I'm quite sure, many people will agree that the Slave I is one of the coolest ships of the whole Star Wars franchise. Not only because it is piloted by one of the most badass characters in the universe, but because of its unique design, interesting functions and powerful weaponry. As with all my reviews, I'm trying to stay as unbiased as I can, but this baby totally got me! It was one of the few SW-sets I bought just shortly after the release with only little discount, because I WANTED IT!!!! The original retail price of 120€ is quite high, as always, I got it for some 97€, if I remember right. Here's the details:

Parts

This set features some very interesting parts, such as the large cockpit screen, the big green arch bricks, the stand for Leia, the spring-loaded shooters and of course the "Han Solo in carbonite"-piece. The rest is mostly TECHNIC parts for the sturdy interior and sloped bricks and plates for the rounded design of the hull. There are also a lot of medium and small plates that could be excessively used in MOCs, if one wished to scrap this awesome model for parts.

Minifigures

Even though only one pilot fits in the Slave I itself, there are five minfigures included in this set! That is, probably, to justify the incredibly high retail price of the set. The main figure is, of course, the bounty hunter Boba Fett himself. He has a very authentic Mandalorian armor, all with antenna helmet, jetpack, cape and large blaster rifle.
The other minifigures are an "unfrozen" Han Solo with a small blaster (not sure, why this one is with the set), Fett's fellow bounty hunters Zuckuss and 4-LOM, both with large blaster rifles (again, not quite sure why these are in the set...) and a retro Leia minifgure with an oldschool blaster from back then when the LEGO Star Wars series started ("I was there, 3000 years ago..." oops, wrong franchise!). She can be placed on a stand with printed 20-year anniversary logo. The same logo also is on the back of Leia.

The build

Building this ship takes quite some time. I can't remember how long it took me exactly, since I'm not writing this review directly after the build. But the internal structure, along with all the functions (blasters, swinging cockpit seat, wings...) are mostly made from TECHNIC parts, so precision and patience is very important. Surely, younger builders will need some help from their AFOL parents. It is very interesting to see, how everything comes together bit by bit, the blasters in particular, since their triggers are in a completely different location than the shooters themselves.
So, with all this in mind, I'd say that it takes at least an hour to build this nice vessel!

The completed model

The Slave I is an impressive ship and so is this model. The abundance of parts help create a massive internal structure and a sturdy hull, nicely depicting the iconic looks of the famous starship.The colour scheme of red, grey and blue and the moderate use of stickers give it a rough, yet elegant look.
The ship is armed with two rotating blaster turrets and two spring-loaded shooters in the mid section. The impressive thing about those shooters is their trigger, which is situated all the way at the top of the backside of the vessel. So, there's quite some distance between the triggers and the shooters, which is covered nicely with an internal system of levers.
The pilot's chair and the two "wings" are both pivoted to follow the rotation of the ship when landing on its backside (which work so-so).
Like in the films, the ship has a hatch underneath the large overhang that holds the blaster turrets. The hatch can be opened to stow away Han in carbonite and Boba's blaster.
The large cockpit with the swinging chair has some control panels to the front and the sides, the latter being stickers.
An important part of the set is the extractable handle on the backside of the ship. This is, obviously, not a part of the original design, but it helps to hold the massive set in the right flight position. The handle is sturdy, comfortable for both a child and a grown-up and completely folds back into the hull, when the ship needs to land.

Overall opinion

Like with most SW-sets, this one is not that much about functions and a variety of playability, but more about a realistic depiction of the iconic ship from the movies. And it does an AWESOME job!! As pointed out before, everything, from the colour, to the overall design and moving parts gives you a total "In a galaxy far, far way..."-feeling. The handle on the back lets you hold the Slave I perfectly in the position of its unique way of flying. The model is absolutely sturdy, nothing feels shaky or loose (OK, maybe the hatch if you don't fix it a little) and the movement of the pilot's chair and the wings works great, at least most of the time. The building process is fun and also challenging due to the complex internal structure, which gives great stability. The minifigures, though not having a place to be put, except for Boba Fett and Leia, are a nice addition, I liked the authentic design of 4-LOM and Zuckuss.
So, while not having that many functions or playing options, this set is super authentic and a must-have for every LEGO Star Wars collector!!

Lego you crazy bastards, you did it. Remaking sets is not the most beloved category for Lego fans for some reasons and in some cases I can see why. And I have had enough with them pesky complainers spreading hatred all across various Internet platforms about these 20th Anniversary sets being just remakes. Fair enough, some of them are better, some of them are worse, but not this one. This is not your wimpy Snowspeeder remake, where Lego just changes few bricks and adds even more stickers, this is a brand new model with a fantastic design. There are actually few interesting tips I can give you about the construction and playability of this set, so bear with me, cause this is going to be probably a long one.

PRICE

120$ feels fair when you take a look at the piece count which stands at 1007 pieces, but the price gets even better as you start building this set. Despite this being a special anniversary set with a lot of unique molds, it still keeps its price somewhat optimal. And there are a lot of unique parts to this set. And yes, there are people complaining about the price which is beyond me.

MINIFIGS

• Princess Leia. These anniversary minifgs are strange thing to review. They are supposed to be exact replicas of the original minifigs, yet they come with a huge 20 YEARS OF STAR WARS print on their back. A small and much more discrete print would be in order here to distinguish them from the original minifigs. Leia has the same features as the original but the colours might be slightly off, but not noticeably to an unobserving eye. Princess comes with the original hair piece and a megaphone gun and has a buildable stand with the anniversary print to be stationed on. These stand do come with each minifig and can be connected to one another.
• Han Solo. Han, my boy, what is wrong with your chest skin? The most noticeable demerit of this minifig is its skin print on the torso which is bleak due to the blue colour of the torso piece bleeding through. This is a disappointing theme running through a lot of minifigs lately. And the disappointment is even stranger when you take into consideration how meticulous the detailing sometimes is on these minifigs. Other than that, this is a faithful and accurate recreation of the character. The blue vest has several pockets and a decent cloth folding detail on the back. The white shirt underneath has a slight blue accent due to the torso colour just like the skin. Waist and legs printing shows few belts and there is no arm printing. Both facial expressions succeed in capturing Han's face and everything is finished with a decent hair piece. The hair shaping is pretty impressive here. Han is armed with a regular blaster gun.
• Zuckuss. This is so far the only set to contain this uncanny tracker and a bounty hunter. The most fascinating feature is the head mold. A brilliant amount of detail on both sides of the mold perfectly capture the gas mask Zuckuss carries and other features of his insectoid head. The eyes even have plenty of lenses printed on. But the rest of the body does not stay behind as there was a lot of care invested into the printing and the detailing. There are two hoses leading from the mouth all across the dirty and battle worn armour to the legs. Speaking of legs, there are no classic legs present here, but instead Zuckuss comes with a skirt piece. The transition between the torso and the skirt print comes with a millimeter wide gap, but thanks to the shaping of the armour it does not end up being too distinct. This hunter is armed with a dual laser blaster extended by mini-binoculars.
• 4-LOM. A droid bounty hunter designed to be reminiscent of the Zuckuss' species does again come with a fantastic head mold. The breathing apparatus is again captured flawlessly, even though it raises a question why does a droid come with a breathing apparatus. The Eyes have an immense amount of detailing as lenses, typical for an eye of a fly, are again carefully printed here. The body has a similar armour as 3-CPO, but is in dark grey with some orange finish to simulate rusting. The armour is not identical as there are plates in the chest area. Waist is an extension of the torso print and the legs continue in the dark grey and orange rust fashion as the rest of the body. The back print is very rusty and nicely detailed. I think the colour of the body is no dark grey but gun metal grey. The head is lighter shade of grey and is the same as hands here. 4-LOM is armed with a long blaster rifle.
• Boba Fett. What a minifigure! The whole torso has an armour print with an incredible amount of detail. There are small holes and scratches all across the back and the front of the body to simulate battle damage. A ponytail looking rope is tied around the right shoulder and at the bottom of the print is a belt. Light grey tunic is present underneath the armour. There is some waist printing but I have no idea what is it suppose to represent. Leg printing is again brilliant with knee armour in gold. There is even feet print to simulate shoes. Arms, which are in sand blue just like legs, are left with no print. The sand green helmet resembles the in-universe helmet flawlessly. I know I use this word a lot here, but it is just this good. The black visor is surrounded by dark red lines and the helmet is bruised like a lot. At the top of the helmet lie several yellow lines in a line. The set comes with a package of accessories for the helmet. Funny thing is that there are 4 visors and 4 antennas. You can only attach one of these things to the helmet at one time. The jet pack is again in sand green and the shoulder cloth is in beige with few orange stripes. The only downside of this otherwise perfect minifig is the presence of an angry clone head. Boba is armed with the same dual barrel blaster as Zuckuss but in black. The extension of the bottom barrel is done by a black lightsaber hilt.

I honestly can say that this is a perfect minifig selection. Boba and Han being an essential part of the group, but I am very pleased that Lego did put here both Zuckuss and 4-LOM as they are often found working together as a team in the Star Wars universe.

The set includes a Han Solo in Carbonite mold which I do not count as a minifig. You can put a minifigure inside for there are two handles to be held onto.

BUILD

The construction of this vehicle was an absolute joy. It took me around 2 or so hours and it felt like much less. Usually, a build of this size would probably take me little longer, but the designers did a marvelous job designing this ship. The build is just so much fun to build as you add brick after brick and see the ship raise from nothing into the final product in front of you. The transition between the technic parts and the system parts is seamless. There is no technic skeleton to the build. Technically there is, but it is just so well integrated and much of the back bone is actually system built, that it hardly classifies as a skeleton. Another noteworthy attribute of the construction is that the most of the ship consists of bigger chunks of blocks. So if you come to realization that you did build something wrong deep in the construction, you can just take off few parts and then put them back easily. These chunks are recognizable especially since while building the vehicle, you usually put them together first and then add them to the rest of the build. I cannot stress enough how well the build is designed. And I think it is still somewhat simple enough for kids. If I can give you one advise it is that while building the parts around the cockpit, do not press them to hard from the sides towards the centre of the cockpit. The rotation mechanism for the seat will then work better.

The build itself is nearly perfect. There is the right amount of detail and playability, I think the proportions are nailed and the choice of parts to use again, meticulous. The whimsical changes of different shades of green add to the overall aesthetic of the ship, and even though there is a lot of colours present visibly on the build, they all come together with no problems. The praiseworthy design culminates into one of the sturdiest ships I have ever seen. I do own roughly 30 sets and none of them are this sturdy. The main body of the ship never wiggles. If you wonder how big the ship is, just take a look at the box cause it is just as big as the picture depicts. The construction booklet states the presence of several parts which are unique to this set and that is completely true. There is actually plenty of interesting parts which I have never seen elsewhere. The detailing takes its toll in from of 10 stickers, but they are not too hard to apply. The 2 huge double laser cannons at the bottom of the ship are not the only weaponry this ship offers. The wings do have 2 more guns represented by mini binoculars.

As for the drawbacks, there are few, but not of a high importance. The wings do wiggle a little, and they do strike me as little feeble. When you pick up the ship and look directly into the cockpit, you will se through the whole build as there is a whole at the bottom. This can be fixed by adding a 2 by 12 or 2 by 10 plate. The extended part above the entrance is brilliant but the bottom of it is not covered and the inner construction can be seen a little here. The only way to see this is by picking the ship up and looking from the back. It is just a nitpicking at this point as there are no major flaws I could report with this model. And again this problem can be solved by adding two long skewed plates.

PLAYABILITY

There are two spring-loaded shooters integrated into the face of the ship right under the cockpit. The firing mechanism is situated at the back and goes off by pulling down two red levers. Speaking of which, there is a handle at the back that you can pull out and put back. The handle allows for an easy maneuvering with the ship while playing with it. The entrance to the ship can be lifted up and hides quite an extensive storage space for Han in Carbonite. The cockpit seat does turn around depending on the placement of the ship to always keep the pilot in the right position. This mechanism sometimes drags a little and in order to keep it as fluent as possible, do not press any parts of the ship in this area too tightly together in the direction to the seat.

Other than those, the set has 5 minifigs if we count in Leia, so that is something to play with I suppose.

CONCLUSION

The strongest traits of the ship are its durability, sturdiness and the outer appearance. There are really no glaring weak points to this set. The minifig selection is awesome, the ship is just great. I am trying real hard to find something objectively bad about this set, but to no avail. Henceforth, I am unable to give this any other rating than 5 out of 5.

Not only this is a great play set for kids, it is also an amazing display piece. So I do recommend this set basically to anyone in the Lego community.

This was a great building experience. In fact this was my first set over $100, and it was well worth the price. It is really easy to pick up and play with, and also makes a great display piece. The only thing it could have used was one or two more minifigures such as a bespin guard, or princess leia. Four minifigures, excluding the 20th Anniversary Leia, seems to low for a $120 set. Overall great build and I'm glad I got the chance to pick it up.

The vehicle which this set represents needs no introduction.It has the legendary status of its second owner Boba Fett.

The box is large and for me is the most beautiful one so far.

Inside of the box are eight bags of parts,normal sized for the set instructions and a sticker sheet.The first couple pages of the instructions show the first version of the slave I and the last one paired with interesting facts about them.

The building experience is great.Some interesting techniques are used to build the set.I had great satisfaction building it , which took around 2 hours.

The minifigure selection is great.In the set there is an exclusive Zuckuss minifigure,who is a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader to locate the Falcon in the Empire strikes back.The 20th anniversary Leia minifigure is looking great and has the 20th ann. logo on her back.

The finished set is magnificent.It is definitely the best normal-sized Slave I produced so far.It has great amount of detail and the colour scheme is very accurate.

When the slave 1 is in its landed position the pilot seat is horizontal and in flight position it goes vertical.The wings on the side to the same thing with the help of gravity though.These two features work perfectly.The handle is very sturdy and makes playing with the set very enjoyable.

The set is one of the best sets i own so far.Its a must-buy for the fans of lego star wars,especially if the don't have the ucs version of it.

Summary

For some reason, the Slave I has proven to be quite popular among Star Wars fans. Popular enough for Lego to produce 15 versions of this spacecraft in the past 20 years. Therefore it was an understandable choice for Lego to make this set part of its Star Wars 20th Anniversary wave of sets, and indeed, this seems to be the top end set of the wave. IMHO the designers have done such a good job that to me it is a viable candidate for set of the year 2019, not only for its price segment, but even overall. The construction was very enjoyable using many interesting techniques. The final vehicle looks very good, and can easily be converted into a 100% display model. It is a good play set. Where initially I was somewhat skeptical of the European RRP - I got it on a discount - I now find it far more palatable. To me this is probably the best Star Wars set released to date (early August) in 2019. This definitely is a set worth saving for.

The build

This set is listed as suitable for kids 10 years old and older, and having built this set I can somewhat see why this is the recommended age. There are various places where one has to pay attention during construction, and where fit is tight. The core of the vessel has a lot of Technic construction in it. Its purpose is not always completely clear early on, but only revealed later. The designer has also shown a excellent understanding of Lego geometry, creating the various angles needed, as well as leaving enough open space for additional connections and moveable parts.

All of this makes the build very enjoyable. If there is one negative, it is (IMHO) the small size of the various bags. The use of various SNOT techniques, the use of panels and bricks to cover up the gaps, and the use of snap joints and pneumatic T-joints to create connections and angles.... there is a lot to learn and see for application in one's own MOCs.

The Minifigures

There are five minifigures included in this set: Boba Fett, 4-LOM, Zuckuss, Han Solo and Princess Leia. Personally I do not consider Han Solo in carbonite a minifigure.

The Boba Fett minifigure is identical to that found in the 2015 Carbon Freezing Chamber (set 75137). He is has an angry clone face, a nicely detailed (and printed) helmet. The print on the front and back of the torso and on the legs is highly detailed and very well done. The nice pauldron is the finishing touch.

4-LOM is also found in the Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack (set 75167). Just as Boba Fett, he has a highly detailed print on the torso (front and back) and the legs. The print is well done. I like the metallic sheen in this print, and in the printof his eyes.

Zuckuss is unique to this set, and in fact, this is the only minifigure of this character released to date! He has a print on the front and back of his torso and his 'leg' piece (which is a 'skirt'). The print is subtle, detailed and well done.

Han Solo (in non-carbonited form) is another unique minifigure. His two facial expressions are well done, and quite different. The prints on torso and legs are well done, quite subtle and highly detailed. I also like his hair piece.

Princess Leia is the commemorative minifigure. The torso print is highly detailed and well done - and of course the 20th anniversary print on the back. I would have liked the hair piece to have been a bit more crisp.

The build

The Slave I simply looks awesome when finished. It definitely has the shape of the vehicle. I am not completely sure about the dimensions, however. The play features (the carrying handle and the spring-loaded shooters) are well integrated. There are hardly any gaps in the structure, which is an accomplishment given the off shapes of this spacecraft. Similarly, the Technic core is almost completely hidden, as are the few off-colour pieces used during construction. One of the features of the Slave 1 is that it has to tilt 90 degrees upwards for flight, and that the cockpit (or at least the seat) of the pilot and the winglets automatically turn with it. This is well replicated in this Lego model, using gravity, which shows the tremendous jog designer has done. Similarly, whatever concessions in the design have been done to integrate the play features, they are such that without too much hassle the model can be turned into a full display model. Flying the Slave by the handle is easy, as the whole construction is well balanced.

Play vs display

This is both a play vs display model. It is very swhooshable, has some play features (the spring-loaded shooters, the 'flying handle', the carbonite storage compartment) and is quite easy to carry around. It is also sturdy enough to land. The shooters are integrated in such a way that operating them is easy, while it is difficult to launch the bolts by accident.

As a display model, this works equally well, pretty much the only thing missing is a display stand. Hiding the spring-loaded shooters or complete the back (with the propulsion), that should not be too difficult to do, and the required pieces are probably not too costly either. A display stand can be modeled after the one in the UCS set, or an aftermarket variant can be acquired. As such, I would argue that this could well be a fairly cheap alternative for the UCS Slave 1 (set 75060).

The verdict

Overall this is a very good, albeit somewhat expensive set. The build is a lot of fun, and the final product IMHO looks extremely good. To me, looking at what has been released so far, this is a viable Set of the Year candidate for its price range, Star Wars sets as well as an overall winner. There are four minifigures included, three of them unique to this set, and one of them - Zuckuss - the only minifigure of that character produced in 20 years of Lego Star Wars! It is a good play set, and an equally good display set. The weakest point of this set is the price, which is on the higher end of acceptable. That said, this is definitely a set worth saving for.