Review: 76288 Iron Man & Iron Legion vs. Hydra Soldier
Posted by CapnRex101,76288 Iron Man & Iron Legion vs. Hydra Soldier finally reintroduces Iron Legion drones, several years after their previous appearance in 76038 Attack on Avengers Tower. The minifigures look superb and they are an excellent companion for 76269 Avengers Tower.
Also, the set includes a new version of Iron Man, which is welcome, though not necessarily ideal for a set that otherwise exhibits the hallmarks of a Battle Pack.
Summary
76288 Iron Man & Iron Legion vs. Hydra Soldier , 135 pieces.
£19.99 / $19.99 / €21.99 | 14.8p/14.8c/16.3c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The minifigures are the undoubted highlight here, but the set feels a bit expensive
- Iron Legion drones are finally back
- Highly detailed minifigures
- Solid fortress design
- A little too expensive
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The full Iron Man MK43 armour has not appeared since the original Avengers: Age of Ultron wave in 2015, so a modern take on the armour is appealing. The addition of red highlights to complement the dark red is definitely effective, creating an impression of depth and reflective metal, which is shared by several recent Iron Man minifigures.
Similarly, the gold and silver details have become more intricate and those on the back of the torso are particularly impressive. The helmet is accurately decorated too, featuring black lines over the eyes to recreate ridges from the onscreen helmet. Additionally, the faceplate opens to reveal Tony's standard double-sided head underneath, which now appears in 31 sets.
Tony is supported by two Iron Legionnaires. Like their creator, these minifigures are brilliantly detailed and their colour scheme of white and dark blue corresponds with the drones from Age of Ultron, complete with Avengers markings on the torso and legs. The robots are numbered in the film, but excluding their numbers was a sensible decision for easier army building.
Whereas the original Iron Legion Drones used the same opening helmet as Iron Man, these include a smaller and simpler piece produced in 2017. I like that distinction between the pair, matching the relatively small heads of the Iron Legionnaires onscreen. Both Iron Man and his Iron Legion creations are equipped with trans-light blue elements for repulsors.
A lone Hydra Soldier seems decidedly outmatched here, although they are fully equipped for battle, between a stud shooter and the accompanying fortress. The purple-tinted goggles and highlights on the torso look excellent and the white helmet is surprisingly faithful to the source material, although some golden designs on the sides would have been nice.
Furthermore, the gold armour reflects Hydra's re-use of Chitauri technology, adorned with the organisation's famous symbol on the back. The arctic camouflage visible beneath the armour looks great too, especially since the same pattern appeared on the lightly-armoured soldier in 76189 Captain America and Hydra Face-Off a few years ago.
The Completed Model
Hydra takes refuge in an old Sokovian fortress at the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which has clearly influenced this structure. The dark tan walls look good and I like how 1x2 masonry bricks are distributed to give an impression of age. The snowy base is effective too, with a few dark green leaves adding some colour.
The rotating laser cannons are integrated well, including a few trans-purple pieces as another hint of Chitauri technology. I am not convinced such a small model really needs quite so many weapons and replacing the pair on top with stud shooters would have provided similar value for play, but better to have arguably too many weapons than not enough!
There is basically no interior to speak of, but you can stand the Hydra Soldier behind the stud shooter controls and keep his stud shooter accessory on the nearby stud. Perhaps something could have been added to the alcoves or an exploding function included, but for a model of this size, I was only expecting the basics, which are delivered.
Overall
76288 Iron Man & Iron Legion vs. Hydra Soldier serves primarily as an Iron Legion drone Battle Pack and definitely succeeds. The minifigures are very detailed and I am delighted to see the Iron Legion again, nine years after their last appearance and following their notable omission from 76269 Avengers Tower in 2023.
The accompanying model is not particularly remarkable, but has reasonable substance. I am glad it has a basis in the film and the weapons provide some play value. The price of £19.99, $19.99 or €21.99 feels expensive to me, but the four minifigures are new and the Iron Legion drones are very appealing, of course. Still, I would wait for a sale before embarking on building an army.
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31 comments on this article
Perfect $10 set
@GirlWoman said:
"Perfect $10 set" 100% this is twice what it should be, 15$ would have been a stretch. Also Idk if it’s just my opinion, but I would have wanted the new drones a lot more if they had the opening helmets, especially if they’re asking that much for this set.
I'm shocked and chagrined that this doesn't clip onto the larger Avengers vs. Hydra diorama in any obvious way.
I know it would be inaccurate but since this Iron Man Mark 43 is in the AoU diorama, this could have come with the Mark 45 suit.
Must be Hydra Bob, and Tony is worried that Deadpool is going to show up and Kill Marvel.
I’m sorry, but those Iron Legion helmets look terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Nice update on the MK43 armor and using the later helmet design for the Iron Legion was a smart move. The price seems high...looks more like a $15 set IMHO. Having said that, I need some IL units so I'll pick up three of these once available. Probably combine the castle/weapons into one larger piece (and add some parts from the parts bin). Overall, I am happy with this set and I think it delivers. Thanks for the smart review!
@GirlWoman said:
"Perfect $10 set"
In 2008... But since we're in 2024, this is par for the course for LEGO. No worries, though, as this'll probably be 20-30% off in a few weeks time at some retailers, so I wouldn't rush to get one right away.
as much as I would want it to be cheaper, saying this should be $10 is disingenuous.
Trying to imagine LEGO’s pricing strategy, $5 collectible mini figures are a tough sell when you could get a battle pack with 4 figures plus a build for less than $20. Yes, in most cases they’re not as detailed figures as CMF, but I see how they got to this price.
If the price is an issue, I would wait for the inevitable 20+% discounts down the line
I just bought this set today, for $26 at Target Australia.
The first thing I thought upon completing the fortress build was "Man, this fortress build looks great but I wish it could have been a bit bigger."
The alcoves are just too small and them not being able to fit Hydra soldiers is disappointing to me.
I think I'll be picking up maybe two more of these sets to amass some Iron Legion drones as well as Hydra soldiers.
The fortress also has some interesting pieces like the printed panel on the manned turret which is always nice to get
“Also, the set includes a new version of Iron Man, which is welcome, though not necessarily ideal for a set that otherwise exhibits the hallmarks of a Battle Pack.”
I dunno, given the sheer number of Iron Man figs Lego have done at this point, coupled with the fact that Tony is perfectly capable using the suits as autonomous drones, seems you get something of an army builder vibe from it…
I like to imagine that Hydra soldier thinking he got the best job in the world just having to chill out in a turret all day.
Then not only does Iron Man show up, he brings a bunch of robot buddies with him!
@ClutchPowers7306 said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"Perfect $10 set" 100% this is twice what it should be, 15$ would have been a stretch. Also Idk if it’s just my opinion, but I would have wanted the new drones a lot more if they had the opening helmets, especially if they’re asking that much for this set.
"
The current solution is more accurate compared to the source material and, above all, looks better.
This needed one more soldier.
The helmets for the legion bothered me before, but after looking up pics of them again it makes sense to me. They aren’t really designed to be wearable helmets, they look more like drone heads made to resemble Tony’s armor with a much slimmer design.
@Lordmoral said:
"This needed one more soldier."
Battle pack rule says only 4 minifigs in each battlepack
I don't like the helmets on the Iron Legion figures, but then again I've never liked that piece (for Iron Man, at least - it works well for some other characters). Their heads are smaller in the movie and their helmets don't open so not using the opening helmet mold makes sense, but I just think this one looks terribly flat. I definitely prefer the 2015 minifigures.
The build is pretty nice for a battle pack! I'm surprised to see barely any play features, though. It's begging for an exploding wall :)
@Djhorn said:
"as much as I would want it to be cheaper, saying this should be $10 is disingenuous.
Trying to imagine LEGO’s pricing strategy, $5 collectible mini figures are a tough sell when you could get a battle pack with 4 figures plus a build for less than $20. Yes, in most cases they’re not as detailed figures as CMF, but I see how they got to this price.
If the price is an issue, I would wait for the inevitable 20+% discounts down the line "
If you throw out anomalies like 75037 and 75262, SW battle packs ran:
2007-2008, $9.99
2009-2010, $11.99
2011-2016, $12.99
2017-2020, $14.99
2022-present, $19.99
2021 battle packs appear to have fallen victim to the pandemic, and pricing got screwy due to post-pandemic inflation. Also, EUR pricing ran super high compared to USD from 2014-2016, and a little high in 2018 and 2023-2024. So, yeah, this is the new normal, and it’s been working that way for the past 15 years.
$12.99 max I would pay
I'd rate this as $13-15 value, but considering inflation, I understand the price point this set fills now being $20.
I look at this, its position as essentially a battle pack, and I'm reminded of the 2011 Ninjago sets, a large chunk of which had connectors at their corners to link a few together. Considering this is a Chunk Of Wall, it might have been a cool feature to do something like that here so you could build a bigger Hydra base. That said, this isn't a whole Age of Ultron product wave, so you don't have other structure shapes to really customize it with.
@GoldenNinja3000 said:
"I don't like the helmets on the Iron Legion figures, but then again I've never liked that piece (for Iron Man, at least - it works well for some other characters). Their heads are smaller in the movie and their helmets don't open so not using the opening helmet mold makes sense, but I just think this one looks terribly flat. I definitely prefer the 2015 minifigures.
The build is pretty nice for a battle pack! I'm surprised to see barely any play features, though. It's begging for an exploding wall :)"
Exactly.
they just had to go and ruin the Iron Legion figure with that terrible derpy-derp helmet
Ever since the 10907/10908 helmet and visor combo was replaced all the IM figs have looked really bad, and the 28631 style are the worst
"A little too expensive" LOL, talk about walking a tightrope to appease LEGO. Its too expensive, period. They added the useless turrets to try to justify the 20 USD pricey tag.. but I am not surprised as LEGO needs to feed the CEO's Ferrari fund.
@madforLEGO said:
""A little too expensive" LOL, talk about walking a tightrope to appease LEGO. Its too expensive, period. They added the useless turrets to try to justify the 20 USD pricey tag.. but I am not surprised as LEGO needs to feed the CEO's Ferrari fund."
Appeasing LEGO is not a concern. We have been critical of the pricing for many sets this year, to the point that people have started joking about that being part of our review template.
In this case, I think a realistic fair price would be around $14.99. Something like $9.99 would be nice, of course, but as @ToysFromTheAttic said above, we are not in 2008 any more. I understand the frustration with prices lately, but exaggerated comments about sets costing double what they should or the like are really not helpful because LEGO probably just ignores such unrealistic feedback.
Saying that, there are some cases where sets really are wildly overpriced, like 76281 X-Men X-Jet, but this one is not nearly that bad.
@CapnRex101
“…LEGO probably just ignores such unrealistic feedback.”
This could be the tagline for any BrickSet comment section
@andygott said:
" @CapnRex101
“…LEGO probably just ignores such unrealistic feedback.”
This could be the tagline for any BrickSet comment section"
Maybe that says more about the comment section than it does about LEGO...? ;-)
I don't think the UK price is that bad, especially given the price of other battle packs over the past decade. It is also likely to be in the 2 for £30 at argos and amazon will then price match at £15.
A $20 toy that would have been a $10 toy fifteen years ago? Over in Transformers fandom we call those "Deluxes" and everyone still buys them anyway.
@Andrusi said:
"A $20 toy that would have been a $10 toy fifteen years ago? Over in Transformers fandom we call those "Deluxes" and everyone still buys them anyway."
I only started collecting in 2021 and they've already outpriced me. I only buy on sale now. Frankly I don't think Lego fans understand how good they've got it compared to other Toy collectors.
I’m the first one to complain about set prices, being too high regardless of the Disney tax. But I happen to see the set inWalmart today literally next to the 75373 Ambush on Mandalore Battle Pack that has 109 pieces for the same price. Just looking at the boxes would make you pick this set over the Mandalorian set based on how much bigger the build is since they have the same number of minifigures. And like many people have said, CMFs are $5 each so this is in line with that. We might not like those prices and therefore wait until Walmart drops the price by 20% in six months and buy it then. That’s what I do.