LEGOⓇ Marvel™ set review: 76269 Avengers Tower

We took a look at all the new elements present LEGO® Marvel™ 76269 Avengers Tower in our parts review. Now it's time to look at Avengers Tower, assembled.

 

This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.
Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
LEGO® Marvel™ 76269 Avengers Tower
US$499.99 / AU$759.99 / £429.99 / €499.99 / CA$669.99
5201 parts
Set 76269 on LEGO.com

The build starts on a 32x32 baseplate which belies just how big the finished model will become.

Construction-wise, there isn’t much remarkable about the lobby, or indeed the next three floors. The first half of the build is mostly studs and since this glassy skyscraper is mostly windows (269 to be exact!) there aren’t many creative architectural features to build. 

 

Being an iconic landmark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it does however recreate numerous scenes from the movies and provides plenty of Easter eggs for fans to enjoy; mostly in the form of stickers. So while the first half of the build is simple, the experience is far from boring.

The lobby features a few chairs and a desk with the highlight being the Vita Rush vending machine. This, along with the elevators are the same design featured in 76178 Daily Bugle. 

 

A Minecraft head (19729) in Trans-Blue is repurposed to represent the Tesseract; a MacGuffin that appears in a number of Marvel outings.

The floor above the lobby doubles up as Helen Cho’s laboratory, as featured in Avengers: Age of Ultron and a mini diorama depicting the scene where Captain America fights a version of himself in Avengers: Endgame. Behind the bed in the lab is a representation of the virtual forms of the Jarvis and Ultron characters in conflict as seen in the Age of Ultron film.

Next up is Tony Stark’s workshop. There are some fun Easter eggs to discover here like the stickered blueprint for Pepper Pott’s Rescue suit. There’s also a mini arc reactor on display atop a tool cabinet that finds a novel use for Plate Special 1 x 1 with Hole Through Stud, 3 Bars and 3 Bar Holes (1941).

On the next floor is a large prison that features opening doors. It’s actually a LEGO version of the containment chamber from the helicarrier in the first Avengers movie. It forms a part of Nick Fury’s contingency plan should Bruce Banner Hulk-out while aboard the airborne base. It’s a bit of an odd inclusion here as it doesn’t appear in Avengers Tower as we see it in the movies, nor is it large enough to accommodate the Hulk bigfig. 

The design of the chamber works well but considering just how much space it fills, I feel like the designers could have found a better use for this space.

References to the movies in this room include a computer terminal featuring the face of Arnim Zola (does that count as a minifigure?) as he appears in Captain America: Winter Soldier. A deliberately placed bucket can be found behind the cell, but I’m not sure what for. A bucket also featured in the Daily Bugle designed by Mark Stafford, so perhaps it’s one of his trademarks?

You might also notice from the image above that while building this floor, we also start building a simple LEGO Technic structure that will help anchor the landing pad above.

Once these four floors are completed, they are locked together with SNOT. As the floors aren’t removable (a departure from the regular modular building approach) some AFOLs might find it difficult to access the rooms and pose figures inside.

 

The build gets a bit more interesting from this point on as we construct the penthouse and landing pad.

Since the tower is so tall, efforts have been made to hide the ugly anti studs that would otherwise be clearly visible on the underside of the landing pad.

The penthouse adjacent to the landing pad is furnished to depict a scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the team are enjoying drinks before a rude interruption by the villainous Ultron. The décor is simple but effective: two couches, a lamp, a coffee table and stickered 4 x 4 tile TV screens (and more Easter eggs!). A Panel 1 x 6 x 5 in Satin Trans-Clear (6363107 | 59349) makes a good stand in for a mirror behind a fully stocked bar.

The last of the 269 Dark Bluish Grey windows are used in a SNOT assembly to provide walls for the hangar. There is enough room here to house a miniaturized Quinjet.

The tiny Quinjet reminds me of the scaled down vehicles we’ve been seeing recently in larger playsets like the Y-wing in 75365 Yavin 4 Rebel Base and the Tie Fighter in 75251 Darth Vader’s Castle. Despite its diminutive stature, it’s packed with details. The wings feature plenty of SNOT-work to create just the right shape and there are plenty of clips and bars at work in the engines and tail fins to get all the angles where they should be. There are several stickers to be applied to the vehicle but they are purely decorative. Pictured above is the Quinjet without stickers and I think the design still holds up.

It'll seat a figure too, although the seat is very reclined. And there’s even room for a little bit of cargo behind the cockpit. Some AFOLs will surely roll their eyes at the sight of stud shooters in an ‘18+’ set. They are a bit of an odd addition, but they’re hardly noticeable in the build and at a glance they look like air intakes.

The Quinjet is not the only side build in Avengers Tower. The woefully outnumbered Chitauri foot soldiers receive a few reinforcements, the first of which is the mighty leviathan: an armoured flying whale that wreaks destruction over the streets of Manhattan in Avengers.

It’s a fun little model and the core is relatively simple. The creature is built in segments and connected with LEGO Mixels joints which provides the beast with plenty of articulation. The model also features movable fins and a mouth that opens and closes, so there's plenty of posability and playability here!

The creature’s armoured belly is recreated with 32x Large Figure Weapon Claw, with Clip in Pearl Gold (6253900 | 92220). Interlocking the elements like this is a great way to represent a rib cage.

The gold colour scheme is shared with the two other Chitauri vehicles included in the set. 

There are two bikes that feature the same design as well as a chariot for Loki which they can pull behind them. While the construction and overall appearance of the bikes is pretty simple, Loki’s chariot is quite impressive for such a small build. The tiles wrapping around the sides fixed at an angle make this look like a much more complex build. A bit more consistency in the colours used in the bikes, particularly more gold elements, might improve the appearance of these.

Once the penthouse is built and fitted on to the model, a sweeping curve built with hinge plates (73983) is fitted to integrate it into the rest of the architecture. This is all done thanks to some strategically placed recoloured 'baby D-SNOT' elements.

On the opposite side of the building to the landing pad, plates and tiles are angled to form a subtle ‘A’ shape. A combination of 1x1 round plate with bar and the newly recoloured 1x3 round plate with holes in light bluish grey form the connection points here. More 1x1 plate with bar elements hold the diagonals of the A at the correct angle. I was really impressed with the way this architectural feature was integrated into the build.

Atop the penthouse/hangar are 2 removable roofs. The first is a simple rectangle. The second is a cleverly constructed curve.

The curved portion of the roof is built in segments with Axle Hose, Soft 11L (32199) threaded through Plate Special 1 x 2 with Pin Hole Underneath (18677) to afford this subassembly some flexibility.

Space is starting to get limited now as the tower tapers to a point at the tippy-top. A few more rooms (mostly devoted to Easter eggs) fill up the rest of the space here. We have a slightly difficult-to-position sticker representing the imprint of ‘puny god’ Loki in the concrete floor, a few more Easter eggs to discover and a simple laboratory analysing Loki’s staff.

On the roof of the building we place the contraption built by Dr. Selvig to harness the power of the Tesseract and open a portal above New York. The model features some nice parts usage like the Plate Special 1 x 2 with Pin Hole Underneath (15379) as a greeble detail as well as a wand, a whisk and 2 blasters.

Access to the tower interior is provided by a removable wall which lies at an angle under the landing pad.

Of the 269 windows used in the construction of the tower, this is the part of the build that I really felt got repetitive with 7 large subunits of Trans Blue panels stacked on top of each other. In case you missed our parts review, there are 61 of this element new in Trans-Blue.

There's some seriously neat angle work going on when the wall is placed onto the tower. You'll notice that the long side of the 12 x 3 Wedge Plate comes to rest perfectly vertically when the wall is placed on the 6 x 6 Slope base.

At the risk of getting my New E. contributor title revoked, the fact that these two elements shared a common angle was totally new to me. The large elements used in Avengers Tower aren't parts I often use in MOCs, but it's a combo I'll keep in mind now that we've started to see smaller and more useful versions of these elements appearing in sets, like the ones pictured above: 

• Wedge Sloped 1 x 5 x 1 1/3 Left (3389) and Right (3389)
• Wedge Sloped 2 x 5 Left (3504) and Right (3505)
  
• Brick Sloped 1 x 6 x 1 with 1 x 2 x 1/3 Cutout (4569)
  

A small sub-model to represent the scene where Tony Stark jumps from the tower and summons his suit to save him sweetens the deal here. Lots of transparent elements are used to create a dynamic scene and the end result is quite spectacular and convincing at a short distance.

The finishing touch to the set is a big blue and white Avengers ‘A’ on each side of the tower. I found this to be a super satisfying assembly that uses a hinge along with a 2x2 wedge plate to create the angles here. It’s pinned onto 2 dish elements and the result is superbly well rendered Avengers logo.

The finished tower

The finished tower is of course, a massive model. So massive that I ventured outside my lightbox for these photos (which you may be able to tell from the quality)! Luckily it is contained within a 32x32 footprint so won’t take up too much shelf space. However, you will need a high ceiling, as the model is about 113 modules tall.

It’s a great looking model, with barely a studded surface in sight (inside or out) and what studs do remain are deliberately placed for the positioning of minifigures. 

It can be admired from all angles. The base features the same Technic connections that appear throughout the modular building sub-theme so it'll integrate  neatly into a LEGO City display.

But the figures aren’t limited to being placed on studs. Avengers Tower takes the diorama like display-ability of the Daily Bugle - a previous modular building-esque installment in the LEGO Marvel line - to the next level. There are dozens of axle holes dotted around the build, into which can be inserted minifigure posing elements. This allows the minifigures included with the tower to be displayed in a myriad of different ways around the finished model.

• 8 x 4042 Bar Curved with Axle End and 1 x 1 Round Plate in Transparent/ Trans-Clear (6444527 |4042)

This new minifigure posing element was designed specifically for Avengers Tower. The set contains 8 which is currently the largest number in a single set. We took a comprehensive look at this interesting new element in our dedicated article about part 4042.

One of my favorite uses of this element in the set is to pose Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir in flight. As the 1x1 cone has an axle connection, it can be attached to one end of the element while Thor holds the other. While that Trans Blue energy effect was created for LEGO® NINJAGO®, it works perfectly to represent Thor’s lightning powers.

The tower also provides a space to display the new Hulk bigfig who takes a place of pride at the centre of the tower. It’s a great idea to break up the literal hundreds of windows on the face of the tower in this way and the two windows that are included amongst the debris can be used to rebuild a pristine undamaged tower.

Minifigures

Speaking of minifigures, here they are, all 31 of them (minus one Hulk)!

We took a closer look at all the new prints for minifigures in our parts review.

The remaining figures are mostly rare, with some appearing in just one set. Casual LEGO collectors who might not have picked up many LEGO Marvel sets in the past will be happy to receive a considerable number of big name characters in one place. Die hard LEGO Marvel fans, on the other hand, might be disappointed to see figures here that are available elsewhere and in much cheaper sets. 

 

I think the selection overall is very good, but I can sympathise with customers who think they are getting shortchanged by the line-up. SHIELD agents Phil Coulson or Maria Hill seem like better choices than say, Wong or Wasp or 4 variations of Tony Stark, and since we get a Scarlet Witch, why not a Quicksilver? The designers no doubt had some difficult choices to make while deciding which figure to include in the set.

Closing thoughts

Over the last few years, I’ve definitely felt the Marvel fatigue. I don’t think the MCU is quite what it used to be, but this set really reinvigorated my interest in the franchise. 

The large number of windows in the set had me thinking that this would be a tedious build, but it was quite the opposite. Although the window building and tile laying sections are repetitive, there’s plenty more to build, including loads of Easter eggs and references to the films which overall made for a really fun building experience. 

I enjoyed the second half of the build a lot more than the first as there were many more interesting and clever techniques to be found in building the architecture details. I do think fans of the MCU will get a lot more out of this set than those who aren’t.

The finished build has terrific display value. I think there will be longevity in the posing and reposing of the figures around the tower and recreating scenes from the movies (or imagination) inside and out. It’s a shame that the price tag on this set is so high because it is a wonderful playset. 

Regarding the price, this is obviously an expensive set. Whether it provides good value for money will most likely depend on your fandom of the MCU, but LEGO fans can also appreciate the majesty of a giant LEGO skyscraper.

READ MORE: LEGO® Friends 42639 Andrea's Modern Mansion build review and interview

Help New Elementary keep publishing articles like this. Become a Patron!

A huge thank you to all our patrons for your support, especially our 'Vibrant Coral' tier: London AFOLs, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Huw Millington, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Gerald Lasser, Baixo LMmodels, Sue Ann Barber and Trevor Clark, Markus Rollbühler, Elspeth De Montes, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Chuck Hagenbuch, Jf, Wayne R. Tyler, Daniel Church, Lukas Kurth (StoneWars) and Timo Luehnen! You folks are just the cutest little baby bows.

LEGO® Shop at Home
USA: FREE SHIPPING every day on orders over $35!
UK: Free delivery when you spend £50 or more at LEGO!
Australia: Discover the latest promotions and offers on LEGO.com

All text and images are © New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.