Review: LEGO 41230 – Batgirl Batjet Chase

February 27, 2017 | 10

I was pretty stoked when LEGO announced the new DC Super Hero Girls theme last year. I’m a big fan of the LEGO Friends aesthetic, and I’m also a DC Comics person, which kinda made it a lot easier for me to stomach these non-conventional Super Heroes sets.

DC Super Hero Girls, which, for the lack of a better way to describe it, is DC’s girlier interpretation of some of the leading ladies from the DC Comics universe, which sees them interact in a high school setting.

The franchise spans Barbie-like superhero dolls, graphic novels, costumes and action figures and I’ve heard a lot of great things about how well they’ve been received by their target audience – young girls. I like how well designed the dolls and action figures are, and I hope that they stick around long enough for my daughter to be old enough to play with them.

Back to LEGO – the DC Super Hero Girls sets started going on sale in Australia earlier this month, and I wasted no time in picking up a few of them. My first (but not last) review of the theme is 41230 Batgirl Batjet Chase.

Name: Batgirl Batjet Chase
Set Number: 41230
Pieces: 206
Price: AU$34.99 | US$24.99 | £19.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK]
Exclusive to: N/A
Minifidolls: 1
Theme: DC Super Hero Girls
Year of Release: 2017

Batgirl Batjet Chase is a mid-sized LEGO DC Super Hero Girls set and one of the more attractive sets in the range. It’s not as Friends-like as most of the other sets and is the ideal set for those that are apprehensive of Super Hero-themed minidolls to experiment with before committing to the theme.

Here’s a look at the sticker sheet included and the new plastic Batgirl wings. I don’t mind stickers, but I was dreading applying the four curved tickers. I don’t mind applying stickers to flat surfaces but curved stickers just spook me out because I’m pretty bad at getting them right.

It was a nice surprise to get a spare pair of plastic wings! It’s a pretty interesting accessory but unfortunately, it’s not really compatible with regular minifigs.

There are two bags in the box, and the first has you build this small buggy as well as a yellow Kryptomite, a small little alien critter that’s central to the DC Super Hero Girls storyline.

Created by Lena Luthor, these Kryptomites were fashioned out of Kryptonite dust and alien technology and regular terrorise the students of Super Hero High. Apparently this yellow one has the ability to instill fear in anyone that crosses its path.

The Kryptomite face is printed on a 1×1 tile, and we also get a spare. These remind me of the Nixels from the Mixels theme and are kinda cute.

There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the buggy – it’s well built, rolls around without much friction although the the flag is a little flimsy and  can sometimes fall off. The Yellow Kryptomite can also grab on to the handles using its tiny clip hands.

The buggy has a claw attachment on the front which grasps a printed phone tile.

Here’s a look at the Batgirl/Barbara Gordon minidoll. I actually really like the combination of super heroes and the minidoll form. These are targeted at girls, and based on how well LEGO Friends have done, I definitely feel like LEGO know exactly what they were doing with the designs.

The printing on Batgirl is fantastic – I love the laced up boots, the utility belt as well as her yellow bracers. Her torso also features some pretty sharp printing and her eye mask also attractively frames her bright green eyes.

Batgirl’s cowl has her hair fused to it – I really like how seamless it all looks, as well as the bit that sticks out. It’s a great looking hair/cowl piece that really ties the entire minidoll together.

Here’s a look at Batgirl’s back, where you can see the wings in more detail. I like that the plastic wings are glossy instead of the usual fabric or paper material as they hold their shape very well.

Batgirl also has pockets on the back of her pants, which are pretty nice – it tells me that she’s a very practical super hero.

There’s a cool new “Batgirl-phone” printed tile. The design is pretty cool, although I’m not sure about the UX – who puts major buttons like the phone, text and contacts on the top menu?

I’ll never complain about printed phone tiles, especially “themed” ones like the Batgirl version.

In case you were wondering how the Batgirl minidoll stacks up against her minifig counterparts, wonder no more. Placed side by side, I actually have to say that the minidoll is currently my favourite – it just somehow looks so much more elegant and well-designed compared to the minifigs.

Here’s a look at the finished Batjet. For a theme that is targeted at girls, the Batjet is a pretty bad-ass vehicle that wouldn’t look out of place in a “regular” Super Heroes-themed set.

Firstly, the colours are just gorgeous. The primary dark blue colours are punctuated by the yellow design accents (mostly achieved by stickers) as well as a dash of lavender and purple – two colours that you’d expect to find in a minidoll set.

The colours all come together in glorious fashion – this ship is just a treat to behold.

The round wings also give the Batjet a very sleek and futuristic look and are my favourite feature of the design. Unfortunately, they’re rigid, and they can’t swivel up and down (which would’ve been cool), but I do like the yellow lines that encircle the edge.

The stickers were a pain to apply, especially since you have to try your hardest to align the lines with each other.

Here’s the Batjet from the side. From this view, you can see how the Batwings at the back just completely dominate most of the balance. Despite them being quite oversized, the Batjet still manages to strike a decent balance when it comes to the design.

The cockpit pops open to reveal a pretty snug fit for Batgirl. There are two stickered consoles on each side of the cockpit, and unfortunately, no steering wheel or levers to pilot the Batjet.

The purple jumper plate behind the seat looks a little weird, but I’m guessing that it’s a place to place the phone tile when Barbara is flying the Batjet. She’s a super hero, and super heroes don’t use their phones while flying.

The lavender and purple nose of the Batjet also look great – together with the yellow accents, they’re very “Batgirl” and represent her character design well, without looking too out of place.

Here’s a closer look at the Batjet’s nose. The purple engine turbine contains a small round stickered tile which has a trippy cyclonic pattern with bats emanating from the centre. 

You can twirl around the pattern to try and uh, hypnotise yourself.

There’s a play feature tied to the engine turbine. Over at the back is a button with a BAM! printed tile on it. For a set with quite a number of stickers, discovering printed elements is always a nice surprise.

You can stuff the net into the front, and when you jab the BAM! button, you can fire the net out. This net-firing play features are a little hit and miss in my opinion, and aren’t the most fun additions to the set.

One of my favourite things about Batgirl’s Batjet is just how well designed it is. It’s built very solidly, so it can take a bit of rougher play and is very, very swooshable. 

The design influencers are a very sexy mix of spaceship, jet, Batvehicle and futuristic car. It almost looks like a MOC you’d find on LEGO Groups on Flickr and the entire thing is just completely satisfying.

What I liked:

• Best version of Batgirl yet
• Dark blue colour scheme
• The Batjet is just a sublime vehicle

What I didn’t like: 

• Applying the curved stickers on the wing
• Play features are a little lame

Final thoughts: Batgirl Batjet Chase is the ideal set for dipping your toes into the DC Super Hero Girls theme. Priced at a very attractive tier, you’re more than guaranteed to get your money’s worth with this set.

Firstly, I’m a big fan of the minidoll aesthetics for Batgirl. There’s just something really elegant about the minidoll form that works particularly well with Batgirl. The printing on her body and fantastic headpiece seal the deal for me.

The Batjet, however is the shining point of the set. The design is just remarkable and the Batjet ticks both boxes of being really nice to look at, as well as being fun to swoosh around.

The Batjet features a very mature LEGO design – the colour combinations of dark blue, lavender, purple and dashes of yellow come together in sweet unison that it’s just a joy to look at.

Despite this set being aimed at young girls, you can immediately tell that a lot of love and care was poured into the Batjet from the designers – which is frankly quite rare for sets at this price range. 

Obviously, if you fall into the “I hate minidolls” camp, this set will be a much harder sell, but hey, you can always replace the minidoll with a minifigure Batgirl.

If you’re a dad and have a young daughter(s), I really think that these DC Super Hero Girls sets are going to be a great vehicle to share your geeky interests and provide yet another avenue to bond.

Unlike some of the other sets in this theme, I really appreciate that LEGO didn’t feel the need to over-girlify this set and instead opted to keep this set quite unisex.

I highly recommend Batgirl Batjet Chase – you’re not going to find a set at this price point that offers this much satisfaction, especially if you’re a fan of DC Super Heroes.

Rating: 4/5

Thank you for reading! I have a few more DC Super Hero Girl sets that are just begging to be built (I’m so tempted to save these for my daughter), so I’d like to hear from you if you’d like to see more from this theme.

Have you got into the DC Super Hero Girls sets? Let me know what you think of this theme and the sets in the comments!

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