What to expect at the Star Wars Exhibit in Legoland Malaysia

For a Star Wars fanatic, watching the Lego Millenium Falcon light up and hover above the ground in Docking Bay 94 before landing again will make you giddy with excitement like a kid opening his Christmas presents.

If you are a Star Wars fan, a Lego appreciator and happen to live in Asia, then the Star Wars Exhibit in Legoland Malaysia is built for you. Opened two years ago, this is the sixth Star Wars Lego exhibit in the world, after Billund (Denmark), Gunzburg (Germany), Windsor (England) and California and Florida (United States).

I visited Legoland a while back and the first thing I’ll say is thank goodness the exhibit it indoors. The hot and humid weather in Malaysia makes a Legoland visit a sweaty affair, especially when the rest of the park hardly provides any shade. This means when it’s hot, you’re burnt, and it gets worse when it rains. You get drenched, badly. And Malaysian weather is not the most predictable. On top of that, the punishing weather causes many of the outdoor Lego exhibits to look battered. Most of them definitely have seen better days, even though the park only opened in 2012.

But I’ll leave a review of the park for another day.

Back to the Star Wars exhibit. At the entrance, you’ll be greeted by life-sized Lego models of our favorite characters, C-3PO and R2-D2, alongside a 2.7 meter-tall Darth Vader wielding his light saber.

There are altogether seven depicted scenes housed in one standalone building. Each of the six movies get a scene, plus an additional one of the Clone Wars.  Each scene is in a room of its own, and has quite a number of things going on to keep you occupied for a while, and your fingers trigger happy with the camera. Look out for buttons located at the display at each scene, each button will bring out an interactive element on the display, and there are at least three buttons that you can find on each exhibit.

Tip: bring a good camera, and not use your phone. The rooms are dimly lit because elements of the scenes come to life with lights and motion. Phone cameras just aren’t equipped to do the job.

Here are some highlights from the exhibit:

The first room, of course, belongs to the Phantom Menace. It’s the Planet Naboo, and there is the battle of Naboo, with rows and rows of battle droids in attack position. On the other side of the diorama, you get to see the beautiful soaring structures of Naboo. Then through a window in one of the Naboo structures, you see Obi- Wan and Qui-Gon Jin engaged in a light saber fight with the trade federation droids. Although the scene displays different scenarios, it’s blended well, and you don’t find it jarring.

In Attack of the Clones, you’re brought to the Petranaki arena on the planet of Geonosis. This was the Anakin, Padme and Obi Wan were brought to be executed. Do spot tiny Lego Yoda arriving on his ship to save the day.

Trivia: This scene took 290 hours to build, and is made of 30,000 bricks.

Revenge of the Sith sees the Wookies in danger and Yoda descended to save the planet from invasion, and the ultimate battle of master and apprentice in Mustafar between Obi Wan and Anakin.

 

The most exciting scene of all to me is A New Hope. Here, you’re in the sandy world of Tatooine and this is where you get to see the 37 kg Millennium Falcon made of 15,000 Lego bricks taking off. Then you can observe the shenanigans happening in the Cantina as well as on the streets of Mos Eisley.

 

 

 

Planet Hoth takes center stage in the Empire Strikes back. Watch out for a trapped Luke hanging upside down in the cave, enslaved by the Wampa.

It’s a stark contrast for Return of the Jedi, where we hyper-spaced to the warm planet of Endor, where the Ewoks joined forces with the Rebellion to take down the storm troopers. My favorite part here is the scene of a storm trooper on a speeder bike going round and round a tree. It is weirdly hypnotizing.

 

 

Finally, we come to Clone Wars. This is the largest display of the exhibit, with a 2.65 meter-tall building from the capital of Christophis- the Crystal City. This structure weighs at a hefty 120kg and took 45,000 bricks to build.

In all, I enjoyed the exhibit, because I love the little details put in at every display. It could be a tiny Princess Leia looking at her screen at the Rebel base in Hoth,  little sand people having a conversation on a parched cliff in Tattooine or R2 seated snugly on a Naboo starfighter. It brings to life the world of Star Wars for me.

 

My only gripe was I felt I didn’t get enough of the galaxy far far away. When I left the Cone Wars scene and stepped into the merchandise store, it was a tad anti-climactic, I was almost hoping to walk into another scene.