Super Heroes DC

Mobile Bat Base

A rolling toybox of Bat-vehicles with a minifigure lineup that punches way above its price.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 76160 · 2020

Pieces743

Minifigs6

Year2020

Set number76160

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The verdict

I came for the truck and stayed for the figures.

Six minifigures, split neatly into three heroes and three villains, and one of them (Bronze Tiger) had never existed in plastic before this set. The build itself is a big black playtruck packed with pop-out vehicles, so if you want elegant engineering you will find it a little basic. But as a play piece, and now as a retired set holding a genuinely strong roster, it earns its keep.

Best for: DC minifigure collectors and families wanting one truck that swallows a whole fleet

The full review

What it is

The thing that surprised me about the Mobile Bat Base is how much it wants to be a toybox on wheels rather than a display piece. Under all that black and dark grey there is a detachable Batjet with wings that unfold, a BatQuad that rolls out the back, a motorcycle tucked into the rear, a water scooter that launches off the front with a switch, an onboard jail cell for the villains and even an explosion feature. It is 743 pieces of gimmicks, and I mean that as a compliment. When I sat down with it I stopped thinking of it as a truck and started thinking of it as a garage that happens to drive.

The catch

I will be straight with you about where it falls short. This is a set built for the 8-plus crowd, and it shows. The core shape is a big rectangular truck with some bat-styled bits stuck on top, and if you have built a LEGO mobile command centre before (the 2008 Agents one, or the Ultra Agents HQ) you will feel the deja vu almost immediately. The play features are fun but familiar, and a more experienced builder looking for clever techniques or a satisfying engineering puzzle is going to find this a bit paint-by-numbers. At its original 89.99 dollars it also asked a fair bit for what is, structurally, a straightforward box on wheels. The two-ish hours of building are pleasant but rarely make you go 'oh, clever'.

Who it's for

So here is who I would point toward it. If you love DC minifigures, this set is quietly one of the better value grabs of its year, because the figure lineup is the real star and it has only gotten harder to find since retirement. If you are buying for a kid who wants to stage Batman chasing Mr. Freeze across the living room floor, it is close to ideal, because everything packs away and rolls out again. The people I would gently steer elsewhere are AFOLs chasing an intricate, display-worthy build, or anyone who already owns one of the older mobile-base sets and wants something genuinely new under the shell. For everyone else, especially now that it is retired and climbing in value, it is an easy set to enjoy.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this is a steady, low-stress couple of hours, and honestly the biggest challenge is the sea of black. So much of the truck is black and dark grey that finding the right part in the pile takes real concentration, though it turned out easier on the eyes than I feared going in. The construction is sturdy and satisfying to handle when you are done, the kind of model you can pick up and swoosh without pieces raining off, which matters a lot for something meant to be played with this hard.

The minifigures are where the parts story really lives. You get Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, Mr. Freeze, Man-Bat and Bronze Tiger, and this set marks Bronze Tiger's very first appearance in physical LEGO form. The Nightwing, Batgirl and Man-Bat variants are exclusive here too, so four of the six are figures you cannot easily grab elsewhere. Man-Bat with his big moulded wings is the standout on the shelf. My one grumble matches what other builders flagged: Bronze Tiger's torso and head printing is lovely, but his legs are left as plain dark orange with no detail, which feels like a missed step on an otherwise debut-worthy figure.

Fun facts

01This set is Bronze Tiger's physical debut in LEGO, the first time the character appeared as an actual minifigure.
02It released on August 24, 2020 at 89.99 dollars and retired in December 2021, and its value has climbed sharply since.
03Four of the six minifigures are exclusive to this set, including the Nightwing, Batgirl and Man-Bat variants.
04Every included vehicle (Batjet, BatQuad, motorcycle and water scooter) is designed to stow inside the truck for transport.