Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer review

Released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, this set might pale in comparison to Lego’s UCS Super Star Destroyer, but considering its very reasonable price, it features a lot of detail — and looks absolutely fantastic on our desktop.

Pros
+

Very reasonably priced

+

No stickers!

+

‘Little’ Star Destroyers flying alongside to give sense of scale is a nice touch

Cons
–

The included limited ’40th anniversary’ brick has nowhere to go

Essential info:

Price: $69.99/£59.99

Model number: 75356

Number of pieces: 630

Dimensions: 17 inches (43cm) long

Recommended age: 18+

It’s been more than 10 years since we’ve had a Super Star Destroyer from Lego. That one was made up of 3,152 pieces and if you’re lucky enough to have one in your collection, it’s worth well over $1,000 now. Rather than bring out another Ultimate Collector’s Series version, though — after all, we’ve had the giant, $550 Imperial Star Destroyer in recent years — Lego has instead delivered us a desktop-sized Executor Super Star Destroyer. 

Honestly? We think it’s the best decision the company could have made. While there’s a time and a place for Lego’s huge Star Wars sets costing upwards of $800, we’re absolutely thrilled about more adult-focused sets that don’t break the bank. The Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer, with an MSRP of just $69.99, is one of the best examples. Not only is it a fantastic set to look at, it’s surprisingly big given its cost — and it’s also a very fun, engaging build.

The instruction booklet for the Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer has a couple of neat pages showing the construction process of the Star Dreadnought model used in Return of the Jedi — the model the Lego set is based on. (Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer review: Build

Enjoyable to put togetherSturdy, well-designed model

630 pieces make up the Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer. You’ll be able to build this set in around 90 minutes to two hours, then: We think that’s the perfect amount of time to spend building in one session. Its instructions are well laid out, and never ask too much in one step. They’re very easy to follow and, despite the outer layer of the set being a mass of gray bricks, we never found ourselves getting lost.

Part of the reason for that is Lego’s ingenious use of colored bricks internally. It means that, for much of the build, you have no idea what you’re constructing. Awash with red, yellow, brown and green bricks inside, it’s only at the final stages of the build that the Executor Super Star Destroyer starts to take shape.

It’s not unusual for Lego builds to begin this way. It’s a clever way to make it easier for you to see where bricks are laid out — and when there’s an outer shell that fully covers the innards, it makes sense to use a selection of colors. Oftentimes, this is also led by the availability of bricks at the time of the set’s design: There’s no point in using rarer pieces in areas that aren’t even visible, after all.

Much of the inside of the Executor Super Star Destroyer is made up of random colored pieces.(Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

The top of the Executor Super Star Destroyer is almost complete, but with the colorful innards of the Lego set still showing, it’s hard to know what you’re looking at.(Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

The tail of the Executor starting to take shape.(Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

One gray sides of the Executor is now in place, and the ship is beginning to look recognizable.(Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

There are a couple of fiddly pieces of the Executor Super Star Destroyer to put together, but as long as you make sure everything lines up correctly, you shouldn’t have a problem. You see, the outer plates of the Executor are built separately, then clip into place on the body. Ensuring they’re securely on can be a little tricky, but once they’re on, this is a surprisingly robust-feeling set.

It doesn’t feel flimsy at all and even if you were to take the Executor off its stand and whoosh it through the air, you could do so without worrying about losing pieces. As we built it, we were pleasantly surprised at how well support the set is as a whole, and how chunky it is — that’s largely in part to it having such a strong inner section: there’s nothing hollow here at all.

Some of the detailing on top of the Executor Super Star Destroyer (Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer review: Design

Beautiful model with some great detailOdd choice to not connect the included ’40th anniversary’ brick

Lego is excelling at creating mid-range price Star Wars sets at the moment. Following on from the range of dioramas — including the Emperor’s Throne Room and Dagobah Jedi Training — the Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer is a set we’re very proud to be displaying on our desktop. It’s bigger than you’d expect, too: it measures 17 inches (43cm) in length so it’s no slouch.

That means you’re still going to need a decent amount of real estate to truly show it off, but you’re not going to need to rearrange your entire house as you would for some of the largest Ultimate Collector’s Series sets. For its size, though, the Executor packs in a lot of neat details, namely in decorating the top of the ship, mimicking Darth Vader’s Star Dreadnought that it’s based on.

Perhaps our favorite detail, though, is the two regular-sized Star Destroyers flying alongside the Executor, giving it a grand sense of scale. They’re held on by translucent rods, giving them the appearance that they’re flying in the air. It’s a really nice touch. 

A close-up of one of the ‘little’ Star Destroyers, giving the Executor a sense of scale. (Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

There’s one odd design choice in the Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer that particularly irks us, though. It comes with a special ’40th Anniversary’ Return of the Jedi brick — but, by design, there’s nowhere for it to connect. The black base to stand the ship on is decorated with two gray 2×1 ‘vent’ pieces. You can remove one of these to fasten the anniversary brick in place, but we feel like you shouldn’t have to modify the design to accommodate a key part of the set.

But that’s our only real complaint and, by and large, it’s easily rectified. Does it ruin the Executor in any way? Not at all: There’s so much to love here and — we might have said this before, so forgive us — it might just be one of our favorite Lego Star Wars display sets. At this price point, anyway. It’s offering fantastic value for money. Images of it look nice, but it’s not until you’ve built it that you realize the full scale of this thing. We’re impressed, Lego. Really impressed.

There’s no place for the ’40th Anniversary’ brick to fasten on, unless you make a minor modification to the Executor’s stand.(Image credit: Future/Kim Snaith)

Should you buy Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer?

It’s a resounding yes. If you’re a Lego Star Wars fan, particularly if you enjoy Star Wars ships, you’re going to love the Executor Super Star Destroyer. How could you not? It’s a great build, it looks absolutely wonderful, and it doesn’t break the bank. It might not be quite as impressive as a $800 UCS set, but for $69.99, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck here, in terms of design quality and sheer size. 

However: If you’re looking for a playset, this might not be the best choice. We wager you would be able to take the Executor off of its stand to whizz it through the air, but without minifigures, without interactive features like opening doors and cockpits, there are better playsets out there (although none of them look this good).

Other Lego sets to consider

If money is no object, we just have to recommend the Lego Star Wars UCS Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser. Costing $650 and measuring 43 inches (109 cm) in length, this thing will make the Executor look like a shrimp in comparison. It’s an utter beast, and in our four-star Attack Cruiser review, we praised its looks and its highly engaging building process.

But not everyone has the budget (and the space) for a set that big. For something similarly-priced (and sized) to the Executor Super Star Destroyer, how about the Emperor’s Throne Room Diorama? This wonderful little set recreates the fight between Vader and Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, and it’s a delight to look at. We called it the “perfect display piece” in our review, although we did note it’s a little overpriced given the size of the set — it’s $100, so $30 more than the Executor.

To see what other excellent Star Wars sets you can currently buy, take a look at our round-up of the best Lego Star Wars sets.

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Kim is a Yorkshire-based freelance writer who focuses on Lego and video game-related content. She’s the co-creator of GameSpew.com and ThatBrickSite.com, where you’ll find most of her work. If she’s not building with plastic bricks, playing a video game, or writing about doing either of those things, you should probably check she’s still breathing. You can find her on Twitter at @ichangedmyname.

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