Review: 76263 Iron Man Hulkbuster vs. Thanos

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LEGO renditions of the Hulkbuster are evidently extremely popular, as new models are produced annually. 76263 Iron Man Hulkbuster vs. Thanos is the latest version, although the first designed for younger children because this is a 4+ model, hence its simple construction.

Unfortunately, 4+ are often extremely expensive and this one is no exception, costing £20.99, $26.99 or €26.99. However, there is a new Iron Man minifigure included to tempt Marvel fans, loosely inspired by the hero's Silver Age comic book appearances.

Summary

76263 Iron Man Hulkbuster vs. Thanos, 66 pieces.
£20.99 / $26.99 / €26.99 | 31.8p/40.9c/40.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »

Like many 4+ sets, this set is vastly overpriced, but seems satisfactory for play

  • Excellent and exclusive version of Iron Man
  • Good Hulkbuster for play
  • Awkward hip design
  • Hugely expensive

The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.

Minifigures

The exclusive Iron Man minifigure is undoubtedly the most interesting feature of this set. While most versions of the character are based upon his film appearances or modern comics, I think this minifigure more closely resembles his classic Mark III armour from the comics, which was introduced in 1965. The shape of the golden faceplate and the armour around the hips notably resemble the comic design.

The sculpted muscles and pearl gold arms are also very reminiscent of Iron Man's early comic book designs. Tony's head is common though, featuring a heads-up display on one side and a cheerful expression on the other. Thanos is also outwardly influenced by the comics, although this minifigure has appeared before in 76242 Thanos Mech Armour.

I love the character's fierce expression and wrinkles are fittingly printed on his chin. Moreover, the combination of dark blue, metallic gold and blue across his torso looks splendid, especially as the golden armour is intricately detailed on the front and back. Frustratingly, Thanos lacks the Infinity Gauntlet or any handheld weaponry, which feels like an oversight to me.

The Completed Model

On the other hand, Thanos' throne is fully armed with two flick-fire missiles and a disc launcher, so he presents a clear threat even without the gauntlet. This assembly is odd, seemingly taking inspiration from the villain's flying throne, but including wings to make its abilities obvious. While the design is evidently very basic, this model serves an important role for play.

The famous Hulkbuster is simple as well, although less so than I expected for a 4+ model. The mech measures 11cm in height and roughly captures the proportions of its source material, as the chest armour and shoulders are appropriately bulky. I think the shoulders' position, behind the torso, is helpful in making the Hulkbuster appear stocky.

However, the location of the shoulder joints sometimes leaves the arms looking very short, in certain poses. The static ankles also limit options for posing, but the Hulkbuster remains fairly stable and I can understand using these leg elements on a 4+ model. The head and torso fare better, featuring a new printed dome and a decorated 2x2 round tile for the arc reactor.

Iron Man fits comfortably inside the chest, which is constructed similarly to the new Star Wars mechs. I am glad the minifigure is easily accessible and both parts of the mech body have not appeared in their respective colours before. Furthermore, using these pieces allows the waist to rotate on a Technic pin, but the Hulkbuster does become rather thin at this point.

I think the waist and its transition to the legs is the weakest area of the model. The width of the hips is intended to resemble the Hulkbuster's traditional design, but I much prefer the narrower hips in 76830 Zyclops Chase, for instance. The upper body seems effective though, even when viewed from behind, where a trans-light blue 2x3 flag piece is cleverly integrated.

Overall

76263 Iron Man Hulkbuster vs. Thanos is designed for young children and I think it succeeds, on the whole. There are some problems with the Hulkbuster, but these seem inevitable, given the nature of 4+ sets. Unfortunately, this 4+ influence extends to the price of £20.99, $26.99 or €26.99, which feels incredibly expensive, relative to the set's actual contents.

Of course, Iron Man minifigures are highly collectable and this example is particularly desirable, given its comic book origins. Similar to the unique Joker minifigure in 76264 Batmobile Pursuit: Batman vs. The Joker, I hope this version of Iron Man appears elsewhere in the future, as the minifigure is much more appealing than the set as a whole.

61 likes

35 comments on this article

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By in United States,

Really love the Mk III minifigure (but missing the older style 'flip-up' helmet) and my 6 year old son LOVES this set. Lots of play quality and it was easy for him to assemble on his own. However, that price...UGH! It's a $15 set IMHO. We paid (grudgingly) $24.99 for it at Meijer. Thanks for the review, you nailed it!

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By in United States,

I can't fathom how the new leg and rotated plates that make the elbow joints, along with the new chest "design brick" pieces justify the inflated price of $27 for a 66 piece set. The 4+ Batmobile 76264 suffers similarly from a single-piece chassis and a $27 price. Fun sets for kid play, nice visual appeal, ridiculous price.

This mech measures 11cm in height - for $5 more, parents can buy kids the 27cm long Batmobile with two figures from Spinmaster: https://www.walmart.com/ip/DC-Comics-The-Flash-Batmobile-3-Pack-with-2-Figures-and-Batmobile/156173232 -- Yes, Lego is much more imaginative, but they need to get their prices in line with comparable toys.

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By in United Kingdom,

It's about time we had another Hulkbuster, we haven't had one for a few months.

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By in United States,

This looks like it was designed, priced, and marketed by a member of its target demographic. My only surprise is that the price isn't 'one milwon dowars.'

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By in United States,

forget a flying throne, it should be the Thanos copter!

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By in United States,

The way these particular sets trend I think by now they just need to rename these Hulkbuster sets the Walletbuster!

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By in United States,

Juniors usually at least has some really nice unique minifigs and printed pieces. Not having those here really makes that pricepoint sting.

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By in United Kingdom,

Who do I have to bribe to get a Thanoscopter?

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By in United States,

Ugh these 4+ sets and their crazy prices. No way a handful of large molded parts justify these prices. I wish TLG would stop putting exclusive minifigs in these sets. Like any 4 year old gives a crap. Just a reason to lure AFOLS to these for a cash grab.

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By in United States,

Just came here to say, on first glance at the front page image, I thought Ironman was Hulkbusting out some breakdance moves.

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By in United Kingdom,


We've certainly seen less-poseable Hulkbusters...

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By in United States,

That's not the comics Mark III armor. I'm puzzling over which suits had a gold midsection, but I can't place which suit that is. It doesn't seem to be from the MCU. More to follow.

Edit: Not sure, but it could be the suit from the "Age of X" series. Which would be unpleasant, because apparently Tony was a corpse being sustained by the armor there. I'm not sure, because that suit didn't have gold upper legs.

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By in United States,

As I said when this was revealed, it's nice that the kiddies get their own Hulkbuster. But yeeouch, that price! If it were (much, much) cheaper, I'd be tempted to get it for the Iron Man fig and the arc reactor. I'd let Thanos borrow the smaller "Infinity Gauntlet" from 76196.

@WemWem said:
"Juniors usually at least has some really nice unique minifigs and printed pieces. Not having those here really makes that pricepoint sting."
Did you not read the review? The Iron Man is exclusive, and there's also a printed dome and a printed arc reactor tile. (Jere's hoping that tile shows up elsewhere.)

Gravatar
By in United States,

@Ridgeheart said:
"LORE TIME IS MORE TIME:

Thanos made his first-ever debut as a villain-of-the-week for Iron Man, way back in 1973, and Tony was indeed still rocking the Mk. III there. So fortunately, that's very comics-accurate!

And even more fortunately, this Thanos-minifig is not comics-accurate at all! Well, the scale is; Thanos was barely bigger than ol' Iron Britches back then. The rest of the outfit... well, some things just have to be seen to be believed:

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/e59/7a6/a603145edfc6dcc0c786983130ecc8d20a-10-jim-starlin-iron-man.2x.w710.jpg "

That’s a great image of the page, how’d you grab something so clear and so…specific? It’s really cool!

Gravatar
By in Australia,

Who ya gonna call? Hulkbusters!

Gravatar
By in United States,

@ozbrickcreator: When there's something green
In the neighborhood
When he's quite angry
And it don't look good.

Gravatar
By in United States,

Once it drops down in price, this is a fun little mech to mod.
From the side of the knee to the ankle can have like a large and small wheel or gears with a rubber band or chain-link attached.
Mod up the back and even the hands (replace).
I'd be ok with $15 - $20 tops on this.

Gravatar
By in United States,

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"That's not the comics Mark III armor. I'm puzzling over which suits had a gold midsection, but I can't place which suit that is. It doesn't seem to be from the MCU. More to follow.

Edit: Not sure, but it could be the suit from the "Age of X" series. Which would be unpleasant, because apparently Tony was a corpse being sustained by the armor there. I'm not sure, because that suit didn't have gold upper legs."

I agree it’s not the comics Model 3. I don’t see much resemblance to that suit, tbh.

My guess is that it’s an original armor, but primarily inspired by the animated series armor, aka the comics Model 12. It’s not that either, but it incorporates features from it.

Part of the oddity in trying to place it is that the helmet faceplate print design looks very 21st century/Extremis/MCU, while the body is trying to go for something more classic.

Edit: The widow’s peak looks classic, but the brow ridge, white eyes, the mouth made by the bottom edge of the faceplate, on a gold chin are all modern/MCU elements, as are the “cheekbone/chin lines”. And on the body, while I said it’s classic, if you look at the back, the shoulderblade ailerons are a modern suit element.

Either it’s a modern suit I’m unfamiliar with, or it’s a Lego-original.

Gravatar
By in Australia,

@MegaBlocks said:
"It's about time we had another Hulkbuster, we haven't had one for a few months."

Yes, but the actual Hulkbuster would be more cost efficient than this.

Gravatar
By in United States,

How are they saying this is the Silver Age suit.
Not even close. Jeez.
There are 4 silver age suits...the domed grey one, the domed golden armor, then the red and gold face-plate with the double pointed peaks and double slit mouth, and then the classic armor red and gold suit.
Nothing of this figure matches those except showing the golden arms/sleeves.

Gravatar
By in United States,

Is the Iron Man/Tony Stark minifigure head piece the most common non-yellow mini figure head piece?

Gravatar
By in United States,

Have to say I love your reviews dude. However I'm very disappointed that you haven't reviewed several of the Star Wars sets released this year, such as the Mandolorian Starfighter vs. Tie Interceptor. Considering you're the most prominent reviewer on Brickset, shouldn't you be able to review all the Star Wars sets in each wave, especially if Lego sends you the sets for free? Im curious If there's a reason behind it, and would love to hear your reasoning for it. No matter what, keep going with the awesome reviews, love to keep seeing your content!

Gravatar
By in Australia,

All jokes aside, I am interested in seeing how long the stores take to clearance this one out.

I noticed in Australian K-marts, yesterday, that the large figures (Wolverine, Captain America and Batman) are already being clearanced out at almost half-price. Same with the new SW juniors set, as well as some of the current Friends wave.

They've only been on shelves for about a month.

Gravatar
By in United States,

Looks like similar amount of content as 76830 except it is cheaper and has better figs.

Gravatar
By in United States,

Two other possibilities on this suit:

1) It's supposed to be the neo-classic suit Marvel introduced 2-3 years ago. This is modern armor, but it's thematically based on the iconic Mark 3.

2) It's the Mark 3 skin used in the Marvel's Avengers video game. This isn't quite the Mark 3, but sort of an overlay on the game armor to make it resemble the Mark 3.

The main thing that continues to throw me is the yellow in the torso.

Gravatar
By in United States,

I actually think this is my favorite Hulkbuster. Flawed but it feels more like the suit than a giant kaiju mech.

Gravatar
By in United Kingdom,

this is two cover mount polybags - awful

Gravatar
By in United States,

@legoDad42 said:
"How are they saying this is the Silver Age suit.
Not even close. Jeez.
There are 4 silver age suits...the domed grey one, the domed golden armor, then the red and gold face-plate with the double pointed peaks and double slit mouth, and then the classic armor red and gold suit.
Nothing of this figure matches those except showing the golden arms/sleeves."

I agree with everyone above, this is no silver age Iron Man. LRGO did make one, kind of, in that super heroes car theme SH362 76072-1

Not sure I really count the first two Iron Man suits as separate armors; in story Stark just painted the gray armor gold (though that might be a later revelation/retcon).

Ridgeheart: mini skirt Hawkeye was the one that I thought of immediately :) However if "FAME! I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER!" Rat-tail Rachel Summers refers to her look from X-Men 199 JR Jr era, that was an awesome look
https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/13740/uncanny_x-men_1963_199

Gravatar
By in United States,

@Ridgeheart said:
"Valley Girl Jubilee"

Do you mean her The Dark Knight Returns, Carrie Kelley Robin-costume?

Gravatar
By in United States,

@Ridgeheart:
Her creator has stated that her original outfit (the one she had in the 1997 animated series) was directly based on Carrie Kelley’s Robin costume. Pixie boots, short-shorts, safety sunglasses (keeps the embers out of the eyes, amongst other things), and even the color scheme is basically the same. The two main differences were swapping green for blue, and the cape for an open jacket with either short or rolled-up sleeves.

Gravatar
By in United States,

@Ridgeheart said:
" @blogzilly said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"LORE TIME IS MORE TIME:

Thanos made his first-ever debut as a villain-of-the-week for Iron Man, way back in 1973, and Tony was indeed still rocking the Mk. III there. So fortunately, that's very comics-accurate!

And even more fortunately, this Thanos-minifig is not comics-accurate at all! Well, the scale is; Thanos was barely bigger than ol' Iron Britches back then. The rest of the outfit... well, some things just have to be seen to be believed:

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/e59/7a6/a603145edfc6dcc0c786983130ecc8d20a-10-jim-starlin-iron-man.2x.w710.jpg "

That’s a great image of the page, how’d you grab something so clear and so…specific? It’s really cool!"

I am the best at what I do, but what I do isn't very useful."

So…sharing info is something you don’t do, then? :)

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