I love Overwatch. I love LEGO. When the two combined, I couldn’t resist buying all of the themed sets that LEGO released at the start of 2019.

If you’re not quite as enamored with this geeky peanut butter-and-jelly combination as I am, or if you’re on a limited budget and you want to know which sets are the best, I’m here to break it down for you. The list follows from best to worst, with a particular emphasis on the quality of the sets compared to Overwatch’s fantastic character design. Here we go!

If you only get one Overwatch LEGO set, make it this one. The only one of the bunch not at least attempting to build to minifig scale gets a lot of freedom in its design, and it’s a lot better for it. This guy stands about ten inches tall, from the top of his rotating turret gun to the bottom of his surprisingly stable feet. He transforms into turret mode, his head lights up with a special LED brick (no external batteries necessary), and he gets a little buildable Ganymede (that’s the bird) to keep him company.

Bastion’s robotic character design is ideal for a big, beefy LEGO set, and little touches like the decals on his shoulder plates and knobbly accents on his legs really stand out. It looks fantastic on a shelf. The transforming design means you get a lot of flexibility in posing him, too, which is a problem with the tank set below.

The turret mode isn’t all that exciting in and of itself—LEGO isn’t as flexible as polygonal models, after all–and they couldn’t squeeze in a tank mode. But posing Bastion in his standard mode is great fun, and the build is surprisingly simple for such a complex result. It’s the hardest set of the series, and even so, I’d say a ten-year-old would have no problem getting through it.

The set that probably has people most excited is the combination of two tanks in one box, the Korean mech pilot D.Va and the geriatric German knight Reinhardt. And they’re definitely some of the highlights of the series. If you’re a fan of either character you’ll love the way they’ve been modeled here. Both the MEKA and Reinhardt’s armor look fantastic posed.

Both six-inch tanks come with minifigs: D.Va in her “baby” mobile form and Reinhardt in a miniature version of his armor, which can also be accessorized with a tiny hammer. That said, the scaling is weird: while both match the rest of the minifigs in the other sets, the mech and the armor are about twice the size that they should be at minifig scale—though I appreciate this was the only way to get them both inside with any detail. I do like the inclusion of a sans-helmet Reinhardt option, complete with his flowing snowy locks. The character is so expressive in the game it would be a shame to hide him behind a helmet all the time.

The gamer decals on the MEKA and the bits of livery on the armor are fantastic. But both knight and mech are very unbalanced, and need to be posed in specific ways to keep from tipping over. I wish Reinhardt came with some kind of shield, and D.Va’s mech has only one canon on each arm, instead of the distinctive triple rotating guns in the game. It’s the one sore spot in an otherwise fantastic translation of the game model. I also wish there was some way to secure D.Va inside the mech—she just kind of sits in there, rattling around whenever you move the model.

Even so, both were great fun to build. They’re ideal for desktop companions if you’d like to show off your gaming habits in LEGO form.

The smallest three sets with minifigs have a focus on the stages themselves: Dorado, Gibraltar, and Hanamura, respectively. They’re also good choices if you want quick, easy builds with a bit of Overwatch flavor, without having to dedicate an hour or more to setting them up.

Among the three, Dorado takes the definite lead. This set includes Soldier 76, Reaper, and McCree, plus the hovertruck payload and a stage-themed arch and market stall. The elements really come together nicely, with minifig scale working well between all of them. The truck is particularly nice as a translation of the game model, with plenty of places to stick the minifigs for posed battles.

Next comes Tracer vs Widowmaker, the cheapest set of the whole line. There’s no scenery to be had between these two rivals, but they can duke it out over a nice rendition of the Gibraltar spaceship payload. The Tracer minifig in particular is a highlight, with her dual-wield pistols, mop head hair, and translucent “blink” trail.

Genji and Hanzo get a minifig recreation of their battle from the Dragons animated short. The Japanese castle interior is nice, but the inclusion of action pieces that shoot dragon-themed discs is kind of forced, and the Yakuza lackey minifig (the only one in the series not of a playable character) is unnecessary. You’re buying this for the great Shimada brothers minifigs.

The biggest and most expensive set is Watchpoint: Gibraltar, a recreation of the game stage with no less than four minifigs. And these minifigs are popular heroes that many will want: Mercy, Pharah, a wonderful BigFig Winston, and a repeat Reaper with a special smoky shadowstep bottom option.

Unfortunately these figures are saddled with a huge and underwhelming spaceship and launch tower. The ship itself actually has some cool elements, like a pop-out deployment module, crew quarters, and pilot cockpit. But the spaceship at the end of the Gibraltar stage is never part of the actual game, so the massive 15-inch long shuttle feels unnecessary at best, as if LEGO just needed a big set piece for the most expensive Overwatch box on the shelf. (The Overwatch team dropship, the starting point of many maps, would have been a better choice.)

The launchpad and tower, while having some nice high spots to stick Mercy and Pharah, are likewise mostly unnecessary. Maybe this set would have been better if it had been combined with the Tracer vs Widowmaker set, which includes the themed payload, as the manual none-too-subtly reminds you.

The minifigs are a bit of a mixed bag as well. Winston looks fantastic, but Mercy and Pharah are a bit simple, and Reaper can be had in a much cheaper set, sans the admittedly cool shadowstep feature. All in all, this is one to skip unless you want another rather generic LEGO spaceship or you just have to have Mercy, Pharah, or Winston—its price just isn’t justified by its weak connection to the games.



There’s one last set you won’t find on store shelves: Omnic Crisis Bastion. This much smaller, orange-skinned version of the cheerful robot is exclusive to Blizzard’s online merch store, and it comes with its own placard stand and Ganymede in a matching cardinal skin. This one fits in well with the D.Va and Reinhardt tanks at five inches high, though it’s still way too big to match minifig scale.

With no mode transform option, only two decals on the shoulders, and a high $25 price tag for just 182 pieces, Omnic Crisis Bastion is only for those who love the character but can’t find a place for the much bigger, better Bastion. I have to assume that, since it came out in October, Blizzard wanted a LEGO Overwatch set for its store before Christmas.

Omnic Crisis Bastion is an “exclusive,” and unlike the other widely-distributed sets that can be found in most retail stores stocking LEGO, it may be hard to find later. But even if it is, it won’t be worth the effort.

Minifig Breakdown

Once again I’ll go from best to worst.

Tracer is the face of Overwatch, so it’s good that they nailed her minifig (especially since it appears on all the retail LEGO boxes). Her spiny pistols are faithfully depicted with a few translucent pieces, and the “blink” effect on her backpack looks great and lets her balance while holding the heavy guns. The custom spiky hair is spot-on. LEGO could have left her legs plain orange without much grumbling, but they added a few splashes of paint for straps.

The Winston BigFig is a close second. The Hulk-style figure is a natural fit for his gorilla frame, and both Winston’s torso and arms get custom moldings. His tesla gun and jetpack are both made from only stock pieces with decals, but they’re still very good approximations of the game models. Winston’s also the only tank that fits in with the scale of the other minifigs.

Genji and Hanzo are probably the best minifigs in terms of accessories. Genji’s iconic helmet is rendered well—no face underneath, so you can’t peek. Genji gets his sword and several shurikens, plus a scabbard. Hanzo gets his bow and a quiver for his back, with the single flesh toned arm and custom hair with bandanna insert being highlights.

For a character that’s little more than a cowboy with a few bits of armor, McCree looks great, with excellent painted patterns on both the chest and legs. I love the little detail of a grey left hand, since McCree’s arm is robotic. I just wish they’d given him a custom hat with his Blackwatch band…or painted a tiny “BAMF” on his belt buckle (though I can guess why they left it off).

The Reapers are pretty good: one included in the Dorado set, another in Gibraltar with an optional shadowstep bottom. Granted, it’s hard to get Reaper wrong. Even the oversized shotguns, much bigger than the game model, fit with Reaper’s ridiculous character design. But it is the start of a trend in overscaled guns with these figs.

The “baby” D.Va minifig is also simple, but effective. Her custom hair and headset work well—note the grey and pink paint. And while her gun isn’t custom, it’s all that’s needed to approximate her in-game pistol. A secondary face, complete with bubblegum, is a great inclusion.

Widowmaker’s minifig is serviceable, with a nice custom hair mold that includes paint for her visor. But I wish the visor could fold down—it’s not like LEGO hasn’t done this before. The sniper rifle made out of stock pieces is oversized and looks nothing like her curvy, expandable gun. I know toy guns aren’t a huge focus for LEGO, but it doesn’t even have a rifle stock, just a handle from a smaller gun piece. Widow gets a hook, but no line or separate piece for her to hang from, a la the Spider-Man LEGO sets.

Soldier 76 suffers from some of the same problems. He’s painted well with good contrasting colors, but his multi-piece gun is ridiculously massive. It’s bigger than the sniper rifle or Pharah’s rocket, and again, looks nothing like Soldier’s intricate machine gun. This character really deserves a custom weapon.

Reinhardt’s minifig is almost unnecessary, since he’s always in his armor. But perhaps being aware of the odd scale of the tank set, LEGO painted a tiny version of his armor on the minifig and includes instructions for a scale-appropriate hammer. Still, seeing Rein as the same size as D.Va and Widow just looks odd. At least they included a hair piece for when you want to see his face outside of the helmet. The tank set also has a spare Overwatch team medallion, as seen in the Honor and Glory short.

Pharah is a let-down. The shoulder pads and attached “wings” don’t do a good job approximating her flight suit—these look like pieces recycled from a Nexo Knights set, with none of the fins or pieces her Iron Man-style getup really needs. The helmet looks good, but there’s no sign of Pharah’s hair or distinctive beads. And finally, there’s no way to elevate her, no jet effects. How can justice rain from above when she’s on the ground? At least her rocket is both correctly-sized and shoots a tiny capsule.

Mercy is easily the most disappointing of the Overwatch minifigs. The wings attached to her backpack are stock “angel” wings, not the high-tech gliders from the game. Her caduceus staff is just a stick and a hook. And her skin tone face printed on an all-black head looks washed out and doesn’t match the colors of the rest of her outfit. Nice paint on the chest and leg pieces can’t save it. This figure is a big stumble for one of the game’s most visible characters.

If these complaints sound like nit-picks, well, they are. But in a game with an overwhelming amount of attention paid to character design, the Overwatch minifigs would inevitably be the focus of their LEGO sets. They range from great to embarrassing, so if you’re trying to buy a set with your favorite character included, choose accordingly.