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Set Review: 76030 Avengers Hydra Showdown
 Friday, April 24th, 2015 at 10:26pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager[Source: Ta-metru_defender] Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron is only about a week away, so let's take a look at one of the other LEGO sets based on the movie. BZPower Blog Assistant Ta-metru_defender today reviews 76030 Avengers Hydra Showdown, one of the smaller sets in the line featuring Thor and Hawkeye. Will they succeed in taking down Hydra on their way to defeating Ultron? Or will their jeep crash and burn? You'll just have to read on to find out! Presentation
Avengers! Hydra! A showdown! It's happening on the box! We've got Hawkeye in a jeep pursuing a Hydra goon in a buggy as Thor hurtles hammer-first towards the villain. There's action, there's conflict, and you're getting two vehicles. A lot to love at first blush.
Back of the box shows the Super Jumper play mechanic. Then there's a little scene playing out where Thor and Hawkeye are teaming up against a poor Hydra henchman.
Actual size stuff on the top, as usual. Also one of the inside tabs has a cool comicbook-ish pattern. Anyway. Enough about the box.
Two numbered bags, a small sticker sheet for all your decal-ing needs, instructions, and the same comic as was in Quinjet City Chase. Let's build the set. Building
The pieces are split into two bags, one for each faction's vehicle and minifigs.
The Hydra-buggy is built first. It's straightforward enough. I do like the way the sides are filled out with some spiffy SNOT techniques.
The jeep also comes together quickly. Again, not much here that makes it terribly special from what I figure has become the norm in LEGO vehicles. Both vehicles' tires go on 'backwards,' that is the detailed sides are sticking in. I guess it's to make them look more rugged? Anyway. Set's built. Set Design
What struck me first about the Hydra Henchman is what looks like Chitauri armor on his torso, head, and back. Is Von Strucker and Hydra using parts from the Chitauri Invasion to outfit his henchmen? Or is LEGO throwing red herrings our way? We may never know. There's some cool digital-camo print on the torso beneath the armor, as well as a tiny Hydra symbol on the back. Because if there's one thing Hydra knows, it's that you simply cannot skimp on your branding budget.
Thor and Hawkeye both get new minifigs. Thor's sporting a slightly different new head and torso, as well as one of those new fancy cloth capes. Hawkeye, meanwhile, finally gets a hairpiece more appropriate to his film look. His head's also the opposite of the one from 2012, with his angry face featuring sunglasses and his normal not. He's also got a trench-coat printed on him. Now, last time he had a quiver printed on his back, but this time there's no quiver piece or one even printed. So he better hope he makes that one arrow in his bow count.
You can really see the changes when you compare them to their old selves, particularly the crazy amount of extra detailing on Thor's torso.
There's a nice chunk of extra parts in this set, probably best used for detailing MOC's or the back of phone cases.
The buggy's, well, a buggy. It's a very normal build, very normally put together, with a very normal cannon on top. Well, mostly normal. The cannon's got a stud shooter - which is fun - and can also be made loose to be knocked over by a Super Jumper.
Also, the roll cage opens up so you can stick a minifig in there. The headrest and rear engine are nice touches. There is one slight problem with the cannon, though.
I get that Hydra's evil, but I feel like they'd get better worker retention if their vehicles' weapons didn't sometimes tilt down towards them.
The Avengers' jeep is also pretty standard. It certainly feels really solid, but it's a bit lacking in some parts. My biggest problem is that the back is just a sort of rear-dashboard, rather than having a proper storage space for tools or more Avengers. Given the jeep's build it'd be really easy to make a little more space in the back. Second, is the flick-fire turret. It's a cool play feature, sure, but I find that it throws off the overall look of the jeep. After taking the photos for this review I took them off and find that it looks a lot better. Also, the vehicle as a whole reminds me of Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape from 2012, in that both are really solidly built vehicles with obnoxious weaponry. Playability
Flickfire missile flick, studshooters shoot studs, and Super Jumpers jump super. There aren't any hidden features in this set. You can make a minifig Super Jump to knock off the Hydra's cannon, which is the intended included game. The most fun, I think, comes with having two vehicles that can chase each other. I know I don't buy a lot of LEGO anymore, but getting two vehicles for $20 - when both are solid, strong builds - feels like a steal. Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I was really surprised by this set. I bought it because I wanted Thor and Hawkeye (who I've been wanting to refer to as Hawkguy for this entire review for various reasons), but wasn't expecting both vehicles to be so, well decent. Compared to Iron Man vs Ultron where the Ultron craft felt like a throwaway, this set's vehicles definitely earn their right to be in the set. Especially since it's a $20 set. I'm very happy with this set, and it's definitely worth your money. A big thanks to Ta-metru_defender for putting this review together - join me in thanking him in the Talkback. While you're there you can ask any questions about the set that you may have too. And of course, keep checking back on BZPower for more set reviews and LEGO news!
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