The dark side of the brick

I'm about to start deconstruction of my collection of Imperial shuttles.  I'm sad about this because the UCS shuttle ( 10212 ) is one of my all-time favourite Lego sets.  However, it is very big and it was taking up space where I wanted to put my new collection of storage boxes, so it'll have to go. The imperial shuttle recurs quite regularly throughout the Lego catalogue.  Apart from the simply enormous UCS set, there are, I think 4 minifig-sized play sets: 7166 from way back in 2001 7264 from 2005, which is basically a copy of 7166 (with the new colours) and more minifigs 75094 from 2015 and 75302 from earlier this year. Here's a photo of 3 of them (Imperial Inspection was on the floor): Of these, I have a soft spot for the 2001 original but would go for 75094 if I had to pick one - the most bricks, the best play features and the biggest at this size.  There are no less than 5 mini sets, though for some reason I could only find 4 of these.  4494 from way back ...

A quick one-hour build today - the new Imperial Shuttle ( 75302 ).  This is pretty reminscent of previous shuttles in overall size but benefits from the latest parts.  And for a set of this size, it has no less than four parts that are new to my collection, which is always a bonus. Playability is medium - the wings fold, the cockpit opens and the central section hinges back (there's a clip with a nice feel to it.  Three minifigs and brickset claims two of them are unique but I think that's stretching it (Darth's cloak and I'm pretty sure that the constituent parts of the pilot have been seen before).   However, overall, I'm quite pleased with it and if you've not got a shuttle in your collection, this is a good addition.