In case you’ve missed it, the Guardians of the Galaxy are back in LEGO form ahead of their epic cinematic return. The construction toy company has treated fans to a trio of sets based on the new movie under their LEGO Marvel Super Heroes banner and with the premium The Milano vs. The Abilisk set already reviewed, it’s time to look at the mid-range set, Ayesha’s Revenge.
Pieces: 323
Set Number: 76080
Minifigures: Star-Lord, Yondu, Ayesha, Baby Groot (Tiny fig)
RRP: £29.99/$29.99
With Yondu’s allegiances seemingly flipped to the Guardians, he joins Star-Lord and Baby Groot in this set against the titular villain Ayesha – though what she is seeking revenge for is somewhat unknown.
Minifigures
The sets figure line-up includes a couple of Guardians, a former Ravager-turned Guardian and one of the new villains from volume 2, not a bad haul for a mid-range set, especially given the exclusivity of the ensemble.
Starting with the one character that many probably won’t be familiar with, Ayesha, the supposed villain of the movie. I say “supposed” given her complicated comic book history. With Doctor Strange being involved in her creation in the comics and her close ties to Adam Warlock – a character possibly hinted at in the first movie – it’s going to be exciting to see who the Marvel Cinematic Universe plays out ‘Her’ story. In the comics, she is an artificially created being with powers not unlike Vision, quite a powerful step up from the less than impressive Ronan from volume 1.
As the only footage we’ve seen of the character is from the trailers in a different outfit and with shorter hair, this isn’t going to be the easiest character to compare to her on-screen counterpart. The minifigure design suggests a spacesuit, with the only remnants of her golden skin showing in the head piece. The piece is entirely golden apart from the two faces, both with red outlined white eyes and mouth, as well as very subtle cheekbone lines. The long hairpiece, which matches the head in colour has some hidden detail on the back as if you look closely you’ll notice there is a plait in the center.
The spacesuit style printing which runs from the neck down to the knees is undeniably spartan, a combination od dark and light blue with golden outlines. There isn’t a great deal of detail away from the striped detail, though the light blue sections do feature subtle polka-dots, only visible when put up to a light source. Ayesha only accessory is what looks like a remote made from a golden 2×1 with handle, a level and solo translucent blue stud, likely to be how she controls the drone.
On to the newest addition to the Guardians new roster, former Ravager and (sort-of) bad-guys, Yondu. While the blue-skinned alien is a returning character from the original movie, he has made one distinct change to his look going into the sequel, the large red dorsal fun on his head. We’ve already seen Yondu pop up in the teasers with Michael Rooker featuring the new look, brought to life in this new minifigure with the help of a custom mould which plugs into the top of the head piece. Fixing an issue that I feel has plagued similar design, this new fin piece is made from harder plastic rather than the soft rubbery material of the past which can be a pain to set in place.
The distinctive blue head piece is impressively detailed, though it does only feature the face. That face, however, includes a mouth which hints at the characters less than perfect teeth, age lines around the eyes and even a prominent brow line. Moving down to the torso and the character is clearly still outfitted in his Ravager garb, the long red coated, brown jumpsuit and grey buckled straps brilliantly recreated in all their glory. The detail carries over on to the legs piece and below the knee area. Accessory-wise, the new Guardian even comes complete with his whistle-controlled arrow.
From what I’ve seen up until this point from the new Guardians sets, Yondu is the most accurate creation in LEGO form, at least from the aliens.
Star-Lord is the only minifigure character to appear to two different sets (Not including Baby Groot, obviously), though each set has its own variant. While the The Milano vs. The Abilisk set features a spacesuit wearing Quill, complete with helmet, this variant goes for a more traditional look, from what we’ve seen in promotional images, at least.
Aside from the plain black legs, the head and hair pieces are the least interesting parts of this new figure, the head being the same used on Star-Lord in 2014, the hair matching the other set in this range, a slightly longer hair with colouring matching previous iterations. The unique look of this new variant rests solely on the design on the torso, and that isn’t actually a bad thing. The printing features the character’s new, shorter red jacket and grey top. There’s not too much to admire in the detail, despite extra detail in the cuffs and colar on the jacket, but the over look is far more Star-Lord than his counterpart in the Milano set. Again, the character features dual guns and a based rocket pack constructed from a binocular piece clipped to the back.
If Star-Lord is you main focus for a collectors item, this set definitely has the better version.
Completing the line-up is, of course, Baby Groot. Despite being a tiny one-piece mould barely a centimeter tall, this is actually his second variant from the three sets. The Milano set also features the character and while the piece itself is identical, the printing is very different. This time out, the smallest member of the Guardians gets a full red uniform, complete with large zipper and pocket. It’s actually an impressive feat just how much detail is crammed on to this tiny piece.
Much like Star-Lord, this version of the character is superior to the Milano set.
Cliff Section
The cliff section is, in my opinion, a completely redundant addition to the set. The hodgepodge of dark and light red pieces offers very little to the enjoyment of the set as a whole and seems to have been solely included to get the piece numbers up.
It’ll only take a few minutes to construct and does include a collapse mechanic through a lever and push button, so there is a little bit of play value. With the Golden Drone already serving as a the real threat posed by Ayesha, there really isn’t any need for this piece, which will likely get put to one side pretty quickly if this set is for younger fans and not for display purposes.
Golden Drone
By contrast, the small Golden Drone is stunning. Using some of the techniques developed for the micro-builds, the designers have come up with a craft that is superbly detailed with a few pieces as possible.
The gold coloured pieces really stand out against the black, light brown and the striking crystal blue windscreen (for lack of a better word). Moving around to the back of the model and yet more to admire. The engine of this creation has two large booster rockets with light purple ends, as well as smaller rockets at the bottom made from one-stud clips and a purple square stud.
The legs are a nice addition in that they are made from multiple interlocking ball connectors which allows you to pose them at almost any angle. Additional detail is added here using black grill pieces and a curved triangular step as the top of each foot. The drone is also well armed, thanks to the two stud launchers which sit either side of the central blue screen.
The Golden Drone is a stunning addition to the LEGO Super Heroes brand; I’m actually surprised that nothing similar has showed up in one of Tony Stark’s sets.
Laser Drill
The star of the show, though, has to be Yondu’s laser drill, not only does this thing look unbelievably amazing once completed, it is a real joy to construct – Oddly comparable to the Beatles Yellow Submarine set, I feel.
It’s not the most straightforward of builds, not overly complicated, it just requires a little more time given its size. The main reason for this extra time comes from the unique way in which you put minifigures into the cockpit. Given the fishbowl screen on the front on a clip, one would assume that this opens up to allow entry, but you’d be wrong. The clips on the front of the vehicle stop you from opening the large transparent piece for good reason; a good portion of the body can slide outwards, providing a gap at the above to lower the figure into place.
I love this mechanic, despite it’s obvious awkwardness when the character you’re trying to put in place has a large red fin sticking out of the top of his head. That aside, it’s nice to have something different and it adds to the appeal of the ship.
Looking at the exterior, it’s covered with character-specific branding, the black and dark red on yellow really stands out. What is great to see here is that those large prints on the circular side panels aren’t stickers, instead pre-printed pieces are used (THANK YOU LEGO). There are a couple of stickers here and there, but most are nothing more than minor detail which wouldn’t hinder the look should you choose not to apply them.
Those large circular panels also open up to reveal an inner compartment on each side. There’s a little space to hide things should Yondu need to in your imaginary adventures, but unfortunately the ship is far from hollow.
The back of the ship is a little underwhelming, featuring a couple of very small booster rockets and very little else. Luckily, the platform under the main body houses some nice additions. There are six ‘feet’ made from clips and translucent blue circular pieces, they’re nothing overly exciting, but they look great and allow you to rotate them up (when flying) and down flat when the ship in grounded. Also on this part of the ship, you’ll find the only weaponry on-board, a large spring-loaded missile launcher with red missile – likely acting as the laser drill.
It’s hard to argue that this Laser Drill isn’t stunning, the long and thing submarine look brings something quite unique to your collection. Much like the Milano, there are very few Star Wars’esque bland grey pieces on show, the bright yellow really shining through. Looking back now, if I was just looking for the one Guardians set, this would probably seal the deal over the Milano.
The Set Overall
Overall, Ayesha’s Revenge turns out to be the strongest set in the trio of new Guardians releases. I’m sure that a good majority of fans will be screaming out for the Guardians iconic ship, but if you want a better set for playability and more dynamic minifigure designs, this mid-range pack wins every time.
Ignore the clearly redundant cliff section, there are very few, if any, other negatives to mention. The minifigure collection is perfect, featuring the villain, two Guardians and the unknown element that is Yondu, a nice mixture. While Ayesha’s figure is a little bland, the blue skinned and finned Yondu more than makes up for it. Add to that a much better Star-Lord variant (apart from the lack of helmet), as well as a far more detailed Baby Groot, and you can’t lose with this set.
The drone and drill are two of the best and most joyous smaller builds I’ve had to pleasure of constructing in recent months and the finished models speak for themselves.
This set genuinely surprised and impressed me, the rare middle ground which provides great value for any age, for play or display. Highly recommended.
This set was provided for review purposes. However, all reviews reflect the authors own personal views and are not influenced in any way.
THE GOOD
- No fault to be found with the minifigure collection here, all superb in look and design
- Both the Drone and Drill are a joy to construct with each offering a number of play and display scenarios
- Lots of opportunities in the design to use stickers, but LEGO opted for printed pieces in most cases
THE BAD
- The cliff section is redundant, it’s a dozen extra pieces that offer very little against the awesomeness of the ships
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