Review: LEGO DC Comics 76117 Batman Mech vs. Poison Ivy Mech

Today we quickly tour the LEGO DC Comics set 76117 Batman Mech vs. Poison Ivy Mech (375 pieces - € 39.99), a box that seemed promising to me when it was announced in June 2018 at the San Diego Comic Con but which ultimately seems disappointing to me on closer inspection.

If I always appreciate having to build a mech or two regardless of the range, here it is the relative fragility of all the constructions that seems prohibitive to me. Everything is fragile here, and some parts come off at the slightest manipulation. Even Firefly, which is perched on a slightly wobbly support, has trouble standing up because of the weight of the various elements of the jetpack grafted onto the minifig.

Batman's mech looks pretty good (from a distance) but it's very messy when you look at it closely. Here too, it is really too fragile to be playable and you quickly get tired of putting the different elements back in place, which do not fail to come off during the simplest manipulations. The designer also wanted to overload the robot with a whole series of Bat-symbols to the point of overdose rather than polishing the finish by filling certain empty spaces or hiding certain joints.

The robot's posability is very correct thanks to the numerous notched joints and to those based on Ball Seals, but it really takes a lot of patience to find the balance point of the whole. It is very annoying and I dare not imagine the disappointment of the youngest who may not have the patience of an adult.

Poison Ivy's organic mech isn't really one. It is rather a plant on which the character takes place and there too, the balance of the whole is very precarious. LEGO has provided a function to tilt the whole backwards for a little more playability, but the stability of the thing suddenly becomes very relative.

The BatMech is equipped with two Stud Shooters, a circular saw to cut the branches of the Poison Ivy mega-plant, and a manual net launcher to try and capture Firefly. The latter does not actually throw much, the fault of a simple mechanism without a spring that you just have to push to eject the net. It is without interest, the net does not leave very far and does not even have time to deploy ...

Poison Ivy is also entitled to a Stud Shooter placed on the right branch of the monstrous plant. The simple fact of trying to put it into action accidentally and almost always causes the structure to tilt backwards, which is only held in place by the effect of gravity.

This set sold for 39.99 € will probably not go down in posterity for the constructions it offers and I would not be surprised to see it in destocking everywhere in the months to come.

The idea of ​​providing content that allows you to play without having to check out is laudable, but in my opinion it is poorly executed here. Poison Ivy's plant is no match for BatButton's mech and I pity the one who loses in the toss and will have to grapple with the plant to face the big mech.

The minifig endowment is however very correct in this set: four major characters in a box of this type, it is rather well served.

Unfortunately, Batman's torso is already available in a few other boxes released in 2018/2019 and The Flash was delivered (with all red legs) in the set. 76098 Speed ​​Force Freeze Pursuit (2018). There are still Poison Ivy and Firefly to bring a little novelty to this set.

Unpublished but minimalist torso for Poison Ivy, with the added bonus of a significant difference in color from the flesh color on the upper part which should in principle ensure the junction with the character's head. Only the torso of Firefly saves the furniture with a nice pad printing on both sides. The new helmet delivered here in yellow can only give regret to all those who would have liked to see it on Ant-Man ...

There isn't much to say about the legs of the various characters provided here, about three of them are hopelessly neutral and not pad printed and Flash's legs are those of the granny in the vintage swimsuit from the LEGO set. CITY 60153 Fun at the Beach (2017)

The issue LEGO faced with printing flesh color over dark shade is also very present on Flash's face. It's darker pink than Flesh and it's ugly ...

In short, this set is only valid because it offers collectors two "new" minifigs and at 39.99 €, it's far too expensive for the "construction experience" offered. I say no, except in promo at a much more reasonable price.

The set shown here, supplied by LEGO, is brought into play as usual. To participate in the raffle, simply post a comment on this article before April 2, 2019 at 23:59 p.m.. You have every right to disagree with me, this is not eliminatory.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.