The Brick Rat

You're in luck then. There's currently a Harley keychain for sale on Shop @ Home. So now you can start wishing for new villains in 2009.

Sign me up please.

Somehow I expected that. But Nolan's interest wasn't so much in Two-Face as it was in Harvey Dent and his fall from grace; a powerful theme and the backbone of the movie. And I'm glad that Nolan took that approach because I don't think any future filmmaker would do it (whereas I do think that someday we will see a big screen treatment focusing on Two-Face - I just hope it's better than Batman Forever). I think that Nolan will return for a third film, but I also think that it will be his last. And if that's the case then I don't want to see villains revisted, I want brand new ones. I'll admit I'm one of the many who want to see The Riddler. He's probably my least favorite of the main Batman villains, but I believe that Nolan could do a brilliant treatment of him. IMO, the Spider-Man 3 comparision only works in the most superficial way. There's a world of difference between how Harvey Dent/Two-Face and the Symbiont/Venom were handled. As far as a perfect adaptation of Two-Face (or any Bat character) I don't believe there is one; but I'll touch on that more further down. No delusions here, it would be out of place. In the comic book world Two-Face would return. But in Nolan's more realistic world that approach is problematic. At the end of TDK we have Batman and Gordon standing over Harvey's body convinced that he's dead. If Two-Face were suddenly to reappear in the next film we would have to believe that the World's Greatest Detective and the Police Commissioner (who has seen plenty of dead bodies as part of the MCU) were simply mistaken. Yeah, it could happen, but given the groundwork that Nolan has laid out already, such a comic book senario would be jarring. If Nolan wanted Two-Face in the next film the better way to go would be to have Two-Face seriously injured and Batman and Gordon agree it would be for the public good to hide him away in Arkham. TDK did have it's faults but this wasn't one of them. Batman wasn't trying to kill Harvey, he was trying to save Gordon's son. Harvey's death was an accident. If Batman had been hanging from the ledge with one hand and holding Harvey with the other and then intentionally let go, that would have been a violation of his no killing policy. No, it's just a different take on the characters. That's one thing I like about Batman as opposed to, say, Superman. Superman is Superman is Superman. He'll always be the big Boy Scout. But Batman can be just about anything, from Gotham's dark, brooding Avenging Angel to a sunny, breezy...well...Boy Scout, who goes around calling Robin, "old chum". This can be done with a lot of the villains too. The Joker is a psycho clown. Some writers emphasize the clown, others the psycho, and still others bring a balance between the two. They're all different takes on the same character, but none is necessarily better than another. I don't think there is a perfect or definitive version; but each fan will have his or her favorite. On DVD I own Batman Begins, BTAS and even Batman meets Scooby Doo. I enjoy all of them, but BTAS will always be my favorite take on Batman and his rogues gallery. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini already did this, albeit in animated form. But I agree; I love Nolan's world but I also look forward to post Nolan movies that take the approach that you describe. Even better, I'd like to see it as a weekly one hour tv series (though I'm not holding my breath).

That's excellent news. I've been getting tired of hearing fan arguements about how Two-Face isn't really dead. That sort of thing is fine in comics and tv series, but would seem out of place here, given the approach that Nolan has taken to the material. He would've been wasted if TDK were say a tv series; but as a one-shot movie character he was brilliantly handled. A lot of filmakers would've turned Harvey into Two-Face 20 minutes into the film or started with Two-Face right off the bat and only alluded to the fact that he used to be someone named Harvey Dent. That would give us a lot more Two-Face, but most likely a less interesting story. Two-Face is dead! Long live the next villain to be given the Nolan-verse treatment! (unless of course, they die at the end of the film).

Wow, this is really disappointing. Ever since TLC started making the City advent calendars with minifigs I've wanted a Castle themed one. So when it was revealed earlier this year I was ecstatic (I was planning on getting 4-6). And now as it is about to be released we find out that it won't be availiable in North America? Really odd. Castle has a huge following here and it's one of TLCs 'evergreen' themes - you would think that they would want to release it in such a large market.

I agree with you. But I also believe that if they want to make a tv series that fits into a half-hour time slot, it's gonna need dialogue. Without dialogue I don't think it will fly with American audiences. Actually, I don't think any networks would touch it. Personally, I think they should make it without dialogue and present it in one of two ways: 1)As an online series in 10 - 15 minute episodes. Much like Josh Whedon's recent 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog'. or 2)On television as short 5 minute 'filler' episodes. Like the animated Star Wars, The Clone Wars shorts that played several years ago on Cartoon Network (or was it Sci-Fi channel?).

I know LEGO would like to break out of the stereotype of being a "boys toy", but they're not getting any help from McDonalds. Whereas the current Star Wars promo is offered for both sexes, LEGO Batman is being paired up with Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz dolls. Anyway, a few observations: In the photo you can see a pair of pink legs from the Madame Alexander dolls display. Comparing them to the Batman figures suggests they are about the same size. My daughter got a couple of the Wizard of Oz dolls when McDonalds offered them last year. Going by memory that would make the Batman figures about 4 inches tall. I know alot of folks are hoping that the vehicles are brick built, but if you take a close look (esp. at the Joker-copter) you can see that they are one-piece toys molded to look like they are made out of LEGO elements. Finally, while the penguin fig might look like an actual minifigure, it is almost certainly affixed to the submarine. I'd guess that it's action feature is pushing down on the Penguin figure fires a 'torpedo' from the sub.

Neat video. All those yellow heads looking like fleshies makes a fleshy lover like me want non-yellow versions even more. And like darthperson, I always thought the little squares of paint on minifig necks were to make a snugger fit for the heads. If you mean head #4296303 that's not a new Star Wars face - it's Two-Face from the Batman theme.

And why aren't you guys talking to Nolan? If the internet is any indication, everybody else is. Nolan personally told me that the next movie would feature Bat-mite and Baby Doll!

It said they wanted to do a series, but were initially only going to make one 20 minute cartoon. I suppose that's because they want one episode to shop around to potential network carriers. I'll be interested to see how this pans out. All official LEGO animations that I can remember have the characters using grunts and pantomime to advance the story. If they want this to succeed on television, they are going to need strong plots with actual dialogue (Kevin Conroy for Batman! ). It would be odd indeed. However, I wouldn't put anything past LEGO.

I won't continue into '09, but not because of any fault of the movie. At Brickworld this summer, a LEGO rep stated that Speed Racer was a one-off theme. The four sets we got were all LEGO had any intention of releasing.

Follow this link to see a pic of the upcoming McDonalds LEGO Batman toys on the Legions of Gotham website. Pretty much what I expected. The characters look to be one piece figures with an action feature or accessory. With his outstretched arm, Batman probably flings a batarang. Robin has a giant grappling gun/cannon. Mr. Freeze comes with a freeze cannon. And the Joker has what appears to be a giant Jack-in-the-Box. Hopefully the Jack-in-the-Box pops open to reveal a giant Joker head - that I could use in a Joker's lair MOC. The vehicles look to be one piece molds that only resemble vehicles made out of LEGO bricks. This whole line ought to carry the disclaimer "No actual LEGO was used in the making of these toys."

I must admit that, like some here, I've been skeptical about LEGO Batman returning in 2009. However, I just read this post over at Legions of Gotham. For conveniences sake here is what the poster wrote: Not much to go on, but LEGO thinking about possible new sets due to the success of The Dark Knight, give me hope.

Well, it's kinda hard to be off topic when mentioning the Bruce Wayne head in an Indy thread when it's been used for five different characters in the first year alone. As far as the Doc Ock head goes, LEGO themselves used it for the Chinese gangster and people wondered if it would be appropiate for a Toht minifig - that's on topic. It only got off topic when Hugo Strange was brought up. I'm afraid that's because Batfans think every topic can benefit from a little Bat-talk. Sorry about that. And now to try to get this thread back on topic: How many times do people think LEGO will reuse the Bruce Wayne head in the Indy '09 sets?

To date the LEGO Factory sets have only been available through Shop @ Home and LEGO brick and mortar stores. But according to the posted article: Sounds like a full fledged theme to me. I just hope the "half-rock/half-crystal monsters" are better than the old Rock Raiders monster or the newer Mars Mission aliens.

Count me in (and thanks for the opportunity to win a set I wouldn't otherwise get).

The glasses are round and have green lenses. The goggles also have green lenses, but are larger and have two red dots on either side of the lenses. After looking at the goggled head more closely on Bricklink, I have to revise my earlier description - Ock is not smiling, he's grimacing. And no, none of the Ock heads are particularly Toht-ish; I'd use a HP head first (but hopefully TLC will render the issue moot by giving us a real Toht next year). I did a search for your Hugo Strange - we both used the smiley head with glasses (but on different bodies). If I were more computer savvy I would put pics of the 4 heads in this post so you could see the difference, however they are not hard to find on Bricklink.

Actually, there are four different Doc Ock heads: 1)Smiley with goggles 2)Smiley with glasses 3)Clenched teeth with glasses 4)Frown with glasses Oh, and my Hugo Strange sports the smiley with glasses also.

At Brickworld this year, a LEGO representative stated that TLC is always on the lookout for new licenses. Spongebob has never had more than 3 sets released in any given year and I don't expect that to change. When the time comes for the Indy license to hang up it's hat it will be replaced by a completely new license (also, unless Indy dies a premature death, I don't expect the Spongebob license to outlast it).

I'm pretty sure that last year's Dwarve's Mine was the first time a Castle set has been part of the Target fall exclusive line. I also found this on Brickset (which is where I presume darthperson's info came from): As far as other sets to come out in 2008 these three are still outstanding (at least in the U.S.): 6117: Windows and Doors pack 6118: Wheels and Tires pack 6119: Roof elements pack

It was announced somewhere, but I'm too lazy to go looking for the source at the moment.

A better time for this would be the end of the year when most folks have had a chance to buy and build the sets. But if I had to choose now I would pick 10188 Death Star. I got to play with this set for about 10 minutes at Brickworld and it's an absolute gem.

So far all these new character designs have been great. There are only 3 more villians to reveal, but I can think of 6 that I'd like to see: Black Mask, Dead Shot, Firefly, Maxie Zeus, Ra's al Ghul, and Ventriloquist/Scarface. I'd also like to see the Creeper as a hero, but I'm sure that's not going to happen.

At Brickworld one of the LEGO reps said that they are always on the lookout for good licenses and since dinosaurs have always been popular with LEGOs target audience, I could see a Jurassic Park line happening. If it does happen, I can see it going two ways: a Jurassic Park IV one shot deal (like this years Speed Racer sets) or like Grevious suggested - a full blown license like Indiana Jones where they do Jurassic Park IV sets and classic Jurassic Park sets from movies 1-3. If they do come out with Jurassic Park sets, I hope they use the old style dinos from 2001 (the ones that came in cannisters - sets 6719, 6720, 6721, 6722). And LEGO, whatever future license sets you do come out with, please refrain from reusing the Bruce Wayne and sneering Draco Malfoy minifig heads - we need more variety in fleshy minifigs.

Well, unless the interviewer has inside info, I wouldn't put too much stock in what he thinks LEGO will do. And the LEGO guy is going to follow company policy and not reveal future product. The time to come out with LotR would have been back when the movies were being released and LEGO has said at the time that they passed on the license because they thought the material was "too dark". I do think it's possible that LEGO will go for a Hobbit license when that film comes out in 2010 and accompany it with a LEGO Hobbit game. If a Hobbit license were successful, I suppose LEGO could reconsider a LotR license. Never say never and all that (but I wouldn't put money on it).