Build your own LEGO Star Wars Rebel Friend with the summer 2024 sets

The iconic LEGO Star Wars Rebel Friend has never received an official minifigure, but you can easily assemble your own with the summer 2024 sets.

The anonymous red-shirted Rebel Fleet Trooper first appeared in 2006’s LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, TT Games’ hit sequel to 2005’s LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. Identical in all other respects to the standard blue-shirted Rebel Fleet Trooper, Rebel Friend acted as a second player character alongside Captain Antilles in the opening level of A New Hope.

Switching his shirt to red was just good game design. How else would players pick out their character among a sea of other blue-shirted troopers running around the Tantive IV? But Rebel Friend quickly transcended his humble beginnings to become an iconic piece of LEGO Star Wars history, to the point that he showed up again in 2022’s LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, updated with dual-moulded boots and fresh printing.

The LEGO Star Wars team passed up a golden opportunity to bring Rebel Friend to life in 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV, which instead includes two standard Rebel Fleet Troopers, but you’ll soon be able to piece your own version together thanks to this summer’s 75396 Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit. That £69.99 set includes a 25th-anniversary minifigure in the form of Nien Nunb, and his torso is almost spot on for Rebel Friend.

The Sullustan’s collar is closed where Rebel Friend’s is open, and Nien Nunb appears to be wearing a button-down shirt rather than a pullover, but otherwise this is as close as you can get in the current LEGO Star Wars line-up to a Rebel Friend torso. Swap out the rest of Nien Nunb for dark grey legs and the Rebel Fleet Trooper’s head and helmet, and hey presto: you’ve got your very own Rebel Friend.

We’ve only got the classic 2008 troopers to hand for these shots, but the modern head printing of the 2024 troopers (included in 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV) – and dual-moulded light grey and black legs – would bring Rebel Friend closer to the version in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which is a bit more fitting for the level of detail on Nien Nunb’s torso. You'd also need to swap out the black hands for light nougat for a perfect match.

Still, this should give you an idea of what’s possible with 75396 Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit, which launches on August 1. It does mean sacrificing one of the year’s best LEGO Star Wars minifigures in Nien Nunb though, so you might equally prefer to just pick up an extra torso on BrickLink once the set hits shelves.

In the meantime, make sure to check out our full review of 75396 Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit.

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