Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Timing of the new licenses
There's been some question about the timing of the new releases. Polywen was at the San Diego ComicCon (and got one of the Green Lantern figs, lucky dude) and he got some indication from the people in the LEGO booth. He doesn't remember exactly who said it, but he said it comes down to existing licenses. DC has a current license with Fisher Price (as part of their TRIO Building System), and Marvel currently has a license for building block toys with Mega Bloks. The word is that the LEGO licenses will kick in when these existing licenses expire in January and May 2012, respectively.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wall of Fame
Here's the Wall of Fame from Legoland Windsor. Among the many characters there you can see your friendly neighborhood web-slinger.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Backs of the figs
It looks like Mariann Asanuma helped take down the LEGO booth at ComicCon, and she got a chance to photograph the back sides of the figs. As you can see, they're all printed on both sides (well, we can't see Batman and Thor's backs due to capes, but someone noted on Flickr that the exclusive ComicCon Batman fig is printed on both sides). BTW, I have no idea what happened to the Superman fig, and whether or not his cape is printed with an S. Also BTW, I didn't note it before, but Wonder Woman's legs are red with flesh-colored printing on them, and the printing wraps around to the sides (has that ever been done before?).
Figs galore
David Oaks has a huge gallery of minifigs from DC and Marvel, including some characters like the Endless and DareDevil and pals. BTW, it's definitely worth reading through his site for some fun little jokes.
Traffic here at ComicBricks
Pop quiz: When did LEGO announce their DC and Marvel licenses?
Here I am with a little niche blog, and suddenly we're sitting on the most exciting new theme (IMO, of course) since the first X-wing came out in 1999. Stay tuned here for all LEGO Super Heroes news, and be sure to tell your friends.
Here I am with a little niche blog, and suddenly we're sitting on the most exciting new theme (IMO, of course) since the first X-wing came out in 1999. Stay tuned here for all LEGO Super Heroes news, and be sure to tell your friends.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Flash drives
Stefan Reiling has made a number of LEGO-based USB flash drives, including these. I think he sells these and other items - you can contact him via his Flickr account if you're interested.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
ComicCon (an older one in Phoenix, not the current one)
These mosaics were on display at the recent Phoenix ComicCon. Again, I think this photo is by a con attendee, so I don't know the builder.
Friday, July 22, 2011
The two faces of Hal
It's been noted that the Green Lantern fig given away at ComicCon has a double sided head. You can actually see both faces at the official site.
Upcoming set hint from contest rules
One other piece of news I missed. Classic-Castle forum member Azaghal pointed out that one of the prizes mentioned in the contest at legosuperheroes.com is the "LEGO Super Heroes: DC Universe Batcave set". So we know at least one of the sets. Let the speculation begin on what other sets will be released.
BTW, the contest rules note that "entries will be judged every month through December 2011" and prizes including "the complete 2012 LEGO Super Heroes: DC Universe collection" will be "awarded each month", leading up to the grand prize (which includes a trip to Legoland and Warner Brothers) in December 2011. The press release said that the initial sets will "launch in January 2012", and the Variety article says they "will launch a new set of playthings around next summer's "The Dark Knight Rises" through the Lego Batman collection" (next summer). But I interpret the contest rules as saying that at least a few people will have sets in their hands within the next couple of months (and surely there will be photos posted online). Or perhaps the contest winners will be given IOU's from LEGO promising that they'll get a big package of LEGO on January 1? Time will tell, but if anyone who reads this blog does win one of the contests, please please please send me any information and photos.
BTW, they are already starting to post fan submissions at legosuperheroes.com, including my up, up and away vignette.
BTW, the contest rules note that "entries will be judged every month through December 2011" and prizes including "the complete 2012 LEGO Super Heroes: DC Universe collection" will be "awarded each month", leading up to the grand prize (which includes a trip to Legoland and Warner Brothers) in December 2011. The press release said that the initial sets will "launch in January 2012", and the Variety article says they "will launch a new set of playthings around next summer's "The Dark Knight Rises" through the Lego Batman collection" (next summer). But I interpret the contest rules as saying that at least a few people will have sets in their hands within the next couple of months (and surely there will be photos posted online). Or perhaps the contest winners will be given IOU's from LEGO promising that they'll get a big package of LEGO on January 1? Time will tell, but if anyone who reads this blog does win one of the contests, please please please send me any information and photos.
BTW, they are already starting to post fan submissions at legosuperheroes.com, including my up, up and away vignette.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Another news site
Thanks to 'Minifigure' in a comment on an earlier post for a link to The Brick Life, which is also gathering news on the new theme. So far they seem to have the same news I've found, but I'll watch that space for anything new.
One thing that is unclear to me - The Brick Life site says that the Marvel line is "restricted" to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Avengers, which implies that they cannot do anything else. But the official press release says that the line will "spotlight three Marvel franchises", which implies to me that they will start with those, but could focus on other characters as well. Of course, I'm not sure how much of a restriction it would be, since pretty much every character in the Marvel universe has shown up in one of those comic lines over the years. Heck, it seems like almost every Marvel hero has been a member of the Avengers at one point or another. I do hope they eventually include fan favorites like the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom (okay, Doomie has fought everyone over time, but he's usually associated with the FF in my head), also the Silver Surfer is an obvious fig (esp since about every other run of Collectible Minifigures seems to have some sort of surfer).
One thing that is unclear to me - The Brick Life site says that the Marvel line is "restricted" to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Avengers, which implies that they cannot do anything else. But the official press release says that the line will "spotlight three Marvel franchises", which implies to me that they will start with those, but could focus on other characters as well. Of course, I'm not sure how much of a restriction it would be, since pretty much every character in the Marvel universe has shown up in one of those comic lines over the years. Heck, it seems like almost every Marvel hero has been a member of the Avengers at one point or another. I do hope they eventually include fan favorites like the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom (okay, Doomie has fought everyone over time, but he's usually associated with the FF in my head), also the Silver Surfer is an obvious fig (esp since about every other run of Collectible Minifigures seems to have some sort of surfer).
More pics from ComicCon
Hinckley from Eurobricks is also at ComicCon and has a series of high quality photos. There is also a discussion thread on Eurobricks.
Preview of the official DC and Marvel lines
Wow! The last 24 hours have been really exciting for LEGO comics fans. Mariann from Model Building Secrets and Ace from FBTB are both at ComicCon and have posted many photos of the LEGO displays there.
The photo that says it all - LEGO, Marvel, and DC, all together:
Let's start with DC. Even though we've seen four of these characters previously in the Batman line, these are all new prints. Catwoman and Batman are pretty similar to the previous versions (Catwoman just has some printing to make her look curvier, and the logo on Batman's chest is the variation with the yellow oval around the bat, where as before it was just a slightly larger bat). Joker has a more detailed vest and a different hairpiece (the Count Dooku hair mold rather than the vampire hair mold). We've actually seen a green version of that hairpiece before and it's been used in Joker customs. To me the best of this bunch is Poison Ivy, as the newer fig is a great improvement over the older one and not just a minor variant. Turning to the all-new characters, both Wonder Woman and Superman look amazing. I particularly like Diana's hairpiece and golden lasso. My only minor nitpick is that they should have printed WW on a fleshy torso rather than a red torso, but maybe LEGO thought a nude-backless fig would be too risque?
Now turning to Marvel, these are obviously preliminary figs, as none of them are in finished form (e.g. they're all stickers rather than printed figs, Thor's hair, no face on the Hulk etc). Captain America is the star of this show, IMO, as that fig looks perfect. Thor's hammer looks great, and I'm going to need a couple of extra ones for my castle-theme dwarf blacksmiths. I have to say I particularly dislike the Iron Man mask. A Flickr commenter referred to him as Bobblehead Iron Man and I agree. They should have gone with a printed head or a much smaller molded head (e.g. like the C3PO fig) rather than this huge mask to fit over a normal fig head. I'm not going to let that spoil the fun, though, as I'm sure I'll get this fig as well when they come out. The hairpiece on Wolverine is an obvious pick, and we've seen very similar customs in the past. It looks like his claws have a little post that he then holds in his hands - kind of similar to the claw weapon we saw in the small Prince of Persia set. Hulk looks a bit like the old Rock Monster to me, but I really like the molding around the neck and that hair (I wonder if it comes off). Not sure why they didn't get the face painted by the time of this display.
The exclusive Green Lantern and Batman figs are limited number (1500 each) free raffles. I'm sure these things will cost an arm and a leg, and maybe another arm, on the Bricklink/eBay secondary market.
Here we see what they meant by 'buildable fig' in the press releases. These seem to tie to the Hero Factory line (the successor to Bionicle):
Here's the teaser video from the LEGO Super Heroes site (also on YouTube and around the web).
A bit of an afterthought, but the Marvel partnership press release is now posted on Lego.com. I'm not sure why this was delayed a day after the DC press release, and this seems a little bit of a screw-up. Key information in this is the list of upcoming figs:
The photo that says it all - LEGO, Marvel, and DC, all together:
Let's start with DC. Even though we've seen four of these characters previously in the Batman line, these are all new prints. Catwoman and Batman are pretty similar to the previous versions (Catwoman just has some printing to make her look curvier, and the logo on Batman's chest is the variation with the yellow oval around the bat, where as before it was just a slightly larger bat). Joker has a more detailed vest and a different hairpiece (the Count Dooku hair mold rather than the vampire hair mold). We've actually seen a green version of that hairpiece before and it's been used in Joker customs. To me the best of this bunch is Poison Ivy, as the newer fig is a great improvement over the older one and not just a minor variant. Turning to the all-new characters, both Wonder Woman and Superman look amazing. I particularly like Diana's hairpiece and golden lasso. My only minor nitpick is that they should have printed WW on a fleshy torso rather than a red torso, but maybe LEGO thought a nude-backless fig would be too risque?
Now turning to Marvel, these are obviously preliminary figs, as none of them are in finished form (e.g. they're all stickers rather than printed figs, Thor's hair, no face on the Hulk etc). Captain America is the star of this show, IMO, as that fig looks perfect. Thor's hammer looks great, and I'm going to need a couple of extra ones for my castle-theme dwarf blacksmiths. I have to say I particularly dislike the Iron Man mask. A Flickr commenter referred to him as Bobblehead Iron Man and I agree. They should have gone with a printed head or a much smaller molded head (e.g. like the C3PO fig) rather than this huge mask to fit over a normal fig head. I'm not going to let that spoil the fun, though, as I'm sure I'll get this fig as well when they come out. The hairpiece on Wolverine is an obvious pick, and we've seen very similar customs in the past. It looks like his claws have a little post that he then holds in his hands - kind of similar to the claw weapon we saw in the small Prince of Persia set. Hulk looks a bit like the old Rock Monster to me, but I really like the molding around the neck and that hair (I wonder if it comes off). Not sure why they didn't get the face painted by the time of this display.
The exclusive Green Lantern and Batman figs are limited number (1500 each) free raffles. I'm sure these things will cost an arm and a leg, and maybe another arm, on the Bricklink/eBay secondary market.
Here we see what they meant by 'buildable fig' in the press releases. These seem to tie to the Hero Factory line (the successor to Bionicle):
Here's the teaser video from the LEGO Super Heroes site (also on YouTube and around the web).
A bit of an afterthought, but the Marvel partnership press release is now posted on Lego.com. I'm not sure why this was delayed a day after the DC press release, and this seems a little bit of a screw-up. Key information in this is the list of upcoming figs:
The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises – Marvel’s The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters. The LEGO Marvel’s The Avengers movie line brings such ever popular Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form. The LEGO X-Men collection includes minifigure comic versions of Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool, while the LEGO Spider-Man sets offer minifigure comic versions of Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus. The first buildable characters in the LEGO SUPER HEROES collection are highlighted by Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
LEGO Marvel confirmed - and preliminary pics!
Forget my previous skepticism, it's been confirmed! A couple of hours ago I exchanged voicemails with a Kristin Greene, from a PR firm representing LEGO. They are indeed licensing both Marvel and DC comic characters. What's more, some preliminary pictures from ComicCon have shown up online. I'm sure we'll have additional news over the next few days. Can you tell I'm excited?
Still more - and Marvel too?!?!?
Okay, more news is coming out. On their website, LEGO has a press release about the DC license. Key data for the moment. The first piece of information is a list of figs: Batman, Robin, Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman, Lex Luthor and Wonder Woman. (Hmm, mostly from Batman comics - a slight disappointment as we already have official version of most of those.) Also they will have 'buildable characters' (maybe larger scale sculptures? or more something like the giant KK2 figs?) of Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern.
In the 'not yet proven' file we have even more exciting news. It looks like there are press releases for a Marvel license as well. If true, that is extremely exciting news. I'm a little skeptical for the moment, as that press release is not at LEGO.com, and the official LEGO Super Heroes page seems to be DC focused. We'll know soon enough, though, as that potential press release says more will come out at the San Diego ComicCon this weekend.
I'm trying not to go crazy on this potential Marvel license until I see real proof. It just seems like a legal nightmare to get both DC and Marvel licenses at the same time. If so, though, my LEGO spending budget just exploded.
In the 'not yet proven' file we have even more exciting news. It looks like there are press releases for a Marvel license as well. If true, that is extremely exciting news. I'm a little skeptical for the moment, as that press release is not at LEGO.com, and the official LEGO Super Heroes page seems to be DC focused. We'll know soon enough, though, as that potential press release says more will come out at the San Diego ComicCon this weekend.
I'm trying not to go crazy on this potential Marvel license until I see real proof. It just seems like a legal nightmare to get both DC and Marvel licenses at the same time. If so, though, my LEGO spending budget just exploded.
More on the DC license - official website
Quick follow-up to my previous post. On FBTB (From Bricks to Batman?)* Ace posted a link to the official theme website, LEGOSuperHeroes.com. In addition to seeing three of the figs (and on the site you can rotate the Batman and Green Lantern figs and see that at least Hal is printed on both sides (Bruce is wearing a cape, of course), they also announce a monthly contest to create either a video, photo or drawing of a LEGO DC hero. It looks like you can use either your official Batman theme figs "and/or other LEGO Minifigures in Super Hero style" - I do not know if they mean that you can customize, or that you must use only official elements. Anyway, check out these great figs:
Multi-character official DC license!!!!!!
Huge news for ComicBricks fans! LEGO has announced a greatly expanded DC license. The full article follows, but the highlights are:
-January 2012 launch of the line
-First 13 characters will include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn and Lex Luthor
-Exclusive promo Batman and Green Lantern figs will be available in limited supply at ComicCon in San Diego this weekend
-A release of new Batman sets will come out in summer 2012 in connection with the movie The Dark Knight Rises (in theaters exactly one year from now)
Thanks to Mariann of Model Building Secrets for finding this news.
Here's the full article from Variety. I expect we'll learn more this weekend from ComicCon.
Just a personal note - I am generally not a fan of licenses, and have posted this repeatedly on forums like Classic-Castle. On various LEGO forums, people are always saying 'LEGO should license this or that movie, TV show, or video game.' I've written that the main criteria for licenses is that it should be for something that fans cannot create themselves and that the subject should be something with decades of history and a built in fan base. So, for instance, Star Wars has been a very successful license, in that it has included many new elements and minifigures, and taps into a huge customer (and collector) base spanning from people like myself who saw A New Hope in theaters as a kid to today's ten year olds watching the Clone Wars cartoons. OTOH, the oft-requested Lord of the Rings license is unneeded, as fans can and have made tons of great MOCs with existing elements. Given that the books existed decades before the Peter Jackson movies, there is no 'official' look for the characters or locations that you absolutely need LEGO to create special elements for (heck, in my imagination, the characters all look like the Bakshi cartoon). The one exception that I have consistently called for is an expanded comic book hero license, in either the DC or Marvel universe (building on the previous more limited Batman and Spider-Man themes). Yes, there are great customizers out there, and I've tried to feature them often on this blog, but most of us aren't that great at customizing. So it's huge news that we'll be able to get official figs. I'll be interested to see what vehicles and locations they come up with. In the past people (including LEGO reps?) have said that the big advantage of Batman, from the sake of designing sets, is that he is so vehicle-driven - so there are obvious set ideas for a Batmobile, Batwing etc. Of course Wonder Woman has her jet. What does Superman have? I guess we have iconic locations for him - the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude - or maybe what they'll do is have a set with some big attack vehicle driven by Lex Luthor and Supes will be fighting it. Of course they have tons of material to draw on - from almost 75 years of comics, to live action and cartoon TV shows, to blockbuster summer movies dating back to Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton (though it does seem we see more Marvel movies than DC movies).
Anyway, I'm all excited about this. As some of you know, I'm mostly a Castle guy, but I'm sure I'll be buying all of these sets. Yay LEGO!
-January 2012 launch of the line
-First 13 characters will include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn and Lex Luthor
-Exclusive promo Batman and Green Lantern figs will be available in limited supply at ComicCon in San Diego this weekend
-A release of new Batman sets will come out in summer 2012 in connection with the movie The Dark Knight Rises (in theaters exactly one year from now)
Thanks to Mariann of Model Building Secrets for finding this news.
Here's the full article from Variety. I expect we'll learn more this weekend from ComicCon.
Warner Bros. has expanded its relationship with Lego, granting the toymaker access to DC Entertainment's complete library of comicbook characters and stories to launch DC Universe "Super Heroes" as figures and playsets.
The multi-year licensing deal, made through Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will start rolling out the new line in January, starting with 13 characters, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and villains the Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn and Lex Luthor.
The first toys will be shown off at the Lego booth at Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego, where 3,000 exclusive Batman and Green Lantern minifigures will be distributed to launch a promo that runs August-December, enabling fans to create and submit videos, photos or illustrations of the characters to win trips to Legoland and Warner Bros. Studios.
WB and Lego had already been producing toys and videogames around the Batman franchise, and will launch a new set of playthings around next summer's "The Dark Knight Rises" through the Lego Batman collection. The "Lego Batman: The Videogame," published by WB Bros. Interactive Entertainment, has sold more than 12 million units since 2008."This partnership gives builders a chance to recreate the characters, vehicles and worlds of some of the most iconic super heroes, so they can relive the action and even customize it, a proven and winning formula in Lego construction," said Jill Wilfert, VP, licensing and entertainment for the Lego Group.
Just a personal note - I am generally not a fan of licenses, and have posted this repeatedly on forums like Classic-Castle. On various LEGO forums, people are always saying 'LEGO should license this or that movie, TV show, or video game.' I've written that the main criteria for licenses is that it should be for something that fans cannot create themselves and that the subject should be something with decades of history and a built in fan base. So, for instance, Star Wars has been a very successful license, in that it has included many new elements and minifigures, and taps into a huge customer (and collector) base spanning from people like myself who saw A New Hope in theaters as a kid to today's ten year olds watching the Clone Wars cartoons. OTOH, the oft-requested Lord of the Rings license is unneeded, as fans can and have made tons of great MOCs with existing elements. Given that the books existed decades before the Peter Jackson movies, there is no 'official' look for the characters or locations that you absolutely need LEGO to create special elements for (heck, in my imagination, the characters all look like the Bakshi cartoon). The one exception that I have consistently called for is an expanded comic book hero license, in either the DC or Marvel universe (building on the previous more limited Batman and Spider-Man themes). Yes, there are great customizers out there, and I've tried to feature them often on this blog, but most of us aren't that great at customizing. So it's huge news that we'll be able to get official figs. I'll be interested to see what vehicles and locations they come up with. In the past people (including LEGO reps?) have said that the big advantage of Batman, from the sake of designing sets, is that he is so vehicle-driven - so there are obvious set ideas for a Batmobile, Batwing etc. Of course Wonder Woman has her jet. What does Superman have? I guess we have iconic locations for him - the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude - or maybe what they'll do is have a set with some big attack vehicle driven by Lex Luthor and Supes will be fighting it. Of course they have tons of material to draw on - from almost 75 years of comics, to live action and cartoon TV shows, to blockbuster summer movies dating back to Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton (though it does seem we see more Marvel movies than DC movies).
Anyway, I'm all excited about this. As some of you know, I'm mostly a Castle guy, but I'm sure I'll be buying all of these sets. Yay LEGO!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Magneto
Mike Napolitan has such great stuff that I'm going to spend a few days featuring his work: Magneto vs Tank (he notes that the tank is by BrickMonkey).
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
City scenes
When LUGs and LTCs put on large displays, you can often find fun little details hidden in there. Look close at the side of the building in this display by the Perth Adult Lego Society at a recent display in Australia.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Covers
ZeRadman has been reproducing classic covers like Detective Comics #27 and the Amazing Spider-Man #14.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
In brightest day ...
Chris Doyle has been busy. In addition to the logo mosaics that I've featured here before, he also made some cube-dudes, like the classic Hal seen here (btw, that Superman I noted yesterday was indeed by Chris).
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