Number 6 already, 30168-1: Gun mounting system. The was the weird choice by the MCU to make War Machine the Iron Patriot, whereas Norman Osborne, the Green Goblin, became head of SHIELD and Iron Patriot in the aftermath of the Civil War. Whew, long sentence. That was a strange time in the Dark Reign with the Dark Avengers. Anyway, back to the set.

The bag has an "Iron Man 3" logo on the front, showing the robotic arm attaching the shoulder mounted gun to the armor. The build isn't very long or complicated, but I like the use of the hinge pieces and lightsaber hilt to make the robotic arm and gun respectively. The arm is attached to a yellow 2x4 plate with a 1x2 grill and two trans red 1x1 round tiles. As an aside, it's really neat to see how a few common pieces can convey the designer's intent and the scene the set is modeled on. It why LEGO is magic, common into special.

The figure is highly detailed, with the power source glowing in the center of the white star on the chest. Detailed lines and details on the front and back of the torso are great. Sadly, the legs are only printed on the front with black lines, which are tough to see. The arms and sides of the legs lack the printing seen on the Silver Centurion, so it's just a little disappointing when you compare the two. However, it's better to have half the detailing than no set like all the rest rest of the armors on Iron Man 3 we never got (or will at this point).

Again, I lucked out with the mystery reissue of this set as a GWP at GameStop, so the value was incredible since it was free. Much like in the MCU, Rhodey isn't as interesting as Tony; however, if you can get this set at a good price, go for it. Make your own House Party Protocol.

The much sought after poly bagged set, starring USAF officer and superhero LTCOL James Rhodes as the Iron Patriot. As seen in Marvel Comics, but probably better known from the movie Iron Man 3, this is the War Machine armour* painted in patriotic colours. Enough blurb, here's the review: (* I'm Australian. Feel free to imagine I have used American spelling throughout.)

The polybag came with pre-orders of the Lego Marvel Superheroes game. In Australia this was done by pre-ordering through EB Games. That means it isn't exactly value for money, unless you really wanted the game as well. In Australia it was $50 at full price for the PC version.

The set contains the Iron Patriot on a brick-built baseplate with a 'robot' arm and a shoulder mounted weapon. The parts are loose in the main packaging, except for the two pieces of the helmet which are in a small plastic bag. The instructions are folded small, as with most polybags.

The minifigure is dark blue with an Iron Man style helmet, and a separate face mask in matt silver. The printing is 90% the same as the War Machine which comes in 76006 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle. The main difference (apart from being moulded in a different colour!) is the RWB colouring and the white star on the chest. The head is also the same as War Machine, moulded in brown, with 'hmm, I'm concerned' and 'aww now I'm angry' faces. On his back are a 1 x 1 bracket and a 1 x 1 plate with a ring, which holds the minigun (a black light sabre handle on a y-shaped robot hand). Unlike most of the other Iron Man style figures, this one does not come with trans plates or bricks to represent 'repulsors'.

The baseplate is a yellow 2 x 4 plate, with a black 1 x 2 clip and 1 x 2 grill tile and two trans-red 1 x 1 round tiles. There are two yellow 1 x 2 plates with handles and a black droid arm to hold the weapon.

The set includes spares of several of the small parts including the red tile, the robot arm, the sabre handle and bracket.

If you can't decide whether to keep the packaging intact or to build the figure (people are selling them for around $30-40 as I write this in November 2013), do what I did: make a hole just big enough to get the pieces out. I left the instructions inside because the picture and parts make it clear how to assemble the set.

Good points:
- one of the coolest minifigures ever released.
- very nice detailed printing
- neat little base and robot arm, with plenty of extra bits

Bad points:
- if you don't want to open it but you want to build it you are going to have to find a spare one
- (very minor complaint) doesn't have 1 x 1 trans red round plates or bricks for 'repulsors', but they are very easy to find if you really need them.

Yes, finally a iron patriot minifig. The $20 set came with war machine who did not even appear in the movie but now we have him so lets get cracking.

Box/Instructions

A normal polybag for a well polybaged set. The instructions are teeny tiny and on the back of the unfolded manual. It promotes the iron man 3 sets.

Parts

Not very good parts I have to say. The yellow hinges are a ok piece. But your mainly going to buy this for the fig.

Minifigures

?IRON PATRIOT: Yay again, a iron patriot figure which took a while after the release of iron man 3 sets. Anyway it's the war machine armor but with a paint job. I love the helmet as we can use it for some custom snappers. The torso is awesome to as we can use that for a custom captain america iron man armor. The legs are printed which is awesome and the back printing is ok on the torso. The helmet can flip up and we can see james rhodes who is frowning. His 2nd face printing is him really angry or just lost a video game to tony stark and rage quitted. You can put the black backpack piece on with the mirror holders for cars with a claw and a scope piece all in black. Honestly I think it could have used the flying studs and pillars.

The build

It took me about 30 or 40 seconds to build. EASY!

The completed model

I would not call it a model because all it is 8 pieces. All it supposed to do is that rhodes steps on it and the claw takes the gun off. Could have used a suit so we can put rhodes in it and make the armor get put on again when needed. Overall one of the worst builds ever but again you are getting this for the minifig

Overall opinion

The minifig is awesome but the build was weak. The play on this is bad but get the $12 or the $20 set and you could have a good battle going on. Overall the best polybag for marvel ever but weakest marvel build ever.

Set # 30168 Gun Mounting System: As bonus pack-ins are concerned this set is pretty much a good bargain. There isn't much to build here, however there are enough spare parts to make two weapons for the Iron Patriot and a spare back brace piece for other Mini-Figs.

The level of detail in the printing on this guy is excellent, he's got a double-sided torso, facial printing (it is just War Machine's face from Extremis Sea Port Battle after all) and leg printing. The Iron Man helmet is, as always, a stunningly impressive piece.

Overall I'd recommend tracking this down for the Mini-Figure alone, the small build with the gun mounting system is decent enough and would look great inside some kind of MOC Hall of Armor display. The trick is finding this for a reasonable price, if you're not interested in the game that is. Otherwise, why deprive yourself of this great polybag?