LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader review

Recreating a key character moment from Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi comes 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader, a LEGO Star Wars set with a few flaws…

We say flaws, but on initial inspection it’s actually just the one, big, grey floor. Oh, and the price. There aren’t many ways to dress a flat piece of dull landscape beyond how the LEGO Star Wars team have tried here, and what 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader ends up as is in fact much better than what you may otherwise be expecting. But then, the price goes and undoes all of that good work and we’re back to (big, grey) square one again.

75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader is best thought of as a product of its source material, rather than a product representative of what the LEGO Star Wars team can produce. Indeed, 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader releases as part of yet another impressive wave of LEGO Star Wars sets packed with authentic detail and LEGO innovation to enjoy by the brick-load.

Yet, as part of that wave, 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader does unfortunately stand out, for two reasons that really work against each other – the price and what’s on offer.

— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader set details —

Theme: LEGO Star Wars Set name: 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader Release: August 1, 2022

Price: £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 Pieces: 408 Minifigures: 4

LEGO: Pre-order now

— Where to buy LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader —

75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader is available at LEGO.com, in LEGO Stores and through select third-party retailers. You can find all the latest discounts on the set in the tool below, or by using our LEGO price tracker.

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— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader build —

This review contains spoilers for Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi.

75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader is based around the first meeting between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, as told in Part III of the Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. An out-of-sorts Kenobi is chased around an abandoned mining facility of sorts by his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker, complete in his terrifying Vader get-up, before they briefly come together.

The scene is something that the show has been building up to and teasing and, coming midway through the mini-series, is almost purposefully anti-climactic, with story to still tell and Kenobi in particular with purpose and confidence to still find.

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As a scene it is significant as a character moment, more so than an action one, and as a result, the meeting of the former Jedi brothers is over almost as quickly as it begins, and the characters disperse pretty much as soon as they come together, all in a setting that remains rather forgettable and light on detail.

This is no peak Anakin vs. Obi-Wan battling it out across the molten lava of Mustafar, so turning this into a LEGO set won’t produce something as fun and dynamic as 75269 Duel on Mustafar, where the scenery so visibly and playfully adds to the action you can play out between the characters, just as it did in Revenge of the Sith.

This meeting in Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi between older versions of the characters is shorter and less action-packed, with no hint of higher ground, no colour, no discernible aspects of landscape, and so results in probably the only LEGO Star Wars set the design team could produce – 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader.

That makes it a difficult sell, coming in as not quite a hands-on extravaganza to play around with nor a detailed, engaging build to sit on display. In its simplest form it’s a large, flat rectangle of grey plates and bricks built up for four included minifigures to stand upon, with a few play features built in to mimic what was seen on-screen.

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Simple isn’t always bad, except when it is priced at £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99. So naturally, before anyone even had their hands on 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader it was ripped apart in the memes.

The price is the sticking point, because the set is actually true to its source material, with play features that reflect better-than-expected the minimal action seen on screen. There are turntables built into the base to swivel Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi in battle, some containers filled with flaming spice to spill across the ground, and the ability to shift the base slightly and pop up some more burning spice for Obi-Wan to be dragged across.

As far as putting everything true to what we saw on screens into a LEGO set, 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader delivers, and does so with the usual skill we have come to expect of LEGO Star Wars in 2022.

Yet, it isn’t enough to make the set that engaging or fun when it is priced that highly. Say it was £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 and you’d look at it with different eyes. Those four minifigures suddenly look like good value and the grey base begins to look like an added bonus. As it is, though, £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 burdens 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader too much.

— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader characters —

The characters put into minifigure form are where 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader clearly is strongest. This is perhaps best summed up in how an arm-printed version of Darth Vader manages to be the least interesting of the four in the set, and just last year that was a highly-desirable minifigure.

As it is, an aged and dishevelled Obi-Wan Kenobi is nicely captured in minifigure form in 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader, with two facial expressions that nicely reflect his anxious, uncertain state heading into this meeting with Vader. The detail to his minifigure design is as you would expect, with the hairpiece providing a much-needed update to the character’s appearance too.

The only area to perhaps criticise is in the broken-up nature of the leg printing – in fact, it’s so off that it looks like a misprint, except for how other reviews highlight the same, unusual misalignment.

Also included are duo Tala Durith and NED-B and it’s really very nice to get both included here – 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader can be criticised as a set, but as a selection of minifigures it’s the best possible collection we could ask for, for their respective contributions both to this particular scene being played out and to the wider story that the show tells.

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NED-B’s design is spot-on in very many ways, drawing focus in particular for that moulded head-piece, and for that the droid is the standout minifigure. That being said, there’s one way in which the minifigure doesn’t sit true to expectations – this LEGO version of the droid is actually quite short when stood next to the other minifigures, and that sits in contrast to how part of its big character moments in the show are reflective of its large size.

We’ve been down this road before with Darth Vader, though – at the moment, LEGO Star Wars is not a theme for taller minifigures. Now if they were blue cat people, we’d be on to something…

Meanwhile, there’s little to criticise in Tala’s minifigure design, as she comes in an Imperial Officer uniform reflective of her role as a spy. If we were to pick up on a couple of opportunity areas that could have been explored in her design, though, which a price-tag of £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 more instinctively encourages, it’s that we could have had dual-moulded legs with black boots, and a new hat-and-hair combo to more accurately reflect her appearance, and offer collectors a new way to more authentically add female officers to their LEGO Imperial army. As it is, Tala looks like every other LEGO minifigure Imperial Officer, with all her hair presumably bunched up underneath her cap.

We are being pedantic only because of the price of 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader. Otherwise, this set’s core strength is in its minifigure design and selection.

— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader price —

£44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 is too much for 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader. There are play features that have been smartly built into the set and there is an unrivalled and exclusive line-up of great minifigures included, but it doesn’t come together to offer the most engaging LEGO experience when measured against that price tag. The sense of value is so far lost from this set that it impacts what is otherwise another accurately-designed LEGO Star Wars set.

— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader pictures —

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— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader summary —

75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader offers an accurate and fair representation of a notable – albeit brief – scene from the Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are play features and pieces of scenery true to what we see on screen, and the set also includes a fantastic line-up of four relevant and very-well-designed minifigures.

There is a lot from a LEGO perspective to enjoy, but in a climate as we are at the moment, the price is playing such a significant aspect here, because it is too high. If it dropped by £10, focus would shift back to how, for what it is, 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader is a nice little set. So maybe wait for that opportunity in a sale.

Before that point though, this feels like an unfortunate consequence of where the LEGO Group needs to price particular sets and the gap to where fans’ affordability is.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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— LEGO Star Wars 75334 Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader FAQs —