41498: Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite

As I described in the history of the BrickHeadz series, the first sets premiered in 2016 at Comic-Con in San Diego. The following year LEGO continued this way of promoting them. First in San Diego again, and then on 5 to 8 October 2017 in New York. And it was at that last event that set number 41498 premiered.

The Comic-Con BrickHeadz sets stir up controversy and even anger. No wonder: hardly anyone had a chance to get them, prices quickly shot up and now they’re downright crazy. For me these figures are basically out of reach. I can’t imagine paying thousands of zlotys for them, and I feel they’re simply not worth that much.

There is, however, one set that was within my reach and that I also consider the most interesting of all the Comic-Con sets. I’m of course talking about 41498: Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite. The Han Solo we got is especially unique, and to this day the whole BrickHeadz series hasn’t seen another figure so different from the rest. A special stand lets you display the figure upright, and you can also lay it on transparent bricks and pretend that the block with Han is floating in the air. I consider this figure the jewel of my whole collection. I managed to get the set at an acceptable price and with shipping from Europe. This way I now own all the BrickHeadz figures from the Star Wars universe.

The promotion of this set began with a graphic showing black, anonymous BrickHeadz figures without any details. It was meant to make LEGO fans curious, and indeed it set off an avalanche of speculation about what it would be. Especially since it was the first BrickHeadz set from the Star Wars universe.

The box is different from the ones we’re used to in other BrickHeadz sets. It’s made of very hard, rigid cardboard, in two parts where one slides out of the other. The outer part is covered with glossy paper, while the inner part imitates the texture of leather. Each set had its own individual number, and mine is 1804.

To get this set you had to take part in a lottery. You signed up online on the event website. Then the people who won the chance to buy the figures were drawn from among the entrants. The purchase had to be made in person at Comic-Con, for $39.99. You could buy it at a special truck, which you can see in the photo below. There’s also a rumour that there were more sets than lottery winners, and if you turned up at the truck at the right time you had a chance to get a set even if you had no luck in the draw. There is, however, no confirmation of these revelations. Certainly not all the winners turned up at Comic-Con, and perhaps this refers to the sets nobody came to collect. What’s certain, though, is that you could meet Marcos Bessa there, who designed this set, and get his signature on the box.

On this occasion I should also add that some sets were given away outside Comic-Con, but there’s no way to verify how many. I mean this promotion that LEGO ran at the time.

source: brickfinder.net

The most popular opinion is that 5000 sets were made. In this interview with Marcos we find confirmation of that number, so I think we can safely assume it’s true. In the same interview we read that the process of creating the figures went very quickly and smoothly, taking between two and three weeks.

source: primagames.com

A year later, in 2018, BrickHeadz fans finally got a Han Solo figure in his normal form. I mean set number 41608. In the same year a new Boba Fett premiered, in set number 41629.

You can find the instructions for this set online, but they’re only photos. A PDF version like the ones we’re used to with other regular sets never saw the light of day. Still, what we have lets you read the necessary details without trouble. One version is a PDF file put together from photos, and links to the other can be found in this thread on reddit.com.