We are back with another LEGO DC retrospective. We’re flying through the years and the months of this theme. It’s almost June, which is mind-boggling! Today we will be looking at 2017. 2017 was a pretty boring year for LEGO DC. We received 7 sets. Since 2015, LEGO has really fallen behind. I will cover this year in two articles. Hidden in the lackluster year was a movie which sparked one, if not the biggest, wave of DC’s history. All of this will be revealed at the end of part 2. Let’s get started!
Battle of Atlantis (76085).
It was beautiful but expensive. You would have thought that it would cost $15 USD at first glance. You would not get a set of this price if you had four figures and a small build. Similar sets like the “Iron Man Vs Ultron” and the “Avengers Outrider Dropship Attack” were released. This set looked like it was supposed to cost $15 USD. It was $20 USD, which surprised me.
This set was Aquaman’s first DCEU appearance. To match the movie’s style, LEGO created a new hairpiece with white streaks. His front and back faces were very different from Aquaman’s past Aquaman characters. They had brown hair colours. His torso and legs were identical to the armor he wore in the theatrical and mostly the Snyder versions of the film. The trident he wore was made in gun metal gray and had a lightsaber blade attached at the bottom. He was given a power blast to use against the Parademon.
The Parademon was a detailed figure. It was nice to see this creature in action, even though we didn’t see any bright-yellow versions. The detail on the legs and torso was amazing, as well as the face print. LEGO didn’t stop there. These details were further extended to the wings. LEGO provided two of each variant of the wing in the set, totaling four.
Two Atlanteans were the final two figures in the set. The headpiece was made in very precise molds and was gold. They had identical torsos and leg prints, but they each had unique face printing. Let me just say how much effort the designers put into these minifigures. They all had leg printing! Leg printing! This is a rare feature in today’s superhero sets. They put so much passion into their minifigures, making Justice League Wave a sub-theme I will always remember for its amazing figures!
The set was also amazing! What could be better than a set? It was a diorama of a small area of Atlantis. The sand-blue pieces were used to make the pillars. It was a great idea. This set was made alive by the stickers and seaweed. A super jumper included in the set could be used to take the top of the main structure down. The set also included a display for the Mother Box Build in the middle. Overall, the set was solid and should be a source of pride for designers.
Knightcrawler Tunnel Attack (76086)
It was also a solid set at $50 USD. Both the minifigures as well as the builds were amazing. LEGO created a new Batman to go with his DCEU appearance. His faceprint was updated with stubble and he came with a new faceprint. Although his torso looked the same as in 2016, his legs were printed and dual-molded. He was also equipped with a Grappling Hook and a Batarang.
Another beautiful figure was the Flash He was actually a Firestar Toys figure that I bought recently. He is definitely my favorite figure from this wave. His appearance in the film was accurate to a great extent. To replicate the movie prop’s design, a completely new helmet was designed. The helmet featured the lightning bold inscribed on it. Two very cool prints were made on his face, as well as a nearly identical torso- and leg print. This figure is amazing. Really. This is my favorite DC figure. He was just so cool! To top it all, LEGO provided him with two power blast pieces that he could use to shoot at the Parademons in this set.
We got a new variant of Parademons in this set. The film didn’t contain any green Parademons. Amazing face print. The figure’s look was enhanced by every line and dot detail. Both the beautiful light and dark colors complimented each other perfectly. Similar printing was used on the torso as in the yellow version. It was just as detailed and had similar details, but it was mainly made of green. This effort was carried over to LEGO’s legs, making these figures extremely collectible. Both Parademons came with four pieces of wing each and a stud gun as weapons.
The Knightcrawler. It was an unusual build and didn’t have the Batman look. It was still an impressive build that matched the film’s appearance very closely. It had two legs at the bottom. They were connected by massive hinge joints and could reproduce the movements of the real thing. It used a very unique piece of windscreen to design the cockpit. Batman could fit inside. The Knightcrawler was equipped with dual six-stud shooters that could rapidly fire 12 studs at enemy targets. It was actually quite a good set. LEGO worked hard to design amazing minifigures. The set also included a second Mother Box.
After reviewing the Battle of Atlantis, it became clear that I could not possibly review all three LEGO DC Justice League sets 2017 in one article. Why? Maybe it’s because LEGO did an amazing job with this wave! We have received leg printing on every minifigure so far! What are the odds of this happening in any Marvel or DC wave? Do you? We are fortunate today that even half of the superhero figures get leg printing. It’s amazing to see all the work put into these minifigures. The builds were solid, not just the garbage-dumping LEGO loves to do. I appreciated their thought and thoughtful design decisions.
Since I was able to only discuss two sets of the three sets for the entire article, it seems we might have to delay our “big reveal” from the beginning of this article by one week. Thank you so much for reading and I look forward to seeing you all next time. Peace!
