One day good sir, you will have it one day...
It's hard to talk about this one without spoilers to the context it comes from so I will go into spoilers for this review. Nothing major, but this set does revolve around one of the big plot points of the movie, Thor getting Stormbreaker, and traveling to (I hope I get this right) Nadivalier with Rocket and Groot, to forge the new weapon. How well does it hold up? Allow me to show you.
Starting with the minifigures, we have one reused face with a new body (Thor) and one complete reuse minifig (Rocket), both reuses come from their most recent movies. Thor looks fine with nice new chest printing along with two solid face prints from his Ragnarok minifig, though it is a shame that they didn't give him a new face with the eyepatch, because that wasn't in Ragnarok's sets, nor is it here in Infinity War, and probably won't happen until Lego gets some time to do Legacy Marvel sets (which at this rate I doubt will be any time soon). He has some leftover effect pieces that weren't used in the Forge build and, like with Tony, I don't particularly care about these pieces, fine for people who like them, but they feel like an attempt to inflate the price a bit more. Rocket I'm not a particular fan of due to how he's built. He's built as a smaller minifig (in that he has shorter legs which aren't really in size with the standard torso. He's not the only victim of this, and I'm still waiting on an alternate torso build with smaller arms), along with a custom head that, thanks to his shoulder pads, limit his head movements to a few degrees either way. I do wish the shoulder pads were separate from the head, as I could see it working really well especially for more fantasy-themed minifigs, but it does get across who the character is, especially with the almost psychotic smile the face has as a print. It works for Rocket, it just feels like more could be done.
The newest minifig though is... another Groot. Teenage Groot... who if this is the same as the teenager he was before the first Guardians movie, he's going to have a big growth spurt eventually. While the minifig's fine, with nice printing on the torso and a great custom headpiece, the legs do feel underdone compared to the body, and he's lacking in the accessories department. While a lot of legs don't have custom prints, the brown used for Teenage Groot makes it feel far more obvious than on someone like Thor, who just has black pants. He also comes with a vine piece to hold, which is fine considering what he does in Nadivalier, but I do wish he came with that game he was playing throughout most of the film. Would have felt more appropriate, and might have helped hide one of the spoilers this set has hidden in it.
I'll start with the smaller build first as the larger one plays into last week's review. Starting with the Forge of Nadivalier, the forge that uses the power of a sun to create weapons for gods... and it's rather pathetic. It feels like they forced it in with the scraps of budget they had left. It has two functions to it, the first is a gear function that turns one of the effects pieces to make it look like its powering something, and the other is a simple sliding function that has a compartment where you can put Stormbreaker in. Stormbreaker itself looks fine, though I'd have preferred a longer handle then what we got, and, to cover the spoiler the set teases at, yes, the handle of the weapon came from Groot. The biggest problem I have with this set though is the Forge itself, like I said, it feels like an afterthought, especially when you take into account that they stuck the Power stone on the back of it, making it look like an "Oh crap, we need to put this thing somewhere.... uh.... put it on the back of the draw for the forge!". I can't even call this a nice representation, especially after seeing Infinity War. Granted, a movie accurate Forge would be huge, but there has to be a happy middle ground between the two. Maybe if they make the forge its own set one day?
Now the thing that looks like it had far more time in development, and more effort put into it, the Benatar pod... it turns out I got the name of the ship wrong... there is an edit at the start of last week's post for clarification... Anyway, while the pod itself is quite cramped, it is entirely possible to get everyone inside it, though gear is an issue. Don't get me wrong, Groot's vine, Rocket's gun, and Stormbreaker will fit in the pod too, but there's nowhere for them to store properly so they just rattle around. Groot's head is also a bit too tall for him to stand up in the pod, and Thor's hair gets in the way, but it is completely possible for all three to fit inside, which is impressive in my opinion. The pod itself doesn't have a lot of functions though, the two pieces of "glass" (clear plastic) move around to allow for access, the roof opens up to help store minifigs, two mounted stud launchers, which look far more appropriate here then they do on the Benatar, and rear thrusters can hinge up and down along with some flaps and wings on the front. Nothing really groundbreaking, though the pod itself does look nice overall with a lot more of the sand blue on display, and nice, subtle uses of stickers. There is, however, one thing that does not look good on this set, the Technic build on the back of the pod with exposed pins. There is, however, a reason for this though, it connects to the Benatar.
By lifting up some flaps on the Benatar, and using a combination of the technic pins and some brick flaps on the Benatar, you can have the two sets connect together, and make the Benatar look like a complete ship. I'm honestly really glad that they did this, as it adds another level of play to both sets. It doesn't add on too much more weight to the Benatar, and the build is sturdy enough that I can hold the ship from either the main body or the pod, and it doesn't feel like its going to break, impressive seeing as its being held in by two pins and two stud panels. The pod doesn't stand out much when connected to the main ship, further adding to the fact that it feels like the two sets are meant to go together. However, the two sets do interfere with each other's functions. You can't access the Benatar's cargo bay when the pod's attached (due to the pod not only covering up the door, but also covering up most of what the Benatar's removable roof gives access too), and you can't access the pod's rear window or its own removable roof. However, its so easy to attach and remove the pod that I don't find this to be a huge issue.
The pod, Teenage Groot, and the Power Stone are what sells this set. The forge itself feels useless in every sense of the word, and not worth the cost. Up next for here though is the largest set in the line, The Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown, and the battle for the Time Stone. Meanwhile, on the main site, Spider-Man Homecoming, and hopefully that Kirby review I promised on Wednesday, but had to delay cause of work responsibilities. Either Kirby of Hyrule Warriors for Switch... or potentially neither... one way to find out though!
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