Ultimate Collector Series

Set Review - #75252-1: Imperial Star Destroyer - UCS - Star Wars

Just in time for the next giant Star Wars UCS set to be announced, I’m releasing my set review of the previous one. #75252-1: Imperial Star Destroyer was released back on 1 October 2019 in the US. It retails for $699.99 and contains 4,784 pieces. This makes it $0.146 per piece this is quite high in my opinion. Usually, with such a large set containing so many pieces, they can get it lower, but part of it has to do with the number of large plates in this set. There’s a lot of plastic in there despite the smaller piece count as compared to #75192-1: Millennium Falcon.

I’m finally getting to the review on this one. I actually purchased it back in April 2021. Then I moved and it moved with me still in the box. I finally opened it in late September 2021 and finally got to finish building it during the beginning of November 2021. Most of the time I spent building it was bringing the instructions and a small table outside to watch my kiddos play with their neighbor friends. Lots of questions about what I was building and if they could help. “No thanks. I got it!”

Onto the review…

So it comes in a sturdy box made great to fit the next box. The box with the set box inside is similar to other large sets I have purchased in the past with the LEGO branding. The set box is well protected inside which is as it should be considering the price of this set. From the label, my set was made in Mexico in April 2021. Not bad considering I also purchased it in April.

Here’s the set box with some of the art work. It has some great artwork of the set with different backgrounds. You can see just about every side of the set and the minifigures. You also get a computer generated outline of the ship (on one of the box flaps) which shows the dimensions of the set (43 inches long, 17 inches tall, 26 inches wide). You also get them in metric for those of you not familiar with inches.

Inside the box are four parts boxes and a box with the instructions. Each box has some artwork of the set. I like how the instructions come in a box versus a bag. I didn’t like that the boxes weren’t numbered. You have to sort through the boxes to put the parts bags in order and then if you don’t have the space like me, you have to sort them back into boxes. There are 19 numbered parts bags and then a few bags with larger plates. There are also a few plates not in any bags. Sorry, I didn’t count the total number of bags. You’ll have to zoom in on my picture to try and count them all.

The instructions come in a large, heavy book bound with wire. Inside are some details on the set, designers, and LEGO Star Wars.

Only one sticker on this set. It’s the large label for the description plate. I don’t like these large stickers, but I can’t complain since it is the only one.

The build for this set starts off with a pretty sturdy Technic structure. If you’re not a Technic fan, then this part will not be enjoyable, but I’m always amazed how people can use Technic pieces to put things together and then how they can connect them to System parts.

You’ll also notice the stand below the structure, the description plate, and the two minifigures. Building the stand first definitely helps make the build go easier as you have something to hold it up as you go versus building it later.

As for the minifigures, there were a lot of complaints when this set came out about just having two and how they were just crew members and nothing special. I don’t buy giant sets like this to get minifigures. I do it because I want to assemble a large set. So no real complaints here.

The second set of bags continues the internal structure and you can see the form of the ship start to take place.

The third set of bags builds the side of the ship in the form of a long running plate with a lot of greebling on it. Each side is mostly the same, but just flipped upside down. It clips on pretty easily to the substructure.

The bags labeled four and five build the underside skin in the back on the left and right. Lots of stacking plates together. This is where the build can get somewhat uninteresting as you are just connecting lots of plates together. Then you duplicate it only in a mirror image on the other side. The good part is on the inside of the ship, there are some different colors to mix things up a big.

The sixth bag adds some of the various bays underneath the ship and then a… um… I’m not an expert so I’m not sure what my last picture is… The middle one contains a small Tie Fighter. It also has a hook up where you can connect the Tantive IV as was done in “A New Hope.”

The seventh set of bags starts to build the back of the ship where the engines are located. This part was a bit more exciting to build as it wasn’t just stacking plates on top of each other.

Side note… this build is so big that I couldn’t use my normal low-grade picture taking method of just using the box as a background on a flat surface. So I found a low-tech program to crop out some of the background. It’s not the greatest, but it gets rid of a lot of the clutter in my building area that distracts from the set itself.

The eighth set of bags finishes up the back with the engines and adds a small amount of color in. If I wanted to dump more money in, I could get LED lights to light them up which I think would look cool. For now, I’ll stick with it as is.

Bags nine and ten finish up the front of the ship on the bottom. You build both sides. It is more stacking plates next to each other.

Then when you are done with that, you can move onto bags 11 and 12 with the top front.

Bags 13 and 14 build the left and right sides of the back of the shop on the top. This part was a little more involved as there is some minor greebling and there are some of the gun ports. Each gun is on a swivel and you can angle the turrets on each one. This is a nice touch to a ship devoid of many play type features.

Bag 15 builds the sub structure of what will become the bridge. You get to build with some color other than gray which is nice and it is more than just stacking plates.

Bag 16 finishes up the bridge portion. I failed to take a picture of it alone, but you can see part of it in these pictures and then more in the final versions. I like the large balls on either side which I assume are some sort of radar or sensor. There is some good detailing in my opinion as compared to the ships you see in the movie.

Bags 17 and 18 build up the layer on the top of the ship and surrounding the bridge area. I’m sure someone can tell me what they are meant for, but this section was a change of pace. There were some plates to connect, but a lot of details, some use of SNOT techniques, and lots of greebling to add in detail. Each one just snaps/slides into place like much of the rest of the build for easy assembly/disassembly.

Bag 19 wraps everything up with two attachments that clip onto the previous build to wrap up the top of the ship. The attachments are with Technic pins so you can easily unclip to get to the substructure inside the ship. The nice part about this build is that you can move the set by holding onto the structure inside. It makes it easier to move as compared to the Falcon. I assembled it in one place and then moved it to take pictures and then moved it to a shelf for display. I was a little nervous it would break, but it held up okay.

So here’s the final build from a few angles. Sorry for my crappy graphics editing program to cut out some of the clutter in the background. Maybe I just need to stick to reviews of smaller sets to avoid this problem in the future.

Bag 19 also builds a small version of the Tantive IV so you can re-create the scene from “A New Hope.” The small model is pretty accurate considering the scale and you can attach it with either the clear pole and clip as shown or it also clips into the bay on the bottom of the Star Destroyer. This is a cool feature in my opinion.

Overall, I thought the build was okay. The use of the Technic core was great, but there’s only so much excitement you can get from connecting plates into bigger plates. I think the end set captures the ship quite accurately and I like the shear size of this monster. There were some complaints about the line up the center between the two sides of the ship. I can see why people would complain, but I understand it is LEGO and there is only so much you can do.

The price is pretty steep considering the number of pieces, but you do get a pretty large beast of a set. If I can remember back that far, I think I purchased it during a double VIP point period. Hopefully you can find a deal or some way to cut back on the price to swallow the cost. Has anyone been able to get it at a discount?

Lastly, here’s where I’m displaying it for now. My NLS got some shelves and let me put sets on the tops. I’ve got #75308-1: R2-D2 and then #75192-1: Millennium Falcon. The two big builds look good together I think. Not sure if I will add an AT-AT in there or not. We’ll have to see.

Happy building!

Set Review - #75192 - LEGO Millennium Falcon - Star Wars - Ultimate Collector Series

You can see part 1 HERE.

Part 2 - Assembling the Ship

Time to put it together.  As mentioned in part 1, there are 17 sets of bags.  Normally, I take pictures after each step, but this time I did not as if you want a really detailed review, you can go to some of the sites where they analyze by pieces, build techniques, and differences between other LEGO Millennium Falcon sets.  My plan is to cover the high points and then give my opinion at the end.

The set starts with construction of the internal substructure.  There are many Technic pieces and pins put together to form a pretty solid skeleton for the ship.

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Next up was the addition of the... okay, I'm not an official Star Wars fan... are they legs?  Feet?  Stands?  Whatever they are called, you build a bunch of the same assembly over and over to make the legs.  

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I skipped a few pics to show the assembly of the skeleton with the legs and the internal rooms.  The rooms themselves were all attached via Technic pins.  This was a bit challenging as there are a ton of holes where you could insert pins, but we ended up getting them right.  Once you find the right positioning, they are easy to install.

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I'm not going to spend a ton of time here, but here are the 4 rooms up close for your viewing pleasure.

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Next up, the back gets it's shape.  The Falcon does not have a standard shape so I was curious how the designers made all of the curves.  The next bag helps to get the unique shape started.  It also adds the engines in the back with the use of some light blue colored tubes.  You probably could have done the engines with translucent blue pieces too, but the tubes work just fine.

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The shape of the front comes out next.  What I found most interesting about this part of the build was attaching all of the random nick-knack pieces to create the detail on the outside of the Falcon.  A lot of this portion of the build was attaching these pieces to the outer frame.

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Next up is attaching the bottom of the ship.  I didn't flip it over to take a picture because it was just too challenging to do so given that there aren't a lot of good ways to hold onto the unfinished top.  

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Okay so the next 2 pictures aren't super exciting, but let me explain the first one.  The first one is a picture of the ramp.  The design is pretty complicated, but very impressive.  One reason... you build it outside of the ship and then attach it to the frame.  Another reason, it doesn't require a locking mechanism to stay down or up.  It's designed to stay up or down without any switches or locks.  Pretty cool in my opinion, but maybe I'm overly geeking out over this part.  The second picture is just the ship with the bottom completed and the top on the front started.

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Now for attaching the top.  Again, the pieces are built off of the ship and then attached after the fact.  Most of them are pretty easy to attach although I had trouble attaching a few as there wasn't an easy spot to hold onto the frame to snap some of the sections into the frame.  The ones shown in pictures 1 and 2 are permanently attached versus later on in the build where sections can be removed to see the internals in pictures 3 and 4 below.  

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Almost there... next up is the cockpit.  I found it impressive that the hallway leading to the cockpit does not lock into place via studs or Technic pins.

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Whew!  All done!  I didn't record how long it took me to do.  I also didn't take a separate picture of the minifigures.  You can look them up elsewhere if you want to see them in detail.  

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Congrats if you scrolled down this far... I realize I'm not the first one to post a review, but one more opinion doesn't hurt.  Should you buy this one?  It's pretty pricey.  The price per piece is decent and the build experience was fantastic (in my opinion), but you have to weigh whether you want to spend $800 (or more with tax) if you buy one of these.  Also, you have to decide what to do with it when you are done.  Do you have space to display it?

I enjoyed the build and am glad I bought it.  I was financially able to using some VIP points and profits from my store so it didn't hurt my wallet much.  If you are in a position where you can do it, go for it!  If not, there are a few other options.  You can use one of the various brick rental services on the web.  I have never used one, but it allows you to build the set at least.  Another option is to team up with some friends to build it all together after you each pitch in.  What do you do with it when you're done?  I'm not sure...

What are your thoughts?  Are the costs worth the build?  Should LEGO stop making such huge models that price a lot of fans out of the market?  Leave a comment and let me know what you think or send me an email at store@bricksforbricks.com.

Set Review - #75192 - LEGO Millennium Falcon - Star Wars - Ultimate Collector Series

Part 1 - Unleashing the Falcon

You can see part 2 here.

It's been a bit since I've posted because I broke down and bought the LEGO Millennium Falcon.  I had $155 in VIP points and I used EBates to get another $20 back.  Besides the discount I also got a Darth Vader Pod polybag (#5005376-1).  I ordered it from LEGO Shop at Home, but at the time of ordering it in early May 2018, it was also available at Target, Walmart, and Amazon.com in the US.

LEGO Shop at Home shipped it off pretty quickly and I got a notice from FedEx that we would have to sign for the package.  I think this is the first ever LEGO order that someone had to sign for.  The email I got said that the package would be 34 pounds.  Whoa!  Here it is:

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Like many of the other big sets these days, the LEGO Group has packaged the set inside another box.  The first time I saw this was in the Porsche 911 GT3 RS (#42056).  It is a great way to protect some of the sets that cost a bit more.  If you're going to put a bunch of money into a LEGO set, it had better show up in pristine condition.  This set up helps to make it happen and I'm glad the LEGO Group made this change to their product.

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The inner box had a few labels.  Of note to me was that this set was made in April of 2018 and I purchased it in early May 2018.  Considering the LEGO Group's trouble in keeping up with demand for this set, they definitely made up for it with some sped up production.  Also of note is that this set was made in Mexico which I'm pretty sure most sets sold in the US are made there.

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Here are some pics of the set box itself.  The front shows a good illustration of the set from Episode VI: Empire Strikes back with a Tie Fighter and Cloud City.  On a side note, there were rumors about this set on other earlier sets and there have been a lot of rumors about a Cloud City set coming out.  Could this picture be a rumor for it?  The back side shows the set itself with some of the details.  

The sides have a schematic, the minifigures, and the other side has a picture of the set with a write up about the set itself.  

I included the top just because.  Nothing really special there.

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Inside the big box are 4 smaller boxes with some Falcon art and a few quotes from the movies.  I did some reading of other reviews prior to building and learned that you have to open them all to sort out the bags.  I opened them all and with my helpers, sorted bags 1 through 9.  We put 10 through 17 back in the boxes for later.  I didn't take a picture of all the contents like I usually do because of lack of space to take a giant picture with all of the bags.  I think everyone gets the idea anyway.

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A set this big and they had to include a sticker sheet.  Thankfully there are only 12, but still for the price, couldn't they have printed on the stickers?  Most are fairly small and easy to put on, but the big label is a pain as you'll see.

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Okay so there is the opening... next up will be the build.  I was up against a move so I had to get it built quickly.  Thankfully a friend and 2 of his boys pitched in to help and made sure we could get it done beforehand.  The build will be up next so stay tuned...