As I’ve yet to find Series 6 locally and because I reached a point with my castle building where I had to put it down and clean my desk off finally because I became too clusterfracked I decided to screw around with a new theme set and as luck would have it the new super hero set with catwoman which is really cheap was sitting at the store last night when I was out and about.
Let me just say before I toss my opinions around that I am not a huge super hero junkie. I’ve found the numerous remakes of various super hero movies over time to be irritating and really dislike all the varied lore about most major super heroes that one would have to be a hard core and super anal comic book collector to even keep up with. To that end I’m only a minor Batman theme fan, and really my favorite set of Batman movies were the older ones where Jack Nickolson and Jim Carey got to be bad guys. I’m not saying I hate the newer stuff or older stuff, I’m just saying that between movie incarnations and comic world relaunches I really can’t keep up as a casual fan. =)
That being said I’m amused by this little Batman/Catwoman set I bought. Honestly I just picked it up because I wanted a Catwoman! The mask would be damn amusing in another build and the bodysuit could be useful elsewhere to. My castle building does need some sexed up burgling types and these parts will be good for it. I have seen elsewhere that some hard core LEGO fanatics are annoyed that various bits from this theme are made in China instead of directly by LEGO, but I don’t give a damn about that because either way it is all coming from a foreign location and my enjoyment isn’t altered for it. I will confess to snatching a certain minifigure off my Black Pearl the other day while learning how to spot the Chinese made stuff though, heh.
This set is also good for several misc parts. I WISH I had a use for a motorcycle in my castle setup, but I don’t – I really like that they used the purple color for it though. There’s just not enough of that to go around. It comes with a lot of colored translucent bits though and those I can make use of. I also like the brick “crates” that come as part of it – I can reuse those directly in my castle build. There are two little newspaper printed tiles that I like the look of and might be able to slap down on a brick table later. The stop light is formed partly by a minifigure wrench element as well and that can go to another build very easily.
I am not very fond of the Batman figure. The legs are just boring gray and that is not really unique. The torso is really no good elsewhere because it’s always going to scream “Batman” and wouldn’t work in my castle theme. The batwings are really cool though with the little jet pack, but unless I take up a space theme in the future I’m not sure how I’d recycle them into something. The batmask has potential to go to another figure, provided the rest of the other figure is unique enough that it won’t make me think “Batman.” I bet a stormtrooper wearing a batmask would be awesome looking. I do however adore the batarang that comes with him! That’s an excellent unique part that’ll go easily into a castle scenario!
Thanks for posting a review of the Batman/Catwoman Superhero set. I admit that I am very skeptical of the series, but only because I haven’t been a DC Universe fan, since I was a very young boy. But as with each set that comes out, I look closely to it for its potential. You’ve verified many of the features and pieces that come with this set, so I may end up purchasing one before long!
A stormtrooper donning the Batman cowl would be cool. After reading reading that, I thought of some sort of members of a nature-worshipping tribal group who could sport the bat and cat masks. This might work well, or it might just look like two half-naked guys wearing Batman and Catwoman masks! …And that may fit some other theme, and certainly one with age restrictions! I guess I will have to pay the $40 for the Funhouse set. just to get the Harley Quinn figure. I love that character, but I really think I can use her and the Joker as part of a demented Jester guild of assasins. …Hey let’s face it, clowns are freaky! I just wish that LEGO had just put the Superheroes in individual mystery bags, like the Series-style minifigures. That way I could also get the Poison Ivy figure, as well.
As for buying semi-dubious sets for parts, I must admit that I’ve seen some useful parts in the new LEGO ‘Friends’ series that is obviously designed to bring in more girl patrons (not that I think LEGOs are a gender biased toy).
I was all pent up tonight and took off to Wally World about midnight to see if they’d finally stocked the place with new sets – they’ve been slacking at the local store and it’s been a ghost town in the LEGO section since xmas… maybe a dozen packages in the place, total. Anyway they had new stuff tonight! I eyeballed the expensive hero set with Poison Ivy and determined that I’m not missing anything. I’m with you though on potentially shelling out $40 for Harley Quinn figure although that wasn’t at the store. I’m addicted to the clown types, go figure. Like yourself as I looked over everything new I was just discarding or including on my wants list things based on what I could reuse. A super cheap Alien Conquest set in the clearance row – discard – the bricks are not what I need. A few City sets with various work trucks – discard – mostly not what I need. Smaller Dino sets – discard – few pieces I’d want and no figures I covet. The largest Dino set – hell yes. Lots of wall pieces and honestly I’ve got a thing for the compound type thing they’re doing because it reminds me of Terra Nova which I rather enjoyed in it’s premier season recently. Ninjago misc sets? Some of the monsters look fun, but aside from a few specific pieces I bet I could get through the pick-a-brick area on the LEGO site I think I’m good diverting funds elsewhere. You know what REALLY keeps tempting me? The misc brick buckets. We can talk about “Friends” all we want but for colorful misc bricks it’s easy and cheaper to get some of the girly oriented buckets – that’s what my original Pretty Pretty Princess Tower was mostly made of. The trick is to drag my daughter along when shopping so I can claim it is for her. =)
I’m with you on some of the afore mentioned sets. I’m afraid the dinos just looked to plain for me. The figures are the worst! There was little thought that went into them. As always though, the bigger (ahem, more expensive) sets are nice! Plenty of good pieces and features.
I did just recently get two of the Ninjago Booster bags, both of Lloyd Gardamon (son of the previous enemy to the Ninjagos). I wanted him for spare parts, cape, and cowl. Unfortunately, it slipped my notice that he is a short minifigure. Since he has short legs, he comes with a short cape! I originally planned to have a couple of black-cloaked night assassins in my Kingdom. Now, I have to make them dwarf assassins! No loss, though. The pieces are all good. He even came with a pitchfork, so that is useful in my medievel theme.
I, too, feel a bit awkward when going into the toy aisle when shopping, and more so if I have to pick up an obviousgirl’s toy and carry it around the store! But since we are clearly adults, it is justifiable reasoning that we are merely getting something for a child of ours, and certainly not getting it for ourself!