The Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) is the fourth mainline set based around Gotham’s notorious psychiatric hospital, and by far the largest. Next to Wayne Manor and the Bat Cave, Arkham Asylum is arguably the most famous location in Batman lore. And yet, it didn’t appear until Batman #258 in 1974. Since then, it’s featured in numerous DC comic books and movies, starred in Grant Morrison’s acclaimed Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth, served as the inspiration behind Rocksteady’s legendary Arkham Trilogy of Batman video games and is, of course, a playable location in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

Part of what makes Arkham Asylum so enduring is the link the location has with Batman’s extensive rogues gallery. And indeed, Lego has used this release as an excuse to include a whopping 16 minifigures: nine villains, four members of the Bat-Family, two guards, and Catwoman. In fact, there’s technically 17 minifigures, if you include a defaced statue.

While Lego’s previous renditions of Arkham Asylum have been facades, this latest incarnation is a Lego modular building. This means it features a 360-degree exterior, a full interior, and can be attached to other modular buildings to create a seamless diorama or incorporated into a wider Lego city. At a whopping 2,953 pieces, it’s easily the best Lego Arkham Asylum to date. But is it capable of holding Gotham’s most wanted? Or will a subpar design allow them to run riot?

Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) features

• 2,953 pieces
• 18+ age rating
• 16 minifigures

The Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) costs £269.99 / $299.99 and comprises 2,953 pieces, yielding a satisfactory price-per-piece ratio, especially when compared to many Lego Star Wars sets. Just don’t expect it to compare to non-licensed modular buildings like the Lego Icons Natural History Museum (#10326) and Tudor Corner (#10350).

The set can arguably be compared most closely to the Lego Marvel X-Men: The X-Mansion (#76294), which retails for £289.99 / $329.99 and features 3,093 pieces and 10 minifigures. However, price-per-piece ratios aren’t everything. Taking into consideration rising prices and the fact that Lego sets tend to get heavily discounted nowadays, I think Arkham Asylum is an expensive set, but it feels like an expensive set. It stands tall, looks good, and features a huge roster of minifigures.

Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) build

• Seven-to-eight-hour build
• Familiar modular construction
• Lots of fine details

This set comprises 3,093 pieces, split across 24 bagged sections and two instruction manuals. You get a neat bit of blurb at the beginning of the first manual, which not only explains Arkham’s history but also the 14 heroes and villains found within the set. It took me roughly seven hours and 40 minutes to build at a leisurely pace, and bar a few fiddly sections, it’s relatively easy to put together. The biggest challenge is patience, due to the large size of the set and abundance of small pieces.

You begin by putting together the prison van, which is a tidy, if unambitious, little vehicle. The rest of the build is fixed to Lego’s standard 32×32 modular building baseplate, with the structure being built from the ground up. The foundations and exterior tiling come first, followed by the front steps and main entrance. You slot a plate 1×1 round with bar (#6227897) into a brick 1×1 with stud on side (#6062574) and position the latter diagonally to achieve the necessary angle to attach the entrance (and what will later be built upon to create the central tower). This is fiddly, but a neat solution to a difficult problem.

Some interior details are then added, before building up the secure vault, some walls and then the main cell block on the ground floor. The cell doors are operated via a very simple sliding mechanism that features no elastic bands or gears. Once the top of the first floor is tiled off, you move onto the exterior fencing and the front gates.

The gates are the first section that present something of a challenge. I found it a little fiddly to ensure all of the posts were slotted in evenly and when adding the Technic beam at the top, it’s very easy for it to skew or slide too far down the gate. There aren’t many printed pieces in this set, but I do really like the pair of printed 1×1 tiles that represent locks, clipped onto the front of each gate.

With the prison van, ground floor and exterior finished, you then move onto the second instruction manual to tackle the first floor and roof. The first floor comes together much the same as the lower floor. You also build up the central tower above the main entrance, which continues to prove fiddly but ultimately looks the part. Interior details follow to kit out Dr Quinzel’s (Harley Quinn’s) office. The walls are built up and the upper cells are constructed, featuring a similar mechanism to open/shut the sliding doors.

The guard tower, which sits atop the vault, comes next and then it’s time to build up the roof. Once that’s done, the final bag contains the statue that sits above the main entrance and the ‘Arkham Asylum’ arch that sits atop the front gate. This rather cleverly uses a piece of curved rollercoaster track, with six clip-on square 2×2 tiles (#6323189) attached to the track and used to accommodate stickers with the ‘Arkham’ lettering.

Overall, this is a fun build that’s challenging in places, but time is largely spent simply laying down Lego bricks. It’s a fun set to put together while watching a film or listening to a podcast because it only occasionally requires your full concentration. But it’s not just the size and piece count that justifies the 18+ age rating.

There’s lots of fun to be had by posing the various minifigures in and around the set, but the structure itself has limited playability. Accessing the interiors by removing the room and first floor can also be a bit fiddly, and younger Lego fans could easily drop or break sections of the structure.

Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) design

• Compatible with other modular buildings
• Full interior over two floors
• 70 stickers!!!

Despite being one of the most iconic locations in Batman lore, Arkham Asylum changes dramatically depending on the comic book run, film, or video game in which it’s depicted. As such, the designers kind of had carte blanche to build a functional representation of the location in Lego form.

This is a fine-looking set from the front. Photographs really don’t do it justice – I think it looks even better in person. That said, it doesn’t really feel like Arkham Asylum around the back and the right-hand side. Personally, I wish the designers had leaned a little harder into the gothic architecture.

Arguably the most famous incarnations of the asylum are Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth graphic novel and the first entry in Rocksteady’s incredible Arkham trilogy. In both instances, the main building looks more archaic, and I do wish that had been represented a bit more here.

It’s also a shame there’s no upper-floor roof interior. I own the now-retired Lego Marvel Sanctum Sanctorum (76218), which remains my favourite licensed modular building. Its gorgeous interior is split across three floors (including the roof) and I feel that was a missed opportunity here. Still, there was a lot for the designers to cram into Arkham Asylum and two holding cells, an admission room, office space, maximum security vault, control tower, foyer, and corridors is a lot considering the available space.

I’m also a fan of the large gated entrance and courtyard. This isn’t wasted space; it really adds to the aesthetic. Would I have preferred a few hundred more bricks dedicated to a larger roof space and a possible roof interior in place of the prison van? Possibly, but this is still a great-looking set that’s bursting with character.

And even if the gothic aesthetic isn’t as consistent as I’d like, I was still impressed by the sheer level of detail. There’s a hole being dug out from the bottom-right cell, climbing ivy spilling out onto the building’s exterior from Poison Ivy’s window, Joker graffiti sprayed over the Arkham statue above the main entrance, and a bent section of fencing that’s been smashed through.

As you’d expect from a licensed modular building, there’s a lot of stickers (I counted 70 in total!). And many of them boast neat little Easter eggs or references for hardcore DC fans, such as the ambulance’s number plate, which reads B258, referencing Arkham Asylum’s first appearance back in Batman #258. There’s also a “Spoon missing?” note on a pin-up board, referencing a utensil which is actually being used to dig out of a ground-floor cell. Oh, and don’t forget the newspaper on a desk that reads “The Batman Returns,” complete with a tiny image of the front cover of Frank Miller’s legendary miniseries The Dark Knight Returns.

I’m not a fan of stickers, but I have no problem with this. There aren’t as many printed pieces as I’d like, but Lego can’t print everything. What I’m not a fan of is unnecessary stickers, and there are several of those on the exterior of the building. The roof is the most egregious example, with three stickers themed around Harley Quinn, Penguin, and Riddler. They’re supposed to be graffiti, but they just stick out like a sore thumb and kind of cheapen the aesthetic.

The roof also features two stickers representing boarded-over holes and cobwebs. This could have been represented by physical pieces and really doesn’t do the set justice. It’s not as if this is a boring-looking set that needed to be jazzed up. It’s got plenty of character and detail, not to mention the huge roster of 16 minifigures to pose in and around the building. There’s enough vibrant comic book fare to satisfy anyone without resorting to unnecessary stickers.

I’ve also noticed more of my Lego stickers have been prone to peeling lately. After only a few days, the sticker on the water tank on the roof has peeled off. This isn’t an isolated incident, because a few stickers on my Lego Star Wars UCS Jango Fett’s Starship started to peel off within days, too.

Kudos to Lego for supplying a truly monster selection of minifigures. The Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) features 16 minifigures, which is seven more than the aforementioned Sanctum Sanctorum, three more than the more expensive Lego Harry Potter Gringotts Wizarding Bank (#76417), and it even beats the Lego Lord of the Rings Rivendell (#10316) by a single figure. And it’s a great lineup, too. The Bat-Family is the highlight, with lovely representations of Batman, Robin, Batwoman, and Batwing. Hardcore DC fans will likely recognise the fifth Robin, Bruce’s son, Damian Wayne, fan favourite Batwoman Kate Kane, and the second Batwing, Luke Fox.

Some of the villains are naturally a little less impressive, with Penguin, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Bane, Killer Croc, and Joker in their prison fatigues. Every figure is technically exclusive to this set, apart from Mr Freeze. Exclusive figures aren’t always entirely exclusive. Sometimes they simply have a different headpiece or torso print, making them exclusive by technicality, but a lot of the minifigures here are unique enough to be considered proper exclusives, which is great.

We have seen Joker, Penguin, and Harley in (albeit different) orange jumpsuits before, but not the other villains. Joker’s face print isn’t new, either, but the other villains are all sufficiently unique. I’m a fan of the new Poison Ivy with a great headpiece and lovely printing. And although Harley’s donned an orange jumpsuit before, this variant has bags of character thanks to a face print with a pink bubblegum bubble, as well as her trademark carnival mallet and roller skates.

Riddler is another nice representation in full villainous garb, but Bane, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow are a little more disappointing. I do think it’s a missed opportunity that either an oversized Bane or Killer Croc wasn’t included, especially as a giant hole has been punched through a wall on the ground floor. Bane even sports a backpack with his Venom serum. The two guards are standard fare, but with nice torso prints. But it’s a shame we didn’t get a Mr Freeze update, because I really don’t think this is Lego’s definitive Freeze offering.

When it comes to the Bat-Family, Batwoman has a new torso print and a lovely new red cape. Robin also gets a really nice yellow cape and for the first time ever, we get a Batman with an asymmetric cape. I have to say, while this might not be the best cape for play, it’s perfect for display. It looks really dynamic and super cool – straight from a million Batman comic book covers. Bruce’s torso isn’t an exclusive and neither is his cowl, but he’s a solid-looking Keaton-esque figure that’s a shoo-in for one of the costumes in the recently released Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

Selina Kyle’s Catwoman is my pick of the bunch. She’s another all-new figure with some great printing, and in my mind, is a little bit of an Easter egg for fans of the Arkham Trilogy, closely resembling her appearances in Arkham City and Arkham Knight. She also comes with a little printed tile of kitty snacks, which is a neat touch.

What would have been my pick of the bunch is Batwing. Not only is this the first time he’s been represented in minifigure form, but he’s a true premium figure with exquisite torso, hip, leg, and foot printing, as well as a lovely grey cowl with blue eyes. However, his backpack requires a sticker and I firmly believe that minifigures should remain entirely printed.

You’ll also find two little buildable penguin figures, as well as a hidden 17th minifigure in the form of the Arkham Statue. This is a great touch, with two face prints: a normal one and one with Joker graffiti sprayed all over it, which is a great touch.

Should you buy the Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300)?

Lego has set the bar very high indeed with past modular buildings and while I don’t think the Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) quite makes the pantheon of all-time-great modulars, it’s still an incredible Lego Batman set. I do wish that it leaned a little more into the gothic aesthetic, had fewer stickers and a roof interior, but this build still looks fantastic in person, and is bristling with detail and character.

What really makes it stand out is the huge selection of minifigures, comprising some of Batman’s most notorious villains and foils. This allows you to dress the set for display, showing the inmates taking control of the asylum as the Bat-Family fights back. For a licensed set with this number of minifigures, it’s competitively priced, and if you can eventually find it on sale, it’ll become even more enticing. Ultimately, as a first modular building for the Lego Batman theme, this is an excellent start. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a modular Wayne Manor in the future.

Ratings

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

How I tested the Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300)

This review sample was provided by Lego.

It took me multiple sittings to build the Lego DC Arkham Asylum (#76300) over a period of seven hours and 40 minutes. It sat in my study for a couple of weeks and was ‘played with’ during the photo shoot, where I moved the set around, accessed the interiors and posed the various minifigures.

Not only have I been collecting Lego since the ‘90s, but I’m an avid fan of the caped crusader and collector of DC graphic novels. Billund and Batman are a match made in heaven for me!

For more information on our procedure, take a look at how we test products.

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