Review: Battle Ready Batman

From the early trailers for the LEGO® Movie 2, there was one character I knew that I must have as a Minifigure, and that was Battle Ready Batman. This Minifigure is available in two sets from the theme: Welcome to Apocalypseburg, and the subject of today’s review, Battle-Ready Batman and Metalbeard. Of the two sets, today’s review deals with the more wallet-friendly way to acquire this Minifigure, but let’s also take a look at whether or not the rest of the set measures up. As always, if you are curious about how I generate scores in this review,  you can check out my rating system by clicking here.

SET SUMMARY

NAME: Battle-Ready Batman and MetalBeard
SET #: 70836
THEME: The LEGO® Movie 2
COST: $24.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 168
MINIFIGURES: 2
OF INTEREST: 1 buildable character
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2019

SUMMARY REVIEW: 83%

VALUE: 70% (Good cost-per-brick, but slightly pricey build-time.)

BUILD: 70% (MetalBeard looks great, Batman’s throne is just ok.)

MINIFIGURES: 93% (Batman alone is enough reason to buy this set.)

ENTERTAINMENT: 100% (Great for adult and kid collectors alike.)

REVIEW

VALUE: 70%

The Battle-Ready Batman set clocks in at $24.99 in Canada. With a piece count of 168, you are looking at a cost per brick of $0.15. That is just a little above my current average of $0.14, but still a good value. I rate the cost per brick at 80%.

In terms of build time, I spent 28 minutes piecing this together. So, at the full price of $24.99, it cost me about $0.89 per minute of building enjoyment. My current average is $0.84/minute. So, again, the cost here is above average. I rate the build-time value for this set at 60%. Averaging this score with the cost-per-brick score gives Battle Ready Batman an overall value rating of 70%.

BUILD: 70%

There are two small builds in this set: Batman’s throne, and MetalBeard. Batman’s throne is nothing really exciting. It is a platform raised up on a piece of rock, with a ladder leading up to it, and bat wings sticking off the sides. There is a little play feature whereby rotating a gear you cause a sign saying “You’re Welcome” to wave back and forth. The sign is really the highlight of this build for me. That sign featured in a hilarious scene in the film, so getting it in a set is great fun. It’s also a printed tile, which is an added bonus over getting a sticker.

MetalBeard is an interesting build. The character is a pirate Minifigure head mounted onto a steampunk-style, mechanical arachnid body. The legs are mostly made of swords, but you get a chainsaw and spyglass thrown in for good measure. I really like the little cannons sticking off the sides.

In the end, I rate the build for this set at 7/10 (70%). There is nothing that I really don’t like about this set, so I won’t take off marks. It gains some points for:

• The awesome “You’re Welcome” sign
• The interesing MetalBeard design

MINIFIGURES: 93%

There are two Minifigures included in this set. You get the namesake, Battle-Ready Batman, and a random citizen of Apocalypseburg who is apparently named “Maddox”. The show stealer here is Batman. He is the whole reason that I got this set to begin with. This is a new version of Batman made for the film, and his Apocalypseburg armor is phenomenal. I love the tires as shoulder pads. This Minifig alone makes this set worth picking up.

In terms of design, I would give these characters 22/30 (73%). Only Batman has a double-sided face, but both have front and back printed torsos, as well as leg printing. There are also loads of accessories in this kit. You get Batman’s armor, a cape, a shoulder protector, Batman’s belt, two Batarangs, a spear, two katanas, 4 swords, 2 bones, 2 sausages, the “You’re Welcome” sign, a pirate hat, MetalBeard’s head, and a Star character from the movie. Those easily bring the design score up to 100%.

With 168 pieces in the kit, Battle-Ready Batman has a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 84-to-1. That is pretty good, and earns 86% in my books. Averaging this score with the design score gives the set an overall Minifigure rating of 93%.

ENTERTAINMENT: 100%

For fans of the movie, you can actually get pretty much all the main characters of the film without breaking the bank by buying small sets like this one. This is a really good way to land yourself a Battle-Ready Batman Minifig. You also get MetalBeard, another main character of the film. So, from a kid’s perspective, this set is a great one to get for being able to play out movie scenes. From an adult’s perspective, it is a cheap way to get two of the main characters. From a Batman-fan’s perspective, this is a very unique version of Batman that is a must have. I love this set for those reasons, and give it 100% for entertainment.

OVERALL: 83%

Battle-Ready Batman and MetalBeard is a good set to have, even at full price. While the value of this set is not phenomenal, it is also not that bad all things considered. The build is also good, and the MetalBeard character is really nicely designed. You get two main characters from the movie in this kit, but Batman is really the pièce-de-resistance for me. What do you think about this set? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Until next time,

-Tom

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