I had this set when it was released back in 2019, but I was too lazy to review it until now.

For me, I wanted to have Metal-Beard since I missed him from the first Lego Movie theme, moreover he is one of my favourite characters.

The Build:

You start building the Batman throne using a rock wall element topped with his seat and bat wings topped with a functional sign, and to get to the seat there's a black ladder to climb. The Rock panel is hollow which allows you to store something inside or have a minifigure hiding.

The second part of the build is Metal-Beard himself, the build was interesting & fun, it was like a fresh new look yet with pirate style, but the main issue was trying to have him standing out and stay stable as it is very easy to knock him off, and that is due to the bottom part build, here Metal-Beard is forming like a crab, yet he must have the Pirate look and feel with multiple weapon warrior swords, an ice saw & a peg leg, he is even given an extra mini hand holding a cutlas, I was only able to make him sturdy on a carpet, and lately I was able to find away to make him stand on the swords pointers, but you have to be patient.

Minifigures:

Batman: a unique looking Batman with a tire armour and a torn cape, as per to my knowledge and research, in this set and the 70840: Welcome to Apocalypseburg!

Maddox: a unique figure, with wild printed torso and legs, and he holds a spear. The head has only one side print of an angry face, since he has no headgear, however I have placed a helmet on him that came with a different set.

The Complete Model:

The overall look of Metal-Beard looks new from the original movie, however I always thought that he should have arms, even though the hooks plays as hands in here, so I did and gave him an extra hand on the right side and on the left side a sort of 2 cannon feel, just like how originally he was, I even tried to extend it, but it was losing balance, so I made it short.

Now I remember when the Lego Movie 2 sets came out it was before the film was released, and many has made a fuss about the change in the character that he was downgraded etc... but for me from what I earned about this character from the first movie that he has the ability to change, and we have witnessed a couple of transformation, so in the second part I figured out that the Lego Group are presenting Metal-Beard in different forms, at least that is my own opinion.

The batman throne is a nice build, and I am not complaining that is not how big as it was in the movie, but it does the job, I liked the articulation of the signage in a simple mechanic way.

Overall Opinion:

As an adult fan who loves the movie my attention was on getting Metal-Beard despite that he isn't looking the same from the original theme which I missed getting, the Batman in this set is an extra addition especially with his Mad-Max style look, so for me, it was about collecting the characters, yet I am emotionally attached to it, a nice battle pack.

For Kids, I am not sure if this set will be as playable as much as I mentioned that it is hard to pose Metal-Beard and some parts might come off easily.

I was excited to pick up this set, and I'm happy to declare that it lived up to my expectations and the price!

The Build

MetalBeard: The build of MetalBeard was pretty fun to put together and observe its wacky details, from the hook hands, the crow's nest , a peg leg , a chainsaw leg , the treasure chest with his organs (which is a sausage and bone piece) and more! Of course , the main play feature is to open up his treasure chest (which has a nice 1 by 1 print of a keyhole) to reveal his organs, and while it's open, the crow's nest leans backward as it's on a mini ball joint to make it rotate around. I like how his legs are just weapons like scimitars , a chainsaw and a sword arm, and it shows how the Lego Movie 2 line is creative and wacky in their sets which make them stand out from other themes. I've heard from other reviewers that he has stability problems, but my copy of the set was perfectly fine and MetalBeard was not very top heavy and he can still stand with his legs lowered which can make fun poses. Overall, it's not as good as the original MetalBeard, but it's definitely a fun update/alternative to it.

The Batman Throne: This throne uses the "small ugly rock piece" as a big filler piece and has a hollow space at the back with clips to hold the batarangs. It also has a ladder that goes up to the seat with 2 black katanas around it. The side of the build has the big bat wings and in the middle is where there's gear pieces to activate the 'You're Welcome' sign ( the You're Welcome sign is a printed tile, not a sticker, which is a great print). Overall, it's nothing that special of a side build, but it works for what it is.

The Minifigs

Battle-Ready Batman: This version of Batman is an apocalypse variant, which is an interesting take on the popular superhero. The legs have a silver bat buckle printed on the hip and knee pads as well. He comes with the common yellow utility belt of course. His torso has great printing on the front and back of armor with some brown straps, unfortunately no arm printing unlike the version in Welcome to Apocalypseburg. His cape is pretty different to what what we’re used to with Batman capes, it uses a very tattered design which really adds to the Apocalypse feel of the Minifig. Another piece that really adds the apocalypse feel to the minifigure, probably even more so than the cape, is the breastplate armor piece, and it’s pretty darn awesome piece. At the front of it, it has a red and crooked bat logo, and the best part of this piece is the rubber tire treads molded on to the piece...yes, rubber, that alone makes this single piece impressive to me. The head uses the common stern and confused looking face that were used in a lot of Lego Batman Movie sets. And the mask and batarangs is just the typical black Batman mask you’d expect and accessories you’d expect. Overall, while this figure lacks the amazing detailing from the version in Welcome to Apocalypseburg, I really like the inclusion of this figure in a significantly cheaper set and it’s definitely a nice figure.

Maddox: I personally really don't care for the Maddox figure(though he would be a good addition to your Apocalypseburg set up), he uses a reused face print and a neck attachment with spikes and his accessory is a spear.

The star is just adorable and it's a nice way to get it.

Value for Money

This set has a good value for its great builds, great figures as well as being a good parts pack.The amount of stuff you get here feels right for the price so it's definitely a well-priced set IMO.

Overall Opinion

It's a great set with a good value that has desirable characters like Battle-Ready Batman and MetalBeard. The builds are fun and wacky with great playability and what's included here appropriately fits the price of the set, easily a recommendable set.

Set #70836 Battle-Ready Batman & MetalBeard: This set from The LEGO Movie 2 The Second Part features mostly buildable elements or characters, similar to the Queen Watevra’ set of this price range. Not much in the box and not much to build ultimately, but a must have set if you’re looking for these specific characters.

Box/Instructions

Box: The box is rather on the small side, the design is uniform to the rest of the sets and looks great. On the back you even get all of the names for the characters as part of the images you can see.

Instructions: One large thick manual which is folded in half when found in the box. It serves its’ purpose well for what you get. A new feature of these sets is showcasing how many numbered bags you will find in the set on the front of the manual, something I haven’t seen in a lot of past sets, a new feature LEGO must be trying out with this Theme.

Parts

There are not a lot of unique elements in this set. In fact it’s a rather small parts list considering what there is here. There are only two really stand out parts, both of them linked to the figures found in the set, MetalBeard’s beard element and the new star shaped element for the Star character seen in the film.

Minifigures

Batman: The stand out Minifigure in the set, Apocalypseburg Batman or Battle-Ready Batman as he’s referred to on the box, features a bulky new armor element to slip over his neck and cover his torso making him look buff and ready for action. He’s the best Minifigure in the set because of his printing and new element. Another variant to add to your LEGO Batman Movie suit collection.

Maddox: This is one of MetalBeard’s crew apparently, he has some nice printing for his torso and legs, carries a spear and uses the Ninjago neck bracket half-armor piece for his Apocalypseburg appearance. Not much to say about him.

MetalBeard: We’ll discuss this more in the build section, but MetalBeard is included in this set and makes up the bulk of the building. Since he doesn’t include standard Minifigure parts, I only list him here because he is a main character.

Star: This is a simple character build with two elements used to create this invader from the Systar System. It’s pretty unique and looks fine for what it is.

The build

Bag #1: Batman and Star can work together to build the awesome throne of power, or whatever you’d like to call it. This build is relatively quick, it involves some sticker placement for the details on the sign built into the throne as part of the play features, but other than that nothing too difficult in this build.

Bag #2: Maddox helps MetalBeard build his main torso in this bag. It’s relatively quick and easy to complete and nothing too difficult to build here.

Bag #3: Here you get to build all of MetalBeard’s legs and his mast with crow’s nest. Again it’s a very quick and easy build, the only annoying parts is lining up all the legs once you’ve built him so he balances on a standing surface without any difficulty.

The completed model

MetalBeard: This version of MetalBeard is a slapdash remnant of parts used to create a mechanical lobster or crab like body for him to walk around on. It is nowhere as large or detailed as the buildable vehicle he can become in one of the other sets, but this version of MetalBeard is considered one of the main builds of the character in the movie.

The legs can be posed any way you’d care to, but there really isn’t much else that can be done with him. No play features, no weapons to use against the invading Systar System characters, Maddox can ride in his crow’s nest, but it uses SNOT techniques so Maddox can’t attach inside. Meaning he’s easy to fall out.

Batman’s Throne: This model is just a fun little set piece. You can hide the sign that says Your Welcome behind it and then rotate it up, not a whole lot of play features in this set at all. This model is also rather on the small side compared to what we saw in the actual movie.

Overall opinion

The biggest draw of this set in my opinion is the new Batman Minifigure, everything else about it is rather weak. There aren’t a whole lot of play features, a grand total of one to be precise, and even that is questionable. I’d mostly recommend the set if you want Batman and can’t afford the Apocalypseburg set.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this set, it just seems to be a tad disappointing. It might have been nice to include maybe one other Minifigure, or some kind of launching model to shoot Star at MetalBeard and actively attack him. Overall mildly recommended, but get it on sale or for double VIP points to make it more worthwhile.