The next heroes to arrive on the big screen Marvel Cinematic Universe are The Eternals. Ten cosmic heroes that, for this Marvel fan, remain a bit of a mystery. Regardless, LEGO has produced a surprisingly large and quite interesting range of sets for this new property.
I was sent all 4 Eternals sets by LEGO to review for Brickcentral. But the opinions expressed here are all mine. Let’s look at the 4 sets starting with the smallest.
Eternals Aerial Assault – 76145 – 133 pcs. $9.99/€9.99.
The cheapest set in the wave and the only one to include the minifig Sprite. The set also includes Ikaris (as do all but 1 of the sets) and a brick-built creature: a flying Deviant.
Let’s get straight to what I think is the weakest element of this wave because this set is the worst offender.
These Brick built Deviants are representations of alien beats glimpsed in the movie trailer. In LEGO form, they are a mish-mash of colours, poor articulation and fiddly bits that easily fall off.
This flying one, in particular, is awkward to pose and has so many colours on its legs it just looks a mess. The head lacks expressiveness and the whole thing is a bit fragile.
It does have some great iridescent blade pieces used on the wings though- as do all of the monsters in these sets.
All the minifigures in the wave are the eponymous Eternals. They all have similar, yet different, designs. They all have one predominant colour then an accent colour used with various geometric designs. Each figure in this set, and the whole wave, has two facial expressions.
I know Sprite is small in the film but I think a superhero character now should have medium legs to allow for more dynamic action.
It’s great to see a small affordable set in this range, but the main build is ugly to me and the figures are uninspired.
Score: 4/10
Deviant Ambush 76154. 197 pcs. $19.99/€19.99
The largest of the Deviants is reserved for this set which also features three minifigs: Thena, Makkari and exclusive to this set, Gilgamesh.
This is one of the better Deviant builds; at least building it was fun and I like the way its large front legs look. Generally though, it’s ugly and awkward to pose.
Gilgamesh is maybe my favourite minifig in this wave. I really like his gold\green colour scheme and his big… erm… flaming gloves?
Thena is another good figure. She has a super angry expression which I can see being useful in future photos with custom figs. Makkari is less interesting to me; perhaps it’s the bland colour scheme and boring faces.
The set was enjoyable to build and has 2 of the best Eternals figs. so if you like the look of the Deviant, it’s a pretty good set for the price.
Score: 7/10
In Arishems Shadow – 76155. 493pcs $59.99/€59.99
This set is my favourite of this wave. The main build is the titular Arishem, a Celestial in Marvel lore, in LEGO form… it’s a big robot thing.
It’s different enough from the many mechs LEGO produces but still has all the fun they typically bring. In an attempt to make it look like he’s floating it, doesn’t really have feet.
The legs sort of just point downward to some cosmic looking discs and it has a brick-based structure in black behind to help it stand. A light brick in the centre is also quite effective.
This set includes four minifigs and another Deviant. Ajak and Kingo are exclusive to this set, we also get Sersi and Ikaris.
The Deviant of the set is tiny and in some ways the most effective of all the Deviant builds. It’s just a simple flying creature that at least looks bird-like.
Four good figures, an acceptable looking Deviant, and really good build for the large Celestial humanoid make this a good all-round proposition, but loses a point for being the most unfairly priced set of the wave.
Score: 7/10
Rise of the domo – 76156. 1040 pcs. $99.99/€99.99
The Eternals spaceship, 6 minifigs and 2 more Deviants make for a good playset in what is the waves largest set.
The two deviants include their leader Kro and another four-legged beast.
Kro has a unique torso and head part. Strange proportions, no head movement, and the same strange mix of colours make for an ugly looking and poor representation of the character seen in the trailer.
The four-legged creature is a more interesting build but articulation is poor as is the figures expressiveness.
The Eternals ship is really fascinating to me. Essentially a big chunky triangle, the shape certainly makes it a unique build and a ship unlike any other I’ve seen in LEGO form.
Lots of stickers of geometric patterns a few printed and iridescent tiles and dish parts really help give this ship a strong identity. Most of the designs you see on tiles are stickers. Only the 3 very large circular tiles are printed.
The ship opens up well for play but not so much for photography. There are lots of little details inside but I’m not sure what all of them mean, though there’s a nice minibuild version of Arishem. Not sure if it’s meant to be a statue, model, projection or actually the Celestial in shrunken form.
Of the six minifigs included, Druig and Phastos are the ones exclusive to this set both are good ones, with nice designs and useful faces. Thena, Makkari, Sersi and Ikaris are all present too.
The set also comes with what I will very generously describe as an “additional vehicle”.
Overall, poor Deviant builds are countered by a fun spacecraft and plenty of minifigs.
Score: 7/10
Overall this is a curious assortment. The only minifigs are the Eternals themselves, 10 heroes we have not yet got to know. A nice mix of flesh tones and expressions for anyone looking to build their own custom figs but the torsos and legs will have limited reusability.
The enemies are all brick-built monsters of varying low quality. I know LEGO is limited by the source material and their own colour locked parts but they mostly look like a mess to me. I’ve seen LEGO produce much better brick-built beasts over the years (looking at you Ninjago!)
The highlights to me are definitely the two largest builds, the Arishem and the big grey pizza slice of a spaceship with its tasty geometric style pepperoni slices. Both are excellent builds that elevate an otherwise lacklustre wave.
These sets are available to purchase from 1st October.
Behind The Scenes
I’ve never had to make such a large object fly in a LEGO photo as the triangle spaceship. So I used a fairly simple LEGO construction to suspend the ship. It was a bulky construction though because I don’t have many technic type parts that could have achieved this in a much leaner design.
I then simply used the scenery to hide the support. See this month’s tips article from Yuri Badiner for much better suggestions on suspending your LEGO.