Review of UPCOMING PRIZE 76292 Captain America vs. Red Hulk Battle

With a value of AU$89.99 and based on the movie ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, LEGO set 76292 will be the prize in an upcoming Marvel themed competition that Brick News is hosting in conjunction with UniBricks.

The 223-piece set titled ‘Captain America vs. Red Hulk Battle’ features 4 of the main characters from the film; Captain America, Falcon, Ruth Bat-Seraph, and Red Hulk. The set also consists of a fighter jet, and having watched the film the day after enjoying building this fun Marvel set, this is where I started questioning the designers’ choices.

Now, I’m not going to sugar coat this review at all, and in covering the pros and cons I will be mentioning a few things about the film itself… so SPOILER WARNING!!

Opening the box the day prior to seeing the movie was indeed a good experience, and it had me looking forward to the film and connecting what I had built with what was on the big screen. My son immediately got to building the minifigures, and discovered the head of Red Hulk fit onto a regular minifigure body.

As mentioned, I did quite enjoy building this, especially the angles and connections that hold the wings to the fuselage.

The Captain America and Falcon figures both have “opening wings” according to the LEGO website, the website states this fun fact: “This LEGO Marvel Avengers buildable playset is the first to feature Captain America with his retractable wings and iconic shield”… When is claims ‘opening’ or ‘retractable’, it simply means they can be clipped on or taken off leaving the pack on their backs, though the wings fold at the clip joints (extra joints for Captain America) which is nicer than solid wings in my opinion. Captain America also has the drone ‘Redwing’ on his back which can easily be removed as a play feature.

All three of the regular minifigures have printed backs of their heads; Ruth has a calm and an angry face, Captain America has an exposed lower face and the variation which is covered by his mask (which in the movie slides into place when he goes to higher altitudes), Falcon has a visor and open face mask and the other side I believe is the back of the mask for when he removes his helmet… Red Hulk’s face is just angry, he needs no alternative face I guess (the hair piece isn’t very secure though, and with my kids playing with Red Hulk I had had to go searching for his hair a number of times in the fluffy black and white rug they were playing on).

I can’t recall the details of the characters outfits in the movie well enough to comment on the minifigures and their print designs, but they do look good with print on the front and back of the torsos and stickers on the wings of both Captain America and Falcon.

Ok, if you haven’t seen the film and have been reading this article past the previous spoiler warning, then you may wish to stop here… this is your 2nd SPOILER WARNING!

I was waiting through the entire film for the appearance of the fighter jet in this LEGO set… it did not appear though. Yes, there are regular fighter jets in the movie, but none are flown by Ruth Bat-Seraph who is depicted on the box art as flying this particular jet. The only thing I can conclude is that LEGO needed a vehicle or building of some sort, but they don’t do real war vehicles, so have come up with their own design which is not a realistic portrayal of a fighter jet (even though on their website they still refer to it as a fighter jet). I was expecting it to be an Avenger style plane that the Captain had access to, but obviously I was mistaken.

The sci-fi looking fighter jet has a few cool play features which definitely boost its fun factor. There is a storage compartment in the rear, well, just before the mighty big jet engine sticking out the back end. Inside the hidden compartment is a safe/box full of mystery metals (which is fortunately relevant to the movie’s plot). There are two stud shooters (one on each side of the fuselage), and “a large opening cockpit with room inside for a minifigure pilot” (noting that LEGO haven’t specified that Ruth is meant to fly it, despite the box art, and yet they haven’t supplied the 'pilot' 😜). A slight issue with this in my build being that the windscreen doesn’t sit down cleanly in the lowered position; whether this is a design flaw, or LEGO designers like the windscreen to sit up slightly higher than flush against the nose for whatever reason, who knows.

The other thing that got me frustrated with the set, is that it is titled Captain America vs. Red Hulk battle, but during their actual battle there are no fighter jets involved. In fact both Falcon and Ruth aren’t really involved at all either, but who am I to complain if LEGO wanted to create a small playset with all of these characters in the one box.

What I might complain about though, is how much they decide to charge us LEGO fans for this set. Perhaps because it is a licensed Marvel theme, and perhaps because they wish to make sure they take advantage of unique minifigures and their value (if you can call Red Hulk ‘mini’… it is in fact catalogued as a minifigure, and labelled as a ‘giant’ on BrickLink, as all the larger Hulks are). If you looked to purchase Red Hulk separately, the previous 2017 version of Red Hulk on BrickLink is averaging at AU$68 for a used one, and AU$113 for new; the current version in this set is averaging AU$39. 

Adding up just the minifigure ‘value’ from this Marvel set from Aussie sellers on BrickLink who are selling them separately, you would total something around AU$70-80. Does the original set price-tag increase the individual figures value? …perhaps. Does picking it up on sale, or at least AU$10 cheaper at Kmart or Big W, sound like good value? …that is something you will have to decide for yourself.

Video of LEGO set 76292

I personally consider this set overpriced for the size; a similar piece count with Minecraft, Speed Champions, or Animal Crossing only sit at AU$40-50, so the minifigures (especially Red Hulk) and Marvel theme I would suggest play a significant part in the price point. Holding the fighter jet in my palm, with it being a similar size to my hand with outstretched fingers, and wondering if this is worth AU$90 seems a bit of a stretch indeed… But, it is a good build experience, a fun set to play with (as my kids can testify to), and has great minifigures. So if the characters are what you are after, then look out for the sales, but if you are looking for simply a playset for your child, then maybe LEGO’s 478-piece City Fire Rescue Plane for the same price might be what you are looking for, or the 266-piece DREAMZzz Cooper’s Gaming Controller Jet for AU$30 if you want a small sci-fi jet for the kids, or the 202-piece BrickHeadz Captain America & Red Hulk Figures for AU$30 if you are wanting the characters for display. 

Honestly I would still prefer this set 76292 to any of the others I just suggested, but that is my preference, and I would highly recommend entering the coming competition so you can have a chance at winning this Marvel set without paying anymore than the subscription fee!