The dark side of the brick

The V-wing remains one of the most mysterious of the Star Wars craft for me.  It apparently turns up in the Revenge of the Sith but I struggle to remember it in that film.  That said, compared to the original trilogy which I must have seen at least 30 times each, I've probably only watched this one 3 or 4 times and not with any attention for some years. The internet tells me that it's actually an "Alpha 3 Nimbus V-wing starfighter" made by Kuat.  No hyperdrive and an unpressurised cockpit but highly manouverable.   Lego has made three versions over the years: way back in 2006 came set 6205 with just 118 parts.  I do not think that this is Lego's finest hour: like some of the early Sith Infiltrators, the front section feels very flat.  The radiator wings also don't rotate which is a nice feature on the later versions. The fact that you only get a droid head also feels cheap to me.   Next up in 2011 was set 7915 , with 139 parts.  A slight improvement in that i

A final bit of catching up with blogging: the last set I deconstructed back in November was the Ewok Village ( 10236 ) from 2013.  This is counted as a UCS set but would now fit much better in the Master Builder series (along with the still lamentable Assault on Hoth), given that it features large numbers of minifigs and a scene with lots of detail. This one comes with 16 minifigs and plenty of play features, including may favourite which is the roasting spit for Han.  I also love the drum kits and the swinging logs for crushing AT-STs.  Plenty of catapults and, places to hide and slides for Ewoks (though not all of them work brilliantly).   I'd have kept this one constructed but I really needed the space back.  All in all, it's a really nice set, but doesn't naturally sit within what I would define as the UCS sets.

More deconstruction... today's efforts are the following. Firstly, Major Vonreg's TIE fighter ( 75240 ) from 2019.  Making use of the relatively new 6x4 wedge plates and the some really nice dovetailing of 2x4 wedge plates in different colours, this is a nice set.  My niece liked it because it wasn't grey! 4 unique minifigs is also great. Next up is the Sith TIE ( 75272 ) from 2020.  A very solid set and always feels like it's going to topple off its stand.  I like this one less. Finally, I took apart Duel on Geonosis ( 75017 ), from 2013.  This is a relatively simple set with some playability, mainly in the fact that you can zap Yoda around the set with the articulated arm that he attaches to.  Not the most thrilling set ever.  

Another belated post - back in early December, I took apart both of the UCS Y-wings: 10134 which I've owned from new since 2004 and 75181 from 2018. Back in 2004, I remember being slightly disappointed with the Y-wing: it was my second Lego Star Wars set after the incomparable 10030 and it didn't quite measure up in terms of scale and scope.  However, revisiting it now, I think it really holds up and delivers tons of detail for its part count.  The only bit that I still hate is threading all of the short bits of tubing onto the white 12l axles.   75181 is, of course, better detailed and takes advantage of 14 years of new Lego parts.  That said, I'd be hard pressed now to separate them in terms of which I like the best.

As I've not been blogging much of late, I've missed talking about a couple of builds.  First up is 75310 : Duel on Mandalore.  One of the smaller sets of 2021 - indeed barring the Falcon microfighter, I think this is the smallest regular set.  With only 147 pieces you expect limited playability and detail and what you get is therefore not a surprise.   The best bit of this is clearly the two minifigs, especially the unique Darth Maul.   Next up is Darth Vader's Meditation Chamber ( 75296 ).  This one took a while for me to get - seemed to be out of stock on the Lego website for ages so I eventually got it from Amazon.  This is probably the most SNOT set I think I've ever seen from Lego: there are some studs visible on the outside of the meditation chamber itself but certainly all of the floor area is entirely free of studs.  Which is unfortunate for the redoubtable General Veers.  Otherwise, I really like this set.

Well, it had to be bought.  Back in early December, the Lego courier delivered the biggest set of 2021 - and indeed the second biggest Lego Star Wars set in terms of number of pieces.  The enormous 75313 UCS AT-AT.   What to say about this?  As always, with the UCS sets, it knocks the spots off every previous version of the vehicle in question.  Size - check.  Detail - all there.  Build factor - excellent. Sense of awe - off the scale!  New pieces - several.   I was at the end of a long year of work and trying to sort myself out for a much-rescheduled vacation so while I did pretty much drop all other Lego activity and start on this, it still took me 5 days to finish it.  At no point was the build really repetitive - even the legs weren't too bad.  And when you got to the two sides, there was the occasional greebling difference to keep you on your toes.  Though I was able to do large chunks from memory. Here's a photo of the final beast: Once I manage to get a couple of the ol