Review: 7965 Millennium Falcon

[Solo]

Anyone know how well you could Flail 7965? Or is it structurally too different to easily apply those modifications?

Flail?

[fallenangel327]

Flail?

By 'Flail', I take it he means modify the set as Flail did. (What an honor it must be for an AFOL's name to be incorporated into LEGO slang! Now let me get some Lowell spheres together...) I've never looked into how extensive his modifications are, but 7965 uses a technique similar to that of 4504 to achieve a circle, so Flailing it may be a possibility.

[Solo]

I see. The interior has plenty of room to fancy up like that, but I don't have the old set to compare side by side to confirm. I know at least the cockpit and connecting corridor on this model varies significantly from those images. I would think it easier to start from scratch and give the whole ship an upgrade rather than stuff some quality ideas into a lame shell.

[Andi]

Flynn, I thought about the same. It is so empty in the inside, that flailing would definitely necessary.

[ktonlai]

shameless self promotion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZXHS0yu ... ideo_title

the landing gear system shouldnt be that hard to implement, i see a lot of empty holes... as for the cockpit, I don't know how you would push it back and in

[rushiosan]

Best "affordable" Millennium Falcon so far. Period.

I don't agree with some points of the review. It's impossible to make a 4-seat cockpit in this scale without sacrificing some building factors like stability and piece count. Too much detail would make an expensive set, and for that reason we have the UCS version of the Falcon. The interior is detailed enough, even better than 4504's. I just wish they have put more detail on hyperdrive engine, a couple more playability features and at least an escape pod (both previous versions had one). But yeah, absence of R2 and 3PO is a big mistake. Maybe they wanted you to buy the droid escape set or whatever...

And seriously? Are you really complaining about the cockpit angle? That's just overreacting man. It's a minifig scale LEGO ship we're talking about here, not a 1:72 diecast model.

[Flynn]

Best "affordable" Millennium Falcon so far. Period.

4504 is more detailed and accurate (though both suffer from the same insufferable base design). The improvements 7965 makes over its predecessor are too surface-level to really matter, and overshadowed by the way it moves backwards in several parts (the mandibles, docking bays, underside, and cockpit are demonstrably worse than 4504).

Too much detail would make an expensive set

And yet this manages to be more expensive (with a higher piece count) without being more detailed than 4504. Seriously, looking at the review again I was left wondering where exactly all the extra pieces went, because they didn't seem to be utilized in any meaningful fashion.

And seriously? Are you really complaining about the cockpit angle? That's just overreacting man. It's a minifig scale LEGO ship we're talking about here, not a 1:72 diecast model.

If it were a minor error I'd agree, but it doesn't take a protractor to realize that the angle is grossly exaggerated. I mean, when it comes to the design of the Falcon, the mandibles and the cockpit are the two most important aspects to get right to preserve the ship's look, and the set gets both of them completely wrong. It's an ugly-looking set, and that's the primary reason.

[rushiosan]

4504 is more detailed and accurate (though both suffer from the same insufferable base design). The improvements 7965 makes over its predecessor are too surface-level to really matter, and overshadowed by the way it moves backwards in several parts (the mandibles, docking bays, underside, and cockpit are demonstrably worse than 4504).

And yet this manages to be more expensive (with a higher piece count) without being more detailed than 4504. Seriously, looking at the review again I was left wondering where exactly all the extra pieces went, because they didn't seem to be utilized in any meaningful fashion.

4504 Was released 9 years ago. The price count of all Star Wars and LEGO sets were lower a decade ago. Check the US$ 10 "Tusken Raider Encounter" (2002) versus US$ 13 "Elite Clone Trooper Battle Packs" (2012). There is a huge difference between the piece x price count of these sets if you compare them nowadays. Also, 4504 had a lot of tan pieces and old-fashioned bricks (specially slopes) that make it looks very blocky. In a matter of design, this falcon looks more like an upgraded version of it, even if some "angles" weren't done properly.

[Flynn]

The focus of my argument there was not the price, but rather that the extra parts don't seem to be utilized in a meaningful fashion, and 4504 ends up looking more detailed.

And really, I think the issue is more that it's been 9 years since 4504 and the biggest improvements are superficial at best (it's less 'blocky', which isn't even a bad thing to start with). It makes minor improvements in the design, but leaves in countless horrible design issues that were intrinsic in 4504's terrible hull design, and makes no real effort to fix them (the mandibles are still wrong in almost every dimension, the cockpit still juts out, there are still holes in the hull). In this regard 4504 comes out first by virtue of being first, with 7965 leaving us with the feeling that after 9 years of improvement and progress...this is the best they could come up with?

[rushiosan]

The focus of my argument there was not the price, but rather that the extra parts don't seem to be utilized in a meaningful fashion, and 4504 ends up looking more detailed.

And really, I think the issue is more that it's been 9 years since 4504 and the biggest improvements are superficial at best (it's less 'blocky', which isn't even a bad thing to start with). It makes minor improvements in the design, but leaves in countless horrible design issues that were intrinsic in 4504's terrible hull design, and makes no real effort to fix them (the mandibles are still wrong in almost every dimension, the cockpit still juts out, there are still holes in the hull). In this regard 4504 comes out first by virtue of being first, with 7965 leaving us with the feeling that after 9 years of improvement and progress...this is the best they could come up with?

After this discussion I decided to purchase one and take a look for myself. I found out some points that I would agree with most part of complaints here, specially those related to unfinished surfaces (the bottom is a good example) and slightly inaccurate scaling. However, I have to say this model is surprisingly sturdy. Not a single piece fall off while you hold and swoosh it around, unlike the 4504, which had serious of problems with the angled plates, escape pod, and upper turret. I felt like something was missing in the interior, something close to the level of detailing that 4504 have done masterfully (the hyperdrive engines looked better back then). We have both upgrades and downgrades going on here, but I think we have far more pros than cons. To be honest, my complaints are basically:

- It needs more accessories and cabinets/crates/clips to store them (you know, the toolbox classics: screwdriver, oil can, drill...). gorram it, there's a lot of wasted space everywhere, they had no excuse.

- According to SW timeline, Han added a small blaster cannon to the falcon AFTER episode IV events. You know, the one used to take down a bunch of creepy snowtroopers during the escape scene on Hoth. That cannon would be a great adittion to the model even if not present on the movie, but it's okay, nothing a quick mod can't accomplish.

- R2 and C-3PO are a big problem here. Like I said, the cheapest alternative is getting the 2012 version of "Droid escape" set to have the full crew aboard the Falcon, or run into bricklink/ebay...

- I miss the retracting ramp from 4504. The new one is hard to pull out and kinda unplayable. You have to move the whole section of angled plates, push it with your finger (may not be an easy task if you have a fat hand) and close everything again.

Despite these, I have no further complaints about what you get at US$ 140. It's definitely one of the best "affordable" (I'm not crazy enough to spend over $200) SW sets I've got recently.

[Flynn]

My main complaints are basically what you said, added to to the fact it uses 4504's atrocious design instead of coming up with a new one like it should've done (The new X-Wing is guilty of the same flaw, though it comes off much better there). It's good that it's sturdier and smoother in the design, but again, after 9 years there really should've been more to it.