The 2017 Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz
5,000 Made. A Pre-Convention Online Lottery. Multiple Unique Printed Elements. A Premium Slipcase Box. And The First LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz Ever Produced.
The set that launched LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz — and the only way to get it was to win an online lottery before the convention even began. 41498 introduced Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite as the first Star Wars characters in the BrickHeadz range, in premium slip-cased packaging with multiple printed elements unique to this set. Designer Marcos Bessa was present at NYCC to sign copies.
New York Comic Con 2017 ran October 5–8 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. LEGO brought one Star Wars exclusive: 41498, Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite. Access was via a pre-convention online lottery — the opportunity to enter closed on September 28, 2017, before the event began. Lottery winners could then purchase the set at the LEGO booth for $40. 5,000 were produced, each individually numbered. The set retired within three days of its release.
This collection holds one sealed example: #3026 of 5000. The example carries the signature of designer Marcos Bessa on the back of the outer slipcase.
The First Star Wars BrickHeadz
41498 was the first LEGO Star Wars set in the BrickHeadz range — predating the retail releases of 41485 Finn, 41486 Captain Phasma, and the wider Star Wars BrickHeadz line that followed. Making the debut of Star Wars BrickHeadz an NYCC exclusive generated significant collector frustration at the time, given that Boba Fett is one of the most popular Star Wars characters and his first BrickHeadz appearance was restricted to lottery winners at a single convention. A retail-available Boba Fett BrickHeadz (#41629) was released the following year but depicted the Return of the Jedi version with different details.
The Packaging
41498 is packaged in a two-piece premium format — a rigid outer slipcase over an inner box — significantly different from both the rectangular event exclusive boxes of 2013–2015 and standard LEGO retail packaging. The outer slipcase is tall and narrow, black with a textured surface finish. It carries the LEGO BrickHeadz logo on the bottom face with a seal sticker, and no imagery on the exterior — just the logo strip and the black surface.
The inner box slides out from the slipcase. It carries all the product artwork on a warm orange-to-dark-red halftone dot gradient — the BrickHeadz house style of 2017. The front face carries:
LEGO® BRICK HEADZ™
Ages/edades 10+
41498
Boba Fett™ & Han Solo™ in Carbonite
329 pcs/pzs
Building Toy / Jouet de construction / Juguete para Construir
STAR WARS™
Both builds are shown — Boba Fett on the left, Han Solo in Carbonite on the right — with their BrickHeadz series numbers in red badges at the bottom:
BOBA FETT™ · NYCC 2017 · 27
HAN SOLO™ IN CARBONITE · NYCC 2017 · 28
The left side face shows the back of the Han Solo in Carbonite build — the profile and rear detail of the carbonite block — on a dark red background. The right side face shows the back of the Boba Fett build — his jetpack, back armour, and EE-3 carbine — on an orange background. The top face shows a top-down view of both builds.
The back face of the inner box shows both builds from the rear in a larger format alongside the full legal, distribution, and manufacturing text. The unit number — #3026 — is printed at the bottom of both the left and right side faces of the inner box.
The Builds
Boba Fett — BrickHeadz #27. Built in the standard BrickHeadz format on a 6×6 black base. Sand green helmet, dark red and dark green armour, printed torso details. The jetpack includes twin adjustable thrust nozzles and a detachable missile. He carries an EE-3 carbine rifle. Several printed elements in this build were unique to this set at the time of release — including the helmet, torso, and leg prints. A pearl silver harpoon element is used for the missile tip.
Han Solo in Carbonite — BrickHeadz #28. Built unlike any previous BrickHeadz — most studs face forward rather than up, to replicate the flat profile of the carbonite block. The blocky head and torso are recognisable as BrickHeadz but the arms reach forward rather than hanging at the sides, capturing Han’s frozen pose. Printed elements include the carbonite block surface detail. The build sits on a wider rectangular black base rather than the standard 6×6 square.
The Designer
41498 was designed by Marcos Bessa, a LEGO set designer responsible for a number of high-profile sets including 71040 The Disney Castle and 75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, as well as the wider BrickHeadz range. Bessa was present at NYCC to sign copies. Signed examples appear regularly on the secondary market — his signature appears in black marker on the back face of the outer slipcase. This collection’s example carries his signature.
Current Value
BrickEconomy lists the current value at approximately $555 sealed. Brick Ranker places it at approximately $565, representing a 1,313% increase over the $40 original price. Signed examples command a premium over unsigned examples on the secondary market. The set retired within three days of its NYCC release, giving it one of the shortest shelf lives of any set in this collection.
In This Collection
This collection holds one sealed example: #3026 of 5000, signed by designer Marcos Bessa. The slipcase seal is intact. The box details documented here are from firsthand examination of this example.
What We Don’t Know
- The proportion of signed examples — Bessa was present at NYCC signing copies, and signed examples appear regularly on the secondary market. The proportion of the 5,000-unit run that carries his signature has not been documented.
- Daily lottery allocation — the total run of 5,000 across four convention days suggests approximately 1,250 per day, but whether distribution was evenly split across days or weighted toward certain days has not been confirmed.
- Unique printed elements — current status — several printed elements were unique to this set at the time of release. Whether any have since appeared in other sets has not been systematically documented.
41498-1 — Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite (New York Comic-Con 2017 Exclusive)
BrickLink: 41498-1
Distributed: October 5–8, 2017 | Event: New York Comic Con 2017
Price: $40.00 | Distribution: Pre-convention online lottery (entries closed September 28, 2017)
Contents: 329 pieces — Boba Fett BrickHeadz #27 + Han Solo in Carbonite BrickHeadz #28
Pieces: 329
Quantity: 5,000 individually numbered
Current value: ~$555–565 sealed
Status: Owned × 1 (sealed — #3026, signed by Marcos Bessa)
