LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama review

LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is better than you may expect and hopefully a hint at a greater potential for this series.

75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama arrives as the latest in the recent series of diorama sets from the LEGO Star Wars team and is part of the collection of releases in 2024 to help mark both 25 years of LEGO Star Wars and the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace.

Coming in as the previous dioramas did at a relatively high price, is 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama a safe bet to win, or is it the sort to spin out and crash?

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama set details —

Theme: LEGO Star Wars Set name: 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama Release: May 1, 2024

Price: £69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99 Pieces: 718 Minifigures: 0

LEGO: Order now

— Where to buy LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama —

LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama releases on May 1 as part of the LEGO Group’s May the 4th celebrations and will be available at LEGO Stores and at LEGO.com, as well as third-party retailers such as The Minifigure Store.

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama build —

LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama comes together in much the same way as the likes of any of the previous diorama sets, from 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama through to 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama, beginning with the black-framed base construction.

It sets up the more precise, patient approach that these diorama sets ask of the builder, as well as creating a more solid foundation that the display scene you are putting together will rise from. By their nature as much as by design these diorama sets have very much carved their own creative space within the LEGO Star Wars collection for how they are put together, and 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is no different.

There’s a change of pace to building a set such as this, and a different appreciation for what the pieces in front of you are putting together, particularly in the case of the microscale or midi-scale scenes such as this one and before it, 2022’s 75329 Death Star Trench Run Diorama. Where 75329 fell down was in the intense use of primarily one colour that the source material for the set demanded, and whilst this year’s 75380 could have risked a similar experience building up the desert scenery behind the podracers, the landscape is in fact a relatively fast part of the build. 

Beyond a few plates for the ground, it consists primarily of a back wall that is then decorated with larger sections via SNOT (studs not on top) connections. Standard techniques at play but they do the job in recreating the bulky rockwork of Tatooine that sits as the backdrop to the podracers.

As mentioned, this is a part of the build that you will race through before tackling the two podracers, both of which are well and truly treated as the centrepieces to 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama. They come in perhaps slightly bigger than you may initially anticipate, and are certainly far more delicate and complicated to piece together than you would think, and this is no criticism. Both require decent concentration to line up and construct – in particular Sebulba’s podracer – both for the intricate nature of building such complicated machines at this specific scale, and for a handful of very smart techniques that help you through it.

The end result is not only a couple of authentic-feeling, decent-sized and very eye-catching podracers, but an extra level of satisfaction, accomplishment and appreciation for how they have been put together. They look great and are memorable to put together – two important factors for any display-based LEGO set.

75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is finished off with the nearside bit of scenery that creates an archway through which Anakin is piloting his podracer. No, Sebulba’s podracer cannot fit through that same gap, but we can forgive the artistic license taken here because, artistically, the whole display piece as a finished article works perfectly. There’s a sense of movement and action for how the racers are both angled, hovering above the ground as if caught in mid-flight, while their designs really pop out from the build both for the neutral tones of the backdrop and also how both slightly overhang the bordered base.

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama price —

LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is retailing at £69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99 and for a premium price it does offer a premium LEGO experience, but, still one that might be even better value if you wait a while for a first reduction on it. If you are a day one purchaser there’s enough to love here, but for everyone else, waiting a little while for 10% or 20% off won’t do any harm.

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama pictures —

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama pros and cons —

And that’s it – LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama ticks all the boxes previous LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection sets do, it’s increasingly interesting to put together and it looks very decent on display. It takes something we’ve built or played with before from the LEGO Star Wars line and places it within a new, more grown-up context to clever effect.

If you were asked to close your eyes and picture what this set would be without having seen it, this is pretty much what you would have imagined. And in that sense, 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama doesn’t disappoint on such expectations and sits as an excellent and very worthy addition to a fine subtheme of LEGO Star Wars.

Yet, three waves into the LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection and there’s an emerging feeling that the design team behind these is still playing things a little safer than they need to. There should be no preconceived ideas or appearances or building styles or interpretations of subject matter when it comes to a new creative direction like these dioramas. These particular sets have the potential to capture action and story in a way like nothing else can within the LEGO Star Wars theme, and to do it in any LEGO build style or technique open to some of the world’s most talented LEGO designers, be those ideas new or familiar. If you consider where this line of sets sits both within the 25-year history of LEGO Star Wars so far and looking ahead to the next 25 years, it has a potential like nothing else to really offer fans a wow factor they’ve not experienced or even imagined before.

Looking at what the Diorama Collection has produced so far makes perfect sense as far as a gentle introduction to such a novel concept goes. Meanwhile, aspects such as the crashed X-wing half submerged in the swamp in 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training Diorama, the dynamic hands-on manoeuvrability built into 75339 Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama, and the intricate nature of how the podracers in 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama come together do indeed touch upon what the Diorama Collection sets could possibly explore more of that we’ve not previously seen, experienced or had the pleasure of building in LEGO Star Wars. But they are glimpses of a greater depth, not full experiences.

It’s important to note that there’s little to criticise in most of the sets within the Diorama Collection – they are neat display-orientated additions that are very much welcome within the wider LEGO Star Wars galaxy, and 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is no different. But for such a subtheme – with what we believe has the most potential of any subtheme or collection that LEGO Star Wars has had in many years – to live on and maybe find a longer-term home within the theme, we would encourage these sets to go harder. Test our building ability even more, surprise us and show our imagination something else, not just something we could otherwise have pictured. That’s LEGO Star Wars at its best, and that’s what the Diorama Collection could represent.

Equally, this isn’t about chasing novelty for novelty’s sake, which is something we can all be guilty of sometimes demanding when it’s not necessary. This is about recognising untapped potential, and the genuine opportunity that LEGO Star Wars has with this subtheme to produce sets that are unfiltered by previous expectations or pre-existing notions.

We wholeheartedly recommend 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama and its highlights are the moments that come close to that greater depth of LEGO experience (the podracers) we are alluding to. We also continue to enjoy the Diorama Collection sets, yet both these sentiments come with a growing hope that, for the series to continue and to flourish, it really begins to explore new ground.

LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama pros	LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama cons
Looks great on display thanks to dynamic action poses	The heavily punctuated quote on the front feels rather long
Podracers are a highlight to build	Dioramas have the potential to surprise and challenge even more than this…
Building the backdrop doesn’t lag	…particularly for the price

This set was purchased from The Minifigure Store, where you too can purchase the new May 1 LEGO Star Wars sets from now, with worldwide shipping available.

In-stock orders are sent within 24 hours of being placed with free UK tracked shipping from £24.99 (£49.99 on larger items), as well as a number of discount codes available at their site, including 17% off polybags.

Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO Star Wars sets through one of our affiliate links and making sure you accept cookies at LEGO.com.

— Alternatives to LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama —

75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama is the latest entry in the LEGO Star Wars Diorama Collection, so the best alternatives would be 75352 Emperor’s Throne Room Diorama or 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama, both of which incorporate minifigures into their displays where 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama doesn’t.

— LEGO Star Wars 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama FAQs —