Review: 75974 Bastion
Posted by CapnRex101,Bastion's robotic design is inherently suitable for LEGO and 75974 Bastion looks brilliant in official images. This set captures the ungainly stance of the character from Overwatch with tremendous accuracy and its heavy armour seems faithful to the game, featuring an excellent combination of tan and sand green panels.
I have therefore been excited about building this model, especially since this version of the character is able to transform between Recon and Sentry modes. Moreover, the set costs £54.99 or $49.99 and contains 602 so it seems to offer reasonable value for money, perhaps because no minifigures are included.
The Completed Model
Bastion measures 26cm in height when assembled and looks magnificent in relation to its video game counterpart. The angular armour plating has been replicated accurately and I like the militaristic colour scheme, reflecting Bastion's original role within the Omnic ground forces. However, the robot's combat programming was erased and it has subsequently developed an affinity with nature, as documented in the wonderful 'The Last Bastion' animation.
Articulation is important to any large LEGO figure and Bastion fares reasonably well in this regard. The legs can move forwards, backwards or sideways and the ankles can be adjusted to provide support as well, although not quite to the extent that I was hoping. I also believe the shoulders could be improved. They can move back and forth with ease but there is little outward motion so dynamic posing is reliant upon the rotating waist, as demonstrated below.
Fortunately, the head offers an excellent range of motion and it looks fantastic. This structure consists primarily of tan brackets and includes some sand green highlights which are formed using 2x2 wedge plates and 1x2 tiles. In addition, black ingots are fitted above and below the head, closely resembling the character from Overwatch who features similar mechanical details.
Bastion's monocular eye appears trans-light blue when not engaged in combat and looks reasonable, although a brighter colour would stand out more clearly against the surrounding armour. The red light brick is therefore a brilliant function, allowing you to switch Bastion into a more aggressive mode as it recalls the original destructive function of all Bastion units.
The torso appears somewhat unusual but compares favourably with the Overwatch video game. The angled armour plate covering Bastion's chest looks marvellous and the orange element underneath is faithful to the video game. In fact, the same piece appears on 75987 Omnic Bastion, albeit moulded in pearl dark grey. Stickers are placed on the sides of the torso, denoting Bastion's model number of E54.
Armour plates protect Bastion's shoulder joints and these are each decorated with another sticker. The orange Technic elements seem out of place but the original character includes similar details and I like these splashes of orange which appear across the model. A submachine is mounted on the right arm. This weapon looks fairly realistic but lacks intricate detail, especially around the barrel.
The other arm includes an articulated hand with two fingers and a thumb, corresponding exactly with the source material. A miniature representation of Ganymede is also included. Bastion was woken by this little bird after suffering considerable damage and the character would not be complete without its avian ally! This model includes some lovely bright light yellow pieces but the resultant design appears rather muddled in my opinion, due primarily to its enormous eyes and varied colour scheme.
An enormous Gatling gun is mounted on the back of the figure. This is intended for Sentry Mode but I think it looks impressive when folded for the Sentry configuration, lending additional height and weight to the model. A sticker is applied on one side of the cannon while a printed 1x1 round tile, representing an Overwatch medallion, appears on the other. Bastion does not feature any Overwatch branding in the game but this is a pleasing detail.
Additional armour plating protects Bastion's legs from damage. I love these sand green panels and the stickers look wonderful, although they could probably be omitted without detracting from the model too much. However, my favourite aspect of the lower limbs are the feet. They are ingeniously constructed using orange 1x2 smooth slopes and the design looks absolutely magnificent in relation to the game.
Bastion can transform from Recon Mode into Sentry Mode with surprising ease, accurately recreating the robot's transformation from the video game. This process starts by collapsing the legs and turning the waist before folding up the arms, removing the head and moving the rotary cannon into position. I appreciate this transformation function and it works well, although the head would ideally drop inside the torso.
This rendition of Bastion's powerful Sentry configuration is immediately recognisable but falls short of my expectations. Unfortunately, the entire model looks as though its weight has been moved towards the front whereas it appears more evenly distributed in Overwatch. This has resulted from simplifying the leg transformation which is sensible, although I think a better compromise between simplicity and accuracy could have been found.
Nevertheless, several important features are present, including a rotating mount for the turret structure and the opportunity to turn the Gatling gun barrels. In addition, the heavy armour around the shoulders looks great but the cylindrical magazine beside the weapon has been omitted altogether which is very disappointing given its visual importance.
Overall
I am fairly satisfied with 75974 Bastion, although there are several surprising issues which could have been rectified quite easily. The shoulder articulation, for example, is very limiting for display and I think there was potential to implement an alternative design. The transformation function is not perfect either as the resultant Sentry Mode lacks some important details from the video game.
However, other aspects of this model are impressive. Bastion's traditional Recon Mode looks fantastic when compared with the source material and I love its heavily armoured design so can envisage those who appreciate LEGO robots enjoying this set. Furthermore, the US price of $49.99 seems reasonable and I would recommend it to Overwatch fans on that basis but the prices of £54.99 or 59.99€ in the UK and Europe feel too expensive.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review is an expression of my own opinions.
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23 comments on this article
This is one of my favorite Overwatch sets. He looks like he'd be a lot of fun to photograph outdoors.
^ Agreed. Looks much better than all the others in the theme.
Looks a bit bulky. Reminds me of transformers.
Should mod it so it turns into a car.
I’ll probably only pick up D.Va from this line for the cool design, but this one is quite tempting.
There's no minifigure.
Sad.
CapnRex101 has discovered the outdoors, yeeaaahh! ;-)
I hope a minifigure scale Bastion comes out in the future, he's one of my favorite heroes so I'd love to display him properly with the others!
not my scene at all
It's a nice mech and all, and that was a great review indeed, but now I find myself measuring all sets in terms of how many Benny's Space Squads one could get for the same price.
It's six.
Twenty-four classic spacepeople.
LEGO, you have spoiled us.
Only a matter of time before we see custom tank modes.
I’m surprised by how faithful they were able to make the set AND still allow you to make him into a turret without having to rebuild the model.
This set is awesome, especially for the parts, but in my opinion not so accurate when compared to the originall Bastion from the game. The build of his legs and the transformation into a sentry mode is wrong and was built too easy! Just look at the DX9 Freeman Bastion (Action-figure) and you will see, that this lego build is very inaccurate to the original!? So please check out my flickr or instagram pages, because i build my own, more accurate version of Bastion!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/158964006 @N05/32558051178/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrugVQ2HV5h/
Why Overwatch? Here are three suggestions for video games Lego should make sets for.
1. Fortnite. Fortnite has a huge fan base and is arguably the biggest game on the planet right now.
2. Lego video games. This is fairly obvious, but, especially with Marvel games, I wish I could have figures for them such as Howard the Duck or the Fantastic Four. And obviously the herbivores in Jurassic World.
3. ANY Forza Horizon (I’m on Xbox). Forza Horizon may be covered by Speed Champions, but the map could have some sets for it. It would be really cool to have a system where you could build your own festival according to which sets you have.
Oh yea Ali-A minifig is something I need.
I'm actually loving the outdoor shots.
CapnRex, you must live in a really lovely area.
Great model and very good review, as usual!
So let's wait for a fair discount in EU.
By the way, Happy New Year to every Lego Fanatics!
@DaftArcher20968 They did Overwatch because it was one of the most popular games during late 2017, which is probably when LEGO was coming up with sets for 2019. Fortnite would be cool, but LEGO is against realistic guns in sets (outside of historical ones). But yeah a LEGO Video Games Theme would be awesome (especially if we got the Fantastic Four).
Great review, love the outdoor shot!
I think that it’s so funny that so many other afols are saying things like “I just don’t get these overwatch sets!”. Well, yeah, if you’ve never played the game or seen the animations, of course you don’t get them. If you had never seen Star Wars, you’d probably look at a star destroyer and wonder why it’s just a big grey triangle.
Context is everything! That said, even without context, I think that these sets look pretty nice.
Looks pretty good! But the missing ammo barrel is really odd considering the smaller blizzcon set included one. I wonder why it was omitted?
On back order at legoLEGO.com already, I guess some people love this set. I finished building it yesterday and was quite impressed. It's a stunning mech and a fairly intimidating size. I've never played overwatch so the subtle nuances mean nothing to me, I just like big lego mech style things.
I see a big blocky mech and I like it! I have never played Overwatch so I don't know the story, but it could just as well as labelled under creator and it'll perfectly fit in so I'm going to make up my own stories.
@sertse I've never played it either, but this looks really cool! Sorry if I offend any Overwatch fans, but I originally thought it was a mech suit-like creation, not a sentient robot in it's own right. Will definitely be getting this one!
@Star Wars Fan I disagree. I think that the build looks cool, even though it is mostly Technic with a thin shell over it. The overall effect is practically stunning.