LEGO in 2013: Forever Star Wars

If you were LEGO, would YOU let something like Star Wars slip away? Me neither. We've not heard anything on how the Disney acquisition of Lucas will effect individual licensors, but we are betting the answer is "Not at all for the forseeable future." Now.. when the current contracts run out...and if Disney acquires Hasbro...well..that is another story.  ...And one we'll tell later..when it happens. For now, we are going to take a look at LEGO's Star Wars 2013 lineup!

NOTE: These pieces may not represent the FULL lineup for 2013.

LEGO in 2013: Legion of Mini Super Heroes

Toy Fair 2012 is over 2 months away, but if San Diego Comic Con can start their pre-show prep, so can we! We've been laying out Hasbro's action figure and construction kit plans for next year. Now we'll take a look at what LEGO has planned for their DC Comics and Marvel Comics universes.

For those looking forward to a new year when LEGO might explore the full breathe of the Marvel and DC comics worlds, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that the Marvel sets will include some new characters. The bad news is most of those new characters are either movie related or have an animated angle. In that same respect, in their DC lineups, you'll get new characters, but a great deal of them are re-released or movie related. Let's lay things out.

NOTE: Titles for sets may not be final or exact translations. Our info comes from all over the planet! Also note these may not be FULL lineups.

LEGO The Motion Picture: Vehicle Design Contest

Have you ever used LEGO© bricks to build the coolest, most awesome car or plane or rocket? A vehicle you invented all by yourself? What if you could see your custom LEGO design in motion -- in a movie?

We want YOU to design a vehicle of your own creation for our upcoming LEGO movie! It can be any kind of transportation device -- car, plane, boat, train, spaceship -- as long as it's made entirely out of LEGO bricks (excluding third-party branded LEGO content -- for example, no "LEGO© Harry Potter™" minifigures) and it looks like it started out as something else -- like a castle that has been converted into a race car. Spin the wheels of your imagination and start building!

Toy Fair 2012 : LEGO Monster Fighters

I'm always amazed at how casually monsters and horror have worked their way into media seemingly made for "kids". The Pirates of the Caribbean films (from Walt Disney) have had zombies, fish monsters AND unkillable skeleton pirates. Hell, those lovable Ewoks from Star Wars set out to EAT our heroes when they first met. Never forget what the "Luka Luka Luuuuka" song really means.

LEGO has obviously always had an appreciation for the macabre, whether it be the inclusion of a zombie in the first series of Mini Figures or the extra bits that come with the Star Wars Hoth Wampa Set ... like the pile of bones, human skeleton and Tauntaun leftovers. FAMILY FUN!! Now LEGO is taking things up a notch, replacing its awesome salute to Mars Attacks (Alien Conquest) with a line called MONSTER FIGHTERS!

Since the New York Toy Fair is actually three weeks away, all we've got for you is the art displayed on an outer wall at the UK Toy Fair and as complete a description of the sets that we've seen so far. These titles are not 100%...

The Wolf Man - Seems to have mini figures of a werewolf and an old school adventurer or scientist...you know the kind with a pith helmet? Center pieces include a launching tree and a little buggy for the professor.

The Swamp Creature - Includes a water craft with two rockets to fire and a hunter to drive it into battle against the Creature with his harpoon! There's also a little alter-looking configuration for the Creature with a dead fish at its base.

The Mummy - A female monster hunter rides a sort of gyro-copter in pursuit of the Mummy on his chariot pulled by a skeleton horse. The Mummy has a whip and a sword while the hunter has a crossbow with a bolt and a spare bolt in her hair!

Vampire Hearse (aka Dracula's...totally awesome batmobile) - Picture the family car from "The Munsters". That can be the only inspiration for this. Dracula's long black ride features fangs in the grill, piercing red headlights, bones along the engine and more. In hot pursuit appears to be an English gentleman on a motorcycle with a fencing-type sword. There appears to be another figure with Dracula, but we can't make him out.

Zombies - We've only heard about the existence of this set so far so have no further details.

Frankenstein - A tower for catching electricity, a table for resurrecting dead flesh and a wacky scientist to scream "IT'S ALIIIVE!!" This set features the mad scientist, Frankenstein's Monster and what appear to be two angry townsfolk as well as a monster hunting vehicle with a projectile, what appears to be a holding cell for the Monster and a slice of the scientist's lab.

The Ghost Train - Exactly what it sounds like! A black engine with spectral fire coming out of its stack and green lights leading the way pulls three carts with little bat wings! The bat wings are said to flap as they go along!! The set seems to include three ghosts to battle two monster hunters in their prop plane with projectile firing mechanisms. We see the female monster hunter can hang off the bottom by a rope, brandishing a crossbow.

The Vampire Castle - Comes with a Man-Bat (or 2), Dracula, his Bride and two human monster fighters as well as a tricked-out monster hunter mobile with a launching net! The castle has some sort of crystal ray feature in the tower, which pops out from behind what looks like a stained glass window. This ties into the storyline, which I'll get to in a minute. There also seems to be a trap-door feature in the tower.

So here's what I've put together. Each set comes with an idol/gem stone that both monsters and fighters are after..probably some sort of ultimate power dealy. The bit that looks like stained glass in the Vampire Castle tower is actually all the idols/gems plugged into a wheel, which I suppose activates the laser of doooom!! There is also a glow in the dark element in each set.

Our pics show the Monster Fighters, complete with robo parts (dark for LEGO!) and the Monsters, themselves; The Monster, The Vampire and The Wolf Man. We've also provided two extra pics to our story. One looks a lot like the Swamp Creature but is missing the fin on top of his head and some minor redecos to his overall look. The second is my little collection of LEGO Mini Figures, which come single-packed and have included at least one monster-looking dude in each wave! You'll notice Dracula and Frankenstein are close cousins to their Monster Fighter counterparts!

June 2012 is the tentative date set for the launch of LEGO's Monster Fighters, so keep watch.

CLICK HERE to dive into our ever growing picture collection for Toy Fair 2012!

Toy Fair 2012 Preview : LEGO DC Super Heroes Part 1

We've been showing off heaps of new toys and collectibles and in the weeks to come, there will be even more. Before we get buried in all those plastics to come, we thought we'd take a look at the latest toys you can score in stores right now. Let's kick things off with LEGO!

DC Super Heroes marks the first time LEGO is tackling an entire universe of comic book heroes and villains. We got a taste of what COULD be when LEGO last ventured into the Bativerse. Now LEGO builds (snicker) on that base and goes wild with the possibilities of what they could make and what we will scream for. We'll begin our photo sets with the larger scale figures, meant to offer the buildable function LEGO enthusiasts love along with the playability of an action figure, making it appealing to a wider audience. Has their math paid off? Only time will tell, but one visit to your local Toys R Us will reveal the only items left on the shelves from this line are these figures. This could be in part to the scalpers snapping up the other standard LEGO sets for resale on Ebay, so again, we'll have to wait and see if these are popular enough to warrant an entire Justice League and Legion of Doom! THAT thought should get you drooling.

For now, we've got the first three on shelves; Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern. We ditched the Lantern in favor of the Batman vs Joker face-off because..well..we had to draw the line somewhere!! These little suckers can get pricey. The larger scale figures assemble fairly quickly and have surprisingly tight joints, providing a stable system for maximum posability. I'll also note that you can do this posing without the figures falling apart in your hands. One detractor for hardcore comic fans may be the odd spider legs coming out of both figures' backs, as if they were manga mega bots of some sort. No worries..you can yank them out easily enough. For the sake of a complete view, we left our robo claws in. The Joker's weapon of choice is a sort of pop gun/ ray gun with appealing translucent parts while Batman gets a super destructo double edged sword. You are probably saying to yourself "these are for kids...where the hell would they fit into my collection?!" Our one thought was they ARE super mega manga bots you can pop your mini figures onto the backs of. I even had two little remotes to complete the look! GIANT ROBO WARRRR!!




























CLICK HERE for more images from this set!

We've got loads more to show you so check back soon!

Score your LEGO Batcave RIGHT HERE!

Holiday Geekbook: LEGO DC Super Heroes Sneak Preview

Just a quick peek at the current project! Love this series and the possibilities that come with it. Sure, Batman has come in LEGO form before, but he never had the whole DC Universe behind him! Sooo..stop paying 1k for the old Bat Cave because there's a new one on the way along with so much LEGO awesomeness you're eyeballs are bound to explode from your skull between all that has been revealed already and all you can dream up...that they'll probably make to fill your wish lists, as is their way! Hitting stores now...

- Catwoman Catcycle City Chase
- Batwing Battle Over Gotham City
- Batmobile and the Two-Face Chase
- Superman VS Power Armor Lex Luthor
- Batman Figure
- Green Lantern Figure
- Joker Figure




















Now it would make sense that the Batcave is also in this first wave, hitting just in time to make a big noise for the holiday season with a big ticket price to boost those end of the year sales numbers, but I haven't seen any store tags for it yet, so keep hunting, but be prepared to wait a bit for stores to get filled up and the scalpers satiated before you can score the goods.

CLICK HERE for more images from the sneak preview at NY Comic Con!
CLICK HERE to start shopping and cut out all the run around. Happy Holidays!

Visit DCUNIVERSESUPERHEROES.LEGO.COM for more LEGO DC Fun!