This is the first meatball of the year at LEGO and it's big: A flyer announcing a signing session for the next LEGO Ideas set 21321 International Space Station (ISS) was distributed today in a German LEGO Store.

We therefore discover the first "official" visual of the set and we learn incidentally that the signing session in the presence of fan designer Christoph Ruge (XCLD) will take place at the LEGO Store in Nuremberg on January 31 from 17:00 p.m. to 20:00 p.m.

For those who do not follow: In June 2019 and on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the LEGO Ideas concept, it was then necessary to choose between four LEGO Ideas projects, all holders of the 10.000 supports necessary for the passage in the evaluation phase but rejected, and it's'International Space Station by Christoph Ruge who largely won with 45.6% of the 22000 votes cast.

The really "official" announcement of the set should logically not be long.

(Visual via promobricks)

Like every year, LEGO announces the final withdrawal from its catalog of a few large boxes and it is indeed an "official" list and not more or less well-founded rumors. Some of these references are already indicated as "sold out", so they will no longer return to the catalog. LEGO is content to list the most emblematic products of its offer, there is obviously an annual renewal of many references in the usual ranges intended for the youngest.

Among the sets officially announced as end of life by LEGO:

It's time for the 2020 review with a small, very personal selection of the sets that I consider the most successful this year and a few boxes that I find of no great interest or on which I have several comments to make.

The most assiduous readers had noticed that I ignored this annual review in 2019. Indeed, I did not have much to say about the assortment offered by LEGO during the year and the LEGO Batman set. 76139 1989 Batmobile in my eyes had won first place in the top without having any real competition. Having already shouted a lot of my enthusiasm for this box as soon as it was announced and then during my "Review ", I preferred not to put on a layer so as not to seem to overdo it.

The year 2020 is more nuanced and I had a little trouble getting out a ranking of my favorite sets. In the LEGO Star Wars range, this is the set 75292 The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport (The Razor Crest) which will have excited me the most this year. It is not the biggest box nor the most expensive of the assortment marketed in 2020 but it is the one that has reconciled me a little with a range that often just reinterprets existing products. Series The Mandalorian broadcast on the Disney + platform was an excellent surprise even if it has its flaws and this derivative product is a real blow to a range that has been purring a little too much in recent years.

As for the LEGO Marvel and DC Comics ranges, there are only two boxes that really caught my attention this year: the set 76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah whose content is ultimately nothing very exciting but it is the beautiful packaging very different from what LEGO usually offers that convinced me and the set 76161 1989 Bat Wing because I'm a fan of the 1989 film and the machine deserved to be entitled to its LEGO version, even if it is a little less successful than the Batmobile of 2019.

I'm sure many fans will mention the set 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1 among their favorite products of 2020, but I won't. I have never been an absolute fan of the franchise and by extension this very successful vehicle is not a priority in my collection.

Like many of you, I classify the set 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System among my 2020 tops, although I'm pretty sure it's not for the right reasons. This is indeed the subject that far outweighs the achievement and nostalgia has done its job. By being more objective, I would have gladly contented myself with a reproduction of the NES at 80 euros without the (too) vintage TV that came with it.

In the LEGO Ideas universe, I have to admit that most of the sets released this year left me unmoved: the set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, with its strong homage to a range that I have never really played with, did not awaken in me the nostalgia that LEGO was seeking to provoke by turning away in the frank passage of the initial project and the set 21323 Grand Piano is far from the interactive product that I thought I could get. Its polished aesthetic does not in my eyes compensate for its really ridiculous "playability" which boils down to listening to audio tracks on a smartphone or typing at random on the keys of the instrument, taking yourself for a virtuoso. Fortunately, the representation of the ISS of the set 21321 International Space Station managed to convince me and this model is a beautiful object of exhibition which joined my collection.

I'm not a fan of the Harry Potter universe, so I didn't have to rack my brains to find space for the new Hogwarts expansions released this year. I also sympathize with those who collect the entire range, I know what it's like to buy certain products without great interest so as not to regret one day having missed out and to pay for them at the price. strong in the secondary market. It would be inappropriate for me to criticize the current development by LEGO of the Harry Potter universe while I collect products from ranges like Star Wars or Marvel which are models of the genre.

In the range of products that seemed to me to be really below what one is entitled to expect from a leading toy manufacturer in its market and which clearly displays a high-end positioning: The LEGO Technic set 42109 App-Controlled Top Gear Rally Car with its shapeless vehicle wrapped in a popular license and its disappointing performance, the set 10271 Fiat 500 with a car that looks like a lot but not quite a Fiat 500 and the Iron Man helmet from the set 76165 Iron Man Helmet which probably never should have been marketed as is.

It is not really a flop in my eyes but I am still very reserved about the sets of the LEGO ART range with their scripted mosaics without any real challenge at 120 € each and the final result very uneven depending on the references. I already have enough LEGO products in my life, I don't need to hang a few more on the walls.

Same observation for the Colosseum in the set 10276 Colosseum : I understand the show of force and all the potential in terms of communication that results from it, but I remain convinced that this product was not "necessary" for this format and at this price.

I deliberately refrain from passing judgment on universes intended for the youngest, for example I have no affinity with the LEGO Super Mario concept or the Hidden Side range but I am not the target of these products which have clearly found their public: the Starter Pack 71360 Adventures with Mario Caracole for example at the top of sales this year.

In short, 2020 has been a busy year in big sets, in tribute to different universes and licenses and in new and innovative concepts. Everyone will have found something to have fun among the many sets marketed and this is the essential. There will be as many reviews as there are fans, you have mine so I'm waiting to hear what your favorite sets of 2020 are in the comments.

Today we are quickly interested in the new LEGO road system offered in particular in the CITY set. 60304 Road Plates (19.99 €), a small box of 112 pieces which will be available from January 1, 2021. The announcement of this significant change to the system in place had also been greeted with more or less enthusiasm depending on the profile of the fans concerned .

Some of those who have spent large sums on classic roadplates take a dim view of the arrival of this new system while others are delighted to see that LEGO is finally trying something a little bit. bolder than simple pad-printed plastic plates to offer something that really looks like a construction toy.

This new system revolves around 16x16 molded plates with a thickness of two studs which will logically have a little trouble accommodating your Speed ​​Champions cars in 8 studs but which will allow the circulation of classic vehicles in 6 studs wide. It will eventually be possible to widen the roadway with flat covered with tiles but it will be necessary to go back to the cash register to afford the necessary elements or to invest heavily in this small box to afford a highway.

These modules can be linked together via tiles and LEGO has planned a relative modularity that allows many combinations. Ramps allow vehicles to access the road and the set 60304 Road Plates provides enough to assemble a large crossing with four 16x16 modules and an 8x16 pedestrian crossing lined with speed bumps, all accompanied by some signage elements, two lampposts and a little vegetation. You will have to pay € 19.99 to afford this set and multiply the sum to change the entire street coating of your dioramas.

LEGO has chosen to offer smooth and shiny pavement elements, I would have preferred a mat and a little more granular coating to obtain a real "road" effect and guarantee minimum grip for vehicles in circulation. The proposed version should not withstand the assaults of the youngest for very long and quickly accumulate scratches.

We cannot really say that the result obtained is of perfect visual continuity, the different locations planned to accommodate the pad-printed floor marking or the parts which fill the holes in the roadway remain clearly visible. This is undoubtedly the price to pay to obtain a product that offers sufficient modularity and let users' creativity express itself.

LEGO also did not force the quality of the pad printing of the floor marking, the white bands are not all correctly centered on the parts concerned. It will not be necessary to go with a cutter or a knife to remove the tiles placed on the roadway, LEGO has provided a hole under each location to push with a rod and eject the part.

If you are considering a hybrid solution that allows you to reuse your old road plates and combine them with this new system, you are going to have to be very creative. Almost nothing sticks together. The plates supplied are narrower than the pavement of conventional plates, the white bands are not the same size and it is impossible to perfectly compensate for the thickness of the new plates hoping to obtain a perfect alignment.

The least worse of the solutions will consist in raising the sidewalk which borders your constructions installed on road plates of the thickness of a plate. Those who align Modulars and install a road just in front of their series of buildings can still place a few flat under the baseplate of the different sets to achieve the same raised sidewalk effect without affecting the finish of the model itself.

While conventional road plates made it possible to move an entire block of ancillary constructions or road signs, this new solution will prove to be significantly more fragile during handling. LEGO will also have to make an effort to come up with a solution that allows you to assemble turns that really look like curves. The traditional plates did that very well, the new system is much less efficient on this point, and that is saying little.

Anecdote: the street lights are powered by solar panels identical to those provided in the LEGO Ideas set 21321 International Space Station and they are both equipped with a phosphorescent piece.

In short, the arrival of this new concept is therefore a small revolution which will undoubtedly not do everyone's business but which should appeal to the youngest. The set presented here is in fact only a simple extension intended to complete a diorama gathering other boxes marketed under the label Connect your City which already provide many elements allowing to assemble these new routes: the references 60290 Skate Park (€ 29.99), 60291 Modern Family House (49.99 €) and 60292 Town Center (99.99 €).

If you prefer to stay on the old system, be aware that the references 60236 Straight & T-Junction et 60237 Curve & Crossroad sold at the public price of 9.99 € are still listed at LEGO even if they are currently out of stock. We do not know how long the two concepts will live together, stock up.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 28, 2020 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

Let's go for the offer of the week at LEGO with the small set 40345 LEGO CITY Minifigure Pack free from 75 € / 80 CHF of purchase. Please note, the offer is only valid for the purchase of certain sets such as the references 21321 International Space Station, 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander and sets from the CITY range on the "space" theme marketed since last year.

The Creator set 31091 Shuttle Transporter is also listed in the references which theoretically benefit from the offer, but the pack of minifigs is not added to the basket ...

The small set offered is automatically added to the basket as soon as the minimum order amount required is reached and the offer will be valid until February 29.

DIRECT ACCESS TO THE OFFER ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

THE OFFER IN BELGIUM >> THE OFFER IN SWITZERLAND >>