Review:70902 Catwoman Catcycle Chase/Latenightguy
Latenightguy
Country: United States of America Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 6 
№ of Featured reviews: 0
Building Experience: 7 years
Hello, welcome to another Brickipedia review! Today, I will continue my analysis of The LEGO Batman Movie theme with another recently released set: 70902 Catwoman Catcycle Chase. If I am to be honest, this was not a set that particularly stood out in this wave for me. Nothing from the box images invoked any praise, aside from the new Catwoman and the Bat-Family without Batman (Yes!). But, with a spare gift card, I decided to see if it could stand up against some of the other sets and have its own merits!
- Theme: The LEGO Batman Movie
- Pieces: 139
- Minifigures: 3
- Price: $19.99 USD
- Brickipedia / Brickset
Box/Contents[edit | edit source]
The box is smaller than 70903 The Riddler Riddle Racer, which is logical, yet it is surprisingly small in depth. One could attribute this to the size of the builds, but with another set nearly twice as deep, I was somewhat surprised. Inside, the box contains two bags, a small instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. The front box art depicts the standard yellow brick top, The LEGO Batman Movie logo, and a winking Batman face. Along with this, a scene is illustrated, as Catwoman rides on her Catcycle from a small jewelry store, pursued by Batgirl and Robin. On the back of the box, a similar scene is depicted, with Batgirl battling the titular villain and Robin attempting to catch a stolen jewel. Below, various boxes demonstrate the set's features, two of which being Catwoman's jewelry heist and pursued getaway, while the third depicts the play feature of a collapsible streetlamp. Finally, the ever present 'Build Something Batman' box is at the bottom-left corner, still proving to make me laugh. The instruction booklet is fairly standard, depicting the box art exactly, excluding the minifigure lineup and general set information.
Minfigures[edit | edit source]
Batgirl: Unlike the Batman included in 11 of the 13 sets, Batgirl receives a drastic redesign from her 2014 appearance, one that fits this theme's quality. Aside from the extensive printing, Batgirl receives two unique molds, as well as the new belt piece used on Batman and a Batarang in a new yellow color to match her purple-yellow color scheme. These new pieces are a purple cowl with tall ears and a strange peg on the back. But, this is used to attach a red ponytail piece that mimics Barbara Gordon's new hairpiece, adding greater articulation and a nice detail for play and display. Underneath the cowl, Barbara's face is printed on a purple head, which retains its nougat color fairly well, depicting a smiling and scowling expression. One strange detail is that the minifigure's eyes are farther apart than usual, allowing for the eyes to be seen through the holes and look decent otherwise. The torso is detailed with a yellow bat symbol, grey sides, and details lines that slightly emulate a bat. Surprisingly, these continues onto the arms, which also has yellow printing to mimic long yellow gloves. The legs are dual molded, with printing no less! The yellow boots include a front ovular shape, along with some straps printed on the side, which are even more uncommon. To top it all off, a new yellow cape is used, similar to Batman's, but with a gloss on the back side. This may be a long description, but this just shows how well done this one figure is, no doubt my favorite of the regular heroes!
Robin: Next, we receive another new hero who also exceeds the dull Batman. The Boy Wonder himself is quite different from some of the previous variants, though is quite reminiscent of the 1966 TV Series costume. A new mold is used to illustrate this character's oversized goggles and brown swooped hair that reminds me of Emmet's. While the theme uses this piece in various colors and expressions, this one is humorous with a cheeky eye and green lenses. Underneath, the head has an actual face, though with an offset mouth, having a smiling and disappointed expression with small freckles. A smaller cape with a similar yellow color and gloss is included as well. The torso has subtle differences from some of the others, though it is primarily composed of a yellow collar and straps, an R logo, and a yellow belt that extends to the back. The arms are dual molded to depict his green sleeves, which match his hands and his small pants. The legs are also dual molded, exposing his legs and red boots with a curved top. The quality continues with this Robin figure and while I prefer Batgirl, I appreciate the changes made to make this variant unique.
Catwoman: Finally, we have a rather different variant of Catwoman. Similar to her classic appearances, this variant is purple, but the costume follows the leather design of more recent interpretations. A new mold, (seeing a trend?), that is used improves upon the classic cat cowl from the Batman and Super Heroes lines, including purple ears and molded goggles with silver lining. My one issue with this piece is that there is no differentiation between the cowl and goggles, being a missed opportunity to create a bi-colored piece that would look much better. The headpiece underneath is similar to Batgirl's, aside from the BIG green goggles, which somewhat obscure the smile and scowling expressions. The torso has a fair amount of silver on it, with many detail lines to emulate the leather design. A zipper also runs down the middle, with a cat face zipper at the top. On the back, silver details are numerous, though they seem like armor than a jumpsuit of any kind. Though, the new belt piece is used in purple, which makes up for the fairly plain legs with more detail lines. Overall, I am fine with the figure, since it exudes detail, but if it were black and silver instead, it would likely look better.
The Model[edit | edit source]
The Jewelry Store[edit | edit source]
In this set, we receive two main builds: the Catwoman's titular vehicle and a miniature jewelry store. After viewing the film, it is evident that this was simply used to increase the piece count, never appearing in The LEGO Batman Movie, making it a cheap, bare structure. Even when you ignore the irrelevance of it, the store only includes a few decent pieces, such as a 6x12 light blue-grey plate. Aside from this, black bricks are primarily used to form a shallow box, lacking any interior, which only expresses detail in the dark tan mortar bricks and all but one of the set's stickers. Furthermore, to make matters worse, a hinged light post is attached to the central plate, but the lack of support makes it quite fragile in motion. Truly, this build is far from the highlight and requires immense imagination to enjoy.
The Catcycle[edit | edit source]
Yet, unlike the geometric shop, Catwoman's Catcycle is actually quite detailed and enjoyable. Similar to many of the other villain vehicles throughout this line, many unique building techniques and details are used. In terms of scale, this motorcycle is more logical than other recent releases. The Ghost Rider's comes to mind. Otherwise, the color scheme is reminiscent of the purple and silver costume of the femme fatale, producing wheel pieces in a new color. But, the best point of the Catcycle is the use of Technic pieces to establish a wiry frame without any strangely colored pieces in the profile. Grey axle-holders (the obtuse angle pieces), printed semicircle pieces, used to represent an engine, and a printed speedometer slope are enjoyable and a nice compliment to most any other vehicle. But, if I were to criticize the build, the stability of the wheels is lacking, allowing for it to easily fall to the left or right, though this is only when care is not given.
Final Verdict[edit | edit source]
I have to admit that this set is slightly better than what I anticipated, though not by much. In person, the sub-par Catcycle is actually sizable and solidly designed. Despite it being the smallest of the Rogues' characterized builds, it is one of the better pieces. This was a nice compliment to my main motivation of minfigures, which all prove to be exceptional in their cheapest appearances. Though, I cannot help but feel that this could have been reduced to a $15 set along the lines of the Joker Balloon Escape. The whole jewelry store could have been removed, but when the whole wave is based on content that appears for a few minutes in total, you are allowed to grasp for things. In conclusion, this is on par with the similarly priced 70901 Mr. Freeze Ice Attack, but the relevant figures and Catcycle may be the breaking point for some. Also, with the first wave prices dropping, the set is fairly decent and I would recommend it if you have a spare gift certificate or simply want to have the main characters inexpensively.
| Price/Value |  5 / 5 |
| Playability |   3½ / 5 |
| Minifigures/Pieces | 5 / 5 |
| Model | 4 / 5 |
| Overall | 4½ / 5 |
