Hmmm, all sorted. Now to read the directions...

Step 1: Do not, we repeat, DO NOT sort the pieces! The pieces are together in the order they are assembled.

GAAAAAAHHHHH!

jmonty

Jesus, I'm disappointed in you.

I figure if anyone could assemble the Millennium Falcon in under 12 parsecs, it would be you.

OMG!!! Ponies!!!

steering wheel ? ? ?

James

what's the song in the video?

jcruss69

like a puzzle but with non-working laser guns. I wonder how many pieces in an imperial battleship. (if they make one)

froggy

I didn't have a table to sort out all the pieces when I pieced that together, but I can definitely imagine that it will help you immensely. The hardest part of the whole thing was finding the stupid pieces in all of the different bags, though about halfway through I was able to just tell you what piece was in which bag.

If I had sorted my bags I probably could have cut my time by a day or two (out of a 9 day project). I even wanted to do time lapse, but we just didn't have the room to leave it in one place all the time! Now to encase mine in carbonite so it will last forever.....

goldaar

Great video, thanks for posting. Music -- is that Beyonce sampling Primal Scream?

G-Lumps

Don't build it! Blend it!

Earthslide

Pre Sorting will SOOOOOO Pay off.....

It will save you endless hours of searching for this or that little part over and over....

I should have one of these within the next 2 weeks, and I cannot wait to get started on it!!!

I think I will try to run some lights etc inside mine for fun effect.....

babj615

@vshank:
That is what I thought as well. Each bag containing the pieces for one room, or one section of the hull... Which if that ends up being true... You may have just made this a lot harder on yourself by sorting them.

evilsnowman

All those Star Wars Iphone tie-ins are starting to make a whole lot of sense. I can see Jesus photoshopping himself onto the deck of the Deathstar as we speak.

ShaneO83

Look at the manual for that thing. Looks like some of the BASIC programming books that came with computers back in the day (as I wax nostalgic).

shockidelica

I never sorted my legos, I just looked for them as I built.
Someone buy me one and I'll see if my method is faster

enine

you better lock your door when you leave...I may just drop by and shuffle all those legos into one giant plastic mountain on you =)

discounteggroll

@jesusdiaz: OH. I see.

Pope John Peeps II

UOFITOM: i was thinking yesterday that with that many pieces they would probably need to be packaged in building stages rather than with like parts. here's to hoping that's not the case, b/c that would suck to have to go find each piece as necessary.

vshank

I always enjoyed the pleasure of digging through a pile of legos to find the one I needed to continue, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.

Something on this scale though? That would be insane to attempt. Good video!

zenpoet

I can't wait to see it done!

xint

@Pope John Peeps II: yes. But I can't play it when my wife is sleeping.

jesusdiaz

Why are you wearing an ipod in your own house? Don't you have a radio?

Pope John Peeps II

that's pretty annoying that each piece type didn't come in individual bags

UofITom

man. that would suck.

MrBlahBlah

This is inadvertantly the solution to giving nuclear power to other nations without reprocussions. Just give em a 100,000,000,000 piece lego recreation of nuclear reactor. "Do it your damnself"

radikaled

this might sound so corny but id rather buy it assembled hehe

amiash

So did you count the pieces to make sure they were all there?

Mclarenlover69

I'm so jealous, I'm drooling.

mangochutney

Every recent Lego set I've built has been pre-packed according to their stage, as wells as each bag being numbered as per that order. I find it hard to believe that their biggest set EVAR would sway from this logic. If they were packed like that you just screwed yourself hard, sorry.

rapidblue

@AZTriGuy: I'm in the same situation, my 6 yo daughter would help a bit. my 3 yo son would just trash any efforts to proceed with the project and my 1yo boy would just be found in the corner choking on chewbacca or han.

so i gotta wait a few years for this. i should buy it and store it somewhere.

DSaddict

Tío, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, en serio, this is the fuckest thing I've ever seen!! Do you think we would see this Millenium Falcon here in Spain?

valis

hahah, awesome job so far :)

id3379

Jesus, you are the man!!! You have A LOT of patience sorting those damn lego things apart. *applauds*

Simpsons-Movie-ruled

I think it's funny that even the mini-figures don't come assembeled.

BloggyMcBlogBlog

WOW Dude.

This is going to be one killer assembly process.
Do you drink coffee? -might be a good time to start.
It would be a great time to plan a movie marathon too.

I'm still jealous. It's gonna rock when it's done.

strider_mt2k

Darth attacks the camera LOL

Thom

As a long time and current lego enthusiast I can say without a doubt that there is a rhyme to the lego bag madness. I havent bought this but it seems weird they would abandon the assembly bag method.

Murdermonkey

So what do you do if a piece is missing? Wallmart can't sell me a bookshelf without missing screws, A Millennium falcon has got to be way harder to box up.

MagnoliaBoy

You obviously don't have kids, Jesus.

"Daddy? What's this pile of Legos here?"

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

I would love to put one of these together, my 8-year old son and I would have a great time. My 6-year old girl (already a Star Wars fan-girl and loves Jango Fett) would want to help but might be a little out of her league. My 4-year old son, though, would steal the pieces and run.

Then, of course, I'm waiting for the video when you finish this, flying it around the house, and you drop it, shattering into exactly 5,195 pieces.

AZTriGuy

The problem with building a Millennium Falcon out of LEGO is that, no matter how cool it turns out in the end, some whiny snotnose farmboy is just going to call it a piece of junk while his sister makes snarky comments about it as a poor substitute for flirting.

OMG!!! Ponies!!!

That takes some serious patience...!

yoshi

I really hope for your sake that those bags weren't a sorting system to begin with. I could just see the instructions saying something like "construction of rear landing gear: open bag 'C'..."

bombastinator

@AddyDugdale: DJ Addy to the rescue.

jesusdiaz

@jmonty: I wish that was the case! :-) No, they are unfortunately random.

jesusdiaz

@ANYONE INQUIRING ABOUT THE MUSIC...
It's a fabulous mix of Amerie's 1 Thing with Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy. On the flipside, she's doing it with the Stones and Sympathy For The Devil. By P.T.A. out on Throwaway Records a couple of years back. How's that for attention to deets, eh?

AddyDugdale

What's the track playing? Which cut/version?
Anyone?

gizmodohomepage

you didn't want to use Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces of Me" for a soundtrack? ;)

jdunns4

2 each his own ... my friend hates it as well

Teskox

I built my first ultimate a couple weeks ago ... Vader's TIE Advanced x1 ... bought the Ultimate TIE Intercepter on ebay, just waiting for it to arrive and then I'll have some more fun ... I can't imagine combing through 5500+ pieces on the Falcon... krayZ!!

Teskox

jesus that song sucks !

johneaster

Geeze, don't do all the work for him... but is your son going to be excited when he sees that big old Legos set under the Christmas tree, or what?

middy

@Teskox: yeah, this is the one you are talking about. The middle section.

jesusdiaz

Even if the bags are sorted by stage, it still helps to sort the bags by pieces. You can sort each bag one at a time, or just sort every bag at once.

If you have the table space, just do it all at once.
If you don't have the table space, sort a bag at a time.

This will pay HUGE dividends down the road.

After sorting through some of the bigger technics kits a few years ago, my back was killing me. I thought it was just me. Glad(?) to know the pain is universal...

styrofoam

Oh sorry didn't see the post above ... but its much easier to find on vinyl when you use Greg Wilson's actual name and the name of track after it moved from whitelabel status ... the final track basically has both versions in one ... move from Massive attack to Rolling Stones ...

Teskox

jesus, can i come over and play, um i mean help. haha. or are u gonna keep this all to yourself?

sdsviet

The song is called "Two sides of sympathy" ... by Greg Wilson ... and its not super ez to find ... I just got my copy yesterday so was surprised to hear here today ... fun video ..

Teskox

I usually sort while I build. That way you get some satisfaction from making progress on the model, and as you go pieces get easier to find.

wezelboy

I love the sound of hundreds, if not thousands, of legos rattling and rusttling in a big plastic bin...the cool, smooth sides, the textured tops slipping between my fingers... the little heads and wheels...

Excuse me, I need a tissue.

tamoko

@almighty: Yeah, I'm sure. They are random.

jesusdiaz

They're probably using the bags to make Minute Rice.

That's what I always think of when I see them.

strider_mt2k

Does it have the blinking light in the cockpit?

"Watch it, kid, or you're gonna find yourself floating home."

OMG!!! Ponies!!!

Jesus-Are you SURE those weren't bagged logically by Lego to help make it a bit easier to assemble?

And good GAWD that's a lot of lego pieces right there...I doubt my house is big enough to sort them all like that.

almighty

I built my Falcon about a month ago, right after the strike started. I didn't sort, but I did separate: big architectural pieces (beams, etc) in one of the three bins that the original box was divided into, panelling in a second bin, small pieces in a third. I don't know how much it helped, but I never had any searching period longer than about 10-15 minutes. In contrast, with the Imperial Star Destroyer, which is ALL grey and pretty uniform, I had DAYS searching for individual pieces. In any case, my Falcon took about 3 weeks with several hours of building a day. I think yours will take 1/4 of that. The Falcon is, by the way, easily the best model ever created by LEGO. Can't wait to see what they come up with next year. Also can't wait until my girlfriend pulls "A Christmas Story" on me and "accidentally" smashes my Falcon.

Stingrza

@amiash: Don't make me call security on you.

strider_mt2k

Yes. Sorting WILL pay off, in my opinion. It is such a PITA to find that one little piece when the pieces aren't sorted. I am really envious of you with this, it would be so much fun to build. If I only had the space to do this.

kdorff

They have the completed model on display at the LEGO store in the Mall of America. Yes, it is huge, but it is something like $300.

Galley

I bulit the Imperial Star Destroyer in one 14+ hour shot. Looks like this is going to be harder.

I usually dump each bad into a tupperware container - but I think sorting may be the thing to do here.

Canoehead

wow, i never knew the 'falcon had a steering wheel. i could totally drive it!!!

pepe the king prawn

It took me 3 days to assemble the foam 3D puzzle of the Falcon back in the late 1990's. I can only think it would take a week or more to build a 5000+ piece lego one.

Ofcourse you've removed the challenge of the build by sorting the parts. Real men don't ask for directions, and we don't presort our lego sets ;)

diverguy

JasonChen has a better apartment than you do, Jesus.

Now construct the damn thing and show us the glorious thing in its full beauty.

shiftyeyedgoat

For all you people questioning the unbagging, remember it wouldn't be nearly as fun if they went exactly by the book. Then we wouldn't have all these fun videos.

sidepocket

alright, i found the song.
Amerie vs The Rolling Stones - One For The Devil
more info and listen online here
[hypem.com]

vorin

Brings back ALOT, AND I MEAN AAALLLOOOTTT of great memories - playing with legos when I was a kid. I completed all of their biggest sets. Loved it

vicsells

Amazing vid. Keep up the good work Jesus. I especially loved the Wookie sound when you shook Chewy in your hand. Oh Star Wars sound effects in a LEGO movie! I hope you need a lot of time on the Falcon so there will be loads of movies with geeky sounds.

coach

Sorting it and putting the whole lego together is half the battle and half the fun...I remember doing the collectors X-wing...It seriously is the way legos should have been made from the beginning...Lots and LOTS of peices and hours of fun.

I just can't fork over the 500 bucks for the falcon...

Segretezza

@diverguy: The 3D foam puzzle...I was trying to forget about that; thanks a lot.

I mean, I'm usually not one to give up on something that takes mental effort to solve, but seriously. ALL THE PIECES LOOK THE SAME!

Yossarian

I would sell my mother's soul for that damn set. Well if I had a place to put it.

iameleveneight

@middy: Pretty sure this is for Jesus and not for his son. I don't think he would even let Addy touch it, let alone a child. A man forms an emotional bond when he licks plastic that just can't be broken.

"The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."

Curves

@Curves: You are a formidable woman with a deep and profound understanding of the inner workings of the male "mind". Truly, you are a force to be reckoned with.

OMG!!! Ponies!!!

dude you should rent out that lego set when you're finished...i dont want to spend $500 on something ill only play with once

ctdewberry

Great video. My 5 yr old can't wait for episode, ur Part III, IV, V, and VI.

What song is that?

OskiO

The previous Lego Falcon almost caused a domestic when it was spotted by the neigbour's grandkid.

Major bout of "I want" ensued - don't know what they'd think if they saw this one!"

dankell

@UOFITOM I would think they did that to group pieces based on the chunk of the Falcon they go to.

Did the instructions say to sort the pieces? Eh it's more about the entertainment of constructing it anyway.

plinkofrog

Wow. I should sort through my Lego collection sometime. I probably have almost that many, if not more. I got the space shuttle/submarine model years ago but never finished it. Plus the original lego mindstorms. Now they're all mixed together.

kzooguy

@Curves: Your insight serves you well...

strider_mt2k

....I want it. I miss building legos

skantfa

@Galley: "They have the completed model on display at the LEGO store in the Mall of America. Yes, it is huge, but it is something like $300."

I saw that there today. If I wouldn't have to finagle it on a plane...

I forget how much the MOA location is Legotopia. Ample supplies of current models and limited editions too. Unfortunately, the something like $300 for the Falcon is still $500 there too.   ; )

someToast

Do they have a name for when your back hurts after building a lego set? Legoback perhaps?

quentinr

was able to get the music here
[mp3skyline.com]

jcruss69

Just to be clear about the bags...there is no rhyme or reason to the organization of the parts as they come from Lego. I counted 72 bags of parts. Often one bag would contain 20 of one kind of part and 30 of another and then 5 or 6 misc parts but then some of those parts would also be in other bags too. I didn't have the room to do all of this sorting at the beginning so I spent far more time looking for parts than putting the thing together.

Also, my set was missing exactly 2 small pieces. Lego has a kickass web site where you tell it the set you have and then put in the part number for what you are missing and a week later you get those missing pieces in the mail. I actually asked them for 5 parts total that I thought were missing but days later found 3 of them in various bags laying all around the place. I also had probably 30 or so surplus parts that weren't needed - some extras.

I have to say the falcon was fun to build but not as enjoyable as I found Lego to be as a kid. I like building things with the bigger bricks. The falcon is engineered to have an internal lattice that sets the shape and then thin panels that snap to it to form the outer shell. It stays together quite well once assembled but I didn't find this sort of building to be nearly as satisfying.

It took me 3 weeks of 2-3 hours an evening and a bit more on the weekends. Finding space for building is an issue but space to display such a monstrosity is equally challenging - the thing is huge when complete.

icky2000

@icky2000: you are right.

@crewsm: no gluing. I wanted to get high, I would choose other methods.

jesusdiaz

Are you going to model glue the pieces together or leave it virgin?

crewsm

First post!

exoxe

I bet your wife thinks you're a faggot when you don't goto bed with her, and instead spend 4 hours and 9 minutes just sorting legos.

Atleast I think you're a faggot anyway.

Get a life and take care of your wife.

Thanks.

kurgon

This is dumb; why don't they just package the parts either by sub-assembly (this is what my dad and I would refer to the individual parts you build that eventually get combined into the final product) or type, so that when you open a bag you either get all of the long 4x1 short bricks, or all the pieces necessary for steps 23-54?

Kered

@JESUSDIAZ: So, How's it going? We'd love some waypoint pics...

OskiO

rolling stones.

timtempest

someone has the job of putting all the pieces INTO the bags in the first place.

Imagine.. 5,190... 5,191... 5,192.. no, wait... where was I... 5,194?? arg... and how many people want these !!!!

timtempest

@pepe the king prawn:
BTW, yes, the Falcon has a steering wheel. No, it's not used in the cockpit. It's part of the dorsal gunner station (the interior of which consists of nothing more than said steering wheel and a chair mounted so the gunner's lying on his/her back and facing straight up through the recessed windshield). So have fun steering the topside gun!

Purple Dave

@UofITom:
Some pieces come one per set (most notably the big radar dish, which is also unique to this set with that deco pattern). Others did actually get a bag to themselves, or only with a handful of other parts mixed in. Most of the bags were duplicated, so they came up with a minimal number of sorts and just repeat different bags as necessary. The most common bag was included either 9 or 11 times. It's all about cost-savings in the packing process, and the fact that most of the different part/color combos are included in such small numbers that it's not worth packing them individually.

@vshank:
And that is what I had been hoping for, but it was not to be. What I ended up doing as a running project through construction was figuring out which bags had the same sort, and as I needed specific parts I would work my way through the different sorts until I found them, and start pulling them from one end of the group to the other. Once you've pulled a specific part enough times, you get familiar with which bags you have to go for to find more. Or at least I did...

@plinkofrog:
Recently _all_ instructions have begun including a textless pre-build page that shows an image of LEGO parts half-burind in carpet with a big red X through it, and an arrow pointing to bricks being assembled on a table. Then there's an image that shows a big pile of parts that are all shapes and colors, and arrows pointing out to small piles that are sorted by either shape or color (but oddly, not both). So yes, technically they do instruct you to presort the parts before actually building anything with them. I don't recall having ever done that, though I might have when I was a wee tot.

@shockidelica:
It's a fair chunk of the 24lbs shipping weight of this set, and it _REEKS_ of whatever chemicals they used during the printing process. Between having to constantly bend down to collect parts and stand up to build the next step, having to peer closer and closer as time wore on (and my eyes got more tired), and the waves of chemical stench rolling off that tome, I had a raging headache by the time I went to bed the first night.

@froggy:
In a what? An Imperial Star Destroyer? Not counting the obligatory extras for small parts, the UCS version was the largest set ever (until the Death Star came out) with 3104, the Mini ISD had a mere 86 and could fit in the palm of your hand, and last year's "minifig-scale" version had 1366.

@MagnoliaBoy:
Heh. The last time a LEGO convention featured a speed build of the UCS ISD, they _did_ chuck the finished model and let it shatter on the floor.

@valis:
You can order it from Shop.LEGO.com for EUR 549.95 right now.

@icky2000:
Though it be madness yet there is method in it. Think like someone who's packing this set for shipment, and how much of a pain it'd be to verify the sort stays true. I counted 80 bags, and many of them are repeated sorts ranging from 2-10 copies of each bag, and a few "makeup" bags where any odd remainder of parts that didn't divide evenly into their primary sort's bags would be included. If you needed 17 of Part A, they'd pack 3 copies each in a 5-bag sort, and throw the extra 2 in a bag full of other remainders and parts you only need a handful of.

@jesusdiaz:
The fumes that vent from the instructions will probably do that for you, if you build more than a couple hours at a time.

@Kered:
For _all_ of you who are asking why they didn't step-sort, realize that it took them ~80 bags to pack this set, consisting of maybe 40 different batch sorts, and then go look at the part inventory, which consisst of some 280ish part/color combinations, in quantites ranging from 1 to 243. Step-sorting or part-sorting them would have raised the price of the set, and reduced the number of buyers.

Purple Dave