If you’ve ever wondered how Bruce Wayne got to be a billionaire, the answer is simple: this is a man who understands branding. Why else have a plane in the exact shape of your own symbol? Branding. It’s simple. It’s perfect. It’s pure Wayne, baby! And it’s coming to toy store shelves soon in the form of LEGO DC 76265 Batwing Batman vs. The Joker. At first glance, this companion piece to the 76224 Batmobile set might seem redundant. Just another Bat-vehicle with the same two characters as minifigures? But the Batwing might be hiding a few surprises in store for you. And I’m not just talking about a giant pair of scissors. (In fact, this set explicitly does not include the giant scissors.) This 357-piece set will be available Aug 1st for US $37.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £31.99.
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 parts, instructions, and stickers
The Batwing comes in a square thumb-punch, with a main image of the aircraft swooping down at the streets of Gotham while the Joker stands safely off to the side. The relevant logos and minifigure headshots line the edges in typical fashion.
The back of the box pays image to one of my favorite moments from the 1989 film, when Batman takes a minute away from crime fighting to fly his plane up and make it framed by the moon for no reason at all. Truly one of the coolest and most useless things a superhero has ever done on screen. Various inset images also show off the set’s play features.
Inside the box are four numbered bags, a small sticker sheet, and your standard instruction book.
The build
This build offers less color than the corresponding Batmobile set. The flatter footprint of the Batwing doesn’t offer a lot of room to hide any brightly colored bricks inside the model. Still, the set does a good job of tempering the black with various grays and leaves the instructions easy enough to follow that younger builders shouldn’t have too much trouble.
The first bag focuses on the fuselage, while bags 2 and 3 are almost exact mirrors of each other, handling a wing each, and bag 4 brings the cockpit and finishing touches.
The final model
See what I mean about branding? The completed set is just a Batman logo rendered in plastic form. And what a joy it is! While it has a few too many exposed studs for my taste, it’s a sturdy and swoopable jet. Plenty of wedges and curves come together to give the wings the correct shape, while still keeping them thin and aerodynamic. I found the Batmobile to be a touch too big and gimmick-laden, but this set hit all the right notes for me. The stud-shooters are unobtrusive, and the scale feels just right.
The single passenger cockpit is accurate to the movie, with lots of (stickered) switches and dials for Batman to make use of.
There’s storage space in the back for Batman’s equipment, this time nestled between the two angled rudders. No grappling gun is included this time, but there’s plenty of room to toss one in.
Aesthetically, the Batwing pairs really well with the 76224 Batmobile. This, of course, means that it will also serve as a fitting partner for the Batmobile from the Batcave Shadowbox set.
But the best part of all is that, just like the UCS Batwing, this one is designed with to be hung on your wall.
The minifigures
Like the Batmobile, the Batwing comes with Batman and the Joker. Joker here is sporting a purple fedora instead of his green widow’s peak hairline. But, except for that change, both figures are identical to the ones in the Batmobile set.
We mentioned in the Batmobile set review how Batman’s new dual-molded cowl means he doesn’t need a white headband to stand in for the eyes on his mask. This also means that, if you have a spare hair piece laying around, you can get a pretty decent unmasked Bruce.
We also mentioned how the new dual-molded cowl wasn’t a great match for the 1989 Batman cowl. I found, though, that the older cowl from the LEGO Movie-era Batman does get a little closer to matching the ’89 look. Here’s that combo compared to the UCS Batmobile Batman.
Conclusion and recommendation
Overall, I found this set to be much more enjoyable when compared to the Batmobile. The gimmicks are less intrusive. The wall hanging feature gives it a nice “collectible” feel for those of us old enough to remember the hype that came with the ’89 movie. But, at the same time, it’s still a super fun and swoopable aircraft that younger builders can have a ball with. Plus, it’s a full $10 less than the Batmobile set. And, if you sprang for the Batcave Shadowbox, this will feel like a compliment to your investment instead of a redundancy. Both of the new Bat-vehicle sets are good, but if you have to pick one, I’d definitely opt for this one.
LEGO DC 76265 Batwing Batman vs. The Joker comes with 357 pieces and will be available on August 1st for US $37.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £31.99. It may also be available from third-party sellers on Amazon and 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.
How hard is it exactly to mount it on the wall? Do you need a hook or a nail or what?
Yeah, I’d like to know what the underside of this model looks like, since it’s designed to be able to be wall-mounted?
Funny that they didn’t bother giving the Joker a single accessory. He has several in the movie.
To John. Yup. LEGO should dump PC (they already have supported dodgy political agendas anyway) and give Joker a proper 40inch Magnum. Scaled to minifig size.
I semi-accidentally started collecting movie cars at this scale in Lego, so I’ll be picking up the Batmobile, but this does look good too. Glad we’re seeing some ’89 Batman sets!