Hello there! Rocinante here. I know, wrong series, but that’s my moniker these days. I’m a new member of the Holonet Marauders and for my first entry, I’d like to talk Legos.
So I ordered this without thought back in May, and promptly forgot about it until it arrived on my doorstep. It’s a thing of beauty, but is it worth it? Today we’ll explore this together. I will judge the quality of this set based on a few things:
- Price per Brick – What’s the cost here, both total and in terms of pieces you’ll get out of it. The more bricks, the more time spent building. If you get more bricks for your buck, then you know you got a good deal provided the rest line up.
- Accuracy to the Model – How much does the set look like the intended thing it’s meant to represent? How much detail did they leave out, or in? This is crucial to assessing how much it feels like you’ve got a miniature model of the real deal.
- Included Characters – Who do I get for my Minifig collection? You know you want it just for that Child minifig, admit it.
- Special Features – How many lasers can I fire, what kind of cool hidden features are available? The little things sometimes make the whole.
I’ve decided just this moment that I will score each equally, 25 points a piece for a total of 100, following a typical grammar school style letter grade. I have absolutely no clue if this will truly be quantifiable but I get to make the rules here.
Price Per Brick
Gotta get the boring stuff out of the way first. I hate this part, because I never like to think about how much money I’m spending as a grown adult on LEGO’s, but hey it’s fun!
The Razor Crest, #75292, is priced at $129.99, and available through most online retailers. Mine arrived a day or two after street date, safe and sound! It has 1,023 pieces in the box. When I started this review I thought I could use this as a decent metric, but I’ve since done the math and found that you get almost the exact same amount of bricks on a ratio level that scales all the way from a $20 set to something huge like the $499 Death Star (4016 pieces).
Basically, these things cost about 12 cents per brick, and it scales pretty evenly across their products, so it’s even more precisely priced than I ever realized before! There’s a few exceptions, for example the Imperial Star Destroyer is $699, and at 4784 pieces it’s actually a bit more expensive at 15 cents a piece. Even if it is more expensive, I don’t dare argue the value of a freaking Star Destroyer LEGO Set (Which if anyone’s curious I’d very much enjoy)
Back to the Razor Crest, I think the build time was well worth the price. This is a very affordable set, one that is very recognizable to a lot of new Star Wars fans and old alike. We’ll get into the other details shortly, but I can say that I didn’t feel like it took too long, and I felt that I got my money’s worth in building it alone. I always love seeing these come together and each bag guided me through the process well. I only made a couple mistakes here and there based on the directions, but quickly fixed them before I got too far. It’s a tight ship.
This in mind, I really have no complaints. It’s not cheap, but it’s absolutely worth the cost if you’re a fan of the show, Legos, or both. 25/25.
Accuracy to the Model
They did a really great job here. The look of the ship is definitely captured on an overall level. The Razor Crest is sleek, but dirty. It’s an incredible ship but it’s seen some work, much like the ship of another loner pilot we all know and love, except it doesn’t have that same “hauler” style roughness.
Instead, it looks like a ship from the Republic era that has been in service well passed its prime, but through renovations it’s been kept going. Its thrusters remind me of a pod racer, the sleek outside like the Nubian-class Naboo ship hull fused with a Republic Gunship (one of my favorite sets as a child). The WW2 Bomber style cockpit really seals it together nicely and I can imagine is quite roomy to fly in.
How does the Lego set compare? Well the paint decals on the sides do get a bit lost when the bricks start to peak through, but overall is there. It’s just a bit more jumbled than I expected.
The legs aren’t quite as accurate, as they all sit underneath the chassis instead of jutting out the way they do in the show. The thrusters aren’t perfectly round, but I enjoyed building the work around they created and I think it still captures the look well. More of the hull opens up for access than is realistic, but I’ll get to that later. Finally, the blasters fire from the wing joints, and the ones on the nose are purely for show. Bit odd, but I don’t mind honestly as they’re not intrusive where they’re positioned.
That being said, there’s still so much to love. It really really does capture the essence of the Razor Crest, and I love looking at it compared to the other models in my collection. The interior even looks like Mando’s Cargo hatch! It’s really got the charm of it, in LEGO form. Most of those criticisms are just nitpicks, because let’s face it, LEGO’s gonna take some liberties.
Thinking purely on accuracy, there’s a lot to love here but it is lacking slightly in some areas to truly be called “accurate,” so I am going to award 22/25 here.
Included Characters
So you get quite the set here. Mando (of course) comes in his Pre-Beskar outfit, which does bum me out a bit but I’ll live. Given the other inclusions I would make the case that this set could’ve benefited from a Beskar minifig but it’s a personal grievance.
You also get the Child, and oh my he is so tiny! Loved it though, he was absolutely adorable to behold in person. If you want this set just for Baby Yoda, dewit.
You also get Carl Weathers Greef Karga, IG-11, and a Scout Trooper. Sadly no Kuil, but The Child makes up for that. Greef comes with two blasters, which is perfect, IG-11 gets a blaster and a rifle, and the Scout has a face where Mando does not.
I found IG-11 to be a rather inventively designed Minifig. It reminds me of B1’s but being built in a unique way. I won’t spoil it too much here.
All in all it’s a great set of figures, but I am bothered by the lack of a Beskar Mando. The Child is really, really great, so I am torn, but I’ll give it 21/25.
Special Features
The blasters are pretty easy to fire. There’s a little latch you make for both sides that when the laser blast is pushed into place, it moves that lever up so it’s ready to fire. Seems fairly easy to accomplish.
The top has an Escape hatch ready for detachment, but honestly I had no idea it had one. I just appreciate this extra detail included here, even if it wasn’t featured in the show, yet. Now I have fears about whether the Razor Crest will survive Season 2…
Okay so my favorite part is Jawa mode, hands down. This isn’t explicitly stated, but come on! Look at this.
As you can clearly see, this is a wonderful touch. All the panels are removable and can be lowered. This I assume was intended to let kids play with them in the Cargo Hatch, but I don’t do that so this is now forever called Jawa mode. Remove all the panels and you can simulate the condition the poor girl was left in during Season 1, Episode 2!
It also comes with two removeable Carbonite Slabs, but they’re nothing like the Han one you get with the Slave I, they’re thinner ones with stickers on the side. Cute, but only really looks good inside the ship.
Jawa mode alone sells me on the special features list. Call me biased, but I intended to make this gag happen anyways, so when I was building this and realized it was going to be a feature, I knew the right minds were behind this set. 25/25 hands down.
Conclusion
So overall for my first review I was pretty generous, but the set really earns its keep. I believe that I have been critical where I could, but honestly it’s an amazing Lego set. I think there are a few things to note before buying it but nothing that I would ever consider worthy of being a deal-breaker.
