Each time that the announcements trickle through social media that LEGO are releasing new LEGO Superhero sets – we get very excited. But when it comes to (get ready for the long title…) LEGO Marvel Superhero Avengers Age of Ultron sets – we were super excited. You’ll have to excuse the pun. Don’t get me wrong, we were over the moon at a LEGO Vision Minifigure, new LEGO Avengers Quinjet or the LEGO Quicksilver Minifigure but I imagine we weren’t alone that one set stood out from among the others. Still in hyper-mode from the Avengers Age of Ultron trailer, the best set for us was always going to be LEGO set 76031 or as we like to call it: The Hulk Buster Smash Set. And this set lives up to the excitement…
Firstly, lets talk Superfigures. By these, I mean the figures that are made up in the scale of the minifigure, but are naturally a lot larger. The first was LEGO Treebeard from the Tower of Orthanc (LEGO set 10237), shortly after (amongst others) came the X-Men nemesis: Sentinal and of course Groot from LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy. As keen collectors of the minifigures, these superheroes do pose a challenge to fit them into the shelves. We made a special effort for Groot and the Hulkbuster suit deserved similar treatment in our collection.
The LEGO Hulkbuster suit is really something to Marvel at (we’re really going for puns today); not least because of it’s solid and sturdy build. Unlike the lanky Groot or Treebeard, this Superfigure needed to not only fit a LEGO Iron Man Minifigure within it’s build, but also needed to reflect the solid and (nearly) indestructible nature of this Iron Man suit. The build itself was beautiful, full of little quirks and hidden gems that really make the suit fun to assemble. The fact that the arms are so different from each other also meant that it didn’t seem too repetitive to build (which unfortunately the Groot superfigure suffered from). All-in-all the end result is stunning and looks fantastic on any display.
Having not seen the film yet, we were a perplexed by the additional elements to the set (and the free comic inside the set, although great, didn’t shed much light on it either) – but we suppose that’s to be expected. We kind-of appreciated staying in the mystery on this one so-as to not spoil the upcoming blockbuster. The extra elements in the set is mainly what appears to be a LEGO hulk-trap, which allows the LEGO Scarlett Witch minifigure to hover above it. It’s pretty simple to build – but it’s not really the reason anyone would be purchasing this set anyway. I’m sure there will be some excellent play-value in it for the little ones.
But that brings us to the final, but most important, part to this set review – the LEGO minifigures. This set has us mouth-watering from the outset, simply because the main build could be considered a figure itself. But more specifically – we get a lovely LEGO Iron Man Mark 43 Minifigure (not unique, but still nice once seated in the LEGO Hulkbuster suit), a LEGO Ultron Prime Minifigure (a unique version of Ultron for this set – and he does look stunning), a new LEGO Scarlett Witch (unique to this set, with cool blue zappers for the weapons) and finally a new LEGO Hulk. The LEGO Hulk is especially cool, and although not unique to this set (he’s also in in LEGO Set 76041, The Hydra Fortress Smash, which you’ll need to purchase if you want to get the LEGO Quicksilver minifigure – d’oh!), his new grey-green colour matches the film a lot more accurately. Previously LEGO Hulks tended to match the colouring of the comic-book version of rich green.
This set would be an excellent £40-£50 set, which is why at the RRP of £29.99 it’s sold-out just about everywhere. But when it’s back in stock, if you’re going to buy one LEGO Avengers Age of Ultron set, buy this one. It’s worth every penny and likely to be a fan favourite for child and adult LEGO fans everywhere.
