LEGO Overwatch 75974 Bastion [Review]

We recently reviewed 75953 D.Va and Reinhardt from the latest tie-up between LEGO and Blizzard, resulting in a complete line of LEGO Overwatch sets. Let’s take a look at the second-largest set in the theme, 75974 Bastion. The set will be released in January and includes 602 pieces, with a retail price of $49.99 USD — the largest character build in this release of six sets. In the game, Bastion’s default mode is a bipedal robot armed with a sub-machine gun. Its alternate mode is in the form of a turret, leaving it immobile but highly dangerous. This build attempts to capture the essence of Bastion in both these modes. Let’s dive in to see how it stacks up.

If you want to get them early, some of these LEGO sets are available for pre-order from the LEGO Shop online.

The packaging, instructions, and sticker sheet

The box art for the Overwatch series is unique. While the front of the box pictures the usual finished model, the back is vertically printed and features a standing, digitally rendered Bastion that has a special effects glow like a J.J. Abrams movie. It may make one think subconsciously that you’re getting a larger than expected build.

Bastion comes in four bags with a single instruction booklet and a single sheet of stickers with 12 labels that will end up on the build. At first glance, it seems unnecessary as most of these don’t really feature any detailing, but let’s see how it turns out eventually.

The build – Recon mode

The box art depicts Baston in Recon mode, and a smaller insert on the front shows the transformation into Sentry mode, which you might miss if you take too quick a glance. It’s safe to assume that we’ll be building the upright mode of Bastion from the start, and eventually get to the steps for transformation.

The first steps make up the lower torso. Two technic pins on each side provide connections to what we’d guess at this point are for securing the lower limbs.

They are stacked on top of each other to allow an almost friction-free 360-degree turn. It’s good to see that there’s quite a bit of articulation included in the build in the early stages. Very quickly, the arm structure comes into place and the tan skin layered on top, quickly tells us we’re going to see the upper outline of Bastion shape up very soon.

A light brick supplied in the set is a nice surprise. Below you can see different angles of how the light brick is neatly stacked and hidden into what we can start to recognize as Bastion’s head.

The photo below shows the completed head viewed from the front and back. Bastion in his default mode has blue ‘eyes’. They turn red in attack or high alert mode. A blue 1×2 plate placed vertically makes up for the default shade. The light brick that’s supplied is neatly hidden into the build. A push at the back of the head triggers the light and sets Bastion into attack mode.

With Bag 1 completed, we have a great view of the finished head and torso as things take shape. I’m starting to already like what I see. 

Bag number 2 is a repetitive build — one each of two legs. There are no knee joints, as we’ve come to expect from mechs in official LEGO sets. Similar to most robot/mech type builds, the permanently angled knees give the finished build a stable center of gravity. The three separate sub-assemblies on the left in the photo below make up the completed leg on the right (sans the tan-colored exterior armor).

Once the tan armor elements are in place, you start to get a sense of the bulk and heft of Bastion.

At this point, once the completed legs are attached, there is no support for Bastion to stand upright, so we’ll give him a break here to take a rest.

It wasn’t hard to guess that the 3rd bag would complete the two feet. 

With the feet in place, Bastion is now able to stand upright and proud. Below is a view of both the front and back view at this limb-less stage.

In this same bag we get the only two printed tiles in this set — a pair of 1×1 round tile printed with the familiar Overwatch medallion. It’s placed at an inconspicuous location at the edge of the turret. It’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. We’re not sure why it’s even included in this particular part of the build but I guess these were in the plan to print these, and it seems like a force fit into every set issued.

The turret is a quick build that’s mounted at the back of Bastion.

Once the turret is mounted, Bastion looks great, and isn’t someone you’d want to mess with, carrying all that firepower.

We move on to the fourth and final bag, which is a quick build of Bastion’s arms and two shoulder pauldrons. The right arm is a submachine gun that does damage at medium range. The left arm consists of two fingers and a thumb, a limit of what LEGO elements can build, compared to the four fingers and a thumb that Bastion has in the game.

The only tiny bit missing is Ganymede, Bastion’s avian companion. It’s a tiny build that completes the final steps of this set. I do love how the color expressed in its tiniest form conveys the shape of the little bird, however, it would have been nice to have gotten a more fleshed-out build.

With Ganymede perched on Bastion’s left thumb, Bastion in all his glory is complete. One could almost imagine the gait of a mechanical, destructive machine walking down the street ready to attack. Bastion stands 9.5 inches tall from his feet to the top of the turret which towers slightly above his head.

The side and back profile view stand out well even with the limited parts.

The transformation – Sentry mode

Transforming Bastion from Recon to Sentry mode is quite simple, and only takes about a minute.

  • Step 1: Toss Ganymede aside.
  • Step 2: Lift up the flaps at both knees.
  • Step 3: Get into a kneeling position using the lever at the hips
  • Step 4: Push the torso back into an upright position.
  • Step 5: Turn the upper body 360 degrees to face the front.
  • Step 6: Slide the shoulder armor to the front, turn the turret top-side 180 degrees and get rid of Bastion’s head.

Browse the gallery below for a closer look at each individual step.

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The transformed Bastion is quite elegant indeed. I’m quite confident that this is how sentry mode is executed in the game, with the exception that Bastion’s head is supposed to pull back into the frame of the torso.

Playability

Bastion has a few more play features that are worth looking at. The light brick may be a little gimmicky, but it does give fans a dose of how Bastion operates in his world. It’s hard to appreciate it during the day, but if you turn down the light a little, it does the job.

Articulation is good enough to get Bastion in a few great looking poses. Joints at the arms have decent flexibility, and the combination of the hips and feet allow for a great balance thanks to the wide feet. The capability to twist the torso for a full turn breaks the monotony further.


Your mileage may vary with poses, but it can get downright weird if you don’t have an eye for great poses.

Last but not least, the capability to transform into sentry mode and having all that detail in the default recon mode just shows how much thought was put into the design to bring Bastion to life.

Conclusions & recommendation

At a piece count of just above 600, the overall look and feel of Bastion is well executed. When the franchise was announced but before any details were revealed, speculation about Bastion being one of the candidates as a set was quite obvious, given that the character is mechanical with a robotic shape. I do have to admit, while I wasn’t quite satisfied initially during the build, the end product grew on me as I started to jot down notes about the completed build.

Because the character itself is a robot, this is the only set in the LEGO Overwatch line without a minifigure. I still do feel that the stickers were redundant, with maybe the exception of the shoulder armor designs. For the right reasons, I would seldom ask of this – but since there were already stickers printed, the decision to go all out with even more detailing for the mechanical parts would have been a step in the right direction.

It does make a fine display pice alongside the other two mech characters released in this wave (Reinhardt, and D.Va). I’m taking a leap of faith and assuming that this is not the end for Overwatch. I’ve said it in my last review and I’ll say it again – if you’re an Overwatch fan and new to LEGO, what are you waiting for? These should already be on your shopping list.


LEGO Overwatch sets are available for pre-order (or add them to your wishlist) on LEGO Shop online. LEGO Overwatch 75974 Bastion comes with 602 pieces and retails for $49.99 USD.

Remember to check out our other reviews of the new LEGO Overwatch sets:


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.


Check out our gallery of photos and leave your thoughts and comments below:

 

1 comment on “LEGO Overwatch 75974 Bastion [Review]

  1. Matze Bob

    It feels a bit like a missed opportunity not to store the head in the chest piece when Bastion is in his Gun mode. Otherwise this set is an absolute nobrainer for me!

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