Aaaand… We’re back! Welcome to Part 2 of my LEGO Marvel 2015 retrospective! If you have not already, go check out Part 1, where I discuss all six of the Avengers: Age of Ultron LEGO sets. Today, we will be checking out the sets from the rest of the year, so without further ado, here’s part 2 of my 2015 LEGO Marvel retrospective!
Carnage’s SHIELD Sky Attack (76036)
This $13 USD is such a great minifigure pack. We get our first SHIELD Agent with a great specific torso print, which can be amassed to create a large SHIELD army. We also get our first Miles Morales Spider-Man minifigure which is just awesome. However, like other minifigures from this theme, I wish he got leg printing. Finally, the star of the set is Carnage. Damn. He has got to be the best minifigure of this year. Not only does he have phenomenal head, torso and leg printing, he’s also got side-arm printing, which just elevates this figure beyond great. I don’t wanna gush at this minifigure for too long, but this is the standard we should expect from LEGO Marvel. Maybe not just the side-arm printing, but definitely the intricate leg printing.
Rant aside, the build is also pretty cool. It’s a decent looking SHIELD hovercraft. It kind of reminds me of the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Dropship (7667) set from 2008. It’s a cool build that can be bought in bulk to create your SHIELD soldiers and hovercraft. The dark blue and yellow colour scheme is quite unique – something sets don’t usually have. It has stud shooters, which adds to the set’s playability. I also want to mention the wings. They look pretty dope. Yeah, it’s a simple build, but however simple, it just looks right. Anyway, great set and a great bang for your buck.
Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up (76037)
This set should be the definition of LEGO superhero sets, not oversized bikes and large vehicles. This is what I wish a lot of Marvel sets are like. But before I start ranting, let’s look at the minifigures.
We get the usual Ultimate Spider-Man, one we have received countless times in this sub-theme. However, this time he has dual-moulded red and blue legs. We finally get our first Iron Spider minifigure with simple head and torso printing. We also receive large, pearl-gold arm attachments, which could be connected via a neck brace. However, I believe that dual-moulded yellow and red legs would have really made this minifigure even better. We finally get our first Sandman minifigure with a great head and comic-accurate torso. Again, I wish we got leg printing. Finally, we have a… Clone Trooper? Nah, I’m just joking. We get our first Rhino minifigure who has the angry Clone face. He has an exclusive torso print but again, no leg print.
Now, the build! This build encompasses what it is to be a superhero set. First of all, I love when LEGO does landscapes/buildings in superhero sets, as these turn out to be the better ones from the theme. This is no different. The construction site consists of a crane which can turn around and pull/push objects up and down, using a pulley. It can be spun around to knock over Rhino’s mech or Sandman. We had loosely connected bricks all around the set, which can be knocked over for additional playability. We got two amazing brick-built Sandman arms which look as if they were an extension of the villain himself. He could use these to grab either Spider-Man, and it could be knocked over by the super jumper included in this set.
A primary play feature of this set is this: Spider-Man is supposed to lure Rhino into the middle of the build. The sign in the front can be knocked over, trapping Rhino in a web. Knocking the far-left sign with the super jumper will reveal some of the villain’s stolen diamonds. The Rhino mech is pretty cool, although I wish he was more concealed in it. Anyway, this is what I want more from this theme, and this set is living proof that LEGO can do an amazing $40 USD play set.
Ant-Man Final Battle (76039)
This is a great $20 USD set. We get a Scott Lang Ant-Man minifigure which has quite an accurate torso and leg printing. However, the helmet, based off of concept art is really inaccurate in comparison to the model in the movie. We get a re-use of Ezra’s face from Star Wars: Rebels which is another downfall of this minifigure. We also get a Hank Pym Ant-Man minifigure, although he was never fighting beside Scott in the movie at all. He has a black recolour of the Ant-Man helmet with a similar torso and leg printing, but with a base colour of black. The Yellow Jacket minifigure is also pretty dope. He has a newly moulded helmet with a good torso and leg printing. There is a build attached to him via a neck brace piece to make up his arms. All in all, a good minifigure.
The builds really make this set such a great one. We have a large-scale ant build, which is probably Antony, Scott Lang’s primary ant in the film. We also have large-scaled screw builds which are pretty clever. But the best build of the set are the LEGO bricks. They are done in a large scale, like the other builds, with stickers for the logo. The whole set is supposed to represent world objects from a down-sized Ant-Man, which is why the builds are so big. This is so clever. Whoever’s idea this was, you really made this set great! Props to you!
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The SHIELD Helicarrier (76042)
2015 brought us the most expensive LEGO Marvel set to date: The $350 USD Helicarrier. Shame I missed out on this because it’s definitely one of the top 10 LEGO Marvel sets in my opinion, not to mention one of the best of 2015. We get repeated Hawkeye and Black Widow minifigures from the Age of Ultron wave. We get our first unmasked Captain America, combining a head and hairpiece with the Age of Ultron suit. Also, we get an updated, and probably our best Nick Fury, with very MCU accurate and detailed head, torso and legs. Finally, we get our first Maria Hill minifigure with a new torso print and an MCU accurate-looking head and hair. We also got a ton of microfigures, as this is a micro-scaled set. We get an intricate printed micro Iron Man, Captain America, Nick Fury and Hawkeye, in addition to eight SHIELD agents.
As I said before, this is a micro-scaled set, which, in my opinion, is fitting, as it allows the designers to focus on detail and accuracy, rather than play. It is quite accurate and looks amazing from all angles. The top of the ship has a cool runway for the micro Quinjets to land and take off on. Three of these Quinjets are included, in addition to three mini jets. We also get four caution barriers and a few transport vehicles. Details such as boxes and crates are placed all over the ship, adding an extra depth of detail. My words cannot explain how detailed and accurate this ship is to the MCU version. It also had the top tower, which is built cleverly. If you look from a lower angle straight forward, you can see inside the bridge of the ship which is so cool.
You could actually remove the above panels of the ship to reveal this interior space which has amazingly accurate placing of all computers and objects. Honestly, you’d have to buy this set to really appreciate the effort and the attention to detail in this set. There’s a crank at the back of the ship which moves all four turbines which is a cool hidden play feature. You can also hook it up to LEGO Power Functions for it to run automatically. Again, it is impossible for me to go in-depth into all the intricacies and details of this set, which is why I highly recommend you buy it. Sadly, I do not own this behemoth, but I am hoping that one day I will. If there’s one set that deserves one hundred percent, it is this set.
Exclusives/Promotions
To end this article off, let’s look at the promotional LEGO Marvel sets and exclusives from 2015.
The Avenger’s Quinjet (30304) is a direct Age of Ultron set tie-in. It’s a really cool mini build of the Quinjet from that wave. It too has a flick-fire missile, which can be launched as a play feature.
Spider-Man Super Jumper (30305) is an average polybag, in which we receive the same Ultimate Spider-Man minifigure as in the sets. The drone is also pretty average.
Winter Soldier (5002943) promo is our only Captain America: The Winter Solider product that LEGO has released. It’s definitely one of the cooler promotions, as this was our first Winter Soldier figure, with amazing head, torso, leg and arm printing. It’s a really cool collectable minifigure.
The Hulk (5003084) polybag is pretty nice. We get a minifigure of the Age of Ultron Hulk, which looks really cool. There’s also a mini Hydra vehicle which can be torn apart.
We got the unnumbered All New Captain America (Sam Wilson) minifigure at San Diego Comic Con, but like other convention exclusives, it was released for only a few to win. The head and torso are the exclusive parts of this minifigure, making it really desirable.
Finally, we got an unnumbered Throne of Ultron set which was also a San Diego Comic Con exclusive. We got the same final version of Ultron, as in The Avengers Quinjet City Chase (76032), in addition to the Ultron Sentries from Iron Man vs. Ultron set (76029). The build is a great representation of the church from the movie, but nothing you cannot build yourself at home.
And that concludes the Part 2 of our trip down memory lane for 2015 LEGO Marvel sets! Thanks for sticking with me through this, or even Part 1! I really appreciate that you took the time out of your day to listen to my opinions, on this marvelous year for this theme. I hope that I helped you to decide whether you would like to purchase any of these sets or minifigures. But yeah, that’s it for me! Stay tuned for my next article. Take care!
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All images from Brickset
