Super Heroes 2014

BuriedinBricks

@doubledbrick - Good point. In my case, my local store is a 1.5 hour drive. I would have just ordered online to begin with, had we not also been doing a LUG function at the mall this weekend.

legodude

luckie_reubs said:

Technically, the Justice League is currently WW, Supes, Bats, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. In the comics, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern hasn't been around recently as a member of the League, although he is traditionally a member of it.

J'onn J'onnzz (Martian Manhunter) is set to (I think) be the leader of the upcoming Justice League United. So he's not really a member of the JL as it currently exists. I'm excited to get the mini fig, though, and hopefully we'll get a Cyborg and Green Lantern sometime soon to have a current JL lineup.

Good thing TLG is not following any real continuity then ;).

Free for all FTW.

Aanchir

legodude said:

luckie_reubs said:

Technically, the Justice League is currently WW, Supes, Bats, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. In the comics, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern hasn't been around recently as a member of the League, although he is traditionally a member of it.

J'onn J'onnzz (Martian Manhunter) is set to (I think) be the leader of the upcoming Justice League United. So he's not really a member of the JL as it currently exists. I'm excited to get the mini fig, though, and hopefully we'll get a Cyborg and Green Lantern sometime soon to have a current JL lineup.

Good thing TLG is not following any real continuity then ;).

Free for all FTW.

Well it's not a complete free-for-all. Even though many of the Justice League minifigures depict the characters in more modern costumes, the choice of the heroes who have been released seems to be entirely consistent with the original Justice League lineup: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern. Green Lantern has not appeared yet except for the Comic-Con variant, but I am confident we will not have to wait on him much longer, especially since we've seen a new, more comics-inspired Green Lantern costume on a minifigure key light shown at this year's Toy Fair.

My twin brother has actually wondered if there might be a Direct-to-Consumer Justice League set sometime this year, considering how close the LEGO Justice League is to completion and the relatively small lineup of DC Super Heroes sets this year. But of course, that's pure speculation. There are other factors that could maybe account for this year's small number of sets, like the lack of a major theatrical film based on DC Comics characters this year, the creation of a new DC-inspired Duplo range this year, or Batman's appearance in one of the LEGO Movie sets.

luckie_reubs

Aanchir said:

My twin brother has actually wondered if there might be a Direct-to-Consumer Justice League set sometime this year, considering how close the LEGO Justice League is to completion and the relatively small lineup of DC Super Heroes sets this year. But of course, that's pure speculation. There are other factors that could maybe account for this year's small number of sets, like the lack of a major theatrical film based on DC Comics characters this year, the creation of a new DC-inspired Duplo range this year, or Batman's appearance in one of the LEGO Movie sets.

Is it certain that we've already seen all of the DC Superhero sets for this year? How far out are those sets announced? There's a part of me that hopes we'll see a good set with Darkseid (to get a good JL villain in there), but that might be dependent on the movie (which is still a good ways off).

The geek in me would LOVE a Crime Syndicate set, but that's asking an awful lot. Give me a Lantern, Cyborg, and a Green Arrow and I'll be happy.

DoubleD

I imagine that there will be 25 more batmans released before green lantern. I am keeping my eye out for zoo keeper batman, but hopefully I am wrong for everyone's sake.

richl

You know, I'd love a Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.

vwong19

I don't mind seeing a Batman Beyond or the other special suits from the Lego Batman video game. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more Iron Man and Spider-Man suits either.

Shib

There are plenty of variations of existing Superhero mini figures I'd like to see, but particularly the DC roster really needs filling out with more characters first. I know that Batman and Superman are probably the best known of the DC Superheroes but do we really need a Batman or Superman in every DC set?

LostInTranslation

^In order to sell them well, yes.

Shib

^I would put an amendment on that of in order to sell them well to children, yes.

Lego fandom has a huge market to the typical comic nerd crowd - into which I also fall. I'd be prepared to pay more of a premium for sets based on more obscure characters. The line could easily include some larger sets based on other characters with the older fans in mind.

luckie_reubs

richl said:

You know, I'd love a Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.

That would be fantastic. I missed out on the Zur-en-Arrh action figure that came out a few months ago, but a lego mini-fig would hit the spot.

LostInTranslation

^^ Of course to kids. That's who TLG's products are predominantly aimed at. I'm sure they have done their research and know exactly what minifigs they can include in what set. Plus the limitations of their licences and what characters the licence holder wants to promote.

I want more characters too (GL! Green Arrow! More Xmen! Fantastic Four!) but I accept that I have to either be patient (these are multiyear licences, these characters may happen eventually) or try making them myself or buy customs.

Shib

Fantastic 4 is the big one that surprises me that we haven't seen yet, but TLG do seem to be relying on film tie ins more than anything with a lot of the Superhero sets so assume we'll see them when the next film comes out.

vwong19

Could be an interesting 2015 Lego Super Heroes year with several Marvel films coming out. I would expect to see at least a few of the minifigures made from the list below, maybe not directly to the film, but at least to the comic book or animated versions.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015) - Ultron, Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch
- Fantastic Four (June 2015) - Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer
- Antman (July 2015) - Antman

We've already seen in 2014 movies and sets...
- Captain America: Winter Soldier (April 2014) - Captain America, Falcon, Red Skull, Hydra (perhaps make up from first film)
- Amazing Spider Man 2 (May 2014) - Spiderman, Electro
- X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 2014) - Cyclops, Storm, Magneto, Sentinel, Wolverine
- Gaurdians of the Galaxy (August 2014) - Guardians of the Galaxy

monkey_roo

Just an opinion, but I am sure we will see a GL and Cyborg in minifig form over the next year or so. Cyborg is integral to the current JL set up and GL is classic JL and both appear in the batman movie, as does a Darkside right at the end, which leads me to believe there will be a second Batman lego movie and we will get a full range of figures in time. As for this year I have no idea if we are done or not, but i did read somewhere that the delay in the Sups v's Bats film has caused a quick shift in DC sets for next year. I'm hoping they fill the gap with something special.

Aanchir

doubledbrick said:

I imagine that there will be 25 more batmans released before green lantern. I am keeping my eye out for zoo keeper batman, but hopefully I am wrong for everyone's sake.

I wouldn't be so sure. The LEGO Group has done a pretty good job of releasing at least one new DC superhero outside the Batman family each year. The first year we got Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The next year we got Aquaman. This year we got Flash and Martian Manhunter. If we don't get Green Lantern in some unannounced D2C set this year, then I figure he's a shoe-in for next year's lineup, even if he gets packaged with Batman characters the same way Aquaman and Flash have been.

I think a bigger concern than the plethora of Batman minifigures is the dearth of non-Batman villains. So far, outside of event exclusive figures and movie tie-ins, Lex Luthor is the only villain outside of Batman's rogues gallery to feature in the DC Super Heroes sets. Of course, it's plenty apparent why this is. Not being a major comics fan myself, I am not anywhere near as familiar with many other super heroes' rogues galleries. Batman's enemies have been in loads of movies and TV shows, and in tie-in merchandise for such media. Even having seen no Batman cartoons or movies when I was a young child, I knew about characters like Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, and the Joker from fast food toy prizes and (vaguely) from the old Batman live-action TV series, whereas I hardly knew a thing about many of Superman and Green Lantern's enemies until I was an adult, and even then only by spending idle hours reading my uncle's comic book collection or browsing Wikipedia.

It'd be lovely to see characters like Captain Cold, Sinestro, and Black Manta as minifigures, but kids who don't read comic books are much less likely to know who these characters are compared to characters like Lex Luthor or the Riddler.

Marvel Super Heroes sets have incorporated more obscure characters, at least in the sets based on the Spider–Man and Avengers cartoons. But I'm curious just how effective this will be in the grand scheme of things. Even as an adult, I'm drawn much more to the new X-Men set, which focuses on central X-Men characters, than to the new Avengers sets which feature an assortment of characters I barely know. But perhaps the cartoons have done a better job promoting these characters than I realize.

I didn't watch any superhero cartoons until I was ten or eleven years old (Static Shock FTW!), and my comic books of choice never included superhero comics until I was well into my teenage years (instead, I favored classic European comics like The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix, as well as newspaper strip comics like Calvin & Hobbes). This is probably far from a typical childhood. So maybe I'm out of touch and the Super Heroes theme has more room to branch out than I'm giving it credit for. I suppose a lot of that is really at DC and Marvel's discretion.

monkey_roo

^ I think the point about villains is fair, outside of the Batman world the DC villains aren't as well know and to be honest not really up to much. Darkseid, Brainiac, Cheetah, Grodd, Shado, Luther and Zod are about the only ones that really jump out, that isn't to say there aren't hundreds of villains, there are, but outside of the bat world they really haven't reached the mainstream. On the marvel side all the villains and characters produced by lego so far have been in recent films or cartoons so are much more likely to be recognised (I think).

Plell

So when are we getting a Batman set based on this issue?

TheLoneTensor

Aanchir said:

doubledbrick said:

I imagine that there will be 25 more batmans released before green lantern. I am keeping my eye out for zoo keeper batman, but hopefully I am wrong for everyone's sake.

I wouldn't be so sure. The LEGO Group...lots of words

Maybe, but if so, there will be 25 more Batmans before the next Green Lantern is released.

fizicyst

Plell said:

So when are we getting a Batman set based on this issue?

We will get it just after they make this battle pack: Black Vulcan, Apache Chief and Samurai!!!

epyon396

^
I'm not sure who put forth less effort. The character designers, or the toy manufacturers.

Bumblepants

^^my knowledge of Apache Chief consists entirely of the Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law episode where he had a coffee accident that um... messed up his powers.

legodude

vwong19 said:

Could be an interesting 2015 Lego Super Heroes year with several Marvel films coming out. I would expect to see at least a few of the minifigures made from the list below, maybe not directly to the film, but at least to the comic book or animated versions.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015) - Ultron, Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch
- Fantastic Four (June 2015) - Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer
- Antman (July 2015) - Antman

I agree with your analysis. The only thing that worries me is if TLG goes Avengers heavy and doesn't leave any room for F4 or Antman. However even if they did 5 Avengers sets like the first wave, I could see 2-4 more Marvel sets that year. Antman has a good chance of getting at least 1 set, Fantastic Four is also very likely seeing as we got a X-men set to go with DoFP. Granted it is not based on the film, but will be released in the same window and features a Sentinel.

legomatt

I don't mind the alt-costumes too much, but if we only get occasional characters in each Batman set I think I might have to turn all but one batman into a gang of lookalikey villains.

Robin! It's me, Batman! Don't shoot! Those others are all impeccably dressed imposters!

Gadzooks, Batman! How can I be sure you're the real Batman?

Robin! Only I, the true Batman, could know about that night we both... and you... a rubber mallet... then I... and the cheesegrater... with your clenched... and we promised never to mention it again?

Gee Wizz, That's right, Batman. We'd be a laughing stock if that got out...

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Secret's safe forever... hehehe. Hey, you! Batman-alike, wanna be the real deal? An opportunity just opened up in vigilante justice... do you have a rubber mallet?

y2josh

legodude said:

...seeing as we got a X-men set to go with DoFP. Granted it is not based on the film, but will be released in the same window and features a Sentinel.

Or at least something Sentinel-esque...

roostercogburn

byolego said:

Will the Green Lantern ever come out in a set?
I notice that the minifig. was only available as SDCC exclusive in '11.

Call my opinion unpopular, but with a Green Lantern figure imminent, I'd much rather get a Phoenix/Marvel Girl/Jean Grey figure.

Drmnez said:

Just got my Martian Manhunter in.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ASSEMBLE!

It's not the quote, but the fact you have a Green Lantern figure that burns me. Smiley face:)

LostInTranslation said:

^^ Of course to kids. That's who TLG's products are predominantly aimed at. I'm sure they have done their research and know exactly what minifigs they can include in what set. Plus the limitations of their licences and what characters the licence holder wants to promote.

I want more characters too (GL! Green Arrow! More Xmen! Fantastic Four!) but I accept that I have to either be patient (these are multiyear licences, these characters may happen eventually) or try making them myself or buy customs.

Patience is key. I grew up on Spider-man, so going full Batman in terms of villains would do well for me there. Spider-man has a huge rogues gallery that I think will translate well to toys of any kind, but I'm unfamiliar with this incarnation of Spider-man villains from the most recent cartoon.

I have to imagine that FF liscenses would be, as with X-men, for cartoon or comic book versions, as the X-men and Fantastic Four are set to share a movie universe. I'd love to see a Hulk sized Thing sooner rather then later (especially since a transparent blue Electro has no shown up as a pallet swap for Johnny Storm).

vwong19 said:

Could be an interesting 2015 Lego Super Heroes year with several Marvel films coming out. I would expect to see at least a few of the minifigures made from the list below, maybe not directly to the film, but at least to the comic book or animated versions.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015) - Ultron, Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch
- Fantastic Four (June 2015) - Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer
- Antman (July 2015) - Antman

We've already seen in 2014 movies and sets...
- Captain America: Winter Soldier (April 2014) - Captain America, Falcon, Red Skull, Hydra (perhaps make up from first film)
- Amazing Spider Man 2 (May 2014) - Spiderman, Electro
- X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 2014) - Cyclops, Storm, Magneto, Sentinel, Wolverine
- Gaurdians of the Galaxy (August 2014) - Guardians of the Galaxy

I don't think there were Thor or Winter Soldier licensed sets, but rather nods to them (multiple Loki helmets/gear for Asgard army building, Red Skull's 8 wheeler). I guess TLG wouldn't be able to make an effective and child friendly proxy to do with genocide or a spy-thriller. Ant-Man and GOTG should (and have in the case of the GOTG) some fun toys for kids, so I think an expansion would be well received by KFOLs.

Spider-man licenses, to my knowledge are from the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon, and the X-men are definitely comic based...I'm still awaiting the X-Mansion set with the original cast. Maybe Toad or Mastermind, so with Magneto and the "you'd have to be stupid to not renew licenses for the Avengers 2" minifigures of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, we'd get an original Brotherhood too.

Or go full Batman and subtly reference the first run of movies (Penguin's Duckboat, Batwing and Joker-copter) at a later date.

Bumblepants said:

^^my knowledge of Apache Chief consists entirely of the Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law episode where he had a coffee accident that um... messed up his powers.

Or the no name brand version from the Revenge Society on the Venture Brothers ("He's just standing on his toes!"). Harvey Birdman needs to be brought back though, I miss Colbert doing voice work.

y2josh

roostercogburn said:

I'm still awaiting the X-Mansion set with the original cast. Maybe Toad or Mastermind, so with Magneto and the "you'd have to be stupid to not renew licenses for the Avengers 2" minifigures of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, we'd get an original Brotherhood too.

To that point, I think it's unfortunate that the Whedon abominations are likely the only versions of those minifigures we'll ever receive. I suppose if the costume design is close to some of the comic book art, we may luck out, but I feel like their costumes are honestly too "comic-booky" to work on the big screen. Time will tell, I guess.

roostercogburn

y2josh said:

roostercogburn said:

I'm still awaiting the X-Mansion set with the original cast. Maybe Toad or Mastermind, so with Magneto and the "you'd have to be stupid to not renew licenses for the Avengers 2" minifigures of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, we'd get an original Brotherhood too.

To that point, I think it's unfortunate that the Whedon abominations are likely the only versions of those minifigures we'll ever receive. I suppose if the costume design is close to some of the comic book art, we may luck out, but I feel like their costumes are honestly too "comic-booky" to work on the big screen. Time will tell, I guess.

Blue suit with a silver bolt for Pietro, and red with black trim with a diadem or tiara or something for Wanda, and I don't think it's any harder to screw up then Thor or Cap's costumes. Then again, we'll see.

CCC

Shib said:

^I would put an amendment on that of in order to sell them well to children, yes.

Lego fandom has a huge market to the typical comic nerd crowd - into which I also fall. I'd be prepared to pay more of a premium for sets based on more obscure characters. The line could easily include some larger sets based on other characters with the older fans in mind.

I'm not that into superheroes and I haven't read a comic in at least 25 years, but I do like superheroes lego.

I'd love it if there was a batman in every set, so long as they were all variants. He is recognizable, and variants of one character look great displayed together.

Shib

interesting variants are the exception, e.g. i was more than happy with the recent set with penguin as it had a scuba suit batman, but the amount of generic looking batman figs puts me off the other recent sets.

Steve_J_OM

I'm not into variants either, I actually think it cheapens a character to have so many different versions. It wouldn't put me off getting a set, though, I just wouldn't display them (or trade them, but I'm usually reluctant to do that in case I ever want to sell the set down the line).

Shib

i think that masses of the same version across multiple sets cheapens the character more, and with characters like superhero characters there are almost always loads of different versions to draw from. However I do think that variations on print detail etc do very little for me, they have to be noticeably different.
I very much doubt they'd ever make them (except as comic con exclusives) but I'd love Black Lantern/White Lantern variants of Batman, I nearly bought myself an extra Arctic Batman to mod, but theres something about modded minifigs that I just don't like.

vwong19

Lego has been seriously lazy with Spiderman variants. The 2 variants so far have been SDCC. There is a lot of potential there. What kid would NOT want a glow in the dark Big Time? Baghead is probably something for another SDCC. Spiderman costumes are endless.

andhe

^Endless maybe, but recognisable? (to your average toy buying parent/child).

Shib

when i saw the daily bugle set I was hoping for a Peter Parker, but i suppose much like the bruce wayne mini fig theres little to make it not look like just a random person

andhe

^Unless they do something like they did with the Clark Kent Blu-ray figure, and have the costume showing under his shirt.

Shib

true, but i think that worked well for Clark because the iconic shirt tear off to reveal costume shot.

Wil348

So I was playing Arkham City on my Wii U today, and I noticed that the Batman variant included in the Riddler Chase is almost identical to how Batman appears in the Arkham City (and maybe Origins). That's awesome.

super_curry_max

andhe said:

^Unless they do something like they did with the Clark Kent Blu-ray figure, and have the costume showing under his shirt.

I had the idea that they could make the peter figure look like he does in the lego game but have the back of the head instead of being just a different facial expression have it be like old toy biz marvel spiderman figures where half the face is parker and the other half is the spiderman mask. i think that would be neat.

TheBigLegoski

Too bad TLG and Disney have not teamed up to exploit the Thor: The Dark World movie.
imdb.com/title/tt1981115/?ref_=rvi_tt
In my opinion that movie was visually so appealing. The architecture of Asgard is really splendid, this high tech city with a Nordic mythological retro edge I felt was quite captivating. Imagine that city, the Asgardian gondola and Dark Elven space crafts as Lego sets. All the characters, and all their costumes looked fantastic. Malekith, Odin, the Dark Elves, Heimdall, Friga, Thor and Loki of course, and the many other characters and extras, I would love to see recreated in Lego minifig shape. As a castle, fantasy, LOTR, SciFi, superhero (Lego) fan a bunch of well designed Lego sets from that movie would be right up my alley.
I don't know if more Thor films will follow, but if so Lego should really consider developing some sets based on this Chris Hemsworth Thor incarnation film series.

I just got #76012 'Batman: The Riddler Chase' which I think is a really nice set. Of the latest Superheroes sets (76010 up to 76018) I like the DC ones better then the Marvel ones. I don't get all these Spider-man vehicles. Spider-man never ever (in the comics I read as a kid, or films I saw later) uses any vehicle. Why would he have to, he has superpowers. The set designers should have made a mental note, and factored that aspect in when thinking of ideas for Spidey sets. I like #76015 'Doc Ock Truck Heist' but the other two Spidey sets, as well as the 'Hulk Lab Smash' set have interesting minifigs but such plain ugly vehicles/structures that I find it difficult justifying spending money on them.

Drmnez

The Spiderman sets are based off of a Disney cartoon "the ultimate Spiderman" where he teams up with shield and they make these vehicles and gadgets for him. That is also the reason for the character appearance and line up.

roostercogburn

Drmnez said:

The Spiderman sets are based off of a Disney cartoon "the ultimate Spiderman" where he teams up with shield and they make these vehicles and gadgets for him. That is also the reason for the character appearance and line up.

That makes an otherworldly amount of sense. Thanks for the heads up on that.

On a slightly different note, it looks like Vision will be in the second Avengers movie, played by Paul "the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S." Bettany, to go along with Ultron, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Here's hoping for a minifigure of each.

TheBigLegoski

@Drmnez
Thanks for the info. I did read somewhere (probably on Brickset here) that these Spidey sets are based on a new cartoon, but beyond that I do not know anything about these cartoons as I have never seen an episode of this new series.

y2josh

^As a fan of Spidey, the series is hard to stomach. The humor is juvenile and it features none of the overarching themes that have made the Spider-Man comics so interesting to me over the years.

One of the episodes I watched recently involved Spider-Man trying to hide the Hulk in his bedroom while keeping it a secret from Aunt May. But the Hulk had a cold, so he was doing HILARIOUS things like blowing his nose in the curtains and vomiting in their washing machine. Then there was something about the Phalanx to give the episode the illusion of a plot.

If the sets continue to feature such a diverse cast of characters, I'll be okay with that, but in general, I can't stand how toddler-tastic Disney has made most of the Marvel heroes.

Geddes

@y2josh, the first series leaves a lot to be desired. with the huge amounts of self-dialoguing being my biggest bug bear. the second series is much better especially the latter stages. its like they woke up when smash and assemble started.

vwong19

I stopped watching Ultimate Spiderman after a few episodes because it was too kiddy. I enjoyed Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes when it was airing along side it. That series was true to the comic arches and I enjoyed the character development. I had high hopes for Avengers Assemble, but it was similar to Ultimate Spiderman.... perhaps season 2 has improved.

y2josh

Geddes said:

@y2josh, the first series leaves a lot to be desired. with the huge amounts of self-dialoguing being my biggest bug bear. the second series is much better especially the latter stages. its like they woke up when smash and assemble started.

Out of curiosity, had you seen Earth's Mightiest Heroes prior to Disney cancelling it and replacing it with Assemble? EMH and Wolverine and the X-Men were Marvel's most recent animated efforts to really get things right (in my opinion, of course), but Disney cancelled both of them (or, in the case of WatXM, blocked funding because the contract was with Nickelodeon).

Geddes

yes, I watched earth's mightiest heroes. the only show to come close in standards was green lanterns show. I was just comparing the show, to currently aired shows. each time a cartoon gets good its deemed too adult I fear.

plantman

Spider-man did have a few vehicles in the comic. One was the Spider-mobile. It looked like Speed Buggy with a Spider-man motif. It was exactly as awesome as it sounds. Instead of swinging his way through the city, he drove. In traffic. In New York. Now that's AMAZING!

dannyrww

^Well that is about as absurd as Spiderman making a deal with mephisto to save Aunt May in exchange for his marriage being erased from continuity...so yeah makes perfect sense.