[PRESS RELEASE] 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer

[Lord Insanity]

So why did they put two figs that should be available in a battle pack in a $700 set?  I despise unique figures in sets that are not even fig compatible but to place two figures that should be army builders is just insulting.  To me that actually lowers the value of the set.  I would rather those figs not exist at all than have one each of figs that should be easy to get a dozen of.

[BrickBuilder1]

This thing is definitley missing something. It either a numer of minifigs comperable to MF, an actual interior, or a $150 USD price drop. It looks great as is, but not when it's next to that price tag.

[Gremer2]

I understand the complaints about the minifigs, but I don't really care that much myself. I'm buying it for the ship, not the minifigs. Other than Vader, I don't really know who else they could have put in there. Sure, a few stormtroopers maybe, but those would be incredibly boring, moreso than the two included. There are really only four "groups" I can think of that would be on the Devastator: Vader, Stormtroopers, officers, and crew members. Given that the latter two actually run the ship, I think their inclusion is fitting, if boring.

As for the ship itself, I think it's fantastic and I look forward to getting it.

 

[SteamSewnEmpire]

On 9/7/2019 at 5:17 PM, KevinYoung said:

That cloud city didnt last too long did it??

 

I don't get the sense that it was very popular. I think people were hoping for a model of CC with some interior portions. Instead, they got a bunch of scenes smushed into a very crude Cloud City shape.

[Schneeds]

On 9/7/2019 at 9:28 AM, Midlife-crisis said:

Based on this inflation calculation the same parts (3096) would cost 13,75 cents pp furthermore 75252 has more than 50% more parts.

Price is fair, you´re welcome.

 

I didn't forget inflation.  The set has more than 50% more parts but is nearly the same size.  What are you really getting for the extra 1600 pieces?  You have to look at value.  Outside of the bridge there's arguably less greebling, though I think it looks better. 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Schneeds
s

[Midlife-crisis]

47 minutes ago, Schneeds said:

I didn't forget inflation.  The set has more than 50% more parts but is nearly the same size.  What are you really getting for the extra 1600 pieces?  You have to look at value.  Outside of the bridge there's arguably less greebling, though I think it looks better. 

Look at the hull plates for example - they are double layer with plates. Maybe you didn´t build the 10030. For me thats a great update other than the 2stud wide plates on the backside. Also the bridge - im not talking about the greebling but the building style. This is way better than the 10030 in terms of gaps and shape.

As for Inflation i already calculated it for you.You made your calculations without here:

"10030 - 2002 Release, 3096 pieces, $298 retail.  9.6 cents pp  13.75pp"

75252 - 2019 Release, 4784, $699 retail.  14.6 cents pp. "

 

On 9/7/2019 at 6:44 PM, teos said:

I have a hard time with the inflation argument.  Lego has made so many cost-cutting initiatives since 2002.  How many jobs were sent to overseas factories that have cheaper labor (2006: 44% of Enfield, CT and 75% of Denmark headquarters. New jobs in Mexico)?  What about the diminishing quality of Lego products?   Surely these must be a factor in keeping the prices low too.  

I partly agree with you. If you compare prices of products or services which cannot be outsourced in "cheaper countries" as education, healthcare or building costs you will find much higher inflation numbers.

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Midlife-crisis

[gotoAndLego]

What sticks with me is that the Falcon is priced the same but with significantly more parts, but the ISD relies on larger wedge plates because how else will you build a giant grey wedge. I suppose if they had used more smaller parts to accomplish it they could have integrated tiling but I think it would have been flimsier and had a tendency to warp/curve over time. If someone tells me that the weight of the ISD's plastic is similar to the Falcon's plastic weight then I won't be bothered by it and will accept that it is the correct price for the set, although that may not be the correct price for me.

I'm not bothered by all the studs on the horizontal surfaces, but I do wish they had used a different technique on the tall vertical surfaces at the rear, that area just feels like it was an early design study. Greebling and details look good to me. The redesigned Tantive is great.

Edited September 9, 2019 by gotoAndLego

[Bartybum]

4 minutes ago, gotoAndLego said:

 If someone tells me that the weight of the ISD's plastic is similar to the Falcon's plastic weight then I won't be bothered by it and will accept that it is the correct price for the set, although that may not be the correct price for me.

I'm pretty sure this is actually the case anyway. Pound-for-pound their value is pretty equivalent, and the ISD is physically much larger.

[lomis]

My wife likes being prepared for large purchases and has asked me many times since the UCS Millennium Falcon set was announced whether or not we're getting it.
I have continually told her no and that I would rather spend that amount of money on a UCS ISD, hoping that one would be released.

Over the past few months I've been not-so-subtly letting her know that the UCS ISD announcement was imminent and that it was rumored to be $700 USD. So, she's expecting us to get it.

But after seeing it, I just don't know...

I was really hoping for an interior and some very unique minifigures - with some prints that are actually accurate for the time.
If this is actually the Devastator (seen at the beginning of A New Hope), then the Officer shouldn't have a Lieutenant rank insignia from the Empire Strikes Back.
Commander Praji would have been an ideal choice but a Moff or Admiral from A New Hope would have been great too.
Even the Officer seen on for a few seconds during Rogue One would have worked.

And why does the printing on the Imperial Technician look so terrible in the official image? Is that really what it looks like out of the box?

[teos]

9 hours ago, gotoAndLego said:

What sticks with me is that the Falcon is priced the same but with significantly more parts, but the ISD relies on larger wedge plates because how else will you build a giant grey wedge. I suppose if they had used more smaller parts to accomplish it they could have integrated tiling but I think it would have been flimsier and had a tendency to warp/curve over time. If someone tells me that the weight of the ISD's plastic is similar to the Falcon's plastic weight then I won't be bothered by it and will accept that it is the correct price for the set, although that may not be the correct price for me.

I'm not bothered by all the studs on the horizontal surfaces, but I do wish they had used a different technique on the tall vertical surfaces at the rear, that area just feels like it was an early design study. Greebling and details look good to me. The redesigned Tantive is great.

I thought the Falcon was $799, where as the ISD is $699.  The competition between Walmart and Amazon has created some nice discounts, so I think we may see the same with the ISD.

[TwoSolitudes]

17 hours ago, Midlife-crisis said:

Look at the hull plates for example - they are double layer with plates.

 

This means you can try and tile up big sections of that top layer to give it a much cleaner and more accurate look. Two layers underneath as well. I think that will make it look significantly better. I bet you can also put in some interior rooms similar to the MF set up based on that review video. 

Sort of sucks to have to think about it this way. MF cost a mint, but looked fantastic, detailed, modern and interesting out of the box, this one looks basic. They could have added that detail put the price and piece count at the same level as the Falcon and had way less complaints. 

Not fussed about the minifigs, but I would have picked a few ISD Flagship commanders, Thrawn, Tarkin, Vader.. not generic crew. Crew should be in battle packs - but what do I know. 

I’m buying it- and 500 or more various tiles from Bricklink. but no idea where I will put it.

[couzinjohnny]

hmm, will need to make some room; lose the couch, the TV ...or both!

[Cygma]

Have the 10030 and comparing the two, its tough to get too excited about this one.  As many have pointed out, details could have been better, especially around the engines.  For me a better use of the $700 would be putting it towards buying parts for Onecase's Monarch or Rasko's Aggressor.  TLG has had 17 years to improve on the 10030 and in my opinion have just not done enough to make this super exciting.

[jimmynick]

On 9/8/2019 at 5:21 PM, Lord Insanity said:

So why did they put two figs that should be available in a battle pack in a $700 set?  I despise unique figures in sets that are not even fig compatible but to place two figures that should be army builders is just insulting.

So that they're ~exclusive~ and ~collectible~ when they're actually very boring figures nobody would otherwise take a second glance at.

4 hours ago, Cygma said:

Have the 10030 and comparing the two, its tough to get too excited about this one.  As many have pointed out, details could have been better, especially around the engines.  For me a better use of the $700 would be putting it towards buying parts for Onecase's Monarch or Rasko's Aggressor.  TLG has had 17 years to improve on the 10030 and in my opinion have just not done enough to make this super exciting.

I actually think the details on this are great. I agree that the engines (particularly the cowlings) are a bit of a miss, but otherwise I think it's a massive step up from the 10030. Though I've said already, shame about the price.

[Schneeds]

On 9/9/2019 at 4:44 AM, Midlife-crisis said:

Look at the hull plates for example - they are double layer with plates. Maybe you didn´t build the 10030. For me thats a great update other than the 2stud wide plates on the backside. Also the bridge - im not talking about the greebling but the building style. This is way better than the 10030 in terms of gaps and shape.

As for Inflation i already calculated it for you.You made your calculations without here:

"10030 - 2002 Release, 3096 pieces, $298 retail.  9.6 cents pp  13.75pp"

75252 - 2019 Release, 4784, $699 retail.  14.6 cents pp. "

Yes, I've built 10030.  To me at least, just doubling  the hull plating doesn't add a lot of value.  Simply adding pieces to increase the count and weight of a set doesn't necessarily increase the value of a set.  When I compare 10179 to the new MF I see a massive increase in quality that justifies the increase in cost.  Enough that I will eventually buy one and retire my 10179. 

[Anio]

Here is my review of the set : http://www.techlug.fr/review-lego-star-wars/75252/imperial-star-destroyer-75252-henrik-andersen-2019

If you have any question, feel free to ask.

 

 

 

[Lfm55]

Nice review!

(and in french)

However in the history part, the ship is said unable to flight in atmosphere.

What about the one over Jedha in Rogue one then? ?

[Anio]

Well, Star Wars movie are full of inaccuracies. =)

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Anio said:

Well, Star Wars movie are full of inaccuracies. =)

What? And I thought this is all ... well ... sort of ... true

(I know, it is. I have true SW hardcore fans in my group. One wrong word and - BOOM - it goes off. Just learned today that light sabers are not LIGHT sabers, photons are lame and many, many more things).

Merde.

All the best,
Thorsten

 

 

[KevinYoung]

On 9/9/2019 at 8:30 PM, TwoSolitudes said:

This means you can try and tile up big sections of that top layer to give it a much cleaner and more accurate look. Two layers underneath as well. I think that will make it look significantly better. I bet you can also put in some interior rooms similar to the MF set up based on that review video. 

Sort of sucks to have to think about it this way. MF cost a mint, but looked fantastic, detailed, modern and interesting out of the box, this one looks basic. They could have added that detail put the price and piece count at the same level as the Falcon and had way less complaints. 

Not fussed about the minifigs, but I would have picked a few ISD Flagship commanders, Thrawn, Tarkin, Vader.. not generic crew. Crew should be in battle packs - but what do I know. 

I’m buying it- and 500 or more various tiles from Bricklink. but no idea where I will put it.

Ditto.Buying it too first day if thats possible. Going to play with it and see how much tiles we can get on it. I also plan on detailing the rear. Will see what happens.

[Anio]

I made a short video to compare 10030 and 75252.

75252 is of course better. But the old 10030 is not that bad after all.

[Sucram]

On 9/13/2019 at 5:00 AM, Lfm55 said:

Nice review!

(and in french)

However in the history part, the ship is said unable to flight in atmosphere.

What about the one over Jedha in Rogue one then? ?

That was a mistake on Rogue One's part. Gareth Edwards values cool visuals over any kind of story.

[Makin Bacon]

I suspect they've retconned it in new canon to have some sort of repulsorlift system, which makes enough sense in universe imo

[Gremer2]

There's no "mistake". The new canon has repeatedly shown Star Destroyers in atmosphere, the movies never say anything one way or another, and the only thing that ever said they can't operate in atmosphere was the old Legends canon, which didn't even keep its own rule.

 

Back to the model, one thing I really do like that I saw in the BrickVault review is the ability to turn it into an Imp-2 by turning the sensor array (?) back. I'll probably keep it as a 1 but I think it's a pretty cool little thing.

 

 

[lowlead]

At the risk of belaboring the point, I thought the Destroyer hovering over Jedha City was one of the coolest images in RO.

We saw the Acclamator cruisers launch from the surface in Ep II and the Venators launched from the Coruscant staging area in III.  So, despite the huge mass of a Destroyer, I figured in a fleet of hundreds there might be a handful retrofitted with high output repulsorlift tech...or something like that

...and I'm hoping to pick up the new SD on release day.  I think I'm one of the few that likes this one better than 75192 - beauty and the beholder, etc... I've always liked the bad guy vehicles better!  Imagine a 75252 hovering over a giant Jedha City MOC??  That needs to be a thing!