LEGO The Guardians' Ship (76193)
A near-UCS Marvel display ship at roughly half the Star Wars price.
Brick Rated Score
Set 76193 · 2021
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The shaping is what got me here.
Set the Benatar next to a movie still and the profile just lands, the kind of accuracy I usually only see on pricey UCS Star Wars models, and the tilting stand seals it. My honest gripes are the missing Drax and Nebula figs and the sheer amount of shelf it eats. If you love the Guardians and want a showpiece for display rather than the playroom floor, this is a genuinely easy yes.
Best for: Adult Marvel fans who want a showpiece spaceship on display
What it is
This is LEGO®'s big 1,901-piece love letter to the Benatar, the swooping ship the crew flies in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. It is the grown-up version of the vessel, a rebuild of the original Milano, and the design brief here was clearly accuracy above all. Set it beside a movie still and the profile just lands, the nose taper, the swept wings, the little painted markings recreated in plates and tiles, all of it reading as the real thing rather than a blocky approximation. It quietly rivals the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series ships, except it lands at a much friendlier price, and that surprised me in the nicest way.
The catch
Now the parts I have to be straight about. The original retail was 159.99 dollars, and while that is fair for the size, this thing is big, nearly 59cm wide, so plan where it is going before you buy. The build itself can drag in the middle. There is a lot of fiddly layering and small panel work, and I caught myself zoning out halfway through more than once. The bigger sore point for a lot of us is the minifigure roster. You get Star-Lord, Rocket, teenage Groot, Mantis, Thor and a Chitauri soldier, which is six figs, but Drax and Nebula are nowhere. Swapping Thor and the alien grunt for the two missing Guardians would have made this feel complete, and their absence is the one thing I keep circling back to. There is also no deployable auxiliary pod from the films, though tucking that in would have messed with the clean exterior lines, so I understand the trade.
Who it's for
If you are an adult Marvel fan who wants a proper centerpiece, something to swoosh once and then display forever, this is an easy recommendation, and the 4.5 community rating backs me up. It is a display model first and a play set a distant second. If you mainly want the full Guardians lineup in minifig form, or you are tight on shelf space, you might feel a little short-changed. And heads up: this one retired at the end of 2023, so it is aftermarket only now and prices have been bouncing around the old retail. Catch it near that number, though, and you are getting one of the best-looking non-Star-Wars ships LEGO has ever made.
The parts story
What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.
Building the Benatar is a slow, layered affair rather than a fast swooshy one, and that is worth knowing going in. You start with the internal skeleton and the interior, which turned out to be one of my favourite parts: there is room for four figures seated and a couple more standing, with three seats dotted through the ship and enough little touches that it feels like the crew actually lives there. From there it becomes a study in shaping. The wings and hull are built up with stacks of wedge plates, curved slopes and tiles, and that detailed panelling is exactly what makes the middle stretch feel slow. It is rewarding when a section clicks into that recognizable curve, but if you like brisk builds, know that this one asks for patience.
On the parts front the value story is strong for a licensed set: 1,901 pieces for 159.99 dollars retail is solid, and a big chunk of that count goes into the wedge plates and curved slopes doing the heavy lifting on the ship's organic profile. Those large sloped and wedge elements are the useful haul for MOC builders chasing smooth aircraft or spaceship surfaces. The six minifigs punch above their weight too, with Star-Lord, Rocket, teen Groot and Mantis all exclusive to this set at release, so the printed detail on those is part of what you are paying for. Add the tilting display stand and you have a set that spends its piece budget exactly where it counts: shape and presentation.
Fun facts
- 01The ship in this set is the Benatar, the upgraded craft the Guardians fly in Infinity War and Endgame, which is itself a rebuild of the original Milano from the first film.
- 02In the MCU, the Milano and the Benatar are named after Alyssa Milano and Pat Benatar, a running gag about Peter Quill's 1980s pop-culture obsessions.
- 03The finished model spans nearly 59cm (about 23 inches) wide, putting it in the same size league as Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series ships but at roughly half the price.
- 04The set retired at the end of 2023, and Star-Lord, Rocket, teenage Groot and Mantis were all exclusive to it when it launched.
What other builders say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and builder discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
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