Collectible Minifigures: 71020 The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 [Review]

It’s been nearly a year since The LEGO Batman Movie hit theaters, but LEGO is continuing to create tie-in items for the moderately popular film. In November, we got the excellent 70922 Joker Manor, which impressed us with its complex techniques and new roller coaster system. Now the latest series of Collectible Minifigures is revisiting the world of LEGO Batman with 20 all-new minifigures. 71020 The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 minifigures retail for $3.99 and are available now from Amazon, the LEGO Shop Online, BrickLink, and eBay.

Of course, this isn’t the first set of Collectible Minifigures from The LEGO Batman Movie. Over a year ago we reviewed the first series of 20 figures, which included a whopping five Batman variants. This time around, the focus is a bit more broad, bringing in lots of other characters, many of whom had only cameo appearances in the film. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get our hands on a full case to see the breakdown of how common each figure is, but we have no reason to suspect that LEGO has changed up the previous equal distribution of three of each character per case, making three full sets in a case of 60.

The packaging for each blind pack is now a dark blue to contrast Series 1’s bright yellow, and has Series 2 emblazoned on each pack. As usual, a paper poster is included numbering each character 1-20 to help you keep track of which figures you’ve already found. We’ll follow this order in the review below. The opposite side has instructions for assembling a few characters and a large advertisement for The LEGO Batman Movie.

One notable difference is apparent right off the bat (heh, get it?). The now-commonplace 3×4 black plate used as a minifigure stand now has the Bat logo printed on it. This is only the third Collectible Minifigure Series to feature printing on the stands, following the somewhat rare Team Great Britain and German Football Team special series. It’s a cool effect and will undoubtedly please those who intend to display the figures. But for everyone else, it makes this element significantly less useful, even for using extras to display other characters from non-Batman themes.Now, to the figures themselves. As mentioned, we’ll be tackling them in numerical order according to the included guide sheet.

Disco Harley Quinn

The Joker Manor included four characters from the Friends are Family music video, dressed in flashy white attire: Joker, Batgirl, Batman, and Robin. This series brings us two more: Harley Quinn and Alfred. With a white tuxedo covered in silver sparkles, Harley blends right in with the rest of the dance crew. She also has mismatched gold and silver skates and a white tutu.

Harley features a double-sided head with a winking expression and a mischievous lip-smacking smirk. 


Disco Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred is ready to rock, sporting gold shades and a white jacket with a gold vest all covered in silver sequins. Of course, ever the proper gentleman, Alfred has a white tuxedo tie as well.

Alfred’s long coattails are made with a cloth bedazzled with shimmering sparkles. He also carries a rad red and white electric guitar.


Clock King

Clock King, aka William Tockman, is a more obscure villain who fits the pattern of zany baddies in the LEGO adaptation. The minifigure is entirely blue except for the hands and hip piece of bright green. He carries two spears, presumably so he can point them like hands on a clock.

Clock King is covered in tiny clocks, including down the arms and legs. He wears a green cape. Of course, the most defining feature is the clock face, or should we say, clock head. The element is the same piece used for Series 11’s Gingerbread Man. Printed as a clock, it’s a great element that is sure to be useful in other applications.
The clock face is printed on what was the back of the Gingerbread Man’s head, so the slight indentations for the Gingerbread Man’s eyes on the back of Clock King’s head have been cleverly printed with little gears.


Hugo Strange

Not to be confused with Doctor Strange, the Marvel Superhero, Hugo Strange is a longtime Batman villain and evil psychologist. Though he’s appeared in many variations over the years, this one appears decked out in stereotypical evil scientist regalia with a long white lab coat. Strange’s light grey beard has only appeared in this color once previously in Series 12’s Prospector.

Strange carries two Erlenmeyer flasks of who-knows-what concoctions: one trans-purple and one trans-green. Neither are new colors for this element. The legs are double molded in black and white.


Mermaid Batman

We’ve gotten a lot of ridiculous Batman figures over the years, but this one may take the cake. Batman is scantily clad with a long mermaid tail with tiny clamshells over his chest. Naturally, he still sports his Bat cowl. This minifigure uses the original mermaid tail element that first appeared in a Harry Potter set in 2005, though this is the first appearance in a color other than dark green. He carries a black trident, which has only previously appeared in black in Series 16’s Imp.

Under the hood, Batman has a new, single-sided face, though the expression isn’t much different from that used on several other Batman characters.


Swimsuit Batman

Wearing just a small speedo (printed with the Bat logo, of course), Batman is ready for a day in the water. It’s unclear whether the dolphin that accompanies him is a blowup toy or a real sea creature, but it’s a welcome addition in either case, as this dolphin element is the new one that has so far only appeared in last year’s Fun At The Beach set, and it currently goes for more than $2 all by itself on Bricklink. The bat cowl with goggles is the same piece that was used in Series 1’s Vacation Batman.

This is probably about as close as LEGO is ever likely to get to creating a naked minifigure. Beneath the cowl, this Batman also wears a new expression, though again it’s very similar to previous ones. He also carries a red lifeguard float.


Vacation The Joker

Vacation Joker is also Practical Joker, outfitted with absolutely everything a Joker would need for a fun island getaway. The most prominent feature is the lime green rubber ducky pool float, which is adorned with a cute green cowlick and a purple patch. It’s the same element that first appeared in Series 1’s Vacation Batman, though obviously in a new color with a new print.The Joker has a fashionable azure Hawaiian shirt with a white midriff that carries into the arms thanks to double molding. Joker’s head is double sided, alternating innocent smile and toothy grin. The back of the torso has a similar print with red palm trees. However, perhaps the best detail is the double molded purple and white legs with tiny green flip flops.


Vacation Robin

There’s definitely a theme emerging here. All of the main characters of Gotham seem to be taking time off from their usual shenanigans to get some R&R, and Robin won’t be left out. Wearing a bright red shirt with yellow duckies on both front and back, Robin has double molded arms for short sleeves and carries an ice cream cone and boombox. The single-sided head is new with an open-mouth expression of delight.

The stereo has appeared with a number of prints before, but this one is identical to the black and gold version from Series 3’s Rapper. His legs are double molded with light flesh and bright green for a great-looking pair of swimming trunks.


Vacation Batgirl

Continuing the theme, here’s Batgirl ready to hit the waves. She’s got a purple and silver wetsuit with double molded arms and legs, and a yellow utility belt. She carries a yellow surfboard with a purple Bat logo.

Batgirl has the same cowl used in other sets with a removable dark red ponytail. Her head is purple with a printed-on face.


Vacation Alfred Pennyworth

The final character to join the Vacation series, Alfred wears a bathing suit befitting his old-timey sensibilities. A very simple minifigure, Alfred only carries a goblet with cherries. Never one to dress down too much, Alfred still has the iconic white tuxedo tie. The striped suit extends onto the sides of the double molded arms and legs as well as the back of the torso.


Bat-Merch Batgirl

Batman fans come in all shapes and sizes, as this eager fan demonstrates. She carries a few 1×2 tiles printed as bat bucks, and wears a track suit proclaiming her status as Batman’s #1 Fan. Her short cape has a scalloped bottom edge like Batman’s and is made of the softer of the two cloths used for capes.

Batgirl features a new hood element with ears, printed with a little Bat logo. Her head is double-sided with alternate smile and grimace expressions.


Killer Moth

This mercenary bug is decked out in bright colors warning of his dangerous nature. The wings have appeared in quite a few sets beginning with Series 8’s Fairy, though trans neon orange is new. Similarly, the soft rubber bug helmet is new in lime green, but first appeared in Series 10’s Bumblebee Girl. Killer Moth’s orange legs are printed with red tights and lime green stripes. His purple torso has a muscle pattern and the yellow sash printed on the back as well. The lime green head is single-sided.


Wonder Twin Jayna

The addition of the Wonder Twins is a very nice surprise for some of us who relish the days when the twins made their debut on TV cartoon series from the late 70s to 80s. Jayna sports her purple costume, which has not changed over the years. She has double-molded arms and legs and elf ears attached to the hairpiece, a piece that makes a comeback from The Series 3 Elf but is now in black with skin-toned ear colors. Her accessories show off a similar theme from the Series 8 DJ Kid but with a different print on the 2×2 record cover consistent with the party theme going on in the earlier figures, and a generic record disc. 

Jayna has a full printed back with a flipped-up collar piece made of the typical cape cloth, and if you somehow missed her “J” insignia from the front, she has a curved torso print which is a subtle reminder that these are indeed two different prints.


Wonder Twin Zan

Jayna’s twin brother Zan wears an almost identical outfit sans a curved torso, and with a “Z” insignia. The leg prints are interchangeable with his sister. He wields a similar looking bucket from the Decorator in Series 10 but with a darker shade of grey for the handles.

Also present is a transparent light blue 1×1 round printed tile of Zan’s face. Unlike his sister, Zan comes with accessories that highlight his own superpowers of being able to transform into any state of liquid, in this case, a bucket of water. Technically he can’t be in two places at the same time by holding a bucket of water of himself, but it’s a nice touch to have a printed tile.


Apache Chief

The Apache Chief is also a familiar face from the original Justice League lineup and also a cameo as one of the dancing partygoers in The LEGO Batman Movie. The Chief’s headpiece is a return of a re-colored hairpiece from the Series 7 Hippie and you may remember that it appeared twice in 2017, from the Ninjago Series CMF Guitar Rocker and the Bricktober re-issue of the Hippie. He has a detailed torso print and a double-molded leg piece to match his overall red and brown attire. 

The chief carries a 1×3 printed tile. It’s an interesting piece, since it depicts the Apache Chief calling out ‘inuk chuk’ with his arms raised to invoke his superpower of sizing up to become a giant. I’m wondering if the monkey featured is Gleek, the Space Monkey team member of the Wonder Twins, a nice call out if it is indeed. 


Jor-El

Superman’s father has only appeared once before in LEGO form. A much younger version of the Kryptonian scientist came as a single-figure polybag in 2013, but this is the first version of the white-robed patronly figure. Jor-El has flat silver power armor over a white torso, and features a printed 2x2x2 slope brick for the robes. The white 1×1 round tile is printed with the iconic crest of the House of El. He carries a trans-medium-blue crystal.

Jor-El has the same hairpiece with a distinctive front curl that more recent versions of Superman use. This is the first time this piece has appeared in white. Beneath the power armor, the torso bears an even larger S emblem. The back of the torso and head are unprinted. Fans of the 1978 Superman Movie will remember how Marlon Brando played Jor-El with the same dark and thick eyebrows even with a full head of white hair, but I clearly don’t remember him with a beard. 


General Zod

This minifigure is a very nice throwback yet again to the original 1977 Superman Movie, wearing the very same chest-exposing outfit that the evil one donned to take out Superman. He carries a 2×2 printed tile of the Gotham Gazette featuring his infamous lines from the movie.

Zods’ alternate face has his red-fiery eyes and an angry looking face very similar to the one seen on Superman minifigures across the DC Super Heroes theme. Prints run down all the way to his sleeves, relieving it from being a potentially mundane outfit.

The back torso features a “Z” insignia which is unfamiliar from the official franchise. I guess the design team at Billund took the liberty to provide the general with his own symbol of evil. 


Doctor Phosphorus

Another revival of a less-known villain from the Batman universe, the Doctor is a character that some of us thought had a potential of being a glow in the dark figure. However, it’s a bit disappointing to see that he’s printed with a simple skeletan torso in black (and blue pants) over a lime green figure, similar in style to the Skeleton Guy from the Series 14 Monster CMF series but with some random spots depicting the doctor’s inconsistent glowing feature. 

While the figure may be a bit of a letdown, he comes with two flame pieces in trans-florescent green, which is a new color for that part — probably a good use for underwater scenes for builders to represent algae or seaweed.


Black Canary

The Black Canary is a character who appears more often in The Flash universe, and she has been interpreted in many different outfits in modern times. This minifig of her likeness comes closest to her debut costume, with a dark top and a blue jacket with fishnet stockings for leggings. She has a serious look with a common bright yellow hairpiece.

Her superpower of a supersonic scream is captured very well in the reverse print of her alternate expression, which makes the headpiece a standout on its own. She does remind us of Elvis from Downtown Diner — perhaps she could be doing a duet with him with both belting out their lungs. The accessories that she comes with are a built-up microphone stand and a mic of course. Nothing to shout about, but a nice little accessory to save if you don’t already have it in your stash of parts. 


Black Vulcan

Hailing from Super Friends, Black Vulcan has a striking black and yellow costume showing a muscle pattern beneath a vibrant yellow arrow. Vulcan is equipped with a pair of electric bolts. Beneath the helmet, Vulcan has a black mask covering his eyes and a neutral expression.

Despite being a cool new addition to the LEGO DC lineup, the minifigure is a resounding disappointment. The soft plastic bolts are an unusual color, a semi-opaque shade about halfway between trans-yellow and trans-neon green. The official images of Vulcan clearly show him carrying hard plastic trans yellow bolts. Additionally, the helmet, which is black rubber with yellow paint, looks more like a cheap knock-off toy than an official LEGO product. The yellow paint is not opaque enough to cover the black beneath and is not evenly colored (it’s a much thinner layer inside the wings), so all the yellow is a dull, washed-out tone that doesn’t match the yellow plastic at all.


Quality concerns

And speaking of quality, while the Collectible Minifigures have improved since the first series back in 2010, they are still not up to par with the regular boxed LEGO sets. Call us nitpicky, but with a product known for its quality, even little differences stand out. On average, in CMFs the plastic has a rougher texture and the joints are just a little bit looser. Fresh out of the package, several of our review minifigures have hairline fractures down the sides of the torsos, such as General Zod.

Some of the mold lines are significantly larger than what we’re accustomed to in regular, boxed LEGO sets, such as this hand on Vacation Batgirl.

As we mentioned before, though, poor Black Vulcan suffered the most, with off-color lightning bolts and a poor paint job on his helmet. The most egregious flaw, however, is the color matching on Black Vulcan’s yellow hands, which are distinctly a different hue of yellow than traditional figures. To make sure, we compared one of Black Vulcan’s hands to the hands from a minifigure in another 2018 set, LEGO City’s 60171 Mountain Fugitives.


Conclusion & recommendation

While only slightly less attractive as the line-up from the first Series which had at least 5 variations of Batman, this second round of characters does stand on its own as a decent selection that has appeal and something for everyone. We see several sub-themes within this collection — the Party Theme, the Disco theme, and a collection of lesser known hero and enemies with a focus spread across supporting franchises, including Justice League, the Flash, the 1977 Superman Movie, and so on.

LEGO certainly cashed in on the outtro flashy music video “Friends are Family” with a few pieces strewn across sets and now in minifigure blind bags. Completionists will have to hunt a little harder to acquire ‘em all.

Of the Batmans (Batmen?) themselves, one is an odd choice with the Mermaid, yet the other is a clear winner. The speedo Batman is one that most folks will be out after, and if you even take note of the official marketing materials, this particular figure is always in a strategic pose to hide the lack of clothing on Batman. It was a figure that everyone asked about when the movie was on the big screen..will we get a Speedo Batman?  The folks at Billund didn’t disappoint us.

LEGO certainly had to dig deep for the Movie for the peripheral and surrounding supporting casts — Wonder Twins, Daddy Jor-El, General Zod, Apache Chief, and so on. It’s a great payoff to see favourite characters that had little on-screen time make it to the physical world.

The introduction of the new printed stands is a nice addition for folks that intend to display the complete collection, but it bothers us that Series 1 would probably look very odd without them now.

While we can only hope that the quality of the minifigures is not compromised further over future series, this release has something for everyone that we certainly recommend. Even if you don’t collect them all, there are some favourites that’ll tug memories from The LEGO Batman Movie or the nostalgic pull factor from the days of classic heroes.

71020 The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 minifigures are available now from Amazon, the LEGO Shop Online, BrickLink, and eBay for retail price of $3.99.

10 comments on “Collectible Minifigures: 71020 The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 [Review]

  1. Taylor Connell

    I think the big appeal of Speedo Batman is going to be that, during the movie scene where Batman had to remove all his gadgets and took off his pants; his underwear perfectly matches those ‘speedos’.

    Also, I’m surprised they devoted a quarter of the line-up to replicating that brief image at the end of “Friends Are Family” of the five main characters on vacation. Cool, but weird.

  2. Ondrej

    Sorry to say that, but what I see here and what LEGO produces these days is nothing but a disaster. No wonder the latest economical results of LEGO corporation are so miserable… The management members deserve to be fired. Sorry, just an opinion

  3. Steven H.

    Set quality is fine, it’s the minifig series that suffers. Why do I want to say these are made in China and that this isn’t a wholly new issue in terms of colors, etc.? If so, it’s that branch that ought to get TLG’s scrutiny.

  4. Buzzetta

    Maybe you guys did not realize it but the Hawaiian shirt worn by the Joker in this series is the same shirt that he wears in the “Killing Joke” comics. With a simple head swap and the using the Joker fedora from set 76013 you can now have the most insane Lego Joker ever.

  5. FowlerBricks

    All minifigures have those hairline fractures. That’s what allows the arms to be removed without destroying the torso. Some are just more visible than others.

  6. DB

    Joker’s arms are supposed to be short sleeves, and those are his tattoos. The Lowrider outfit also has bare lower arms, so it’s not a continuation of the white stripe

Comments are closed.