Hello, what have we here?
Props to LEGO for keeping this one under wraps. The next big Star Wars set of 2018 is a homage to Empire Strikes Back – LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City.
This 2,812 piece mega-scale play set is split into four quadrants, each containing an iconic scenes from Empire.
The set is priced at US$349.99 in the US and has a release date of 1 October 2018. There will be a VIP early access preview sale for this set on 13 September 2018.
Costing $500 here in Australia… this is not going to come cheap at all.
See below for regional pricing:
- LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – US$349.99 [US]
- LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – AU$499.99 [AUS]
- LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – GBP£299.99 [UK]
- LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – CAD$399.99 [CAN]
- LEGO 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City – €349.99 [EU]
I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan, so when I first saw photo of this set, I was pretty underwhelmed. This is the first large-scale Star Wars playset since the critically panned Assault on Hoth.
Given the Star Wars community’s vociferous reception to Assault on Hoth, I can understand LEGO’s hesitance in investing in large Star Wars playsets.
Curiously, this set doesn’t bear the UCS logo, unlike Assault on Hoth, which I think is a great move. It’s great to see LEGO take fan feedback on board, as one of the major criticisms of Assault on Hoth was that it wasn’t a terrible set, but a terrible UCS set and didn’t deserve the badge.
The set comes with two vehicles, the most notable one being Slave 1. I may be spoilt by the UCS Slave 1 which is imho, THE definitive version of Boba Fett’s ship, and this one just looks ugly as sin.
I am not a fan of the proportions and the transparent cockpit with Boba Fett sitting in it, just looks plain wrong. The green and grey section is also too skinny and narrow, making this look nothing like the real thing.
Thankfully, the minifig-scale Cloud Car looks great. Fans should be happy with this one.
Let’s take a short tour of the interiors.
The first section is the entrance, where Lando warmly greets Solo, Leia and Chewbacca before leading them into…
The dining room, where Vader is awaiting them!
This then culminates with Han getting frozen in carbonite, in the Carbon Freezing Chamber as Chewie and Leia helplessly watch.
The Carbon Freezing Chamber has a working mechanism to “freeze” Han Solo, which I think is a really fun play feature to include.
Lastly, we have the railing, where Darth Vader duels against Luke, for fans to recreate one of the most famous scenes in movie history.
The entire playset is reasonable large, measuring over 16cm (6″) high, 58cm (22″) wide and 56cm (22”) deep. Good luck trying to find space to display this sucker!
For a set this large, we get a whopping 20 minifigures, including some cool new additions such as Bespin Luke and Leia, Lando, Cloud Car Pilots and everyone’s favourite dude, Lobot.
Overall, unless you’re a massive LEGO Star Wars fan, I don’t think 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City will excite you much. It’s extremely pricey, and playsets are usually geared towards play features instead of being purely for display purposes, although given the size of this set, it would still make a decent display piece.
I do wish they had done a better job with Slave 1 as it just looks awful. I admit that I’m spoiled by the UCS Slave 1, but this one just looks off.
That said, for fans that missed out on the last Cloud City set and can’t afford to drop a thousand bucks on it… this seems like an absolute bargain.
So yeah, that’s my thoughts on Betrayal at Cloud City. Are you going to pick this one up? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
I think the mini slave 1 is AWESOME. I got this set and I have a place to display it. It is my favorite lego set ever. I can’t see why you don’t like the mine slave 1. but then again, I don’t have the UCS one.
I really like this set, but I think it would be a better move if it would be a real UCS or a “real” playset in the meanngs of a better price. Not sure if I would buy this for my boys to play with it…maybe for all three together.
I really wish they gave Leia a new mold for her hair that shows the loopy braids coming down the bun like in the movies for Bespin. The mold they gave her here is the Hoth version. The loopy braids and the back bun (from the end of A New Hope) are the only style of hair molds missing in Lego form.
Yeah, Leia is pretty disappointing – for a set at this price, aimed at hardcore Star Wars fans/collectors, it’s really odd that they ommitted this, especially when they gave her a unique hairpiece in the Ewok Village set.
IG-88!! Only reason to buy this set.
Interesting that IG-88 stood out to you! He seems identical to the one from 75167 – Bounty Hunter Battle Pack, which is a much cheaper alternative than this set!
Pass on this. We’re till building Hogwarts!
This is a tough one. On the one hand, being a huge SW fan and Empire being my fave this squarely sits in the absolute must have. On the other hand though, to me it doesn’t work as a display model with too many studs showing and being of an age where I don’t really “play’ with the sets, it moves it to the , nice but not this time bucket. Of course the $500 price tag seems way too high to justify getting this on day 1 so it’s a maybe for me really as i am still trying to get funds together for UCS Mill Fal. Glad to see they included a better attempt at the carbon freezing chamber rather than 75137 from 2016 which was a HUGE let down for me.
I think this is quite good – at AUD$500 this is a hard pass.
I like the way the designer(s) have included the main events within this set.
Slave 1 whilst not perfect is a good representation of this iconic set – if there is space for carbonite Han, the imperfections in the ship design can be forgiven.
That hairpiece for Bespin Leia is completely wrong. They should of made a new hairpiece for her with the hanging loopy braids.
In my mind I’m thinking of this as “Assault on Cloud City” – a mish mash of what could be individual play sets ostensibly tacked together to form a bigger, at first glance, unrecognizable structure. That said, I’m a huge Star Wars fan and having missed out on the original Cloud City set, I’ll probably pick this up at some point. Just not for $500.
Who else is getting this set on day one?!
P.S. I don’t have a Slave 1 yet so this is gold to me.
I am a massive Star Wars fan and although I think it is cool, I won’t be getting it.
Well not for $500, maybe if I see it on sale.
I am running out of room to display and the big sets make it worse.
This is why I never got the Death Star but I like this more than the Death Star.
My UCS Millennium Falcon is still sitting on the table as I still have to get a cover made to go over it.
The Assault on Hoth which I only paid $200 is still in the box.
I think I might just stick to the ships.
Some of my collection on display: Y-Wing x2, Tie Fighter x3 , X-wing x2, B-Wing, Slave 1, Shuttle Tyderium and Imperial Shuttle.
All these ships together make an impressive display something I don’t see in the playsets.
This set does have an impressive line up of mini figures and I would like the Cloud Car.
I’m torn on this one. This is my favourite collection of scenes of my favourite movie of all time so the nostalgia value is extremely high. It’s great as a playset and the minifigs looks really good. But (and these are two big ones), it lacks displayability and the price is horrendous! I was waiting for this reveal before deciding on Hogwarts Castle…my decision was just made easier.
I am a huge Star Wars fan, but I’m not sure how I feel about this set. It’s more like the Hoth set than the awesome Endor tree village. Also, I feel kinda like Lego is doing too much at one. I’m still excited over Harry Potter & the new sabretooth tiger, have a UCS Y-Wing yet to definitely purchase, and am not ready to think about other sets.
I was really pleased to see this set, I’m a big star wars fan though so am biased. I can see your point about the slave 1 and it not being up to ucs standard. For me, those minifigures and the playability of the set are reason enough to purchase. Better get saving!