I got this set for my birthday and I love it! It took me about 6 hours to build (split into two days) and I am thoroughly impressed! It has got great detail on the back and front and the wings look great. For my first UCS, this is great. Plus, you can pick it up without too much effort! The only problem is that when you put it down in its stand, the seat pops off. But if you put it lightly in it won't. Also, its pretty easy to push it back in. Great Job Lego!

This is my first collectors set.

I was very surprized to find this kit sitting on the shelf at a toy store nearby and I got it on discount even though there was nothing wrong with the package!

I can agree with other that the stand causes a problem with the seat, but just ad a small piece on the back of the stand so it can not go in that far into the model.

Now I need to find a good place to put it!

This is the only UCS set that I own. At a price of about $120 this is one of the smaller UCS sets it’s only a third of the price and pieces compared to the Imperial Star Destroyer.
The box for this thing is huge yet it is still tucked full of pieces. When I got it the first thing I did was sort the pieces although it took a while I would suggest others to do the same. As there is over a thousand pieces. There is also one instruction manual for this set that features piece call outs for each step and a piece inventory.
You first build the cockpit which is very detailed in it are two joy sticks and a few computer screens. After that you build the back of the fuselage which is very detailed and has a lot of tiles being used. This connects to the cockpit via some 1 by 1 clips. The wings are full of repetitive building as you have to build two of each wing piece. It can also be hard to read the manual at times because it is all black. The wing pieces are all attached to each other with click hinges so they don't fall apart or move. There is only one sticker included in this set and that is the data readout on the stand. It's a long and detailed build so it's easy to skip a few pieces without noticing. The build took me about 4 and half hours to assemble Vader's Tie
When complemented and on the stand this thing is easily 60cm high and about 30cm long by 35cm wide give or take a few cm. so this thing is impressive. However this is only a model to be looked is it's not to be played with, so I wouldn't recommend it to younger children but to the older Star Wars/Lego fan. It only has one little function and that is the hatch on top of the cockpit can be opened to show the inside of the cockpit, it works well by using a few Technic pieces.
Overall I loved building this thing the end result is both huge and magnificent I would recommend it to other older Lego fans looking for a large and fun build 5/5

The Star Wars Ultimate Collectors Series sets have been a godsend to us older LEGO fans since they came on the scene, and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 prototype fighter proudly carries that streak on.

Looking at the pictures of this set tell you pretty much everything you need to know. Its big, its detailed, and its expensive. Cracking open the box and getting into the pieces you get the impression that there's not too much to this set compared to other recent UCS sets. With 1212 pieces, the parts count actually is comparatively low. The set colors are almost exclusively black, dark gray, and light gray, and the hatch and ball cockpit window are printed with detailing. There are no stickers on the main model itself, something I know many will be thankful for.

Construction is the usual drawn out process but not quite as repetitive or mind-numbing as some larger sets can get. You have to pay close attention to the instructions and placement of black parts as the images in the manual can blend together if you're not careful. One nice thing about this build is the limited greebling (detailing) on the ship. The instructions even show a full-scale image of where all the surface parts go in one instance...something I wish they'd do more often. Once you're done, you're satisfied you've accomplished something, but it also doesn't feel as if you've invested as much time in the model as you may have on previous UCS sets. This could be good, or bad depending on your point of view.

Once fully assembled, the TIE Advanced is a very handsome piece. Its not as stunning or "real" looking as some other sets, but it is, without a doubt, a great example of what LEGO can go on a larger scale. It is also nice to see a LEGO TIE in accurate gray and black, even if I have grown somewhat fond of the gray, black, and blue designs.

Size-wise, the TIE looks to be among the smaller of the UCS ships. It is defiantly shorter then the Y-Wing and less bulky then the Snowspeeder, but its no shrimp by any measure. Its footprint is a nice cubic area which will make it easy to display pretty much anywhere, and of course, it sits perched on the standard black UCS stand with info label.

In the final calculation, the UCS TIE Advanced is a more then decent set. At $100 US its not cheap, but mostly worth the lofty price tag. I have no real complaints with the set, but its building left me wanting a little more from the construction process, which is the only factor pushing this away from a perfect score. I give the Sienar starfighter a 4.5 out of 5...which rounds up into a Brickset 5. Close enough!

Pros:

-looks amazing!!
-good collection of bricks
-only a few special elements
-cool design
-it is star wars!

Cons:

-Not swooshable, craft easaly breaks...
-When putting the TIE Advanced on the stand the cockpit seat will get loose.
This is easaly avoided by putting a 1x2 plate below the part of the stand that goes beneath the pilot seat. The plate should be placed as such that the stand can only move in one stud instead of two.

Conclusion:

For the enthousiast collector although steep it is well worth the EUR 119,99.
When buying for small children I would advice another set.