Lego Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter review

Another X-Wing? That’s what we thought when Lego announced that the next in the series of classic Star Wars ships to receive the hugely expensive "Ultimate Collector Series" treatment was going to be none other than the tried-and-true X-Wing Starfighter. 

The ship that saw off Death Stars, that’s been pulled from the swamps of Dagoba, and even took Luke on his final journey into exile finally joins Lego's most exclusive club, but was it worth the wait?

It’s obviously an iconic ship and, behind the Millennium Falcon, arguably the most iconic spaceship design in pop culture history, but that doesn’t mean that Lego hasn’t done a lot of them. 

Sure, they’ve been at various scales, with some of which being very clearly made for play, rather than this model, which is far more focused on display, but for someone that collects the best Lego Star Wars sets, it’s almost impossible that this will be your first X-Wing, but it will damn sure be your best X-wing.

Lego Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter: Build

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• Great to build with a partner
• Somewhat fiddly hull

The X-Wing Starfighter build is separated into the ship’s main hull, its nose, and the huge wings that sit at the back of the ship. The ship itself is split up in such a way that it’s a very enjoyable build to do as a pair. One builder can get the instructions digitally and the other can use the lovely premium feeling instruction book. While the build itself can be rather straightforward, there is one section that we had some difficulty with that we’d like to highlight.

The hull of the X-Wing Starfighter is a lattice of Technic pieces which will eventually be used to hold the wings in place. Around this hull, you’re supposed to place a few lightly detailed flat pieces that will hide the Technic innards. However, there’s a problem with them as they’re held on by a few small pieces. They then have to be rotated at an angle to emulate the design of the original ship. However, the small pieces that hold the flat pieces to the hull have a terrible habit of coming loose if any pressure is put on them at all, even just repositioning the ship.

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There are a few moments of structural weakness during the build that make the X-Wing Starfighter feel somewhat unstable until it all comes together. This is especially true with the thin end of the ship’s nose. On the flipside, the ship’s wings are very strong and fit very well on the Technic chassis.

The X-Wing Starfighter itself sits on a black display stand that holds the ship in place without having to use any bricks, meaning you can easily lift it off without having to disconnect it from the black base, then simply reattach. It definitely adds that Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) premium feel to the set.

Lego Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter: Design

It’s the X-Wing Starfighter. It’s utterly iconic. It looks fantastic and there really isn't anything negative to say about it. If we had to, however, then we'd comment on the scale of the ship. If you remember from the films, while Luke and the other pilots required ladders to enter the ship, much like the WW2 fighters that the X-Wing was based on, they weren’t absolutely massive. They’re light, nimble fighters. The UCS X-Wing Starfighter is the largest Lego X-Wing set yet and absolutely dwarves the Luke minifigure.

Outside of that strange issue, the X-Wing Starfighter is fantastic to look at. It’s very poseable, with wings that can be locked in several positions simply by moving the dial on the top of the ship. This also makes it slightly easier to display if you’re working with limited space as when the wings are spread, the ship isn’t as wide.

With the ship you get a new and highly detailed Luke minifigure in his Rebel pilot gear, and you also get an R2-D2 droid figure. This is perhaps the expected line-up, but for a set that’s over £200 we’d have loved for Lego to use this opportunity to give us minifigures of the other pilots that haven’t been represented in Lego for a while. Where is my boy Wedge Antilles?!

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It’s easy to argue that the minifigures aren’t the draw here. In fact, if you’re looking at this X-Wing, it’s very likely that it’s going to be incorporated into a whole fleet of top tier Lego ships that are proudly displayed on your shelves. However, with the UCS branding we do expect something a little bit special, as well as a bit of fan service.

Should you buy the Lego Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter?

As mentioned earlier, this is either a new ship in your growing fleet of UCS sets, or it’s going to be a dangerous introduction to a beloved hobby that’s going to eventually impact your wallet a fair bit. Either way, we think it’s a “Yes.”

The Star Wars X-Wing is one of the most iconic ship designs ever and it fits so perfectly in the Lego style. Sure, they’ve had a lot of practice, but it’s still a great model that will always look excellent on a shelf. This is certainly a big boy, and the wings make it so that it might have to sit somewhere slightly less discreet, but it looks elegant, and all it’s missing is an updated TIE Fighter to chase after it and really complete the set.

Other Lego Star Wars sets

Whether you’re just getting back into the hobby or you’ve been collecting for years, there’s never been a better, or more expensive, time to collect Lego Star Wars. But what other sets should you pick up if you’re looking to fill out your collection?

The Lego Mos Eisley Cantina is one of the best Lego Star Wars sets and one of our favorites. It’s absolutely massive, comes with a ridiculously large number of minifigures, and it’s one of the most enjoyable builds in the line. Sadly, it’s due to be retired later this year, so if you’ve been on the fence about this, now’s the time to shoot first.

At the very top of the tree and the gold standard of Star Wars Lego is still the UCS Millennium Falcon, that we will simply never shut up about for the rest of time. There’s just something about this one that’s special. It probably costs as much as building a real Millennium Falcon, although you can often find it on sale. This old hunk of junk is also coming to the end of its shelf life as a set, so, again, get it before you miss it forever.

For something a little easier on the old bank account, you might be interested in the best Lego Star Wars Helmets. They’re cool collectables, look great on display together, and, best of all, is that they generally cost around $69.99/£59.99 per helmet.