TheBatstan

I wish I was in the universe where Superman was getting the movie set and the Fantastic Four got a comic set that loosely tied in with their movie instead of the other way around.

You had to say it.

I'll be damned, we've all been discharged from the Aslume. Guess I'll kick things off with this 2 second edit in Paint of what the new Superman minifigure would look like with red hips for the trunks, and boy does it make a world of difference. I would love to know what Lego's thought process was here. It's really weird since they've almost always done updated designs to match whatever the current suit is in the comics, like the New 52 Batman minifigure from 2015-16, the Rebirth minifigure during the Rebirth era, and then the Hush Batsuit in 2021 when Batman started wearing that again from 2018 onwards. The funny thing is is that Superman's trunks have been back in the comics since 2018 as well, not to mention Corenswet's suit having them too, so Lego can't hide behind either one as an excuse here. Plus, the torso literally has the red trunk belt loops instead of doing something like the Reborn suit with the red belt and yellow buckle, so the trunks were clearly supposed to be there. TL;DR Super easy fix, but why did it have to be fixed in the first place.

I hate to interrupt the madness, but it looks like someone on eBay managed to get their hands on the Tumbler set and posted some amazingly clear pics of our new Ledger Jonkler figure. Yes, while it is a downgrade from the 2014 version from the first UCS Tumbler since it has no leg printing, I won't be losing sleep over it since we're actually getting a wide release Heath Ledger Joker that isn't locked behind $300+ UCS sets for the first time. Plus, it's a regular outfit Ledger Joker as well instead of a variant like the 2021 minifigure that only works for MOCs of the interrogation scene, which is even better.

Aaaaaand there goes my interest, I knew that rumor of it being comic based sounded too good to be true. Looks like it's back to waiting another decade for a comic F4 set. Ben being a minifig instead of a big fig just adds more salt in the wound with that amazing looking big fig from the Mission Demolition special apparently being one massive case of Lego blue balling us.

I probably would be a lot more frequent if Lego treated DC better instead of fully committing myself to the aslume. But I am extremely flattered that I was included in the wedding (though I still can't seem to figure out which one is supposed to be me in the wedding MOC, having more than one Batman minifigure there is like I'm the Spider-Men pointing meme now). And I'm glad you liked that reply, it was the only fitting thing that matched my shock to find out turtle was stupid enough to make a new account and practically beg the mods to Old Yeller him again. Now to find another image for when he makes the inevitable third account...

It got renewed for a Season 3 back in June, so it must be doing something right.

Yeah, that's the plan I have for fixing Xavier whenever I get my hands on the Mansion. Though the Mr. Burns minifigure is already pretty pricey on Bricklink, and I suspect it's going to get much worse now. And sorry for getting a little overexcited about a hypothetical Baxter Building , the Fantastic Four have always been my favorite Marvel team ever since I was a kid. And after years of Lego pretending that they don't exist, with the only acknowledgement from that corner of the Marvel universe being a single Doctor Doom figure from over a decade ago, I'm more than ready to see them show up with a D2C to make up for the past 12 years of nothing besides an appearance in the first video game (before they were wiped out from that series and the games became Lego MCU instead of Lego Marvel). And you may joke, but Bagman would be a perfect addition to the set as well. It would meet Lego's Spider-Man quota as well as include another exclusive minifigure that wouldn't fit in a regular set.

I don't think I've ever seen a weirder disconnect between a GWP and the D2C set that it's accompanying, it's like if Avengers Tower included a GWP that was comic based. Making it a completely different looking Cerebro from a separate continuity (with a sticker featuring a character that only appeared in the original Fox movies as a blink and you'll miss it cameo) just feels like a waste. And one of the biggest offenders of the set for me, not even including some kind of piece to represent the actual helmet. Fortunately, the metallic silver Power Miners helmet exists and is by far the closest thing to Cerebro's helmet, definitely going to need to order 2 of them off Bricklink so that I can replace Xavier's flower pot that's used in the Mansion. And speaking of D2C's, the Marvel Mission Demolition special had another clip uploaded and this one shows that the Frightful Four are in it as well. So besides getting a glimpse at what the potential Thing big fig might look like next year and a cameo from an invisible Sue Storm, Lego really seems to want to drum up interest on the Fantastic Four side of things with this special. I can definitely see the Frightful Four appear in a hypothetical D2C Baxter Building since Lego already designed them here. They could've gone with any other villain that appeared in the MCU for the Avengers to fight but they went down this route instead, which I couldn't be more happier about.

Endless possibilities if it's comic based. Besides the obligatory updated Doom (who probably should get an update as it's been 11 years and counting since his last set appearance) we could get other villains like Mole Man, Annihilus, Impossible Man, Puppet Master, comic Namor, the Skrulls/Super-Skrull, etc. On the allies side like how the Bugle got Daredevil, Punisher, Blade, Firestar, and Black Cat we could get the Silver Surfer to go with the Galactus set, a new comic She-Hulk, Bombastic Bag-Man, as well as civilian characters like Franklin, Valeria, Willie Lumpkin, Alicia Masters, and a brick built H.E.R.B.I.E. The potential for this set if they stick with it being comic based instead of MCU based is just too good to pass up. Ever since I first saw the prototype Hulk big fig from the SDCC 2011 pics I knew that Ben was going to get the same treatment whenever the day would come where Lego would make an FF set. I know that Ben in the comics is usually slightly smaller than the Hulk, but Lego doesn't really have a middle ground between a minifig and a big fig, so a big fig is really the only option here. I'm usually skeptical about these movie exclusive characters showing up in sets too (looking at you Omega Red and classic Thor), but I've been a lot more hopeful after the leakers mentioned the Galactus set having a very high chance of being comic based. And personally, after seeing Ben in the trailer, that assumption just gained a lot more credibility so my fingers will be double crossed here.

The Fantastic Four set just became my most anticipated set of next year after seeing that Ben big fig. Never in a million years did I think that Lego would make a comic F4 set before the MCU versions/a comic Marvel set in general unless your name is Spider-Man, especially when the movie has been given so much importance. I just hope Ben's appearance in this isn't Lego getting my hopes up. Gambit's design is pretty much the same as the one from the Mansion besides dual molded legs and the BTS hairpiece instead of Han Solo's so Ben should be the same because it's perfect, like the LMSH 1 game design but slightly updated. Now I can't wait to see the rest of the Four.

To be fair, his first name is still Oswald, his mother calls him that in the SDCC trailer. He likely wants people to call him Oz because he thinks it sounds cooler in his head. I'm split on the reason behind the Cobblepot name change though. On the one hand, changing it to make the name more "grounded" is...REALLY stupid, weird sounding last names DO exist in real life Matthew. But on the other, this change affects literally NOTHING in regards to Penguin's character, yet some people are blowing it way out of proportion online and saying that Matt is a pretentious hack when he all he did was remove 5 letters. Oz still looks like the Penguin, still acts like the Penguin, he still has the Penguin nickname, I'd be way more worried if he didn't have any of those aspects. Most of the time in the show he's going to be referred to as "Oz" or "Penguin" anyways, it's not like everyone will only be calling him "Oz Cobb". Hell, half the Cobblepot name is still intact so his full name is Oswald Cobb. Now if only someone told the merchandising team for the first movie about that name change because...

I think Lego's done using the Burton movies for set ideas, they've pretty much exhausted every major vehicle possibility besides the Batmissile or Batskiboat from Returns that they refuse to make. And there's not much point in trying to look for a pattern either for which Batman show/movie they're currently getting inspiration from to make sets off of, it's all over the place this year. In 2021 it was the 60s TV show with the minifigure scale Batmobile and the Adam West cowl, and then later in the year it was the Nolan trilogy with the minifig scale and D2C Tumbler. 2022 was obviously the year of The Batman movie sets, and last year was really when Lego was invested in the Burton movies because of Keaton's return in The Flash. This year is a mix of a bunch of different Batman iterations, and now that I think about it, it's probably to help celebrate his 85th anniversary. We got the BTAS Gotham Skyline and the respective Batmobile but then later in the year we're going back to the 60s show with the Icons style '66 Batmobile, and then to the Nolan trilogy again with ANOTHER minifigure scale Tumbler even though we just got one. I would personally choose to go all in on making more BTAS sets now that Lego has dipped their toes into that property, but who knows what next year is going to bring with The Batman Part II being delayed to 2026. Maybe some James Gunn Superman tie in sets, but at this point I'd settle for a single set and be more than happy with that.

Sorry to interrupt the Aslume but...set news! We got pics of the Icons '66 Batmobile (or as I like to call it, midi-UCS scale), and I actually kind of forgot about it till now. For 150 USD/200 CAD it looks very solid for 1822 pieces, like a UCS set with all the details you'd expect but slightly smaller and more affordable. However, Burt Ward's Robin being excluded as a minifigure AGAIN is probably one of the biggest things holding me back from buying this set on release. First Lego leaves him out from the 2021 minifig scale 66 Batmobile and now this, the price of the 2016 minifigure is just going to keep skyrocketing at this rate. He was the second main character of the show, the Dynamic DUO, having West's Batman without him is just wrong. And speaking of the new West Batman minifigure, it looks almost identical to the 2021 version but with two major differences. For starters, he has proper dual molded legs again instead of putting the printing on some dark blue legs and it looks so much better now. Now the downside for me is that the minifigure has the new plastic cape that the BTAS Batman had but in dark blue. It's beginning to feel more and more like Lego is slowly phasing out cloth capes for these instead save for a few exceptions, and I don't think I'm going to be much of a fan. Thankfully BrickLink is always there, and it looks like I'm going to need it in the coming years.

Looks like Lego is trying to sweeten the deal on the Batman 8 in 1 BrickHeadz set after people found out there's only physical instructions for one of them while the rest are all on the app, and the printed logo pieces are doubled sided instead of being their own individual bricks. It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for them...