To be brutally honest, Lego Clone Troopers are probably my biggest problem within my Lego vice. When I say that I'm building a Lego Clone army, I'm joking about it being an army. When it's finished, it will very likely be the size a small army, as far as numbers are concerned. So naturally, whenever a clone or republic themed set is released by Lego, I'm immediately calculating if I need to buy it and if I need multiple. For 2026, so far there hasn't been much for clone troopers, most focus is on the Mando and Grogu movie. The 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser is a mini-scale set, which I don't collect personally. Same for the mech sets, this year we've only had the 75448 shock trooper mech. Whilst I like shock troopers, it makes more sense to get them through buying the 75372 battle pack from 2024, which is still available until later this year.
For a few years now, Lego has been using a helmet mold with holes for it's Phase 2 clone trooper minifigs. Whilst it definitely works well for clones which have helmet attachments such as Rex, Cody, Fox and specialist clones, it frankly looks ugly for grunt clone troopers without helmet attachments, as seen here. I suspect that part of reason for this is logistics on Lego's part, however, there are many in the wider Lego community which feel that it is simply another example of laziness from Lego when designing clones.
I also agree with this general opinion, Lego has made a lot of ridiculous minifig design decisions which have literally made me scream. The ugly helmet mold, I can digest, it's not just logistics, there's also the fact that it's the only feasible phase 2 mold with helmet holes which would be compatible with Lego visor and microbino molds. But beyond that there have been a lot of dumb decisions which can't possibly be defended, such as the multiple mistakes made with the Commander Fox minifig, the strange black line across the forehead for the 332nd clones and the lack of cloth kamas, (waist cape).
These are issues which Lego has been aware of for a long time now, and yet we haven't seen any improvement from Lego. This is actually the 2nd battle pack set to include the 332nd clones and the issue haven't been resolved in this set. What's worse, and is the particular reason I screamed with this set is the Mandalorian minifigures, which have the T shaped area on the front of the helmet in silver rather than black like nearly every other Mandalorian minifigure. Lego has been making mandalorian minifigs for years, they know how to make them good, why did they mess up on something so simple?
I really hope Lego stops being so lazy with it's future minifig designs, it really doesn't take that much effort. As for this new battle pack, I will definitely buy at least one at some point, I usually buy second hand. I do need a lot more 332nd clone figs for my army, as well as Maul mandalorians, so odd's are I'll end up needing quite a few.
Alas, hope things get better for Lego clones and just Lego StarWars in general, it's been a rough start to 2026; may the bricks give the designers common sense.
The Addict
