LEGO Marvel 76216 Iron Man Armory [Review]

Iron Man 2 came out more than a decade ago. But the power of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is such that, even 12 years later, LEGO’s target audience can still be expected to have seen the film. At the time, LEGO didn’t do any real, specific tie-in for the movie. But they’re making up for that now with set 76216 Iron Man Armory. While this set draws from multiple of Tony Stark’s on-screen adventures, it’s got a definite preference for the Armored Avenger’s second cinematic outing. This 496-piece set will be available on June 1st from the LEGO Shop Online for US $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK TBD.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.


Unboxing the set and contents

The set comes in a large thumb-punch style box with the Marvel catch-all “The Infinity Saga” branding. The main image features chaos in Tony’s workshop as Ivan Vanko (aka Whiplash) gets fended off by Pepper and War Machine while Nick Fury calmly drinks a cup of coffee. The eight included minifigures are highlighted along the bottom, as per usual.

The back of the box features the workshop in a different (and calmer) configuration. Inset images demonstrate both the flexible nature of the armor storage compartments as well as the included tile shooter weapon.

Inside the box are 4 numbered bags, a sticker sheet, and an instruction booklet that uses a white “letterbox” framing of the completed model.


The final model

The overall build doesn’t have much to call out. The whole set has sort of an “advent calendar” aspect to it. The build is lots of little things, like desks and workshop machinery. The most complex item in the set is the car, a not-exact-but-close-enough rendition of the Audi R8 Spyder from Iron Man 2. We’ve seen numerous similarly constructed sports cars in LEGO Town sets in recent years, and if you’ve built one of those you know exactly what you’re in for here. The car does have two notable aspects to it, the first is the 1×1 quarter round tiles it uses for the headlights, available in trans-yellow for the first time. The second is the small storage compartment behind the driver’s seat, which allows Tony to transport the Stark Expo model like he did in the movie.

Next up is the gantry platform. The suit-up gantry remains a trademark Iron Man accessory, even as Tony has surpassed the need for it thanks to nanotech. It’s a good thing Tony has moved on, though, because this platform lacks any dedicated robot arms to help apply any armor. It’s essentially a fancy launchpad, I suppose.

The set includes at least one robot arm in the form of DUM-E which, along with a large tool chest and drill press, provides Tony with all the equipment he needs for constructing new suits and weapons.

Tony’s also got a pair of desks. One features some computer displays and blueprints, along with a hinged arm to support under-construction suit pieces.

The largest part of the set is the eight armor storage compartments. These compartments are identical in construction and designed to be modular, so they can be arranged in multiple configurations. As shown, each compartment can hold a full suit of armor, one of three full-length computer read-out screens, or any number of weapons and accessories. These compartments make clever use of garage roller door sections to give them a suitably high-tech look. But they don’t match the design of the compartments from sets 76167 and 76125, which might irk some fans trying to complete a full Hall of Armor. The compartments can be stacked or connected end to end, and have the option of being topped with a set of four pieces of the railing.

If you’ve picked up enough sets over the years to have eight Iron Man minifigures (which isn’t difficult to do), they’ll look pretty snazzy standing side-by-side in the completed compartments.


The minifigures

The set includes eight minifigures, which I suspect will be the driving force behind most purchases of this set.

The first three minifigures are unarmored characters – Tony Stark, Nick Fury, and Pepper Potts. All of whom have appeared in recent previous sets. While Tony is in his civilian clothes, his face still features the targeting computer print on one side, useful for suiting him up in any of the included armors.

Speaking of armors, Tony has three to pick from in this set. The first is the Mark 3 suit, which first appeared in the original Iron Man film. Both the torso and legs for this suit appeared previously in set 76190 Iron Man: Iron Monger Mayhem, but the helmet – like all good guy helmets in this set – is a brand-new mold.

Like the original Iron Man helmets, this new helmet features a flip-up faceplate. The new faceplate clips into the main helmet when closed. The new helmet is also a touch larger and frames the minifigure face differently when opened.

The next suit is the Mark 25, or “Striker.” It’s a mostly gray suit with a pair of jackhammers for hands. It’s an entirely new figure, with new printing on the front and back. It also features the ridged minifigure shoulder pads in bright light orange for the first time.

Tony’s final armor in the set is an updated version of the Mark 85 armor. The torso and legs for this armor were available in multiple Avengers Endgame tie-in sets, but it appears here with the new helmet mold. It also comes equipped with a rocket pack and energy blade weapon.

Tony’s fellow Armored Avenger, James “Rhodey” Rhodes appears here in an all-new figure, featuring new War Machine armor printing on the legs, torso, and new helmet. He also features a new head with a single printed expression.

The final figure in the set is Iron Man 2 antagonist Ivan Vanko, aka “Whiplash.” Ivan appears here in the full armor he wore in the film’s third act, although I think his appearance at the race track is a more iconic look for the character. Ivan’s armor is all-new printing, but it uses the second-generation Iron Man helmet mold, which lacks a functional faceplate. Ivan’s head is all-new, featuring frowning and grinning expressions. While the face does a decent job of capturing Michael Rourke’s unhinged Russian mad scientist performance, the choice of hair pulled back into a neat ponytail gives Ivan more of a dashing pirate vibe that hurts the look of the overall figure when comparing him to his onscreen counterpart. He comes with two trans-light blue chains that do a better than expected job of replicating his on-screen weapons.



Conclusion and recommendation

This set isn’t going to offer much to LEGO fans interested in the building experience. It’s really just an advent calendar on steroids. There’s nothing wrong with this set, per se. The builds are all good. But at a price-per-piece cost of 18 cents, “good” may not be good enough to earn a recommendation. The real value in the set comes from the minifigures – especially the multiple new armor pieces. But the new Iron Man helmet mold is, no doubt, going to show up in plenty of more reasonably priced sets in the future. I’d recommend waiting for some of those. Even if you’ve invested in the previous two Armory sets, the change in design for this one makes it tough to say that your other sets are incomplete without this one. I guess maybe if Iron Man 2 is your favorite movie of all time, and an Ivan Vanko minifigure and the Stark Expo model are pieces you’ve been dreaming of, then maybe I’d say you need to jump on this. But for everyone else, your money is better spent elsewhere for that LEGO MCU fix. Thor Love and Thunder has a really great offering.

LEGO Marvel 76216 Iron Man Armory is a 496-piece set that will be available on June 1st from the LEGO Shop Online forUS $89.99 | CAN $119.99 | UK TBD. It may also be available from third party sellers on Amazon or eBay.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.


3 comments on “LEGO Marvel 76216 Iron Man Armory [Review]

  1. jayk719

    That price to part ratio absolutely kills any hype for me. This isn’t a 496-piece set I’d even buy at $50, to be honest, even with the figures.

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