Review: 75323 The Justifier
Posted by CapnRex101,
Cad Bane's spartan starship was developed for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, although the series was cancelled before its scheduled appearance. However, this vessel was eventually introduced onscreen during The Bad Batch, conveying the imprisoned Omega to Bora Vio.
That appearance was brief, so the considerable scale of 75323 The Justifier is perhaps unexpected, particularly given the associated price of £149.99, $169.99 or €169.99. These minifigures are desirable though, including the new Cad Bane, Todo 360 and Omega! Unfortunately, the focal model appears bland in official images.
Summary
75323 The Justifier , 1,022 pieces.
£149.99 / $169.99 / €169.99 | 14.7p/16.6c/16.6c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Beyond its transformation function, the Justifier is deeply underwhelming
- Accurate shape
- Enjoyable function
- Some excellent minifigures
- Unnecessarily large
- Poor interior
- Limited detail
- Exposed Technic parts
- Very expensive
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Two previous Cad Bane minifigures have been produced, portraying the character's changing appearance during the Clone Wars. This version instead takes inspiration from The Bad Batch and looks outstanding, due in particular to the new hat and breathing tubes. The latter element represents a huge improvement over the original bulky piece, while Bane's serious expression looks perfect too.
Furthermore, I like the bounty hunter's dark brown jacket and accurate ammunition belts. The returning Fennec Shand minifigure is similarly detailed, with decoration even continuing onto her arms! The orange highlights look splendid against Shand's black attire, with metallic silver armour protecting her back.
Unlike her earlier appearances in 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser and 75326 Boba Fett's Throne Room, this minifigure includes both a helmet and hair component. Her hairstyle is not entirely accurate, but looks reasonable, while the helmet captures fantastic detail. Cad Bane includes twin blaster pistols and Fennec carries a briefcase. Sadly, there is no bounty inside.
Bane is accompanied by Todo 360, a techno-service droid and longstanding aid to the bounty hunter. While impressively detailed and faithful to the source material, this little figure lacks the charm associated with LEGO depictions of many characters, in my opinion. Whereas other tiny droids, such as BB-8 and D-O, have found balance between accuracy and LEGO styling, Todo 360 instead resembles an action figure with an anti-stud underneath.
Omega was omitted from 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle last year, so her presence here is certainly welcome. The minifigure presents superb detail, including printed arms, which have become increasingly common recently. Her Kaminoan uniform therefore looks excellent and the chosen hair element seems remarkably effective, originally designed for Harry Potter.
Moreover, I like Omega's double-sided head, although the second design could have included her Kaminoan forehead pendant. Hunter previously appeared in 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle and remains unchanged, retaining his detailed torso armour and impressive pearl dark grey, metallic silver and dark red colour combination.
Unfortunately, I remain disappointed with Hunter's helmet printed backpack. While the helmet decoration looks good, its shape could be improved. I understand that new helmets cannot be produced for every character, but Hunter and Crosshair are significant and their minifigures will doubtless continue to appear, so it seems worthwhile. Nevertheless, I do like Hunter's double-sided head.
Reference
Source - StarWars.com
The Completed Model
Whereas some bounty hunters are practical and suit utilitarian spacecraft, I think Cad Bane's vessel should be more stylish. Nevertheless, the Justifier's distinctive design is recreated well here, capturing the tapered fuselage. Additionally, the dark colours correspond with the source material, although black and dark bluish grey seem inevitably drab on display.
This model is unexpectedly enormous, reaching 50cm in length and dwarfing 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle. Such size would usually be beneficial because it creates more space for interior detail, but I think this scale was unnecessary. Beyond the expense which accompanies size, I think detail has been compromised too. In that respect, the set opposes 75338 Ambush on Ferrix!
I think the Justifier looks most appealing when viewed from the front, where its angled armour and limited mechanical detail are clearly visible. The rows of 1x2 slopes attached between the laser cannons and the cockpit structure are notably effective, contrasting with the predominant studded surfaces across this vessel.
The angular cockpit is another recognisable feature of Bane's craft. The designer has made good use of 3x6 windscreen elements on each side, creating the correct shape. Stickers are applied around the viewport and look reasonable, although printed canopies and windscreens are always preferable.
Detaching the roof gives sufficient access to the interior, but the viewport can also be removed quite easily. Cad Bane's seat looks perfect and is cleverly designed to accommodate both the tank connected to his breathing tubes and this character's spectacular hat. Furthermore, clips are available for Bane's two blaster pistols, flanking his chair.
Two boxes are situated behind the chair, containing explosives and a lightsaber hilt. Cad Bane killed several Jedi during the Clone Wars, so the reference is welcome, but the accessories are not actually secured. The prison cell includes a removable trans-red wall panel, which represents the laser barrier. Once again, I like the idea, but various colourful parts remain exposed inside and could have been concealed.
External detail is similarly lacking. Large stickers provide some mechanical texture, but there was definitely an opportunity to include constructed detail instead. Also, the colour matching between this sticker and the dark bluish grey bricks looks awful, which has become another weakness common among LEGO sets this year.
Thankfully, the dorsal armour does include authentic texture, as 1x4 gear racks and 1x2 grille slopes form ridges. These originate from the onscreen transport and the shaping immediately behind the cockpit also reflects the source material. However, the integration of spring-loaded shooters is unusually poor, above the laser cannons.
The box advertises opening panels beside the weapons, perhaps covering additional interior. Unfortunately, these large panels only conceal clips for spare missiles, alongside the Technic mechanism for the landing gear. While storage space is always useful, the access panels are unnecessarily huge and there is only one clip on each side, which is very disappointing.
Even more frustrating is the continuing visibility of the Technic mechanism from outside. The blue Technic pin towards the rear is particularly conspicuous, beside an inexplicable dark tan brick. Such flaws could have been disguised properly and the neighbouring mechanical detail, which is surprisingly intricate, makes such lacklustre finishing even worse.
Despite these issues, the transformation between landed and flight configurations is fantastic. Raising the engine boom also lifts the forward landing gear, since they are connected through the spine of the vessel. This configuration lowers the Technic beams as well, better concealing those and the bothersome blue Technic pin.
The angular engine housing looks magnificent and I love the intake on the front, comprising a series of 2x2 triangular tiles fixed between studs. These line up beautifully with the 4x4 wedge slopes attached above and below, while the four engines are accurately arranged, in relation to the Justifier's onscreen design.
The model can still be displayed without a separate stand, even with its landing gear retracted. Ideally, the engine boom would extend much further beneath the fuselage, although I consider easy play and display more important because the truncated engine boom is hardly noticeable. Personally, I think the Justifier looks more appealing in this configuration.
Viewing the transport from underneath reveals its retracted landing gear, folded against the fuselage. The mechanism works nicely and recalls 7674 V-19 Torrent, which also integrated landing gear that moved automatically with its central wing. However, one enjoyable function does not excuse the various documented problems.
Further to the advantages for play and display, shortening the engine boom creates additional space at the centre of the fuselage. The designer has accordingly provided a small cargo bay, which is accessible through an opening hatch. However, there is nothing to secure any cargo inside, so the whole concept seems somehow incomplete.
The supplied cargo includes three Imperial crates, each decorated with stickers, alongside a green box and a statue. Omega forages through Cad Bane's storage when searching for her comlink during the animated series and I presumed the accessories would originate from that scene, but they do not. Also, the Imperial crates are peculiar because the Galactic Empire had only existed for a matter of weeks when Bane captures Omega.
Overall
I am very disappointed with 75323 The Justifier. While its shape appears reasonably accurate and the transformation function is satisfying, the general design is poor. Fundamentally, I think the model is much bigger than necessary and its needless size has resulted in lacklustre detail. 75190 First Order Star Destroyer, 75257 Millennium Falcon and 75288 AT-AT demonstrate the qualities which this set lacks.
The interior also leaves something to be desired. Only the cockpit and prison cell were really necessary, but a substantially smaller model could easily accommodate the required features. Of course, the exclusive minifigures are appealing and well-executed, although they alone come nowhere near warranting the expensive price of £149.99, $169.99 or €169.99.
141 likes
55 comments on this article
Give 'em 'ell, Cap'n! I suppose this wasn't the best set to review on the day before prices go up. Wish it was a lot less expensive and more original minifigs. The finishing errors are remarkably pathetic. Looks like half-finished homework.
What a terrible review. I cannot agree.
I like this model quite a lot!
This comes across as someone’s MOC rather than an official set, although MOCers wouldn’t have made the mistake of the dark tan brick or non-matching stickers. Alternatively this seems like a second generation revision like is done with the MF and landspeeders, but we never got the first shot at a cheaper, smaller official set.
I am curious who the audience is for this. It’s way overpriced for the casual fan or as a kid’s toy. AFOLs seem to be their target but generally we wouldn’t put up with the quality issues.
I guess we can call it... unjustifiable :P
Wow, why has the color matching of stickers become increasingly worse recently?
--Also, the colour matching between this sticker and the dark bluish grey bricks looks awful, which has become another weakness common among LEGO sets this year.
This is not a 'colour matching' issue any more. From that picture, this is not the same colour at all. This would probably look good beside sand blue bricks - but has nothing to do with light blueish grey(light bley).
Sorry for completist on that one...
That said, they certainly put the minifigs to convince more than a few to buy it anyway.
@Dannygast said:
"What a terrible review. I cannot agree.
I like this model quite a lot!"
I wonder which criticisms in this review you think are, euh, unjustified?
To me it seems a pretty fair review of a clearly flawed and heavily overpriced set that only has its size and minifigs going for it. Maybe if they replaced those horrible stickers with some good prints and lowered the price quite a bit, I might change my mind. I do quite like the model as a whole, but this again looks like a set where Lego just didn't care.
Wow, reading the review I was thinking "This seems like a set that should be $99.99 but will be $129.99" $169.99 for it is just obscene. For one thing, as the review points out, it has numerous issues, and to top it off it just doesn't seem like a model that warrants a nearly $200 set. Like, that's a price point that makes sense for iconic models like the millennium falcon, or detail focused models like UCS ones.
That sticker is supposed to match the brick, really? It looks like it would be a better match for a sand blue part. Frankly, it's shameful that this is an issue when Lego has set colours, rather than unique shades for each set.
Also, this ship was barely in the show, whatever is planned for it, making it a £150 set is absolutely unjustified at this point. Doesn't matter if it is supposed to be big, it simply hasn't done enough to justify that expense.
@Dannygast said:
"What a terrible review. I cannot agree.
I like this model quite a lot!"
How is the review terrible? Just because "you" like the model doesn't mean it doesn't have flaws. As others have asked, what parts of the review are unjustified to you?
You don't even have to read the review to see half the flaws with this set.
There are some cool little features, but overall I'm not a fan.
Like the 4+ Farm, I want this but refuse to let myself buy without a discount.
I'm getting more and more thankful for the Star Wars reboot of 2014. The amount of interesting sets for me drops every year. Imagine if Lego made Thrawn Trilogy, X-Wing novels, or New Jedi Order sets - I'd bankrupt myself.
Damn, looks really bad.
Cad Bane is my favorite character from the Clone Wars, his appearances in Bad Batch are fantastic, too! That said, I have never been a fan of the Justifier, the Bad Batch actually fixed the design a little bit, but it's still not a great ship design in my opinion. However, when I saw that they'd be making this set and the figures it came with, I was hopeful. Unfortunately, when I actually saw the thing, I was underwhelmed. The review spells everything out very clearly what's wrong with the Justifier being made into a set, let alone how it was done. Also the figure are cool, but I already have Fennec and Hunter, so that leave Bane, Todo, and Omega, but given the Season 2 trailer, Omega and Hunter are already outdated with the redesigns. I know some people just want sets for the figures, but I also can't justify the prices for single figures, I might as well just get the set because with its price and the value of the three characters I am interested in, I'm sure getting the set would be the better deal because at least I also have the rest of the set and not just figures. But then we still have the issue of the price! It's just such a shame because I both want and don't want this set for a myriad of reasons. Maybe if there's a fantastic deal, I'll go for it, but then I still don't have space for it anyway. So much wasted space in this set for such an oddly shaped ship.
Now if only the price was justifiable, cause good gosh that's ridiculously high.
Why not use the wand boxes from the HP sets (part 6310366), but in sand blue? Feels like a wasted opportunity.
Every time I see the engine mounted the way it is, looks like it’ll flip the ship and make it spin and a loop like a ferris-wheel.
This is a well-written review. Thank you.
My only suggestion would be to replace the word "fun" with "apt". I find it odd to read a sentence that features both "kill" and "fun" words.
Cad Bane killed several Jedi during the Clone Wars, so this reference is apt (-f-u-n-), but the accessories are not actually secured.
For me, only the minifigs are interesting.
@AHYL88 said:
"How many figures can be placed in this, seated? I'm just curious because if this takes less than the substantially smaller but much cheaper Imperial Armored Marauder 75311 set, which can seat five inside (plus one more on top on the outside which is acceptable as a ground-based vehicle), then that's just embarassing."
There is enough space to seat as many as seven minifigures inside because there is ample floor area in the cockpit and prison cell, although the cockpit was designed for one seated minifigure and another standing.
@tomthepirate said:
"This is a well-written review. Thank you.
My only suggestion would be to replace the word "fun" with "apt". I find it odd to read a sentence that features both "kill" and "fun" words.
Cad Bane killed several Jedi during the Clone Wars, so this reference is apt (-f-u-n-), but the accessories are not actually secured."
Good point; I have updated the review.
Well, to me the source isn't must-have pretty and the price tag put me off from day one. Now seeing details, this is even less appealing. Well hopefully, the Minifigs will appear in other sets, let's see what BB S3 has to offer...
Every complaint is completely fair and justified (heh)…buuuuut I can’t help but still want the set. It just looks cool enough I suspect I’d be able to overlook the flaws
I thought Lego was going smaller with their Star Wars ships, a la 75301 and 75300. I guess the word that sums up this review best is disappointing.
Looks like half of the Ghost from Rebels.
Omega is so adorable, unfortunately this set is unjustifiably overpriced and the build itself doesn’t interest me, either. They left out Omega’s head necklace thing since her hair looks different with it on and thus they’re probably saving that for another Minifigure of her (I think her hair looks way better without it, personally).
Thank you for this thorough, well-executed review of a set that looks terrible to me.
I'm not stud-phobic by any stretch, but this ship looks amateurish in design - phoned-in. Almost as if the Cad Bane figure excuses LEGO of putting more effort into the ship design. The higher prices are just salt in the wound. I don't mind paying a lot of money for a LEGO set, but it's gotta be a home run design with a lot of perceived value. This ain't it.
One of the most negative reviews I've read on here recently but I don't disagree with any of these points. I haven't seen The Bad Batch, I don't know how this stacks up as a worthy thing to make from that show, but this seems unappealing even at half the price.
I think this is genuinely a good model of the Justifier, though I'm not particularly interested in the spaceship. It's got a well-executed, interesting technical function, there's a good deal of interior volume for posing minifigures and cargo crates, the grill details on the movable module are well done, and the size is imposing.
But.
The set is about $50 overpriced, and the source material is incredibly obscure. This was a bad choice of flagship set for this summer's Star Wars wave.
Almost as much as a UCS set with half the pieces.
The details on the engine pod, the angular bits on the front of the wings, the greebling near the back and on the dorsal side of the model look much more sophisticated than the overall level of detail of the set. Everything else looks incredibly bland. The transformation feature is good, but the set could've been much smaller. For that price, it should have a larger interior, more finished underside, matching stickers and printed canopy pieces.
The price is an absolute obscenity and is clearly only this high because it includes minifigs of popular characters.
This set reminds me of 75025-1 with it looking like it would have decent interior space and ending up with very little. I also agree that the vehicle should be more stylish, especially considering his previous vehicle, Xanadu Blood.
This set will hopefully rot on the shelves of any seller that is stupid enough to order it.
An honest review of a curious set, methinks. Maybe it's a good time to cash in on Bane's popularity, given his recent screentime, or is that just me being cynical. At least Fennec comes with both hairpiece and helmet. Makes a change from the usual accusation that Brickset reviews are too soft ...
I'm a huge spaceship fan--but wow, that thing is ugly. I don't mean the source, but the model. It looks like it has nearly 1999-level studs on top showing. I'm surprised the minifigs aren't yellow.
Who doesn't like building huge spaceships? Though a 1022 piece count is not even that high, and it shows given the lack of details.
Yet this expensive €170 Lego set only has four minifigs!?!! All in all just 5 characters (that little one piece moulded droid figurine does not count as a minifig). This just does not fit its price tag at all.
The size of the ship looks impressive, but its execution, boring monotone grey and countless exposed studs and anti-studs everywhere, and unimaginative features, are lacklustre.
The addition of another four interesting sought after minifigs could at least have compensated somewhat for all the shortcomings in the design of the spacecraft itself.
My impression (as a rather casual SW fan) is that Cad Bane's reputation amongst SW fans appears to be of mythical proportions, similar to that of Boba Fett many years ago, when the original trilogy was all there was. Boba Fett too had very limited screen-time, and got even killed off in a lousy manner in RotJ, but nonetheless enjoyed tremendous popularity, not only because of the design of his suit, armour, weapons, and spaceship Slave-I, but he was shrouded in mystery. This makes Cad Bane and his ship ideal too to produce something matching his notoriety.
He resembles one of those menacing spaghetti western villains of epic infamy, that's his appeal, and TLG could have exploited that.
The ship has had hardly any screen-time to my knowledge in any of the two animated SW series (I never watched all of the Clone war stuff (6 or 7 seasons in total?!), plus it is such a long time ago), and I don't recall seeing it in the Boba Fett TV-series. The Lego designer could have used that to his advantage and taken the liberty to create something spectacular.
It keeps me wondering: 'what were they thinking over at TLG'?
They could/should have e.g. included a good-looking speeder-bike with storage space for it in the ship. They could have instead just gone wild with the design and functions within the ship. A bulky cockpit, and a spacious wedge shaped Delta wing, means lots of possibilities for interior features, yet there hardly are any. Now because it lacks both the aesthetics of a display model as well as any desirable play features, it will most like not fly off the shelves in stores?!?
A much smaller and cheaper set with these four minifigs and that little droid figurine would have been an infinitely better idea.
Hunter’s Helmet doesn’t even need a new mold: The Death Trooper helmet will suffice.
@McLegoboy I wouldn’t say the figures are “outdated”-they just feature the characters as they appeared in season one. If you want to MOC, display, or play season one Bad Batch events, these figures are what you’ll want, or at least as close as Lego is apparently going to give you. Hopefully season two variants are already in the works, unless Bad Batch suffers as Rebels did and doesn’t get any sets, or only one small set, next wave despite still being ongoing.
Close enough to an Osprey I suppose.
It's very difficult to justify this set when the RoS Falcon exists and is still on shelves, which is one of the best non-UCS SW ships to date in my opinion. It gets even more difficult when you look at 10497. At least it'll be fun for me to mod, at a very significant discount.
@TheBigLegoski said:
"My impression (as a rather casual SW fan) is that Cad Bane's reputation amongst SW fans appears to be of mythical proportions, similar to that of Boba Fett many years ago, when the original trilogy was all there was. Boba Fett too had very limited screen-time, and got even killed off in a lousy manner in RotJ, but nonetheless enjoyed tremendous popularity, not only because of the design of his suit, armour, weapons, and spaceship Slave-I, but he was shrouded in mystery. This makes Cad Bane and his ship ideal too to produce something matching his notoriety."
I was one of those kids in the '80s who thought Boba Fett was cool. Watching Clone Wars as an adult, I was struck with how much more characterization they were able to give to Cad Bane (even if he was just a Sergio Leone pastiche). He's really earned his spot in the pantheon of Star Wars bounty hunters.
When I first saw The Justifier in The Bad Batch I really wanted it as a set… even pictured it with these exact figures (just with Taun We as well). I like the look of this set, but it is very disappointing. Definitely not up to standard. I don’t mind paying extra for the size, I do mind a complete lack of interior space. The price compared to what you get is disgusting, even by 2022 standards. Of the new sets, the AT-TE is a much better deal. 5 figures is poor effort. It’s almost as if LEGO wants this one to fail.
@Brick_Belt said:
"Wow, reading the review I was thinking "This seems like a set that should be $99.99 but will be $129.99" $169.99 for it is just obscene. For one thing, as the review points out, it has numerous issues, and to top it off it just doesn't seem like a model that warrants a nearly $200 set. Like, that's a price point that makes sense for iconic models like the millennium falcon, or detail focused models like UCS ones. "
I totally agree! Just yesterday one could have gotten the modular book store for only $10 more. This set seemed doomed from the start: a ship this bland in design was always going to have a hard time living up to its lofty price point. This spot in the product range should have gone to a location of some kind to make better use of the parts budget.
for a similar price, you could get the guardians' ship...
What a joke!
The price is what keeps me away…
75292: The Razor Crest is $40 cheaper in comparison
Personally I expected this ship to be made into a LEGO set when I saw it onscreen during The Bad Batch's Season 1 run, plus maybe an appearance from Taun We (which seemed all the more plausible when her minifigure was revealed to come with 75333, but then again, does LEGO want to include a minifigure who dies in the portrayed scene?)
What is offered now in this set completely blows my mind, and definitely not in a good way either. I expected a playscale Justifier to be big, but not this big. When I saw the official image I thought the model looked bland in comparison to other ships (perhaps this is the fault of the source material and its colour scheme) and did not deserve such a high price point.
I agree that the raising thruster section is very well executed, but at this price the interior should've been decorated much better.
The new minifigures in this set really are great, but I'm disappointed Cad Bane didn't get arm printing. Hunter's minifigure, unfortunately as per usual with Bad Batch minifigures, doesn't look great, the helmet brings everything down.
Ironically, when the 2022 2HY set list was leaked, this was the set that I was most intrigued by.
At a cost of around 55€ to produce that's some mark up
Getting too greedy
I have to assume these Omega and Cad Bane figures will all show up eventually in smaller sets, while Fennec already is available in several Mandalorian and BoBF sets already. So really, there is little incentive to buy this clunker "for the figures" because the FOMO just isn't even there.
Its a shame its such an ugly set, but it reminds me of some of the worst in Lego Star Wars' past, big clunky sets with little interior space. A smaller more compact set could have achieved all the same goals for a much lower price point.
Should've been smaller and no more than $100 with the same minifig selection. then it would've been a knockout set
Yeah... To expensive for me, considering I'm going to have to buy a lot of doubles and triples of sets this year. As Lego keeps putting odd numbers of parts in sets by only giving use 1 of this or 3 of that in new colors/parts.
But they could have sized it down a lot more maybe 4-6 studs less wide and about the same in length to bring the price down about $50's.
I think it does have downfalls, and they are well articulated in your review, however, overall, I really do like model. I just don't like the price - smaller and less expensive would have been infinitely preferable. It goes on a wish list, rather than a definite and that will depend on the discount.
Its a shame this wasnt well constructed and looks so amateurish in some ways. I appreciate Lego producing a large set like this that isnt your regular x-wing, MF, star destroyer, ATAT, etc.. Would really like to see them step outside the box more often. However, better follow through with the set has to be accomplished or this will be a one off and never tried again.
@Dannygast said:
"What a terrible review. I cannot agree.
I like this model quite a lot!"
You obviously missed this part of the review;
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The author is entitled to express their own opinion, much in the same you have. Just because you don't agree does not detract from the quality of the photos and other information provided.
I, too, really like this model, but I don't buy Star Wars sets and I am not a fan of the IP. I really do like the look of it and, possibly, would have picked it up if it were cheaper.