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Set Review: 6862 Superman Vs Power Armor Lex
 Saturday, February 4th, 2012 at 6:43pm by Jason, BZPower ReporterIt's a bird, it's a plane. No, it's Superman... and behind him is a giant purple and green robot piloted by Lex Luthor. And he has Wonder Woman in his grasp! If this isn't setting up an epic super hero battle, then I don't know what will. This is Set 6862: Superman vs Power Armor Lex, and is the only non-Batman set in the latest LEGO DC Superheroes system theme. Will Superman save the day, or is Lex going to crush the man of steel? BZP Reporter Xccj is reviewing the set to find out. Okay, first off, a general note about the set; it's Superman rescuing Wonder Woman from a Kryptonite powered robot, right? So Superman would be powerless against it. Really, Wonder Woman should be rescuing him. But instead, she's playing damsel in distress. C'mon, LEGO, if you wanted to do the damsel in distress bit, you should've made a Lois Lane figure. But I digress� back to the actual set. Presentation
The box art shows off the set rather nicely. First off, you notice Superman; I'm sure that's enough for some people to just buy the set. But then you have a decent looking mecha for him to battle too, as well as two other nice figs. For details, a large portion of the front displays the various logos for LEGO, DC, Superman, and Super Heroes. Also, there's a note that a comic book is included. Yay! The back of the box depicts another scene involving the robot. Wonder Woman has escaped and is going for the gun, while Superman is heading straight for Lex. Two other images show how Lex fits in his robot and how the robot can hold onto the gun. Also of interest in an ad for the Batman 2 video game� and Superman will be in it! There's more details and images on the sides of the box, including some art showing off Batman, Superman, and the Joker. And stuff comes out of the box, including instructions, a comic book, and a couple of bags of parts. The instructions are pretty standard, but the comic is cool. It's not quite as detailed as the Bionicle comics we know and love, but it depicts a couple of scenes involving Batman and Catwoman, as well as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lex. Sadly, it's not exclusive, but it's a nice addition that fits in with the whole Super Hero theme. It also has a list of the various minifigures in the DC sets, to entice collectors into buying all of them. Building
If you've build Lego System robots recently (like the Construct-A-Buzz or Power Miner Mecha) then this build isn't anything new. However, it is still fun. There are lots of uses of SNOT (Studs Not on Top) techniques, as well as some ball-joint action. I enjoyed building it, anyway. Set DesignNow that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
Oh, there are lots of nice pieces to this set. It contains a total of 207 official pieces, plus a few extras. At a price of $19.99 USD, this means you pay less than ten cents per piece, which is the golden ratio. This is all the more surprising because it's a licensed set, which generally have a higher price per piece. Sadly this set has few new molds to it. However, it has plenty of new recolored pieces. It has lots of nice pieces in dark purple, classic green, and trans bright green. I love the addition of all these nice colors, and this set has plenty of them.
Onto the three minifigures, who are all superb. First off is Superman. His torso has his symbol printed over some muscles, and it has back printing as well, although it's hidden by his red cape. The cool part here is his hairpiece; it's similar to the one used on Malfoy in the latest round of Harry Potter sets, except that it has the little swirl on the front. Superman's face has two expressions; intimidating stare with mouth opened, and intimidating stare with mouth closed. That alone should scare off most criminals! Wonder Woman has lots of detail to her too. Her torso has front and back printing, and her legs use the same swimsuit design used in the Collectible Minifigures, only this time in blue with stars. The blue and tan is all printed on her red legs, but the detail looks fairly nice. Her hairpiece is also brand new, and comes with her gold crown printed on. She also has two expressions: one with a smile and one with a scowl. She also comes with her whip accessory, which is a new mold that is shaped into a lasso. It's actually just the right size to fit over the shoulders of the standard minifigure, so she could easily use it to capture criminals. I have read elsewhere that the hair and leg pieces of Wonder Woman are made from Chinese plastic (again, like the Collectible Minifigures� I guess it saves LEGO some money.) Some people complain that there's a lack in quality, but honestly Wonder Woman looks fine to me, so I don't think it should be a major concern. Finally, we have business suit Lex Luthor. His torso is just a standard black suit, but it would still be great for any businessman minifig. Lex also has a scowl on his face, but he's lacking a second expression; I guess once Lex Luthor makes a face, it stays that way. Overall, he's not quite as detailed as the two Heroes, but he still makes for a good villain to pilot the robot.
Ah, the robot. It is predominantly green and purple, with hints of black and grays thrown in. The build is very similar to the Construct-A-Buzz set. The hips use the Exo Force click sockets, while the actual feet rely on a more opened ball joint socket connection. Meanwhile, the arms completely rely on ball joint action to allow for maximum posability. Finally, each hand has three fingers made up of Exo Force robot arms, with Barakki eye pieces on the tips to round them off. The various slopes and wedges used on the legs and body give it a very nice flow. I particularly like how the two tanks fit in on the back. The gun design, however, feels too blocky and empty, and doesn't match the flow from the rest of the body. Another small complaint is that the right hand is bigger than the left, since it has to incorporate more pieces to hold the gun. This isn't bad, but I prefer symmetry here. (And it is possible to just remove the gun and shorten the hand.) Playability
Lex's Power Suit has a decent amount of posability. The sockets at the hips do restrict movement, but I'm sure they help for stability, so I can't complain too much. He has two joints for each arm, as well as three moveable fingers that can grasp his blocky gun or a helpless Super Hero fig. Additionally, his waist can rotate, so Lex can spin around and keep an eye out for trouble. All in all, the Power Suit is a pretty formidable opponent, and Superman and Wonder Woman will have to work hard to topple this craft.
Clearly, the best part of this set is the role playing aspect. If you couldn't come up with a good story of your own, based on the cover, you could always read the included comic for inspiration. To make it even better, you could buy a couple of city sets, so Lex can throw some cars at Superman and Wonder Woman as they fight. But overall the set has everything you'll need for your own epic Super Hero battle. Final Thoughts
Really, I can't see a reason why you wouldn't want this set. With Superman and Wonder Woman, it just screams for collectors to buy it. The Power Suit itself has a decent design that works for role-playing. It contains a good amount of pieces in green and dark purple. Plus, at $19.99 USD, it's at an affordable price. There aren't many sets that I think are must haves, but this is certainly one of them. The biggest problem might just be availability; so many people will buy this set that it'll be hard to find in stock. (I know it took me a while to find it on store shelves.)
That's all for today, but we have more LEGO set reviews in the works, so keep an eye on the front page for more!
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