The 2021 Daily Bugle was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. When I initially heard about this I was excited to potentially see Marvel's equivalent to the LSW Death Star however, we ended up getting something much different.

Lego Star Wars has had their MBS line in some form for well over a decade now. Starting with the 2008 Death Star and morphing into the modern MBS sets such as the Cantina. The issue is that these larger play-sets seemed to intentionally stray away from being display pieces for the older audiences. However, with the Bugle we finally have a set that has mixed with the best parts of the UCS-styled and MBS-styled sets. The star wars designers have a clear line drawn between MBS sets and UCS sets. MBS sets have lots of figures and play features but aren't good display pieces while UCS sets are great to display pieces but have few figures/features. This is explicitly why the 2019 Tantive IV is neither UCS nor MBS despite it not being a normal playset (the designer straight up said it was too good-looking to be an MBS but not big enough to be a UCS). The Bugle is one of the best display sets I've seen in a long time while also still having a lot of interactive features.

For figures, it's a bit mixed. There is the obvious Marvel syndrome with a lack of leg printing and arm printing. There is a logistical reason, it's not lego being lazy, but it's noticeable nonetheless. However, figures that work better with leg printing have dual molded legs so it's not a super large downsize. A lot of the civilian figures use generic prints taken from other sets and it works fine. They all look pretty good except for Gwen Stacy who looks nothing like the actual character. She's also an actual named character so it would have been nice to get a unique printing. For everyone else it's fine and J. Jonah. Jameson has a unique print, if he was generic then I'd have an issue with it. Daredevil, Black Cat, Blade, Star Fire, and Punisher are the obvious standouts all being exclusive and they are amazing I can't pick which one I like more. The other heroes and villains are all S tier but come in other sets. I believe almost all of them were intended to premier in this set and then be dropped into cheaper ones as time went on but instead, lego rushed those sets out first resulting in most of these guys not being exclusive but that doesn't change the fact they are all amazing figures. Green Goblin, Spiderman, Miles, and Spider Gwen are some real standouts in terms of quality design and Doc Ock's new arms are amazing for display.

It's an amazing display piece. It's very dynamic with a lot of different ways you can display the figures. It's large and eyecatching while still being on a modular plate so it's relatively easy to place. The interior from the windows is super detailed with tons of cool office builds on the inside. The Goblin coming through the window is a super well-done build and adds a lot. You also get enough pieces to repair the window if you'd like, takes about 10 minutes.

In terms of price, no complaints here. $300 seems fair. The build itself is very high quality and refined, there isn't a single place where I feel they skimped out or compromised it. It's a build that has some real weight to it + the most minifigures in any lego set to date. If you don't have a lot of the spiderman sets from the last year all the figures will be new I think. The figures that matter are very well done and the background ones are more than acceptable (except Gwen and Mysterio who has a lot less display presence than he should since that's kinda his thing)

Overall this set is great. For $300 you will not feel disappointed. The display presence is on another level compared to other MBS-styled sets and a lot of the UCS / other D2C sets. Any fan of Spiderman will love this, fans of marvel will find it equally attractive, and even city builders have something to admire here.

I was going to name this review "Read All About It" but decided against it.

No one is reading this to hear my opinions on the box or very weighty instruction manual so I'll skip over these and only bother you with thoughts on the build.

The minifigures here are largely excellent: it's brilliant to have a diverse cast of regular citizens in the form of Amber, Betty, Robbie and Ron as well as the taxi driver. Predictably for a set this size, there were never going to be any new moulds for minifigure accessories so the chances of all new character designs like Electro (for example) were slim to non-existent.

But with that in mind, a really great job has been done here to provide a number of very different, slightly surprising group of characters using existing parts to good effect. Black Cat and Daredevil are highlights, and while there will certainly (and perhaps understandably) be detractors to the absence of leg printing/decoration on the vast majority of characters, the only one that really suffers in my opinion is Mysterio, who would look really wonderful with dual-moulded legs. But it's a really good thing that a highlight of this set is in its non-super characters. They add some much needed life to what is already a very busy, top-heavy theme.

Another highlight is the taxi. So much has improved from this year's bewildering Creator effort and the cute-yet-pointless one-seater from 2016's (?) Ultimate Bridge Battle. I'm not an expert by any means but to my eyes the shaping, colouration and overall design is pretty bang on, making this easily one of my favourite vehicles. (Bearing in mind with sets this size a smaller vehicle is always included, it shows incredible sophistication and self-restraint in my opinion to not provide another "Venom-mobile".) The next step for Lego vehicles is surely opening doors.

I was slightly bemused by the presence of a baseplate. I'm aware, of course, of the "controversy" surrounding them, but I would have preferred a way of more easily implementing the excellent new road plates than this. I won't waste too much time talking about the build; the pavement/sidewalk in particular will be extremely familiar to anyone who has built even one modular building.

The similarities to the modular buildings do kind of stop there, however. This is unlike any of those (at least that I have built), and while the near-identical plate glass windows are by far the most repetitive and irritating part of the build, the decorations added at the end of each floor make it all worthwhile. I should point out at this point that I'm not much in the way of a MOCcer. The parts selection I feel will really be useful only to people in need of a lot of windows; otherwise if it's light bluish-grey you're after, the Stat Wars line delivers on that reliably with much more frequency. For me, the sign was the most enjoyable part of the entire build.

As a display piece I can't really fault the Daily Bugle—it may have been improved by allowing integration of road plates by being raised by a regular plate instead of a baseplate, but otherwise there's nothing here to dislike. Minor shortcomings in the minifigures are easy to overlook, which is why I am doing that.

As a playset, the completed structure is perhaps too fragile. That is not a complaint about the build: it is clearly not intended as one. But with the broken window and goblin glider scene in mind in particular, there is no mechanism and for small children this could perhaps be a let-down worth being aware of. The spider-buggy is firmly fixed in place on the side of the building too. It can rotate, but cannot move.

These did not bother me personally in the slightest, and building the Bugle was a joy. The distinctive-yet-not-unique shape and the taxi make the Daily Bugle of interest to people who are not Spider-fans themselves, while the unique characters included should surely appeal to those who are. As I said, I can't really fault the Bugle, and more importantly, I don't want to. There is too much to enjoy to let it be overshadowed by any minor potential quibbles, so it shouldn't be. A really brilliant set. Well done to everyone involved in its design.

The title was a bad pun, sorry about that.

This is a piece of art. There are some awesome play features, but it is definitely on of the crown jewels of my collection. I like it so much, I've come back from my review hiatus after three years to write poems and elegant prose praising this set. After getting vacation pay out from last year, part of it went right into my treasure hunt fund, which took me all over the Greater Vancouver Area to my third store in the area, so I'm guessing some of you reading this have already got your copy of this set already. That's my spiel, so let's jump in.

The Box/Instructions

The box was huge. It's larger than what I am accustomed to trying to carry out from my local Lego store, but not so large it didn't fit in one of the large, iconic yellow bags. There was a secondary, white box on the inside, which contained the first half of the bags for building. The box is presently broken down, awaiting recycling, as is my usual custom.

The instructions were very well done, although in lowlight conditions, I did have some trouble distinguishing some of the colours that were similar. This is what I would have called a "user malfunction" more than a misprint however. Just like some Ideas sets and collector sets, and even some modular builds, there were some write-ups about the inspiration and development of the sets, which was a welcome addition to go through to break up some build. More on that further below.

The Parts

So let me get this out of the way. You get a lot of newspaper pieces (with unique headlines!) as part of this set. I guess this follows being a tabloid company and all.

Newspapers aside, you will get a great number of gray wall pieces, tiles for floors/rugs, transparent "window" pieces, flatter plate pieces meant to represent screens of all sizes and even a few oversized hard plastic wheels in water tower atop the roof.You will also receive a number of "harness" pieces that used to be used for horse carriages back in the day for Castle sets, long 1x10 ish "rail" pieces (I think of them as such because of how they were used in the first set I was introduced to them in, 6761: Bandit's Secret Hideout), and a pretty good selection of details pieces for the furniture. You've also got a full selection of web and fire effects, both used to great effect in the build proper. The very prominent fire escape also has many red ladders and bannister pieces, which could be used to great affect in an MOC for a themed city or space set.

What am I saying? If you're using this set as a supply of MOC parts, you've missed the point entirely! This is in spite of the bulk buy price per piece.

The Minifigures

This is usually where I set aside a good portion of my review to details on each individual minifigure, but there are a whopping 25 of them in this set. I won't subject you to that.

You will get a new number of redesigned figures, most prominently including the likes of J. Jonah Jameson, Ghost Spider, Miles Morales (both with a newish hoodie piece), Doctor Octopus (with a new designed for his arms, similar to Wenwu's rings in the Shang Chi sets...a great way to do it), Venom, Carnage, Peter Parker, Spider-man proper, Spider-Ham, Mysterio, Sandman, Aunt May and Green Goblin. A flaming head pumpkin-bomb would have gone a long way to completing this redone version of Gobby, but the overall design is great. Most of the reprints/redesigns have a great level of detail, and while I would have loved subbing in Peter Porker and the Symbiotes, due to their recent prominence, for rest of the Sinister Six (a classic version of Electro would have been amazing, with Kraven and another Vulture, sigh, would have been swell).

The next group is the workers at the Bugle, with Amy Grant, Ben Urich, Ron Barney, Bernie the Cab Driver, Robbie Roberson and of course Betty Brant. I'll lump in Gwen Stacy in this group as well, although she isn't an employee of the Bugle, but she is a civilian as this minifigure. They all seem close enough to the source versions of the characters that I had little trouble picking out who was who. Then again I grew up as a huge Spider-man fan, so no judgement if you cut out the minifigure guide on the box. The mix of designs and outfits made me think of the Office for some reason, and well... Marvel can have that idea if they get bored with the crazier side of the universe.

The last group includes some new heroes and villains, which I will quickly do a write-up on, bring us Daredevil (!!!), Punisher, Black Cat, Blade and Firestar. Daredevil uses the Black Panthers' horned crown and a couple of batons for his accessories, and the solid red looks great. Smiling Punisher is a weird head print, but grim beat up Frank Castle looks more at home here, especially with the great skull shirt, his signature design element, in spite of the white booties he's had printed on his legs. Speaking of white booties, Black Cat's figure makes better use of the same legs, and otherwise looks great as the Femme Fatale Frenemy of our favourite webhead. Blade's torso is well done, and his smirk is on point for most designs of the character I'm familiar with, but what I am not familiar with is his bald head. One of the flat top hair pieces from the Agents series would have done well here. Lastly Firestar, of the famous 1980's Spider-man cartoon I think, has a great print on the face and torso, but her undetailed and unprinted pants leave a little to be desired. Maybe some flame decals, so she can fly faster?

I have a few gripes (mostly the number of unprinted legs), but the combination of selection, new prints, new figures and detail on them all left me very satisfied.

The Build

This is where I lose a little enthusiasm for the set.

The build is very, very, very repetitive. I get why it was so, looking at the nearly identical outside pieces to the building, as well as the similar interiors (including the elevator), but my mind wandered whenever I had to assemble the windows/outside walls.

There were some good points of the construction as well, including but no limited to, the outside details of the ground, like the dumpsters out back, the interior furniture, the Daily Bugle sign atop the building, the roof and even the little detail of the Sandman "stand".

Again, the repetition is what loses points for me, but it is a necessary evil to get the end result. It took a long while, I want to say 12 hours over four sessions, over two days to get there, but even then, I felt very accomplished finishing the job.

The Finished Model

I've got some great display pieces over the years, but this one might be the new top tier set.

The fact it fits in with my modular collection is a huge plus as well, although there is a slight misalignment of the technic pinholes, but that's easily fixable. There are some pretty neat display options, including Firestars' flame stand, Sandman's stand, Green Goblin's explosive exit, and the near perfect set up for the Spider-man's Office meme. You get a cab and a heavily sarcastic Spider-Buggy with the set as well, which are small, but welcome additions. The incomplete, or more likely damaged, area surrounding the building make for great atmospheric details. The hole on the side of the entry level is well-designed, in spite of a few conspicuous gaps. The removable front window sections mean that no expense was spared when it came to detailing the inside offices. Another detail I really liked was that minifigures can be propped up almost anywhere is a great touch too.

There are two things that bug me about the finished product though, both are admittedly contradictory and stupid on my part, respectively.

I would have loved a "replacement" window panel to replace the Green Goblin explosion panel. The detail as it is great, and I'm not saying I would have loved building it, but to even out the display portion of it, that would have been a great final touch by lego. Several early reviews said that the pieces could be repurposed to accomplish this, but I haven't been able to MOC my way out of that with only the included pieces of that section.

The next gripe is going to sound really, really dumb though. I thought, based on the early reports and announcements, that we'd have a working elevator, somehow. There isn't room for it as it is, it would make for a much more difficult build, and likely an even higher price point, but for some reason I thought that was a selling point of the set, I'm also not sure how the alignment would have worked out, given the balcony on the third level.

Still though, this looks amazing, and I am extremely impressed and delighted with this set.

Overall Opinion

This set is expensive. You get great value, as it will kill a lot of time assembling, and you get a great piece per dollar, you get an amazing selection of minifigures, old and new, and the details are just great.

This is a set you flex with, and display. There are some great play features, but I can't in good conscience recommend it as a playable set, nor as pieces for the builders amongst us. At least not at the price point. If you can put down $400 Canadian for a gift for a child, or for the numerous gray and window pieces, all power to you, but as an AFOL, I definitely bought this for me. That being said, if you have a chance to get it without going into the red or missing several meals, this is a definite buy.

Just measure where you want to display it first, don't make the same mistake I did...

Stay healthy everyone!

Things of Note:

Set does give you parts necessary to build front panel without Green Goblin bursting through it.

News Stand sits more stable with 2x 1 stud round bricks installed under the pegs for the Newstand. Other-wise it can topple quite easily.

Finally, last part of the build in the Book is the Spider-Buggy. I thought it was dissapointing to have that be the last thing you build.

When you get to the Daily Bugle Sign Instructions, skip ahead and build the Buggy First.

Feels much more satisfying that way.

Got this as a gift from a friend who knows I love Lego. But I'm not a Marvel fan.

This has 25 minifigures which I'm sure Marvel fans are going to love and I'm sure there are some rare minifigures in here that are probably highly sought after. I have no interest in any of these. But I will assume Marvel fans will love these so my rating reflects this abundance of minifigures.

The building itself is atrocious. It's 2021 and the building looks like something from Lego's Dark Ages. There is no back for this $299.99 set for one. The build is extremely repetitive with the use of many large plates and looks simplistic and dull as a complete product especially if you take away the printed TV tiles. It was a chore building the tower. To add salt to the wound, the building is very fragile and playability suffers.

As someone who is not a Marvel fan, this is easily a 1/5 for me because I have no feelings towards the minifigures and the building is one of the worst $299.99 building I've built in the past 10 years. I added 1 point to the overall score to recognise that Marvel fans are probably only buying this set for the minifigures and I'm sure some of the minifigures are probably quite rare and sought after. (Looking at the secondary market, the 6 figures of Punisher, Spider-Ham, Dr Octopus, Daredevil, Black Cat and Blade combine to cost over $120, confirming my suspicion that this set is basically a glorified minifigure people pack)