Review: LEGO 76050 Crossbones’ Hazard Heist

With Captain America: Civil War almost upon us, I’ve decided that my next review from the theme will be 76050 Crossbones’ Hazard Heist, the smallest LEGO Civil War set. I got this set at a good price together with 76053 Gotham City Cycle Chase during the recent Target Buy 1 Get 50% off your second toy sale.

I had a great introduction to the Marvel Civil War sets with the excellent 76047 Black Panther Pursuit. How will Crossbones’ Hazard Heist perform? Read on to find out!

Name: Crossbones’ Hazard Heist
Set Number: 76050
Pieces: 179
Price: AU$39.99 | US$19.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [Amazon])
Exclusive to: N/A
Minifigs: 3
Theme: Marvel Super Heroes Civil War
Year of Release: 2016
Instructions: Book 1

For small super heroes sets, it mostly comes down to the minifigures included, what with LEGO’s strategy of spreading out unique minifigures across all the sets in a theme to ensure that you have to buy them all to catch ’em all.

Crossbones’ Hazard Heist comes with 2 exclusive minifigures, Falcon and of course, the set’s titular character and antagonist of the movie, Crossbones. Black Widow is unfortunately a re-issue, having showed up in a couple of previous Marvel Super Heroes sets. Let’s take a closer look at the minifigures in the set.

Falcon aka Sam Wilson is hands down my favourite minifigure in the set. This isn’t the first Falcon minifigure but it is the first outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe version, played by Anthony Mackie. The minifigure’s calling card is his large winged jetpack that allow him to zip around the skies.

The winged jetpack is made out of a solid piece of LEGO and the markings on the different wing sections are all printed on which is a bit of a miracle. LEGO have done a pretty good job of replicating Falcon’s torso, as the design is almost identical to his movie look. There are plenty of armour details such as the red straps on his chest.

While Falcon’s torso boasts serious printing, it’s a bit of a letdown that his arms and legs are bereft of printing. It’s not too much to expect arm printing, especially on licensed minifigures. Continuation of his bodysuit on his arms would’ve added so much more to Falcon’s look.

Attached to the back of Falcon’s winged jetpack is the Redwing Drone, an unmanned aerial unit that Falcon uses to scout ahead, feeding tactical data to Falcon’s red goggles. The Redwing Drone is a little too large and bulky for my tastes as it adds a lot of unwanted heft to Falcon’s winged jetpack.

You can detach it and pretend to fly it around Falcon, and I much prefer him without the drone stuck to him.

Falcon has an alternate face, with a grimaced look. Sam Wilson sports the new black afro hairpiece which seems to be the default hairpiece for black characters. There’s back printing as well, which is to be expected of licensed minifigures. I really like Falcon’s back printing, with all the steel plates and the red armour bits – très futuristic.

I really like the Falcon minifig, mostly because I’m quite fond of Anthony Mackie, especially after watching his hilarious cameo in Ant-Man so I’m really glad that we finally have a MCU version. I prefer the more realistic one to the more comic-booky traditional version found in Hulk Lab Smash.

Crossbones, the titular character and one of the antagonists in Civil War… is a little odd, looking. Firstly, what is up with that silly looking breathing apparatus? Is there some sort of secret underwater sequence in the movie that the trailers failed to hint at?

Remove the silly SCUBA mouthpiece and Crossbones’ appearance dramatically improves. It’s still not without flaws – I don’t really like the yellow eyes peeping out of his skull. They’re a bit too over the top although I can sort of see why they did it – to make him look more evil and all that. I’m just not a fan and would’ve preferred some fleshy eyes peeking out like his movie look.

The torso on other hand, is as good as it gets, with his trademark X-design printed on a plate of armour. He also has a fairly elaborate belt. Crossbones is equipped with some sort of flamethrower, which I found to be a little ironic since he was burned pretty badly at the end of The Winter Soldier.

Crossbones has excellent back printing, and even some printing behind his head as well, which is a nice little bonus.

Like Falcon, I’m let down that there’s no arm printing and I also don’t like the grey legs that they gave him – it makes him look like he’s wearing a pair of grey business slacks. The contrast is a little too stark and i would’ve much preferred black legs to match his torso.

Another thing that’s keeping him from being a great minifig is that his legs are pretty bare. Some extra printing would’ve improved the Crossbones minifigure considerably. Crossbones is a decent minifigure, but is plagued by minor yet compounding design issues. Have I mentioned that I hate the SCUBA mouthpiece?

Here’s the Black Widow minifigure. Take awhile to make a note of her design. If you think she looks familiar, you’re absolutely right as it is the same minifigure from the Helicarrier and last year’s Quinjet City Chase.

The main issue (LEGO’s laziness aside) with this is that her bodysuit with the electric blue tron-like accents do not match her Civil War suit which is mostly all black. I think it’s really sloppy for LEGO to reuse last year’s Black Widow minifig and not add anything new for fans and collectors.

Black Widow isn’t the only victim as Captain America from 76047 Black Panther Pursuit also employed a recycle torso, but at least we got a new hairpiece.

Setting aside that critical issue with Black Widow, it still doesn’t detract from what is a great minifig. I really like her confident and sly smirk, attractive hairpiece and most importantly excellent torso and leg printing. The blue Tron suit looks really cool, with the electric blue accents running across her suit from her shoulder to her knees.

The back printing is great as well, with the blue lines running down to her waist as LEGO haven’t quite gotten to the point where they’re able to print on the back of legs. Black Widow is equipped with two transparent blue batons for weaponry. Again, I’m not sure if this will be accurate to Civil War but I’d prefer a pair of handguns instead.

I’m a little torn about Black Widow. I own the Helicarrier and Quinjet City Chase which means that this will be my third Black Widow which frustrates me as I would much rather have an updated Civil War version instead. Yet, for new LEGO fans who missed out on the previous sets, being able to add Black Widow to their collections via a relatively affordable set is always a good thing.

If you’re like me and want a properly attired Civil War Black Widow, an easy way to “get the Civil War look” is to use Series 15’s Jewel Thief body. Problem solved. Kinda.

Black Widow comes with a sweet ride, an Avengers superbike. Unlike the recycled Black Widow minifig, the superbike is new and sports a fierce black and red colour scheme. The details on the bike’s body is achieved with stickers and it has a blue electric pattern running across and around the Avengers logo which matches Black Widow’s bodysuit.

The bike is flashy and looks great. It has a clip at the back for one of Black Widow’s batons, which means that she needs to hold one in her hands when she rides. Superbikes are kind of rare, and I’m very happy about adding this to my collection of bikes.

Crossbones’ Truck or Jeep is a bit of an odd build. It’s a good size, larger than your average City vehicle thanks to its chunky nature. It just looks bizarre since it appears to be cobbled together out of random bits of wood and steel. I don’t recall seeing this vehicle in any of the Civil War trailers that I’ve watched and I’m curious to see if the on-screen vehicle matches this strange jeep.

Crossbones’ truck is littered with metal sheets of various colours. I believe they serve as armour plating since the metal plates are covered with stickered scuff marks and battle damage. The muted earthy tones of work quite nicely together, and I like the mix of oranges, blacks, greys and browns which give the truck an aged look.

From the side, the jeep’s hodgepodge design is a lot more obvious. It only seats one as I don’t think that Crossbones enjoys passengers, or company for that matter.

There’s a massive gun turret attached to the truck’s roof which comes off and transforms it into some sort of gun station that Crossbones uses to fight off our heroes. It’s a pretty kiddy play feature but it’s hard to hate it since it’s so cheesy and simple. There are 2 stud shooters attached to each side which fire orange studs albeit at a strange angle.

The truck, like most sets these days comes with an interactive play feature. The back of the jeep holds two containers bearing biohazard warning signs and contain a mysterious green briefcase that is without doubt the object of Crossbones’ daring heist.

Here’s a closer look at the containers and the biohazard case. I love the Danger stickers which has a minifig skull in the skull and crossbones symbol on both the container and case.

The play feature is as basic as it gets – press down a button and both containers pop out.

Here’s where the Redwing Drone comes in handy. Since it’s a robot, it can swoop in and grab the biohazard case and transport it to safety thanks to the singular clip on the drone’s front that looks like a beak.

 

 

What I liked:

• MCU Falcon’s minifigure debut
• Sleek Black Widow Superbike

What I didn’t like: 

• Recycled Black Widow minifig
• Crossbones’ silly SCUBA mouthpiece
• No arm printing on minifigs and plain legs
• Crossbones’ truck design

Final thoughts: I went into this set with decently high expectations, but was mostly let down by the entire package. For a Marvel Super Heroes set, the minifigures usually make up for a set’s weak points but for Crossbones’ Hazard Heist, the minifigures also left much to be desired. Falcon is the set’s strongest component thanks to the great care going into his overall design. The printed winged jetpack is a great, very premium-feeling accessory and lifts his entire look. If you’re a LEGO Marvel fan, he should definitely be on your radar.

Crossbones is a bit of a mixed bag and I was expecting so much more of him. The SCUBA mouthpiece is a joke of an accessory and he’s much better without it. Crossbones is a classic of a great concept that suffers from flawed execution. His head printing is great, till you get to the distracting yellow eyes. His torso printing is really nice, but is dragged down by the lack of arm printing and his grey business pants. It’s a shame as he’s just so close to being a great Marvel villain minifigure but falls short at crucial points.

Black Widow… is lazy. Really lazy from LEGO to recycle 2015’s minifigure and ill-fitting since her Civil War suit looks nothing like her Age of Ultron one. If you’re new to LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, she’s a great pickup, but longtime fans and completionists get punished with their 3rd Black Widow.

Also, isn’t it high time that all licensed minifigures get arm printing? It’s standard for licensed minifigs to have back printing, and with advancements in printing, arm and leg printing needs to be considered as absolute essentials in 2016.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of Crossbones’ truck. I mean, I get the unconventional salvaged parts look and I can certainly appreciate that some fans may like its rugged, chunky look but I think it’s a pretty ugly truck. I do like that LEGO designed a unique-looking truck and the colour scheme is great but it just doesn’t do it for me. As an Adult LEGO fan, most of my LEGO is primarily for display purposes and Crossbones’ truck is not something I’ll keep assembled for long.

Overall, I’m hard pressed to recommend this set except for the most ardent super heroes fans who probably don’t need much convincing to snap up every Marvel set available. For regular fans and those buying for younger children, I feel that you can get so much more value in other sets in this price range. In fact, if you can bear an extra AU$10, just spring for 76047 Black Panther Pursuit which provides a more satisfying experience.

76050 Crossbones Hazard Heist is one of those unfortunately disappointing LEGO sets that don’t contain much value or overall satisfaction. If you’re after the minifigures (like most of us Super Heroes fans are), you’re probably better off buying Crossbones and Falcon ala carte on Bricklink.

Rating: 2/5

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Thanks again for reading! If you felt that I was unnecessarily harsh on this set or have a differing opinion, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

To read some of my other reviews, head on over to the Review Hub to catch up on some of my other Marvel Super Heroes reviews.

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