LEGO Overwatch 75970; Tracer vs. Widowmaker: A better accidental scheule meet up, though could be better.

A smarter person than myself would have probably done a review of the one Captain Marvel set that came out, especially as the movie was released to tie into International Woman's Day. Blunder on my part, but not the biggest one I've made when it comes to content tied to International Woman's Day. Thankfully, I have a reasonable substitute. Tracer vs Widowmaker, two of the most recognizable Overwatch characters (in terms of one hero and one villain), so it's only fitting that Lego would put the two of them together in at least one set.

I'll say right up front though, while I enjoy the characters of Overwatch, I have not played the game. The main reason for this is the monetization practice implemented by the game, being a reasonably full price game, with Lootbox mechanics, a monetization practice that came from mobile "Free to Play" games, as a way of being able to make some money by locking rewards behind randomization systems. While I can tolerate (key word there being tolerated, because I don't support or defend it) them in Free to play games, I despise them being in games where you have to pay up front to begin playing, and with the ideal purchase of any game being potentially thousands of dollars worth of collectors editions, DLC season passes, and the Lootboxes which are almost uncapped money making, it becomes very insulting and not consumer friendly. Now while Overwatch doesn't do all of those practices, it did open the door to it. Why do I bring all this up? The reason is that I'll be using more generic names for the builds, rather than their actual names and their purpose in the game (aside from what I get off Lego.com).

Starting with the minifigs, you only get the main two, Tracer and Widowmaker, both of which are strong, though not perfect recreations. Both girls have strong print work done on their bodies, and the two faces they each have do convey the characters personalities very well.  I'm honestly surprised that Blizzard won the probably arguement in the print for Widowmaker because of her model in the game having a kind of tasteless hole around the center of her chest (I keep these reviews kid friendly, no I won't call it what it's commonly called). I find it odd though that they open with her, in the cheepest set of the line, making her one of the easiest to get, instead of one of the safer options (in terms of inspirations). I do like the fact that both her and Tracer get original hair pieces, something that not every new minifig gets the chance at. Maybe Blizzard's paying that little bit extra to ensure accuracy? A common complaint with the characters that I hear though are the guns, spesifically how a lot of them use a new handle piece which, to be honest, I don't agree with. I love the versitility of this new gun piece, and while it might not be preferable when compared to sculpted pieces akin to the older Star Wars blasters, I'd rather versitility over accuracy when it comes to Lego. It would have been nice if Tracer's energy pack was stud built on both sides, but even without her backpack, it's still represented on the torso print on both sides, so you have another display option at least. Every set also comes with a basic Med kit build, which is fine, though nothing spectacular. I just wish there wasn't one of these in what feels like (I'm missing two at time of writing) every set.

As for the build itself, what I will call "Satellite Drone XR-9", the payload you escort in the map "Watchpoint: Gibraltar!" (I think). It was fun to build, pretty simple, displays well, but doesn't do much else on it's own. It's not a very playable set because this doesn't even have things like rolling wheels. There is a reason for this though, as it directly connects to the largest set of the wave, something that the boxes don't describe, but every sets instruction books will tell you about. I'm not sure why they did this because the boxes themselves are quite bland, even compared to other Lego sets like The Lego Movie 2 sets. All that's on the back is a single product shot, with the names of the characters, they could have easily fit some images showing the two combine together. On it's own though, again, it's a good display piece, and you can even have minifigs driving it by removing two tiles, but it doesn't have a lot of play value compared to other Lego sets. Sticker placement is very tasteful, adding patches of gold to a mostly white set, and none require being on two pieces. Would I still prefer printed pieces? Absolutely, that hasn't changed, but I'm willing to meet half way.

Seriously Lego, you couldn't include a picture on the box of it connecting to the Watchpoint: Gibraltar set because...?

For a cheep set, it's fine, and certainly more furfilling then other lines "pocket money sets", but I can't get over the lack of real play value in this set, something that would have been helped a lot if they had some little wheels on it. Maybe it's for the sake of that ineraction? Though on the surface, that isn't a strong excuse as the rocket could easily house the wheels, or they could be removed for the sake of the combination. A lot of people buying these sets are probably doing it for the minifigures, and thankfully Tracer and Widowmaker are strong minifigs, more then making up for the payload build.