Alongside the two new Brickmaster books, DK is also announcing a few new books surfing the LEGO wave, and unveils the exclusive minifig that will be featured in the book titled LEGO Minifigures Character Encyclopedia : It will be a "Toy Soldier", in other words a toy representing a soldier who could look like to this version (Click here, third minifigure on the top row).

We will therefore find in 2013:

LEGO Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle
The pitch: "A vibrant history of LEGO minifigures from their introduction in 1978 to the present day. With more than 1,500 featured, this guide covers everything you ever wanted to know about the cult objects and includes three LEGO® minifigures to add to your collection."
In summary: Everything about the history of the minifigure from 1978 to the present day. 1500 minifigs presented and 3 real minifigs offered with the book.
Release scheduled for October 2013.

The LEGO Play Book (The LEGO Ideas Book 2)
The pitch: "Be inspired by this collection of more than 200 LEGO builds. Create a hidden doorway in an enchanted castle, race LEGO cars and build a robot army. Includes ten-minute build suggestions and tips and advice on activities you can play and things you can do."
In summary: 200 models to build gathered in this book.
Release scheduled for September 2013.

You can find all these books planned for 2013 and some others in the pdf that the publisher DK has just made public downloadable at this address.

Find these three books for pre-order on pricevortex.com by clicking on their respective names above.

No, the Brickmaster license is not dead and buried, and even if no set is released under this label anymore, we still have the books / sets edited by Dorling Kindersley.
Two new Brickmaster products are expected for 2013 with:

LEGO Star Wars Brickmaster: Battle for the Stolen Crystals
The pitch: "Clone Commander Gree is on a mission to recapture the stolen lightsaber crystals by Commando Droid. Join the fight and build weapons and vehicles to help Gree with his chase.
Includes Clone Commander Gree and Commando Droid minifigures to bring the excitement to life."
In summary, two minifigs: Commander Gree and a Commando Droid as well as an assortment of parts to reproduce various transport vehicles.
Release scheduled for September 2013.

LEGO Legends of Chima Brickmaster: The Quest for Chi
The pitch: "Read photo-story adventures about the animal tribes of Chima, build the models from the story, then take the bricks apart to build the next adventure. Comes with 187 LEGO® bricks and building instructions for 16 models, plus two amazing minifigures."
In summary: Two minifigs and 187 parts to assemble 16 different models.
Expected release in May 2013.

Find these two books for pre-order on pricevortex.com by clicking on their respective names above.

You may have already seen this image (I received 72 emails to inform me of its existence ....), it obviously comes from from eBay where a vendor is offering the 2013 War Machine minifig for sale for just over $ 60.

I remain in my position as for the Iron Man helmet and now for War Machine: It's much too big, especially since in The Avengers for example, we can see that Iron Man's helmet is more of the type "second skin"than motorcycle helmet. And this helmet with removable face is not a sufficient element of playability which in my opinion justifies this aesthetic massacre.

On this new minifigure, the serigraphs are nice without being exceptional except perhaps those on the tiptoes which are simply ugly and unnecessary.

Watch the eBay seller in question, it regularly offers minifigs for sale that have not yet been marketed.

Miguel is writing to me this morning to point out a problem that may seem trivial to some but which may prove annoying for others who consider that at the price or we pay for our sets, we have the right to be demanding.

It turns out that the set from the LEGO The Hobbit range 79003 An Unexpected Gathering is delivered according to the boxes with two types of arches (Tan Brick, Arch 1 x 6 x 2 - 4114073 on the instructions of the set) different intended for the assembly of the window of the house of Bilbo: Some of these arches are indeed equipped with a plastic stopper making it possible to maintain the elements locked between two of these parts and others have just an empty groove there. The absence of this stop induces a floating of a few millimeters of the elements of the window which is for some quite unpleasant.

Unfortunately, it seems that the distribution of the parts concerned is random according to the boxes. Some buyers get the parts with the stopper pin, others get the parts fully hollowed out.

A dedicated topic was opened by Miguel on Eurobricks to try to determine the importance of the problem that several buyers of this box have already come forward to confirm.

The instruction booklet clearly shows this stopper in the center of the part's groove.

LEGO has been contacted regarding this issue, I will keep you informed of the response.

Here is the first episode of what was to be announced as an event and which has been the subject of a major teasing from LEGO in recent weeks.

In view of the first images, it looks more like advertising than a real animated series.

No line of dialogue, no scenario, just action scenes with the latest novelties from the LEGO Star Wars range ...

I'll let you judge with the video of the first part of the first episode below:

http://youtu.be/dGdhWDEAmvc