Introduction

Needless to say that the first picture of this set was surely jaw-dropping. It had a Mad Max vibe and might even remind some people of the scene in Planets of the Apes. So is it really that awesome? Let's find out!

Name: 70840 Welcome to Apocalypseburg!
Theme: Lego Movie 2
Year: 2019
Pieces: 3178
Price: US $299.99 – CA $399.99 – DE €299.99 – UK £279.99 – FR €299.99 – DK 2,499DKK
Resources: Press Release topic

Box art

The box shows a lot of the play features. Like getting an overpriced coffee, taking a shower, working out with Batman or even getting a tattoo.

 

Content

As with many larger sets this one also contained another smaller box.

All the bags together make it a whopping total of 30!

I'm not a fan of stickers so this enormous sheet was a bit of a disappointment. I get that it's way cheaper and to resemble the movie better you probably need these. But still, some more printed parts would be very welcome. Especially those which are usable in other sets like the "plank"-sticker(nr 46).

 

Instructions

The front shows us how many numbered bags are being used. Or in other words how many big steps are in the booklet.

For Ideas-sets it's common to have information about the set. So adding this information to this set is actually a welcome addition. This should be added to other (large) sets, because it's fun and interesting to read about how the set came to be.

Be careful not to lift the model by grabbing Lady Liberty, but put your hands under it to support the structure. Thanks for the warning TLC!

Also, all 12 of the minifigs have a short bio which is a fun addition.

 

With 756 steps this set is going to take a while to build.

Building

Bag 1

Forget baseplates, a Technic frame is a more solid solution which also makes a model more sturdy and prevents the base from bending which happens when you put too much tension on a baseplate.

The colors make it easy to prevent mistakes when adding the plates. And upsidedown building adds to the building experience!

Again usage of a lot of different colors to avoid putting bricks in wrong places.

There you have the base.

Bag 2

At first, it looks like you're going to make a gas station, but the sticker with a cup suggests otherwise.

Not sure if I would like my coffee this way. And the snacks even less. Forget donuts, today's special is a rat!

Next to the coffee shop is the Scribble Cop's office/jail. There's a chair in there so he can kick it around as much as he wants. There seems to be a photo of Mo-Hawk on the wall, does that make her his crush or a wanted criminal?

Bag 3

A rundown wall with shattered glass to close off the hollow middle of the structure.

And on the other side is Batman's gym. Here he can do some weightlifting. And he can train his boxing skills on what appears to be a Duplo part.

With the last bricks, details like a small fireplace and some tanks are added. Maybe not so smart to put those together...

Bag 4

It was surprising to see that this bag started with another base. Until this point, I didn't realize it was necessary to achieve the angle in the model.

Again different colors are being used to make sure you place parts on the right spots.

Apparently, someone is hiding eggs in the sewer. Maybe the sewer babies put it there?

Bag 5

Not sure what the inhabitants will be of these dog or cat houses?

If you want something special in your bathroom, just use an old truck.

Relax in the bathtub or just take a shower. It's very clever to use a tile as a soap bar and the ice cream cone as soap bubbles!

Bag 6

Again a stranded vehicle, it even gets a sort of interior with stickers. Which doesn't make sense at all, because when the model is complete you can't get inside of it anymore.

It appears to be a Volkswagen van, which looks pretty cool. The rusty look is well done by using colors like reddish brown and dark orange.

Time to put the two bases together. By using clips and handles you can click both sides together. To support the structure and complete the connection hinge plates are used on top.

It's a perfect and impressive fit without any stress on the bricks. 

Bag 7

Continuing the Technic structure to support the statue.

Even the Batmobile didn't survive the apocalypse. Good thing there's still Batman merchandise to hand out! Most welcome is a barbed wire which hasn't been in a set since Racers back in 2010.

Panels in sand green, a new color for this element, are used to hide the Technic interior.

Bag 8

Everything is run down in this city so there's definitely a need for a sort of toolshed.

Start of the arm. Again a Technic structure is being used covered up by using panels and plates.

Bag 9

To achieve a weathered look the sand green is mixed with Olive Green which works really well.

Before making the chest of the statue the hollow space under it is being filled up.

Bag 10

To make sure the arm doesn't bend or break Technic is being used again.

Using different kinds of brackets the bricks are attached to the sides.

The tall arm of Liberty.

A ladder is added to make sure Lucy can reach the top.

Bag 11

A small bag for those fun details, like these stairs.

The left arm with even more Bat Merch!

The tabula ansata is just a simple build, but it's attached in a creative way. By using clips and bars it's attached to the whole structure and then supported by pillars. This all under an impressive angle!

Bag 12

Time for a haircut. This year it's all about mohawks!

Duplo in sight? Make sure to run past the armory to suit up!

Bag 13

One of the fewer printed parts are the newspapers. Of course, you need those when getting a haircut.

Modified tiles suggest something is going to be placed at an angle.

Bag 14

Some collectibles.

A piece of cloth as door and again some barbed wire, score!

What's a better way to look out for danger than in a comfortable chair. Nice use of the normal chair!

Round plates are placed underneath to fit on the modified tiles.

Container hide-out complete!

Bag 15

Making the head.

Nice use of the hotdogs as eyebrows.

Duplo kill scoreboard!

Bag 16

Making the crown round by using hinge plates.

Fits perfectly on the head.

Closing off the hideout. It's a mystery though how someone can reach this because there are no stairs leading here.

Making the hair sure is difficult on this scale. But the results are satisfying.

Bag 17

Inside of the torch.

Fingers in place to hold it all

The flame is perfectly sculpted. Too bad the color of the 1 x 1 plates is slightly off.

Completed torch, sure looks impressive!

 

Bag 18

The last bag is all about adding those small details. Like this lookout supporting the torch.

Finally connected to the Technic frame.

Too many steps on all those staircases, rest a bit here.

Adding another ladder and some chains for a badass look!

There's even a small burger place complete with a fryer. Although that sandwich doesn't look that appealing.

It's conveniently placed on the gym, so you can lose those calories again after eating.

No worries about getting lost, there's a sign pointing you in the right direction. Very nice use of the skis in a new color!

Enjoy your coffee in the shade outside!

When it's going down everyone is alarmed by this speaker tower. Not sure why it's added by using a ball joint, seems a bit pointless if you can just put in in the base directly.

Minifigs

Fuse

A nice new print on the welding helmet. And a very useful torso, which can also be used in for example City settings as a pilot. 

Larry the barista

Not sure if I would get a coffee from Larry. Not only because of the outrageous prices but also because he looks badass with his mohawk, masker and his tattoo. 

Chainsaw Dave

Forget chill Dave. His days of surfing are over and that changed his mood a lot. Wearing rugged clothing and having tattoos with a broken surfboard and a chainsaw makes him eager to fight some Duplo!

Mo-Hawk

It seems mohawks are very popular, she even embraces the name. Very useful headprint could be used as a Mohawk Indian.

Lucy

The best part is the scarf, which is made to fit perfectly over the quiver. Unfortunately, it doesn't look that good without it.

Green Lantern

While looking for his ring his suit took some damage. (His ring is located somewhere in Apocalypse Burg!) 

Roxxi

This fearsome looking gearhead looks like she is ready for any challenge. Again the head is very useful, especially in Fantasy/castle themed settings.

Harley Quinn

Not sure why she is added, maybe by popular demand. She is welcome anyway and a nice touch that they used the t-shirt from the Suicide Squad movie.

Scribble Cop

Every town needs a sheriff, so that's why scribble cop is here. His smile has completely disappeared.

Emmet

Just one of many...

"Where are my pants?"Guy

Still missing his trousers, but it seems he does like to wear boots now.

Batman

The best minifig of the whole set. His armor printing is fantastic even though it's barely visible when he is wearing his full outfit.

The complete set

An impressive result, so many details to see. Just feast your eyes on it...

Extra

By looking at pictures it's really hard to see how big a set really is. So I put it side by side Joker's Mansion which shows how big the set really is.

Rating

Design: 9/10 It's almost perfect. So many clever building techniques are being used like the angled base, the whole statue laying on its side and much more as seen in the pictures. Also, all the small details in every corner from the Hamburger sign to the run-down van it's all so much fun to see and build. The one thing that bothers me a tiny bit is the backside. I just feel that there should be another container or structure instead of a large sand green wall.

Parts: 9/10 So many different parts, new colors, elements like the barbed wire coming back and a buck load of minifigs.

Building: 9/10 Surprisingly entertaining. For example, the Joker's Manor is quite a dull build for such a large set. Repetitive on the towers and a lot of the same colors. This set is giving you a diverse building experience in every single bag. 

Playability: 8/10 A lot of minifigs to have adventures with, in a set which is almost more like a layout instead of one building.

Price: 7/10 For a set this big it's also quite expensive. For example, I'm comparing it with the Joker Manor again. That set has 3444 pieces which is quite a lot more and is just 269,-. Which makes a brick cost less than 8 cents. This set however with 3178 pieces and a price of 299,- makes a brick cost almost 9,5 cents. That's over 1 cent difference. So worth it, yes, but you might want to wait on a nice discount!

Overall conclusion: A fantastic set. Building it was absolutely fun and challenging. Not in any way repetitive steps and around every corner a new story. By looking at the finished model you would just wish you were a minifig yourself so you could wander around in Apocalypse Burg!

 

 

 

Great review! The set looks great and really detailed and the minifigs look cool too!

great looking set and another great review

Good review! I really like this set and hope to pick it up at some point.

On 1/28/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ecclesiastes said:

With the last bricks, details like a small fireplace and some tanks are added. Maybe not so smart to put those together...

Considering the gas tanks in the café seem to serve coffee, I kind of wonder if the tanks outside store coffee as well. Certainly less of a hazard if so!

On 1/28/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ecclesiastes said:

The flame is perfectly sculpted. Too bad the color of the 1 x 1 plates is slightly off.

This doesn't bother me as much since a little color variation, like the variation of Olive Green and Sand Green for the body, simply gives the impression of discoloration from age.

On 1/28/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ecclesiastes said:

There's even a small burger place complete with a fryer. Although that sandwich doesn't look that appealing.

Hey now, people argue enough about whether a hot dog is a sandwich... I think a harpoon in a hot dog bun is even more debatable.

On 1/28/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ecclesiastes said:

When it's going down everyone is alarmed by this speaker tower. Not sure why it's added by using a ball joint, seems a bit pointless if you can just put in in the base directly.

Looks to me like the ball joint is meant to allow it to be placed at an angle along the sloping base.

On 1/28/2019 at 12:11 AM, Ecclesiastes said:

Not sure if I would get a coffee from Larry. Not only because of the outrageous prices but also because he looks badass with his mohawk, masker and his tattoo.

Five years working in retail changes a person.

That´s pretty good start for some fallout moc

Impressive and original set ...very complete review!

I was already planning on taking a trip down to the Arundel Mills LEGO store this Friday afternoon to buy this set, but this review has me even more hyped about getting it.  One of the things about the build though that will pose a bit of a problem is the way they use the hinged, angled builds for the base, which will prove to be an interesting challenge for my plans to put it on 4x of the blue 32x32 baseplates, so I can potentially add my modded version to one of the PennLUG train displays or other larger displays...  Still, this set is totally worth having to deal with that minor headache.

It's an interesting set. When I saw it for the first time, I was like "OMG I need it NOW!", then later I realized that it's not for me (I don't have any ideas on where could I put it), but after seeing all the details on these pictures above, I want to buy it again... :D It's also nice to see so many sand green parts in it. Thank you for the review!

On 1/29/2019 at 8:26 PM, Lyichir said:

-This doesn't bother me as much since a little color variation, like the variation of Olive Green and Sand Green for the body, simply gives the impression of discoloration from age.

-Looks to me like the ball joint is meant to allow it to be placed at an angle along the sloping base.

 

 

Guess you're right on the color variation but to make it work, some other parts than just the 1 x 1 plate in yellow would have worked out better in my opinion.

I guess, but it still doesn't make sense because you can turn the speakers in an angle any way when it's just on the base. But hey, creative liberty

Designers video

 

Awesome review.  I agree to most of your points.  It's truely an awesome set.  The things I did not 100% enjoy are the internal build of the status, there are some odd choices of pieces that one stud just stands out with out any connection.  Also this is going to be very hard to maintain from dust if you don't have any covered display case.  

If any one is interested, feel free to check out my review of this set too.

Indeed it is unique stand out set. I like it mostly because of its apocalyptic feel, and interesting ideas. It is also nicely expandabel, just add few more containers or salvaged vehicles, some tan bushes or dark brown/dark orange plants... possibilities are endless. I do also wonder about soume choices mainly on the backside of the structure. The blank wall of the statue and a big hole where you cant just put nothing is acording to me a waste of space. But all in all, I definitelly like it. In fact more than NC which is purelly one of the best building structures set ever been produced.

Anyone else notice a mistake with the box art? ON the box the three 1x2 olive green slopes have their studs exposed, and the big sand green slopes are one stud to the right.

LOL