I don’t know about you guys, but I am super pumped for The LEGO Batman Movie coming out on February 10, 2017. We already know that Will Arnett as Batman is hilarious and there’s bound to be plenty of LEGO jokes hidden in the background. So while we count down the days until the hilarity ensues, let’s review one of the The LEGO Batman Movie sets: 70909 Batcave Break-In.
Overall, this set has a lot going for it. There are a ton of interesting play features built into the design and the two vehicles are phenomenal. Best of all, the set comes with 9 great minifigs, several of which are exclusive to this set.
Interestingly, I’d say that the design of this set (and in turn, the design of The LEGO Batman Movie) incorporates a bit of style from all of the Batman imaginings across the years. The Duckmobile reminds me of Tim Burton’s films, the high-tech Bat-console is reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s take on the franchise, and the Bat-wardrobe seems like it was specifically designed for Adam West’s campy version of the bat.
Batcave Break-In is currently in stores and and retails for $99.99 USD. (It’s on sale on Amazon for $88.) The set has 1,047 pieces and comes with 9 minifigures including (pictured below, from right to left):
- Alfred Pennyworth (butler extraordinaire)
- Bruce Wayne (playboy extraordinaire)
- Bat-Pack Batsuit (presumably, a play on the Rat Pack)
- Scu-Batsuit (short for “Scuba Batsuit”)
- Raging Batsuit (a play on Scorsese’s movie Raging Bull)
- Batman (original, crime-fighting version)
- The Penguin (aka Oswald Cobblepot, aka Danny Devito)
- 2 Hench-penguins (flightless murder machines)
There are eight numbered bags and one large instruction booklet in this set. The first bag contains the Penguin, his hench-penguins, and everything you need to build the adorable Duckmobile. The Penguin’s duck car is my favorite thing in this set. It’s got cuteness for days and is quite sturdy. I particularly like the ingeniously designed white and red missiles located on the sides of the Duckmobile.
Although we’ve already seen the Penguin in the Penguin Arctic Roller, he’s got a new face in this set. In the previous set, he was rather grumpy. But now, low and behold, the Penguin is happy! Normally, we are used to seeing minifigs with happy faces on one side and grumpy faces on the back, but since the Penguin’s top hat leaves the back of his head exposed, we have to be content with single-side faces. Below are the two minifigure Penguin versions, with the Arctic Roller Penguin on the left, and the Batcave’s Penguin on the right.
The Penguin’s hench-penguins are also new. Unlike their Series 16 Collectible Minifigure counterparts, these penguins have blood-red eyes, giving them an overall evil feeling. Of course, the robotic-backpacks also help give these henchmen an air of evil.
Bag two contains Batman and the second vehicle in the set: the Batboat. It’s got a sleek overall design and a snazzy color palette. Sadly, both the Duckmobile and the Batboat have sticker decals rather than printed tiles for the “Duck and Cover” and “Riptide” details.
The original crime-fighting Batman is not new, but you can never have too many Batmans, am I right? The LEGO Batman Movie Batman comes with a traditional bat-cowl, a flowing, unstarched cape, snazzy utility belt, and batarangs.
Bags three and four contain the base structure of the Batcave, while bags five and six add the prison and computer console respectively. The prison cell features a removable wall for hench-penguin instigated prison breaks.
The center computer console comes with a rotating control chair (with tons of complicated looking controls just waiting for a cup of coffee to be spilled on them) and multiple computer screens. All of the images in this section are sticker decals except for the 2×2 tile with the iconic Batman logo. (Hey, at least we got one printed tile.)
These bags also include Alfred Pennyworth’s whose three-piece suit (with tails!) is one of the snazziest outfits I’ve seen on a minfig in a long time.
For new part junkies, Alfred’s got a unique starched collar element, fabric tails, and a flesh-colored bald head (as opposed to the yellow bald heads we’ve had from Collective Minifigures in the past).
Bags seven and eight contain the hilarious spinning Bat-wardrobe, the secret revolving wall portion of the Batcave, and the remainder of the minifigs. In total, the Bat-wardrobe has space for seven batman costumes (presumably, the extra space is for some of the ridiculous Batman costumes from the Collectible Minifigures).
The spinning wall portion of the Batcave allows for super-quick costume changes. One second, you’re a crime-fighting bat, the next, you’re the infamous Bruce Wayne. And, of course, every super-secret superhero base needs a revolving wall, because you never know when you might need to change into a snazzy white tuxedo.
The Raging Batsuit comes with purple boxing gloves and a dark blue bat cowl. My favorite thing about this bat-persona is that Batman put on a gray batsuit, then slipped on a pair of yellow boxing shorts overtop.
The Scu-Batsuit is what you get when you mix the traditional LEGO scuba suit with the Batsuit. Not much else you can say about this suit, really—it’s a classic.
The Bat-Pack Batsuit is my favorite costume in this set because it is so flashy. That two-sided pleather-like cape is divine and the sparkly jacket is fabulous. While the design is intended to bring to mind the Rat Pack and crooning lounge singers, all I can see is Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games movies.
No Batcave could be complete without a winking Bruce Wayne. This minifig is simple, but still so classy. The black bowtie might be my favorite new piece.
Overall, with a total of 1,047 pieces, Batcave Break-in is pretty good value. Given the fact that LEGO’s standard pricing is $0.10 per piece, this set comes in a little cheaper than expected and has some great minifigs to boot. I’m glad that I added this set to my collection.
If you enjoyed this review, don’t miss our other reviews of LEGO sets from The LEGO Batman Movie:
The LEGO Batman Movie 70903 The Riddler Riddle Racer
The LEGO Batman Movie 70905 The Batmobile
The LEGO Batman Movie 70906 The Joker Notorious Lowrider
The LEGO Batman Movie 70907 Killer Croc Tail-Gator
The LEGO Batman Movie 70911 The Penguin Arctic Roller
The LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures
The LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures Feel Guide
The LEGO Batman Movie 30524 Mini Batwing and 30521 Mini Batmobile
The LEGO Batman Movie 30522 Batman in the Phantom Zone & 30523 The Joker Battle Training
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
You get three alternate Batsuits in this set. Three _alternate_ Batsuits. The tricky part is you actually get four Batsuits, all of which need to be racked when Batman is masquerading as Bruce Wayne (or eating lobster). From the CMF line, only the pink fairy Batman works because the other four Batsuits all show quite a bit of skin. But there’s more! There’s going to be a polybag with both Disco Batman and Tears of Batman minifigs. Disco looks like it might be showing a bit of chest, which would again disqualify it from the rack, but Tears of Batman is 100% okay. That gets us to six of the seven slots. There are some regular Batsuits mixed in with all the goofy ones, so that’s always an option, but if you’re willing to do a bit of modification, there’s also going to be the Kiss Kiss Tuxedo Batman keychain. All you have to do is de-chain the thing, and you’ve got a seventh LBM-specific Batsuit to put on the rack.
Of course, for my personal collection, I’ve got about another 30ish that would all work in this situation on the theory that all Batsuits from every source are included somewhere on the rack.