The Guardians of the Galaxy are back! The sequel to 2014’s surprise hit, which proved that a talking tree with a three-word vocabulary – four if you include “WE” – could bring a tear to the eye, is due out in just over a month and ahead of the release, everyone’s favourite construction toy company has treated fans to three movie tie-in sets, featuring the motley crew.
Pieces: 197
Set Number: 76079
Minifigures: Taserface, Mantis, Rocket
RRP: £19.99/$19.99
The trio of sets combined feature all of the major characters, including new villains, old foes turned good, the original Guardians and a few new recruits. Having already spent time reviewing the two higher-priced sets in the new range, it’s time to look at the final, and cheapest set, Ravager Attack.
As I mentioned in The Milano vs. The Abilisk review, movie tie-in LEGO sets always intrigue me in the sense that they do potentially have spoilers for the movie hidden within them. That said, the theory hasn’t been overly successful in recent years, especially with Marvel movies. We’ve had a set with pitches the new villain, Ayesha’s revenge, we’ve seen the team take on the tentacled Abilisk, both of which have definitely been hinted at in the latest trailers, but the Ravager Attack has something very interesting hidden within the scenery build.
Minifigures
Before we get on to that, though, let’s take a look at the minifigure line-up. The first thing you’ll notice is that this is the only set not to feature Baby Groot, but don’t let that get you down because the three figures included are all range exclusives. Returning fan-favourite Rocket Racoon is joined by new Guardian Mantis and Ravager leader Taserface.
Taserface is a bit of a weird one for the new movie. There is a character in the Marvel comics universe named Taserface, a villain who appeared in print during the 90’s, he quickly faded into the back catalogue, never to be seen again. The movie version of the character did make a brief appearance at San Diego Comic-Con last year, but very little is known about how important he will be to the plot of the new movie – especially given that James Gunn has previously ignored or changed characters from the comics for the sake of a good story.
What that Comic-Con appearance does give us, though, is a great basis for comparison with regards to his LEGO minifigure debut and the first thing to say is, it’s a fine likeness if a little bit more family-friendly – the live-action version looks like the love-child of Gimli from Lord Of The Rings and Deadpool sans mask.
From the top down, Taserface is a hair chap, featuring a large black beard and similarly covered long hair piece which clips to the top of the purple skinned head. Like Yondu’s fin in the mid-range set, the unique head piece is made from solid plastic rather than the rubbery material used in other sets. What this means is that it fits much more secure on the head, a win for play time, no doubt. The head, itself, is impressively detailed, with a lighter shade of purple surrounding the facial features, the glaring yellow eyes standing out. There is a mouth with printed beard, though once the additional piece is in place, it is difficult to see.
The body is significantly covered in printing, a full Ravager outfit running from the neckline down to the knees, predominantly darkened red in colour. The printing includes a number of straps and buckles with a large chest plate over the heart. The join between legs and torso has a black and orange belt detailed, something that’s cropped up a number of times in the 2017 sets. The back of the torso continues the theme, though also includes a sheepskin collar. The only real issue with this minifigure is the fact that the additional hair and beard pieces actually cover a good portion of this excellent body design.
Taserface is also armed to the teeth. His weapon, a sort of pistol/bazooka hybrid (shown above) with made from a concoction of pieces clipped to the back of the standard stun shooter. I think we can all agree, it’s awesome if a little heavy-handed to a minifig to carry unsupported.
Given his popularity following the success of the first Guardians movie, I’m actually surprised that Rocket has only made it into the one LEGO set this time around, the unique anthropomorphic raccoon has so many fun possibilities available to LEGO designers, I’m shocked they didn’t get the chance to play.
It’s a great figure, nonetheless, featuring a purpose moulded head which also incorporates the large shoulder plates of his armour. The short legs don’t offer much in the way of exciting design, but I am a huge fan of the tail piece which fits between the legs and torso and also provides the character a tiny bit more height.
The torso print is probably the best of the original Guardians, save Drax, and does a great job of accurately creating the heavily zipped brown and blue sleeveless jumpsuit we see the character wearing in the all of the movie promotional material. Much like Rocket’s on-screen counterpart, the design on the back is almost identical, minus the zippers.
Unsurprisingly, this raccoon has come heavily armed and comes with not one, but two custom weapons. Both constructed from standard black pistols and additional grey pieces, the simpler of the two adds nothing more than a grey stud to the barrel. The larger weapon extends the pistol thanks to a grey lightsaber hilt piece, a scope is also added with a one-stud clip and the same ‘L’ shaped piece you’d usually used around a minifigures neck to attached accessories.
Mantis is the newest member of the Guardians crew, a telepath with a host of mind-altering abilities, she has already featured prominently in the trailers thus far. Her debut as a LEGO minifigure is simply stunning, thanks in no small part to the custom head piece which incorporates her and antennae. Interestingly, this piece isn’t made from the same sterner plastic used on Taserface’s hair-do, instead, the designers have opted for the softer rubber material. The flexibility works well on this particular piece as it means the antennae are far more durable. Also, where the hair wraps right around the head, it has been designed to be a tight fit so that it doesn’t easily come off.
The legs are sadly nothing more than plain black, but the exquisite bug-like printing on the torso more than makes up for it. The shading of multiple tones of green with a scaley perimeter accentuate the uniqueness of this minifigure. Oddly, the printing on the back is, while similar, more detailed, featuring circular patterns around the neckline. Sadly much of this is hidden by the large head piece.
Overall, in my opinion, this set offers the best minifigure line-up of the three sets. While many collectors will be looking to get the Guardians together, if the one set is all you can afford then Rocket, Mantis and Taserface definitely offer the most from unique diversity.
Taserface’s Ship
In addiiton to bringing along one hell of a kick-ass sidearm, Taserface’s mode of transport is an impressive little ship. If the other two sets have taught me anything about Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, it’s that generic spaceships aren’t a thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – well, at least when Tony Stark isn’t designing them, that is. It’s a really fun build, if I’m honest, though not quite up there with that glorious laser drill in Ayesha’s Revenge, for the ship’s size, there is a considerable amount of build joy.
This small Ravanger ship is an impressive little beast which makes the most of what pieces it has available to provide a great deal of detail with the help of multiple colours pieces, and a couple of stickers, but not many. The large majority of the build is focused of the statis wingspan, with the undercarriage built separately and connected late into the construction.
Once the two separate sections are connected, the cockpit comes together. As you can imagine (or see from the image above), this isn’t a luxurious and brilliantly detailed cockpit. The pilot’s space is bare minimum with only a 2×2 studs space to sit a minifigure in place. The only additional detail offered by a pre-printed triangular computer screen layout and a grill on the back. The outside of the ship makes up for this spartan look, though.
Much like its pilot, the ship is well-armed, featuring four stud-shooters, two either side of the front nose, two on the top of the ship either side of the cockpit. There is also a spare large hand gun clipped behind the cockpit, very little use if you’re in space, but a sneaky backup on the planet’s surface, no doubt.
The eye-catching wings feature large circular plates, with dish pieces sticking out. The three tone gray, red and black look fantastic, despite the basic nature of the design. The same can be said about the underneath as very few pieces have gone into construction, yet the booster engines look superb.
It’s a great little ship, and for the set price makes this more than a worthy purchase. There’s more, though.
Land-Based Gun and Tree setting
Now, the first thing that intrigued me about this scenery piece is that triangular blue and orange piece clipped to the side of the tree, it’s a piece of the Milano. The feathered wing tips of the Guardians ship are made from the exact same configuration of pieces with the same colour scheme, movie spoiler or coincidence? This piece also features a sticker along the orange stripe depicting what looks like crash damage, so one would surmise that the Guardians are in for one hell of a battle which sees them crashing on into the forest of some kind. If you’re reading this after the movie release and I was wrong, please ignore this paragraph 🙂
The tree itself is a fair simply construction of two-tone brown pieces, with the arched elements which have been used for sets dating back to the 80’s at least – I distinctly remember a Robin Hood themed set as a child which used much of the same design. Clipped on tot he foliage, though, is one awesome looking land-based weapon which is capable of firing six LEGO studs is quick succession. The weapon uses the rotating mechanism seen recently on a few Star Wars themed ships, I’m a huge fan of the design, as I’m sure those younger fans with a far better imagination will be too.
The Set Overall
Overall, considering this is the cheapest of the three sets, there is certainly a lot of fun to be had here. The Ravager Attack features one of the best minifigure line-ups you’re ever likely to get from a £20 Super Heroes set if you’re looking to expand your collection with unique and diverse characters on the cheap.
Taserface, Mantis, and Rocket, all brilliantly designed and absolutely nothing to separate them in terms of which is the best other than the fact that Rocket is the only one not debuting here. The new moulds to for the character specific pieces are above and beyond in terms of quality, especially considering the overall cost of the set once more.
The sets main build, the Ravager ship is a great little ship, it’s missing the bells and whistles of the more expensive sets, but for the money you’re definitely getting a pleasing (and well armed) little ship that will be perfect for playtime adventures around the galaxy.
Even the scenery build adds value, the blatant crash site of the Milano, the tree and large six-shooter stud launcher weapon combine to provide a perfect setting for the Ravager vs Guardians battle.
A well designed, great little set which is worthy of the price tag.
THE GOOD
- The minfiigures are three of the best in the range. Three unique characters which are unlike anything in the other two sets.
- A great little ship, spartan on space, yet intelligently designed to make the most of the pieces with multiple colours offering extra detail
- Even the scenery build offers some great playtime options
THE BAD
- A little more detail in the ship cockpit wouldn’t have gone amiss
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