LEGO has just released its first-ever model with a $1000 price tag, the most expensive set to date. Coming from LEGO’s ever-popular Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, the new UCS Death Star is a large-scale model of the classic superweapon from the original trilogy of movies. However, the new model has generated some equally large controversy.

As of October 4th, LEGO’s new Death Star (75419) is on sale for $999.99. Featuring over 9,000 pieces and nearly 40 minifigures, the new UCS model is a behemoth of interlocking plastic bricks, though its unique design has raised significant discussion. More than previous sets, many are questioning whether the new model is actually worth the high cost.

Here’s what collectors are saying, LEGO’s perspective, and our own personal take on the most expensive LEGO set of all time.

Why Collectors Have Criticized LEGO’s New UCS Death Star

One of the biggest hurdles facing the UCS Death Star is prior fan expectations. It’s no secret that LEGO’s Star Wars theme is one of its top-selling product lines, having saved the toy company from bankruptcy back in 1999.

Featuring a dedicated and pᴀssionate group of fans with intersecting love for both LEGO and the galaxy far, far away, many anticipated that the UCS Death Star would build on previous sets from 2005, 2008, and 2016.

These previous models were fully spherical builds, the first one being solely for display without interiors, while the subsequent two models only had interiors with minifigures and play features (no exterior panels).

The moment reports and rumors surfaced of a UCS Death Star releasing this year, the biggest and most widely shared hope and expectation was that it would finally be the best of both worlds, a full sphere with interiors and exteriors.

Instead, the new Death Star instantly became controversial; the LEGO Group chose a more unique design, as the actual UCS Death Star is essentially a flat cross-section, featuring multiple rooms and movie scenes from both A New Hope’s Death Star and Return of the Jedi’s Death Star II.

Meant to be displayed on a wall, the UCS Death Star parallels the design of a dollhouse, while opting to go without exterior panels or a fully spherical model.

Due to not perfectly meeting this big fan expectation, there has been significant backlash over both the design and price on social media, with many collectors referring to the set as the “Death Slice” or “Death Waffle.” Redditors have certainly not held back on their disappointment, while also comparing the new model to past UCS Star Wars sets.

Reddit user SkyLeaks007 has highlighted the backside of the UCS Death Star, and it’s clear there’s a large consensus that the back of the model looks rather unfinished and not nearly polished enough for the first $1,000 LEGO set, even though it’s meant to be facing the wall out of view:

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BrickYoda shared images from Solid Brix Studios’ UCS Death Star review, comparing the new model to past UCS builds like The Millennium Falcon and even LEGO’s previous Death Stars. While the new model is quite large and imposing, many feel as though the comparison highlights just how much more detailed these other sets are, while the UCS Death Star is just…bigger.

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Some collectors like CyrusStarkiller believe the UCS Death Star looks great as a display model, proving not everyone is against the brand-new LEGO Star Wars set.

However, dislike of LEGO’s Gift With Purchase TIE Fighter that comes free with the $1000 model persists, a too-small addition to the UCS Death Star’s main hangar the vast majority of fans are collectively unhappy with (regardless of how they feel about the primary model):

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Other notable collector complaints include Darth Vader’s meditation chamber (which was only ever shown in the movies aboard his Super Star Destroyer), absent and inaccurate printing on minifigures such as C-3PO (who’s missing his silver-printed leg seen in smaller sets), and the amount of stickers that need to be applied on this UCS model in place of already printed pieces.

Another key concern is LEGO’s inclusion of exclusive minifigures exclusive to this set, like Galen Erso or the Imperial Dignitary. While their addition is exciting for those who purchase the model, it does mean that they’re effectively locked behind a $1,000 paywall for collectors more interested in minifigures than builds (even on the secondary market, they’ll individually be sold for hundreds).

What LEGO Is Saying About Their First $1000 Model

Image from The LEGO Group

For all its perceived drawbacks, ScreenRant’s interview with LEGO designer César Soares highlights just how much intentional thought and care went into the UCS Death Star, including the thinking behind its unique cross-section design.

Speaking with ScreenRant’s Rob Keyes, Soares confirmed LEGO’s collaborative partnership with Lucasfilm, offering notes about increasing the size of certain rooms like the hangar or Palpatine’s throne room, while also allowing them to include fun Easter eggs (like the minikit and/or H๏τ Tub Stormtrooper room from the LEGO Star Wars videogames):

“We and Lucasfilm have an ongoing collaboration for more than 25 years, and it’s a very steady and regular collaboration, meaning that we have weekly meetings with them where we share our thoughts, our ideas, our sketch models… It really is a back and forth collaboration with everything. They know every single thing we do.”

When asked if there was ever any consideration to make the UCS Death Star a full or even half of a sphere, Soares confirmed the plan was always to make the new model a cross-section, allowing all rooms and scenes to be displayed at the same time on one single plane:

Well, I can say is that we’ve been playing around with the idea of having a new Death Star for a while, and it’s fair to say that we thought about doing other things, but with this particular set, from the start, the idea was to have this cross-section concept for a variety of reasons. We wanted to do again, something new that we’ve never made before. The previous Death Stars were spherical and smaller. We wanted to be able to have all the scenes in one view, so you don’t have to rotate anything.

Rather than having rooms hidden in the back that can’t be seen without turning the entire model, LEGO’s idea of a full single-view display with this cross-section concept does have merit.

Our Take On LEGO’s UCS Death Star (Hands-On Review And First Impressions)

Beyond simply talking about LEGO’s new UCS Death Star and people’s differing opinions, we actually got our hands on the brand-new Star Wars set. ScreenRant‘s own Alex Leadbeater, a longtime LEGO collector, is currently constructing the set and offered his first impressions while building the mᴀssive new model:

The build is top tier. I’ve built a lot of different LEGO models. At the mᴀssive scale with the тιтanic and Star Destroyer, and at the more moderate scale with the Saturn V, Space Shuttle and Tumbler.

I’ve also done the Trash Compactor diorama, so I have a strong grounding in what this scale and style of build is. It (The UCS Death Star) is considerably more enjoyable brick-to-brick than the ones I listed. With so many Star Wars sets, you’re building a frame or a skeleton, then grafting on exterior elements. This means until the final stages, you’re not seeing the real model come together. Because this is open and so dense, you’re always doing something new that makes it fresh, and you see it become something very quickly.

The trade-off is it’s not as complex. The тιтanic deftly uses a myriad of techniques to create something hyper-accurate, whereas this is more about scale and then micro details on top.

Confirming that the UCS Death Star features very few Technic elements, Alex highlighted that the set features more layered bricks reminiscent of a dense MOC (“My Own Creation”) rather than an official set: “It’s тιԍнтly conceived, space is maximized, and every piece adds something. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had building a set, UCS or otherwise“.

Alex also shared one of the UCS Death Star’s best play features, having already built the iconic trash compactor room from A New Hope:

When asked if he felt the UCS Death Star was worth the $1000 price tag, Alex gave a very measured and insightful response, weighing both the pros and cons of the new LEGO Star Wars set in light of its objectively high cost:

So far, the building experience is fun, the design is very high quality and it’s ultimately a lot of stuff. Plainly, it’s a very good set. So it’s worth it.

Price-per-piece is compeтιтive, but there’s a lot of small pieces for greebling. It’s also heavy. Comparing the size, weight, piece count etc to other mega sets, it’s pretty in-line. Where the gap in comparing this to the Millennium Falcon lies is the fact the Falcon is a scale model, whereas this is effectively a dollhouse – both are for display, but one has a different vibe to a lot of other LEGO sets (even the dioramas it incorporates).

I didn’t know what to make of it at first – it’s an offbeat idea – but what may not come across in promo pH๏τos is how big it really is. It feels impressive.

To add: If you don’t have $1000 to buy the set readily available, then it isn’t worth it. The same goes for a set costing $500, $100 or $20. The reason why this is such a big question is because $1000 of pure disposable income on any non-essential purchase is out of the question for so many people. And LEGO is getting more and more expensive.

Alex also wanted to confirm that while LEGO did send him the UCS Death Star rather than purchasing it himself, he has purchased LEGO’s тιтanic, Star Destroyer, and UCS Millennium Falcon (he’s aware and not blind to the impact and financial decision-making that comes with larger LEGO purchases).

Is The New LEGO Death Star Worth The Price?

Looking objectively at the typical price-per-piece ratio, 9,023 pieces for $1,000 feels appropriate and not overpriced. That said, one still has to weigh the unique design of the UCS Death Star build and determine if it’s actually something they want to have displayed, while taking up quite a bit of shelf and wall real estate (no matter which way you “slice” it).

Ultimately, it’s going to come down to individual buyer preference and what’s most important to you as a LEGO collector and/or Star Wars fan. One can certainly argue that expectations were just as inflated as the perception that the set has too high a cost.

Perception in general is also a key factor. For example, I believe the simple change in тιтle from Ultimate Collector Series to Master Builder Series would have resulted in a much kinder reception from several collectors (MBS sets have far less expectation behind them compared to UCS, which is seen as the peak of LEGO quality).

For what the model actually is and what it includes, the UCS Death Star’s price tag makes sense, and it’s exciting to hear that the actual building process is a fun and satisfying experience.

At the same time, there are signs that LEGO cut a few corners with certain minifigures and design elements (like the backside), when they arguably should have eaten more of the production cost to give collectors more of a fully polished build in exchange for $1000 of their disposable income. It’s a pretty big ask in this current economic climate, even for the most pᴀssionate of fans.

For all the controversy, it’s going to be fascinating to see how well or how poorly LEGO’s new UCS Death Star sells in the coming months heading into the holidays.

Click Here To View/Order The UCS Death Star on LEGO.com

Star Wars

Created by

George Lucas

First Film

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

Cast

Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson, Lars Mikkelsen, Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Frank Oz, Pedro Pascal

TV Show(s)

The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Lando, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Resistance, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, Star Wars: Visions

Movie(s)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, Star Wars: New Jedi Order

Character(s)

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Rey Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Grand Inquisitor, Reva (The Third Sister), The Fifth Brother, The Seventh Sister, The Eighth Brother, Yoda, Din Djarin, Grogu, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Leia Organa, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren

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