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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/10/2016 in Blog Articles

  1. To differentiate this from the more serious reviews this (and any others like it) will have an "OUTSIDE THE BOX" title. It seems like not many people really like this set. Reviewers are down on it, prices are down, heck, I didn't even want it for myself. I found one at a price that was too good to pass up, so I thought, why not? Since it's a set that I wasn't super excited about to begin with,I thought that the Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up was perfect for an outside the box review. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 76037 Name: Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up Theme: Marvel Super Heroes Parts: 386 Price: $39.99 BOX CONTENTS Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a large Tile, a comic book, a sticker sheet and 2 instruction books. BUILD AND EXECUTION: Rhino: All right Spider-Man, time to put your dukes up! Spidey: Uh, did you forget something? Where's your Rhino suit? Rhino: I forgot, I got a new one. I need to put it together. Spidey: Oh, ok. I can wait. Rhino: The instructions aren't really clear which of these goes on which side. Urgh. Spidey: What? Did you buy that thing at Ikea? Rhino: I've got it. This is going better than I expected. Spidey: Well, just wake me up when you're done. Rhino: Look, if you want this fight to start sooner, you could help you know. Spidey: Well, I guess so. After all, I do have a High School science award. Spidey: You know, all the money you spent on this thing could have been used to go straight. Rhino: Shut it web-head. Spidey: I'm just saying, I spend like $35,000 a year on webs and spandex because of you guys, and this elliptical machine must be at least 20X that. Rhino: I'm gonna enjoy squashing you like a bug. Get it? Bug! Ha ha. Spidey: Spiders aren't bugs Einstein. Spidey: Hey Rhino, you're a sharp one, huh? Sharp as that horn. Rhino: Shut up! Spidey: What are those holes in the fingers for? Rhino: Just these little explosive projectiles. Spidey: Rhino's shoot missles? Rhino: Ok, now I turn the key and press this button and Hang on a sec. Nope, I flip these switches and rotate that knob and . . . Spidey: Getting bored now. LATERZ! Spidey: Man, that guy's dense. Hey, someone's making a sand castle. Spidey: What kind of castle are you making? Princess, Medieval, Nexo-Knights? Sandman: Go away bug. Spidey: Oh come on, spiders aren't bugs. Spidey: I was going to ask if you wanted me to bury you in the sand, but it looks like you're taking care of that. Sandman: Leave me alone. Spidey: I'm not really getting this abstract watcha-ma-call-it. Did Picasso make it? Spidey: You know,I hate sand. It's coarse and gets everywhere. Spidey: Hey Mr. Grabby-Hands, I'm not that kind of date. Sandman: I told you to go away, now you're going to get it! Spidey: Hey stop with the shaking! All of my change is coming out of my pockets! Spidey: Hey look, there's Taylor Swift! Sandman: Where? Spidey: I'm outta here. Iron Spidey: Weird place for a sandbox. Something about it is making my Spidey sense tingle . . . Spidey: Is it my day for meeting weirdos? Luckily I got away from that guy. Iron Spidey: Look, it's getting bigger all by itself. The sensors in my Starktech limbs will tell me more about it. Spidey: What the, who are you? Iron Spidey: I'm Spider-Man. Spidey: Hello me, meet the real me. Sandman: Now there's 2 of him? Spidey: I spy with my spidey eye something with a hammer. Iron Spidey: Is it Hammertime? Get it? Can't touch this - oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh. Sandman: It's about to be. Spidey: Why do I feel like I forgot something? Rhino: Hello from the other side! Spidey: I should have known that Rhino was an Adelle fan. Iron Spidey: Hey, did you notice that not all of this stuff is sand? How's he do that? Spidey: Sand-and-other-stuff-man is just way too long to yell in a fight. Rhino: Hey, where'd he go? Rhino: Get down here so I can squash you bug! Spidey: I already told you, Spiders aren't . . . oh never mind. Iron Spidey: Hey Mr. Grabby hands, I'm not that kind of date. Spidey: Ha ha, I already said that loser. REACTION: I started off unimpressed with this set. I looked at it through the eyes of an adult who wants to display his toys,and not a child that wants to play with them. The entire thing looks like a mess. It's a mishmash of unrelated things that are just supposed to look like Sandman taking over a construction site. The Rhino is entirely disappointing. Why you build him a suit instead of a big figure is beyond me. All of that said, as I played with the set to tell my bizarre little story, I gained some appreciation of all of the play features. They were not designed for me.They were not designed for adults. A kid could have fun with all of the moving parts. But, this set is not for me. Let's take a look at the minifigures. This is the biggest reason why anyone buys Super Hero sets, so they should be amazing,or spectacular, or even ultimate. First off, there's Iron Spider(-Man). This guy's unique. I mean red and gold is Iron-Man's thing. Anyway, he's got 4 robotic arms attached to a neck bracket, and I think that's inaccurate. I thought he only had 3 in the comics. I like that his back printing looks like the retracted limbs. Sandman is boring to look at, but you can't blame LEGO, he's always been boring. He's got a 2 sided head and brown joker hair. The sandy torso and tan limbs show that he's always mid change and sometimes angry. I didn't think that there was anything they could do to Spider-Man, but they gave him those 2 tone legs. It looks good, but I am bored of getting Spidey figures. Rhino, well, he's just some dude, Pretty sure he's got a clone head. 2 Sided torso printing doesn't make him look any more like a bigfig. FINAL THOUGHTS: There's a lot of tan in this set. People like to buy tan parts for MOCs, I think if you get this set cheaply enough, there's a good demand for the parts. The large tile is the same one used in most UCS sets. Iron Spider is the big draw for this set. So he's sure to appreciate a little bit once this set goes. I'm stuck thinking about how roundly unpopular this set is. Will it pass into obscurity once it is out of sight, or will people clamor to grab it later on to complete a collection? Not being a fan of this set, I tend to come down on the former. For me, it's a parts set and that's where the value will always lie. If you have a child that likes LEGO and Super Heroes though, this set is a winner for them. Lots of interesting parts, a couple of Spider-Men and some guys for them to beat up. Invest cautiously at steep discounts. Help support the site by buying on Amazon. EXTRA PARTS: Some people might not include the super jumper in extra parts, but that's not me. I definitely don't think it belongs in the set.
    2 points
  2. I picked up this set and put it down in the store so many times, I just can't recall. Nothing about it made me want to build it or own it. Clash of the Heroes was not speaking to me. One day I thought of something that amused me. I decided that if I was going to do it, instead of describing the building process, I would tell a story and put the pictures in reverse order to tell it. You'll still see the build in steps, but I'm not going to give my thoughts about each little chunk. I'll give you my reaction at the end of the review like I normally do. For now, I ask your indulgence as I play with my LEGO a little bit. To differentiate this from the more serious reviews this (and any others like it) will have an "OUTSIDE THE BOX" title. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 76044 Name: Clash of the Heroes Theme: DC Super Heroes Parts: 92 Price: $12.99 It's sort of interesting, sort of sad that there's a $3 markup on these licensed sets over the unlicensed counterparts. 92 pieces including 2 minifigures for $12.99 seems a bit on the pricy side to me. BOX CONTENTS Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 unnumbered baggies, a plate, a single sticker and an instruction book. BUILD AND EXECUTION: (to see the build in order, you kind of have to look at these pictures in reverse) "Hey Bruce, just came by to pick up that DVD I loaned you and . . . Hey, is that Kryptonite?" "Hey Superjerk, stop taking my stuff apart!" "Kryptonite weakens me!" "Yeah, I can tell." "You're so inconsiderate keeping your Kryptonite out when I come to visit. I'm taking back the Bat mirror I bought you as a friendship gift." "I'm gonna give you one chance to put all that stuff back." "I need to fold this stuff around the Kryptonite to protect myself." "It's weird how much I hate guns, yet I keep these things everywhere." "All I wanted was my Dances with Wolves DVD back." "Hang on, I've got something for you. . . Let's see, Tab A into Slot B . . ." "Catch!" "Your turn jerkwad! I was going to loan you Driving Miss Daisy next." "Here hold this for me." "Man, all my stuff is messed up. I can never keep nice stuff with you around." "Heh heh heh, I just remembered, I loaned that disc to Aquaman. My bad." "Superdunce." REACTION: Even though I started off with no enthusiasm for this set, I still went into it with the intention of being fair and balanced. Spending all of the extra time to think of a story with these 2 gave me a chance to play with the toy in a way that most adult collectors aren't going to, but some kids might. I can appreciate that the kids might like the flick missile bat shield or the shove bar in the back. Those didn't do a lot for me though. So, apart from the play features that I didn't like or want, we've got a small, uninspired platform. I can't tell if the railing in front was a turret or just a railing with cannons. Regardless, it stays on very poorly. I couldn't get Batman to 2 hand his bazooka, which would disappoint kids. Since most people are only getting this set for the minifigures, let's look at them. The minifigures look good. Both of them are unique. Superman's only slightly different from the version in 76046. In this version he does not have red boots. To me, that makes his plain blue pants stand out. Unique, in this case, is not better. His hair and torso are shared with the other BvS Superman. The hair is molded in a different color for Captain America in the Black Panther Pursuit. The head is shared with Dimensions Superman and Hyperion from the Avenjet set. His cape is the spongey softer fabric being used recently. The torso and head have printing on both sides. All in all, despite the plain legs, a successful figure. Batman is entirely new. Every single piece of the figure is new and even most of his accessories are unique in some way. The head is painted to look like a balaclava which is so much better than the previous sweatband version from most older sets. It's got printing on both sides grim and angry-grim (angrim?) It's also cast in glow in the dark plastic so that the eyes will glow. That seems like a lot of plastic for 2 tiny angrim pinholes. The torso has some fantastic printing on both sides that is almost entirely obscured by the armor and the cape. At least when Johnny and his friends lose the accessories, he'll still look like armored Batman. The leg printing is nice and detailed, I guess being a billionaire, he can afford leg printing. The cowl is the older version, which I guess works best for the armored look. It's never been released in this color. The armor seems a little plain. I guess they wanted to have the option to use it for other characters later on, so no bat symbol. It's got 2 attachment points in back. His cape is a simplified version of the Batman cape. Since it doesn't have to wrap around his shoulders, it only has one neck hole. The top 1/3 is covered by the armor. The cape is also the stiffer cloth that I thought they moved away from. His other accessories are a standard stud shooter, a batarang molded in light silver, that cool little grappling hook launcher that's pretty new and a light grey grappling hook. Batman is far and away the star of this set. FINAL THOUGHTS: This set is common as dirt and it's cheap. Every little Jimmy is going to easily be able to afford this one or get it as a gift from a well meaning (but cheap) friend or relative. It has a lot of kid appeal, 2 major Super Heroes and a neat little Batsignal. Will future collectors respond to it and need to get this set? I feel like it is bound to do better than the disappointing Metropolis Showdown. The exclusive Batman is bound to see to that. I don't really feel like this set is going to take any major jumps on the aftermarket. This is definitely the cheapest way to get these 2 iconic heroes, and I fear that it will always be. If you can get a significant discount on this set, it's going to hold value and appeal to people who still want a cheap Bat/Supes set. I'm thinking that the upper limit of this set cannot be above $17.99. support the site by buying on Amazon EXTRA PIECES: You get an extra silver batarang, which is cool. I know I can't be the only one that has no use for an extra stud shooter trigger. I mean I get so many sets with stud shooters, I have more extras than I can count (mostly because I throw them in a big bin full of all the small extra pieces and try to forget them.)
    1 point
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