I have a soft spot for anything "Star Wars," but what I really love are the starships. Next to the Millennium Falcon, arguably the most iconic ship is Luke Skywalker's X-Wing. LEGO brought back this fan-favorite spacecraft for its third Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) set, and it's beautiful.

Everything That Comes In the Box

• 1,949 pieces separated into bags labeled between 1 and 10
• Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 minifigures
• Cockpit windshield
• Display plaque
• Sticker sheet with four stickers
• Instructional manual

Since 2020, LEGO's Ultimate Collector Series boxes have all had a refreshed and premium look. In addition to the graphic of the X-Wing on the front, you'll find details about how many pieces are in this set, get a first look at the Luke Skywalker minifigure (which didn't come with previous UCS X-Wings), and more.

Crack open the box and you'll find everything you need to get the iconic starship built and ready for a trench run. There are a couple of touches that are new with this set that are worth highlighting. First is that all of the text and graphics are already printed on the information plaque and the ship's canopy. In the past, both of these pieces required the installation of stickers and were a pain to get on correctly.

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And speaking of stickers, there are only four that will be installed on the entire vehicle. As I will go into detail below, the lack of stickers actually excited me. Instead of relying on these adhesive graphics to provide detail, the company used actual LEGO pieces to provide a more premium design to the ship. You don't have to worry about perfectly aligning the stickers and having them potentially fall off in a couple of years.

I was disappointed by the fact that the plastic windshield didn't ship in a separate box or protective plastic. While I didn't spot any scratches on my piece, I've read that others found small cosmetic damage caused by the piece freely shaking around in the packaging.

Inside one of the labeled bags, you'll find the Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 minifigures. While the droid is adorable, you won't find anything new with this character. The Skywalker figure, though, is quite unique.

Dressed in his recognizable orange flight suit, you'll find printed elements on his arms and legs. He also comes with a blue lightsaber, a helmet with rebel insignias, and a reversible head with dual facial expressions.

But the best part of any UCS "Star Wars" set, in my opinion, can be found in the introduction of the instruction manual. Flipping through the first couple of pages, you'll find a brief history of the X-Wing throughout the "Star Wars" universe that goes well beyond the set you'll be building.

Additionally, you'll be able to read more about the designers behind the model, how to properly carry the set so it doesn't break into a million pieces, and some of the smaller details found around the ship.

Build and Construction: Detailed, but Not Perfect

• Length: 21.5in (55cm)
• Height: 10.5in (27cm)
• Width: 17.5in (44cm)

Despite the 18+-year-old label on the LEGO Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter's box, I didn't find this set to be very difficult to build. I was in the middle of moving homes, I was still able to complete this set in roughly four hours---and that was with people talking to me and having a TV playing in the background.

The construction of the starship was straightforward, with half of the bags containing the pieces to build the internal wing mechanism and body of the ship, with the remaining going towards the four wings and engines. I will say the build did get very repetitive near the end, as you were basically building the same piece four times in a row.

Looking around the X-Wing, as I briefly mentioned above, I love how almost all of the ship's fine details are done with LEGO pieces instead of stickers. There are four that go on the instrument console and the bottom wings, but the rest are bricks and other pieces. I do worry that some might easily fall out (specifically the 2x2 squares positioned in the front of the engines), but I'd rather deal with the occasional fix than a misaligned and cheap sticker.

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One ingenious detail that I love is the fact that LEGO used minifigure flippers to recreate the laser cannon appearance. You would never be able to tell without taking a close-up look at the model.

Overall, I think LEGO did a good job with the scale of everything. Taking a look at the 2013 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter, the engines are tiny and don't match the size of the craft. 2023's model is much more proportional to the ship we saw throughout the "Star Wars" movies and TV shows.

I do have three nitpicks: First, R2-D2 basically disappears from sight when placed in its slot behind Luke's cockpit. I'll likely end up placing a brick or two below the droid's legs to help bring more of its body up and out of the X-Wing.

Second, the round Technic pieces that make up the middle section of the laser cannons aren't snug. There's just enough room that they slide and rattle. It's not the end of the world, but I wish there was room for one more round to make things a bit more solid.

And finally, I would have loved landing gear on this model. I'll be talking about the stand a bit more below, but having three small, retractable landing gear would have allowed you to display the X-Wing without the stand and in different positions.

The Stand Doesn't Change Positions

Something I didn't realize until after completing the entire build is that the included stand does not offer multiple display angles---something found with other UCS sets. While this felt like an odd choice at first, I realized that you could simply pick up the X-Wing and rotate the direction it's pointing.

In the end, I actually liked the various sitting positions offered by the fixed stand. As you can see from the first photo in the above gallery, with the X-Wing displayed to the left or right, its laser cannons are barely hovering above the surface. It's almost like the starship is in a dogfight and swooping in low to get a better attack angle.

Beyond holding the spacecraft, the stand is also home to the information plaque and has space for the Luke Skywalker minifigure. Of course, if you don't want the Jedi Master to be standing in front of his ship, you can place him inside the cockpit (minus the lightsaber).

I wouldn't Leave the X-Wing in Flight Mode

One of the coolest parts of the LEGO Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter's build is the ability to change the ship's wings from flight mode to attack mode. This is done with the help of a Technic knob that pushes apart internal pieces and locks the wings in the X position.

While I love the attack mode appearance with the wings expanded, I can't say the same about flight mode. Bring the wings back together and you'll find a decent gap between the top and bottom sections, with the bottom somewhat sagging down from the weight of the wing.

Personally, I don't plan to ever use flight mode except when moving the X-Wing Starfighter, so it's not the end of the world. I would love to see further reinforcement in the future, though.

X-Wing vs. A-Wing

I made sure to also compare the X-Wing to the 1,673-piece UCS A-Wing Starfighter (75275) released in 2022. While the A-Wing definitely feels denser, it's lacking a lot of the fine details and characteristics found sprinkled around the X-Wing. Either will look good on display, but the $40 premium on the X-Wing is worth the money.

Should You Buy the LEGO Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter?

As someone who collects LEGO, I've come to expect to pay a premium for popular sets (especially for one that likely carries a "Star Wars" licensing fee). But when you do the math, you're paying roughly $0.123 per piece. Depending on where you look online, that's below the average cost of most sets.

So between the (what I would call) reasonable price of $240 and the iconic X-Wing Starfighter design, I have a hard time not recommending this set to anyone who loves the "Star Wars" franchise. I don't like that the wings don't look the greatest in flight mode, but at the same time, I only envision myself displaying the X-Wing in attack mode.

The 2023 Star Wars UCS X-Wing Starfighter (75355) is available starting today, May 1, 2023, for LEGO VIP members. If you're not already a member, you'll have to wait until May 4, 2023. I recommend creating a VIP account, though, because it's free, and you qualify for a number of free items, including the LEGO Miniature X-Wing, Return of the Jedi 40th Medallion, and the LEGO Death Star II (those these will go away after May 7, 2023).