Review: 76291 The Avengers Assemble: Age of Ultron from LEGO® Marvel

Depicting the snowy opening sequence of 2015's Avengers: Age Of Ultron, LEGO® Marvel set 76291 The Avenger Assemble: Age of Ultron takes the form of a "frozen moment" that conveys all the frenetic energy of three action-packed minutes.

The action takes place in a frosty forest setting outside a Hydra research facility in the fictional Eastern European country of Sokovia. The Avengers are all here, looking cool: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor and Hulk.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

76291 The Avengers Assemble: The Age of Ultron

• US$99.99/ £89.99/ 99.99€/ AU$169.99
• 613 parts
• Release Date: 1 August 2024

76291 Avengers Assemble: Age of Ultron on LEGO.com

 

New mould

• 1x Minifig Neckwear Cape in Red (6508620 | 5725)

This new rubbery cape is similar to Dr Strange's cape (79786) and also Batman's new cape (5647) from set 76274 Batman with the Batmobile vs Harley Quinn and Mr. Freeze. The 1989 Batman cape (51112) also used the same rubbery material but, appropriately, the cowl was fully integrated in that element.

The new cape, more akin to Dr Strange's cape, is held in place by three things: the flexibility of the material, a small lip at the front that overhangs the minifigure torso, and the pressure of the head. The cape can be removed and reattached pretty easily, and I was pleased to find that it does not pop off unexpectedly when handled normally.

Rare parts

There are no exclusive recolours in the set, so let's move on to the rare parts, currently available in three or fewer sets.

• 2 x Slope 18° 2 x 1 x 2/3 in Black (6483559 | 5404) in two LEGO® Speed Champions sets
• 1 x Weapon Bow and Arrow Compound in Black (6450613 | 3748) in two sets – this is the new version of the compound bow from last year, replacing the old part 10258
• 4 x Plant, Fern 3 x 4 x 2 in Earth Green/ Dark Green (6507852 | 5151) in two sets
• 5 x Plant, Leaves, Round 2 x 2 x 2/3 with + Axle Hole and 4 Leaf Extensions in White (6468789 | 15469) only previously found in 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival from 2021
• 14 x Plant, Fern 2 x 3 x 2 in White (6439714 | 2682) in three sets
• 1 x Wave / Lightning with Axle Hole in Transparent Light Blue/ Trans-Light Blue (6508017 | 2149) in three sets 

• 1 x Fairing, Motorcycle Frame, Vintage no Front Mudguard in Earth Blue/ Dark Blue (6489304 | 65521) only previously in 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter

I missed the recoloured motorcycle fairing in my initial photoshoot. These are some superfluous views to justify the extra image padding out this section of the review.

Minifigures

The minifigures on offer should please fans of the theme. Six Avengers and three Hydra Soldiers are included in the set, and there are exclusive new prints or rarer parts in all of the characters presented here. 

Exclusive

Hawkeye

• 1x Legs with new print in Black (6488118 | 970pr)
• 1x Torso with new print in Black (6510888 | 973pr)

Hydra Soldier

• 3x Torso with new print in White (6502815 | 973pr)
• 3x Minifig Head with new print in Light Bluish Gray (6488120 | 28621pr)

Captain America

• 1x Helmet / Mask, Top Hole in Dark Blue (6488122 | 45779pr)

Iron Man

• 1x Headwear Accessory Visor Top Hinge in Dark Red (6488204 | 10908pr)
• 1x Legs with new print in Dark Red (6488206 | 970pr)
• 1x Torso with new print in Dark Red (6501829 | 973pr)

Hulk

• 1x Bigfig Head with new print in Olive Green (6488087 | 79435pr)
• 1x Body Giant, No Head, Hulk with new print in Olive Green (6488124 | 105177pr)

Rare

Black Widow

• 1 x Hips and Black Legs with Silver Lines, Metallic Blue Knee Pads in Titanium Metallic / Pearl Titanium (6444161 | 104315) just in 76260 Black Widow & Captain America Motorcycles
• 1 x Torso Jumpsuit with Zipper and Belt, Red Buckle and Medium Azure Lines Print (Black Widow), Black Arms and Hands in Titanium Metallic / Pearl Titanium (6447635 | 76382) just in 76260 Black Widow & Captain America Motorcycles

Hawkeye

• 1 x Hair, Short Pointy, Wavy in Front in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan (6444360 | 2631) in two sets

Thor

• 1x Torso Armor, Small Silver Circles, Dark Blue Trim, Red Cape End Print (Thor), Flat Silver Arms, Light Nougat Hands in Black (6395354 | 76382) – just in 76269 Avengers Tower

Captain America

• 1 x Torso Bodysuit, Red and White Panels, White Star, Reddish Brown Belt and Straps Print, Dark Blue Arms, Reddish Brown Hands in Earth Blue/ Dark Blue (6357647 | 76382) only previously in 76262 Captain America's Shield

Hulk

• 1x Hair for Bigfig, Short Curly in Black (6430626 | 3478) – just in 76269 Avengers Tower 

Here are the Avengers assembling... (not sorry).

The build

The build is approached in a number of stages, starting with a neatly constructed 4x4 off-road vehicle.

The action in this scene in the film is a bit frantic but this looks like a fair representation of the jeep that Black Widow is driving. It felt a little like I'd been behind this steering wheel before, but it was an engaging start nonetheless.

Next up is the Hydra defences bunker section, a pillbox-style building that again, within all the explosions, is a little tricky to see how accurate the LEGO build is. It has the only action feature in the whole set: the front of the bunker pops off when activated by Hulk jumping on a lever at the front. Also included here is our first tree. It's a new construction to me and looks really effective. A watchtower for the Hydra soldiers is economically constructed using two sections of rollercoaster track and ably depicts Thor's portion of the initial action.

The main display base of the scene is next and it's a straightforward build using predictable methods. I found the dark grey Czech Hedgehogs tricky to position and I felt they came apart a little too easily and often when I tried to attach them.

Then we put all the sections together and start arranging the characters. Captain America's bike would benefit from a slightly more dynamic angle in my opinion.

The final parts to add are the trees and Iron Man. I also had to watch my language when positioning Iron Man as he flies past Captain America, as he, like the hedgehogs, was tricky to attach. What at first felt like a novel building method for the trees became a little repetitive, despite their variations, and was less fun than if they had all been distributed throughout the build.

Below is a view of the disassembled sections of the build. At a glance, it looks like there is a reasonable quantity of LEGO parts here, but the question I found myself asking was, is it really worth £90? That thought, combined with what I described in my review of 76295 The Avengers Helicarrier led me to some investigation of the relative prices of these LEGO Marvel sets. 

A selection of transparent posing parts are contained within the set, however, options for customising your display to depicting the action as you want it are a tiny bit limited by a prescribed layout. Rebuilding, than just repositioning parts, would be needed to achieve anything very different.

Is it good value?

You may have noticed that there aren't any stickers in 76291 Avengers Assemble: Age of Ultron and that will be good news for many, but is perhaps cold comfort in a set with a relatively high asking price and what I discovered was quite a high price per gram too. 

For reference, if 6.49p per gram is what you could reasonably expect to pay on average for your new LEGO Marvel sets, this one is going to cost you 9.43p per gram. For a full explanation of this, please see my investigation on the relative costs of these sets.

I don't often get to build LEGO with my daughter (now 10) but she wanted to help me with this review. When we finished building, her take on it was this: “Black Widow and Hulk are nice, and the jeep is okay, but I’m not that bothered by the other stuff.” 

Sadly, I'm sitting on a similar stack of bricks. I like Hulk, Iron Man and the Jeep is a solid little vehicle, I also do quite like those trees, but do I really want the rest of the scene or is that something I feel like I could add myself if I wanted to?

I'm sure some Marvel fans will be delighted with the new versions of the Avengers characters and how well this model captures the scene from 'Age of Ultron'. However, these are all familiar figures if you aren’t into collecting every variant.

The sectional builds can be attached in a couple of ways but this is not quite the "multi-modular" playset that LEGO claims it is.

 
Having had time to consider the set, I am confused by what it is trying to be. Is it a display model, a play-set, a massively overblown battle pack, or the mashing together of 3½ sets that are a little late to the film’s after-show party?

It's a jeep, a bunker, a tower and nine minifigures; and even though one is a big-fig, three are generic Hydra soldiers.

 
Much of this set was quick to build and pretty simple. I have come to expect a bit more from a build experience in a display set, and generally I want more play value than one action feature in a play set.

 
As a scene it's effective, as a playset it feels too prescriptive and perhaps that's down to it closely resembling that opening sequence of the film.

There is a nice collection of rarer fern elements in the set, and that's undeniably appealing too, but probably not enough to make this set worth buying for parts in the way I might consider a Botanical Collection set. There are also a good group of white parts, creating the snowy alpine scene.

 
Is there a potential to make this a pretty cool addition to your Winter Village, with some brick-built snowmen amid this scenery? Sure! That’s where I think the problem in this set really lies: this is the Avengers, it should all be about the action.

Conclusion

For new parts, there is the new cape and new minifigures but not much else. The rare parts are no more accessible for MOC-builders than they were before, because no one is going to drop £90 for less than 40 (or so) parts that wouldn’t be more than a few pence each on BrickLink.

I know that Hulk is an unusually big chunk of plastic and relatively high numbers of minifigures usually increase the price of a set too, particularly licensed ones. I'm taking that, current inflation and the idea of a “Disney/Marvel tax” into account when I conclude that I don't see enough value in this set.

Maybe we could leave the biggest tree in, but all the other "set dressing" feels a touch superfluous. Without the base, perhaps the parts quota could have been used on another vehicle for the baddies? Obviously the tanks in the scene were unlikely to be featured, but another armoured truck or jeep for the Hydra Soldiers to ride in would definitely help up the perceived value in my opinion.

Despite my criticism, I like how this looks and as a playset it kind of does work if you simply want to re-enact the first part of the film. If there is a massive Hydra Castle Fortress in the future then perhaps this set might make a little more sense, unlikely as that seems.

Overall, the contents are nice, the minifigures are actually very good and are sure to please affluent fans looking for new interpretations of the whole Avengers team. Of course, it's a LEGO product, and so despite the conceptual difficulties, it's a well designed toy. That feels like it’s the worst kind of damning with faint praise.

I feel terrible about being so dismissive of a set, and with apologies to the designers because as always, the stuff in this set has been thought about, particularly those snow-capped trees. With only the superheroes contained within to defend it, unfortunately the negatives stacked up against this set make this a disappointing addition to the range. Overall, I felt the offerings here were perhaps the contents of three smaller sets superfluously expanded to fit an inflated price point.

In this chilly financial climate, if you are lucky enough that money is burning a hole in your pockets, my advice would be that there are still better value LEGO sets to warm you up at this price point. The price and overall contents have left me a little cold. 

August 2024 LEGO® Marvel sets: cost, weight and relative price per gram

Set Piece count	Price (UK)	Weight	Cost per gram	Price if 6.49p per gram	% over 6.49p
76295 The Avengers Helicarrier 509 pieces	£69.99	851g	8.22p	£55.23	26%
76291 The Avengers Assemble: Age of Ultron 613 pieces	£89.99	954g	9.43p	£61.91	45%
76290 The Avengers vs. The Leviathan 347 pieces	£44.99	425g	10.59p	£27.58	63%
76289 Thor vs. Surtur Construction Figure 245 pieces	£24.99	279g	8.96p	£18.11	38%
76288 Iron Man and Iron Legion vs. Hydra Soldier 135 pieces	£19.99	153g	13.07p	£9.92	101%
76297 Dancing Groot 459 pieces	£39.99	506g	7.90p	£32.84	22%
76286 The Milano 2090 pieces	£159.99	3042g	5.25p	£197.43	-19%

READ MORE: Review: 71486 Castle Nocturnia from LEGO® DREAMZzz™

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