Review: LEGO 70908 The Scuttler

May 2, 2017 | 39

Following on from my review of 70909 Batcave Break-In, we continue chipping through the massive library of LEGO Batman Movie sets with my review of 70908 The Scuttler!

If you’ve watched the LEGO Batman Movie, you’d know that The Scuttler receives plenty of screen-time and is one of the more memorable Bat-vehicles in the movie, if not ever. It’s very much a peculiar model, both in its appearance and overall design concept.

I had a grand old time with The Scuttler, and while it may not be a perfect set, it’s still got plenty of delightful tricks and charms. Read on to find out more.

Name: The Scuttler
Set Number: 70908
Pieces: 775
Price: AU$149.99 | US$79.99 | £84.99– Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK] [Amazon]
Exclusive to: N/A
Minifigures: 6
Theme: The LEGO Batman Movie
Year of Release: 2017

The Scuttler was an easy buy for me, purely because it was so unique. It was one of the rare LEGO Batman Movie sets that I had selected purely on the basis of how interesting the model looked, as opposed to factors such as price, or exclusive minifigures.

In a theme filled to the brim with outlandish Batvehicles (like The Speedwagon), The Scuttler is right up there as one of the most Bizarre Batvehicles ever.

It’s essentially a mechanical Bat that “scuttles” along on its wings and feet and if that doesn’t at least tickle your fancy, I don’t know what will.

Here’s a look at the sticker sheet. There are 24 stickers which seems like a lot, but they’re mostly fairly easy to apply, except for the the large canopy sticker. For a set with 24 stickers, The Scuttler doesn’t actually feel like it’s covered in stickers.

There are 6 minifigures in The Scuttler, 5 of which are exclusive to the set. It’s a pretty remarkable lineup as you get Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon in police uniform, the amazing Poison Ivy minifigure, Robin in formal attire, and of course, Batman and the Joker.

The number of exclusive minifigures does soften the blow of the set’s high price and I do like that you get some pretty nice variants of the main characters. It’s also interesting to note that unlike most of the other sets in the theme, there aren’t any filler obscure villains in The Scuttler.

First up is one of the most sensational minifigures in the LEGO Batman Movie theme – Poison Ivy. She’s simply stunning and one of the finest minifigures ever crafted.

Poison Ivy comes with a gorgeous new moulded hairpiece which has some incredible detailing in the curls. She has very screen-accurate facial features- I love her her red eyebrows and green eyeshadow around her eyes. She’s even got a mole on her left cheek for added accuracy.

Her torso has some superb printing – it’s not as suggestive as Poison Ivy’s typical comic book costume but I really like the contrasts and colours used. It’s also not as “leafy” as other Poison Ivy variants. I do like her “mesh leggings”, the leafy necklace and her come hither expression.

Here’s a look at Poison Ivy’s back printing and alternate face which has her lips pursed together. The details on the back of her torso are pretty great, I like the lines for her shoulder blades and the “stitching” across the spine of her corset.

Poison Ivy also comes with a fabric skirt which is okay. It’s a little too green for me and kinda distracts from how clean and elegant her outfit looks.

The leaf-like cuts on her skirt are nice, but I’m generally not a fan of fabric skirts anyway. They tend to look awkward and out of place on minifigs because of the way the fabric folds.

This gives you a better view of her jaw-dropping hairpiece. From behind, you can see more of those curls that give it a really nice sense of volume and texture.

What really makes this an exceptional hairpiece is the large white flower affixed to her hair that matches the smaller white blooms across her body, as well as printed leaves in her bright red hair.

Absolutely stunning.

Poison Ivy also comes with a little levitating platform made out of vines. The use of transparent elements to make it look like its being suspended by the green and brown vines make for a great visual effect and the entire model as a whole makes her look rather intimidating – in the coolest of ways.

Batman and The Joker are mostly the same stock-standard variants that have been included in nearly all LEGO Batman Movie sets.

This version of the Joker is exclusive to this set and features the costume where he has absurdly long fabric coattails. The only thing that’s truly exclusive about this set is his facial expression, which bears a lazy, toothy smile.

Batman comes with a HUGE jetpack that almost looks comical. In the movie, Bats is portrayed as a super-insecure dude, so he’s definitely over-compensating with these jetpacks.

The jetpacks are really basic, but I’m not a fan of the colour scheme – there’s too much grey that it doesn’t look like something Batman would pilot.

Here’s a look at Batman’s alternate faces, which is the same one as you get from 70912 Arkham Asylum, 70907 Killer Croc Tail-Gator, and 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape. If you collect LEGO Batman sets, you’ll probably be like me and are quite bored of the same old Batman minifigure.

Here’s a look at Joker’s alternate face and the his fabric coattails. They’re really long and look quite awkward and I’m not a fan of the design.

Moving on to the Gordons, we get Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara, both of whom are exclusive to this set. For such a pivotal Batman character, I was quite surprised that Commissioner Gordon didn’t have a bigger part in the movie.

Seeing as how he was passing on the torch to his daughter, I guess the writers wanted to downplay him in favour of Barbs, who until now hasn’t been a major character in any of the Batman films.

Commissioner Gordon is outfitted in his ceremonial Gotham City Police Department Uniform (GCPD) which looks brilliant. I love the red sash, and the array of awards and commendations plastered across his torso – outside of the GCPD wording printed on his collar, you can’t really tell that it belongs to the Batman universe making it quite a versatile torso that you can use for formal policewear.

Barbara Gordon is dressed for business, outfitted in a protective vest. I really love that her protective vest contains printing, as it makes the already very detailed vest look more realistic.

Here’s a look at their alternate angry faces, as well as Commissioner Gordon’s back printing. I was also pleased to see that the back of the armoured vest also had printing with more GCPD branding.

Here’s a look at Commissioner Gordon’s arm printing and Barbara Gordon’s plain black torso under the vest. I do like the detailed printing on her legs, especially the knee pads.

If Poison Ivy is the best minifigure in The Scuttler, Robin is a very close second. He’s dressed up in a very classy and retro powder blue tuxedo, over a pink frilled shirt.

This is the only civilian Robin minifigure released so far, and the most notable differences are with his bug-eyed glasses, which are flesh-coloured instead of green like the costumed variant. Robin also comes with a very dapper navy bowtie accessory!

Update: LEGO Batman Movie Minifigures Series!Thanks to Arnav for reminding me that a casual-dressed Robin appears in the

Here’s a look at Robin’s facial expressions underneath his hairpiece and back printing. I really loved the canned wide smile on Robin, it’s seriously adorable. It’s a fairly rare head as this variant is only found in this set and in the much more expensive Arkham Asylum set.

Oh and it’s really cool that the silver polka dots on his jacket also extend to his arms.

Overall, I was really happy with the selection of minifigures in The Scuttler. The minifigs, especially Poison Ivy and Robin exceeded my expectations and I also like that you get a really nice spread of non-filler characters in the set.

For those of you not planning to buy a ton of LEGO Batman Movie sets, The Scuttler provides a quick way to collect most of the major characters in one swoop.

Here’s the completed Scuttler and first impressions were “whoa, it’s so much bigger than I had expected!” 

The build process was pretty fun. I was surprised that there weren’t as many Technic elements than I had expected, and I was mostly kept guessing throughout the build, on how the model would come together.

I wouldn’t say that the set has plenty of clever build techniques contained within, just plenty of articulation and joints here and there, although I did like a lot of the smaller details that The Scuttler employs.

As you can see with the shape of The Scuttler, it resembles a walking or scuttling wingless Bat and is true to the on-screen version. The most prominent feature of The Scuttler are its long, almost dagger like forelegs, which extend outwards and are tipped with a large singular claw.

I really like how the design of The Scuttler successfully melds both the mechanical aspect of the vehicle with the shape of a walking bat. The mostly black colour scheme that’s punctuated by streaks of red and sections of grey also add to its appeal.

The Scuttler is armed with an array of stud shooters, which actually look pretty nice as they’re placed in very subtle areas. It also has a massive cannon mounted on top of its body, which shoots out a net.

One of the major play features, apart from its ability to articulate its legs is The Scuttler’s extending forelegs, which can retract and extend outwards to give it the appearance that it’s stretching out its forelegs.

Aside from the mechanical aspect of the legs being extended, this also allows The Scuttler to take on a new pose which slightly alters how it looks and gives you more options on how to pose it.

The joints on both the hind and forelegs allow it some flexibility when it comes to posing it – the joints are also quite firm as they use the clicky parts that hold their position quite well.

Small stickers emblazoned with Batman’s cursive writing for his Batvehicle nicknames can be found on each leg.

The cockpit which is cunningly shaped exactly like a robotic Bat’s head really ties the entire design together. It makes clever use of the angular canopy piece which has strong lines that suit the overall shape of the Scuttler very well.

The Scuttler’s ears which can be adjusted slightly are really prominent and excellently designed. In this photo above you can also appreciate all the tiny details and greebling that the designers have generously peppered the body of The Scuttler with. 

Small flourishes such as the use of black gold bars, and a grey telephone piece for light sockets, as well as the exposed axles give it a very matured and well-considered look. You can instantly tell from the small details like these that this is a set that the designers treated as a labour of love.

The back of The Scuttler is quite…strange. There is a transparent canopy/cockpit piece with the “Caution Hot Contents” sticker on it which makes up The Scuttler’s abdomen.

My first instinct was to treat this as a sort of secondary cockpit, or a compartment that you could squeeze some passengers in, but it wasn’t until I made the connection of the sticker, and the pretty obvious engine block inside that it occurred to me that this was simply a section to house The Scuttler’s engine.

That didn’t stop me from trying to squeeze in the other 3 good guy minifigures – which you totally can.

It just seems a little weird that it’s quite a cavernous space for such a small engine. I guess you could make the argument that it serves as a big combustion chamber.

I’m not a fan of the transparent canopy, which kinda suggests to most people that it’s a place to store minifigures. I think a solid black canopy would’ve been a lot more visually appealing.

Here’s a look at The Scuttler’s butt exhaust port.

For a pricey set which has a relatively low piece-count, The Scuttler is satisfyingly large as you can see above when placed next to the Batcave Break-In.

The size of the Scuttler and scaling are very, very close to the LEGO Batman Movie’s version, which is a really nice touch.

What I liked:

• Amazing minifigure selection, with no filler characters
• Poison Ivy and Robin’s awesome minifigure designs
• Incredibly peculiar, unique and weird Bat-vehicle
• The Scuttler is pretty large and makes for a good display piece

What I didn’t like: 

• A bit on the pricey side
• The back engine section looks weird
• Front legs are a little rigid – some extra articulation would be great

Final thoughts: The Scuttler, just like its design is a bit of a weird one. It’s an odd concept, a Bat that is walking and scuttling on its legs is outlandish, bizarre and yet, is also its strongest appeal.

The problem is, I feel that odd LEGO sets like these have a very niche appeal and may not necessarily strike the fancy of your typical LEGO Super Heroes collector fan.

Where The Scuttler surprised me was the strength of its minifigure lineup. 6 core Batman character, which includes some big names make this a slightly easier to justify buy, especially when you consider that 5 minifigures are exclusive to the set.

Poison Ivy and Robin obviously steal the show, and I will go as far as to say that this is so far the best minifigure version of Poison Ivy yet, and I don’t think that any other minifigs will dethrone her for awhile.

There’s a lot to love with the model. I really love it when LEGO designers take big risks, and don’t take themselves too seriously, which is obviously what gave birth to the wackiest Batvehicle of all time.

The size and mechanical functionality of The Scuttler is very reassuring, as you’ll have as a lot of satisfaction playing with it, as you will displaying it next to your other LEGO Batman Movie sets, which it absolutely towers over.

It’s just a very attractive LEGO set, if a little weird and unorthodox, but it embodies much of the spirit of The LEGO Batman Movie, which is generously self-aware and doesn’t take itself too seriously in most circumstances. 

My only gripe with the set is the pricing. At AU$150, The Scuttler is awfully priced. Yes, it’s a large and impressive looking set, but the full price just represent poor value – in spite of the stacked minifigure lineup.

Thankfully, discounts of The LEGO Batman Movie sets have been aplenty here in Australia, and I picked the set up for about 40% off which is a much more sensible and attractive price point for a set of this calibre. I would not pay full price – in fact, I probably would probably still be quite hesitant at the 20% mark.

All in all, I’m very happy with The Scuttler, and the bold decision by The LEGO Group to produce such a bizarre, yet brilliantly designed set.

This is definitely one of the must-buy large LEGO Batman Movie sets and I cannot recommend this set enough, if you can get it at a decent discount!

Rating: 4/5