LEGO Star Wars 40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber GWP review
Early adopters of 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge will receive 40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber for free, and it represents a welcome return to the best kind of LEGO Star Wars gift-with-purchase.
Available from October 3 to 10 (or while stocks last) exclusively with purchases of 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge, this is the third in a series of buildable LEGO Star Wars lightsaber hilts that started with 2020’s 6346098 Yoda’s Lightsaber and continued with 2021’s 40483 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber. Those sets were free with 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina and 75313 AT-AT respectively, and now the latest UCS set includes a new brick-built hilt.
40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber specifically recreates the green-bladed weapon Luke builds after losing his first lightsaber in Cloud City, thus completing another crucial step on his journey towards becoming a fully-fledged Jedi Knight. It fits neatly into the same format as the two previous sabers, sitting on a black stand with a printed plaque and scaled to a 4×4-stud diameter.
It’s honestly remarkable how well this model captures every inch of Luke’s black, silver and gold hilt (even if grey is a dull stand-in for metallic silver), from the protruding activator module to the varying diameter of the focusing core, emitter matrix and emitter shroud. The pommel at the other end is maybe the most interesting part to build, and there’s even a kyber crystal (of sorts) squirrelled away inside.
So it’s a great model. Wouldn’t it be better if we could just buy it outright? Well… maybe. The aftermarket prices for the previous two lightsabers are all the proof you need that these are popular sets. But as gifts-with-purchase, it’s tough to think of anything better. Locking rare and desirable minifigures behind these freebies would be even more galling, while these hilts are perhaps not quite strong enough to command a slot in the concise portfolio of regular retail LEGO Star Wars sets.
If there’s anything to truly criticise, it’s that 40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber is only available with 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge. Last month’s 40695 Borgin and Burkes: Floo Network wasn’t locked to 76437 The Burrow Collectors’ Edition, so why is LEGO Star Wars so insistent on gatekeeping its coolest gifts-with-purchase? Putting this at a £130 / $150 / €150 threshold would have been the best of both worlds (and reaching that spend in LEGO Star Wars is not at all difficult).
The counterpoint is that the scarcity of this GWP means it will inevitably fetch a hefty sum on the secondary market, allowing early adopters of 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge to recoup some of the initial investment in that staggeringly expensive UCS set. You win some, you lose some…
40730 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber is available exclusively with 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge from October 3 to 10, or while stocks last. Only LEGO Insiders will be able to buy the new UCS set from October 3 to 5, so make sure you’ve signed up to the LEGO Group’s rewards program beforehand if you’re not already a member. Chances are this one’s going to sell out fast…
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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