LEGO 70900: The Joker Balloon Escape - REVIEW

I ended up buying a couple of the small LEGO Batman Movie sets but for whatever reason, I didn't actually build any of them until now!  Today, I will take a detailed look at one of the smallest boxed sets in the Batman movie line:  The Joker Balloon Escape, set #70900.

The Joker Balloon Escape set comes with 124 pieces and two minifigures.  As with most of the LEGO Batman sets, you get a rather generic Batman figure (though this time he does come with a grappling gun/hook).

The star of the set, however, is the Joker.

The Joker comes with a long, purple cloth robe piece and a dual-sided head (happy face and a sinister happy face).

In terms of interesting pieces, for such a small set I would say that this set has a nice piece selection.  For starters, you get a couple of the new macaroni pieces in red.  You also get a total of five balloons to build (two red, two yellow, and one blue).

Other pieces of note include include a couple of sand green pieces, the yellow gate piece, and two sticks of dynamite.  The set also includes two stickers (both of which add to the overall look of the set) but neither is difficult to apply.

After assembling the two minifigures and Joker's balloon pack, the remaining few pieces are used to make a (very) small industrial plant bit.

Joker's plan is to use the bomb with the obnoxiously large clock to explode the canister of flammable materials.  The set includes a bit of an action feature in that you can push down on a lever to make the tank "explode" into two pieces.

Overall, the Joker Balloon Escape set offers up a quick, easy, and cheap way to get the movie's main star and the main villain.  For parents (or kids) on a budget, you have to respect that as an option.  Add in the fact that the little set has a bit of an action feature in a small assembly and you end up with a set that should definitely appeal to kids (of all ages).

The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun:  10
Play Value:  10
Kid Value:  10
Adult Value:  9
Overall:  9
The extra pieces in the box.

For me, this set hit all the right notes.  You get the two main movie characters, a bit of structure to mess around with (and blow up), and a sweet balloon getaway vehicle (plus Batman's grappling hook so he can go along for a ride).  And all of that is relatively inexpensive (by LEGO standards).  As of the time of this post, Amazon has the set available for only $11.99.  A veritable steal for what you get!

It isn't hard to imagine kids "swooshing" the Joker all over the place with Batman hanging on for dear life (with the kids cackling much like the Joker).  The industrial bit might be a small build, but it packs enough details in it to allow kids imaginations to fill in the rest of the story so to speak.  This is an easy set to recommend to anyone wanting to get a taste of the Batman sets (or simply the main Batman figures).  Highly recommended all around - and that's without even mentioning that you can combine this set with a couple of other smaller LEGO Batman sets to form a larger play scene (something that I think is a great idea by LEGO).  Good stuff all the way around here, highly recommended set.

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