Book Review: DC Comics Build Your Own Adventure

As book week comes to a close I am taking a look at one more Build Your Own Adventure book. This time Green Lantern John Stewart takes us on a journey through the world of DC Comics.

The central plot of this book is that John Stewart is looking for the Justice League, and with communications down he has to go find them in person.

For those not familiar with the character there is a brief introduction on who he is. It doesn’t get in to the entire history of the Green Lantern Corps but does provide a basic overview.

The Justice League has had a varying line-up over the years as you’d expect for anything to do with comics, but the team presented here is the basic big hitters: Wonder Woman, Flash, Superman, Aquaman and Batman.

DC BYOA Book 01

After the instructions for the included set we get the usual builder talk section that seems to be common to all of the Build Your Own Adventure books. It’s a nice overview of the different parts on offer and acts a little teaser to get your brain thinking about building.

[Read on for details on the Green Lantern Minifigure and the included set. There is even a 360° look at the set]

The premise that Green Lantern needs to track down each member of the league in person is a really interesting way to have a variety of different builds. The first locale is Wonder Woman’s home of Themyscira. It features a lot of trees, training areas and temples.

As Green Lantern finds somebody they then join him on the rest of the journey.

I really appreciated just how much variety there is in the settings. In fact there are actually a few different settings for each hero. Flash, Superman and Batman are all based out of (fictional) major cities, but this book gets around that in some clever ways. Flash’s section has street stalls, really great lab equipment builds and awesome bank vault.

The Superman section heads to Smallville first to offer some rural builds and then off to Metropolis. Gotham City isn’t even included.

The Aquaman section is unique in that it features a lighthouse build so tall you have to turn your book sideways.

DC BYOA Book 02

The builds included are all fantastic and should be easy enough to reproduce or replicate for experienced builders. There are a few builds that featured pieces that are probably not in everybody’s collection but not enough for it to be a problem.

One thing that I did find a little strange is that the book features a vehicle build for all of the characters. I don’t really get building an armless mech for Wonder Woman.

DC BYOA Book 03

John Stewart, Green Lantern

DC BYOA Green Lantern Happy

There have been three human Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and the one we get with this book John Stewart. This is the first minifigure version of the character.

The face printing is dual sided and features striking green eyes on both. As is common for superhero faces you get a smiling happy face and serious gritted teeth.

DC BYOA Green Lantern Face Prints

The torso is predominantly black with green features and the iconic green lantern logo in the middle.

The legs are a little disappointing as we’ve been spoilt with dual-moulded legs in sets lately. The printing is only on the front so looks a little bit like he has black patches on green pants.

Green Lantern’s Spaceship / Submarine

[360 width=”100%” height=”400px” src=”yofla360/DC Comics BYOA”]

Members of the Green Lantern Corps use their rings to focus their will and create constructs. These constructs are always green and limited only by the imagination of the lantern themselves.

For his mission to find the Justice League John Stewart creates himself a spaceship construct, which is the set included with this book.

DC BYOA GL Spaceship 02

As you’d expect this set features a great variety of trans-green elements. They really sell the idea that this is a build created out of energy alone.

Construction is fairly straight-forward with a limited amount of SNOT techniques. This is not a complicated build but the end result looks great.

Obviously it is unrealistic to expect every piece to be trans-green, but I would have liked if the canopy was in that colour too.

The spaceship includes a feature that allows for the rear to be altered to turn the spaceship in to a submarine. The change is minimal but I like that it has some additional playability beyond the dual stud shooters on the front.

DC BYOA GL Sub-mode 02

The LEGO world of DC Comics has seen a lot of great sets over the years, but this book is a great addition for somebody looking for supplementary builds to flesh out that world. The Green Lantern minifigure is exclusive and well done. The included set features some great parts in interesting colours.

If you are in a position to pick up this book I definitely recommend grabbing a copy.

2 thoughts on “Book Review: DC Comics Build Your Own Adventure

  1. Mabel F. Reply

    Hello – My son loves this book! Do you know where we can get The Flash buggy pictured on page 74? My son is asking Santa for this! Thank you!

    • Michael Post authorReply

      All of the builds in the book (with the exception of the main build) are custom creations. There are no specific instructions as the book is meant to serve as inspiration.

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