Jabba’s Sail Barge (The Khetanna) - TVC - Vehicles (Exclusive)

Never in our lifetime did we ever expect to receive Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) as a 3.75” vehicle. It wasn’t even a thought. But as we sat through Hasbro’s presentation at 2018’s NY International Toy Fair, the impossible became possible. Through a teaser video that let up to the announcement of Hasbro’s new crowdfunding creation, HasLab, everyone in the audience felt the anticipation, excitement and undeniable joy as it flowed through the room like light speed. For $499.99, backers of Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) would receive a 3.75” scaled version of a vehicle in The Vintage Collection packaging. To get a toy based on a vehicle that is only seen for slightly over seven minutes of screen time, from its entrance onscreen to its explosion at the end of the Battle of Carkoon, was no small feat. And it was up to the Star Wars fan sites to pimp the heck out of the HasLab campaign to ensure it would be a roaring success. Despite a slow start, the HasLab Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) campaign ended with 8,810 units backed from a required 5,000. Easily meeting minimum requirements, super articulated 3.75” began the year-long wait until it was released, while receiving periodic updates on Hasbro Pulse on its status. Just shy of meeting the February shipping date by only several days, Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) began shipping out to collectors around March 5, 2019. Despite some quality control issues from the Sail Barge or the included and exclusive Yak Face figure, most collectors received excellently produced specimens and are now displayed as centerpieces of their collections.

The Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is a stunning beauty. It’s a vehicle that you won't fully appreciate unless you own one and have it in-hand. There were many concerns throughout its development whether Hasbro would be faithful to the vehicle’s features, characteristics, styles, and colors, but we feel they’ve mastered it fully and aside from wishing we had a little more room for displaying figures inside of the vehicle, we’ll tell you right from the start that this is a flawless toy. Hasbro loaded Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) with features and kept action features are functionalities instead of gimmicky “play” things. For example, trap doors function like, well, trap doors. The prisoner cell door manually slides opened and closed as needed. The side panels come off by pulling them off. The cannons, thankfully, don’t fire projectiles. Hopefully, you get the points we’re trying to make. Authenticity was priority number one for Hasbro here, and for that, we’re eternally thankful. While not to scale, Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is the largest Star Wars vehicle the 3.75” has seen or will likely ever see to date. Unless their next HasLab project is a Blockade Runner or a Star Destroyer, we don’t see any vehicle exceeded this one’s size and girth. In all honesty, Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is overwhelming, and perhaps ostensibly, this was one of Hasbro’s plans. It’s a beautiful piece, and no one can deny that. But maybe if Hasbro had released the ship in two halves that connected, it might have been a better way to release this monstrous behemoth of a vehicle. Oh, and it looks great next to 2008's The Legacy Collection Battle At The Sarlacc Pit Battle Packs set. Let’s take a closer look at what else it offers the collector.

Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) comes with five pop off panels. Once removed, Hasbro draws us into a world of detail unexpected, but beautiful. These panels provide cover for the cockpit and the three main areas on the left side of the vehicle. And then a final panel on the rear allows for more play value and placement of additional figures in the common socializing area. On the top level of Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is a trap door. It leads right into the jail cell where the unsuspecting victim will join the mostly-decayed Ithorian who has been there for much too long. The dead Ithorian, attached via a peg, is an accessory we’ve been unsuccessfully attempting to remove. We’re waiting to see if someone else has had luck in removing it without damage to the Sail Barge. There is a point in the railing that breaks to recreate the scene where R2-D2 pushes C-3PO off of the deck of Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) (of course to save him). Hasbro was considerate to include this type of detail on this vehicle. Hasbro also included a row of articulated shutters to allow for some much-needed ventilation in the interior of the Sail Barge. There are many shutters on this vehicle, so be certain you're opening ones designed to do that. There’s more. The roomy interior cockpit holds two figures at the console, but there is additional room for standing “backseat” drivers too. Behind them is the sliding cell/jail door. And Hasbro surprisingly added a smuggler hatch to stow things like spice and coaxium (we suppose) which makes sense since Jabba The Hutt is a crimelord. There is also an armory and a kitchen and weapons and gorgs (chubas) hanging in each respectively. There’s a LOT of detail here.

Most collectors were concerned about how Hasbro would treat the deco on Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna). We are thrilled with the final piece, and we feel they should be very proud of the final product. Not an ounce was spared to save costs to make the vehicle look the greatest it could. Hasbro utilized a color palette of more colors than we could count, and the washes and textures worked into all of the pieces here is nothing short of astounding. The mounted heads throughout the vehicle are particularly beautiful. There is an Ishi Tib, a Gamorrean Guard and a baby Rancor. Each is painted in a metallic color to give them a sculptured look and feel. Hasbro painted all of them gorgeously. Even the artwork of another Hutt enslaving another female is hanging on the wall next to the Gamorrean Guard bust. You’ll find metal looking elements here. You’ll find wooden elements here. And each looks as realistic as the previous. Hasbro did a phenomenal job of making every last aspect of this vehicle as realistic as possible. We commend them. But the goodness doesn’t stop there. The sails on the vehicle will blow your mind too. Created with real fabric materials and a plastic wooden “skeleton” that gives them their shape, Hasbro crafted a screen-accurate, and authentic styling of Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna)’s sails, the vehicle's most colorful feature. The sails arrive like rolled up flags. And after you assemble the structures that support the sail, you simply stretch the canvas-like soft-goods over the “wooden” structures for a tightly pulled aesthetic. The material has enough elasticity to fit over the four corners that secure the ends, and the clever engineering of the rubber edges that lock everything in place is impressive beyond measure. Hasbro also added amazing detail into the sails’ supports too. You’ll see grained wood textures and speakers which amplify C-3PO’s voice as he announced his friends’ execution.

Included with Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is a repainted Jabba The Hutt figure which originally came from 2015’s TBS [P2] Jabba’s Rancor Pit Toys R Us exclusive set. Hasbro repainted Jabba The Hutt beautifully. They didn’t change the color scheme all that much, but you’ll notice differences like alternate shades of color (especially green), significantly better paint operation details (like eyes and nose) and an overall better final product. Jabba The Hutt fits perfectly on his Sail Barge dais thanks to a perfectly carved out section which accommodates his large size. Interestingly, Jabba’s dais slides back and forth to scan for shady denizens (or as the instruction booklet suggests). Admittedly, it’s wonderful to get a revised version of Jabba The Hutt with this vehicle. It’s an opportunity to treat this beautiful sculpt of Jabba the right way, and since it’s exclusive to Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna), it won’t clutter the aftermarket with an unneeded re-release either. As far as accessories, Jabba is outfitted with his loudspeaker microphone and two differently-sized shackles, presumably for the next jail cell victim or his next slave. Jabba The Hutt also fits comfortably inside of the vehicle. Kenner evidently designed this vehicle for him, and he looks great lounging around inside of it. The other exclusive figure included with Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is Yak Face. Yak Face is a straight repack of the Saelt-Marae (VC132) figure and now comes with a glass. The big selling point here is that Yak Face comes carded in 1985 The Power Of The Force packaging along with a recreation of the original vintage Kenner pack-in coin. (See the original figure HERE.) The coin looks more of a chrome color than the original aluminum versions of yesteryear, but Hasbro also updated the date stamp to 2019 to set it apart from the vintage Kenner versions. (It would be wonderful to have all of these coins re-released at some point during the current run of The Vintage Collection.)

In summary, Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) is an enormous gift from Hasbro. Yes, it was costly at $499.99. But there is no other way we would have been able to get this vehicle were it not through crowd-funding. It was too big of a risk for retail, and there are far too many collectors today that wait out for clearance prices. Both collectors and Hasbro have clear consciences over Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) because there were enough people to back it and show full support by voting with their wallets. And since we agreed, Hasbro can also rest easy knowing they made the right choice creating and releasing this vehicle for the hardcore 3.75” super-articulated collecting community. And because of the success of Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna), Hasbro worked on other great collector-friendly products throughout 2018 and announced their release at 2019’s NY International Toy Fair. The all-new Skiff, the Jabba’s Palace Adventure Playset and the Skiff Guard three-packs are simple examples of the goodness flowing out of Hasbro now. Collectors stepped up to the plate. And Hasbro responded graciously to us. And now there is no end in sight for the great stuff to keep coming. For those that missed out, there will likely be a healthy supply on eBay and other aftermarkets. But Hasbro has made it extremely clear that if you didn’t back this item through HasLab, there is no other way you’ll be able to get one, save for the few reserved for international collectors. But that estimation is somewhere less than 2,000 units. If you did #backthebarge, we hope you’re enjoying this glorious vehicle as much as we are. It’s literally the greatest thing Hasbro has ever produced for the collecting community, and we’re proud of them for doing the amazing job they did with Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna). Be sure to let us know how you feel about it too in our comments.

If you haven't yet, be sure to post your images of your Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna) on our New Acquistions page!