DC Super Heroes 2012 - My Thoughts Part One...

I almost entirely missed out on the original Batman theme, and the news that another theme was going to released, which would also feature many other DC Universe characters, was very well received by me. Although many of the sets released in 2012 were in fact updated versions of older sets, they were nevertheless an excellent selection of models, and gave us many of the most popular characters in Minifigure form for those who missed out on them the first time around. In this article I will give some of my thoughts on the smaller sets in the first wave of DC Super Heroes models, stay tuned for the second part where I will discuss the larger sets.

I will begin with the smallest of the six sets, the Catwoman Catcycle City Chase which despite its small size, makes for a great introduction to the Super Heroes theme. It features both the wonderful comic style Batman figure, in this set equipped with a winged jetpack, and the legendary seductress Catwoman, both of which are wonderful.

The set itself lacks anything particularly outstanding, but Catwoman comes with a rather nice motorcycle for her to ride, and we get a small section of pavement which includes a nice feature in the form of the falling traffic light as well as some boxes which are ideal for crashing through. Finally, we also receive some outstanding accessories such as a Batarang, a diamond, and two newspaper tiles which complete the set.

The next smallest set, Superman Vs. Power Armour Lex is the only one in the first wave not to be centred around Batman, but instead the hero here is of course the one and only Superman. His Minifigure is, as you would expect, the highlight of the set and looks fantastic, being highly detailed right down to the famous 'S' curl in his hair. We also get a wonderful Wonder Woman Minifigure, although it does suffer from some poorer quality plastic issues unfortunately. Still, this is a superb Minifigure and a welcome addition. Last of all, we get Lex Luthor, Superman's arch enemy and a wealthy businessman of the Metropolis high society which is an equally marvellous Minifigure in my opinion, despite its rather simple design.

The power armour worn by Luthor is a lovely model with plenty of playability and poseability, as well as an absolutely brilliant Kryponite gun for taking down Superman. The set contains some very useful and rare pieces as well, including several purple parts and a few translucent green components to boot. My favourite piece however is Wonder Woman's lasso of truth which looks absolutely fantastic.

The final set for this half of my review of DC Super Heroes sets last year is the excellent Batwing Battle Over Gotham City, which is the smallest set to include Batman's most famous enemy, the Joker, who is captured in Lego form spectacularly, getting just the right balance between his comic book and film appearances. We also get a Henchman to assist him in his nefarious deeds, who is highly detailed, especially on the back of his torso where one finds a lovely image of the Joker's grinning face. Of course, we also get a Batman Minifigure to pilot his lovely Batwing, who here is dressed in his black Batsuit, which is much like the one he wears in the 1989 Batman film.

Two vehicles are included in this set, Batman's Batwing jet, as well as Joker's helicopter which looks suitably crazy. There are plenty of fun features, from a dropping bomb on each model, to the obligatory flick fire missiles which also feature on both vehicles. Perhaps best of all however is the white rope ladder which the Joker can hang from to bring chaos upon Gotham as he shoots manically with his trick gun.

Next time I will continue to document my thoughts on the larger three sets from the first wave of DC Super Heroes sets, and after that I will be discussing the curious craze that is collecting chase Minifigures such as the six Comic Con exclusives, which I am in fact guilty of myself.