Lego KO Batman Bat Tank

Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO

Presenting a knock-off (KO) Lego version of Batman's Bat Tank.

The first thing that came to mind when we saw this was the tank used by Batman when he took on the boyscout Superman in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Unfortunately it's waaay too small for that. The Batman Bat Tank is in reality 2/3rds of a LEGO playset entitled "The Bat Tank The Riddler and Bane's Hideout"

In the playset, the Bat Tank is supposed to crash through the gates of Bane's hideout before shooting up Bane's attempt to escape via a motorcycle and Riddler's escape via a nifty jetpack.

On Amazon, the playset will set you back a whopping US$ 498.99 (Roughly PhP 23,452.53 plus shipping).

This Lego KO Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank from DeCool was purchased for PhP 1,500 (roughly US$ 31.91).

MORE AFTER THE JUMP


The Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank KO Lego playset does not have any description, so let's use the one from the LEGO "The Bat Tank The Riddler and Bane's Hideout" playset which goes: "The Bat-Tank rumbles through the streets of Gotham City to stop Bane and The Riddler's devious plan to flood Gotham City with fake money. 

Use the Bat-Tank missiles to enter and destroy the hideout, but beware of The Riddler, he just might try to get away on his jet pack. 

The Bat Tank has missile launcher and caterpillar tracks. Includes Batman, The Riddler and Bane minifigures, Bane's motorbike with flick-launching missiles, Contains 645 pieces, Riddler's jetpack along with cool gadgets and weapons"

The Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank only has 506 pieces. The instructions called for 79 individual lego pieces to be attached together to form each of the Bat Tank's tracks, however we felt that this made the tracks rather "loose" and prone to making the tracks fall off their bogies - especially since the Bat Tank did not utilize sprocket wheels. So we used only around 75 pieces per track for a tighter fit.

What's to like about the Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO?

FIRST: Well it's not as stable as the KO LEgo Batman Begins Tumbler, but it's certainly up there in terms of engineering and looking kick-ass. 

Yes! The tracks work! Yes! After we tightened the tracks, the tracks performed well under any environment without breaking. Yes! The tracks are durable and not once did the tracks part.

We should note that by reducing the slack on the tracks, we ended up with more spare track treads than the set provided.

 

And the Bat Tank really looks like something built to smash over, through or down obstacles. Failing note how the Bat Tank's wings can be adjusted to cut down anything/anyone who was smart enough to get out of the way.

Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO

SECOND: The hidden surprises! Aside from the cutting wings that can be repositioned, the DeCool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank comes with a few nasty surprises (It is a tank after all).

First up are a pair of forward pointing lasers that are hidden behind a forward folding cowl:

Up on the back are a pair of visible elevating push-missiles that sandwich an elevating, spring launch powered cannon. 

THIRD: Of course the main weapon of the Bat Tank is Batman. The Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO comes with a blue and gray Batman figure who lies snugly in the tank. Of course we're sure he's more than willing to come out and hand the Riddler his breakfast (Honestly though we prefer the Riddler as an anti-hero).

Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO

Decool Super Heroes Batman versus the Riddler

Riddler as you can see comes armed with a dual-barreled pistol and a flight-pack.

Decool Super Heroes Riddler Lego KO

What's NOT to like about the Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO?

FIRST: It's not as stable as the KO LEgo Batman Begins Tumbler. The particular weakpoints are the armor plating and supports on the sides of the tank threads. There's not much holding them in place and they tend to fall off a lot. We don't know if this is an intentional break-away panel for battle damage or a serious lack of engineering.

The actual attachment of the tracks to the main body also feels flimsy, but in reality they're quite well put together. We did not encounter a problem of the tracks breaking from the main body. Again kudos to the tread design. Not once did the treads break apart.

SECOND: We're not really happy with the "coffin" like cockpit (He's lying down), nor of the fact that the clam-shell of the Bat Tank cockpit has to be completely removed for Batman's ingress/egress. It would have been great if LEGO designed a hinge for the cockpit.

RISE!!!!!

Decool Super Heroes Riddler Lego KO

Still, the Decool Super Heroes Riddler Lego KO playset is an incredible bargain for the price. It was a lot of fun to build and a very nice addition to any LEGO collection for a fraction of the cost.