PhillipJFry

REVIEW: 76001 The Bat vs Bane: Tumbler Chase

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Well hello there! Welcome to what is most likely the best review you will ever... well, no. I lied. This is my first review, as well as my first post. So hi! I've been looking forward to some Batman sets tied to the Nolanverse and couldn't resist picking this up. I also thought I'd try my hand at a review. So, here goes.

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Set Name: The Bat vs. Bane: Tumbler Chase

Set #: 76001

Theme: DC Superheroes

Pieces: 368

Minifigures: 3

Year of Release: 2013

Price at Release: US $39.99 - AU $69.99 - UK - £39.99

Packaging/Box:

Nothing too special here, although the TDKR logo in the bottom corner was somewhat interesting. The art behind the vehicles is actually better than I was expecting, and is somewhat reminiscent of Gotham in the film. I'm not sure why Commissioner Gordon is firing at the Tumbler.

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Reverse:

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Contents

I was a bit surprised to see multiple booklets in this set, given the size. Aside from that, you get three bags, the standard comic book (which I believe is the same one included with the Arkham Asylum set and others), and a code to download the PC version of the original Lego Batman. While I own a gaming PC, I can't imagine that most of the kids buying or receiving this set do. However, upon further reflection that was really the only viable option, as I don't believe Lego Batman is on the marketplace of either the PS3 or Xbox 360. Cool that they threw it in there regardless! (Adding to my already enormous backlog of unfinished games).

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Also seemed a bit odd that all the minifigures weren't included in the first bag, but instead each bag contained the parts for one. Bag 1 had Bane, Bag 2 had Batman, etc. My only thought was that they wanted you to build the figure with the respective vehicle, thus Bane in the first bag with the Tumbler.

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Finally, the stickers. No. Just no. I'm not going to rehash the usual sticker hatred, I don't think anyone prefers them to printed pieces. But why did the designers feel the need to add what are essentially Bane logos/mascots to the tumbler in this set? Why would there be an image of Bane's mask on the front and hatch of the tumbler. It makes absolutely no sense, and it detracts horribly from what is already a sketchy recreation of the vehicle in the film. The same can be said about the bat logo on The Bat (you wouldn't have known the vehicle called "The Bat" belonged to Batman if you didn't see that logo?), but at least it's not quite as glaring. Extremely disappointing either way.

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Parts

Due to a complete lack of competence on my part, I only remembered to take a picture of the contents of bag one splayed out on the table. Pictures aside, rest assured bag two and three do indeed contain Batman, Gordon and The Bat.

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As you can see, quite a few tan pieces. The sadly not pictured bags two and three contain blue and black pieces, which of course is quite unusual. No, really. They do!

Minifigures

As far as I'm concerned, this is easily the best part of the set. I'm a huge fan of the film trilogy, and the opportunity to get my hands on a Bane minifgure was something I couldn't miss. Thus, let's start with

Bane:

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Reverse:

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My own excitement from the fact that this even exists aside, the detailing is pretty good. Bane's mask has a nice silver paint, and the plates on his armor also have a darker metallic paint which looks pretty great. While I would have preferred a molded headpiece over the printed mask, it still looks great even with the weird split between the print on the sides of his head. Aside from that, the legs are a bit barren but the lack of leg printing makes sense in this case.

Batman:

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The suit printing is great, although perhaps more inspired by the design of the suit in The Dark Knight. The lack of some basic leg printing is disappointing, I think even just some kneecap bits would have been incredible. Not clear on the grey color either, but it still looks fantastic.

Reverse:

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Back printing is excellent as well, especially the metallic ribbing.

Without cowl:

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Commissioner Gordon

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Not much to comment on here. The swat uniform is pretty much what I expected, and it looks exactly like a minifig version of Gary Oldman. I'm satisfied. Could it have been better? Sure. But all in all, it's fine.

Build

I didn't document the entire build, but I compiled a fair chunk of it. Nothing crazy to comment on, just a fairly standard build with some of the new-ish SNOT pieces seen in, for example, the Arkham Asylum set. I'll let the pictures take it from here:

Tumbler:

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The Bat:

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Completed Set

I'm going to be a bit critical here, so be prepared. Well, maybe a bit of an overstatement, it's not going to be that bad. Let's start with the tumbler!

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Doesn't look too bad! However, there are a few flaws. For example, the design. (I said I was going to be critical. I meant it)

While it retains the distinctive look of the tumbler, it is easily one of the worst designs I've seen of the tumbler. The oversized tumbler from the Batman Begins set a few years ago was better, most of the MOC's I see are much better, and to be completely honest it's just disappointing. It's also way too small.

There's the usual flick fire bit, hidden by some flaps (which I definitely appreciate, I'm not a fan of the aesthetic qualities of the flickfire setup).

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From the front:

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Definitely a tumbler. It's worth noting that when a minifigure is in the cockpit, their head is up near the hatch, not by the window. Hmm.

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The flame is kind of cool, and somewhat accurate to the films. However, the lack of double tires is completely unacceptable. That is a defining feature of the real vehicle's design, and the lack of it here is just bad. If I had to choose only one thing to fix about this set, it would doubtless be this glaring flaw. I could go on for days about how disappointing this is, so I'll just move on.

One more picture, from the side:

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I lied again, I still have one more with Bane:

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The Bat:

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Not sure why I had the wings folded flat in the last two, but now you know it's possible! Which is totally why I did that. Yes... completely planned.

Oddly enough, I actually like this model better than the Tumbler. Does the cockpit design remind me of something I built a decade ago? Absolutely. It's not very good. It's also worth noting that literally almost ever MOC I've seen of the bat is better than this one. But once fully assembled and articulated properly, it's a pretty cool looking vehicle that does look essentially like the one in the film. My only real complaint is the blue highlights. I hate them. They have no purpose, and they really detract from the set. Also, Nightwing.

Ratings:

Minifigures: 8/10 - Bane is great, Batman is pretty great but could be better, and Gordon is kind of just... there. He exists, and I can't find anything objectively bad about him, but... I feel that it could have been better.

Parts: 7/10 - Nothing special. I don't have a lot of tan pieces, and there was one or two new SNOT pieces, but just an average selection.

Design: 5/10 - It's pretty bad. The tumbler is missing significant, defining features and is not movie accurate at all. The Bane mask logo stickers are almost unforgivable. The Bat is merely ok, but the cockpit is dated, and the blue trim is unnecessary and overall detracting.

Price: 6/10 - Not bad. I paid $39 USD, and I feel like I got my money's worth, which I've only thought before about the UCS R2-D2. However, the price in several other regions, specifically the U.K, is absurd.

Playability: 8/10 - Playability seems to be the only thing this set was designed in mind of, with the tumbler and The Bat being very sturdy, and of course the atrocious stickers. Yes, I mention the stickers here because the only reason I can imagine someone justifying their existence is to make sure it looks cool enough for the demographic it's targeted at.

Overall: 6/10 - I want to like this set. Honestly. And for the most part, I do! It has some cool elements, and the minifigures are amazing, especially if your a fan of the films. For me, even with all the problems this set has, it was worth the purchase because of the property it was based on. However, that isn't enough. I hadn't purchased any sets from any themes aside from Star Wars until this point, and as far as design goes I have to say this is the worst Lego set I own. Even the 7144 Slave 1 I own from over a decade ago was a better depiction of the source material than the vehicles in this set. Unless you love the films, I can't recommend this set, and even as someone who does love the films I was quite disappointed with almost every aspect of it. I'm crossing my fingers that future sets in TDKR sub-theme will be much, much better designed.

Thanks for reading, or glancing at the pictures as I often do myself. As I mentioned, this is my first review so any tips would be appreciated and put to use in the future. Hope you enjoyed!

Edit (1/07/2013): I updated the original pricing score to reflect the pricing in other regions.

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Edited by PhillipJFry

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Thanks for the review, PhillipJFry, and welcome to Eurobricks!

I personally will probably not buy this set, but it does look pretty good, it might not be completely accurate, but I appreciate TLG's attempt at it. I do think it would have been a great reason to add a new Catwoman and Talia, however. Enjoy Eurobricks, and once again, thanks for the review!

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Great review. I think Lego designed The Bat to make it look like a helicopter without propellers but with wings in its place, and propellers and arms below the wings. So really they just transfered features such as the arms but not the actual shape.

Man the UK price is pretty expensive compared to US. Does anyone know when this will be in Lego Stores In UK?

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Thank you for a very nice review PhilipJFry and welcome to Eurobricks! The pricing puts it out of my reach, so I will not be getting this set, but I sure will be looking for a way to get/buy that Bane figure... :classic:

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Thank you for the review!

I really want the minifigures..but oh dear..I can't justify buying this.. :sceptic:

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looks not great but an awesome review. I like the Minifigures and with the piece you've get you can start to build a Tumbler like that one of Tiler. Thanks for that :thumbup: :thumbup:

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At least with The Bat you can place half the blame on the filmmakers for creating such a horrendously ugly whatever it's supposed to be (helicopter?). Easily one of the worst (if not THE) vehicles I've seen in a comic book movie. Even the name is horrible (and seems to suggest even the filmmakers didn't know what the hell it was supposed to be). So that one would've looked awful no matter what LEGO had done with it.

The Tumbler on the other hand.. Sigh.

Great minifigures, but that's it.

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Normally, I wouldn't buy this, but this is the first film I've worked on that now has a LEGO set from it, so I am probably looking at buying two, one to build, and one to box.

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Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. Agreed, the minifigures are definitely the best part of an otherwise questionable set.

Normally, I wouldn't buy this, but this is the first film I've worked on that now has a LEGO set from it, so I am probably looking at buying two, one to build, and one to box.

Cool! What did you work on for the film?

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Hi PhillipJFry, and welcome to the Eurobricks community. Nice first review. :thumbup:

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I had very high hopes for this set when it got announced and when the first pictures of the minifigs did show up. I am not a very big fan of the superheroes theme, but a camo tumble? Yes please... and that Bane minifigure looked terrific too.

But then when the first pictures emerged.. what a let down. And this review (which is well done btw PhilipJFry) only confirms the feeling of disapointment.

The Bat, which originaly least interested me in this set, turned out to be the best of both builds. But still it seems to be, as mentioned in the review, build a decade ago. I can't help to be reminded of the first wave of blocky, grey/blue TIE fighters. Which had of course their merrits in those days, but just look at what they evolved meanwhile...

The Tumbler?... Yes, it's shape vaguely resembles the original, but instead of a mean looking street fighting machine, it looks almost like cute little toycar out of a Duplo line... Well, at least it has a nice selection of tan pieces.

The minifigs clearly are the highlights of this set, but imo they do not justify the 50 euro ( 65 US$ !!!) Lego wants us to pay overhere for this box.

Probably this set will turn out to be a resellers dream. I guess many will try to hunt the figs on bricklink and the likes, so resale prices for especialy Bane will be high and the rest of the parts will be virtually free..

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Thanks for the review. I actually really like this set. I think they captured everything they needed to at a great price while allowing some play features for the kids and some wonderful exclusive figures for the adult fans. The vehicles look exactly how I'd expect them to. Sure, some MOCs are better, but they typically are. They had to hit everything with a limited number of pieces and price. I say win. With that said, you may want to recheck your math. Your overall score should be closer to an 8 if your individual numbers are supposed to mean anything, or alter those to fit. Just a thought for your next review.

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Thanks for the review and welcome to Eurobricks.

I certainly won't buy this set but I really want that Batman fig for some reason....

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the bane and comissioner gordon minifigs are my only real reason to get this set. Not a big fan of the BAT and the fact it looks like a hover robot with propeller hands doesn't help that much also the tumbler design seems a bit lazy since they failed to include the insideout front wheels and the double back wheels.

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I had very high hopes for this set when it got announced and when the first pictures of the minifigs did show up. I am not a very big fan of the superheroes theme, but a camo tumble? Yes please... and that Bane minifigure looked terrific too.

But then when the first pictures emerged.. what a let down. And this review (which is well done btw PhilipJFry) only confirms the feeling of disapointment.

The Bat, which originaly least interested me in this set, turned out to be the best of both builds. But still it seems to be, as mentioned in the review, build a decade ago. I can't help to be reminded of the first wave of blocky, grey/blue TIE fighters. Which had of course their merrits in those days, but just look at what they evolved meanwhile...

The Tumbler?... Yes, it's shape vaguely resembles the original, but instead of a mean looking street fighting machine, it looks almost like cute little toycar out of a Duplo line... Well, at least it has a nice selection of tan pieces.

The minifigs clearly are the highlights of this set, but imo they do not justify the 50 euro ( 65 US$ !!!) Lego wants us to pay overhere for this box.

Probably this set will turn out to be a resellers dream. I guess many will try to hunt the figs on bricklink and the likes, so resale prices for especialy Bane will be high and the rest of the parts will be virtually free..

I have to admit I was a bit shocked by the UK price point, and I probably should edit my pricing score to reflect this.

Thanks for the review. I actually really like this set. I think they captured everything they needed to at a great price while allowing some play features for the kids and some wonderful exclusive figures for the adult fans. The vehicles look exactly how I'd expect them to. Sure, some MOCs are better, but they typically are. They had to hit everything with a limited number of pieces and price. I say win. With that said, you may want to recheck your math. Your overall score should be closer to an 8 if your individual numbers are supposed to mean anything, or alter those to fit. Just a thought for your next review.

Thanks for the tip, the final score I gave should have been the average. In this case, I decided that the design score factored most heavily into the overall score, as I thought that not only was it the weakest area of the set, but also the most important factor of any set. I plan on editing the OP regarding this.

the bane and comissioner gordon minifigs are my only real reason to get this set. Not a big fan of the BAT and the fact it looks like a hover robot with propeller hands doesn't help that much also the tumbler design seems a bit lazy since they failed to include the insideout front wheels and the double back wheels.

Incredibly lazy. I saw a post on another thread related to this set that said something to the effect of TLG deciding that the tumbler and Bat would not sell well separately, so they bundled them together at a price you would expect each separately to be, and we got this. I have to agree.

Thanks to everyone else so far who enjoyed the review.

Edited by PhillipJFry

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I'm more disappointed in some of the comments than the set!

This is a bad set - but people defend TLG on the basis 'Lego's aimed at kids'? Lazy work is always lazy and why should you get a pass because kids don't know anybetter?

Lego should have known they couldn't do this set right at this price point - and could just as easily have sold the tumbler and bat separately and done a good job on each.

Did lego think a tumbler or bat set wouldn't sell? They release Star Wars sets that are so obscure even die hard fans like me respond with 'WTF'...but a tumbler or bat was a bad business decision? The Dark Knight Rises was a minor hit?!

The end result is we'll never get a proper lego tumbler. I've got a whole host of MOC's...so guess who loses out? Yeah, the same kids that apparently deserve this crap

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The funny thing is that LEGO is aimed at kids. It isn't only an AFOL collectible. We just happen to still like it, yet it was aimed at us when we were the target audience also. Kids require different sets than the AFOL community. Call it lazy all you want, but with so many sets coming out, the company as a whole has to hit a variety of price points and keep everyone interested to maintain profitability. Selling two different sets would be great for us, but then you lose out on the play value, the tension between two opposing sides.

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Incredibly lazy. I saw a post on another thread related to this set that said something to the effect of TLG deciding that the tumbler and Bat would not sell well separately, so they bundled them together at a price you would expect each separately to be, and we got this. I have to agree.

Thanks to everyone else so far who enjoyed the review.

Sigh! The really sad hing is if they had split this set we could have gotten something like a Catwoman on Batpod vs Tumbler and a Bat vs Bane on motorcycle for reasonable prices and still much better primary builds.

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Thanks for this review 'PJF', I actually like the vehicles in this set even though they are far off the movie ones, but remember price point and who the intended market is - kids. :wink:

I know we all would have love to see both these vehicles in UCS scale, but it's this set which will sell more units of and it's what TimeWarner/Warner Bros. gave the thumbs up on.

The real cool factor in this set is of course the minifigs especially Gordon....so close to the movie character it's not funny. :wink:

One of the four SH sets on my list for this year, can't wait for it to hit store shelves in Oz. :grin:

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Excellent first review, PhillipJFry. This set looks quite interesting to me. I think the minifigures look great and the vehicles are okay too, as they do have some flaws as you pointed out in your review.

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I think they tried to make a dark gritty realistic movie into a comic bookish type set to appeal to kids, and for me it works.

It's a mediocre set for a mediocre movie( cue Nolan fanboys ripping me apart for that comment)

I will get it as I am a complete and have to have everything type of collecter.

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It's a mediocre set for a mediocre movie( cue Nolan fanboys ripping me apart for that comment)

I actually have to agree a little, it was the weakest of the Dark Knight Trilogy, but I wouldn't say mediocre.

@PhillipJFry, I worked with the film blowing up the football stadium.

I actually like the size of the Tumbler, it is about appropriate to scale for a person.

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I actually have to agree a little, it was the weakest of the Dark Knight Trilogy, but I wouldn't say mediocre.

@PhillipJFry, I worked with the film blowing up the football stadium.

I actually like the size of the Tumbler, it is about appropriate to scale for a person.

The scale is accurate to a person and thus accurate to a minifig scale. The coloring, Bane prototype mask decals, and back wheels are minor problems for me, the general shape is there.

Did you help blow it up or something like that?

I didn't like the film for the following reasons, the plot holes, The Bat( the thing was cool kinda), the happy ending( Batman would die for his city, not live in Italy with Catwoman), the horrible portrayle of Talia, Bane's backstory needed to be fleshed out.

I like parts of the film others not so much.

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