A while back, I needed a little something extra to add to my LEGO purchase in order to qualify for an in store freebie. Having enjoyed the LEGO Batman Movie, and needing more police officers for my LEGO city, I picked up the LEGO Batman Movie Accessory Pack. I completely forgot about it in one of my drawers for a couple of months. I found it again quite recently, and decided it was high time to review it before it gets retired.
Set Summary
NAME: The LEGO Batman Movie Accessory Pack
SET #: 853551
THEME: The LEGO Batman Movie
COST: $15.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 31
MINIFIGURES: 3
RELEASE DATE: February 2, 2017
Summary Review: 69%
VALUE: 80% (Price is on par with LEGO Batman Minifigures, but still a bit much.)
BUILD: 50% (Last year’s freebie Bat-signal polybag was nicer.)
MINIFIGURES: 90% (Nicely designed characters with a great brick-to-fig ratio.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 55% (Really short build, will re-purpose half of the pieces.)
REVIEW
VALUE: 80%
At $15.99, with only 31 pieces, each brick in this set costs $0.52. That is astronomically overpriced if you compare this with an actual LEGO set. But, half of this set is actually Minifigures. There are three of them, plus their accessories. If you compare the price of this set to the price of the individual Minifigures from the LEGO Batman Movie Series 1, the price is not so out there. Series 1 cost $4.99 a Minifigure when they first came out. So, three Minifigures would have cost you $14.97. That means that the actual LEGO build in this set was only $1.03. There are 16 bricks in the Bat-signal that comes with this set, which translates to $0.06 a brick, which is actually pretty good for the build. I still really believe that $4.99 was way too much to charge for a Minifigure. But, the Minifigures in this accessory pack are on par with the rest of series 1, which came out around the same time. It is hard to rate this as a LEGO set, because it is actually a Minifigure kit with some LEGO bricks in it. I think that $12.99 would have been a better price for something like this. So, since this is not really a “set”, and I think $4.99 is too much for a Minifigure, and because $12.99 is about 20% less than $15.99, I will rate the LEGO Batman Movie Accessory Pack at 20% less than 100%… 80%.
BUILD: 50%
The build for this set is really small, and rather unimpressive. I might have liked it more were it not for the other LEGO Batman Movie Accessory Pack that I got for free last January in a LEGO Store promotion (click here to read about it). That polybag also came with a brick built Bat-signal, only it was much nicer and much more detailed. This newer one is rather bland by comparison, lacking all of the detailing of its predecessor. It also does not rotate on its base like the other one. I like that I got another round, printed Bat symbol tile, and another domed cover for the spotlight though. This build loses two points (for lack of detail and rotation), and gains two points (for the tile and the dome)… getting 5/10 on my rating scale.
MINIFIGURES: 90%
As mentioned before, this is really a Minifigure set, not an actual LEGO set. You get three GCPD officers, one of which is chief O’Hara. Three Minifigures can collectively earn a total of 45 points on my rating scale. They start off with 18 points for coming with all of the standard Minifigure parts (and no stumpy legs). Each also has a head covering, be it hair, hat, or helmet, earning another three points. They each have a unique face print, but no double sided faces, earning another 3 out of 6 possible points. All have front and back printed torsos, getting another 6 points. O’Hara and the officer with the hat also have leg printing, earning another two points. The officer with the hat earns an additional point for having printing all around his legs. Finally, each officer comes with an accessory (O’Hara has a gun, one officer has binoculars, the other has handcuffs), getting a final three points. If you were counting, that brings the total to 36/45 (80%) for Minifigure design.
In terms of the brick-to-Minfigure ratio, you have one Minifig for every 10 bricks, which is really hard to beat, and earns 100%. Averaging out the ratio and design scores gives an overall Minifigure grade of 90%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 55%
The Bat-signal took me 3 minutes and 15 seconds to assemble. That means each minute of build time cost a horrendous $4.92. That would amount to a zero on my rating scale. But, again, it is hard to rate this on par with an actual LEGO set… If I deduct the cost of the Minifigures from the set as I did in the first section of this review, then each minute of this build cost $0.31, which would amount to 100% on my rating scale. I don’t think it really deserves that high, or that low a score. I will give a grade right smack in the middle of the two simply because the build is so short, but better than nothing.
Will I keep this set built? Not the Bat-signal, since I already have a much nicer one. I will keep the Minifigures for sure in the MOC police station I have been working on for months. I give it 3/5 (60%) for enjoyment. Averaging the enjoyment and build-time scores gives an overall entertainment rating of 55%.
Overall: 69%
As a LEGO set, the LEGO Batman Movie Accessory Pack is a terrible value both in terms of bricks, and for build time. When considered as a sort of extension of the LEGO Batman Minifigure series, it is still overpriced, but not horribly so. The Minifigures (which are the whole point of this accessory pack) are great, and I really like them. But, the Bat-signal build is really weak compared with the free version that was given out in the LEGO Store a year ago. Do I recommend this set? Yes and no. If you are a real Batman fan, and want to have even the lesser known characters, I would say yes. Even if you just want to fill out your LEGO City police department with some unique looking officers, then this is a good little pack. I would also say it is a good way to get the harder to find Bat-signal pieces if you missed out on the freebie last year, and if you don’t want to dish out $159.99 for the Ultimate Batmobile. You could spruce the design up on your own with some pretty standard bricks. But, overall, I think this kit is overpriced for what you get.
As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time,
-Tom