LEGO Star Wars Magazine Issue 140: One Trooper Guaranteed, One Left to Chance
Stand in front of the right UK supermarket shelf this week and you can play a strange little game. Two copies of the same magazine, same cover, same issue number, sitting side by side — and different LEGO minifigures sealed to the front of each one. One shopper reported a copy carrying an Imperial Commando as its bonus figure; the copy next to it had two of them. Elsewhere, buyers have pulled a Mandalorian pilot, a Praetorian Guard, or a plain Stormtrooper out of the same issue.
That is the unusual situation LEGO Star Wars magazine issue 140 arrived in when it landed on UK newsstands in late August, and it makes this one of the more interesting releases Immediate Media has put out this year.
What Every Copy Has in Common
Before the lottery element, the fixed part. Every copy of the issue carries the same magazine underneath: comic strips, pull-out posters, puzzle and activity pages aimed at roughly the 6–11 age bracket, and competition pages with LEGO sets as prizes. It is the standard Immediate Media format, and if you have read any issue in this run you know exactly what the book itself delivers.
Every copy also carries the same headline gift: a 327th Star Corps Clone Trooper minifigure, complete with pauldron. That is the figure to anchor your decision on, because it is the only thing about this issue you can actually count on.
The 327th Star Corps Trooper, Up Close
The 327th Star Corps are the yellow-marked clones who served under Jedi General Aayla Secura, most visibly in the Felucia sequence of Revenge of the Sith. LEGO revisited the legion in the 75431 327th Clone Troopers Battle Pack, and the magazine figure matches that battle pack design — which is precisely why it matters. Battle packs are built for army building, and army builders always want one more trooper than the packs provide. A UK exclusive covermount that adds a single 327th trooper to the pool is exactly the kind of supplementary figure that gets absorbed into display shelves quickly.
The pauldron is the detail worth noting. It marks this out as more than a bare-bones repeat, and on a shelf of yellow-striped clones it reads as the sergeant in the row.
The Second Figure Is a Coin Flip
Now the wrinkle. LEGO Star Wars magazine issue 140 shipped as a double-gift release, and the second figure was not standardised across retailers. Documented pulls so far include an Imperial Commando matching the 75373 Ambush on Mandalore Battle Pack, a Mandalorian pilot repurposed from the Fang Fighter vs TIE Interceptor set, a Praetorian Guard, and a standard Stormtrooper — plus at least one packaging mix-up that doubled a figure. Which one you get appears to depend on where the copy was bought, and possibly on luck within the same shop.
For a buyer, that cuts both ways. If you simply want more troopers, every outcome is a decent one — the whole slate is army-builder material. If you are chasing one specific figure, treat any listing that promises a particular bonus with caution unless the seller can show you the actual sealed copy.
Where This Issue Sits for Collectors
The scarcity story here is the usual one for the line, with one twist. These magazines are UK newsstand exclusives from Immediate Media — they never appear on LEGO.com and are not distributed at retail in the US or Canada. Print runs are large, so nothing is rare on day one; supply dries up when the next issue takes the shelf slot. Issue 141, due in the second half of September with a Death Trooper gift, will do exactly that.
The twist is the variable second figure. A sealed copy of this issue is not one product but several possible ones, and that tends to keep sealed examples interesting to collectors long after the shelf date — the same dynamic we noted on the double-gift Jango Fett issue earlier in the run.
A Practical Tip Before You Order
One habit serves you well on any double-gift issue, and especially this one: ask for a photo of the actual copy, not a stock image, and get the identity of the second figure confirmed in writing before you commit. On a standard issue that is a nicety. On LEGO Star Wars magazine issue 140, it is the difference between knowing what you are buying and entering a raffle.
If you are building out the clone ranks, browse our LEGO Star Wars collection for sets and figures to field alongside the 327th, check the LEGO magazine range to see which issues we currently have in hand, or read our guide to the LEGO Star Wars Magazine for how the UK release schedule and covermount gifts work.