Review: LEGO 75972 Dorado Showdown

December 28, 2018 | 12

Following on from my review of 75973 D.Va and Reinhardt, the next Overwatch review off the assembly line is 75973 Dorado Showdown.

This is a medium-sized set featuring 3 Overwatch heroes – Soldier 76, Reaper and McCree – all three are aggressive offensive-type characters in game and are all relatively popular, with McCree and Soldier 76 being one of the two most-picked heroes in games.

Name: Dorado Showdown
Set Number: 75972
Pieces: 419
Price: AU$59.99 | US$39.99 | £34.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK] [Amazon]
Exclusive to: N/A
Theme: Overwatch
Release Date: 1 January 2019

I’ve been on holidays for Christmas, so naturally like any self-respecting LEGO blogger, I took a set along with me to build, photograph and write about. What’s with the funny look – doesn’t everyone do this? ?

Excuse the slightly different photography style as I wasn’t able to transport my entire studio with me!

Overwatch sets, like most other licensed sets are primarily built around the characters you get, but this set does a bit more than just feature McCree, Soldier 76 and Reaper, it’s also based on a real Overwatch map – Dorado.

The team at Blizzard have done a great job bringing Soldier 76’s character to life in this animated short, which explores the streets of Dorado, a fictional Mexican location.

In the game, Dorado is an Escort map, where opposing teams either attack or defend the truck as it travels through the map – the truck carries a payload, a Lumerico fusion core which is designed to provide power to the area.

First up, let’s take a look at the Soldier 76 minifigure, which is a great take of the popular hero. All his signature features are captured well such as his shocking white hair, red visor and red, blue, grey and white colour scheme on his suit.

As one of the OG heroes who was playable during the beta, Soldier 76 is definitely one of the most popular.

Apart from the ‘Hero’ animated short, I’m not too familiar with his backstory, outside of the fact that he’s some sort of vigilante.

Gameplay-wise, he’s a fun character to play if you enjoy dishing out tons of damage via a combination of his pulse rifle and a barrage of rockets.

Here’s a look at his back printing, which has the number 76 on it. Before you ask me, no I don’t believe there’s been any definitive information on what the 76 stands for.

To me, it’s always been a random designation in the military. That said, I always thought it looked like a number on a sports jersey.

Here’s a look at Soldier 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle, which is made out of a whopping 11 elements.

It’s a little too oversized, but still looks cool in a comical sense – sort of like the BFG from Doom. You’ll need to affix Soldier 76 to something to carry the gun as it throws him off balance due to its heft.

Soldier 76’s minifigure is a great take on his character and should leave his many Overwatch fans happy with his LEGO debut.

Sadly, there’s no arm printing on him which is disappointing, but it seems like not a single minifig in this theme has arm printing which is quite unbelievable for 2019.

Next we have Reaper, who like Soldier 76 was one of the original heroes during the Overwatch beta.

Unlike the other two minifigures who are exclusive to this set, Reaper also shows up in the largest set in the theme – Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

As his name suggests, Reaper sports a very macabre appearance, with a suitably spooky outfit and gameplay style.

In-game, he’s great at dishing out tons of damage if he gets close enough to his foes, thanks to his twin shotguns and can also turn into a ghost to become invincible, or deal tons of damage to those around him.

Like Soldier 76, the designers have done a commendable job translating his look into minifigure form. His black hood, and skull mask are immediately recognizable and he has some really nice, detailed printing on his torso – with his ammo bandolier being especially prominent.

Here’s a look at his back printing, which sports an armoured spine. Even if you know nothing about Overwatch, Reaper does a fantastic job looking like a cybernetic armoured ghost.

Here’s a look at his twin shotguns that he has as weaponry, as well as his cape.

Lastly, rounding up the trio is yet another original hero – McCee, the Outlaw hero who looks like he just stumbled out of Red Dead Redemption.

McCree has been in the game since the dawn of time, and you’ll often see a lot of McCree players, but the catch is that most of them aren’t particularly good at him as his abilities and playstyle are quite hard to master.

Appearance-wise, McRee’s simple aesthetic is done really well. I really love the details on his torso, which blends futuristic armour plating with Wild Wild West fashion sensibilities, but it somehow works in the campiest of ways.

He also has his signature red asymmetrical cloak, which really take his appearance up a whole notch, making him look extra bad-ass.

Here’s a look at his back printing, where we get more of that lovely bronze armour on his back.

Lastly, McCree also comes with an alternate hairpiece which allows you to switch up his look slightly.

Out of the three minifigures, McCree is my favourite thanks to his awesome futuristic cowboy look. I’m also a big fan of his off-shoulder cloak.

The first thing you assemble is the truck, which is a splitting image of the in-game version, as well as the one featured in the Hero animated short.

In the Dorado map, you have to escort the Truck as it makes its way through the winding streets, carrying the Lumerico payload.

I do love the dark red colour scheme which gives it a rustic, aged look. The curved sections of the truck, along with the mostly studless look also makes it look very clean and refined.

Like most LEGO sets, the truck uses stickers for added detailing, most of which are fairly unobtrusive and not that difficult to apply.

The roof of the truck easily comes off to allow you to pop in a minifigure. As it’s a six stud-wide vehicle, it only seats one minifigure.

Here’s a look at the truck from the side. You can see that the truck doesn’t have conventional wheels but levitates through these energy pads.

That said, you can still push it along, as there are small wheels hidden beneath the truck, which gives it a bit of a play feature as you can nudge it along, making it look like its hovering above ground.

Here’s a look at the back of the truck and the payload, which is attached to a jumper plate and can easily be removed.

The yellow trim alongside the truck is a little jarring and unsightly, but it’s actually quite accurate to the model on-game.

Here’s a look at the building and archway, whch round out the rest of the set.

It’s not a proper building per-se, more like a cutout of an actual building, with a large archway that the truck can drive through.

Attached to the building is a string of lights that connects to a pole, which houses a small fruit stand.

The facade of the building does a decent job of replicating the in-game architecture of Dorado with its sand-coloured buildings and red roofs – mostly inspired by Spanish designs.

The top of the building features a large open window, where your hero can be perched to keep on the lookout for the approaching truck, giving him an effective vantage point.

The build process was fairly straight forward, and quite basic, mostly just piling bricks on top of each other, however I did really like the simple techniques employed for the windows.

There are two smaller windows that flank the main one, which have blinds/shutters on them.

These shutters are able to be opened, by swivelling them backwards allowing minifigures to peek out through them to establish a secondary vantage point.

Here’s a look at the back of the structure – it’s pretty much a glorified wall, not so much an actual building.

The top level has about 3 studs-wide of space which is enough space for the minifigs to line up in single file, which is handy to setup some close quarters combat.

Here’s how the building looks from the side. It’s very, very narrow and there are some really unsightly areas of exposed elements from the back which does make it look quite incomplete. 

To give the building a little bit of personality in lieu of having actual interiors or furniture, there are stickered posters on the outer wall.

The two posters are LEGO-ised versions of the posters featured in the Hero animated short (at the 5:40 mark if you’re curious) which is a really neat touch.

The poster on the right features the original Overwatch cast, and an early version of Soldier 76 (before he went all vigilante), alongside Tracer, Mercy (?), Winston and Reihardt.

On the opposing side of the wall is a spray of Reaper shrugging.

Lastly on the inside, we have another sticker which features the word Justice and Jack Morrison which is Soldier 76’s name.

Here’s a look at the fruit stall which has a small green roof and is attached to a small bit of land connected to a dark orange pole.

There’s also a healthpack, which is a cool new trans-blue 1 x 1 round brick, with a printed red cross on it, which is pretty neat as it does look like the actual in-game healthpacks.

Hanging above the pillar is a string of lights and a red pinata. Yes, it’s a pinata (yet another reference to the Hero animated short where Soldier 76 uses it to beat some goons silly), not a lantern and some lights.

I really like the use of yellow jewels instead of studs for the lights as they look more like bulbs.

Apart from the lantern, and minifigures, there aren’t a huge bunch of new elements introduced in this set except for this new flame piece, which is used for a candle in the window.

The new flame piece is amazingly gorgeous and I love how well it looks as a candle! I’m looking forward to seeing so much more of this piece being used in upcoming sets.

What I liked:

• Great selection of OG Overwatch heroes
• Designs on all the printed torsos are amazingly detailed
• Does a decent job of replicating the Dorado map, and all the nods to the Hero animated short

What I didn’t like: 

• Lack of arm printing. Seriously, what the heck LEGO?
• The wall structure is sorely lacking, and I would’ve liked a lot more of a substantial build
• Not a lot of appeal if you’re not an Overwatch fan

Final thoughts: 75972 Dorado Showdown is a set squarely aimed at Overwatch fans. It’s a re-creation of a fairly established map and all the references to the Hero animated short should make this quite irresistible to fans of the game.

Like most licensed themes, the minifigures are the main draw of the set. McCree and Soldier 76 being exclusive to the set, make this an essential buy if you’re a fan of both characters.

I do like the minifigures, but the lack of arm printing really rubs me the wrong way, and I think it’s such a huge waste as they really don’t do the detailed character models justice.

The build is fairly forgettable – it scores points for being quite an accurate rendition of some of the more recognizable parts of the Dorado map, but as standalone models, they’re unimpressive.

All said and done, I can’t quite recommend this set to LEGO fans who aren’t familiar with Overwatch as it doesn’t appeal strongly unless you’re very familiar with the source material.

If you main McCree or Soldier 76 in the game, this set is for you and I think you’d be quite happy with it, but otherwise, the set’s relatively high price and simple build doesn’t make this the most appealing Overwatch set available.

Rating: 3/5

LEGO Overwatch releases worldwide on 1 January and will be available on LEGO.com and most major toy stores.

Special thanks to LEGO for sending this set for early reviews. 

Thanks once again for reading! Hope you enjoyed it and the slightly different photography style!

Let me know in the comments what you think of the set, and if this set appeals to you. If you’re familiar with Overwatch, I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

Don’t forget, you can find many more reviews in the Jay’s Brick Blog Review Hub. To stay up to date on the latest posts, you can follow the Jay’s Brick Blog Facebook page or subscribe to receive email alerts for new posts! I also post behind the scenes content, and teasers on my Instagram page @jayong28, so give me a follow if you’d like to see more!

Until next time!