**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THE BRICKENING**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THE BRICKENING

GOTHAM, NJ – Outrage has erupted in parenting and ethics circles following the release of a new Lego set, “Legacy of the Dark Knight,” which critics are calling “a gateway to moral decay.”

The set, targeting children ages 8+, includes an exclusive, “retired hero” Bruce Wayne minifigure with a haggard, unshaven face, dark circles, and a receding hairline. The centerpiece is a modular Wayne Manor featuring a “Broken Batcave” with a functional guillotine (for the Joker) and a “shame chair” emitting real red light. The instruction booklet includes a pull-out “Code of No Ethics” poster, suggesting kids “write their own rules” for justice.

“Moral Critic” Dr. Helena Vance of the Institute for Applied Virtue has issued a fiery condemnation. “We have officially crossed the line from ’toy’ to ’toxic ideology,’” she declared. “This is not ‘heroism in grey areas.’ This is instruction manual for emotional isolation, cynicism, and vigilante nihilism. We are teaching our children that pain is a prerequisite for power and that broken people are the only ones who can fix things. This is the downfall of society, brick by brick.”

Adding to the controversy, the set’s hidden Easter egg reveals a hidden safe containing a “Playable Joker Card” that, when scanned by the Lego Life app, plays a monologue about chaos being the “only logical response to a bankrupt society.” Parents’ groups are calling for an immediate recall, warning of a “generation of emotionally stunted, morally disoriented children who think a Batmobile is a coping mechanism.”

Lego has not commented, but anonymous sources cite “record pre-orders.”