LEGO Batman Arkham Asylum Breakout 10937 Released!

LEGO Batman: Arkham Asylum Breakout 10937 broke a lot of kids’ hearts by not being available in time for Christmas in America, but the hotly-anticipated set finally came available in the United States today, December 27th 2012! I got up bright and early and took some photos of the set at my local LEGO Store in Peabody, MA.

To my surprise, by the time I got to to the LEGO Store this morning, stock on LEGO 10937 had already been depleted to just two sets remaining. I knew that the 2013 LEGO Batman sets would be hot, but I wasn’t expecting a $160 set to fly off the shelves like this one seems to be doing!

The LEGO Batman Arkham Asylum Breakout 10937 set is one of only three known LEGO Batman 2013 sets, and is a LEGO Store exclusive available both online and in LEGO stores. It’s a pretty packed set, including 1,619 pieces and eight minifigures, along with a security gate and security van vehicle in addition to Arkham Asylum itself!

Although none of the eight minifigures selected for this set are particularly amazing, there are some interesting choices present in the set that have never been released before, including The Joker minifigure wearing a prison jumpsuit, and Harley Quinn in her non-psychotic persona of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. While we’ve had these Batman villains released numerous times before, it’s nice to have some different takes on The Joker and Harley Quinn as minifigures.

Meanwhile, the LEGO Arkham Asylum building portion of the set is pure, unadulterated fun! I love the specialized cell for Poison Ivy, the psych evaluation medical room for Harleen Quinn to be twisted by The Joker in and the opening doors for the general supervillain population (I can’t believe I just said that). Even the security van, which I thought would be pretty bland, turns out to be really fun due to the cage restraints in the back to hold a supervillain minifigure in place!

Though it doesn’t really give us any true new characters as minifigures, the LEGO Batman Arkham Asylum Breakout set is already one of my early favorite sets of 2013.