Star Wars fan is surely excited in anticipating the premier of Rouge One: A Star Wars Story at the end of 2016. I watched it twice in less than a week of its premier and was glad that the story turned out to be great, relieving many characters in the original series (here I mean episode IV-VI, not episode I-VI, you nerd).

Rouge One screening coincide with the opening of new Lego Store in my city, which I visited few times in the last two months. Initially, I was looking for Millennium Falcon Lego 75105 that I have been eyeing since the premier of episode VII in 2015. Too bad it has been out of stock for a long time, but I found something that I could not possibly imagine before, 75159 Death Star Lego, the Ultimate Collector’s Series edition. I know I want it when I see it, but it comes with a premium price in that store. The MSRP on Lego website is $500, which I could justified considering the complexity and “hard to find” (according to Lego website) nature of this set, but it sold for Rp 8.500.000 ($ 640) on the store.  I didn’t buy it at that time.

I think about buying for couple days and concluded that I have to have the set somehow, I missed the millennium falcon last year and it would be a shame to miss this one again this year, anyway Christmas is near and I’m going to be home alone for a week (it becomes a good reason to splurge on the purchase). On Sunday night I went back to the Lego Store and bought the set, it was the first Lego set I bought since graduating junior high school (I’m a Master student now). People were staring with confusion as me and my father brought the very huge box to the parking lot.

Excited as I was, I unboxed the set that night and spent almost 5 hours building 40% of the set, from 22.15 – 3.05. Pictured below is the unboxing, where the three white box contains a lot more pieces. Another interesting part is the manual book, it is very huge, in a good way.

There are 10 numbers, which make it easier for us to build the set one-by-one, instead of opening all the pieces at one and get confused in searching the piece (did I mention that it contains 4016 pieces?).

Number 1 results in Darth Vader and other imperial mini figures, also Tie Fighter that fits one mini figures inside it. Imagine how uncomfortable Darth Vader has to sit inside that scale of Tie Fighter! At least, he couldn’t bring his lightsaber inside the ship. Pictured below is the result of the first to fourth step building the Death Star.

Pictured below is the structure that will be the base for the whole set and function as a storage room.

It starts to look like a progress, right? But actually, behind those whole are still empty structure.

The trash compactor, where Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, and Han Solo are trapped in episode IV.

Pictured below is the result of 5 hours building the structure, it was 40% complete at the time. I slept for 6 hours and continue the next day.

Pictured below is the fifth to tenth step of building the Death Star, which I spent 9 hours, from 9.00-13.00, continued again from 22.10 – 3.45. In total, I spent 14 hours and 10 minutes building the whole set from nothing to finished.

Look at those mini figures! It’s not all of it though, there are still several others in the unopened pieces. I like the new hairstyle of Han Solo and Leia, it is better than in the previous Star Wars Lego set.

Building the foundation of the third level of the Death Star.

Blaster canon on the second level that could actually shoot two lasers!

The emperor (or Sith Lord) chamber, where the last battle in episode VI: Return of the Jedi will take place.

Detainment chambers where Leia is held and will be rescued by Han Solo and Luke.

Control Room for the Death Star’s laser that is capable of destroying Alderaan.

Hangar for Tie Fighter.

The main feature of the Death Star.

Mechanics that allows the turbo laser to move horizontally and vertically.

The Death Star shape could be seen perfectly, there are two laser canons on the other side of turbo laser, to protect against the attack from resistance.

The cargo chambers are connected with an elevator (that actually moves) to transport the cargo from the bay to Tie Fighter’s hangar.

Ba-Dum-Tsss…..

Ok, so by now the Death Star has been fully operational. Or quoting from the movies:

Governor Tarkin: Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion.
Darth Vader: What do you mean?
Governor Tarkin: I think it is time we demonstrated the full power of this station. Set your course for Alderaan.

Now I’m going to highlight the chambers on every level one-by-one.

Laser cannon that could be moved horizontally and vertically, it could shoot two lasers quite far (few meters).

Trash compactor, the wall could be widened and closed using a lever above it. There is a door on that slides to its right at the end.

The tractor beam, where Obi-Wan turned down the energy shield on episode IV.

The great escape of Luke and Leia while being chased by stormtroopers.

R2-D2 and C3PO on the cargo bay, the elevator could be moved up and down using a lever on the wall next to it.

The base for the Death Star, nothing special here, just a storage room.

Still on the first level of the Death Star, notice that at the centre of the structure, there is an elevator that could pass from level 1 to level 4.

Turbo laser control room, wait… why is Chewwie in there?

The scene of freeing Leia from the detainment centre. On the right is Leia chamber that could be seen transparently from the other side, while on the wall right to Han there is a door (could be opened and closed using the knob on the wall) that leads directly to the trash compactor. Whoever design this is a genius.

Too bad its a sticker, Lego should have made it printed.

There is the door that I meant above, it leads to the trash compactor.

Scene from episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Luke is standing on a fallible platform. The imperial guard is cool, although they don’t do anything.

Tie Fighter’s hangar, this is where the elevator from cargo bay leads to (look at R2-D2 and C3PO). The door behind C3PO could slide to the left of it.

Droid maintenance room, under the droid’s bed (which could be straightened) there is a know to control the Tie Fighter’s position.

The control room, notice the knob, it controls the movement of the turbo laser position.

Grand Moff Tarkin and an imperial navy officer inside the meeting room. The desk could be used as a storage.

Two supercool laser cannon that could be horizontally moved together using a lever beneath it, and vertically using the knob  on its side.

The Tie Fighter’s position could be moved using a knob under the Droid’s bed in the maintenance room. Look at the straight position of it.

Here you can see that the knob on the control room is connected with the turbo laser.

And that’s it. This is by far the largest Lego set I have ever build and certainly the most fun to build. The feature and several mechanics included are brilliant and exceed my expectation. I can’t complain on the price, since I think it was fair considering the complexity of the set. I just wish that they include mini-millenium falcon with this set to match with the Tie Fighter. The set could also be improved by providing a detachable cover across the Death Star, so that it could actually looks like a Death Star and retains less dust when not opened. Overall, highly recommended!