REVIEW: 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

Anyone excited about this brand new LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City? Or is it below your expectations when you first see this official images? Ponder no more and travel back in time in this intergalactic journey of this iconic arc of Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back. Allow me to share my thoughts in this latest reviewing project with our Eurobricks community. This is a massive review and it involve long building process to make this possible. Special thanks to LEGO CEE and Eurobricks for giving me this wonderful reviewing opportunity. Let's take a closer look at this first ever re-release LEGO Cloud City since its first inception in 2003 from this first ever 10213 Cloud City with a total piece count of 698 pieces and racking about USD$2,000 in secondary market for a brand new mint box. This is my opening remarks for my review ahead. Furthermore, I also like to add a note and mark this review as my 200th review in Eurobricks.  

Name: 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City
Theme: LEGO System / Star Wars / formerly known as Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) and now known as Master Builder Series (MBS)
Year: 2018
Pieces: 2812
Minifigs: 18 minifigures plus 2 droids
Price: USD $349.99, GBP 299.99, EURO 349.99, SGD NA
Resources: Brickset, BrickLink, Brick Insights

An original box image taken by WhiteFang in the LEGO Vault visit in May 2014

An original box image of the 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City

Back view of the original box image of the 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City


A closer look at the playability feature from the official box art (1)
" at the playability feature from the official box art (2)
" at the playability feature from the official box art (3)
" at the playability feature from the official box art (4)
" at the playability feature from the official box art (5)
" at the playability feature from the official box art (6)

The packets are placed close to the brim of the box


The highly anticipated UCS or MBS playset in this iconic D2C Original Trilogy scene

Like the half of global AFOL sentiments, I stand on the side of excitement with minor rants when TLG announced with their official press release.  I am very elated with the release of this brand new 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City. One of the key motivation behind my keen interest is because I had previously missed the 10123 Cloud City back in 2003 due to its high price and I simply cannot afford it as I am still a student. Hence, moving in lightspeed of 15 years ahead, I finally have the chance to see this iconic scene in modern LEGO Star Wars setting accompany with newer bricks, sophisticated building techniques and excellent minifigures' designs. Cloud City is one of my wishlist of LEGO Star Wars re-release and I belong to the second generation of Cloud City residents. It is very uncommon for LEGO to release such a mega playset. If we can recall the history of UCS equivalents, these are some of the awesome sets like the 10188 Death Star in 2008, an slight update version of 75159 Death Star in 2016 and 10236 Ewok Village in 2013. Of course, who could ever forget the sheer disappointment of the 75098 Assault on Hoth in 2016. Now with the latest 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City, we now have a good list of play scenes revolving around Star Wars Original Trilogy (OT) Episodes IV to VI. That reason alone, is the second motivation factor for me to jump onto the bandwagon which is the love of Star Wars OT. So far, TLG had been placing a greater emphasis on OT designs on UCS LEGO sets since 2000. This could also be the reason since most of the AFOLs grew up with Star Wars OT movies since 1980s. 

I have been coining the word 'UCS' for the above paragraph. An update for this D2C (Direct 2 Consumer) playset by TLG is mentioned that it will be re-branded as Master Builder Series (MBS). This attempt is so as not to confuse with the very complex building process which revolved around large scale UCS models. You can refer to this discussion to find out more. In my personal opinion, it does not affect me whether it is called UCS or MBS but I guess it make dedicated UCS fans much happier to see playsets like this being de-linked with the name of UCS. 

The focus on Betrayal at Cloud City is because they (Princess Leia, Han Solo and friends) are seeking refuge in Cloud City from Han's old friend (Lando), so they could escape the clutches of the Empire pursuit. However, the grim plot thicken and Lando had to do what it need to safeguard his own people by betraying his friends by handing them over to the Empire. Luke Skywalker didn't complete his Jedi training with Master Yoda and left promptly to Cloud City to save his friends (even knowing it is a trap for him). That pretty much surmise that particular final arc of Episode V. This set is quite a challenging and is suitable for builders above 14 years old. Most of the time. LEGO Star Wars sets are largely focused on vehicles and spacecrafts. We don't get a lot of playsets especially of this scale. 

Special thanks to the LEGO Model Designer - Hans Burkhard Schlomer and LEGO Graphic Designer - Madison O'Neil for making this release possible. Of course, not to forget mentioning the welcome message from the Design Director of LEGO Star Wars. There are also some interesting pages from the instruction manual which you can view here and here. 

Overview of the illustrated built over the 13 milestones (preview)


Step 5 to 6
Step 7 to 8
Step 9 to 10
Step 11 to 13

The sealed box came with 25 mint packs and is divided with the main box and sub box. The main box contain 15 mint packs and the sub box contain 9 mint packs. The 25 mint packs are numbered and grouped from 1 to 13. The instruction manual and sticker is kept in this manner. With reference to the overview image above in the instruction manual, the entire built is divided into 13 significant milestones. The building content are grouped into 13 main building processes, with stage 1 (1 pack), stage 2 (2 packs), stage 3 (1 pack), stage 4 (2 packs), stage 5 (3 packs), stage 6 (2 packs), stage 7 (3 packs), stage 8 (3 packs), stage 9 (1 pack), stage 10 (2 packs), stage 11 (1 pack), stage 12 (2 packs) and stage 13 (2 packs). After the set is built, these are the remaining spare parts from Packet 1, Packet 2 (exclude black robe), Packet 5, Packet 6, Packet 7, Packet 8, Packet 9, Packet 10, Packet 11, Packet 7, Packet 7. The content also included two sticker sheets. 

I love this message very much - sub box


A closer look at these awesome LEGO minifigures from the official box art


The massive large assortment of minifigures in this latest LEGO Star Wars playset

Firstly, let's run through the minifigures section. The 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City is hailed one of the top 10 LEGO sets with the highest amount of minifigures. This playset include an astounding number of 18 minifigures which comprise of the following: Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker in Bespin outfits, Chewbacca, C-3PO, Lando Calrissian, Lobot, 2 Cloud City Guards, 2 Cloud Car Pilots, Leia and Han in Hoth outfits, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, 2 Stormtroopers and an Ugnaught, plus R2-D2 and an IG-88 droid, versus the predecessor of just merely 7 minifigures. I believe TLG had captured the essence of the key characters for this final scene in the Episode V: Empire Strike Back. It had included numerous characters for the various play scenes to make the playability wholesome. The common and yet essential main protagonist and antagonist characters such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO and Darth Vader. Star Wars fans will not find these characters unfamiliar and there are abundance of these characters in various design rehashes with slight update on the minifigures' designs. In addition, what we are keen on are these uncommon and some new characters or its refreshing appearances. 

 

The protagonist minifigures

Let's examine and take a closer look at these protagonist minifigures in greater details. From left to right: they are Chewbacca, Princess Leia,  Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, R2-D2 and C-3PO. Among these new minifigures' design are the notable Princess Leia in the lovely dress gown printed on the new skirt piece, followed by Luke Skywalker battle outfit against Darth Vader and the new side-printed leg piece from Han Solo. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe the rest of these minifigures had appeared in other sets before, especially the pair of droids. You can take a look at the detailed back printing and five of these minifigures contain alternate facial expressions. I love how these alternate facial appearances turn out when you put them at the front. 

The neutral minifigures of Cloud City

Now let's take a closer look at these neutral minifigures from the Cloud City. From left to right: they are Cloud Car Pilots, Lando Calrissian, Lobot and Cloud City Guards. Among these lot, I particularly love the new dual cap design of Lando which add lots of realism to the actual character reference. Other than Lando which interest me, the new Cloud Car Pilots also excite me greatly with this new outfit design which I sure hope to see more of its appearance next time. You can take a look at the detailed back printing and three of these minifigures contain alternate facial expressions. You can view how these alternate facial appearances turn out when you put them at the front. 

These neutral minifigures are also where I begin to pay more attention such as the charismatic Lando Calrissian. Till this date, he had appeared in a total of 6 sets inclusive of the recent Solo Movie. You can see how much it had improved from one of the older variant. Lobot had only appeared twice and one of it is the SW Planet Series. Can you guess which is which? The Cloud City Guard or otherwise known as the Bespin Guard are actually from the same 75146 Star Wars Advent Calendar 2016. Any difference at all? 

The antagonists minifgures

Lastly, let's take a closer look at these antagonist minifigures. From left to right: they are Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, IG-88 (bounty hunter) and Ugnaught. Among these lot, my favourite is the new Boba Fett design. It had the same arm print on the side of the arms (both side), which also lead me wonder how much SW fans remember one of the most expensive detailed printed Boba Fett back in 2003 from the very same Cloud City. This re-release of the same improved variant is so much nicer. Likewise for Ugnaught, it is nice to see a rather different print variant to see an assorted variety. You can take a look at the detailed back printing and four of these minifigures when removed the helmets also contain alternate facial expressions. You can take a closer look at the parts from Darth Vader and Boba Fett when they are being taken apart.

As far as I remembered, Ugnaught had only appeared once in recent 2016 while, IG-88 (bounty hunter) had appeared thrice and the infamous Boba Fett (bounty hunter) had appeared in 15 times from its young child appearance to the nasty mercenary. The stormtroopers are commonly available. I did not own a recent Darth Vader design, so this built and design was new to me when I compare my existing Darth Vader with this updated design. Similarly, I had also put other Mandalorian variants together as well which I hope you will like it. 

The entire building content for Packet 1


The completed built for Packet 1


The packet 1 focused largely on the building of the Landing Platform and it include Lobot. This building process is relatively fast and easy since it largely rely on plates and bricks. 

The entire building content for Packet 2


The completed built for Packet 2

I am particularly enjoyed building this packet. Packet 2 merely focused on the built of Slave I and in this packet contain Lando and Boba Fett. The built is a mixture of few technic bricks to induce playability accompanied with the system bricks. 

The entire building content for Packet 3


The completed built for Packet 3

Packet 3 is building the foundation of Cloud City and it only made up of large 2x6 bricks and beyond. This process took me less than 10 minutes to complete and is the easiest among all packets. It felt abit of an early timeout for me. 

The entire building content for Packet 4


The completed built for Packet 4

Packet 4 focused on laying the base and plates for the Banquet Room section. It also include two stormtroopers in this packet. 

The entire building content for Packet 5


The completed built for Packet 5

Packet 5 focused on laying down the interior and various fittings within the banquet room section. This also include placing the key furniture and decorations. This stage also largely made me applied lots of stickers which is nice and understandable. At the same time, it does give me a strange feeling that I know it will cause peeling problem over the course of time. This packet include the minifigures of Han Solo and Princess Leia. 

The entire building content for Packet 6


The completed built for Packet 6

Packet 6 focused on building the grand entrance of the Landing Platform which will lead to the interior of Cloud City. This also include a R2-D2 droid. 

The entire building content for Packet 7


The completed built for Packet 7

Packet 7 focused on laying the base and plates for the Interrogation chamber, Garbage Processing room and Twin-Pod Cloud Car hangar section. 

The entire building content for Packet 8


The completed built for Packet 8

Packet 8 focused on laying the surrounding structure for the Interrogation chamber, Garbage Processing room and Twin-Pod Cloud Car hangar section. It also include a small built of the staircase for the Carbon Freeze Chamber. This packet contain two Cloud City Guards and Chewbacca. 

The entire building content for Packet 9


The completed built for Packet 9

Packet 9 focused on laying the surrounding room details for the Interrogation chamber, Garbage Processing room and Twin-Pod Cloud Car hangar section. This packet also contain IG-88, C-3PO and Ugnaught. 

The entire building content for Packet 10


The completed built for Packet 10

Packet 10 focused on laying the top overview of the Cloud City playset which represent closely as a micro-built from afar. In addition, which I did not take from this photo, is the four top rows that divide distinctively into four sections. 

The entire building content for Packet 11


The completed built for Packet 10

Time out from the building of Cloud City. Because packet 11 is now focusing on building the Twin-Pod Cloud Car. This packet also include the two Cloud Car Pilots.  

The entire building content for Packet 12


The completed built for Packet 12

Packet 12 is building up the Carbon Freeze Chamber with the extensive use of technic bricks to demonstrate its playability. It also include another set of variants of Han Solo and Princess Leia. 

The entire building content for Packet 13


The completed built for Packet 13

The final packet 13 is focusing on building the sky corridor which illustrate the mighty lightsaber duel. This last packet also contain Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to complete the overall building process. It was an awesome great bricking experience to complete this whole set over 3 nights at a very enjoyable pace.  

The completed built of the Cloud City


The Cloud City is incredibly big at a height of 16cm high, 58cm wide and 56cm depth (which you need a very deep depth to push your whole playset in your display safely with a minimum of 60cm). The Cloud City is suspended high among the pastel clouds of the planet, Bespin. It is a floating metropolis of sophisticated beauty and political freedom. The Cloud City exists not only as a mining colony, extracting valuable Tibanna gas from the depths of the giant planet, but also secretly served as a sanctuary for those trying to escape from the Empire. 

Next, I like to show and demonstrate how sturdy this whole playset structure is and how easy it can be used to carry around after removing those components. 

Aerial view of the Cloud City playset with the removable components taken out


Bottom view of the Cloud City playset


I can hold it with one hand and the overall built is firm

After seeing how strong and sturdy the whole playset is, let's dwell into the rest of the playing features. Mind you, I was holding with one hand and taking the camera on the other hand to snap this shot.  

The massive detailed playset is divided into 4 key structured sections of Cloud City where each depict an iconic recognisable scenes from the movie. From the bird eye view, there’s a landing platform accompanied with Boba Fett’s Slave I ship, a detailed promenade, a banquet room, a garbage processing room with incinerator, and a sensor balcony for epic Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader lightsaber duels. There’s also a carbon freeze chamber with a function to ‘freeze’ Han Solo in carbonite storage, an interrogation chamber and prison cell, a secondary landing platform for the Twin-Pod Cloud Car, and etc. 

Let me bring you to the respective playing components and assortment together.  

The completed built of Slave I

This is the completed built of the updated design of LEGO Slave I. Some details which I found in the instruction manual about Slave I. It is a modified Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft. It is originally piloted by his father, Jango Fett before he was killed by Mace Windu during the Clone Wars. The max speed for Slave I is 1000km per/hr. The minifigure scale Slave I is pretty compact and iconic at an instant glance and if this was priced at a regular price tier like about USD$49.99 or equivalent. I will buy this in a heartbeat. TLG had also previously produced and appeared in 5 different production timelines. Starting from the first LEGO 7144 Slave I in 2000, LEGO 7153 Jango Fett's Slave I in 2002, LEGO 6209 Slave I in 2006, LEGO 8097 Slave I in 2010 and the recent LEGO UCS 75060 Slave I in 2015. 

You can take a moment and enjoy this close up views of the Slave I from the aerial view, side view and back view. It also contain advanced weapon system like the dual blasters and stud shooters. The ventilation shaft can also be adjusted by moving inwards or outwards. When Slave I is about to depart, the forward thrust is adjusted upwards. All flight controls of Slave I can be controlled from a single cockpit. Most importantly, Slave I has the capability to carry the precious cargo. 

The completed built of the Twin-Pod Cloud Car


This is the completed built of the updated design of LEGO Cloud Car. Some details which I found in the instruction manual about Twin-Pod Cloud Car. It is designed by Bespin Motors and its sole purpose is to patrol the skies surrounding Cloud City. It is powered by a kryomaster dual ion engine system and is capable of max speed of 1500km per/hr. In my personal opinion, the Cloud Car ought to have re-released eons ago. Well, it may not be a very iconic fighter spacecraft but it is definitely an iconic sight in Cloud City for its law enforcement. Till this date, TLG had only produced the Cloud Car once in 2002 with the 7119 Twin-Pod Cloud Car. Like Slave I above, I could easily imagine seeing this selling for USD$29.99 or equivalent. I will love to see this kind of built being made available. 

You can take a moment and enjoy this close up views of the Twin-Pod Cloud Car from the front view, side view, back view and bottom view. It is capable of sitting two pilots from both sides. Once you open up the door, you can see the cockpit and to be honest, I find the cockpit to be very tight with no spare room to maneuver around. 

Twin-Pod Cloud Ca r  and Boba Fett’s Slave I ship

I am very happy that both of these models are built into minfigures' sizing. So glad that it was not micro built and these two are pivotal and iconic to Cloud City playset. Of course, nothing stop TLG to bundle both of these design to market as some form of chase scenes for future set development.

Section 1 - Landing Platform


Section 1 features a Landing Platform with a sliding entrance door (closed) and it can be easily slide open to reveal the glowing welcoming interior. It can land perfectly for Boba Fett’s Slave I ship, plus it can also accommodate Twin-Pod Cloud Car as well as an A-Wing Starfighter. Looking from the front of the playset, it really set apart from any other typical playset with the grand landing entrance. If you wish to have a separate landing pad or simply to make use of this playing feature for your other play scenes, this is not directly attached to the playset and it is placed right underneath it. 

Section 2 - Cloud City Walkway and Banquet Room


Section 2 features a walkway leading to a fine dining room with a table, seats for five minifigures. Within the room also contain a decorative Cloud City micro build, a waiting lounge with a transparent sculpture and 2 chairs and a promenade with tree sculpture, mural relief and opening doorways leading to other parts of the model such as the maintenance room which I think it is so. Of course, not to forget about the heroes being ambushed like this scene make up. 

Section 3 - Epic Lightsaber Duels and Carbon Freeze Chamber


Section 3 features the first part of the Epic Lightsaber Duel which include a sensor balcony with railing and swing-out function, plus a maintenance cabin with opening round window for epic Lightsaber duels. The maintenance cabin can also be pulled away from the structure as well. You can take a moment to admire the nicely built of the sky corridor (sensor balcony) as well as the condensing unit or bunch of antennas  which I think it is. I have included two classic scenes over here and here to illustrate the lightsaber duel. This is also the part where Luke discover you-know-who.  

The next feature include a Carbon Freeze Chamber with lever-activated ‘freeze’ function and the controls are operated by the Ugnaught. Han Solo is the brave 'volunteer', well not exactly but he's being volunteered for this exercise and a safe passage for Boba Fett to secure his bounty. You can view the close-up details of this Carbon Freeze Chamber over here. I have not built the former set (75137) in order to establish a comparison but this Carbon Freeze Chamber is a much better design with the full circumference. I was also secretly hoping that the Carbon Freezing transformation will be a complete chamber instead of a magic show. Playability wise is there and I can understand the constrain which mark it as a decent effort.

Section 4 - Interrogation chamber, Garbage Processing room and Twin-Pod Cloud Car hangar



Section 4 features a dark-red corridor with the scarlet entrance leading to the grim Interrogation chamber with a turning interrogation chair, plus a tiny standing prison cell. The same corridor entrance  also lead to the Garbage Processing room with a conveyor belt. At the end of the corridor, you can enter the empty hangar which have the space to dock the Twin-Pod Cloud Car with repair tools and weapon rack. Did you also notice the hangar come with a secret trapdoor? 

The Cloud City playset is now proudly kept in my display cabinet


Are you pleased with this new UCS playset or simply having mixed feeling after seeing the review?

To conclude, this is one of the most enjoyable D2C Star Wars playset after seen some of the past release such as Death Star and Ewok Village. I originally had mixed feelings about this playset. After building it, I had actually enjoyed the sheer details and little cookie crumbs spread across the entire set and you need to have an eagle eye to spot those tiny details. LEGO normally don't release playsets and specialised in vehicle and spacecrafts in LEGO SW universe. Mega playsets such as this Betrayal at Cloud City is hard to come by. To sum it up, I had enjoyed playing and building with it very much. It also does make a decent display piece and it will be even better if it can be housed on a glass table with 360 degrees field angle.

The minifigures are amazingly a lot. Although some minifigures are repetitive, but I can accept it as those are key characters in this intriguing plot. More importantly, the reason why I felt so happy to see this set is because I had never got the chance to own the very first 10123 Cloud City. This is also one of the main contributing factor to my high liking due to nostalgia value. 

Of course, if TLG is to market this entire set separately. Like a playset add on by selling the four different sections into four modular packaging. That will certainly decouple the entire cost of the set by buying them each sold separately. You can even buy those Twin-Pod Cloud Car or Slave I separately or together. Then if that's possible, it will be even harder for us to see such a release breaking into multiple different products for this particular movie scene. This playset works well for me and I hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing some of these big images which I had a hard time making sure it fit within most of my white background. 

Please note that all opinions and content shown in this Eurobricks pictorial review is from 'WhiteFang' and is not meant to represent LEGO official views. It is purely stated to share as a vantage point of a reviewer.

Summary review
Playability: 9/10 (Outstanding and fun playability with endless integration of the recognisable iconic movie scenes.)
Design: 9/10 (Great design and timeless classic of a Star Wars OT Film.)
Price: 8/10 (Price is quite pricey but for the parts and the assortment in it. You need to be a real Star Wars fan and love playsets in order to pay for this price. The minifigures alone do not warrant you enough reason to plunge into it.)
Overall: 8.7/10 (I enjoyed the whole building experience and the playing experience after I had completed it. It is more fun to do role playing than to display it on the shelf.)

I gave it a "5" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours? [Not exactly sure if you guys can vote as there's a bug in the forum software in Star Wars Theme]

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.
Pictures can be found in My Flickr

[WhiteFang]

Dear Eurobricks Community,

I will like to inform that the embargo for the 75222: Betrayal at Cloud City review is lifted. 

I am very deeply honoured and happy to be able to review this on behalf of Eurobricks. I am very pleased to share this mega review with our fellow Eurobricks members. I hope you will enjoy viewing and reading this review.  

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments. 

WhiteFang

 

[teos]

Thank you for the detailed review.  I did not care for this set at first, but now it is growing on me.  There seems to be so much potential for modding it and I'm curious as to what others will come up with.

[Graupensuppe]

Every time I try to vote the poll just disappears, and as long as I'm signed in it won't show me the results either. Am I doing something wrong?

[WhiteFang]

48 minutes ago, teos said:

Thank you for the detailed review.  I did not care for this set at first, but now it is growing on me.  There seems to be so much potential for modding it and I'm curious as to what others will come up with.

Thanks. I believe that’s the whole idea of letting it slowly gaining interest when it first started with mixed feeling. Myself included. 

2 minutes ago, Graupensuppe said:

Every time I try to vote the poll just disappears, and as long as I'm signed in it won't show me the results either. Am I doing something wrong?

Nothing wrong. It means the Star Wars forum poll is still not fixed. Apologies.  

[LegoFjotten]

Thank you for the review WhiteFang, excellent as always!

I quite like this set, even though I agree with some of the criticism raised when the set first was revealed - mainly the overall looks of it. I do like the individual scenes though, and the minifigs are great. 

This set is definitely at the top of my wanted-list.

[bountybossk]

Thanks for the review!

I've said it before, but for me LEGO was really close to hitting the nail on the head with this set. Now I'm left with a bag of mixed feelings.

There are several great things (the minifigs, the cloud car, detailing of the rooms), but the landing platform and the shape ruin some of my excitement for this set. There is also a lot of wasted space (grey platform), while some areas are really cramped (sensor balcony/carbon freezing chamber).

I made a quick mock-up of how I wished the set would look like (rounder shape and changes per section):

Section 1: dining room, white hall (with access to section 2) and the small living area look perfect, no changes there. Replace the small maintenance area for the entrance door with access to the detachable landing platform.
Section 2: accomodates the dark red hall with access to section 3, the interrogation room, the prison cell and garbage processing room.
Section 3: a whole section for the carbon freezing chamber with stairs/walkway and part of the final duel hallway with access to section 4.
Section 4: final duel area with maintenance cabin and the sensor balcony. No flooring here, but a rail as used in the Death Star (bottom-left section) to keep the disc shape.

[WesternOutlaw]

Hi WhiteFang.  You put a lot of work into this review for the benefit of EB members - thank you for sharing!  I remember the release of the 1st Cloud City, a set I almost purchased.  I was in a LEGO store yesterday and the sales staff mentioned that a number of SW fans would be complaining that this set is not more "display worthy" like the Death Star.  I think it looks fantastic with mega play value.  In fact, I would love to see a Hoth base or cantina in a similar fashion.  

In fact (little story), back in the late 70s/early 80s (okay, I'm dating myself), when all the kids in the neighborhood were going out and purchasing SW figures, many of us whose parents didn't buy us ships and playsets for Christmas/birthdays, got creative.  I remember making our own ships/sets out of cardboard in similar fashion.  They were cheesy, but a lot of fun.  We would add rooms, and wires with different pieces/parts, and color areas with markers to create something that in our eyes (as kids), looked like this.  What fun!  

Now the whippensnappers don't have to wish/imagine anymore, it's all right here in one complete package.  How we would have played with a set like this if we had one back in the day.

Wonderful review!  Have fun swooshing Slave I and the Twin Pods around Bespin!  

[Graupensuppe]

@bountybossk I like that layout!

Now, Cloud City is a set I've been waiting for for years... But unfortunately I think this model looks very inconsistent and unfinished. It's not as fragmented as Assault on Hoth, but the design is just as bad in many places. And compared to the Death Star (which as we know is a design that's more than 10 years old) it looks even more studdy, and the room layout isn't as well-thought-out. I'm not fond of the Slave I design either.

If I was able to vote I'd rate this set "below average"... I think I'm going to buy Hogwarts Castle instead.

[Sneakguest]

Just wonder why the ugnaught is counted as a antagonist. Its more reasonable to count him as a neutral character since they are deployed by Lando and not Vader, as all other Bespin residence.

[kermit]

I think the section for the cloud car is wasted that should be devoted to the luke and vadar battle and the section that has the freezing chamber should of had a floor and have that entire section devoted to the freezing scene.

[Ellisss_2]

Hello, WhiteFang!

Fantastic review as always; thank you for taking the time to write this! It is a shame the poll still isn't fixed though, it's been broken ages!

I love the vehicles, minifigures and play features, but I hate how unfinished it looks. Even if they'd just made it a fully circular shape I'd be much more inclined to buy it! A display model would have been fantastic and it's a missed opportunity, I hope to see some modifications to this set then I will maybe buy it!

 

[Darth Nader]

Great review! Unfortunately for me I feel like this set is rather underwhelming. I was expecting many more play features, but even then most of the ones included are simply opening doors. There's also more empty/bare space than I would've liked. I genuinely feel like the strongest aspect of this set besides the minifigures is the nostalgia, but that comes from the original Cloud City set. 

[TWRAddict]

Love the set, but you built the Slave I a little wrong. The nose is up too high, revealing a lot of the internal tan colors.

[Venefic]

I think LEGO has been quite successful in creating the various scenes in Cloud City bunched into one set. 

[Jody Meyer]

Great review, now to convince the wife this is worth 400.00 CAD...

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Thanks for this highly detailed review ...the minifigs are so many!

[Blondie-Wan]

On 9/13/2018 at 1:09 PM, Sneakguest said:

Just wonder why the ugnaught is counted as a antagonist. Its more reasonable to count him as a neutral character since they are deployed by Lando and not Vader, as all other Bespin residence.

Indeed, that’s one of multiple things that jumped out at me from the figure lineups - the Ugnaughts aren’t with the Empire, or serving them as Boba Fett does. I also think as long as you’re grouping Lando with the other Cloud City people, it makes more sense to just label them as Cloud City folk rather than “neutral” (as in, between heroes and villains), as Lando eventually emerges as one of the saga’s heroes (in fact, I’d personally be inclined to group him with the other main heroes, though grouping him with other Cloud City people does make sense). Finally, you have Artoo and Threepio identified as one another.

[WhiteFang]

Thank you everyone for your comments and thoughts. It's interesting to see how divided our views are with regards to this Cloud City playset. 

I had decided to close the poll since it is not really working.  

On 9/13/2018 at 10:38 PM, LegoFjotten said:

I quite like this set, even though I agree with some of the criticism raised when the set first was revealed - mainly the overall looks of it. I do like the individual scenes though, and the minifigs are great. 

This is how I felt when I first saw the images and after you had dealt with it more and more. It start to grow on you. The nostalgic factor was the main pull for me. 

On 9/13/2018 at 10:43 PM, bountybossk said:

Thanks for the review!

I've said it before, but for me LEGO was really close to hitting the nail on the head with this set. Now I'm left with a bag of mixed feelings.

There are several great things (the minifigs, the cloud car, detailing of the rooms), but the landing platform and the shape ruin some of my excitement for this set. There is also a lot of wasted space (grey platform), while some areas are really cramped (sensor balcony/carbon freezing chamber).

I made a quick mock-up of how I wished the set would look like (rounder shape and changes per section):

Section 1: dining room, white hall (with access to section 2) and the small living area look perfect, no changes there. Replace the small maintenance area for the entrance door with access to the detachable landing platform.
Section 2: accomodates the dark red hall with access to section 3, the interrogation room, the prison cell and garbage processing room.
Section 3: a whole section for the carbon freezing chamber with stairs/walkway and part of the final duel hallway with access to section 4.
Section 4: final duel area with maintenance cabin and the sensor balcony. No flooring here, but a rail as used in the Death Star (bottom-left section) to keep the disc shape.

I like how you done your quick mock up, especially the part where the landing platform is outside of the circumference. I can understand how confusing you might felt, especially when you had successfully presented the idea. I tend to think that the designer would have wanted to limit the features within the Cloud City perimeter as much as possible within the four sectors. 

On 9/13/2018 at 10:51 PM, WesternOutlaw said:

Hi WhiteFang.  You put a lot of work into this review for the benefit of EB members - thank you for sharing!  I remember the release of the 1st Cloud City, a set I almost purchased.  I was in a LEGO store yesterday and the sales staff mentioned that a number of SW fans would be complaining that this set is not more "display worthy" like the Death Star.  I think it looks fantastic with mega play value.  In fact, I would love to see a Hoth base or cantina in a similar fashion.  

In fact (little story), back in the late 70s/early 80s (okay, I'm dating myself), when all the kids in the neighborhood were going out and purchasing SW figures, many of us whose parents didn't buy us ships and playsets for Christmas/birthdays, got creative.  I remember making our own ships/sets out of cardboard in similar fashion.  They were cheesy, but a lot of fun.  We would add rooms, and wires with different pieces/parts, and color areas with markers to create something that in our eyes (as kids), looked like this.  What fun!  

Now the whippensnappers don't have to wish/imagine anymore, it's all right here in one complete package.  How we would have played with a set like this if we had one back in the day.

Wonderful review!  Have fun swooshing Slave I and the Twin Pods around Bespin!  

Thanks Brickster! Glad to see you swing by.  

This is really like a playset and less worthy of a display set. It will be fun for children who 'had' first seen the Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, those children had already grown up to be AFOLs. Appreciate the sharing of some back-story for yourself, I will have to admit it is imaginative to be creative to make use of whatever limited resources to create your own playground. 

I had certainly having fun swooshing both.  

On 9/14/2018 at 1:09 AM, Sneakguest said:

Just wonder why the ugnaught is counted as a antagonist. Its more reasonable to count him as a neutral character since they are deployed by Lando and not Vader, as all other Bespin residence.

Well, I wanted to put in the neutral... and yes, it was deployed by Lando to do the Carbon Freeze.. It was just my initial instinct to place him with the antagonist angle since the Carbon Freeze procedures for Han Solo were all baddies. 

On 9/14/2018 at 2:13 AM, Ellisss_2 said:

Hello, WhiteFang!

Fantastic review as always; thank you for taking the time to write this! It is a shame the poll still isn't fixed though, it's been broken ages!

I love the vehicles, minifigures and play features, but I hate how unfinished it looks. Even if they'd just made it a fully circular shape I'd be much more inclined to buy it! A display model would have been fantastic and it's a missed opportunity, I hope to see some modifications to this set then I will maybe buy it!

Apologies for the broken SW poll. The Admins are still looking into this problem and unfortunately we had not been able to resolve it. 

On 9/14/2018 at 8:11 AM, TWRAddict said:

Love the set, but you built the Slave I a little wrong. The nose is up too high, revealing a lot of the internal tan colors.

Is it so? I thought I had built it right. Let me go back and review it. 

50 minutes ago, Blondie-Wan said:

Indeed, that’s one of multiple things that jumped out at me from the figure lineups - the Ugnaughts aren’t with the Empire, or serving them as Boba Fett does. I also think as long as you’re grouping Lando with the other Cloud City people, it makes more sense to just label them as Cloud City folk rather than “neutral” (as in, between heroes and villains), as Lando eventually emerges as one of the saga’s heroes (in fact, I’d personally be inclined to group him with the other main heroes, though grouping him with other Cloud City people does make sense). Finally, you have Artoo and Threepio identified as one another.

Noted and understood. As mentioned above, it was just pure instinct for me to place him with the baddies. 

[kaelthas]

I finally have time to read this review. Great informative review as always @WhiteFang. Now I feel like getting this set. 

I love that iconic father and son scene here and the number of the minifigures!!!  

[Kepheus]

On 9/13/2018 at 5:29 PM, Graupensuppe said:

But unfortunately I think this model looks very inconsistent and unfinished. It's not as fragmented as Assault on Hoth, but the design is just as bad in many places.

Exactly my thoughts. Way too clumsy. 

Looking at the sheer design I cannot imagine spending 350 € for this set. 

[SquirrelArmy]

This set has me on the fence, some parts such as the range of Minifigs and vehicles are great, the details of the rooms are also great but the actual structure of the city itself doesn't really appeal at all. As many people have already said, how are you supposed to display something that is to be viewed on all sides? There's the coffee table option but a prime display spot like that needs to be saved for a UCS Falcon not a glorified playset.

I've also been trying to justify the cost too. £300 in the UK is expensive but when you take out the value of the minifigs it's actually quite reasonable in terms of cost per part. I generally value each minifig in a set as £5 each for a version we've seen before and £10 for an exclusive one. You can easily attribute between 1/3 and 1/2 of the cost of the set purely on the minfigs. Once you discount the minifigs from the set the price per piece is between 5 & 7p depending on how you value the exclusives.

If I did buy this set I wouldn't display it as designed. Instead of being based on a circle I'd actually build it as a semi circle so all the rooms can be viewed from one side. I'd try to incorporate the cloud city profile, I'd also add some detail below the city to hang Luke from. 

I see this as a set with potential to be a great MOC, you have lots of detailed features that deserve to be seen, you can take the core elements of the set and actually build something worthy of display from it. 

Once the set is available for import into Stud.io I'm going to see what can be done with it.

[jedge]

On 9/13/2018 at 1:56 PM, kermit said:

I think the section for the cloud car is wasted that should be devoted to the luke and vadar battle and the section that has the freezing chamber should of had a floor and have that entire section devoted to the freezing scene.

Agreed.  I'd love to see other concept designs for this set, and why they went with they layout that they did.  Like if they had a 2-level design at one point?

You are exactly right that the Carbon Chamber should have taken up more of that 1/4 and had a proper floor and maybe even some ceiling hanging-down elements.  Imagine if the orange-black scaffolding of the chamber reached all the way to where the catwalk is now, that would have made a perfect spot for Luke and Vader's first lightsaber contact.  Then the service ways and vane and catwalk could have been put in 180 degrees around and filled in the space where the useless cloud car landing pad is now.  I think that would look great.  

The one thing I can't imagine is how they could have incorporated in the weathervane that Luke hangs off of at the end... not as a 1-story model at least.  So they're off the hook for that.

On 9/13/2018 at 2:13 PM, Ellisss_2 said:

Hello, WhiteFang!

Fantastic review as always; thank you for taking the time to write this! It is a shame the poll still isn't fixed though, it's been broken ages!

I love the vehicles, minifigures and play features, but I hate how unfinished it looks. Even if they'd just made it a fully circular shape I'd be much more inclined to buy it! A display model would have been fantastic and it's a missed opportunity, I hope to see some modifications to this set then I will maybe buy it!

 

Agreed. 

1) why are there certain parts of the walls (like the back of the dining room) left with studs on top while others are cleanly covered?  Same with some areas on the other side.  And I don't know why, but the 2 studs left exposed on that circular part that juts into Han/Leia's waiting room really irk me the most.  In general the walls just look sloppy with gaps and inconsistent width everywhere.  

2) compare that to how polished and vehicles are and it makes no sense.

3) I'm not sure it would ever look great as a display model.  Sure you could cover the top with plates, but then all you've got is a big ugly grey fat saucer shape with some greebling at the top... you could never replicate the vertical dimension as it spires downwards... at least not at this scale.  It wouldn't look like an elegant city impossibly floating delicately in the clouds, it'd look like a squashed mushroom.

On 9/13/2018 at 5:22 PM, Darth Nader said:

Great review! Unfortunately for me I feel like this set is rather underwhelming. I was expecting many more play features, but even then most of the ones included are simply opening doors. There's also more empty/bare space than I would've liked. I genuinely feel like the strongest aspect of this set besides the minifigures is the nostalgia, but that comes from the original Cloud City set. 

I agree.  Especially when compared the modulars and amazing 2 Ninjago City sets, this looks practically deserted.  

On the other hand, if you go back and look at the movie, the designed actually did a very admirable job of replicating the details that are there.  The sculptures. lights, chandelier, "artwork" and even the (ugh) stickers are spot-on to the movie.  Fact is, Cloud City was boring.  And if the designers had tried to punch it up by adding extra details they'd get sinned for that from the purists too. 

Here's a site that does a great job of comparing the movie to the set:  https://www.brickhello.com/single-post/2018/08/23/Star-Wars-Movie-vs-LEGO-Comparison-The-Empire-Strikes-Back---Betrayal-at-Cloud-City-75222

Edited September 17, 2018 by jedge

[brobert]

The set is not for me, but I like the review, especially that you don't have many in-progress pics, like others, that kinda counts to me as spoilers for the set. When I buy something, one thing I buy it for is the build experience, so kudos for this.

This whole new MBS line - retrospectively applying the name to other sets - is I think not going to be a very good seller with AFOL's, especially if it looks like this one, or the Hoth one. We've been waiting for a set of CC so long, I don't think this is what most of us had in mind.

Honestly I think the vehicles are ugly/ the wrong color, and the whole thing just look like some kid slapped it together. Many talented MOC-ers here could do something infinitely better even with this piece count I think. But then again, this is a playset, so not really aimed at AFOLS. (Although I'm not sure I would buy my kid a set this expensive)

[WhiteFang]

Thanks guys. It's interesting to see how Eurobricks Community are being so divided for this playset from the 'before' and 'after', especially after seeing the details. It's not exactly perfect but as a playset, it fare not too bad. However, as many commented, the price tag is indeed a turn off and expectations for such a SRP would warrant a much higher expectations. It's probably good that is no longer considered as an UCS, otherwise it will draw more negatively to it.