Death Star back from the dead

madforLEGO

'Retiring soon' does not mean much IMO. There have been sets 'Retiring soon' that stuck around for 6 months at least, so I guess they are technically right, but 'soon' is subjective.

TigerMoth

On the contrary, "retiring soon" means something very important - but to TLG. It means "buy, buy , buy". Most of the time it probably works.

SumoLego

I think the Exo-Suit is still retiring soon.

Frankly, I'm 'retiring soon'... (or in 2045, whichever comes first...)

Brickaholic

People will still complain that they missed it and now have to pay more than rrp

Vortex

Ah guys guys .. Just had a word with someone in Billund , regarding the Death Star 

It may appear they have " accidentally " misspelled the label . 

What at they actually meant to label it as " RETURNING SOON" ... Shewwff! 

Now , as you were ! ; )

Wallace

It was showing as 'Temporarily out of stock' now showing as 'Sold out'. How may resellers who have stockpiled are now frantically rubbing their hands together? 

CCC

Wallace said:

It was showing as 'Temporarily out of stock' now showing as 'Sold out'. How may resellers who have stockpiled are now frantically rubbing their hands together? 

Probably not many. The next one will knock the old one out of the sky.

tecjam

At last! It's about time that outdated, overpriced and utterly fugly thing shall vanish!

TheBigLegoski

Hear! Hear!
Long live the new death star.

MattsWhat

tecjam said:

At last! It's about time that outdated, overpriced and utterly fugly thing shall vanish!

These are the reasons I don't own one.  But this morning, nothing seems more important to me than buying one (I can't imagine why)... I must resist.

TheBigLegoski

^May the force be with you ;-)

tecjam

^^ There was an offer on just a few weeks ago here in germany and I could've picked one up for 320 EUR and even that didn't sway me in the slightest.

Let all rejoice ... "Ding Dong the witch is dead!"

CCC

That's a strange place to hide your stock.

Lobot

tecjam said:

At last! It's about time that outdated, overpriced and utterly fugly thing shall vanish!

Whilst it certainly looks a little dated, personally I think that it's one of the best sets in terms of value for money; 3800 parts and 24 minifigures, and it's remained at the same RRP since 2008!  The only set to rival it was the UCS Falcon (5000+ parts for £350) but I can't think of another from the last five years.

MattsWhat

^Spend that much on any of the modulars and you get more bang for your buck, that would be my interpretation. I know that isn't licenced etc, but if I had that kind of money then I wouldn't spend it on a death star.  Oh and of the 24 minifigures some are just brick built and hardly any are unique, in actual fact the amount of unique stuff you get is pretty limited throughout.  You can't compare it to printed dish, grey rigging, short production run awesomeness of #10179 (I am arguing hard to not buy it, please don't keep making it sound great).

cheshirecat

^ Having built the death star, if it was a choice between it or the Parisian Restaurant and Detectives Office together it wouldn't be any competition at all.  Sure you may get more bricks through the two modulars, but you end up with just a little bit of one side of a street and buildings that don't really go together and just sort of, well, sit there. The only way to make the modulars remotely interesting is to surround them with other modulars. The DS is big, its imposing and says, fuck yes look at me (similar to #10212 but more so). It has lots going on, and sure whilst the build isn't particularly exciting, some how seeing it come together and grow and grow overcomes its pitfalls. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.

TheBigLegoski

^all that may be true, but she still needs a makeover and a facelift.

Paperballpark

^ A makeover like @pricey73 did with his 'Friends Star'?

MattsWhat

cheshirecat said:

^ Having built the death star, if it was a choice between it or the Parisian Restaurant and Detectives Office together it wouldn't be any competition at all.  Sure you may get more bricks through the two modulars, but you end up with just a little bit of one side of a street and buildings that don't really go together and just sort of, well, sit there. The only way to make the modulars remotely interesting is to surround them with other modulars. The DS is big, its imposing and says, fuck yes look at me (similar to #10212 but more so). It has lots going on, and sure whilst the build isn't particularly exciting, some how seeing it come together and grow and grow overcomes its pitfalls. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.

So if you have no room to display it, it isn't worth much - that's what it sounds like your saying.  And also, at least I can surround my modulars with other modulars... You can't surround your DS with other DSes... yet.
But seriously.. how does it offer any more play value than a street?  And surely the wow factor is only there for star wars fans, whereas everyone likes a good lego street, right?
No one on this thread seems to want to help me resist except @tecjam , I think I ought to stay away. (Still in stock at Smyths for anyone interested).

cheshirecat

^ True of any decent sized show-piece LEGO set although the DS is particularly hard to squeeze back in its box. The truth is you don't need to surround the DS with anything else, it stands on its own - unlike the modulars. 

Probably should disclose here that personally I find the modulars uninspiring and increasingly less impressive in stature as TLG substitute detail and interior (which you rarely see due to the floor-by-floor system rather than hinged walls) for size and grandeur. 

CCC

The other good thing about the DS is that it looks good from many (most angles). So rotate it by 90 degrees and you have a new display piece for a while. The same is not true for the modulars.

tecjam

Or it doesn't look good from any angle, no matter which way you turn it.

Personally I think #10188 looks horrid from all angles. There is simply nothing 'nice' about it. With modulars at least you get 1 nice looking side.

But it's all a matter of taste of course. :)CCC said:

That's a strange place to hide your stock.

That's what the wizard said, too, but it's where the house landed.

CCC

I guess if you don't like any side of it, then there is no reason to buy it. Whereas if you like one aspect, you are likely to like them all.

TheBigLegoski

I think the DS is a good set, but it needs updated minifigs for a start. Also all the diorama scenes can do with a cosmetic overhaul, and some redesigning here and there. By 2008 standards it was a excellent set, but many sets since then have been designed with more refined details, and ingenious build techniques which I believe warrants a new DS version.

Last but not least, Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter needs either a redesign, or instead something else needs to get added to the DS, if that spaceship is left out.

mike978

iso3200 said:

I'd be more excited about news of a forthcoming fairground set...

 That is interesting as I didn`t expect another fairground one. yes they did 2 over the past two years but there was a big gap between the carousel and the fairground mixer. I also thought it would be hard to do any other set - like a rollercoaster. A slide would probably not be that interesting, what other options are there?

Lego_Nerd98

"soon" and "temporary" are the words manufacturers use to get people to shut up

Lego_Nerd98

If they come out with another updated Death Star, which of the three would blow up the other two?

I'd totally watch a video of death stars trying to blow each other up.

SumoLego

cheshirecat said:

^ True of any decent sized show-piece LEGO set although the DS is particularly hard to squeeze back in its box. The truth is you don't need to surround the DS with anything else, it stands on its own - unlike the modulars. 

Does it have friction pins?  If so - it's a potential modular.

Anyway, I haven't considered this playset DS to be much of a display piece.  The UCS DS II is a much better (but less dynamic) display piece.

AustinPowers

Lobot said:

Whilst it certainly looks a little dated, personally I think that it's one of the best sets in terms of value for money; 3800 parts and 24 minifigures, and it's remained at the same RRP since 2008! 

The last sentence is not true over here in Germany. It started in 2008 with a pre-release price on Lego S@H Germany of 299 Euro! Turned out that was a mistake made by Lego, it should have been 399 Euro. They corrected the mistake on the website, but the lucky few who ordered at 299 Euro got their order delivered for that price out of goodwill by Lego.
The official price was 399 Euro for the first couple of years, then upped to 419 Euro a few years ago. Considering that in the US, Star Wars Lego sets have traditionally been much cheaper than over here (exchange rates would make the 399 USD RRP price come to around 365 Euro at current rates, much cheaper even a couple of years ago). But as the US probably is a much larger market for SW sets, I can understand Lego's reasoning.

Then again, perhaps they would sell more over here if they changed to prices to reflect what they charge in the US. Otoh, some other sets are far cheaper over here than in the US. Not many, but some. Don't really understand the logic behind Lego's official pricing policy in different countries, but it must make sense sales-wise, otherwise they surely would do something about it.

AustinPowers

MattsWhat said:

tecjam said:

At last! It's about time that outdated, overpriced and utterly fugly thing shall vanish!

These are the reasons I don't own one.  But this morning, nothing seems more important to me than buying one (I can't imagine why)... I must resist.

Yes, you must resist, tecjam is right, it is indeed outdated and overpriced. I wouldn't call it fugly, but it's certainly not a looker either. At least it has some play value, but you pay dearly for that.

I'd also rather buy three modulars instead of one 10188. Come to think of it, I paid around 365 Euro for my three modulars in total (10232, 10243, 10246), which is still more than 50 Euro less than 10188 at RRP or 5 Euro less than 10188 at the best Black Friday offer prices this year. Considering then that those three modulars also get me over 6900 parts versus 3800 on the DS, there is really no question. And of course I am not really a SW fan (I admit I have got a few sets, namely 7153, 9500, 75050, 75054 and 75060, but only because I got them dirt cheap and use them for parts).

pharmjod

I got my death star for around $280 a few years ago from Target. At that price I'm good with fugly =)

Lego_Nerd98

I should probably get one, but just for the parts. I probably wouldn't set it up because Lego will probably come out with a new one in a couple of years.

monkyby87

I guess it's popular to start hating on sets that were once championed for being great.  As far as play value goes, I get far more out of the Death Star than I would any other combination of sets that equal the same price.  Modulars are cool, but they're mostly for display.  I don't get much play value out of them.

Lego_Nerd98

@monkyby87 yeah, when you get older you don't really look for play value in sets. Unless you're a child at heart, and just love playing with Lego! :D

JudgeChuck

I don't own a DS, but having looked at it, I cannot see how anyone can say that it doesn't have much play value! The number and range of figs, the contained mini-dioramas and other items, surely give this set a massive amount of play value.

Lego_Nerd98

JudgeChuck said:

I don't own a DS, but having looked at it, I cannot see how anyone can say that it doesn't have much play value! The number and range of figs, the contained mini-dioramas and other items, surely give this set a massive amount of play value.

Yep! Why else would they have removable roofs and floors? Can't easily display a building missing a few floors. :)

cheshirecat

You also can't easily play with a building missing a few floors. The modulars are shit -one day you'll all realise it. ;)

JudgeChuck

Lego_Nerd98 said:

JudgeChuck said:

I don't own a DS, but having looked at it, I cannot see how anyone can say that it doesn't have much play value! The number and range of figs, the contained mini-dioramas and other items, surely give this set a massive amount of play value.

Yep! Why else would they have removable roofs and floors? Can't easily display a building missing a few floors. :)

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say in response to my post. Did you mean to reply to someone else?

I wasn't saying anything pro- or anti- modulars in my post, simply stating that I think that the DS surely has massive play value.

All that being said, I have three modulars, and I also disagree that they have limited play value. My twin 5 year old daughters love creating stories around them, under heavily supervised play conditions, of course! They have plenty of their own LEGO to mess up, without them wrecking my nice, tidy modulars! ;-)

JudgeChuck

cheshirecat said:

The modulars are shit -one day you'll all realise it. ;)

Burn the heretic! ;-)

pharmjod

I think that with modulars, once you have them all in a row or have a street scene set up, accessing the floors is quite a bit of a challenge. The street itself can be the play function though. I love the modulars personnally and I also really like the death star. Both have their respective charms.

Lego_Nerd98

@JudgeChuck what I meant was that @monkyby87 was saying that Modulars are for display, and I was saying that the removable floors in Modular Buildings were for play, not for display. :D

LegoPegasister2015

And now it's Sold Out in Europe

bobabricks

I think a lot of people view the Death Star as an ugly build because they are viewing it in the wrong way. I think people see a Death Star model that is missing its cover when it is actually 14 vignettes depicting scenes from the movies that are smartly arranged in a Death Star shape. This is the way I view the set and I think it looks great. I'll admit that it's a bad Death Star model, but its an awesome series of interior vignettes from the classic space station and the Death Star shape reminds us of what we are looking at.

It also takes up your seat at the bus stop, but I guess standing never hurt nobody. ;)

msanders

Oh, I like the interesting discussion here. The Death star is one of the first Lego sets I bought coming out of my dark ages in 2011(ish). Its a real project - massive instruction manual (actual binder), four huge secondary boxes packed full of Lego. It was a real pleasure building and re-living the Star Wars universe. It has so much play value - I play with this the most with my son. Its the only Lego set that has remained built since I initially built it. It will be the last I demolish when I head for Switzerland. 

For those that have no interest in Star Wars I can see that its not very appealing. Yes, the minifigures are dated but I certainly don't think its overpriced! Its a huge model, its a Star Wars license and piece count isn't a fair comparison anymore considering that a number of the pieces in a modular are small due to the detail. 

For the modulars, I love building these because of the details that they offer and the building techniques involved (and novel use of the pieces). In terms of play value, there is some but I prefer the models that open out (Like Simpsons house, Haunted house and soon the Ghost busters HQ). They look great on display and visitors like the look of it.

I don't buy Lego for what other people think - I buy it for my own enjoyment. The Death Star is great for Star Wars fans and that's why for me its such a great set. 

SirKevbags

I'll echo @msanders here. If you're a man or woman of a certain age, the Death Star isn't a LEGO set, it's a portal back to childhood and when you first watched Star Wars. It's the toy you always wanted to play with but never had. It was the first set I had built in close to 20 years.

I'll agree that the minifigs now look dated and to certain customers that will be an issue. Personally it isn't and something missing a leg print is nothing compared to the moment you realise you're building the trash compactor and get a little giddy.

CCC

I agree with the two above. It is just a collection of interesting little vignettes in the shape of the Death Star (in fact, a Death Star, who knows which one it really is meant to be). As to figures being out of date - they are. But it is quite simple to update the torsos or full figures if you want them updated. Just as it is possible to squeeze in a few more Royal Guards and Stormtroopers.

JudgeChuck

Lego_Nerd98 said:

@JudgeChuck what I meant was that @monkyby87 was saying that Modulars are for display, and I was saying that the removable floors in Modular Buildings were for play, not for display. :D

Aha, understood! So, we're in agreement! :-)

Molican

OOH NOOOOO!
Now it's gone. This means I probably will never build it. How can anybody cut the seals on such a big retired set? Should have done this years before and buy one more new. Oh no. I will be sitting there, watching the price grow, and thinking about what a precious I have. Just a big box with nice pictures. Silly me. ;)

BOBJACK_JACKBOB

I got the Death Star a few weeks ago and it's the best Lego set ever - let me explain why.

Three years ago my wife went back to university to become a Mental Health Nurse. She graduated top of her class in the summer, got a job straight away and got her first wage as a Nurse at the end of October.

Unbeknowst to me, when she started the course three years ago she decided she would buy me the Death Star with her first wage. She duly did.

She is the best.

It is weird that a large lump of grey plastic can sum up our relationship so perfectly but I know that, however long I collect Lego and no matter what sets I aquire in the future, I will never get a set that means so much to me.

That is why MY Death Star is the best Lego set ever.

Thank you Hollie xxx

Bob.

Lego_Nerd98

This is an interesting topic. So far, we have seen people who hate the set and wish it never saw the light of day again. Others absolutely love it. I guess everyone's opinion is determined by  their situations and experiences with the set, but there is one thing I think we can all agree on:

LEGO is the best, and no one set (no matter how bad or good it is) is going to change that :D