Minifigures: Teen Titans

Disclaimer: my knowledge of Teen Titans is basically entirely from watching Teen Titans Go! with my three-year old daughter. The comic featured a wider roster through the years as a sort-of Junior Justice League title, both in terms of the characters featured, generally the teenage sidekicks of established heroes with most of the characters two-timing with their parent books, and the intended audience. Both the 2003 and 2013 TV series boiled the group down to five permanent team members - Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy. There's not been a specific Teen Titans set issued yet by Lego (though Dimensions packs are imminent) but four out of the five characters have been released officially, mainly as fan bait in larger sets from the Lego Superheroes' extensive Batman subseries.

Minifigures: X-Men, Part 1 - The Originals

As touched on elsewhere on this blog, now that Marvel are part of Disney they're not too fond of the deals made a decade or so before where the rights to some of their most popular properties were sold off to other studios. While they wait for rights to revert they've indulged in various cockblocking exercises to try and prevent these outsourced films from being successful, both to limit the competition to their own films and to try and make them flop so the process of rights reverting to Disney (typically after a certain amount of time has passed without new product, as in the case of Daredevil). This extended to actually taking Silver Age flagship Fantastic Four out of print when Josh Trank's reboot film came out. While a deal has been reached with Columbia for Spider-Man the undoubted thorn in their side is Fox's X-Men franchise, currently sitting at ten films and if anything getting more popular. While they'd never dare take the X-Men family of books out of print they have lend on licencees to avoid doing what amounts to promotion for their rivals, most notably Lego.

Minifigures - The Justice League of America

While I was never as into the JLA as I was the Avengers they're still a solid bunch of guys and thanks to Lego's popularity they've been able to put out a decent amount of DC's finest in Minifigure form, even though the sets have taken a back seat to the Marvel licences in recent years as DC's cinematic fortunes have waned. Still, I've managed to amass a collection of some twenty members.

SUPERMAN

Needing no introduction, Metroplis' most whitebread hero has been available officially in both classic and Man of Steel form; I decided to go for the standard version here, in no small part due to his appearance looking like this in The Lego Movie. The simple, straight-forward costume is well rendered with the standard use of the torso waist serving nicely as the famous red underpants while some character is added by a kiss-curl in the middle of his hair and him really looking like he super-hates everyone.

BATMAN

Another needing no introduction, Batman was already heavily represented in Minifigure form with numerous official variants even before things exploded with the advent of the Lego Batman Movie in 2017. For some reason I fixated on getting a grey-suited version with the yellow chest logo and there's not been one; in the end I've merged parts from a knock-off of the Mighty Micros version with a Dawn of Justice version (which provided the face and normal-length booted legs) for my JLA Batman.

WONDER WOMAN

Not quite as widespread as the other two thirds of the JLA's Big Three, Wonder Woman has had a figure in the classic costume alongside a silver-trimmed version, a Mighty Micro and one of those Friends versions. This one does the job nicely for me, with the costume spot-on down to a special headpiece featuring Diana's headband rather than relying on a paint application on the head and also includes a neat version of her lasso.

THE FLASH

The Barry Allen version of the Flash has gleaned a couple of Minifigures, a full-size version issued as part of the DC Superheroes sets and a short-legged Mighty Micros version. I'm not sure what exactly the story of this version, which ditches the official streamlined one-piece helmet for a big bucket-like thing with removable wings, is but I actually like the clunkiness of it over the real thing. It's worth noting that the same bootleggers love a repaint opportunity and the likes of Reverse Flash and the various different colour versions are widespread.

GREEN LANTERN

My interest in the Green Lantern was mainly to have him around to annoy Superman a la The Lego Movie but naturally the whole Minifigure thing's escalated at this point. The official Minifigures have been modelled seemingly more on Kyle Rayner than Hal Jordan, though this might just be a quirk of the more modern hairstyles used but considering the use of Rayner in the film is probably intentional.. It's fine by me either way; annoyingly only the 2011 Comic Con version of the figure rather than the more refined 2015 Superheroes figure has been bootlegged, which might force me into actually buying an official Minifigure, shock horror. One fun thing is that the wide range of transparent green parts available make for some fun possibilities for constructs.

AQUAMAN

Poor Aquaman, there making Namor look popular and useful. Arthur's status as the butt of decades' worth of jokes is best illustrated by this one being a genuine Lego Minifigure because it's actually about the same price as any knock-off, the 2013 release having found its' way into two DC Superheroes sets. There is also a bootleg of the Dawn of Justice version out there but the standard figure has your main Silver Age Aquaman all tucked up with his scaled chest, floppy blond hair and trident.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER

I've always liked J'on J'onzz and very much of the opinion that the character's never quite got the fame he deserves over the years. He's landed two official Lego Minifigures anyway; neither however has been bootlegged directly. The Chinese version instead is based on a third variant with painted pants, red upper body webbing and a different head - it's actually a much nicer look all around, topped off by the cloak and staff.

GREEN ARROW

Both of Oliver's Minifigures have been heavily influenced by the modern look given in the Arrow TV series; not necessarily a problem but it would be nice to have a more retro one to fit in with JLA line-ups - there's a mouthwatering glimpse at a Silver Age version in the Lego Batman Movie but alas no sign of a release. As it is both Green Arrow figures that have been out had been bootlegged; the difference comes down to whether he has his hood up or not. 

ATOM

The Atom was at the Vanguard of the Silver Age of superheroes but - like Marvel equivalent Ant-Man - hasn't quite secured the place in popular culture he probably deserves. The only official figure for Ray Palmer was an exclusive at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con; thankfully this has been bootlegged. The copy retains the very cool part-visored helmet and the high level of paint detail; weirdly this features considerable engraving on the torso which feels very odd. It doesn't really hurt the figure but it is an unusual thing to do. There are other changes, like the use of a blue head rather than red but overall it's very faithful. There's a second knock-off out that eschews the helmet in favour of a painted head, which is naturally a step backwards.

HAWKMAN

The naffness of Hawkman's concept has only been matched by how convoluted his history has been, with the character's timeline getting so disturbed that at one point DC atomised him just to put an end to it. Throughout it all he's looked like the same fantasy reject through and the one official Lego Minifigure he received is pretty much spot on with its' elaborate helmet, chest armour (including logo) and green shorts. Oddly he has fabric wings, which do help him stand out a bit from many of the other winged figures. While this version has been bootlegged whoever does these things has also put out a version with moulded golden wings similar to those seen on the Series 15 Flying Warrior Minifigure; while these are more stable and less of a cheat they are a bit boring by comparison.

BLACK CANARY

Through her association with the Green Arrow and Birds of Prey Dinah's managed to stay on the cooler side of the DC universe for most of her history, despite the original costume long having given way to lots of tartier outfits which surprisingly was improved on for her appearances (represented by three different characters) in WB's Arrow TV series. The only figure she seems to have received is an unlicensed bootleg, largely based on Katie Cassidey's TV portrayal. This is a leather outfit that's all straps and cleavage (not much different to those used for some versions of the Black Widow or Catwoman) but is a lot more dignified than most of her comic get-ups from the eighties onwards. Oddly the figure doesn't have a face mask, which is more in line with the comics.

RED TORNADO

Something of an odd one, Red Tornado was never really front-line JLA material to the extend where the android currently doesn't exist in the DC universe. Presumably someone somewhere is a fan of the character, depicted here in one of its' android bodies with a high level of accuracy. It's possible it's actually a copy of a fan-made custom similar to the way some of Penzora's work has been copied; either way it's a great render of a relatively unknown character but it is also one of the less common bootleg Minifigures out there.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Good ol' Billy Batson and his copyright issues. Obviously Captain Marvel had long been in existence before he finally joined the Justice League but that didn't stop Marvel comics from somehow usurping DC's copyright (gained during a brutal legal action with creator Fawcett which also lead to the eventual creation of Marvelman/Miracleman) with Mar-Vell. This and his general Golden Age whitebread thing when DC already have Superman covering Golden Age whitebread he's never really been a major player in the modern DC universe even if he's kept around and a Minifigure is a nice surprise, Lego sneaking one out as a 2012 SDCC exclusive. Again there are bootleggers to thank for copying the no-brainer traditional costume, meaning you can pick one up for less than £220 (no, seriously, that's how much the original goes for).

DOCTOR FATE

Long-running and frequently killed off, Doctor Fate still has a neat set of powers and a great design despite only being an occasional member of the JLA and struggling to find much of an audience. He's another that seems to have escaped having a regular figure, though again a very good bootleg - most likely of a custom - is available. As well as good paint apps (including boots, so often neglected on figures both official and unofficial) the helmet is nicely done by a reuse of the Star Wars Clone Trooper piece. One oddity though is a flesh face with blank eyes that line up with those on the helmet but look jolly weird with the thing off.

POWER GIRL

If ever there was a sign of how noble intentions can go awry in comics it's poor old Kara. Conceived as a more mature, independent and less derivative version of Supergirl when she debuted Power Girl has never quite been able to shake the unfortunate "boob window" of her original costume or a series of escalating jokes about the size of her breasts. Various attempts to revise her costume have been met with lukewarm reception and DC have largely just accepted that the character needs to have a hole in her costume to show off her big tits. Obviously this isn't exactly Lego friendly and no official figures have come out. Penzora's filled the gap with a fairly respectful custom; the infamous window is present but with comparable delicacy to most of the official female figures while there's the usual high level of detail and a nice choice for the character's bob hairstyle.

PLASTIC MAN

Despite being created in the forties Plastic Man was a latecomer to the JLA but became a firm favourite after getting picked for Grant Morrison's run, with his gift for physical comedy retained while his nous were greatly expanded. This greatly improved the amount of DC media the formerly cult character appeared in and an appearance in one of the Lego video games saw a figure issued in a promotional polybag. This has since been copied relatively well despite the boots being missed off the copy; his trademark white-framed shades and a nice smirk remain however and the Superman kiss curl sets him off nicely. Interestingly there's also been a stretched bootleg using the same Toy Story extended limbs as the Reed Richards figure; this does actually retain the boots just to set off the OCD nicely.

Film Review: The Lego Batman Movie

USA, 2017, 104MINS

DIRECTOR: CHRIS McKAY

STARRING: WILL ARNETT, MICHAEL CERA, ROSARIO DAWSON, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, RALPH FIENNES

Spun off from the genuinely excellent Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie had two major pitfalls to avoid - that the superb arrogant send-up of the Dark Knight that was so funny would support a whole film and that it would live up to the hype after the arsenal of trailers. The answers are affirmative. 

A quite brilliant take on Gotham City makes an excellent canvas, a city populated by every member of Batman's Rogues' Gallery worth a mention and a few that really aren't. The resulting plot is a respectable mix of moral fable and adventure story pitched firmly at the kids; grownups will guess the shape of the plot from the opening moments but that's not the point. 

The journey as Batman finds a new family is fun for adults because like its predecessor the film is genuinely and unrelentingly funny on so many levels, with everything from slapstick to weird in-jokes about casting in Tim Burton films and taking the piss out of Orca while also hanging a lampshade on Batman's seeming inability to keep crime in Gotham under control.

As well as Batman there's a funny take on ward Dick Grayson; if Batman is a ripe send-up of the Nolans/Frank Miller and the whole Dork Knight thing then Robin is straight out of the sixties TV series, all wide-eyed mindless optimism. Joining them are a proactive spiky Barbara Gordon, recast as mixed race and well voiced by Rosario Dawson (carefully avoiding retreading Wyldstyle) and a disapproving Alfred courtesy of Ralph Fiennes. 

The other side is led by Zach Galifianakis as a needy take on the Joker, who dumps his usual allies (aside from a mercifully rationed and deslutted Harley Quinn) in favour of.. well, I won't spoil it beyond guessing that Lego's Dimensions licence is the key to swinging the sort of crossover cast that would make anyone else weep with envy. None of the rest of the Batman villains don't get a gigantic amount to do but a surprising large number get a call out or little bit to do. Some serious research has gone into this whole area,  hence big screen debuts for the likes of Calendar Man, the Kabuki Twins and Gentlemen Ghost. Seriously, comic fans might want to see this twice as you'll spend the first time character spotting.

If there's a fault it's that for a film made entirely from (computer generated) Lego bricks Lego isn't actually hugely integral to the movie aside from a few visual jokes and a belated mention of teaching Robin Masterbuilding. It's a weird criticism though and I feel a bit Comic Book Guy now that I've said it. Maybe the closest thing to a real criticism is that it's not quite as fantastically transcendent and genuinely touching as The Lego Movie but then I've seen thousands of films and few are.

The Lego Batman Movie does utterly succeed on its own terms. There are no caveats here - it's not great for a kids film or a toy film or anything.  It's a riot of adventure and wit, with something for everyone who isn't dead and cold on the inside.

Minifigures - The Miracleman Family

Ah, Miracleman. The greatest comic of the eighties, possibly ever, before the collapse of publisher Eclipse started a rights fiasco which took the book out of publication for more than twenty years. Marvel finally secured the rights in 2009 and set out at undermining buyer confidence by releasing sealed hardcovers containing chintzy vintage material than did little to hide its' origins as a knock-off of the original Fawcett Captain Marvel rather than the seminal update but since 2013 the good stuff has gradually leaked back into print; at the time of writing the first genuine new material from the proper creative team is due in a couple of months. Naturally despite being back in print the series has little to offer Bob Iger in terms of limp CGI blockbusters and so there have been no official Lego Minifigures; however, expert customiser Penzora has tackled most of the principal players in the saga.

MIRACLEMAN

The main guy himself. The figure uses the 1980s updated costume with the neat stacked "MM" that would serve as part of the comic's logo and would later inspire a faintly daft story explaining how the character's clothes could change while he apparently spent the time between his old Miller & Sons adventures and the new strips in Dez Skinn's fantastic Warrior apparently in suspended animation. Elsewhere the paint apps are sharp and really pop out the details in what - with Garry Leach's refinements - was one of the best superhero costumes of the time, which still stands out nicely. There's been no detail skipped, including the distinctive studded collar and the red/yellow boots while the blonde slicked back hair tops the figure off nicely; I've played around with some yellow hairpieces for dot-printed accuracy but it looks too cartoony.

YOUNG MIRACLEMAN

Young Marvelman was the first attempt by Miller & Sons to add another character to their bow and his solo series lasted as long as the parent title. Alan Moore's version however was much more rarely glimpsed as he spent the majority of the English writer's material believed dead, only appearing in flashbacks (including a silent solo fill-in strip). Moore's successor Neil Gaiman brought him back across his first arc however and the character is a key player in the semi-published Silver Age. The custom is again a brilliant barrage of primary colours, complete with vintage logo (Young Miracleman's costume having not been updated) and the right mix of clear relation to Miracleman himself but just enough differences, like the larger collar and varied belt and boot designs.

KID MIRACLEMAN

The third addition to the Miller stories, Kid Marvelman had inverted fortunes to Young Marvelman. In the original material he only appeared in the Marvelman Family team book but comes the eighties he became the villain of the piece, having spend all the time Miracleman was an amnesiac and Young Miracleman an exploded thing using his abilities to build an empire. The first version is based on his original appearance, only glimpsed in flashbacks and then in internal conversations with alter-ego Johnny Bates, complete with the jaunty logo. Again the figure is well painted with variation in the template rather than just being a palette swap; my only slight quibble - and it's a pedantic impossible wish - is that while the adult version did occasionally wear this costume it'd have been cool to have a short-legged version as the fifties K.M. was always shown as considerably smaller and younger than his team-mates. However, Penzora prides themselves on printing only on official Lego parts and there have yet to be official yellow short legs; come to think of it the bootleggers don't seem to have made any either. Maybe one day Lego will use them (we could do with a Toad too) and the figure will get an update.

MIRACLEWOMAN

Introduced in the epic third arc "Olympus", Miraclewoman was technically an all-new Alan Moore creation, though the inspiration was clearly Mary Marvel, replaced by Fawcett with the male Kid Marvelman. Penzora once again gets the character's sleek costume, a female equivalent of Miracleman, absolutely perfectly, right down to the similar boots and eighties "MW" logo on the belt. The hair proved a bit of a challenge, however; the custom originally came with the trendy fringe piece in yellow. The problem is Avril's hair in the comic's was basically the same as Miracleman's with just a tad more length and texture to give an air of androgyny and as much visible overlap with her male counterpart as possible. I played around with a few different pieces before settling on the one pictured, which is maybe a touch too styled and voluminous but works nicely as a part of the display.

YOUNG NASTYMAN

A fifties villain from Young Marvelman, Young Nastyman was broadly analogous to Black Adam from the Captain Marvel series. In the eighties material he was barely glimpsed but still important, breaking loose after Emil Gargunza's abuse of the fictional universe used to keep his creations in check caused a mental breakdown and dying in Iceland combatting Miraclewoman. His figure is close to a palette swap with Young Miracleman but it works nicely and he still has his distinctive individual badge on the front and a nicely unhinged face. While Penzora's original figure had the same slicked-back hair as the Kid Miracleman figures I went for a more ruffled piece both for variety and to depict him in his only significant appearance as a dishevelled mess.

THE ADVERSARY

Kid Miracleman made a full return in the "Olympus" arc and famously killed London; while he started out in the same business suit he had worn in "A Dream of Flying" as it disintegrated is revealed a black version of his suit, corrupted by his total degeneration (the darkness having spread ominously as he gained strength inside the juvenile Bates' head). Like Miracleman's suit the style also changed to something more modern and the revised chest log and boot design are nicely replicated here on the striking figure.

JOHNNY BATES

This one is a simple home-made mashup; the eighties adult version of Kid Miracleman spent most of his time in his day job business attire from running Sunburst Electronics and keeping to it while he kicked Miracleman around London twice before it was burned off him battling Huey Moon and Aza Chorn. The Jonah Jameson figure provided a close enough if not spot-on version of the waistcoat and shirtsleeves, topped off with the same head and hair as the Penzora figure.

Minifigures - The Lego Batman Movie, Villains Part 2

Tidying up the bulk of the 'villain' figures in the blind bag series, so largely another collection of background no-marks that were highly unlikely to get a Minifigure official or otherwise had not some brilliant maniac decided to make absolutely certain this was the most fun Batman movie ever (no, the Adam West stuff is shit).

THE JOKER

Thanks to several distinct looks - comic book, drug suicide guy, guy out of 30 Seconds to Mars - there's already a plethora of official and unofficial Joker figures out there and the character gets a further more exaggerated redesign for The Lego Batman Movie, with more clownish make-up and a huge messy swept-back mop of hair plus Zach Galifianakis as voice actor, a fantastic move in that it's managed to upset fans of Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Mark Hamill all at the same time (which is a good thing) and this despite the thing being a comedy. There are versions aplenty in the boxed sets, most featuring longer coat tails. The blind-bagged version comes in an Arkham Asylum uniform and is obviously present so the film's major villain can be presented in the series without robbing a big money set of a selling point. However, the minor genius is that apart from the head and hands there's absolutely no unique marks on the overalls, which means in ten seconds flat you can whip up an Arkham inmate version of basically anyone.

KING TUT

Unlike most of the characters featured King Tut actually originated from the sixties TV show, being belatedly brought into the comic by some hack or another who liked the show's repetition, heavy-handedness and laziness. Presumably. As with Orca or Catman the figure being a recolour probably helped get King Tut into the film and onto the shelves as he's effectively a repaint of the early blind bag Pharoah figure. However, there's no corners cut on the extensive paint masks including lots of luxurious gold trim and to be honest if you wanted to model an Egyptian scene with realistic skin tones you could do worse than recruit this guy as an actual Pharoah. Lego thrown in a snake and a sceptre too.

MIME

That Mime was created in 1987 explains a lot about her look; while there's whiteface to justify the Mime thing with her dark purple mohawk, fishnet top and black/dark pink outfit she looks more like a villain from Jem and the Holograms than super-serious Batman comics. If anything this makes her even better; the new wave look is a rare one on official Minifigures and it adds some fun visual variety. Once again heavy painted details really help bring the look off while she has two energy bolts for whatever her powers actually were. One of the coolest things about the range is the spread of eras, with daft Batman villains from most decades getting roped in rather than a focus on just, say, the sixties stuff.

THE RED HOOD

The Red Hood has a convoluted past - the criminal originally became the Joker maybe but later was a largely unseen separate villain whose costume was used by the guy who became the Joker while years later the same title was taken on by Jason Todd, the second Robin, on his return from death. This is basically why DC reset their universe every few years. The figure is present in its' original Golden Age form with the gigantic opaque dome over the head, cloak and evening dress, right down to a printed bowtie on the shoulder armour. But he can't be the Joker because the Joker's in the film so not for the first time Lego have a bit of fun - popping the dome off reveals the head of the Jason Todd version of the Red Hood. Nice. And with the dome in place it's a fitting tribute to a villain who was one way or another crucial to the relationship between Batman and the Joker but still looked absolutely ridiculous.

ZODIAC MASTER

A sixties creation following the standard template of the era - find something vaguely topical, make a supervillain who uses it for crime - Zodiac Master was naturally all about astrology, initially using it to apparently predict disasters he was actually responsible for, selling his apparent premonition as a service to various other criminals. So the Minifigure gets his cool (well) zodiac-symbol suit covered with paint apps, plus a crab for Cancer and a fish for Pisces. It's about as good as Zodiac Master is going to get; let's just be thankful DC contained their astrology tie-ins to this one guy unlike Marvel doing all 12.

Minifigures - The Avengers, Part 1

As other people owning or part-owning various rights to Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men have denied the Disney-Marvel alliance some of their most high-profile properties they've been largely left to focus on the Avengers for their multimedia attack and this has resulted in a barrage of Minifigures. I've always been a fan of the group so I've been testing and tweaking the various Chinese copies thereof to try and get 'definitive' versions, ending up with a decent chunk of the line-up. I'll be splitting these up for such a large roster; sorting the five founding members for the first seems a logical step. 

ANT-MAN

This was basically the Minifigure that turned this from "hey, those are cool I'll pick up a few" to "OMG I MUST LET THIS TAKE OVER EVERYTHING". Hank Pym is one of Marvel's more interesting characters, if occasionally bizarre and controversial; unlike so many of his contemporaries he's undergone genuine character development over the years rather than periodic stunts; it was very edifying to see a somewhat low-profile character get some serious love in the Ant-Man film, even if it was via the backdoor as a support role. And the original Ant-Man costume is a period classic, with its' big fifties hangover helmet and neat red/black jumpsuit. I have no idea what the origin of this figure is - there's no official match, the Lego version of Hank Pym being the live action version with a black helmet to differentiate him from Scott Lang - but they nailed it. The helmet's slightly oversized but fits in nicely with the Lego ethos while the paint apps are just right; the only weirdness is the eyes being printed slightly too far apart, presumably to line up with the helmet's holes. Originally he came with a pair of brown spiders, the closest thing in the Lego menagerie to look anything like ants at the time I guess; it doesn't really work and part of me wonders if they couldn't have come up with an ant from scratch but then even bootleggers who aren't paying for rights have a budget and I'm happier that the money's gone to the helmet.

THE HULK

Officially the Hulk has been released by Lego in three forms - a Minifig, a Bigfig and one of those short-legged Mighty Micro ones. The Bigfig came in the 'classic' green with purple pants but has been bootlegged both in this scheme and many others, from grey and red skin to various pants colours. I'm not actually crazy for the Hulk so this one and one of the bootleg Minifigures was enough for me. As I've said before I find Bigfigs to be something of a cheat, especially when they're like Groot and just a statue which can be stuck on Lego bases. Hulk isn't as bad as that, with a Minifig-style head with removable hair, and it feels better having him tower over everyone. The moulded crouching pose works, articulation being limited to the arms, wrist and neck - and naturally this makes him to right size to square up to the bootleg Ben Grimm which seems to be largely based on the same cast. 

THOR

Official Thor figures have naturally been very much based on Chris Hemsworth's live action incarnation, though his stubble has been interpreted as a full beard for most of these; the most common one found itself into a promotional polybag and is thus more common than most bootlegs. The bootleggers have got their mileage out of him anyway with several variations on the chest armour pattern and presence or otherwise of the cloak, most sticking with the long blond hair and beard combo. I always preferred the comic look but thankfully the pirates have me covered there, or at least near enough. There's a version that not only features a more complex armour pattern that includes the legs (not entirely comic accurate but better than plain) and a winged helmet that's a fair stab allowing for Lego-style proportions. This originally came with the obligatory bearded head but it's easy enough to switch a shaved face in; naturally the figure comes with Mjolnir, a moulded piece for the Lego version rather than an extant hammer part.

IRON MAN

Thanks to the character always being cool but never given much spotlight and being brought to life so well by Robert Downey Jr even in third gear. As such the character's so far become the posterchild for the film universe as a whole, and the multiple armours used in the movies are manna for anyone up for a recolour. Lego themselves have put out 15 variants while those cunning bootleggers have added probably the same amount again, from early marks to bizarre schemes only occasionally glimpsed; only Batman comes close to matching the number of possible variants available. I do have a live-action version or two which I'll cover at some point but for this grouping I've gone with one of the few comic-influenced versions. I've not yet got one of the early flat metal or gold versions because I'm not crazy about them (though I am highly likely to buy some at one point or another as I am no longer in rational control of this). No, instead I've gone for the one figure to properly do the yellow/red scheme - an official Lego figure from the Mighty Micros subline. Aimed at young buyers, this consists of duelling short-legged characters in fun little vehicles. As such I needed to switch in some full-length red legs but aside from that he's very good fun for capturing the way the character appeared for much of the sixties and seventies, with the large visible mouth on the removable helmet (less crazy than many of the Mighty Micros figures, though the face inside is unhinged), the big round chest deco and the neat, clean colour scheme.

WASP

Jan's the sort of character that usually gets shafted in this sort of thing, being an unflashy stalwart for fifty years without ever threatening to truly break out, despite leading the team several times and naturally being embroiled in much of husband Hank Pym's storylines. The forthcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp film is likely to see daughter Hope getting most of the focus, Jan having only appeared in a brief flashback. As such there's been no official Lego figure and only one bootleg; this, like many of the Minifigures with no official release, is lifted from the Lego Marvel Superheroes game, the tampographs copied from the in-game model and applied to extant parts. As she's a figure in a suit with wings (using the fairy wing 'backpack') the result is rather good, even if it's naturally something of a shame she's in a sensible modern battlesuit rather than some of the insane outfits she's turned out in over the years. The game version had a black bob but the figure has a brown ponytail; this can be switched out easily naturally but I've actually got used to her looking like this.

Minifigures - The Lego Batman Movie, Villains Part 1

It's hard to miss the upcoming Lego Batman Movie, span off the character's superb showing in The Lego Movie. And it looks like a cracker even if I'm getting increasingly sure I've seen most of it now from the myriad trailers. Not only does it look like a cool film but its' off-beat nature means the stranger end of Batman's Rogues Gallery are getting Minifigures, characters that would never have done so any other way. They're spread across sets but some have also been released in the long-running and much acclaimed series of blind bags, a biggest-yet set of 20 coming out. If the ones for the Lego Movie are anything to go by the characters featured will be a mix of variants of main characters (in this case some oddball gag costumes for Batman, the Joker etc.) and guys who will likely to either a one-off punchline or even background, like the 2014 series' Velma Staplebot or Panda Guy. But who cares, we still get awesome Minifigs out of it.

THE CALCULATOR

Typical of a dippy seventies Batman villain, the Calculator consisted of taking something - the mid-seventies boom in pocket calculators - and running with it as far as possible. Someone spoilt the fun a bit by turning him into a proper character for Birds of Prey but there's none of that here as Noah Kuttler is rolled back to his debut appearance where the numerically-obsessed villain dressed in an outfit adorned with visual nods to - yes - a pocket calculator. The Minifigure's more bulky, no doubt due to the desire to reuse the extant cowled armour one-piece; there are only a handful of newly cast pieces across the blind-bags, most of the new toolings being channelled towards the boxed sets. However, it does mean they can go to town on the paint apps and in addition to a neat pattern up the side of his fetching purple/white jumpsuit the Calculator has his numberpad chestplate present (it's too small for actual numbers but '+', '-' and '=' are present so you know what it is) and a visor reading '07734' - presumably 55378008, the only other thing anyone put into a pocket calculator, wouldn't fit. The overall result is smashing, one of the best of the series - and just about serious enough to fit in with other non-movie Batman villains in a display. 

CATMAN

My middling knowledge of Batman was exposed when I nearly discarded Catman as just another nutty Batman costume variant but no, he's actually a separate guy, albeit one who started out as a bit of a joke - firstly by trying to frame Catwoman for a spate of burglaries (because they both dress like cats, right?) and then having much fun made of him for being such a dim idea before being another guy to be Gail Simoned into respectability (she also announced the character was bisexual via Tumblr, just in case you'd missed the sort of desperate posturing for attention the industry's been reduced to in the past decade). Anyway. The character's thing has always been his costume being close to Batman's and that's not wavered in the face of boring identity politics, so naturally he's a recolour of Batman in Minifig form. It's well-done with some good paint applications, not to mention a brown version of the new utility belt piece. The only parts variation is the addition of a pair of Wolverine-style claws; while it's better than nothing not for the first time I'm wishing Lego had a smaller version made.

ERASER

A sixties creation, Lenny Fiasco crossed Batman's path due to placing adverts everywhere extolling his ability to remove all evidence from crime scenes for fellow criminals. Naturally he decided to so so dressed as a giant pencil with the eraser end as a helmet. I'd make fun of the name Lenny Fiasco but it's not bad for sixties DC. Anyway, he's yet to become all hip-and-happening for the 21st century, his main appearances since seemingly further gag ones in one of those manchild-friendly Bruce Timm cartoons with fellow loser villains. The Minifig is spot-on for the sixties version with its' ostentatious yellow pin-striped suit and the head is a new piece that does the job exactly - with a nice side-helping of absurdity as there's theoretically a person in there but unlike the comic they can't cheat with someone having a narrow head and the result is his head is about half the width of everyone else in the universe's as a result. It works, and the addition of a notepad for upcoming jobs rounds him out nicely.

MARCH HARRIET

One of the more recent additions, the comic version of the March Harriet provided T&A for an Alice in Wonderland gang as one of DC's intermittent attempts to combat the grimdark. Thankfully the Lego designers get more action than the DC artists so Harriet looks less like she's wandered in from Hustler's This Ain't Alice in Wonderland XXX; the emphasis here is more on cute and unhinged than slutty with a reserved take on the costume and a smart reuse of the extant Bunny Guy headpiece. And so she doesn't look too harmless she had a Tommy Gun, making for a solid and cringe-free figure.

ORCA

Another relatively recent addition thanks to Harry Llama, Grace Balin is unique among recent female superheroes through not actually being even remotely sexy in her super form; rather than some sort of tarty mermaid she's basically an Orca on legs, though occasionally some of the more sexually frustrated artists give her a pair of comically pendulous breasts. Just a massive pair of tits on a walking Orca. She's considered one of the worst Big Two characters to have appeared this century and with good reason. About the only reason she's getting a workout here even in a film full of weird bad guys is that the Minifig Shark Guy (a.k.a. Left Shark), thankfully with the whole boob thing played down. A neat piece of work is the head recoloured to be a gaping mouth inside the shark head. It's about as good a piece of merchandise as a crap character is likely to get but I'd really rather have seen the Condiment King; I'm sure any kids buying the figure, Googling for more info and being greeted by this would agree too.