In all honesty, I had not planned to buy the Scuttler. While I was dying to have the Poison Ivy Minifigure that came with it, I don’t really need another Batman vehicle. I also don’t really need another Batman or Joker Minifig. Barbara Gordon and Commissioner Gordon were of interest, but I had other variants of them already. My plan was to buying Poison Ivy on Bricklink or eBay, but I have yet to find one with shipping to Canada for under $20. Then, Chapters had a sale. I got this set for 40% off, which is a top notch deal for LEGO. I figured I could spend $60 for the whole set, or one third of that for just the Poison Ivy Minifigure. So, I went for the better deal, and bought the set. Let’s see how it fares.
Set Summary
NAME: The Scuttler
SET #: 70908
THEME: The LEGO Batman Movie
COST: $99.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 775
MINIFIGURES: 6
RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2017
Summary Review: 89%
VALUE: 80% (At full price, you are paying $0.13 per brick, which is pretty average.)
BUILD: 95% (Nicely designed set, very few complaints on my part.)
MINIFIGURES: 89% (Really nice Minifigs despite rehashes, excellent brick:fig.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 90% (Really fun set with a good build time value.)
Review
VALUE: 80%
At full price, the LEGO Scuttler costs $99.99 in Canada. With 775 bricks, that means that each brick will set you back $0.13. That is not a horrible value, and is actually pretty much right on the average for 2017. That would earn it 4/5 (80%) at full price. Since I bought it for $60.00 (40% off), each brick cost me $0.08, which is a phenomenal value, and would earn 100%. As I write this (the week of February 4, 2018), the Scuttler is on sale at Chapters/Indigo. They have no more stock online, but they still had them at my local store. The set is also on sale at Toys R Us and Walmart, though the deal is not as good. But, you can always price-match.
BUILD: 95%
The Scuttler is actually a fairly impressive build. Despite being of the opinion that I have too many Batman vehicles already, I do find that this one is very nicely detailed and has a great deal of mobility. The Scuttler has 14 points of articulation, and many of them offer rotation in multiple planes. There are several stud shooters, and telescoping arms as well. To top the whole thing off, there is a net launcher attached to the back. I am not a huge fan of the net launcher in terms of design though. It breaks up the overall silhouette of the Scuttler in a way that I don’t really like, but it is a fun play feature for kids. The Scuttler also has a cockpit up front for one Minifigure, and an additional storage place in back either for Batman’s jet pack, or more Minifigures.
There are two smaller builds in this set as well. The first is Poison Ivy’s plant walker. It is a fairly simple piece, and more of an accessory than anything else. It’s not bad, but nothing to write home about either.
Batman also comes with a jet pack. It does not attach to his back like most other jet packs, rather he stands on it. It actually fits quite nicely into the rear compartment of the Scuttler for storage.
Overall, there is nothing that I really don’t like about the build for this set. As I mentioned before, the Scuttler is very nicely detailed. I am not a huge fan of the way that the net launcher was attached, but that is not a major issue. I give the Scuttler 9.5/10 (95%) as a build score.
MINIFIGURES: 89%
You get six Minifigures along with the Scuttler: Batman, Dick Grayson, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Joker, and Poison Ivy. Batman is nothing special. I have gotten this exact variation of the caped crusader before… twice. If this was the first time, I would give him the same 80% that I did the last couple of times. Dick Grayson is the gala variant from the movie. He has a double sided face, a front and back printed torso, and printing on his arms. He also sports a bow tie. I really like the hairpiece and glasses that this character had in the movie, and subsequently has for the Minifigs. I give him 13/15 (87%).
Barbara Gordon comes decked out in a GCPD bulletproof vest that has front and back printing. She also has front print on her legs, but none on her torso under the vest. Her arms have t-shirt sleeves painted on as well. I have to admit, I was a little bummed that the t-shirt did not read “Harvard for Police”, but you can’t have it all. This hairpiece was available through the Minifigure series, but it is pretty cool, so it is always great to get another one. She also gets a hand gun. One side of Barbara’s face is angry, the other smirking. She earns 14/15 (93%).
Commissioner Gordon comes in more ceremonial attire. It is interesting how in this set we get work attire Barbara, and ceremonial Jim, whereas the Minifigure series had ceremonial Barbara, and work attire Jim. In any case, Jim has a double sided face (smiling and angry), front and back print on his torso, and arm printing. His legs are just plain blue. He also comes with a hand gun though. I give him 12/15 (80%).
Like Batman, the Joker in the set is nothing we have not seen before. He is almost identical to the one in the Joker Balloon Escape, but his facial expressions are different. I will give him the same rating of 80% that I gave him in the Balloon Escape Set (click here to read that review.)
Finally, the piece-de-resistance (well for me anyway), Poison Ivy. This Minifig was the whole reason that I wanted this set. I have a whole photography project that was just waiting for this Minifigure to join my collection. Ivy comes with a unique hairpiece that has printed on leaves, and a painted flower. She also has a double sided face, front and back print on her torso, arm printing, and front print on her legs. Additionally, she comes with a “grass” skirt, and vines galore. Poison Ivy easily earns a full 15/15 for design.
Averaging out the design scores for these Minifigures gives them an overall grade of 87%. With 775 pieces in the set, you also have a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 129:1. That is actually really good, and earns a ratio score of 4.5/5 (90%). Averaging the design and ratio scores gives an overall Minifigure score of 89%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 90%
Despite being yet another Batman vehicle, I quite like this set. If I was a kid playing with this, I would have a field day. The set is just awesome. The Scuttler has so much detail, and so many points of articulation that it would provide hours of play. It is also covered in stud shooters, and has that net shooter. I will not be keeping mine built for storage reasons (and I need the pieces for a custom project), but I would have loved this as a kid. For that reason, I will give it a full 5/5 for enjoyment. The Scuttler also took me two hours and 25 minutes to build, giving it a build time cost of $0.69/minute at full price. That earns it a build time value score of 4/5 (80%). At the sale price that I was lucky enough to snag, the value is even better at $0.41/minute. So, getting this on sale earns it a score of 5/5 for build time. Averaging the enjoyment and build time at full price gives this set an entertainment score of 90%. At 40% off the original price, that score goes up to a full 100%.
Overall: 89%
I have to admit that for a set I was not planning to buy, I ended up liking the Scuttler a lot more than I thought I would. It is a solid, fun set. At full price, I would say it is worth picking up. You get a decent value per brick, as well as for build time. If you are fast, you can snag one at 40% off this week (week of February 4, 2018). At that price, my overall rating for the set goes up to 96%, because the value is awesome. I think kids will love this set, and collectors will get Poison Ivy without having to pay exorbitant prices on the secondary market. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time,
-Tom
Wow, that Poison Ivy mining looks amazing! I look forward to seeing your photo-project with her.
Thanks! It might be a while… I am stocking up on these photo projects for my A-to-Z challenge in April….
Ah, that will be very cool!