Revisiting LEGO Jaws just before it retires – how good is it really?

The one and only LEGO Jaws set is on the brink of retiring for good, so we’ve revisited it to find out just how good it is really – and whether it’s worth grabbing before it’s gone.

21350 Jaws sailed on to shelves in August 2024 and is currently scheduled to retire by July 31, 2026. Just under two years is a relatively standard lifespan for any LEGO set, and given we’re rapidly approaching July this one seems unlikely to shift now, which means time’s running out to pick it up if it’s still on your wishlist.

If you’ve been on the fence this long, though, chances are you might still need a little help deciding whether or not to take the plunge. To that end we’ve revisited and rebuilt this diorama-style tribute to Hollywood’s original blockbuster to see if it still stacks up to our original review…

You’re going to need a bigger table

Is it a fun build?

21350 Jaws is split into three components, and so too does the build progress through these three stages: the boat, the shark and the base. You’re essentially beginning with the fiddliest and most complex part of the set in the Orca, but it’s also here where you’ll have the most fun. If you’ve read or watched anything about this model you’ll probably have heard about the boat being built partially upside down, and it’s as engaging and entertaining to assemble as it sounds.

Or it is until you get to the string. Full disclosure: string is the bane of my LEGO life, and unfortunately 21350 Jaws has done nothing to change that, even while the two separate lengths of string here each end in a ball joint ready to clip into a receiver. That’s because the other end still requires tying a very fiddly knot, so fingers crossed you’ve got the manual dexterity and precision required. And that you pull it taut enough at the first time of asking, as otherwise it’ll just continually fall off. Ask me how I know.

That small niggle aside, what the boat’s build really boasts is variety, and that’s reflected across the entire model. The shark feels like a souped-up Creator 3-in-1 animal, while there’s a lot more going on in the base than you’d expect at first glance. At only 1,497 pieces this is firmly a mid-range set by modern standards, too, so there’s no danger of fatigue setting in.

Smile, you son of a brick

What’s it like on display?

Building it’s one thing, but how does 21350 Jaws look on display? In a word: boat-iful. In another, actual, word: sublime. This is one for the Spielberg collection of dioramas that also includes 76956 T. rex Breakout and 77015 Temple of the Golden Idol, both of which are also situated on a black base, but none of those three sets use their base in exactly the same way.

Jurassic Park’s is the most conventional, squared-off and encompassing the entire set; the Indiana Jones set splits it into three at angles; and Jaws allows its builds to spill out over the sides.

The original LEGO Ideas submission for 21350 Jaws featured just the boat and shark, and it felt almost essential for the LEGO Group to tie those together with a watery base even before the finished design was revealed – so it was with some relief two years ago when we saw the final product. If you do want to display the shark separately there’s a full display stand and tip of its tail in the box too, offering a couple of different options, but of course it looks best leaping out of the water and attacking the Orca.

Like its Jurassic counterpart it makes for a fairly wide but shallow build, which is perfect for the sort of shelves most of us have at home, and the overall composition is difficult to fault: the busy aesthetic of the boat is complemented perfectly by the comparatively simple yet expertly-realised shark. You couldn’t ask for a better quote for the printed tile at the front of the base, either.

When they pay a guy like you to build sharks…

Are the minifigures any good?

Jaws has its fair share of memorable characters, but none of them have quite the cinematic staying power of Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones or Alan Grant. So we only get three in 21350 Jaws: Chief Martin Brody, Matt Hooper and Sam Quint. Who’s missing? Nobody we’d need to include in a set like this. And it’s very much quality over quantity, anyway – the LEGO Ideas team has left nothing on the cutting room floor for these three.

Brody gets new prints all round and dual-moulded arms; Hooper has new prints and an at-the-time new hat-and-hairpiece; and Quint gets new head and torso prints. You couldn’t ask for much more, which is reassuring given we’re probably not going to be seeing another LEGO Jaws set any time soon.

I’ll build him for three, but I’ll display him for 10

Is it worth the money?

21350 Jaws rings in at £129.99 in the UK, $149.99 in the US and from €149.99 in Europe. By 2026 standards that’s positively mid-range for LEGO Ideas, but just because something is (comparatively) cheap doesn’t mean it’s automatically good value. Yet all things considered… Jaws feels pretty good.

There’s substantial volume here, even if some of it is communicated through the mast of the boat, and the price-per-piece ratio – already decent at 1,497 elements total – isn’t inflated by a gratuitous amount of small elements. There are three large dark blue 16×16 panels for the base, for instance.

Best advice with any LEGO set is to try to find it discounted, but this late in the day you might just have to suck it up and pay full price if you want to secure yours before it retires – especially in the UK, where it’s a third-party exclusive at Argos (so discounts are rare). You won’t feel short-changed if you do, mind you.

He’s gonna have a heart attack when he sees what I built him

The final verdict

Nearly two years on and on the brink of retirement, is 21350 Jaws worth pushing up your LEGO shopping list? Having rebuilt it, enjoyed it and photographed it again for this feature, the answer is honestly a resounding yes. Some LEGO sets age like fine wine, and while this one’s still relatively young in the grand scheme of things, it feels like a future classic that’ll be looked back on very fondly five, 10 or even 20 years from now.

21350 Jaws is due to retire by July 31, 2026, but could sell out for good in the weeks or even months leading up to that date, so don’t wait until the last day if you want it. It’s available now at LEGO.com (at the time of writing) for £129.99 / $149.99 / €149.99.

The copy of 21350 Jaws pictured here was provided by the LEGO Group.

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