When I saw this huge set was being released I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of it. I have never spent this much money on Lego before but when I saw this set was releasing I had to get it. As a massive prequels fan and clone wars fan I couldn’t even believe it was a thing. I loved this whole build from start to finish, it was very fun to see the whole build come along. The unboxing experience of this was excellent with great box art and a nice description within the instructions about the venator class star destroyer. When I saw there were 48 bags to this set I knew this wasn’t going to be a 4 day build it would have to be 2 weeks. I would thoroughly recommend this set to anyone thinking about it, as long as you have the space to put it. The Captain Rex and Admiral Yularen figures are really good my only issue is that I would’ve preferred a cloth waist cape instead of printed to make him look like better but it really shouldn’t be a deal breaker and doesn’t matter too much to me as he looks really good anyways. I also understand that this set is mean to be a display set but I would’ve loved for there to be at least and interior you can show off. The hangar being able to open would be really cool but I feel it’s a missed opportunity with this build, or they could have added just a tiny interior which could’ve added to it a little bit. I do understand there is a technic beam down the middle for support but I feel it could’ve been done in one way or another Overall I don’t really have any complaints about this build apart from them it’s very minute compared to how great this set is. I love it so much and it’s a good centre piece for my bedroom. It has also got me back into Star Wars Lego again. Overall 10/10 set so much fun to build

I purchased the model this year. The build and end product went beyond even my expectations. It stands finished in a gloriously imposing manner.

Very firm and tight build. Even a family member said to me this one is sturdier than the AT-AT (which the family member usually walks into).

For further phases of this build I would recommend (being very picky as it’s hard to improve upon near perfection) :
- consider adding an interior and pushing the set price up to £750
- Exclusive minifigures (as stated)
- The largest two engines seem to hang ever so slightly.
- the mechanism for the underbelly to stick to the mainframe works quite well, but could be tighter/nicer.
- the attachment of the ‘meat’ (darker grey) in between the ‘sandwich’ (lighter grey) bits of the venator; the meat could be attached slightly better. The front dark grey at the front of the ship just slots in, another attachment to keep it in place would be nice. The dark grey side bits could be actually connected to the mainframe. Currently behind the hanger bay is the only connection to the mainframe, for both sides.
- the only small bits that flick out are below the wings on either side. They could be added more securely to the build.

Negatives, none really, others have mentioned waistcape which I do agree with but this is a small detail. The bigger issue would be if the exact same figure comes in the 2024 microfighter. But since the instructions said these are exclusive minifigures I would hope the rumours are incorrect. I do think the UCS sets should contain an exclusive figure - as do lego with putting an exclusive Luke in X-Wing, C-3PO in landspeeder etc.
So absolutely no negatives if the Rex is exclusive as you said.

This is all besides the point really as the venator is marvellous. Imperious. 5 stars.

Overall, the product looks great. It's a beast in size and exciting to look at. Build and play, however, is where this product suffers.

While designers did a great job of building an overall frame with technik parts, I desire yet more structural integrity for panels and the tower. While step-by-step build may not suffer, you will be frustrated when putting pieces back after they fall off, as anything less than precision handling will pop-off another piece!

With such delicacy, this is definitely only a display set, so play value takes a big hit. However, if you are like me, and fine with super gluing a few pieces here and there to improve structural integrity, it's not as big of a deal. I absolutely intend to let my son play with it from time to time, and I just want repairs to be stress free!

Oh, separately, the stand is sort of "built into" the build, so it takes a delicate hand and some disassembling to remove it from the stand. Bleck.

I started this set on Thursday night and continued building it into Friday through some of the day. In total it was around 10-12 hours of build time. This is the biggest set I’ve ever gotten since I’ve been buying Star Wars legos since 2007 and it is also the absolute best set in my opinion. The prequels and the clone wars show will always have a place in my heart as I grew up with them, and oh boy this set does not disappoint. I may have lost a piece or possibly the set was short one, but I had one in my collection of loose legos anyways, but either way it wouldn’t have taken at all from the build experience. I see a lot of people complaining about the fact they thought this would be the only set with captain rex when it turned out not to be, however it is a massive display piece that is still worth the $650 price tag. I could see in just the instructions alone the immense amount of work that went into designing this set and I am extremely satisfied with the end product and every step to get there. If you haven’t gotten this set I would highly recommend it be the best to add to your collection.