LEGO U2-CB Ultimate UCS Collector’s Book review

Journey through the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series in U2-CB, a lovingly-crafted hardbound coffee table book.

Author: Rafael López Publisher: ROCOBRICKS RRP: £44 / $54 / €47 Available: Now

If you’re looking for a tangible chronicle of the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series to date, U2-CB Ultimate UCS Collector’s Book may be just the ticket. The 236-page hardback offers a detailed tour through every Star Wars UCS set so far, bookended by an exploration of the collector’s subtheme from every possible angle.

A brief history introduces the concept to the uninitiated, before setting out the chronology the book follows. Author Rafael López has split the timeline of LEGO Star Wars UCS sets into distinct sections, anchored around moments like the LEGO Group’s infamous 2011 poster classifying what did – and didn’t – count as a UCS set.

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Each model then gets at least two dedicated pages, with feature photography, box images and detailed statistics. This is basically as comprehensive a volume as you could ask for from a book that’s concerned almost solely with the UCS format, and all that the adult-targeted subtheme has inspired from the LEGO Group over the years.

That includes sets from other themes that have adopted the format, such as 76139 1989 Batmobile and 75936 Jurassic Park T. rex Rampage, and sets that ape the aesthetic, including 75255 Yoda and 76105 The Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition. They’re all covered in detail here.

If there’s one minor criticism to be had, it’s that some of the photography could have been a little brighter, as imagery is incredibly important to a coffee table book like this. But the feature photos are imaginative and striking, and the general set photography is still clear and in focus, so it’s not a major detractor.

Besides, there’s such a wealth of information here – including a glossary, comparative charts and collectors’ checklists – that you’ll likely spend plenty of time poring over its high-quality pages anyway. And if you want to go one step beyond and pop the UCS timeline on your wall, each copy of the book comes with a huge fold-out poster featuring every set up to 75275 A-wing Starfighter.

U2-CB manages the tricky task of serving up a volume that should have wide appeal, whether you’re a LEGO Star Wars diehard or brand new to the UCS subtheme. It doesn’t talk down to its reader or oversimplify, but presents its detailed guide in a clean, accessible fashion. And while everything inside is technically available online, the appeal of a book like this is in how it collates that information into a tangible one-stop UCS shop.

This book was provided for review by ROCOBRICKS.

U2-CB Ultimate UCS Collector’s Book is available now from Amazon. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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