Galaxy Patrol

“No outer-space menace escapes the Galaxy Patrol!”

Set controls to outer space because this hefty little brute is one of the biggest figures to come out of the line (with one of the goofiest names). Decked out in mostly dark blue, GP is pretty bulky for his size. His face is double-sided and the symbols on his shoulder armour go all the way back to some of the earliest Space Themes produced by LEGO. If you’re looking for a heavy-duty Space Marine mini, you can’t go wrong with this guy. 8 out of 10

Computer Programmer

“Hello, World.”

That is the dumbest catchphrase ever but look at this guy! He’s Clark Kent! With his wee mended glasses and bemused look on his face. Given the introduction of the DC Universe sets, you can use this guy alongside the Superman mini quite easily and if you don’t wanna spend 20 quid, you could always just sit him on your computer monitor, where he belongs. He comes with a cool little cup and a laptop. 9 out of 10!

Bunny Suit Guy

“What kind of noise does a bunny make anyway?”

One of the more recognisable figures in the set is this sex pest. Seriously, you can’t have a suave look on your face like that and be in a bunny suit, it’s weird! Surprisingly, he’s only the third minifigure to be a guy in an animal costume (With Gorilla Guy and Lizard Man). He comes with a large carrot (Careful now!) and is actually pretty fun when you swap out his head for any number of others. Personally, I like to put an angry face in there and have him fight our next subject! Overall, 8 out of 10!

And now for a little bonus! The newspapers over here in the UK sometimes run week-long promotions where they giveaways LEGO polybags free from certain stockists. These are often the polybags that people can buy in Toys ‘R’ Us stores or from the LEGO website. I picked up this set on Saturday purely for the minifigure in came with and so, without further ado, I give you:

Bat Jetski

Oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy! A Batman mini!Sweeeeet! It’s Batman, you don’t need more than that. It comes with a little buildable jet ski which suuuuucks but 50p for a Batman minifigure is a steal! This black-suited dark knight detective uses a new molding for the cowl, one which has not been put into mass production yet. He has a double-sided face, allowing for stern looks and cheeky smirks. I don’t know which is more unnerving. A great little figure only marred by the inclusion of a BS vehicle that I have no use for. 9 out of 10!

So that’s it for now folks! Next time: Something Not-LEGO!

Young Justice is one of the newest animated shows from DC Entertainment and Warner Bros and is a damn fine show. Debuting nearly 16 months ago, it’s only now that the first season has reached it’s finale. You heard me right, 16 months for 26 episodes. Yeah…… Cartoon Network are fucking assholes. But despite being spread across three years (2010-2012) and constant delays, the show has been consistently engaging. Any time the show has appeared on screens, it’s just as fresh and brilliant as when it left off.

Following the exploits of a covert ops team of teen heroes, Young Justice is written and produced by some of the best in the business, namely Greg Weisman (He of Gargoyles and Spectacular Spiderman fame) and Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, The Batman). Not to mention an all-star cast, running the gamut from DC Animated staples  to relative new-comers.

So with the Season 2 premiere only days away (Seriously, 16 months but Season 2 starts the week after Season 1 finishes? What clown is in charge of scheduling?) I’m going to be counting down my Top 5 episodes of Season 1, starting with…..

5 – “Welcome to Happy Harbor”

The third episode of the season is where we really start to see the team come together. In the hour-long premiere, the team solely consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. They retrieved Superboy from Cadmus Labs, and Miss Martian was introduced just before it ended. It was a pretty dark episode to kick off but fun nonetheless. It’s in this episode where we start to get a feel for how the show is going to portray it’s team when they deal with the villain, Mr Twister, in a surprising show of teamwork. The only downside is the over-use of Miss Martian’s catchphrase “Hello, Megan!” but thankfully that lessens in the future episodes. A fun episode to showcase what the show is and well worth checking out.

4 –  “Coldhearted”

Kid Flash is the comedic relief of the Team so to have an entire episode focus on him and show he’s capable of growth was an excellent move. This is probably my favourite episode of the season so why is it only 4th? Because while I enjoyed it, other episodes did far better in terms of character development. Our red-headed speedster has to run across country to deliver precious cargo to a heart transplant patient, in the snow, with Vandal Savage standing in his way. It’s a recipe that works for me! Wally learns his lesson, grows up a little and even showcases his powers in a more successful way than ’Denial’ did but its just not as strong as some other episodes and this is purely on the list because I enjoy it. It’s my list, I’ll do whatever I want!

3 – “Secrets”

One thing you’ll notice about this show is that it has a definitive timeline, the show makes it clear what day of the year a particular episode takes place on, whether through on screen text or mentions on the show. Case in point, this episode which is a Halloween episode and while Conner, Wally and Megan do the usual Halloween schtick, the episode truly focuses on Zatanna, the relative newbie to the team. Zatanna and Artemis head out on patrol and encounter a seemingly unstoppable opponent in the form of Harm. Aided by a mysterious young girl, the two uncover a horrible secret that ties Harm and Secret together and is actually pretty dark, especially for touching on a subject that is danced around in many other shows. The dark and heavy A-Plot is balanced out by the B-Plot’s humour and shenanigans. From a story perspective, it’s a perfect episode and an excellent way to further add Zatanna to the team.

2 – “Failsafe”

The Justice League is dead before the credits. Yeah, this episode isn’t dicking around. Granted, this is obviously a “What If?” scenario because we’re only 16 episodes into the first season but it’s very apocalyptic and doesn’t mess around with killing off people. It’s an episode along the same lines as “Over the Edge”, an episode of New Adventures of Batman which is quite similar but nowhere near as good. Sorry, but it’s not! “Over the Edge” didn’t have lasting consequences while character development is at an all time high in this episode. We see the Team step into the shoes of their now-dead mentors and deal with this alien threat as the situation becomes more and more dire. Even the Team itself is not safe and while the outcome is obvious, the emotional impact of this episode is felt well into the later half of the series. I’m not giving too much away but it is well worth your time.

1 – “Usual Suspects” & “Auld Acquaintance”

I’m kinda cheating here by having the penultimate episode and finale as my number 1 but they feel so much like a two-parter that they deserve to share the top spot. Greg Weisman said that the theme of the first season is ‘secrets and lies’ during early promotion of the series and that really comes to the fore in these two episodes. The series has been steadily building it’s story from the get-go and these two episodes are where all those plot threads are tightened into one epic story. Who is the mole? What was The Light’s plan? Why did they use so many villains? How will the Team deal with such a threat? And what is “Phase 2”? It’s a rip-roaring two-parter that delivers on all levels and serves as set-up for season 2: “Invasion”.

Check out the trailer for Season 2 (SPOILERS)

See you next time!

The latest in DC’s direct to DVD animated features, Justice League: Doom is an adaptation of the JLA story arc ‘Tower of Babel’. It bears similarities to many of the previous animated outings of the Justice League, sharing the Lead Character Designer with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and Young Justice (Phil Bourassa) and it’s voice cast are synonymous with many of the characters depicted onscreen. Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Michael Rosenbaum, Nathan Fillion and many others do a wonderful job and deliver the performances we come to expect from them in these roles.

So what about the story? As I said before, this is an adaptation of the ‘Tower of Babel’ storyline and for the most part is faithful, while being adapted to better suit a 77-minute runtime. The story beats are much the same but the details are changed. For the most part, this works well but it does kind of suffer towards its ending. The scenes of the League being taken down one by one are some of the most tense and, dare I say, enjoyable of any animated outing to date and is the high point of the movie in my opinion, closely followed by Batman‘s realisation that it‘s his plans that have taken down the League.

The music feels fairly stock but hits all the right cues when it needs to. Animation is slick and fluid, as you’d expect if you’re familiar with Crisis and Young Justice and it’s just how I like it. The fight scenes have both grace and force to them.
This is the last written work of Dwayne McDuffie, who tragically died last year around this time. The film is dedicated to his memory.

It’s not the best of the DC Universe features but by no means the worst. More middle of the road but it’s word checking out both if you’re a fan of these films in general or a fan of Dwayne McDuffie. You can pick up Justice League: Doom on Single and Double-Disc DVD, as well as Blu-Ray on February 28th.