Lego Loosing the Ball with Superheroes Sets

[InnerRayg]

Why would Marvel want to promote their movies over their cartoons? The movies are watched one time, with the show if you can get kids hooked you can glue their eyeballs to the screen once or twice a week at the very least. I think it makes way more sense to use Lego as a way to promote the shows over the films. It never can be repeated enough that people on this website are not the market Lego is trying to capture with these sets. Why is everyone always so insistant they should cater to us when it's so against Lego's own interests?

[B-Lister]

I am inclined to agree, Pirahna.

No doubt Batman is DC's biggest character. Superman, while the first, and arguably the most powerful hero, just can't get it together in recent years.

Here's hoping DC can get back on track, because I'm really tired of the brand I love striking out on everything but Batman.

[iamste]

I'm just happy we have them. I'd have absolutely killed for spider-man and avengers lego when I was a kid.

[B-Lister]

Agreed

[Colossus]

Where can I see this Avengers cartoon?

I believe a lot of The Avengers, X-Men, and Wolverine and the X-Men cartoons are on Netflix. I used a free trial, then figured I would keep it for a couple months since it was winter and spend the time binge-watching shows like "Arrow" and "Archer" (TOTALLY UNRELATED SHOWS).

As far as Superhero minifigures go, I started with the DC Lego sets, then went nuts on the Marvel sets. It's frustrating seeing the potential love that TLG could show the Superhero theme minifigs being wasted because of DC and Marvel tying the hands of TLG.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Colossus

[B-Lister]

I don't have Netflix

[Blakstone]

I think LEGO feels burned by Iron Man 3. We know that they have designed Batman V Superman sets but those were pushed back a year with the movie. I hope we at least get Avengers 2 sets.

While I enjoyed Iron Man 2 and Thor 2, they and presumably Winter Soldier only spark interest for a very short amount of time. Cartoons however do so for months or years. I agree that the quality of most of these cartoons are not as good*, they have a more consistent media presence than the movies and a larger audience than people who read the actual comic books.

I am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and would buy most any sets based on that. The only one I am missing is the Hulk Helicarrier Escape which was too rich for me for the bricks included. I am very glad the X-Men is not based on the movies. I prefer the comic style outfits. I don't know which cartoon if any they are based on.

---

* The only superhero cartoon I have seen since the 1990's X-Men / Batman: The Animated Series was Wolverine and the X-Men. I thought WatXM was high quality and much better plotted out then the other ones I saw. I have not seen any of the others as they do not appear to be suited to me.

B-Lister: full episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men are also on Youtube. I watched it there. There was only one episode that was incomplete.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Blakstone

[B-Lister]

WatXM was a brilliant toon. Loved the heck out of it.

[obsidianheart]

Gonna go out on a limb here and guess that the reason we didn't see any Thor 2 or Cap 2 sets is because they're sequels to established franchises released during the same year as an untested IP (Guardians of the Galaxy) that Marvel/Disney is probably going to be throwing all their marketing dollars behind. LEGO has to make deals for these licenses, and while I can't pretend to know the specifics, they usually involve paying the license holder a lump sum, granting the license holder a percentage of the profits, or (usually) both. It may have been more economic for LEGO to contract 3 Marvel Licenses than 4 or 5, especially since a good chunk of their allotted yearly set releases were going to be devoted to their own theme.So, they're making sets of the Avengers Cartoon because it includes the widest range of recognizable characters while still granting a small cross-section of diversity for the people who don't want 30 of the same character. They're doing sets from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon because I don't think LEGO has the license to do the movies.

I dunno what everyone's complaining about with DC. Batman stuff was a no-brainer since he's in LEGO's Movie, and since DC/WB cancels their cartoons seemingly at random, it would be hard for them to retain a presence of awareness in the marketplace. Couple that with half the AFOL yelling "We have enough Batmobiles!" and I imagine you get a theme that's challenging to design for.

[rodiziorobs]

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was a superb animated series that paralleled BTAS in terms of quality. Unfortunately, it was canceled in favor of the current Avengers Assembled, which from what I have seen isn't nearly as good. If we had had EMH sets I would have no complaints. At all.

As is, I would have loved some Thor 2 sets. Generally speaking, I don't collect minifigs, but as a big Marvel fan I make an exception for the Avengers. I would have totally bought up enough sets to amass an army of Dark Elves.

(Apart from a Winter Soldier minifig, I don't think TWS has much to offer in terms of sets than what the Avengers already did. Maybe an exclusive fig with the DVD release?)

However, I do think that TLG doesn't really have as much creative control over their superheroes line as we might think. As Marvel likes to be fairly tight-lipped about the specific plot details of their movies, no doubt they give Marvel very little to go off of when designing movies sets, but are more willing to do so with their cartoon series.

But that brings me to a point which others have made, but with which I disagree: that AFOLs are not the target market. For TLG, that is true; however, for Marvel we are exactly the target market. Collectors, grown up but not grown out of toys but now with somewhat more disposable income. It seems like Marvel would be encouraging TLG to produce more AFOL-targeted sets--even to the point of including it in their licensing agreement. Not to where they would be excluding children, but to produce cartoon sets and MCU sets side-by-side, to draw kids toward the movies, and adults back toward the cartoons (as I was to EMH), and increase viewership and brand loyalty of both.

Although I have only talked about Marvel, I believe much of the same is true for DC. That and the need for DC to embrace more of their universe than just Batman, both in LEGO form and on the screen.

[Dayton]

With Marvel, Lego are only aloud to produce sets from one film per year so 2014 - GOTG, 2013 - Iron Man 3. And with DC i honestly don't know but would like something other then batman.

[B-Lister]

Do you have proof of the 'one movie a year' claim? That would explain a lot, but I'd like official confirmation.

[legofreak86]

Hopefully they pick Age Of Ultron to produce sets of in 2015 and NOT ant man. Age of ultron is a much larger and important marvel movie with a lot more characters that need to be made. I hope that like this year we get 9 sets but 6 of them are based on Age Of Ultron that would be a good amount. Also I'd hope we get larger flagship play set of either stark tower (avengers tower) or the helicarrier. That way they could make more characters and spread them between sets. Also with more new characters this time round they can't afford to put multiple Hawkeyes and thors in the sets. If they don't make avengers age of ultron sets it will stand as a colossal missed opportunity and I will be very disappointed. If there were six sets I could imagine one or two avengers in each set. Like in the smallest Cap ,strucker and a army of ultron figure?, In the next one Iron man, Fury, Coulson, Ultron, then Scarlett witch and quicksilver against an enemy or two in the next one, Then the hulk buster Iron man, hulk, black widow and a villain, Then maybe the stark/avengers tower £89.99 set with Iron man, Hawkeye, Ultron, Bruce banner, Coulson, Strucker, tony stark, Then the largest could be helicarrier and include: Cap, Steve rogers, Nick fury, Maria hill, ultron and 2 shield agents, Hulk and one ultron army guy. That's how I could see avengers 2 sets going hopefully.

Wait I forgot vision as he is said to be in the film. he'd slot in to one of the sets.

Plus falcon and war machine are returning so we'd need figures of them from age of ultron.

Edited March 23, 2014 by legofreak86

[jonwil]

I am fairly certain they would produce Avengers 2 sets and not Ant Man, the sets for the first Avengers film sold so well.

[lightningtiger]

I am fairly certain they would produce Avengers 2 sets and not Ant Man, the sets for the first Avengers film sold so well.

I feel Lego will go with the flow and produce sets for the second Avengers film.......it seems the only Disney theme (except SW) that seems to sell like mad !

[Mr. Elijah Timms]

I've already heard some rumblings in NY about the potential numbers being discussed for licensing and promotion of Avengers 2.... They could be record-setting, on a scale that'd make George Lucas blush. Avengers merchandise will be EVERYWHERE next summer... And we'll get a full line of sets, no doubt about it. I'd bet they'll be out early, about 12 months from now.

[legofreak86]

I think Disney should stop trying to turn spider man into batman. So now he has a helicopter, a bike another bike?? What's next?? spider-unicycle! Seriously Lego need to make Spidey sets like the new doc ock one. Perfect example, Realistic bank vehicle, hero, villain a bit of scenery job done. Spidey copter could have been a shield colour scheme at least and had Coulson. Sony are doing a grand job of updating Spidey for the modern age and preserving the integrity and charm of the character. Disney are just ridiculing him by turning him into a one dimensional batman rip off with some awful voice work and some tacky brightly coloured vehicles. If they'd have used James Arnold Taylor who voices him perfectly in the Lego videogame in the series then the role would be credible but the one they are using currently is nowhere near the voice actor required for Spidey's wit charm and heroism. More sets like the doc ock bank van is what we need and no more useless vehicles for Spidey unless they bear the shield dark blue and the insignia. I wonder how USM will get round the fact that any kid who sees cap 2 is going to see shield as bad guys if they want to carry on showing them as good guys. Continuity will plummet! Hopefully with the viewing figures so we can get that awful show buried forever.

[Ojik]

I too wonder if LEGO will continue the trend of making only one MCU movie sets per year and if they ever made an official statement. Looks like an unwritten rule to me. If so, we will surely get Avengers 2 sets next year. Ant-Man will be missed, but Age of Ultron will surely provide many great figs. Hopefully, we will not only get new characters (Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Ultron) and variants of old ones (Hulkbuster! ), but also those not included in the line for the first film: Coulson, Fury, Maria Hill and Bruce Banner. And possibly Falcon from TWS.

Legofreak, your posts always make me excited! Let's hope the actual sets will be at least half as awesome as these suggestions of yours.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Ojik

[Toby Adams]

I too wonder if LEGO will continue the trend of making only one MCU movie sets per year and if they ever made an official statement. Looks like an unwritten rule to me. If so, we will surely get Avengers 2 sets nexr year. Ant-Man will be missed, but Age of Ultron will surely provide many great figs. Hopefully, we will not only get new characters (Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Ultron) and variants of old ones (Hulkbuster! ), but also those not included in the line for the first film: Coulson, Fury, Maria Hill and Bruce Banner. And possibly Falcon from TWS.

Legofreak, your posts always make me excited! Let's hope the actual sets will be at least half as awesome as these suggestions of yours.

Oh, I would die for that Falcon from TWS. Hulkbuster has got me exited but I think two bigfigs in one set is a bit much

[legofreak86]

It depends on whether I guess the scene they are both in calls for it and how far lego wish to go. Personally I hope they go in the direction of more sets and more figures for AOA as with AA they did 2 smaller sets, one large set and one mid sized set. I guess the reason they did so little for Avengers 1 was because this was the first proper marvel Lego and they wanted to cover the basics. I.e: The six main heroes, the villain and some minions. Now they are full in their stride I think we should get: the seven main avengers, The villains: strucker, ultron, vision and their army/minions, then the four supporting characters: Fury, Hill, Falcon, war machine as he is set to appear (maybe he has a new design?). Also Steve Rodgers, and Bruce banner would be cool variants to have as we have tony stark from the IM3 line. I'd like to see as I said before at least 6 avengers 2 sets to support the movie.

Ojik: Thanks. I like coming up with ideas for sets and sharing them to see what people think. I also draw torso and face print designs for movie and TV characters in pencil to see how it would translate into Lego. The whole creative process is quite fun. I'd love to do what the Lego designers do. I'm a creative media student you see so In my studies it is essential to come up with ideas for projects otherwise they can't be filmed. So randomly coming up with ideas I do quite often as a habit. Glad you like my suggestions though. I hope lego comes up with something even better

[Tom Jurassic]

I can imagine a few nice sets from Age of Ultron, if Lego go that way! :) Still, with TWS, missed opportunities:

Steve Rogers Versus The Winter Soldier: Rooftop Battle

1x Steve Rogers in Jacket, T-Shirt and Printed Jeans with Captain America Shield. Double sided face print includes neutral face and angry face.

1x Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral face and angry face.

1x Rooftop Piece with destructible chimney and exploding features.

"Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) must face off against his deadliest foe yet. Cap, watch out, the Chimney is going to explode! Can Cap save the day and defeat The Winter Soldier?"

£12

SHIELD Jeep Pursuit

1x Nick Fury in Black-Fatigues Outfit with Fabric Leather Trenchcoat. Includes Blaster and 1-sided face.

1x Agent Coulson in Suit and Tie with SHIELD Badge. Includes Blaster, 1-Sided Face and Captain America Trading Card printed on a 1x2 tile.

1x The Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral and angry face.

1x SHIELD 4x4 with two-seats, flickfire missiles, and rotating wheels to transform it into a SHIELD hover car similar to the SHIELD Staff Car from the Venom set.

1x Grey Chopper Motorcycle with clip for Blaster.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier is escaping! Build the SHIELD 4x4 and help Agents Fury and Coulson stop the Winter Soldier from escaping on his motorbike! With flick-fire missiles, and a hovering function, The Winter Soldier stands no chance!"

£25

Quinjet Escape

1x Captain America (NEW SHIELD Outfit) with Shield.

1x Black Widow (NEW Hairpiece and Double-Sided Face) with Blasters.

1x Falcon with Fold-Up Wings Backpack, and a double-sided face, with Blasters.

1x The Winter Soldier (Variant) with Blaster and Handcuffs.

1x Winter Soldier Mercenary with Blaster

1x BRAND NEW Quinjet, which would be a larger build then the Avengers version, would have the ability to seat eight mini-figures in the troop hold, and would also have more features and little details.

1x SHIELD Motorcycle with Clip to hold Shield.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier has taken Black Widow hostage and is escaping in his NEW AND IMPROVED Quinjet! Use Captain America's Motorcycle, or Falcon's glider-backpack, to attack the Quinjet, destroy the wing and save the day!"

[Sam892]

I can imagine a few nice sets from Age of Ultron, if Lego go that way! :) Still, with TWS, missed opportunities:

Steve Rogers Versus The Winter Soldier: Rooftop Battle

1x Steve Rogers in Jacket, T-Shirt and Printed Jeans with Captain America Shield. Double sided face print includes neutral face and angry face.

1x Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral face and angry face.

1x Rooftop Piece with destructible chimney and exploding features.

"Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) must face off against his deadliest foe yet. Cap, watch out, the Chimney is going to explode! Can Cap save the day and defeat The Winter Soldier?"

£12

SHIELD Jeep Pursuit

1x Nick Fury in Black-Fatigues Outfit with Fabric Leather Trenchcoat. Includes Blaster and 1-sided face.

1x Agent Coulson in Suit and Tie with SHIELD Badge. Includes Blaster, 1-Sided Face and Captain America Trading Card printed on a 1x2 tile.

1x The Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral and angry face.

1x SHIELD 4x4 with two-seats, flickfire missiles, and rotating wheels to transform it into a SHIELD hover car similar to the SHIELD Staff Car from the Venom set.

1x Grey Chopper Motorcycle with clip for Blaster.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier is escaping! Build the SHIELD 4x4 and help Agents Fury and Coulson stop the Winter Soldier from escaping on his motorbike! With flick-fire missiles, and a hovering function, The Winter Soldier stands no chance!"

£25

Quinjet Escape

1x Captain America (NEW SHIELD Outfit) with Shield.

1x Black Widow (NEW Hairpiece and Double-Sided Face) with Blasters.

1x Falcon with Fold-Up Wings Backpack, and a double-sided face, with Blasters.

1x The Winter Soldier (Variant) with Blaster and Handcuffs.

1x Winter Soldier Mercenary with Blaster

1x BRAND NEW Quinjet, which would be a larger build then the Avengers version, would have the ability to seat eight mini-figures in the troop hold, and would also have more features and little details.

1x SHIELD Motorcycle with Clip to hold Shield.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier has taken Black Widow hostage and is escaping in his NEW AND IMPROVED Quinjet! Use Captain America's Motorcycle, or Falcon's glider-backpack, to attack the Quinjet, destroy the wing and save the day!"

Apart from the Roof top battle, the sets are just rehashes of previous ones. We have the S.H.I.E.L.D jeep from Loki's cosmic cube escape, and the Quinjet. Both those sets were only released 2 years ago, and have only just been discountinued. Just looking at the Star Wars theme everyone seems to get angry when LEGO remake a previous set, and if that happened with the Superheroes theme I like many others would be pretty angry. It would be purchasing the same set just in order to get new figures, it's a waste of a set.

I can imagine a few nice sets from Age of Ultron, if Lego go that way! :) Still, with TWS, missed opportunities:

Steve Rogers Versus The Winter Soldier: Rooftop Battle

1x Steve Rogers in Jacket, T-Shirt and Printed Jeans with Captain America Shield. Double sided face print includes neutral face and angry face.

1x Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral face and angry face.

1x Rooftop Piece with destructible chimney and exploding features.

"Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) must face off against his deadliest foe yet. Cap, watch out, the Chimney is going to explode! Can Cap save the day and defeat The Winter Soldier?"

£12

SHIELD Jeep Pursuit

1x Nick Fury in Black-Fatigues Outfit with Fabric Leather Trenchcoat. Includes Blaster and 1-sided face.

1x Agent Coulson in Suit and Tie with SHIELD Badge. Includes Blaster, 1-Sided Face and Captain America Trading Card printed on a 1x2 tile.

1x The Winter Soldier in Combat Fatigues with Chrome Arm, with Blaster. Includes double sided face print which includes a neutral and angry face.

1x SHIELD 4x4 with two-seats, flickfire missiles, and rotating wheels to transform it into a SHIELD hover car similar to the SHIELD Staff Car from the Venom set.

1x Grey Chopper Motorcycle with clip for Blaster.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier is escaping! Build the SHIELD 4x4 and help Agents Fury and Coulson stop the Winter Soldier from escaping on his motorbike! With flick-fire missiles, and a hovering function, The Winter Soldier stands no chance!"

£25

Quinjet Escape

1x Captain America (NEW SHIELD Outfit) with Shield.

1x Black Widow (NEW Hairpiece and Double-Sided Face) with Blasters.

1x Falcon with Fold-Up Wings Backpack, and a double-sided face, with Blasters.

1x The Winter Soldier (Variant) with Blaster and Handcuffs.

1x Winter Soldier Mercenary with Blaster

1x BRAND NEW Quinjet, which would be a larger build then the Avengers version, would have the ability to seat eight mini-figures in the troop hold, and would also have more features and little details.

1x SHIELD Motorcycle with Clip to hold Shield.

"Quick, The Winter Soldier has taken Black Widow hostage and is escaping in his NEW AND IMPROVED Quinjet! Use Captain America's Motorcycle, or Falcon's glider-backpack, to attack the Quinjet, destroy the wing and save the day!"

Apart from the Roof top battle, the sets are just rehashes of previous ones. We have the S.H.I.E.L.D jeep from Loki's cosmic cube escape, and the Quinjet. Both those sets were only released 2 years ago, and have only just been discountinued. Just looking at the Star Wars theme everyone seems to get angry when LEGO remake a previous set, and if that happened with the Superheroes theme I like many others would be pretty angry. It would be purchasing the same set just in order to get new figures, it's a waste of a set.

[Ojik]

Ojik: Thanks. I like coming up with ideas for sets and sharing them to see what people think. I also draw torso and face print designs for movie and TV characters in pencil to see how it would translate into Lego. The whole creative process is quite fun. I'd love to do what the Lego designers do. I'm a creative media student you see so In my studies it is essential to come up with ideas for projects otherwise they can't be filmed. So randomly coming up with ideas I do quite often as a habit. Glad you like my suggestions though. I hope lego comes up with something even better

Nice, can I see your design works somewhere? I too am a fantasy-driven person, so I often think about what sets and minifigures I would like to see, and sometimes I have so complex ideas that it's actually disappointing to not see them being made. Maybe I should try to make custom decals and prints as you do. What exactly do you use a gained knowledge from your studies for? Drawing, painting, filming?

I see we made it into the point where we come wih our ideas for the sets. LegoFan, that's a nice list!

For TWS, I would like to see:

Showdown in Downtown - 30 dollars

S.H.I.E.L.D. jeep, a motorbike, an enemy truck

Steve Rogers in civil clothes, Nick Fury with trenchcoat, Winter Soldier, Soldier's sidekick

Basically the scene from the trailer where Winter Soldiers blows up the jeep. There would be some cool mechanism to make this happen.

Battle for Washington - 50 dollars

Small jet, a building

Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon with wings, Winter Soldier, Coulson

A segment from the climax scene.

I don't have many ideas and I would have to see the film first, so the minifigures only: Steve Rogers, Captain America in new suit, Black Widow civil/uniform (they could give her proper hair, the one from CMF S9 and 11 is just great, but now she's got longer haircut), Nick Fury with trenchcoat, Winter Soldier (two variants), Falcon, Crossbones, Agent 13, some other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (I forgot the names), Maria Hill, Coulson? (do we know if he will appear in TWS?) and some WS minions. Would be a helluva wave!

[Legoman123]

I've already heard some rumblings in NY about the potential numbers being discussed for licensing and promotion of Avengers 2.... They could be record-setting, on a scale that'd make George Lucas blush. Avengers merchandise will be EVERYWHERE next summer... And we'll get a full line of sets, no doubt about it. I'd bet they'll be out early, about 12 months from now.

I really hope so.

Hopefully they pick Age Of Ultron to produce sets of in 2015 and NOT ant man. Age of ultron is a much larger and important marvel movie with a lot more characters that need to be made. I hope that like this year we get 9 sets but 6 of them are based on Age Of Ultron that would be a good amount. Also I'd hope we get larger flagship play set of either stark tower (avengers tower) or the helicarrier. That way they could make more characters and spread them between sets. Also with more new characters this time round they can't afford to put multiple Hawkeyes and thors in the sets. If they don't make avengers age of ultron sets it will stand as a colossal missed opportunity and I will be very disappointed. If there were six sets I could imagine one or two avengers in each set. Like in the smallest Cap ,strucker and a army of ultron figure?, In the next one Iron man, Fury, Coulson, Ultron, then Scarlett witch and quicksilver against an enemy or two in the next one, Then the hulk buster Iron man, hulk, black widow and a villain, Then maybe the stark/avengers tower £89.99 set with Iron man, Hawkeye, Ultron, Bruce banner, Coulson, Strucker, tony stark, Then the largest could be helicarrier and include: Cap, Steve rogers, Nick fury, Maria hill, ultron and 2 shield agents, Hulk and one ultron army guy. That's how I could see avengers 2 sets going hopefully.

Wait I forgot vision as he is said to be in the film. he'd slot in to one of the sets.

Plus falcon and war machine are returning so we'd need figures of them from age of ultron.

I really hope we see Stark tower or a helicarrier (I wouldn't mind which as long as we get one of them). What do you think the chances of seeing at least one of them are though? Edited March 23, 2014 by Legoman123

[Ultron]

I really hope so. I really hope we see Stark tower or a helicarrier (I wouldn't mind which as long as we get one of them). What do you think the chances of seeing at least one of them are though?

I think it depends on how much Avengers tower is featured in Age of Ultron. I'm hoping quite a bit since it will be their headquarters and it would be really awesome to have it as a set. It wasn't in the first Avengers much so unless it has some screen time, I don't think we'll see it. As for the helicarrier...it's hard to say. A decent one would have to be at least $250 and even then, how great is it going to be? It's such a large vehicle and would require a whole lot of pieces. I wouldn't rule it out but I don't think we'll see it for a little while.