Super Heroes Marvel

Venom Crawler

A snarling eight legged spider buggy that gets one genuinely great minifig and one so so villain.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 76163 · 2020

Pieces413

Minifigs3

Year2020

Set number76163

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The verdict

I'll be straight with you, the reason to want this set is Iron Venom.

That black and gold armored head with the symbiote teeth peeking out is one of the more inspired mashup minifigs Marvel LEGO has done, and it's paired with a mechanical crawler that actually skitters when you push it, eight legs walking in that creepy alternating gait. Carnage feels like an afterthought next to him, just a plain figure with a couple of clip on spikes, and the buggy for Spider-Man is fine but forgettable. If you collect Marvel minifigs or want a fun action set for a kid who likes bugs and villains more than cityscapes, this delivers. If you're mainly here for a satisfying build, temper your expectations a little.

Best for: Marvel minifig collectors and kids who want a creepy crawly action toy over a display piece

The full review

What it is

This is a set built entirely around one big idea, a hybrid Iron Man and Venom villain crawling around on a mechanical eight legged buggy, and honestly that idea mostly works. The crawler's legs move in a genuinely satisfying alternating walk when you push it along, which is more than most action buggies manage, and it comes packing a rear stud shooter for battling it out with Spider-Man's smaller two shooter vehicle. It plays like a toy first and a display model second, and for the kid audience this is aimed at, that's exactly right.

The catch

Where it gets shakier is the minifig lineup and the build itself. Iron Venom is the clear star, new torso, a genuinely well done symbiote helmet over Tony Stark's familiar double sided head, but Carnage next to him just feels thrown together with a couple of clip on spikes and neutral legs. The build goes together fast too, this isn't a set that will test an experienced builder, it's built for a kid to finish in one sitting and get playing. At its original $29.99 that was a fair trade for the fun factor. Now that it's retired and prices have climbed toward the $60 to $70 range secondhand, that math gets a lot less generous.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you're chasing Iron Venom for a Marvel minifig collection or you know a kid who wants a creature buggy to smash into things, not a museum piece. Skip it if you're after a serious building challenge or a Carnage figure that actually feels finished, because neither is really here.

The parts story

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

Putting this together is fast and mechanical rather than fiddly. Most of your time goes into the leg assemblies for the crawler, eight identical linkages that all snap onto a central Technic core, and once they're on you immediately want to push the thing across the table to watch it walk. It's a short, playful build rather than a meditative one, which suits the action figure feel LEGO was going for here.

The real value sits in the minifigs rather than the parts count. Iron Venom's new torso print and symbiote helmet mold are the standout pieces in the whole set, genuinely rare enough that they're the main driver of this set's price climb since retirement. Carnage's molded spike pieces and Spider-Man's usual printed torso round things out, but neither comes close to matching the helmet for collector interest. At 413 pieces for three figures and a walking mechanism, you're paying more for the characters than for brick count, and that's worth knowing going in.

Fun facts

01Venom Crawler was released March 1, 2020 and officially retired in August 2021, a fairly short run for a Marvel licensed set.
02The crawler has eight independently moving legs plus a rear stud shooter, while Spider-Man's separate buggy carries two stud shooters of its own.
03Iron Venom's helmet is a unique mold created specifically for this set, built to fit over Tony Stark's existing double sided minifig head.
04Secondhand prices have more than doubled since retirement, with sealed sets trading in the $56 to $70 range against a $29.99 original price.