Tom Jurassic

Lego Loosing the Ball with Superheroes Sets

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The green Phoenix costume is by far Jean's most iconic look - more than 90s Jean, Dark Phoenix, White Phoenix or Marvel Girl. It was a mistake to go with that one as the exclusive. Still I think Lego could still release that version in a set as long as the minifigure itself is different from the SDCC. All they have to do is change the colours of her costume from green/yellow to light green/gold, redesign the torso print and even replace the hairpiece with Spider-Woman's in dark red.

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I completely agree. Even though we can still get Jean herself later on, I would have loved to own the Phoenix suit myself. It's how I reckognize the character.

So long as we don't get her as a Guarian of the Galaxy, then I'm fine

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Couple that with half the AFOL yelling "We have enough Batmobiles!" and I imagine you get a theme that's challenging to design for.

I'm also tired of every other set having a Batmobile ;p.

See?

Also, I'd like to point out that LEGO's marketing towards kids has always been pretty strongly centered around vehicles, and with most Superheroes, there aren't many. Most of them can fly! So, I also imagine it's tough to come up with stuff kids will like, include enough diverse minifigs to keep the adults happy, keep the pricepoints realistic (something we often see people ignoring when talking wishlists), and still move enough units for the theme to be profitible. You can usually get away with, like, one or two building-type playsets for a theme, but most kids think that's boring, and want the "swoosh" (or "vroom") factor.

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The green Phoenix costume is by far Jean's most iconic look - more than 90s Jean, Dark Phoenix, White Phoenix or Marvel Girl. It was a mistake to go with that one as the exclusive. Still I think Lego could still release that version in a set as long as the minifigure itself is different from the SDCC. All they have to do is change the colours of her costume from green/yellow to light green/gold, redesign the torso print and even replace the hairpiece with Spider-Woman's in dark red.

I'm assuming if they ever give her to us it'll be the blue suit version that was in the game. Could they still give us the Phoenix suit though if they gave her a new translucent wings mold like she has in the game when flying? It wouldn't technically be the same as the SDCC exclusive... :wink:

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I'm assuming if they ever give her to us it'll be the blue suit version that was in the game. Could they still give us the Phoenix suit though if they gave her a new translucent wings mold like she has in the game when flying? It wouldn't technically be the same as the SDCC exclusive... :wink:

Shoo. Go on and fly to work for Lego!

Obsidian, you bring up some great points, and I'm sure these are all challenges the Lego group face with each set. But the truth is that when it comes to Batman, there aren't very many more things they can do to please some of us. Yes I know it's hard for them, and I hope Lego gets the most success from this theme.But truth be told, they lost me with these DC sets, hopefully next year they pick up the pace, but for now, I won't be buying their sets out of pity.

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Actual e.g. LEGO released Phoenix as a SDCC exclusive. I really want a Phoenix or at least a Jean Grey for my Xmen collection. However, it is disappointing that I cannot without significant difficulty and expense because the only official version of Phoenix/Jean Grey ever released to date is a SDCC exclusive.

Well, maybe TLC would still release them as alternative versions in future regular sets. But suppose that they won't, not only it's a big pity for the fans of characters, but it would also restrict the possibility for designing more different sets, which could mean a possible end for Supeheroes.

Even though Captain America 2 looks to be a great movie, there's very little material worth making a full wave of sets over. We've already gotten the SHIELD vehicles with the Avengers back in 2012. MCU Nick Fury and a SHIELD Helicarrier would be nice but they could easily come with Age of Ultron or another film. The only thing thats really missing is Winter Soldier and there's no reason why he couldn't be a Shop@Home exclusive like Martian Manhunter was.

There might also be some exclusive characters or scenes that fans expect in the movies. A balance between different media is okay, just depends on how many materials one movie can provide. Some previous movies don't really need too many sets based on them I guess. Winter Soldier and Peggy Carter are both in my list.

Edited by Dorayaki

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They definately could do better on the DC end by just recognizing the potential for characters other than Batman and his core villians.

On the Marvel side there are hundreds of characters that TLG could make sets for and the designers know this, as they seem like cool guys. Maybe the managment is just uncomfortable with trying to market a product that could be less popular than Batman or Spiderman. That and they might not me comic fans and just don't know what cool is. I guess "cool" is a relative adjective, but you know what I mean.

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The green Phoenix costume is by far Jean's most iconic look - more than 90s Jean, Dark Phoenix, White Phoenix or Marvel Girl. It was a mistake to go with that one as the exclusive. Still I think Lego could still release that version in a set as long as the minifigure itself is different from the SDCC. All they have to do is change the colours of her costume from green/yellow to light green/gold, redesign the torso print and even replace the hairpiece with Spider-Woman's in dark red.

Why not change her facial expression? Than it would be a new figure as well.

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I for one actually liked the Phoenix's expression, if anything, her all white eyes and angry face are must-stays. Then again, I could say the same about her printing. Perhaps these mixed feeling are perfect examples of why TLG should drop the SDCC act? I don't mind them too much, though GA was a finger to us all. If anything, Lego should try giving this quality printing to the figs we can all get and stop spoiling those damn scalpers.

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Freddy, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Edited by Colossus

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I for one actually liked the Phoenix's expression, if anything, her all white eyes and angry face are must-stays. Then again, I could say the same about her printing. Perhaps these mixed feeling are perfect examples of why TLG should drop the SDCC act? I don't mind them too much, though GA was a finger to us all. If anything, Lego should try giving this quality printing to the figs we can all get and stop spoiling those damn scalpers.

The SDCC exclusives are also unusual because we have never seen that many limited edition minifigs for any other theme ever. Even Star Wars doesn't have them, usually they are polybags and do not feature multiple highly wanted designs. Those are true fan service like Hoth Han Solo, TC-14 etc. It is also highly ironic as Superheroes is a theme that is solely based on the Heroes and Villains themselves. The logic fails miserably here. A Marvel TLG rep said publicly the purpose is to have a highly desired collectible. Yes, they confirmed they are making them with the intention of rarity/value. They should replace the minifig giveaway and bring the Superheroes theme in line with their other SDCC promotions. I am fine with exclusive treats like the mini Bag End and Jek starfighter. They should do that, make an exclusive Superhero mini set and sell them like they do for LOTR and Star Wars. Save the figs for S@H promos and the sets.

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Freddy, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Aw shucks :grin:

But seriously, why put so much effort into a controversial line of figures that disrupt us fans, and put out sets like the Spider-Trike on shelves worldwide? It's time Lego start prioritizing themselves with this theme.

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What I'd love at this point are some small "army builder" sets like they do for Star Wars... a small build, a couple of heroes (preferably ones we don't have lots of in other sets) and a couple of villains, or even just henchmen (more Hydra troops, for instance, or some AIM guys for MODOK). You can do 'em for Avengers, X-Men, the JLA... any sort of team scenario, really.

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I get all the vehilce hate in the Superhero line. I don't buy these sets for the builds. After coming back from my dark ages, my goal was to be a MOCer. So I pick Superhero sets first for the minifigs and second for the reusability of the bricks. Since I don't MOC vehicles, those are largely wasted bricks.

The Spidertrike is especially appalling since it does not fit any character. As many have said the armored car robbery set shows that LEGO can put vehicles in these sets without them going to either the hero or villian. The Metropolis Showndown is even at the same price point and the set is much better.

My two favorite Superheros sets were buildings. The Daily Bugle made an incredible parts pack and was the nucellus of my downtown bikeshop MOC. Iron Man 3's Malibu Mansion Attack is a great representation of the home at that price point. I like it so much that I have let to cannibalize it for bricks.

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What I'd love at this point are some small "army builder" sets like they do for Star Wars... a small build, a couple of heroes (preferably ones we don't have lots of in other sets) and a couple of villains, or even just henchmen (more Hydra troops, for instance, or some AIM guys for MODOK). You can do 'em for Avengers, X-Men, the JLA... any sort of team scenario, really.

So, basically, something like Captain America's Avenging Cycle, right? A hero, a small vehicle, and two villains.

I think it could work.

^ Would be cool if they did one with Mini-Sentinels.

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So, basically, something like Captain America's Avenging Cycle, right? A hero, a small vehicle, and two villains.

I think it could work.

^ Would be cool if they did one with Mini-Sentinels.

Pretty much, yeah, though 4 figures instead of just 3 would be preferable.

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Phoenix could always be released in the red costume. But I'm against the con exclusives retaining their rarity and value.

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So I have seen some truly amazing MOCs from Captain America: TWS and Thor: TDW, and it got me thinking, what has actually kept Lego from making sets from these films? If Marvel, do you guys think we should make a petition/contact them?

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So I have seen some truly amazing MOCs from Captain America: TWS and Thor: TDW, and it got me thinking, what has actually kept Lego from making sets from these films? If Marvel, do you guys think we should make a petition/contact them?

It was probably an internal decision at LEGO based on the cost of the licenses for those moves compared to other Marvel properties, and then weighed against the large amount of sets that they already had coming out this year for all themes. (Brickset says there's something like 480, while Bricklink only has around 240 listed).

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It was probably an internal decision at LEGO based on the cost of the licenses for those moves compared to other Marvel properties, and then weighed against the large amount of sets that they already had coming out this year for all themes. (Brickset says there's something like 480, while Bricklink only has around 240 listed).

Interesting point. I am going to email Lego asking about this. :classic:

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So I have seen some truly amazing MOCs from Captain America: TWS and Thor: TDW, and it got me thinking, what has actually kept Lego from making sets from these films? If Marvel, do you guys think we should make a petition/contact them?

Having seen both films, (and without going into spoilers) neither are really what I consider superhero movies. Thor is really a fantasy film to me, and come dangerously close to the LOTR theme. After all the warriors 3 and sif all really use medieval weaponry, the main enemies are Elves and all the Asguardians and Evles wield magical spears and staffs. It most likely breaches the Contract with WB and LOTR/Hobbit , as I'm guessing that contract says no other medieval fantasy licences while you hold ours.

With TWS, again it's not really a Superheroes film. It's not like Ironman where you have 3 clearly define villains ( Extremist soldier, Killian and the Mandarin ) it's not like that with Cap. Have you seen the film? It would be very difficult to base sets around.

First of while the film has action and lots of characters, sets would spoil the hell out of this film. There's many twists and turns and sets would tell you what certain characters sides are. We have most of the vehicles already ( Quinjet , Shield Jeeps and cars ). It would basically be like the ironman sets, where we get several sets based on stuff that doesn't appear in the film.

Superhero fans are so hard to please, no matter what LEGO do they can't win. If they make TWS sets that are true to the film then the film gets ruined for fans, we get sets that don't appear in the movie and everyone moans or we get no sets and everyone still moans.

As said previously TWS isn't really even a superhero film, it's no spoiler that there's no Super villain. Plus with S.H.I.E.L.D having such a huge role it's just gun battles.

Plus as with Thor, there's way to many Characters to cram into sets:

To get Thor 2 correct you need

Thor

Jane

Malaketh

Kurse

Loki

Odin

Selvig

Darcy

Sif

And The Warriors three.

That's 12 figs for three sets. The same can be said for TWS but I won't list characters here since it's kind of spoilerish.

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The movies can be tough for Lego. Look at some of the mis steps with IM3. Further the more "realistic" looking charcter designs and vehicles tend not to do as well as the stuff that has a bit more of a traditional comic book feel to it. The Cap Hydra set both benefits from the winter Soldier movie for interest and it maintains a more classic look and feel/ Which is a good marketable way of splitting the baby if you will. Think of it this way, so far the closer the sets hew to the movie property the worse they tend to do. The Man of Steel sets being great examples, or the Batman Bain Tumbler set. A generic Spider Man set that makes you think of the movie, but isn't exactly tied to it is the most perfect thing as far as Lego is concerned.

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I think whomever theorized that LEGO is only doing one Marvel movie tie in a year is correct: 2012 The Avengers, 2013 Iron Man 3, 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy.

LEGO can make sets that allude to the other films if they want. I doubt that the license restricts them to one a way. My guess is that the license includes the first one in the base price and additional movie tie ins are extra.

Still that is just a guess. For all we know, Marvel could be telling LEGO which ones to produce.

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I agree that the theory that they're only doing sets for one movie a year has merit.

What I want is confirmation in order to determine whether the decision was Marvel's or Lego's.

Edited by B-Lister

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Personally I'd hope that at least each film series could have a couple of sets. I know TLC isn't able to take the whole piece into consideration, but it's sad to see a film series coming with no set at all (as I can remember, Thor is). My suggestion is that the first movie can come with a major wave and the second only comes with one or two sets (featuring exclusive scenes and new characters).

Ultimate Spiderman seems like a compensation for Amazing movies, but it's been one of the biggest subtheme so far. I didn't really expect to see a cartoon Avenger set (even though it's cool) and maybe would rather see TLC focus on only one version and other film series. Same for the upcoming TNMT movie version.

Edited by Dorayaki

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