75159 Death Star has been the subject of enormous speculation for months, with some believing that we might see a display model akin to 10143 Death Star II and others considering the possibility of a set based on Starkiller Base. Now that the set has been revealed, under bizarre circumstances, this has been proven incorrect and 75159 is instead almost identical to 10188 Death Star which was retired earlier this year. This has elicited a great deal of disappointment which is understandable as there is plenty of room for improvement and this has not been exploited to the fullest extent possible. The reveal of 75159 Death Star has altered our schedule a little so What's Missing? Return of the Jedi will be published next Sunday instead but for now we are taking a closer look at the new set and how it differs from the original. The most apparent alteration has been made to the minifigures. 10188 Death Star was released in 2008 and was finally withdrawn from sale in December of 2015, seven years and five months after it first arrived.
The design of minifigures was greatly advanced during that time but the selection included in 10188 remained the same, but for the addition of white pupils to the eyes in latter production runs. This therefore left the 24 minifigures looking rather outdated after the set had been available for a few years and I am glad to see that they have been suitably updated for 75159. There are now 25 minifigures included but only a few are brand new. Han Solo features a new hair piece and the RA-7 Protocol Droid head first seen in 75051 Jedi Scout Fighter is finally re-used on an updated Death Star Droid. The Imperial Astromech Droid has also been improved and now has blue markings to match those of R3-M3 from the film. Grand Moff Tarkin has also been updated with a new hair piece and is flanked by a pair of Imperial Officers which did not appear in 10188 Death Star. Death Star Gunners have been introduced since 2008 as well so were not included with the original set. The white Assassin Droid is the only figure to have been removed.
The new set is obviously very similar to the original but the piece count has increased from 3803 to 4016 which suggests that some changes have been made. The ones I have spotted are as follows: The back of the box shows the other side of the model and reveals a few more updates: I like 10188 Death Star very much but it is not perfect, particularly by the standards of today. The original design was very successful and it would be unwise to overhaul the entire model but there are therefore several improvements which could have been made and these are described below: The long lifespan of 10188 Death Star suggests that the set was exceedingly successful and I am sure 75159 will prove similarly popular with children and new adult fans. However, the majority of existing LEGO Star Wars fans are understandably disappointed as it would have been nice to see something new or at least see some further improvements over 10188 as there are plenty of alterations which might have been made given the huge range of new elements which have been released since 2008.
Inflation would warrant an increase over the original price of £274.99 or $399.99 but the increases far exceed that of inflation as the new set is priced at £399.99 in the UK and $499.99 in the US. Ultimately, I do not object to the fact that 10188 Death Star has been remade but an opportunity has been missed by not making further updates. 10188 is not a perfect set and 75159 makes no attempt whatsoever to improve upon the original which is not good enough in my opinion. I think the LEGO Star Wars range has been poor in 2016 and this set does little to change my view. 75098 Assault on Hoth was very disappointing and I do not think the standard of retail sets has matched that of earlier years. However, the Rogue One selection looks great and I look forward to reviewing them towards the end of September. We have plenty more Star Wars coverage to publish before then including two more 'What's Missing?' articles, a review of 75159 Death Star and much more! Are you satisfied with 75159 Death Star and what changes would you have liked to see?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.LEGO 75159 STAR WARS DEATH STAR. Built once never played with.Death StartmThe DeathStar 10188Star 399Lego Death StarLegos Death399 99Lego SetsLego StarwarsForwardLEGO Death Star I so want to buy one of these and put it together!!!!10143 Death Star II is a 3,449 piece Ultimate Collector's Series Star Wars set released in 2005. Like its predecessor, the Death Star II was made of quadanium steel and equally divided into two hemispheres, which were in turn subdivided into 12 zones. The newest incarnation of this dreaded superweapon, however, had a monstrous diameter of over 900 kilometers, demonstrating the intellectual and physical evolution of the Death Star I. If completed, the planetoid would have likely boasted a hyperdrive system similar to the original, comprising 123 (or more, given the larger size) individual generators. The second iteration of the battlestation was also designed by engineer Bevel Lemelisk, the original Death Star's designer.
Lemelisk was executed for the design flaws in the final version of the destroyed Death Star I, but was cloned by Emperor Palpatine in order to redesign the superweapon, eliminating the flaws of the former battlestation. In the newest version, he added thousands of turbolasers while removing any external weaknesses. The most important revisions to the Death Star design made by Lemelisk were made to take into account and eradicate the technical flaws of the original battlestation which had enabled it to be destroyed during the Battle of Yavin. The first major change made in this redesign was the elimination of the two-meter-wide thermal exhaust port that was used to ignite a chain reaction in the main reactor of the first Death Star, destroying it. This was greatly improved, from a defensive standpoint, in the new revision. Instead of venting gases out of a single port, millions of millimeter-wide exhaust ports were scattered over the surface of the station, each of which propelled a small amount of the excess heat and gases into the vacuum.
The new system also took advantage of new highly-advanced protections and safe-guards that would seal the small exhaust ports in the event of any unexpected excess of heat or energy. The second main advancement in the second Death Star battlestation was the improvement of its superlaser. Still located in the northern hemisphere of the battlestation, the much improved superlaser equipped in the second Death Star was much more powerful than its predecessor, and took only three minutes to recharge, in comparison to the 24 hour recharge required for the first Death Star's superlaser. In addition, while the first Death Star only had the capabilities to fire on very large targets, such as planetary bodies, the improved superweapon was upgraded with additional lower-power weapon fire options and targeting systems that were more suited for fine-tuned accuracy, while still maintaining great destructive power, in order to fire the powerful weapon on enemy capital ships. The increased external surface area of the new station also allowed for larger amounts of conventional armaments, such as turbolasers and other defense batteries, to be placed, further increasing the already impressive Death Star's defenses.