Review: LEGO 75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor

December 26, 2024 | 6

LEGO Star Wars & Automotive Correspondent

VaderFan2187

Jedi Starfighters are a dime a dozen in the LEGO Star Wars lineup, but the regular Eta-2 Interceptor has actually not appeared in LEGO form since 2020, almost five years ago now!

75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor swoops onto store shelves next year, bringing with it a striking new cockpit design and a controversial price tag. With three highly desirable minifigures accompanying this well-loved ship, is this set going to be the standout of the January 2025 Star Wars wave?

Let’s take a look ahead of the set’s release on 1 January 2025!

Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review.

Unboxing

The box showcases Ahsoka’s Interceptor flying into battle, with the Clone Wars border art featuring a 501st Clone Trooper in the lower left corner.

The back of the box shows the starfighter landed in the midst of a battle scene, along with cutouts showing off the model’s play features.

Inside the box are three numbered bags, an instruction manual, and a sticker sheet.

The sticker sheet is annoyingly big for a set of this size, although 8 of the stickers are for the ship’s winglets which is understandable. Thankfully, none were too difficult to apply.

Bag 1 also features the new cockpit piece, which has divided fan opinion. It has a lovely curved shape and nice prints on the exterior.

Build Process

Bag 1 includes Ahsoka and builds the central cockpit assembly.

Bag 2 includes R7-A7 and adds the left wing.

Bag 3 adds the right wing and the Anakin minifigure, completing the set. Overall, a fairly standard build for a Jedi Interceptor, nothing overly complex and was fairly quick to complete.

75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor Minifigures

The set includes a new Anakin Skywalker minifigure, wearing his dark robes from The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. Previous variants have included burnt and tattered details on the torso and leg prints, so it is good to get a regular version of this minifigure. His double-sided head and brown hairpiece are both suitably accurate, as is his blue lightsaber.

Ahsoka Tano is probably the standout minifigure in this set, wearing her distinctive Padawan outfit from The Clone Wars.

The use of the midi-legs is a great choice, as is the rubbery Togruta headgear piece with a beautiful new print. Ahsoka also features double-sided expressions and wields her two green lightsabers, although ideally one should be slightly shorter than the other.

The final figure is Ahsoka’s astromech, R7-A7. This minifigure is definitely an upgrade over its 2009 predecessor, although there is no back torso printing which is frustrating.

This is a really great minifigure selection that is sure to entice collectors – it would be the perfect lineup for a US$30 set, but at US$45, I would have liked at least one more named minifigure.

Completed Model

The completed Interceptor model measures around 19cm (7.5″) by 17cm (6.5″), a pretty standard size for LEGO’s Interceptors. The dark red and white color scheme looks fantastic, with a mixture of wedge plates used for the ship’s designs.

The new cockpit design has divided opinion but I am a fan – the wider rear that narrows towards the front creates a sleeker silhouette that complements the rest of the ship.

Around the rear, 3×3 rounded bricks are used to form the rear section of the Interceptor’s cockpit. These may be less detailed than previous variants, but the print would sometimes fade on older models with the previous-generation cockpit element, so this brick-built alternative is welcome. However, the overall shaping is definitely a little less accurate as a result, and the engines below also look a little small.

Just like every other Interceptor model since 2005, this ship has winglets that fold out on the end of each wing. Unfortunately there’s no way to display the set in this flight mode without building your own stand, but the winglets can fold flat for landing mode.

The winglets have large sticker detail on both the inside and outside, which helps the model’s design to stand out.

The right wing of the ship has lots of brick-built detail – using white wedge plates for the white patterns of the real ship, and a dark grey area under the winglets. The relatively new Speed Champions wedge corner slopes flank the cockpit, each decorated with a sticker, and I think these are incorporated well.

Here’s a closer look at the cockpit piece, which has lovely printed detail (although the white print could be slightly more opaque).

The cockpit opens up to grant interior access – it is connected via a Technic friction pin at the rear, but unfortunately there’s no studded connection at the front so it’s not as secure as I would like. Inside there is a brown seat for the pilot along with a stickered 1×2 control slope.

The left wing looks pretty similar to the right one, but has a slightly more complicated design to fit in the astromech slot.

Both Ahsoka and R7-A7 can be placed in their respective places on the ship.

Here’s how the model looks from the underside. There’s a pair of spring-loaded shooters under the cockpit which is always fun, and a pair of clips for Ahsoka’s lightsabers when she’s piloting the ship. The platform holding the astromech is bigger than on previous Interceptors which is a little odd as it makes the ship feel bulkier than it should.

The model looks great with both figures in place, ready to swoop into battle.

This model of the Jedi Interceptor is just as swooshable as previous variants – the area under the cockpit is great for holding on to when flying the set around your room.

Final Thoughts

On paper, this set does a lot of things right. The minifigure selection is fantastic and the Interceptor is well-designed: the cockpit design may be a little divisive but otherwise the set design is a lot of fun and includes all the necessary details and functions that you would expect from a starfighter at this scale. The ever-expanding LEGO parts palette has also enabled the designers to include more brick-built detail.

However, all of these successes are significantly marred by the price. US$45 / AU$70 / £40 is much too expensive – almost inexplicably so. Nothing about this 290-piece set with 3 minifigures and one starfighter model justifies the $10/£10 price increase over its predecessor, 75281 Anakin’s Jedi Interceptor from just five years ago. It is a shame as this is otherwise quite a lovely set, but it would take a significant discount for me to recommend this set, so wait for this to go on sale instead of buying it at full price.

Final Score

4

Build

The new cockpit design is divisive, but the model is successful overall, with good display and play value.

4

Minifigures

Nearly perfect minifigure selection, although one more would be ideal for this price point.

1

Real Value

Unfortunately the price tag on this set is pretty ridiculous – frankly, I cannot see how it can be justified even taking into account inflation/new elements.

2

Innovation

It’s a relatively conservative design, so while there are some nice brick-built details, the model isn’t particularly innovative or revolutionary.

3

Keepability

Jedi Interceptors are pretty common in the LEGO Star Wars lineup, although this is the first time we’re getting Ahsoka’s version which may entice collectors.

Audience rating

How would you rate this set?

1 2 3 4 5

Thanks for reading! 75401 Ahsoka’s Jedi Interceptor will be available from LEGO.com, and most toy stores from 1 January 2025.

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