Theme: Star Wars
Set Number: 10221
Pieces: 3,152
Minifigs: 5
Release: September 2011
Price: 400 USD, 350 GBP, 400 EUR
Early this year, I thought that 2011 was going to be a cheap year for me and Star Wars LEGO. Then in the Spring, we started seeing the picture of this baby. I was really excited, as I've been waiting for an official LEGO Super Star Destroyer for a long time. It sure is massive, but how does it measure up to expectations?
The box is pretty big, measuring roughly 23x19x7 inches. The front of the box features the usual Captain Rex graphic in the upper right. Because the SSD is long and narrow and the box is close to square, the SSD doesn't take up much of the space on the front of the box. So we get a nice view of the Death Star and the horizon of the Forest Moon.
The back of the box shows some close-up details, and of course advertisements for other sets.
Inside the box are four smaller boxes. One with a booklet symbol, and three boxes numbered 1 through 3.
The smallest box contains the instruction manual and the sticker sheet.
The manual is spiral bound, 222 pages. Here are the front and back of the manual
The stickers are for the ship's information card, and for the computer panels, screens, and doors for the removable bridge area. My sticker sheet was rolled up, but all of the stickers were in good shape still.
Inside box #1 are the first two sets of bags. Here are the "1" bags
The "1" bags contain the parts to build the minifigs, the mini Star Destroyer, and the base of the Super Star Destroyer.
The set contains 5 minifigs: Darth Vader, Admiral Piett, Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88.
Darth Vader is his usual self. He does have the now-normal white pupils on his eyes under his helmet. He also comes with a trans-blue 1x1 round brick with the Emperor's hologram on it. I believe this is the same one that's included in the Republic Frigate.
Admiral Piett isn't too exciting. He does have some faint lines on his face (showing wrinkles?), and a printed back.
Bossk is the same figure that was in the recent Slave I set.
Dengar is an updated version from what we saw in the 2006 Slave I set. His head is a new print, with the white bandages covering most of his head. He has a white bandana hat. There is some nice printing on his back, which makes it kind of a shame to put his backpack on him.
IG-88 is now dark gray instead of the pearl chrome that he was before. Also, his head is a printed 1x1 round brick.
The mini Star Destroyer actually looks nice and does the trick for this set. It's a nice addition.
The final part of the "1" bags is to build the base of the SSD. Lots and lots of light gray wedge plates. We can already see the size of this thing compared to the instruction book.
The "2" bags make up the framing and the rear bridge portion.
There is a lot of color at this point. Of course, we'll never see any of it from the outside. But the colored pieces are helpful for following the instructions so you don't get lost.
Finally, at page 92, we build something that will be visible on the final model
This section attaches to the rear of the ship, and we're ready for the "3" bags.
Box 2 contains the bags numbered "3" and "4"
The "3" bags contain the parts to build the interior of the hidden bridge scene, and a lot of the top greebles.
Here is what we have after the "3" bags.
Close-up shots
The "4" bags will build the two support piers and the greeble section that covers up the hidden bridge scene.
The support piers are pretty hefty. They are identical to each other, so you can build in tandem if that's how you like to roll.
Here's the ship after the completion of the "4" bags
Box 3 contains the "5", "6" and "7" bags.
The "5" bags are used to build the engines.
The engines are built in three parts: one smaller section on each side, and a larger section in the middle.
The "6" bags are used to build the plating on the port side of the ship
Finally, the "7" bags are used to build the plating on the starboard side of the ship, and a couple of final pieces to tie it together (including a "butt plug" similar to the little piece on the back of the AT-AT"
The completed SSD, measuring around 50 inches long.
The mini Star Destroyer can be attached pretty much anywhere.
This removable section comes off easily, but isn't really noticeable when looking at the model
Underneath is the area to recreate the bridge scene and the bounty hunter line up from Empire
Everyone's favorite: the "leftovers" pic
Ratings
Value: 6/10
The piece count is pretty low for the price, especially considering the number of small parts needed to make up the greebles. Still though, looking at the size of the finished model, you do feel like you're getting a lot.
Build: 8/10
I didn't really time it for sure, but I'm guessing the build took 12 hours or so. This is only my second UCS set, so at some points I didn't think the directions were completely clear and could be hard to follow. Overall, the build went quickly and wasn't overly repetitive. There were a couple of places where you had to build four, six, or twelve of the same "macropiece." The ship is symmetrical, so if you did something on one side, you would do the same thing on the other. An enjoyable build.
Design: 7/10
The obvious thing to notice is the size of this ship. According to the LEGO website, this is the longest official Star Wars set released. All of the little details of the "city" part of the ship really do work well. The pieces used are simple, but combined effectively to give it a detailed, busy look. My biggest complaint is about the nose. The top and bottom sections don't really come together well, and the nose just looks bad. The bridge of the mini SD and the SSD are the same. This is a nice attention to detail, since the bridges are meant to be the same.
Minifigures: 6/10
Darth Vader, Piett, and Bossk aren't too exciting to me, since we've seen Vader and Bossk before, and Piett is someone you could probably build from other parts currently out there.
Dengar is a step in the wrong direction, though. I prefer the simpler minifigures, and actually prefer the old one with the simple ninja headdress.
IG-88's printed head is an improvement over the trans orange and gray stud that the old one had.
Everyone's already discussed their distaste in the exclusion of 4-LOM and Zuckuss. I, too, would have preferred them over the other bounty hunters included. We can just hope that they're released at some point in the future (the next Slave I?)
Overall: 7/10.
Closing thoughts:
This ship is just what the UCSs are supposed to be: a large, detailed model with little to no playability, but an excellent display piece. This really reminds me of some model naval ships that I had built when I was a kid, with all of the intricate details on the top. I think this is the only scale at which this ship could be made. If they tried to make a midi SSD, the top detail would be lost and just wouldn't look good.
If you're only going to buy one $400 set, get the Death Star. But, if you have the cash to buy the SSD, I would recommend it to anyone who wants an enjoyable build and a nice looking model.
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The model really looks good, not as good as the Falcon which has to be the best UCS set as of now.
It sure ressembles the character better but I'm not fan of the head piece on him. I hopeto have him in another set cause I bet the price on BL will be ridiculous 
colours
as bigos that is completely unacceptable. This really is something TLC has got to sort out! I am no fan of stickers but they need to be in a card filled envelope if they are going to be in sets. Make sure you send off to customer service for a new one. I have started doing this with every set I get now if the sticker sheet is not absolutely perfect, even if I use them!
