Crazy as it sounds, I’ve known exactly what my first LEGO review of 2015 would be ever since the first set LEGO unveiled for 2015 last summer. Why? Because both sets are one and the same, of course! While I’m way more a Marvel guy than DC, I’m a Green Lantern fan for life. And my favorite comic book villain of all…? Sinestro. So I ordered this 76025 LEGO Green Lantern vs. Sinestro set the moment it went up for sale online. Does it meet my expectations? Read on…

The Right:

FINALLY!! Many LEGO DC Super Heroes collectors feared (and not unfoundedly) that a mass-release LEGO Green Lantern minifigure would never see the light of day. But after years of (the blue light of) hope, the core Justice League is now complete: the first-ever mass-released LEGO Green Lantern figure has arrived!

The LEGO Green Lantern figure depicts Hal Jordan (the most famous Green Lantern) in his classic uniform. Hal comes with a reversible head with a serious expression on one side and a more jovial expression on the other (perfect for sticking this LEGO Green Lantern minifig with a LEGO Movie display!).

Of course, what’s Green Lantern without an enemy to fight? And when you talk about Green Lantern’s most iconic villain, there’s really only one real name for consideration: Sinestro! Some (like me!) consider Sinestro the greatest Green Lantern of all-time, while others consider Sinestro a traitor and a murderer (which is technically true and all).

The LEGO Sinestro minifigure also includes one very cool weapon–a translucent yellow “chainsaw on a stick” construct for Sinestro to hold! The weapon looks super rad, and far outmatched any handheld weapons the Green Lantern LEGO minifig comes with (more on that in a bit).

Sinestro also gets a neat yellow “containment tank” that can hold Green Lantern’s lantern–his power battery–captive within! The tank is a simple, but good-looking, addition, and has an action feature that works well–the tank automatically opens up when the Sinestro Corps logo “target” above the tank gets shot.

But what’s to shoot the aforementioned target…? Why, it’s the largest piece of this set–the LEGO Green Lantern jet!

I’ll be complaining about some of the visual design choices of this plane momentarily, but the actual build of the jet is very nice. The cockpit opens and Hal Jordan fits snugly inside, and the spring-loaded missiles on the fighter jet have incredibly strong, far-reaching firepower.

The last figure included with this set is the LEGO Space Suit Batman minifigure. I don’t always care for Batman variants (due to a huge over saturation of them in many action figure lines over the years), but I have no problem with a Space Batman LEGO figure, as the Batman in Space Suit is a prominent character in the LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game, and a logical inclusion for a space-themed Lantern Corps set.

To my surprise, Space Batman’s wings are made of a soft, flexible sheet of plastic instead of hard plastic! These wings actually look great and don’t make the Space Batman minifigure back-heavy at all. You also get a choice of expanded and unexpanded wings to attach to Batman. Neat!

When I first saw this set, one of my initial fears was that the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps logos on the components of this set would be stickers that would ultimately end up off-center and frustrate me to no end. That is not the case.

In fact, this set includes zero–count ’em, zero–stickers! Decals in LEGO sets are one of my arch-nemesis, so I was delighted to discover that all of the details on this set have been printed onto the bricks perfectly. Thanks, LEGO!

Finally, this set is a fair (not great, but fair) value at $19.99 for 174 pieces. That’s 11 cents per piece, slightly higher than my target value of ten cents per piece, but I’m willing to overlook that due to the rare translucent bricks in this set, as well as the firing missiles and flexible plastic cape that the LEGO Space Batman minifigure gets.

The Wrong:

Before I began writing this review, I’d already determined that LEGO was an ‘A+’ set. Now that I’ve spent some time really analyzing this set and spending time with it…? It’s not quite there.

The main complaint I have with this set is the lack of any Green Lantern constructs for Hal Jordan to defend himself with. Sinestro has this crazy chainsaw staff made of yellow light, while Hal has… Nothing. LEGO could have cast any weapon in translucent green–a sword, a gun, whatever–but instead it looks like the LEGO Green Lantern minifigure will be forever unarmed.

Even more baffling is the fact that the primary part of this set is a Green Lantern fighter jet–which is a real jet! Hal Jordan may be an ace fighter pilot, but he can fly independently of any plane–and if he did want a jet, it’d be made of translucent willpower green light energy and not black, man-made materials.

Even worse, parts of this fighter jet are made of Green Lantern light–the cockpit hatch and dorsal fins! I can’t even begin to imagine how this contraption works logically. Whoever came up with the idea of Green Lantern flying around in a jet that’s partially a construct is clearly missing the point.

Also, the box proudly and prominently displays of the new “Super Jumper” accessory. While it makes an okay “levitation stand”, this clear plastic piece doesn’t work all that well for launching Space Suit Batman into the air (unless LEGO’s intent was for him to flip uncontrollably and land on his head). I commend LEGO for adding a new play feature, but I’m finding the Super Jumpers to be, well… dopey.

Overall: This LEGO Green Lantern vs. Sinestro set comes ever-so-close to earning perfect marks from me, but some lacking elements (such as the lack of Green Lantern constructs and the lame Super Jumper) hold it back–just a little bit. I love the minifigures in this set–even the Space Batman minifigure–and the Sinestro Corps containment tank and brick-built Green Lantern are terrific. Even Green Lantern’s jet–while oddly not a construct–is a well-designed vehicle with fun and powerful firing missiles. Overall, this is a solid set to begin my LEGO 2015 sets collection with, well worth the $19.99 retail that the set costs, and earns a solid recommendation.

GRADE: A-