Review: Official Set 75331 - The Razor Crest

When LEGO® initially released a Razor Crest Set in September 2020, the reception was quite well. But as good as that set may have been, one couldn't help but imagine what a Ultimate Collector's rendition of the ship would be like. And finally in October 2022, LEGO® handed us the ship at minifigure scale. With Season 3 of The Mandalorian just days away from debuting, we're here to break down the largest Star Wars set based on non-trilogy content.

The Razor Crest is of course the ship featured in Seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian, belonging to the galactic bounty hunter Din Djarin. The show gives us peeks through all areas of the ship prior to it's (Spoiler Alert) decimation in Season 2. But now we can recreate the dare I say iconic ship at minifigure scale and pretend that Moff Gideon didn't blow it to smithereens.

Packaging

The packaging for this set is standard to the 18+ LEGO format with an overall black background with a large image of the completed build front and center. In the top-right of the box's front we can find the "Ultimate Collector Series" label. Something that has been standard for Star Wars™ sets of this size has been original logo designs for each set. With The Razor Crest, the logo features the Mudhorn Clan signet, which is a reference to the clan created by The Mandalorian Din Djarin and Grogu. The bottom gives us stats including the 18+ age recommendation, the set number 75331, and the piece count, which is a whopping 6,187 pieces.

The back of the box features a view of the ship with one of the side doors open and all of the included minifigures placed on a display stand. Along the bottom is a really neat sequence of images where you can find a scene from the TV series, and then next to it a similar image of the same area on the set version of the ship.

The packaging within the packaging (package design by Christopher Nolan) is truly a work of art. With the larger, premier-level sets, LEGO® tends to throw us some extra effort and value for the packaging. In the case of this set, the 2 larger boxes that hold the part bags and instructions feature some concept art from The Mandalorian. This caught me by total surprise and was something that made the unboxing experience an incredible one.

The Finished Model

Unsurprisingly, the ship is absolutely beautiful. The studs that are still visible don't really grab your attention while looking at the model and it begins to transcend looking like a LEGO® model and just starts to look like a replica display model. Some people may think of that as a bad thing, and I understand that point of view. Some people want their LEGO models to look entirely like LEGO. But in this case I really don’t mind the near-studless look. It’s not like it has as few studs as Jerac’s Crest MOC.

A technique I’m a big fan of is using different tiling shapes throughout the build to create the illusion of larger plate sections across the surface area of the model. It gives the ship a better sense of scale and makes it feel larger overall while making the smaller details feel more intricate.

One of the most significant parts of the Razor crest is the angular geometry. To me this is one of the make or break elements of the ship that the designers had to nail with extreme accuracy. They did just that. The use of various hinges, ball joints, and slopes replicate the ship perfectly. Sure there’s maybe some small gaps in some areas but to me they’re only apparent if you look for them. I was truly blown away during the build at how some of these sections came together.

Now, the most significant part of the model to me was the engines. It’s the trademark of the razor crest in my mind. And the construction we get here is near perfect. The transition from the main body to these engines is great, and the level of detail in this part of the build surprised me.

Not necessarily the detail we see on the outside, but more so the design behind it that results in a lot of different sized rings around the engines. While the chain links were tedious to put together, they took me back to my K’nex roller coaster days and provide excellent detail all the way around the engines.

Minifigures

This set doesn't overload us with minifigs, but it definitely gives us enough for a set of this scale.

The Din Djarin/Mandalorian minifigure we get in this set is a take on the early Season 1 Mando before he fights the Mudhorn. There’s a pretty high level of detail on the torso and leg printing, which is expected, but the included arm printing makes this figure exclusive to the set. The arm printing details the shoulder pads and wrist gauntlets sported by the Bounty Hunter.

The helmet is also brand new for this set, but it doesn’t quite satisfy me. I would have wanted LEGO to go with a chrome helmet here, the pearl dark gray doesn’t quite feel reflective enough, or light enough to me. Beneath the helmet is a single-sided head print which can be paired with a reddish brown hairpiece. These are both nice inclusions, but I don’t ever see myself displaying this set without the helmet on. This is The Way.

The Grogu figure included with this set isn’t any different than the one found in other sets, and I’m fine with that, they killed the original design for this little guy, I don’t know what else I’d want.

Grogu’s pram is included in this set, and has a clear base to make it seem like it’s levitating above the ground. Grogu just snaps on in and his head sticks up. The size restriction is an obvious obstacle, but I wish we could have gotten the doors which open and close throughout the series. But again, given the size restrictions, that would have been tough to pull off.

Now comes the only disappointment with these minifigures, and that’s the Mythrol. The torso printing is nice and original, but that’s where the positives end. LEGO® went with a classic minifigure head rather than a molded head, which just does not make sense to me. The printing does a decent job of bringing the character to life, but nothing compared to the possibility of this set having an exclusive mold. It’s mind-boggling to me because we get other exclusive molds to be seen later on, and with sets such as the Mos Eisley Cantina there were many exclusive molds for a single set, so I don't want excuses LEGO®! The Mythrol features a pair of handcuffs to replicate Season 1’s opening where Mando captures him as a bounty. More to come with this later.

The final minifigure in this set is Kuiil, the friendly Ugnaught, WHO HAS A HEAD MOLD EXCLUSIVE TO THIS SET! Now, the head mold isn’t perfect, I think it’s a little bit too tall and droopy, but this is an eternity better than if they went with a minifigure head.

The torso printing does a great job of showing off the neck scarf and belt, but it’s a shame that the back is covered up with a backpack. I get the addition because he has one in the show, but we cover up a great back with plain reddish brown plates.

This set also features a brick-built Blurrg model for Kuill to sit in. This really rounds out the Season 1 Episode 1 look that they went for with these figures.

The figures can all be lined up on a sleek display base where we can also find a display plaque for the Razor Crest. There’s not much information about the ship, that part is a little disappointing, but every UCS Set needs one.

Model/Play Features

There’s a few different features to go over with the UCS Razor Crest, the first I want to dive into is the modular layout of this set. All of the top sections are able to be removed to expose the interior details of the Razor Crest. Recently LEGO has been including a much higher level of interior detail with the UCS sets, and I’m all here for it. I got back into LEGO in late 2013, and those UCS models had minimal interior details and were truly just display models. Removing the top sections is very easy and there’s little worry about them falling apart as they’re all only secured by a few studs. Once removed you can see all of the interior sections.

The main hall has some details such as a stand for Boba Fett’s Armor, Carbonite Chambers (which can hold the Mythrol or any other Galactic Goons) prisoner, a weapons closet, and a ladder up to the cockpit. The cockpit itself includes plenty of space to sit up to 3 passengers. General printed parts run along the perimeter. The back area of the cockpit contains enough space to store Grogu’s pram. There’s even a little easter egg to S2E2 where Grogu commits several counts of murder as he eats the frog lady’s eggs.

The side doors on either side toward the front of the ship are so flush that you can almost forget about them. The hinge is a little wonky to me in that they don’t fully close up when you fold the doors back in-place. There were a few times that I accidentally broke the hinge plate off because naturally I want to close it all the way.

The back ramp has great friction to keep the back door up while it’s folded in, but this means it’s a little rigid when trying to open it up. I was pretty nervous the first time that I swung it down because you have to push harder than you would think you have to, but it’s all fine. There’s enough room here to load & unload the Blurrg as well as any minifigs. Immediately I want to just stick Grogu on the ramp and recreate one of the scenes from The Mandalorian where Grogu is dwarfed even more by the size of the Crest.

On the top of the ship there's neat little escape pod that can slide in and out of the panel it sits in. The front can easily be removed to slide a minifigure in-place. I may be wrong about this, but I can't recall any scenes where this was used prior to Moff Gideon blasting the ship into oblivion.

Overall Thoughts & Pricing

As a whole, this rendition of the Razor Crest couldn’t be much better. The main issues I had with this set came with the minifigs and not the actual ship itself. One thing I wish we did get, and this is more of a general hope for future sets, is a display stand for the ship. With larger sets such as this one, it’s tough to find display areas with enough surface area to support the whole model. If we started getting brick build stands with sets again, they would become a lot easier to display rather than using up table space so all three landing gears can sit down. I know there’s custom options out there, but let’s be real, LEGO® should be offering this themselves for their premier sets.

The only other issue with this set that nags on me is the lack of printed parts. I understand that stickers are going to be necessary to a degree, but there were a LOT of stickers in this set, I just think those should be phased out more than they were with the Razor Crest when it comes to the more expensive sets.

As a fan of The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general, large sets such as this one are a huge draw for me and I think the design group knocked this one out of the park. Their ability to recreate the overall geometry of the ship to a tee and include fine detail without sacrificing stability is quite impressive.

If you want to grab this set, you do need to be willing to open your wallet. This set retails for $600, which puts it as the 3rd most expensive Star Wars set currently offered, and 5th most expensive overall at LEGO® with today’s products. I don’t think this is a bad price at all. If you were to create this as a MOC, it’d easily surpass that $600 mark. That being said, it is still a lot of money for a LEGO set so don’t go impulsively buying it if it stretches your budget. It’s worth it, but not something I would recommend reworking your budget for.

This is an amazing set and they chose a great vehicle to make such a large set out of. It’s a very unique vehicle and certainly catches your eye when looking at a collection or room. The only things holding this set back from the holy grail 9-and-above range are the slight minifigure compromises and sticker quantity. Those elements aside, I absolutely love the Ultimate Collector’s Razor Crest, and despite the ship being smithereens, it gets me even more juiced for Mando Season 3.

Score: 8.9

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