Skip to main content

Florida teacher exhibits ‘the force’ with Star Wars LEGO tribute

Jay Hoff, a schoolteacher from Florida, has re-created a 6- foot-by-6-foot replica of the scene from Return of the Jedi where Emperor Palpatine visits the newly recommissioned Death Star in order to inspect Darth Vader’s progress.

Taking six months, consisting of 30,000 LEGO pieces and costing an estimated $2,300 to complete, the ambitious assembler pieced together this “most impressive” display for Science and Discovery day at his school, where students were asked to create their own builds and present them.

Time will tell if Mr. Hoff’s next project will require him to “double his efforts” — but regardless the force is indeed strong with this one.

Editors' Recommendations

Amir Iliaifar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Associate Automotive Section Editor for Digital Trends, Amir Iliaifar covers the ever increasing cross-section between tech…
All the best gifts for Star Wars fans you can give in 2023
A woman puts the Lego Star Wars Darth Vader Helmet on a shelf.

What do you get a Star Wars fan for the holidays? That question is pretty hard to answer because there's an overwhelming number of options across the different retailers, but we'll try our best to give you a comprehensive list of choices across a wide budget range. Check out the deals that we've gathered below, including our absolute favorite one, but you're going to have to hurry because the discounts that we've seen and stocks of the more popular items may no longer be around if you check again tomorrow.
Our favorite gift for Star Wars fans

The LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama showcases one of the most iconic scenes in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which we've ranked in first place among all of the Star Wars movies. Once you've completed building this Lego set, you'll get a snapshot of Luke Skywalker's X-Wing as it flies through the surface of the Death Star while being pursued by Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced fighter and two more TIE fighters. The diorama even comes with a plaque with the quote "The Force is strong with this one," which Darth Vader said about Luke Skywalker during the chase scene. The LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama, originally, $70, is down to $53 from Best Buy for savings of $17.

Read more
From Prequelists to Reylos, these are the 9 definitive types of Star Wars fans
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars fans don't get along. The fandom has been called toxic and divided, and many times, it's lived up to that stereotype.

But I, for one, count the diversity of the fanbase as a positive. It's what's led to the wide range of stories, genres, and media types over the years, each generating its own small base of fans. More broadly, these fanbases are created based on your generation and what part of the series you gravitated to first for whatever reason. I hope you'll be able to find yourself among at least one of these waves of Star Wars fans and start to see that there's enough room at the table for us all.
The Original Trilogy Boomers

Read more
One year ago, Andor changed Star Wars forever
Cassian Andor looks forward with purpose in Andor episode 3.

When Andor premiered one year ago this week, the general response to its first three episodes, which all dropped on Disney+ at the same time, was … interesting. While everyone seemed to welcome the Rogue One prequel with open arms and positive reviews, some were quick to express their concerns over the show’s pace. On the one hand, it’s not hard to see why. Andor's first three installments essentially serve as both the series' inciting incident and its prologue.

The show’s opening chapters split their time between flashbacks to Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) traumatic childhood on the war-torn planet of Kenari and the present-day fallout of his impulsive decision to kill a pair of Imperial-adjacent officials. It isn’t until the end of Andor’s third episode that his backstory has been fully fleshed out and he’s actually left his adoptive planet of Ferrix with Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), the rebel leader who will jumpstart Cassian’s own radicalization. On paper, that might make it seem very little happens across Andor’s first three episodes.

Read more