Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Marvel set 76269 Avengers Tower, a large box of 5201 pieces which will be available at the public price of €499.99 from November 24, 2023 via the official online store and in the LEGO Stores. Fans have long wanted a model of Stark Tower which has become the headquarters of the Avengers, LEGO has heard the call and this box is therefore in principle designed to meet these expectations even if we can consider that the product arrives a little late in the shelves, the Marvel universe in cinema having already moved on.

In the product box, around forty sachets, three instruction booklets and a very large handful of stickers to stick. The construction is not modular or disassembled for transport or storage, all the sub-assemblies which compose it are integral with each other. It's a bit of a shame, we could have hoped to easily separate the tower into three or four modules to be able to store it temporarily or move it more easily.

The finish of this 90 cm high tower is a little uneven depending on the sections and it sometimes feels more like we are assembling a luxury LEGO CITY police station than a high-end model. The fault is undoubtedly the hundreds of panes of glass that simply have to be stacked in a chain to obtain the final result, these large surfaces giving the impression of easily gaining volume without putting too much effort into the assembly techniques.

Part of the tower seen on screen on the LEGO version is also missing, which ultimately only reproduces the upper section of the building. We will have to be content with this aesthetic shortcut, LEGO having clearly wanted to offer a product which hesitates without really choosing its side between luxury playset and pure exhibition model.

You will also have to savor the assembly process according to the arrangement of the different interior spaces which refer to one scene or another from the saga, the progression through the pages of the three booklets is designed to avoid as much as possible the weariness encountered during the inevitable sections that are a little repetitive or uninspired.

The set obviously combines references to the entire Avengers saga with the added bonus of characters and scenes that don't really have a memorable link with the building. The product is a melting pot of diverse and varied references, a sort of global synthesis intended for those who will only buy this box and who usually ignore the rest of the LEGO derivative products under Marvel license.

We can't really talk aboutEaster eggs regarding the numerous references to the Avengers saga scattered throughout the product, it is indeed the object of this type of box to accumulate in an obvious and endless way the more or less strong nods to the universe concerned. Fans will be well served, even if the most dedicated will notice the scenes that never took place in this tower and the characters who don't have much to do there. Others will be content with this playful summary all in the glory of what we callInfinity Saga, with its geographical approximations and its shortcuts, certain references amounting to a drawing on a sticker.

The interior spaces are accessible by removing a few facade elements including the large front bay window, you will still need to have small fingers and pay attention to the furniture and accessories already present to install some characters there. The exterior walls of the tower for their part integrate numerous connection points which allow you to install the numerous transparent extensions provided which will accommodate the staged minifigs, you have the choice of dynamics and this profusion of possibilities will also be very useful depending on the angle chosen to present the construction on your shelves. Note that as for the front of the set 76178 Daily Bugle, that of this tower can be made intact by modifying the damaged bay window using the two windows provided.

The mini Quinjet provided is anecdotal even if it is not unworthy, the construction serves here to furnish the landing zone present at the top of the tower and the machine is on arrival more of a decorative element than a real functionality of the proposed playset even if it is possible to install a minifigure there. The bravest will try to put it in a flying position outside the tower by finding the right combination of connection points, transparent extensions and the necessary balance point of the model. The included Leviathan does not impress, it is much too compact, but it at least has the merit of being relatively detailed and of being able to be presented in flight thanks to the transparent support provided.

As you can imagine, the hundreds of windows are once again simply thrown into the bags with the other parts and many of them are marked or scratched upon unpacking. It is impossible here to defend LEGO by citing the fact that the product will in any case end up in the hands of young children who will destroy the windows a little more, this product is not directly intended for them. If I am usually quite demanding about the condition of the glazing present in the products I buy, I will resign myself here because I already know that it will be of no use to go and request several dozen replacement parts from the customer service.

In the best case scenario, the latter will send them to me also thrown into a bag with the risk of seeing them arrive in the same condition as those delivered in the box. Seen from a certain distance, the tower does not really suffer visually from these visual defects, but up close these numerous scratches are often clearly visible. Too bad.

Once again, LEGO delivers a product presented as high-end but covered with various and varied stickers, with two very large sheets of stickers of which you will find scans below so that you can take full advantage of the distilled references. It's as usual for LEGO, graphically very well executed but the manufacturer could have made an effort by pad printing some of these visuals such as those which take place on Falcon's dorsal gear.

After reflection, I find it a shame that it is not possible to transform this tower into a Stark version with appropriate signage; however, a few handfuls of additional pieces were enough to offer a variant that would undoubtedly have found its audience among certain fans.

The supply of figurines is substantial with 31 characters but, judging by the first reactions during the official announcement of the product, the selection made by the designers is not to everyone's taste: too many characters already seen under the same shape in other boxes, new minifigs without much interest while LEGO ignores prominent characters who would have deserved a place in this box and a few characters whose presence was not necessarily required considering- given the context.

Everyone has an opinion on the subject and as I said above, this product is not only aimed at unconditional fans of the Marvel universe in a LEGO version: it also targets a more occasional clientele who do not buy sets from the Marvel range on a regular basis and who will therefore have a fairly exhaustive selection of characters on hand here.

We will remember that the Hulk figurine now has a removable head and hair, that LEGO once again gives us torsos or heads for Captain America and Scarlet Witch in a flesh color too pale to convince, that Wong is an intruder who is frankly off topic while Bruce Banner would have for example been welcome, that Thor is unfortunately adorned with his face in fashion Love and thunder and that Vision and The Wasp benefit from flexible plastic elements of the most beautiful effect.

I'm not a fan of the presence of Kevin Feige, producer and president of Marvel Studios, while in my opinion Stan Lee definitely had his place here if it was absolutely necessary to associate a significant external contributor to the cast provided. The most diligent collectors will be happy to have on hand second-rate characters who have never had the honors of the LEGO range such as Alexander Pierce, Helen Cho or Erik Selvig, the others would undoubtedly have exchanged these figurines for superheroes or more emblematic characters from the Marvel universe. We will console ourselves with the magnificent figurines of Ultron, Vision, Hawkeye and Iron Man's damaged Mark VI armor.

Whatever the faults of the product, in particular the inevitable problems of scale between the different elements of the set, I will be among the first to treat myself to this long-awaited and hoped-for large tower, with a well-treated subject and a satisfactory supply of figurines. . I will make the effort from November 24th so as not to miss out on the little promotional set 5008076 Marvel Taxi offered for the occasion. I already have a handful of Black Panther in my drawers but this small extension of the set will be enough to make up for the retail price of the product. At least time to validate my order.

I hope that I will be lucky with the windows delivered in the bags and this time I will take the time to assemble the contents of this box as it should be: patiently while trying to make the most of the references included, the interior spaces and all the “experience” promised.

The €500 requested by LEGO will unfortunately not put this box within the reach of all budgets and you will have to seriously save your pocket money to afford this luxury playset. I think the game is worth it, the fun possibilities are numerous, my son who is now 20 years old has also stressed that he would have "really" liked to have had a toy like that when he was younger instead of the boxes less ambitious of the range, and the exhibition potential of the product seems really interesting to me despite its relative aesthetic simplicity for a high-end model.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at November 26, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

If you don't know what to give at the end of the year to a LEGO fan who already has everything or almost everything and who will look good out of politeness in front of the LEGO Ideas table football that you had planned to put under the tree, know that the publisher Dunod is publishing this year a French version of Jens Andersen's work already published in English in 2022 under the title The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World's Imagination.

The work, titled in French The LEGO saga - The little brick that conquered the world, has since its publication become a reference in terms of the history of the LEGO group, its author having had full access to the group's archives as well as to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, director of the company from 1979 to 2004 and incidentally grandson of the founder of the brand, Ole Kirk Christiansen.

The 380 pages of this French version are therefore filled with photos and visuals, some of which are completely new, and statements from Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen covering the historical course of the LEGO adventure from its creation to the present day.

Make no mistake, this is not a book to glorify LEGO products, even if they are obviously at the center of the group's history, the book is above all a detailed chronology of the development of the brand with its successes, its failures, the methods of its managers to maintain pressure on its customers and its strategies to stay afloat even during the most disrupted periods by bad choices or unfavorable economic conditions.

We could regret that the author lingers almost a little too much on the first years of what would become the LEGO company and then moves a little too quickly to the current period, but this richly documented and illustrated return to the sources remains coherent and punctuated. of first-hand statements that give the impression of having at hand a book that is not a simple fictionalized version of the history of the LEGO Group.

The common thread of the book is obviously the family saga of the group initiated by the founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, extended by his son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen then perpetuated by his grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, and one will have to feel a certain interest in this story which has led to the brand's current success so as not to abandon reading along the way. This is the price to pay to immerse yourself in this saga at the origin of our passion and even if the book only evokes LEGO products through their impact on the evolution of the brand, the effort will in my opinion be amply rewarded.

This work is not a marketing manual, even if it largely discusses the group's strategy, such as the partnership with McDonald's in the 80s to conquer the USA, nor is it a biography. discount idealizing a story too often told by omitting certain details, it is simply a richly documented and abundantly commented analysis by someone who knows more than anyone about the history of his own family and his society.

The book is available at the public price of €26.90 on FNAC.com, at Cultura or at Amazon:

The Lego saga: The little brick that conquered the world

26.90 €

BUY

Note: The copy presented here, provided by the publisher, is as usual put into play. Deadline set for November 19, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Today we are very quickly interested in the content of the LEGO DREAMZzz set 71457 Pegasus Flying Horse, a box of 482 pieces sold at the public price of €52.99 on the official online store and in the LEGO Stores. This set is in the soft underbelly of a range whose public prices range from €29.99 to €139.99 but it deserves the attention of all those who have found an affinity with the universe concerned: it is the least expensive of the two products which currently make it possible to obtain the main villain of the LEGO house license, the King of Nightmares, in minifig format.

We therefore assemble here a black horse with rather successful curves and reduced but sufficient mobility, the animal becoming a cousin of Pegasus when the throne of the King of Nightmares is installed on its back. The whole then works visually very well but we can only regret the fragility of the association between the two constructions, it only holds in place on two tenons, it has an unfortunate tendency to come off without warning and the two pairs of white ribs which can be folded over the horse's abdomen provide no support. For the rest, it will be possible to orient the head and tail of the animal and take advantage of articulated hips which allow the four legs to be shifted a little.

The two large wings supplied are nicely made, another pair is also available in the set 71469 Nightmare Shark Ship (€139.99) to embody the sails of the boat. I note that one element was missing in the copy of the set that I received: a large pad-printed eye in principle supplied in two copies and present both on the throne of the King of Nightmares and on the top of the cage in which finds itself locked up Nova. This last sub-assembly also brings a little playability to the product, it will involve Zoey perched on her bird to go and free the young girl held by the super villain and his henchman.

The bird with its articulated wings and movable head, ridden by Zoey, is also rather successful even if the construction can seem basic and a little undersized to really compete with the horse, more than 20 cm high. A few stickers are to be applied to the different constructions to refine their level of detail a little, the horse can do without them but the bird needs its eyes.

The supply of minifigs here goes to the essential with two members of the main cast, Zoey and the King of Nightmares and two second knives, Nova and the micro-minion Susan. All the figurines are delivered in at least one other box in the range but this remains the cheapest option to obtain Nova in pajamas and the Nightmare King with his magnificent pad printing and his very successful accessories.

This toy for children who are fans of the universe developed in the animated series currently broadcast on all major platforms as well as on television seems to me to be rather successful with its neat and colorful constructions, it offers, like the other references in the range an assembly variant at the end of the booklet with the possibility of transforming Zoey into a giant butterfly. Nothing crazy, the modification is not as spectacular as some of the much more creative variants imagined in other sets.

The public reference price practiced by LEGO often seems to me a little too high for what the set really has to offer, but this price is only there to set the bar high and serve as a reference for the percentage of reduction available everywhere else and it is obviously already possible to acquire this box for less than €40 at Amazon:

Discount -25%

LEGO 71457 DREAMZzz Pegasus, The Flying Horse, Build a Fantasy Creature in 2 Ways, with Zoey, Nova and Night King Minifigures

52.99 € 39.99 €

BUY

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at November 12, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Today we are very quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Ideas set 40595 Tribute to Galileo Galilei which will be offered from November 1 to 16, 2023 on the official online store and in the LEGO Stores from €130 of purchase without restriction of range.

You know if you follow, this product is based on the creation which in June 2022 won a competition organized on the LEGO Ideas platform with the promise made to the winner to convert their idea into an official set. Today we can say that LEGO has largely respected the initial concept, the manufacturer simply integrating a few aesthetic improvements or regressions into the diorama which retains its initial organization.

As for the promotional set 40579 Eiffel’s Apartment offered in 2022 for the acquisition of the set 10307 Eiffel Tower, here we assemble a base on which we will then install the partitions and furniture for the office of the occupant of the premises, in this case Galileo the famous mathematician, geometer, physicist and astronomer. Unlike Gustave Eiffel's office, LEGO here makes the effort to cover the floor with a few Tiles and the overall rendering is greatly improved.

The product also integrates a functionality based on toothed wheels which allows the very simplistic heliocentric system placed on the desk to rotate. The mechanism is hidden in the thickness of the desk base and remains easily accessible via a few teeth protruding from the back of the construction.

For the rest, it's rather well done with two-tone walls which are therefore a little less dull than those of the reference creation, some pretty furniture even if the central office has been simplified a little and a little vegetation around of the balcony whose railing, however, loses an angle. LEGO also provides a copy of the globe in the form of a pad-printed head already seen in several boxes including the sets 21336 The Office et 76218 Sanctum Sanctorum.

The set also includes a small sheet of stickers with enough to indicate the name of the character on the front of the diorama, a poster of the Tower of Pisa, Pisa being Galileo's birthplace but many fans already see a clue about of a hypothetical future set from the LEGO ICONS range, and a reproduction of the drawing of the Moon made by Galileo.

The figurine provided in this box is nothing exceptional, it simply reuses elements present for several years in the LEGO catalog to form a somewhat simplistic interpretation of the character: the head is that of Gandalf, Cornelius Fudge or even Max Shreck, the torso is that of Ross Geller in the set 10292 F⋅R⋅I⋅E⋅N⋅D⋅S Apartments, the legs are neutral, the beard is Marley's (21330 Home Alone House) and the hairstyle has equipped a slew of characters with graying hair since 2015.

This small promotional product of 307 pieces valued by LEGO at €24.99 does not stand out, it should please all those who appreciate that LEGO pays homage from time to time to personalities who have marked history and the construction will look great on the corner of a desk or shelf.

It's up to everyone to see whether they will really have to spend €130 to obtain it or wisely wait until the product is available in volume on the secondary market to acquire it separately at a reasonable price.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at November 6, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Today we quickly take a look at the contents of the LEGO Disney set 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie, a box of 424 pieces which will be offered on the official online store and in the LEGO Stores from October 23, 2023 on condition of purchasing at least €100 worth of Disney-licensed products (including Star Wars & Marvel).

It's impossible not to think of the previous interpretation of the subject covered here in the LEGO Ideas set 21317 Steamboat Willie (751 pieces - €89.99), this is the second time that LEGO has made a direct reference to the animated film Steamboat Willie which, in November 1928, featured Mickey, Minnie, Captain Pete (Pat Hibulaire) and some animals.

This promotional product allows us to assemble the boat seen in black and white on the screen and the construction therefore remains in two tones even if the interior of the model is made up of colored parts which will no longer be visible once assembly is completed .

This steamboat, 20 cm long and 13 cm high, goes a little further than the bare minimum by having the luxury of having an integrated mechanism which sets in motion the two paddle wheels and the two chimneys of the boat during its travels.

The functionality may seem relatively anecdotal on a product which will undoubtedly end its career on the corner of a shelf, but its implementation enhances the construction process and gives meaning to this set by taking advantage of a few simple but effective techniques. The pleasure of assembly is there, it is already an important argument in favor of this small promotional product, a priori unpretentious.

On arrival, the boat is convincing given the scale chosen and the finish of the object is sufficiently accomplished to not have to regret having spent the amount requested to obtain it. Don't put the thing in the bathtub, that boat doesn't float.

LEGO only provides one minifig here, that of Mickey, and therefore skips Minnie who was present in the LEGO Ideas set 21317 Steamboat Willie. No legs injected in two colors for the single figurine provided, it is minimum service even if the figurine remains consistent with what we have the right to expect from an interpretation of the reference look of the character.

For those who are interested, Mickey's hat is the one already seen in the bag of the 2nd series of Disney collectible minifigs wearing the reference 71024, the head is also delivered in the same bag as well as in the sets 21317 Steamboat Willie et 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera. All that remains is the new gray legs pad-printed with two white buttons to make this figurine a new and for the moment exclusive version, the torso being neutral.

There are no stickers in this box, the set didn't really need stickers anyway, and this is good news for anyone who wants to display the construction without the risk of seeing it deteriorate over time. time.

This small promotional set which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Disney by referring to an animated short film that has become cult seems to me to be up to the occasion with great exhibition potential and an assembly process which will a little further than just stacking bricks and I'll be one of those who makes the effort to buy something from the official online store to get it.

I'm not an unconditional fan of the Disney universe but this product seems to me to be a nice homage, neither too bulky nor too pretentious, which will easily find a place in my collection. The minimum amount required to obtain it seems almost reasonable to me if we take into account the latest promotional offers offered by the manufacturer, knowing that with €100 you get more from LEGO anyway.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 1er November 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.