Over the next week or so we have a series of LEGO® Overwatch articles for you. Firstly, following on from our reviews of 75975 Watchpoint: Gibraltar and 75973 D.Va & Reinhardt a few months ago, we now have one more set review which we asked Victor Pruvost to check out.
In our third LEGO® Overwatch review, we’re going to examine 75974 Bastion. With 602 parts and a RRP of £54,99 / US$49,99 / 59,99€, Bastion is the second-largest set of the January 2019 Overwatch wave.
It’s worth pointing out they’re not built studs-up but rather with the studs facing front (as well as sideways, since brackets are used to guarantee sturdiness).
The most notable part in this assembly is one Medium Stone Grey [TLG] / Light Bluish Gray [BL] Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole on Top (Element ID 6225230|Design ID 11458), which appears here for the third time, after being introduced in 2018 with 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. With Bastion you’ll get three.
Logically, we then move on to the upper torso. This section is rather interesting in terms of parts and building techniques. First, a pair of Technic, Axle Pin 3L with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and 1L Axle in Bright Red / Red (6209519|11214) secure the build. Appearing in 28 sets so far, they may not be exactly rare but they’re still much less frequent than their Dark Stone Grey / Dark Bluish Gray counterpart.
Then we add a sub-assembly that will provide the connection point to the hips.
Among other parts, it uses the new Tile 2x2 with vertical 1x2 plate (which New Elementary readers also know as Minecraft feet) in Black (6250020|41682), and a quite rare Technic, Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Ball Receptacle Wide and Axle Hole in Bright Red (6096309|92013), which appears here for the third time. Two Technic Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Ball Receptacle Wide and Axle Hole are also used, and since the colour is not relevant here, the designer could have very well used a black part here too, but I’m glad he preferred using an element we see less often. Plus, I suspect he had a very good reason for using red; I’ll come to that later.
The 92013 is connected to its male counterpart, a Technic, Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Ball and Axle Hole in Dark Stone Grey (4497253|57909), which will allow the upper torso to rotate while providing a good amount of friction.
The geometry here is interesting, because this section makes use of the famous 5:2 ratio (meaning the height of five plates equals the length of two studs) in two directions. Firstly the red 92013 is attached, sandwiched between two plates. Then the height of the 92013, which sits five plates above the hips – the ball/cup connection is exactly two-studs long, as shown by the 2x2 tile I’ve put between the two blue 2x2 plates – allowing the two halves of the body to be perfectly aligned.
However, you have to be careful when you put the upper torso in place, because if you push on the sides, the core might detach. I think this is why the designer chose to put the 92013 in red: that way, it works as a visual guide that tells you it’s best to push on this part to make sure the two halves connect properly.
Then we add a sub-assembly that makes up the shoulders and the neck. The most notable part is a Technic, Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Pin Holes and Rotation Joint Ball Half (Vertical Side) in Black (6187578|48171), which appears in only five sets so far (including another Overwatch set, 75973 D.Va & Reinhardt, which we've already reviewed). 75975 Bastion contains five of them.
After that we take care of the front of Bastion’s body, with another sub-model.
Now that the shoulders are in place, it’s time to cover the back, notably with two ingots in Silver Metallic / Flat Silver (6208446|99563). They’re now quite common, appearing in 17 sets so far, but they’re fairly recent, having been introduced in 2018 only. Bastion contains nine.
There’s also a Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Inverted (6186828|11203), which brings a touch of Sand Green to the back. This part only appeared in the Architecture set 21042 Statue of Liberty before.
The head adds a bit more Sand Green including two Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner (6233984|26601). Introduced in 2018, they appear in seven sets so far. Bastion contains two of these.
More importantly, the head is constructed around a red light brick (6121786|98782), which is almost invisible once the assembly is finished! Bastion’s visual sensor is normally blue (achieved here thanks to a Transparent Light Blue 1x2 plate) but pressing the button on the back of the head gives it a menacing red glow.
Two small modules are then added to the torso, and both include some quite rare parts.
First there’s a small piece of greebling, which comes in the form of one Tile, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle in Bright Orange / Orange (6253318|2432). It was last seen in 2015 and appears in 8 sets only.
Then there’s a big piece of armour made of, among other parts, one Wedge 4 x 4 x 2/3 Triple Curved in Brick Yellow / Tan (6253319|45677). This element was last seen in 2013, and appears for the third time only after having been introduced in 2005.
This marks the completion of the body, and the end of the first bag.
The second bag provides the parts for the legs, which are symmetrical. Their construction is quite simple; a lot of parts are stacked with many 1x2–2x2 brackets (both regular and inverted) in between (nine per leg). Upon this, plates and tiles will be added for strength and stability. A variety of rounded parts provide greebling to the outer side and mimic mechanical components.
Bastion is a walking Tank, and thus has to be heavily armoured. Two big plates of armour are added to the legs, one in Tan, and one in Sand Green. The Tan plate contains a few rare parts, namely one Tile, Modified 4 x 4 with Studs on Edge (6037549|6179) and one Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner (6236914|26601). Like its Sand Green counterpart, the latter can be found for the second time only in Bastion.
We now move on to the third bag where we build the feet and the mini-gun. One of the most notable part in the feet is the Bright Orange Slope 45 2 x 1 with Cutout without Stud (6181314|28192), which comes in six sets only. Eight of these parts are used in Bastion.
The mini-gun is decorated with a Silver Metallic Tile, Round 1 x 1 with Overwatch Logo (6253980|49574). Out of the two which came in my copy (as there’s one extra part), one has a slightly off-centred print, unfortunately.
Bastion is nearly complete.
We now build the arms with the fourth bag, as well as his little avian friend Ganymede.
The left arm has a hand with articulated fingers. In-game, Bastion has five fingers but the set has only three fingers, which is an understandable adaptation from the original design. A complete hand with five fingers would have been too big. They are articulated with Mixel joints (each finger is a pair of 22890 and 14418), and Silver Metallic ingots provide mechanical details.
The right arm is different, since it features a gun instead, although an ingot is also used to add details. Its design has been simplified compared to its in-game design, presumably to prevent the gun from being too heavy for the elbow articulation.
A pair of shields, mainly made of Tan parts, completes the build of Bastion. 1x1 round tiles in Medium Stone Grey (6284071 | 35381) provide accurate mechanical detailing, as they do on the whole build.
Bastion is now complete (minus the stickers but you’ll find out tomorrow why I chose not to apply them). But… there are still some unusual parts left to use.
Among them, two Brackets 1x1-1x1 Inverted in Cool Yellow / Bright Light Yellow (6236034 | 36840) which can be found in four sets so far, one (plus one extra) Tiles Modified 1x1 Half Circle Extended in the same colour (6250598 | 35399) which appears here for the fifth time, one (plus one extra) Tan Pyramid Slope 1x1 (6249125 | 35344) which appeared in five sets before, and one Bright Yellowish Green / Lime Brick 1x1 With 4 Knobs (6174006 | 4733) which only appeared in 2017 and is found in five other sets.
These parts are used to build Ganymede. It’s a small yet impressive build, with studs in every direction!
And now the set is complete.
This is where the waist articulation comes into play, since his upper torso has to rotate by 180 degrees to deploy the massive mini-gun.
Bastion is an unusual set that contains a rather nice inventory (especially when it comes to Tan and Sand Green elements), and is an interesting build. I would like to see more of these big scale characters in the future, and we now know the next Overwatch sets to be released in October are 75976 Wrecking Ball and 75977 Junkrat & Roadhog. Whether further sets are to come remains to be seen. Although I’m not an Overwatch expert, one suitable character that comes to mind is Bastion’s fellow ‘Omnic’ sentient robot Zenyatta. Sure, it would be more of a display model than Bastion, since the latter features a lot of articulation points and a transformation feature, but I think Zenyatta’s mechanical details could look great in the form of a large LEGO set.
It’s cool to see a set with an alternate mode, but how about an alternate model? A good way to test a set’s inventory is to see what can be done with its parts. Come back tomorrow when I'll show you what I came up with!
Build, techniques and parts in 75974 Bastion
Bag 1 contains the parts for the body and the head of Bastion, and we start by building the hips.
Then we add a sub-assembly that will provide the connection point to the hips.
The geometry here is interesting, because this section makes use of the famous 5:2 ratio (meaning the height of five plates equals the length of two studs) in two directions. Firstly the red 92013 is attached, sandwiched between two plates. Then the height of the 92013, which sits five plates above the hips – the ball/cup connection is exactly two-studs long, as shown by the 2x2 tile I’ve put between the two blue 2x2 plates – allowing the two halves of the body to be perfectly aligned.
However, you have to be careful when you put the upper torso in place, because if you push on the sides, the core might detach. I think this is why the designer chose to put the 92013 in red: that way, it works as a visual guide that tells you it’s best to push on this part to make sure the two halves connect properly.
Then we add a sub-assembly that makes up the shoulders and the neck. The most notable part is a Technic, Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Pin Holes and Rotation Joint Ball Half (Vertical Side) in Black (6187578|48171), which appears in only five sets so far (including another Overwatch set, 75973 D.Va & Reinhardt, which we've already reviewed). 75975 Bastion contains five of them.
After that we take care of the front of Bastion’s body, with another sub-model.
Now that the shoulders are in place, it’s time to cover the back, notably with two ingots in Silver Metallic / Flat Silver (6208446|99563). They’re now quite common, appearing in 17 sets so far, but they’re fairly recent, having been introduced in 2018 only. Bastion contains nine.
There’s also a Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Inverted (6186828|11203), which brings a touch of Sand Green to the back. This part only appeared in the Architecture set 21042 Statue of Liberty before.
The head adds a bit more Sand Green including two Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner (6233984|26601). Introduced in 2018, they appear in seven sets so far. Bastion contains two of these.
More importantly, the head is constructed around a red light brick (6121786|98782), which is almost invisible once the assembly is finished! Bastion’s visual sensor is normally blue (achieved here thanks to a Transparent Light Blue 1x2 plate) but pressing the button on the back of the head gives it a menacing red glow.
Two small modules are then added to the torso, and both include some quite rare parts.
First there’s a small piece of greebling, which comes in the form of one Tile, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle in Bright Orange / Orange (6253318|2432). It was last seen in 2015 and appears in 8 sets only.
Then there’s a big piece of armour made of, among other parts, one Wedge 4 x 4 x 2/3 Triple Curved in Brick Yellow / Tan (6253319|45677). This element was last seen in 2013, and appears for the third time only after having been introduced in 2005.
This marks the completion of the body, and the end of the first bag.
The second bag provides the parts for the legs, which are symmetrical. Their construction is quite simple; a lot of parts are stacked with many 1x2–2x2 brackets (both regular and inverted) in between (nine per leg). Upon this, plates and tiles will be added for strength and stability. A variety of rounded parts provide greebling to the outer side and mimic mechanical components.
Bastion is a walking Tank, and thus has to be heavily armoured. Two big plates of armour are added to the legs, one in Tan, and one in Sand Green. The Tan plate contains a few rare parts, namely one Tile, Modified 4 x 4 with Studs on Edge (6037549|6179) and one Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner (6236914|26601). Like its Sand Green counterpart, the latter can be found for the second time only in Bastion.
We now move on to the third bag where we build the feet and the mini-gun. One of the most notable part in the feet is the Bright Orange Slope 45 2 x 1 with Cutout without Stud (6181314|28192), which comes in six sets only. Eight of these parts are used in Bastion.
The mini-gun is decorated with a Silver Metallic Tile, Round 1 x 1 with Overwatch Logo (6253980|49574). Out of the two which came in my copy (as there’s one extra part), one has a slightly off-centred print, unfortunately.
We now build the arms with the fourth bag, as well as his little avian friend Ganymede.
The left arm has a hand with articulated fingers. In-game, Bastion has five fingers but the set has only three fingers, which is an understandable adaptation from the original design. A complete hand with five fingers would have been too big. They are articulated with Mixel joints (each finger is a pair of 22890 and 14418), and Silver Metallic ingots provide mechanical details.
Bastion is now complete (minus the stickers but you’ll find out tomorrow why I chose not to apply them). But… there are still some unusual parts left to use.
Among them, two Brackets 1x1-1x1 Inverted in Cool Yellow / Bright Light Yellow (6236034 | 36840) which can be found in four sets so far, one (plus one extra) Tiles Modified 1x1 Half Circle Extended in the same colour (6250598 | 35399) which appears here for the fifth time, one (plus one extra) Tan Pyramid Slope 1x1 (6249125 | 35344) which appeared in five sets before, and one Bright Yellowish Green / Lime Brick 1x1 With 4 Knobs (6174006 | 4733) which only appeared in 2017 and is found in five other sets.
These parts are used to build Ganymede. It’s a small yet impressive build, with studs in every direction!
And now the set is complete.
Alternate mode
Bastion can take on various poses thanks to its articulated ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows and even waist. More importantly it can, just like in the game, go into sentry mode and turn into a turret.
This is where the waist articulation comes into play, since his upper torso has to rotate by 180 degrees to deploy the massive mini-gun.
Conclusion
It’s cool to see a set with an alternate mode, but how about an alternate model? A good way to test a set’s inventory is to see what can be done with its parts. Come back tomorrow when I'll show you what I came up with!
READ MORE: 2 new parts in the 2019 LEGO Inside Tour set
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Got this model recently. I have been a fan of lego since my mom bought me 6835 around 1995, and I have to say the Bastion set might be my favourite non-technic Lego set released to date. Both him and Wrecking Ball are not only a lot of fun to build, but are quite well detailed and both transform just like they do in the game.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see more models from Overwatch, particularly Orisa or a larger Scale D.Va/Winston