The Falcon has landed -- right onto the palm of your hand!
Ever since the new midi-scale was originally announced, LEGO fans have been wondering exactly what the impact of the new proportions will be. There have already been a Mini, two System and an Ultimate Collectors Series scale Millennium Falcon, and some wondered if we need a new scale. You might be surprised to learn that the idea for a midi-scale actually came from a retailer who requested a range of Star Wars sets that children could afford with their pocket money, so put any thoughts of LEGO Group creating a new line just to make more profit out of your head.
One thing I like about building LEGO sets is that it's an adventure you can fit on your table top. Turning over each page in the instruction book is always filled with possibilities -- what pieces am I going to use next? What section am I going to be building now? And even though this set is smaller than previous incarnations of the Millennium Falcon its build is no less interesting.
You'll find that through the construction of the set you will be handling bricks that have no rightful place in the Falcon's color scheme, and at some point you'll probably ask yourself if you've ever seen Han Solo's ride with bright red or blue detailing. The answer is no, but LEGO set designers use different colored bricks for two reasons: firstly it helps to keep the attention of younger builders who might tire of seeing the same gray page after page, and secondly it gives the builder an easy reference point to work out where the next pieces need to go. At some point everyone who has built a LEGO Star Wars set has wondered why strange colored bricks are used -- and now you know why! Who says LEGO set reviews aren't educational?
The set absolutely reeks of the ingenuity you'd expect from LEGO designers. Take for instance the blue tubing used to emulate the glow of the Falcon's engines, or the ventral and dorsal cannons made from binocular elements.
Now don't expect the normal amount of greeblies you'd see on the hull of a heavily modified Corellian freighter, nor the play elements of a System set because some of these features had to be cut back. But the amount of detail packed into this Walmart exclusive is astonishing, and you'd be mistaken if you think there aren't any articulated features because both the radar dish and the main quad-cannons can rotate.
If, like me, you are a stickler for precision, be careful when you apply the port and starboard docking ring stickers or, like me, you'll have to peel them off to get them in the correct position (my recommendation is to wait until you've completed the steps on page 14 before you apply the decal).
From start to finish this 356-piece set will need approximately one hour. I was surprised to find that it was bigger than I expected because I was convinced that this dimunitive Millennium Falcon was palm-sized. Perhaps I have smaller hands that LEGO Star Wars designer Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, who showed me this set during a visit to the LEGO Billund offices earlier this year?
Once constructed the fun of building and playing with LEGO bricks doesn't stop just because you've finished the instructions booklet. As with all LEGO sets there are unlimited opportunities to create your own alternate sets, just as one LEGO Star Wars fan did when he assembled his own Outrider.
Because of the new concept in size there are no minifigures included with the set, but a particularly creative LEGO builder could make some scaled "midifigs" using round bricks and plates. Anyone who ever wanted to make a Death Star hanger scene is going to love the new Falcon because it's going to make for a very cheap diorama.
The $40 price point will be very attractive to anyone who has recently added the UCS Millennium Falcon to their collection and the smaller footprint will only take up a fraction of the space, making it great for decorating your bookshelf or desk.
I'm sure that if this set proves popular and the midi-scale is declared a success we could see all kinds of new ships that weren't previously possible -- personally I've got my fingers crossed for a Rebel Medical Frigate -- and I can envisage all kinds of table top battles with fleets of capital-class ships!
So I suppose the only question remaining is why did it come in a Clone Wars box instead of 10th Anniversary packaging -- is someone trying to hint at what's to come in the next season of the Clone Wars cartoon?!?
The Midi-scale Millennium Falcon is currently available at StarWarsShop and at Walmart stores.
