LEGO DC Super Heroes 76087 Flying Fox: Batmobile Airlift Attack review

The flagship offering of the three set Justice League subtheme includes Steppenwolf as well as the majority of the Justice League. Is there enough here to justify the price? 

Price: £99.99 / $129.99 / €119.99 Pieces: 955 Available: Now

The largest of the LEGO DC Super Heroes sets based on the upcoming Justice League movie continues the battle over the Mother Box. The Flying Fox includes a Batmobile that can be deployed and a buildable Steppenwolf figure. It’s also the set that includes the three star members of the Justice League – Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

I went into this set with low expectations. Aside from Wonder Woman, the DCEU has yet to really excite me with a well executed film. 76087 Flying Fox: Batmobile Airlift Attack looked forced to me – a mediocre vehicle from a struggling film series with a couple of desirable minifigures thrown in to try to sweeten the deal. Having now built and cast my critical eye over it, the set came out of the examination higher in my esteem than when it went in. 76087 Flying Fox - Cover -1

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At the end of the day, 90% of this set is the Flying Fox. We don’t know much about this vehicle yet aside from the fact that it appears to serve as an air borne Batmobile carrier. Most of the set’s numbered bags are devoted to this ship, and it takes a long time to come together. For the majority of the build one is constructing an almost exclusively Technic style frame that only starts looking like something with the addition of a bunch of plates near the end. Despite this, I was surprised to find that the end result was actually quite satisfying. The pinned frame yields a strong, swooshable craft that is striking from all but a few angles. It has the vibe of a space set from my youth which took me by surprise. The lack of a rear or front entrance ramp is a miss, from straight on the Flying Fox looks hideous, but from almost any other angle its sleek black frame is both menacing and elegant.

In the end, the Flying Fox feels incomplete which is odd considering the price point of this set. It really seems like a few more parts could have been devoted to this model, or that some extraneous parts could have been repurposed. Comparing this set to many similarly priced models in the Star Wars theme, a licensed brand just like this one, I struggle to understand why it could not have been fully enclosed like a Star Destroyer or walker. This visually striking model is undermined by several sections feeling incomplete. This fact keeps the Flying Fox in the category of good rather than great. Designers did a great job of taking what is basically a flying box and making it look good, but the lack of a door or internal crew quarters is an unfortunate miss. Carrying the Batmobile is cool, but a command room, weapons rack – heck even just seats for the entire Justice League – would have gone a long way.

Aside from the namesake Flying Fox, this set is a minifigure tour-de-force. As was observed in the opening, it is the only Justice League set to include the movie’s villain Steppenwolf. Heard of him? Me neither. I was therefore surprised to find that his head is a completely new mould, made of hard plastic as opposed to the rubbery material that many of these one-off parts get cast in. Unlike Ares from 76075 Wonder Woman Warrior Battle or Giant Man from 76051 Super Hero Airport Battle, Steppenwolf is smaller, more in line with some of the lava monsters from NEXO KNIGHTS. This is a bit unfortunate because his scale precludes a lot of detail and as a result he is a fairly ugly looking figure. Joints are really obvious, without much covering to mask them.

The third and final component of 76087 is the Batmobile. This version is very similar to last year’s 76045 Kryptonite Interception. Considering this film takes place in the same universe and with the same characters as Batman vs. Superman this of course makes. The only major difference is that half of the cockpit has been replaced with a comparatively large gun. This looks fine, but ultimately it is just another stud shooter, no different from the two on the hood of the car. Furthermore, this means that only one side of the windshield/cockpit component duo is included. Anyone looking to use these parts for a MOC will be disappointed to only have one side of the cockpit.

Overall, 76087 Flying Fox: Batmobile Airlift Attack is a good set, but not a great one. It seems to be struggling under the weight of licensing fees to pack everything in under the allotted part count. The end result was more visually pleasing than I was expecting – I certainly liked the finished plane. Its ability to carry the Batmobile is a great play feature, but is unfortunately undercut by the lack of loading ramps.

Without the Batmobile loaded, the set looks extremely empty from the front, more akin to a flying box than a Flying Fox. In light of all this, I would tentatively recommend this set. Excellent figures aside from Steppenwolf forgive a lot of its sins. As mentioned before, this is a good set rather than a great one. If you are a fan of the DC Universe, or if the film turns out to be good, this will be a set worth picking up.

This product was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

76087 Flying Fox: Batmobile Airlift Attack is available now at shop.LEGO.com. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links.

More Justice League set reviews:

76085 Battle of Atlantis

76086 Knightcrawler Tunnel Attack

 

Author Profile

Daniel
When I was 3 years old my dad bought home 6659 TV Camera Crew as a gift — he had no idea what he had just unleashed. Three decades and no dark age later, I am still going strong. My love of LEGO led me to a career in Civil Engineering and I am now raising three budding LEGO lovers with my lovely wife who is, bless her, a huge supporter of my brick addiction. When not writing for Brick Fanatics or fulfilling my duties as the U.S. Editor of Blocks Magazine I enjoy collecting, MOCing, exhibiting, as well as running, climbing and home improvement.

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Daniel

When I was 3 years old my dad bought home 6659 TV Camera Crew as a gift — he had no idea what he had just unleashed. Three decades and no dark age later, I am still going strong. My love of LEGO led me to a career in Civil Engineering and I am now raising three budding LEGO lovers with my lovely wife who is, bless her, a huge supporter of my brick addiction. When not writing for Brick Fanatics or fulfilling my duties as the U.S. Editor of Blocks Magazine I enjoy collecting, MOCing, exhibiting, as well as running, climbing and home improvement.

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