It's always cool when there is a new Star Wars story around, and LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is, as expected, great. No one does Star Wars like LEGO, be it on television or video games, imbuing fun and lighthearted shenanigans into the galaxy far, far away. This time, they push the boundaries of the galaxy a little further with a completely different version of it, introduced by Jedi Master Bobarian Afol (Bobby Moynihan). Jedi Bob is the kind of deep-cut goofy Easter egg that only hardcore fans will know, but if you like or play with LEGO, you have certainly crossed paths with Jedi Bob before.
Jedi Bob Was a Nameless Lego Character Who Was Adopted by the Fandom
One of the most fun aspects of the Star Wars universe is that anything can become a part of it if the fans embrace it. Besides movies and TV series, there are also countless comics, novels, and even reference books that may contain a very specific piece of lore that connects one thing to something else. And toys, too. For generations, LEGO has been among Star Wars fans' favorite toys to play with, and that's where Jedi Bob comes from. No, they're not just for children -- Star Wars fans of all ages love their toys, okay?
Jedi Bob's story begins in 2002, when Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones released in theaters. Like the movie or not, seeing many different Jedi fighting together in Geonosis at the very first battle of the Clone Wars was awesome at the time. There were so many new Jedi to get to know: Kit Fisto! Luminara Unduli! Shaak Ti! Coleman Trebor, too! Most of them didn't have names, however, so it's fair that, when LEGO released a kit with a Jedi Knight piloting a Republic LAAT gunship, he was nameless. Back then, LEGO characters all had yellow skin, and this one had a cool grin, like he knew exactly what he was doing. With so many LEGO kits focusing on the main characters, somehow this nameless Jedi got the heart of the fandom. It was also the early days of the internet, and fans started calling him Bob. Jedi Bob.
Jedi Bob became part of the collective Star Wars fandom imaginarium everywhere (yours truly once found a Jedi Bob figure in Brazil!), but it was never more than that; just a fun character who could be anything you wanted when playing. He was supposed to be a generic Jedi Knight LEGO figure, given that there were many nameless Jedi who were introduced in Attack of the Clones. In 2009, his first official mention came when the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary was released, stating only that his name "may have been Bob." In our hearts, however, it always has been.
Jedi Bob Is Reintroduced in 'Rebuild the Galaxy' With a Proper Story Close
He may have started out as a random character, but Jedi Bob is so dear to those of us who grew up playing with him -- he was always more than that. When the first LEGO Star Wars games came out, he wasn't a playable character, unfortunately, and is still just a minor Easter egg in the Geonosis arena level in the recent Skywalker Saga game. Then, LEGO started making streaming specials for Star Wars, like the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special and the LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales, but he still remained left out. So, when he was confirmed as one of the main characters in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, every Star Wars fan worth their LEGO bricks rejoiced.
The new Disney+ series finally gives Jedi Bob the place he deserves in the Star Wars galaxy, voiced by long-time Star Wars fan Bobby Moynihan. In Rebuild the Galaxy, he is the ancient Jedi Knight who watches over the Jedi Temple on the backwater planet of Fenessa, home to brothers Dev (Toni Revolori) and Sig Greebling (Gaten Matarazzo). One day, the two of them accidentally wander into Bob's temple and stumble upon the Cornerstone, the quintessential LEGO brick that holds the whole galaxy together. Needless to say, everything goes downhill from there, with the two brothers and Jedi Bob going on an adventure that completely reshapes the galaxy, bringing different eras together and inverting the moral compass of most of the characters.
8:40 Related Lucasfilm Didn't Set Limits for 'LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy's Showrunners
The creative duo wanted "to draw in the legacy not only of every era of Star Wars, but every era of LEGO."
As he explains to Sig and Dev, Jedi Bob was once a Jedi Knight named Bobarian Afol ("Afol" being a tribute to all of us, since it stands for "Adult Fans of LEGO," by the way). In a flashback sequence, he tells Sig about how he once lived in the Jedi Temple on the planet Alistan Nor and trained as a Force Builder. Every character that appears in this flashback sequence is made of old LEGO bricks, a stark contrast to how, nowadays, every character has their own personalized bricks with head, body, hairstyle, and so on. In Rebuild the Galaxy, Jedi Bob goes on to become a mentor figure to Sig, and, hopefully, this isn't the last we see of them.
Jedi Bob Is Part of a Unique Jedi Sect Called the Force Builders
Even though every Star Wars story that has been made by Disney since its acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 is considered canon, technically, the LEGO Star Wars properties are not. But that's just from a certain point of view, because there are many amazing concepts that are unique to the LEGO corner of Star Wars. Jedi Bob is the most famous of them, of course, and so is his ability in the Force: he is a Force Builder. This Jedi sect made their debut in another non-canon series, LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, that follows Rowan Freemaker (Nicolas Cantu) around the time of the Original Trilogy.
In Rebuild the Galaxy, Jedi Bob uses his Force Builder abilities many times, reshaping the bricks in an object to form something else. The thing he builds the most is barriers, though, because he is a terrible lightsaber duelist. The more powerful a Force Builder is, the more bricks he can manipulate. In The Freemaker Adventures, Rowan learns that the Force Builders were once a powerful Jedi sect based on Alistan Nor, but eventually went extinct. He also learns this ability himself, and is considered the last Force Builder in the galaxy. Of course, like the Jedi have their enemies in the Sith, the Force Builders' antagonists are the Sith Breakers, whose ability consists of separating and breaking objects, instead of building them.
Unfortunately, as awesome a concept as it may be, there is no way for the Force Builders to be canon in Star Wars -- and not just because of the whole canonicity debacle. Manipulating LEGO bricks to form new objects seems awfully close to manipulating midichlorians, for example, which would make plots like Emperor Palpatine's (Ian McDiarmid) quest for eternal life much easier to solve. We can still have a lot of fun with it with our own LEGO sets, the AFOLs that we are.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy TV-GAnimatedActionAdventureSci-Fi
Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy follows a group of heroes and villains from across the Star Wars universe who must work together to restore the galaxy after a mysterious force causes widespread destruction. With iconic characters, witty humor, and epic adventures, the team embarks on a quest to rebuild, one brick at a time.
Release Date September 13, 2024 Cast Mark Hamill , Gaten Matarazzo , Michael Cusack , Bobby Moynihan , Marsai Martin , Tony Revolori , Ahmed Best Main Genre Animation Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Disney+ Franchise(s) Lego Star Wars Expand
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
WATCH ON DISNEY+