This year marks the 10th anniversary of the LEGO Group creating sets inspired by the world of Marvel. Although this milestone remains largely unmarked, the set I’m taking a look at today should be considered a pinnacle for LEGO® Marvel sets. When it’s released on November 4th, the Iron Man Hulkbuster will become the one largest Marvel sets and boast the greatest piece count. On paper, this should be the ultimate Marvel set but since it was revealed a few weeks ago, the opinion of fans has been largely negative. But are those thoughts warranted or is this a set which is better than it seems? Let’s find out together in my review of the LEGO Marvel Hulkbuster set.
Product Details
LEGO® Marvel Hulkbuster (76210) captures the scale and power of the Hulkbuster MK44 from Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron. Standing over 52 cm (20.5 in.) tall and containing 4,049 pieces, this challenging and rewarding construction project is designed with adult enthusiasts in mind.
Authentically engineered
The model features a multitude of movie-accurate features. Within the dark red armour and strategically positioned golden plates lies a spacious cockpit, from which the LEGO Marvel Iron Man Figure (76206) – sold separately – controls the heavy-duty armour. The set also includes an information plate and a Tony Stark minifigure.
- Set Name: Hulkbuster
- Set Number: 76210
- Pieces: 4049
- RRP: £474.99/$549.99/549.99€
- Number of Bags: 24 steps + loose elements
- Stickers: Sheet x 1
- Minifigures: Tony Stark (Exclusive)
- Instructions: Booklet x 3 + LEGO Building Instructions App
- Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from Nov 4th VIP Access/Nov 9th General Release
The Hulkbuster suit made its MCU debut in Avengers Age of Ultron. After the Battle of New York, Tony Stark became obsessed with protecting those around him from a number of possible threats, including his fellow Avengers. As the rogue A.I. of Ultron causes havoc, the mind of Bruce Banner’s rage-filled alter ego becomes corrupted by Wanda Maximoff. Tony’s foresight caused him to create the Hulkbuster armour with help from Bruce’s input. Stark calls upon this tank-like exo-suit during Hulk’s rampage in Johannesburg. Unlike most Iron Man suits, the Hulkbuster armour fits around other Iron Man suits and features modular attachments delivered via the Veronica satellite. It’s a part of the MCU which has been portrayed in LEGO form a number of times before, except on a much smaller scale.
Inside the box, you’ll find 24 numbered steps, some steps require a couple of bags for some steps. There is also a secondary box within the outer box, top marks for the packaging choice as the various numbered bags are grouped across the outer and second boxes. Normally, you’ll have these dual-boxed sets with the bags all over the place. There’s also a carded pouch housing the three instruction booklets. Plus there’s a small sheet of stickers. Back to the instructions, the first one features a brief history of the Hulkbuster armour and how it was transformed into a LEGO set.
I’ll start by saying that I enjoyed building the set and yes the final model isn’t perfect but I think some of the criticism being levelled at the set does seem a little harsh. I will say it’s very expensive and thus will be out of reach for many fans. It’s also very big and for a set which is primarily a display piece, finding somewhere to put will be impossible for many. There’s a reason the lifestyle images show it sitting in a sparse industrial hanger. But both of these points don’t instantly require it to be classed as a ‘bad set’.
The Hulkbuater suit is basically a huge mech and LEGO mechs are rather prevalent. Their constructions are largely the same and this is partly the case for the Hulkbuster, just on a much, much larger scale. The core of the set is the body, this is largely a hollow structure and there’s a reason for this which I’ll cover later. The body section is used to connect the legs and arms and these limbs require a lot of building, more than the actual body does.
With the shell of the body complete, the two legs are built in sections and connected in a fixed position. This is unusual for a mech but necessary for this set due to its size. If the legs were able to be moved, it could make the whole set unstable and due to its size, this would be a safety hazard. As I was snapping pictures for this review, it did feel as if it was leaning back a little, almost to the point that it could easily fall backwards. But the wide span of the feet gives it a large enough footprint to stabilise it.
The legs may be fixed but the arms can be moved and due to their size, they have a decent yet limited range of movement. Both arms are mounted onto the body at the shoulder and are fixed to a large gear wheel. This is given some resistance thanks to four smaller gears mounted around the circumference of that larger gear. That limitation of the rotational movement is necessary due to the size and weight of the arms. But the way it’s constructed makes them perfectly balanced. Unfortunately, many of the connection points in the arms are quite visible, more so from the back.
The hands have the most movement, which a clip joint uses for the wrist connection and each digit have multiple points of movement. This allows you to recreate some iconic poses from the Hulkbuster, such as punching the Hulk to sleep or firing of a repulsor blast. Each hand also features a light brick, with another found in the centre of the chest to represent the Arc Reactor core. As was the case with the smaller Iron Man figure, the orange colouring of the bulb in the light brick is not suited to the lights featured on any of the Iron Man. Although they are mounted behind a transparent blue element, when illuminated they are still orange. The Fresnel lens introduced in the LEGO Ideas Motorized Lighthouse makes a surprising return as the cover for Hulkbuster’s ARC reactor.
The final stages of the build are largely focused on bulking out the body of the Hulkbuster armour. These include two shoulder panels and a source of much discussion from fans. If you look at the source image above, the shoulder coverings are actually connected to the arms and arch towards the body. It is a pretty major detail of the armour’s overall appearance. For this set, they slope the opposite way and it really doesn’t look right. I’m sure with some tweaking this could be rectified but when you are paying so much for a set, it shouldn’t need to be tweaked to offer a better-looking model. Yet, I understand why it has been done this way, as they try to cover the point at which the arms are connected to the body. Admittedly, not very well, which makes the change even harder to justify.
Another part of the set which looks a little odd is the large breastplates. These cover a large area of the chest but in doing so they are just too big. Because they are on such a prominent part of the set, it gives the overall set an odd appearance, not befitting to the source material. This design choice is a little more difficult to understand unless it was done so to incorporate a fun yet unnecessary feature so the set.
Back in January of this year, the LEGO Marvel theme introduced a new line of buildable figures, with the first being Iron Man. That particular set can be slotted inside of the Hulkbuster armour, as the normal Iron Man suit did in Age of Ultron. It’s a little tricky to slot it in there but the two awkward plates covering the chest can be dropped forwards and the domed piece for the head lifts up along with the covering panels sitting over the shoulders.
In a similar fashion to the Star Wars UCS sets and other displayable models, the Hulkbuster comes with an information plaque. This shows a few details about the suit and is also home to a Tony Stark minifigure. This is exclusive to the set but in all honesty, is quite disappointing. A set of this size and price should have at least featured an exclusive Iron Man suit and better still a new Hulk BigFig or even a buildable mini version of the Veronica modular. What essentially is just a unique torso seems a little pointless.
Review Round-up
I’m a Marvel fan and as I stated at the start of this review, I enjoyed building the set and the resulting model is certainly impactful. It’s also very expensive and it’s rather large, there is no getting away from those facts. Yet, it’s not a terrible set but nor is it perfect and unfortunately when a set carries such a high price point, you would expect perfection. The area around the shoulders is too exposed not to mention at odds with the source material. A trait which unfortunately can be found elsewhere on the set, it’s very gappy. The chest plate is too wide and gives the suit unwanted bulk or at least the appearance of such. Not sure if this was solely to enable the ability to slot the buildable Iron Man figure inside the armour. There are also a few flourishes, which do add nice detail but are also prone to falling off very easily. The number of times I’ve had to rebuild the back of the foot sections got very frustrating. Yet, the argument here is that it’s a display piece and as such will not be required to be moved around much. These are small niggles in what is otherwise an impressive take on the Hulkbuster suit and one worthy of its gigantic scale. It’s just a set not many will be able to afford especially since we’ve had a few high-priced Marvel sets already this year. I’m all for more big sets but maybe their releases need to be spread out a little better.
For
+ Its scale is visually impressive
+ Fun to build
+ Adding the smaller Iron Man buildable figure is a fun touch
Against
– Another very expensive set
– It’s maybe too big
– Some details are incorrect compared to the source material
– Some details seem unnecessary
– Poor minifigure
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Marvel Entertainment. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
