LEGO Star Wars Jango Fett’s Firespray-Class Starship Review: A Build Only for the Brave

Back in 2015, LEGO paid tribute to the beloved bounty hunter Boba Fett with a Star Wars build of his iconic Slave I ship. While there had been a handful of builds that brought the ship to life in various sizes, the 2015 set came in at nearly 2,000 pieces, making for a highly detailed display, as opposed to something meant to withstand a lot of playtime from younger fans. Mirroring how the prequel films have earned a growing appreciation in the years since their release, LEGO has now released Jango Fett’s Firespray-Class Starship, which resembles the seminal Slave I. This new set is even more detailed and, while it makes for a more lengthy experience for fans to enjoy, it also comes with more cumbersome components that will truly test the skills of the builder.

The 2015 Slave I release came in at 1,996 pieces, but even while Jango Fett’s ship is of similar size and scale, the brick count is nearly 1,000 higher with 2,970 pieces. This means that even an experienced builder will require 11-12 hours to fully construct the set, with all the pieces spread out across 23 bags. Even though the build itself is much larger, there are fewer minifigs, as you’re only given Jango Fett and a young Boba Fett, as compared to the four minifigs that came with the Slave I.

Part of what makes Jango Fett’s ship so memorable is its overall, unconventional shape. There’s obviously a lot of symmetry to be found in the vessel, but it’s not necessarily as basic as something like the Millennium Falcon, which is essentially a big circle with some angled sections that stick out from it. As you build Jango’s ship, it takes the first nine bags to construct something that’s even remotely recognizable, as much of this part of the build is just attaching ambiguous grey shapes to one another. The designers of this set seemingly aimed to mirror the unique nature of the ship by including a number of signature pieces that are joined together in unconventional ways.

The singular shape of the ship causes some complications in the instructions themselves. Since there are only so many ways a three-dimensional craft can be interpreted in two dimensions, and with so much of the initial stages of the ship being either grey or black, it’s relatively easy to make a mistake compared to other sets. Additionally, the highly ornate and intricate building process means that, if you don’t realize your mistake early on, you will have to de-construct significant portions of the ship to correct the error.

Other drawbacks to the set is that the precarious nature of the ship’s shape means it’s sometimes hard to put the appropriate amount of pressure on the necessary bricks, as you risk breaking off other areas of the ship. It can be difficult to handle the build or maniputate as compared to more rudimentary sets, though advanced builders will appreciate these challenges. As the build progresses, it gets more and more dense, so if a piece breaks off, it might be more difficult to identify where it went or even where it ended up within the craft.

By the time you finish bag 12, the ship will look a lot more recognizable. Even though it’s a challenge to construct, the mechanism that controls the open/close ramp is quite impressive. You might not be able to appreciate it as you’re piecing it together, but the smoothness and tension of the tactile ramp is very satisfying, while also visually being on theme with the rest of the ship.

Based on the volume of pieces included in the set, there’s a lot of symmetrical builds that are separated into multiple bags. This means that, whether you enjoyed the build contained within each bag or not, once you finish a section, the next bag is almost identical to what you just constructed. As you work your way up to bag 17, the symmetrical sections start getting smaller, so the process of building the same thing twice goes by much faster. Bag 18 completes the long, portruding section of the ship (which is on the bottom when the ship is vertical and is on the top when the ship is horizontal), so whatever frustrations you might have had with the build up to this point will largely be gone, due to how satisfying it is to bring the memorable component of the vessel to life.

Bags 19 and 20 might be some of the more satisfying of the whole build, as you add the rotating guns turrets and also put together all of the fun details of the cockpit’s interior. With how much of the build at this point has been dedicated to larger, exterior structures, getting to install the various instruments inside the cockpit or even just the seats makes for a nice change of pace.

The end of bag 23 means you finish the structure that holds the completed ship, so while that build is more utilitarian as compared to previous sections of the ship, once you finally mount the completed ship onto the necessary brackets, it’s an impressive sight to behold. Despite the mounting stand and the brackets upon which the ship sits initially appearing a bit flimsy, you won’t feel nervous about letting the mount hold the entire weight of the ship.

The LEGO Star Wars Jango Fett’s Firespray-Class Starship is quite the undertaking, not only based on the sheer scale of the project, but also due to the more ornate and intricate connections that are being built. Some of the other LEGO Star Wars offerings might be a bit more “fun” from start to finish or offer more engaging components for younger fans, so this set coming with an 18+ rating is fully earned, based on the complexity of the experience. Still, seeing the ship constructred and mounted on its brackets makes for an impressive display, especially given that the Slave I was retired long ago, so rather than trying to track down that set, Jango Fett’s ship will still only cost you a fraction of what that older set costs on secondary markets while also coming with 1,000 extra pieces. This is truly a set that is designed for the most devout Jango Fett fans and those who were raised on watching the exploits of the treacherous bounty hunter in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. If you’re interested in adding it to your collection, you can order a copy here at LEGO for $299.99.