A Quick Look At 2 Of The C3 Environment Sets

[Y2Bogus]

I’d say it’s a safe assumption that I’m now hooked on the C3 Batman sets. The concept of combining miniature figures with lego-style blocks was genius and they work out really well. The two following sets are no exception.

 

First up is the Chemical Warehouse set with Batman and Joker minimates. With Toys R Us having a clearance sale on the C3 sets, I felt compelled to hunt them all down. Rather than get them all at once, I decided to pace myself so that I had time to enjoy putting them together, and writing good, comprehensive reviews of them.

 

 

 

The Chemical Warehouse set boasts 83 pieces. Putting it together was relatively simple. You just build up 4 platforms, the vat, and the crane arm. The crane is great in that it has a huge range of movement. It can bend, spin, and clasp unsuspecting minimates to suspend them over the vat. The vat itself is a single molded piece, so it can accommodate liquid or even some mutagen ooze that you might have left over from your Ninja Turtles collection.

 

 

The playset is definitely cool. You can finally re-enact the famous scene from Tim Burton’s Batman, where Batman loses his grip on Jack Napier’s hand and Napier falls to his apparent death in a vat of chemicals, which bleaches his skin white, dyes his hair green, and twists his mind into the villainous Joker.

 

Or, if you prefer, you can simply create a more sadistic scene like the one at the end of this review.

 

 

 

The minimates are what really make these sets shine. The Chemical Warehouse includes Batman and Joker minimates. Like all sets, AA has gone through lengths to make sure that each minimate is unique to his set. The paintjob on this Batman is more sleek and stylized, like the animated series. His cape is also a single molded piece, which doesn’t allow it to be easily removed for seating in a vehicle like previous versions. He also includes a tiny batarang accessory.

 

 

 

Joker is also stylized like his animated self. The lines are very straight and the sculpting is really smooth as opposed to the Joker that comes in the Batcave set which has more detail in both sculpting and painting. But like his counterpart, Joker comes with his jester head cane.

 

 

The Chemical Warehouse set was a worthy purchase at 7 bucks and the included minimates are excellent. The set will look good on any display shelf and it’s also cool to have an environment where minimates can battle, even if the villain minimates are few and far between.

[Y2Bogus]

The mini-Batmobile set was my second purchase today. I spent a lot of time looking for this set. It seems that every store I went to had the other 3 environment sets, but not this one. But lady luck smiled down on me and finally, at a Walmart, I saw the set staring back at me from a clearance shelf.

 

 

 

The Batman minimate in the set is of course, unique. In this case, he has a cool 3 piece cape which allows it to be spread out as though Batman were going to glide off a building. Other than that, he’s a typical minimate with 14 point of articulation.

 

 

 

I had no allusions about this set. I didn’t spend time hunting it down for the lego blocks and I didn’t spend time hunting it down for the admittedly cool Batman minimate. I spent time hunting this set down for one reason and one reason only, Robin.

 

 

 

You’d think that a character as popular as Robin would get his own set, or at least be part of a better set. This Robin is designed on the Tim Drake look which was originally created for Marlon Wayans in the Batman Returns movie. Luckily, the Marlon Wayans Robin never happened and we were spared travesty (for about 3 years). I’m very pleased with the Robin minimate and to me, he was worth the cost of the set alone. The coloring is good and dark and his cape is long and flowing. He includes as an accessory, his metal staff. The only negative is that his hair doesn’t have the peg that the new figures feature, so getting it to stay on his head is harder than keeping William Shatner’s hair on.

 

Last, and certainly least in this set, is the blocks. On their own, I have no hate for the blocks, but when put together, they’re awful

 

 

 

The final product looks like a bumper car. It contains a gimmick where when you roll it, the flame on the back spins around. When compared to the full size Batmobile, this one is an insult. I can see now why this set was so hard to find. I’d try to hide this thing too if I had created it. Unfortunately, it’s the only way to get a Robin.

 

I do hope, however, that AA is able to get the license to release the figures individually. I'd like to see more sets as well.

[Jase]

Great reviews, as always! I bought these when they first came out last year. I still haven't built a set yet @lol@ I just take the figures out of the package and toss the box and its contents in storage.

 

Jase

=w=

[Skips]

Nice pics man! Keep it up!

[Skull Leader]

Nice job Y2B! Makes me wanna just grab these at my TRU.