still feels really small for a US$90 set.<\/p>\n

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My main gripe with the model is that the body just doesn\u2019t look that round. The designers have done a valiant effort at this scale \u2013 certainly combining two sub-assemblies at opposite directions is some intriguing engineering \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t change the fact that the overall shaping is clunky and doesn\u2019t quite look like a sphere. The 8\u00d78 dishes don\u2019t mesh well enough with the flat slopes which don\u2019t mesh with the round 4\u00d74 plates, making for a scattered design that looks neither cohesive nor spherical. It\u2019s perhaps a slightly doomed endeavour at this scale, but considering the sphere shape is so fundamental to BB-8\u2019s design, it\u2019s a pretty jarring look. <\/p>\n

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The head of BB-8 uses a number of printed 3\u00d76 semicircle curved slopes to approximate the half dome shape, which is a bit more successful than the lower body. The printed parts add a lot of nice detail, and I like the brick-built \u201ceye\u201d and mechanical details towards the front. <\/p>\n

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BB-8\u2019s body has four printed 8\u00d78 dish panels, but only one opens thanks to a Technic liftarm connection. As you open the panel, a small robot arm swings out with the panel to represent his little astromech arm, which is a nice touch. <\/p>\n

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There\u2019s also a retractable bar with a trans-blue flame at the end to represent BB-8\u2019s cheeky thumbs-up blowtorch. You have to manually extend it yourself which is fine, but not as slick as the larger 2018 variant. <\/p>\n

My main issue is I find the body looks pretty ugly with the dish hinged out \u2013\u00a0the tan parts are supposed to represent sand from Jakku that has gotten into BB-8\u2019s internal mechanisms, but I think it just looks messy and inharmonious.<\/p>\n

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The back of the model looks pretty similar\u00a0\u2013 the design of the body is the same all around. There are two different print designs for the 8\u00d78 dishes, and they freely rotate on turntables. <\/p>\n

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The final feature involves rolling the droid around, which is made possible by this rubber tyre that ever-so-slightly protrudes from the bottom of the body. Despite this, the model is still stable on any flat surface.<\/p>\n

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Rolling BB-8 along causes his head to swivel around in a slightly erratic movement, which is achieved thanks to a somewhat randomized cam movement from Technic linkages inside the body. It\u2019s a pretty interesting feature that does make the model feel a bit more alive, and is well designed without being overengineered. <\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

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Sets based on the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy only come around once in a blue moon these days, but unfortunately I\u2019m not impressed with 75452 BB-8<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Although there has been a valiant attempt to include some key features like the swiveling head that moves along with the body being rolled, along with the fold-out arm and blowtorch, this is a model that feels heavily restricted by its size and scale. <\/p>\n

Trying to keep it to-scale with the other buildable droid models is commendable, but has resulted in significant compromises to the design of BB-8, including the fundamental spherical shape of his lower body. With a core aspect of the model being flawed, it\u2019s hard to look past it and see the positives, especially at a sky-high retail price of US$90 which is justified neither by the piece count nor the size of the final model. The concept of this set feels like it was set up to fail, and unfortunately, it pretty much has.<\/p>\n

\n Build <\/p>\n

\n Although it incorporates some nice functions, the spherical shape of BB-8 leaves a lot to be desired. <\/p>\n

\n Minifigures <\/p>\n

\n The BB-8 minifigure is still pretty good a decade on, and is the only figure that really needed to be included. <\/p>\n

\n Real Value <\/p>\n

\n Inexplicably expensive, especially for a small sub-600 piece model. <\/p>\n

\n Innovation <\/p>\n

\n Actually some pretty good build techniques, thanks to the unique shape. <\/p>\n

\n Keepability <\/p>\n

\n BB-8 is a pretty iconic, collectable model, but this particular variant is a bit of a letdown. <\/p>\n

How would you rate this set?<\/p>\n

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Thanks for reading! 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid<\/a> is available now from LEGO.com, or from retailers like Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

1 response to \u201cReview: LEGO 75452 BB-8 Astromech Droid\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 8, 2026 | 1 LEGO Star Wars & Automotive Correspondent VaderFan2187 Ever since rolling onto the sliver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6050],"tags":[13790,13791,41669,4248,6051,6102,7020,16561,6105],"class_list":["post-77970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lego","tag-3-stars","tag-3-5","tag-75452-bb-8-astromech-droid","tag-lego","tag-lego-group","tag-lego-review","tag-lego-star-wars","tag-lego-star-wars-2026","tag-review"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116539443805696874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}