when i watched the show andor last year i felt some real joy. i forgot for a moment that i was watching a disney+ property that i had <legally acquired via subscription service> and leaned in to feeling a lot of big emotions. the performances, the music, the sets and costumes, tubes, and… the ships. good lord the fondor haulcraft was so cool. i whooped out loud during episode 11 and rewatched the fondor escape the imperial arrestor like three times in a row.
last month, while i was recovering from my wisdom teeth removal, i wanted something relatively low impact to do. after winning our union raise, i purchased myself the atredies royal ornithopter set (mostly for the long baron harkonnen), and my hands were itching for more legos during my recovery. but, the official, andor lego offering (not even plural!) was pitiful. i came into some spare cash this summer by serving as an executive secretary on a NASA XRP review panel, and in searching desperately very silly things like “andor legos more,” “andor different lego sets,” “andor legos planned,” i came across a few MOCs.
i had no clue what a MOC was, but apparently it stands for “my original creation” in lego circles. that’s pretty adorable, honestly. but, i’m no longer above the aforementioned lego circles, because of what i did. i suppose i shouldn’t retrospectively condescend to them.
i was completely new to this world, but i shopped around for a few different builds. i learned that people not only build their own stuff, but they make (and sell, on sites like rebrickable) the manual for how to assemble it and a .csv of all the parts you can upload the lego part selling sites (like bricklink, the site i ended up using). there’s plenty of mini builds for the fondor haulcraft, and although i loved some of the star wars minis from the mid ‘oughts, they were a bit too simplistic for my ibuprofen 800 addled brain. there’s also a very detailed MOC by rebrickable user Bruxxy that was appealing, but while i really liked the design, the 3000+ piece build would be pretty pricey to source.
i found an excellent middleground with the MOC designed by 2bricks, a lego collector and youtuber who made a few videos explaining the design. it seemed like there was a lot of intention put into the user-friendliness of the manual, and the ~1500 piece build wouldn’t break the bank. it turned out, after sourcing the requisite parts from a few vendors on bricklink, to come in under the cost of an equivalently sized official lego set.
i printed the manual in the office and took over the den coffee table for a month while i assembled. it took longer than expected, since i was missing a single technics piece that kept the left wing from being attached. i, somewhat embarrassingly, had to order that single piece from another vendor, though i supplemented the order with a R4-P17 minifig, who i thought might resemble b2emo from andor from a distance.
the V-21.1 Chevlex light haulcraft is the basis for luthen’s excellent ship, but he modified it quite heavily, disguising a lot of imperial deterrence measures in the frumpy transport ship.
making the fondor, buying bricks on a funny-looking website, brought back a lot of fond and warm memories of childhood, looking for legos at yard sales and begging my beleaguered mother to purchase various sets on ebay. i have very distinct memories of weird little mid-oughts sets, like the Jabba’s Message set where i got my bib fortuna minifigure (and the little door eyeball, who says ‘te chu ta’ to C3P0 in Episode VI).
and the gungan patrol set, with jar jar binks and the other gungan guy who has this cool ass shield…
and the o.g. Mos Eisley Cantina set, with greedo and the little mug… and the heinous dewback figurine…
not sure how to end this blog post about children’s toys and a disney+ show. i just wanted to show off my cool build. my face is mostly healed now, after they stole four of my teeth and charged me a bunch of money for it. the whole rigamarole was very uncomfortable and exhausting and stressful, but now i won’t have chronic pain in my face and jaw.
until next time, clear skies.
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