Super Heroes 2014 Rumors & Discussion

[Numbuh1Nerd]

I think that because Batman seems to be featured so heavily in TLM, they wanted to get a couple sets with him out, but didn't dare realease the whole wave for the same reasons everything else is on hold. That's the only sense I can make of it.

I don't really care if DC gets more sets out this year or not. It's nice to have it with Marvel, since they are actually releasing a variety of things (Spider-Man, Captain America, the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy) but DC doesn't really need it if we would just get more Batman stuff, even if they so generously throw Green Lantern and another Robin variant in.

I'm a huge fan of Robin, so as far as I can tell they're just about out of variants unless they delve into lame action figure-y specialty suits. Maybe they'll get desperate enough to do Carrie Kelly, but that would definitely not warrant any complaints. I'm willing to put money on the bet that after we get our solo DC films we'll be seeing more set variety unrelated to the movies. I have a feeling that after we get to Justice League, they'll have another cartoon out to draw inspiration from.

I was thinking earlier about a Teen Titans set that would have the team facing off against a Ultrabuild Trigon. I think that might be a little unlikely, but given the massive crossing over they've done with their different gimmicks in Chima, maybe eventually we could get something like that? I think those will resurface if and when Galactus shows up in the Marvel movies, because that lame Sentinel trick just won't work on the Devourer of Worlds.

You see this is the problem I see so much and probably the reason Lego is going the route they've taken, is because of comments like this. I intend to say this without any offense, but seriously, why can't we have a solo Green Lantern set instead of having him get backed up with Batman? It's not like a solo Green Lantern, Teen Titans, or Superman set wouldn't sell, in fact, they have sold well before in other Toy brands (or so says the internet) I mean if we got a set focused on Superman with the Flash backing him up and so on and so forth we could be on par with how many figures Marvel has at this point.

Interesting thing I notices though, you said "I'll take more Batman sets" instead of "I'll take more DC sets, whereas had you, or anyone else, be talking about Marvel, you'd have said (or so says the internet) "I'll take more Marvel sets". You know how I can tell? Because Marvel's collection seems to focus on X-Men (barely) Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Spiderman, and Iron Man, you never know what sub-theme will be elaborated on next, whereas in DC people are automatically assuming it's going to be Batman. But I can already tell that in 2015-2016-2017, when we get movie based sets, we'll have a justice league, based off of the movies, they'll be the already released characters (Batman Superman, Wonder Woman Green Lantern [ John Stewart, though], Nightwing and the Flash) and it'll just take even longer for them to make comic-style JL members, and by the time they do get to creating such members, they'll have taken another 3 years to remake the ones we have now. It sort of seems like DC has set themselves up for failure here, and it's comments like this that make me understand why.

Maybe if people actually wanted Justice League sets though.... and I regress.

The John Stewart thing is strictly rumor at this point, so I wouldn't count on it. Nightwing will most likely not show up in Justice League, and he isn't even technically confirmed for the Batman/Superman movie (they said Robin, the Internet said Nightwing. Nightwing seems most likely at this point, though) I do agree with you on your point about giving other, non-Batman characters team-up sets, and I would definitely be into seeing JLU style team ups where A-listers like Green Lantern and Flash are paired up with B and C-listers like Supergirl or Booster Gold. Speaking of which, we should've gotten a Booster Gold/Blue Beetle set already, this is unacceptable! I'm really surprised we haven't gotten Superboy yet, either. Heck, Flash could carry his own set fighting a big fig Gorilla Grodd! I don't care if kids know who Flash is or not, if he's fighting a giant gorilla they'll buy it! They need to think that no, not all kids are going to be well-versed in the DC Universe at that age, but they will buy a toy that looks really cool for just the sake of it looking really cool! They've got so many missed opportunities for sets that they just aren't taking.

[TheBatstan]

Well there's at least one more version they didn't do, the classic pixie boots Robin!

And I have a possible theory as to why we didn't get a New 52 JL yet. This year seems to be strictly New 52 Bat-family. The Flash seems to be the classic suit because of the torso print, look at Batgirl as a comparison. Her torso print is very detailed and 99% accurate as to how she looks in the New 52. Flash on the other hand has a lightning streak pattern on his suit in the New 52. Given how accurate Lego did the Batgirl, Robin (Damian) and Nightwing torso's Flash shouldn't have been an exception. I think they're holding out till 2015 to release a big set with all 7 Justice League members. Till then, it looks like they're squeezing classic variants in the sets.

Just my 2 cents though.

Oh and as a side note, LOVE that cowled Wolverine and i hope they keep the white eyes as he looks kind of odd without it

Edited January 13, 2014 by batmobileAO

[Hrafnblod]

You see this is the problem I see so much and probably the reason Lego is going the route they've taken, is because of comments like this. I intend to say this without any offense, but seriously, why can't we have a solo Green Lantern set instead of having him get backed up with Batman? It's not like a solo Green Lantern, Teen Titans, or Superman set wouldn't sell, in fact, they have sold well before in other Toy brands (or so says the internet) I mean if we got a set focused on Superman with the Flash backing him up and so on and so forth we could be on par with how many figures Marvel has at this point.

Interesting thing I notices though, you said "I'll take more Batman sets" instead of "I'll take more DC sets, whereas had you, or anyone else, be talking about Marvel, you'd have said (or so says the internet) "I'll take more Marvel sets". You know how I can tell? Because Marvel's collection seems to focus on X-Men (barely) Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Spiderman, and Iron Man, you never know what sub-theme will be elaborated on next, whereas in DC people are automatically assuming it's going to be Batman. But I can already tell that in 2015-2016-2017, when we get movie based sets, we'll have a justice league, based off of the movies, they'll be the already released characters (Batman Superman, Wonder Woman Green Lantern [ John Stewart, though], Nightwing and the Flash) and it'll just take even longer for them to make comic-style JL members, and by the time they do get to creating such members, they'll have taken another 3 years to remake the ones we have now. It sort of seems like DC has set themselves up for failure here, and it's comments like this that make me understand why.

Maybe if people actually wanted Justice League sets though.... and I regress.

I'm actually on your side, on the whole. I'm just being realistic about Green Lantern, the last round of GL merchandise coincided with the movie and, as many here have said, sold horribly. Lego isn't likely to give him his own set because, for better or worse, the most recent example of GL-based toys did badly and companies tend to take notice of that sort of thing. I absolutely think that Teen Titan sets would sell, considering how popular both the former and current series seem to be with the target audience. I only said "I'll take more batman sets" in response to the notion that if we got more DC sets, that's all they'd be. I'd rather have more Batman sets with ancillary DC characters than no more DC sets of any sort. More than that, I'd rather have non-Batman sets, which I suspect we'll get sooner or later because frankly they're running out of main-line Batman villains to put in them.

[gedren_y]

March, I just remembered, is MegaCon in Orlando. Big event, and I'm betting Lego will be there. Hopefully we'll see the finaled Marvel sets. A Yondu minifig is my biggest want out of the upcoming line, but the confirmation of Storm and Alpha Flight Wolverine make me want that X-Men set. Shadowcat or Bishop would be great . . . Cyclops . . . meh.

As for DC, I have too little interest in the actual comics, so sets and figures based on the intellectual property hold very little appeal. The best from DC IMHO was the British produced Watchmen (movie butchered the storyline) and Neil Gaiman's Sandman (Midsummer Night's Dream won a literature award). Neither of these is ever going to be Lego, so I don't really care which characters Lego and DC chose to push. I'll buy what I can use for other things.

[Catanas]

And I have a possible theory as to why we didn't get a New 52 JL yet. This year seems to be strictly New 52 Bat-family. The Flash seems to be the classic suit because of the torso print, look at Batgirl as a comparison. Her torso print is very detailed and 99% accurate as to how she looks in the New 52. Flash on the other hand has a lightning streak pattern on his suit in the New 52. Given how accurate Lego did the Batgirl, Robin (Damian) and Nightwing torso's Flash shouldn't have been an exception. I think they're holding out till 2015 to release a big set with all 7 Justice League members. Till then, it looks like they're squeezing classic variants in the sets.

I'm afraid I'll have to correct you on this. :P It definitely is the New 52 Flash. The dead giveaways are the belt, logo and the 'chin guard'. Barry Allens original belt is not symmetrical but his New 52 one is, similar to Wally Wests in appearance but usually with more points on the jagged edges. The Logo is also the raised variant in which the lightning bolt 'fuses' with the yellow rim around it, New 52 again! The lightning seams are only supposed to really show up when running at superspeed (But not always, depending on the artist) , I guess they might also be a bit much for the figure. ^^

I think they've all but dropped the classic costumes this year looking at the SDCC New52 Arrow too, but I guess I don't mind. They're not all bad!

Edited January 13, 2014 by Catanas

[Green]

Sorry if I'm just dropping in here, but does anyone know how to create Batman's grapple gun from the LEGO Movie?

I can work out it's the common SH/GQ gun, I just can't get what's connecting the hook to it.

[deskp]

Sorry if I'm just dropping in here, but does anyone know how to create Batman's grapple gun from the LEGO Movie?

I can work out it's the common SH/GQ gun, I just can't get what's connecting the hook to it.

Looks like the stud that has a hole in it, the one the unicorn cats from the movie uses to connect their horn.

Propably sticks on there by movie magic..

Edited January 13, 2014 by deskp

[Darth Punk]

Maybe they used Krazy glue!

[Masked Builder]

March, I just remembered, is MegaCon in Orlando. Big event, and I'm betting Lego will be there. Hopefully we'll see the finaled Marvel sets. A Yondu minifig is my biggest want out of the upcoming line, but the confirmation of Storm and Alpha Flight Wolverine make me want that X-Men set. Shadowcat or Bishop would be great . . . Cyclops . . . meh.

February is New York Toy Fair, we'll get some decent pictures there too.

[Clone OPatra]

February is New York Toy Fair, we'll get some decent pictures there too.

It's quite possible that the Guardians sets won't be there, since they could be spoiler-ish. We should at least see the X-Men set, though.

[Batman1]

I just wanted to ask this to clarify:

Are we getting any other DC sets this year at all? Or is it just the 4 Batman themed sets we've already seen?

I cant seem to see any rumours about forthcoming 2014 DC sets.

I agree with a lot of the above discussion that it is disappointing we don't see more DC characters (even though batman is my favourite DC character/universe).

Thanks,

Batman1

[just2good]

I just wanted to ask this to clarify:

Are we getting any other DC sets this year at all? Or is it just the 4 Batman themed sets we've already seen?

It seems like we're only getting those five DC sets (including Juniors). This makes sense as Marvel has ten sets. The other five DC sets are The LEGO Movie Dropship set with Batman, and the four Duplo sets.

[Hrafnblod]

It seems like we're only getting those five DC sets (including Juniors). This makes sense as Marvel has ten sets. The other five DC sets are The LEGO Movie Dropship set with Batman, and the four Duplo sets.

As likely as this is seeming now that stuff is leaking about summer Marvel sets, I'm going to hold out hope. 4 system sets for the year is going to look really bad considering how much Marvel is getting. I'm sure Duplo counts on a technical level, from Lego's business standpoint, but it's basically useless to my (and probably most AFOLs) collection.

[Clone OPatra]

4 system sets for the year is going to look really bad considering how much Marvel is getting.

Look really bad to who? I don't think there are many children out there who will look at store shelves and say 'mommy, why does Marvel have so many more sets? It's unfair!'

More seriously, Superheroes are perhaps now more 'mainstream' than they have ever been before, but it's because of film and TV (but mostly film, since there's always been Superhero TV shows). If you look at it objectively, Marvel simply has more. More films of all sorts, and more highly watched TV. There's Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers stuff, and Guardians of the Galaxy all coming out in a single year! That's a great reason for LEGO to produce sets. DC has nothing close. Yes, there's such a wealth of comic material that LEGO could theoretically put out ten sets for DC every year, but Superheroes are popular because of Film, not because of comics. They brought it upon themselves that they don't have as much good material that LEGO thinks can really move sets.

[Ultron]

Look really bad to who? I don't think there are many children out there who will look at store shelves and say 'mommy, why does Marvel have so many more sets? It's unfair!'

More seriously, Superheroes are perhaps now more 'mainstream' than they have ever been before, but it's because of film and TV (but mostly film, since there's always been Superhero TV shows). If you look at it objectively, Marvel simply has more. More films of all sorts, and more highly watched TV. There's Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers stuff, and Guardians of the Galaxy all coming out in a single year! That's a great reason for LEGO to produce sets. DC has nothing close. Yes, there's such a wealth of comic material that LEGO could theoretically put out ten sets for DC every year, but Superheroes are popular because of Film, not because of comics. They brought it upon themselves that they don't have as much good material that LEGO thinks can really move sets.

I stated something similar to this a while back and think you're absolutely right. I mean marvel has 5 movies coming out this year while DC doesn't have any. And add the tv shows on top of that. It's hard to push a line when kids aren't being exposed to it as much. Last year we got the superman sets but that's only because of the movie, really. Many kids aren't familiar with DC heroes other than batman and superman so it's a risk for Lego, I suppose, to try and base sets on things other than them which is why we have so few from DC. So I guess that's also why they put batman in almost every set. He's really the only way to sell the other DC heroes to kids. And do you think we'd be getting guardians of the galaxy sets if the movie wasn't coming out this year? Heck no.

[Hrafnblod]

Look really bad to who? I don't think there are many children out there who will look at store shelves and say 'mommy, why does Marvel have so many more sets? It's unfair!'

To DC fans. :P But yeah, I pointed out a page or two ago that a lot of it comes down to DC doing a terrible job of managing its properties compared to Marvel.

I guess overall though it's harder for me to notice the disparity among kids because I keep forgetting they aren't really running a lot of DC cartoons these days, it wasn't that long ago that I was a 'kid' and there were -always- incarnations of the Justice League and Superman and such with their own cartoons. It's just kind of fallen apart in recent years, I guess largely because of WB dying off. But I'm plenty aware that kids aren't getting stuff from comics, just from film (and TV); I never even read comics much as an actual kid.

[gedren_y]

I don't get Cartoon Network here, so the only DC tv shows I get are Arrow on CW and syndicated episodes of Smallville on TNT (early morning). Both of those shows were targeted at the teen-adult market. I doubt we'll see a Green Arrow minifig anytime soon.

Lego seems to have missed the window when it comes to the DC media popularity. If Lego had been able to get the full DC license during the later seasons of Smallville, before the Superman Returns movie, we would have had the full JLA, JSA and most of the ancillary characters by now. But that's all "should a', would a', could a', didn't."

It is possible though that could see a late year release of DC sets. I just checked the DC Entertainment [us] page on IMDb and they have a Flash tv series in production as well as three animated movies coming out this year; Justice League: War (Feb. 4), Batman: Assault on Arkham (announced), and Son of Batman (filming).

I doubt we'll see Guardians of the Galaxy sets at the New York Toy Fair, as they are based on the upcoming movie. Marvel is more likely to release the trailers for GOTG at MegaCon.

[Sam892]

I don't get Cartoon Network here, so the only DC tv shows I get are Arrow on CW and syndicated episodes of Smallville on TNT (early morning). Both of those shows were targeted at the teen-adult market. I doubt we'll see a Green Arrow minifig anytime soon.

Lego seems to have missed the window when it comes to the DC media popularity. If Lego had been able to get the full DC license during the later seasons of Smallville, before the Superman Returns movie, we would have had the full JLA, JSA and most of the ancillary characters by now. But that's all "should a', would a', could a', didn't."

It is possible though that could see a late year release of DC sets. I just checked the DC Entertainment [us] page on IMDb and they have a Flash tv series in production as well as three animated movies coming out this year; Justice League: War (Feb. 4), Batman: Assault on Arkham (announced), and Son of Batman (filming).

I doubt we'll see Guardians of the Galaxy sets at the New York Toy Fair, as they are based on the upcoming movie. Marvel is more likely to release the trailers for GOTG at MegaCon.

If LEGO got the Smallville licence we would have much of a Justice league. Many characters didn't appear in their costumes, and when they finally did show the justice league it was based on the 1940's incarnation. That means no Hal Jordan, Barry Allen or Arthur Curry. A large percent of characters wouldn't even be recognisable as they will just be teenagers in hoodies.

It's also highly unlikely that we will see sets based on the new Flash show or those animated movies. The flash show is a spin of from arrow, so it will most likely target the same age group and have a more adult over tone. The Animated films created by DC tend to be incredible violent. Under the Red hood is a prone example of this. Plus it's hard to market toys around a straight to DVD animated film which usually won't get a sequel or TV series.

At the moment LEGO is really doing the best they can do to appeal to both kids and adult fans. It's not even really DC's fault as WB is in control of all DC properties outside of comics.

[Dr Leg O Brick]

No Numbuh1Nerd, the wing I can see is definitely coming from the Blackbird. You can see Storm, and part of the fuselage on the port side. Seeing the pic and the piece count, and making a guestimate, I'd say it's got a cockpit to seat two, three figs maybe in the front. Then a hold in the back to seat a few more. I'd say the main wing is this part, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=87614 , with this on the end, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=93273. Then a SNOT contraption in between, have a look for yourself http://s407.photobucket.com/user/vicnasty8333/media/4be92af6-fe74-4c26-b92a-3c948ecd00ce.jpg.html. Thanks to the original poster for the link. It's extremely hard to make out due to the fold in the page, you have to zoom and try and look for a strange dark blueish wing. One found, you can make out the rest.

[Legoman123]

Will we get descriptions of the X-men sets at London toy fair?

[gedren_y]

True, Sam892, it all depends on who owns the merchandising rights and what Lego deems worth its standards.

I still would have liked there to have been a Blur version of Superman. Aquaman, Hawkman and Green Arrow weren't too far off their comic look, but that wasn't my point. If Lego had been able to get the DC license then and capitalize on the popularity of Smallville, we could have gotten comic variations of the characters introduced, and the wider DC universe would have been more marketable. Also, Callum Blue was an awesome Zod.

Lego missed that window, and then Green Lantern flopped.

[DJ Bricks]

Will we get descriptions of the X-men sets at London toy fair?

x men set! And yes we will. We got descriptions last year and figures for the sets.

[SoupOrFishOil]

It's kind of a shame everything has to be put on hold for the movie sets. Not that they aren't neat, they are, but I'm not all that interested in any of them, personally. On the other hand, my collection could really use Batgirl (and Robin, since I've not actually gotten him yet). I disagree with your second bit though, I'll even take more batman sets if they can give me a Green Lantern. I need Green Lantern.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get Green Lantern and Robin probably should be on the market at all times, but there are already a few sets that have him covered already. Albeit they are the more expensive ones, but I'm digressing. Anyway, it's just that if we get 8-9 sets this year of all Batman with a minimal amount of new characters thrown in to make remakes and oddities more enticing, then I'd take the four sets we have now and wait a little while before they rinse and repeat. If two or three of those sets would be Superman, Teen Titans, or Justice League based and then the other slots are filled with Batman, one of which has Green Lantern, I would have no problem with that.

I'm a huge fan of Robin, so as far as I can tell they're just about out of variants unless they delve into lame action figure-y specialty suits. Maybe they'll get desperate enough to do Carrie Kelly, but that would definitely not warrant any complaints. I'm willing to put money on the bet that after we get our solo DC films we'll be seeing more set variety unrelated to the movies. I have a feeling that after we get to Justice League, they'll have another cartoon out to draw inspiration from.

Animated (like the Teen Titans cartoon), Red Robin, Golden/Silver age (with the pixie boots), or the Juniors one with a more accurate torso, so there are a few. I was overreacting a little anyway, since none of these would be that bad, but I'd rather see a different Bat-family member or someone from the Justice League team-up with Bats. If Robin were coming in a Teen Titans set with Cyborg, Deathstroke, or whoever, then it would be different.

A lot of this probably is just waiting for the DCCU to take off (fingers crossed it will) and I am looking forward to the MoS2 sets, but right now, DC doesn't need as much merchandise as Marvel does, so I'd rather not see them milk the Bat-cow for up to five more sets with a minimal amount of new characters, if this wave is anything to go by.

I was thinking earlier about a Teen Titans set that would have the team facing off against a Ultrabuild Trigon. I think that might be a little unlikely, but given the massive crossing over they've done with their different gimmicks in Chima, maybe eventually we could get something like that? I think those will resurface if and when Galactus shows up in the Marvel movies, because that lame Sentinel trick just won't work on the Devourer of Worlds.

Galactus probably won't appear in the MCU unless Fox sells him back, but that image made me laugh. I don't think that he would be as small and spindly, but I do think that they would do Galactus similarly. I just can't seen LEGO releasing over-sized minifigure parts, but you never know.

I'm really surprised we haven't gotten Superboy yet, either. Heck, Flash could carry his own set fighting a big fig Gorilla Grodd! I don't care if kids know who Flash is or not, if he's fighting a giant gorilla they'll buy it! They need to think that no, not all kids are going to be well-versed in the DC Universe at that age, but they will buy a toy that looks really cool for just the sake of it looking really cool! They've got so many missed opportunities for sets that they just aren't taking.

I can get behind this though. I know that one counterpoint to what LEGO has been releasing has been that WB/DC is making the decision for them, however Imaginext and LEGO have released roughly the same amount of characters, including an army of Batman, but Imaginext has unarguably had more variety in their figures; they even released Red Tornado! I would say that the biggest variable in business, aside from LEGO being more of a building toy (though IN is technically one too and it's hard to pretend that most of these sets are more about the building than the figures) is that LEGO's target age range seems to pick-up where IN's leaves off (around 6 years old), but why would there be such a big disparity if the companies weren't making these choices for themselves? Maybe WB thinks that the average 7-year old is more brooding than when he was 6 and would prefer Batman because of that? I wouldn't expect LEGO to ever release Red Tornado (I've designed close to 200 DC characters and haven't gotten to him) but some more b- and c- listers from the larger universe would be nice. Would Nightwing, Man-Bat, and Mister Freeze really sell that much better than Green Arrow, Gorilla Grodd, and Black Manta without Batman in the picture?

[Hrafnblod]

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get Green Lantern and Robin probably should be on the market at all times, but there are already a few sets that have him covered already. Albeit they are the more expensive ones, but I'm digressing. Anyway, it's just that if we get 8-9 sets this year of all Batman with a minimal amount of new characters thrown in to make remakes and oddities more enticing, then I'd take the four sets we have now and wait a little while before they rinse and repeat. If two or three of those sets would be Superman, Teen Titans, or Justice League based and then the other slots are filled with Batman, one of which has Green Lantern, I would have no problem with that.

My thought is more just that if we get more now, while a lot of batman villains (and allies) are in circulation with the current crop of sets, we're more likely to get new characters. If we don't get more until some of what's out have retired they seem more likely to put out repeats of characters that were just retired (Magneto/Wolverine, for example, on the Marvel front).

[Freddy Bricker]

My thought is more just that if we get more now, while a lot of batman villains (and allies) are in circulation with the current crop of sets, we're more likely to get new characters. If we don't get more until some of what's out have retired they seem more likely to put out repeats of characters that were just retired (Magneto/Wolverine, for example, on the Marvel front).

This is kind of what I meant when I said "they sent themselves up for failure". Releasing "the only mainstream" characters in their mix and then movie variants a year later (if the line continues on to next year, then yeah we would most likely get DCCU sets) then when they do get back to making comic based sets, then they'll just remake what we got these past couple of years. Though I guess I shouldn't be selfish and say I want more system DC sets, I guess if DUPLO takes up slots, then so be it, but at this point I believe it's pretty much confirmed we'll only be getting 1-2 more comic JLU members a year. Time to wait