The Batman Classic TV Series - Batcave set is a great set from the DC Superheroes theme based off of the 60's classic Batman series. It includes 3 sections of the Batcave, the Batmobile, the Batcopter, the Batcycle, and 9 minifigures. It was released in 2016 for $269.99 and has 2526 pieces.

Minifigures

Batman- A great new version of Batman that is pretty accurate and has nice prints on the the cowl and torso with dual molded legs. 10/10

Robin- Also a great minifigure that has detailed and accurate printing and dual molded legs. 10/10

Bruce Wayne- A nice version of Bruce Wayne with good printing. 10/10

Dick Grayson- A good standard version of Dick Grayson with simple printing. 9/10

Alfred Pennyworth- A great minifigure to get and the 1st Alfred minifigure since 2006. 9/10

The Joker- A new different version of The Joker that has a pink suit and light green and and a mustache that looks painted over which is accurate because the actor didn't want to shave his mustache. 10/10

The Riddler- A nice minifigure with simple and accurate printing. 9/10

Catwoman- A great minifigure with nice printing and uses the same cat ears hair piece from collectible minifigures series 14 that works really well. 10/10

The Penguin- A minifigure that is similar to other versions of him and the only difference is the purple hat. 5/10

Build

The build is great but difficult at some parts. The Batcycle is a nice small build that has a sidecar to hold Robin. The Batcopter is a good build that has nice wings on the side and has a printed printed piece for the front of the dome. The Batmobile is great and looks good for the classic Batmobile and can fit Batman and Robin. The trunk can open and it has stud shooters on the front and printed pieces that have the Bat symbol on the wheels. The landing pad for the Batcopter has two big stickers and the Batmobile fits underneath. The lab looks really good and detailed which is a nice build. The Wayne Manor part looks good on the front and on the back is the Batcave. The top has printed wallpaper pieces and stickers for pictures of Bruce Wayne's parents and the statue can flip up and the bookshelves can slide to reveal poles that Batman and Robin can slide down to get to the Batcave. There is a lot of loose side builds that I don't like because they are not connected to anything. All three sections of the Batcave can be connected. 10/10

Summary

Overall this is a great set. If you are a fan of the classic Batman series are a fan of Batman in general you will like this set. It comes with great vehicles which the Batmobile is the best and nice playability. It comes with a lot of minifigures that are very accurate to the series. It looks great on display and costs a lot but has a lot to offer.

The Classic TV Batcave set seems to be a pretty polarizing set among LEGO fans. Here is my take.

First, I really, really wish LEGO would stop with these mega-kits that could easily be several smaller, cheaper kits. I honestly just wanted the car, copter, drawing room, and some of the minifigurines, but the costs for them on eBay, etc. was such that I figured I'd just get the whole set.

The drawing room with Alfred, Bruce, and Dick (and probably aunt Harriet) would have been one such potential smaller kit. It could have included a section of the exterior wall and roof as well for all-around viewing and play. The whole 'batpole' section under the room is just too tall- it pushes the room too high to comfortably play with much, and the visuals are weird- the colorful and detailed room on top of a tall bland monochromatic section is just plain strange.

The atomic pile was a great build, and looks wonderful surrounded by the computers and other devices, but to me, really looses something in the cave around it. I also struggled to get the 4 big posts to fit correctly, especially where they are close to the cave elements.

In my ideal world, this would have been more of a 'Batcave/Batlab' build- the pile, the chemistry stuff, the computers, and some minifigs- probably Batman, Robin, and a couple villians. It would be nice if they could have come up with a better 'batpole' feature to include as well- possibly a much smaller box that could fit under the drawing room set with a shorter drop. A few pieces of vertical rockwork and some bats could have suggested the bigger cave with fewer pieces and less repetitive building (I cannot tell you how tired I got of using the dunn-colored pieces after a while!)

The vehicles were my favorite parts of the whole build. While not perfect, they are good LEGO-ized versions of the classic car, motorcycle, and copter. The 'garage/landing pad' section was, in my opinion, the weakest part of the kit. The batmobile does not fit, and there is not really a place for the motorcycle. No turntable, no exit door, no fold-down barrier or anything else of interest.

For my money, LEGO could have dropped that whole section and just bundled the vehicles with another Batman and Robin, and tossed in a Batgirl, along with a couple bad guys.

Another kit I would have liked to have built would be a Commissioner Gordon's office and enough of the roof for the Bat Signal. A few appropriate minifigures and villians would have rounded the collection out nicely.

Perhaps LEGO should consider a side division or an authorized reseller that takes kits that have been out a couple years and breaks them into smaller, cheaper kits to reach a wider audience that generally won't pop for the $100+ kits very often.

Oh... I did say I WANTED the copter- a build many fans did not like. The reason for that is that I posed it with a couple ropes (Bricklink 63141 'string with end studs, climbing grips) and some 'robot arms' as treads (Sorry, cannot find them in Bricklink) to make a rope ladder. I then posed Robin the cockpit, and Batman on the ladder with a can of 'Shark Repellent' in one hand, and a old shark piece hanging on a leg to recreate the famous and hilariously campy scene from the first few minutes of the movie. That alone was satisfying enough to offset some of the sins of the rest of the kit!

I assume that most everyone who purchased this set is somewhat familiar with the campy television show from the 1960's. The series is admittedly before my time (an understatement), but I've seen bits and pieces here and there so I feel confident in saying that this set captures the show's "cheese" factor. I think understanding that corniness is instrumental to appreciating this particular set.

The entire model gives new meaning to the term Lego "set". From its exterior view, the tallest structure consisting of Bruce Wayne's office and the bat cave looks like a large mansion with numerous rooms and windows. These rooms are in reality non existent, because the windows and bricks are nothing more than part of a walled facade that covers the bat cave. Oddly enough, the only "real" part of the mansion is the top floor (practically the attic) that houses Bruce Wayne's office/study. The flat paneled floor and pristine decor of the room, when compared to the rough edges of the cave, adds to the set's weird artificiality. It doesn't feel like an inhabited room, it looks like a neatly composed shot from a television set. The bust on the table can lift up to reveal a button that represents the switch that moves aside Bruce's secret book case. I stress "represents" because, while the bookcase does indeed slide out from the wall, the button plays no part in this function. It is, in fact, a decal. Let me digress a moment to say that this set is an absolute decal nightmare - one of the primary reasons I rated the building experience at a 3. Anyway, the next bit of artificiality comes into play when the book case slides out from the wall. Behind it are two poles meant for Batman and Robin to slide down. However, there's a floor beneath the poles, making any such sliding a physical impossibility. Instead, the poles resume beneath the floor and they don't even vertically line up with the poles above them. It's as if the designers didn't even try to render this accurately... more on that shortly. Only in the batcave can Batman and Robin actually slide down the poles. This feat is achieved with some difficulty by cramming your hand into the batcave and attempting to place the minifigures on two yellow boards that, when pushed downward, allow the characters to fall. These strange design decisions could definitely be interpreted as engineering flaws, but the point I'm trying to make is that Lego has taken literally the idea that they are rendering a television set in brick form; thus, the set is all about appearances and less about function. It doesn't have to make sense because the entire television show didn't make sense -- it was fake!

Moving on from such meta ramblings, the Rogues gallery features the standard array of classic villains: the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman. The Penguin is the only character lacking an alternate facial expression because his hat doesn't cover the back of his head. The batcopter, batmobile, and batbike are flawless creations. There's a landing pad for the copter and below it is a parking spot for the batmobile, but no storage place for the bike unfortunately. Not being heavily versed in the tv series, I'm at a loss as to why Batman would possibly keep an atomic pile in his home, but I suppose the villains don't mind too much. It's a bit disappointing that the atomic pile doesn't include any play functions such as an explosion or two, but like I said before, this set isn't really concerned with function. The other sections of the set that I have a real gripe with are the loose pieces of furniture and lab equipment. Sure, some of them can be crammed beside the atomic pile, but it doesn't look very appealing. Why not expand the atomic pile to make it a fully functioning laboratory instead of leaving loose items strewn about? It gives an overall impression of incompleteness. This is by no means a perfect set, but I wouldn't pass it up if you're a Batman fan or nostalgic about a time period you never lived in.

Like many people, I had mixed feelings when I first saw this set. It looked plain to me, and for the life of me I could not figure out where the 2,500 pieces went; the set just didn't seem that large or detailed to me. But, I still had a high level of interest in this set. I'm a fan of all things Batman and there was just something appealing about the cheesiness of this set. What ultimately made me decide to get this set was seeing it built in person at the Lego store, as it is larger and more visually-stimulating in person. Overall, I am happy with my purchase, but I feel like this set could, and should, have been better.

Box/Instructions

Needless to say, the box is huge. Still, I was surprised at how wide the box was. I usually don't care so much about box design, but I LOVE the back of this box. The play features and action scenes are captioned with cheesy phrases just like the old show. If there was ever a box design that captured the essence of the source material, this is it.

The instructions come in the form of one large perfect bound booklet. Just how I like it. I will note that there are some off-colored bricks in the instructions, making some parts difficult to distinguish from others.

Parts

There are a lot of tan pieces in this set, which will be good for MOC builders. Several 16X16 base plates are also included.

The printed wallpaper pieces are undoubtedly the highlights, but I also appreciate the printed canopy on the Batcopter.

Overall, while there may not be a whole lot of variety in the parts (at least in the color) this set offers A LOT of neutral colored parts that could be used in a variety of themes and sets.

Minifigures

The minifigures are probably the aspect of this set that everyone can agree on, as they are excellent.

Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are somewhat plain compared to the others, but the outfits that were selected for each are perfect.

Alfred's hair isn't totally accurate to the show, but anyone who has any familiarity with the show would be able to recognize him as Alfred.

The Batman figure is great, but I wish they had chosen a face that showed his eyes through the mask. It definitely would have added to the cheesiness factor and been more accurate to the show.

Robin is perfect, and one of my favorites in this set.

Catwoman is outstanding, and has a fantastic hairpiece. A whip is included for her.

The Riddler is a bit plain, but then again so was his outfit on the show. As far as I can tell, the printing on his torso matches the show perfectly.

The Penguin is the only minifig without a second face, but that's to be expected. He's also the only minifig with child-legs, which doesn't really make sense to me. Yes, the actor in the show was a bit shorter than the other villains, but not by much. He is given his signature umbrella.

The Joker might be everyone's favorite, and he's certainly among the best for me. I love how they show the mustache on the face, as that is extremely accurate to the show.

Save for Penguin, all of the figures have alternate faces. Special mention to Joker's and Catwoman's; they are fantastic.

The build

Here's where my main issues with this set reside, as quite a few of the building techniques are finicky or unstable. I'm very familiar with Lego, and various techniques, and there were some genuine surprises here for me. That's the good news. I legitimately appreciated how diverse the build was overall, and the different techniques used. Highlights for me were building the cave features in the middle/reactor section, and the study and outer wall of Wayne Manor.

But onto some issues:

1. In the middle of the build of the tallest section, I found it difficult to keep the columns and sections in place and properly aligned. This issue resolved itself later on as it became more secure, but during the build it just isn't very stable. Too high and not a lot of a foundation to start.

2. The middle section with the reactor is extremely wobbly. The reactor itself doesn't connect to the base with studs. Rather, it just slides in to place. There are four studs that look like they connect to the reactor, but it really isn't clear if they do connect considering how wobbly the reactor is when it's in place. And it is wobbly. A shame considering the build of the reactor itself is quite nice and one of the more interesting builds of this set.

3. Finally, the landing pad area was just a boring build all around. There's just not a lot of detail in this section, and the process of building the sides is repetitive.

Other than those 3 areas, the overall build was enjoyable, like I said. Total build time for me was about 6 hours (I typically average 400 pieces per hour).

The completed model

There is a lot to this set, so I'll try to keep it brief. First, the Wayne Manor study is fantastic. Super detailed, with good play features. The bat poles behind the bookcase don't connect to the the poles underneath, but really that doesn't bother me too much. The outside wall of the manor also looks great. I love that there is actually room to place minfigs on the roof and in the gutter, and I'm sure people are going to recreate the scene with Batman and Robin scaling the wall with the grappling hook (I definitely have).

Unfortunately this whole section is pretty shallow. There's a large gap between the Manor wall and the cave wall so that you can place minifigs on the bat poles. While this is a great play feature, it drastically reduces the display value of this section. While you probably won't be viewing this set from this angle to begin with, it really looks unfinished. There are exposed technic holes and pins, and absolutely no attempt to cover up some of the structural details. This is my largest complaint of this set, especially since other areas do have cave details to cover up some of the structural components. Overall, this tall section looks great from the manor wall side, and I also like how it looks from the cave wall side. I am not bothered at all from the large studded areas. But from either side, this section looks incomplete, and frankly, pretty terrible.

While the middle section with the reactor may be wobbly, it looks fantastic and serves as a great centerpiece. They captured the details from the show perfectly, and there are plenty of gadgets, devices, and computers that help add more detail. Most of these microbuilds can be placed directly on the base, surrounding the reactor, so they're not all loose builds. I also really like the cave details in this section. While BURPS are used, they blend in well with regular pieces. Overall, the cave part of this section looks natural and even looks great from the back.

The landing pad area may be simple, but I think it gets the job done. I had no problem applying the large stickers on the top; they were easy enough to align. The Batcopter looks good on top, but unfortunately the Batmobile doesn't completely fit in the "garage" section. Still, I think it looks good with the front peeking out a bit. Unfortunately, by issues with the tallest section reappear here, as there are exposed technic holes, pins, and other structural pieces on the sides of this section. It just looks unfinished from the sides.

We can now finally talk about the Batmobile. In short, I love it. It is instantly recognizable and is sturdy enough for kids to play with. I especially like how they included a batphone and a trunk to store gadgets.

The Batcopter is fine, but not as interesting to look at. It does resemble the copter that appears in the 1966 movie very well, but as far as helicopter builds go, this one is just pretty standard. I almost wish they had not included it and devoted those pieces to adding cave details to the sides of the tall and landing sections.

The final vehicle is the Batcycle. I like this better than the copter. It's a surprisingly involved build (there's even a spare tire) and the completed model is sturdy and looks fantastic with Batman and Robin in place.

Finally, this set includes several microbuilds that do not have a designated place in the set itself. These include a lab table and rack, a brown cabinet, a lie-detector, and a video cassette cabinet and recorder. These all look good but one of my pet peeves with Lego sets is when we get loose builds. I just like it when everything has its place.

Overall opinion

Overall, this is still a great set. I love the play features here. While I personally don't play with Lego sets, there's more than enough opportunity here to reenact classic scenes, and that's appealing even to me. Additionally, I love the Batmobile. Obviously some sacrifices were made (the model doesn't have functioning doors) but it's sturdy and is instantly recognizable. The minifigs are all excellent. I love the way the set looks from the front (the Reactor and Wayne's study being highlights) and also (surprisingly) from the back. Unfortunately, when you take a closer look, the sides of the the tallest section and landing pad section are unfinished, with the tall section in particular looking shallow and almost 2 dimensional. Still, despite my complaints, I think this set is greater than the sum of its parts. In person, it really does look great. It's big and I love the variation in height with each of the sections. I just wish the build of some sections was more stable and the set as a whole looked more "complete". As such, it did leave me feeling that I didn't get the whole value for my money, but that usually happens any time I spend $200+ on any Lego set. Overall, for what it is, I think this is a great, but not an excellent set as a whole, despite there being truly excellent features and sections.