Along with his palatial palace in the mountains of Tatooine, Jabba can venture over the dunes in style in his Sail Barge. Officially known as Khetanna, the hovering craft appears in Return of the Jedi and is used to transport Jabba and his entourage to The Great Pit of Carkoon. At the pit, the Sail Barge is used as a viewing platform to watch Jabba’s prisoners fed to the Sarlacc. It’s become part of several iconic moments from the Star Wars universe and it’s the latest vehicle from a galaxy far, far away to be transformed into a highly detailed LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set. After taking a look at the impressive collection of minifigures featured in the set, now it’s time to take a closer look at the Sail Barge.
Product Details
Set Name: Jabba’s Sail Barge | Set Number: 75397 | Pieces: 3942 | Theme: Star Wars
Number of Bags: Bags x 36 (paper) + loose elements | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 | Insiders QR: Yes | Character: Bib Fortuna, Princess Leia, C-3PO, Max Rebo, Kithaba, Vizam, Wooof, Gamorrean Guard, Jabba the Hutt, Salacious Crumb & R2-D2
RRP: £429.99/$499.99/499.99€/799.99AUD/649.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from October 3rd (Insiders) October 6th (General)
This isn’t the first time Jabba’s Sail Barge has been the inspiration for a LEGO set. Previous versions have been much smaller and far less detailed compared to this new version. Regardless of the scale of the set, it’s a very recognisable vehicle and one of few to be connected to Tatoonie. Although dubbed a UCS set it has elements of a playset thanks to some of the detailed interior and the mass of minifigures. The build is split across two boxes with an instruction booklet covering each box. This makes the build far more manageable for those with limited space. All of the set’s elements are packaged in the new paper-based bags so you won’t be drowning in masses of plastic. There are also a couple of additional pieces, also in paper-based packaging. So the elements to build Jabba are in small brown bags and the unique material sails can be found in an envelope.
Apart from the two ends of the Sail Barge, the interior is completely accessible by flipping down the side panels which form the exterior of the vehicle. I did find the larger, heavier panels at the rear of the Barge were eager to flip down with minimal movement. However, once the top section is added, this features a couple of rubber bumpers elements which form an anchor point for these panels to connect to. Speaking of which, the deck area of the Barge is built in two sections and these slot over the frame of the Barge. The top section doesn’t have that much detail but you will find a couple of mounted guns and the large laser cannon used by Leia to blast a hole in the Barge’s deck. It also features two massive material ‘diamonds’ which are mounted on a pair of masts. These lot great and perfectly finish off the set’s look.
Although most UCS sets are focused on the exterior of the set, this one has a fully detailed interior area. The inner area of the Barge is sectioned off into different areas. As mentioned these are accessible by flipping down the side panels. There is stuff going on in the front and rear areas but these are a little more difficult to access. To be fair these are shown in the film. Most of the set’s interior is merely inspired by the scenes in the Return of the Jedi. These include a prison room, a kitchen and finally Jabba’s room. Once the minifigures are added, it brings all areas of the Barge ‘to life’ so although a large number of minifigures aren’t normally found in the Ultimate Collector Series sets, I think what they bring to the set, warrants them. Plus, we all know how much LEGO Star Wars fans like exclusive minifigures!
The Sail Barge sits on a series of small black stands, these are connected to the bottom of the set and rise it enough to give the impression it’s hoovering. There are also a couple of extra pieces which become display stands for the set’s 11 characters. Jabba has his own stand, which also includes a printed display plaque. See more of the minifigures here.
The Sail Barge isn’t a complex build, there are a couple of areas which require unusual techniques to recreate the barge’s unique but there weren’t any points where the build got annoying or ‘fiddly’. Due to the scale of the set and the source material, there are a lot of plates and panels used this is where it feels like a UCS set. Then the interior has lots of little details, making it feel more like a play set. For me, it’s a nice balance between the two.
Beyond everything else, the completed set is massive. You’ll need a big space to be able to display it, along with the two additional display stands for the minifigures and display plaque. All those characters and the detailed interior make it feel more like it should come under the Master Builder Series banner than the UCS one. That’s not a criticism of the set but a note of its differences from the usual UCS recreations of ships and fighters from the Star Wars universe. I quite like the ‘play’ elements especially as they give the interior some neat little details. I can already hear a certain selection of ‘fans’ cries that the set should have also featured the Desert Skiff, but I disagree, that would have pushed up the already costly RRP and previous collectors’ Star Wars sets have always focused on a single subject. On the subject of minifigures, many are currently exclusive to this set. However, you should never purchase a high-priced set just for the minifigures and in the hope their future value will increase accordingly.
Overall it’s nice to see a more unusual vehicle from the Star Wars universe recreated in such detail, it is an expensive set but the combination of the detailed build and the line-up of characters does mostly warrant the set RRP. The LEGO Star Wars UCS Jabba’s Sail Barge will be available for Insiders on October 3rd before its wider release on October 6th.
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These were provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for this review. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Disney. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
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