LEGO explains how the Star Wars community inspired 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up

The LEGO Group has explained how the LEGO Star Wars community helped to inspire the upcoming 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up.

One of several LEGO Star Wars sets dropping this August hooked to the upcoming Disney+ animated special Rebuild the Galaxy, 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up includes fresh takes on two well-worn staples of the original trilogy. The twist this time is that you can swap the wings between the two ships to create a TIE Wing and X-Fighter – a concept borrowed from the wider Star Wars universe.

The existence of Uglies (as these mash-ups are known) in other Star Wars media wasn’t the only conduit that the LEGO Star Wars team turned to for inspiration, though. Speaking exclusively to Brick Fanatics, Senior Model Designer César Soares revealed that while he can’t say for sure who came up with the idea of interchangeable wings – the entire project was a ‘collaboration’ between Lucasfilm and the LEGO Group – the concept had been on the designers’ minds for a while.

“We talked about it a lot among [the design team], even before this idea came, when we started seeing in the fan community all these mash-ups,” César says. “I don't know if you remember a couple of years ago, there was a trend online. We talked about it and were like, ‘Okay, some of them are very interesting and funny.’”

César is referring specifically to a moment in late 2020 when the LEGO Star Wars community briefly became enthralled with the idea of mashing up parts from different sets. We covered it right here on Brick Fanatics at the time, showcasing a couple of the craziest examples – from an Imperial Conveyex Transport with AT-ST legs to a Frankenstein-esque creation that combines 75278 D-O, 75283 Armored Assault Tank (AAT), 75292 The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport and 75254 AT-ST Raider.

The notion clearly clicked with the LEGO Star Wars design team. But that wasn’t enough to bring it all the way to shelves: it had to sit well with the LEGO Group’s primary demographic too.

“We were pleased to see that the kids responded very well to the X-wing and TIE mash-up,” César adds. “They were very intrigued, like, ‘Oh, this doesn't exist inside Star Wars?’ [We said], ‘No, but what do you think about it?’ And they said, ‘We love it.’ The fact that they can interconnect everything is a plus for the kids, so it was a no-brainer to do that.”

Coming up with the idea of an X-wing and TIE Fighter that can swap wings is one thing, but turning that into a LEGO Star Wars set that can not only function properly for kids, but also look good, presented another challenge entirely for the set’s designer Niels Bundesen.

“The biggest [challenge] was, how could we make the wings interchangeable?” César says. “Because right from the start, we knew that was going to be really hard without compromising the aesthetics of both [ships]. We are in an era in LEGO Star Wars where we want to make a set that’s very good in terms of playability, but we cannot forget the aesthetics. And if the function is cool, and you can swap the wings, but then it looks too bulky or too fragile or any kind of compromise then it's no good.

“We always have that in the back of our minds, so there was this big brainstorm about how we could solve that. And I remember Niels must have done at least 10 different configurations of the connection between the wings. Some of them were fragile, some of them were bulky, some of them were not very intuitive for the kids, because we also tested with kids to see which one would be better.

“We do kids’ tests a lot, and that was a primary focus on at least one of those tests, to see which iteration the kids could better use or interlock. So I would say that was the biggest point that we wanted to address. At the same time, I remember Niels also being very adamant in making the nose of the X-wing more accurate to the reference, with the tapering on the sides, and the TIE Fighter cockpit.”

That focus on aesthetics means that to glance at the TIE Fighter and X-wing, you probably wouldn’t know they had interchangeable wings. But that wasn’t only for the adults popping 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up on a shelf – it was also for the kids who perhaps weren’t interested in the hook to Rebuild the Galaxy. Where 75389 The Dark Falcon is always going to be a very different take on Han Solo’s freighter, this set can just be a standard LEGO Star Wars model if you like.

“One of the things that we wanted to be very clear was that both models by themselves still look good, so if the kids don’t want to combine them, they still had two good looking models that work perfectly,” César says. “So that was one of the main goals.”

You’ll be able to determine for yourself whether Niels and the team were successful in that goal when 75393 TIE Fighter & X-Wing Mash-up launches at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores on August 1. Secure your copy in advance by pre-ordering now.

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