6869: Quinjet Aerial Battle
Year: 2012
Pieces: 735
Retail Price: $69.99
Theme: Superheroes (Marvel universe)
I'll start off with this: This is a fun set. It's big, has great playability, and has some great minifigs.
This was put together on Christmas day and the day after (spanned two days). Not necessarily because Daniel couldn't do it, but it is a large set with 3 books of instructions and it was Christmas day, so he was very distracted. We got this for clearance at Wal-Mart for like 25 dollars sometime last spring. It was originally going to be a birthday present for him, but he had a ton of presents already so we make a decision that to keep our $100 spending limit, this set would be pushed back to Christmas. He never knew so no harm no foul.
There are four parts to this set - Loki's chariot, the cockpit, the body of the jet, and the wings/engine/extras. Daniel did have a few problems throughout the set, but given the size of the set and his attention span during Christmas, it's hard really to determine the root cause of the issues.
The first part of the set contains 3 minifigs - Loki, an alien trooper, and Black Widow. The box and instructions interpret that Black Widow is the pilot of the jet, which given the characters in the set makes the most sense. Loki has his staff which is gold and comes in two parts, looking great.
Loki's chariot is nothing fantastic, but then again it was nothing fantastic in the movie either. The two pieces are connected with a hinge so that you can maneuver it into the position shown in the movie (with the driver's platform below Loki's).
The cockpit does look great. LEGO made every chair in this set made with bricks instead of the traditional LEGO chair found in most sets. The chair reclines and has armrests, allowing the pilot to sit back. It also allows the control panel to move over the pilot's legs so that they are within reach. The control panel itself is a sticker, but does look good. The cockpit of course attached to the main part of the jet shown in the next section.
The next part of the jet is the main body. This part is the large portion of the set and contains the majority of LEGOs. Consequently, it is also the part that Daniel did have the most problems with. It also contains Iron Man and Thor (pictures shown at the end)
The body has a few different compartments. The first compartment, immediately behind the cockpit, appears to be a sitting area for passengers. It has two chairs sitting across from each other and again, the chairs are built with LEGOs instead of the traditional LEGO chair mold. This compartment features a hinged window for easy escape for those superheroes that fly, or a very painful fall for those that can't.
The next compartment is either a storage bay, or has more room for minifigs. I didn't test it but online other people have said they could fit 3-4 more minifigs within. If used for personnel, this jet could fit 7 superheroes which, I think is the entire Avengers squad minus the Hulk which just won't fit. Sorry big guy. It has a drop down ramp and a hinged latch on top for escape.
The last compartment is in between those two and contains a spy drone, or something of the sort (It can be whatever kind of drone you want it to be). It actually is pretty clever. When we were building it, I was confused and wondering "what exactly are we building here?". Even when we were placing it inside I was still lost as to the "why". It surprised me and was unexpected to say the least. Behind the crew compartment, there is a button (you can see the red button two images up). When you press that button, a mechanism drops down from the bottom of the jet which contains the drone, allowing it to fly away and do what drones do. When the drone flies off, the release mechanism is pushed back up and locks back into place.
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The last part includes the wings and engine mounts (it also included the drone, but it seemed odd to discuss the drone and its release mechanism separately). The wings swivel and pivot in nearly every direction imaginable. Having said that however, they also come apart fairly easily as well. Being able to move in nearly every direction means it must be connected using very few pieces, ultimately allowing it to come apart. The engines are nice but nothing spectacular - I did find the orange piece in the engine to be a nice warm engine glow which is missing in many other types of aircraft engines that LEGO has manufactured (either that or the engines just have flames coming out of the back). The wings also contain duel missile launchers that drop down from the wings, allowing the plane to launch a total of four missiles before bringing the launchers back into the wing and flying at speed once again.
All together this set was awesome and one I will never regret purchasing (then again, who regrets purchasing LEGOs?). It has ton's of playability, looks great on display, and has a lot of LEGO pieces for other creations.
