“I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me.”
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is still the gold standard for big-screen adaptation of the World’s Greatest Detective. And maybe on some level, even Batfleck continues to hold the hearts of fans everywhere. But there’s absolutely no denying that to a legion of fans, Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) is the most iconic Caped Crusader to have graced the silver screen, bar none.
Last year, Batman fans were treated to the awesomeness that is the 76139 LEGO 1989 Batmobile, which, even a year later, holds up as one of the best brick versions of the iconic four-wheeled powerhouse driven by Michael Keaton’s Batman Tim Burton’s classic.
But that film not only introduced the awesome vehicle that Keaton’s Batman zipped around Gotham City in, as the end of the film also brought the trusty Batwing to the big screen, as Batman exerted his aerial dominance like only he could. And you can now own pieces of it in LEGO form with the 76161 LEGO 1989 Batwing.
Though Batman’s and the 1989 film’s 80th and 30th anniversaries are well over by this point, there’s still plenty of reason to be excited about the LEGO Batwing. After all, who can forget Batman piloting the aerial vehicle as its form covered the moon, giving fans the Bat emblem for all the world to see. That, and also spraying bullets at Jack Nicholson’s Joker, and missing completely, but who remembers that much detail.
In any case, the most striking feature about the 76161 LEGO 1989 Batwing (besides the fact that it looks really detailed) is how it can be displayed on the stand that the set comes with, or against the wall so it stacks up against the other wall ornaments in your geeky home. Paint a slightly bigger moon-like circle behind it and you can recreate that classic film moment of the Bat-symbol in your home.
If mounted on the stand, the Batwing swoops downwards at an angle menacingly, as if captured midway through its process of raining hell down on enemies below. Alternatively, it can also be displayed flying upwards.
To mount it on the wall, simply remove the lego piece from the Batwing’s seat to reveal the hole for hooking it to a single nail in the wall. Alternatively, it could serve well as a Bat-potty too during emergencies.
Featuring 2,363 pieces, the 1989 Batwing may seem like a smaller and shorter build than the 1989 Batmobile, but it is no less complex. With a component volume matching any Ultimate Collector’s Series model and an equally-thick instruction manual to boot, assembling the 1989 Batwing could take about somewhere between three to six hours to complete in one sitting.
But when fully built, this is one absolute beauty, and can easily be the centrepiece of your room or collection, alongside the 1989 Batmobile.
Similar to the Batmobile, the 76161 LEGO 1989 Batwing sports a sleek, all-black paint job with a glossy finish, which supports the stealthy approach Batman takes even in the skies. Despite being 1:50 in scale, the detailing on this model is superb.
From the bat-shaped fins on the back, to the neon green lights located near the wingtips at the front, and to the arsenal of turrets and guns stacked alongside the wingspan, this LEGO version of the Batwing certainly looks battle-ready and not to mention fabulous. Even the interior of the cockpit is nicely detailed, including various buttons, switches and levers accenting the sides and front.
Like typical UCS sets, the LEGO 1989 Batwing comes with a plaque that provides details on its stats in real life, as if it actually existed. The plaque can be mounted on the stand, just below the Batwing itself for display purposes.
And of course, you can’t complete an epic-looking set like this without a set of Minifigs. The LEGO 1989 Batwing comes with three Minifigs: Keaton’s Batman (which looks almost identical to last year’s version), Nicholson’s Joker in a tuxedo, as well as everyone’s favourite boombox-wielding goon, Lawrence, played by George Lane Cooper. These Minifigs are all done in stunning detail, and can be presented on a stand with LEGO-style gargoyles as seen in Gotham City.
Convinced yet? The 76161 LEGO Batwing is available now, and retails for S$349.90 at all LEGO-certified stores in Singapore. It’s a little pricey, but if you got to go (for it), go with a smile!
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Natalie
Yonk
