LEGO Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace minifigs

The first Lego Star Wars minifigures

1999 marks both the return of Star Wars to the cinema with a new trillogy, but also the beginning of the partnership between Lego and Lucasmovie for the production of Lego Sets based on the Star Wars saga. For the first time, Lego produces Sets and minifigs based on vehicles and characters from a movie. We thus find in 1999 several Lego Sets based on the movie Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace, comming with minifigures of the main characters seen in the movie. We thus find the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin, his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, and of course darth Maul and the Battle Droids of the Trade Federation, as well as the young Anakin Skywalker future hero of this trilogy, as well as other characters like Padmé Amidala and Jar Jar Binks. Over the years, Lego has expanded its Star Wars Episode I range with new, more detailed minifigs such as variants of battle droids (commander, security and pilot), other characters like Watto and Captain Panaka, but especially new and more detailed versions of the main characters. Episode I includes several minifigs much sought after by collectors such as the sw0387 which represents Padmé Amidala with Naboo queen outfit, with a specific piece for her dress and hairstyle, available in a single set released in 2012, and the droids TC-4 and TC-14 protocol (fully chromed) which only appeared in exclusive Polybags.