is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
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Eight years after breaking every record with an $800, 7,541-piece Star Wars Millennium Falcon, the Lego Group is introducing its first $1,000 set.
It’s an intricately detailed Death Star nearly two feet tall (52.3cm), a foot and a half wide (48cm) and over a foot (38.3cm) deep, with enough compartments to re-enact nearly every iconic Death Star scene from Star Wars and Return of the Jedi.
So many scenes playing out simultaneously.
We’ve never seen a Lego set anywhere near this expensive. When the $999.99, €999.99 or £899.99 price and images leaked in July, many wondered how the Lego Group could possibly justify such a price for plastic toys!
Well, I’m here to tell you the company has been doing better than ever — record revenue and record profits outpacing the whole toy industry — ever since it started catering to nostalgic, deep pocketed adults and letting its prices and piece counts climb.
“$850 Millennium Falcons and $680 Titanics: Grown-Ups Are Now a Gold Mine for Lego,” The Wall Street Journal wrote last year. “Lego bricks have won over adults, growing its $10 billion toy market foothold,” added Fortune, writing that roughly 15 percent of Lego’s sets are aimed at adults. In my experience, that isn’t just because adults like to play with minifigs. Building is a relaxing diversion, a way to de-stress, and then you have a piece of home decor and a sense of accomplishment when you’re done.
But whether you’re looking for decor or a playset, this Death Star looks like an incredible one.
Instead of offering a spherical Death Star like earlier, blockier playsets, the new Ultimate Collectors Series (UCS) Death Star is a vertical slice, a diorama set like the Batcave Shadowbox that can live on a shelf with all rooms visible at once.
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