A new maker takes on Batman v Superman, is it any good? [X Batman v Superman minifig set]

Man, I really, really should update the blog more. There’s a bit of a backlog accumulating here, but I will get through them all, I promise. In the intervening months since I last posted, there has been an explosion of bootleg sets, from Star Wars to superhero sets and even Lego’s higher-end Creator sets. Admittedly, I don’t think I’d be able to cover all those sets lest I burn a serious hole in my pocket (and savings)! I will cover what I can, though, and I guess those would be sets that pique my interest.

As well, a number of bootleg makers have branched out and started to release their own minifigs for characters that Lego has yet to manufacture themselves. I’ll also be covering those, since minifigs are my thing if it’s not obvious enough from previous posts!

All told, it’s a great time to get into these. Just the plethora of choices available is astounding.

Anyway, I’ll focus on this here Batman v Superman minifig set. The movie itself is one of those deals where you either like it or you don’t. Regardless, we’re getting some good minifigs out of it, so it’s a definite win for brick collectors.

This set in particular is from a company called "X". This is the first I've covered this particular maker, so we'll get to see how they stack against the SY's and Decool's of the bootleg world. As has been the norm for these sets, they cost 25 PHP per minifig when bought as a set.

This set is composed of 8 minifigs. You've got Lex Luthor, Batman, Armored Batman, Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Superman, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Now, I understand the last two characters made cameo appearances in the movie, but seeing that Lego hasn't really included either in their own BvS sets, their inclusion here feels kinda forced, a means to get to that nice, round number of 8 minifigs that most bootleg makers like with their minifig sets.

The standard box design for this set has CGI art, the company logo, and an inset of the minifig inside up front.

The back has more CGI art which includes all the characters, as well as photos of all the actual minifigs included in the set.

On one side of the box you'll find instructions on how to build the minifig.

Inside the box, you'll find, of course, the pieces for the minifig and accessories to go along with it,
and the now-ubiquitous baseplate. X didn't bother with inserting trading cards in the box, which may or may not be a good thing, your mileage may vary. I personally have no use for those cards, but I can see how others might want one.

So here's Aquaman when built.

You'll notice that his hair piece doesn't match the one shown on the inset on the front of the box. As well, his trident is of a different color than what is shown. Also, the Aquaman version included here is based off of the comic book version, and not the one that will be included in the upcoming Justice League movie. Jason Momoa this figure is not.

And here's Lex Luthor, he comes with a gun. I would've liked him to have had a piece of kryptonite instead, but okay. Note the difference in color between his leg pieces and his hip piece.

Now we have Cyborg.

The movie shows little in the way of Cyborg's actual costume in the future Justice League movie, so like with Aquaman, this minifig is based on the comic book version of the character. This minifig comes with a stud shooter.

Next up is Lois Lane.

She doesn't come with any accessory, but really, a camera would have been nice. Other than that, this is a solid minifig.

Then we have Wonder Woman.

Note how the hair-cum-tiara piece looks off. It kinda looks like the maker tried to keep using the same hair piece used by the comic book version of the same minifig. Said movie version has Wonder Woman's tiara painted on to the head piece itself, with the hair piece being just that - hair. She comes with a translucent sword and a shield.

Next up is the Man of Steel himself, Superman.

In this set, he's still sporting the classic cowlick hair piece, which the movie version of the minifig has ditched already. Supes has no accessories to speak of, though it's not like he needed any to begin with. The S logo on Superman's torso looks off. Few bootleg makers have been able to nail down the color paint of the original Lego minifig. X is not one of those makers.

Moving on, we have the, um, regular suit Batman? I'm just winging it on the suit name here, so apologies in advance if there's a better name for it.

This minifig comes with a translucent batarang. I'm not sure that Batman used translucent material for his batarangs in the movie, but okay.

And finally, we have my personal pick, the Armored Batman.

He gets an extra piece to go on top of his torso, as well as a stud shooter, a grappling hook, and a, thankfully, opaque batarang.

Also, yes, X made the smart decision to not scrimp on the details under the armor. Have a look.

Kudos to X for keeping the details under the armor painted. Some other manufacturers won't bother doing that.

So that's pretty much it for this set. In general, it's a decent set, niggles I pointed out notwithstanding. Outside of a couple of misaligned detail applications here and there, as well as a couple of eyebrow-raising design decisions, the amount of detail on these figures, as well as their relative closeness to what the original minifigs look like, this is a solid purchase if you really need your BvS itch scratched.