Review: 6860 The Batcave

[Masked Builder]

So, here I am with my promised (Hey I said I do it!) Batcave review. Been quite awhile too, about six months. I got this around Christmas time at a LEGO store near my Grandmother's house. (Happens to be the one I go in the most.) I got lucky, VIP rewards, and a LEGO coupon, and I only paid about $55 total for this, so I was very happy with the amount it cost me. When we first got pictures of this, I thought, "Well, I should get that," because it came with so many good figures. (You should know I'm about as crazy as Clone O'Patra when it comes to minifigures now.) But when I saw the price I was a bit disappointed, as I knew there were other sets I'd rather have. Shall we see if the set is a good as I thought it'd be? Oh I should add that this is a special 5000 post edition review too!

Name: The Batcave

Set Number: 6860

Pieces: 689

Price: $69.99

Ages: 7-14

Minifigs: 5

Theme: Superheroes

Year of Release: 2012

Bricklink

Brickset

S@H

See the Flickr set with all of the pictures here.

Stop Bane from rescuing Poison Ivy at the Batcave!

Batman™ and Robin are holding Poison Ivy at the Batcave. Look out! Bane has broken into the Batcave in his awesome spinning drill tank and is trying to rescue Poison Ivy. Help Batman and Robin put Bane back behind bars where he belongs! Includes 5 minifigures: Bruce Wayne, Batman, Robin, Poison Ivy and Bane.

Box:

Alright, let's get started! LEGO has edited in a great "cave" style background for this set as always, the front of the box is full of action. LEGO has place an action posed Batman in the upper right corner, as well as the Batman logo in the bottom right.

On the back, LEGO has put some great little "action" phrases. I really like these, they add something to the box. The dark blue and black color scheme has to be my favorite one yet.

The top of the box features Batman on it, nothing much to notice here.

Contents:

Out of the box come five bags and one package with the instructions. I was very happy to see the instruction package in this set as it insures that none of the items in the box will become damaged in transit.

Manual:

Here's a close up of the manual package. LEGO has folded the top over and sealed it with some tape that comes off quite easily.

And then the contents of the package, three manuals, sticker sheet, and the comic book. We'll be coming back to all of these.

While it was all in the package, my sticker sheet was still a little bent, but not as bad as it could be.

The front of the manual has the same art as the box, but with the manual number in the bottom left.

LEGO has used an excellent light blue color inside, and some little dots, which I would guess is like the comic books.

In the upper right corner, LEGO has placed some very faded out pictures of Superman, The Joker, and Batman. This is just one of those little details I like.

One of the last pages has a quick ad for the three "action figures." I like the three little "slashes" LEGO has used to display them.

And the last page has an excellent ad for the new Superheroes video game. The pose Superman is in really captures what he does if you ask me.

Comic:

I quite like the cover LEGO has designed for the comic; it features most of the Heroes in the line. Mostly, I'm going to let the pictures talk in this section.

The first page has ad for all of the sets, and the start of the comic for the Catwoman set.

The second page finishes the Catwoman comic and has shots of all of the figures from the line.

Then starts the comic for this set.

"CRASH!!"

"BAZZIINNGG!!"

Then on the back cover, there's a shot of Superman and Batman both looking at the Batcomputer. I didn't even know they interacted...

Minifigures:

Now we get to my favorite part, the minifigures! While the whole reason I got this set was for the excellent selection of them, I'm most happy with Poison Ivy and Bane. All of the figures are totally new designs; LEGO has done an excellent job as always with them. One thing that bugs me a bit though, is that Ivy's flesh torso print isn't quite the same color as the rest of the flesh tone on her.

We get a grey-suited Batman in this set, and it's one of two sets that come with Robin. Bruce Wayne, Poison Ivy, and Bane are all exclusive to this set. LEGO has even gone and put detail printing on the back of Bane's head, which really adds to him.

Then the three figures with hidden printing. All of them have shoulder-blades now, Batman and Robin have tool belts, and Ivy has some back showing.

When I first saw the figures, I thought that Ivy's hair would be the same color as Ginny's. I was wrong about that! But they do make an excellent duo.

Parts:

There are three parts that stood out to me, the Batsymbol printed piece, the beam (totally new to me), and the large cross bar piece. All of them are in great colors, dark blue , and there are quite a few of them all but the symbol.

Not to many good extra parts, but cheese slopes are always nice to have.

The Build:

The first bad builds the two vehicles, as well as Batman and Bane, definitely the simplest part of the build.

Bags two and three get you started on, and completing, the little "changing" section of the Batcave. You also build Ivy and Bruce in these two bags.

Bags four and five finish the set by having you build the main section, as well as Robin.

Here's what your set'll look like when you have it done! I was very happy with how the build went, the only "weak" part in the build I found was when you were putting all of those five tall bricks together, I never quite got it on the first couple of tries.

Complete Model:

Now that we're done building, let's move on. LEGO has done a fantastic job designing and executing this set, I'm very happy with the job they've done. While there are a few week points, overall it's a great set.

We'll look at the Batcycle first, it's simple and while it's different from the one in The Joker's Funhouse, it adds diversity to the theme. I chose not to apply the stickers to this part of the model; I like to keep this one clean.

The driller has to be my favorite vehicle in this set, the red color scheme really breaks up the darker colors of the rest of the set. Again, I abstained from adding stickers here.

Here's the front of just the Batcave, nothing to fancy nothing to complicated. I like it; I've added a few stickers here that I think add to the overall set.

Back shot of the Batcave, here you see the sticks for opening the main doors, more on that coming up.

The main section of the Batcave by itself, the ladder system really seems to have been thought through, now Batman can actually get up there!

On the other side of the "cave" we have the transformation chamber. This section has the largest sticker of the set that I actually applied. Though there's no ladder to get up to the transformation chamber...

See those two big black walls? Well those open.

And you can roll the Batmobile through! I was very happy this worked out, though I'm sure LEGO designed it this way.

Functions:

When you push the driller forward, the drill on the front rotates.

It's a fairly simple system, but we haven't seen this since Power Miners and I've always loved functions that work well.

There are several flick-fire missiles scattered around in the set. Nothing to special, but they are there.

You can also "release" Poison Ivy from her "prison" by pulling the bars off of the front. I suppose you could do this with the driller, but it would go in rather than out.

I think the main function that LEGO is marketing for this set is the "transformation" feature. Basically, you sit Bruce Wayne up on the top here.

Then you pull this bar out until it won't come out any farther.

And then Batman slams down, yep slams, ready for action. Really, Batman just sits inside the box until you pull the bar releasing him. There is no possible way for Bruce to fall through.

Final Thoughts:

So, here we are again at the end of a review. Again, with a set I'm quite happy with. First off we have the minifigures, LEGO has done an excellent job designing these, and while I know next to nothing about Batman, they do seem pretty accurate and do satisfy my tastes. The two vehicles included in the set are built quite well, and I have no problems with them, in fact, I really like Bane's driller. The Batcycle is pretty good to, though it seems fairly simple. As for the rest of the cave, my favorite part has to be the computer. Like the last version, which I was able to see in person, it's quite large and has multiple displays. The transforming function is quite ingenious, nice work LEGO.

Ratings:

Playability: 10/10 This set has all sorts of neat little functions that make it very nice to sit and play with. I'm not sure LEGO could do much else to make this set better.

Design: 9/10 It's designed very well but, while it looks cool, the two different sections attached by that ladder doesn't do it for me. I'd like to see something a bit stronger.

Price: 10/10 Like I said before, I only paid about $55 for this, but going and looking at the original price, it seems very fair. You get a fairly large amount of parts for $70.

Minifigures: 9/10 All of the minifigures have excellent design though, Bruce Wayne seems a bit simple to me. But overall the suit is quite nice.

Parts: 9/10 While there aren't to many new parts total, the selection of parts in new colors is fantastic! I'm quite happy in this category.

Total: 47/50 Another excellent overall score for a set!

"I don't think it was supposed to work this way..."

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[riddler]

Nice review ... I definatly need this set . my brother smashed my 2006 version a while back and I lost some pieces thanks for the help in making my desicion

[just2good]

Great review, 'Masked Builder'!

I'll buy this set once I see it on clearance. The original Batcave is definitely better, but this one is decent.

Edited May 25, 2012 by just2good

[K-Nut]

Jeez, took you long enough. Great review! I bought this set to be less than impressed, but i surprised me, ranking in my top ten sets so far.

[JackJonespaw]

Nice review! This is one heck of a set, and the minifigs are great! (Especially Bane!)

[TheBoyWonder]

I will be getting in when it goes on sale. Fantastic review!

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks for the review. I originally wanted this set when I first saw the theme, but it lost its appeal rather quickly for me. The minifigures are a great selling point for sure, but I couldn't use most of the other pieces in the set. And since Batman and Robin are both in other sets and I can live without the Bruce Wayne suit, I would be spending $70 for Bane and Poison Ivy. I will just bricklink them sometime and be just as happy.

I'm glad you found the set to be worthwhile though. It was nice seeing the set from different angles.

[adventuresinlego]

This set is about $100-$140 here in Australia, it's ridiculous, my local Big W has it for about $117 but I'm hesitating in paying for it. I do really want to get this for my son as he sleeps with a Batman plush toy which he makes me kiss goodnight to every night haha

Either way, very detailed review :)

[Masked Builder]

Nice review ... I definatly need this set . my brother smashed my 2006 version a while back and I lost some pieces thanks for the help in making my desicion

Ouch, I say try to fix it up!

Jeez, took you long enough. Great review! I bought this set to be less than impressed, but i surprised me, ranking in my top ten sets so far.

Oh hush you. Yeah, but I think the Quinjet beats this one.

This set is about $100-$140 here in Australia, it's ridiculous, my local Big W has it for about $117 but I'm hesitating in paying for it. I do really want to get this for my son as he sleeps with a Batman plush toy which he makes me kiss goodnight to every night haha

Either way, very detailed review :)

Wow, sometimes I think our prices are bad! I say wait till it goes on sale.

[Marty McFly]

This set is about $100-$140 here in Australia, it's ridiculous, my local Big W has it for about $117 but I'm hesitating in paying for it. I do really want to get this for my son as he sleeps with a Batman plush toy which he makes me kiss goodnight to every night haha

Either way, very detailed review :)

Target seem to have 20% off LEGO once a month. I imported my set from Amazon UK, with shipping it was about $80-90 I think.

[K-Nut]

Oh hush you. Yeah, but I think the Quinjet beats this one.

I agree. I'm sucker for vehicles and Marvel, so that may have done it for me.

[legofreak86]

Target seem to have 20% off LEGO once a month. I imported my set from Amazon UK, with shipping it was about $80-90 I think.

i'm in the uk and mine cost me £54.99 and no postage they have lowered the price of most of the superheroes sets there! I also got lex luthor's power armour for £15 bargain!

[adventuresinlego]

Ouch, I say try to fix it up!

Wow, sometimes I think our prices are bad! I say wait till it goes on sale.

Definitely am haha

Target seem to have 20% off LEGO once a month. I imported my set from Amazon UK, with shipping it was about $80-90 I think.

I did drop into a Target when I was near one but they were about $10 dearer than Big dubs, the prices are so high it's rather insulting.

i'm in the uk and mine cost me £54.99 and no postage they have lowered the price of most of the superheroes sets there! I also got lex luthor's power armour for £15 bargain!

I'm not sure what the exchange rate is :s - I think the Lex Luther Armour is about $40 here - but occasionally things will get marked down to equal or below the US RRP haha

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Thanks for the review! It's nice to get a closer look at this set. I like the figs, and it looks like even the small vehicles in it are very well designed. Could anyone here with both batcaves make a comparison?

[eldiano]

This set is my favorite out of all them, it's awesome, This with the batmobile, the batwing, the jetski, and the batcycle, that I found out that I do like this bike rather than the one on the dynamic duo's funhouse escape after spending some quality time with it... here's some pic of my setup:

[Masked Builder]

Thanks everyone!

I agree. I'm sucker for vehicles and Marvel, so that may have done it for me.

It is a good set though.

This set is my favorite out of all them, it's awesome, This with the batmobile, the batwing, the jetski, and the batcycle, that I found out that I do like this bike rather than the one on the dynamic duo's funhouse escape after spending some quality time with it... here's some pic of my setup:

I don't have that one but I do like this one better just from the pictures.

[eldiano]

Thanks everyone!

It is a good set though.

I don't have that one but I do like this one better just from the pictures.

Oops forgot the picture haha :

[Masked Builder]

Wow, that's a pretty good set-up. I like how it all looks.

[Graysmith]

Having just finished building this myself I can only agree that this is a fantastic set. I never owned the first Batcave, but honestly, looking at photos of it I have to say that even if I did own it I'd prefer this new one. Sure, the old one was a lot bigger but it looks much duller compared to the new one. The added splashes of blue, transparent blue and yellow really do a lot for this model compared to the old one. The new Batcave feels comic book-ish without being overly so. The old one doesn't feel comic book-ish enough, but not serious, dark enough either to fit the Nolan films. The build style is far improved from that set as well, it really shows how much better at this LEGO has gotten in the last 5 years or so. The only big plus the old one has for me is that it came with an Alfred. I really wish this set had included one. Wouldn't be too hard to make one yourself, but it's a shame they didn't bring Alfred around for this one.

But back to the set at hand, the only thing I don't like about it is the Batcycle. Like the one included in the Funhouse Escape, it's just really underwhelming. I wish they'd just made one really great Batcycle instead of two mediocre ones. I can definitely live with it though, as it's such a small, insignificant part of the set. On the upside, Bane's drill tank really surprised me. It doesn't look like much, but it was a fun build. The red colour really contrasts against the rest of the set too so it's a very nice addition. Makes you kinda wish the set had come with a breakaway wall (like the one in the LOTR Helms Deep set) for him to come through, but then again I like that the set isn't bloated.

As for the stickers, I'd say they're a must. The set really doesn't look right without them. There are some you could leave out (especially with a little modification), but the ones for the transformation chamber and the control room really need to be applied or the set is just going to look weird. I personally applied all of them, and as much as it is a pain in the a** to do, I'm happy with the results.

If you only get one Super Heroes set, this is the one to get, hands down. The Funhouse Escape does come with better minifigures overall, but the Batcave is so much better as a set.

[AmiPolizeiFunk]

Did anybody notice that if you build Bane's drill per the instructions, when you push the vehicle forwards, the drill turns backwards? It took me a while to realize what was bugging me about it! :O Luckily, it can be fixed by simply moving the small yellow gear to the other side of the wheel axle. It just feels much better with the drill spinning in the correct direction. My son discovered that it's fun to put a little piece inside the drill too, so that when it turns, it rattles.

Edited July 14, 2012 by AmiPolizeiFunk

[Oky]

Good observation, and nice modification ideas!

Since this has already been bumped, let me say: Nice review! But there's on thing you need to correct - the Batman Symbol radar dish has NOT appeared in any other sets. The one in the old Batman sets was similar, but it was metallic gold and had a slightly different design, I think.

[Mr. Elijah Timms]

Just built this this week, and I must say... When added to the Batmobile set it becomes an outstanding compilation, bordering on essential Lego releases.

I also worried that this set wasn't worth the $70 price point, but after building it I can no longer say that's the case. I definitely feel likeit was money well spent.

[Lightning Dragon]

I really like Batman's "changing" feature and how the vehicle's drill rotates! Excellent added features are what make me want to get sets. The stickers are also pretty cool and very nice.This is much better than the old Batcave set, which wasnt hald as good, every minifigure it comes with (except Batman) I did not have until now The vehicles are also well designed, but the could've been better. This, in my opinion, is better than the funhouse. Great review, you inspired me to get this great set

[Ferrik]

Excellent review! This Batcave is great, I love the detail...

[Masked Builder]

Did anybody notice that if you build Bane's drill per the instructions, when you push the vehicle forwards, the drill turns backwards? It took me a while to realize what was bugging me about it! :O Luckily, it can be fixed by simply moving the small yellow gear to the other side of the wheel axle. It just feels much better with the drill spinning in the correct direction. My son discovered that it's fun to put a little piece inside the drill too, so that when it turns, it rattles.

Wow, I didn't even think to look!

Good observation, and nice modification ideas!

Since this has already been bumped, let me say: Nice review! But there's on thing you need to correct - the Batman Symbol radar dish has NOT appeared in any other sets. The one in the old Batman sets was similar, but it was metallic gold and had a slightly different design, I think.

Yeah you're right, now that I stop to thinkg about it. Thanks.