DC Comics LEGO - Lois Lane, Black Canary, Green Arrow

Today is Valentine's Day.  I like Valentine's Day a lot more now than I used to.  I'm married to a hot wife, have two boys who are just starting to figure out the V-Day thing and will probably be much more successful at it than I ever have been, or ever will be.  They're both kinda players, now that I think about it. In any case, I figured it would be a good day to highlight a few super-couples that I made out of LEGO.

Superman was finally part of a LEGO set in 2012, and I picked him up and dig him lots.  But he didn't have a Lois Lane with him.  There will be a Lois Lane with the new Man of Steel LEGO sets coming this May, but super-love can't wait that long.  So I made this Lois Lane to go with him.  Awwww.  That's her um, phone in her hand.  Or iPad.  Or iPad Mini.  It's something shiny, okay? 

Another super-couple I've liked for a long time now is Green Arrow and Black Canary; they're always on-again off-again, and I honestly don't know their current status in the DC Universe.  Green Arrow is on the CW series "Arrow,  and that's good for him I suppose...and there's a Laurel Lance character on there who might possibly maybe become a Black Canary eventually.  Anyway.  Here's them.  And no, I didn't use her fishnets costume.  Not yet.  Maybe later. It *is* Valentine's Day...

LEGO Batman: Enemies

With all of my obsessive compulsive problems with how LEGO isn't releasing every single character from across more than 75 years of DC Comics history, I've gotta say I have no complaints about how they've handled the villains of Gotham City. Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Bane, Killer Croc...all the A-Listers are covered.  

Then again, me being me...I wanted more. Batman has the best (or worst?) villains in comic books, and even beyond the A-Listers, I wanted more.  

Left to Right, Front to Back: Red Hood, Black Mask, Mr Zsasz; Firefly, Mad Hatter, Killer Moth; Hugo Strange, Hush.

LEGO Batman: Allies

Huntress, Batman, Robin (Damian Wayne) Nightwing, Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon

As a lifelong fan of Batman, and a nearly lifelong fan of LEGO, when LEGO announced a Batman line in 2007, I was immediately onboard.  LEGO did a great job with Batman for a few years, and then restarted the line last year, expanding it to include the rest of the DC Comics universe (Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman etc.).

But when you've known Batman as long as I have, you need something more.  So I've updated some of my Batman LEGO customs and added some new ones.

Batman, Red Robin, Huntress, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon

The Batman Family has changed and expanded over the years--the Robin I grew up with also grew up, so Dick Grayson, once the Boy Wonder, has become Nightwing. LEGO released him in one set about five years ago, and the only thing I changed about that minifigure was the hair.  The others are all new, including Tim Drake (the third Robin, now "Red Robin), Damian Wayne (the current Robin), and a personal favorite of mine, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.  I updated my Huntress and Commissioner Gordon minifigures to give them the "light flesh" faces instead of yellow faces, since the LEGO  Super Heroes line uses more realistic skin tones than classic LEGO does.  LEGO has finally released a Commissioner Gordon this year, in a set based on The Dark Knight Rises...I'm thinking I'll keep my cartoon/comics based version around too.

My Proposal for Muppet LEGO

So if you know me at all, you know that I'm a fan of the Muppets, and I'm also a fan of toys.  And in my opinion, there aren't many better toy companies out there than LEGO.  I really didn't discover LEGO until I was a teenager, but once I did, I never really let it go.

Last year LEGO debuted a sort of crowdsourcing way to get ideas for new sets--fans could make proposals with text and images, put them on a LEGO CUUSOO website, and then if a proposal received enough votes, than the LEGO people would look at the practical business issues of getting the set made.  My proposal is about the Muppets.

Camilla, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear

The Muppets have been a part of my life since my childhood, and despite their toy-like nature (they are puppets, after all), they haven't ever been presented as any part of a building set.  I think there's a lot of potential there.  There could be minifigures, playsets, vehicles, and other ways to bring the magical mayhem of the Muppets home.  The key is showing LEGO that these could work.  So I put together my own version of Muppet Minifigures...there are 24 so far, and another couple of dozen in the works.  Why?  Because I'm obsessive.  And compulsive.  And sometimes, obsessive-compulsive.   

Here are a few more pictures of the minifigures:

The Electric Mayhem (and Rowlf)

 Scooter, Rizzo, Stunt Gonzo, Chickens, Pepe

Bunsen, Beaker, Sam Eagle, Swedish Chef, Waldorf and Statler

These are understandably rougher than the "real" versions that LEGO would make, but I wanted to show that it would be possible to make Muppets in the same size as LEGO minifigures.  I've also been working on  LEGO Digital Designer computer-rendered versions of some key sets, like the Muppet Theater, the Swedish Chef's Kitchen, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's Laboratory.  ...and I've got some rough sketches of the Pigs in Space Spaceship and the Electric Mayhem Bus and some other things.  

Swedish Chef's Kitchen

Muppet Labs

Muppet Theater

The key at this point is getting the word out.  As of this writing, more than 1,000 people have voted for the Muppet LEGO proposal, which is fantastic--it's enough to get noticed by LEGO.  To get the official review, it needs 10,000 votes.  Which seems like a lot.  It is a lot.  I'm hoping there are enough fans of the Muppets and LEGO out there to get it made.  If you're interested, go to the link for Muppet LEGO, register, and vote!  It won't sign you up for all kinds of spam, it won't cost you anything, it just demonstrates that you support the idea.  You know you want to.  

A few more sketches to leave you with:

The Pigs in Space spaceship, the Electric Mayhem Bus, Great Muppet Caper Hot Air Balloon, Gonzo's Stunt Cycle, and the Muppet Theater

A bunch of Muppet minifigure sketches.  More to come.