This week, I have several Marvel Comics themed reviews coming your way. To kick things off, a look at the Avengers Compound Battle (76131). I have been eyeing this set for a while. The set looks interesting enough, but I really wanted it for the Minifigures. Therefore, I did not want to pay full price for it. As luck would have it, Amazon sold it for 40% off on Black Friday. The deal was too good to pass up. The figurines are amazing. Now, to kick off my week of Avengers reviews, let us take a closer look at the set.
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AVENGERS COMPOUND BATTLE SUMMARY
- NAME: Avengers Compound Battle
- SET #: 76131
- THEME: Marvel Superheroes
- COST: $139.99 CAD
- BRICK COUNT: 699
- MINIFIGURES: 4 + 2 Big-Figs
- RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2019
AVENGERS COMPOUND BATTLE QUICK REVIEW
- VALUE: 58% (Expensive cost-per-brick and not much build-time for the price.)
- BUILD: 80% (Nice design with some interesting techniques, but has useless side builds as well.)
- MINIFIGURES: 93% (Wonderful character selection, loads of accessories, great number of figs.)
- ENTERTAINMENT: 90% (Great character selection for AFOLs, great play opportunities for KFOLs)
- OVERALL SCORE: 80%
AVENGERS COMPOUND BATTLE (76131) REVIEW
VALUE: 58%
At full price, Avengers Compound Battle costs $139.99 in Canada. Additionally, the set contains 699 pieces. Therefore, the cost-per-brick is $0.20. Comparatively, my average cost-per-brick is $0.14. Therefore, this set is not a particularly good value. However, it remains passable. I rate the value-per-brick at 60%. Luckily, I did not pay full price. Amazon sold this set for 40% off on Black Friday 2020. I paid $83.99 for it. At that price, each brick was a much more reasonable $0.12 and scores 87%.
Avengers Compound Battle took me one hour and 47 minutes to build. At full price, the cost-per-minute of build time is $1.31. That is expensive. By comparison, my average cost-per-minute is $0.84. Therefore, at full price, I rate this set at 56%. Paying $83.99 for the set brings the cost-per-minute way down to $0.78. At that price point, the score goes up to 83%. Averaging the two scores gives Avengers Compound Battle an overall value grade of 58% at full price. At Black Friday prices, I rate it at 85%.
BUILD: 80%
The first manual instructs you to assemble an Avengers car. It is not a bad design, but it is not special either. Pretty standard fare all things considered. The second manual is for the helicopter. I am not keen on small helicopters anymore. They are a dime a dozen in the City theme. If there is one thing the LEGO® world does not need more of it is helicopters. However, this one is a little more robust than most City helicopters. While I still think it is an unnecessary addition to the set, I found myself enjoying the build more than most helicopters that I assemble.
The main assembly is the actual Avengers compound. The building consists of a main hub and a garage. The garage has two complete walls, one featuring a lifting garage door. The other sides are relatively open. On the roof, the building has a helicopter landing pad that joins to the main hub via a bridge. The door into the main building is an interesting rotating wall.
Like many large LEGO® sets, this one has too many unnecessary side builds.
The interior of the main building consists of two floors. The ground floor is relatively bare. There is only one computer terminal and a side room. The side room is protected by lasers and houses Thanos’ gauntlet. A play feature allows the wall to rip off, exposing the gauntlet. Upstairs, the Avengers have a conference room. Another play feature has guns hidden inside the table. From the outside, the building looks nice. I like the tinted windows. Additionally, the windows angle in an interesting fashion that presents a nice build technique.
Ultimately, Avengers Compound Battle is an okay build. It presents some interesting designs and build techniques. However, like many other large LEGO® sets, it tries to be too many things. The helicopter and car are not both necessary. In fact, the bricks used for those side builds take detail away from the main building. I rate the build at 8/10 (80%) in this case for being largely enjoyable, but lacking detail in places due to useless side builds.
MINIFIGURES: 93%
Avengers Compound Battle has four Minifigures and two big figs. They are the whole reason I wanted to buy it in the first place. You get Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Nebula, an outrider, and Thanos. In terms of the actual Minifigures, only the outrider does not have a head covering. However, all of them have printing on the front and back of their heads. Additionally, each has dual torso printing. Iron Man and Nebula also have leg printing. The big figs look great too. Thanos is particularly detailed. However, someday I would like to see big figs with moving legs. Avengers Compound Battle also comes with 28 accessories. You get two Ant-Man mini-minifigs, two katanas, a welder, a wrench, a crowbar, a circular saw, Thanos’ gauntlet, 3 clear mugs, a bottle, a printed keyboard tile, two guns, and 12 blast pieces. Overall, I rate the Minifigure design at 100%.
Six characters in a 699-piece kit is good. The brick-to-fig ratio is 117:1. Comparatively, my average ratio is 144:1. Therefore, you get a slightly above average number of characters for a kit of this size. I rate that at 85%. Averaging this score with the design score gives an overall Minifigure grade of 93%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 90%
As an adult collector and superhero fan, I wanted Avengers Compound Battle for the characters included in the kit. I do not often buy Marvel sets for budget reasons. However, I like to have my favorite characters in Minifigure form. I needed to round out my Avengers team as I did not have Captain Marvel or Hulk. Additionally, Thanos is a must have villain. This set hit three birds with one stone, plus I got Nebula. However, I intend to repurpose the parts in this set. The window layout and rotating wall design might make it into a MOC at some point though. The characters have me so thrilled that I will score this set higher than I normally would. For superhero fans, I think the AFOL entertainment score is 80%.
Avengers Compound Battle really shines as a playset. As a kid, I loved superheroes. Additionally, play often centered around a base. While this set is not particularly detailed from an AFOL perspective, there is enough going on for it to be fun for play. For KFOL superhero fans, this set is a solid 100%. Averaging this score with the AFOL score gives an overall entertainment rating of 90%.
OVERALL SCORE: 80%
Avengers Compound Battle (76131) is a good set, but not an amazing one, at least from an adult’s perspective. I think kids will enjoy this set a whole lot more. The real selling point for me is the great character selection. However, the set is expensive for what you get. Finding it 40% off made me pull the trigger on a set I might otherwise have let pass me by. While fun for kids, the build tries to accomplish too many things with a car, helicopter, and the main compound. I would scrap the car or helicopter in favor of a more detailed building. What are your thoughts on Avengers Compound Battle (76131)? Feel free to comment below or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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