6th Anniversary REVIEW: 30168 Gun Mounting System

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

I am very pleased to be able to share this very special polybag that I have bought last year to use this as part of the ongoing 6th Reviewers Academy celebration. This review may have completed for quite awhile, but I still hope it will excite many of our members. Without further ado, let's find out why this polybag is so 'special'.

Name: 30168 Gun Mounting System

Theme: LEGO System / Superheroes / Marvel Universe

Year: 2013

Pieces: 17

Minifigs: 1 minifigure

Price: USD N.A, GBP N.A, EURO N.A, SGD N.A

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

An original polybag image of the 30168 Gun Mounting System

Back view of the original 30168 Gun Mounting System

The hard to find exclusive Iron Patriot LEGO minifigure

This exclusive Iron Patriot LEGO Minifigure is very hard-to-find since it is only made available and included in the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes video game in limited quantities. Not all of the games versions or sets, come with this polybag. You will have to call the store to check if the PC, Playstation, X-Box, Nintendo game version, etc, come with this polybag before purchase.

This polybag is meant to serve as a promotional minifigure to promote the sales of the LEGO Games and in this case, it is for the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes video game. I understand that many people out there are searching for this to acquire this unique minifigure in their collection. At this present moment, the average price for this minifigure is amount to USD$36.00, based on BrickLink average, dated in June 2014.

Instruction Manual (Front)

Instruction Manual (Back)

The LEGO building content

These are the laid out content of building up this lovely little polybag. After finishing the entire built, these are the remaining spare parts. There is not much parts left after the Gun Mounting System is built.

Marvel Superheroes Character: Iron Patriot

Originally designed and based on the War Machine model, the Iron Patriot was re-painted to reflect the strong sense of patriotism to the country of United States. It was also known that by changing it from War Machine which sounds menacing and unfriendly. It adopted a much nationalistic look, to provide a much friendlier approachable prescriptive in the eyes of the public.

Personally, I love the royal navy blue colour schema as it give a good vibrant feeling. The details on the Iron Patriot is remarkable. It has warning prints of dangers near the lower part of the body armour. There is a 002 print as well to indicate that this is an Iron Patriot II. Please correct me if my understanding is wrong. You can see the back view of the Iron Patriot where the bracket to hold the gun holder is situated.

Back printing of Iron Patriot

This Iron Patriot minifigure has excellent back printing as well. It also contain dual emotional features, where the other side of the facial feature show his agitated and determined emotion.

James "Rhodey" Rhodes, the man behind Iron Patriot

Rhodes is an United States Military Officer. He was trained as an aircraft pilot and studied aviation engineering while in service with the United States Marine Corps. He is knowledgeable in aircraft operation and maintenance and has piloted various aircraft at Stark Enterprises. Rhodes is an experienced soldier trained in unarmed combat and military weaponry such as small arms. In addition to being a pilot, engineer, soldier, and businessman, Rhodes derives multiple abilities from various hi-tech armours, either designed by Stark Industries or extraterrestrial in nature. With his years of experience as War Machine and Iron Patriot powered armours, Rhodes is shown to be skilled in armoured combat and uses a more physical fighting style compared to Tony Stark.

Gun Mounting System

This simple built show the mechanical system of the gun mounting system. It hold the black gun firmly from the base and raise it up to enable it to place the gun at the shoulder of the Iron Patriot. There is nothing too difficult in this built and it is pretty straight forward as well. Oh well, we can see the main focus of this set is largely on the Iron Patriot minifigure itself.

Preparing to mount the gun

Iron Man and Iron Patriot

Don't they look nice and good when they are placed side by side? That is also one of the main reason why a Marvel Superheroes fan ought to get this, for the sake of completing them. The downside that is rather challenging to acquire it through normal channels.

Ready to fight side by side?

Welcome to the Avengers

To conclude, this Iron Patriot is definitely worth getting especially when you are a LEGO Marvel Superheroes fan. It is because Iron Patriot is an iconic character, much well known in the Iron Man 3 Movie. Due to his unique design, Iron Patriot is also equally easily recognisable on its own and he will make a worthy addition in the Iron Man armours together with Iron Man. I have no regrets getting this, just that getting it with or without the game can be quite hard to source.

Summary review

Playability: 8/10 (Good partner choice for Iron Man to be featured in your play settings.)

Design: 8/10 (Excellent minifigure design but mediocre gun mounting system.)

Price: 7/10 (Price is not too pleasant when sourcing it in secondary market, but do consider get it together with the game for better value of money even if you don't play it since the price variation does not differ much.)

Overall: 7.7/10 (Love this minifigure and I am proud to have it in my LEGO Marvel Minifigures collection.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

[TheLegoDr]

I still have mine sealed, but this is neat seeing it in the brick.

It was a good choice of minifigure to make, but terrible availability. I'm glad I picked one up with the game.

[KCMatze]

Probably the best Iron Man variation to date! Really glad it was "only" a video game bonus and not any exclusive :) I wanted to buy the game anyways (as I am doing it with LB 3) and so it did not cost me any extra money. Need one to keep sealed I suppose...

[CorneliusMurdock]

Very glad I was able to trade for this one. It's marvelously detailed and the color scheme just pops in LEGO form. Don Cheadle was great in the film and it's nice to have his accurate IM3 suit.

[Sir Brickalot]

Great review!

[Steph 104th]

Great review,I really want this.

[clra2]

I got this last year at NYCC. They were handing them out at a Marvel booth on the show floor. I should've went back to pick up a few extras lol. I ended up opening it about 6 months after I got it. If I had known about its rarity, I probably would have left it sealed but it did help me come out of my dark age.