Review: 9516 Jabba’s Palace

[sharky]

Great review so far. Looking forward to part 2.

It would be good to note that the Han minifigure has new head printing. The previous version from the 8097 Slave I released in 2010 has only a single sided head printing with a smirk of sorts. The only reason why I noticed is that I happen to have it on display near my computer as I type this.

[sealslip3]

Nice review so far! The minifigures look great, but I somewhat agree that this level of detail isn't what LEGO is about. I'm anxious to see how well the set resembles the actual palace from the back.

[Alldarker]

Nice review so far! The minifigures look great, but I somewhat agree that this level of detail isn't what LEGO is about. I'm anxious to see how well the set resembles the actual palace from the back.

Jeroen_K did a Dutch language review here on Lowlug, but his review also includes pictures of all sides of Jabba's Palace.

[sealslip3]

Jeroen_K did a Dutch language review here on Lowlug, but his review also includes pictures of all sides of Jabba's Palace.

Not bad! I'm glad to see that it will make a decent display piece too.

[Brickity]

Goodness gracious! This is one amazing set, I love the variety of minifigs included.. as well as the other pieces. The price is too high but I guess I'll need to save money.

[Brickmamba]

OK thanks for the patience peeps, Part 2 is up, enjoy

[Esvald Forceswoop]

Disgusting.

Thank you for the review, now I see, only the building makes sense.

[Brickmamba]

Almost forgot, poll added

[Lobot]

Thanks for the review Brickmamba!

I really like this set, lots of nice figures & the Palace is an interesting design. However, in the UK it's £120 which isn't far off the UCS R2-D2....I really don't understand the pricing of this at all, it's totally nuts, no other way to describe it

I'm going to get it at some point, but I'm determined to wait for a sale.

By the way, the Orange bar is a brick seperator....I was given one a couple of years ago and never quite understood how to use it; perhaps someone could explain the technique required?

[TheLegoDr]

By the way, the Orange bar is a brick seperator....I was given one a couple of years ago and never quite understood how to use it; perhaps someone could explain the technique required?

I think they are pretty self-explanatory. You hold the one end with the studs to either go above or below bricks attached together to separate. Sometimes I use two at the same time to get both the top/bottom to remove easier. The smooth end on the opposite side is great for digging underneath tiles to pop them up. And then the axle rod of course helps take those pieces out. It is a really brilliant/useful tool that I use quite a bit actually. I just happen to have like 20 of them now with this years sets.

I only recently got into SW, so I'm not in loooove with it. However, the more I see it, the more I want it. Lego did a great job with printing this year (it is a great year to begin SW collecting). I actually prefer all of the newer figures over the originals, even with size differences. I will definitely pick this set up for the figures and pieces. I can only imagine the figures will go for a pretty penny in the aftermarket anyway. Seeing it displayed like that makes me want to build it and not tear it apart, when I was originally going to buy it and piece it out for other MOCs. It looks like a nice set, even with that price tag. But yes, it is a bit steep. I will probably wait until Christmas for this one.

Thanks for the review! It was very informative and it was good seeing some new angles of it.

[Ceroknight]

After seeing part 2, it seems the palace is smaller than expected. I'm hesitant now to get it especially since the set isn't that cheap

[deco_droid]

I like this set more now after seeing that they designed the exterior to look like the palace structure, and not just the back side of the interior walls. As always, could have been larger, but still nice. The figs are cool, but if I were strictly a minifig collector I would assume most of the exclusivity will go down the drain when the inevitable magnets are released. As far as the Gamorrean Guards, I too think LEGO went a bit too far with these. The headpiece makes them too tall, and for no obvious reason. Anyway, overall, great set as I love playsets as well as the opportunity to add some long overdue minifig characters.

Edited June 7, 2012 by deco_droid

[MannyLego]

Man i want this set so bad . Why does the price have to be so high. The piece count is horrible for the price. Not counting the figures, there really is about less than 600 pieces. Lets be honest, Lego could have made it way bigger for the price they are asking for it. Yet im still gonna find myself giving in and buying it as soon as i see it. Im a sucker for those minifigures and the overall palace is good. Though i do think that the flick fire missles and the opening wall are useless. You could already access the palace from the removable roof, so why do you need the back wall to slide open? Either way its still on my must buy list.

[Praiter Yed]

My fears that this would be a monstrosity similar to 7879 Hoth Echo Base have been allayed. It's a really cool looking set that I would like to build and keep, rather than one I would only buy for the figs and throw the pieces in a box. Although I find the flick-fire missile in the roof mildly amusing.

The one drawback is of-course, the price. With so few pieces, even with new moulds, more detailed print, etc. blah, blah, blah, at £120 it seems ridiculously expensive (are TLG unaware of the 'Euro-zone' crisis and that the UK is officially back in recession?).

A beautiful looking play-set and some fantastic figures make this a must have for me but I'll wait for the inevitable 30% reduction before I buy.

[ruxy_100]

Anyway still and awesome set for the new figs and will be defiantly getting this but from somewhere other than Australia, $199 is too much, ouch !

I bought mine last night at Big W in Canberra for $174. That was the price on the shelf (so not a scanning error) .

Edited June 9, 2012 by ruxy_100

[Omega X]

It's here in Singapore with the preposterous price of $270. Even more expensive than the Malevolence(Which is priced at 239.90, despite the fact that it contains more pieces). I'm not intending to buy this set unless it is on sale...

P.S. Can any teacher please grade my review? it's ready

Omega X

[def]

It's a beautiful set, and I'd really like to get it, between having a lot of mini-figs I've never had, old or new, as well as being from Jedi, a movie I loved as a kid. It really hits a lot of buttons for me. But the price is simply too high. It's ¥14,000 here, which is about $175 US. Even at $120, it's too steep. I worry about putting it together, then sitting back and looking at it and thinking it was way too much.

Who knows though. I'll be in Canada in the summer, and if I can get it for ¥10,000 or so I'll be dearly tempted. That Bousch helmet is amazing.

Thanks for the solid review!

[BigOnBricks]

The Boushh figure is just amazing! I can't wait to get this set. Nice Review!

[TheSwampCreature]

I'm not going to fork out $200 for this set, it doesn't really have much for me. The gamorreon guard looks worse than he did before, and Monster Fighters has more for me (obviously).

Edited June 10, 2012 by TheSwampCreature

[distortme]

I reckon this set is great. Got it for $150AU so I'm happy with that.

Also I can see this as a starting point for a bigger Jabba's Palace I want to do so mixing this with the Skiff and I basically have all the figs I need to go with my tan brick collection.

Yes it's an expensive set but I believe it's well worth it after building it. Much better than the Hoth set as a playset.

[jasbury]

Very cool! Thanks for the review, BrickMamba!

I'll have to get this set, mostly for the figs. I think that the Gamorean guard should be shorter though...

[Alldarker]

Well... I bought Jabba's Palace from Amazon.es which at least ensured I paid a somewhat reasonable price for this set, compard to the regular retail and S@H prices. But to be very honest, having built this set and having looked at it for a couple of days, this set disappoints me.

Two things annoy me: it is small for the price asked and more importantly, it is boring. It really is lacking in play-features. For me, 6210 Jabba's Sailbarge is about the epitomy of Lego Star Wars sets: excellent figures, an incredibly interesting SNOT build, excellent styling with perfect likeness to the move version (apart from the scale) and a ton of play-features which was even able to include the very nice Desert Skiff and the Sarlacc Pit.

Apart from the minifigs, which are indeed excellent, Jabba's Palace is lacking on all fronts. The build is just a straight forward stacking of bricks, the likeness to the RotJ movie scenes is iffy at best and the set is especially low on play-features (I don't like flickfire missiles much, but the flickfire missile in the roof takes the cake as for the most pathetic irrelevant usage of flickfire missiles that I have yet come across: try aiming that! ). The opening gate is very simple, the opening back wall serves no useful purpose at all and the trapdoor... doesn't do anything because figures can't drop down to anywhere.

As a stand-alone set, this set just really is disappointing to me. As it is currently sold, it is nothing more than an overpriced soundstage-like set, adequate as a backdrop for the figures, but not as a playset. I look with envy to the excellent 9474 Battle of Helm's Deep set, which shows exactly how a (licensed) set can be done right, while having approximately the same retail-price.

The only way this set can be redeemed is if the rumored Rancor Pit ever gets added, to give the trapdoor a proper drop-function and to add some real bulk to the whole Palace, and to the movie-scenes which take place in the Palace. Luckily, as I already noted in the rumours thread, there does seems to be evidence that this set was designed to be expanded upon... But until that rumor is proven to be correct, I am not at all impressed by this set...

[Brickmamba]

As with sets of this nature based on buildings there will always be the challenge of 'how much?'. Unlike vehicles, TLG would rarely design a complete building. There is nothing wrong with the palace design, the real issue is the price, you expect more for what TLG is asking for, if set around say under 3/4 the current price there would be less gripes.

[BrickPicker]

Informative review. I agree with a lot of the other posters. Nice set, but pricey. I will still buy one, though...maybe two even.

[BrickPicker]

Sorry, double post.

Edited June 12, 2012 by BrickPicker