X-tropia Lego Blog

10188 Death Star – 3803 pieces – 24 minifigs – $399.99

Here it is my friends. The most stellar Star Wars Lego set ever forged of the brick: The Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Series Death Star 10188. I give you the Death Star as you’ve never seen it before!

Make no mistake, this set is massive! Once built the Death Star stands 16″ (41 cm) high! It has over a dozen chambers with movie accurate details. Yes it’s $399.99 but that is not over-priced for a licensed set with over 3800 pieces and 24 minifigures! This set is basically 10¢ a brick which is a pretty sweet deal.

Expect to spend several hours building this bad boy. Whether you build it alone or as a family project you’ll have hours of enjoyment in the build. Some estimate over ten hours to complete it. But don’t be daunted because building it is part of the fun of course. The difficulty says 14 years old and up but I have heard plenty of reviewers say that their 7 year old had no problem with it.

The instruction book in this case really is a literal book. I comes in a nice spiral bound book and helps guide you through each part of the construction.

Inside the box you get 4 separate boxes each numbered and containing numbered bags that are put together step by step. In this way the project is very nicely organized in smaller chunks so you can build it easier and even can work on it little bits at a time over several sittings if you so choose. But trust me, once you get started you will want to keep going until it’s done!

So let me walk you through the many features and possibilities of this set. First off, lets cover the best part of any Lego set…the minifigs. The Death Star includes 24 minifigures: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper outfit, Han Solo in Stormtrooper outfit, Assassin Droid, Interrogation Droid, Death Star Droid, 2 Death Star Troopers, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight, Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Emperor Palpatine, 2 Stormtroopers, 2 Emperor’s Royal Guards, R2-Q5, and the lovable mouse droid!

Also included is the weird garbage chute monster named Dianoga. I never knew what this thing was supposed to look like until seeing it here.

Follow me on a tour of all the Death Star environments included in this model!

The chasm with the missing bridge where Luke and Leia tethered across,

The tractor beam control chamber with moving levers,

The trash compactor with movable crushing walls,

"I've got a bad feeling about this"

Heavy Laser Cannon room,

Cargo room with mechanical arm and working elevator,

TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack,

The TIE Advanced is like the one Darth Vader flew in A New Hope. It’s a nice addition though not exactly minifig scale. It measures 3.5″ (9 cm) wide.

The Superlaser control room and target monitor,

"Fire at will commander!"

Emperor Palpatine’s throne room,

"Only now, at the end, do you understand."

The detention level with escape hatch into the trash compactor room,

"Everything's fine, we're all fine here...how are you?"

Imperial conference chamber,

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"

Dual moving laser turrets,

Droid maintenance room,

Master control bridge with view monitor.

The view screen can change from Alderan (pre-obliteration) to the count down orbiting Yavin.

There’s even a “bottomless” pit you can toss ol’ Palpatine down if don’t learn how to do right!

So with all these possible rooms you can reenact sooooo many pivotal scenes from the movies. Rescue Princess Leia from the detention block cell, then escape through the secret hatch to the trash compactor below! Swing across the chasm with Luke and Leia on the cord to safty. Experience the epic duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in the Emperor’s Throne Room!

Overall this model is got to be one of the most creative, awesome, masterfully engineered, fun to build and all around incredible Star Wars Lego sets ever created! If you factor in all the entertainment hours of building and play it provides, the great minifigures and the display and collectability of this set it really does make it a must have!

-Daniel