Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy’s Jedi Bob, explained

Star Wars and Lego have gone together like a glass of blue milk on a hot Tatooine day for 25 years, dominating toy aisles around the world in the process. From supplying collectors with numerous takes on the Millennium Falcon, X-Wings, and Death Stars to taking the gaming world by storm on numerous occasions, the two powerhouse brands have found no shortage of prosperity during their time together. They’ve even taken over home media and streaming, coming together for numerous Lego Star Wars specials throughout the years. The latest in this long line of offerings, Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, seems to be the most thrilling and self-referential one yet.

The four-part Rebuild the Galaxy miniseries puts the spotlight on Sig Greebling (Gaten Matarazzo), who uses an ancient relic to accidentally rewrite history. What ensues is all kinds of craziness, with Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) becoming a Sith Lord, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) abandoning his Jedi responsibilities to be a beach bum, and more. Along the way, there’s plenty of in-jokes and Easter eggs for longtime Star Wars and Lego Star Wars fans to enjoy. The arguable deepest cut in the entire series is the very existence of Sig’s ally, Jedi Bob (Bobby Moynihan), who, despite being unknown to many fans, has a fascinating story and large preexisting fanbase behind him.

With that, let’s travel to a brick-built galaxy far, far away to look back on the lore behind Jedi Bob.

The origin of Jedi Bob

Lego swung for the fences with its original 1999 run of Star Wars products, providing collectors and kids alike with original trilogy and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace sets galore. Thus, the two brands’ working relationship continued into the new millennium, hitting another high point in 2002 with the release of more original trilogy sets and those based on the recently released Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. No matter how you slice it, the crème de la crème of the year’s assortment was set 7163, the Republic Gunship, as seen for the first time in the aforementioned prequel during the Battle of Geonosis.

Though Lego was still going through some growing pains with its Star Wars offerings, the first Republic Gunship did justice to its film counterpart. The shape and colors are pretty accurate, and the minifigure selection makes sense…almost. Alongside four Republic clone troopers, two Separatist super battle droids, and a droideka is a Jedi. Not Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), not Yoda (Frank Oz), not one of the many named supporting Jedi present on Geonosis in the final act of Attack of the Clones. Just a generic Jedi with brown and gray robes, a green lightsaber, a gray beard, and a smile on his face.

With no name on the box or within the set’s manual, in 2009’s Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, it was theorized that this random Jedi’s name is Bob, as fans had speculated previously, and the rest is history.

Attaining meme status

Star Wars fans love few things more than a goofy side-character without a backstory, any real significance to the canon, and a funny name. Thus, Jedi Bob very much fit the bill. In the years since he was introduced, fans have taken to him as a Lego Star Wars icon. His one appearance in the Lego Star Wars line has been celebrated for decades, and as the years have gone on, he has become a pretty sought-after minifigure. Over on the secondhand Lego marketplace Bricklink (where he’s designated as merely “Jedi Knight”), new, used, complete, and incomplete copies of the original Jedi Bob minifigure go for a pretty penny.

Not only has Jedi Bob become an adored symbol of Lego Star Wars and a coveted collectible, but he has also attained meme status within the Lego Star Wars fandom. The Star Wars Memes Wiki gives him a fantastical backstory, painting him as one of the galaxy’s most powerful and important Jedi ever. Meanwhile, over on Reddit, specifically r/PrequelMemes, one can find numerous Bob-centric posts. Some do the same as the Wiki and give him a wild history and insert him into the wider Star Wars canon, while others simply shine a spotlight on him, maintaining his relevance as his Lego Star Wars debut slips further into the past.

Thankfully for Bob’s sizable fanbase, it doesn’t seem the folks at Lego or Lucasfilm forgot about him, hence why they’re going all out for those who’ve waited decades for his time to shine.

Jedi Bob’s return to plastic form

Bearing in mind just how loved and talked-about Jedi Bob is among Lego Star Wars enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that excitement was high when he was revealed as part of Rebuild the Galaxy. He’d never appeared in Lego Star Wars media before, so the fact that he was finally getting some of the spotlight, with Saturday Night Live icon Bobby Moynihan bringing him to life no less, was awesome news. It has since been revealed that Jedi Bob’s miraculous return after 22 years isn’t limited to animation. After all this time, he’s back in plastic form as well, ready to take on enemies of all shapes and sizes and, well, rebuild the galaxy one brick at a time.

Tying into Rebuild the Galaxy, Lego has released two sets. First is set 75389, the Dark Falcon, featuring minifigures of Darth Rey, Darth Jar Jar, Jedi Darth Vader, beach Luke Skywalker, Darth Dev, and bounty hunter C-3PO. The other is 75388, Jedi Bob’s Starfighter. As the name implies, this is Bob’s personal ship, so it comes with an updated version of him, in addition to a Mon Calamari Imperial stormtrooper, also known simply as an Ackbar Trooper, and the droid SR-VO, or SERVO. For just $39.99, you can commemorate the return of a Lego Star Wars legend and get him in minifigure form if you’re not keen on paying aftermarket prices for the original.

At long last, Jedi Bob will return to the forefront of the Star Wars galaxy on September 13, when all four episodes of Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy arrive exclusively on Disney+.