TwoSolitudes

with tax it's going to be over 1000 in Canada. I just... can't. Lego has finally found my limit.

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

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.

Mini-fig scale would be enormous already- virtually no chance on that. Room for 50 mini figures and 4 speeders on board? Then scaled up even further? Don't think so. The gold standard for a reasonable walker design right now is probably Raskolnikov's Plus Sized At-AT. 2500 pieces, good interior, good pilot area, legs articulate, standing its at the same height as the UCS Slave on its stand, so it has a nice UCS presence. For 800 bucks I would hope the Lego version is a bit bigger (but not ridiculous) with the increase in price focused on better details and refinement, particularly on the interior. Maybe with a removable side like in the drawing below to show off the inside. However, I think there is an exception that folks will overpay for this. My fear is because of that they will do something like the last year's ISD, which was pretty disappointing (at least to me) in terms of overall details. There are just so many ISD MOCs out there that used much better and more modern technics. I was looking forward to that one so much, but ended up getting the Monarch instead. Let's hope they look to the Falcon for inspiration on quality of design.

A bit late to the fleet but U-514 checking in. Great instructions by @StarBricks. This my second big MOC build after the overwhelming and crazy difficult Monarch- so it was a nice change of pace to get something that was interesting, with lots a great technics, but also straightforward and relaxing to put together from beginning to end. Engines definitely the highlight for me. So nice to be able to build a new ship from a movie I actually liked! Big thanks to @Space_jaco for selling me the parts at a not insane price- and sorry it took me a while to build it!

this is the best version out there. Outstanding.

You are right. I looked it up. I paid exactly 75.44 Euro via paypal. Far cry from 250! And to think I passed on getting an extra set of instructions just a few months ago. Never occurred to me that these would end up as scalping items. Wonders never cease...

Ummmmm no. No the instructions were not originally 250 dollars. Unless you live in Antarctica or Pitcairn where shipping in insane. I think they were 25 or something like that.

OK, having completed the main top and bottom panels I am faced with the same issue as everyone else with the gap being two wide towards the front, so that the skinny tiles fall out (at the bottom) or fall in (on the top). For the bottom I put in a couple of clip pieces which did the trick- though not the most solid of connections. But I am struggling with the top. I currently have a couple of 1x2 hinge pieces at the the end of nose on top to pull it close enough. Those fit- but obviously break up the look so its just a temp solution. I'd like to avoid glue and ties if possible. Does anyone know of any other non-glue solutions to this front gap issue? Otherwise I'll use SC204's glue fix.

No head bumps! All good.

Just giving this a little bump...

Wish there was a non-glue option to correct those front gap issues... the other tips here are great. I’m just finishing the frame on mine. So far so good.

Love how you did the guns

I always assumed that there were mining operations in many places using the same crawlers for similar environments. When the official mining operations wind down the Jawas move in and take over (or buy?) the abandoned old crawlers and set up mobile scavenging/trading systems.

I think it did not- but I don't remember. Lego never asked me about box though. Only thing that seemed to matter was the date I ordered it.