Review:76011 Batman: Man-Bat Attack
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$19.99
€24.99
£19.99
$39.99
Reviews
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 46 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
You are not entitled to view results of this poll.
There are literally no good puns for this set. I did some chopping around, and I could night find a thing. Man, it's rather batty, usually I can at least whirl something up....
- Set: 76011 Batman: Man-Bat Attack
- Theme: DC Universe Super Heroes
- Pieces: 184
- Minifigures: 3
- Price: 19.99 USD / 19.99 GBP
- Brickipedia / Brickset
Join us on an all new episode of Berry where Berry rambles about one of his least favorite sets at one of his most favorite price point. Filled with surprises, thrills, and melodramatic plugging, it's not just an ordinary review, it's a review that reminds us of the human experience, and the shared triumph that unites us all against humanoid animals. Only on Berry.
Good to see my humor went to waste....
The Build
As expected, the build is simple. The only overtly difficult part is setting up the winch, winch I'll admit I'm not very good at. Otherwise, it's forgettable. That isn't the worst experience, since there are the ones which are memorable precisely because they are not good, but it gets an overall meh. LEGO starts us off with the bat-copter, actually, and then it reaches a disappointing climax when we finally finish by assembling Nightwing's glider. Usually you expect smaller bits at the beginning, but LEGO likes to start us off with the meat and finish on a whimper in these sets recently.
Parts
It isn't up to me to decide what is useful for you, but I'm not seeing a whole lot for myself. This set is notably devoid of rare pieces, the only one I spot is a red bracket used on Nightwing's glider. Nearly everything else comes in at least 20 other sets or has been around for years. The only other element which I found interesting was a round 2x2 plate with a hole in the center, and even then there is only one. Really, the best thing here when it comes to components is probably the sticker sheet with logos for Batman and Nightwing.
That isn't to say that there are not any useful pieces, but nothing is springing to mind. I recommend checking out Brickset's inventory before purchasing this yourself though. I cannot form opinions for you, only guide you down my path so that one day we may share the spoils of revo--LEGO, I mean LEGO--together.
Final Model
Even though LEGO ends us with Nightwing's glider, I'm going to start with it because I'm a rebel. And also because I like to start negative and then work my way to positive. First of all, it just looks plain ugly on the front and the hooks don't serve much of a purpose that I can think of. I'd imagine they would inhibit the gliding process a little. The thrusters on the bottom (so I guess this isn't exactly a classic glider) also prevent the...thing from standing up. The back looks better, but not particularly glider like. It's something difficult to make in LEGO, but I don't think it is necessary and the Bat-copter might have been able to make use of a few extra pieces.
My main issue with the Bat-copter is its length. The cockpit comes off as too long for the rest of the body, and it really makes those bat-ears on the nose (has anyone said that before?) look pathetic. Otherwise though, it is okay. The cockpit is sparse, but Batman fits well enough and it doesn't even do very much damage to his cape. Overall, the design is pretty solid, but the colorscheme is messy. One of my favorite sets at this price point was the bat-boat from last year (a review will come on that, some day) which included a lot of yellow, but it did so stylishly. Here it seems like the designer tried to recapture that success, but the yellow is used too thinly and too minimally for it to be replicated. The bat-boat just lends itself to that interpretation better than a helicopter, I suppose. The black and yellow balance isn't the only issue though, as light gray is thrown into the mix and it makes things even worse. It is included where it can be to break up the black, not where it looks good.
Minifigures
I am going to skip over talking about black Batman because he has been in so many sets. I think it was a smart idea to include him in a smallish one with all of the hype from The LEGO Movie, but there is nothing to say about this minifigure that hasn't been said before. Well, nothing that makes sense. To spare you and myself from the pain of looking up one of my other reviews, I can repeat that the minifigure is a fine one. That smirk is rubbing off of me though....
Like most, I do prefer Nightwing's blue colorscheme, but since I consider myself more progressive than...well, let's just say more progressive, I'm not too bothered by the choice of The New 52 look either. It's better than no Nightwing at all. Even if the blue looks better on Rick (I can dream of good changes...), I do like the more armored design that the DCnU has put on some of its characters, especially the Bat-family. That is represented here, to my satisfaction. The torso (and the plain legs, I suppose) meet my standards for a Nightwing figure. If it were blue, they would probably excel, but that's okay. The face also does not bother me very much, even though I know some people don't care for the expressions. Something more subtle would be fine, but I like my minifigure's to have personality, except when...we'll get to that. What is strange is the red eyes. They are accurate, though they haven't been depicted consistently, but I recall a good number of people unfamiliar with Nightwing thinking that he was a villain when his last minifigure was released, and this isn't going to help avert that misconception. Plus, white would, I think, help contrast the torso better. Anyway, it is nice to see the jet black "sleepyhead" hair again, but not on Nightwing. I think that Anakin or Lloyd Garmadon's wig in black would have suited him better. Thankfully, that is coming out in a pretty good looking Ultra Agents set, I'll have to pick that up. Another notable miss is his lack of escrima sticks. Sure, it is easy enough to get a pair of gray bars from my own collection, but since it is so easy, I fail to see why LEGO didn't do it....
Anyway, on the subject on inevitable comparisons to the first Nightwing minifigure, I think that this one trumps the last one in every category except for coloring. The printing (even for the time, Nightwing's muscles looked off), expressions, hair, and overall design strike me as better. Sure, the old one is blue and has white eyes, but that isn't all I am looking for....
And then there is Man-Bat, the character I never wanted and never asked for (which might be saying something). Frankly, his inclusion does scream of...wait, drum roll please: ...scream like a bat of...because echolocation...that...um, well, it's obvious that his inclusion was to get more mileage out of those bat molds. Some people think this is a bad thing, since they had already made purist man-bats (men-bats?) from the aptly named Manbats (oh, I guess that is the plural) in the fantastic Vampyre Castle set. However, that set, though glorious, was quite expensive and not all of us were able to or decided to get it. So I think a more accessible way to get bat pieces is fine (I know there was a CMF, but I do not have much access to those). Anyway, onto the minifigure itself; it sucks blood. I guess living in the age of the Twilight generation might not make what I mean clear, but Man-Bat isn't a terrible figure, he just isn't a good one. LEGO seemed more interested in making a third chance to get the Monster Fighters bat that they didn't take many steps to make this one unique. he wears blue jeans, that's it, and they aren't even ripped. The...mane of hair on his chest, first of all, is too light and doesn't really resemble bats or most humans very well. I'm not a zoologist, so I could be wrong, but while bats (and some humans) have a thick tuft of hair on their chest like that, it isn't colored much differently from the rest of the hair on their body, if at all, so blond on brown is a big no. The entire torso comes off as an attempt to replicate the MF bats' design, but in a cartoonier style. If it had been up to me to design this figure, I would have given him a torn labcoat, and preferably jeans too, but leg printing doesn't seem to be something LEGO likes to do with this theme. As for positives, I like the face well enough, at least the first side, but the second has this terrible silly expression with too much personality, and one I am sure a were-bat never feels. It looks like he is embarrassed that his cousins wore it first, and wore it better. Don't worry, Kirk, you still look better than those Chima cheir cherubs.
Conclusion
Though the bat-copter is usually outshined by the batwing, I will say that I have always preferred it just because it makes more sense to me in most situations Batman will be facing in Gotham, plus, I'd expect it to be easier to replicate as a construction set than the batwing. LEGO did quite a good job back in the Batman theme with a great set that pitted the batcopter against Scarecrow in a bi-plane, but this rendition of the copter doesn't quite measure up with its wacky proportions and absurd coloring. Man-Bat isn't exactly a character for most to get excited about, and his minifigure hasn't convinced me he should be. As someone who has been collecting this theme from day one, the only thing here for me is Nightwing, and even then he doesn't score top marks. I know that Nightwing is a character that many people want, myself included, but consider trying to find him loose....
| Building Experience |    2½ / 5 |
| Parts | 2 / 5 |
| Value for Money | 2½ / 5 |
| Playability | 2½ / 5 |
| Minifigures | 3 / 5 |
| Overall | 2½ / 5 |
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