As we discussed about a week ago, the first LEGO Overwatch set became available as an exclusive through Blizzard Entertainment (the makers of the original game). The #75987 LEGO Overwatch Omnic Bastion set can be purchased from the Blizzard gear store, or at BlizzCon 2018 held November 2-3 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. For LEGO fans who have been looking forward to the LEGO Overwatch collection, this little set was received with great excitement. I was one of those fans, and purchased it as soon as it was announced, received it five days later, and immediately built it. 🙂
Bastion is a fan-favorite hero with a rich storyline, including its friendship with a bird named Ganymede. Through their friendship, Bastion was able to break its original programming and set out to explore its surroundings to discover its new purpose. The #75987 LEGO Overwatch Omnic Bastion set includes both Bastion and Cardinal (Ganymede’s name in this skin) in an exclusive Omnic skin. The set was designed by LEGO designers Woon Tze and Raphaël (pictured below), who took inspiration directly from the art and designs of Arnold Tsang, the assistant art director for Overwatch and concept artist behind Bastion. Tsang even joined the LEGO design team in Denmark to assist with packaging-design and model approval.
The Blizzard-exclusive #75987 LEGO Overwatch Bastion set includes 182 pieces for a price of $25. For a regular LEGO set that’s expensive, and even more so when shipping is added. (Blizzard offers free shipping on orders over $100, otherwise you have to pay for it yourself. In my case, I ordered one set, and shipping was a bit over $6). Despite the price, I went for it, as I love orange robots, and I rarely spend money on exclusives.
The #75987 LEGO Overwatch Omnic Bastion is packaged in a regular, flimsy type of LEGO box with a thumb tab to open it. The front of the box features Bastion with Cardinal on its shoulder, displayed on a small brick-built stand with a special logo declaring that this set is a “LEGO Blizzard Exclusive”. The back of the box shows Bastion in shooting pose, and “Blizzard Exclusive” prominently printed on the left-hand side.
I had two disappointments here. One is that I was expecting better quality packaging for an exclusive, especially for the price. There is really no way to save this box. The cardboard is too thin, and if you open it via the thumb tab, it is basically destroyed. I opened it along the seams with the hope of saving the box, but it is so flimsy, I will likely just throw it away. A better quality box, a specially shaped box, or one of those awesome round metal cans or plastic boxes with lids LEGO used to use in the past would have been a much more appropriate choice.
The second issue is even more disappointing; all three of the decorated pieces (two on the shoulders and one on the stand) are stickers. Although I much prefer printed pieces in general, I do understand why LEGO opts for stickers in regular LEGO sets, even if I don’t like it. For an expensive exclusive like this, using stickers is a major letdown that should not be happening. Having said that, the stickers are good quality, and if you manage to apply them straight, they look fine. They just won’t last as long as printed pieces would. If you get this set, you might want to pick up an extra sticker-sheet from BrickLink for the time when the originals deteriorate.
After those two initial disappointments, it’s time to start building! The included pieces come in three unnumbered bags. They are mostly small elements in light-gray, dark-gray, black, orange, and tan (for the base). None of the pieces is new, but many are interesting recently released parts; 1×1 round plate with handle, 2×2 corner plates, a dark-red rectangular shield, 1×1 brackets, small joint pieces, rounded 1×2 plates, and 13 pearl-silver ingots are some of the highlights.
The building techniques are interesting as well, with lots of sideways building going on in every direction. First, you build the hip and torso, which are connected to each other with a LEGO Technic pin, allowing the waist to rotate freely. Then, you attach the head via a small ball-joint. Even though the head is only a few pieces, it is actually very expressive due to the ability to rotate and tilt in pretty much any direction. Next, you build the two legs separately, as mirror images of each other. I’m not entirely convinced about the selection of pieces for the feet, and would have preferred the use of ski elements. Nonetheless, the feet work well, and are very posable due to the ball-joints at the ankle.
The right arm with the small sub machine gun is put together next. This is also a solid construction, with a built-in stud-shooter. You also attach the shoulder armor at this time, applying the first sticker. The upper left arm and shoulder armor are the same as on the right side, but the lower arm is different with a single 1×1 round plate with bar representing the hand. I’m not particularly happy with this solution and will most likely alter it in the near future.
The next section to build is the gatling gun, attached to Bastion’s back. It is made of two round sections that are connected to each other with a LEGO Technic pin, and attached with robot arms to the dark-red shield piece. While the shield is the only dark-red piece in the construction, it blends in well with the other colors. Bastion should be able to transform with the gatling gun pointed to the front, but unfortunately, the LEGO version can’t do that. I’m sure many LEGO fans will customize the set to make this feature work.
One of the last steps is to build the base, which is done with simple sideways building techniques using standard LEGO bricks, plates, and slopes. Two of the bricks have LEGO Technic axle holes, which work as receivers for the little pegs at the back of Bastion’s feet for a secure attachment. The “LEGO Blizzard Exclusive” sticker is applied to a black 2×4 tile and attached to the base with a 1×2 hinge.
Then, we finally have a chance to build Cardinal, a bright and delightful little bird. Cardinal is made of nine small pieces. The core is a 1×1 black brick with studs on all sides, which works perfectly for attaching the pieces representing the wings, tail, beak, and crest. Cardinal can securely perch on either shoulder of Bastion. The cuteness of this odd couple translates to LEGO really well.
The final model is a robot that is very sturdy and posable. The feet, hips, waist, shoulders, elbows, and neck all move smoothly, and you can the robot into many fun action poses. The model also looks nice on display attached to the small stand, and is definitely recognizable as a character from the game. Blizzard also suggest to customize Bastion and Ganymede with other skins from the game, which can be done by changing out some of the colors and pieces. On the negative side, I already mentioned the flimsy box and stickers that shouldn’t be a feature of an exclusive collectible, and that Bastion can’t transform to aim the gatling gun to the front.
All in all, building the #75987 LEGO Overwatch Bastion set was fun, and I do recommend building the model, especially if you like small robots and/or the Overwatch game. However, I don’t feel the set is worth anywhere near $25 (plus remember that with Blizzard we also have to pay for shipping). With 182 pieces, no printed parts, a flimsy box, no new/rare/special elements, and mostly small pieces, this is more like a $15 set, similar to the smaller LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Nexo Knights mechs. I would suggest waiting until the instructions are available, and just build the set from your own pieces. One positive thing about the use of common pieces, is that you can build an army of these robots, if you choose to. In the video-review below, JANGBRiCKS will show you some of the details of the model, as well as share his own opinion about the set.
What do you think? How do you like the first and exclusive LEGO Overwatch set? Did you purchase it yourself, or are you planning to build it from your own parts? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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