Markalus

I would say at this point in time it's not worth it unless you already have a significant amount of parts or you are prepared to make a lot of substitutions like others have suggested. Using Rebrickable the store I found with the highest % of parts (58%) came to over $1058 Australian dollars, or approx. $760 USD. That only included some of the rarer parts and none of the dark red or grey wheel pieces. You would still need 42% of the parts, including many super expensive rare pieces that were only released in 10019. That's a pretty low starting point and as anyone who's ever bricklinked a model before will testify the last 10% of parts will probably come from 5-10+ different vendors. Factor in multiple shipping & handling costs and you are probably looking at $1800-2000+ USD.

Thanks for the advice mc and anothergol. I wish I'd held off on purchasing them! All good suggestions but option 1 is my favourite. As for the round printed tiles, I found some of the SW pattern ones at a 'reasonable' price & I just put aside my grill pattern ones for a Sith Fury-class Inteceptor MOD (inspired by billyamy http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=131700).

@anothergol; much respect for the MOC and that you have shared the files! I just spent a large part of today bricklinking the pieces. 50948 in LBG is now rare as hen's teeth on bricklink. I managed to snag the last two from two different sellers in my country. Although I had to beef up the orders to meet their min. spend requirements. I essentially paid $25 AUD (minus shipping) just to get two parts...the things we do. I substituted the LBG paint rollers for black due to cost. Also, the printed round tiles with the SW pattern do not show up on rebrickable so you may want to add that to the list of 'extra pieces'. I can't wait to build it! I will be sure to share pics when I do and will pose it next to my UCS version for comparison.

Nice work. I think you've created a more accurate version than the official version...with approx. 900 less pieces!

That rebel starfighter looks like the spawn of an angry liaison between a snowspeeder and a piano tuning fork. The Jedi scout fighter that Lego released had the same U shaped design but is so much more elegant than this...

I can't find anywhere in this thread that the $90 price has been confirmed. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding was that price was estimated based on the price of previous exclusives. I would be very surprised if a new Star Wars set went under $0.10 price/piece given the recent trend.

The price is largely driven by supply/demand and popularity/hype. I would definitely not pay that price. On bricklink there are still relatively few available hence the exorbitant prices. You can look at historical price data for any given minifig/piece/set on Bricklink. As they become more common on the secondary market and the "I must have it now" mentality has subsided the prices will fall. It happens for all sets, including UCS...at least before they retire. They will never be "cheap" minifigs though, unless they are released in another set in the future. If you are only interested in the minifigs another option would be to purchase the set and part out everything you don't want. You will get the VIP points and any promotional items at the time which sweetens the deal.

There are plenty of recent half-baked $60-90 location sets but with awesome minifigs. I'm looking at you 'Battle on Takodana' and 'Encounter on Jakku'. My point is a location set doesn't have to represent the true scale of the scene, Lego often release vignettes.

I don't think its a photoshop effect as all the other colours on new 'highlighted' characters appear accurate to the actual minifigs. I suspect they were trans/opaque white in the original design but the final product ended up with blue lightsabers because some bean counter decided it was cheaper and thought kids wouldn't notice. Its a pretty fundamental flaw really, especially given the popularity of Ahsoka and the significance of her white lightsabers. The 'accurate' representation on the box just makes it all the more frustrating! Gripes aside, I'm looking forward to seeing this set.

I see on other sites that the summer wave has started showing up in U.S. stores. I can't wait to see some reviews here!

Hey Billyamy, thank you! That's a great help, and not what I was expecting. Cheers

I love how a few choice words by just2good is enough to change the sentiment for this set from mostly negative to mostly positive. A fickle bunch us AFOLs. I can't wait to see the details!

1) I signed up with my first purchase at Lego S@H. I use the points to go towards big purchases. 2) The points. It's all about the points. I view it as a % discount on each purchase. 3) It doesn't influence my buying decisions. I leave that to forums like this and reviews. 4) More regular discounts to recognise loyalty would be nice. The problem I have is that locally I can buy Lego regularly at 20+% off and therefore there is little incentive to use S@H and the VIP program. I only use it when there is an exclusive or D2C I can't buy through local resellers. Making promotional bonuses, such as the recent May the Fourth promotion, universal would be good too. The offer we got in Australia was rubbish compared to our US friends. 5) I don't have a Lego store in my neck of the woods so I can't comment on that. Phone service is generally really good though so don't change it. It shouldn't matter if VIP or not. I like the response above from the guy who had his heart stolen by a Lego store employee though :smile:

It could be one of several reasons really. Maybe they are genuinely running low on stock. Of course we have no idea how big the initial production run was so its hard to compare to other sets. It's interesting to note though that the product description on the S@H website for the previous SW UCS release - UCS Tie Fighter - has the words proudly presents and "ultimate collector series" written three times. I'll let you guess how many times it's mentioned for Assault on Hoth but it rhymes with 'hero'.

Wow...that is fantastic! So many cool little details and nods to the movies (& Lego designs). I especially love the Snowspeeder curtains and the interpretation of the classic UCS MF grey boat mast and trans blue tiles for stairs. That's some imagination you've got there! And I just noticed something else...is that Wookiee gunship a weights bench?

Awesome work and very accurate recreations of the original material. The Tauntaun is super adorable. I look forward to the .lxf files.

As others have said fantastic greebling. The Fury Class Interceptor is one of the best looking ships in universe IMO.

I think bald characters rarely translate well into minifigs because the hollow studded head forgoes accuracy and looks kinda silly next to the accurate hairpieces, helmets and headmolds of other modern minifigs. It's the same reason I never liked Mace Windu as a minifig. I know it's Lego and its their signature but that's my humble opinion.

And they tease us with a proper chrome Captain Phasma...

I would imagine a drop in sales of expensive sets with desirable minifigs. I can't see it happening. They would invariably canabilize sales from one of (if not) their most important and profitable IP.

Yeah I know that was the case last May 4th promotion but they did in 2014. I know because I bought UCS R2-D2 discounted then. Come to think of it, it came with the Darth Revan promotional polybag too. Fast forward to this year and we have a crappy new "UCS" release, no local discounts or 2X VIP points and an ordinary polybag. As a Lego Star Wars fan its hard to get excited about May the 4th this time around.

These things are generally a labour of love but it raises a good point. At what point does a cool MOC become a highly sought after piece of art and the skill of the artist drive price? We've seen it happen with other forms of contemporary art..photography and street art to name a couple. Its starting to happen with Lego. Celebrated Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei as well as Nathan Sawaya and Sean Kenney are all using Lego as a medium. Certified Lego professionals also do commissioned work. It all comes down to how its marketed and its perceived value. I suspect there would be more than a few rabid (and wealthy) Star Wars fans who would happily part with large sums of money for a "Raskoinikov Star Destroyer". I know I would if I could afford it...and had the space.

Yep, the CapRex101 review is a brutal but honest crystallization of all the negative points that have been discussed at length. Lego will listen to sales figures. I only hope people vote with their wallets. Jang has just posted a video review of the Hoth Echo base from 2011, so we know his review/comparison will be coming soon.

Is this US S@H only? There are no discounts appearing on the Australian S@H website...just the very ordinary first order officer polybag and poster "gifts" with > $100 purchase.

Definitely old chrome. The more chrome the better for me; chrome protocol droids, chrome Vader, chrome N1 Naboo Starfighter, etc.