Review: 76307 Iron Man Mech vs. Ultron
Posted by CapnRex101,
Despite his status as one of the Avengers' most threatening enemies, Ultron has only appeared in seven sets to date. Many of these have been very expensive or are long retired, which makes Ultron's new minifigure in 76307 Iron Man Mech vs. Ultron particularly appealing.
In addition, this version of Iron Man is exclusive, featuring a unique helmet and inspired by the comics, as Ultron seems to be. Similar mechs have been produced for Iron Man before, although this edition could be the best yet.
Summary
76307 Iron Man Mech vs. Ultron, 101 pieces.
£12.99 / $14.99 / €14.99 | 12.9p/14.8c/14.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Iron Man's mech is good, while the minifigures included are outstanding
- Highly desirable minifigures
- Decent, but unremarkable, mech design
- No elbow or knee articulation
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The vast majority of Iron Man minifigures are based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so any inspired by the comics are welcome. The torso and legs have appeared in earlier sets and look superb, featuring impressive detail and colours accurate to the comics, while the mask attached to the helmet is new.
I like the distinctive shape of Iron Man's metallic gold faceplate, reminiscent of his Mark III armour from the comics, albeit with a downturned mouth. Underneath is the standard Tony Stark head, with a smile and Tony's characteristic facial hair on one side and a heads-up display on the other, for use with the helmet's opening faceplate.
A comic version of Ultron, meanwhile, has not been available since 2016, when 76066 Mighty Micros: Hulk vs. Ultron was released. As usual for the Mighty Micros, that minifigure was basic and included short legs, so the modern design is far superior. Its silver colour is attractive and I am pleased to see Ultron's specialised neck element again.
Also, the pink glow in Ultron's eyes and mouth is striking and corresponds with his classic depiction in Marvel comics. Initially, I wondered whether the helmet used for Ultron in 2015 should have returned for this minifigure, but including that would hide much of the detail on the head, so I am satisfied with this design.
Iron Man lacks his standard repulsor blasts, but Ultron is equipped with a pair of trans-red 1x1 round bricks for his feet, plus a missile that represents a laser beam. A similar technique was used for Cyclops in 76294 X-Men: The X-Mansion and it works fairly well, although I find it hard to see this piece as anything other than the missile from a spring-loaded shooter.
The Completed Model
Iron Man is an obvious choice for a Marvel character mech, so it comes as no surprise that this is the third such model, succeeding 76140 Iron Man Mech and 76203 Iron Man Mech Armour. The latest design is quite distinctive though, featuring the modern limb elements shared by all Marvel mechs of this size since 2023, which makes the arms and legs look bulkier.
These parts lack joints for the elbows and knees, which is a shame, but I like their proportions. Also, you can still achieve a good variety of poses and I appreciate the large feet, ensuring the mech remains stable even standing on one leg. However, wrist articulation is sorely missing, as you cannot easily pose the vehicle with a palm repulsor outstretched, in Iron Man's trademark pose.
The colour scheme is standard fare for Iron Man, blending dark red and pearl gold, alongside a few dark tan elements where gold is unavailable. I think the colour blocking is effective and the printed 2x2 tile representing the arc reactor looks superb, with reflective metallic silver accents standing out on the torso.
Of course, there is space to seat Iron Man inside, but the usual lack of controls is unfortunate. Nevertheless, my opinion of these specialised torso pieces has certainly improved since their introduction, even though I continue to prefer how they are used in the comparable Star Wars mechs released lately.
The decision to use asymmetrical arms is an interesting one, but welcome, as the mech would otherwise lack any distinctive features beyond its colours. Stud shooters are integrated well for the right hand, but I am glad poseable fingers are retained on the other. Though the back of the mech lacks detail, at least the colours remain consistent.
As ever, the light bluish grey 1x2 plates with ball cups are an exception and these elements do look odd on the legs. Sadly, they remain colour locked and a small mech like this one is never going to be the set that persuades LEGO to switch their colour. I imagine that would require a more demanding license partner that absolutely insists on a colour change.
Overall
The presence of Ultron will be enough to draw many Marvel fans to 76307 Iron Man Mech vs. Ultron and understandably so, as the villain's return seems long overdue. This is my favourite version of Ultron yet and the new Iron Man minifigure is excellent too, albeit only distinguished from others by a new helmet.
Meanwhile, the mech is well designed and fulfils its role for play, but lacks the truly distinctive characteristics of 76276 Venom Mech Armour vs. Miles Morales or 76277 War Machine Mech Armour produced last year. Still, for the price of £12.99, $14.99 or €14.99, I think this set offers considerable play value and it will definitely be of interest to Marvel minifigure collectors.
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31 comments on this article
Eh, it’s fine. It’s increasingly apparent to me we can’t really judge these kinds of sets as adult fans unless there’s something egregiously wrong with them. But this one is just… fine.
This is a day-1 buy for me. Having said that, I am an Iron Man/Tony Stark geek so it's to be expected LOL! Both minifigures do look fabulous and its nice to have this pair resembling the comic book look. As for the mech, I think this is just where we are at moving forward until LEGO decides to revamp them (again) with newer parts. They work by anad large but are not as much fun to articulate/pose. Even my 7 year old admits to this. So, LEGO, if you are listening, perhaps its time to revise the mech lineup.
76038 is such a stumpy Avengers tower.
Also https://brickset.com/sets/SDCC2015-1/Throne-of-Ultron looks so sick. Why are SDCC things always the best?
Marvel sets are just not doing it for me at the moment. I've only bought three in the last two years. It's too many mechs and not enough movie/comic-based small sets. There are 34+ films and numerous tv series to draw from but we keep getting dumb spider-man cars
The grey lad needs longer stilts.
I just need an Ultron
I'm curious which do y'all think was generally better, mighty micros or mechs?
@stevild3 said:
"I'm curious which do y'all think was generally better, mighty micros or mechs?"
Mighty Micros was a lot more fun as a concept (I’d have loved a kart game inspired by it) and the two characters in each allowed its creativity to go in more interesting directions, in addition to expanding the character selection in exciting ways. I think my favourite one was the Superman/Bizarro set - the latter car is just the former’s car in reverse.
@stevild3 said:
"I'm curious which do y'all think was generally better, mighty micros or mechs?"
I think the Mighty Micros had a lot more charm, but both are really just about the minifigures in the end, and the "normal" ones in the mechs are more appealing, at least to me, than the (even more) stylized MM versions.
Ultron is one of my favourite Marvel villains, so I really want him. But the price of this set is insane.
@Ridgeheart said:
"The first time we ever saw Ultron in the comics, he looked like a space-heater with a face. The last time I saw him, he was wearing half of Hank Pym's corpse. I'm just saying - it's difficult to make a comics-accurate Ultron, as he does tend to reinvent himself, quite often and quite literally.
I don't think we'll be getting a Pymtron any time soon, but you never know!"
I am guessing the Ultron from the Bendis New Avengers series will never happen what with that one being a T-1000 version of a naked Janet van Dyne.
At least this Ultron will be cheap on Bricklink. But like Superman mech, I believe this would be a set in which the villain should be in the mech.
I expect those mixel ball joint plates are color locked for durability reasons. Perhaps the stress would be unreasonable for pearl gold in a way thats not a problem for black / grey.
Hmmm, that Ultron torso may be utilized for some customs, maybe even a Doom Supreme mod…
@atp357 said:
"I expect those mixel ball joint plates are color locked for durability reasons. Perhaps the stress would be unreasonable for pearl gold in a way thats not a problem for black / grey. "
It’s more likely that the colour additives affect the friction of the joint which has very sensitive tolerances. So unlike other parts where the moulds can be re-used to make parts of different colours, any ball-and-socket moulds can only be used for one colour - light bley in this case. LEGO couldn’t take the same mould and make pearl gold or red parts. The friction would be wrong. It could, in theory, make a different mould for each colour, but that would be very expensive.
I like better if it had the exo force arms for fingers but overall a good inexpensive Iron Man mech.
I didn’t like the fixed leg elements at first but I get why they do it.
For play, the original ball joint legs for this would bend too much, flatten out the figure during play.
This makes it easier for kids to pose and play roughly with it.
There is a Monkie Kid small mech set 80040 that I wish LEGO would use as a base design for these types of mechs that is super poseable and strong joints that hold up during play.
I have it on very good authority that Ironman sucks.
@Mister_Jonny:
The Bizarro car does have a few minor differences besides just being backward, but yeah, that was a really cool realization when it first came out. The only one I've actually built myself is for Deadpool, where he's wearing a unicorn suit and driving a giant (relatively speaking, since it is done in the Mighty Micros style) taco.
@Somnium:
In this specific case, it really does make perfect sense that it's Ironman wearing an armored suit inside of an armored suit, since he's prone to doing that when going up against opponents who are too powerful for just the first suit.
@atp357:
The Mixel sockets have some of the tightest tolerances of any LEGO part. They talked about this back in the day, and apparently changing the color will affect the fit just enough that they decided to exclusively color-lock the original Mixel joints to light-bley and dark-bley (curiously, the part with socket and ball and opposite ends got molded in the ball color, rather than the socket color). The sockets are designed to be able to stack, if you alternate them with other plates. They are two plates tall, shifted vertically off by half a plate, and they are only one stud wide. The material that forms the socket is therefore fairly thin in critical places. If the socket fits just a little too tight, it could cause it to crack open (I just encountered something like this with a Deadpool minifig, who I've left holding semi-auto pistols so long that his hands are stretched open enough that he won't hold his original guns). The plate with balls at either end appears to be color-locked to black, but it was introduced after Mixels was cancelled.
@Zander:
The actual Mixel ball elements may have been color-locked, but there are a few compatible towball elements that they used in a variety of colors through the Mixels run (primarily one with a 2x2 plate and a fairly long bar connecting the towball). The ball is compressed in the pairing, which requires an astonishing amount of force to crush a sphere. The socket is subjected to force from the inside, so it's much more likely to suffer failure.
@legoDad42:
Yup, lots of articulation is great for adults putting things in complex poses and leaving them like that for months or years at a time. For kids, one hand is going to hold the body, and the other hand can work one limb at a time. Alternately, they'll hold one character in each hand, and smash the arms together in mock battle. The legs become superfluous during play, except as a handle for whoever is playing with them.
I'd been hoping that they would get back to doing more comics-based sets.
@stevild3 said:
"I'm curious which do y'all think was generally better, mighty micros or mechs?"
The mechs are definitely better for minifig collectors, since the figures in Mighty Micros had short legs. On the other hand, those short-legged figures would be great for kids wearing Halloween costumes or something like that.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @stevild3 said:
"I'm curious which do y'all think was generally better, mighty micros or mechs?"
Mighty Micros was a lot more fun as a concept (I’d have loved a kart game inspired by it) and the two characters in each allowed its creativity to go in more interesting directions, in addition to expanding the character selection in exciting ways. I think my favourite one was the Superman/Bizarro set - the latter car is just the former’s car in reverse."
The DC side got a mobile game. The mobile game sold me on the appeal of Mighty Micros, even though I mostly got the Marvel ones. All the mechanics from those games immediately gave me an idea on how exactly I’d use the vehicles for play or stop-motion scenarios.
I really want the Ultron as he is probably my favorite Avengers villain. At the same time I don't really feel compelled to buy the set just for him.
@atp357:
The Mixel sockets have some of the tightest tolerances of any LEGO part. They talked about this back in the day, and apparently changing the color will affect the fit just enough that they decided to exclusively color-lock the original Mixel joints to light-bley and dark-bley (curiously, the part with socket and ball and opposite ends got molded in the ball color, rather than the socket color). The sockets are designed to be able to stack, if you alternate them with other plates. They are two plates tall, shifted vertically off by half a plate, and they are only one stud wide. The material that forms the socket is therefore fairly thin in critical places. If the socket fits just a little too tight, it could cause it to crack open (I just encountered something like this with a Deadpool minifig, who I've left holding semi-auto pistols so long that his hands are stretched open enough that he won't hold his original guns). The plate with balls at either end appears to be color-locked to black, but it was introduced after Mixels was cancelled.
@Zander:
The actual Mixel ball elements may have been color-locked, but there are a few compatible towball elements that they used in a variety of colors through the Mixels run (primarily one with a 2x2 plate and a fairly long bar connecting the towball). The ball is compressed in the pairing, which requires an astonishing amount of force to crush a sphere. The socket is subjected to force from the inside, so it's much more likely to suffer failure.
Interesting thanks for the reply!
Why is Ultron walking with a long trans-red cane? Does he need a sotware upgrade?
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Maybe, Pym and Ultron are separated, and the event was apparently stressful enough (or involved time travel?) that Hank Pym is appears to be older, and has a beard, so comics Pym looks like movie Pym now. Avengers Inc. is where some of that was shown.
I'm not sure the Iron Man minifig is an exclusive, it looks to be the same one that comes in 76310.
That Iron Man minifig looks alright I guess.. I don't know if it is based off of it but it reminds me of the original Invincible Iron Man comic design from who-knows-what-year.
Damn, Ultron’s waist is SNATCHED! Love this set, the mech itself could be a bit better but the minifigures are awesome.
@Ridgeheart:
So, the long and short of it is, Hank Pym proved his worth to the Avengers by inventing them some good ol' job security. That's...I mean, give him an F for Effort?
@Ridgeheart said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Ridgeheart :
So, the long and short of it is, Hank Pym proved his worth to the Avengers by inventing them some good ol' job security. That's...I mean, give him an F for Effort?"
Shortly before inventing Ultron, that was an actual story-line. Pym was so down in the dumps that he invented a different robot to attack the Avengers, so that Pym could swoop in and save the day. It didn't end well for him, because he was a pretty terrible hero. I'm pretty certain that was also the very story that cemented him as a wife-beater.
Maybe you remember Yellowjacket from the Ant-Man movies? In the comics, that was one of Pym's villainous personas. Hank Pym is not a good person."
Did he ever dye his hair orange and start referring to himself as “buddy”?
The figures are awesome, as always. Ultron especially. And I'm glad that LEGO have gone back to using the old style Iron Man helmets that open up. However, with so many characters to choose from, why did we need yet another Iron Man mech!? In the few short years that these have been around, we already have several Iron Man ones. I would have liked to have seen another character represented for a change.
The mech itself is nothing special. Which is a shame considering how good some others look with additional features like rocket packs or weapons. It's obvious that this set exists purely as a cash cow to generate some easy money, same as the Spider-Man one, as these two characters are the most popular. They could have at least made it an Iron Heart set, just to mix it up a bit
@Gemini_Phoenix said:
"The figures are awesome, as always. Ultron especially. And I'm glad that LEGO have gone back to using the old style Iron Man helmets that open up. However, with so many characters to choose from, why did we need yet another Iron Man mech!? In the few short years that these have been around, we already have several Iron Man ones. I would have liked to have seen another character represented for a change.
The mech itself is nothing special. Which is a shame considering how good some others look with additional features like rocket packs or weapons. It's obvious that this set exists purely as a cash cow to generate some easy money, same as the Spider-Man one, as these two characters are the most popular. They could have at least made it an Iron Heart set, just to mix it up a bit"
Or a Rescue armor. A purple mech would be awesome.
@PurpleDave said:
"I have it on very good authority that Ironman sucks."
Batman is a second-rate Iron Man. Iron Man does not care to be Batman.
Jealousy, night and day it tortures Bruce:
https://youtube.com/shorts/Y5c8NUfkmfM?si=cEjex8n9K78p7OfB
https://screenrant.com/batman-suitcase-suit-iron-man-mcu-mark-5-ripoff/