My UCS A Wing

Arrived at my house 5/8/20
(I ordered the set on May 1 in order to get the 2020 May the 4th promotion. The set took a week to arrive due to Covid-19.)

This is my first ever of the new 18+ category of Lego sets. Therefore, it quickly became the hardest build I have ever done.

Building Days: 5/10/20 - 5/17/20
Build Time: ~ 9.25 hrs.

Build by Bag Completion

Bag 1: 55 min., 5/10/20

Bag 2: 29 min., 5/10/20

Bag 3: ~40 min., 5/11/20

Bag 3 repairs: 1 hr. [I had to figure out how to push in the light gray connector pieces (located at the front of the build) together. Everytime I did this, pieces from the top or bottom of the build especially in the cut out middle area of the front consistently fell off]

Bag 4: 30 min., 5/12/20

Bag 5: 47 min., 5/13/20

Bag 6: 28 min., 5/14/20

Bag 7: 46 min., 5/15/20

Bag 8: 45 min., 5/15/20 (Not Pictured)

Post Bag 8 Repair Time: 1.5 hrs.

Bag 9: 45 min., 5/16/20

Bag 10: the stand, 17 min., 5/16/20

Bag 11: COMPLETED A WING! 23 min., 5/17/20

Lego Death Star II Battle (May the 4th, 2020 Promo)

A quick and relatively easy build (it took me ~50 min due to there being so many little pieces that hard to find and differentiate). However I prefer minifigures like they used to do for May the 4th. Even last year's May the 4th promo was ok because the AT-AT looked like an AT-AT and the snowy ground looked sleek. In this set, the a wing and tie interceptor look terrible and the side of the Death Star II does not look like a section of the second death star. This set was not bad for a free promotion, but I would prefer to have a minifigure that is completely unique from minifigs found in other sets (for example: the Shadow ARF Trooper, Darth Revan and Colonel Yularen).

Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Siege of Mandalore Part 2

Last week the second part (not episode) of Clone Wars final arc, The Phantom Apprentice dropped last friday and today Shattered, the third part of the arc dropped. The name of the episode pays homage to the name  The Phantom's Menace. The Phantom is Sidious, and this episode is heavily focused on Sidious'' first apprentice, Maul.

Latter half of the Siege of Mandalore review:

I expected Prime Minister Almec to die before the Siege began. The reason being that we already knew he could not be in power on Mandalore after the Siege because Saxon became the Imperial Viceroy of Mandalore after the Clone War ended. However, I couldn't guess how he was going to die until Maul told Saxon that Almec knew information that could be exploited by their opponents. I instantly knew I was right and Almec was about to die at Saxon's hands.

The battle went as expected, based off hints from Rebels, the Ahsoka novel and reveals teased at Star Wars Celebration. Saxon, Kast and the Super Commandos surrendered to Bo-Katan, Rex, the Nite Owls and the 332nd Company.

However, the duel between Maul and Ahsoka and everything Maul revealed to know was insane.

• Maul revealed he knew the Republic was about to be destroyed from within, by his former master, Darth Sidious.
• He also revealed he knew Anakin Skywalker was about to become Sidious' next apprentice and Sidious had been using Anakin for years, as a preparation for turning him to the Dark Side.
• Ahsoka, being the apprentice of Anakin accepted the Republic was about to fall, but refused to believe Anakin would play any role in it or that he would become Sidious' new apprentice
•  In response to Maul' proposal to work together so they could kill Anakin, thus stopping Sidious from gaining his next apprentice, Ahsoka responded, "I know Anakin. Your vision is flawed."
• Ahsoka and Maul quickly engaged in one of the best (and first ever motion captured cartoon duel) in all Star Wars.

This is the same stance Maul used when starting his duel against Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi. The reason is because it is the same actor, Ray Park who performed the motion capture for this insane duel.

Lauren Mary Kim did the Ahsoka stunt work for the insane duel. The duel is as good if not better than Obi Wan vs Anakin in my favorite movie Revenge of the Sith (which of course the Siege of Mandlore was happening simultaneously to ROTS) and right behind the Maul, Qui Gon and Obi Wan duel in The Phantom's Menace.

I knew how the duel would end (Maul being captured by Ahsoka), however, it totally stunned me on how insanely good the fight was and how Maul lost. Also, I never expected Maul to say "Let me go. Let me die." This line is so shocking with knowing he lived for another 18 years, being killed in a duel vs Kenobi on Tatooine.

This second half of the Siege of Mandalore built on the firs part and continued the breathtaking series finale of Clone Wars!!