76989 LEGO Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck Review

Box Experience

The box follow the typical “Adults” sets by being predominantly black. The greebling border at the bottom is coloured sand blue. The back of the box shows off the dimensions of the set as well as the world of Horizon Forbidden West and some highlights of the Watcher and of Aloy on top of the disc head preparing for the override process.

 

Box Contents

Inside the box, you’ll have 8 bags of plastic elements, 1 sticker set and an instruction booklet. There are also 2 loose plastic elements in the box.

As the instruction booklet was not wrapped (with the sticker sheet usually inside the wrapping) , the sticker sheet that we got was pretty severely bent so we tried to straighten it out by putting some weight on it

We have actually decided not to sticker up the set from the start so this is not a major setback for us but it’s still disappointing that there’s no catch all solution for the packing of sticker sheets till this day. They have already wrapped up strings and capes into carboard boxes so I’m sure TLG will think of something soon.

The instruction booklet also includes many additional details to the world of Horizon Forbidden West and of the design concepts.

The Build

The Red Eye Watcher

A simple small build of the Watcher, the first machine most would encounter in the open world play of Horizon Zero Dawn. THe build is stable and the choice of build for the legs enables the Watcher to be placed in multiple poses without it toppling down.


The Base

The designer has created a base where three areas meet. There is the grassy reclaimed area, the crumbling remnants of the 21st century past and the desert.

This is in line with the world of Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West which is set in Western US, particularly at the Colorado/Arizona/Nevada area of the United States

Some tall grass foliage enables you to hide from the patrol part of the Watcher and 4 pcs of 2×2 tile with pin locks the Tallneck in position in the final display (though the Tallneck can stand well enough on its own without the base)

The back of base is so colourful 🙂 It was a blast building this oval base.

The Tallneck

The main draw of the set, The Tallneck stands at about 35cm high (when set on the display base) The model manages to capture the gait and angles of the Tallneck (which itself is based on real world giraffes)

As mentioned earlier, the Tallneck is able to stand without the aid of the base. A lot of the details of the Tallneck are recreated like the information antennas (with golden swords). The plating design is also pretty close to the original Tallneck from the games. the contrast of the predominantly white plating against the black is aesthetically pleasing and the smattering of sand blue and beight at the joints break up some monotony with some muted change of colours.

The head of the Tallneck is well built up with the data node right front and centre. Both sides of the disk shaped head are relatively stud free and the building technique manages to create a very smooth circular pattern all around. We really like this portion of the build when it comes together.

You can even display the Tallneck chilling out to rest it’s long legs if that’s your wish!

Minifigures

There is only one minifigure included this set and what a glorious one it is. We were particularly excited to see Aloy, the protagonist of the series well and truly minifigure-ised

Depending on your game viewpoint, she is either wearing her customized Nora Brave outfit (from Horizon Zero Dawn, stitched by Teb) or a standard Nora Huntress outfit “replica” made by outfit weavers after her exploits in Horizon Zero Dawn (from Horizon Forbidden West)

 

The print runs from her torso to the hips and legs and even some simple sandal markings for her feet are present. The side of the arms are given details of the bracers made from machine armor as well as prints of the shoulder sleeves

The hairpiece is dual molded with rubberized hair and also a transparent blue ring to represent a lighted up Focus which shows their attention to detail.

The head has dual printed expressions and the Focus is printed on the area where the right ear would be. Her brick built Spear is equipped with the Master Override Module while her Hunter bow is represented by a generic white bow element.

Summary

For fans of the Horizon series, this set is definitely not to be missed as it manages to capture the essence of the Tallneck as well as a small sliver of the Artemis led rejuvenation of the flora world of Horizon Zero Dawn.

Even for non gamers, this set is a solid addition to their collection.
The set can be moved about easily by carrying the Tallneck by the belly or by holding the base which is a big plus point for us. It does not break apart easily which is one important indication of a well designed set.
This is one set that we’ll have on our mantelpiece for years to come.

Coming from a Horizon fan, we HAVE to give this set a full 5/5 for ticking so many boxes and hope that LEGO will release even more machines (a Thunderjaw maybe?) from this game.


The set used for the review was sent to us by The LEGO Group for the purpose of an honest review. Provision of sets do not in any way influence or guarantee a positive review from us


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