Welcome back to part 3 of my LEGO Marvel 2019 retrospective! Last time, we discussed three of the six Avengers: Endgame sets. Today, we will be reviewing the rest from this wave. So far, it had been quite disappointing overall, as none of the sets had actually appeared in the movie, despite the Machine Buster and Iron Man Hall of Armour being solid as a whole. So without further ado, let’s jump right into it! (Also spoilers for Avengers: Endgame)
Avengers Hulk Helicopter Rescue (76144)
Since I have always discussed every wave in price order, we will be looking at this $60 USD LEGO Marvel set next, which released November 27th, 2019. It was made later to avoid minor spoilers from the movie. I remember when it was revealed – I was at a school camp, and with my terrible 3G connection, I managed to logon to my Instagram account, and saw this. At first, I thought this was such a cool set, due to recency bias. However, as time went on, I began to realise that this set had the exact same characteristics of the typical Marvel set that many others in the AFOL community, including myself, really criticised. If you want to hear more about these criticisms, go check out my LEGO Marvel Rant, where I really go into depth about my critiques of this theme as a whole.
So, these two minifigures were the main reason that I immediately loved this set as it came out. The Rescue Suit that Pepper Potts wore during the final battle, and the Quantum Realm suited Hulk. Rescue was beautiful. She had a phenomenally detailed helmet, torso and legs. Her face was a re-use of Hermione’s head from the newer Harry Potter waves, and she also received a hairpiece. She came with a back-attachment piece to represent the extensions of her suit, and power-blast pieces. The second standout of this set was Hulk in his Quantum Realm suit. Finally, we received a new Hulk that actually looked unique. He, too, received a similar torso and leg printing to the rest of the characters in this wave. He also came with the nano-gauntlet that Tony Stark designed to hold the Infinity Stones.
I think that he should’ve gotten more printing – especially on the side of his arms and legs, because that extra effort would’ve gone a long way. So, as per the typical Marvel set, we received two standout minifigures that would ‘justify’ the purchase of the set. So what about the rest? Well, the new Chitauri minifigures were a downgrade from the 2012 versions. Even though the head was an improvement, as it actually showed their faces, these new ones didn’t even receive leg printing, like the previous ones. There was no reason that LEGO would’ve been unable to print leg printing. Basically, they told us that in 8 years, their quality decreased. It was such a lazy move on their part.
And finally, Black Widow. Come on LEGO. This set was released 6 months after the film. If they could’ve somehow known about Rescue showing up in the film, then surely they would’ve gotten the memo that Black Widow died during the movie. You know what? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe just before they released the movie, Marvel decided to give a bit more spoiler-filled concept art. Maybe it didn’t contain major spoilers from the movie. But then again, the fact that the Stark Gauntlet was included in this set would counter the argument, as that was a major spoiler. Nonetheless, Black Widow was a full re-use of the one released in the Quinjet from the earlier Endgame sets. She used the same face from 2018, a different hairpiece, and the same torso and legs that the other Quantum Realm suited characters wore.
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This LEGO Marvel set of 2019 gave us another helicopter. It has a more unique design and play function to previous versions from this theme. It had the typical flaps, opening cockpit and landing gear as so many others. This time, the sides were built a bit differently – something that looked more military-like. There were new disc-launchers attached to each side, which shot out 1×1 discs instead of 2×2 plates. The main play-feature involved attaching Hulk inside the hollow interior, and pressing down on a Technic axle which would drop him into the battlefield. It had two stud-shooters at the sides to shoot at enemies. This never happened in the movie at all, and is just laughable. The Chitauri carriage build was cool, and looked exactly to the cinematic version from the first Avengers movie.
The Leviathan was small, yet cool. It was something straight out of a polybag. And in my opinion, it should’ve been the primary build of the set – a more accurate version though. That would’ve really made this set worth the price. Now let’s talk about that price. It was $60 in the US, like the Hall of Armour. Here in Australia, the Hall of Armour was $90, which was a fair price, for included GST, shipping and the exchange rate. But here, LEGO decided to bump it up by $30 AUD, and sell it for $120 AUD, making this underwhelming set an even worse buy. I don’t know why LEGO did this, but it was wrong. Rant over. So, I would’ve recommended picking up the Hall of Armour over this, any day. And you could just order these figures online. But that’s my hot take.
Avengers Ultimate Quinjet (76126)
This was another solid Endgame set that hardly showed up in the film for a minute. This set gave us a bulk of the Avengers, including Thor who used the same head, hair and Stormbreaker build as his 2018 counterpart. Hawkeye came with a bow, a quiver, and used a different face print to his previous appearances. Black Widow, from the Avengers Hulk Helicopter Rescue set, and Rocket Racoon, using a similar print on his head mould. Each of these characters came in the previously discussed Quantum Realm suits. We also received two Chitauri minifigures – the exact same ones in the Hulk Helicopter Rescue set. Overall, it was a very lacklustre set of minifigures. As mentioned before, I like the Quantum Realm outfits. However, this being the last Avengers movie in the Infinity Saga, all the characters should’ve gotten their suits from the movie.
So that Quinjet. I don’t want to argue whether it was the best Quinjet to date, but I want to say that this one was a beauty, despite having a minimal role in the movie. If you do however want to desperately find out which one is the best, I highly recommend you check out my Ultimate Quinjet Showdown article. This had quite a unique colour scheme to the previous versions. A first, I wasn’t a fan of the orange and dark blue. But as time has passed on, it has really grown on me. The cockpit could be opened to fit a minifigure, and below it, hid two stud-shooters.
The mid-section of the plane could be opened via the use of two hatches to reveal a spacious interior, allowing standing and sitting space for four minifigures. At the jet’s rear end, another hatch can be pulled down, to reveal a small quad bike with stud-shooters for an Avenger to operate. A six-stud shooter can be pulled up from the back, which can be used to shoot enemies. Finally, like other versions, the flaps and wings can be rotated. Overall, this Quinjet has amazing playability and display ability, and I believe that it deserves the set’s name. It didn’t disappoint.
And that’s it for Part 3 of my LEGO Marvel retrospective of 2019! I know I dwindle a little on each set, but I have so much to say. I want to praise LEGO when they do something right, and rant when LEGO does something that I consider ‘not the right decision’. Anyways, we still have two more Endgame sets to analyse, along with the Spider-Man: Far From Home wave. But that’s it for me right now! Take care!
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Images from Brickset
