Day Three Hundred and Sixteen - Lego Marvel Superheroes: Maximum Overload, "You know what? It's not bad."

Despite the fact that The Lego Movie trailers have been looking more and more cute and entertaining, currently available Lego-brand series like Ninjago and Clutch Powers haven't exactly kindled the strongest feelings of confidence within me.

Still, I've been on a Marvel kick lately thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Thor: The Dark World and seeing folks play the video game for Lego Marvel Superheros has kind of intrigued me, so I decided to give Maximum Overload a shot... and, you know what? It's actually pretty cute.

To be sure, it's definitely vanilla and dumbed down, relying on sight gags like Wolverine kebab claws and meta in-jokes like Spiderman's angst runs, but there are quite a few clever moments and never do I feel like the properties are being exploited too much. Sure, there's no way in hell that Lego Loki has the charisma of Tom Hiddleston, nor do Tony and Pepper strike the right chord in their dynamic that I'm familiar with both from the movies and the comics, but Spidey is pretty spot on concerning his quips and it all feels much closer to the current run of Ultimate Spiderman when it comes to the television universes.

I'm also kind of impressed that the female characters aren't sexualized like their comic and movie counterparts. Yeah, it's a little hard to do that sort of thing visually, considering the trapezoidal boxes that comprise all Lego figures (aside from Hulk and Abomination), even if they still have painted on cleavage, but there aren't any written gags that trivialize them as sex objects either and that's something of an accomplishment, I think... even in kid friendly entertainment.

I also like how short it is. Clocking in a twenty-two minutes, it moves quickly from scene to scene, giving Loki time to annoy quite a few parties in the Marvel universe before being easily thwarted by the arrival of his brother, Thor, who can fill in the blanks via first-hand exposition.

Finally, I think I should mention the little gags. Whether it's the red 'Exit' sign in Loki's ice palace or "Code Five, no Six," there are just the right amount of silly jokes and asides that make this tiny commercial for the game (and, let's face it, that's what it is) actually palatable on its own and really rather effective as advertising. I do have the urge to buy the game now that I've seen this short little episode, in the hope that the relatively catchy writing and humor carries over.

If you're looking for anything deep, keep scrolling as there are most assuredly better offerings available on the Instant Stream, even when it comes to comic properties, but for fans of the Marvelverse looking for light fare and parents looking to introduce their younger children to comic book movies, Maximum Overload is right up your alley.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~