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Set Review: 76084 Ultimate Battle of Asgard
 Friday, August 25th, 2017 at 10:56pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Ta-metru_defender] Spider-Man: Homecoming isn't even out of theaters yet, but we're already talking about the next movie coming up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - Thor: Ragnarok. In advance of its November 3rd premier, two LEGO sets based on the film have been released, and we're reviewing one of them today. BZPower Blog Assistant Ta-metru_defender is taking a look at 76084 Ultimate Battle of Asgard, the smaller set. Will this set bring about a great war and the death of Odin? Or is it more likely to sit on a shelf waiting for someone to look at it? Let's find out! We're getting Thor sets this year! Based on Thor Ragnarok which, full disclosure, I think looks like a load of good fun. In the interest of continuing to disclose inherent bias, I actually like the Thor movies, especially the first one (the second's alright, but not, like, awful). So when the call went out for new reviews, I jumped at the chance to get a look at this set. Presentation
Speaking of looks... The box heralds The Ultimate Battle of Asgard as being Hela, the Fenris Wolf, and her minions vs Thor, Bruce Banner, and Valkyrie piloting what LEGO.com tells me is the Commodore. Asgard is in the background, so, well, there's a purpose for the battling. Also, this set comes with six minifigs. That's a bunch.
Back shows off more features and more ultimate battling for Asgard. The top (and the bottom right of the back) has a LEGO-ized version of Thor and Hulk which I'm always a sucker for. Anyways. Let's pop it open.
The set is nicely split into three numbered bags, with the instructions, sticker sheet, and comic in another, and some of the big pieces in an extra. Makes building easier. Building
Bag One sees Thor, Hela, and the first half of the Commodore done. There are a lot of bright colors being used, which overall goes along with Ragnarok's ~aesthetic~ and I do like it. There are also a bunch of rounded tiles on the bottom. Sixteen of them. Which is a lot.
Thor and Valkyrie's capes are new cuts, and look quite nifty.
You finish Bag Two and you've got Valkyrie and the villainous Berserkers done. And also the rest of the ship. The Jack Kirby-esque patterns on it look really cool.
And finally, Bag Three has Bruce Banner and the Fenris Wolf. There's nothing especially notable about the build here, but it's not an awful one either. So it's firmly a 'that's fine'! Set Design
With six minifigs, it's pretty obvious what the main draw of the set is. So let's get to it.
Thor finally has a helmet! It looks really cool, which is probably more of a compliment for Ragnarok's production design team than the set designers, but hey! LEGO gave us a Thor with his helmet! His torso looks much like it does in the trailers for Ragnarok, so, all good there. His alt-head is him all thunder god'd out and looks appropriately cool. He's also got armor printed on his left arm which looks nice. He has no weapons this time around, but he does get a trans-light-blue Power Blast piece.
Bruce Banner and Valkyrie also make an appearance, both for the first time. I'm quite happy to finally see a Bruce Banner minifig, and his alt-head of him about to Hulk out is pretty cool. Valkyrie's blue outfit is pretty neat (though I do wish we were getting the silver outfit from the trailers). I'm not sure how I feel about her using the top-knot hair, since it makes the sides of her head looks much shorter than they are. Ah well, it gets the image across so it's hard to fault LEGO. Plus, I'm always happy for more women of color minifigs. Valkyrie gets a couple of swords too, which seems on point from what we've seen of the movie.
Heroes need bad guys to fight, and so we're given two Berserkers (least that's what LEGO.com calls them). They look appropriately creepy and darkness-fueled, which is points for them. I particularly like the hungry, gaping mouths. Also, the dark green goes very well with the black. They come with a coupe of blades and a spike backpack, which I'm going out on a limb here and say they're there to make them look a little more darkness-tendrill-y. It works.
Lastly, we have Hela. Who is hecka cool. Her printing looks spot on and her double-sided head is pretty dope, with one side being relatively normal and the other in killer god of death mode. She's great, but of particular note is her helmet. It's big, it's ostentatious, it's wonderful. There's also a black hairpiece to go with her which is alright, but why have that when you have that helmet?
There's also a stand-thingy for her to, er, stand on that makes her look tall. Maybe she becomes a whirling vortex? I dunno. As it is it's kinda meh; she's much more interesting walking around (with that giant helmet). Hela comes equipped with a sword and an axe, as well as power blasts in black. All around, the minifig selection in this set is really strong. But we didn't drop $50+tax for six minifigs. There's a set here too, dangit.
We get a spaceship. Or a flying car. I don't care; it's a spaceship. It's got a different shape from most spaceships, what with it's ring around the cockpit (but not in a UFO-y way). Design-wise, it's odd and I dig it. It also matches what it's supposed to look like based on the movie trailers, albeit much much smaller, as is often the case with LEGO sets. I like the red color with the yellow highlights; the Commodore uses the new curved tiles to great effect here, creating these really cool patterns along the 'wings.' Overall, it looks great and feels very solid.
But. The cockpit. The Commodore's pilot can't sit in it. She has to lie down. Look, I get that it's a better way to fit a minifig in while keeping the overall shape of the ship... but... it looks... ugh. I want my pilots to be sitting normally.
The other Big Part of the set is the Fenris Wolf, which is the second Fenris Wolf LEGO's made (the first being in the Viking sets from way back). This one capitalizes on the new mixel ball joints to make a wolf that's System-based, but still super posable. As a whole, it looks really cool. Its brick-built nature makes it look almost hewn from stone, which though not what it's supposed to be (the wolf in the trailer is decidedly furry), looks really cool. I can see where they've tried to make it furry-ish, using those texture parts from the new Nexo Knights sets, but really, it just makes it look even rockier. Which isn't bad! It's cool! I like it! Also, it has glow in the dark eyes. Also cool. Playability
We get Power Blasts in this set. They are, after the Super Jumpers, another attempt at weaponizing minifigs. These you put in a minifig's hand, add pressure to the edge, and the Blast snaps out.
It's fun enough, and not liable to get lost or poke someone's eye out. The Commodore itself can drop Bruce Banner into battle from below. You put him on some exposed studs on the underside...
...push a button on top...
...and...
So. It's a thing. Dropping minifigs from heights will never not be entertaining. Finally, all the moving parts means roleplaying where you can reenact scenes from Thor: Ragnarok. As the movie is not out yet, please assume that the following pictures are canon.
Final Thoughts
You get a lot here for a $50 set. There's a decent spaceship, a cool wolf, and a bunch of neat minifigs in it, meaning it's a lot of fun to play with. It's not a set that'd make a great display piece, though, but that's not really what it's for. Overall, it's pretty great. Also, cheers to LEGO for sending us a copy of the set. I'm not required to say the nice things I did about this because of it. I just wanted to. A big thanks to Ta-metru_defender for sharing his thoughts. Have you picked up this set yet? What do you think of it? Let us know in the Talkback!
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