Avengers Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown Review

The Marvel Avengers Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown Lego set 76108 is one I’ve had for a while. If you’ve been reading my blog you’ll know I’ve used the mini-figures on multiple occasions including Dr Strange and his magic shields, Iron Spiderman and Doctor Strange and his portal. I’ve also posted pictures of ebony maw and cull obsidian on instagram so clearly I like this set a lot. And so it’s time for me to do a review.

I’ll say right off the bat that I like this set. The Mini-Figures are great and the building itself is really good with quite a few play features. Let’s dive in to find out more.

The Mini-Figures

A highlights for me was the mini-figures included with this set. We get three avengers – Doctor Strange, Ironman and Iron Spiderman. We also get two baddies in Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. I’ll admit I wasn’t familiar with these two until the Infinity Wars film but the heroes were all favourites of mine when I was younger.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange protector of the sanctum is printed body and legs. He has cloth to make his Cloak of Levitation and looks pretty good. He comes with a range of “magical” accessories – see below.

Ironman

Ironman is also printed on the body and legs and has his iconic mask. It opens to reveal Tony Starks face which is also two sided. Ironman also comes with a range of accessories – the same as Doctor Strange but in blue.

Iron Spiderman

Iron Spiderman is printed body and legs with the new suit given to him by Ironman in the film. I loved this suit in the film and it looks good in mini-figure form. Attached to Spiderman are the “Spider Legs” from the film and they’re a great addition. There are spider webs in the set and he also has two web shooters that can be shot as part of the play features.

Ebony Maw

Ebony Maw is quite well recreated I think. He also has shooters but as far as I can remember he never used these in the film. His power was more invisible. That being said, it is fun to be able to try and shot things so I’ll overlook the inaccuracy.

Cull Obsidian

Cull Obsidian is a big figure – as in the film. He comes with two brick built hammers joined by a chain. Not how I remember the film. The chain itself is a little long and does get in the way a little during play. You keep having to adjust it. My solution was to just remove the chain and that solved the problem, and made it more accurate.

Accessories

As you can see there are a lot of accessories. The Doctor Strange and Ironman accessories are the same but in different colours. Spiderman and Ebony Maw also have the same thing but in different colours. They are all good to have to create scenes from the movie or your own ideas.

Sanctum Sanctorum Build

The set comes with 8 numbered bags. It’s a pretty fun build with lots of variety as you build each distinct part of the building. Finn enjoyed himself and was able to follow the instructions without too much difficulty.

The complete build is two 3 storey tower blocks connected with a hinge. You can put it together to make it look like part of a city street or close it up – or anything in between. The open back gives access to all the rooms and play features.

On one side we have the Sanctum Sanctorum as seen in Avengers Infinity Wars. This is the main reason for this set in my opinion and it looks great. On the other side we have a New York city block with a pizzeria on the ground floor and apartments above. There are fire escape ladders on the outside and a water tower on the top. There is a spiderweb so Spiderman can swing into action and the water tower can be wound up to get the web back up.

The Sanctum

The Sanctum has the distinctive slope and window that makes it unmistakable. This is definitely my favourite side of the building and the one I’ve used the most for photography.

Through the main door, on level one, we have stairs leading down to a very comfortable looking armchair. There is a lamp, an axe and a sword for decoration. I like this section but it is only 5 studs deep so there isn’t much space for mini-figures.

Moving up to level 2 there is a bookshelf, a chest with weapons in and some sanctum documents. We’re down to 4 studs at this level so even less space to play. There is also a sticker for a shelf and picture.

The bookshelf looks good and hides our first play feature.

Turn the lever and the wall comes off to reveal the time infinity stone you get with this set.

The falling wall is good fun and Finn really enjoyed it. It’s easy to put back on and is played with a lot since we got this set.

Moving up to level 3, and my favourite room in this set, we have Doctor Stranges’ office with the distinctive sanctum window. There is a desk in the middle with lots of paperwork and a candle burning. To each side is a book shelf.

While I really like this room because of the film it only has two studs to pose mini-figures. That is my biggest complaint with this set. That really isn’t enough space to really do anything play wise. That being said, for photography it did provide the backdrop for one of my favourite Doctor Strange shots.

Overall I like the sanctum side, I just wish it was slightly bigger so more could be done with the mini-figures.

City Tower Block

Pepe’s Pizza

At the bottom of the tower block we have a recreation of Pepe’s Pizza. I believe this appeared more in Spiderman Homecoming and not infinity wars so I’m not sure why it is in this set. However, as part of the look and feel of the New York city block is works well.

The exterior is glass fronted with stickers for the logo and open sign. There is also the street name and you’ll notice a lever at the bottom. Push the lever and off comes the glass front. Another fun play feature.

Again it’s easy to put back on so you can keep blowing up the pizzeria.

Outside of Pepe’s Pizza is what represents an alleyway. There is a bin, so pizza not in the bin, and a newspaper box. There is also a web where spiderman has left his phone. Hopefully no one will find it and discover his secret identity.

Moving inside there is an entrance with a till, a pizza and a fire extinguisher. On the wall is a sticker for the menu. The door opens early and there are 5 studs for posing mini-figures.

Moving over there is a pizza oven and some pizza kitchen accessories.

This level is great for celebrating victory by going for pizza and i can confirm Ironman, Spiderman and Doctor Strange do that a lot – although possibly not in the film.

Peter Parker’s Apartment

Moving up we get to Peter Parker’s apartment. Again, this didn’t appear in Infinity Wars but it is nice to have and there are some good play features that we’ll get to.

On the second level we have an office with a desk and sewing machine. I assume this is where he fixes his costume. There isn’t much space (3 studs) to work with but it does look quite good.

Next door is a storage room with some boxes of Pete’s stuff and a letter. This one is pretty bare and again doesn’t provide much space for mini-figures so it doesn’t really get played with much in our house.

Moving up to the third level we get to Peter Parker’s bedroom.

Peter Parker’s bed looks good and comes complete with an uneaten slice of pizza. Moving over there is an empty room with a trap door.

I’m not sure what the relevance is to Infinity Wars – or even any Spiderman film – but you can’t go wrong with a trap door when it comes to play. Anytime Ebony Maw gets into the apartment, bam, he goes down the trapdoor. It’s fun but a little strange having a trapdoor in an apartment building.

Probably the best play feature of Peter Parker’s apartment is the exploding window on the outside.

To operate the window you pull the spiderweb forward and out it pops. As with the other exploding elements it’s easy to put back in. On reflection this may have been intended for Spiderman to leave his apartment and swing into action. We have always used it as part of the battle. Either ways it’s been good fun and provided lots of laughs.

Conclusion

Overall this has been a really fun set to play with and my inner superhero geek has really enjoyed adding the mini-figures to my collection. I’d recommend it to fans of the Marvel universe especially. It’s also good just as a building and I’ve used it a few times for photography backgrounds and general city play with Finn. The interior is a bit small for play but that’s made up for with the various play features on the outside. Battling with the characters is probably the main draw.

I should also say, it was a fun build so there are lots of reason to get this set.

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