While hanging out on Youtube, I stopped for a moment on this video of the gameplay of the highly anticipated game (by me anyway) LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

We see a lot of famous sets from the CW range perfectly reproduced in the game, and the general graphics have finally evolved, with in particular a massive use of lighting effects. The new characters / minifigs of the CW range are also in the game. .

A few comments from the development team convinced me that this game, which should be released in February, will keep me hooked for long hours with my son in front of the TV.

If you have a few minutes to spare, look for the sets you own in these pictures, you will surely find some cool diorama ideas ...

The LEGO group has cracked an accessible letter here in pdf format explaining why no one should or should no longer publish documents or visuals stamped "Confidential".

This document explains that LEGO wants to control the launch of its products and decide when to release visuals of new products.

Some more or less credible arguments are advanced, such as the fight against the possible counterfeiting of sets by third-party companies or the modifications that may occur on the final sets after the publication of preliminary visuals.

Finally, LEGO calls for the denunciation of offenders by email and asks fans for their cooperation in this fight.

If the letter has the merit of being clear, the arguments put forward are a little less so: For many years, photos of sets have filtered well before their arrival on the market, and sometimes very long months in advance.

These leaks are fueling community conversations on blogs and forums, and LEGO reap the benefits in terms of marketing and visibility.

If the official position is given in this letter, one can legitimately wonder if these leaks are not sometimes largely orchestrated and manipulated to allow an assessment of the interest of AFOLs and fans for the ranges to come.

LEGO has been slow to recover from its dark years, and the best way to anticipate the market is to survey it through the most active community of potential customers .....

Like all collectors, I have a problem with the stickers. My last purchase, the Rebel Blockade Runner 10019 is complete, in great condition (after washing the parts), with its box and documentation, but I had to remove all the stickers that had aged badly.

Considering the price of sticker sheets on BrickLink or eBay, I went hunting for scanned sheets.

But almost impossible to find boards scanned correctly.

I have found some, I put them here, as well as a template to make your UCS stickers yourself.

By the way, if anyone has a scan of the 10019 board, I would gladly take ....

7191 - UCS X-Wing Fighter sticker (Identification plate)
7191 - UCS X-Wing Fighter Stickers
7181 - UCS TIE Interceptor sticker (Identification plate)
10030 - UCS Imperial Star Destroyer sticker (Identification plate)
4504 - Millennium Falcon Stickers
0000 - UCS Template

A particularly useful application has emerged: Bricking News.
Available on the App Store for 0.99 $, it allows you to follow all the news from major sites like EuroBricks, From bricks to Bothans, The Brothers Brick and Brickset at a glance.

Well designed, ergonomic and functional, it is unfortunately not yet optimized for the iPad, you will have to play 2x magnification or resign yourself to iPhone size.

To discover and install urgently if you have not already done so.

Bricking News on the App Store.

For those who don't yet know, the 10212 Imperial Shuttle set hides a little surprise for fans.
The stickers delivered with this set are written in Aurabesh (Font downloadable here). Each sticker has its own text which when translated gives these sentences:

- Kurt was here and wrote
- Adam made this model
- Come to the dark side we got cookies
- Forehead (on the screen with a front view of the shuttle)
-Side (on the screen with a side view of the shuttle)

A sympathetic attention from the designers who will reconcile, if possible, those who consider that the stickers are a heresy, and who regret the screen-printed pieces of yesteryear.