LEGO 76170 - Marvel - Iron Man Vs. Thanos

Review: LEGO Marvel Iron Man Vs. Thanos – 76170

LEGO 76170 – Marvel – Iron Man Vs. Thanos

LEGO Marvel needs to be given some credit as of late, as a lot of their +4 sets in the recent year and a half that have been surprisingly top-notch builds. With good figures to boot! Spider-Man sets, Star Wars sets and so on, all of them making even AFOLs do a double-take to see what is on offer.

RRP UK £17.99 – EUR €19.99 – USA $19.99 – AUD $32.99 – CA $24.99
103 pieces
Available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores from 1st March 2021.

Yes, +4 sets are designed to be little more than a quick snap-together-and-play set. But these things have little gems that pique my curiosity. We’ve managed to get our hands on 76170 – Iron Man Vs. Thanos for a quick snapshot review! Let’s take a quick look at this Jet and all, and see what gems this has to offer!

Minifigures

Thanos

The figures that come in this set are not new and are the figures from 76141 – Thanos Mech and 76140 – Iron Man Mech. Thanos himself comes with the one expression and mood, angry, which is simply adorable on this scale. The colour palette mimics the original Thanos’ first appearance in LEGO 76049 – Avenjet Space Mission.

But some would debate that he is the version from 76107 – Thanos Ultimate Battle. The one drawback to this figure is that they have now swapped his normally printed legs with standard solid dark-blue.

Iron Man

Iron Man however is a different flip, with admittedly myself not knowing which version of Iron Man this is. MK 22? MK 384? Someone will tell me, either way, the figure uses the new helmet mould instead of the old two-piece flip-up design. Which I personally prefer and keeps his previous version’s leg printing, which might I add, is amazing. Leg, hip and toe printing. *Kiss noise*

The Set

The set itself follows a very basic, specifically designed, quick snap-together system. So kids can get it together as quick as they can. It is all built off one large moulded wedge base piece, which is quite a political discussion for AFOLs obsessed with price-per-part ratio.

Large mould = more cost to manufacture = more price tag.

That’s the way it works. I’m sure the more inventive of us in the community will find a use for it, and it isn’t specific to Marvel, so it will surely reappear in other Juniors sets.

LEGO® Marvel Avengers Iron Man vs. Thanos (76170) puts superhero action into kids’ hands. This versatile, buildable action toy is designed to encourage shared play and developmental growth. Empower young superheroes! Made with budding builders in mind, 4+ sets are packed with cool details to ensure youngsters have a great play experience. Inside the box, each bag of bricks contains a complete model and character to get the play started fast.

The Jet

The Jet is in the classic hot-rod red and gold of the OG Iron Man colours, with small flecks of Dark red and grey throughout. It is very clearly an Iron-Man ship, and even comes with a nice hood decal to boot, if you weren’t sold on it before.

Big Turret

Thanos’ big turret shares this same motif, dark blue and gold with flecks of grey, easily representing the pilot. The decal on the shields on the side are the exact same shield pattern used in the Thanos Mech. The big turret is used to try and protect Thanos’ gauntlet, which seems to be behind a blue-laser grid.

Now this is all speculation here because I’m not actually sure. Is Thanos protecting his gauntlet from Iron Man. Or is Iron Man trying to stop Thanos before he gets to the gauntlet and he just so happens to have had time to set up a turret? This is ultimately going to be decided by our +4 audience because I don’t know.

Now I just want to draw a quick focus to the turret, more specifically, the new spring-loaded shooter. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that this spring-loaded shooter was new for 2021, but it was actually released in mid-2020 alongside the new 76153 – Marvel Avenger Helicarrier. The set was so big with all sorts of things with it that it went right over most people’s heads.

Shooter

The new spring-loaded shooter is fantastic. It utilises a button on the back, similar to the light bricks, to fire the bullet across the room, and isn’t a large or bulky as the technic based launchers. Because of how small and slimline it is, I can easily see this being implemented and hidden away in a large variety of different sets moving forward. I cannot wait to make something with one hidden away inside it.

I honestly would recommend you read this interview that New Elementary had with one of the designers when the launcher came out last year. This set is by far the easiest way to get your hands on the new launcher, meaning that if you’re buying this for your kids, parents will get a kick out of it too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, this is a 4+ set, and you get exactly what you expect from it. It’s a neat little way to get mini-Thanos if you missed out on his mech and it even comes with a cheap way to get the Iron Man figure. I still am really enamoured with the new spring-loaded shooter. But really do wish there was something that he could shoot at that would fall apart or explode, but that isn’t within the capabilities of the target audience.

As a 4+ set, it does its job, and I can accredit LEGO for that. The larger and single-use parts are a bit of detriment to the set as far as costs go. But this is the same with all 4+ sets and is a trickle-down effect of manufacturing. If you’re looking for a gift for a young child, or you want an excuse to play around with the launcher as I was, I would recommend picking this up, but if you’re an AFOL collector, I would honestly pass over this.