I picked this set up last week and I was really happy to get this set. Lets began. The build was good not the best not the worst it was split in 4 bags 1 for the cockpit 2 for the main part of the starfighter. And bags 3 and 4 were for the wings. The minifigs are really good Evan Piell is the main minifig of the set. He has a new rubber headpiece and short legs he also has a green lightsaber. R3-D5 is a great minifig to he has all new green parts and he is seasee tinns droid. Now saesee tinn is not new though a great jedi to have. He also hold a great lightsaber and was seen in the T6-Jedi shuttle. The starfighter is the best one that they have ever made and I hope they make more! It has 4 flick fires on the top and bottom. It also has an area to put Saesee tinns lightsaber. The droid sits in the middle of the starfighter and the ship has retractable landing gear.There is an escape pod where the cockpit is and it works great. it has 244 pieces and the set number is 9498. you should go and buy this set today right now.

As one of the sets I anticipated least eagerly of this fantastic selection of summer Star Wars sets, set 9498, Saesee Tiin’s Jedi Starfighter, has really surprised me as the vehicle is a huge step up from previous Delta-7 Aethersprite Starfighter models which is just about as good as you are going to get an Minifigure scale in my opinion. The Minifigures however were the real draw and neither of them disappoint, if you have read my T-6 Jedi Shuttle review from last year you may remember how much I adore the Saesee Tiin Minifigure, and the brand new Even Piell is also an excellent figure. Even the Astromech Droid is impressive with a surprisingly attractive colour scheme!

Box/Instructions

The box artwork for this set is just as vibrant as one would hope, prominently featuring the Starfighter in action with laser blasts flying all around the ship. One of the flick fire missiles has been launched and Saesee Tiin is visible piloting his ship with R3-D5 placed just in front of him to assist with navigation. As always along the right side of the cover is a gallery of the three Minifigures on a blue background and along the top is the standard shot of Darth Maul in action (a great image in my opinion) with the Lego Star Wars logo towards the left hand side of the box.

On the reverse of the box is a picture of the Starfighter landed with Saesee Tiin exiting the vehicle while Even Piell stands in the foreground. Surrounding this large image are many smaller pictures demonstrating the features, including the retractable landing gear, opening cockpit, removable cockpit section, and flick fire missiles. There are a couple more shots of the ship flying through space with the Malevolence (set 9515) shooting at it, and Saesee Tiin flying away from his damaged ship in the small escape pod. Beneath those are the blueprint style images which I am a big fan of on all of the Star Wars boxes this year.

There are two instruction manuals, which is a bit odd considering the size of the set and both feature the same artwork as the box on their covers. The second of these has a nice comic strip at the end which features the Malevolence attacking this Jedi Starfighter and I was not able to find any mistakes, nor did my set have any missing pieces.

Parts

The most obviously attractive thing about this set from a parts perspective is the swathes of dark green which make up a significant portion of the vehicle. You get several plates and curved wedge pieces in this colour which could prove useful as it certainly broadens the number of colours available for you own creations. There are few golden pieces too which are nice and two of the darker green lightsaber blades which I think are an improvement over the older shade of green. The piece which forms Saesee Tiin’s horns is very nice as is the part for Even Piell’s ears and ponytail. Not a bad selection overall, but of course the real highlight is all of that dark green!

Minifigures

All three minifigs are fantastic, the two Jedi are both really outstanding: among the best Jedi produced by LEGO, and the Astromech Droid too, as I mentioned earlier, is great as well. I will begin with the two Jedi.

The first of these is the brand new Even Piell who, for many people this will be the biggest draw to this set and those people will not be disappointed! The brand new moulded piece which forms the top of Even Piell’s head is great, made of a rubbery plastic as I expected, it is hugely detailed and very accurate to his appearance in the Clone Wars television show. It is cast in a flesh colour and is printed with a few scars and his brown ponytail. The clasp holding his ponytail together is extremely detailed with a tiny decorative design just as it is in the show which is an extraordinary detail.

The large ears of his Lannik species are present, along with a few wrinkles in his skin on this part. However I have heard of a few people finding an issue involving this piece sitting a little too far down on the head of the Minifig which obscures the eyes printed on the head piece, although my own figure does not suffer from this problem and his head looks absolutely fine. His head piece is printed with a very serious expression, lots of wrinkles and his eyes, one of which has a large scar running across it and is closed. Over his eyes are two brown eyebrows which are obscured by the ears piece. The piece is predominantly flesh in colour, the same as the rubbery top of his head. There is no printing on the back of the head as one might expect.

The torso is printed with dark brown Jedi robes and a black undershirt, which are held together towards the bottom the torso by a nice belt which has a couple of pouches on it. On the back of this part the robes are continued with the remainder of the belt and a few creases. His arms are dark brown like the rest of his robes with standard flesh hands. He has short black legs as, being a Lannik; the stature of Even Piell is similar to that of Yoda in the television show. They are not printed and are unposeable as usual. He carries a lightsaber with a metallic silver hilt, and a nice green blade. Overall a very nice Minifigure, but if the issue involving his head pieces not lining up is widespread, that could be a bit off putting and certainly worth a call to LEGO if your figure has this problem.

Saesee Tiin is a fantastic figure and I am delighted that he has been included once again in a set, even if the figures are completely identical. The piece which forms his horns is superb, made of a hard plastic and cast in a flesh colour, it is printed all over with huge amounts of detail including a large dark orange area on the top of his head and some small dark orange blotches around the crown of his head.

There are a few little wrinkles and scars, as well as Master Tiin’s two large horns with are dark tan in colour. Running down the back of his head is a dark grey design which is accurate to his appearance in the television show. His head is similar to that of Even Piell featuring a serious expression and some wrinkly skin all printed on a flesh coloured head. His eyes are very wide and yellow, again just like in the Clone Wars television programme. There is no printing on the back of his head and the eyes line up nicely with the horn component.

The dark brown torso is printed with creased Jedi robes which are very much like those of Even Piell, but the undershirt is dark grey and his belt is light brown unlike Master Piell’s. There is more of the belt and his layered Jedi robes printed on the reverse side of the torso which is excellent. His arms are white like in the films and the television show, and his gloved hands are black. His legs are plain dark brown with no printing and he carries a green lightsaber identical to Even Piell’s. This is an exact copy of the previous Saesee Tiin, but it is such an outstanding figure that this does not concern me.

The Astromech Droid assigned to Saesee Tiin, R3-D5, is the weakest figure of the set in my opinion, but is still superb nevertheless! His domed head is metallic silver with plenty of green panels and of course various small details such as buttons and dials. As with every Astromech, there is a stud on top of the head making it possible to attach something if you so wish.

The cylindrical body of the Droid is green but has some white highlights on a few panels on the front, but nothing on the back as usual; his legs are plain green with no printing at all. The colour scheme of this figure makes it very eye catching and unique, for a simple Astromech Droid, this is a lovely figure all in all, and is certainly one of my favourite Astromech Droids of all time!

The build

The ship is built in four sections. It is totally modular in that the individual sections are connected by pins or click-hinges and can be disassembled if needed. The first section, in bag one, is the cockpit. It utilises SNOT techniques to form the curved sides. The two pins at the front are used to connect it to the rest of the ship's body. The cockpit is hinged at the front, and is quite roomy inside with plenty of space to seat your pilot comfortably. The second bag contains parts for the fuselage. The cockpit assembly slides on the tiles at the back and mates with the 1x2 Technic brick by the gold curved pieces. Finally, the wings are constructed in bags three and four, they connect to the fuselage by four click hinges on each side.

This build phase is rather entertaining and only takes about half an hour, but still utilises some good SNOT techniques and a clever design for the tail fin which makes the model very sturdy indeed. There is a very minimal amount of Technic, which for me is a positive as while I like builds to remain dynamic and different, I much prefer Lego System construction in general.

The completed model

Aesthetically the finished model is very striking, more so than any other Jedi Starfighter of this kind in my opinion. The design has been updated from previous versions and is visibly quite different to the rest, most notably around the back of the ship where the cockpit and tail fin area have been completely overhauled. The design is also much sturdier than the others which is another improvement that has been made.

This ship has a fairly minor role in a single Clone Wars episode, Citadel Rescue, and it is only seen very briefly. However, from what we do see of the vehicle in the show, this model seems remarkably accurate with the patterns and colours! The dark green front of the Starfighter is similar to previous ones, using a large curved slope element with a huge sticker on the top of it, and two smaller decals on the sides to create the shape of the ship. On each wing are two flick fire missiles, which are fine underneath the wings, but are a little out of place on the top and they certainly reduce the sleek look of the ship from this angle. They are a fun feature for younger builders and can be launched a fair distance if you flick them just right so I am happy to see them included, but perhaps for display it might be worth removing them from the top which would require only minor adjustments.

The Astromech Droid slots in to a hole behind these missiles and rests with his body pointing to the side, but the angle of his head can of course be changed to face the front. Next to this is a golden stripe which goes across the top of the ship and there are also a couple more stickers here to continue the pattern. The cockpit is an all new design and can be detached to form an escape pod for the pilot if things get too intense. Inside is a seat for one minifig, and a control console for the pilot to use. The sides of this cockpit are much more curved than others, and therefore more accurate to the television programme. A bubble style cockpit cover can be hinged open from the front which is nice, an improvement over the older windscreen that was used in my opinion. On the right hand wing is a Republic cog logo which is a sticker, and at the very back is a completely new design for the tail fin. It is much stronger than the old design which made use of a large flag which tended to wobble around a little bit during flight.

The entire rear view of the ship has been changed dramatically, the engines are now set much lower than before and there is a section between the two engines which is filled in unlike previous models, this is accurate to the television show, and it provides some support to the vehicle to keep it more rigid and less likely to break while you are swooshing it around!

Summary

While I do not think this is the best model of this summer, it has surprised me and is certainly a worthy purchase. The Minifigures are outstanding and the Starfighter is a huge improvement over the old designs of this vehicle which is now much more swooshable. For fans of the Clone Wars this is a set I would recommend, but perhaps to be purchased after one or two of the others as this set fades in to the shadows somewhat due to the excellence of other models this summer.

Overall - 9/10

I was a bit surprised to find myself so enamored by this set since none of the previous Jedi Starfighters that LEGO has released interested me in the slightest. But this latest design completely blows the others out of the water, and then some. It makes those older Jedi Starfighters look clunky by comparison, even though they’re only from a few years back. Much of that I think is because of LEGOs increased willingness to use SNOT building techniques (and creating new parts just for that). Saesee Tiin’s Jedi Starfighter doesn’t use a lot of SNOT techniques, it’s mainly used for the cockpit, but it makes a world of difference compared to the older Jedi Starfighters.

The build itself is as such pretty straightforward and results in a very robust model. A kid could probably play very roughly with this model without it falling apart. Even the cockpit, which can separate from the ship’s body like an escape pod, doesn’t rattle or come off accidentally. Speaking of the escape pod, that’s all you’re getting as far as play features go (outside of flick-fire missiles), but it’s a nice little feature that doesn’t detract or interfere with the look of the model (unlike those ships with levers and buttons sticking out of them). I’m also impressed by how relatively large the finished model is considering the set only comes with 244 pieces.

While this set comes with quite a few stickers (10 in total) the ship looks just as good without them. I didn’t apply any of them when I built it, and the only one I’m thinking of applying is the large one down the front. Other than that one the stickers do very little and can safely be left off without it taking anything away from the model.

As for the minifigures, I will admit I’m not much of a fan of the look that LEGO uses for the Clone Wars minifigures. Most of the time they just look weird with those oversized eyes, and that look doesn’t really make sense either since they don’t really look that much more like the characters do in the animated series. That said, the Saesee Tiin and Even Piell minifigures that are included in this set are among the nicer Clone Wars minifigures as far as I’m concerned, and they are very nicely detailed. Last but not the least is my favourite minifigure of the set, the R3-D5 astromech. Even though it’s just a colour variation from other similar droids, it looks really great in green.

Bottom line: I think a lot of people might be overlooking this set in favour of the more famous ships and scenes that have been released this year, and that’s a shame for such a fine little ship. I’ll proudly display this Jedi Starfighter alongside its more famous siblings; the TIE Fighter and the X-Wing.

Summary

Saesee Tiin's is one in a fairly long line of Jedi Starfighters that has been released over the years, starting with Ashoka's Starfighter and Vulture Droid (set 7751) in 2008. Saesee Tiin's jedi Starfighter is one of the most striking, IMHO of those. Its build is similar to the Plo Koon's Starfighter (set 8093) and even Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter (set 75087). In the end, you have a very nice looking starfighter, with three nice minifigs, that is very swooshable. If you can still find them for about a 30 euro price, IMHO that is quite reasonable, and you should seriously consider getting this set.

Build experience

The most annoying part about the build was that Lego felt in necessary to divide 244 pieces into four (!) bags, for a set age 7 and up. Two bags in total would have been perfectly fine. The construction of the central spine and the cock-pit/escape pod has quite a bit in common with that of Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter. Most of the stickers in this set are also applied at this point. They are also easy to apply. One has to pay attention though, as the stickers on the sheet are NOT numbered. It is also - for most them - better to apply when the (sub-)assembly is already partially built, so they line up properly with other bricks and the rest of the structure.

Overall it took me 45 minutes to put the set together, without too any trouble. It was nice to see how the designers still tried to make the build different from that of other Starfighters, even though the final result is quite similar.

The Minifigure

There are three minifigures, Saesee Tiin, Even Piell, and R3-D5, the latter two being unique to this set.

R3-D5's print is similar to that of R2-D2. It is well done, and nicely in register. The green fits nicely with the colour scheme of the starfighter.

Even Piell has a nice torso print, and a beautiful single face print, slightly different from that of Saesee Tiin. His mohawk and ears are on a head-piece made of soft and rubbery material. As a result, it is not very solidly attached to the head, unfortunately.

Saesee Tiin is not unique to this set, he was also found in set 7931, T-6 Jedi Shuttle. His torso print is IMHO better than Even Piell's. There is slightly more colour, and it is just as detailed. His head is nice, and his head piece is good. The 'horns' are of a softish rubber, but the central part is much harder plastic. As a result, it is firmly attached to the head.

The build

The starfighter itself is well-designed. Construction is smooth, and in the end there are no truly noticable and annoying gaps left. The stickers definitely add to the overall look of the fighter. I like the fact that they have thought of the little clip for Saesee's light saber. The one structural weakness are the engine pods, that come off quite easily.

Play vs Display set.

This set is a bit of both. It is very swooshable, the flick-fire missiles are nice, there are nice minifigures, there is nothing not to like. Similarly, the set is striking enough and big enough to work as a display piece. Especially in a line-up with some of the other Jedi Starfighters.

The verdict

Overall this is a good set, with very nice minifigures, that looks good, is fun to build and fun to play with. Its original RRP was good to acceptable, IMHO. If you can still find it for around that price, I would not hesitate to pick it up.

Set #9498 Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter: LEGO has made a lot of these Starfighter sets over the years, from 2002's AotC Jedi Starfighter for Obi-Wan up to and including this set. Honestly I haven't bought any of these sets for a long time, mostly because my collecting of LEGO has been a bit more limited than usual. So I was pleasently surprised to find that Canadian Tire of all places was selling this during the holidays in their Seasonal section, and the best part, I got it for 23$ before taxes which is a great price to pay for this set. The original Canadian asking price is 39.99$ another reason for passing up Jedi Starfighters is their price-per-piece ratio isn't the best. Honestly for 3 Mini-Figures and a Starfighter paying 29.99$ like the A-wing is a much better asking price.

Anyway enough of all this let's move on to the review.

Box/Instructions

The box is your typical 2012 Star Wars box, the design works, I always liked it. As the years have progressed I've found that LEGO Star Wars boxes quality goes up, I especially appreciate the uniform look of each years box design. It helps to know which year they were released in and it also helps keep track of the multiple years' worth of sets on the shelf. They've also gotten better at showing off the sets and Mini-Figures a bit more dynamically with a lot more action compared to the older style boxes.

This set actually includes two instruction manuals, for a set of this size I was surprised to find that. I was also very annoyed that there were no protective cardboard bits for these manuals because these manuals... UGH, this set's box has a lot of empty space and the instruction manuals are pretty much the size of instruction manuals you'd find in Battle Pack sets, only a little thicker of course. This means that one of them was completely crumpled into a very unflattering looking mess. If you're going to have such a big box with empty space for a set like this a small cardboard piece and bag to protect the manuals and sticker sheet isn't asking for too much, is it LEGO?

I don't quite understand why the manual is seperated into two booklets actually, I mean for a set with only 4 numbered bags it seems like a bit of a silly thing to do, especially since bag 2 starts in Manual 1 and finishes in Manual 2. A single manual for this set would be far better in my books. At least this manual has all of the cross-promotional stuff included even a Mini-Figure checklist in the back, something the much larger Jabba's Palace was missing.

Parts

Lot's of rich green coloured pieces in this set, another one of those fun cockpit domes is included and you get some of those 4294289 parts that I'm not too sure of the name, but find them to be very useful. The set uses mostly stickers for details unfortuantely, however there is a printed piece with cockpit scanner and controls.

Minifigures

This set features 3 Mini-Figures, two actual Mini-Figures and an Astromech, two of them are brand new in this set.

Saesee Tiin: This is the Clone Wars version of Saesee Tiin and he's a fantastic looking Mini-Fig. This is my first time owning some unique Jedi, so it's nice to finally get one. I love the soft rubber head piece used to make his Montrails(?) and all the printed detail he's got. The torso is nice with double-sided Jedi robe printing, he's got white arms instead of brown which I assume is meant to represent when he's dressed partially in Clone Armor. A really great looking Mini-Fig.

Even Piell: Brand new for this set is Even Piell, also in his Clone Wars form. Meaning his facial print is more animated and cartoon like, I dig the look of this Mini-Figure as well. He also has a rubber head piece for his wide/large ears and some great scar effects which match the missing eye on his facial print. He also has a double-sided torso print and both Jedi have green lightsabers. It's hard to find anything bad to say about either of these Mini-Figs.

R3-D5: This is your typical R2 shaped Astromech Droid, it's print and colours are brand new for this set as R3 here is Saesee's personal Astromech, there's really not much to say about Astromechs. The printing on them has gotten much better as the years progressed, basically though these Mini-Figs don't offer much to critique. In fact many of them are more like accessories for the ships honestly, still I dig them and you can never have too many Astromechs, they're always fun to collect and army build.

The build

Building this set is pretty straight forward. I think if you've built any before you'd probably find it rather repetitive, each step and each bag builds a certain section of the ship, the cockpit is bag 1, the central nosecone and body is bag 2, the left wing is bag 3 and bag 4 is of course the right wing. (Or what you'd call a wing on other types of Starfighters.)

Honestly I found it rewarding and pretty fast to build this ship, there weren't any tricky parts and the manuals were quite clear on how to build it. If you've built more than one and they all share similar build steps you'd probably just breeze through this and find it all rather dull.

The completed model

The Jedi Starfighter isn't as iconic as an X-wing or as off-the wall as the Mandalorian Starfighter design, it's still a great looking ship. I love this design in LEGO form it's easy to play with it doesn't just fall apart and even the flick-fire missiles aren't a pain. I love the colours of this version also, the rich dark greens contrast so nicely with the white and the small amount of gold pieces used.

The stickers could have been printed detail and I think they slightly hinder the design, only slightly though. On a scale of 1-5 I'd say .5 is how much they take away from the look because you can obviously tell they're stickers and look just out of place.

Besides the flick-fire missiles the other play feature of this set is that you can use the cockpit as an escape pod. It detaches from two Technic pins that hold it in place and you have an instant escape pod for the Jedi Master.

Summary

Overall this is a great set to pick up, on sale, for full price I'd have a few more reservations. Considering the Starfighter only seats one there's no place for Even Piell to fit so that's a knock against it, however just getting two Mini-Figures in this set would have been a really bad decision on LEGO's part.

Since it's retiring soon I definitely think you should pick this one up if you haven't done so yet, while it is more of a Clone Wars set so the Mini-Figures might not be up to everyone's tastes if they don't like the more cartoony nature of them, the set itself has a really nice design and the colours of this particular Jedi Starfighter really pop. Recommended.