Images by lluisgib and LEGO System A/S Set:10188 Star Wars Death Star Including: 24 characters, trash compactor monster, Tie advanced, 12 film scenes, Hyperlaser Recommended Retail Price: 399,95 € / 399,99 USD It is the first time that I face a Set of this size. 3803 pieces in a set that any fan of Star Wars™ must have in their collection. The Death Star II is a set with scenes of the classic trilogy (Episodes IV and VI. Always inside the star) that reproduces many of the most mythical passages of the saga. Fights, action,… everything can happen within the Death Star. The Death Star was a space station of the Galactic Empire. It was a titanic sphere of greyish color, which had a diameter of 120 kilometers. In its upper hemisphere it had a laser capable of destroying whole planets. The interior of the Death Star had 84 levels of operation, each one with a surface of 1,428 km. Each level included 357 zones. It had a crew of 25,984 stormtroopers, 87,001 imperial officials, 368,685 assistants and more than 100,000 pilots and civilians.
The construction began during the beginning of the Galactic Empire. Its mission was to destroy the planets of the rebel alliance, which did not want to join the Empire, as well as to be a control centre of the imperial troops. An improvised operation of the Rebel Alliance managed to destroy the Death Star that was orbiting the Yavin planet, with the intention to disintegrate it. Only 30 fighters (15 Y-Wing and 15 X-Wing) executed a dangerous operation trying to shoot the station in its unique peak, discovered thanks to the planes of the station that carried the droid R2D2 Figures of the Ship: Type: Space Battle Station Armaments: 15.000 turbolasers, 700 tractor beams projectors, 1 hyperlaser, 7,000 TIE fighters, 4 military attack cruiser, 20,000 military ships and 11,000 combat vehicles Crew: 774,000 crew, 87,001 officials and 378,685 assistants. The first surprise when you open the box is the size of the instruction book (it really is a book). Used to the smaller manuals with stapled pages, or in several issues, the fact of finding a manual with 263 pages, about 2 kg of weight and bound in spiral, is quite a shock.
The bags of pieces are distributed in four cardboard boxes, which give consistency to the outer box. The gross weight of the box is about 9kg. The second surprise (and I have to recognize that was a little more disagreeable) is to find no logical order in the bags of pieces nor is any specific numbering used follow the assembly passages. Partly it can be comprehensible that a set of this magnitude requires an extra effort in its assembly. But when you are in front of 3803 pieces upon the table, without any order but their size, you begin to shake a little. The “solution” that I chose was to place all the bricks and plates of bigger size in a great box, and the smallest ones in trays with separators. It helped to put a little order to the initial chaos. The Set comes with 25 characters (24 minifigs/droids and the trash compactor monster). Some minifigs are available in others sets. Others, however, appear for the first time in this set: • Luke Skywalker™ (dressed Stormtrooper™)
• Han Solo™ (dressed Stormtrooper), • Death Star Droid • 2 Death Star Troopers™ In this set, the LEGO® company has recovered the chromed laser sabers that already appeared in the first years, giving it a touch of quality. Another difference is that the R2-D2 appears with the gray head (instead of white like in the other sets) that also gives it realism. The set of minifigs is a good sample of the main characters in episodes IV and VI. The pieces of the minifigs are distributed in many bags among the 4 boxes, reason why it was difficult to me to build them in one go. Some of the pieces (as the body of Chewbacca™) appeared later during the assembly of the model. Although it might seem something wrong, I was excited to find the piece when I did not expect it. After all, it gives a little emotion to the building process The model is mounted from bottom to top, in one go. You are mounting each one of the floors and their accessories at the same time.
In this way you see all the functionalities (they are many) that are incorporated. I will detail some of them, which I consider especially interesting and significant. First of them (in the lower level) it is the trash compactor, the one from the rescue scene of Princess Leia of the jail and that finishes in the waste basket of the star. In the model the walls of the compactor can move to squash the characters. Also they have incorporated elements which act like trash and the masts that the characters use to try to stop the compactor walls. There is a small hollow from the plant above (the jail) that simulates the place where the characters escape towards the compactor. It is reproduced in another section of the level the gap where Luke and Leia arrive in their attempt to escape, and which they must cross using a rope. The gap is very well reproduced, with the stickers that simulate the lights of each floor, and the accesses at different levels. The intermediate level is where the more famous scenes and elements from the saga are.
First of all, we find the Hyperlaser, the weapon that allows the star to have its destructive power. It is mounted in a very original way and there are points in which the used technique has surprised me (I am still wondering if all the techniques are “legal”), but the result is impressive. It has control panels and horizontal and vertical movement. Also there is the sliding door, which gives access to the control room. Alongside, there is the area of the jail. There you can find the control area of the cells, the cell in which is locked up Princess Leia and the floodgate of escape to the trash compactor. It is remarkable to how the design simulates a long corridor of cells with the use of smaller and smaller concentric arcs, until it finishes in a sticker that simulates that set of arcs. In the ceiling there is a monitoring camera that moves by all the level. The other two “rooms” of the second level are the Throne Room of the Emperor and the hangar of the Tie Advanced.
In the first room two imperial guards are looking after the security of Palpatine™ Emperor. The lights surrounding the throne are very original. In the second room, there is a TIE Advanced, with an arm that holds the fighter, and an access area in the floor with an elevator to reach the lower floor In the upper level, there are also four scenes. One of them is a repair zone for droids. It is quite detailed, with his tools, their stretcher and “spare parts” for droids. The Imperial conference hall is the place where the Emperor and his subordinates meet to discuss the Empire strategy. There are seven chairs, a round table that can be lifted to find a laser Blaster underneath. The other two rooms are the hyperlaser control room (where you can control horizontal and vertical movement, and where the objective is visualized), and a room with two laser towers with horizontal and vertical movement. Finally, in center of the star, an elevator allows to connect several of the rooms of the three floors.