Star Wars Lego Collectors: Death Star II

One of the largest and most expensive sets in the Star Wars Lego Collectors Series is the Death Star II. In the Star Wars saga it is the second Death Star to be built and the Lego designers did an incredible job with this set. The Death Star II that is depicted in the films can transport and house over two million people so it is something that is enormous in size and mass; that carries over nicely to this Lego version. The size of this is comparable to the newer versions of the Imperial Star Destroyer and Millennium Flacon. In other words, it is an gigantic beast.

If you are judging this based solely on looks and not the design aspect, well, the Death Star II looks a little on the haggard side. People who are not into Star Wars that have seen this ask if it is the view of it after it's been attacked. As funny as that might sound to seasoned Star Wars fans, it does make sense. There are a lot of small things to the Death Star II that make it worth buying and building; the plethora of hatch pieces, gunner ports and the incredible laser disc are just a few of the things that will have fans drooling. Be forewarned, the laser looks a lot nicer in the magazine and online than it does in real life. It doesn't really glow or throw off any light; it's simple neon yellow transparent pieces assembled to give the illusion of what the Death Star II is capable of.

Building this is not easy; if you don't have experience with building Lego sets this is not the one to get your feet wet with. The structure size is a massive 25 1/2 inches high (that is with the provided model stand) and almost 20 inches wide. What makes this a complicated build is the delicate nature of it; it is, after all, a partially constructed death ship. This means that handling it from the sides takes a lot of care and pieces will pop off or come loose during the build. I have been building Lego sets for a long time now and this one was one the absolute hardest ones to complete. Even though I had help sorting through pieces and assembling it, it still took three hours.