Review: LEGO 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle

One of my most anticipated movies this year is Wonder Woman (check out the latest trailer), which I’m hoping will salvage the DC Cinematic Universe. For what it’s worth, I don’t hate the DC Movies that have been released so far, and quite like them – I just wish that they could be better and more cohesive.

The Wonder Woman movie opens in cinemas around the world in early June, and 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle is the only LEGO tie-in set from the movie.

It’s hardly surprising that there’s only one official Wonder Woman set as we’ve been inundated with DC sets this year (LEGO Batman Movie + Justice League sets in the second half of 2017) so let’s see if 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle makes it worth our while.

UPDATE: TRU exclusive tooI’ve just confirmed that this set will also be a Toys R Us exclusive in Australia. In the US, it’s a .

Mild spoilers ahead: mostly on how Ares’ and Wonder Woman’s appearance.

Name: Wonder Woman Warrior Battle
Set Number: 76075
Pieces: 286
Price: AU$59.99 | US$29.99 | £29.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK] [Amazon]
Exclusive to: Toys R Us Australia (AUS) / Toys R Us (USA)
Minifigures: 2
Theme: DC Super Heroes – Wonder Woman
Year of Release: 2017

When it was first announced, Wonder Woman Warrior Battle made headlines because it featured one of the first really good looks at Ares, the big bad villain of the movie. This was notable because the trailers have done a pretty impressive job keeping his presence in the movie under wraps – something they clearly learned from Batman v Superman.

Ares is the focal point of this set, and features as a Megafig (since y’know, it’s larger than a Bigfig) who does battle against Wonder Woman, and Steve Trevor, a World War 1 Pilot played by Chris Pine.

Here’s a look at the sticker sheet in the set – it may seem like a lot of stickers, but most of them go on Ares’ body panels and are generally quite easy to apply.

The others are decorative details for Steve Trevor’s plane and while I still dislike stickers, it wasn’t particularly tricky to apply these.

You only get two minifigures in this set, which is a little on the low-side for a AU$60/US$30 set. Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are obvious inclusions, but the set is really screaming for an additional supporting character.

I can think of 3 prime candidates, Etta Candy (Wonder Woman’s best friend and sometimes sidekick), Hippolyta (Diana’s mother), or even Doctor Poison, the villain who features quite prominently in the trailers. Heck, I’d even settle for a generic Amazonian warrior.

This is the Steve Trevor minifigure, whose onscreen counterpart is played by Hollywood heartthrob Chris Pine, a World War 1 pilot and potential love interest for Wonder Woman.

Oh, and he’s also the first man that Diana has ever seen. If I was a lady and Chris Pine was the first man I lay my eyes on, I would be terribly disappointed in nearly every other male specimen that the human world has to offer.

Steve Trevor’s minifig looks like your generic white action hero, with a confident smirk and great hair. He’s got the same hairstyle as Steve Rogers and Superman, except that his is in a shade of dark brown, which is relatively rare having only appeared in 75147 Star Scavenger.

I do really like his outfit, he has an olive green bomber jacket with a fur collar, over a teal shirt. It’s very military-chic  and has no discernible details on it to allude to it being from a Wonder Woman movie, so Steve’s minifigure gets really great scores in my book.

Here’s a look at Steve Trevor’s back printing and alternate face. The fabric details are nice and crisp, and that little bit of extra fur lining makes it look pretty great. He also comes with a pilot’s helmet and goggles for use in his plane.

The titular star of the movie is of course Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman. Her minifigure represents the latest edition of Wonder Woman

While I was initially quite excited to get an updated Wonder Woman minifig, I was let down when I finally put her together and discovered that we didn’t really get a new and updated design.

Not saying that she is a terrific minifigure – I’m coming from the perspective of a serious LEGO DC Comics collector, with nearly all the general release sets and minifigures.

Diana is outfitted in her new costume which Gal Gadot debuted in Batman v Superman and is in my opinion, an incredibly stylish yet contemporary take on Wonder Woman’s costume which has traditionally been quite campy or even skimpy.

Wonder Woman is equipped with a gladius and a brand new printed shield which has some nice elaborate paint on it.

Here’s a look at the back printing and her alternate face.

I’m a big fan of how the costume designers managed to combine what is essentially a corset, and a skirt in a way that makes it look more “time for battle” than “eye-candy”. The costume design is identical to the minifigure from the Sky High Battle set, except that the colours are a lot more vibrant.

I quite like the saturated red and blue tones, which makes it look like she’s just stepped out of a comic book, instead of a Zack Snyder movie.

It certainly makes the minifigure look much more appealing. Muted colours are great for conveying a certain cinematic aesthetic, but they don’t generally translate well with toys.

Unfortunately, the new Wonder Woman minifigure is afflicted by one critical flaw – if you notice the flesh coloured areas on her body (collarbones, back and knees), it’s painfully obvious that they’ve messed up the colours as they aren’t flesh coloured – they have a bit of a pinkish tinge to it.

It makes her look like she has a bad sunburn, as the colour just doesn’t jive with her arms and face.

This is WAY worse than the horribly tanned Batman minifigure and frankly feels like a huge stuff-up.

Here’s a look at her arm printing, where you can see her silver bracelets.

 

Wonder Woman also comes with an alternate outfit of sorts – a dark blue hood and cape.

Here’s a look at the comparison with the previous Wonder Woman minifigure from the DC Cinematic Universe. The lines are much sharper and more defined on the new one, and as you can see the bright colours give her a much more comic booky look.

Apart from the different colours, everything else is identical. Which would I pick as my favourite? I like the newer Wonde Woman’s colour much better, but the pink sunburned skin printing error is a dealbreaker for me, so my vote goes to the Batman v Superman version.

And here’s a look at all the Wonder Woman minifigures (minus the Mighty Micros one) at a glance. The newest version seems to also share the pink tinge issue with the original Wonder Woman in the classic costume!

Steve Trevor pilots a small World War 1 Fighter plane. I’m not an expert in World War 1 aircraft, so I’m not too sure if this is based off of a real plane. The design is fairly simple, with a very nice dark tan body and wings, a triple-bladed propeller and star-shaped insignia on the curved wings.

While LEGO has a famous policy of not making war-centric sets, I personally find it clever that the design team utilises loopholes like licensed sets to make models like a World War 1-era plane available to fans.

I do like the grey engine that clashes awkwardly against the dark tan, but in a believable and realistic way. The use of a sticker for the engines behind the propellers is pretty ingenious and adds another level of realism to the design.

From the side, you get a better view of the overall shape, as well as the white tail rudder on the back.

I don’t really like the shape of the plane when viewed from above. It feels like the design is slightly unbalanced, mostly because the wings are too long and straight.

I do think the scaling is based off real WW1 plane designs, but the wing designs could’ve been slightly improved, perhaps with some additional texture or greebling.

 

Steve Trevor comfortably fits in the cockpit, which is exposed (hence the need for the goggles). You can also see the printed dashboard on the cheese slope which was a nice surprise.

All in all, it’s an okay addition to the set. The appeal of a World War 1 plane is hard to deny, but the design just doesn’t completely do it for me.

When it comes to minifigure-scale classic planes, I still hold the one from 7307 The Flying Mummy as the gold standard in terms of overall design.

The highlight of the set is none other than the Ares Megafig. Modelled after Giant Man from Super Hero Airport Battle, Ares looks incredible in this megafig form factor, which has proportions similar to that of a regular minifigure.

Ares, the God of War strikes an imposing pose, and looks legitimately bad-ass with his dark grey armour, skull helmet and massive sword.

From his design alone, I’ve got a really good feeling that the movie will do one of Wonder Woman’s most iconic adversaries justice.

Ares’ immense stature gives him a very powerful and overwhelming presence, and as such, looks absolutely phenomenal when posed together with Wonder Woman.

These two definitely give off a David v Goliath vibe.

Ares’ skull helmet gives him a particularly menacing look – almost like he felled a giant beast or something and wears it as a trophy to remind everyone how bad-ass he is.

His face is printed on a curved LEGO piece, with evil-looking red eyes staring out of a void. The white of the skull helmet frames the black void of his face very well. He kinda has that Balrog (from Lord of the Rings) look going for him.

The panels on Ares’ body are all stickers, so make sure that you align them properly. Ares wears a stone plated armour piece, a belt and a leather sash with bits of metal hanging from it.

Here’s a closer look at Ares’ “hands”, which has a pin for the sword and shield to slot into.

Although Ares is moderately poseable, there are limitations such as his arms only having a limited range of articulation, and his legs only being able to swivel back and forth like a minifigure.

More ball-joints would’ve been welcomed, but I do understand being confined by the megafig’s template.

To nitpick, I would’ve liked some additional printing on Ares’ shield which seems quite bare.

Some of the parts are also quite fiddly, so don’t be surprised if parts like the shoulder pauldrons, or his feet start falling off when you play a little rough with him – a minor annoyance on an otherwise very study model.

Here’s a side by side comparison with Giant Man. I really hope LEGO keep churning out these Megafigs – I’m a really big fan of them and would totally buy more of these.

As you might be able to tell, I had a ton of fun taking photograph with Ares.

What I liked:

• Ares is sensational
• Nice to see LEGO dabble with World War 1 designs
• Wonder Woman’s new costume colours

What I didn’t like: 

• Wonder Woman’s mismatched flesh printing
• The plane’s design is a little basic
• Could do with another minifigure

Final thoughts: I honestly expected a lot more out of the only Wonder Woman set. A combination of small flaws eventually add up to tank my overall opinion of the set. It’s a classic case of a few flaws stacking up to keep a set from greatness.

The minifigure department is possibly the most wasteful of all. Steve Trevor is great, he has a generic (but workable) male action hero look to him, and I can totally reuse his awesome minifigure body for other purposes.

Wonder Woman, who is supposed to be THE hero in the set is disappointing, mostly because the shoddy print job on her body. It’s 2017 and we really shouldn’t have any mismatched colours on licensed minifigures, especially not on the main heroine and drawcard of the movie.

Apart from that one glaring flaw, which to be honest, you can’t quite notice from afar, Wonder Woman hits all the right notes for me. Her slightly updated costume’s colour scheme is a treat and while I would’ve wished that we had some slight design enhancements, you really shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken.

Oh and for a set that’s priced at premium, I would’ve really liked a third minifig.

The World War 1 plane is also just okay for me. I like the military-flavoured model, but the wings just keep me from getting too excited about it. It’s not something I’ll display for long periods of time.

Ares, however, carries the entire set. The Megafig aesthetic works exceptionally well, and his entire design works together to create a villain that doesn’t just look menacing, but also looks like he is able to take the fight to Wonder Woman.

His imposing stature and fantastic character design almost guarantees that I’ll never take him apart. He’s also not particularly big, so incorporating him into my limited display area won’t be too difficult.

Megafigs are still a fairly unique and rare novelty within LEGO sets, and Ares’ exceptional and well-considered design does the heavy lifting in this set, and all but ensures that this should sell particularly well, especially if the Wonder Woman movie lights up the box office.

All in all, this set just feels flawed. The price is a bit of a head-scratcher, the AU$60 we’re charged in Australia makes it pretty poor value, but if I view it from an American (US$30) or British (GBP £30) lens, this set all of a sudden feels like amazing value. I don’t usually complain about pricing, but it feels like Australia got the short end of the stick with this one.

That being said, there are a lot more things I like about this set than I dislike, which is why it narrowly just scores a 3/5 from me.

Rating: 3/5

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Thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoyed this review as much as I did writing it. Now that you’ve seen all this set has to offer, I’d love to know if this will affect your decision to pick this set up.

Let me know what you think in the comments section, and if you think Wonder Woman has what it takes to restore everyone’s faith in the DC Cinematic Universe!

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