Lego Jabba's Sail Barge (75397) review: "There will be no bargain, young Jedi"

The illustrious Jabba bids you welcome and offers up this stunning Lego replica of his mighty sail barge, the Khetanna.

Jabba's floating pleasure palace was seen during Return of the Jedi as the stage for Luke's dramatic rescue of Princess Leia and Han Solo. While we've seen the barge in Lego form before, that was over a decade ago and the older sets were much smaller. This time around we've got a full-fledged Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) model. With nearly 4,000 pieces and 11 minifigures, you're getting a lot of plastic in the box — and I'd hope so, given the cost!

In Return of the Jedi, Jabba says "There will be no bargain, young Jedi." At the time we thought he was talking to Luke, but now we know what he really meant because the Lego Jabba's Sail Barge costs a whopping $499.99 / £429.99. That puts it into the same price range as some of the best Lego sets out there, like Lego Rivendell and Lego Gringotts Bank.

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Does it justify the high bounty, or should it be thrown into the Sarlacc pit? There's only one way to find out.

Features

• Collector's display item
• Built-in display stand and plaque
• Drop-down sides with detailed interior
• Loads of minifigures

The latest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series, Jabba's Sail Barge is a hefty model. It's comprised of 3,942 pieces, measures 31 inches (77cm) long, and comes packed with playful details. The sides of the barge are on hinges, for example, allowing you to open the whole thing up and see the fully decked-out interior. You could almost be fooled into thinking this is a playset aimed at kids, but it's too bulky and fragile for kids to play with, so these features are just for big kids.

You get a literal barge's worth of minifigures with this set, though it has to be said that some of them sit on the "oh wow, it's Glup Shitto" end of the spectrum. To many collectors that's a bonus though, as some of these characters have never been released as minifigs before — namely Vizam and Wooof — while fan-favorite space DJ Max Rebo only had a single release in the past. The star of the show is the Jabba minifigure, of course, and the term "minifigure" is barely accurate because he's an absolute unit.

The larger controversy with the minifigures is not who is here, but rather who isn't; Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Boba Fett are all missing in action. Well, that's not entirely true… we know where they are, they're in the Desert Skiff & Sarlacc Pit set that's sold separately for $79.99 / £69.99.

Build

• Interior is a joy to build
• Exterior sections fly together surprisingly quickly
• Mechanisms for folding sections are simple and robust

Before we begin, it's worth noting that as one of Lego's newer sets, almost all of the individual bags are now recyclable paper instead of plastic. Even though there are a few random plastic bags in here still, it's a great change to see.

Jabba's Sail Barge took me about eight hours to assemble over four evenings, but you could absolutely crank this out in a day or two, provided you have fingers and thumbs of steel. The build starts with the lower support structure of the barge, creating the frame before filling it out with the panels that will become the bottom floor of the interior. There's nothing particularly challenging here as the set is primarily made from standard Lego, with only a few sections employing Technic pieces.

As with most big Lego Star Wars sets, the minifigures are spread throughout the entire build to give you a little dopamine boost every now and then. There are also a few stickers to apply, but it's only one small sheet for the whole build, so I won't complain too much.

Once the floor was laid out, I moved on to constructing the interior of Jabba's floating fortress. There is an adorable little kitchen in there, along with the cockpit, a jail cell, an armory, and, of course, Jabba's… throne room, I guess. I'm not sure what we call it; the place where Leia chokes him out. All of these rooms were a joy to assemble, each a mini-diorama in its own right. I especially love the reclining chairs in the cockpit – it's nice to see SecretLab alive and well in a galaxy far, far away.

From there I moved on to the exterior panels, which I was dreading if I'm honest — it looked like a sea of near-identical brown panels, but, in the end, I enjoyed it. There is enough variation between the panels to keep your brain engaged, and the folding mechanisms were super-satisfying to fit together. The whole thing flew together and before I knew it, it was on to the top deck.

If you do get bored of the tsunami of brown Lego pieces, this final section is a nice reprieve as it's mostly gray and uses a bunch of unique pieces to mix things up. The top deck is a split-level, so you'll build two separate sections and slot them in individually — since they're only held in place by a few interlocking pieces, they're easy to remove again if you want to see the interior better.

With that, all that remains is to assemble twin masts and slot the fabric sails into place. These feel super premium and, more importantly, look way better than hard plastic sails would have.

Design

• When panels are shut, it's a bit monotonous
• Interior adds some much-needed visual interest
• Feels like a blend between collector kits and playsets

Much like Jabba himself, the completed Sail Barge is a big boy. This impressive size has allowed the designers to pack a lot more detail into the ship, inside and out. The outer hull panels are lined with intricate patterns that highlight the ramshackle nature of the Hutt Clan's vehicles.

However, there's no getting away from the fact that with the side panels up, Jabba's Sail Barge is a massive hunk of brown plastic. It's a fantastic replica of the craft from the movie, but it's not exactly the most interesting Lego set you could have on display. What elevates it as a display piece is the drop-down side panels. They're on a simple hinge so you can change the layout on the fly, and the exposed interior adds some much-needed variety to what would otherwise be a big brown silhouette.

The inside of the barge is impressively decorated too, especially given the compact space the designers had to work with. There are also loads of mounting points for the huge cast of gorgeous minifigures, which is one of the other main draws of this set.

It could be argued that Lego is blurring the lines between their big expensive display models and the typically more affordable playsets here, but I think the interior sections are there to enhance the aesthetic of what would otherwise be a competent, but monotone-looking model. On that front, mission accomplished, but I'm still not convinced this set will see much interest outside of hardcore Star Wars UCS collectors.

Should you buy Lego Jabba's Sail Barge?

Jabba's Sail Barge is a beautiful model and a wonderful addition to the UCS line-up, but it's one of the more niche sets in the range. It's unlikely to be anyone's first, second, or even third choice for a big Lego set, especially at the current price. If you have a Lego Star Wars showcase shelf (or room) then you'll undoubtedly be picking this one up, and you'll have a great time with it. It's enjoyable to build and looks fantastic on display, particularly with the sides down revealing the bustling scene in the belly of the barge.

I suspect everyone else will skip out on this one for now, leaving Jabba (and Lego) to exclaim "Ma bookie, keel-ee calleya ku kah. Wanta dah moolee-rah…"

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Lego Jabba's Sail Barge

I built this set over four evenings, and it took around 8 hours to complete. I followed the instructions, making notes of difficult or confusing sections, while also highlighting the bits I enjoyed the most.

Once the build was finished, I considered the overall design: how good it looks, how accurately it replicates the iconic craft from the movie, and the playspace features inside.

You can find out more about our process in our 'how we test' guide.

For more from a galaxy far, far away, don't miss these Star Wars board games. As for building up your collection for less, be sure to check out these Lego deals.