I've been hovering around Targets, waiting to see if the Man of Steel LEGO sets are cheaper there than they were at Toys"R"Us, where all that stuff first appeared.  SPOILERS: Yes, they are!  This set with Superman, Zod, and Lois Lane was $25 at TRU, but only $20 at Target.  Scooore!

I bought it only for Lois.  There's something about a mini-figure in a sweater vest that's inescapably alluring.   Seriously, major crush forming here.

(As an aside, it's funny to me that Man of Steel Superman's hairpiece is the usual LEGO Superman hairpiece, with the swooshy S-curl hanging over his forehead, because why tool him a new one, even though MoS Superman ain't got that.  Supermans is Supermans.)

I have no idea what the set itself is supposed to represent.  There's this folding thing, and a sliding door, and a ladder, and there's some missiles.  Sure?  Why not?  And then there's some egg-shaped space pod thing with a seat and a canopy and stuff.  No idea what that is, either.

...I've decided it's one of those sex hotel rooms you pay for by the hour.

That's why I was all about this Iron Man 3 LEGO set!  Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, sitting at home and doing Science in their sweet Science House.  Being domestic badasses.

I mean, sure, it comes with a helicopter with Gandalf the Black-- er, Mandarin and an "Extremis Soldier," and I guess Tony and/or Pepper are supposed to fight them, but meh.  I was in this for the house.  So I could play house.  Science House.  Imagine that helicopter is somewhere just outside the photograph, doing whatever.  Going out for donuts.  Sure.  But SCIENCE HOUSE.

I let it be known (by announcing updates to my Amazon Wish List on twitter) that this was a LEGO set I coveted, and my pals Neal and Cindy Lindsay brought it along to my birthday, for me, to have.  Because they're basically the best.  I put this effer together as soon as everyone went home.  Unfortunately, the instructions started out with that dang helicopter, but it's kind of like eating your vegetables before getting to the dessert.

There are some action gimmicks involved.  One you can see in action, sort of, in the second photograph.  If you pull on a lever made out of a Technic piece in the roof near the right-most window, the window panel is pushed out.  Similarly, there's a lever on the opposite side that pushes up the ground underneath the two-part, half-vacant Hall of Armor, catapulting your Iron Men upwards.  I am really tempted to go fill that empty space with another Iron Man armor, but I'd have to go buy a $30 Avengers set, so I'll have to think on that.

They also advertise that you can swap Pepper's head into the Iron Man armor, because, duh, awesome.  This set also continues the recent trend of painting a differently-expressioned face on the back of the mini-figure heads so you can choose which one you want.

and i guess the helicopter has missile launchers

oh hey remember a few years ago when lego was avoiding certain licenses because they didn't want to be seen as too violent

Somehow, I got through the first round of Batman LEGOs, the Star Wars LEGOs, and (nearly) all of the Indiana Jones LEGOs.  No problem.  But now there's a new round of Batman LEGO also featuring some other DC heroes and villains and so now there's a goddamn Lex Luthor mech set.  I am only so strong.  And more than LEGO Batman, more than LEGO  Han Solo, what my heart really wanted was a LEGO Lex Luthor.

And he's even specifically businessman Lex Luthor.  CEO industrialist Lex Luthor.  Black-tie suit and all.  And he's piloting a huge-ass robot brimming with Kryptonite and weaponry designed solely to crush Superman.

How did LEGO know this is exactly what I wanted?

Here's some odds and ends that don't really fit into the Transformers Wiki's coverage.

[gallery]

During the G.I. Joe portion of the introductory presentation, a memorial clip was shown that mourned the loss of Renegades character designer Clement Sauvé.  A piece of music was composed just for the presentation, a Sad Piano version of the Renegades theme song.  It was very touching and I'm glad they put that together.

Hasbro has a new Totally Not Lego brand coming out soon called "KRE-O," and this section was put in a tiny room away from everything else and heavily guarded.  No photographs were allowed.  Hasbro was afraid that somebody from LEGO might get inside and find out how to make construction bricks or something.  And then they put a bunch of photos of three of them in their press kits.  Well, yeah, sure, but now LEGO will never know that Hasbro is also making kits of Jazz, Ratchet, Prowl, Cliffjumper, Megatron, Sideswipe, and Sentinel Prime!

Crap.

Anyway, it looks really neat, and I will probably get Ratchet. I loves me some Ratchet.

Addendum: "KRE-O" must be pronounced as if you are Dr. Cliff Huxtable yelling at your son.  I've decided this.