Interview with César Soares, designer of 75419 Death Star
Posted by CapnRex101,
75419 Death Star is the biggest LEGO Star Wars set to date, containing over 9000 pieces and 38 minifigures. Its designer, César Soares, has worked on a number of prior Ultimate Collector Series models, so I was excited to speak with him about the Death Star recently.
Among the topics discussed were the model's format and whether a spherical version was explored, how the internal layout was developed and more!
Brickset: How did you decide on this cutaway format for the Death Star, as opposed to a sphere with panels or perhaps a half sphere?
César: It is a combination of several things. First of all, we wanted to make something different. As you know, we have made a few versions of the Death Star before and the last two were basically the same, so we wanted to develop something new. Also, this shape is easier to display and more effective on display, as you can see all the rooms at the same time across the front, which definitely appealed to us.
On top of that, we had a concept designer build a sketch model during one of our creative boost sessions and its format was very similar to the final set. Pretty much everyone agreed that the idea was very cool and totally different to what we have produced before, so we went in this direction.
Could the model potentially have had a rounded back, so it could be displayed from either side, or would that require too many pieces?
I do think the piece count could have been a problem in that situation. A half sphere or any significant curved shaping at the back would greatly inflate the number of elements, especially with the surface texture, so one of two things would need to happen. Either the model would have to be much smaller, or the level of detail inside would be lower, or maybe a combination of both.
Can you also address the concept of a sphere with removable or folding panels?
If we tried to do that, it would again require a lot more pieces, so the size would be reduced or the price increased. However, the bigger challenge would be making the panels easily removable on such a model, especially because they could not play any structural role, which would be a major problem on a large sphere.
The other issue is how people would display a panelled Death Star. You would have to choose between the enclosed or open formats and would never have the best of both, either concealing a lot of the details inside, or having to put the panels to the side somewhere to show off the interior, making those a bit of a waste. We want people to appreciate what is happening inside the Death Star and be able to see everything at all times.
On the subject of what is happening inside, how did you decide on the internal layout?
As you would expect, we started by thinking about all the rooms we wanted to include. From there, the positioning of the rooms was quite intuitive and came about naturally. You immediately know the trash compactor belongs on the lower levels and the Emperor's throne room towards the top, with the conference room and the bridge. The cell block then needs to be directly above the trash compactor, so minifigures can drop from one to the other.
Other than that, we took some creative liberties to situate different spaces as coherently as we could, so we brought together features like the tractor beam controls and chasm where Luke and Leia swing across.
I notice that the rooms are fully navigable for the minifigures too, connected via the lift, bridges and doorways, except for the hangar control room. Did you try to integrate that too?
I knew you were going to say that! That is the one area a bit isolated from the others and I did look into adding something there, but there is just not space for a lift or anything on that side of the hangar.
10188 Death Star and 75159 Death Star both had ladders to reach that room.
Yes, but I wanted to avoid anything like that because it would not be authentic to the Death Star in the movie and preserving that authenticity was a real priority with this model.
Moving into the hangar itself, I find it interesting that you have included the brick-built backdrop outside the entrance.
That actually started as an open hangar door, but I later realised that many people will display the model against the wall and it could look strange if they had colourful wallpaper or anything like that showing through. At that point, I decided to add the wall.
We discussed a few possibilities for things outside the hangar, like a foil sheet with a couple of different planets from the Star Wars universe. In the end, though, we decided on the brick-built scene with stars because it just seems more natural and we always favour anything constructed with proper bricks.
Next we have the trash compactor. Did you consider adding a removable panel to cover that room at all?
I did, once we added the blast door between the hangar and that area, creating space for the duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan. I created a wall panel to separate them at one point, but those parts were ultimately needed elsewhere.
Several rooms slide out of the model for access. Did you think about making them all the same size, so they could be rearranged, or even releasing a separate play set that could be added to the Death Star?
Yes to the first; no to the second. We very briefly considered the option of swapping rooms around, but quickly decided to prioritise making sure the rooms were properly proportioned, rather than the same size just for modularity. The reason some sections slide out is purely for better access to pose minifigures, although we also raised the ceiling heights to accommodate that.
For the possibility of add-on sets, we just wanted to make a complete Death Star in one go.
The bridge is perhaps a bit smaller than I would expect, given its size in the movie. Did any iteration of the Death Star have a larger space for the bridge?
Not as such, although the internal section of the superlaser was much smaller on my original model of the Death Star, which left more room for features like a larger screen. Ultimately, we decided to increase the size of the superlaser's internal mechanism because it looked a bit too small.
The bridge is quite compact, but we knew from the beginning that the hangar and throne room would need to occupy the biggest sections of the model and this area beside the superlaser is sufficient to capture the essential details on the bridge.
Were there any other rooms you wanted to include?
I cannot think of anything else, to be honest. I wanted to expand the conference room at one point, but there was not enough space. Can you think of anything else we could have added?
Not really. One advantage of including the generic corridor is that it works for multiple scenes.
Absolutely, it covers lots of different moments, especially aboard the first Death Star when the heroes are sneaking around.
The back is clearly not intended for display, but it does include a little thermal exhaust port. Was adding a microscale trench run or anything else on the exterior considered?
It was, but like the panel covering the trash compactor, it was ultimately necessary to prioritise other things. However, there was one external feature that Lucasfilm specifically asked for: the trench around the Death Star's equator. As ever, we have an ongoing discussion with Lucasfilm and they sometimes make little suggestions.
Thank you for speaking with us!
A separate interview with the graphic designer, Maddy O'Neil, will be published later today and we have lots more coverage of the Death Star to come!
Thanks to Solid Brix Studios for some of the photos in this article. David's video interview with the designers is available here.
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68 comments on this article
Piece of cake, literallly
Kind of messed up that the TIE only comes as a gwp and isn't included in the set
Ig you could part it out easily from common parts, but it still comes across as scummy on lego's part as we see the TIE on display here
Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical.
Wow that's why they did not show any picture of the back! I was expecting it to look like the exterior of the Death Star ... Of course it's Lego and it can be done , but come on, it looks like your missing the last bag of pieces there
huh, Minikit and studs hidden round the back.
shame its the backside where none will see them.
neat idea, but does nothing to redeem this overpriced disk
I'm confident everyone will be very normal in this comments section
People complain a lot about the set. I get that the price is high, but people wanting it spherical are simply being unrealistic. All the designer insights make a lot of sense.
@capnrex101 - I don't know if these are your photos or someone else's, but they actually make the set look way better than the official ones in my opinion. Seeing more of the depth and curvature of the lower levels really makes it feel like it has more to it than a flat disc.
Who do they think will be buying this? I would assume most people would think of an actual sphere when they hear "$1000 Death Star" but what do I know. Lego is so out of touch with their fans but as long as they get their millions i guess. "Only the best is good enough" should be changed to "Only the bare minimum is required for adults to throw thousands at us for toys"
@bnic99 said:
"huh, Minikit and studs hidden round the back."
Holy shoot, I hadn't noticed that lmao. That stack of cash is amazing
Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round.
Did I miss the question about the Stormtrooper Hot Tub & Sauna room?
It's a doll-house for adult children. For 1000€. This set embodies everything wrong with LSW and LEGO in general. They absolutely lost the plot.
I loved the first few questions and answers, thanks for them.
No LEGO no! Don't send your designer out to the front lines like that! They'll never show him mercy!
I still think this looks great. All of the room s are substantially bigger than the previous versions and each is essentially a self contained play/display set.
I also don't really see the point of completing the hemisphere on the back. It would no longer display up against a wall if you display the interior and you wouldn't be able to see anything in it if you turned it around.
Han solo turned a lot thinner for sure!
@Kievex said:
"People complain a lot about the set. I get that the price is high, but people wanting it spherical are simply being unrealistic. All the designer insights make a lot of sense."
That's my impression too. You can have either a spherical model of the exterior like the first UCS Death Star. You can have a spherical interior focused model like the last two UCS Death Star models. But that came with compromises in room sizes and shapes, and is overly complicated to cover with an exterior as well. Honestly the "cake slice with a dollhouse interior" is a brilliant design choice to emphasize the interior while keeping a recognizable silhouette. I like it far more than the last two UCS models at least.
Now is that $1000 price worth it? That is for the consumer to decide.
@MrKoshka said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
If it helps, I'm writing you off as both a bigot and an idiot."
A BigIdiot?
Why does LEGO keep shoving that false minikit with round 2x2 plate on the bottom instead of the rounded bottom piece? I don't care if the real one can't be connected via studs, that's not a minikit.
It’s a cool design and impressive no matter how you slice it! The folks who made it did a great job. I just think expectations and reality are clashing here for the first $1000 lego set.
@ohrmazd said:
" @MrKoshka said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
If it helps, I'm writing you off as both a bigot and an idiot."
A BigIdiot?
"
No. A Bigiot.
Emperor Palpatine is in bag 66
@Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
Absolutely agree. Do Lego want to show the Empire as moral in their recruiting process?
It's a bit like making a WW2 set and putting black/Jewish female Nazi officers in it.
There's nothing bigoted about being accurate to your sources.
That said, I'm fine with the change. It's not implausible that there would be those officers on the Death Slice, if it existed, and it helps make each minifig unique.
Unpopular opinion, but I think this is a brilliant way to approach the design as opposed the the typical same-but-bigger style of a lot of the UCS sets. I wonder if this had been called "Death Star Diorama" or something along those lines if it might have managed expectations more.
Did any one else notice the storm trooper height chart on the back?
Is it just me, or do alot of these answers read like 'we couldn't be bothered' rather than 'we wanted to make the best quality product we could'?
The back could've been a flat Death Star, then given people the option to turn it around.
@jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?
@khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?"
I would have loved to have the back half of the set a sphere of the Death Star exterior. That way you could have options for display. This looks like a doll house with the exterior broken off
Nuff said. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-67785/BigJudge/ucs-death-star-playset-combo/details
@jhoya said:
" @khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?"
I would have loved to have the back half of the set a sphere of the Death Star exterior. That way you could have options for display. This looks like a doll house with the exterior broken off"
So you prefer to display a giant grey surface instead of a full detailed set of film scenes? In a 1000$ set? Don't believe you sorry :)
@khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
" @khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?"
I would have loved to have the back half of the set a sphere of the Death Star exterior. That way you could have options for display. This looks like a doll house with the exterior broken off"
So you prefer to display a giant grey surface instead of a full detailed set of film scenes? In a 1000$ set? Don't believe you sorry :) "
By this logic no one would have bought the original UCS Death Star II.
First off, I really respect the hard work that Lego set designers and graphic designers put in. Most of the problems with LSW are arguably due to the bean-counters and execs, not the set designers and graphic designers. A big thank you to Maddy O'Neil and Cesar Soares for giving these interviews, and to Brickset and other RLFM for participating in them. That said, here are my two cents:
I respect a lot of the design decisions made here, and honestly the reasoning behind the tall disk form factor instead of a sphere, half-sphere, or shell makes sense. However, some of the answers in the interview make a little less sense. Lke these:
@CesarSoares said:
"I wanted to avoid anything like that (ladders to reach some otherwise inaccessible rooms) because it would not be authentic to the Death Star in the movie and preserving that authenticity was a real priority with this model."
If authenticity was really such a priority, then several things would have been done differently. None of this model can be truly authentic, because in the movie each and every one of these rooms and scenes is separated by who knows how much distance inside the in-universe location. They're already being jammed together for play in a way that is totally incongruous to the in-universe setting. Why don't you acknowledge that and make one more very minor concession for play, like adding ladders where it makes sense to add them?
@CesarSoares said:
"For the possibility of add-on sets, we just wanted to make a complete Death Star in one go."
I can respect that as a halo product, but it shuts those scenes behind an enormous paywall for everyone else.
@KingTyrannos said:
" @khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
" @khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?"
I would have loved to have the back half of the set a sphere of the Death Star exterior. That way you could have options for display. This looks like a doll house with the exterior broken off"
So you prefer to display a giant grey surface instead of a full detailed set of film scenes? In a 1000$ set? Don't believe you sorry :) "
By this logic no one would have bought the original UCS Death Star II.
"
Not many people bought it back in 2005. Thats why its so expensive new and used nowadays.
@GrizBe said:
"Is it just me, or do alot of these answers read like 'we couldn't be bothered' rather than 'we wanted to make the best quality product we could'?"
Probably not just you, but that doesn't make it correct.
"For the possibility of add-on sets, we just wanted to make a complete Death Star in one go."
Except for, ya know, the GWP TIE Fighter that was left out...
The most egregious part of this set is the fact it has literal DLC in the Tie Fighter. They made an attachable holder to place onto the Death Star and even have it in the photos. They've done exclusive GWPs before, but only as complements to the set.
The Black Pearl has a compass GWP which pairs nicely with the ship, but the ship alone feels complete.
Here, you pay $1k for an incomplete set. The Tie Fighter goes in the empty space. There's a reason TLG is showing off this Death Star with the GWP in the set (which they don't do) because they know it's incomplete without it. I'll be damned if I drop a band on an incomplete Lego set direct from manufacturer.
That GWP TIE is the worst looking thing in the set.
I’m sorry but they could’ve made the back even if flat, look like the Death Star landscape.
I know, I know the piece count.
Either that or no Gw/P and just have included the TIE Fighter.
Ughhhhhh!
@khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
" @khomps said:
" @jhoya said:
"Fair questions. Sounds like they should’ve made it smaller so it could’ve been at least partially spherical."
To be honest, why all of you want it to be spherical, if 99,9% of the people owning a Death Star has it displayed against a wall?"
I would have loved to have the back half of the set a sphere of the Death Star exterior. That way you could have options for display. This looks like a doll house with the exterior broken off"
So you prefer to display a giant grey surface instead of a full detailed set of film scenes? In a 1000$ set? Don't believe you sorry :) "
Gee, thanks for telling me what I want lol. Let’s see how quickly this set is on discount or has huge insider point bonuses. Most Lego Star Wars fans don’t want a bunch of diorama sets thrown together for a $1000 Death Star set
Nice of the high-level corporate cash-guzzlers at TLG to trot out the designers in front of the firing squad to bite the bullets actually meant for the greedy bean-counters at the top. Pathetic, although I feel for the designers, they have probably done the best they could.
@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
Absolutely agree. Do Lego want to show the Empire as moral in their recruiting process?
It's a bit like making a WW2 set and putting black/Jewish female Nazi officers in it.
There's nothing bigoted about being accurate to your sources.
That said, I'm fine with the change. It's not implausible that there would be those officers on the Death Slice, if it existed, and it helps make each minifig unique."
I, uh
I feel like if you were able to type that second paragraph, you should be able to see what's wrong with the comparison in the first one.
@Andrusi Empire is literally space nazis
Actually, the back doesn't look particularly bad. And when the slice is displayed at a very slight angle, it does suggest that it's a cutaway view of a sphere. The superlaser adds to that effect. Clearly people worked very hard on this design.
The basic concept doesn't work for me--which isn't the fault of the designers, given the size they wanted and the requirement that it should fit somewhere in a normal house without turning it into a Star Wars museum. It's probably the best solution to that complex of restrictions. And I don't feel that bean counters or insensitive execs spoiled what would otherwise have been a better set.
But I don't want it. I don't have the slightest tinge of regret about leaving it off my wish list.
@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
Absolutely agree. Do Lego want to show the Empire as moral in their recruiting process?
It's a bit like making a WW2 set and putting black/Jewish female Nazi officers in it.
There's nothing bigoted about being accurate to your sources.
That said, I'm fine with the change. It's not implausible that there would be those officers on the Death Slice, if it existed, and it helps make each minifig unique."
A bit disingenuous to compare Star Wars with WW2 in that manner, isn't it? Canonically, the Empire only really seems to care about alien species, not different human races, and it's not really the same thing, given one was an actual event and the other is fictional.
"I created a wall panel to separate them at one point, but those parts were ultimately needed elsewhere."
It seems odd that because of budget they couldn't add finishing touches. The duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan looks silly with the trash compactor as a back drop. The lift when open also lets you see the wall behind which is another thing that doesn't seem finished.
As far as I’m aware the OG trilogy creators were trying to make a point with all the Empire staff being human, white and male (and usually British), with regard to how fascism is usually expressed through suppression of women and minorities, but unfortunately it’s somewhat undermined by the failure to include more than a tiny smattering of aliens, women and non-white characters on the Rebellion side. I think it could be a bit of a shame to lose the point they were trying to make, but since arguably due to the failings elsewhere they never made it properly in the first place (we aren’t talking the level of incisive commentary of the Assassin’s Guild in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld), it isn’t really a problem to have some variation in the display kit and later films (actors who aren’t white British men with upper middle class accents deserve jobs too) instead of nearly-identical minifigs.
If Lucasfilm asked for the trench, where is it?
For $1000, this was not the Death Star I was looking for. A smaller but fully paneled, spherical Death Star (even with no interior) would have been a definite buy for me. While I do like what they came up with; I feel like it's designed well and looks pretty cool all things considered, I look at it more as a cool MOC than a set I would personally want to own. For that reason, and the $1000, it is in all likelihood going to be an easy pass for me. A sphere, on the other hand, would have been an easy buy, even at $1000, even if it had a smaller radius, and even if it had no interior. I wanted a Death Star. This is not a Death Star, and honestly not deserving of the UCS title. This is a large scale Death Star diorama. Cool, but not what I wanted, and not what a lot of people wanted. I expect a lot of people are going to pass on this. I appreciate the designers' desire to do something different, but LEGO's first $1000 set is not something they should get experimental with if they want it to sell.
@Andrusi said:
" @alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
Absolutely agree. Do Lego want to show the Empire as moral in their recruiting process?
It's a bit like making a WW2 set and putting black/Jewish female Nazi officers in it.
There's nothing bigoted about being accurate to your sources.
That said, I'm fine with the change. It's not implausible that there would be those officers on the Death Slice, if it existed, and it helps make each minifig unique."
I, uh
I feel like if you were able to type that second paragraph, you should be able to see what's wrong with the comparison in the first one."
ngl I'm in two minds about it...
@Hiratha said:
"As far as I’m aware the OG trilogy creators were trying to make a point with all the Empire staff being human, white and male (and usually British), with regard to how fascism is usually expressed through suppression of women and minorities, but unfortunately it’s somewhat undermined by the failure to include more than a tiny smattering of aliens, women and non-white characters on the Rebellion side. I think it could be a bit of a shame to lose the point they were trying to make, but since arguably due to the failings elsewhere they never made it properly in the first place (we aren’t talking the level of incisive commentary of the Assassin’s Guild in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld), it isn’t really a problem to have some variation in the display kit and later films (actors who aren’t white British men with upper middle class accents deserve jobs too) instead of nearly-identical minifigs. "
It's something the Expanded Universe kind of broke quickly too. Grand Admiral Thrawn as an alien. Admiral Daala as a high ranking woman in the Empire. Grand Admiral Nial Declann as a black man in the Empire. The Death Star novel had a Twi'lek bartender on the station as well. While the real world analogy is still present, it solidified that the Empire is anti-nonhuman biased but actually rather diverse in humanity itself; and the Disney canon has stuck with that (Finn as a First Order stormtrooper, Thrawn again in his same role, Dedra Meero spectacularly as an ISB agent in Andor or Moff Gideon in Mandalorian).
I respect the original 1977 film's visual messaging of the Empire being predominantly white men to mirror the real structure of certain historical German military and political groups, but "The Empire is Woke" in terms of its human characters has been established since the 1990's. If anyone asks "why is real world minority absent in the Empire in the first three films?" it's easy to point out the Empire's scope meant they're always just off screen, or the faceless nature of Stormtrooper armor hid a lot of people's faces and identities from the audience's view. Then I'd also just remind people the films primary Imperial scenes were also made predominantly in 1970's/80's Britain, Scandinavia and Northern California; and extra casting also reflects the area the films were shot in at the time.
@Th3D0m1n8r said:
" @alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @Brikkyy13 said:
"Funny how he talks about not including a ladder for the control room to “preserve authenticity to the movie” yet almost all the unnamed officer minifigures are black or female.
Write me off as a bigot if you’d like but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Star crew was exclusively white men in the movie. For the price tag they’re asking you’d expect accuracy all round. "
Absolutely agree. Do Lego want to show the Empire as moral in their recruiting process?
It's a bit like making a WW2 set and putting black/Jewish female Nazi officers in it.
There's nothing bigoted about being accurate to your sources.
That said, I'm fine with the change. It's not implausible that there would be those officers on the Death Slice, if it existed, and it helps make each minifig unique."
A bit disingenuous to compare Star Wars with WW2 in that manner, isn't it? Canonically, the Empire only really seems to care about alien species, not different human races, and it's not really the same thing, given one was an actual event and the other is fictional."
The Empire literally has Stormtroopers. It's a dictatorship. It's clearly based on the Nazis.
It's a pretty fair comparison I think.
@César Soares said:
"For the possibility of add-on sets, we just wanted to make a complete Death Star in one go."
Ah, that certainly explains the GWP....
That aside, I think one of the more baffling choices is that it isn't flat around the back so you could hang it against a wall. At first glance it seems like the whole set was designed for that, but nope. And in that regard it doesn't help either that from the throne room you don't look into space but just at the wall behind it. They did do a back drop for the hangar, so why not for the throne room?
But the one recurring answer in both this interview and the one with Maddy O'Neil is how it's been all about cost cutting. Considering the price tag, that's just sad. I do get that there will always be constraints, but at this point many of those cut corners are just laughable.
@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @Hiratha said:
"As far as I’m aware the OG trilogy creators were trying to make a point with all the Empire staff being human, white and male (and usually British), with regard to how fascism is usually expressed through suppression of women and minorities, but unfortunately it’s somewhat undermined by the failure to include more than a tiny smattering of aliens, women and non-white characters on the Rebellion side. I think it could be a bit of a shame to lose the point they were trying to make, but since arguably due to the failings elsewhere they never made it properly in the first place (we aren’t talking the level of incisive commentary of the Assassin’s Guild in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld), it isn’t really a problem to have some variation in the display kit and later films (actors who aren’t white British men with upper middle class accents deserve jobs too) instead of nearly-identical minifigs. "
It's something the Expanded Universe kind of broke quickly too. Grand Admiral Thrawn as an alien. Admiral Daala as a high ranking woman in the Empire. Grand Admiral Nial Declann as a black man in the Empire. The Death Star novel had a Twi'lek bartender on the station as well. While the real world analogy is still present, it solidified that the Empire is anti-nonhuman biased but actually rather diverse in humanity itself; and the Disney canon has stuck with that (Finn as a First Order stormtrooper, Thrawn again in his same role, Dedra Meero spectacularly as an ISB agent in Andor or Moff Gideon in Mandalorian).
I respect the original 1977 film's visual messaging of the Empire being predominantly white men to mirror the real structure of certain historical German military and political groups, but "The Empire is Woke" in terms of its human characters has been established since the 1990's. If anyone asks "why is real world minority absent in the Empire in the first three films?" it's easy to point out the Empire's scope meant they're always just off screen, or the faceless nature of Stormtrooper armor hid a lot of people's faces and identities from the audience's view. Then I'd also just remind people the films primary Imperial scenes were also made predominantly in 1970's/80's Britain, Scandinavia and Northern California; and extra casting also reflects the area the films were shot in at the time. "
Well, quite. The ship has thoroughly sailed, finished its round-the-world expedition and set off again to find the northwest passage. Even if the original point, if it had been made a bit better, would have been a good one, I don’t think there’s much chance of its meaningful reinstatement in a lone Lego kit.
The team wanted to try something new… but reading these threads, what the customers - and fans - wanted was a modern take on the Death Star.
I very appreciate the time and effort the team spent on this but I feel they missed the brief on this one.
I will just say - For HALF the price, you can get previous Deathstar on BL.
It's a nice set. Too bad about shortcuts of the back, trash compactor, etc.
The figs are almost a complete redundant disgrace!
Too bad this $800 set is being marketed at $1000.
Overall, it's just a big, half-shined turd.
As the most expensive set yet, the model needed to look seriously impressive to justify the pricetag. 75192 and 75313 were able to do this with both being detailed models that look accurate to the source material, and the latter also having a full interior copied from the cross-section books.
This thing though? Aside from the superlaser on the side, it looks nothing like either of the Death Stars seen in the movies. While the value for money might not be completely terrible on paper in terms of price/piece and price/weight, it simply doesn't look good enough for anywhere near the price they are charging. Even if it was literally a tenth of the price I'd only want it as a parts pack.
@MisterBrickster said:
" @capnrex101 - I don't know if these are your photos or someone else's, but they actually make the set look way better than the official ones in my opinion. Seeing more of the depth and curvature of the lower levels really makes it feel like it has more to it than a flat disc."
I had the exact same thought - the photo that's looking down from the top, where you really see the depth of the parts that jut out more, is really impressive - and it vividly shows just how big this set is too!
As for all the hate this is getting, I understand it to a point, but I feel like some folks are failing to make a key distinction: the concept or approach of this set is not what some folks wanted, yes. But for what it is, I think it's very well-designed and executed.
And let's not forget that this format is for many people much better for display - and it gets away from the UCS Star Wars problem of "giant slabs/globs of light bluish gray" that some folks have complained about with sets like the prior Death Stars, AT-AT, and especially the various Star Destroyers. Variety is good.
@tmtomh said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
" @capnrex101 - I don't know if these are your photos or someone else's, but they actually make the set look way better than the official ones in my opinion. Seeing more of the depth and curvature of the lower levels really makes it feel like it has more to it than a flat disc."
I had the exact same thought - the photo that's looking down from the top, where you really see the depth of the parts that jut out more, is really impressive - and it vividly shows just how big this set is too!
As for all the hate this is getting, I understand it to a point, but I feel like some folks are failing to make a key distinction: the concept or approach of this set is not what some folks wanted, yes. But for what it is, I think it's very well-designed and executed.
And let's not forget that this format is for many people much better for display - and it gets away from the UCS Star Wars problem of "giant slabs/globs of light bluish gray" that some folks have complained about with sets like the prior Death Stars, AT-AT, and especially the various Star Destroyers. Variety is good."
It's not $1k good.
1) the GWP should just be part of the set 2) I don't see how there wasn't space to make some of the scenes bigger when the entire center of the model is basically empty space.
I don't own anything that had an equal or higher price than this (except my house and cars) so I can't imagine someone buying this. My only complaint is that they combined movies into the same set. I like it, I just can't believe the price.
Firstly, credit to Cesar Soares for doing an excellent job within the constraints he was given.
"I created a wall panel to separate them at one point, but those parts were ultimately needed elsewhere."
I feel like this attitude by the Lego management is unacceptable in a flagship product - as with the minifigures, the most expensive set you're selling should damn well be the best in everything....
Looking at this, I feel like if *I* were in charge, I 'd have drawn up 2 separate hemispherical sets - one for the Death Star 1 with the cell block / tractor beam / swing across the chasm / corridor fight / conference room, and a different set for the Death Star 2 with the shuttle bay, throne room. Both sets have finished backs (the Death Star 1 with a complete casing, the Death Star 2 with an under-construction section). Then they could be smaller in diameter to reduce structural piece count and displayed either open, or placed together to make a complete sphere. Two $800 sets and I'd probably be saving my money now...
I get their thought process when designing it. But I just don't think it's a good design. The spherical nature of the Death Star is part of what makes it iconic: a moon-shaped planetary body of a planet-destroying death ray.
I also think that Lego has gotten too obsessed with minute details that inflate the piece count, the prices, and generally make things more expensive. Sure there is more detail, but is all the detail necessary? I've think they've lost the plot with part usage in detail vs. part usage in effective design of a Lego set. I guess they've been inspired by AFOLs who have much more committed budgets to get into those details, but that mindset doesn't always translate well in making a product. Many of the early Lego Star Wars designs had too many studs showing, but now it's as if they are ashamed of the essence of their Lego system.
Overall, it seems like a collection of worse versions of sets they've already released duct-taped together in a Death Star facade.
Thanks for this interview! It’s always interesting to hear the design process of a set from the designers themselves, and I’d like to see more designer interviews like this on Brickset.
It’s also a nice reminder for people that real human beings have worked on these projects.
It’s funny, his answers to why it looks like it is are exactly what I said to a couple people on their instagram. The complaints are so off base. Like adding half a sphere…then what would the complaints be? “It’s too small for being a $1K” because, as he said, they would have to decrease its size a bunch to accommodate all those parts. Or if it was a full sphere, say goodbye to the interior.
I will say, these pictures help show the set in a better light. The first one showing it at a slight angle & the curvature that is going on is very smart.
I was never a buyer of any Death Star, but I can appreciate this for being something different while giving us the iconic scenes from the Death Star.
@AtomJVD89 said:
"It's a doll-house for adult children. For 1000€. This set embodies everything wrong with LSW and LEGO in general. They absolutely lost the plot."
And so was the Monster Fighters Haunted House, albeit it wasn’t $1K. Not sure why you’re using dollhouse as an insult…