Lego My Batman!

If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are), you know that I wasn't impressed with the new blockbuster The Case Of Batman V Superman: Franchise Setup, and found it... lacking, to say the least. 

One thing I did like about it though was Batman's Iron Man armor, er I mean Armored Anti-Superman Suit. It was a cool design, and based pretty closely on the comic book source material.

That said, there's something about the helmet that seems familiar somehow... as much as I like it, I have the nagging feeling I've seen it somewhere before. But where? Where could I have seen it?

Oh yeah. Now I remember. Batman's Armored Anti-Superman suit is pretty much modeled on a Lego mini-figure. Look at those helmets! They're virtually identical!

Maybe the plan was for Superman to step on Batman's armored helmet while barefoot, rendering him unconscious with pain?

Custom Lego ALIENS Power Loader

Special Guest Star Blog Appearance!

My thirteen year old nephew Aaron asked me to post this for him on my blog. Frankly I'm a little scared of him; you know how these kids are today. They'll cut you if you don't do what they want! So in the interest of my health, here's Special Guest Star Aaron and his blog post.

Aaron's big into Lego this month, and in addition to amassing hundreds of official sets, he recently began dabbling in making his own custom figures. Here he's made a genuine customized Ripley in Power Loader from the movie ALIENS.

Pretty impressive! And I'm not just saying that because he's forcing me to type it while sticking a shank in my side.

Here's a side view of the Power Loader, with a better view of Ripley. He constructed this from various spare Lego parts he had lying around the house.

Custom Ripley figure with happy "Petting Jones the cat" face.

In addition to the impressive Power Loader, he also cobbled together a custom Sigourney Weaver as Ripley figure.

The hair in particular is spot on. I have no idea where he found a hair piece like that.

Custom Ripley figure with "Get away from her you BITCH!" face.

Just like many official Lego figures, she comes with an extra face so she can properly express her emotions.

Again, pretty impressive. But now let's see you make a customized Alien Queen for Ripley to fight, Mr. Smarty Pants Teenager!

Portrait of the artist as a young nerd.

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Doctor Who Cybermen And Daleks Micro-Figure Sets

For the past four or five years British toy company Character Options has been producing an excellent line of Doctor Who action figures. They just recently started up a new line of Doctor Who Micro-Figures. These new toys are exactly like Lego mini-figures in look and size (about 1.75" tall) and should be compatible with all Lego systems. I've never really been a Lego fan (we had some kind of knockoff brick toys when I was a kid), but God help me, I just couldn't resist them. Sorry wallet.

Today I'm reviewing the Cybermen and Dalek Army Builder Multi Packs.

First up is the Cybermen pack. The Cybermen have had a lot of different looks over the years; these are based on the current model that debuted in the new series a few seasons back.

The head sculpt is well done and they're a perfect cartoonish representation of the Cybermen from the show. I like them a lot and can't stop fiddling with them while I'm watching TV.

By the way, the big letter "C" in the middle of their chests doesn't stand for "Cybermen," as most people think. The Cybermen from the new series are actually from a parallel Earth. They were created by a human named John Lumic, founder of Cybus Industries. Lumic was dying and was working on a cybernetic body in which to house his brain. Naturally, since he was tampering with the laws of nature and all that, the Cybermen gained sentience and ran amok, eventually spilling over into our world. So the "C" stands for Cybus Industries, not Cybermen.

The Dalek figures are OK, but I'm not as big a fan of them as the Cybermen. First of all these are the new Dalek designs, which I'm not crazy about. Secondly those globes around the bottom half of the Dalek should be gray or silver, not red. Character Options definitely cheaped out on the paint applications here.

My main gripe about the Micro Daleks is the sculpting. Lego (or Lego-like) figures should be cute or cartoon-like in their designs. There's nothing cartoonish about these Dalek figures. They're just regularly proportioned tiny Daleks.

This is a problem I've seen crop up before whenever a company makes cartoony versions of non-human characters. It's easy to make a human character look cartoonish, but when you try to do it with a non-human character (like R2-D2) it's very difficult. I had the same problem when I tried to make a cartoony Dalek for my Doctor Who Enemies Infographic. I'm not sure how to solve this problem, but I'm definitely not as big a fan of the Micro Daleks as I am the Micro Cybermen.

 

Like all Lego-ish figures, their parts are interchangeable, so you can rearrange them and tamper in realms where man wasn't meant to tread.

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Doctor Who The Eleven Doctors Micro-Figure Set

For the past four or five years British toy company Character Options has been producing an excellent line of Doctor Who action figures. A couple of years ago I tentatively purchased a few figures from their 5" line, intending to get just the Doctor and Rose and maybe a Dalek, and that's it. You can probably guess how that plan turned out. Thousands of dollars and 300+ figures later (in their 5" and now defunct 12" scales), Character Options has been regularly raping my wallet for several years now.

And it doesn't look like the rapin's gonna let up anytime soon-- Character Options recently started up a brand new Doctor Who Micro-Figure line. These new toys are exactly like Lego mini-figures in look and size (about 1.75" tall) and should be compatible with all Lego systems. I've never really been a Lego fan (we had some kind of knockoff brick toys when I was a kid), but God help me, I just couldn't resist them. Sorry wallet. You were asking for it anyway, what with those low cut tops you always wear. Sorry, what was I saying?

First up in their new Micro-Figure line: The Eleven Doctors Micro-Figure Set. They come packaged in a resealable TARDIS-like display box.

The box opens up to reveal the Eleven Doctors in all their tiny glory. The flaps feature a photo of each of the Doctors along with a short descriptive paragraph. If you're one of those anal collectors who never takes his toys out of the package, this is the box for you. You can keep your Doctors imprisoned inside their plastic holding cells and still have an attractive display piece. Personally I like to take my figures out of the box.

Here we see the first three Doctors, who were played by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and John Pertwee. The likenesses and details are pretty good for the cartoonish style and scale. You can easily tell who's supposed to be who (I say, that was a joke, son).

Most of the figures come with a small, easy to lose in the carpet accessory. The Second Doctor is seen here holding his recorder (I call it a flute, but by the Soiled Drawers of Rassilon, don't ever let the fans hear you call it that). The Third Doctor is holding his Sonic Screwdriver, no doubt ready to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. The poor old First Doctor doesn't get any accessories.

I must say I'm impressed that my ancient digital camera took such sharp photos of these tiny little figures. Usually if I try to photograph anything closer than three feet away it results in a blurry mess. Could it be that after having it for going on ten years I've finally figured out how to use it?

Next up are the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Doctors, played by Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker, who's no relation to Tom. Looks like Number Six here is trying to explain his ridiculous outfit to the other two, without much success. Four and Five come with Sonics, but Six gets shafted in the accessory department (ouch).

I wish they'd given Tom Baker more of his bug-eyed manic grin than they did. He looks positively serene here. Is it just me, or does the Fifth Doctor look a lot like mediocre new-age music composer John Tesh here?

Here are the Seventh and Eight Doctors, played by Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. Seven is holding his cringe-worthy question mark umbrella, and sporting his question mark-patterned sweater vest. I'm really glad they stopped doing stuff like that on the show.

Number Eight comes with a Sonic Screwdriver. Did he use it in his one and only appearance in the TV movie? It's been a long time since I watched it, so I honestly don't remember.

Lastly here are the three most recent Doctors, Nine, Ten and the current Eleven, played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith. All three come with their respective Sonics. Eleven comes complete with a bow tie, because bow ties are cool.

Each figure also comes with a small display base, shaped like the current Doctor Who logo. You shouldn't have to use them though, as all the figures stand on their own with no trouble.

I should warn you that because these figures are technically made by and for Brits, you won't find them at your local Target or Toys R Us. You might be able to find them at a comic shop if you're lucky, but you'll most likely have to order them online, like I did. The best place I've found to order any and all Who related merchandise is Whona (Who North America). It's an online store devoted to Doctor Who items, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. How a Doctor Who store cropped up in the land of basketball and corn, I have no idea. They have a great selection, good prices, lightning fast shipping and amazing customer service. I know, I sound like a commercial, but I've ordered from them many times and they're awesome. If you're interested in picking up this set, you can find it here or here. While supplies last.

Much to my wallet's chagrin, there are many more micro figures already out in this line, with more to come. Highly recommended, especially if you're into Legos. Or if you like Doctor Who but don't have a lot of display space.

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper Alarm Clock

A couple of weeks ago I was wracking my brain trying to think of a suitable Christmas gift for a friend who's a big Star Wars fan. I happened to visit the thinkgeek.com website and saw the perfect gift: a Lego Stormtrooper Alarm Clock!

In fact, I thought it was so cool that I couldn't resist it and ordered two; one for my friend and one for myself.

As you are no doubt aware, Lego has been making Star Wars sets and figures for quite a few years now, and this is a large sized replica of one of their Stormtrooper figures, but with a digital clock in its chest. As near as I can tell it's an exact duplicate of the smaller figure, scaled up to around 9".

The clock appears much darker (almost black) in the photo above. It's a standard LCD clock screen and is nowhere near that dark in real life.

When you push on the head, the clock in the chest lights up for a few seconds, allowing you to see the time in the dark.

It has a battery compartment on the back, as well as time setting and alarm buttons, which look somewhat complicated here but are actually pretty simple to operate.

Best of all, it's not just a solid lump of plastic--it's articulated just like a small Lego figure, so you can pose your clock in various positions. Here you can see my clock participating in a sit in, and then recreating his catalog model pose.

I was surprised at the size of the figure when it arrived, as I was expecting it to be a lot smaller. Here it is next to a can of coconut juice (from the Chinese grocery) for scale. By the way, I think that coconut juice has been in my refrigerator for a year or two. I'm quite busy, you know, and have no time for cleaning out the fridge.

All in all, this is one of the coolest gifts I've bought for myself in a long while, and I highly recommend it.

Think Geek also has a Darth Vader Lego Alarm Clock available. It looked pretty cool too, but I just liked the Stormtrooper better. I've never seen one in any brick and mortar store, so if you want one, your best bet is to order one here.

By the way, the ThinkGeek website has a feature that sent me an email that notified me the instant my package was delivered to my doorstep. I buy a lot of stuff online and this is the first time I've encountered this. I think it's a really good idea, and one that every online store (I'm lookin' at you, Amazon) should offer.

Pros:
It's a fully articulated giant Lego Stormtrooper Alarm Clock! What decor wouldn't be enhanced by one?

Cons:
Although it's the epitome of cool, as an alarm clock it's virtually useless. First of all, the clock display is LCD, so it's invisible in the dark. They should have gone with an LED display. You can illuminate the clock face by pressing on the Stormtrooper's head, but if you're like me, you put your alarm clock on the other side of the room to force yourself to get up and shut it off, so a momentarily lit display is no help.

Second, when the alarm goes off, it emits a barely audible "teep teep" sound that wouldn't rouse me from even the lightest of sleeps. It's best used as a desk clock and conversation piece, rather than as a functioning alarm.