Will Lego Do Super Hero Blindbags?

Published on Thursday, May 17, 2012 by Troy Osgood

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Lego is enjoying great success with their collectible minifigs. Would they ever do a series based on the Super Hero line?

Lego released a Hulk minifig as part of a promotion this month. The minifig is different from the one that comes in the set currently on sale. The promotional minifig is based on the Hulk’s classic look, including the ripped purple pants.

The Super Hero sets, both Marvel and DC, are based mostly on the Avengers movie and Lego Batman 2 video game. And with the Super Hero line they had to basically invent a playset to go with some of the characters. Captain America comes with a motorcycle and is really just an army builder set for the aliens. Wolverine and Deadpool get a helicopter, and along with Magneto, the helicopter seems a bit out of place. Bane, part of the larger Batcave set, gets a tank-drill thing. To get a Catwoman minifig they had to create a battle scene and give Catwoman a motorcycle.

The problem is that the comic book characters don’t have things associated with them, for the most part, that can lend itself to becoming a buildable playset. You could do Avengers Mansion but then you miss out on alot of the other Avengers. Fantastic Four could get a Baxter Building set, but what about Spider-Man, Daredevil and others that don’t have specific buildings or vehicles associated with them?

Lego follows the “core character” concept as well. This is similar to what Hasbro and Mattel do with their lines. Look at G.I. Joe and Star Wars, there’s always some core characters that are used to drive the line. The same characters, the proven sellers, come in multiple waves to help draw in the fans. Lego does this, to an extent, with some of their lines, notably Star Wars and Harry Potter. As much as some collector’s don’t like it, the core character concept is proven. Lego will most likely do this with the DC and Marvel sets. This means alot of Thor, Iron Man, Batman, Superman and so on. With only 6 to 8 sets produced a year, this means there will be alot of characters and costumes, from both publishers, that never get to see minifig form.

The blind bagged Collectible Minifigs are hugely popular. Other companies are following the model, from Megabloks to Playmobil. I’ve heard stories of collectors sitting on the floor of the local Lego stores when a new series gets released. They go through the bags, trading back and forth.

With the popularity of blind bag series and knowing that there are so many characters, and multiple costumes, available in the DC and Marvel universes, it seems a combining of the two could be a big hit.

A series of minifigs would be a great way to get more characters out there, as well as having the collectible aspect. What Lego fan, and even comic fan, wouldn’t be interested in picking up a series of minifigs and toy collector’s love the thrill of the hunt. There are so many characters to choose from that it would take years to go through them all, and that’s without even getting into multiple costumes. There are so many characters that wouldn’t support a full buildable set on their own, but people would love as just a minifig.

I hope this happens soon.