The next episode of Extra Pieces, a podcast collaboration between Jay’s Brick Blog and The Rambling Brick is now live and available through the regular channels:
In this episode, Jay and Richard discuss the fallout From the Ulysses – VIP Centre hiccup; Look at the Looney Tunes Minifigures; Build some Super Heroes sets and hope for a future where Classic Castle sets return.
It was 1977. Already the series was a decade old, and it was screening after school in melbourne. My family had just bought their first colour television, and the theme music started pulsing through the house. The title card promised that the program would be in colour… and it was. I was still of an age where I was somewhat disappointed to discover that the characters were all ‘Live Action’ after the animated titles. But never mind. This was the program that introduced me to the cliffhanger episodeic ending….Tune in Tomorrow: Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. The program was about as serious as eight year old me could deal with.
But there was, undoubtedly, one thing that made this series realy cool: and extended into the world outside the living room: The Batmobile. This modified Ford Futura allowed Batman and Robin to leap over the door, and into their respective sets. Thank heavens it was never raining in Gotham City! But the really awesome thing was the Corgi Batmobile car: gloss black, with small figures of batman and Robin, as well as an image of Batman embossed on the bottom service of the car. But it had other great play features: push on the radar on the hood, and a blade would flick out ( of course, it was not sharp enough to inflict actual injury) and the rocket launcher. I have no idea what the actual rockets were like that came with the toy. My friends had long lost theirs. Instead, we used matchsticks. It was all fun and games, unless somebody loses an eye…
I never owned that car. That’s OK. With Mint in sealed Box versions going for thousands, and well played with, but restored versions selling for many hundreds, I can live with it. However, I’d be lying if I were to say I was not in any way excited when I discovered this set amongst some that the LEGO Group had sent over for me to take a look at.
The Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile has 345 parts, 2 minfigures and will retail for $USD29.99/ €29.99 / £34.99. It will be available from the usual sources from April 26, 2021. Read on after the break to see how the build comes together.
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Thirty Years Ago, Comics had undergone a Dark and Gritty Rebirth. Inspired in part by stories such as Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, and Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen’ in the mid 80’s, super hero comics went from bright and fun and dark and gritty, almost overnight. It was on the crest of this wave that design cues were drawn, and Tim Burton’s BATMAN was born. Up until now, most people who didn’t read comics only remembered Batman in the form of Adam West’s performances in the late 1960’s. Bright, colourful and camp. In the eyes of the movie going public, Burton’s film changed the public perception of the Dark Knight, from one of Camp Crusader to a Dark and Brooding Knight, taking on the crime and corruption of Gotham.
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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. Continue reading
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