[REVIEW]: 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle

[hatcher]

Set Name:Quinjet Aerial Battle
Set Number: 6869
Theme: Marvel Super Heroes
Year: 2012
Pieces: 735
Minifigures: 5
MSRP: $89.99 (CDN) $69.99 (USD)

Description from Shop@Home:
Defeat Loki and his forces with the super fast Quinjet!

Loki is up to no good and is planning to destroy the earth! As he flies into battle on board his chariot, help the Avenger's defeat their nemesis using the supersonic Quinjet! Fire the missiles, release the mini-jet and imprison Loki in the prison pod! With the high-tech Quinjet, the Avengers can't fail! Includes Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Loki and foot soldier minifigures.

• Includes 5 minifigures: Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Loki and foot soldier
• Vehicles include Quinjet and Loki's chariot
• Quinjet features adjustable wing tips, 2 opening cockpits with space for 2 minifigures, detachable mini-jet, 4 missiles, prison pod and rear door
• Chariot features dual flick missiles and control platform that raises or lowers
• Weapons include Loki's staff, Thor's hammer and Iron Man's thruster flame
• Launch the mini-jet!
• Fire the missiles!
• Rotate the Quinjet wingtips 360 degrees!
• Open the cockpits!
• Load the captured badguys into the Quinjet's prison pod!
• Quinjet measures over 5" (15cm) high, 15" (39cm) long
• Chariot measures over 2" (6cm) high and 5"(13cm) long

link: http://shop.lego.com/en-CA/Quinjet-Aerial-Battle-6869" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Been sitting on this set for a while, as I had not enough room to display it. Now that that is no longer an issue, the Quinjet lives! The largest set from the Avengers movie last year, this set has LOTS of pieces, a completely useless enemy, and the THIRD appearance of Loki.

So, lets get to the revue. If you've read any of my other reviews, you know the drill. First up is the box. The front shows you what you get, with some nice action photo shopped in. Five figures, the Quinjet, and the alien "chariot". Lots of missiles flying around.

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The back of the box. This is a large box, so there is lots of room to show off the play features, and this set has lots of them. Missiles, opening compartments, adjustable wings, the mini drone.

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Opening it up, we find 5 numbered bags and the instructions and other paper goods inside a bag with cardboard backing. When will LEGO make this standard? I get that its impractical for small sets, but for larger sets, not doing this ruins instructions and stickers (if you care about stickers).

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Inside the bag, we find 3 instruction booklets (one small and two large), the comic book, and the dreaded sticker sheet. (BOO!) I really hate stickers, but I put them on this time since the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo is just so darn cool, I had to do it.

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The dreaded sticker sheet. As I said, I did end up putting the stickers on the quinjet, but didn't put them on the enemy vehicle as it is going straight into the spare parts pile after the build is finished. (Sorry, but while I loved the Avengers movie, the aliens didn't do anything for me.)

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A random page from the instructions. Numbered steps with parts required clearly shown as I hoped.

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And the comic book. I don't really know what to think of the comic book. It has no dialogue in it, and that's fine if your target audience can't read yet, but this set is labeled for ages 8-16, most of whom (heck ALL of whom) should be able to read. Anyway, its a big one. Take it or leave it as you prefer.

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The contents of bag number 1. This bag allows us to build the alien chariot, the cockpit of the quinjet, and contains our first three figures.

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So here are the figures. From left to right, we have Loki, Alien warrior, and Black Widow. Black Widow is an exclusive to this set. Loki is available in two other sets, making him the most common figure in the 2012 Marvel wave. Once again he's wearing his ridiculous ram's horn helmet, and carrying his staff. Loki has no back printing and only a one sided head. As I said, I really could care less about the alien figures, but I think he's the same as the one that appeared in the Captain America set. Black Widow, what do you say about her? While the outfit is pretty close to the movie, the head doesn't seem quite right to me. However, it is nice to get red hair, so I give the figure a thumbs up.

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And from the back for the figures with back printing. Black Widow has a double sided head, so with the hair off we can see her alternate face printing.

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On to the build. Up first, the alien war chariot. Its a quick build and not too challenging. My son put almost the entire set together for this review, and he's 5.

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The completed chariot (minus stickers).

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And with figures in place. Yeah, not doing it for me, sorry.

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The rest of the pieces in this bag make the cockpit for the quinjet. Here it is about halfway into the build. The seat is more complex then what you often find in a build of this type.

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And the completed cockpit (open) with the extra parts to the side. That is a sticker on the control panel there.

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And with Black Widow at the controls.

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Bag number 2. No figures in this bag, but we start work on the quinjet in earnest.

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The first thing that you get is this passenger compartment, with chairs, and some monitors. The monitors are stickers.

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Behind the compartment, there is a cargo bay. The drone will be housed here, and at the back (which is closest to the camera) another spot for minifigures to stand.

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And what it looks like at the end of this bag. The extra pieces from this bag are to the side.

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The pieces from bag #3. This bag will build part of one of the wings, and also contains our next minifigure, Iron Man Mark VII.

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Here is Iron Man. The Mark VII suit is exclusive to this set. This is the armour he wore at the end of the movie. I was one of the haters when I first saw pictures of the helmet, as it looks way too large. The real problem of course is that his body should be larger (because, you know, he's basically wearing a giant iron suit!), so I've grown to appreciate the helmet. In the inset, you see the helmet in the open position (a very cool feature I might add.)

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And from the back. In the inset, you see Tony Stark's angry face.

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The parts from this bag add some more to the body of the quinjet, seen here.

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And build the main part of one of the wings. I love that S.H.I.E.L.D. logo (unfortunately its a sticker).

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The contents of bag #4. This bag contains the parts to make the second wing, and add a lot more to the quinjet, and gives us the final mini figure from this set.

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Thor. The thunder god is the same as the Thor that came in the Hulk set. Here he is from the front, complete with Hammer.

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And from the back with hair removed (and cape spun around) to show alternate face and back printing.

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The second wing has been built, and both wings are added on (actually they are just the first half of the wings) and some sections of the quinjet proper as well.

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This is what it looks like at the end of bag 4. The mechanism to launch the drone has been put in the empty section in the middle. The extra pieces are to the side.

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Bag number five contents. The final bag will finish off the quinjet. Things such as the landing gear, the tips of the wings, and the roof and engines.

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The wings are completed. When they are fully extended like this, the quinjet is quite wide.

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Here is a shot of the bottom of the quinjet showing the drone in its launch mechanism. There is a button on the top that you can press down to pop this out of the bottom. It worked quite nicely the first 3 times we tried, but then it started to stick. Not sure if that is just my quinjet or if it happens in all of them.

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And the quinjet is finished! The remaining pieces from bag 5 have been added to the model (extra parts in the lower left) and the cockpit section from bag #1 has been put in place. The wings are seen here in their lowered position. The folding wings are a bit floppy, and would probably pop off easily during rough play, but otherwise its not bad. The number of play features is quite impressive.

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And the entire set. (Forgot to mention that this set comes with a brick separator, can't have too many of those.)

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Final thoughts. The Cheetos or what ever they were called (the aliens) stink, and Loki,while a very good movie villain and a great actor is a mediocre minifigure and while I get that you need someone to battle, I now own 3 of him. So the set loses points for that. However, the set gains all of those points back for the quinjet. My only complaints would be the flimsy wing tips and sticky launch mechanism for the drone. Even the price wasn't terrible for the number of pieces you get. This set is due bound to be retired soon, so if you've been waffling, I say grab it.

Ratings:

Minifigures 4/5
Parts 4/5
Play Value 5/5
Price 3.5/5 (Canadian pricing) 4/5 (American)
Overall score 4/5

[skeet318]

Only 4 stars on the minifigures? I bet if Wolverine or Alpha Flight were in it, it'd be 5 stars. ; ) Just kidding. I had a time getting this set with Black Widow the first time around. Can't wait for sequel. THANOS minifigure!!!!

[hatcher]

The four stars for the mini figures was due to getting a Loki and the stupid Alien again, the other figures were excellent.

[Brick & Blue]

I have never had any issues with the little probe thing coming down, it's just you. ;)

[phonciplebone]

One of my five favorite sets from last year. It was the biggest surprise for me, because I bought this set solely for parts and figures, but came away loving the build of it.
And this set has the "swooshability" set all the way to 11.

[soulless_minion]

Finally got myself one of these a couple of weeks ago for just under 60% RRP unopened, had all the other Avengers sets by this time last year, I think, but was biding my time hoping for a bit cheaper. It was the most fun I've had building a set, probably ever hehe. I don't mind the Chitauri at all but Black Widow is of course the best part.

[Brickred]

Anybody on the fence for this set, should seriously reconsider. Besides the arkham asylum this is the next best super heroes set

[skeet318]

Anybody on the fence for this set, should seriously reconsider. Besides the arkham asylum this is the next best super heroes set

Glad the Flashpoint retcon garbage has affected Lego's DC line.