Review:76009 Superman: Black Zero Escape
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$19.99
€26,99
£19.99
$39.99
$49.99
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.
Hm, I should look up quotes on IMDB more often. They make the poll more fun for me....
- Set: 76009 Superman: Black Zero Escape
- Theme: DC Universe Super Heroes
- Pieces: 195
- Minifigures: 3
- Price: $19.99 USD / £19.99
- Brickipedia / Brickset
Man of Steel was a divisive movie and while I did like it, I see why others did not and the sets LEGO released, which are surprisingly accurate, do show one of their qualms with the movie. They are just colorless, bland, and seem much less playable than Spider-Man and Venom with a flying car or even Iron Man fighting a flamethrowing bumper cart. The most visually striking character in the movie is Superman, and even he is wearing a costume with muted reds and blues. Now, I personally was not bothered by the movie's dull palette and found it an interesting direction as it amplifies Superman's position as a beacon in a world which needs hope, but it does not do the toys based on the film much good.
That said, this set, which seems rather bad at first, actually surprised me. Aside from the aforementioned Spider-Man vs. Venom set and the Lex Luthor mech from the first DC wave, this is actually my favorite of the $20/£20 Super Hero sets to play with, which is saying something, because those sets are usually the best in the line. However, it does have a number of other flaws holding it back.
The Box and Contents
I personally like the box art, at least the part on the left with the foggy Metropolis below Lois' escape pod, but once you shift to the right, there is a random floating platform and a still of the Black Zero command ship, which honestly comes off as looking cheap. The muted colors also do not do much to help it standout on the store shelf, the most eye catching things are the logos and the "COMIC BOOK INCLUDED" callout, which is pretty sad. Speaking of which, I really like the banner with Superman against an ink blot background and a blue, comic-book city.
There are two bags inside, an instruction manual, a comic book, and everyone's favorite, the sticker sheet. Naturally the manual came bent.
The Build
We start off with the Black Zero platform, and there are no surprises. Given the pieces, I am sure that most experienced builders could guess exactly how to build it, and be pretty close.
The pod is a little better. It is a complete build and manages to stay fairly interesting because it has actually been designed well.
The build is not too exciting at all, but it is easy and decent. Usually you can't expect much better from the sets in this range.
Parts
Do you like black and dark gray? I hope so, because pretty much every piece here is. Still, black and gray are useful colors which can be applied nearly anywhere, even if they are not the most exciting. Black Zero Escape also includes some of my favorite piece types, rare, but useful, and in a set that I am not going to regret taking apart. Admittedly, the palette does help here. Those panels on the sides of the pod are much more useful in gray than green, and there are two of them included, to boot. I have an idea for a MOC which I would love to use those for. Aside from those, though there are only a few dark tan pieces, they are all rare (aside from the TECHNIC axle with stud) and therefore desirable. Some of my other favorite parts here are the rubber pieces with axle connections, the transparent windscreen, some rounded transparent plates, the vertical hinged plates, the tall smokey glass, various SNOT plates (three types), some SNOT bricks, a dark green chair, the wall panel, the ladder with dual clips, the five black shells, anything silver, and of course, the rarest piece in the set, a smokey 2x3 plate with clips (the only other set this appears in is 79102 Stealth Shell in Pursuit).
There are also a few other rare parts which aren't quote as useful, including the large, black triangle plate and the two saucer quarters.
Though it does not hit a great price to part ratio (169 parts for $20/£20) there are plenty of larger and unique pieces which may make it worth your while, and we have not even gotten to the minifigures yet...
Final Model
...but the final model comes first. The only thing there is to see that official pictures do not show is the back of the pod, which I am glad to see has had some care put into it with a cool thruster-thing. The green exhaust, while not present in the movie, is reminiscent of Kryptonite and a cool detail which adds some life to the muted set.
So, I did mention before that I think this set is fun to play with. While there is not much to the model, the opening door is a unique feature which reminds me of the opening scenes of A New Hope, for whatever reason. It provides a way to allow Zod to make a dramatic entrance at a pivotal moment. The flick-fire missiles, which use axles instead of the traditional piece, are on a turret of sorts which can be swung back to shoot them forward. Personally, I find this much more fun than pushing a TECHNIC pin.
The pod has an adjustable seat for Lois (though I could not tell you why, but it provides more bars and clips) and the panels can be removed to show battle damage. I also find that the unique shape it has (for something LEGO usually releases, at least) makes it more fun to swoosh around than another helicopter or attack plane. Then, of course, it has Superman and an enemy just as powerful as he is.
The set's looks are not too exciting, however. The platform is sparse and really just a way to use up pieces. I do like the pod, but it is not going to get anyone too riled up, I imagine.
This set is pretty accurate to Man of Steel, aside from the minifigure inclusions. There was no catwalk, of course, nor was there a turret in the pod's room. Lois makes perfect sense in the scene and Superman makes some, as he was there to rescue her when she hurled towards Earth, but, in terms of accuracy and not marketing, Faora should have replaced Zod and Jor-El was more important here than Supes. Still though, this is very close considering some of the odd lineups we get in movie sets, and it can actually be traced back to a specific part of the film.
Minifigures
Three minifigures are included: Superman, Lois Lane, and General Zod. All three are based on their appearances in Man of Steel.
I did not care for Superman's costume at first, but it has grown on me since. The silver printing and bright cape create a nice look together with the darker logo, gold, and muted blue. The hair is inaccurate to the film, but I'm not too bothered. Non-purists can clip off the curl and it would be. The new face with the red eyes for heat vision is also a nice touch. I wish we could get a new one for Batman now. Really, the only problem I have with this figure is that it needs boots to really put it over the top. They would help balance the colors even more and make him a really great figure.
Lois is less successful. People have said that she looks like a civilian Black Widow, and that's sadly true. The hairpiece is not very accurate, first of all, and while it is one of my favorites (over used or not) the Nurse or Pop Star's in dark orange would have looked more like Lois in the film. But what is worse is the face. It is ruined by a pair of terrible cheekbones which are huge and just look awful, and the problems do not stop there. Though the scared side would be among the best without the cheekbones, the smirk is still ruined with a strange sassy look which just comes off as evil. The torso is quite good, however. I like Amy Adams and don't mind Lois looking like her (read: I don't care that she did not color her hair for the movie) but, I would prefer that the minifigure looked like Amy Adams and not a way for people who could not afford the Quinjet to make a budget Black Widow with Catwoman's body.
General Zod is probably the figure of most interest to people who are not a fan of Superman or his movie, with his unique armor, helmet, and gun, which are all spectacular. I do question the need for the gun, I think that the Alien Conquest one would have worked well enough, but it looks really cool in conjunction with the armor. My only problem with them is that the way in which the armor is designed makes it so that Zod cannot have a hairpiece with it on, which is a shame because his helmet was destroyed early on in the film, but he still continued to wear the armor up until he ripped it off before the "Metropolis Showdown". The face is good and fairly accurate, though the mouth and eyes are too far apart on the non-angry side. The choice of a hairpiece is strange too; It is black, even though the goatee is brown. Still though, the hairpiece which was included is pretty rare, and my replacement of choice (just the standard "Mutt Williams" hair in dark brown) is pretty common. Again, those red eyes for heat vision are great. Zod isn't quite as intersting of a minifigure as Superman is without his armor, because he has literally no color, but I am excited to own him because non-Bat villains have been lacking in the DC line, and Nolanverse aside, Zod and his lackeys are possibly my favorite villains in a comicbook movie yet.
Conclusion
I would like to say that even though I like the movie, I do not feel that is affecting my feelings for this set, since I bought, built, and even played with it a little a couple weeks before seeing Man of Steel.
Anyway, I went in to this set with low expectations, thinking that it was just for the sub-par Lois figure, and it did surprise me. No, it did not completely blow me away: This is by no means a five- or even four-star set. It just is not attention-grabbing and the Black Zero platform comes off as pretty uninspired; a way to inflate the piece count and attach a couple of play features (even if they are ones I enjoy), but I still think it is underrated. Once it is in hand, I find that it does spark imagination quite well, possibly even better than Spidey/Venom and Superman/Lex when you consider that those are better sets, but yet I don't find this too far behind when it comes to being fun when actually play with it. The pieces are better than most sets in this range, too.
This set has been on sale for ~25% off in my neck of the woods recently, and if you can find it at that price and do not mind the muted colors, I do recommend it. There is a nice part selection and Zod and Lois' figures both have other applications outside of the DC Universe. Personally, I think it is also a much better set than the budget Metropolis Showdown which really does not include anything of interest if you can afford this or the larger Battle of Smallville (a review on that coming later).
| Building Experience |   3 / 5 |
| Parts | 4 / 5 |
| Value for Money |  3½ / 5 |
| Playability | 4 / 5 |
| Minifigures | 3½ / 5 |
| Overall | 3½ / 5 |
All images used in this review are owned by the LEGO Company.
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