An AFOLs Guide to Overwatch #5: Bastion [Review 75974]

In which I seek further advice from the game playing teenager around the house for a backstory, try my hand at knolling- only to fail, and then take every Overwatch player’s favorite Omnic out into the garden…

Over the last few weeks, we have been looking over the new line LEGO® sets based on the video game Overwatch. I have not spent a lot of time engaging with the franchise previously, so I have had my son Harry providing some commentary on the back story behind the characters. Hopefully, this will help AFOLs who are unfamiliar with the back story to feel more aware of the underlying backstory, and nature of the characters depicted in the sets.

Today, I am going to look at set 75974 Bastion. This is not the first time that we have encountered this robot, searching for meaning: we previously saw a smaller version, with a different skin late last year – that set – Omnic Crisis Bastion is exclusively available through the Blizzard online store, and can be found here.

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New Instructions Plus Adding a new lease of Life to LEGO Life.

Have you had the chance to put together any of the new LEGO® sets for 2019 yet? Had you noticed the appearance of the QR Code on the front page of the instructions? This 2D Barcode is designed to be scanned by your mobile phone. If you scan it with your phone (current iOS software automatically detects the code and asks if you would like to open the web at lego.com. This invites you to download the app, and then recapture the image from within within the LEGO Life app – and then magic happens.

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Blizzard Exclusive Set: Omnic Bastion 75987

IMG_2931For the last few months, we have been teased with announcements of a forthcoming range of  LEGO® sets based on the video game Overwatch.  Last week, out of the blue, Blizzard, the publisher behind the game, announced immediate availability of the BlizzCon Exclusive ‘Omnic Skin Bastion75987’ set from their Gear Store.

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It’s a lovely model, but is that “Blizzard Exclusive” sticker worth the price? 

This was a bit unexpected, but offered some interesting opportunities as a retail experience.  The set is available more places than shop.lego.com can supply, and shipping is (by Australian standards) pretty reasonable.

Now, I don’t play Overwatch, but my son, a couple of weeks out from his final school exams has been quite a keen player, and was excited to see this new set. I ordered one shortly after it became available and then proceeded to wait. I did not have to wait long, however.

The set cost $USD25 plus approximately $USD10 for shipping to Melbourne (although adding extra sets only increased the shipping by 1-2 dollars per set – you may wish to purchase in conjunction with a friend or two and split the shipping). Having placed my order on October 12th, the parcel arrived via Federal Express on October 16th.  I don’t think I have ever received LEGO  from overseas quite so quickly. Continue reading