Jabba's Palace (9516) Pic Review

[xwingyoda]

OK my SW fanatics, let me bring you my review of the set I wanted most in that summer wave: Jabba's palace. First let me refresh your memory with the previous palace which was darn ugly



Sure we had the sweet golden bikini Leia and more droids but the set itself was pretty ugly and boring. Oh well lets forget about it thanks to Lego's glorious remake. I can sayI love it :not only we have astounding figs, but the playset ressembles a building that can be used in any tatooine dioramas/MOCs and not only one room or what have you.

1/Box art

Classic and pretty sweet. There are 2 instruction manuals carefully put in a plastic bag with cuboard for protection an guess what, no bloody DSS






2/ The figs

There are so many amazing figs I really don't know where to start OK lets start with the master of the palace: Jabba himself. Unlike the old Jabba that was really long (due to the 3 parts of the body), the new Jabba is shorter which is great and has a turning head (the body is one part and the head is another part). He fits on a 12x6 throne I love the printings on the tail and face, and what a sweet tatoo





Now lets focus on his little annoying friens: Salacious B Crumb. Once again an astounding fig that is spot on: congrats Lego really





Now lets focus on other redesigned figs: Bib Fortuna and the Gamorrean guard: both are way better than the previous versions. I've added on the pic Chewie and B'Omarr Bonk



Another amazing fig is the Twi'lek dancer Oola. Check how beautifull that fig is:





She does have a double printed head. The only fail part is that you can see the part of the face behind the head gear. Oh well... Looks like its a "OMG I'm going to be eaten by the Rancor" face



Han does have a double printed head as well: the "normal"one and that really great sleepy one (carbofreeze face )



I'll finish the fig part of the review with my favorite fig of them all: Boushh Leia Its probably one of the best Lei versions we have (with the golden bikini off course - than ROTJ !!). Look how amazing that helmet looks. Also that new 1x1 round tile is perfect for the therml detonator. Yeay she's my type of scum





Lego included Leia's hair piece for when she takes her helmet off, and yes its a double printed face:





That set must be bought for the figs alone I'm sure they will go high on BL.


3/ The palace

Now its timer to hit the core of this set: the palace itself. Sure its a little bit small: its more like a trower and a throne room but like I said its great to have a playset that is a building and not a mere throne room. Lego did a good job on the design I have to say.

I'll start with general shots of the front of the palace.







There are three play features on the front of the palace: the opening door, the flick fire missile hidden in the roof (yeay Lego had to include one in the palace ) and that dark red moded tile (I'll talk about that one at the end of the review). On that last pic you see how the palace looks with the door opened. That black mechanism on top of the door is to maintain the door open. Pretty ingenious. Also I want to emphasize th difference with the previous door set:



The printed technic ball joint is replaced by a printed 1x1 round tile You can view it better on that close up door pic:



Now lets turn the palace around and check that throne room Check a general pic of the back



The tower is pretty plain so I'll focus mainly on the throne room.





The main play feature oof this set is the moving of the throne and if you pull that red moded tile the floor open and it gives a direct access to the rancor pit as you can see with poor Oola



You can take off the roof for an easy access to the throne



Also for an easy access of the throne, on the front (the dark red moded tile I was tellling you about) of the palace you can open it:



The last play feature lies on that mini bbq: it helps to move the throne in position



When I view that set with the skiff I can't help to think about a redesigned barge Overall its really a great set that every OT fan need to add to their collection. Now all we need is a Rancor pit set

[mutley777]

Thanks for the fantastic review mate!

This set is without a doubt one of the best sets we have had this year! All those new figs make this a absolute must have! The palace itself is a great and with a few more parts could be MODed into something amazing!

My only question now is do I pay full price or wait it out for a deal!

[RomanticWarrior]

Thanks for the excellent review, I love the Leia in Boush disguise. That was one of my favorite Kenner figures when I was little.

Not sure how I feel about this set overall. The figs are nice, but the resulting price hike isn't so nice. Also, I'm one of those "minifig traditionalists" We'll see, I guess. Maybe I'll change my mind when I see it in person at the LEGO Store.

[Vader]

The set itself is really good and a vast improvement on the last version, it's not perfect but its still very good. But for me the price just makes this set a no go for me, i really can't see myself buying this at full price. Half price sure but not full.

So i guess i'll be buying the figs from BL, those are must have figs and i just love Jabba

[mutley777]

Hey mate, I don't know if you have heard this but there has been quite a lot of debating on the web over the Palace set. Most of it about what is in this picture.



I am talking about the 4 holes built into the base of the set. Quite a few people are suggesting that a they could be for a Rancor pit set that may be in the pipeline. I know the trap door leads right throught the base of the set and makes for a pretty good argument with the Rancor that was seen in the Padawan Menace movie. I think i said somthing about that when the new Dino line T-rex came out as it was a great size for a Rancor mold.

I just wondered what you thought of this, as you have the set and are the 4 holes good structual points for the palace set to be held up?

[Vader]

Though i don't own this set i can see the potential for a rancor pit to be linked to the palace, it sure would be great to see Lego release one that fits into the palace. The cave most likely wouldn't be that big so i assume that the size of the rancor would be smaller than many would like.

Lego could just make the rancor the same size as the LOTR Cave Troll. Sure it's not as big as the rancor should be but it is still pretty big, i would rather see one that size than none at all.

[mutley777]

I really hope TLC don't go down the wampa size for a Rancor mate. I think they know Star Wars fans would not be happy with that!

The Dino T-rex shows that they are willing to make large scale molds and a Rancor that size would be perfect and would sell pretty well I think.

This picture shows how perfect a T-rex scale Rancor could be.

[Vader]

I really hope TLC don't go down the wampa size for a Rancor mate. I think they know Star Wars fans would not be happy with that!

The Dino T-rex shows that they are willing to make large scale molds and a Rancor that size would be perfect and would sell pretty well I think.

This picture shows how perfect a T-rex scale Rancor could be.

Well the cave troll is bigger than the wampa, its a more bulky figure. I too would love a bigger version but i have doubts of that happening, mainly becase the bigger the rancor (especially in height) the larger the cave would have to be. That's why i believe that we will get a smaller rancor, i also have a feeling that any cave would be very basic as to keep production costs down.

[captaintau]

Great review and a superb looking set.

To address the original version, my review.

I think you've sold it short. Sure it fell to pieces if you so much as farted near it but it had high playability and some great figures.

[mutley777]

I got round to building this set this morning and man what a great set! It has a really good selection of parts, so I can almost see why this has a UK RRP so high.
Still glad I did not pay it though.

The side tower is very sturdy when attached to the main set, so could quite happily hang there when the new Rancor Pit set is placed underneath. It might not look to pretty though, so maybe a MOC to sit under it is needed or another set to expand the set even more! That could happen as fans have been asking for Modular Star Wars sets for a while. God I hope so!

[legotrader]

Very nice review and its a very nice set. I have been a fan of this set and look forward to the addition of the Rancor Pit. It's something that LEGO needs to continue and build more sets that a meant to work together. Obviously with LEGO, all the sets can work with one another in some way, but I would think something like this would be good for sales when people want to see the whole display together.

[QualityCustomBricks]

Great review. Enjoyed it and made me want to grab this set while I still can. Thanks!