A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to place more than 20 stickers on a single lego car.  It was a bit challenging: frustrating when the stickers wouldn’t quite line up, and in some areas looking like a cop out in the place of a more complex build.

 

So today, I was pleasantly surprised as I assembled the new DC Superheroes for Juniors set, 10724 Batman & Superman vs. Lex Luthor.  The last time Batman, Superman and Lex Luthor were in a set together, it was the Batman vs Superman Set 76046 Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle.  While this set has some good points – primarily  two tone boot printing and the presence of Wonder Woman, it primarily reminds people of the cinematic disappointment that was Batmans vs Superman.

Our Juniors set however, is much more friendly: Bats and Supes have buried the hatchet, and are now playing well with others.  Of course, Lex isn’t one of those others.  But that’s OK.  He is the central villain of the piece.
Let’s look at the figures first: Lex appears with the Power Armour first seen in 30164:Power Armour Lex, a poly bag released at the same time as the Lego Batman 2 video game. He has changed his shirt and trousers, however.  So much Green and Purple, you’d almost think he was one of the Joker’s henchmen (or vice versa). Neither superman or Batman have new printings on their bodies: Batman is a carbon copy of the figure that appeared in 10672: Defend the Batcave, although on that occasion we had Batman and Robin, as well as the Joker.  The cowl, smirk and cape are all identical (even if i didn’t take the cape out of its box!).  Superman’s body is a copy of the one seen in 6862: Superman vs Power Armour Lex.  Although, here he has the same face as seen in Batman vs Superman: 76044: Clash of the Heroes.  Old ‘comic style’ body, ‘new movie’ head, complete with angry heat vision eyes.

The Print’s the thing.

With the Ford GT, there were so many stickers, you would hardly know where to start.  Here there are so few, th
at you are finished before you begin.  The total sticker count is zero. Nada. Zip. Zilch.  None at all! And the pieces look great for it – logos centred and square (or round…).

We have power mech printing, bat logo printing, computer slopes and a panel that goes in the back of the bat cave.  This panel is terrific: a map, and further information in files for Batman in the Batcave. This printed panel is, however reused from the previous juniors set.

BatLogos are present in a variety but of shapes: 2×2 square tile, 2×4 tile, and 2×2 round tile, that doubles as a missile.  These pieces can be pushed through the rotating launcher, and flung off at not inconsiderable speed. Any old these pieces could be used in Bat MOCs in the future.

The mech printing features a triangular print in a 2×2 lime green tile’ and a mechanism printed on a curved brick. These would both be useful in future builds, especially for the evil genius lair.

Other Pieces:

This set has a few interesting pieces: 2 variations on the car chassis, a 6x1x6 panel, with room for a window (that is printed in this set), and the Juniors 8x8x2/3 modified plate.  This is 2 plates high, with recesses to all other plates to be attached.

Super Jumper

While we all know the super jumpers that have come with the super hero sets over the last couple of years, to a very mixed reception.  This set goes completely old school: relying on a stud less teeter-totter to launch superman into the air.  It is pleasantly colored to match Superman.

 

Lex’s Mech

In the superman mythos, Lex has often piloted a mech type vehicle, to take on Superman.  To simplify construction here, a Juniors wheel base is used, and only arms: one with a claw, and one with a Kryptonite ray gun. The green and purple theme continues, suggesting that it is the colour scheme of choice for the DC signature villains. Lex sits up in top, with a great view of all around him.

The Batmobile

The Batmobile is an improvement over the previous Junior Batmobile: still only seating one, but with some simple, SNOT techniques, enhancing the look of both the front and rear of the vehicle. The addition of bat wings as fins at them back enhances the look significantly, with echoes of the Tim Burton movie version ringing loud in my ears. Both Lex’s Mech, and the Batmobile are simple 8×4 modified brick, with pegs on the side for wheels to connect directly to.

The Batcave

The Batcave in this set is relatively limited compared with the older Juniors set.  Here we have only a computer panel/screen/phone as well as a weapons storage rack for good measure.  attached to the side is a Bat Disk Launcher, which fires out a 2×2 round tile at speed.  Of course, what kind of Batcave would it be without a bat?

 

Is this really one set, or two in the same box?

This feels to me a bit like 2 sets: Superman vs Powersuit Lex, and Junior Batman/bat mobile and Batcave. At $29.99 rrp, it represents reasonable value for what you get, even if there are only 164 pieces : three desirable/disposable mini figures, with several good play features to be found, as well as many printed pieces.  The lack of stickers gets rid of the worry about ‘Should I place the stickers or not?’  These pieces have been given their purpose, and do not feel limited for it.  It would be terrific if there were more printed pieces in sets aimed at an older (I’ll settle for 7+ here) audience.

I would recommend this set to anyone who seriously collects superhero sets, who wants some figures to play with, rather than keeping for long term display, as well as kids looking to break into superheroes.  I liked it for the nostalgic aesthetic the mminifigs bring, reminding me of the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970’s.

I give this set 4/5 Arbitrary Praise Units.  Do yourself a favour!

Play well.