I mainly bought this for the minifigures, thinking the set itself would be largely the same as Hulk's Helicarrier (6868) set from 2012. However, I was delighted to find one of the best thought out and playable sets I've seen for years.

Minifigures

The minifigures were my initial reason for buying the set, and they are very good. MODOK obviously stands out with the giant minifig style head and it's very well done. His seat is an integral part of his costume and it's also done well. Falcon comes out very well and looks a lot like the cartoon series. Thor is much closer to the cartoon series than the movies, the stubble is gone and his outfit in traditional four colour comic style. Hulk is the same model as Hulk's Helicarrier with purple pants and a slightly different face. And finally Task Master is a good choice of villain, with cape, cowl, sword and shield. The AIM robot is simple and adds something else to move around.

Parts

There's nothing particularly interesting about the parts, some nice transparent curves and a glass door, that's about as far as it goes here.

The build

The build is simple but very well thought out, which we'll come to in a moment. There's nothing that's particularly difficult to build, although the way the pieces slot together is very clever. The back wall is made of 3 separate chunks that slot together to appear completely solid. The large laser is made of two chunks that slot together, and MODOK's feet attach so that he can "drive" the laser. The stairs are another chunk, and the curved glass cell rests on the top of them.

The completed model/Playability

Once completed, the model looks completely solid. It's not at all fragile, it can be picked up and moved around easily. However, there's some great playability hidden there, and it's spelled out beautifully in the accompanying comic, which is basically instructions for how to play with it. Taking Hulk, you can bust open the back wall and it flies off in 3 pieces. Pressing a lever under the laser (or having Hulk 'smash' it) flips it apart, flying into two pieces, one of which will have MODOK attached to it. You can then push a strut out under a gantry, which will tip the robot off, before finally hitting another lever next to the stairs. This causes the stairs to fly off together with the curved glass walls of the cell, releasing Thor. It works beautifully and best of all it takes about 30 seconds to put it all back together, ready to do again. Which my kids did over and over and over again.

Overall opinion

As you can tell by the score, I'm incredibly impressed by this set. The idea of destruction of the model being a major part of play has been done before, but often causes the models to be difficult to handle. Yet half of this set has been created specifically to be destroyed and it is completely solid. It's also amazingly fun to play with, it's not a very large set and yet has more going on than a lot of sets twice its size. Like a lot of licensed sets, you're paying a lot for the minifigs and there's not a huge amount of Lego, which would lead me to consider it poor value for money if it wasn't that they've done so much with what they've got. This is one of my favourite sets for a long time and I highly recommend it.

Box/Instructions

My box ended up cut open and recycled, the instructions were very clear and had no discoloration problems, and I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

Parts

I don't think there was anything unique, but the yellow trim (antennae, guardrails, yellow and black striped "warning" pieces), blue, grey and black pieces were all well represented. You get the same size (I think) rounded transparent wall pieces as Arkham or the last Hulk/Avengers set, so for MOCers out there, you can make a full cylinder, like in the Avengers movie. There is also a clear door, which I don't think I've seen to many of in modern sets.

Minifigures

This is where the set earned it's price to me.

First up is the Falcon. I'm glad they included him in some kind of set this year, as he will be featured in the new Captain America movie, which Lego hasn't made sets for. A two sided face (neutral and smirking) and torso, and 'light brown" hands, which don't match the face, and I don't think I've seen any other Lego pieces in the same shade. Weird. He also has a "new as far as I know" set of wings, in translucent red.

Taskmaster is a neat inclusion, and this variation (I'll admit I'm not familiar with the Avengers Assemble source material) looks interesting. A double sided torso with a sword holder printed on, white cape and white mask are all nice, as well as the white "underpants" to highlight the ensemble. His head has a serious/smirking double print, and his accessories, aside from the cape, are the LOTR longsword and Boromir's shield with an orange brick on it.

Thor is neat. He has no stubble (and a "scared" look with his neutral/puzzled face), unlike his Chris Hemsworth based counter parts, but has the same hair piece, Mjolnir, cape, and a similar (although distinct) chest piece. He also has a gold belt painted on to his torso as well.

MODOK seemed, aside from his enormous head, very plain. He has purple pants and a gold torso with purple arms/hands, all unprinted. The pants are hardly seen when he is seated in his flying chair (an interesting built-up accessory), and his torso is covered by part of his head piece. His giant, teeth gritting head is pretty accurate to how I remember the villain, so despite much "flair", he is a solid mini figure.

HULK SMASH! That's obligatory, isn't it? An almost identical figure to the Helicarrier Breakout set last year, but with purple pants (!) and a closed set of gritted teeth. Nothing super new, but I'll say it: They don't have enough Hulks, probably because he takes over the set he's in.

The build

Something seemed...familiar. Hulk, in a lab, with a Norse god in captivity...

Anyway, the build itself is quite interesting, and actually had a few surprises I found by building that I didn't know it had from it's still photos. If I had read the box, I may not have missed anything, I suppose, but I was excited to get building.

The lab is built up as two "towers" with a "bridge" that is filled in, to be smashed out, a battle damage gun tower for MODOK, Thor's holding cell and stairs to it, and even a little security robot. Being brick built, they didn't consider it a mini figure, but it has a face, sort of (the grill and body piece make it look like it has eyes and a mouth), and is an equivalent of the Droidekas from the Star Wars sets.

Aside from the obvious "smash wall" under the "bridge", the play set has a ledge that breaks away with the help of technic pieces, and the bridge/holding cell break away pretty cleanly as well.

The completed model

It's deeper and more solid then I suspected it would be, and looks pretty good all pieced together.

Full disclosure, this AFOL smashed the wall out with the Hulk figure many more times then was needed. This set is made more for play then to display.

Overall opinion

I've hinted at it in the article, it was a very familiar kind of set to last year's Hulk-centeric Lego set. To me it doesn't take much away from the set, but I hope this isn't the only way we see the Hulk, in a slightly overpriced lab,and Loki/Thor in a containment cell, in the same price range, that collectors have to buy to get a clear fan favorite. At least they didn't give the Hulk his own tank to drive, or a beach house, or a jet-ski or something.

That being said, if I was someone looking to play or build, this is a great set. There are a lot of play functions, some useful, but not overly rare, pieces, and you do get some sweet mini figures, all of which are either unique, or are unique variations.

I liked the mini-jet from the other set, but there are enough play options with this set to make you forget about it, and the laser turret and security bot do a great job covering for it.

My verdict? It says 4, but I would give it a 4.5 if I could. My only gripe is it's very similar to last years Hulk set, but it's, in my opinion, a better build, more to do, and better minifigures.