Review: LEGO 75323 The Justifier

November 2, 2022 | 0

75323 The Justifier is the most expensive set of the 2022 LEGO Star Wars summer wave, and features the highly anticipated return of the Cad Bane minifigure.

Based on The Bad Batch TV series, this is the flagship playset of this wave, and depicts an unusual ship that is unique from most Star Wars ship designs. However, its high price of US$169.99 places high expectations on this set. Can it deliver? Let’s find out!

75323 The Justifier is also available from Amazon Australia (currently 20% off).

This is a guest review from our resident LEGO Star Wars correspondent, vaderfan_2187. Check out Vaderfan’s previous reviews, 75342 Republic Fighter Tank, 75336 Inquisitor Transport Scythe, and 75333 Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter, and be sure to follow him on Instagram, or read some of his other guest reviews.

Special thanks to LEGO for supporting the blog with this review set.

75323 The Justifier Set Details

Set number: 75323
Pieces: 1022
Minifigures: 4
Retail Price: US$169.99 [USA] / AU$259.99 [AUS] / £149.99 [UK] [Amazon Australia] [Amazon]
Theme: Star Wars
Release Date: 1 August 2022

Unboxing 75323 The Justifier

The front of the box shows the Justifier in flight mode, against a background of Bora Vio (the planet from the relevant Bad Batch episode). The box is pretty sizeable, although about the same size as last year’s flagship summer playset, the 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser

The back of the box shows the alternate view of the Justifier in its landed mode, plus smaller snapshots showing the three main play features.

Inside the box are bags numbered from 1 to 6, along with a clear unnumbered bag containing the instruction manual and sticker sheet.

The build of the set felt like it progressed pretty fast, due to the use of fairly large pieces and the inclusion of only 6 bags. Plus, the set is only made of 1022 pieces, which is below average for a set at this price point.

75323 The Justifier Minifigures

The first minifigure in the set is the highly anticipated Omega figure, who was notably missing from the 2021 Bad Batch Shuttle set.

She features a recoloured Harry Potter wig in blonde which I think works excellently, and she has a new double-sided head (smiling and irritated). Her torso has accurate details and she even has arm printing, which is a welcome surprise!

The back of her torso has more accurate printing, and she has short black legs.

Her only accessories are a pair of handcuffs, as in this scene she was captured by Cad Bane, which may explain her indignant face!

The second minifigure in the set is Hunter, which makes sense as he was the one accompanying Omega when Cad Bane kidnapped her.

This is not a new minifigure, as he previously appeared in last year’s Bad Batch Shuttle set but he’s still a nice minifigure though, and I like the printed details on his gunmetal grey armor.

He has a double-sided head with stern and angry expressions, and a hairpiece which is a reasonable approximation but not perfect, as his headband is printed on his head instead of being moulded into his hair.

The back of his torso has a printed backpack, which isn’t ideal as I’d prefer him to have a brick-built one instead.

Hunter also has his unique gunmetal grey helmet, which looks good. I always like it when LEGO includes both hairpieces and helmets for relevant minifigures.

He comes with a small knife, and on the whole is a good figure, although not new.

The next minifigure is Fennec Shand, who is also not new; however, this is the first set which includes Fennec with both her hair and helmet.

She has great printed details on her torso, legs, and arms, plus a double-sided face with smiling and smirking expressions.

Her hairpiece isn’t 100% accurate but I’m just glad LEGO included one as an option, so you can switch between helmeted and helmetless looks.

Fennec comes with her orange and black helmet, blaster pistol, and a brown luggage (which carried Republic credits in the show).

The fourth minifigure in the set is Cad Bane himself, who makes an awesome return to LEGO form with new pieces and prints.

His head, torso, and legs all have new prints, and look fantastic – his head is actually printed on a gunmetal grey head piece but thankfully the printed blue is thick and vibrant enough, and doesn’t look faded. He has new moulds for his hat and his breathing apparatus, both of which look great.

His breathing tubes are a new silver molded piece but look superb and less clunky than the previous version, and while his hat is smaller than previous variants it still looks good too.

Cad Bane comes with his two blaster pistols, and is just a great figure all around. His exclusivity to this set will undoubtedly be a huge draw.

Todo 360, Cad Bane’s droid, also makes an appearance. He’s a single-mold figure so has no articulation, but does have some nice printed details.

Here’s what Todo 360 looks like from the back. The overall shaping is pretty accurate and he has an anti-stud on the bottom to attach to studded surfaces.

Overall, the minifigure selection in this set is probably one of its stronger assets, and LEGO likely knows that. The exclusive Cad Bane and Omega are going to be huge draws, but with Hunter and Fennec Shand being reused minifigures, the number of exclusive figures in this set is lower than smaller sets like 75336 Inquisitor Transport Scythe.

The Build

The build in the set is the Justifier, Cad Bane’s personal ship in the Bad Batch.

It’s a rather sizeable build, measuring around 40cm wide and 40cm long, plus roughly 20cm tall in flight mode.

Personally I feel like it feels like more of a warship instead of a personal ship for Cad Bane, but that’s more an issue with Lucasfilm’s design than LEGO.

The designers have done a pretty good job transforming the in-universe ship into LEGO form, apart from one section at the back I’ll explain later.

It’s quite a refreshing design especially from the Star Wars theme – even though it’s still a bunch of grey and black bricks, the shape is pretty unique among LEGO Star Wars ships.

I like the huge engine pod at the back as it gives the ship a unique silhouette, although this is the main inaccuracy of the set as the back should have a strut extending below that is as long as the engine pod is tall. LEGO has shortened the tail, presumably so the set can be displayed in flight mode.

A closer look at the engine pod features a building technique that LEGO has started to use more often recently – 2×2 triangle tiles are inserted between studs to create this grilled effect that looks awesome!

In previous years, some LEGO fans would have considered this to be an ‘illegal’ technique, but it looks great and it’s nice that LEGO is using it in sets nowadays.

The back of the engine pod has a couple more interesting angles and four translucent blue engine thrusters to propel the ship. Smaller supplementary thrusters are also mounted alongside the cannons on the edge of each wing.

The Justifier becomes even longer (though loses some of its height) when placed into landing mode – rotating the entire engine pod subassembly into a horizontal pose.

It’s worth noting that the ship doesn’t have to be in landing mode to be on display, as it balances on a flat surface in both landing and flight mode.

This is the main play feature of the ship – as you rotate the engine pod backwards, a Technic mechanism that runs through the core of the ship will lower the landing skids on each wing, thanks to a geared mechanism.

I expected it to be a pretty superfluous feature (given that landing mode isn’t required for the model to balance on a flat surface) but honestly it’s quite fun, and I like switching the ship back and forth between the two modes to see the landing gear extend and retract.

I also like how the Justifier looks in its landed mode from the front – the landing gear looks pretty neat below each wing, like some sort of Star Wars airplane.

Unfortunately, the downside of this play feature is the huge amounts of exposed Technic mechanism on the final model – including odd colors such as red and blue.

I understand these moving parts are necessary to make the mechanism work but I would’ve preferred it to be covered or disguised a bit better.

Furthermore, there’s this large gap at the back that leads straight into the ship’s cargo hold, and looks very unfinished.

I was honestly surprised when I finished the model as this section definitely looks like it needs a few more pieces to finish it off.

Another gripe I have with the model is the fact that it’s not very detailed – while some sections have decent brick-built detail, the majority of the model consists of large studded surfaces, with not much greebling or unique detailing.

Considering the set already has a low piece count, I would’ve appreciated some more pieces being used for texturing on the ship.

The only exceptions are these sections of greebling on the back of either wing, which look really good.

The cockpit section is pretty chunky and blocky, which is an interesting change from the usual sleek starship cockpits.

I like the brick-built details, although there is a large stickered slope on each side where the colour matching of the dark grey is atrocious.

The cockpit consists of a 1x2x5 translucent brown brick and two windscreen elements mounted sideways – all of these have clear-backed stickers which unfortunately means you might get air bubbles.

For a set like this, a printed cockpit glass design would’ve been better, especially as the windscreen elements are mirrored. Interestingly, the front of the cockpit is built upside-down, which was a fun building technique.

The top of the cockpit can be removed and it’s not held on with any studs, but still fits securely.

Unfortunately, this is all the minifig-usable interior space on the ship. There’s a seat for Cad Bane and two crates containing thermal detonators and a stolen lightsaber, plus a laser cell for Omega in the back.

Cad Bane’s seat is fully brick-built and is pretty nice, and he gets a couple of printed consoles. Two clips are mounted alongside for his blaster pistols. There’s space for one more figure (or Todo 360) to stand behind the pilot’s seat, but otherwise this area is pretty cramped.

The jail cell for Omega uses a translucent red wall panel which is pretty accurate, and the Omega minifigure fits comfortably inside.

The translucent red wall piece can be removed (it’s only attached to a couple of studs) to allow you to place and remove figures in the prison.

There are some exposed colourful Technic elements behind, but I don’t mind too much as covering them up would’ve significantly reduced the already limited space in this section.

There’s a little bit more usable space at the back, where you’ll find this ramp.

Open the ramp and out slides a tray of Cad Bane’s loot. There isn’t much space inside, although you can probably toss a minifigure lying down in there.

The pallet has a stolen Jedi holocron, a golden doll, and three Imperial crates, which use stickers for the detail.

These large flaps on each wing can open up (and are held down only by gravity), but unfortunately you won’t find more interior space underneath.

Underneath is just a clip to store an extra spring-loaded missile, which can be mounted into the missile launcher on the ends of each wing. While it feels like this space could’ve been used for more storage, most of the space here is unfortunately taken up by the landing mechanism.

One weak point in the wing is this section, as the rear part of the wing is only attached with one stud on this hinge, and so grabbing the rear wing can feel a bit weak.

Final Thoughts

What I liked:

• Cad Bane and Omega minifigures are exceptional
• Landing gear play feature is fun, albeit slightly superfluous
• Ship is large and feels good to swoosh around

What I didn’t like:

• Very expensive
• Minifigure selection could still be better
• Lack of interior space
• Not very detailed
• Gaps and exposed Technic mechanisms

On the whole, the set has some strong aspects, but a lot of disappointments too. The Cad Bane and Omega figures are truly excellent, and it feels like LEGO knows that, and it’s kind of a shame they’re locked behind such an expensive set.

Many fans will probably buy this set for Cad Bane, but I still think the minifigure selection could have been improved. While Hunter and Fennec are both very relevant to the scene, the fact that they’re both reused figures is kind of disappointing for a set at this price point.

The same trend continues for the ship, which has good points like the fun landing gear play feature and a decent cockpit area, but has severe drawbacks like a general lack of detail, exposed gaps and Technic mechanisms, limited interior space, and colour-mismatched stickers.

And then there’s the price. US$169.99 is genuinely a mind-boggling price, and I genuinely cannot see any explanation as to why it costs so much.

It’s a 1000 piece set with 5 minifigures and not much interior space, and does not offer much more in terms of play value or piece count than cheaper sets like 75337 AT-TE Walker and even 75336 Inquisitor Transport Scythe.

The only advantage it has over those sets is its large size – thanks to the use of large pieces in the build, but it still doesn’t feel large enough to be worth the US$170 price tag.

It’s frankly an odd choice at this price point to begin with, as the Justifier isn’t really an iconic ship so the high price tag is even more of a hard sell.

Overall, this set is a mixed bag, let down further by an incredulously high price.

Build [3] – Large and fun to swoosh around but lacking detail and interior space.
Minifigures [4] – Cad Bane and Omega are excellent figures, but could have had a couple more figures given the reused Hunter and Fennec Shand minifigs.
Real Value [1] – Harsh, but I genuinely don’t see any justification for the set being priced at $169.99 USD.
Innovation [3] – Some fun play features and the engine pod looks unique thanks to a cool build technique, but overall nothing super innovative.
Keepability [3] – The Cad Bane and Omega figures will be really desirable but the ship itself isn’t particularly iconic nor memorable.

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Special thanks once again to LEGO for supplying this set for review.

Thanks for reading my review of 75323 The Justifier! Do check out some of my other guest reviews for some of my previous work.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section – was I being too harsh? Will you be picking up this set? What are your thoughts on the Cad Bane and Omega figures? Comment below!

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