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drdavewatford

REVIEW : 7194 UCS Yoda

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Here’s another Lego Star Wars review for the database.

Name: Yoda

Theme: Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series

Number: 7194

Year: 2002

Pieces: 1075

Minifigs: N/A

Price when released in 2002 : £79.99

Price paid by me : £101.00 from eBay UK in May 2009 (opened box, but Lego sealed in original bags inside)

I have to admit that when I started to seriously try and collect all the Star Wars Lego sets about 18 months ago, this set didn’t really appeal to me. I’ve always been a big fan of the technology of Star Wars, so it’s the ships like the Millenium Falcon, the Imperial Star Destroyer, the X-Wing and all the rest that I really loved and wanted to collect. Over time I managed to track these sets down, and at the same time I saw more and more pictures of the blocky but strangely lovable Jedi master as I immersed myself ever more in the world of Lego Star Wars. Eventually I decided to take the plunge, get out my cheque book, and I’m pleased to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

OK, in time-honoured tradition, here's a picture of the front of the box:

7194_yoda_box_front.jpg

Some obvious thematic similarities with other older UCS sets like the X-Wing and the TIE Interceptor.

There’s some nice box art in evidence on the front :

7194_yoda_box_art_1.jpg

7194_yoda_box_art_2.jpg

The back of the box looks like this :

7194_yoda_box_rear.jpg

All in all, LEGO did a decent job on the box. In an ideal world mine would have been in better condition, but such is life….

The instructions are A4 size and actually pretty lightweight when compared with some of the encyclopaedias you get with some of the other UCS sets.

Front cover :

7194_yoda_instructions_front.jpg

The back cover is sweet – some nice advertising shots of a few really interesting sets, including one of my all-time favourites – the UCS Tantive IV Blockade Runner which I STILL can’t bring myself to deconstruct a year after building it. I’ve since managed to get hold of the other sets shown here as well, including the fearsome Darth Maul bust, but not got round to building them yet.

7194_yoda_instructions_rear.jpg

Below you can see a couple of random pages from inside. Master Yoda is basically hollow, and you obviously construct him row by row following the instructions which generally show the build from directly above as you can see here. It can get a little confusing at times, but you soon just about get the hang of it. It’s the same kind of instructions utilised for the Statue of Liberty set, which some of you may have seen (and a few lucky ones might actually own).

7194_yoda_instructions_random_page.jpg

So, on to the pieces. I have to say that the colour palette is one of the most pleasing I’ve ever seen in a LEGO set – a riot of sand green, tan, dark orange and dark brown. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll not see more sand green pieces in any other official set apart from the Statue of Liberty – Yoda contains over 400 sand green pieces. I also think there’s probably more tan here than in any set – well over 500 tan pieces. I need to confess that as a relatively old-timer, I grew up in the days when all I had to work with were red, blue, white, yellow, black and clear pieces (with a bit of old grey thrown in), so the huge number of parts in unusual and in some cases quite rare colours really put a huge smile on my face. Hmmm – maybe I need to get out more !

Here are the larger sand green bricks and plates (I sort all the smaller pieces separately) :

7194_yoda_sand_green_plates_and_bricks.jpg

And here’s the mountain of tan bricks, not including pieces 2 x 2 or less :

7194_yoda_tan_bricks.jpg

Here are the dark orange and dark brown pieces, with a couple of white and black parts to make up the numbers :

7194_yoda_plates_and_bricks.jpg

And finally, here are the smaller pieces, which I sort separately :

7194_yoda_small_pieces.jpg

So, on to the finished build……. I need to apologise here for the quality of the pictures – I found Yoda REALLY hard to photograph. Any shot with the flash, even when I turned down the flash intensity, reflected horribly and made Yoda look even shinier than he really is, and when I tried 3-point lighting I couldn’t get a decent result. More powerful lights needed I guess.

Anyway, here’s Yoda from the front :

7194_yoda_front.jpg

And here’s a close-up of his face :

7194_yoda_face.jpg

His eyes are made up of a few parts that I’ve previously only seen in Technic sets.

Here he is from the side :

7194_yoda_side.jpg

And here from the rear :

7194_yoda_rear.jpg

Just one of the quirky things about this set is the seemingly odd brick you can see halfway up his back. Here’s a slightly closer look :

7194_yoda_rear_close-up.jpg

It’s actually an OldDkGray 1 x 2 brick with the LEGO logo (poorly) printed on it. Looks a bit out of place, a bit like the label on an item of clothing sticking out of your collar ! This is a close up of the 'offending part', which apart from this set only appears in a couple of 2003 advent calendars in this colour according to Peeron :

7192_yoda_lego_brick.jpg

Here finally is the finished ‘masterpiece’ posing against the box.

7194_yoda_plus_box.jpg

I have to say I LOVED the build. It was really refreshing to be building with tons of proper bricks and plates for a change – it took me back to my childhood when there were few specialised pieces and we just had to make do. The colour palette was also a wonderful breath of fresh air after building multiple grey space ships !

Conclusions :

Design: 7/10. OK, so he’s a bit blocky, but it’s definitely Yoda, leaning on a stick…..

Price: 7/10. Seems like reasonable value for money, even considering what I paid. Lots of proper bricks in interesting colours, and over 1000 pieces in total

Minifigures: None in this set, although I’d give the colour palette 10/10….

Playability: 5/10. His head turns, and that’s it. But hey – he’s clearly for display, and certainly NOT to be messed with, so I’m not sure if it’s fair to mark him down on playability…

Overall: 7/10. Bit of a blocky design, but nice colours and a good old-fashioned building experience. Plus I like to see him looking wisely across the room !

Thanks for reading.

Dr. D.

PS. Could I ask one of the moderators to please add a poll and index this review ? Thanks !

Edited by WhiteFang
Indexed and poll added

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Excellent Review.

I thought about buying him in the store when he first came out, however, I went for something else. I believe it was the original Republic Gunship. I like the way that they did his necklace, too.

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Dr Dave, you and I must have building Yodas at the same time; my review is pending approval in the Reviewers Academy - you've beaten me by a whisker! :sadnew:

Still, great work, and it's always good to have alternative opinions even on older sets. :thumbup::classic:

Rufus

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Thanks for the nice review, especially for the pictures with the pile of bricks.

I don't own this set but each time I saw a picture of it I was actually seeing a big pile of parts. Such a richness. Yoda, the model that is, is okay but does not especially appeal to me. For example, the mouth looks a bit flat.

Congrats for getting this set!

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Sorry, Rufus. I'd been waiting for someone to post a review for ages, and when nobody did I thought I might as well post one myself.

Looking forward to seeing your review, however - as you say, always nice to see a variety of opinions, and I'm also interested to see how your photos come out.

Cheers,

Dr. D.

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you paid £101 for this ?

wow ... I paid £25 for this from ebay back in Jan 08, in box. I *think* the parts weren't sealed in bag, but that's still quite a difference!

Nice review though. This model sits proudly on the shelf with the only other 2 UCS sets I have (AT-ST & Grievous).

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Nice review, Dr D. Like you, this is a set I bypassed ;when it first came out, but is one that I'll have to add as I complete my collection.

While the model certainly looks like Yoda, it just doesn't have that wow factor like the other UCS sets. When I do end up getting it, I'll probably keep it more as a parts pool than anything. But that's just me. It will definitely be one of the last sets I collect.

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Thanks for the review drdavewatford! I like the black backdrop instead of the usual white - makes it much easier on the eyes!

I agree on the fact that sets that are mainly built out of basic bricks are very nostalgic. Building one every once in a while in this specialized parts world can be very fun.

When I built the Castle Building Set, it reminded me of my childhood years when I played with a brick bucket's contents all day long. :cry_happy:

Looks like a very cool set! Yoda's face just creeps me out, but I'll get used to seeing it. :grin:

Not really much else to comment on, but this set looks like it's a truckload of tan, and I like the gnarled walking stick and the flute thing that hangs on his neck (can someone enlighten me). :thumbup:

Dr Dave, you and I must have building Yodas at the same time; my review is pending approval in the Reviewers Academy - you've beaten me by a whisker! :sadnew:
I actually thought that this review was going to be yours (I keep for getting to read the topic starter's name) when I clicked on the link. :grin:

Looking forward to reading your review as much as drdavewatford's. :classic:

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PS. Could I ask one of the moderators to please add a poll and index this review ? Thanks !

Poll has been added. :sweet:

It's good to see this being added inside the index.

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Nice review. I like this set. I like that it uses lots of regular bricks and plates instead of specialized pieces of today :thumbup:

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Glad that another UN reviewed set made its way to the index, I personally don't care for these model types, but that's why I love reviews, I get to experience the set without buying it.

Thanks

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It's just like buses, brickus - wait forever for the review, and then 2 come along at once !

Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks to all of you for the excellent comments.

Big Pete - consider yourself incredibly lucky to have picked up a boxed Yoda set for £25 - I've been tagging and watching Yoda auctions on eBay for the past 18 months, and the cheapest I've seen was £56. All the early UCS sets don't come along very often, and they usually fetch £100+, so you got a major bargain !

Dr. D.

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Great review! :sweet: I wish there were still sets like these (grey spaceships do get tiring after a while).

Sneaky of LEGO to advertise on poor Master Yoda! :tongue:

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I had been considering this set for a long time and I tried looking for reviews of it but there were hardly any, so in the end I decided to get it, (this was at the end of last year) and I eventually got this set for AU$250, a kick in pants but well worth it for me.

I would like to give an extra thank you to you for doing this review, you summed up my opinions on this set exactly, the build was challenging but fun, and it takes you back to the good old days when there was minimal Technic.

Edited by Brickus

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Ahh, yes, the UCS Yoda. This set came along around the same time I was emerging from my dark ages, and I held off on it for a while, as it took me a while to get into my present mindset of "get as much as possible," and I wasn't entirely sure I wanted it at first. Eventually, though, I picked it up when it hit clearance (I think I paid $32 or so for it, new!), knowing that if nothing else I'd want all those tan and brown and dark orange and whatnot for Tatooine MOCs, and found a delightfully satisfying "old school" build, just as this review describes. I was also particularly tickled by the LEGO logo brick, for whatever reason.

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