Review: 76102 Thor's Weapon Quest
Posted by CapnRex101,Thor's legendary war-hammer, Mjølnir, was destroyed during the events of Thor: Ragnarok and the Asgardian hero must now forge a new weapon that will focus his power. 76102 Thor's Weapon Quest depicts this mission and comes with three excellent minifigures, including the much-anticipated teenage Groot!
An unusual escape pod is also included which looks very interesting and I have been excited to find out how this vehicle can be combined with the Guardians' enormous spacecraft from 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle.
Minifigures
Thor wears a new suit during Avengers: Infinity War but its components are familiar, including six round armour plates and exposed arms. Metallic silver printing defines each armour plate and these stand out very clearly against the black torso and legs so look superb. The dark bluish grey designs underneath are fairly intricate and match what we have seen of the character's attire in promotional material for the film.
Unfortunately, the head is less impressive in that regard. Thor lost his right eye while fighting against Hela so should be wearing an eye patch here. Presumably this information was not available to LEGO during production of the set which is a shame, although I love the crackling electricity around his eyes on one side of the head and the medium nougat beard works well. Hopefully a more accurate version of the character will appear in a later set.
Three Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sets were released last year and the Rocket Raccoon minifigure remains unchanged, sporting a dark blue jacket with reddish brown padding around the shoulders. The unique moulded head looks marvellous and I like the combination of dark bluish grey, black and white fur. These shades are not perfect in relation to the films but I think they are probably the most appropriate available colours.
A bushy tail is fitted between the torso and legs. The texture looks brilliant but some printed stripes would have been a welcome addition for even greater accuracy to the movie. Nevertheless, this is an excellent figure on the whole, suitably finished off with a simple double-barrelled laser cannon that consists of a dark bluish grey Alien Conquest blaster and a dark orange 1x1 round brick.
Four years have passed since the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II and Groot has now grown into an adolescent. He is therefore represented by a minifigure in this set, matching the scale of other characters and making good use of a new head component. Traditional features of a minifigure head are combined with specialised moulding and the results look superb in relation to the source material, particularly with the addition of a delightfully surly expression and some textured detail on the front.
These designs continues onto the front and back of the torso where the more mature layers of Groot's skin are reddish brown while those underneath are dark green. I like this colour combination very much and the wood grain looks reasonably realistic, although the arms and legs appear plain by comparison. Otherwise, this is a fantastic figure and Groot comes with a reddish brown vine for reaching distant opponents during combat.
The Completed Model
The first part of this set is designated as a space station in the official set description but it seems more like a portal or power generator of some kind to me. In any case, this model houses Thor's weapon as well as the purple Power Stone so serves an important role. I like the black, pearl dark grey and trans-light blue colour scheme and the new Power Burst parts are incorporated nicely, especially for the power coils on either side.
A full set of ten Power Burst elements is included and they can clip into Thor's hands to represent his electrical manipulation ability. These powers are more effective when focused by a weapon though and Thor therefore forges an axe, known as Jarnbjorn in the comics, which is hidden in a tray at the base of the model. This is built using just five pieces and includes a wooden handle with a pearl silver head.
Turning the model around reveals the power source for this machine as an Infinity Stone is fixed to the tray. The pearl gold stand looks slightly odd in relation to the surrounding colours but this is consistent with other Infinity War sets and is suitably eye-catching for such an important item. A gear at the back of the model allows you to rotate the trans-light blue disc on the front, perhaps as Thor charges up the machine to create the axe.
This set also includes an escape pod which can connect with the Guardians' new M-ship from 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle. I like its sand blue, light bluish grey and orange colours that match the larger vessel but the pod also looks good as an independent model in my opinion. The curved sides of the fuselage are very distinctive and most of the pieces used line up well, although the sand blue spoilers at the base of the curve look a bit strange.
A number of people have drawn comparisons between this escape pod and the mining pod from 76020 Knowhere Escape Mission. The two vehicles are about the same size and both include a large bubble canopy but their interiors are quite different. While the mining pod had only one seat for a pilot, this craft has three which are easily accessible by removing the roof and opening the canopies at both the front and rear.
I think the model looks somewhat awkward when viewed from the side as the forward canopy is placed a little higher than one might expect in relation to the fuselage. However, the stickers on either side of the craft line up perfectly with the dark bluish grey and light bluish grey bricks around them which is really impressive and the rivets on the stickers look great as well.
Stud shooters are placed on the roof of the cockpit alongside two more stickers and a couple of pearl silver ingots, which are new in this colour, that depict mechanical details. The combination of sand blue and light bluish grey parts works well on the roof of the vehicle and I like the tapering shape of the tail, cleverly using a light bluish grey 1x3 jumper plate which is only available in one other set at the moment.
The rear viewport is much shallower than that at the front so presents an attractive contrast and the four trans-purple lights look lovely too. Unfortunately, this area of the model is spoiled to some extent by three prominent Technic pins which are used to connect the escape pod with the M-ship in 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle. These provide a sturdy connection but it is a shame that the pins are so obtrusive.
However, the result of combining these two models looks magnificent. The Guardians' craft is primarily orange but includes scattered light bluish grey and sand blue highlights while the escape pod features orange accents but is dominated by sand blue and light bluish grey. Their shapes are complementary too and the models fit together very tightly using those Technic pins and a couple of hinged locks on top.
Overall
The Avengers: Infinity War range continues to impress! Teenage Groot is definitely the highlight of the set from my point of view but the other minifigures are very appealing as well, despite the disappointing absence of Thor's eye patch. The design of the escape pod is unusual but I think it looks great and the limited space inside is used very efficiently, containing seats for all three figures.
That having been said, this set is not quite as impressive as some of the others based upon Avengers: Infinity War in my opinion. The minifigures and models are good on the whole but do not offer the same play or display value as those in slightly larger sets such as 76104 The Hulkbuster Smash-Up. Nevertheless, £19.99 or $19.99 feels like a fair price and I would therefore recommend this set, especially to owners of 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle.
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.
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26 comments on this article
"Four years have passed since the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II and Groot has now grown into an adolescent." - not that I doubt you, was that established somewhere that the events in GotG volume 2 took place 4 years before the events we'll see in Avengers: Infinity War?
I was disappointing in this set. There was no true antagonist in this set. I would have even taken an Outrider. There is also not really a play feature. I may only get it to connect to the new Milano.
All this because of the Groot figure ;)
@peterjohn0 - Collider has created a helpful timeline of events within the Marvel Cinematic Universe using information gathered from the movies, television series and interviews with production staff: http://collider.com/mcu-timeline-explained
@CapnRex101
Not sure how accurate that timeline is, as it's taken from an inaccurate Marvel Wikipedia summary that attempted to fit aspects such as 'Spider-man; Homecoming' having an 'eight years later' (Eight years after Avengers, set in 2012) meaning that Homecoming would be set in 2020.
It's generally believed that the timeline no longer works after Civil War because of the Homecoming remark which has still not been explained, so people value it as an error or dismiss it. Another example is Doctor Strange where he references Rhodey's accident which was meant to connect to Civil War, but the timeline does not match.
Guardians 1& 2 are indeed set in 2014 and as far as we know Infinity War is set in 2018 - so you and the article are correct in that it's a four year gap from what we've heard of the movie so far.
Awesome! Thanks for the reference @CaptnRex101!
Putting 1x1 round or square bricks on the bottom of Groot's legs gives the most "size-accurate" Groot for an adult so far - and it looks pretty good as well. The first Groot was way too large.
As for Thor's head, I think it is accurate for the upcoming movie - after some event. There is a shot of him in one of the trailers with his right eye restored - with a bit of a scar.
POSSIBLE SPOILER: Going by Thor's eye-patch and lack of eye-patch in varying funko-pop doll iterations, it would seem that by this stage of the story he has his eye back.
@Legodad1
SPOILER; I doubt that because we see him in the trailer with Groot and Rocket both on the way and in the location with the eye patch.
Cool review.
@Scarilian
SPOILER; There are screen caps out there of Thor with his patch gone and eye back.
This set is an awesome one to draft! Our LUG picked up 5 copies of it and when sorting it out, realized the number of new / interesting / sought-after pieces that were in it. No one left disappointed.
GAH! This set has spoilers! What an outrage! Not even a spoiler warning. How utterly uncouth.
*waits eagerly for people to get it*
Thor, Groot and Rocket Racoon, what more could you want?
I, ll probably pick this up along with Cap and the drop ship attack set,
The 2 things that would of made this better are Thor with the eye patch and some sort of villain, I, e Proxima Midnight or Corvus Glaive..
@Umandraug I got it! It took me a while, though... :)
This is cool how the pod fits on to the new Milano , it reminds me of how the Phantom from Star Wars Rebels connected to the Ghost !
@Scarilian Avengers came out in 2012 but the events of the movie took place in 2009. The events of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor took place during the same week about 6 months after the end of Iron Man in 2008. The events of Avengers are supposed to have taken place only a few months after that week, so 2009. So when Homecoming takes place 8 years later, it's 2017. Here is a graphic Marvel made before Avengers came out explaining their timeline http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/marvel-timeline-full.jpg
I gotta get this one soon.
What I like -- although I shouldn't, because it's such an obvious gimmick -- is that the line has six sets, and each one comes with one of the Infinity Stones. So to complete the gauntlet, you have to literally buy all six of the darn things.
Obviously I went to Bricklink instead and saved quite a bit of money, but the prices on eBay are a real eye-opener. Sellers have been charging absurd amounts for six very small (even for Lego) pieces. I get they're the Infinity Stones, but still.
I bought 4 of the Infinity War sets (this, the dropship, the Wakanda Wall and the Hulkbuster) yesterday, on fair discounts (30%).
I'm very satisfied with the purchase, now I'll have to find the other 2. An interesting shift in my Lego Budget from Star Wars to Marvel has occured this year, I wonder if that trend will continue in the future.
Also, I've been watching all the other MCU movies (still need Strange, Homecoming, Ragnarök & Black Panther) in preparation for Infinity War. IMO The Winter Soldier is the best movie they've done so far.
I guess my Groot was the unlucky one, he's started to crack... :(
@Umandraug, explain please. I’m not a very big Marvel nerd...(if that has to do with it)
@TK-421 It’s not so much a Marvel thing. See, spoiler pieces are used in the set. I was making a pun, because people tend to get made when somebody spoils a film without warning, and CapnRex mentioned the spoiler pieces without warning.
Not sure if we will get this but we did find the Teen Groot keychain at Target the other day here in Virginia.
Don't really like this set. the craft looks messy to me. i'll probably get Thor and Groot separately.
I absolutely don't care about any of the source material stuff, but somehow the design of that pod is highly appealing to me. Might get the set someday just for that.