Review:76028 Darkseid Invasion/Berrybrick
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Review in Progress! This review is not yet finished and is being expanded by its writer, Berrybrick, and may undergo critical changes while this message remains in place. |
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 46 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
Can the Fastest Man Alive outshine Batman in his own set? Will the Riddler learn you can't turn a dragster the hard way? Will Batman share his secrets of where to find a thong adorned with a metallic waistband? Find out on--eh, I'm not going to answer those.
- Set: 76012 Batman: The Riddler Chase
- Theme: DC Universe Super Heroes
- Pieces: 545
- Minifigures: 3
- Price: 69.99 USD / 59.99 GBP
- Brickipedia / Brickset
While I was listening to songs about prohibition, I had that crazy idea to write a review for this set in my ever exciting series of pictureless reviews. It's sort of late to change that with this one, since I have been picking at it for parts for a few days. But do I regret that? Spoiler alert: No not really, but just saying that isn't a fair summary.
The Build[edit | edit source]
There are probably better sets to build if looking for the absolute bestest building experience, but this one is quite good by the standards which previous Super Heroes (especially DC) sets have set. Darkseid's hovercraft is pretty much the norm, but at least it isn't a mess of blocky and rounded contours that the worst builds in this line tend to be. It doesn't take much time to construct either. The Javelin I did find enjoyable, since the frame does use some Technic to make it solid. I never really found it too repetetive, aside from the mirrored wings, but it isn't my worst experience with those.
Just using phrases like "not being the worst" probably undercuts what I actually think of the build. I liked it, even if it wasn't the most extraordinaire modular spaceship with greebles on greebles. It takes a streamlined and (honestly) quite generic looking ship and manages to depict it really faithfully, and that brings a fairly interesting build with it.
Parts[edit | edit source]
Most of the pieces in this set are white angles and slopes, which aren't useless, but either not particularly rare or useful for my purposes. Some of the transparent bricks are also cool, but the bricks aren't really what make this set. They do what they have to do. Just like any other set, yeah, but I really can't see any reason to cannibalize the Javelin for parts. The hovercraft, maybe, but the Javelin's parts are either ordinary, or not terribly useful.
At least not for me, I recommend checking Brickset's inventory.
Final Model[edit | edit source]
I'm not sure what (if anything) the hovercraft is supposed to represent, but that's not a big deal. It does have a lot of colors and runs the risk of looking busy, but "a lot of colors" and "busy" might be some of the best ways to describe the New Gods. It has a Hero Factory blaster for shooting overlarge red tennis balls at the Justice League. The way that Darkseid stands on it is a little awkward, since his "ready for battle" stance has one of his legs out in front of the other, leaving his heel to hang off the edge. The craft is designed so that if Darkseid isn't holding the levers (I like that he can actually hold them) a minifigure can be placed on the super jumper, be launched at him, and knock him over. I don't think I ever got it to work. The super jumper itself does damage the figure's legs, leaving notches on them, or, if not inserted correctly, it will crack them. I'd suggest just not using it at all, unless a better design comes out....
Since most members of the Justice League can either fly or are Batman (who can buy flight), the Javelin isn't the most prominent part of most depictions of the League. I'm not sure how many incarnations it has, but the closest match I can find is the design from the Justice League cartoon (highly recommended) where, since "bricks" like Superman and Martian Manhunter were less powerful in these depictions, it was used fairly frequently for space travel. Clearly LEGO has given a bit of their own twist on it, with a space police color scheme of white and transparent red and blue on a duller ship, but I don't mind it too much. The colorscheme does manage to stay pretty balanced, even if it could have done without the red, and there are only I few criticisms I have. The square back of the windshield is a bit distracting with the curved overhead behind it, and that curved overhead has a small space (maybe one plate thick) between it and the slopes below it. I don't know if those slopes can be raised to fill it in (and if they could, if it would interfere with its ability to open) but the issue is there. The back of the shuttle also seems designed a bit poorly, with just a row of transparent tiles which don't seem to fit right. The super jumper integration also don't work very well, and I would have rather had another seat.
The Javelin does have plenty of strengths though. Though the ship's design is pretty unremarkable, LEGO's is quite good and uses some solid angle work to capture the contours simply, but satisfyingly. It is fun to move the wings to take the ship in and out of flight mode, the gears are used quite well. Four seats is also a fair amount, since that is what the Blackbird and the original Quinjet both had.
Minifigures[edit | edit source]
Though the Javelin is actually quite good, this is probably why most people will buy this set (because it always seems to be that way with Super Heroes). Here we have iconic characters like Superman...and that's about it. Though the other characters are important (except Hawkman...), they aren't really in the public scope. Which is great, since that is something which the DC sets have been missing.
Superman is the same as he was in his first set back in 2012, even with the same face (even though it looks like he has his Man of Steel heat vision eyes on the box, it's a lie). The only difference is that his cape is made out of a newer material which is softer. It feels like it is easier to tear and makes it look like the figure has a noose around his neck (since his neck gets lost in the overly thick flaps...). The only upside is that it doesn't bend and retain its shape the way that the older ones did. I think it needs a redesign, to have only one hole at the top (rather than two) so that it will look better.... The figure itself is okay, but a change would have been nice. Right now, Superman is the only founding member of the Justice League who does not have his rebooted costume. Even Martian Manhunter has that as a variant.
Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, a playboy whose life crumbles when he is stranded on a remote island and declared dead. Returning to his hometown of Star City a few years later, he becomes a vigilante with a bit of a Robin Hood motif. His story is being adapted for the TV series Arrow. Green Arrow was previously only released as an exclusive at the San Diego Comic Con. Both figures are based on The New 52 design and feature nearly identical torsos. This version does not have leg printing though (even though he could really use it) and has bright yellow hair and Wyldstyle's hoodie piece in dark green instead of the one which is drawn over his head. If you have Doctor Doom or a Mirkwood Elf to swap out the two hood styles, it is a nice alternate. I don't really care for the face, since the mask is overly large and the expressions are a bit awkward, so, overall, the minifigure is really only okay. The bright green compound bow is a nice exclusive.
Cyborg is a--get this--cyborg. Originally a member of the Teen Titans, his rebooted version is now a founding member of the Justice League. The character does have some interesting themes regarding his father (it seems a lot of DC characters are that way...) but he's never one I have particularly cared for. His design here is based on The New 52, where pretty much his entire body is covered in robotics or armor. The minifigure has a lot of printing, plus an exclusive headpiece, and it is all done really well. The simplest part though, his face, may be my favorite. The stud launcher is fun, but kind of lame, but it's no big deal.
Hawkman is frequently cited as one of those characters DC doesn't know what to do with, which is a shame, because he and Hawkgirl are some of my favorites. Basically, they are either Egyptian royalty stuck in a tragic reincarnation cycle, alien soldiers who defected to Earth, or both. If we are going by costume design, this is, again, New 52 Hawkman, which means we would apply the alien origin (though I personally prefer the other one, but whatever :P). I think that Hawkman is easily the best figure in this set, with an amazingly sculpted headpiece, some great harness printing, boots (even if they are only printed on the front), and two pairs of plastic wings. The flail, as opposed to a sword or mace, is a little disappointing, but no big deal. Hawkman was a really unexpected character and I am excited that we got him. Hopefully Hawkgirl is around the corner....
Darkseid is a tyrant from Apokolips, one of two planets inhabited by the New Gods. Searching for the Anti-Life Equation so that he can eliminate freewill from the universe, Darkseid has discovered that it is hidden somewhere on Earth, which, in addition to personal vendettas against Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and others, has made him one of the Justice League's most feared foes. Once again, we have The New 52 design here, which gives Darkseid a bit more color than most of his other incarnations. The design is, again, quite good on this big figure. The cracks are thin and intricate, and the shading on his face actually almost makes it look like there is a shadow casting over his eyes. The angry expression is a bit unfortunate, but the way that the figure is posed, he might look out of place in anything but a battle scene. I guess that is a problem with big figures....
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
Overall, this set is pretty solid. It stands up better than I originally suspected after seeing images at SDCC. Though I'm not ecstatic about Riddler, I would rather have him than most of the other characters featured in Beware the Batman (Metamorpho and Anarky would have been cool though). Flash is easily the star, even if he feels a little shoehorned in, but I'm not complaining. I do prefer the Batmobile from the last set, if only for scaling purposes and personal preferences, but again, if you like this version of the Batmobile, this is a good representation in LEGO.
| Building Experience |   4½ / 5 |
| Parts |  3½ / 5 |
| Value for Money | 4 / 5 |
| Playability | 3½ / 5 |
| Minifigures | 4½ / 5 |
| Overall | 4 / 5 |
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