I don’t really review LEGO much, though I actually have quite a lot of LEGO in my collection. I’m making an exception here for this Overwatch themed set, Dorado Showdown, Set #75972. In case you aren’t familiar with Overwatch, it’s a fairly popular team based FPS game for PC and consoles. Blizzard seems to be really trying to push Overwatch into more of a media franchise for 2019. There have already been several figures put out by Goodsmile Company. There is now a line of LEGO sets. Hasbro teased an upcoming line of domestic figures. There have also been several food tie ins from Pop Tarts, Pringles and a cereal Lucio Ohs.
I wonder if it’s a little too little too late though a bit, the game is still popular, but it doesn’t seem quite as popular as it was a year ago. Time will tell on that one. Most of the LEGO sets look pretty decent though a couple seem to be pretty off in terms of scale. I look forward to picking up some others in the future. I decided to start out with the Dorado Showdown set. It felt like a good sort of total package set with mini figs and a vehicle and a little set piece.
So a little history on the set. Dorado is a map type in game called “Payload”. One team escorts the payload to the other end of the map while the other tries to stop them. The payload only moves when someone is standing near it. Dorado is a very Mexican/Spanish architecture themed map, as the name suggests. This set includes the payload, which is the truck, a very small part of the map in the archway, though this archway is in the game near the starting area, and 3 character mini figures, Soldier 76, Reaper, and McCree.
Each of the mini figures is a pretty decent likeness in the small mini fig format. McCree and Reaper have little clothy capes to help fill out their look, I really like McCree’s sideways poncho, though the stiffness of the material makes it lay a little funny. McCree also has an optional air piece to swap for his hat. Reaper and Soldier both have buildable weapon parts, which is nice, but also makes the weapons huge compared to the mini figs. Neither can really stand without being pegged onto something or without a stand. There aren’t any stands included with the set, I just used some I had for photos.
The payload looks good as well, and definitely resembles the Payload from the game. All of the cars in Overwatch are hover cars with little repulsor things in place of the wheels, but the truck has some wheels hidden on the underside so it can still roll easily. The little power generator that sits on the truck bed is removable and can be attached to part of the set piece to “power” the lights. You can open the cab and sit a mini figure inside to drive it as well, though no one actually drives the Payload in game.
The set piece is a little archway and a small fruit stand. The archway shows up just after the starting area in game, before a large open courtyard. It’s a simple design but has some neat tricks in the windows to make the window frames and movable shutter pieces. The LEGO studs on the roof bit also do a decent job of simulating Spanish Tiles for the roof, a feature present all over the map. The truck can easily roll through the archway as well, which is a nice touch.
Overall, it’s a nice little set. The vehicle works as a vehicle or a prop, the archway makes a good backdrop but can still interact with the figures and payload. The hero selection is good as well. The characters gives some variety for attack or defenders, in the game, no one has any real set “sides”. Though if you want to stick with the loose story, Reaper can be a sort of bad guy sand in since he’s been a member of Talon, one of the bad guy groups of Overwatch.
