Dargo complements SY’s Avengers offering [Dargo Avengers Age of Ultron minifig set]

If you’re a bootleg minifig maker and you’re dead-set on making production runs of sets of 8 minifigs per set, max, you’ll eventually run into problems with the Avengers movie franchise. With the second movie, you now have 10 main heroes to account for (including Fury), and that’s not even counting Falcon and War Machine into the mix.

And that’s also not including the Big Bad Boss, as well as other henchmen and enemy footsoldiers. SY made their cuts when they made their Avengers 2 set, and they stuck with the core heroes from the first movie, plus Ultron.

Interestingly enough, Dargo, instead of making their own set similar to SY to compete with them, decided to make minifigs that complement SY’s set. So the minifigs that weren’t picked by SY to be included in their set, Dargo did.

In a way, it’s sound business sense – you’re filling a need in the market thus far. But more importantly for bootleg minifig aficionados, instead of having competing minifigs of the same character, we’re getting a more complete range of minifigs. The question, of course, is if the quality is up to scratch.

Dargo itself is not a new entrant in the market. I’ve seen them around for a couple of months already, but I never really got around to checking their stuff until now, more so because, again, this set in particular fills a need that is yet to be addressed by either Lele or Decool.

They’re priced similarly to SY, though, so you’re still looking at the now-standard PhP 25 per minifig if bought as a set. Let’s now take a dive into the set itself, beginning with Ultron Mark I.

This is the box’s front. It has your usual CGI art occupying most of the front, along with insets of how the actual minifig looks like, the included accessories, as well as a plug for the included cards (joy!).



One side of the box shows the instructions on how to put the minifig together.



The back shows the included minifigs in the set. This is handy if ever you need to double-check if the packed set you’re buying is complete or inadvertently has a double packed in.



This is the box contents, itself. Along with the aforementioned card and the minifig, there’s also a base display plate included.



So here’s Ultron Mark I himself. The minifig parts themselves are pretty solid, but the paint lines are laid on pretty thick, destroying some of the detail in the process. It’s not a horrible paint job, to be clear, just not up to SY/Decool quality just yet.


 
Here’s a close-up of the head.



Here’s a shot of the back. Again, you can see the thick paint lines turn the lower torso into some sort of a black mush. I commend the attempt to not skimp on details, though. Other manufacturers would have chosen to keep the back bare.

Next we have Sub Ultron-Officer.



This is a much cleaner paint job than the Ultron Mark I, so apparently Dargo is capable of decent detail work, only they don’t seem to be consistent thus far.



A closer look at the minifig.



Here’s the back. Again, a pretty solid paint job.

Next up is Ultimate Ultron.



We’re back again to a so-so paint job. In this case, the details on the helmet and parts of the chest are too light and near-invisible when viewed from certain angles.



The blacks are also laid on thick, losing detail in the process.



Here’s the back.

Then we have Ultron Prime.



And again, we’re back with a decent paint job. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at this point with Dargo.



Here’s the back.

Next is Baron von Strucker.



I’m not a fan of the color used to paint the skin folds on the head. At certain angles like this one, the detail looks almost invisible. Also, the thick paint lines strike again, and in this case, rendered the HYDRA logo on the left chest looking like a flower.



Here’s the back if you’re interested.

Then we have Vision.



This would actually be pretty decent if not for the lost details on the head piece.



Here’s a closer look. Again, lost details and some lines that are rendered near-invisible. This is a crying shame, since I was really hoping Dargo pulls through with at least the heroes in this set.



Here’s the back of the head and the cape.



And then here’s the back that’s under the cape. Pretty decent paint job on this part.

Next up is Quicksilver.



And we’re back again with a good paint job from Dargo. I really wish they were more consistent with their quality.



Here’s a closer look of the face.



And here’s a look at the back.



As a nice surprise, Dargo did a Decool and actually provided an alternate face with this minifig. Good job, Dargo!

And finally we have Scarlet Witch.



Again, this looks to be a pretty good paint job. It’s not perfect, far from it, but it does the trick.



Here’s the back.



And like with Quicksilver, Dargo also provided Wanda with an alternate face. Yay!

So there you have it. Overall, I can’t say that it’s a must-buy set. Who knows, maybe Decool or Lele will release their own Age of Ultron sets, or SY will forge ahead with a part two of their own. Then again, we have no idea what their plans are, for the most part. Dargo’s set is already here, and if you can live with some of the misfires this set contains (or better yet, get lucky and get a set with a decent production run quality), you’re getting the minifigs SY didn’t pick for their own AoU set.