The Brick Connection – A novice Lego fan explores the great brick world of LEGO

Happy Halloween LEGO fans!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween this weekend that is equal parts spooky and chocolaty!

The most exciting and somewhat stressful part of Halloween is picking out a costume and seeing what everyone else’s costumes will be. In the last decade or so I’m willing to bet that there has been an increased interest in dressing up as a superhero. Superheroes and the comic books that tell their stories have been around for many decades now. But it seems since the X-Men and Spider-Man movies came out in the early 2000s followed by the Dark Knight trilogy and Iron Man films, comic book superheroes have become very mainstream.

Now you have The Avengers films and all its offshoots and the ever-multiplying superhero TV shows. We have been bombarded with superheroes. And despite the somewhat over-saturated market, it seems there is no end in sight to this obsession.

These days we buy all our food based on if there is a superhero on the packaging. I mean if you saw Captain America on a blueberry yogurt cup, wouldn’t you feel more inclined to buy it? Of course you would!

So superhero cross-promotion with food is somewhat excessive, but cross-promotion with our favorite toy brands; with THE toy brand? Well that just makes sense.

LEGO’s first superhero licensed theme was Spider-Man in 2002, which was a tie-in with the Spider-Man movie released that year starring Tobey Maguire. (Amazingly, 13 years later we are on our 3^rd different actor playing Spider-Man, which seems very unnecessary.) The theme was discontinued in 2004, only to be brought back in a different capacity with LEGO’s Super Heroes theme that started in 2011.

That’s right, superheroes have become such a big deal, LEGO had to make a whole category just for them. There are two main subthemes to LEGO Super Heroes; DC Comics and Marvel, which are licensed from the two biggest comic book publishers in America and probably the world.

Marvel includes all of the Avengers and Spider-Man. DC Comic includes Superman, Wonder Woman, and my favorite superhero, Batman.

Which finally brings me to the topic of this week’s blog: LEGO Batman.

If you have been a regular reader of this blog you have probably already guessed correctly that I do not actually have anything from the LEGO Batman theme. But if by some miracle you really are a fan of this blog then you know that that is not going to stop me from talking about all things LEGO Batman.

The LEGO Batman theme and product range was introduced in 2006. At the time it was its own theme. It was relaunched in 2012 as part of the LEGO DC Universe line, aka the subtheme of the LEGO Super Heroes line. There have also been multiple video games, television specials, and a direct-to-video film made in connection with this line. All of this was topped off by LEGO Batman’s major role in 2014’s The LEGO Movie. Voiced brilliantly by the hilarious and deep-voiced Will Arnett, LEGO Batman was so popular on the big-screen that he got his very own spin-off movie. The LEGO Batman Movie will be coming to movie theaters near you in 2017.

So why do I want to talk about LEGO Batman? Well because it seems to be one of LEGO’s most popular themes. Looking at Facebook likes alone, LEGO Batman’s 600,000 plus likes are better than almost every other LEGO theme that has its own Facebook page. The only one that beats it that I could find was LEGO Harry Potter, which is totally understandable, because……Harry Potter.

This fervent popularity appears to have been helped greatly by the three video games centered on LEGO Batman as well as his scene-stealing role in The LEGO Movie. Plus, I would give major credit to the Dark Knight trilogy films for increasing the general public’s interest in the character of Batman. Those films made Batman and the Batman universe seem cool, dark, and thrilling, while previous live-action Batman films felt very cartoonish and mellow-dramatic.

Think about The Dark Knight, the second film in the Christian Bale trilogy. That movie is just plain brilliant and probably the best superhero movie ever. Take that, Avengers! I know that trilogy of films is why Batman is my favorite superhero. Prior to seeing those movies I would have said Spider-Man. (Long-live Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man!)

Anyway, back to the task at hand: LEGO Batman.

There were 13 sets released for the original Batman theme between 2006 and 2008. There have been 11 more sets released since 2012 when LEGO Batman became a part of the LEGO Super Heroes line. I’m not going to do anything crazy like try to go through all the sets without ever actually seeing them in person. I save that craziness for Star Wars sets. Instead, I’m relying on my pals from The Brick Show.

They did a whole video dedicated to deciding the best LEGO Batman sets of all time. In the video they go through some of the sets that didn’t make their list of the best before telling us their much-debated and somewhat controversial top 5 Batman sets. Watch the video:

Here were their top 5 sets:

1. Joker Steamroller

2. Funhouse Escape

3. Batcave (Old)

4. Arkham Asylum (New)

5. Arctic Batman OR Riddler Chase

The video also includes a hilarious argument over Aquaman’s legitimacy as a Superhero. I don’t know much about Aquaman, but trying to fight under water does sound lame.

So as you saw, The Brick Show picked the Joker Steamroller set as their favorite and I can see why. You get five really awesome minifigures, including Batman, Batgirl, Robin, and the Joker. You create two vehicles. One is the Joker Steamroller, which looks really fun to play with and the second is the Bat Jet, which is also really cool.

Here is The Brick Show’s original review of the Joker Steamroller:

That’s all I’m going to say about the sets, especially since I don’t have any to play with myself, but with all the iconic vehicles and settings associated with Batman, I can’t imagine you’ll find a bad LEGO Batman set

The last thing I have to talk about is the video games. LEGO video games in general are super popular I’ve noticed. Personally I haven’t played video games since I was a kid. (Golden Eye 007 was my jam!) But that does not mean I can’t understand an obsession with a video game today.

The original Batman video game was LEGO Batman: The Videogame (a very creative title) and that was released in 2008.

Next was LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes released in 2012. This one seems to have garnered the best reviews and was the first to include characters from the DC universe outside of Batman characters.

Finally, the latest release was LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, released in 2014.

All three appear to have been pretty well liked in the gaming community.

Since I won’t be getting to play these games anytime soon, I will ask you. Do you like the LEGO Batman video games? How do they compare to the LEGO Star Wars and Harry Potter video games? Was Golden Eye 007 your jam back in the day?

So that’s my somewhat Halloween-inspired post for this week. I am sure you are wondering what cool costume I will be wearing for Halloween. Well let’s just say it is a superhero. And like me, the superhero is female. Unfortunately that last detail leaves with you very few guesses. But try to guess anyway!

Thanks for obsessing over Batman with me this week!

Until next time…go eat your bodyweight in candy! :D

*Compliments, general feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome. Any haters that are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate can go step on some Lego with their bare feet.*