Review: LEGO Marvel 76262 Captain America's Shield

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Marvel set 76262 Captain America's Shield, a very large box of 3128 pieces currently in pre-order on the official online store and which will be available at the retail price of €209.99 from August 1, 2023.

I'm not drawing you a picture, this is about building a reproduction of Captain America's shield 47 cm in diameter and you will have understood that the assembly phase is not the strong point of this derivative product: it will have to work on the assembly line to finally have the pleasure of displaying the thing on a shelf alongside, for example, the hammer from the LEGO Marvel set 76209 Thor's Hammer (119.99 €).

If you are wondering where the 3128 pieces of the set are, just look at the photos below to understand that this shield is not a simple disc on which we would distribute plates diverse and varied colours. The internal structure of the accessory consumes most of the inventory and it is designed so that it supports standing and moving. It is also thanks to these alignments of parts that the shield takes on a little volume with a very successful curved effect and the designer has applied himself to proposing a model that fits rather well with the aesthetics of the reference accessory.

It's the subject that wants that, so almost the entire assembly process is broken down into sequences consisting of building the same thing 18 times, and those who love LEGOs for the diversity of assembly techniques will be in for their costs. Here, it is only the end that justifies the means and we are bored while waiting to finally have the possibility of exposing this shield on its support. The only instruction booklet provided seemed strangely thin for a product of more than 3000 parts, I quickly understood why by discovering the sequences consisting of multiplying the same sub-assemblies in a loop.

The whole is flawlessly rigid, thanks in particular to the solid cross made up of axes which takes place in the center of the construction. Placed very quickly in the center of the construction, it ensures the shield a perfect distribution of the sub-assemblies which constitute the internal structure of the object and makes it possible to no longer have to worry about the solidity of the whole.

We could discuss the choice of colors, I would rather have used dark colors, Dark Red et dark Blue, rather than basic shades for the outer surface of the shield, the result would have been only closer to that offered by the abundantly retouched official visuals of the product. In "real" with these basic colors, this shield immediately has less cachet than on the product sheet available online or on the box and it will be necessary to play on the lighting to attenuate the flashy side of the red and blue pieces a little used.

The black support supplied with its pad-printed plate which serves as a reminder that the owner of the object is indeed Captain America is a version on steroids of the usual presentation bases, you have to be able to hold the shield in place without risking it falling . The part of the internal structure of the shield which rests on the base is also reinforced, this is the area identified by a Plate red on the visuals above.

The central star offers a slightly more entertaining assembly sequence than the rest of the product, it's always taken and it's the finishing detail that gives a little cachet to this shield which looks like cracked up close over its entire surface. From further away, the object is necessarily an illusion while recalling that it is indeed a LEGO model with its studs visible on 100% of the outer surface. Nothing has been planned to be able to get rid of the base and hang this shield on the wall, but the most resourceful will necessarily find a solution to install the object, the area with the Plate red seems to me sufficiently reinforced to allow it to be suspended.

The set therefore seems extremely well designed to me and nothing has been left to chance, except perhaps the absence of a handle at the back to grab the shield like a superhero. Was this by-product essential? Nothing is less certain but it will be up to everyone to assess the interest of having a large shield with a surface dotted with studs on its shelves.

LEGO adds a minifig of the owner of the shield in the box, just to furnish a little at the foot of the presentation base and to make the whole thing even more imposing by creating a comparison of scale. The supplied Captain America figurine is not exclusive to this box, it is the one already seen in the sets 76189 Captain America and HYDRA Face-Off (9.99 €) and 76260 Black Widow & Captain America Motorcycles (15.99 €) and we can conclude that this is good news for collectors of minifigs, they will not have to invest more than 200 € in this shield to obtain the figurine in question.

LEGO provides both the character's mask and additional hair. how you want to expose the character is up to you. Small printing defect on the shield accompanying the minifig in the box I received, it will once again be necessary to call on customer service to obtain a perfectly pad-printed element.

It is obvious that this product is aimed at customers who would not necessarily buy the usual classic sets and who want to be able to display their passion for the Marvel universe without getting stuck with the cars, ships and other motorcycles that the range distills for us year round. LEGO attracts here interior decoration enthusiasts who buy their New York posters at Ikea and who proudly display the word "Welcome" based on large wooden letters found at Nature et Découverte on the wall of the living room. It's simple: if this shield does not seem essential to you, it means that you are not the target of the product.

It is therefore lifestyle pushed to the extreme, and even if the object benefits from pretty techniques which allow it to obtain a very acceptable finish, the construction process is unequally monotonous which will undoubtedly put off the most LEGO fans looking for a bit of diversity in the techniques used. It will be without me, anyway I don't have the space to display this big shield at home and I already have the minifig provided.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at July 14, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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