Review: 31205 Jim Lee Batman Collection
Posted by Alice,
The reveal of 31205 Jim Lee Batman Collection generated a lot of excitement among LEGO DC fans, particularly as the portraits were designed by comic book legend Jim Lee in conjunction with colourist collaborator Alex Sinclair.
Unlike some Art sets, the three pictures that can be built from this one are all very different, both in design and colour palette.
Summary
31205 Jim Lee Batman Collection, 4,167 pieces.
£104.99 / $119.99 / €119.99 | 2.5p/2.9c/2.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Jim Lee's custom artwork has made this Art set something special
- Choice of 3 iconic characters
- 1x1 plates in some rare colours
- Varied colour palette
- Expensive at full price, especially if you want to display more than one
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The set is packed in the usual flip-top box, with everything laid out neatly inside.
Some Art sets use 1x1 round plates and others 1x1 round tiles. This one uses the former and includes some in new colours: nougat and medium lavender. Aqua ones are also new this year.
I chose to start with the Batman image which does not require all the colours: there are no red, green or purple pieces in it, so those bags can be left unopened.
DOTS trays came in handy for sorting the pieces ready to build!
The printed 1x6 tiles and a colour key were introduced in Art sets last year to help match the colours to the numbers in the instructions. This is particularly helpful when there are similar shades used, as is the case with here, where Titanium Metallic has been used as another shade of grey.
Art sets are great to build together. My boyfriend is a DC fan, so he was keen to help build this one! Here is our set-up at home, I used the instructions, and he used a photo of them on his phone.
The finished portrait is very striking. The blue really stands out against the monochrome background.
A printed tile is included with the signature of Jim Lee but can be omitted and replaced with 1x1s if you prefer.
The 1x1 round plates add texture and depth to the image.
Here are the pieces that were left after making the Batman. It used mostly black, titanium metallic and the blues.
Now time to take it apart and build The Joker…
Taking it apart is probably the least fun. My advice would be to stay low to the ground and just let all the bits fling off as you use the large brick separator!
Once all the pieces are off it’s best to sort them out again. It was particularly hard to sort the black (1) & titanium metallic (2) as it was difficult to tell them apart when the light reflected off them.
The finished Joker is impressive. The use of blues in his face is interesting: close up it isn't obvious what it is, but from afar it creates the sculpting of his face.
The Joker used most of the green pieces and also some purple. Here's what you have left...
I chose to do Harley Quinn last as that's what I decided we would keep to display on our wall.
Her portrait incorporates some impressively subtle shading on her skin and hair.
After building Harley Quinn, these are the pieces left. She uses most of the red, some blues and most of the white and tan.
I think the Batman portrait is the most effective of the three. Even close up it's fairly obvious what it is, and from a far it's very striking.
The Joker looks great displayed on the wall. His bright green hair is sure to stand out in anyone's room.
Harley Quinn is probably my favourite for display. The bright colours in her hair really stand out against the use of white in her face.
I think all three portraits work well as LEGO Art, because the pictures were designed especially for the set, which isn't always the case, and I like that they are all very different in terms of the colour palette used.
Having the three of them displayed next to each other would look very impressive but buying them at the full price of £105/$120 is not going to be practical for most people. The set is listed at Amazon.co.uk, though, so I am sure we will see it reduced to a slightly more palatable £80 or so in the future.
Overall, then, one of the better and more interesting Art sets and one that will appeal to DC fans in particular.
137 likes
43 comments on this article
Tempting, but all the images of Batman are fairly static and lack the dynamics I'd prefer in an art image. "Just a head" or "Batman just standing around" is a little dull.
I saw this set in our local toy store yesterday next to several of the older ones, and found it interesting that the packaging was quite a bit smaller in dimensions than the older ones like Iron Man or Star Wars.
This could have worked great with Adam West Adam. Pow!
I love it. I agree with Harley being the best out of the three. The art style reminds me of '90s computer games, which I don't think works as well for the other two.
Sidenote: I love Lego + DC. Here's to hoping we get more DC sets that aren't always Batman.
I'm not much of a Batman fan, but I like all the color that comes in this set. I hope it gets discounted a bit. The colors used for Batman's mouth/jaw work great.
Splendid review! I'm glad they worked with Jim Lee for this set. It seems to be a lot better than past art sets. Especially that color palette! The art sets don't really interest me though. Unless they did characters like Ahsoka(from TCW), and P1 Rex...ones I doubt they would ever do.
Probably among the best Art sets right now just based on sheer variety of images you can make. All three look solid, IMO. It just seems a little expensive.
This may be my first art set purchase. Thank you for another great review!
Awesome! Look great. Very thorough review, too.
So, besides the three you need to build these panels, the two you need to build the Batman/Catwoman image, and the three you need to build the large Batman image, how many more copies are we expecting to need when they start dropping alternate instructions in the VIP Rewards Center?
Adam West's Batman, or Jim Lea's Slade would have been a winner for me, but this is money towards the gas bill!
Not a fan of the Art theme, but this works really well for Batman...Lego should do more Art sets based on comics
Hi @Alice, could you talk about the audio side of it? Was that available during review? Thanks!
@Yardsale19X said:
"Hi @Alice , could you talk about the audio side of it? Was that available during review? Thanks! "
I didn’t use it when building the set as I did so before its release so I don’t think it was available yet.
The ‘soundtrack’ is a 55 minute interview with Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair featuring the LEGO designer Kitt Kossman.
Kind of wish Art sets would stick to studs or tiles; if I want to build up my collection to make more custom mosaics I don't want to be switching between both.
That said, these portraits work really well. And interesting how they worked in titanium metallic at a new shade of grey. (Lots of the old mosaic generators still use three shades of gray from when light light gray was briefly produced in sets, and tis always a hassle to remove it from designs. This adds that third shade back in for more details!)
This looks really good. I Love the colors and how they play off each other. The blues really stand out (and that bright green too).
But I think I'll still end up passing on the set. But this could have been my first Art set. As much as I love Iron Man, I passed on that one too. *shrug*
@xccj:
That I’m aware of, very-light-grey was only used for two things. It was used for a lot of NXT components, from the outer cases of the electronics components, to basic beams. And it was produced in 1x1 plates specifically for the old mosaic line, just so they could get a better range of greyscale shades for B/W images. I don’t know how long it was available via mosaics, but my LUG bought a bunch on clearance to use for ballasting our track, I believe around the time of the 2004 color change. There were a few pre-designed mosaics (I think we went with the tiger, based on the mix of colors it offered), and there was a way to submit an image and have a “custom” mosaic set made that you could use to build that image (basically it calculated how many of each color you’d need, how many bags of each color you’d need to meet or exceed those quantities, and it’d spit out an image that they could use to print very basic instructions for you to follow when it arrived).
Probably the only Art set I would consider getting so far. Joker and Harley Quinn are really nice. Batman is alright, but not as much of a priority. But now, where to find the money for such an extravagant expense...
For those of you old enough to remember, these Art sets remind me very much of "hi-res" pictures from 8-bit computers from the 1980's. Especially the loading screens on Commodore 64 tape games - they also had 16 colours for the artist to use, and the designers came up with some pretty spectacular screens, considering the limitations they had to work with.
Perhaps some nostalgic enterprising soul can replicate them in Lego???
@Alice said:
" @Yardsale19X said:
"Hi @Alice , could you talk about the audio side of it? Was that available during review? Thanks! "
I didn’t use it when building the set as I did so before its release so I don’t think it was available yet.
The ‘soundtrack’ is a 55 minute interview with Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair featuring the LEGO designer Kitt Kossman. "
Thanks for this. I was hoping for more of a soundscape, but that sounds decent enough. I could always just put one of the movie soundtracks.
Cropping the top of Batmans 'ears' on the cowl is utterly unforgivable imo. A real shame.
I absolutely love this mosaic. I like a lot of the Art sets, but getting Jim Lee to design new artwork specifically for this set elevates it above other licensed ones like Iron Man. Making Joker and Harley Quinn out of Batman already adds great variety, but then being able to build a giant Batman out of 3 copies or Batman and Catwoman out of 2 just adds even more value. The only downside for a DC fan like myself is that I want too many of these! I hope it goes on sale soon, but for now I've just bought one set to try out.
Great set and review, but what impressed me most was how the last three pictures were taken approximatelly at the same time in different days, in order to get the same natural lighting and shadowing!
If you wanted to make all three images, would two sets be enough of the 1x1 plates? Looking at Alice's photos of the leftovers from each, it looks like it might be doable with a relatively small number of additional studs from Bricklink, BnP, or your own extras. You'd need the 16x16 plates to put them on- or use 48x48 baseplates. You coyld also "trim each image by a stud all the way around (making it 46x46); this would save 190 studs per image.
@560heliport said:
"If you wanted to make all three images, would two sets be enough of the 1x1 plates? Looking at Alice's photos of the leftovers from each, it looks like it might be doable with a relatively small number of additional studs from Bricklink, BnP, or your own extras. You'd need the 16x16 plates to put them on- or use 48x48 baseplates. You coyld also "trim each image by a stud all the way around (making it 46x46); this would save 190 studs per image. "
I would like another Sith -style analysis of how many leftover pieces a set gets you and what the minimum number of sets are needed for the alternate or joint builds.
@DFX:
Or they were taken at very different times of the day, with shades drawn, so the artificial lighting remained consistent regardless of what it looked like outside. Almost every fixture in my condo has 100w-equivalent daylight spectrum LED bulbs that only use 16w per bulb, but give a bright, 5000 K light that looks very different from a standard incandescent. The few remaining exceptions include basement and bathrooms (using up whatever incandescents were left by the previous owner), the storage room (some weird LED replacement for a halogen tube because I didn’t feel like buying a new lamp), appliances, and my bedside light. When I visit my parents, it looks like they light their living room with candles because the light is so yellow.
I wish this was made using tiles. I appreciate the clean look of the tiles over the studs.
Prior to the Art series I created mosaics using bricks, round plates and tiles and I prefer the look of the tiles over the look of studs.
I too, wish they'd use only tiles moving forward. The amount of round 1x1 tiles I've been able to add to my collection these past few waves of art sets is amazing!
Medium lavender 1x1 round plates. That is all I have to say.
"I only work in black, and sometimes very medium lavender."
@DFX, @PurpleDave, they were all take taken in the afternoon. The Batman was photographed with my Galaxy S21, the others with Alice's iPhone, so it needed to be tweaked a bit to match.
@Huw:
So the shadows are legit, but the “natural lighting” got a bit of an assist in post? Didn’t see that one coming...
That little point in the middle of blue 9 does my head in.
@chris38911 said:
"For those of you old enough to remember, these Art sets remind me very much of "hi-res" pictures from 8-bit computers from the 1980's. Especially the loading screens on Commodore 64 tape games - they also had 16 colours for the artist to use, and the designers came up with some pretty spectacular screens, considering the limitations they had to work with.
Perhaps some nostalgic enterprising soul can replicate them in Lego???
"
I was thinking the cut-scenes in the 8-bit NES game!
If they do a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme art set, I’ll be in.
@ quincy:
They lost the TMNT license several years ago, so don’t hold your breath.
Just doesn't look like Jim Lee's work so much. Missing that linework style he's known for, with Scott Williams.
I think for these comic book styled ones, a Jack Kirby or Mike Mignola styled blockiness would lend well to the Lego mosaic.
Tempting. Very tempting. And double VIP points in just a little over an hour! Plus it only needs a keychain to qualify for the Jane Goodall set....
@legoDad42:
Ugh. I know he improved, but all I can think about with Mike Mignola is an epically bad run of Batman art, and a SW Stormtrooper doing Babylon 5 Centauri cosplay.
@PurpleDave said:
" @legoDad42 :
Ugh. I know he improved, but all I can think about with Mike Mignola is an epically bad run of Batman art, and a SW Stormtrooper doing Babylon 5 Centauri cosplay."
With Mignola, look at the Dark Horse Hellboy style he does. That's his best. Blocky, angular, lots of great shadow and light work.
Which Batman run are you referring? I'm only remembering the Elseworld Batman: Gotham by Gaslight which was excellent.
Kirby with his blocky style, loud colors definitely lends well to these Lego art pieces.
@legoDad42:
Honestly, I have no idea when it was. I started collecting comics following Batman ‘89, and largely dropped out when Hasbro started making SW action figures, but it was probably during the back half of that timeframe. At the time, besides Detective and Batman, I think Shadows of the Bat and Legends of the Dark Knight were in print, so there would be at least four potential titles.
In truth, I didn’t realize he had anything to do with Gotham by Gaslight, because the art in that is so much better than what I’m thinking of. It may have even just been cover art at the time, not the interior work. But to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, if you image search for “Mike Mignola Batman”, you’ll probably get several images of a B/W statue based on his artwork, where Batman’s shoulders look like they’re at least a foot lower than his chin, and he looks kinda like Humpty Dumpty.
@PurpleDave said:
" @legoDad42:
Honestly, I have no idea when it was. I started collecting comics following Batman ‘89, and largely dropped out when Hasbro started making SW action figures, but it was probably during the back half of that timeframe. At the time, besides Detective and Batman, I think Shadows of the Bat and Legends of the Dark Knight were in print, so there would be at least four potential titles.
In truth, I didn’t realize he had anything to do with Gotham by Gaslight, because the art in that is so much better than what I’m thinking of. It may have even just been cover art at the time, not the interior work. But to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, if you image search for “Mike Mignola Batman”, you’ll probably get several images of a B/W statue based on his artwork, where Batman’s shoulders look like they’re at least a foot lower than his chin, and he looks kinda like Humpty Dumpty."
From what I know collecting Mignola never did a batman run. Just one shots here and there.
With that statue, that's on the sculptor. Mignola's style is flat on the page as 2D, so the sculptor instead of fleshing it out, did it all based on one angle. He needed Mike to do the turnarounds for it.
As a Batman fan, of course I had to have this one. I skipped the previous images mainly because I find the price too high.
I "built" this one and I have to say I'm not thrilled. Of course it's not really building, it's more like laying down a mosaic. Very monotonous very boring. I don't understand the appeal of these things.
this is the first and only one I will ever buy.
@legoDad42:
It may have even just been a multi-part story told over 2-5 issues. LotDK was based on the idea of doing longer stories like that, with at least the first five stories being five-parters (one of which set up Bane’s origin, with the introduction of the Venom drug) before they started allowing shorter 1-4 issue arcs. I think the creative teams changed with each new story, too.
Alternately, they may have used a bridge team or individual to fill a gap between two regular lineups if someone had to leave before their replacement(s) became available.
The Stormtrooper that I mentioned was from a trading card series called Star Wars Galaxy, which had a segment called New Visions, where various artists could include their original take on the SW mythos. His card was a really chunky Stormtrooper with limbs that were badly proportioned, and a kinda fan shape that surrounded the Stormtrooper helmet that distinctly reminded me of the Centauri hairstyles from Babylon 5.