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Guide to the UCS


TBDieckmann

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Hello everybody

 

- I just had a look at the SW UCS, and i have a question - where can I find a realiable overview for the series?
http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Star-Wars/subtheme-Ultimate-Collector-Series

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Ultimate_Collector's_Series
 

My doubt is about the 10236 Ewok Village and the 10188 Death Star.

TLG doesn't see these sets as UCS, but who decides is they are or not?

 

Edited by TBDieckmann
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Death Star and Ewok Village don't belong to the Ultimate Collector Series because they are mainly playsets. They are not minifig-scale and are not mainly intended for display. Both sets feature lots of minifigures.

I don't think anyone 'decides' if a set gets the UCS tag. Often TLG mentions it on the box, sometimes they don't. Many UCS sets have a descriptive sticker included. 

They used to be mere display pieces, but rumors go TLG intends future UCS sets to be playable with. 

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8 minutes ago, TBDieckmann said:

So the old 10144 sandcrawler isn't a UCS, but the new 75059 is?

True. 

The difference between UCS and playset is expected to diminish if the above-mentioned rumors turn out to be correct.

I think the best way to distinguish between the two is that a UCS is always highly detailed and is either minifigure-scale or no minifigures are included. For example, take a look at Slave I (75060); that ship was done minifigure-scale so a minifigure was added. Same with the X-Wing (10240) and the Tie Fighter (75095). But the Death Star II (10143) and the Star Destroyer (10030) don't have minifigures, because those would be out of scale. 

Only exception to this that I can think of is the Ultimate Star Destroyer 10221 which does have minifigures. So my theory isn't flawless or absolute.  

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The X-Wing, Falcon, Imperial Shuttle, Slave I, etc aren't to scale with one another so at least half of them aren't quite minifigure scale.

A better rule of thumb: If it comes with a plaque, it's a UCS. Some older ones didn't receive plaques (Maul, Yoda) but these days they all do. Except for the Sandcralwer... I think that was a case where it was supposed to be made more for play-ability but they slapped the UCS tag on it because of the price to entise collector's, too. Lego received backlash from it not having a plaque though and acknowledged as much, so even when they take that approach in the future, it should have one.

Edited by Pedilego
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4 hours ago, Roy vd M. said:

Only exception to this that I can think of is the Ultimate Star Destroyer 10221 which does have minifigures. So my theory isn't flawless or absolute.  

They add minifigures for flavor nowadays, not for scale reasons. 

5 hours ago, TBDieckmann said:

doubt is about the 10236 Ewok Village and the 10188 Death Star.

TLG doesn't see these sets as UCS, but who decides is they are or not?
 

According to what's on the box even 10221 is not a UCS. On a poster they released about all UCS there was the 10188 and the old Sandcrawler as I remember. 

In the early days of SW exclusives they labeled them as UCS, then dropped the label until the new Sandcrawler. 10179 had it in the name, but no label.

What I see is that LEGO considers every SW exclusive ever released, play set or not, as an UCS set.

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21 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

The 10188 and Ewok Village are not UCS sets.  Could be, but aren't.  

So if LEGO slapped a UCS logo on the 10188/10236 would they be UCS? Hoth attack, which is not a vehicle, will decide, if it gets a UCS badge then we can conclude what LEGO is thinking.

Edited by inversion
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On 16/01/2016 at 11:35 AM, Roy vd M. said:

I think the best way to distinguish between the two is that a UCS is always highly detailed and is either minifigure-scale or no minifigures are included.

But then on the other hand we also have the Tumbler set, which is not minifigure-scale, yet both Batman and the Joker minifugures are included for the display. 

So it's all a bit hazy what exactly is and isn't an UCS set. 

Like @inversion already said, it's going to be interesting whether the upcoming (rumoured) Hoth Attack set will officially be labelled as an UCS set or not, and how it compares to the EV set by way of size, number of bricks, number of minifigs included...

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On 1/16/2016 at 4:19 PM, inversion said:

They add minifigures for flavor nowadays, not for scale reasons. 

According to what's on the box even 10221 is not a UCS. On a poster they released about all UCS there was the 10188 and the old Sandcrawler as I remember. 

In the early days of SW exclusives they labeled them as UCS, then dropped the label until the new Sandcrawler. 10179 had it in the name, but no label.

What I see is that LEGO considers every SW exclusive ever released, play set or not, as an UCS set.

Here`s a link to the poster...

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/UCS_Promotional_Poster

 

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The 10188 and Ewok Village are not UCS sets.  Could be, but aren't.  

So if LEGO slapped a UCS logo on the 10188/10236 would they be UCS? Hoth attack, which is not a vehicle, will decide, if it gets a UCS badge then we can conclude what LEGO is thinking.

I am just telling you the facts. It is what it is. They could be UCS sets, but they aren't.
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While the Ewok Village and Death Star are not technically UCS, i'd still consider them a subcategory called "UCS Playsets".  I'd fit them in with sets like Tower of Orthanc, Ghostbusters Headquarters, etc. 

It's vague in my opinion, because how the heck are the ugly Darth Maul, Yoda, and Greivous busts still considered UCS?  I'd even toss R2D2 into that.  To me, the Sandcrawler is more UCS than those statues.  And, I think with how awesome and technical the Sandcrawler is, it is definitely and forever a UCS.

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