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‘I like Captain Solo where he is.’ – Jabba the Hut
This is my first review from the Academy. Whilst hunting around for a little set to review, I found this oldie but goldie:
Set Number: 4476
Name: Jabba’s Prize
Theme: Star Wars Original Trilogy (Episode VI Return of the Jedi)
Release Year: 2003
Pieces: 40
Minifigs: 2 (3 if you count Han Solo in Carbonite)
Price: US$ 6.99 originally. I paid about £20 second hand on Ebay in 2009!
Originally released in 2003, this set formed part of a mini-collection along with 4475 Jabba’s Message and 4480 Jabba’s Palace. It depicts the small area of Jabba’s throne room where he keeps his prize possession, the disgraced smuggler Han Solo who has been frozen in Carbonite. Han is guarded by one of Jabba’s hippo-like Gamorrean Guards, and the arch-villain and much sought-after bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Let’s take a look at the set:
The Box - Front
This quite a pretty box, with a golden Star Wars logo and starfield fading blue to black in the background. The box measures 142 x 142 x 37 mm; not quite as small as I’d expect for forty pieces in 2003, but one of these is a 8x8 plate, so I’ll let them off.
Back
The back shows two small movie stills of a Gamorrean Guard and Han in Carbonite, perhaps for SW-naïve parents? There are also advertisements for some of the other Original Trilogy sets of the time. The box opens with a thumb-tab, although the previous owner of mine had very carefully opened the box with a knife and kept it flat-packed. Thank you, whoever you are!
There is a nice little character montage on the side:
The Instructions
The front is similar to the box cover. Again mine are very well preserved.
Random page:
There are only 12 simple steps, not including minifigs. I didn’t identify any colour issues. This page shows how Han can rotate slightly forward, to recreate the moment when he is released by Bousshh. If only they'd included Bousshh in the set!
Note the technic hole brick at the bottom right:
This is used to connect the set to Jabba’s Palace to form a larger collection, as shown on one of the rear pages:
The Parts
Aside from the figures, which we will see next, there is little to get excited about. The only printed piece that isn't part of a figure is the small 1x1 tile with buttons, meant to represent the control panel. There are no stickers.
The Minifigures
Gamorrean Guard
I like this dude. He is essentially a brown figure with a sandgreen head-mould. He looks quite like the real thing. There’s no printing on his head; if Lego ever remake this little guy, it’d be nice to see some colour on his little face, like they did with the ewoks (see Old Ewok and New Ewok - apologies, NavyTrooperFenson!)
The Gamorrean guard has a very impressive axe:
Boba Fett
Here he is, SW fans' favourite bounty hunter:
Boba has lovely priniting on helmet and torso; the former is a little skew but it’s not as bad as some examples I’ve seen. He has a megaphone blaster, without the usual circular trans-orange plate. Under the helmet-backpack piece is a featureless black head. Here’s what he should look like.
Han Solo in Carbonite (‘Carbie’?)
Han is a 5-brick high 2x1 brick, printed with a silvery sheen, which I've used the flash to highlight on this picture:
The Complete Set
The main structure isn’t very exciting. The flame-pieces help to give it a little atmosphere. Lifting the hinge on top of Han allows him to fall forward, in this case surprising Boba and the guard:
This was the first set to include a Gamorrean Guard figure, the only other being Jabba’s Sail Barge in 2006. Boba and Carbie appeared previously in the original Slave-1, and can both be found in the later 2006 version of Slave-1, the Sail Barge, and Cloud City (where Boba has printed arms and legs). Thanks Clone O’Patra for this tip.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this years' new Boba and Carbie compare to these.
Conclusion
Design 4/5 It’s not the most exciting design, but looks good as a little display piece. If you place it alongside Jabba’s Palace, it tends to get a little dwarfed.
Build 3/5 Simple, unexciting; it took me longer to sort the pieces than to put them together. The instructions are clear with no colour issues.
Playability 4/5 You can have fun with Boba and the guard, but letting Han fall forward gets a bit tiring. There’s much more fun to be had if you combine the set with Jabba’s Palace and Message.
Figures 5/5 Two rare, well designed figures, plus frozen Han – this is what makes this set special.
Price 5/5 In terms of minifigs for the pound, at about £4 or $7 this seems great value now, and as you can see by the price I paid, it’ll fetch a bundle when sold.
Overall 21/25 (84%) If you can get hold of this for a reasonable price, it’s worth it just for the figures.
Hope you enjoyed the review, please let me know what you thought of it!
Rufus
Read Mischa07’s review here
Brickset (and instructions) here
Peeron here
I leave you with the newest members of the Star Wars blues band, Gamo Rea on guitar and Boba Fettington on his legendary black trumpet:
This post has been edited by KimT: 28 February 2010 - 03:08 PM
Reason for edit: indexed and title fized
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I'm a little confused by this comment.
Oops. You're quite right. In my haste to transfer the review from the Academy, I made a glaring error. Would any of the mods please change that for me? 
