TwoSolitudes

Anyone know if the Black Friday 30% off will include the ISD?

That is waaaaaaay better. Any rough idea how many tiles you used?

Post some pics!

That would be good, but the stand won’t work then- would have to come up with a new way to display it. I’d like to put in the docking bay as well but same problem. Maybe just a hollow square piece with black tiles inside to give the impression of a dark bay... Looking at the various movie models, the bridge should maybe be a bit higher and more swept forward. Higher might be doable. Im pretty much out of tiles now.

I was in the Singapore Legoland a few years ago and that star wars 'exhibit' was in rough shape as well. The darkness kind of hid things, but you could see it was getting a bit stale and dusty. Some bits had fallen over without being fixed. Big line to get in as well, so pretty disappointing experience compared to the rest of the park.

Great review. Its really nice, but I just don't like all the showing studs. It bothers me more and more every time I see it. Make it say 20% smaller and tile it up like the Monarch and I think this would have been a classic with more parts at the same price point. Photo's all look fine to me.

Love it! Wish there was a way to open up the area with the band a bit. Great character collection. I've been buying up cantina kits to create something like this as well. Good fun! The coat rack is nice- was the in the original design?

I really loved 75055 when it came out. Good balance of play and display. But I hesitated to do anything further with it for a long while, and then when the UCS ISD was announced I wanted to wait for that. But with the price and all the visible studs damping my enthusiasm for the UCS model, I decided to look again at 75055. So what bothers me about 75055? First, what’s up with the chunks of dark grey? That’s not right, and they need to go. Then, why did they use the wheel parts fo the big engines? Kinda lazy. It’s also too short. It needs to be extended in the back. The guns are cool, but why are they all the same- one of them should look different. And where is the reactor dome on the bottom? Then more fundamentally, what if we could tile up this version? Well here we go. Most of the modifications were used with parts I had sitting around, supplemented with 50 bucks of a ‘mixed light blue grey tile’ lot and the purchase of 3 half barrels for the engines. Tiled top and bottom. Couple of sand blue tiles in there as a tribute to the Monarch. :) ISD-Front2 by Peter Foster, on Flickr Small cheat on the front- that middle 1x4 centre bit is just sitting in place not connected. ISD-Front by Peter Foster, on Flickr Dome added to the bottom- was worried the extra back weight would make the stand fall over, but still seems to balance. ISD-Dome by Peter Foster, on Flickr New gun design. ISD-Guns by Peter Foster, on Flickr Half barrel engines- way way better- and extending the back plates makes a real difference. ISD-Engines by Peter Foster, on Flickr Built a little Tantive to go with this. IDS-back by Peter Foster, on Flickr I think we are scr*wed! ISD-Trouble by Peter Foster, on Flickr So not saying this is a classic or anything, but amazing how much better it looks with just a few mods and some tiling. I think the top would look better with smaller tiles-more 1x2's 1x3's and 2x3's. And I would like to redo the whole set up of the engine bay. But for now, I think this is pretty good, and fits on the shelf.

Having just seen episode 1- I think the Razor Crest model is a lock for 2020. And Lego would be silly not to do it as a $100 plus level build. I hope the series keeps up this quality. Great great start.

Won’t say I have not been tempted to build the monarch for 500 bucks, but the unknown quality of the bricks and the feeling that it would just not be right overwhelms. I’ve seen quite a few Lego vs fake vids and The flaws would really irk me on something I wanted to display. It would feel like wearing a cheap fake Rolex. Makes building MOCs awfully expensive, but I guess that’s why I appreciate my Starbricks U-Wing so much. But I do buy the ‘fake’ custom army’s, the LOTR hordes, clone lots from different units, classic storm troopers, and some of the lessor known superheroes for my son. For some reason that doesn’t bother me at all. Particularly since Lego doesn’t sell “25 stormtroopers” or “50 ocrs”. So far the quality has been pretty decent to excellent (with just 1 or 2 duds) and I have not been ripped off (knock on wood).

Picked up an unmarked 'bin of lego' at a garage sale for 50 bucks. Opened it up to find not only was it full to the top with random pieces, but also had the instructions and parts (except the figures sadly) for the Clone Turbo Tank 75151 and the ISD 75055. Not bad!

Superb!

I like the brick built dewback a lot. Really hope they do a Bantha! I'd buy a few of them.

Just LOL to that. "Lets do a new hope again. But everything wildly exaggerated! Awesome! we won't need to hire a writer at all!" "OK now lets just ignore everything from the last film and all the character development from the original films and just wing it. Random scenes and people who's story lines go nowhere. Slow motion chase scenes that make so little sense that my 7 year old thought they were stupid. Even more exaggeration! Kill off key characters from the last film just for the hell of it. Open with a slapstick comedy routine about someones mother! No one will care! Awesome! we don't need to hire a writer at all!" and love how you exclude the one recent film that DOES have a consistent logical story in line with the Star Wars world parameters. RO was a great film. and spit out my coffee LOL to that one! I have a really nice bridge to sell you. All the reviews are excellent! Seriously through, the Force Awakens I thought was going to be so great. The opening hinted at something new and interesting. When it turned out to be just a rehash of New Hope I was really disappointed. It was OK, looked great- but in the end it was just a sort of tribute film. The Last Jedi was a total mess. Worse that everything except the famous Christmas special. It looked great, but just made me angry. My 7 year old thought it was stupid. People went to see it on the strength of the brand, but that was a film without any center or direction. A lazy jab from Disney trying to prove that they didn't need to invest anything in the story to grab cash. Without the SW brand it would have completely bombed. I did really like the design of the bomber. I really really hope this new one is at least average. But I have very little faith. I'll go see it, but my kids no longer have any interest in SW. Now the Mandilorian on the other hand looks fantastic. I am pretty invested in that one being great and restoring some faith in the franchise. But the main film series needs to go away for a decade to get the bitter taste out of everyone's mouth. Lego will be fine either way. If this one is horrible, they still have the Mandilorian and the last season of Clone Wars as opportunities to build interest and introduce new vehicles and settings. They might even do better in the long run with a less frequent SW release cycle. Anyway I guess we agree to disagree. We can come back in 10 years and see how history treats these films.

The primary trouble with those films was the acting/dialogue, the blatant play for kids with the awful, and sort of offensive, Binks character and the strange decision to play the all the factions as the worst example of racial stereotypes. (and the midiclorains- which ignored dumped after the first movie). But the story and the way it developed over the three films was good- that series is clearly connected, each film builds on the story from the previous one in a logical way. The ships are original. The story is original. Nothing undermines the world built in the original trilogy. George can't write dialogue, especially emotional love story dialogue- but he knows the world he is writing for. Huge huge difference. The prequels are not masterpieces, but they are OK and the 3rd film was actually pretty good (with the exception of the last Vader scene!). The new ones are worse in almost every respect. Anyway I guess time will tell.

100% correct. They invested nothing in the story. They spent no time understanding the boundaries of the world the characters lived in. They didn't bother to map out a logical consistent plot over three movies. You can make a great film with a great script and no money. But you can't make a great film with a bad script and a boatload of money. Get a decent writer and pay for a story first dammit. Sigh.... I'm pretending these films never existed. I hope the Mandilorian storyline is a good as the visuals....

Just using this opportunity to bump up the thread. End of the year approaches.

This looks really sharp.

the clip with the horses fills me with dread.... I hope its decent, but I suspect these three films will be used in the future as lessons in how to alienate a core audience and destroy a franchise. Hopefully it will also highlight the importance of mapping out logical trilogy plots and understanding the rules of the world you are writing for- before you start filming. Why Disney needs to learn this lesson for Star Wars when they have been doing it so carefully for Marvel is really beyond me. At this point my hope is all wrapped up in the Mandilorian. I really fear that SW is at the edge of falling right out of the mainstream.

Having seen this in person now, I am really torn. I like the idea of it better than the actual model. Once you get over it being ‘big’, it’s hard to justify. I don’t love it the way I do the MF (no regrets buying that!) and I can’t spend that kind of cash on something I don’t love. It would cost a fortune to MOD. Wish someone would do an ISD MOC in a Monarch style but 50% smaller. I think I’m going to redirect those funds to make Starbricks Bomber this year instead.

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.

Really torn with this one. Don't like the gaps, don't like how many visible studs there are, don't like the price, don't like the minifigures, don't like how shaky it looks in the video, and I think they missed a great opportunity to include a little bridge interior. Better than the previous one, sure. and the shape is good- but that is an awfully low bar. The MF set a new UCS standard, and to me this just doesn't match it. Plus we have seen so many quality MOC's showing what can be done and it doesn't seem like they took anything from that. Yes the Monarch is 12000 pieces but with all the resources at their disposal I would have expected something.... more refined. It already kind of looks dated. Double points helps I guess, and I have been looking forward to this for so long.... It should be possible to MOD some of the surface elements, but the gaps and obvious fragility are really disappointing at this price. As others have said, its good. Not amazing. Not terrible- just good. Is that enough to buy it? For me probably- barely. Getting and doing some MODs will still be cheaper than investing in a 12000 piece MOC. But I don't think it will be a huge seller.

Problem is the quality MOCs- like the Monarch- are 15,000 pieces! Worst case I hope its an easy MOD to smooth it out a bit. Best case it's just awesome as is.

Yes. Now that I think about it. I have nothing from Resistance, nothing from TLJ or TFA. The only reason I have any prequel sets is because of Clone Wars. But I do have a tie striker and a U-wing, and I really liked Rogue One. I liked Solo too, but the best ships were OT ones.

I would not be so confident in the cat not judging you.... Its likely a day one purchase for me.