For the most part, the 2015 LEGO Marvel sets are being dominated by sets themed around this year’s Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man). But there are a few goodies for non-movie fans as part of the LEGO Marvel Summer 2015 sets wave, and one of them is the subject of today’s review: it’s the LEGO Carnage’s SHIELD Sky Attack 76036 set!

It’s been a bit of a wait since the Ant-Man Final Battle set hit a few months ago, but the next Marvel set due out for release this summer has now arrived in some Toys R Us stores in the United States!

I haven’t managed to track down the latest sets yet myself, but my good buddy Dave Montague was kind enough to send in photos and a comprehensive 76036 LEGO Marvel Carnage’s SHIELD Sky Attack review to tide me over until I can find the set for myself…

The Right:

LEGO 76036 includes three new minifigures: a Carnage Minifigure, a Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man Minifigure and a SHIELD Agent Minifigure.

The minifigures add great value to this set. There is an incredible amount of detail to all of them, especially Carnage and the SHIELD agent. Ironically, the SHIELD agent, whom I previously considered to be just a filler mini-figure, turned out to be my favorite mini-figure of the set.

This is because of his 2 different, very cute, reversible expressions, happy and scared. Both of them work very well for the mini-figure. He also has 2 accessories which also attach to the SHIELD jet flyer, hand cuffs and a gun, which I promptly dropped and lost under my deck during the photo shoot.

As previously mentioned, the detail on Carnage is very good, with lots of creepy symbiotic veiny lines. His tentacles are the same design as the ones released on Venom in 2013’s Spider-Cycle Chase set.

The only criticism of the Carnage mini-figure is the black back appendage which looks strangely out of place and distracting with the rest of the red of the figure.

The other part of the set which I considered to be mainly filler is the SHIELD jet flyer. It has 6 points of articulation, 2 for each wing, as well as 2 for the cockpit area. It also has two firing guns.

A very nice addition is including a holding compartment for the extra missiles for when you inevitably lose them. 3 extra missiles are meant to be included, but I had 4 in my package.

Another positive aspect of the jet flyer is the printed engine pieces, which look remarkably 3-dimensional. My only small criticism of the jet flyer is the front of the cockpit, which just looks… off.

The Wrong:

The LEGO Ultimate Spider-Man Minifigure, which will likely be the primary draw for many buyers, is merely just functional with no additional accessories provided and nothing really special about the figure. It would have been nice to have some sort of web accessory, but alas, nothing is included.

In addition, the MSRP of the Carnage SHIELD Sky Attack is $12.99. At 97 pieces included, the per piece cost of the set is a relatively high 13.4 cents per piece.

However, given the highly detailed mini-figures, larger pieces of the sky flyer, including transparent canopy, I am willing to forgive a somewhat higher than normal price point. If you’re lucky enough to find an early release at Toys R Us this week, you can get 20% off of their inflated price of $13.99.

GRADE: A-