LEGO revealed their plans for the next edition to the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series lineup of ships built from the legendary blocks. Arriving this May is the A-Wing UCS model – bigger and more complex it should be, packed with exclusive minifig and slightly overpriced – the usual combination. But can you really put a wrong price on a special collectible item? Let’s find out!
The Ultimate Collector Series of LEGO Star Wars ships and vehicles has been one of the most expensive LEGO collections.
Ever since its launch in the year 2000, these items have always captured the fans’ attention with great detail and the more complex mechanics involved in the build-up process.
Prices for the UCS models varies from the usual ~$200 all the way up to the whooping $800 for the 2017’s edition of the Millenium Falcon.
Usually LEGO only launches one product from this lineup each year with a few exceptions where two have been released in the span of the same year.
Now, coming specifically for the Star Wars holiday May the 4th, Disney and LEGO decided to offer us a never before seen model of the A-Wing. This ship appears for the first time as a UCS version.
The A-Wing appeared first in the beginning of Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi and has been one of the most popular ships in any Star Wars creation from movies to books and comics.
The creator of the model Hans Schloemer from the LEGO Star Wars team admits that there isn’t much to the design of the ship when we see it in the movie. It’s slick and simple, with only two colors – “like a sports car in space, with very clean and curvy lines, very beautiful” – Hans adds.
This is an incredibly fast ship. Faster even than the TIE Fighter. According to the lore, it spans 6.9m in length and 4.5m in width. The LEGO model, however, is bigger. It spans for 9.6m according to the label that arrives with each one of these UCS vehicles.
Hans admits that often the simplest designs cause the most trouble to the LEGO designers. “Star Wars is famous for grey models” – Hans explains. “The A-Wing on the other hand is very simple. It’s really only white and dark red” – he comments. This UCS A-Wing ship is twice bigger than what a mini-fig LEGO A-Wing should be, Hans admits.
The author did his research thoroughly, though. That shows in the rotating guns sitting on the left and right side of the cockpit. According to the lore, some A-Wings models were constructed with a 360 degree rotating guns, while the most only offered 60 degree turning during fight.
The exclusive pilot for this model is dressed in a dark-green suit.
The model is built on a technic frame, which is somewhat standard practice. Hans teases that things get more complicated and exciting once you start working on the items that get attached on the side and the back of the core of the ship.
The UCS series are often over blowing the models with details. Here for the A-Wing, it kind of shows that the designer had a bit of a struggle on what exactly to put some extra parts to claim this vehicle “complex” and “detailed”.
The image above with the pilot’s chair demonstrates very nicely great attention to detail and at the same time it’s an example of overdoing the simpler things to make them unnecessary complex. I still love the pilot seat, despite its bulkiness.
The price that this A-Wing UCS is listed on the official LEGO store is $199.99. The set is recommended for adults, age 18+. It contains 1673 pieces and is labeled as item #75275.
The size of the complete model is 27cm high, including the display stand beneath the ship. The A-Wing is 42cm long and 26cm wide.
LEGO usually registers the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series items as “exclusive” and “hard to find”. I doubt you will have any trouble finding it on Amazon or anywhere else you shop for your LEGOs once it releases on May 1st of 2020.
In my opinion, which I slipped through the text here and there already, I think that this is a good model and an interesting-looking ship, but it does not capture the A-Wing style for me.
The ship’s profile is too thick and bulky. The design is nowhere nearly as slick as it should be and the size just doesn’t seem right. I believe they overdid it a bit in their attempts to include as many LEGO parts as possible.
The above images were sourced from the linked YouTube video. And now all I have left is to show you some cool, clear and official images of the model, sourced from LEGO’s store:
