LEGO Star Wars 2021 Set Discussion - READ FIRST POST!!!

[LDigital]

Some builds are fun, some are not so much. I find the building experience goes a long way to whether I enjoy the final model or not. 

It’s not Star Wars but the most recent official build that was awesome all the way through was the ghostbusters ecto-1. I enjoyed every minute of that and it looks awesome on display. It felt like a UCS set but in another theme 

[mirkwoodspiders]

16 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I know, I know, this is going to be one of those impossible to answer, it's a personal decision things, but never-the-less. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, and think Episode I is the best movie - honestly - and light sabres are cool, but have no strong feelings about it. I don't have any Star Wars sets. But I keep being drawn to the 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer and thinking it's really cool. It looks great, is very well made, and is certainly imposing.

For anyone that's built it, is it a really good experience and were you satisfied with it, or would you recommend getting three other amazing sets instead? I normally enjoy the larger builds from Creator Expert and Ideas. I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. I've watched several videos that are all really positive and enthusiastic, but figure that folks here might be slightly more objective (or perhaps not). Thanks so much.

It's a fantastic display piece and a largely fun/interesting build. The only part I didn't enjoy (nor did my fingers) was placing all of the large plates together to form most of the outer shell. It's fun seeing it come together, but when you put all those plates together for the fourth time, you're a little tired of it. Otherwise, it's a joy to build and I think even more rewarding to display. There isn't a bad angle at which to view the behemoth in my opinion.

[lowlead]

17 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I know, I know, this is going to be one of those impossible to answer, it's a personal decision things, but never-the-less. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, and think Episode I is the best movie - honestly - and light sabres are cool, but have no strong feelings about it. I don't have any Star Wars sets. But I keep being drawn to the 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer and thinking it's really cool. It looks great, is very well made, and is certainly imposing.

For anyone that's built it, is it a really good experience and were you satisfied with it, or would you recommend getting three other amazing sets instead? I normally enjoy the larger builds from Creator Expert and Ideas. I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. I've watched several videos that are all really positive and enthusiastic, but figure that folks here might be slightly more objective (or perhaps not). Thanks so much.

Compared to 10030, the latest Star Destroyer build is far more advanced:  The outer panels are modular, there is no reliance on magnets, the proportions are vastly improved, the support structure and the design itself is WAY more effective in preventing the infamous drooping that 10030 suffers from.  The unboxing is an experience in itself and - speaking of boxing - my 75252 has been temporarily disassembled, but not completely parted out.  I managed to only have to break down the ship into large components and still fit all of it in the original packaging.  If I felt compelled to put it back on display, re-assembly would only take an hour or so.  For my part, the 75252 checked all the boxes for me.  I love the set and I highly recommend snagging one - you'll regret letting this one go.

$ .02

[lego_guyon02]

It's about time.

 

[The Stud]

1 hour ago, lego_guyon02 said:

It's about time.

 

I’ve been playing through The Complete Saga in anticipation of this new one recently. The wait for info about this game has been hella brutal.

Hopefully we get a good amount of gameplay and whatnot.

[Mandalorianknight]

5 hours ago, lego_guyon02 said:

It's about time.

Long have I waited...

[Dzenis]

Finally some news

[CF Mitch]

17 hours ago, lego_guyon02 said:

It's about time.

Yes! Very excited. I hope it'll feature a new release date, and that it's not too far away.
But I should be patient 

Regards,
Mitch

[hondohnaka]

Got my replacement Bo helmet and as I feared it seems that the shaky white printing issue is chronic. The top of the print is thinner and grainier then the rest of it, and I have a feeling it’s not going to be there in say five years. It is a much crisper print then my original helmet tho. 

[TwoSolitudes]

On 8/19/2021 at 5:00 AM, RichardGoring said:

I know, I know, this is going to be one of those impossible to answer, it's a personal decision things, but never-the-less. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, and think Episode I is the best movie - honestly - and light sabres are cool, but have no strong feelings about it. I don't have any Star Wars sets. But I keep being drawn to the 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer and thinking it's really cool. It looks great, is very well made, and is certainly imposing.

For anyone that's built it, is it a really good experience and were you satisfied with it, or would you recommend getting three other amazing sets instead? I normally enjoy the larger builds from Creator Expert and Ideas. I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. I've watched several videos that are all really positive and enthusiastic, but figure that folks here might be slightly more objective (or perhaps not). Thanks so much.

Honestly, I think there is way way more value and quality in the UCS Falcon. Its around the same price and really there is just no comparison. The build is challenging, interesting and fun. I would not even consider the ISD unless I already had bought the Falcon. The new ISD is better than the old one, for sure. But they really did not make the same level of effort for it (maybe cost considerations?). 

If you get the Falcon you will get arguably the best Lego kit of any kind ever made. 

If you get the new ISD you'll get a slightly better one than before, that still looks like it was designed more than 10 years ago. 

Just my opinion of course. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by TwoSolitudes

[LDigital]

1 hour ago, TwoSolitudes said:

Honestly, I think there is way way more value and quality in the UCS Falcon. Its around the same price and really there is just no comparison. The build is challenging, interesting and fun. I would not even consider the ISD unless I already had bought the Falcon. The new ISD is better than the old one, for sure. But they really did not make the same level of effort for it (maybe cost considerations?). 

If you get the Falcon you will get arguably the best Lego kit of any kind ever made. 

If you get the new ISD you'll get a slightly better one than before, that still looks like it was designed more than 10 years ago. 

Just my opinion of course. 

I would second that. building the Falcon was the absolute pinnacle for me, nothing has ever come close to scratching that same itch and it looks spectacular on display.  I have high hopes for the AT-AT later this year 

[hondohnaka]

Looking at the Eternals figures, Makkari's hair would be decent for Fennec. 

[KevinYoung]

On 8/18/2021 at 10:00 PM, RichardGoring said:

I know, I know, this is going to be one of those impossible to answer, it's a personal decision things, but never-the-less. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, and think Episode I is the best movie - honestly - and light sabres are cool, but have no strong feelings about it. I don't have any Star Wars sets. But I keep being drawn to the 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer and thinking it's really cool. It looks great, is very well made, and is certainly imposing.

For anyone that's built it, is it a really good experience and were you satisfied with it, or would you recommend getting three other amazing sets instead? I normally enjoy the larger builds from Creator Expert and Ideas. I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. I've watched several videos that are all really positive and enthusiastic, but figure that folks here might be slightly more objective (or perhaps not). Thanks so much.

I enjoyed it. Its a good set.

[Archer]

18 hours ago, TwoSolitudes said:

Honestly, I think there is way way more value and quality in the UCS Falcon. Its around the same price and really there is just no comparison. The build is challenging, interesting and fun. I would not even consider the ISD unless I already had bought the Falcon. The new ISD is better than the old one, for sure. But they really did not make the same level of effort for it (maybe cost considerations?). 

If you get the Falcon you will get arguably the best Lego kit of any kind ever made. 

If you get the new ISD you'll get a slightly better one than before, that still looks like it was designed more than 10 years ago. 

Just my opinion of course. 

While i wholeheartedly agree the the Falcon is better and is vastly more interesting to build, I'd have to give a hard disagree on saying the Star Destroyer looks 10 years older or a low effort bdesign. Other than tiling the whole thing off and maybe the engines I don't see where the design lacks. I know many, including myself would have linked a panel or two that could be removed to show interior detail, but I can'r fault the design of what we got for things it never promised to include. To me the reason it isn't as interesting to build is mostly due to the in-universe ship being a single colored triangle, imposing as it is. The Falcon inherently has more variation, color and detail in its in universe design.

All that said I would be genuinely interested in what aspects make it seem like 10+ year old set to you.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

hachiroku has posted an amazing Bad Batch MOC that doesn't look like it would be too hard to build or using hard-2-find pieces. I think it I even see a bunch of pieces that could be reused from the official version.

Not too big of a fan ot the BB myself but since people were asking a lot about better versions of the ship I leave his building tutorial here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Pr37Isai8

[TwoSolitudes]

2 hours ago, Archer said:

While i wholeheartedly agree the the Falcon is better and is vastly more interesting to build, I'd have to give a hard disagree on saying the Star Destroyer looks 10 years older or a low effort bdesign. Other than tiling the whole thing off and maybe the engines I don't see where the design lacks. I know many, including myself would have linked a panel or two that could be removed to show interior detail, but I can'r fault the design of what we got for things it never promised to include. To me the reason it isn't as interesting to build is mostly due to the in-universe ship being a single colored triangle, imposing as it is. The Falcon inherently has more variation, color and detail in its in universe design.

All that said I would be genuinely interested in what aspects make it seem like 10+ year old set to you.

Its all subjective of course.... but I think its easy to get carried away when you look at the previous one from what... 2001? 2002? From that perspective they used better ideas, and obtained a better overall shape. But lets compare it to the other USC's from that time period. 

Falcon. OK we can ignore this for now, it's so much better its not even worth debating. But before that was the excellent snow speeder, the terrific Slave 1, and the very good Tie Fighter. In each of those cases you had pretty smooth lines (or an illusion of them), an emphasis on getting the look less lego toy and more professional studio model. The builds were dense, interesting, educational and detailed inside and out. The technics used were original. Frankly in those cases, even the MOCs at that size were really not much better that what lego put together. Then the Falcon came out and I was blown away. If there is a MOC in this scale better than the official lego Falcon I have not seen it. 

Then the ISD. It's as if they lost the plot. The exposed studs all over. Big empty frame. Nothing really ground breaking in the build. On top of that there were at least 4 pretty well established MOCs out at that point which were way way more advanced, more original, better looking and much more accurate. They used more bricks of course, but the overall designs were just much better. There were a few MOCs of smaller ships- the 4500 piece Constrictor for example- which give some idea of what was possible, and what should have been. Of course nothing was promised, but you would expect that at nearly the same price as the Falcon you would get something at the same ground breaking level- and it just wasn't. Had it been released in 2012 it would have been amazing. But in 2020? My expectations were high and this didn't come close to meeting them. They made it 'big', but if the Falcon and the Salve 1 are an A, then ISD is a C+. A passing grade, but not worth Falcon money. 

I didn't mention mini figures as I don't really care that much about them in UCS sets- but they were weak as well. 

I saved up for the Monarch- and that is a work of art with a well deserved place next to the Falcon.  

Again just my opinion! If anyone bought it and loves it -  great! 

 

20 hours ago, LDigital said:

I would second that. building the Falcon was the absolute pinnacle for me, nothing has ever come close to scratching that same itch and it looks spectacular on display.  I have high hopes for the AT-AT later this year 

I want that AT-AT to be awesome. I've passed on the gunship in expectation of a spectacular AT-AT. 

[lowlead]

So...where did the OP of this question even ask about the UCS Falcon?  Wasn't the question, Should I get the Star Destroyer or three other sets (for the same cost)?

[Fuppylodders]

On 8/19/2021 at 4:00 AM, RichardGoring said:

I know, I know, this is going to be one of those impossible to answer, it's a personal decision things, but never-the-less. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, and think Episode I is the best movie - honestly - and light sabres are cool, but have no strong feelings about it. I don't have any Star Wars sets. But I keep being drawn to the 75252 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer and thinking it's really cool. It looks great, is very well made, and is certainly imposing.

For anyone that's built it, is it a really good experience and were you satisfied with it, or would you recommend getting three other amazing sets instead? I normally enjoy the larger builds from Creator Expert and Ideas. I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. I've watched several videos that are all really positive and enthusiastic, but figure that folks here might be slightly more objective (or perhaps not). Thanks so much.

Personally, given how you like episode 1 the most... 

I'd be inclined to look at bricklinking a UCS Venator moc instead. There are a fair few out there that are really impressive, and thankfully, of various sizes so you get to choose to a degree, how big and how much you spend. 

I'm at the point where if TLG do a great set of it, cool! If not, and I really like the ship and someone's done a moc of it and it's got instructions? I'll get that. The end model is what matters to me, not about having an official TLG box or official tlg instructions. 

However, Disclaimer: I don't have 75252. And I never will. Its nice, I guess. But it's a big grey door wedge. As much as I love the films, the Venator is something much nicer and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and I'm certain would be just as much fun, if not more, to build. But, if its what you like, or anyone else, I'm pleased for them! :) 

[Agent Kallus]

5 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

Personally, given how you like episode 1 the most... 

I'd be inclined to look at bricklinking a UCS Venator moc instead. There are a fair few out there that are really impressive, and thankfully, of various sizes so you get to choose to a degree, how big and how much you spend. 

I'm at the point where if TLG do a great set of it, cool! If not, and I really like the ship and someone's done a moc of it and it's got instructions? I'll get that. The end model is what matters to me, not about having an official TLG box or official tlg instructions. 

However, Disclaimer: I don't have 75252. And I never will. Its nice, I guess. But it's a big grey door wedge. As much as I love the films, the Venator is something much nicer and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and I'm certain would be just as much fun, if not more, to build. But, if its what you like, or anyone else, I'm pleased for them! :) 

Not to be pedantic but the Venator wasn't in episode 1.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Agent Kallus

[Fuppylodders]

27 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Not to be pedantic but the Venator wasn't in episode 1.

Prequal era, was more my point, whereas the isd is original trilogy... :) Prequal era has its own style of ships compared to OT, even if they are similar of certain aesthetics for some stuff. 

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, Fuppylodders said:

Prequal era, was more my point, whereas the isd is original trilogy... :) Prequal era has its own style of ships compared to OT, even if they are similar of certain aesthetics for some stuff. 

The venator looks closer to OT stuff than it does to any TPM ship, though. It's more or less an older star destroyer, as opposed to the much more rounded designs of the LAAT, Vulture droid, Lucrehulk, Naboo Starfighter, etc. (also interesting to note that most of the more rounded designs are from TPM, whereas most republic designs are deliberate callbacks to the style of the empire).

Anyway, not to minimod but I'm pretty sure that literally none of this conversation is on-topic, better suited to the general lego star wars questions thread, and the only reason the mods haven't come down to smite us is because there's nothing happening right now in regards to LSW, so we might want to mosey on before they warn us to.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Mandalorianknight

[Stuartn]

32 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

(also interesting to note that most of the more rounded designs are from TPM, whereas most republic designs are deliberate callbacks to the style of the empire)

Also, the separatist designs are made to emulate the OT rebel capital ships, the MC75 from RO was designed to bridge the rebel ships in ROTJ and the separatist's ships in ROTS

Back on topic, when do the 2022 set leaks normally appear, I recall discussion that they seem to be quite late this year but was wondering if this was true?

[Fuppylodders]

7 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

The venator looks closer to OT stuff than it does to any TPM ship, though. It's more or less an older star destroyer, as opposed to the much more rounded designs of the LAAT, Vulture droid, Lucrehulk, Naboo Starfighter, etc. (also interesting to note that most of the more rounded designs are from TPM, whereas most republic designs are deliberate callbacks to the style of the empire).

Not sure why people are jumping at me for this... 

I said Prequal era. It's still Prequal era, and more interesting than the OT ISD's. I know it's a callback to the style of the empire, hence me saying 'some stuff is of similar aesthetics'... ie; they're both big wedge triangles with command bridge on a tower raised at the back. But Venator has much more going on to break up the monotony of grey lines and stacked books on the isd. TPM is situated in the PT. Venator is in PT. Venator is very clearly PT (even though 'later' versions were all gray once Republic fell), isd is very clearly OT. That's all I was saying. I simply offered an additional alternative that perhaps the OP hadn't considered. 

[RichardGoring]

Thanks everyone! Wonderful responses that I hoped I'd get which give a range of views and the warts and all points that I don't think you get from fan sites or videos.

For the other sets suggested, I totally get that the MF is the better model. it's more detailed, the shapes are more interesting, it's far more iconic. Objectively it's better. I just don't really like it. I appreciate it, but I wouldn't want to get it.

There's also something about the scale, which again, is purely subjective. The SD draws me towards it because it feels much bigger than it is. This may sound odd, but the micro detailing on it makes it feel really imposing, as does the shape, compared to the MF, or the SSD for that matter. It's definitely mostly a large grey wedge, but maybe it's the bridge at the top that gives it more presence and the height to make it seem more. I also really like the Nebulon B, and think that would be cool as a UCS if they ever made one. Perhaps it's the same vertical height I like about that. Not too many space ships have it, so to me it stands out more when they are all.

The Venator is cool and I saw M&R's video on it. But again, on a purely subjective level, I admire and appreciate it, but I don't think I'd get it.

Part of me is really pleased to not like Star Wars that much, as you have so many cool models to choose from! But as I said, I keep getting drawn to the SD and wondering. I think I'll wait until we move - hopefully by the end of the year - assess the space, and then wait for a double points. Fortunately, I looks like the SD doesn't sell out as quickly as the MF.

Oh, and sorry for it being off-topic. I had a look at threads and thought this was most appropriate. Didn't find the general Star Wars questions one. I appreciate everyone's insight and discussion. Thank you.

Edited August 24, 2021 by RichardGoring

[MKJoshA]

Thank you all for recognizing you were off topic and getting back on track. Everyone makes mistakes about the best place to post things sometimes. All good.