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REVIEW | 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer

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Name: 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer
Theme: Star Wars UCS
Year: 2019
Pieces: 4784
Price: US $699.99 – CA $849.99 – DE €699.99 – UK £649.99 – FR €699.99 – DK 5299DKK --$1099.99 AUD
Resources: Lego.com | Bricklink | Brickset

 

Quote

Build and display an icon of the Galactic Empire – the Devastator. With over 4,700 LEGO® pieces, this Ultimate Collector Series 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer model captures all the authentic details of the starship as it appeared in the opening scene of Star Wars: A New Hope, including swiveling guns, a tilting radar dish, huge engine exhausts, intricate surface detailing and of course a buildable scale version of the Rebels' Tantive IV starship to chase down. This galactic civil war UCS set also includes a display stand with informational fact plaque and 2 Imperial minifigures, making it the perfect LEGO Star Wars collectible for discerning fans. 

  • Includes Imperial Officer and Imperial Crewmember minifigures.
  • The Devastator Imperial Star Destroyer model features swiveling guns, a tilting radar dish, huge engine exhausts and intricate surface detailing.
  • Also includes an attachable, buildable scale version Tantive IV starship for added Star Wars: A New Hope authenticity.
  • With a display stand with informational fact plaque for the ultimate display piece.
  • Also comes with 2 blaster pistol weapons.
  • This Ultimate Collector Series set has 4,784 pieces.
  • Inspire unforgettable Star Wars: A New Hope moments.
  • The perfect LEGO® Star Wars™ collectible for fans of the Star Wars saga.
  • UCS model on display stand measures over 17” (44cm) high, 43” (110cm) long and 26” (66cm) wide, and over 14” (37cm) high without stand.

Hello everyone and welcome to another review! This time around, I'll be stretching the limits of what my photo setup is capable of with one of the largest Lego sets ever, the UCS Star Destroyer 2.0! Following on the heels of the monumental UCS Falcon 2.0, Lego once again gives us a massive UCS set that breaks everyone's display space and wallets alike. I think many will agree that the Falcon is a crowning achievement of Lego, it's a massive set with a parts count to back it, and an unreal level of detail. Does the Star Destroyer follow in the Falcon's footsteps? Does it improve upon it's lineage in the Lego Star Wars brand? Let's find out.

And before we begin, a massive thank you to The Lego Company for sending this our way to review. While the set was provided, I all opinions are of course, my own, and I will do my best to view this from the "is this worth $700 angle." 


The Box

Front

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Similar to the Falcon, we are presented with a massive square box to contain the ~13 pounds of plastic hidden inside. The front is very simple, with a nice, clean banner depicting the UCS brand and a striking photo of the Destroyer itself. Usually when I get these review copies of sets they are the European packaging, and I have not seen this set in store yet here in the US, so I am not sure what additional details or warnings may be on the US one

Back

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The rear showcases other angles of the ship, showing the rear, the top, bridge, and small hangar underneath. Again, very little in the way of warnings or anything, just a slew of nice photos of the set.

Side 1

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I won't show every side of the box since they get a little repetitive, but this side shows a nice shot of the underside of the star destroyer, something I really don;'t have a great way of doing in this review. Also note the the tape on the box indicates NOT to cut on this side. We will see why shortly.

Side 2

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Here's the side that should be opened, which showcases a neat outlined version of the ship, a size comparison to the Tantive IV, and the included minifigures.

 

Opening the box

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As I said a moment before, the tape indicated which side of the box to open- doing so presents us with another sketch style image of the ship, this is the box containing the massive manual. People who experienced the UCS falcon will be familiar with this for sure.

 

Inner boxes

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Removing the instructions box reveals the four smaller boxes, in typical large-set fashion, all filled the the brim with parts. The boxes aren't numbered, rather you go by the profession of the sketchy on the boxes- the topmost part of the ship is the first box, for example. However.... that doesn't really matter. The bags inside the boxes are numbered 1-19, but at random points in the build you'll need to use some extra large plates that are in unnumbered bags in boxes 3 and 4. So during the first few step of the build, you'll need to get parts from three of the boxes. 

Minifigures

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I'll talk about the part count and whatnot later on in this review, but here's the first point of conflict with this set- the mini figures. In the past, many UCS sets including the original Star Destroyer did not come with minifigures. Now however, we are getting figures in sets like this and the UCS falcon. This presents two issues. This is a $700 set, and including cool, exclusive mini figures in the set could make it worth it to the people buying the set. But, people who are interested in the figures but not the set, are stuck behind a $700 price wall. On the flip side, if the mini figures in the set are relatively uninteresting, then the people not interested in the set aren't missing out, but people buying the set may feel ripped off. 

 

This set... falls in the middle. it certainly has less figures than the UCS falcon, and while they are new and exclusive, they aren't exactly the most exciting figures, and they are more of troop builders, "battle pack" material as many have said. So people who wish to troop build these figures are stuck behind that price wall, and people who buy the set certainly aren't getting a slew of figures unlike the Falcon. A lose-lose situation, perhaps.

 

The figures themselves look good enough, but personally I would have enjoyed some "filler" - Stormtroopers, A Vader with red eyes, etc. Omitting a Vader figure was probably the biggest shock I had with this set honestly.

 

The Manual

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Before we get to the actual set, let's take a quick moment to talk about the manual. Its massive, equally as massive as the Falcon's manual. It's spiral bound, it's almost as wide as the box when closed, and similar to many large scale sets and IDEAS sets, there are numerous pages at the start of the manual that talk about the design, lore and history of the set. One page that I found pretty fun was the one photographed above, a feature on many of the previous incarnations of Star Destroyers, starting with the original UCS set that this one replaces.

 

Sticker Sheet

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Just one sticker for the set, the infographic that is standard for UCS sets.

 

Tantive IV

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The small Tantive IV included in the set is pretty good, I would say "par for the course" when it comes to polybag-sized builds. The shaping is done well, and I'd say it about as nice as the old one included with the original Star Destroyer, maybe a little better in certain areas. It's a fun extra to get.

 

 

The Build: Phase 1: Stand

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First we build a simple stand that displays the infographic and minifigures. It's.. alright. It's definitely nothing special, and honestly it's hard to see this stuff once the SD is built due to how much more the ship overhangs over the stand. But it holds the ship up perfectly well. Do note however that it's bolted in to the technic frame, you cannot simply remove the ship from the stand- the larger pieces on top of the ship can be removed and allow you access to the inside to remove the axles and take the ship off the stand, but it's not the simplest process.

 

The Build: Phase 2: Frame

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Now we begin the most critical part of this set, it's frame. This is an interesting process, you can see it's essentially a T-shaped frame surrounded by a triangle. Unlike the UCS Falcon though, this frame doesn't feel very sturdy at first. The more you add on the the build, the more the frame pulls together and strengthens under the weight of the set. We will see more of this later, but here's the perk- due to the relatively unobtrusive frame, the interior of the ship is damn near hollow, and that provides plenty of opportunity for interior work if you so desire. I know I'll certainly be doing such enhancements to my own copy. Note that you also start some greeble work on the sides- it's the same thing on both sides mirrored.

The Build: Phase 3: Bottom Panels

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Okay so here's the part of the review where I say "get ready to do this, a lot." From here on out, a god portion of the build involves a lot of gray panels, colorful pieces to hold them together, and a variety of greebles, especially roller-skate pieces, cheese slopes, and 2x1 grills. 

Connecting

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The original UCS SD utilized magnets to achieve the angled shape of the ship. But, those have not held up well over time. This time around the connections are two fold. First, there are small mixes-sized ball joints that connect the flat edge of the panels to the outermost edges of the frame. Second, you mount the bottom of the panels to technic axles, as you can see in this photo. The overall structure is definitely better than the magnets, but not without its issues.

Shield Array / Docking bay

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Here we have some further constructs for the underside of the ship. Nice in design, though very difficult to see with the display base Lego provided. I do really love that simple TIE Fighter build.

 

The Build: Phase 4: Rear

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Next we build up the rear of the ship. Gone are the days of the large gray tires; this time around we use barrels and the large cockpit halves that originated with the Falcon. I'm okay with this choice, they aren't as obtrusive as pictures made them seem. The one issue is the three "flaps" on each one- the two angled flaps on each are very loosely connected. 

Bottom half done

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Here we have the bottom panels and rear of the ship done. As I said earlier, you can see here just how hollow the inside of the ship is allowing for plenty of creative changes later on. Also, while the ship is built at an angle, the front set of panels and the rear set all line up perfectly. What does this mean? Well, on it's own, there is more give to the bottom panels than I would like, but it' easy enough to add additional support to keep all of these large panels together. 

The Build: Phase 5: Top Panels

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Next we start the top panels. There's a few differences here, especially with the nice rotating turrets you construct but there's a lot of similar techniques at play as the bottom of the ship. One interesting this is that the panels do not utilize all of the balljoint sockets along the frame unlike the bottom. Why did lego have us put them there? Why not use them for more stability? 
 

The Build: Phase 6: Bridge
 

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Next up we start on the bridge which uses some interesting techniques, though ultimately its a frame that you add a bunch of angled gray plates with greebles onto, similar to the rest of the set. Another important thing to note here is this is the final stage of pieces really locking in to the frame. Everything beyond this point is only loosely connected, to allow you to easily remove the pieces so you can carry the set by its frame. The advantage here is this allows easy access to removing it from its stand, and also for you to work on an interior if you desire.

 

Final constructs

 

 

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Heres a few shots of the last thing you build. Notable things here are the greeble work and the interesting angles they used.

 

Completed set

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Once you place that last piece In place, you have to just sit back and take in how massive this set truly is. And then you remember you need to find a place to display this monster, and you quickly realize the space you had planned out isn't large enough.

 

Profile Shot

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I'm letting photos do most of the talking, and I'll talk in full at the end of this review. But one major improvement over the previous Star Destroyer is the proportions, from the profile shot here we can see just how well the shaping has been captured. 

 

Rear

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I do love the detailing back here. I think this area has the most issues with proportions, the area between the edges of the big thrusters and the outermost part of the ship should be longer, but it's not a critical issue.

 

Top Down View

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Size Comparison

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Here's a size comp with the only other "UCS" set I have, the Tumbler. Yeah, this thing is gigantic in comparison.

 

Random Detail Shots

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(Note that the array can be angled up or don on top)

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Conclusion

$700 is a big price tag for any Lego set,  It’s more than double most of the previous Star Destroyer sets, and sits only $100 below the UCS Falcon. At only 4.7k parts, it’s also significantly lighter in parts and minifigure count to that Falcon. But the parts it does come with include a variety of large plates, and it’s completed size and weight are very comparable to its slightly more expensive rival. But we have to look at this set in many other angles to truly understand it’s value  

I have seen countless comparisons to both the original UCS SD, as well as the more recent UCS Falcon 2.0. In truth, there are many ways that this set is a better value, and many ways that it is a worse value. In my opinion, the target audience for this set has already been carved out. In fact, I almost question the value in a review of this set being posted because, well, I think you’ll make up your mind pretty quickly on this one. If you are buying this set, then you are a huge fan of Lego Star Wars and specifically this ship. It’s not a casual set you’ll pick up for the building experience like a UCS Slave II or Sand Crawler, and it’s not the flagship set title that the Falcon has laid claim to. It’s a massive wedge with engines. It’s gray. VERY gray. The building experience is, unique and fun, but at points it can definitely feel repetitive. Other than techniques used to achieve the bizarre angles of the set and a few neat techniques in the bridge and engine, the building experience is rather straightforward. 

Compared to the original UCS SD, this set feels more stable, and not relying on magnets will be beneficial in the long term. It’s a more accurate shape and silhouette than that original set, and of course takes up a larger footprint, if that is your thing. If you have the original SD, do I recommend this one? While I do not have that set in hand now, I will say it has held up remarkably well design wise. While not quite as accurate as this one nor as large, it’s still a really good set, and unless you can pull a big profit in selling that one to fund this one, I have a hard time recommending making the switch. It’s bigger  it’s slightly more accurate. It’s likely a little more sturdy than that old model. But has enough changes occurred since that old model? Eh, I’d say that old set is still very good and still very competitive to this one, if you already have it or somehow snipe it at a great price  I would say the upgrade from the Falcon 1.0 to the 2.0 is a more worthy upgrade than the SD 1.0 to SD 2.0, for whatever that’s worth.

But, if you do not have that previous set, there is a lot of fun to be had here. I’ve never built a set this large before, and everyone who has seen it completed so far has been wow’d at its massive size. If I had shelled out the $700 for this, I think the biggest value for me comes from it’s display value and that wow factor it draws in. Here’s the thing- it has some fun bits in its build, but had this set been 30% smaller, I anticipate it would still have largely the same techniques. The size does not offer much to the build, but rather the size itself is where the value comes from.  There is a sense of satisfaction to this set, it feels like you own a prop of this ship used in the film almost. But it’s not without its flaws- for $700, the minifigures are questionable. The interior is hollow, and I feel this space either could have been used for an interior, or for further support to the set. Luckily, this space will allow you to mod to your hearts content. Plus, there are a LOT of studded surfaces, and to some this may make the set feel unfinished when compared to the Falcon or some of the great MOCs posted here on the boards. It’s understandable, since tiling over all of these plates would prove almost impossible given the way it was constructed, and I can only image the price if they had tried to smooth the surface out. And in real life, the gray studded surfaces look smoother than in the harsh lighting of CGI and photos. 

To summize, a lot of the issues that you may have with the set are either easily fixable or aren’t necessarily such a big deal. I plan to make many mods to this set, but even without them, I think the finished product is fitting of its price tag when I look at the other elements of this set beyond its part and minifigure count. If you have the previous incarnation of the set, I don’t know that it’s worth upgrading to this set, but rather taking steps to mod and update your old copy. If you are simply looking for a massive, fun Lego experience, I would personally say the Falcon is a more enriching experience and carries a more unique color scheme to boot, whereas this ship is for an even more diehard audience. But if you love Star Destroyers, love collecting massive sets, or simply want to find something that will challenge your display space, this set is the one for you. 

Again, a massive thank you to LEGO for providing this. I was very young back in the early 2000s and sets like the UCS SD were something I dreamt of owning. It has been a fantastic experience to build this set and it looks ridiculously awesome on display. I can’t wait to see what everyone does with this set, and what LEGO does next to further push the limits. 

Thanks for reading! Please be sure to leave your comments below and vote in the poll, we share this valuable feedback with LEGO and this is a great chance for your thoughts to be relayed. 

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Thank you, VBBN, for this thorough review - well done.

I think you made some very good points, especially your comment regarding the size and accuracy of the model...

2 hours ago, VBBN said:

...There is a sense of satisfaction to this set, it feels like you own a prop of this ship used in the film almost...

That is exactly the appeal of this set and why I ordered it on Day 1.  I have no interest in an interior, and I happen to like the choice of figures - it's as if the set was tailor made for me.  The build, the price, the figures...it all just makes sense to me.  I don't resent LEGO for the decisions they made with this one, and I feel very fortunate to afford one.

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Great review. Thanks! 

The pics are also very good to show how it's built, with all the different blocks. It's quite interesting to study them. The proportions of the set are very good and the result is impressive. What I miss are additional minifigs.

For those wanting to create an interior I guess there is a lot of work redesigning the structure, but at least the exterior work could be left mostly untouched due to the panels building. That would be a project for a summer :laugh:

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Honestly, my favorite part of this set is the box art.  Lego is really nailing it on the UCS box art. 

Is there any part of the build that you feel might cause some concern over time as the set ages (like the magnets of the original Star Destroyer or the sagging panels on the UCS Slave 1)?

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23 minutes ago, InvisibleTimmy said:

A lot of the pictures in this review are very distorted.

Not on my site.

_______________________________-

Very nice review. Thanks for the nice pictures. I'm actually more interested in the (grey) parts than in the set itself. I hope they will find their way on BL although the set is not really fitting the matter of being a good part donator because of the price.

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3 hours ago, InvisibleTimmy said:

A lot of the pictures in this review are very distorted.

Are you viewing on mobile? Seems like through mobile the site is stretching them in an odd way

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Excellent review. I will definitely be getting this set once i acquire the funds. It appeals to me more than the Falcon because I already have a Falcon MOC that Im very happy with, and it would scale somewhat better to the Star destroyer than the UCS. The problem with the UCS sets is they are all too big or too small. Like, the Falcon is minifig scale, but is also often called a small ship in the movies. But its massive in Lego form. I would want a set like the star destroyer, which is meant to be a massive ship in universe, to be the biggest set in my collection, and everything else be smaller. And dont even get me started on the Executer set compared to this.

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Hell, even Tantive IV would be massive compared to the Falcon... Imagine a Star Wars Lego universe that accurately scaled to the Falcon. You'd need a lawn to pose the Super Star Destroyer..

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20 minutes ago, kiwiatlarge said:

Hell, even Tantive IV would be massive compared to the Falcon... Imagine a Star Wars Lego universe that accurately scaled to the Falcon. You'd need a lawn to pose the Super Star Destroyer..

A new lawn? A Central Park sized lawn. Scaled to the MILF even the smallest SSD would be several hundred meters long ^^

At least one guy on this forum bought the house next to his just for storing his LEGO.

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You write the long sides of the ship are mirrored. They are not. They are completely identical, but one side is rotated 180 degrees.

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3 minutes ago, m4st3rt3ch said:

A new lawn? A Central Park sized lawn. Scaled to the MILF even the smallest SSD would be several hundred meters long ^^

At least one guy on this forum bought the house next to his just for storing his LEGO.

Hmm yes true... I'm being way too conservative (but then I'm a farmer so have big lawns, lol), Well according to mr google an ISD is roughly 1600m long and the Falcon is roughly 35m long, so 45 times as long... But yeah, it would have to be a bloody big lawn for the Executor. It's about 17-20km long..

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1 minute ago, kiwiatlarge said:

Hmm yes true... I'm being way too conservative (but then I'm a farmer so have big lawns, lol), Well according to mr google an ISD is roughly 1600m long and the Falcon is roughly 35m long, so 45 times as long... But yeah, it would have to be a bloody big lawn for the Executor. It's about 17-20km long..

The size of ships in the movies are just ridiculous. The star destroyer is already giant, then the super star destroyer is 20 times bigger, then the supremacy in TLJ is 500 times bigger than that.

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Fabulous review and I do appreciate the effort in getting this review to the site.

The build and the display qualities are whats in it for me. Not that I needed any more encouragement,.....VBBN has reinforced to me that this set is defo one I will get for my collection.

It will look spectacular,...more so than the UCS Falcon I reckon,.....and I always doubted that would be beaten. 

 

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Thanks for the great review, VBBN.
One thing I'd love to see is a photo of both copies old and new next to each other. :wub:

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I saw it built in my local Lego Store the other day, and even as someone who owns the UCS MF I was stunned by the size of this thing. I just don't have 700€ to put in it at the moment, but I must say, once you see it "in the flesh" it looks like a decent price-to-volume-of-stuff ratio. It really looks more impressive/intimidating than the Falcon.

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2 hours ago, Gomek said:

Where do you put this thing? Can you post a pic of where you actually have this displayed?

I have mine on either a desk,  dresser or Ikea Algot shelves. Anything at least ~45cm deep to make sure the stand is secure. 

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On 9/30/2019 at 7:29 AM, Gomek said:

Where do you put this thing? Can you post a pic of where you actually have this displayed?

I can take a photo later, currently I have it on top of an IKEA Detolf shelf. The top of the shelf is plenty large enough to handle the stand, the challenging part is that you can't put the shelf right up against a wall as the ship overhangs like crazy.

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I bought the MF 75192 on day one, but no way I will pay 700 Euros for this huge grey thing. It is way too expensive for what it is, and even more given the lack of minifigs. Lego really ducked up on this one, it could have a been a success around 500-600 Euros max and more minifigs. I will stay with my little 75055, which you can play with at least and includes Darth Vader :-)

Edited by Altair1

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On 10/2/2019 at 3:58 PM, VBBN said:

I can take a photo later, currently I have it on top of an IKEA Detolf shelf. The top of the shelf is plenty large enough to handle the stand, the challenging part is that you can't put the shelf right up against a wall as the ship overhangs like crazy.

Pics/videos suggest you can mount it angled, tried that?

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