Thoughts on Avenging Cycle and Cosmic Cube Escape

[CaptainFordo]

Hey guys, long time reader, first time poster :P This isn't really a proper review, because I no longer have the boxes (binned them instantly) and I've already put the instructions and stuff in the loft, so it's just a few thoughts on the sets

I've been basically absent entirely from Lego since Revenge of the Sith, but I've always kept up with the latest news on FBTB - Big fan of the site - and I'm not really back into buying proper now, but I do enjoy reading about the sets and some of the cool stuff they've got coming out. Basically I made my first lego purchase (barring a couple of Jack Sparrows from ebay) in 7 years to assemble some lego Avengers, because I am just unbelievably psyched for the movie and the sets look pretty cool.

(For what it's worth, I bought the sets from Argos in the UK, they went on sale there yesterday, they show up online though not necessarily on the little stock checkers in store yet, but if they're in stock online and you write the number down they'll get em for you =D)

I knew when I first saw the sets I would have to get Loki's Cosmic Cube escape. It has Iron Man for one, who's my favourite hero, but also comes with a sweet truck plus Hawkeye and Loki who also look pretty cool. I picked up Cap too, mostly because I want to get the main trio of Cap, Iron Man and Thor (I'll probably get Thor on ebay, not likely to pick up the sets he's in at their current price, cool as they look).

So starting with the minifigures, they all look great. I'd say Loki probably looks the most impressive, even though he's the only one with no back printing or second face (I really wish he'd had a smirking face at least, but never mind) His cloak is a nice vibrant green and his staff is impressive too, made of a crescent scepter with a dagger-like piece stuck in the top. The helmet is of a softer rubbery plastic, probably because of the horns, but you're really have to work hard to poe your eye on it since they curve all the way back (which is technically not film-accurate, but looks incredibly cool). The Cosmic Cube itself is pretty weak, just a clear block, it should at least be translucent blue to be film-accurate (right now it looks like the fake cube from The First Avenger) but maybe that would've been too close to Iron Man's repulsor effects, and considering the fact it didn't even need to be included at all (assuming the set was just Loki's Escape) it's a nice extra and it's kind of grown on me.

Iron Man is one that's polarised a lot of people with his "oversized helmet" (don't say it!) but in person it's not that much larger than a standard racing helmet really. It's also neat that lego made it two pieces, instead of one. I guess it was to show off the Stark face (comes in smirking and angry varieties) without forcing you to swap the helmet for hair (sadly not included). He's got leg printing and back printing, all looking like the mark VI from Iron Man 2. The repulsor effects are surprisingly good too (though also inaccurate, since only Iron Man's chest and eyes are blue in the films, his repulsors and jets shine yellow, but this is much nicer looking so it's acceptable). When I first saw them I thought they looked kinda daft, but they really add to the swoosh factor of the figure, so much that I can't really have him fly without them now.

FInally Hawkeye. Arguably the "plainest" figure, but still very nice. I must confess I really don't like his second face without the shades. Maybe it's the ginger eyebrows, maybe it's the fact he looks weirdly old without them or maybe it's because the shades are just too cool, but I definitely won't be using that face anytime soon. Some have wondered why he has his quiver printed on his back instead of as a wearable piece and the answer is pretty simple: to let him sit in the truck. His new compound bow looks pretty nice too and Lego has correctly applied his archery glove to his left hand (Jeremy Renner's a lefty and thus draws with his left, not his right).

As for the truck itself, I've got to say it was an incredibly satisfying building experience. Granted I haven't built anything since the Jedi Intercepter nearly 7 years ago, but this was better than most builds I remember. It's a surprisingly densely build truck, the only empty space left at the end of the build is in the hood and the overall feel is incredibly sturdy. It's also nice and chunky-looking which is perfect for a military jeep. Sadly there are a few stickers, but if you're really against them I don't think that adding them loses much of the aesthetic. One thing I would briefly comment on is how the hood stick has little bullet holes on it, which is pretty cool.

Overall LCCE is a fantastic set and well worth the £19.99 I paid for it, if you're an Iron Man, Loki or Hawkeye fan, or you just want a cool new truck, I'd definitely recommend it.

As for Captain America's Avenging cycle... it's slightly more disappointing, but let's not kid ourselve, if you buy it, you're buying it for Cap and everything else is gravy. Cap himself is a nice figure, a deep shade of blue with dark red hands and printing on his front and back (none on the legs though) His shield is nice, if a little plain, it uses the unsegmented star from the comics rather than the segmented silver one from the film, but at such a small level that's just a fanboy quibble. The aliens with him are also very nicely detailed and kind of remind me of the old UFO sets from the late 90's, with the light green ships and those big grey helmets. It's hard to judge accuracy based on the trailers, but one thing that I only recently realised was that the heads are actually helmets and the blue-grey bodies are their skin and not the other way round (head's are bare, bodies armoured), in this light they seem fairly accurate, even the underslung gun seems to look like the on fired at Hulk in the latest TV Spot (Bodycount if you're interested). They're both fairly similar, but different enough to tell apart.

The buildable parts of the set are obviously the eponymous cycle and the aliens' ...I don't know what you'd call it, like a hover-skiff I guess, and gun turret. The cycle initially disappointed me when I saw pictures, since I much preferred Wolverine's bike but actually having it in-hand the bike is much more appealing. The addition of a clip on the back for Cap's shield is a nice touch too. The jet-hover-thing is also pretty cool and film-accurate from what I can tell. It also uses some blade-like pieces for decoration, but they can definitely be used as more weapons for the aliens which is nice. Sadly it needs the stickers supplied to really 'pop' design-wise, other wise it's quite a plain hover-thing. As a bit of connectivity, Loki looks equally impressive stood behind the controls too, which is a good alternative to Buying the Quinjet if you want Loki to have a ride of his own. The turret is pretty lame by comparison. Just a way to fill out the box. It looks nice enough, but mostly because of the pleasing gold colouring of the bricks, best used for a MOC than what it is.

While nowhere near as impressive as LCCE, CAAC is still a pretty nice set for what it is, with some cool minifigures and a decent hover-thing to go with them. It's still a recommend, but only for Cap fans or alien army builders.

[CaptainFordo]

I intend to put up some pictures when I get the chance, but is there a way to just upload direct? Or do I have to upload to something like flickr first? I'm also willing to take photo requests if anyone has any, provided they're not of the turret, instructions or boxes as I've already stored them away heh ^^'

[Chief]

No direct upload here. Flickr is the bomb!

Thanks for the thoughts on the set. This one was actually lowest on my list of Avenger wants, but I think the fig feedback is changing my mind.

[CaptainFordo]

Ok, just wanted to know if I could cut out the middle man :P. Well, I suppose this set is really about the jeep. If you plan on getting the Hulk and Quinjet sets, then the minifigures are less than worthless (unless you want both Iron Man variants), but I cannot speak highly enough of the jeep heh. It is a little frustrating how often Loki repeats over the sets. It certainly makes sense, it's just a shame there aren't any variants (at least one with a different expression or hair instead of the helmet would be nice, he seems to only wear it briefly in the film and definitely not when taken into SHIELD custody as in the Helicarrier set.

I just put a select few on here, here's the link to my flickr with more pics http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/. Sorry for the lighting, it's late afternoon so the light's not quite enough to fully lluminate, but not dark enough to work well with flash :P


Captain America Front by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Iron Man Front - Mask Down by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Hawkeye Front by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Iron Man Flying by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


SHIELD Truck Side by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


SHIELD Truck Front-left by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


SHIELD Truck Ramp flipped up by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Avenging Cycle Side by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Avenging Cycle Back by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Loki by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Alien Foot Soldier by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Alien Craft Front by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Blade decoration by CaptainFordo, on Flickr

[CaptainFordo]

I apologise for the bump, but since it's new stuff I thought it would be worth it. I basically caved and bought the Helicarrier set too, because I reasoned that Thor and Hulk individually would set me back a bit and the jet is pretty cool too anyway so why not, you can't take money with you after all :P

So I present the Avengers assembled (more or less - sorry Widow)


Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor by CaptainFordo, on Flickr


Avengers Assembled by CaptainFordo, on Flickr

Brief comments on the set itself, the jet is as cool as it looks, the pop off cockpit is pretty neat too. As for the playset, the actual containment tube is really very nifty and a fun build, but the rest definitely feels like stuff they added on to make the set bigger. The flipping barrels is... well it's perfectly fine but useless. There's an entire empty space on the right where it's just windows and the staff analyser on the left, while nice looking, is a bit pointless. I'm tempted to pluck off the sides and store them, just keeping the tube itself. The way they've designed the pop-off glass is actually very cool, it's a pin that's held up by a rubber band, which pushes down onto a sloped piece to force the glass out.

Also there's a fire extinguisher on the side of the tube (way too high for anyone to reach though...), why does Lego insist on putting fire extinguishers in so many sets? Is it to encourage health and safety practices or something? :P I can take photos of the set later if people want em. As for Thor and Hulk, I like both, though Hulk is a very gamma green, much more like the comics than the movie. Thor is very nice, though I wish that Mjolnir was at least pearlescent silver, like the little vent pieces in this very set, instead of flat grey to make it a bit more special looking. I mean Loki's staff isn't yellow, it's gold, why can't Thor have shiny things too?

edit: Bought my final set (from the current offerings anyway, not gonna pick up Quinjet or Spidey's set) and it's, of course, Wolverine's Chopper Showdown. Probably the best set value-wise (though my personal favourite remains LCCE). I won't post photos unless people ask for them as I'm sure you've all seen this one by now, it's the one 90% of marvel set buyers have picked up. All the figures are great, Magneto is the best, and the copter is pretty nice too. Only complaints would be that Deadpool's swords are a tad loose on his back and that the seating area in the copter can come away stuck to Deadpool's butt if you're not careful. It's a 2 stud on top of a circular 2x2. Also there's a gap in the bottom of the cockpit at the front. People have complained about the space behind Deadpool too, but a lot of military choppers have open sides for turrets etc so it doesn't bother me.

I can see this being THE hot seller of this line, two wildly popular characters a decent helicopter, plus a bike and a character with a more cult following? Insta-buy for most Marvel and lego fans. Heck, some non-lego fans will probably buy it too just for a lego Deadpool, he'll definitely sell for silly money when this set's discontinued.

[Red Ball]

Great Review thanks for the close ups.

I just got the Cap's Cycle and Wolverines Chopper Yay. Now I have to wait after Easter to get the rest. I really dig the Cap and Deadpool Minifigs.

I didn't like the shield being clipped to the back of the cycle, so I put a 1 x 1 Clip Horizontal in the front and put the shield in the front.

[CaptainFordo]

Great Review thanks for the close ups.

I just got the Cap's Cycle and Wolverines Chopper Yay. Now I have to wait after Easter to get the rest. I really dig the Cap and Deadpool Minifigs.

I didn't like the shield being clipped to the back of the cycle, so I put a 1 x 1 Clip Horizontal in the front and put the shield in the front.

You're welcome and thanks =) Good idea r.e. the front shield =) That would've been a smart move for Lego to do something like that (considering Cap actually does it in TFA).

[CaptainFordo]

Just some accuracy points now having seen the film, any info will be strictly accuracy based, anything relating to the plot/ scenes will go behind spoiler text.

I commented on the accuracy of LCCE on the thread for dwhisper's review for that set so I'll just cover CAAC and HHE:

Obviously the Avenging Cycle doesn't appear though

Spoiler: show

at the films end Steve Rogers in civilian garb rides a bike a lot like Wolverine's in the Chopper set.

the aliens are accurate enough as far as I can tell, the hover-thingy is not quite right from what I recall, but it seems there were many variants and they're kind of shapeless and odd-looking anyway. The turret doesn't appear.

THe Helicarrier is actually the only set with a 100% accurate array of characters. The side parts of the playset are pretty innaccurate and for play value only, there's no staff analyser in the film, least not one that holds the thing while doing so. Loki's containment chambers is rather too tall, it's much flatter in the film, but it looks more impressive in the set so I'm happy with that. As for the chairs up top

Spoiler: show

I'm pretty sure that there was no seating above the containment chamber, but the arcade game which many people loved seeing is actually a rather neat reference to a gag in the film

The jet, like the jeep in LCCE is pretty accurate too, colour aside, but I actually like the deep blue for the set more than a dull grey. (probably also due to Lego's policy against depicting war vehicles)

[cas]

Thanks for adding some context to the sets. I've been holding off doing a review of the Quinjet until I see the film, which won't be until next weekend, hopefully. It probably isn't necessary to see the film first since it's just a jet and not much else, but who knows, well, besides you, CaptainFordo.

[CaptainFordo]

No problem. Yeah it probably doesn't really matter, but gives you some nice context and you can measure its features against the ones seen in the film itself, so holding off is no bad thing =)

[MrCRskater]

Looking forward to a review of the Quinjet, cas. I'm really stoked on the figs (especially want the "1st gen" Iron Man), but the jet itself looks so-so. Not sure if I should pony up the $80 if I'm really after the figs. . .

[dWhisper]

QuinJet isn't a bad set, but I think my favorite from the Avengers line is the Helicarrier escape. Unless you really want the 1st gen Iron Man or the uninspired Black Widow fig, I'd get it for all that Thor goodness, not to mention some Hulk and a great Space Invaders sticker.

[CaptainFordo]

Just want to butt in. That's not first gen Iron Man, that's the mark VII (the triangle chest is mark VI). It's been in trailers so I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that. Also he makes a new suit every movie so :P

Pre-empting questions about returning to circle-chest: It's merely the outside that's changed. The arc reactor in his chest remains the same as in Iron Man 2, it's merely the outer chest piece which is different.

I totally agree about Widow though, I think she is probably the worst figure in the line. She gets zero accessories, doesn't really "pop" visually, her hair is plain wrong and her face is... odd. She looks more like a villain than a hero with that creepy smrik and slightly closed eyes...

[dodge]

The question I'd like to know is who will they be making for the second wave in this line? Will they stick to the movie for a bit and make a Nick Fury set? Perhaps something with SHIELD agents or the like? Or will they move straight on to the plethora of Marvel characters and draw from that pool?

Only time will tell I suppose... I just hope they don't take too long! I've waited YEARS for this line!

[CaptainFordo]

The question I'd like to know is who will they be making for the second wave in this line? Will they stick to the movie for a bit and make a Nick Fury set? Perhaps something with SHIELD agents or the like? Or will they move straight on to the plethora of Marvel characters and draw from that pool?

Only time will tell I suppose... I just hope they don't take too long! I've waited YEARS for this line!

Well if the Pirates of the Caribbean line is any indication, it's unlikely =( Then again, superheroes are a much more popular property, maybe something will be out for the DVD release. They have X-men and Spider-man licences (though not the movie Spider-man still with mega bloks) so hopefully they'll put out more than one set for each of those.