Category: Miscellaneous

In conjunction with the new LEGO Batman Movie Trailer released earlier today (which is awesome, by the way), another 2 sets based off of the film have been revealed, those being:

70900 The Joker Balloon Escape -$14.99, 124 pieces

70908 The Scuttler – $79.99, 775 pieces

Both these sets look really good in my opinion. That Joker Balloon Escape looks like an excellent little  $15 set, giving the main 2 characters of the film and a colourful parts pack. I believe that background build to be based off of Ace Chemicals, the famed location where the comic book Joker received his chemical bath that turned him into the Clown Prince of Crime.

The scuttler, whilst weird-looking at first glance, seems to represent a bat that is grounded and walking as opposed to flying, hence the set’s name. This is a very quirky and original idea/design, and the figures are superb, especially those new hair pieces. That Joker waistcoat appears in both sets and is certainly…interesting.

They’re priced $14.99 and $79.99 respectively, which is pretty reasonably considering the price to part ratio and the size of builds.

So, Doctor Strange is now upon us in cinemas, at least in Europe it is, and I managed to see it on the silver screen just earlier today. Before I go into any LEGO discussion, I’ll just quickly say my two cents about the film…

Film Thoughts (Spoiler-free!)

Doctor Strange is a fantastic film to behold, in my opinion. The visuals witnessed are arguably the best that the Marvel Cinematic Universe have offered up as of yet, with the spells and dimensions offering immense visual thrills almost worth the price of a ticket alone. As such, it is an added bonus to have such a captivating performance from Benedict Cumberbatch (albeit with a slightly wonky American accent at times), along with an eccentric and very humorous supporting cast in Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton and Benedict Wong. Mads Mikkelsen is unfortunately just another disposable villain, but at least his motives are clear and reasonable, and his interference with the other characters has opened the door to many greater and more infamous villains down the line.

All in all, a great film that I can understand why the critics have praised so highly. Recognition-wise, I’d be thrilled if the film was to be nominated for Visual Effects and/or Costume Design at the Academy Awards, although I can’t really picture it being nominated for much else.

How Accurate Is The LEGO Set? (SPOILER WARNING)

Alright, enough of my opinions about the film, now on to the set accuracy. Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum (76060) is the one and only Doctor Strange set this year, with Captain America: Civil War getting the multi-set deal from Marvel.

Mini-Figures

-Let’s begin with the accuracy of the Mini-figures; first up, the titular hero himself, Mr, ahem, Doctor Strange. This figure is the spitting image of the character portrayed by Cumberbatch on-screen. The blue robes are replicated beautifully, with the belt details and black lines adding a convincing level of texture to the very layered costume in the film. Also, the spells he is casting in the set are suitably generic, and could be seen as representing both the common shield charm used throughout the film, and also the symbol that Strange appears to be casting during the time manipulation scenes. Some minor criticisms would be that the Eye of Agamotto seems to be in its open form on the figure, despite that the Eye is perhaps only open for around 3 minutes total in the film – is the LEGO Doctor Strange always in a time loop? As well as this, perhaps the new Superman hair-piece would be better suited than the one used, but other than that, there’s no substantial critique present.

Another nice touch is that, apparently, the runes located on this piece actually spell out “Dormammu Is Near” in the Norse Cyrillic Alphabet, a clever hint towards what turns out to be the primary villain of the film. It would also of been pleasing to of included the trans-orange chain piece included with this year’s Ghost Rider set to represent the Fire-Whip that Strange uses many time in the movie.

-Next up is Karl Mordo, who will likely be known as Baron Mordo in any following MCU instalments due to his turn to villainy at the end of the movie. Again, this figure is extremely accurate to the on-screen counterpart. The hair and face prints replicate that of Ejiofor’s very well, along with the costume representing his monk garb nicely. The only minor criticism with this figure is that the staff accessory doesn’t really represent his shorter, extendible staff from the film.

-The final figure of the set, The Ancient One, is probably the easiest to direct criticism towards, as I believe that this exact outfit doesn’t actually appear in the final, finished film. That being said, The Ancient One does indeed appear in a variety of outfits throughout the film, including a set of blue robes with a golden under-shirt, so this may just be that outfit with the outer robes removed. I do also find the rear of the head print to be rather bemusing, as no such pattern appears on Swinton’s character in the film. That being said, the facial likeness to Swinton is pretty much there, and the accessories included do represent the fan-shaped weapons that The Ancient One wields against Kaecilius and his Zealots.

All told, a very accurate set of figures, with the minor exception of some of The Ancient One’s costume. It would of been very welcome to of actually gotten a figure of Kaecilius however, especially since the primary antagonist of the brick-built squid monster never even appeared in the film…

The Build

The actual build itself is where the accuracy begins to drop, rather dramatically at that.

An immediately noticeable flaw is that the window symbol meant to represent the New York Sanctorum is incorrect. The actual shape is almost there, but the symbol needs to be significantly slanted to the side, unlike the LEGO model, but I suppose this can be forgiven due to building/stability restraints.

In regards to the furniture dotted around the set, including shelves, chests and  wooden tables, this does a reasonable job of showcasing the sprawling display of artefacts in the Sanctorum. The on-screen room is full of seemingly random objects, although some of the more significant ones have been showcased here. For example, the holster for the Cloak of Levitation does an adequate job of portraying the display case from the film, and the lamp-like object that Strange uses to beat Kaecilius with (which he “doesn’t know how to use properly”) is shown at the top of the left bookcase. The transparent stands used to create the levitation effects of the characters also work well, as Strange does indeed levitate inside the Sanctorum in the film, during his fight with Kaecilius.

The letters and maps scattered around the room are a pleasing touch in terms of set detail, and do add a certain level of accuracy; following the Sanctorum duel between Strange, Kaecilius and his Zealots, the building is left in disarray with a lot of artefacts smashed and scattered – these bits of paper add somewhat to this effect. That being said, the actual named books and letters aren’t too accurate, with the Codex Imperium and Book of the Invisible Sun only being seen in Wong’s library back in Kathmandu, for example. That being said, not everything has to be perfectly accurate; I really like these details and they do add to the aesthetic of the scene, plus they show that the designers put some effort into making the set tie into the film’s events and locations.

Now, what is easily the most inaccurate portion of this whole set is the Portal Beast that takes up the right side of the build. It is correct that portals do indeed appear in the Sanctorum, but it’s mainly our main human characters coming in and out, and not this abominable creature. If the famed Doctor Strange villain Shuma-Gorath was to appear in the film, then this build could arguably pass for that character as it is a multi-tentacled beast similar to the one from this set. However, the only inter-dimensional foe to appear is that of Dormammu, who is much more human-like in physical nature.

Final Verdict

So, in summary, this set is rather middling in terms of accuracy. Whilst the figures are almost flawless, the actual set  is riddled with accuracy issues, primarily the huge monster that has no remote appearance on screen – This must be insult to injury for Mads Mikkelsen, who not only didn’t get his primary antagonist to appear in the set but was replaced by this very odd choice. Before I give it a rating, I’ll preface my remarks by saying that I really do like this set a lot, as it has great figures, brilliant action functions and a nice display value, not to mention the comfortable price. However, it does suffer quite a bit in terms of accuracy.

Figures – 8.5/10 (Strange and Mordo are near flawless, slight inaccuracies with The Ancient One)

Build – 4/10 (Inaccurate Sanctorum symbol, monster, colour scheme and paper references)

Final Accuracy Verdict – 12.5/20, which is 62.5%

So there we have it. Make sure to check back on the 15th December for the next in this series of articles, for the next blockbuster to get the LEGO Treatment – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story! 

So, until then, keep yourself entertained with all the other LEGO news updates, here on The Brick Show!

It seems that LEGO rip-off company Lepin has now set their eyes on the LEGO building community as its next victim of copyright infringement. Recently, images of yet another fake LEGO monstrosity have surfaced over the Internet, and to the horror and dismay of our highly talented adult LEGO builders, it was discovered that Lepin irreverently copied all of the designs of its next diabolical offerings from certain LEGO Ideas projects that were submitted in 2013 and 2014.

The above picture on the left was apparently taken from the original ideas of wooootles over at LEGO Ideas with his modular build, Barnes & Nobles and Starbucks Store. The one on the right is from Jme Wheeler’s L. Rivendell Museum of Natural History. Take a look at the images of these original creations and see for yourself how Lepin blatantly copies them without even asking for permission from their respective creators.

Refusing to take the matter sitting down, Jme Wheeler has decided to do something about it and came up with an open letter addressed to the LEGO counterfeit company. Here is his letter in its entirety.

To Lepin,

What you’re doing is wrong.

I would think this would be obvious, but clearly that isn’t the case. It’s obvious neither to you, nor is it obvious to your customers. Apparently, both of you feel entitled to other people’s work. You feel that you have a right to copy the designs of others, and that because there is a demand in the marketplace, you have a right to fulfill it. I want this to be very clear – you don’t.

For years now, you have been stealing the LEGO Group’s products. I’m not simply talking about producing building bricks. You are free to do so, and if you did so responsibly, there would be no problem. You steal their branding, their designs, IP, and advertising. You do everything you can to look like a legitimate LEGO product.

As a company, Lepin, you take it upon yourself to provide copies of LEGO sets at a cheaper price. Your customers see this as a good thing. It means they can get current, or even retired sets for much less than the asking price, which in their eyes is ‘too high’. That difference in cost is facilitated by your moral bankruptcy. Of course you can provide a cheaper version when you pay not for the licensing, design, branding, marketing, nor research.

I agree that aftermarket prices for retired LEGO sets are more often than not completely ridiculous. That isn’t the LEGO Group’s fault. That is the fault of opportunists, not so different from yourself, preying on those who were unable to purchase a set when it was available. I also understand that there is still a demand for these sets. The LEGO Group has no responsibility to keep sets in production in perpetuity, or to re-release old sets. Would it be great if they did? Absolutely. Are they obligated to, simply to satisfy rabid consumerism? Absolutely not.

The vileness of your practices is only getting worse, as you’ve now decided it isn’t enough to steal from another company. You’ve decided to apply your brand of thievery to the LEGO community at large. I recently read about a Lepin ‘CREATORS’ set, which is an exact copy of the ‘Barnes & Noble and Starbucks Store’ Ideas submission by wooootles. I was disgusted. How could someone even consider doing such a thing? Also shown was the back of the box, and there were many more stolen designs, including my ‘L. Rivendell Museum of Natural History’. My heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn’t believe it. There I was, looking at a build I had spent over a month on, being produced by a bootleg toy company. Someone else had taken my design, without my permission, and is selling it for a profit. You. You did that.

This type of theft doesn’t just hurt TLG, or individual builders like myself and the others you’ve wronged. It hurts the building community as a whole. There are so many amazing builders out there. There are so many people out there creating beautiful, inventive, funny, and surprising things. I’ve met a lot of really tremendous people through my experiences with LEGO. I’ve been given an incredible chance to interact with other builders through Blocks magazine, as well as at conventions or with my LUG. I even met the love of my life through this hobby. All of those opportunities only existed because there is a vibrant community of people sharing their work with each other.

If you continue to steal people’s art, to capitalize on their hard work and ingenuity, then eventually people will stop sharing their work. People will cease to be inspired by one another. An incredible community would be destroyed. Without creative people and their ideas, there is nothing for you to steal. There is nothing for your customers to consume.

You clearly see value in what the LEGO Group, and builders like me bring into the world. Curiously though, you seem to see no value in we who make it possible. You could have contacted any of us, we’re not hard to find. You certainly found our work. You could have offered to license our designs (though I still would have declined because your business practices are utterly reprehensible). You could be a legitimate company. Instead, you choose to simply build your fortune on the work of those around you. It is both lazy and deplorable, and I sincerely hope one day karma catches up with you.

Yours,

Jme Wheeler

It’s about time that someone finally stood up against the illegal activities of Lepin and other counterfeit LEGO manufacturers. True, it may be a long and hard battle, but it is worth it. Thanks to Brickset and Brick Fanatics for bringing this up.

This should please a lot of music fans! The official images for the 21306 Beatles Yellow Submarine have now been revealed!
here’s a statement from the fan designer who submitted the idea himself, Kevin Szeto:

“As an amateur musician and songwriter, I have always been drawn to the music of The Beatles. The creation of the Yellow Submarine model was really my way of showing my affection for The Beatles, as well as trying to pay a small tribute to The Beatles phenomenon. The Yellow Submarine is bright, fun, and colourful, which also made it a good subject to translate into LEGO form”, Kevin said as he shared his motivations for building the Yellow Submarine.

The set shall retail for £49.99 and $59.99, and will be released on 1st November. Here’s the official description:

Take a surreal trip under the seas in the LEGO® version of the Yellow Submarine from the iconic 1968 animated musical fantasy film inspired by The Beatles. Ideal for display or role-play fun, the Yellow Submarine features loads of cool, authentic details including a cockpit for the included minifigures of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Justin Ramsden’s (LEGO designer) motivations were also very much centred around his love for the iconic band, as he was given the opportunity to refine Kevin’s initial model. “I watched the film when I was younger and was really inspired by how it oozed so much imagination – comparable to how I view LEGO elements. I’m also a massive fan of The Beatles having grown up with their music all my life so to see The Beatles in LEGO form is a dream come true.

You can also watch the official YouTube reveal from LEGO here.