Bricking Around – Star Wars: The Force Awakens Lego Millennium Falcon Review

Posted on September 4, 2015 in Bricking Around, Reviews

So this review is the result of some good luck and a certain retailer not understanding what ‘Force Friday’ was.

Without a pesky embargo to worry about this scruffy nerf herder managed to get his hands on the Lego Force Awakens Millennium Falcon a whole day early, and hopefully this review is going up early enough on ‘Force Friday’ to be considered a ‘scoop’, because five hours of assembly after a 12-hour shift has to be worth something, right?

So first, here is the largest Lego Star Wars product I have built up until the Falcon.

Yeah; quite a few pieces smaller. This new Falcon clocks in at over 1300 pieces, and includes 7 fantastic minifigs. What does that look like, completely unassembled, lying on a coffee table?

Looks like a hell of a lot of work. That’s what it looks like. When I got home at half eight last night I assumed this would take me up until midnight, but I only finished at half 1, with a bad crick in my neck and one very sore thumb.

So was it worth it? Let’s go through the building process, highlighting some of the cool details and exciting parts of making this monster, before indulging in how the finished product looks.

BUILDING

Very quickly the Falcon becomes a large presence on your building area/already messy coffee table, with the completion of the first bag resulting in the very base of the ship.

From here everything is built upwards, which I really appreciated, as it felt like I was getting to know every part of the ship as it formed before my eyes. The next step brought many of the interior details to life.

My favourite interior detail has to be the pipe running across the back of the ship. It just wouldn’t feel like the Millennium Falcon without pipes strewn everywhere inside. It’s amazing how much of this build requires blocks to be placed at angles. I guess Han Solo just keeps such a hodgepodge of a ship that it couldn’t properly be represented by right angles.

Perhaps the most impressive part of this model is how the signature shape of the Falcon comes together. Rounded in some areas and squared off in others, and always, always, defiantly asymmetrical, the Falcon has an unmistakable shape. It is therefore ingenious just how that shape is made through such uniformly squared off pieces.

The outer wall is made of these large blocks, which then bend at the hinges to recreate those sexy curves. Can’t forget the hyperdrive either.

By the end of this stage you’re left with a remarkably round chunk of Lego.

The famous, jutting-out cockpit of the Falcon is also well-represented, with more clever hinge-work creating flowing curves.

At the midway point the Falcon needs to be flipped over to receive some armaments and hidden compartments, which, let’s face it, it just wouldn’t be a smuggling ship without. It is while doing this that you can appreciate just how sturdy the thing feels. For such a large piece, no part feels under-supported.

The final stage is the creation of the top of the saucer out of large triangular wedges on hinges, which will later allow the Falcon to smartly switch between model and playset. The top section also stands out as having the largest differences between this Force Awakens Millennium Falcon and the previous Lego models based on the original trilogy. The wedges are not a uniform grey, but mix in some darker greys. Looks like Han isn’t the only one showing his age in the new film.

Then of course comes the only real structural difference between this Falcon and the one seen in Return of the Jedi; a new radar dish to replace the one Lando Calrissian knocked off while flying through the second Death Star.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

One more front wedge and a cockpit later, and the Falcon is ready to fly/sit firmly on a steady surface for the rest of its life.

And what a beauty she is. After my recovery sleep I have just been staring at it all morning. I love it to pieces, and it has definitely thrown some coal into the burning furnace of the hype train for me. It also doesn’t hurt that the minifigs included in this £129.99 set (the most expensive Lego set for The Force Awakens) are absolutely brilliant, and include perhaps two of the most sought-after and fan-favoured characters.

Chewy and Han both look great, with Han especially a perfect representation of our aging smuggler hero. The hair is just perfect isn’t it?

Han is cool and all, but for me the purchase of this set was guaranteed from the second I saw that it included the spherical cutey, BB-8.

I’m in love with this tiny droid, and I don’t care who knows it.

Our other new characters, the mono-named Rey and Finn (Rey Solo? Rey Skywalker? Rey Ackbar? Finn Skywalker? Finn Solo? Finn Calrissian? Oooh that last one has a ring to it, doesn’t it?), also make an appearance.

Stern faces all around for those guys. This is serious business.

Now how does this beauty work as a playset? Let’s Faberge egg this bad boy!

Ta-dah! I was totally on-board with just having a cool Lego model of the Falcon, but this genius method of allowing for easy internal access just fills me with glee. The interior details that we built way back around the second hour mark of this build now make a great playset environment.

My favourite detail has to be the holo-chess board, which was the last piece places inside, just as the new radar dish was the last piece on the roof. Lego definitely knows how much these small details mean to fans. And look, it’s our new baddies. The dude with the long rifle is *checks box* Kanjiklub Gang Member, and his mate is Tasu Leech. Since I don’t want them hanging around inside while our heroes chill out and point guns at each other, and I don’t want them on the roof while they’re in flying mode, I’ll have to find somewhere to put them…

If that isn’t the coolest solution to the age-old, ‘where do I store these guys when I’m not using them’ problem, then I don’t know what is.

FINAL VERDICT

I love this, and hope that as it sits proud atop wherever I find the room for it, it will signal to everyone who visits that my love for Star Wars is strong like the Force. The addition of new figures from Force Awakens just makes me even more excited to find out more about them, and getting to see the Millennium Falcon in action once more will just be the best thing ever, I guarantee it.

The model that is made from this set is just superb; a brilliant representation of an awkwardly-shaped and totally iconic spaceship. With an easy transformation into a playset with an amazing attention to detail this set is definitely great value for money.

The building process is a real blast too. Coming from the ground-up helps the builder really get to know every inch of the Falcon in a very personal way.

The Writer of this piece was: Andrew Stevens
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