Sheng Yuan Super Heroes Set [Toy Impressions]

We've covered the SY Hulk minifig in this space before, so now we turn to the seven other minifigs that form part of the set.

As with the Hulk figure, the minifigs come in a box with pretty impressive-looking CGI rendered art, which I would agree, looks better than just posing the minifigs themselves and taking photos of it. As with this Wolverine image to the left, doing that with just the minifig would see Logan's arms touching his head - less action-y that way.

Also standard with each box is a set of cards adorned with more CGI minifig art and some base stats. As to how the cards should be played (if those are playing cards at all), it's a mystery to me, since the cards do not come with instructions themselves. It's best to just treat them as collectible cards and then we're golden.


As for pricing, I was able to get this set of eight (including the Hulk) for PhP 220, which would set each minifig at around PhP 27.50. Again, it's cheaper to buy it as a set instead of solo, unless you really only want one or two amongst the whole set.

So aside from the Hulk, who else is included in the set? Here's the list, and inside the parentheses for each item is an indicator if there exists an official Lego version of the minifig:

- Wolverine (Yes)
- Thor (Yes)
- Superman (Yes)
- Spider-Man (Yes)
- Iron Man (Yes)
- Captain America (Yes)
- Batman (Yes)

An interesting set, to be sure. They basically took Marvel and DC characters and just bundled them in as a set. Regardless, that's a lot of the core figures in one bundled set, so it's all good.

Do note that the same quirk with the Hulk figure also applies to these other figures, namely the seemingly chipped feet and the lack of locking bars(?) at the back of the feet, making it easier for these minifigs to slide off the pegs they're standing on. If that bothers you (and I admit it does at first, but it just needs some getting used to), feel free to hold off for now.

So, quirky feet aside, how do these minifigs fare? Let's take a look.

Wolverine

First off, let's talk about the claws. They look like they're TMNT's Shredder's claws, and they don't exactly look like what's on the box art and the inset photo on the lower left of the box's front of the minifig we're supposed to be getting. It's kinda disappointing, but not exactly a deal-breaker. But for the record, here's what the official Lego Wolverine claws look like:

Credit: Brickipedia

I guess it's also worth mentioning that SY Logan's costume has greenish highlights instead of the blue that Lego uses, which is based on the blue that the comic book character actually uses:

Credit: Marvel Wikia

I guess it should also bear mentioning that the hair details are relatively lacking in definition. Whereas the Lego version has the hairlines flare diagonally from Wolverine's forehead, the SY version has the lines more parallel to one another and starts at a higher point than where the Lego version does, resulting in more parts of the hair piece looking flat. Other than those three things, as well as the lack of an alternate facial expression (so you're stuck with ever-seething Wolverine), everything looks to be okay with the SY Wolverine minifig. The paint is about as good as it gets for a fake Lego minifig, and the details are pretty good.

Thor

As with the official Lego version, this Thor hails from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), so if you can see Chris Hemsworth in this figure, you're not just seeing things. For comparison purposes, here's the Lego version:

Credit: Brickipedia

The good thing with this minifig, though, is that aside from the quirky feet standard with these SY figures and the solitary facial expression, this Thor version is, for the most part, a pretty good copy of Lego's own Thor.I should point out that there's a stylized version of the paint job done by SY in that they seemed to choose to use a halftone printing process for some of the gray parts. Whether that was a choice done to make the figures cost cheaper to produce or just an intentional design decision, I wouldn't know.

To be fair, though, SY's use of halftone makes their Thor figure seem more like a character out of a comic book. If that was their intention to differentiate their offering, I tip my hat to them.

That said, the paint job is a bit of a mess upon closer inspection.

Superman

What we have here is the classic comic book version of Superman. If you're hoping for a Man of Steel movie version, look elsewhere (hint: we'll be covering more minifigs in this space, so just hang on tight!). Issues with the paint job aside, this, again, looks as good as any clone minifig can get.

Obviously the hair piece doesn't look canon, and the cowlick is smack-dab in the center of Superman's head, but I dunno, I'm not that picky, to be honest, and it's not something I'll rage about. What's eyebrow-raising, though, is SY's decision to pack in a gun - A GUN! - with Superman. Here's the conversation that probably took place in SY headquarters:

Production Head: "Hey, Wolverine and Thor had accessories, so we should throw one in with Superman. Wouldn't want to play favorites now, would we? Any ideas?"

Employee 1: "How about a gun? I have no idea what Superman does, but he's gotta have guns to fight crime, right?"

Employee 2: "We have some spare laser blasters from Star Wars here..."

Production Head: "GENIUS!"

I shouldn't be too hard on them, though. I did get a free blaster piece, anyway.

Spider-Man

Once again, we have a classic character (with a classic costume) in the set, this time it's Spider-Man. Again, a pretty good copy save for the spotty paint job when seen up close. And as with Superman, well, they decided to also hand out a blaster to Spider-Man. It should also bear mention that unlike the Lego version, this SY Spider-Man's head is only printed on the front. The back of the head is plain red unlike the Lego version which also has black webbing print.

Again, not a deal-breaker, for sure, though if you do have a chance to pick out a specific minifig (one of the downsides in buying as a sealed set), you might want to take a closer look at the paint job so you can pick a better unit.

Iron Man

To be more specific, what we have here is a Mark VI Iron Man suit, instead of the Mark VII that the box art and the inset minifig photo promised us. No matter, it's still a great-looking piece, and they copied the original Lego minifig right down to the hinged face-plate of the suit's helmet, a nice touch. SY have gotten the details down pat, and the paint job, a recurring minor issue on the previous minifigs, still isn't perfect, but is much sharper and on point than the others we've seen so far.

The minifig comes with light blue translucent studs and macaronis, to mimic the energy beams that Iron Man uses. All in all, a fine minifig.

Captain America

To be specific, this is the Captain America from the MCU. Like the Spider-Man minifig seen earlier and like the Lego version this minifig copies, the whole head is painted-on, so not having an alternate facial expression is less of an issue here than the other minifigs in the set.

Captain America's mighty shield is also included in the set, and woe to those who choose to oppose it for they must yield.

And again we're seeing a less-than-ideal paint job, specifically on the head piece with this one. But again, these is a problem that manifests itself upon very close inspection, something that I think kids would mostly overlook. I'm guessing some will echo the mantra "you get what you pay for", and while that's true, I still think I'm getting a whole lot more for the relatively small price of this figure.

You could also just think of the minifig as Cap after a hard day at the office battling Hydra by his lonesome.

Batman

Here's the last of the set, it's Batman. Specifically, the Batman from the ground-breaking Tim Burton-helmed, Michael Keaton-starred 1989 film of the same name. Sure it looks cheesy as hell nowadays, but there's no denying that that film is a classic in the comic book movie genre. Also, Danny Elfman's classic Batman theme:

As for the minifig itself, it's pretty good. Sure the yellow paint could've been more saturated (SY probably chose a less-than-ideal source for their yellow paint), but other than that and some very small gaps in the paint job, this minifig holds up pretty well... except that they also gave Batman a blaster. If you're keeping count at home, that's three minifigs they've chosen to hand out guns to.

Economic decision on SY's part? Most likely, because having separate production lines for a Batarang or webbing (for Spidey) would entail extra costs. Sheng Yuan is definitely not the only game in town when it comes to clone Lego minifigs (more on this in future posts), so there might be a bit of a "space race" of sorts to get sets out faster than the competition.

As an end consumer, though, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all disappointed to get guns instead of the proper accessories for some of the minifigs. That said, though, the set itself doesn't cost an arm an a leg, so I guess some leeway should be allowed to SY.

Recommended, for sure.