Review : LEGO Marvel 76218 Sanctum Sanctorum

Today we take a quick tour of the LEGO Marvel set content 76218 Sanctum Sanctorum, a box of 2708 pieces that will be available from August 1, 2022 at the public price of 249.99 €.

This crossover between the LEGO Marvel range and the universe of Modulars LEGO was expected, so it takes place with this reproduction of the New York premises of Greenwich Village occupied by Doctor Strange.

Exit the minimalist playset of the set 76108 Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown (1004 pieces - 109.99 €) marketed in 2018, make way for a more detailed version of the places which therefore takes up the usual recipe for Modulars with its qualities and its defects. We are not going to complain too much to see this product arrive on the shelves, the Marvel universe at LEGO is often content with ships and other vehicles and the manufacturer only rarely offers emblematic places.

This was the case last year with the visually somewhat sad reproduction of the set 76178 Daily Bugle, and the choice of Sanctum Sanctorum with its architecture very close to those of existing constructions in the range of Modulars was an opportunity to make it a nice module to place at the end of the street without spoiling the aesthetics of LEGOville.

If you have already assembled a Structure, you necessarily know the tricks of the concept: a 32 x 32 base plate on which we install a piece of sidewalk and some exterior elements, an assembly process that is intelligently distributed between the construction of the walls, openings in the facade and interior furnishings and on arrival a detailed construction whose different levels can be removed to access the internal spaces and enjoy the amenities therein, often at your fingertips.

The furniture installed in the various rooms of this building is largely of the level of what is generally obtained with Modulars and it is logically adapted to the theme and context concerned. The ground floor features the grand staircase which takes up most of the available space, but the designer still managed to slip a small secret room behind the steps with a few accessories including the Orb of Agamotto, the Stone Time and a medium to secure the Book of the Vishanti.

The first floor obviously leaves room for the upper landing of the staircase and there is a library that hides the passage to different destinations embodied by large stickers. It is enough to move the sliding panels using the external air conditioning units placed in the back of the construction to change the visual present behind the door, it is ingenious and well integrated. We only regret that the positioning of the panels does not allow the stickers to be perfectly centered in the door frame.

The second floor houses a few relics and other mystical artefacts that are more or less irrelevant or anecdotal, but access to it is complicated: no stairs are provided despite the opening on the floor. This is where the iconic round canopy of this New York building is installed, with a nicely pad-printed and rather well-integrated element, being held by two droid arms and plated behind the opening. The flat roof is then reduced to a few plates flanked by very successful chimneys which give a little height to the whole construction and a few accessories, that's enough.

No tiling on the floors and it's a bit of a shame, the Holy of Holies probably deserved a little more attention at floor level to give it the necessary cachet, knowing that the first floor is content with two strips of a few hold on the sides and only a handful of Tiles additional would probably not weigh on the manufacturer's margin.

This product is a Structure but it is also and above all a set in the Marvel universe, so it was logical that LEGO offers us some features relating to the subject treated. There are therefore three openings in the walls of the building which can be blocked by interchangeable and reversible modules in order to make the construction more or less marked with the Marvel imprint.

Gargantos makes an appearance here, he can either come out of the wall or invade the library on the first floor. The poster announcing the exhibition on Captain America must be rotated 90° depending on the location chosen, all of this is frankly successful and adds an interesting dynamic to the product. LEGO also provides two transparent rods to plug into the different open tenons available on the facades, you can stage your minifigs there to give a little more volume and dynamism to the whole.

The building occupies only part of the base plate, we are used to it and it is here for the good cause with easy access to the various planned functionalities even when the construction will be leaned against another Structure at the end of the street. There will remain a dark alley between the two buildings, with its bins and waste, and it will be possible to slip your fingers there to add or remove something and manipulate the two air conditioning units.

This product being a full member of the universe Structure of which it takes all the codes, it is inevitably a little empty on the two sides which are in principle intended to face other constructions of the same type. Those who hoped for a truly independent product are therefore at their expense, this is not the choice made by LEGO.

If you find that this Sanctum Sanctorum lacks a bit of volume, nothing prevents you from buying two copies and tinkering with the ultimate building. I'm not sure that the game is really worth the candle, the result obtained with a single box seems sufficiently convincing to me and the building is in the state easily presentable alone on a shelf by positioning it correctly.

The winks and other more or less obvious references to the Marvel universe are numerous here, they are for many of them embodied by the slew of stickers to stick during assembly. Two sheets are provided, they include 45 stickers, some of which have a transparent background so as not to risk the inevitable difference in color with the rooms that host them. It's a shame, you can still see the glue and it's almost worse on arrival on some parts.

The endowment in minifigs is correct here without being breathtaking. There are nine characters and it's never enough when it comes to collecting figurines from the Marvel universe.

We get a new version of Ebony Maw with a more successful head than the set 76108 Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown but a pair of neutral legs, I prefer this more sober version to the previous one, too bad for the legs. We are also adding to our collections a new version of Wong with a new torso, the head available since 2021 and a pair of neutral legs which necessarily breaks the dynamics of the character's outfit a little.

Iron Man is delivered here in MK50 version with his new helmet, Spider-Man is supplied with a head already seen but a new torso and pair of legs. We salute the effort on the pad printing of the arms but there is still work to be done so that the red color is perfectly matched with that of the torso, head and legs. In the state it is a little missed.

Scarlet Witch is equipped with a head of hair with a molded tiara but here we have a really more accomplished pad printing than on the figurine from the series of collectible characters (71031 Collectible Minifigure Series) who was already using this accessory. Neutral legs on a superb new torso surmounted by a very appropriate angry face, you can't have everything.

Karl Mordo returns to LEGO after a first version based on the film Doctor Strange delivered in 2016 in the set 76060 Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and this new minifig from the movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rather successful even the piece of fabric pales in comparison to Strange's plastic cape. The hair is well textured, the torso is very worked and there are only the neutral legs which once again spoil the figurine a little.

Sinister Strange's complexion is a little too yellow for my taste, but the minifig is generally very correct with an outfit consistent with that of the film. The legs are identical to those of the Doctor Strange minifigure delivered in this box and already seen in the set 76205 Gargantos Showdown available since the beginning of the year.

Finally, LEGO will undoubtedly have wanted to avoid the scars and the emaciated face of the Zombie Strange seen in the cinema by composing a less gory minifigure and by drawing on the visual identity of the fifth episode of the animated series What If ...? Why not, it also works like that and the degraded version of the outfit matches that of the other two figurines.

Finally, I think this product is overall very convincing with a construction that will provide a good dose of pleasure to fans of the Marvel universe thanks to the many references and winks scattered throughout the floors and which will allow all those who like me are not fans of Modulars to have a taste of exercise for once.

This set achieves its goal, it finally allows to assemble a Sanctum Sanctorum credible and up to what we could hope to obtain one day at LEGO beyond the usual minimalist playsets and it is also an opportunity to add some minifigs to our collections, whether variants or new characters at LEGO. The public price set at 249.99 € unfortunately does not put this box within reach of all budgets and it will probably be necessary to be patient to find it elsewhere than at LEGO at a more reasonable price.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at July 25, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.