• 75382: TIE Interceptor is the latest in the Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) for LEGO Star Wars.
• This is the big set for Star Wars Day / May the Fourth 2024.
• The overseas pricing is comparable to what South Africans will pay.

Earlier in the month the world was introduced to LEGO set 75382: TIE Interceptor – a huge recreation of the Star Wars starfighter which represents the premiere set that the toy company will launch for Star Wars Day / May the Fourth this year.

This is the latest in the Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) subtheme of Star Wars, which is where some of LEGO’s biggest and most expensive sets have come from. The TIE Interceptor lives up to that name with 1 931 pieces, a TIE Pilot minifigure, a Mouse Droid in scale to the minifigure, and a price of €229.99, $229.99 or £199.99 depending on where you live.

For South Africans we had to wait until today to find out how much it will cost where we live. That information was revealed by the Great Yellow Brick online store, which is the website for the physical LEGO stores located throughout South Africa.

Great Yellow Brick added the TIE Interceptor to the new section of the website along with a price of R4 399 and a release date of May 2024. Its product listing can be found here and we suspect that pre-orders will open some time before it launches.

South African LEGO prices are based on the Euro price, so how did we come out in the conversion? At the time of writing €229.99 is around R4 725. This means that the R4 399 price is actually a decent chunk off compared to to what people will be paying in Europe.

“The iconic TIE Interceptor starfighter was part of the first-ever launch of LEGO Star Wars UCS sets in the year 2000; now it’s back and redesigned for even greater authenticity. Revel in buildable details, such as its distinctive wings, cockpit interior, laser cannons and rear engine. This collectible brick-built vehicle measures over 40 cm (16 in.) long and has a display stand with an information plaque, a LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary brick and space for the included TIE Pilot LEGO minifigure and LEGO mouse droid figure,” reads the official description for the set on the Great Yellow Brick website.

2024 is a landmark year for LEGO and Star Wars as the pair celebrate 25 years of partnership. This anniversary is also partly why the TIE Interceptor was chosen for the 2024 UCS release mentioned above.

Also part of the anniversary are special figures such as ARC Trooper Fives (included in set 75387), Darth Malak (included in set 75379) and more that will be revealed throughout the year. LEGO released similar figures this way for the 20th anniversary in 2019. Unfortunately the TIE Interceptor does not come with an anniversary figure which is a real saving grace for minifigure collectors who don’t want to buy this expensive set.

On the topic of price there may be a way to offset some of the R4 399 sting when picking this up. For May the Fourth, LEGO will usually release a Gift With Purchase (GWP) which is “free” set that is given out should you meet a certain spending threshold.

Right now no Star Wars GWP has been announced for South Africa, though there are several unrelated GWP sets available right now.

Regardless of which GWP is actually released in South Africa, a common strategy for getting these big sets “cheaper” is to sell off the GWP on the second hand market. On top of this don’t forget about the loyalty points accrued through Great Yellow Bricks’ Brick Reward Program, which can be exchanged for vouchers or other sets. These two factors combined help make larger purchases feel less impactful on the wallet.

See our guide to buying LEGO in South Africa for more on all of this but check back to Hypertext soon for an updated version of that guide that better reflects the LEGO landscape of the country going into the middle of 2024.

Also keep in mind that, for its launch and the foreseeable future, the TIE Interceptor is only available from Great Yellow Brick.

40686: Trade Federation Troop Carrier is the GWP that has been revealed for overseas but, again, it has not been confirmed for South Africa yet. These GWPs do usually appear in the country so we would be a bit shocked (and sad) if it doesn’t appear here too.

What South Africa is almost certainly not getting is the Battle of Yavin collectable coin. LEGO has done many of these collectible coins for Star Wars and other themes, but these have never been released in South Africa. It’s a shame but we’d rather take the actual LEGO of the Troop Carrier over the coin.