LEGO Star Wars’ mission to downsize everything in its path goes horribly wrong with 75413 Republic Juggernaut, a set that defines the word ‘compromise’ in every way but one.
A smaller and more affordable X-wing or TIE Fighter is a noble pursuit in an era where those icons of LEGO Star Wars had been creeping up to nearly triple figures in price, so when downsizing began in earnest in 2021 it was easy to accept. But 75413 Republic Juggernaut is proof that not every Star Wars vehicle should be chopped down to size – and that doing so doesn’t always make them affordable...
75413 Republic Juggernaut
Release: Aug 1, 2025
Retiring: Dec 31, 2026
Price: £139.99 / $159.99 / €149.99
Pieces: 813
Minifigures: 8
Let’s start with a big-picture view on 75413 Republic Juggernaut: conceptually, this vehicle makes sense to pair with these minifigures even if it’s not rooted in anything in canon, because they’re sought-after characters and the on-screen pairing – a UT-AT – would basically mean building a boring grey slab. What doesn’t make sense conceptually is trying to do it all within 813 pieces, especially when so many of those parts go into brick-built wheels.
We’ve seen Turbo Tanks (as they were originally called in LEGO, and there’s some irony that the smallest version yet is finally the one to embrace the name ‘Juggernaut’) before, and this one doesn’t stray too far from the herd from a design perspective. You’ve got folding panels, accessible interiors, wheels on axles to simulate suspension (though there’s no real suspension), stud shooters and a watchtower.
And in some ways it’s the best-looking version of this vehicle yet. Most of the gaps are closed, save for a couple of sore spots around the rear cabin; it’s smoothed-off and bulked out to give it a bit more heft; and proportionally it’s pretty much spot on, apart from being a little too short at one end (the rear cabin should technically hang over the wheelbase).
But all of that is offset by the fact that it’s just too squat and just too small. If you could highlight everything, fix the proportions in place and drag one corner to increase the size by, say, 50%, you’d be on to a winner. But this isn’t Photoshop – it’s a LEGO set. And not just any LEGO set, but a £140 LEGO set. At that price, you’d reasonably have expected that size increase to have already happened.
There’s the rub with 75413 Republic Juggernaut: it’s a downsized set without a downsized price. Back in 2021, LEGO Star Wars Creative Lead Jens Kronvold Frederiksen told Brick Fanatics that the original goal of scaling back iconic Star Wars vehicles was to make them more affordable. “We thought that the prices of these classic models had become relatively high, with an X-wing at $90 or €90,” he said.
“The brief that I gave to the designers was to make a cool X-wing or TIE fighter with the same level of detail – and preferably also [the same] features and functions – but almost half the price.” 75413 Republic Juggernaut achieves the goal of shrinking down a Turbo Tank to fit into a smaller price bracket, then slaps the regular price of this vehicle on it anyway.
The fault here lies with the bean counters at the LEGO Group more than anything else, because the designers have genuinely given this a good go with the restrictions of the piece count in mind.
Aesthetically it’s got a lot going for it, and even functionally it has its strengths, with plenty of room for troops in the interior (though you’ll need to remove the Galactic Marines’ backpacks to fit in the chairs). The colour scheme is solid, the sand blue highlights combine nicely with the dark red to offset how otherwise terminally grey it all is, and all in all it captures the vibe of a Turbo Tank.
That is until you put minifigures next to it… or even worse, pop one in the puny observation tower. Then it starts to look more like when a child sits in one of those ride-on cars. It’s not quite chibi-style Microfighter territory, but there’s an argument to be made that 75413 Republic Juggernaut is closer to a midi-scale set than a playset.
It’s a real shame, because if you just blew everything up a bit bigger you’d solve a lot of this set’s problems – including the widely-discussed stability issues, which honestly feel a little bit overblown. The only way I’ve managed to make it crumble is if I pick it up by the rear section when the side panels are folded down. When they’re folded up you can pretty much grab it from anywhere and it’s fine.
But going bigger would have allowed for the inclusion of a Technic core (as in previous versions of this set) to make the main section stronger, while also opening up the potential for an even roomier troop bay (perhaps still with storage for a speeder bike or AT-RT), a more convincing observation post – this one is as basic as it gets – and better use of the space between the main troop bay and the rear cabin.
It feels like a set too compromised, too unsure of its potential, and maybe even too rushed. Or else it feels like the designers were told to come up with a Turbo Tank within a £90 budget, and then the LEGO Group slapped a £140 price tag on it anyway, because it knows that Clone Troopers are a big pull for collectors.
In this case, we’re looking at the first ever Galactic Marine minifigures, each sporting a new moulded helmet and a brick-built (but unprinted) backpack. They’re decent enough, but you’ll probably want to hunt down third-party waist capes – the printed kamas here as unconvincing as ever – and the same goes for Commander Bacara, who looks just that little bit too far away from the on-screen version to sell a set like this on his own.
Crucially, these minifigures are not by any stretch of the imagination worth the entry price alone, so don’t go buying into this thing at £140 just for them. Ki-Adi-Mundi has barely changed from his 2018 appearance, which is still easily affordable on the aftermarket, and I’m sure you’re all as tired as I am of regular B1 Battle Droids. If we’re playing fast and loose with canon anyway, some variants would have been nice.
But that’s probably expecting too much from a set that's so keen to underdeliver on any expectations created by the name ‘Juggernaut’. This isn’t what a new Turbo Tank in 2025 should look like, and instead ought to serve as a cautionary tale for the LEGO Group of when to downsize – and when not to…
Our honest opinion: 75413 Republic Juggernaut has forced the LEGO Star Wars team to compromise on almost every aspect of its design, but the LEGO Group isn’t willing to compromise on the price tag. One to avoid until it’s at least 40% off.
This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.
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