LEGO REVIEW: Marvel Super Heroes Black Panther Pursuit #76047

I love Captain America. For over twenty years, if you asked me who my favorite super hero was, I'd tell you Cap. When Ed Brubaker introduced Winter Soldier it blew my mind, I loved Bucky as a character, which is something I never had done before. LEGO's Black Panther Pursuit has both of these characters. I was ecstatic when I heard about it. 

There's something that people probably know about Super Heroes sets. Invariably they will contain some kind of plane, motorcycle, truck, or helicopter. In this review, we'll look at which of these is contained within, and how successful it is.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, an instruction book, a comic book and a sheet of stickers.

BUILD AND EXECUTION:

BAG 1: So, we're going to start building Captain America's jeep/truck thing. Of course there's a bracket on one end to hold a tile for a license plate.

Construction is fairly standard so far. I don't know how you could really innovate a truck/jeep thingy to make it more interesting.

I don't understand the "Taskforce" sticker. I guess it's because SHIELD is sort of disbanded or something. I'd rather some symbol or something instead of "TASKFORCE." Maybe it makes sense after we see the movie. I doubt it though.Heavy uses of blue so that you know it belongs to Captain America.

Add a spring missile launcher and a couple hinges. The hinges are interesting in their placement.

So, you build out a grill on the front with another license plate tile.

The railing makes an interesting window shape. The hinges allow you to cant the window, and you build some side view "mirrors." The black bar 1x4x2 can flip down to act as a battering ram. I don't know if that's intentional, but it's what I thought of first.

Add wheels and shove the spring missile in. That spring missile makes this vehicle a one seater. I guess you could throw people in back. Maybe I shouldn't have given Cap his angry yelling face.

BAG 2: Time to start building the plane. Honestly, it almost looks like a boat. I forgot that boats are also somewhat common in super hero sets.

So, our boatplane is taking shape, including 2 stud shooters and a sticker control panel. A note on colors. I like the use of purple in this set to offset the black. I just don't understand the lime green. Just because Joker sets require purple and green, but Joker's pretty far from this one.

Time to cover over most of that green. There's a hint here that we're not going to finish the wings in this bag. Only one wedge piece. I like the Dark blue tiles with jumpers. The hinges pointing sideways interested me. I like to speculate what we're going to do without looking back at the picture.

You build your first wing. I loved that the hinges created a way to hang the wing at a different angle.

The nose of the plane looks good  The wing sits in an interesting way. More stickers to potentially mess up.

So, the hinges give you a way to change the shape of the fuselage.

Bag 3: You start by making Winter Soldier and his motorcycle. Sort of strange considering that the plane is still only 2/3 done. The motorcycle is completely standard, not even an attachment point for his gun.

Create a mirror image of the wing and attach it the same way. Look, an orange tile for no reason.

Cover up the attachment points and the tile with more black and purple. It's still very pleasing to see this combo.  Quick fact, I think that the purple is supposed to represent the Vibranium that gives Wakanda their technological and financial edge.

More lime green. I think it's supposed to represent the thrusters. It's a very understated propulsion system. I can totally appreciate that, in this case, less is more. Add some black slopes for more shaping.

Finish the tail, snap on the 6x2 wedge and the cockpit canopy, and you're almost done. Don't forget the fire extinguisher that many Super Hero sets have to have. Why do we have to have a fire extinguisher? Well, Super Heroes blow a lot of stuff up.

REACTION:

Well, the jeep is lame. There's no getting past that. It's dull. It's standard. If it were the main vehicle in the set, I'd be heartily disappointed. As it is, I can't decide whether I should see if I can throw it farther than Crossbones' Hazard Heist, or just smash them together as hard as I can. For now, I'll just stick them on the back of a shelf. Winter Soldier's motorcycle is standard. Nothing special, nothing bad. It can be used for anyone. Throw it in a bin and forget about it.

Black Panther's jet is wonderful to look at and interesting to build. My problem is that it's just another jet. It's just filler for a set that contains 3 minifigures that I wanted. I don't mind it, but I don't crave it. It's the curse of Super Hero sets. There's very few iconic vehicles that don't have Bat as part of their descriptor. Does Black Panther fly a black and purple jet in the upcoming movie? I really hope so. Otherwise, Pantherplane is going into a box.

The minifigures are fantastic. For someone with my budget, unmasked Steve Rogers was a no go. A loose one would cost almost as much as this set. To protect the value of the Helicarrier Captain America, this one has different hair and head. He really should have a less red hairpiece. Despite the hair color, I love this figure. It's what I wanted since the first Captain America minifigure. The body printing is the same as all of the AOU Caps. Because of the head and hair, this Captain America is unique. His head is 2 sided, a smirk and an angry yell.

Winter Soldier is entirely different from the polybag version. I LOVED the polybag version. This version is awesome too. Disappointing that he doesn't have a holster or a knife or something printed on his legs. His arm printing is great. The Russian star is worn and scraped, whether due to damage or an attempt to remove it, who knows? But they printed it to look like it's partially missing. This exact Winter Soldier is also available in 76051 Super Hero Airport Battle. His head is dual sided and is shared with Owen from Jurrassic World and Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. Does that mean that Winter Soldier is secretly Chris Pratt?

Black Panther rounds out the set. He's a unique minifigure. He has a unique headpiece. I like the "tooth necklace" mixed in with the angular armor deco on his torso. Dual sided printing on torso and head sort of point up how plain his arms and legs are. I really feel like he should have a set of claws like Wolverine. All of that said, I didn't buy this set specifically for Black Panther. He's more an extra afterthought to me. For me, he serves exactly the purpose I need him to. I'm not disappointed in him really.

All in all, not a bad set. I would have liked something more interesting for the truck/jeep and/or the motorcycle, but the jet is nice. Speaking of those 3 vehicles, you remember when I said that the hallmark of a LEGO Super Heroes set is that it has either a truck, a motorcycle, a plane or a helicopter? Well, this set almost completely proves my rules. I love it when I can sort of make up a rule and prove it with the thing I am currently working on.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Super Hero sets are almost entirely driven by the minifigures. The only unique character in this set is Black Panther. Black Panther is not really popular enough to drive aftermarket price. He'll probably hold value, but he's not going to increase it. The Captain America will add some value, especially since the Helicarrier is so expensive in comparison to this one. If the plane is used in the upcoming film, and if Black Panther isn't refreshed, this set could gain moderately well. If the vehicle is not used, well, it'll gain somewhat slowly. Use caution when investing, as with all Super Heroes sets.

EXTRA PIECES:

you get a handful of common extra pieces including Black Panther's headpiece.