Review:6863 Batwing Battle Over Gotham City
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$34.99
€39.99
£34.99
$59.99
$69.99
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.
I wasn't a Batman fan back in 2006 when the original Batman line came out. It did leave an impression though. This set is essentially a remake of 7782 The Batwing: The Joker's Aerial Assault. I actually remember the first time I saw that set, which is pretty amazing as I can't think of too many other sets I recall the first time I saw them (well, with a span that long, it's toy fair season now). Joker's helicopter looked ugly then too, but the Batwing looked really nice I thought. A few years later I found out that it was supposed to resemble his logo, I was surpised. I could see the resemblence, but it was overdone. What about 6863 which costs fifteen dollars less?
6863 Batwing Battle Over Gotham City (This set)
Box/Instructions
Okay, I hate this part. The front looks nice. The back looks ugly. If you'd like a more in depth description about what's around the box (and not the art, what it has in common with the other DC sets), go look up one of my other reviews. I don't remember why I didn't take a picture of the back of the box, I might have deleted it accidentally.
There is one instruction booklet.
Parts
At 278 pieces for $35 this is probably the worst value in a set, especially because two of the three figures can be found in nicer sets. Originally, it was rumored that this set would cost only $30 (which isn't as bad), but they raised it, no doubt because The Joker is included.
These aren't parts I generally use, partly because I'm not into building spaceships and such, partly because many Star Wars sets have even worse Price per Piece Ratios than this set even. So, many of the pieces are fairly new to me, even though they've been around for years. There is some purple and green, the purple parts are different than the ones included in 6862, but not enought to buy the set for.
Minifigures
I wouldn't say that this is a set to buy for the minifigures either.
Batman
Please see here. I saved my self time by not taking/uploading photos of the same minifigure
The Joker
I'm not a Joker fan, but I still remember looking at that catalogue page back in 2006 and thinking how great Joker looked. I hate clowns (see more of that here) and almost never like a (serious) depiction of Joker, both his appearance and actions, I'm one of the few people you can find who didn't like The Dark Knight too much (because I didn't like the appearance or depiction). I like how Joker looks here though, I guess that I'm free to make him act how I like.
I haven't gotten 6857 yet, but other than that, I've collected all of the system DC sets (besides promotions), and so far, I think Joker is the best of the line. I'm not being biased because I'm not a Joker fan. The hair is nicer, and he doesn't look so cute (which is nice, because I'm convinced that all clowns are out to get me, (except for the eductational ones the school makes us watch who is just annoying…), so it's nice that he doesn't look as cute. I'm also glad that he scrapped the orange vest/undercoat, afterall, orange and purple are a horrible colorscheme. I like the hair too, even though it isn't very accurate (it reminds me of Cesar Romero, a Joker depiction I enjoy, but can't take seriously), it would be nice if he could have one that looks more like how it does on the stickers in this set and the funhouse.
Visually, the "BANG" gun looks better than before, but the old one made more sense, even though it didn't look like a gun, the flag came from a pole and not the end of the gun (I don't know the term). There is also the fact that the word BANG is missing from the flag. Both have their merits.
Joker Henchman
Another evil clown! Yay! This is a huge improvement over the last Joker Henchman, who is also famous for working for Mr. Freeze and Two-Face. Really not much to say. He's currently the only minifigure exclusive to this set, and I hope it doesn't stay that way, just to balance out the Joker/Harley Quinn duo (I think that there should be at least two generic henchmen per villain, if any, and Harley isn't really generic).
 |  |  |  |
| First Joker Henchman | Mr. Freeze Henchman | First Two-Face henchman | This Joker Henchman |
The Build
I enjoyed the build, it was pretty unique to me. I don't buy too much Star Wars, and when I do I'm not very pleased, but I'm sure I'm just unlucky when I do buy Star Wars. Not too much to say. I probably wouldn't have found building the Batwing itself if I was more accustomed to building Star Wars.
I have built helicopters before. I almost went into a dark age back in 2006, and if City sets hadn't started to get good, I don't know if I would be writing this. The helicopter is very different than the other small ones I've built, I haven't built many (or maybe not any) large ones, but I'm sure it's different from that. I did make a mistake when building the helicopter, the back is different than most other LEGO ones I've constructed.
The Completed Model
I said earlier that I felt the original Batwing was overdone, well, this one has a nicer shape I think, the only problem I have are two gray plates (which have been changed to black, I took these pictures before modding though) which mess up the view, from the top. The bottom is actrocious, being a mess of gray and black plates and just being flat. The wing pop-up feature is nice, but I don't think that two flick fire missiles are very intimidating. The four stickers (or so) work well, the yellow shows up nicely (unlike on the Batcycle and Bank sign where it was faded). I don't understand what the arrows are for, but they keep it from looking too plain. The batbomb on the bottom works fairly well too, but isn't very fun to reset, I don't get it either. Why/what would Batman bomb if he doesn't kill?
Tough to say which Batwing is better from just going by pictures, the old one was overdone, but had a nice bottom and some small details while this one needs a bottom. I managed to make the bottom actually look nice through modding, but still, it should of been there in the first place. I also wish that the gray was replaced with black. The old one also included a stand for the Batwing, which was nice.
The "bat-bomb"
Attack mode
Joker's helicopter on the other hand is great. It's unique from other helicopters I've build and isn't as ugly as the old one (the old one really is ugly). The use of the lattice tower on the back was really creative and sets it apart from other helicopters. I don't feel the need to mod this, which is pleasant, as the Batwing took a while. The Joker gas bomb is a nice touch too, and I love how it has Joker's face. The only thing I don't get is why it shoots forward, seems like it was mixed up with Batman's bomb (which would make more sense as a missile). But this works so well that I won't complain.
Summary
This set is one you can easily skip. Save five dollars and buy 6857 The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape where you not only get Batman and Joker, but also Harley Quinn, The Riddler, and Robin. Unless you need the Batwing for something, skip it. It isn't worth it for the price, and even then the Batwing feels unfinished. The last Batwing was $50 for 550 pieces. Sure, Joker's helicopter was ugly and the Batwing was overdone, but it wasn't a rip-off.
| Overall: |    3½ / 5 |
|---|---|
| Building Experience: | 4 / 5 |
| Parts: | 3½ / 5 |
| Playability: | 4 / 5 |
| Minifigures: | 5 / 5 |
| Value for Money: | 3 / 5 |
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