After a few epic trailers we KINDA know what is happening during some of the sequences in the highly anticipated film, Avengers: Age of Ultron. As usual, Marvel and LEGO have released a plethora of building block sets based on the movie and I am here to take a look at ‘exclusive’ set, ‘The Hydra Fortress Smash‘. It seems that this is a recurring theme when it comes to including the Hulk in a set. Previously we saw a set called ‘Hulk Lab Smash’, which pretty much spelled out the same results for the bad guys. They do evil, they get smashed, and so on. It is a ton of fun for your kids to play with and these sets are great for collectors as well.
As I mentioned Hydra Smash is an exclusive set that was only released to Toys R Us at launch but is now also available on the LEGO Shop dot com as well. The price point for the set is $49.99, which brings the set in at 12 cents per brick. Is the play value worth the price stamped on there? Let’s find out.
Standard packaging, as usual. Gotta love the ease of construction when it comes to most LEGO sets. Everything is sorted into number bags and children can easily follow along with the directions to build the scenario. The real value of this set is the Minifigures. Straight from the movie, (even the comics) we get our very first Quicksilver and Baron Von Strucker figures. I’m not sure how I feel about releasing both of those characters in a limited set, but with the ease of online ordering these days it should be pretty easy for most people to get there hands on it. But if you are one of those people who need their complete set, like me, then don’t delay on picking it up. You never know.
Both figures represent their big screen characters well. The attention to detail by putting small HYDRA symbols on both Strucker and the HYDRA goon was a nice touch. Quicksilver is fine, he just reminds me of a surfer. Scarlet Witch is the best of the two, but I’ll get to her when it comes to reviewing the next set in this series.
Avengers in the set include new versions of Captain America and the Hulk. Cap gets a uniform update, something that I really love about LEGO. They don’t cheap out when it comes to reusing figures. We even get a new Hulk! This time around the design is much more Mark Ruffalo’ized and it’s easily my favorite ‘NOT SO’ Minifigure yet.
A word I used earlier, ‘scenario’. It’s probably the best word to use when it comes to LEGO sets like this. Yes you get a vehicle but that is pretty standard by now. But what we are getting most of the time now are parts of buildings. Now I am not opposed to this as long as there are GOOD play features and proper number of Minifigures packed with it. Hydra Fortress Smash walks that line. At $50 it’s a decent deal, especially when it comes down to getting your hands on Quicksilver and Strucker. I’m just glad that LEGO didn’t try and get an extra ten bucks or more on it. What I am trying to get at here is that you are not building a HYDRA castle or base, you’re putting together the front gate and small section from it. We know that Strucker has one of the Infinity Stones and is doing bad things with it, so the Avengers are here to save the day. The play begins!
All in all this is a decent set and worth the investment, mostly for the collector. Kids will have a blast smashing LEGO bricks with their favorite green behemoth! The HYDRA Fortress Smash is one of those sets I am not totally sold on but need in order to complete my collection. LEGO was smart about the figures they included in it, making it desirable. In no means is this a cheap set, and I really want to build a full HYDRA base for my display, but only getting a small chunk of it seems kind of like a tease. But then again you’re looking at spending around what the Helicarrier costs if you want something of that scale, or you can custom build it.
You can find the Marvel Super Heroes “The Hydra Fortress Smash” at following online retailers: LEGO Shop and Toys R Us. There are a ton of sets based on this summer’s sure to be smash hit, Avengers: Age of Ultron. I will be reviewing another in coming week or so, ‘The Hulk Buster Smash’. See like I said, a recurring theme when it comes to Hulk smashing things.
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