The new LEGO build of K-2SO, the deadpan security droid from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Andor, is a carefully rendered depiction of a beloved character. The LEGO Star Wars line is acclaimed for its fastidious attention to detail, and this set does nothing to upset that earned reputation. Standing over 16 inches tall, this model lovingly captures K-2SO at his most awkward and mechanical.
LEGO Star Wars: Andor K-2SO Security Droid
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K-2SO comes in eight well-organized bags; no less than three years ago, LEGO was still inconsistent when it came to bagging its pieces. Bag #1 might come in a single bag labeled ‘1,’ whereas Bag #2 might be spread out across two bags, both labeled ‘2.’ But as LEGO has continued its mainstream ascent, the packaging and organization has followed. Now, it’s always ‘one bag, one number’ for all of these newer sets, which is a lot less confusing.
You get a single sheet of stickers – mostly decals for the droid – rather than having the graphics printed onto the bricks themselves. You also get a display placard on a buildable stand, along with a minifigure depiction of K-2SO that’s poseable alongside it.
K-2SO has a simple, monolithic design, and the set’s build process follows that ethos. This is neither a difficult build nor a particularly innovative build , especially in comparison to, say, R2-D2. It’s lots of black-on-black, and lots of LEGO Technic joints and hinged connection points. But LEGO Star Wars has always been more about the destination than the journey to get there, and there’s no sense in complicating something that isn’t complicated to begin with. You start with the small stand that K-2SO stands on. Then you build the legs. Then the torso. Then the arms. And finally, the head. Each element is built piecemeal, separate from the final build, before being attached via pins or ball joints.
LEGO K-2SO has a black exterior, but there are numerous colorful pieces – several of them pink – inside the droid. This is a fun LEGO tradition, in which the designers will incorporate bright bricks into otherwise monochromatic sets where they cannot be seen. But they also serve a practical purpose by breaking up the monotony of the build, orienting the model to denote which side is the front and which side is the back, and signposting where the respective overlaid elements will go.
Despite its ungainly, spindly (movie-accurate) appearance, this K-2SO model is surprisingly sturdy, unlike many LEGO sets that, despite looking structurally sound, will fall apart if you so much as breathe on them. It’s not fall-proof, but it can withstand an incidental amount of stress without coming undone.
My favorite part of the entire build is the head, which you build as an upper half and a lower half and then fasten together in the middle. At the midpoint where these two halves intersect, the designers used two LEGO Technic pins to create the impression of eyes. It is simple yet effective, and it underlines K-2SO’s artificiality. It also begs for some additional customization; someone who’s a bit handy could rig lights in the hollows of the eyes and really make an impression.
As a former Imperial security droid, K-2SO is a contradiction. His proportions are all wrong, like something that was fashioned to resemble a human, but instead falls into a creepy uncanny valley. His head looks like a skull. Generally speaking, Star Wars’ aesthetics are thematically consistent with their messaging; it is the beeping, booping, conventionally cute droid that is Resistance-affiliated – not a droid like K-2SO.
We get a taste of K-2SO’s former nature in Season 2 of Andor, when he nearly killed Cassian. At that time, it took a repulsorcraft ramming into him to stop his relentless pursuit. But despite his menacing appearance and violent past, anyone who’s watched Rogue One can attest: post-reprogramming, K-2SO has more humanity in him than many of the actual humans he’s serving.
And yet, his physicality carries the underlying implication that something could go horribly wrong. We’re glad this droid is on our side, because we’ve seen what it’s like when he’s not. And when I look at this LEGO model, I have a bit of that emotional dissonance between loving this character and finding it unnerving. It’s a unique mix, for sure.
LEGO Star Wars: K-2S0 Security Droid, Set #75434, retails for $89.99, and it is composed of 845 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and the LEGO Store.
