Review: LEGO Marvel Mechs For 2021
LEGO Marvel for 2021 is smashing out a new wave of Marvel Mech-Armours with quite the diversity of characters this time around. The first wave dropped in 2020, featuring Thanos, Spiderman and Iron-Man. Two characters relatively common in sets, and a third in a very different new version. 2021 gives us….
Two characters relatively common in sets, and a third in a very different new version! Yay!
LEGO – Marvel Mech Armour
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Set 76171 – 76168 – 76169
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RRP UK £8.99 – EUR €9.99 – USA $9.99 – AUD $19.99 – CA $13.99
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Available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from January 1st, 2021.
LEGO 76171 – Miles Morales Mech Armour
Straight off the bat is our favourite Mech Armour of 2021 – Miles Morales!
Dannii and I both LOVE the Into-the-Spider-Verse Movie done by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. So to see a version of Miles Morales which looks very akin to the one and the same from the movie makes us very happy. Miles comes with the new 2021 hood piece in dark red, a new torso print with his hoodie covering up his spider-suit, and dual moulded grey/black legs.
If you read our other Marvel review, we talked about how the new hood didn’t work for Spider-Gwen, but it works here. The main reason for this is that the hood is shaped in such a way that it looks separate from the headpiece. With Miles the hood is not his costume, but a disguise OVER the costume, whereas with Gwen. The hood is a part of her outfit, and the new piece doesn’t convey that. It’s hard to explain, but Miles pulls off the look, but unfortunately, Gwen doesn’t.
Minifigures
Miles and his mech come accessorised with the web-accessories of the past few years, but in a new trans-light blue colour. He shoots web out of a web-shooter like all the other Spidermen. But the trans-light blue represents his “Venom” ability, his ability to electrify his enemies. I can see these being used in stop motion flashing with the traditional white colour of the piece to show this Venom ability off.
Miles’ mech is a relatively straight forward build, keeping purposely to a slender and sleek design, much akin to its pilot. The build has two ‘web’ shapes coming off the back of it. Which I ultimately don’t know their purpose, but otherwise has clips on the back to store the extra accessories. The Mech also has a subtle clip on its right arm, so people can mimic the web-shooting of Spiderman, on a much larger scale.
I do wish there was another way to make the feet on the Miles-Mech, each foot for the mech is a simple 1 stud wide and 5 studs long. It definitely conveys the slender-ness of the build but does cause a few stability problems if not posed right. These are minor gripes, and honestly, this is close to a 10/10 build.
LEGO 76168 – Captain America Mech Armour
If you’ve built one, you’ve built them all. More or less. Captain America’s Mech doesn’t break the mould too much, but I definitely enjoy it nonetheless. The first thing you notice with the build is the massive shield on his arm, which we haven’t anything similar since…
Let me think… 2012’s Buildable Captain America (4597)?
As far as the figure goes for this set, this is a cheap and easy way to get not only Captain America’s Cap. But also his shield on a grey shield piece instead of bright red. If you’re like me and collected the MCU LEGO sets, your Cap’ at home is holding onto a bright-red shield. More than likely wearing a solid-dark-blue printed Minifigure head to simulate the cap.
Have no fear, cheap and efficient option is here! Jokes aside, Captain America in this set is perfect and for anyone who doesn’t have a Captain America, here’s a fantastic one to start with.
Mech
The Mech itself fits the mould of all the Mechs before it. With the only significant parts being the shield adornment on his back and the ability to put the Minifigure shield on a clip. On the back of his leg to make for easy travel. The larger feet combat the stability issues of the above mech, but my only issue I have with this set is the Mech’s thumbs.
Each finger of the mech is made of a different part than the thumb, which is a good solid .5cm longer than the other parts. It looks weird and odd and I would excuse it if the mech would pull off a good thumbs up pose. But the bend in the piece doesn’t allow that. You must commit to one style of finger/thumb, or else it looks odd. (E.G. Look at the Thanos Mech!)
Good buy for the figs, weird thumbs. 8/10.
LEGO 76169 – Thor Mech Armour
Thor’s Mech is the bulkiest and the busiest set of the three Mechs. It very clearly follows the traditional Thor colour scheme, with the dark blue pants and sleeves. Insinuated red cloak, gold belt, black torso with the round things, as well as a Mech-Sized Mjolnir. The build clearly mimics the first rendition of Thor, even rounding off with the MCU version of Thor’s helmet. It’s all great points for a start, but ultimately let down by Thor himself.
Explained
Let me explain. Each one of the Mechs released thus far has an imprint of their pilot in them, Iron-Man rocks the red and gold. Cap’ rocks the Red/White/Blue, but Thor. Thor doesn’t imprint into his mech. This version of Thor is adorned in heavy metal armour with gunmetal grey and silver for his character.
Not enough of the Classic Thor his mech is so clearly based on. The only instrument of colour on his printing comes from his red cloak on the front. But is ultimately lost without an actual cloak for it to lead on from. It’s a lot of silver, grey and blandness from Thor which makes him not suit the mech.
Next Mech
The Mech itself works really well to get the classic motif of Thor into the build. With a larger rendition of stickers than the other mech in its wave. I am also extremely happy to see that the fingers and thumbs are the same size. It’s a bit ape-ish at this size, but Thor is supposed to be domineering and imposing in stature, his mech should be the same. The Mech Mjolnir (or Mechnir, if you will) is really well accentuated with the use of translucent light-blue to convey the lightning wielded in the hammer. It’s a shame the detailing with the stickers can only be viewed from one angle. Otherwise, it shows the studs underneath connecting the pieces and loses a bit of its look.
The biggest issue with the Mech is the cape. I completely understand what LEGO was trying to go for by doing the cape and at certain angles, it works. The red shapes clipped to the back of the arms works well for a cape for the most part and isn’t immediately an issue.
Until you imagine the mech raising its arms above its head to do a power-smash with the hammer. The clipped on red pieces look a little out of place and I’ll be honest.
I don’t know how to do better, but maybe they could have had the cape come purely for the back of the pilot seat and avoided this altogether. Who knows?
Overall, this is the weakest of the three mechs coming in 2021, and it’s mainly a let down because of Thor. I actually sat down and tried to imagine the classic Thor coming with this set. Instead of the metal-covered one to see if change my opinion and honestly, it does. A lot of the impact of these Mechs come from the subject matter and how they convey, and unfortunately, this Thor is too different.
6/10. Mech itself is an 8/10.
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