I have been waiting, and waiting, if I may mention with GREAT patience, to get my hands on the LEGO Batman: The Riddler Chase set since its release back in January. Actually since its announcement, the mere fact that we would be getting a The Flash Minifig was more than enough to make me want to go out and pick this up day one. But alas, I had to wait. Good thing too, the FREE offer for the Martian Manhunter figure on LEGO.com, with orders of $75 or more, worked out in my favor and rewarded my Geekly patience.
I also seemingly had great timing in my order, as the figure sold out in less than 15 days! This is pretty amazing, seeing that the figure was SUPPOSED to be available the entire month of March! Lucky for me I acted quick enough, picked up three of the sets I really wanted, and now my Justice League is two figures closer to being complete! On to the review!
The Riddler Chase set is a 2 vehicle set, which puts it at the $30 price point. With 304 pieces, it is a decent size build and requires two manuals to construct. It took me about an hour to put it all together, including time to take pictures, and was a lot of fun.
Included with the set are three Minifigs. New to the set, and the highlight of buying it, The Flash. What a cool little guy! With all original pieces needed to create pieces for this figure, especially the helmet, LEGO is doing a bang-up job for the collector in all of us. The Batman included is based on the Dark Knight Rises look, and is similar to the one included in the The Bat vs Tumbler set, just with a little less “bling” on his suit. This is great for me, since I didn’t pick that set up, and I really wanted that variant for my collection, so here he is! I have too many black suit ones, and even too many in blue and grey(my personal favorite). So kudos to LEGO for changing it up a little bit. Rounding up the Minifigs in this set, we have the villain, The Riddler. He is actually a completely different figure than the previous one, that was released with the Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape. Here we see Edward Nigma in his two-tone suit, with two different greens. This is a much better version of the character, maybe because I’m more partial to the different color green, but he also has a stylish new hat, and comes with a banana accessory. You know to trip up The Flash….
The set comes with two vehicles, one that I could definitely live without, but is definitely there for child play value. The Riddler’s dragster is a cool enough, but when did The Riddler ever challenge the Batman and The Flash to a race through Gotham, how about never. Now if you’re a collector of Batman/DC LEGOs then you know that we got a Batmobile back in the Two-Face Chase set. One more reminiscent to the Tim Burton version, and it’s also the one that you drive around in when you play the LEGO Batman 2 video game. BUT if you’re a Batman fan, you know that there have been many versions of the famous crime-fighting vehicle throughout the ages, and in this set you get an awesome one. Let me tell you, I was so blinded by the excitement of getting my hands on The Flash minifig, that I didn’t realize how cool this car was going to be. The size of the tires alone, as you can see the picture below, are about the size of a minifig themselves! With the number a vehicles available in the Bat-verse, there could be plenty of sets on the horizon, probably more than my shelves can handle!
The LEGO Batman: The Riddler Chase gets 5 outta 5 stars. This set is perfect, even the “unneeded” Riddler dragster is a fun build and has enough details to give it a perfect score. But with the three unique minifigs, especially the AMAZING Flash one, and the updated Batmobile, really made my day! This set is perfect for collectors and children alike, and at $30 is one of the rare sets that I actually felt like I got my money’s worth.
Check out my previous review of LEGO Batman: Man-Bat Attack and stay tooned in the coming week for my look at the Marvel Super Heroes: Hulk Lab Smash!
~CynicNerd
