Set #76096 Superman & Krypto Team-Up: 2018 brought us some sets for DC Super Heroes which all share the ability to combine and includes a brand new plethora of accessory elements created specifically for Super Heroes. Overall this was an interesting design choice, and the cheapest set included a brand new character. The Main Man Lobo himself. This is an awesome set and here’s why you should buy it.

Box/Instructions

Box: With the Justice League logo and characters drawn on the front of the box to indicate what these sets are based on the box design shows off everything that is featured in the set. It’s a very nice group of shots on the back and the front has a very impressive action shot on the front.

Instructions: A single manual this time around keeping everything in one book. When multiple models are split between numbered manuals siblings and friends can share the duty of building two different models, when it’s just one manual this means sharing the build experience. Something I only recently thought of, as an AFOL I tend to forget kids might like to build with their friends or siblings. A sticker sheet is also included

Parts

Most of the details in this set are stickers and not printed elements so there are a lot of useful elements from the set. What I find most interesting is the new effects elements introduced this year in the Super Hero sets, you have energy blasts that can peg into holes or be held by Minifigures and some energy effects which can slide over the hand of the Minifigure to make them look like they’re powering their punches with energy. All very impressive elements and with so much potential for interesting builds.

Minifigures

Lobo: Not exactly a villain, more like an Anti-Hero, Lobo works for cash and the highest bidder. His Minifigure is very well done using the new Aquaman hair piece in black and featuring dual-sided facial printing with an expression of joy on one side and anger on the other. He also has The Man written on the back of his jacket because Lobo is the Main Man. No leg printing. There’s a brick built mcguffin in this set and Lobo is taking it to Lex Luthor or something… I have no idea what the canister is meant to represent as I haven’t read LEGO’s description for this set recently, but I suspect it is some form of kryptonite or alien energy that Lex is after.

Krypto: Krypto the Super Dog uses parts which are similar to the LEGO Scooby-Doo animal. This character has a unique head and body parts, Krypto has one front paw designed to actually hold accessories, which is something Scooby could not do, and so these parts are brand new and not re-used. A cape can be attached via the neck peg adding to the overall look of the Super Dog. A great looking character to get in this set.

Superman: The Man of Steel hasn’t changed much since first becoming a Minifigure. This one uses all of the same parts as we’ve seen on other Superman Minifigures, gone is the S-Curl hair piece and in its place is the newer DCEU sculpted hair element from Justice League. So this is a hodgepodge of parts from different eras to make a somewhat familiar looking character.

The build

Bag #1: Superman and Krypto are found inside this bag and you get to build a Kryptonite powered prison for Superman as well as the main engine of Lobo’s space hog. Don’t ask me if he actually has a name for her, my experience with Lobo is really limited. The build is relatively simple and easily enough built within twenty or so minutes. A few stickers are applied on some 1x2 sloped elements for details.

Bag #2: Lobo roars in on his completely space hog once you finish the build in this bag, the build itself is fairly straight forward and there isn’t much to be worried about. Only one sticker is applied to a white Nexo Shield element for the detailing.

The completed model

Lobo’s Space Hog: I can’t recall if he named his space cycle, but Lobo’s ride is a huge impressive looking variation on a Speeder Bike. You heard me right, this thing looks somewhat similar to the Star Wars speeder bikes, except it has two side mounted engines and a classic angular fin sticking out from the seat. Lobo’s ride is as awesome as he is and quite resilient, it’s also a pretty impressive model and features two stud shooters for play features. You can also remove something from the central engine, but for the life of me I’m not sure exactly why that is. Solid model though, the lone sticker is a tad unfortunate as the Nexo Shield element should have been able to feature the skull-head detailing as a print honestly.

Kryptonite Prison: This entire section is meant to attach to Lex’s mech from the larger 50$ set. As such it may seem a bit awkward looking on its own… this is mostly because it is a minor build and looks somewhat similar to the stands used to hold the Ultimate Nexo Knights from that theme as the build is fairly similar in parts use for the base of the model. There is a slight bit more parts for this compared to the Ultimate Nexo Knights’ stands, but not by much. Overall a quirky little side-build that works best if you also own the Lex set from 2018 to attach it to.

Overall opinion

This is a nice little set in the 25$ range and features a lot of potential design elements that can be interpreted anyway you’d care to during play. The set features three characters and is a must have for Lobo alone as I highly doubt we’ll see him again in LEGO form for a while. It would be best to pick this one up while you can as the DC line seems to sell out consistently these days making it all the more harder to find, especially at these price points. Strongly recommended for DC fans and fans of classic space hogs.

Summary

You'll never get another chance to get Lobo, so get this set now. Even if his bike is as big as a bus.

Box/Instructions

Present and accounted for. One book. Two bags. Four stickers.

Parts

The most notable new parts are the translucent green power pieces. I love them! They add so much fun play and visuals to the superhero sets. Now you can see some of their powers manifest.

True, in this case, it's primarily kryptonite energy, working against Superman, but still an awesome addition.

Likewise, the transparent green canopy pieces that make Superman's prison are excellent. I'd like to see them used in a new space line.

Minifigures

I bought this for Lobo, and only for Lobo. Though I am a huge fan of Superman, and it's always nice to have another, Lobo was the draw. I missed out on the Deadpool minifigure in Wolverine's Chopper Showdown, and they'll never make him again, considering how violent Deadpool stories tend to be. I'm not making the same mistake with Lobo. Unless you want to spend a lot in the secondary market later, I suggest you don't either.

Lobo looks great. His leather jacket is awesomely biker-chic, and goes well with the skull belt buckle. His hair is perfect, and his facial expressions are both delightful. I may have to pick up a second one, just to have both faces on display.

He could have worked well as a Bigfig, too. It would work better with the scale of the Space Hog, but more on that later.

Superman is Superman. If you don't have a classic, underpants-on-the-outside, spandex-sportin' Supes, then this is a fairly easy way to rectify that. I would have given him the s-curl cowlick hairpiece, instead of the Keanu Reeves, but I'm sure one could be reasonably bricklinked. But, he does have the new soft cape, which I prefer to the old crisp ones. They don't wrinkle as easily, nor permanently.

Then there's Krypto. If you like Krypto, then you're in for a treat. I've always hated The Big Blue Boy Scout's Best Friend. Everything that sucks about Robin to Batman sucks even more so for Krypto. It looks like it should be with the DC Super Hero Girls sets, or some god-awful Teen Titans GO! set. Everything from his Scooby-Dooness to his silly little cape, to his very conception is an abomination.

But to get Lobo, I'll put up with Krypto.

The Build

The build didn't take very long, but it was enjoyable.

The trap for Superman, only took a couple of minutes. It has a decent playable explosion feature, which also makes the build a bit fragile. And the bomb that blows it up is stored in the Space Hog.

This bike is huge! I mean, ridiculously so. A lot of the brick-built bikes are ludicrously larger than their riders. Just look at Catwoman's in Catwoman Catcycle Chase, or Ghost Rider's two-wheeled RV in Spider-Man Ghost Rider Team-Up. Eventually, Captain America will be seated on a UCS scale Liberator for a bajillion dollars.

So, perhaps the scale of the Space Hog would be more suited to a Bigfig scale Lobo.

But, to be honest, it looks awesome despite it's size. I had a lot of fun building it. The bomb-release mechanism is well-executed and well-hidden.

The Final Model

It looks pretty good, and I'm going to enjoy having it on display. The Superman trap also connects to Lex Luthor's mech from Lex Luthor Mech Takedown. And I think both sets would pair well on the shelf.

Overall Opinion

The Space Hog bike is ridiculously huge, but still looks great. And you're probably never going to have another chance to get a Lobo, so don't let this pass you by.

Maybe you have a kid nearby you can give the Krypto to.

As soon as I found out about this set I knew I wanted it, first appearance of Lobo in Lego, his classic space bike, and a full size Krypto plus "classic" Superman? Add in some cool power burst pieces and a reasonable price and you've got a great set.

The set comes in just two bags, first one makes Superman's "Kryptonite Chamber" with Supes and Krypto. it also makes the main engine of the bike with an odd sort of blocky piece that slides into the bottom of the Kyrptonite chamber to activate the action feature. The second bag is of course Lobo and the rest of the bike. In addition to the power burst pieces and cloth capes, there are a small page of stickers.

The build took me maybe 30 minutes tops, and was pretty easy. Nothing really difficult to put together or oddly engineered. There's a couple of pieces that were new to me, but as I don't really keep up on new pieces I don't know they could be reused. The new parts are purple 1x4 plates that are attached in a V-shape; they make the foundation of the chamber. This set has quite a few trans pieces which are always welcome.

Clearly the main focus is Lobo's bike and it's almost perfect. It's a BIT too big to be honest. In the comics Lobo is about 1/2 of the size of the bike itself and here he's just dwarfed by it. Lobo could easily be a large size figure as at times he has been depicted as being about the size of Mongul or other larger characters. Then again having an oversized bike is definitely aligned with the character himself.

The Mini-figs are spot on, and if I'm not mistaken Krypto is a brand new piece. He even has a working paw! Superman's body looks to be the same as has been released in the past, but he has a new hairpiece without the trademark spit curl. Both he and Lobo have dual faces.

As Lego's price points creep more and more upward you seem to get less and less. At this price point a few years ago I remember getting the Superman vs. Lex Luthor Mech which seemed to have much more playability. Thus this set isn't getting perfect scores. Don't get me wrong, it's a great set and one that is definitely desirable, but in the end when you have it put together it seems a bit light for $20.