Billund, Denmark – The LEGO Company announced today that their highly anticipated addition to the Star Wars lineup will be shipping in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. Although costlier than expected, at first glance the new system appears to be a monumental undertaking and is expected to be well received by the LEGO community.
"While the $649 price tag will be somewhat more expensive than other Star Wars play sets, we are certain that the 20,000+ piece lifelike recreation of Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan will more than justify the cost," said Mike Dundle, VP of North American Marketing. "This LEGO system is an ambitious departure from other Star Wars play sets in that it will arrive in the package fully assembled, ready to destroy. The planet replica is almost three feet in diameter and includes several specifically designed pieces for mountainous areas, lakes, and populated continents. We have taken great care to make it look exactly like the depiction in episode IV, ‘A New Hope’ in all its peaceful, weaponless glory."
Dundle hopes the new set will deflect criticism that the use of sets stunts the creativity that the original LEGO bricks were famous for. "This is a set, but people can find creative ways to blow it up. Once the set is removed from the package, Star Wars enthusiasts will immediately be able to recreate the brutal destruction of Alderaan piece by piece. Just imagine how much fun it will be creating your own individual disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."
As a part of the promotion, LEGO is sponsoring a YouTube contest to award prizes for the most creative and realistic disassembly. Submissions are expected to include the use of actual explosives as well as some other creative approaches.
"This is going to be freaking awesome," said Patrick Sweeley, a twelve-year-old Star Wars LEGO fanatic who’s been begging his parents since the product was announced, "I can’t wait to get my hands on this. I want to drop it from the roof of my Grandmother’s 10-story apartment building onto the parking lot. I’m going to try to land it as close to my Dad’s new camcorder as I can. This is going to be totally sweet ..."
For the grand prize the winner will be able to choose between a trip to LEGO headquarters in Denmark, or a trip to a real death star orbiting the Earth's moon.
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