20 replies to this topic

[KimT]

10143 Death Star II
Production year: 2005
Pieces: 3441
Minifigs: 0
Price: 299 USD
peeron.com
10143 Gallery

The Review

Ph4tDuD3:"DS review!!!?!!! - u 2 kewl 2 do diz"
Me:"Yes"
Ph4tDuD3:"Kewl..do u have pix of the minifigs?"
Me:"Erhm..what minifigs?"
Ph4tDuD3:"The ph4t figs from the DS!!1"
Me:"This is the other Death Star"
Ph4tDuD3:"OMFG there's more than 1"
Me:"Yes"
Ph4tDuD3:"keeeeewl. must have!!"
Me:"Goodbye" [pushes the incinerator button]
Ph4tDuD3:"wut?! nooooooooooooooooooo..........."
and on that note, let's start the reivew of the UCS DEATH STAR II.
Now this is an older set (2005) and I've only gotten around to buying it a short while ago. It took me around 2 evenings to build it and I must say that I am fairly impressed by this set.
Time for a box pic:

The Build:
Since I started building this huge (small moon size) set at Morten's appartment, I wanted to keep as few polybags open at any given time as possible. With this set it is actually possible to have a minimum of bricks scattered over a table or two while building. Not sure why, but the division of bricks in the different polybags just work very well. And that is great with a set this size - 3441 bricks.
The building of the set is divided into several "Build this times x". For example the upper and lower part of the "unshielded" DS are completely alike. This is difficult to see when looking at the model, but heaven when building it:



And this is how they solved the problem of having the wings connected to the buttom of the Death Star - geniously done IMO:



Note that in the first pic the "skeleton" is easily seen. "The skeleton" holds the X to which both the upper and lower part is "clicked" on with technic pins. Also there's a steering wheel (I'm sure there's a pirate name for that   ) like the one in the bottom, in the top of the model to hold the upside "wings".
So after having build duplicate wings (upper and lower), the "belt" (all the way around the star) and the upper and lower part of the "unshielded" side, it was time to step back and watch the Death Star II in all it's glory:








Such a great UCS set.

Now I did have a few "huh's" during the build:
HUH! #1

In the instruction the technic lesser-dragon-head should be dark grey, but I got it in light gray. Go figure and thank you replacement parts. I've experienced this before and apparently TLG uses different colours when "out-of-stock". All one has to do is call them and ask for the right colour and it's on it's way
Still a HUH! experience.
HUH! #2

Again it appears that TLG changed the design of the technic axleholed 1x2 bricks. The bottom has changed and I got the set where it was mixed up between "old" and "new" version.
Not that annoying, but still got me perplexed as to: "Am I doing this right?" Kinda stressing to consider taking most of the star apart to check the remaining 231 technic bricks 1x2 with axlehole.

Now for a verdict:
     :
1: looks great
2: even my "wife" likes it - female appeal
3: it's a great build
4: the polybags work for you
5: it's Star Wars
6: the design is awesome

     :
1: it wobbles if you touch it
2: very small parts come off, if you touch it
3: parts come off when you try to move it somewhere safe
4: zero swooshability

So in short (yes even shorter]:
The DSII is a well designed UCS set that has a great design. Like most other UCS sets, it is not meant for play - hence don't play with it.

UCS verdict (the numbers)
5/10 (design++/instructions+-/bricks+-/sturdiness--/colourscheme+-)  
design: awesome look and great greeble set    
instructions: easy to follow steps with bricks mentioned   hard to see wether it's black or dark grey  
bricks: loads of great bricks a zillion bricks of the same type
sturdiness: DON'T TOUCH   
colouscheme: grey in grey with a little touch of black    

Need a missing instruction?
Then click the logo

[Lasse D]

Thanks for the review KimT - it comes at a... confusing time  

You can take off the top disk and lift it like the Millennium Falcon from the top  

Now. I actually don't like this set that much. It takes about 5 hours and 15 minutes to build if you do it in one go, but the repeating sections makes this built the most tedious I have experienced.

It has way too many holes from which you can see the colorful skeleton and is overpriced compared to the older 10030 ISD. I remember thinking it was too expensive when it was 50% off at S@H!

Even the Snowspeeder was "kewler" to less than half the price:

[Legoman]

Hmmm, ive still got this set and  i must say, i think you did a good job of reviewing it.

But...

Overall, i hate the set, probably the worst UCS set so far (apart from the naboo fighter but that hardly even counts as UCS) from my experience.

Unless you really really want it and have nothing better to spent your $$$ on, in that case go for it.

But in my case, it was a very repetitive build and final model was quite... well, bland, not must variety to it, if you know what i mean.for the price, i would really reccomend the UCS star destroyer, because thats a much better story..

[Zarkan]

Thanks for the review.  

Eh, honestly, I though this was awful ever since I first saw the pictures. To me, an incomplete grey ball doesn't really work as a special UCS kit, for the sole reason that it's BORING. Extremely so.  

Now, the new Death Star playset is a whole different story. They should have done that in the first place.  

Edited by Grevious, 24 June 2008 - 09:12 PM.

[JimButcher]

even though i never liked UCS, i absolutley hate this one. Sure, its great on display, but the build looks extremley boring to me, just stacking plate after plate. And as you said, its going to break a little if you touch it. The only intersting part for me is the firing laser. Although i do have to say the proce isnt too bad, i still wouldt buy it. And no minifigs
so thanks for the review, but ill pass on this one. The new minifig scale DS looks awesome though, and this might have hyped some up who are buying the new DS,

[Vaders_son]

Grevious, on Jun 24 2008, 10:12 PM, said:

Thanks for the review.  

Eh, honestly, I though this was awful ever since I first saw the pictures. To me, an incomplete grey ball doesn't really work as a special UCS kit, for the sole reason that it's BORING. Extremely so.  

Now, the new Death Star playset is a whole different story. They should have done that in the first place.  

There's nothing to add to Grevious' post. Thanks but I never like the big grey ball.


Benny

[darkrebellion]

Great review KimT   . I like this set (even if I don´t own it) because it looks simple fantastic to display. I just have one question: The mini Executor can be moved around the Death Star II or its attached to that place? Thanks for the review   .

[Morten]

Good job KimT, it´s a really nice set. It will be interesting to see the size of DS2 UCS compared with the new Death Star playset.
Keep up the great regulator job you are doing.

Morten

[KimT]

darkrebellion, on Jun 25 2008, 12:39 AM, said:

Great review KimT   . I like this set (even if I don´t own it) because it looks simple fantastic to display. I just have one question: The mini Executor can be moved around the Death Star II or its attached to that place? Thanks for the review   .

It's attached to the DS and cannot move as such.
Though there is 4 "spots" where it can be attached to the DS.
Reading your comments on this set, I can see why TLG has been forced to put it on sale on the US S@H.
I don't agree that the ISD is better - IMHO they're exactly them same - big and grey
This is a question of personal liking - which is the coolest DS or ISD.
Not comparative.
I'd still call this an ok UCS when looking at it individually, but there sure is a lot other UCS sets that would get a better score than 5/10.

KimT

[Nikola Bathory]

morten_sonne, on Jun 25 2008, 03:36 AM, said:

It will be interesting to see the size of DS2 UCS compared with the new Death Star playset.

I was thinking about the same!!!
As for the review - thanks!!  

[I Scream Clone]

Great concise review KimT, though its not for me, you held my interest all the way through! Thanks
ISC

[Shoc]

I think it's a very weird and boring UCS set, but... What a lot of grey plates! You could build something much better out of them, but it would be fairly flat.
It looks very fragile though   , my UCS AT-ST is...

Edited by Shoc, 25 June 2008 - 10:28 AM.

[Dr. Brick]

I also don't feel this is a very good set.
But is that old grey? In which case it would be a nice part pack...
Dr. Brick

[commanderbly42]

Thanks for the review KimT!  Honestly, like the others have said, I don't find any appeal in UCS sets, especially this one.  It's just a big, incomplete, grey ball.  

[Ralph_S]

The build was a bit boring and I suppose a big grey ball isn't all that interesting, but since the Death Star II in the movie is a big grey ball too, I don't see the problem. I didn't think it was particularly fragile. I don't care about minifigs or playability either. A few plusses: in my opinion it looked pretty damn impressive sitting in my LEGO room and the construction is really clever.

All in all, I actually liked this one, but perhaps I have a different expectation of sets than most of you. Sets are mainly parts packs and would you look at the quantity of grey plate in this thing! (It's new grey BTW). I paid half price for it at shop@home UK, which is still a _lot_ more than half price from the US, and I didn't regret it for a second.

Cheers,
Ralph

[Lasse D]

KimT, on Jun 25 2008, 08:34 AM, said:

I don't agree that the ISD is better - IMHO they're exactly them same - big and grey
This is a question of personal liking - which is the coolest DS or ISD.
Not comparative.

Here are some advantages that makes ISD win for me:
- A lot more fun to build with less repetitions
- It is easier to build alternate models from it! (How many alternate models of the DS2 have you seen?)
- The bricks are more varied.
- You get magnets!
- It is a larger set if you look at the size

[Legoman]

Lasse D, on Jun 25 2008, 06:04 PM, said:

Here are some advantages that makes ISD win for me:
- A lot more fun to build with less repetitions
- It is easier to build alternate models from it! (How many alternate models of the DS2 have you seen?)
- The bricks are more varied.
- You get magnets!
- It is a larger set if you look at the size

- It's more intresting to look at
- It's got more variety of nooks and crannys

  

[Eilif]

Wow, what a letdown.  I recently picked up this set, and I looked up this review to see what I was getting into.  Not good news.  The silver lining is that it was a "Damaged box" deal at Brickworld, so it only cost me $100 (half off the already lowered price) so it was definatley worth it as a parts pack, if nothing else.  

It's the last unopened/unbuilt "large" kit in my collection, so even if it is repetetive, I am going to build it anyway. It is likely however that I may substitute pieces to do away with the colored interior.  I've already determined that after it sits on display for a while, I want to do a Zepplin as an alternate build. Looking at the parts list it looks like its the perfect set for such an undertaking.

[jmadd58]

I'd love to get my hands on one of these, but you'd need about three jobs to justify the prices of this guy on eBay. Fantastic review KimT!

[gotoAndLego]

KimT, on Jun 24 2008, 03:22 PM, said:

4: zero swooshability

I think its very swooshable, assuming you swoosh it at the same speed it moves in the movie. :D

While I would never do something like this, I bet if you packed this sucker with a bunch of M80 firecrackers it would make for a fantastic end to a stop motion movie. With it being as delicate as you say it is I bet you wouldn't destroy any parts.

Edited by gotoAndLego, 03 April 2010 - 02:57 PM.

[Aeroeza]

Dang!

So much negativity on a such spectacular set! This baby provides an amazing backdrop to any Lego inspired Star Wars diorama. And lets face it Lego tends to be a rectangular brick and somehow we now have a sphere!!!

Guys... its a UCS. It accurately depicts the on screen icon and put plain and simple is a wonderful sculptural piece of work in its own right. I agree with KimT in that the removal of the laser and Super Star Destroyer gives it more authenticity but to call it a gray golf ball or ignore its inherent accuracy is simply to miss the point. It proved to be the best build to share with someone, be it family or friend due, to its repeated sections and impressive finish. Its a clever build and to criticize it for lack of playability or (I suspect for many) its absence of minifigs is just absurd and possibly why Lego has not released a proper UCS in nearly two years.

I reckon many out there would love a UCS Tyderium, Imperial Walker or Slave 1 with a spectacular piece count be it minifig scale or just darn impressive in its own right. Sadly for those who love these sculptural masterpieces we're stuck with simple toys with 'play features' and cute minifigs. Clever in their own right but lacking the clout and purity of the old UCS line. Let's hope some diversity of product is just around the corner else 10179 was the last of the truly brave financial gambles of the Star Wars line....