LEGO and Batman have been together for years, but always in a fun, cutesy way.  But at San Diego Comic-Con, LEGO Batman is getting a little grittier by releasing not only The Dark Knight Tumbler, but also a Heath Ledger Joker minifigure.  The Tumbler will be on display at Comic-Con beginning Wednesday, and will go on sale in September.  The toy has 1,869 pieces and will retail for $199.  If you want to buy it, you’re also going to have to clear some shelf space because the toy measures 15 inches tall and 9 inches wide plus it comes with a fact-sheet/plate.

The Tumbler set also includes a new Batman figure, which is painted slightly differently than previously released Batman minifigs, yet it doesn’t have the same Bat symbol as the one from The Dark Knight.  But where things get a little confusing for me is the Heath Ledger joker.  It will be included in the Tumbler set, but I can’t think of another LEGO minifigure that was based on such an intentionally disturbing character.  Does it come with a pencil?  Or just knives and lint?  Hit the jump to check out LEGO Batman Heath Ledger Joker and the Tumbler.

The Grand Budapest Hotel and The LEGO Movie will both be released on Blu-ray/DVD on Tuesday, so it’s fitting that the two worlds are combining for a LEGO Grand Budapest Hotel. Now before you get your hopes up, this isn’t a set that will be released for consumers (market research shows that kids might not buy products based on Wes Anderson movies; we are failing our children). However, it’s still a remarkable effort from Ryan Ziegelbauer and his team of eight model builders. They spent 575 hours building and designing the replica. The final build has more than 50,000 LEGO bricks, and it will weigh around 150 pounds, stand 7 feet tall, and be 6.5 feet wide. M. Gustave would be proud.

Hit the jump to check out the Grand Budapest Hotel LEGO build video, and click here to pre-order The Grand Budapest Hotel.

In 2000, LEGO began its “Ultimate Collector’s Series”, which are large, expensive sets that are more detailed and aimed at older fans.  For example, a casual fan might buy this LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter.  It’s $50 and has 560 pieces.  The hardcore fan goes in for the LEGO Star Wars 10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter Building Set, which costs $200, has 1558 pieces, measures over 10″ (26cm) high, 20″ (52cm) long, 18″ (46cm) wide, and comes with a display stand and data sheet.

Hardcore collectors will be pleased to hear that the Ultimate Collector’s Series might be adding the LEGO Batman Tumbler and Boba Fett’s Slave I this summer.  Hit the jump for more.

If you’re a Ghostbusters or LEGO fan, get ready to drop fifty dollars.  I say this because Amazon has started selling the LEGO Ghostbusters Ecto-1!   As we reported a month ago, the Ecto-1 was selected among the many fan-submitted LEGO CUUSOO creations and after some tweaking of the submitted idea, Lego produced the car along with some minifigures.  However, like the Back to the Future LEGO DeLorean, I would imagine Amazon is going to sell out pretty fast, so don’t wait too long if you want to own one.  Keep in mind it’s not a limited edition, but it’ll be hard to get for the first month or two.  Hit the jump for what it comes with and more images or click here to buy it on Amazon.

It was announced earlier today that Warner Bros. has set a release date for its planned Ninjago adaptation for September 23, 2016 (in 3D, of course).  That means the LEGO spin-off will smoke-bomb its way into theaters more than six months before The LEGO Movie 2, which opens May 26, 2017.  Chris McKay, who co-directed the nearly half-a-billion-dollar-earning first installment, will be at the helm of the sequel, while the studio has set first-time feature director Charlie Bean (TRON: Uprising) to handle the Ninjago film.  With everyone else under the sun building toward a cinematic universe, it’s no surprise that WB and LEGO are doing the same, which will make fans (and collectors) around the world happy for quite some time.  Hit the jump for more.

Next month, Ghostbusters fans will be able to pick up the LEGO Ecto-1.  The toy was selected among the many fan-submitted LEGO CUUSOO creations.  After going through the licensing process, LEGO doesn’t do an exact recreation of the CUUSOO model.  There’s some tweaking involved, but for the most part, the final design should be recognizable to any fan of the property.

After the jump you can check out the Ghostbusters LEGO image comparison.  The LEGO Ecto-1 will be available on June 1st for $49.99.

The Simpsons will always be one of my favorite TV shows.  I grew up with it in its heyday.  The jokes still hold up (if you’re on Twitter, I encourage you to follow @SimpsonsQOTD), and the show has firmly cemented its place in television history not just because of its longevity, but because it had an uncanny knack for timeless satire.  The joke, “To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life’s problems,” will always work, and it needs to because unless you’re South Park or resort to shortcuts like Family Guy, animation can’t move fast enough to catch up with the present times.   All of that being said, I haven’t watched a new episode of The Simpsons in a very long time because I feel the show’s quality has dramatically plummeted over the past 15 years.  So what happens when a long-running show meets a long-running toy line like LEGO?  An episode that’s constantly on the defensive and retreading familiar ground.

This Sunday, The Simpsons will be going LEGO with the episode “Brick Like Me”.  In the episode, Homer awakens to find himself, his family, and the rest of Springfield made entirely out of LEGO bricks.  When he touches a Perky Patty’s Princess Shop LEGO set, it triggers a vision of his normal reality, so he’s forced to figure out what’s going on.

Hit the jump to check out The Simpsons LEGO trailer.  “Brick Like Me” will air Sunday, May 4th at 8/7c on Fox.

Earlier this year, LEGO released a 2,523 piece The Simpsons house, and they’ve now released Simpsons minifigures.  And next month, the long-running animated TV series will be going LEGO on the show’s 550th episode “Brick Like Me”.  In the episode, Homer wakes up in a LEGO Springfield, and he must figure out how he got there and how to get back to the safe confines of his 2D world.  I can’t remember the last time I tuned in to watch The Simpsons, but I’ll definitely be watching this episode.

Hit the jump to check out the LEGO Simpsons images and TV spot.  “Brick Like Me” will air on May 4th.

LEGO has officially revealed their summer sets for Star Wars, X-Men, The LEGO Movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Most of the Star Wars stuff is original trilogy material, and it’s very cool stuff like Mos Eisley Cantina, and AT-AT, and an Imperial Star Destroyer.  Most of The LEGO Movie sets are also awesome, and I’m already setting money aside for “Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!”  Finally, the Guardians of the Galaxy sets might provide a few spoilers from the movie, or they may not.  For example, I don’t remember this scene being in Iron Man 3.  But just to be safe, I’ve put the Guardians images at the end after the ­X-Men set.

Hit the jump to check out the images, and click here to see our Toy Fair coverage of the sets.

LEGO collectors, rejoice!  LEGO’s line of minifigures has been a source of great joy for fans of a number of properties, and the next beloved IP to get the LEGO minifig treatment is The Simpsons.  The minifigures from the animated Fox series have been unveiled in full, giving us a look at the complete 16-character collection that includes favorites like Ralph Wiggum, Krusty the Clown, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and of course Scratchy.  The series is being released in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of The Simpsons, and the entire line will launch in May for just $3.99 each.

But that’s not the end of the LEGO/The Simpsons partnership, as May 4th will also see the premiere of a special LEGO episode of the animated series on Fox, and a full construction set is also poised to be released.  For now, though, hit the jump to take a look at the minifigure line.

As The LEGO Movie is nearing a $200 million worldwide box office with no signs of slowing, a sequel is pretty much a given.  However, a direct sequel to Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s animated family adventure film might have to wait until another LEGO sub-franchise has had its time to shine.  A little while back, we reported that Warner Bros. was developing a Ninjago film to feature the ninja-themed title world.  The studio will soon decide whether to move forward with both the LEGO sequel and the stand-alone Ninjago films, along with which film will come first.  Hit the jump for more.

A few weeks ago, we reported that LEGO chosen the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters as the next LEGO CUUSOO, a line based on submissions from fans.  The previously released images were mock-ups, but the company has now released official images along with info on the upcoming set.  The “LEGO Ghostbusters Ecto-1″ will have 508 pieces, retail for $49.99 (US), and go on sale this June.

Speaking of LEGO CUUSOO movie vehicles, their Back to the Future DeLorean is now on sale at Amazon for $27.98, which is 20% off the retail price.  I picked this up at Comic-Con last year, and it’s a good set, especially because you can make alterations to turn it into the DeLorean from the original, Part II, or Part III.  Hit the jump to check out images of the Ghostbusters LEGO, and click here to buy the LEGO DeLorean.

Early this morning Collider had the pleasure of checking out the Lego display prior to the start of Toy Fair.  The company is rolling out its largest collection yet, 246 new products in total with a number of standouts in the mix.

We’ve got photos of all 17 The LEGO Movie products including the Toy Fair exclusive reveal, Metal Beard’s (voiced by Nick Offerman) pirate ship, the Sea Cow.  The Star Wars line welcomed pieces from the new Rebels television show as well as the Microfighters, a series that offers smaller versions of much larger ships like the Millennium Falcon and the X-Wing Fighter. Also in the spotlight at the event was the LEGO Ghostbusters Ecto-1 set and the house from The Simpsons, a design that folds open, letting you check out the iconic living room, kitchen and more inside. But then of course there were also some hot ticket items that weren’t ready just yet so couldn’t be photographed, but you can catch full descriptions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy products after the jump.

The LEGO Movie was massive hit with both audiences and critics when it opened last weekend, and deservingly so given that the film is an absolute joy to take in.  I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t make the Best Animated Feature shortlist for next year’s Oscars, but before we start talking about the 2015 ceremony, we’ve got this year’s Academy Awards to take care of.  In a bit of zeitgeist synergy, the posters for all nine of this year’s Best Picture nominees have been recreated in LEGO form, making for a pretty amusing series of one-sheets.  It’s shaping up to be one of the closest Best Picture races in years, with Gravity and 12 Years a Slave in a virtual tie for first and American Hustle playing the very possible spoiler.  We’ve still got a few weeks to go before the awards season comes to a close, but for now take some delight in seeing LEGO-fied versions of the nominees, complete with American Hustle’s plunging necklines.

Hit the jump to take a look at some of the posters.  The 2014 Oscars will be hosted by Ellen Degeneres on Sunday, March 2nd.