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The Empire strikes brick: Building Boba Fett's ship Lego by Lego

One bounty hunter, 2,000 Lego bricks and no disintegrations: CNET's Luke Lancaster pieces together a Lego Star Wars kit of Boba Fett's spaceship, Slave I.

Luke Lancaster Associate Editor / Australia
Luke Lancaster is an Associate Editor with CNET, based out of Australia. He spends his time with games (both board and video) and comics (both reading and writing).
Luke Lancaster
2 min read

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Bounty hunter Boba Fett's Slave I ship (a Firespray-31-class, if you want to get technical). Dave Cheng/CNET

In terms of pure efficiency, it's hard to pick a cooler "Star Wars" character than bounty hunter Boba Fett. Not counting the ""="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="175a8d5c-8533-11e3-bc97-14feb5ca9861" slug="in-defense-of-the-star-wars-holiday-special" link-text="infamous " section="news" title="In defense of 'The Star Wars Holiday Special'" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"175a8d5c-8533-11e3-bc97-14feb5ca9861","slug":"in-defense-of-the-star-wars-holiday-special-as-it-turns-40","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"tv-and-movies"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Culture^Entertainment^TV and Movies","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> he first appeared in "The Empire Strikes Back" with 6.5 minutes of screen time and a grand total of four lines. But it was enough to get people hooked.

He just oozes cool. Seeing him onscreen for the first time -- with his weathered, piecemeal armour, Man-With-No-Name-style cape and ice-cold ruthlessness -- blew my young mind. And then there was his ship, the Slave I. Looming and unique even among the stellar ship designs in "Star Wars," Fett and his Slave I were more than a match for Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon in my eyes.

Up close and personal with the Lego Star Wars Slave I (pictures)

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So it will come as no surprise that I'd commit to spending the better part of a day to building his ship out of Lego. At almost 2,000 pieces, the Slave I Star Wars Lego kit is the largest I've personally put together (which makes it something of a feat, if you consider the thousands of hours I've spent with Lego bricks across almost 25 years).

For comparison, the last two kits I built were the Marvel Super Heroes Hulk Buster (248 pieces), and another "Star Wars" kit, the TIE Advance Prototype (355 pieces). The Slave I even dwarfs the "Guardians of the Galaxy" Milano (665 pieces) sitting next to it on my desk. This one doesn't mess around.

The Slave I is available from Lego's online store and certain retailers for a suggested retail price of $200, £170 or AU$300. Check out the video below for a much sped-up version of the construction process and some close-ups of the cooler elements of the kit in action.

Watch this: Building the Lego Star Wars Boba Fett and Slave I