The LEGO® Super Heroes line is an extremely popular theme. The DC Super Heroes side of things has a number of iconic characters to draw inspiration from, many of whom have populated a number of great LEGO sets over the years. One of the biggest draws for many are the weird and wonderful array of characters, transformed into minifigures. But it’s not just play sets where these mini heroes and villains can be found. A handful have also appeared in a number of LEGO titles from DK Books. The latest of which has just been published. The last Visual Dictionary was released back in 2012 and focused mainly on Batman, the newly updated versions expands to the wider DC universe and includes another great exclusive minifigure, not found anywhere else. So let’s take a closer look at both the book and Minifigure.
Product Description
Zoom into the world of LEGO® DC Super Heroes with this visual guide to the minifigures, vehicles and sets, including the LEGO Batman Movie sets.
Explore every detail of LEGO Batman’s Batcave, look around Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet, examine Lex Luthor’s awesome mech and find out about all the LEGO DC Super Heroes minifigures’ weapons and gadgets. Find out how the awesome sets are created in the Beyond the Brick chapter, which features concept art and an interview with the LEGO DC Super Heroes creative team. LEGO DC Super Heroes: The Visual Dictionary will tell you everything there is to know about LEGO DC Super Heroes.
The book comes with an exciting exclusive LEGO DC Super Heroes minifigure! Zap! Pow
- Book Title: LEGO DC Super Heroes Visual Dictionary
- Publisher: DK Books
- Pages: 128
- LEGO Elements: Exclusive Yellow Lantern Batman Minifigure
- RRP: £17.99
- ISBN: 9780241320037
- Availability: General release
The Book
Since the last DC Super Heroes Visual Dictionary, the LEGO DC Super Heroes range has expanded vastly. From video games to feature films, characters from the DC universe have appeared in many different sets and many different forms. All of which are featured in detail, throughout this newly updated book. Many of the main characters like Batman, the Joker and Superman are featured on two page spreads, which show various variants of the character, along with some of the sets they have appeared in. Various sets are also featured in detail, and offer snippets of information about them, including year of release and piece count.
The book is split into four chapters, the first of which covers the good guys of the DC Comics universe, Chapter 2 focuses the bad-uns and surprisingly the third chapter covers The LEGO Batman Movie. I say surprisingly, as until I got to chapter 3, I thought it was odd that none of the versions of characters from the movie had been featured yet. The information and images included throughout, is really in-depth, even to the point of featuring Duplo figures and many of the recently released DC Super Heroes sets.
I’m a big fan of behind-the-scene stuff, so was delighted to see the book had a few pages at the end, dedicated to the team who create the LEGO Super Heroes sets. As well as chatting to various members of the LEGO Design Team, this section of the book also offers a little bit of concept art and shows in basic detail, how sets and minifigures are created. In all honesty I’d of loved to have seen this chapter of the book being a little more in-depth as the process is genuinely interesting plus it’s nice to give those designers behind the sets, a moment discuss their work.
The Minifigure
As I noted a few weeks ago, the much loved Green Lantern and Lantern Corp characters are vastly underrepresented in the world of LEGO. To date there have only been three Lantern characters released in LEGO form, two of which have been released as promotional figures, one with a DVD and the another with another DK Book. With the release on this new Visual Dictionary, the LEGO Lantern Corp has expanded to four members, with this exclusive Yellow Lantern Batman. Yellow Lantern Batman or Sinestro Corp Batman, is based on a fleeting moment in the coverover comic book event Forever Evil. In it, Batman briefly takes on the power of the Yellow Ring to bring down Green Lantern. The minifigure is really cool, and uses the newer version of the Batcowl, which has an open-fronted mouth section. The print detail of the Yellow Lantern-style Batsuit is great, it’s extremely similar to the outfit Sinestro wears in set 76025. However they haven’t just popped Batman’s head on Sinestro’s body. There are slight differences, such as the legs, a few extra muscles and silver strips, replacing Sinestro’s yellow ones.
Overall
DK really know how to best show off LEGO sets and minifigures as well as including interesting information about them. I like how the book shows off various versions of characters. Plus how it showcases some of the themes most impressive sets. The DC Super Heroes theme has been going for quite a while now, but the book does a decent job of balancing the past with more recently aspects of the theme, including The LEGO Batman Movie. I also enjoyed the brief behind-the-scenes section, as mentioned above I’d have loved to see it include a few additional pages. The exclusive minifigure is also a nice addition, there will those who pick the book up merely to get the minifigure, but take a moment flip through the book as it’s an interesting look at one of the most varied LEGO play themes. DK Books have once again provided an amazing extension to the LEGO brand, giving fans of both DC Comics and LEGO, an impressive look beyond the brick. The LEGO DC Super Heroes Visual Dictionary is available now from all good book retailers including Amazon, WHSmith and independent retailers.
This book was provided by DK Books for the purposes of review. The thoughts and opinions of the book reflect those of BricksFanz and not that of DK Books or the LEGO Group.
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