What if…? A LEGO Marvel 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man re-visioned

WARNING
The following text may contain some spoilers of the series What if…? So if you don’t want to spoil your fun with this series, please skip the section entitled What if…?

WARNING
The following text is located simultaneously on several levels of reality, often alternative to each other, so it is possible to glitches without fault when changing plans. Sorry for the inconvenience.

What if…?

Exactly, what if? This question, swinging like a pendulum between multiple alternatives, was attempted this year by Marvel with a series of short animated films inspired by the comics of the same title. This series, broadcast on one of the streaming platforms, is the point of reference for LEGO Marvel 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man set.

What if…?

We know What If… Captain Carter were the First Avenger. But what if Valkyrie and Tony Stark… well, what?

This set is definitely unique. And in at least a few ways.

First of all, this set doesn’t have “its” own episode of the What if…? series, so it’s somewhat suspended in a narrative void. The set includes three minifigures: Valkyrie, Tony Stark and The Watcher, but we do not know what the story connects these characters. Does the set refer to the events from before the famous “Not you Stark” line or to the later events?
Did Tony and Valkyrie actually meet at the Sakaar garbage dump? Given the inaccurate packaging for the 75299 Trouble on Tatooine set, you can’t be sure the LEGO artists knew the plot of this What if…? episode. And considering the fact that the episode has not been broadcast, it seems impossible they knew.

Tony, Watcher and Gamorra from the 71031 Marvel Studios set have at least a small cameo in the finale of the What if …? series. But we know nothing about the role of Valkyrie.

In addition, the wheels on the back of the mech [also present in the episode!], the transformation of the mech into a race car… Exactly – a mech! In the series, Tony wears more like a bulky Iron Man armor than a mech. Armor in the movie is much smaller than the brick version…

What this is about?

One, quite small set [369 pieces] and so many questions and understatements/unclear points!

What if…?

What if this set takes us back to the first Avengers movie? This can be proved by the print on Tony’s t-shirt, clearly [and very cleverly] referring to the iconic Tony’s Black Sabbath t-shirt from the Avengers.

By the way, the picture below is the main reason why I wanted this set so much actually. And that’s another reason why the 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man is such a unique set!

However, this t-shirt design can be confusing when we recall few scenes that we saw in the final episode of What if…?, which suggest that the action of this episode takes place much later than Avengers.

Are you following? Because I don’t!

What if…?

Follow me […] and ponder the question: what if? The person who says these words at the beginning of each What if…? episode – The Watcher – is another element that makes this set unique. After all, the Watcher binds each episode together, so this minifigure gives quite powerful possibilities of telling your own stories.

So let’s ponder this question…

What if…?

…and let’s work on our own version of the story outlined in 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man, since we don’t know the original. Beggars can’t be choosers!
So, what if Tony Stark was given a mission to bring Valkyrie to Earth, so she could help the Avengers to bring Thor back from New Asgard?

Let us just add that the text above is only one of the three ideas I had when I built LEGO Marvel 76194 Tony Stark’s Sakaarian Iron Man. Expect the unexpected!
Did I mention this set is unique?

I hope pictures speak for themselves and it’s clear that this set gives tons of joy both while coming up with ideas for “whatifs” and while taking pictures. Minifigures and their prints are neat [I almost didn’t notice that there are no prints on their legs], mech is cleverly desinged and it’s very posable, which gives many toy photography opportunities.

And I can’t wait for the proper episode of What if…? to recreate it with this set.



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