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Set Review: 6867 Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape
 Sunday, June 10th, 2012 at 4:13pm by Jason, BZPower ReporterIt's time for another LEGO Avengers set review. Today, xccj looks at the 6867: Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape. It features three minifigs from the movie, as well as a big SHIELD truck. Is this one worth picking up? Read on. Presentation
The box art shows off all the regular stuff; logos, set details, minifigs, and the actual build itself. The box seems a little smaller than usual, which suggests that Lego is conserving packaging material on these licensed sets. The front of the box depicts Hawkeye and Loki making an escape through an underground tunnel, with Iron Man hot in pursuit. The back of the box highlights some of the set's special features, including Iron Man's flip-open mask, flick fire missiles, and a catapult situated in the back of the truck. Inside the box are two bags of parts, an instruction booklet, and a comic. The comic has three mini-comics inside featuring the various Avengers, including a scene based off this set. It also contains pictures of some of the other Marvel sets and all the Marvel minifigs being released, so that's always cool. Building
The whole build revolves around constructing the SHIELD truck. It's a fairly sturdy design, but while it has a couple of interesting design bits, it's still a pretty straightforward build. The worst part was applying the stickers to narrow pieces like the 1x4 tiles or the 1x3 curved slopes, since it can be tricky trying to get the stickers straight on longer pieces. But this isn't the first set that relies heavily on sticker application, and it won't be the last. 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.
This set contains 181 pieces, with a handful of extras. That's still above the 10 cents per piece ratio, but that's to be expected with a licensed set. It has a plethora of dark blue elements, including some bricks, curved slopes, and lots of smaller plates. Pictured above are some of the more rare and unique elements. One that deserves special mention is the new 1x2 bracket elements, which premiered in the Marvel line of sets. It comes with lots of sets being released this summer, but this set contains six of them.
Next are the three figs that appear in this set. None of them are exclusive: Hawkeye and Loki appear in Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout, and Iron Man and Loki appear in Quinjet Aerial Battle (although Iron Man's torso is slightly different in that set.) All the same, this is the cheapest set in which to get all three, so if you're only in it for the minifigs, then it would be a decent purchase.
Loki is the main villain here, and man is he decked out. He's wearing a fairly rare green cape, is carrying a gold staff (made out of the Pharaoh's Quest staff and the new Ninjago Sai� still a nice reuse of parts) and has new headgear with curvy gold antlers. The head gear is the only new mold he has, and it's slightly rubbery, so you needn't fear breaking it easily or getting too hurt if you step on it. Loki himself has a serious expression on his face, but sadly his head does not have two faces printed on it, so he's stuck always looking serious. Iron Man is the star of this set. As mentioned earlier, he differs from his Quinjet Aerial Battle version due to his torso printing, which features a triangular arch-reactor. His torso and legs have plenty of other printing to demonstrate that he's wearing a dark-red suit of armor. The helmet is one of the more interesting designs in the set: it's split into two pieces, which involve the main helmet and a highly detailed faceplate that can be flipped up. While it might seem a bit large, I prefer it over just a printed minifig head. (It fits the blockier-minifig shape, IMO.) Underneath the helmet is a light flesh head with Tony Stark's face printed on it. He has two expressions: a smirk and a sneer. And as a plus, trans blue round studs and bricks are included to help represent Iron Man's repulsar beams as he flies and shoots at enemies. I think they look a little tacky, but the added detail is always nice for role playing. Finally, we have Hawkeye, who seems a little bland next to the other two minifigs. He has some nice leg and torso printing, both front and back. (Apparently, his quiver is printed on his back, but that's going to make it hard for him to pull out a painted arrow to shoot.) His head also has two expressions; one with red glasses and another with a sneer. (He and Iron Man can face off in a sneer-battle!) His hair is also a recolored piece in earth orange. The best part about him is his new bow design, which features a modern look and is easy for him to hold on to.
Next up is the primary build: The SHIELD truck. It's very large: 18 studs long and about 8 studs wide. And the design really flows, from the excellent use of dark blue and black colors to the slopes built on the side over the tires. One of the coolest features is the two fence elements that are used to build the front grill. The stickers, while annoying to put on, do add a lot of extra detail to the truck. The SHIELD title and logo are nice, and the hood sticker even features what I assume are a few bullet holes! There are a few design quarrels I have; there's a gap above the front tires that allows you to see through to the other side, and it could've easily been filled. Additionally, I don't necessarily like the catapult in the back or the side flick-fire missiles, but I guess it needed the extra features. Finally, the cabin of the truck only has a seat for Hawkeye, but it's wide enough that I feel they would've squeezed in a passenger seat if they tried. Yet, overall, the truck is an awesome build all on its own, and the figs are merely icing on the cake. Playability
Clearly, this set is meant for role playing. You've got three main characters that can fight each other over the 1x1 transparent brick that represents the Tesseract. Unfortunately, there is one minor issue, as well as a slight spoiler alert for the movie: Iron Man is not in this scene in the movie. It would've been cool if LEGO had included one of the other SHIELD vehicles, or minifigs like Maria Hill or Nick Fury. But that would've increased the price, and besides, most people probably want an Iron Man fig for cheap, so in that case it makes sense to include him. While it's difficult to play out the exact scene, there's still plenty of potential here. The set does come with a few action features. First of all, it's a truck and a sturdy design at that. You can't go wrong with a truck that can be driven around your room at top speed and survive minor crashes. And, as with all LEGO combat sets these days, it contains two flick fire missiles. Unfortunately, they are situated in an area where the side slopes on the truck make it very difficult to actually flick them, so they're even worst than usual. Finally, there's the launch pad in the truck bed, which you can use to send Loki flying. It's not a very usable feature either, as it doesn't really send Loki that far, but it kind of works. I personally think it's a waste of space, but I'm sure it adds to the play value for younger kids.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I can't see how you could go wrong with this set. It's an awesome car design, which allows for maximum playability. And it would be easily to add to your SHIELD arsenal against other Marvel sets like the Quinjet. The minifigs are also very nice, especially Iron Man, so collectors will be pleased. It comes with a nice array of parts, especially in dark blue. And it only costs $19.99 USD, so it's fairly affordable. The only reason that I wouldn't recommend you buy this set would be if you were going to purchase all the larger sets too, but even then this truck would still compliment them. If you're a fan of the Avengers movie, then this is a must-have set.
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