This year marks the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and LEGO has already announced a few sets commemorating the conclusion of the original trilogy, with more expected throughout the year. Star Wars fans around the world will be celebrating the franchise for much of next week in honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th). LEGO fans will have the opportunity to pick up a pretty neat gift with purchase of a microscale model of the second “fully armed and operational battle station” orbiting the forest moon of Endor. LEGO Star Wars 40591: Death Star II includes 289 pieces and will be available from May 1st through May 7th with the purchase of US $150 | CAN $200 | UK £130 or more from LEGO Star Wars or other qualifying themes.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheets
The set comes in a vertical tape-sealed black box with 18+ branding similar to the helmet and the diorama sub-themes. The front of the box features the model and a built-in stand with a red glow. The set includes a printed brick instead of the modified tile included in the helmet series or the printed tile from the diorama series. On the back of the box, the Death Star II model is shown from the unfinished side, along with an image from the movie, and a diagram showing the model’s dimensions. The side of the box shows a close-up image of the model from another angle.
Inside the box are 4 numbered bags covering 2 building phases, and an instruction booklet. The set contains no stickers, instead using a printed brick for the 40th-anniversary logo.
The build
The build begins with a stack of modified plates with 8-sided bars attached to a base made from black 2×2 round bricks and a large black radar dish. Next, we build a few support sections for the angled panels to attach to later. LEGO made an interesting choice to use white parts in the middle so you would know where to attach the structures (even though I didn’t notice my mistake until later).
Next, we build 2 identical sections for the unfinished side, and while I appreciate that LEGO likes to use repeated assemblies to make the construction a bit easier, for the 18+ line, I wish they would add a bit of variation into these sub-assemblies. At least these two parts are attached in opposite orientations so the end result is not completely symmetrical.
The next stage covers an equatorial band which serves as the attachment point for the angled panels. There are 5 total for the bottom hemisphere and 4 for the top one, leaving a section free for the super laser.
And speaking of lasers, we end the build with that section, which uses a plant stem for the converging laser beams. The one thing that would have really taken the final model up a notch or 2 in style would be if they had made a transparent green mold, but seeing as this is a plant-based plastic part, I’m not sure that would even be possible.
The finished model
The finished model makes a nice display set, although I do have a few complaints. The first is that due to the nature of the loosely attached plate that the logo brick is mounted to, it spins freely, rather than always facing the “front” of the model. This is a very trivial issue and easy to fix by swapping out a tile with a hole in the center for a 2×2 round plate (they seemed to make this choice to allow more flexibility in how you display the laser).
My other complaint is that by using the 4-stud long wedge plates for the angled panels, the finished shape feels a bit more like a football than a sphere.
Conclusions and recommendations
Despite my minor issues with the set, I would still recommend it as a display model, and also as a parts pack. Some of the parts that stand out to me are several 1×1 bricks with axle holes in light gray, along with 16 of both the espresso handle and the 1×3 jumper with 2 studs.
So if you plan on picking up any of the awesome new sets inspired by season 3 of The Mandalorian, or any of the other 40th anniversary-themed sets, consider supporting The Brothers Brick by using one of our affiliate links, and pick up this neat tribute to the Death Star II. LEGO Star Wars 40591: Death Star II includes 289 pieces and will be available from May 1st through May 7th with the purchase of US $150 | CAN $200 | UK £130 or more from LEGO Star Wars or other qualifying themes.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Yeah, very much agree, shape is a bit odd. Although I do quite like the set. Pretty good, the printed tile mounting is inconvenient though.