LEGO® Overwatch review: 75976 Wrecking Ball

LEGO® Overwatch 75976 Wrecking Ball is one of the two Overwatch sets released in October 2019, selling for £17.99 / US$19.99 / 19.99€ although perhaps you may now be seeing it on sale. We've taken a different approach to this review: both Jonas Kramm and Inthert received copies and have each built alternate models with the set! But before we reveal those, here is their shared review, starting with Jonas.

The Build

The model represents the playable vehicle from the game, piloted by Hammond, a hamster. Depending on the situation on the battlefield the mech can transform between two different modes.

Gun-Mode

In gun-mode the mech has four stubby legs and deploys two assault cannons on each side.

LEGO chose to use Sand Green pieces for the hull primarily. With the default skin, the vehicle looks very greyish in the game, but I like the colour decision which makes it more interesting, especially in combination with Bright Yellow/ Yellow and Bright Orange/ Orange elements.

To add more detail, a few decorated pieces get used in this set. I didn't apply the stickers, so the elements you see here are all printed. See Inthert's breakdown further on for full details.

Hammond, the pilot, can fit into the Wrecking Ball. To make that easier the set comes with a cool little feature which lowers and rises the hamster’s seat by turning a lever on the outside.

Worth mentioning are the use of the Sand Green windshield at the front in combination with a 6x6, and how smooth the Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray R2-D2 body fits in the curved cut-out of the Sand Green mudguard.

The underside is rather boring, but at least one Dish 6X6 got attached.

Ball Mode

Folding the guns and pushing the legs in converts the mech easily into the Wrecking Ball.

In-game this mode is used to roll over enemies, which works surprisingly well with the physical model too.

While I have very little connection to Overwatch and wouldn’t put this model on my shelf for display, I had a lot of fun building the mech and converting it into the different modes. 

Now over to Inthert for the parts analysis!

Recoloured elements in 75976 Wrecking Ball

Besides the figure, which we will come to momentarily, there are no new moulds included in the set so let’s dive right into the recolours. And there’s a lot of them despite the set’s small size.

Two parts appear in Bright Yellow/ Yellow for the first time: Firstly, 3L Axle with stud (Crossaxle 3M With Knob - 6282719|13670) which joins the ever-growing ranks of brightly recoloured Technic elements.

And secondly, handlebars (Handle W. 3.18 Stick - 6283887|30031) which adds a welcome dash of colour to my near-complete handlebar lineup - Metallic Silver is absent in my collection. I hope this introduction of Bright Yellow points towards more interesting recolours in future as the only other break from the monochrome was Bright Red/ Red, and that hasn’t appeared in sets since 1998.

With the release of sets like 70840 Welcome to Apocalypseburg! and 75255 Yoda, it’s no secret the variety of parts available in Sand Green has skyrocketed lately. But smaller sets like this one are pulling their weight in recolours too.

Three parts appear in Sand Green for the first time in this set:

• 4x4 Dish (Round Plate Ø32X6.4 – 6223174|3960)
• Car front/mudguard (Front/Display 3X4X1 2/3 - 6284413|98835)
• Wedge 4x3 no studs (Brick 4X3 W. Bow/Angle – 6284414|64225).

And they’re not alone! Joining them are some lesser-seen Sand Green parts:

• Wedge 2x4 triple in Sand Green (Roof Tile 4X2 W. Angl./Sl.Bot. - 6256462|47759) which can only be found in two other 2019 sets so far.
• 6x6 dish in Sand Green (Parabola 6X6 – 6146199|44375), whose only other appearance was in the 2016 set 21030 United States Capitol Building.

A welcome recolour for Bionicle builders will be the 2L Technic beam with ball in Bright Orange/ Orange (Beam 2M W. Ball Ø 10.2 – 6280412|50923). Four are included in the set and provide almost all the articulation for the legs on the competed model.

My personal highlight of the set parts-wise is the inclusion of a single 1x1 pyramid in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (Pyramid Ridged Tile 1X1X2/3 – 6258381|35344). Because of its size you are also provided with a spare. Pretty much any Space or Castle builder will tell you that when a small part is realised in this hue, it instantly becomes more desirable for MOCing purposes. You can now also get it in the LEGO Minecraft 2020 set 21156 BigFig Creeper and Ocelot.

But what’s extra special about this recolour is that it makes Medium Stone Grey the first colour to appear in all four types of (mostly) newly introduced sloped 1x1 elements! – I say ‘mostly’ as the ever-reliable cheese slope has of course been around for donkeys’ years. Devastatingly, I don’t yet own the curved top variant in grey so please excuse the white stand in.

The set also includes some notable recolours that aren’t yet widespread in sets.

• 2x2 Round corner tile in Black (Tile 2X2, W/ Bow – 6191630|27925) whose scarcity surprised me given how the new tile elements are used pretty liberally in sets these days. Its only other appearance in black was in 41635 Wyldstyle Brickheadz from earlier this year.
• Brick 1X2 With Cross Hole in Brick Yellow/ Tan (6219794|31493) has returned from an absence since 2006, and only appears in two other 2019 sets so far.

Printed Parts in 75976 Wrecking Ball

There are two printed parts included in the set:

• 8x8 Dish in Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray (Round Plate Ø64X9.6 etc. - 6284050|3961)
• Curved Windscreen 3 x 6 x 1 in Sand Green (Cockpit w. Bow 3x6x1 etc. - 6284380| 62360)

Strangely a good portion of the detailed print on the 8x8 dish is covered by an unprinted 4x4 dish on the completed model. Maybe the set designer originally had a 2x2 element covering the studs which was later switched out after the print was finalised, possibly in an effort to make the overall model more rounded? I prefer to think the print designer put the extra detail on just because they could!

Speaking of dishes, one thing that did strike me whilst sifting though the set’s inventory was the sheer variety and quantity of circular elements included in the set. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise as they’re the obvious choice of parts to make the finished model as spherical as LEGO parts allow. Even so, a total of 20 circle elements across 13 unique parts are used throughout the build – that’s good 16% of the set’s unique part count!

Figures in 75976 Wrecking Ball

And while we’re on the subject of ‘figures’ (oh dear), let’s take a brief look at the one included in this set.

Like many smaller-than-minifig-creatures, Hammond the Hamster (6283982) has only one connection point in the form of an anti-stud recess at the base. Because of this, I was imagining him to be a similar size to the Niffler from the Fantastic Beasts line but he is quite a bit larger, coming in at around six and a half plates high.

While its always a dangerous game to look too closely at the price per part ratio, I have to imagine the lack of any proper minifigures (no offence Hammond!) is the reason why it’s particularly good with this set, especially as it comes from a licensed theme.

READ MORE: Now see the amazing model Jonas designed using the parts in this set

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