Things were looking pretty grim for the LEGO Star Wars Rebels Empire in 2014, where the total count of LEGO Star Wars Rebels set vehicles released was Rebels: 2, Empire: 0. Luckily for the Empire (and bad for civilians everywhere), the first Imperial LEGO Star Wars Rebels vehicles will be arriving as part of the LEGO Star Wars 2015 sets wave in January. And what better place to start than with a long-forgotten design abandoned from the Empire Strikes Back? Finally coming to stores this winter: it’s the LEGO Star Wars AT-DP 75083!

When Pablo Hidalgo revealed the Imperial AT-DP at the Rebels panel at New York Comic Con 2013 (yes, I was in the audience), I had a feeling that it would be among the first vehicles we’d see released as part of the LEGO Star Wars Rebels toys line. After all, there’s just no way LEGO could pass on a new Imperial Walker. And it turns out that they couldn’t–the LEGO AT-DP will be released in January 2015.

The Imperial All Terrain Defense Pod (AT-DP) was designed by concept artist Joe Johnston way back in 1979 as a potential Empire Strikes Back design, but it’s taken 35 years for it to finally make its debut in the premiere of Star Wars Rebels that aired this week! If a vehicle that waited 35 years to make its first canonical appearance isn’t deserving of its own LEGO Star Wars set, I don’t know what is!

The single heavy cannon on the Imperial AT-DP honestly looks a whole lot more powerful to me than the smaller armaments on the classic Imperial AT-ST. This is definitely a worthwhile twist to the Chicken Walkers that we’ve all come to know and love (or hate) over the years. I bet those pesky Ewoks wouldn’t have survived a few blasts from this!

The LEGO Rebels AT-DP 75083 set will come with four minifigures, of which three are troop-builders. You’ll get a generic LEGO Stormtrooper minifigure, as well as two LEGO AT-DP Pilot minifigures that fit into the vehicle’s cockpit (one to drive the AT-DP, and the other to function as gunner). The fourth figure in the set is a unique, named character who’s appearing for the very first time in LEGO figure form…

If you’ve seen the first couple episodes of Star Wars Rebels, you already know that Agent Kallus is a big, fat jerk. He’s out to foil the Rebels’ plans and make a name for himself, and he doesn’t mind murdering his own troops just to relieve some frustration.

I already hate Agent Kallus after only seeing him for a few minutes of screentime, so it’ll be great catharsis to have the ability to explode and reassemble the LEGO Agent Kallus minifigure included in the LEGO AT-DP 75083 set whenever he particularly irritates me. LEGO 75083 is the exclusive set containing the Agent Kallus minifigure, so if you want him (even if it’s just to shoot missiles at him), this is the only place to get him.

The LEGO 75083 AT-DP set from Star Wars Rebels will be released officially in January 2015. The set is expected to carry a retail price of $59.99 for 500 pieces, which is about 12 cents per piece and not the greatest. Even so, we haven’t had a new canonical Walker in over half a decade now, so I’m all over this set when it arrives this winter. Stay tuned here and on the Bricks and Bloks Facebook Page, as I’ll be discussing every one of the LEGO Star Wars 2015 sets at length (maybe at too much length!).

What are your thoughts on the LEGO AT-DP, LEGO fans? Does getting a long-long Star Wars Original Trilogy design in LEGO form get your heart pumping with excitement, or does this vehicle seems like a boring rehash of the LEGO AT-ST that you can live without?