Review of Lego Star Wars Set 9516 Jabba's Palace

PRODUCT INFORMATION:
UPC:  673419168007
Date Released:  2012
Company:  The Lego Group, Lucasfilm Ltd.
Recommended Ages:  9+ (Not recommended for children under three years due to choking hazards.  As it is a little complicated to put together, it is best for older children.  Also warnings not to aim projectiles at face)
Pieces: 717
Toy Type:  Building toy
Lego Figures included in Set:  Han Solo, Han in Carbonite, Gamorrean Guard, Chewbacca, Oola, Leia in Boushh costume, Bib Fortuna, B'omarr Monk, Jabba the Hutt, and Salacious B. Crumb
Websites:  www.Lego.com;  www.starwars.com
Package Contents:  717 pieces separated into 7 bags (Lego figures included), two instruction booklets
Price:  I got it on sale for $92.00, but it is now $115-$119.00
Available at:  Was sold at most stores like Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us.  Some of these no longer offer it online.  Also can be found on Amazon and Ebay.  You can also buy it directly from Lego.com and at Lego stores.


I played with Legos when I was a child, but I didn't remember them being so cool years ago.  I don't recall that we had figures, and I don't remember that the sets having the capabilities to do so much either.  Though Legos are considered a toy, the fact is there is an adult population that adores them.  I believe it is this group that is largely responsible for developing Lego into what it is today.  These kits are incredible! They are sophisticated with interacting pieces that can move.

Front of Jabba's Palace

Back of Jabba's Palace

I believe the little Lego figures are probably the main appeal.  The average size is about 1 1/2 inches.  Jabba is the largest minifigure in this set, being 5 inches long and almost 2 1/2 inches tall.  He has a tattoo I don't remember him having in the movie. I heard that Lego had put out a Jabba's Palace years ago, and some people were upset that the bricks were not compatible with the modern set.

The minifigures movement depends on the character.  Some have more movement than others.  In general, their heads can move side to side.  Arms can go up and down, and their hands can rotate.  They can stand on their own or sit down.  Legs go up and down.  Characters that come with just two pieces will have less movement (the ones who have more movement will come in three pieces--head, torso, legs).  The two piece characters will not be able to move their head, and arm movement may be more limited by their costume.  Some characters have double expressions--like Han, Leia, and Oola.  You can spin the heads around to get the expression you want.  The second unused expression will usually be covered by hair or a headpiece (literally, these figures have eyes in back of their heads!).  Leia comes with a wig and a helmet.  The figures also come with little weapons--which admittedly are easy to lose.  The handcuffs on Chewbacca didn't seem to totally fit on both hands--but that is authentic to the movie if you think about it (Episode 4).  Unfortunately, my camcorder doesn't take clear pictures up close, so some of the details are lost.

Front (from left to right):  Han Solo in Carbonite, Salacious B. Crumb
Back (from left to right):  Jabba the Hutt, Han Solo, Bib Fortuna, Gamorrean Guard, Chewbacca, Oola

From left to right:  Bib Fortuna, Gamorrean Guard, Chewbacca, Oola, Leia in Boushh Costume, B'omarr Monk

Leia, Oola, and Han have two faces.  This picture shows Han's open eyed face, Leia's ticked off face, and Oola's frightened face

This picture shows Han's waking up face, Leia's "in love" face, and Oola's happy face.

The Lego instruction manuals were not difficult to follow.  Every so often the diagrams could be confusing due to the angle shown, or sometimes what looked like a brown brick was actually a red brick.  Lego sets are separated into bags, and they recommend doing the set bag by bag rather than dumping all the bags out at the same time.

Example of  the Lego manual.  The manual will tell you which bag it is working on, and what the bag will build.  Each step, they tell you how many of what pieces you will need, and then show you where they go.

If you would like to see the manual, or if you lose yours, you can go to this site and download a free manual.  They seem to have other sets too:  http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-jabba-s-palace-set-9516-instructions/viewer

I don't know how long it took me to build, as I didn't keep track.  I didn't work on it every day.  However, my playlist claims the first video was uploaded in late March of 2013.  I finished this almost a year later--but as I said, I didn't work on it all the time.  The playlist is four hours long.  If each video represents how long I worked on it, it took four hours to put together.  My playlist shows me building it step by step.  I did it because I heard so many people complain about getting these larger sets and not being able to put them together.  You can view my Lego playlist here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLdcCbWTBhko6oOPKPdauase3YzGNUXYB

The finished product is 12 1/4" L x 10 3/4" H (at highest point) x 8 1/2" D.  It weighs 2 lbs. 5 oz.  The hardest part was trying to keep it clean while I was working on it.  However, it is really neat because it has moving parts.  It was amazing to see pieces--sometimes they looked like weapons--but they wound up building a character or something else.

No, the door isn't happy to see you.  It has a piece that can stick out to interrogate visitors.  You have to make sure this part is tucked in when you want to open the gate.

I know it is vulgar, but I called these "titty guns".  The guns are adjustable.

The front gate can open.

The part I'm holding lifts the gate up.  Notice the black stick to the left?  You can tuck that into the holes on the back of the lever to keep the gate up.  Isn't that clever?

The roof of the palace can come off to make it easier to position the little pieces inside--or to add more light.

A view of the inside of the palace when the stage is removed.

The lever at the side, which I'm pulling, opens the trap door.  A lever in the back of the palace can move the stage (which Jabba sits on) up to the grill in front of the picture so he can enjoy watching his pet devour a hapless victim.  The pet comes in an accessory kit that is sold separately.

The Lego figure of Han can be positioned in the back of the Han in Carbonite piece so you can re-enact the scene where Leia removes him from Carbonite.

Han in carbonite.

The palace with minifigures.

I couldn't figure out what that one piece was until the very end when I put the figures in.  It is Jabba's hookah (I believe that is what it is called).

I enjoyed putting this together.  I bought two more accessory sets--the Rancor Pit and the skiff.  I now see they have Jabba's barge too.  It was my first real Lego kit that I've put together, so I was rather proud of myself.  The videos below are my video reviews, part 1 & 2.

I also did a skit, which I had posted earlier on my blog:
http://jessicalgray.blogspot.com/2014/03/lego-star-wars-skit-dont-dis-church-of.html