Did you like the set LEGO Ideas 21301 Birds marketed in 2015? Do you want to continue the fun and ornithological experience offered by this box? I have what you need.

Glénat is offering the French version of the book this year Birds from Bricks by Thomas Poulsom, who is as you know the creator of set 21301, and this book is a rather logical and successful extension of what the box offered in its time.

Over the 144 pages, you will be able to discover how to assemble fifteen new species of birds that will join the blue jay, the hummingbird and the robin from the LEGO Ideas set.

Northern Cardinal, Common Blackbird, Passerine Nonpareil, Peruvian Cock-de-Roche, Scarlet Macaw, Moseley's Penguin, Red-crowned Cossyphus, Blue Tit, Canary Island Serin, Lapwing, European Kingfisher, North Pacific Albatross, Miro Crimson, Kakapo and Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, these new buildable birds come from all over the world.

Was a French version of the work really essential since it is above all a book of instructions? I think so.

Each species is presented on a dedicated page with information that allows you to go a little further than the simple accumulation of models to build. This is not off-putting or encyclopedic, the author just gives some essential information about each species so that you can wow your friends. At the end of the book, the author even tells you how to put together a perch model that can showcase some of these new species.

The real strength of this book is that these models are really complementary to those in set 21301. It is not a simple interpretation by a third-party author of the techniques and ideas implemented by Thomas Poulsom.

The latter had resources beyond the LEGO Ideas project and he thus makes the fans of his creations benefit from them. If you go to the end of the concept, you can proudly line up 18 different bird species on your shelves.

For those who are wondering, the identification stickers of the different species with their scientific names present in the LEGO Ideas set are not provided. you will have to create them yourself if you wish to harmonize your extensive collection of birds.

In short, this book should excite fans of LEGO, ornithology and beautiful models. It will also be a rather well designed tool to allow the youngest to discover some species of birds in a fun way.

Only downside, of a technical nature, some steps of the instructions are a bit complex to decipher, you will have to be very careful. The building instructions are condensed into a few pages for each model and they are not broken down to the extreme like those typically produced by LEGO.

Unfortunately, the LEGO Ideas 21301 Birds set (initial retail price € 44.99) is no longer available from LEGO. If you want to acquire it as a starting point for this trip to the land of birds, you will have to turn to the secondary market (on bricklink for example) where you can still find it at a reasonable price.

The work is currently in preorder from amazon with availability announced for October 18. Gather the set and the book and you get a really original gift to put under the tree at the end of the year, with long hours of assembly and discovery ...

Note: We are doing as usual, you have until September 14, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to express yourself in the comments.

Update : The winner was drawn and 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.

Today we are interested in another set from the The LEGO Ninjago Movie range, the reference 70614 Lightning Jet with its 876 pieces, six minifigs and its retail price set at 64.99 €.

I had put this box aside, the visuals of the box did not inspire me any good. I was wrong because this set really has it all. This Supersonic Lightning Jet, as LEGO calls it in France, in my opinion deserves your full attention.

The LEGO version is as usual a simplified interpretation of the film model that we briefly see in two of the trailers already available. Nothing really catastrophic on that side, the set ship remains sufficiently consistent and coherent even if we go here from more than twenty side antennas on each of the wings to a dozen on the set 70614 craft.

When I discovered the product, I told myself that it would all be difficult to hold in place during long gaming sessions. It is not. Despite the skeletal appearance of the vessel, it remains easily "swooshable"as LEGO fans like to say.

Nothing falls and LEGO has provided a grip by the handle located under the machine which will serve incidentally as landing gear or presentation support.

11 stickers to stick in this set. Here it is not their number that is the problem, it is the difference in color between the blue of the stickers and the color of the parts to which they must be applied. It's ugly. It is time to generalize the use of stickers on a transparent background, especially for fairly large surfaces.

The side elements that integrate the reactors can be oriented as you wish. The angle is limited but it's always taken to change the look of this robotic insect a little.

The underside of the construction has obviously not received the same care as the top. It's a bit empty but we'll do with it. In particular, an element of the electro-disc visible on the promotional poster is missing (see above). Too bad for a ship meant to be handled from all angles.

On the functionality side, everything happens under the ship. Pressing the black trigger located in front of the gray handle will cause the generator located on the back of the ship to rotate. The large missile located under the nose of the jet is ejectable via a button located on the system which retains the ammunition.

I often criticize LEGO for not balancing the forces enough for maximum playability. Here, the manufacturer has chosen to provide an enemy machine to be able to take action right out of the box. Well done for that. The mechanical crab equipped with a pincer and a rotating missile launcher is basic but it is welcome.

In terms of minifigs, it's also very balanced. On the good side, Jay will take the controls of the jet to fly to the aid of the couple of civilians in distress, Ed and Edna.

Small technical downside for the minifigs of the two civilians: We find once again the usual differences when the same color is applied to surfaces of different colors. It's unsightly.

As a bonus, we also see the other visible defect on many minifigs with a lack of ink at the place where the rounded legs meet the flat surface of the latter. Too bad for a brand that has made the minifigure the flagship of its products.

Among the evil invaders, the assortment is interesting. Three different characters are provided including the Mechanical Crab Pilot with his matching helmet.

In short, this set undoubtedly deserves better than playing the outsiders in this range which combines both successful products and a few failures. it is already available for less than 50 € at amazon and at this price, it's a nice gift for a young fan of the Ninjago universe.

Note: We do as usual, you have until September 10, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself in the comments.

Update : The winner was drawn and 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.

Before the Star Wars wave scheduled for this weekend, a brief return to The LEGO Ninjago Movie universe with the set 70613 Garma Mecha Man (747 pieces, 4 minifigs, 64.99 €).

Might as well raise the suspense right away, at this price it is obviously a simplified version of the mech seen in the film trailer. Really simplified.

There isn't much left of the massive and menacing aspect of the legged shark piloted by Garmadon in the LEGO version. Instead, we assemble a somewhat clumsy robot about thirty centimeters high with a few details that vaguely recall that of the film.

By assembling this mech, I said to myself that next to it, the model of the set 70615 Fire Mech would almost pass for a faithful reproduction of the film version. There, we come close to the off topic.

Exit the menacing shark side in samurai armor, he looks like one of those rubber villains with flat feet straight out of an episode of Bioman, X-Gold or Spectreman and which would move by waddling from one foot to the other.

No knee joints, we'll do with it. LEGO took care to try and give this robot fake knees anyway and it's ugly. Lots of stickers to stick on (20), but you're used to it. The shark cannon fires missiles.

The few good ideas in the set, like the thrusters on the back of the legs or the aquarium mounted on the back of the robot that feeds the fish cannon, fall flat because the design of this robot is so disastrous. Minimum service on the pilot station side, no levers or seats for Garmadon. A sticker acts as a control panel.

Come on, let's not waste our time with this set, it's a caricature more than an interpretation. There had to be a middle ground between this thing and a UCS from the Garma Mecha Man, even if it means adding about twenty euros to the public price. Even my 8 year old son was laughing to his feet when he found out. There are a lot better in The LEGO Ninjago Movie range and for less.

Bonus: This mech also doesn't look like the promotional visual below. By the way, LEGO did not see fit to provide us with the rather nice ax on this poster. we must be content with yet another copy of the fake laser pointer, the ultimate weapon.

If you still want to have two robots to stage a titanic fight, turn to theUltimate Mech Kit bearing the reference 5005410. You will save 28 € on the separate purchase of the sets 70613 Garma Mech Man et 70615 Fire Mech (111.98 € the lot instead of 139.98 € if you buy the two boxes separately).

The minifig endowment struggles to save the furniture with Pat the paparazzi, an evil man-shark, Lloyd and Garmadon.

Finally, I say no without forcing myself. This is by far the worst set in the The LEGO Ninjago Movie range in my eyes, especially at this price ...

Note: We do as usual, you have until September 7, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself in the comments.

Update : The winner was drawn and 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.

Small foray into the LEGO Architecture range with a set that will inevitably speak more to the public of this blog than the usual reproductions of buildings located on the other side of the planet.

The reference 21036 The Arc de Triomphe makes it possible to reproduce a well-known Parisian monument with just over 380 pieces.

It's a LEGO Architecture product, with the scale to go with it and the opportunistic symbolism of some of the pieces used to represent the different elements of the monument. And that's where the microfig, a very practical LEGO element for designers, comes into play.

The four artistic high reliefs are here replaced by microfigs and the LEGO designer has chosen to place them in a niche that absolutely does not exist on the monument. I understand the approach: to create some semblance of volume around the minifigure using depth and a different color, but the effect falls a bit flat.

The six bas-reliefs disappear altogether and are embodied by the underside of gray pieces. It will take some imagination to visualize them.

It is precisely the purpose of this range to reproduce monuments on a scale which requires diverting the main use of certain pieces to make them embody architectural details, but here we obviously reach the limits of the concept and the symbolism becomes a little cartoonish.

To console ourselves, we can judge that the flame of the Unknown Soldier in LEGO sauce is rather successful ...

Everything is assembled in fifteen minutes flat. Due to the architecture of the monument, some sub-assemblies have to be reproduced in several copies. Inevitable but not really exciting. Some interesting techniques to discover, in particular to reproduce the upper cornice.

If you like the hinge bricks (LEGO ref. 393701), rejoice, you will get 30 copies in this box.

From a certain distance, the one that separates you from the shelf on which you display your sets, the whole will create an illusion. Despite its approximate proportions and the liberties taken by the designer, we recognize the monument at first glance. It was already less obvious with Eiffel Tower from set 21019...

As for the public price, 34.99 €, it is much too expensive for this souvenir to assemble yourself. And LEGO has not even made the effort to integrate content in French in the instruction booklet contrary to what is indicated in the very emphatic product sheet on the LEGO Shop. The only words in French are Arc, de et Triumph... For a set that honors a French monument, it's a shame.

Note: We do as usual, you have until September 5, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself in the comments.

Update : The winner was drawn and 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.

Ninjago City is the other main actor of The LEGO Ninjago Movie. The vertical metropolis in the streets of which the young ninjas, Garmadon and Godzichat clash, therefore deserved an adaptation worthy of the name in LEGO sauce, even if it was condensed and necessarily caricatured.

I built the set 70620 Ninjago City sold at the public price of 299.99 € on the LEGO Shop and in the LEGO Stores and I give you here some thoughts on what I retain, that I like or that I like less. This is not a guided tour, it is just my opinion.

Ninjago City is running out of space. So we build up and we end up with three distinct levels that stack up over the years called the Old World, the Street and the Skyscraper (It's LEGO that says it). Everyone will find there a resemblance or an inspiration coming from the universes that they know: Blade Runner, Total Recall, the 5th Element, Star Wars, etc ... Each overcrowded urban environment made up of social and architectural layers flanked by illuminated signs will do the trick to draw a parallel with this set.

The LEGO version of this city takes the characteristics of this cartoon Hong Kong to the letter, compressing spaces and themes in the process, and the whole set of more than 4800 pieces fits on a gray 32x32 base plate. So much the better for those who lack space on their shelves. So much the better also for those who will want to make the thing enthroned within their city based on Modulars. LEGO has also thought of these by integrating the necessary connection points.

No question of making here the usual comparison between the set and the film from which it is inspired. The set does not claim to reproduce Ninjago City, it offers a selection of what is there, arranged to put as much as possible in the available space. It's a best-of.

It's really Ninjago for grown-ups. And this is the marketing stroke of genius of this box: to bring teenage or adult fans to a world where they would not necessarily have set foot via a box that meets their requirements and that uses the codes and format to which all those who collect Modulars for years are now accustomed.

For once, we can really say that there is fan service on all floors. Winks to the Ninjago universe developed in the TV series, references to old ranges that only the oldest will have known (M-Tron, Galidor, Adventurers, Fabuland), parts diverted from their usual function, etc. .. The designers have conscientiously set out to seduce the adult fan, even to the point of overdose. The set becomes a tailor-made product to appeal to a very specific clientele. Whether it is a Ninjago product becomes almost secondary.

I am not going to make you a Prévert-style inventory here of what you will find in each area of ​​the set. It is the privilege of those who will offer it to themselves to discover all this during the assembly. I could also tell you that it is an exceptional product, that you absolutely must buy it, that your life will not be the same after assembling it and that it is the product of the year, end Of the history. But no, you know that I like to go there with some very personal remarks on the weaknesses of the sets that I have the opportunity to test.

For those who will not buy it and who will therefore be content to watch it from a distance, the reviews which spoil you all the content abounds. As the other would say, at € 300 a set, it can be eaten in small slices to make the most of every detail and every reference that the designers have disseminated to the four corners of the set. The real fun is there. We come to the end by telling ourselves that it is unfortunately already over and that we would like more.

Ninjago City will pass some of your others Modulars for simple suburban pavilions with its 63 cm high. It's up to you to see how to combine all this so that the whole retains an acceptable aesthetic appearance, especially at the level of the canal that circulates under the city that will have to be extended in one way or another.

This set is also a real Structure, it really has all the attributes: removable floors, access to each of the rooms and systematic filling of each of the available spaces with a multitude of furniture and accessories. Some fun features to wrap the whole thing up and the fan of Modulars will not be disoriented despite the specific theme of this construction.

The only notable difference with the Modulars usual, it is in fact a miniature city and not a single building. Everything is compressed to the extreme with inevitably some freedom in terms of surface area allocated to the different spaces to force everything to fit on a 32x32 base plate. When a bathroom is bigger than an apartment, you have to deal with ...

The pleasure of construction is very present, we quickly get caught up in the game of discovering ingenious techniques (roof tiles, visual rendering of the depth of the canal) and there will always be something acquired for future creations.

Take your time for assembly, this will be the only opportunity you will have to take full advantage of certain details of the set ... This is also the principle of Modulars : the fan will be content to know that this or that detail is there, even if it is no longer really visible or easily accessible after assembly.

You will have at your disposal three thick instruction booklets, one for each level, embellished with some preliminary sketches already seen online a few weeks ago and a few blurbs of the city and minifigs (in English). You will soon be able to download the French version of these instruction booklets in PDF format at this address.

As is often the case with this type of construction at LEGO (and in real life), the front is much more dressed than the backyard. Nothing annoying here, the whole forms a street corner and the rear has some interesting features, especially for navigation (acrobatic) between the different levels. However, the elevator would have deserved better than an apparent rack (Unless it is a faithful reproduction of the one in the film) and a simple platform that must be moved by hand.

This set lacks lighting and mobility elements to make it a product offering a minimum of interactivity. Pushing a joystick, turning a crank, moving an elevator by hand, it's like being in one of those playsets from the 80s with its rubber bands that maintain basic mechanisms.

I read a lot of fiery statements regarding the integrated cash dispenser next to the comic book store. Calms you. A manual pull tab pushes each coin from a stack of 13 bills recessed into a wall. You will withdraw 1300 legodollars once to verify that it works.

The famous "sushi conveyor belt" only moves if you activate the large lamp-shaped wheel above it and the crab oven which unleashes passions is satisfied with a mechanism that turns on itself to present two crabs of different colors depending on the degree of doneness. These functions at least have the merit of existing, but you will not play cook for long. Not a replacement rubber band, it's petty.

Two or three bright bricks would have been welcome, this condensed and colorful representation of Ninjago City and its many signs deserved better than a few stickers. Being able to light up restaurants and shops without having to go back to the cash register would have been a real plus. Like all cities of the same type, overcrowded and overcrowded, Ninjago City reveals itself after dark. Here, it's pitch black.

As for the stickers, you will have to be patient, there are more than fifty in this box. Impossible not to paste them, the general appearance really depends on these illustrations, which are otherwise very successful. Some stickers are printed on a transparent background and that's good even if they are still a little more difficult to apply due to their extreme finesse. The advantage: no difference in color between the support and the sticker.

In the end, I understand the general enthusiasm for this box. It is visually very attractive, there are a multitude of more or less obvious references to other LEGO ranges, some of which date back to Greek calendars and above all it is a Crossovers successful between a popular range (Ninjago) and a successful concept (Structure).

It does not take more for this set to be unanimous, at least on the internet. As to whether those who cracked on the first visuals will go to the checkout after reflection, that's another story.

This set is indeed a product of the Ninjago range, but it is above all a Structure moreover disguised in the colors of the film. It is only intended to flirt with adult fans and it is not a playset that can be manipulated by the youngest. The cash machine, sushi conveyor belt, and crab oven aren't very exciting features for epic adventure seekers anyway ...

Those who would like to make it Chinatown of their LEGO city will have to deal with the surreal side of construction. It is a 32x32 digest of the imaginary city from the animated film. It will therefore be a question of refining the thing to reduce its caricature side.

The few "integrations" that I have been able to discover so far are not really convincing, the set is placed in the city without taking into account any visual or technical transition. I'm waiting to see the creation of the one who will have been inspired by this condensed neo-Japanese-futuro-ninjagesque architecture to create a whole city on the same theme.

On the minifig side, this set is well supplied. Lots of civilians, a little less ninjas (Jay, Kai and Lloyd) is also good when it comes to populating a city. LEGO is providing a Neutral Head Ninja Outfit for Lloyd and the mannequins in the store will give you two sets "Spinjitzu Training"extra. Only one villain in uniform.

Among the "civilians", we get Misako (Lloyd's mother), young Tommy and Sally, Guy the guy who likes to show off, Juno who likes fashion and Ivy Walker.

You also get Konrad the crab fisherman, the old frog trader villager, Severin Black the chef who gets confused all the time with his brother known as the king of sushi, officer Noonan who rules the law, Mother Doomsday who sells comics and Sweep the maintenance robot that keeps the city clean.

If you want to meet Severin Black's brother, you will have to lift Garmadon's bathroom. Understand who can.

The endowment in minifigs is excellent, there is something to liven up the city. Ninjas, Sensei, Garmadon and other villains are anyway provided en masse in the other sets in the range.

Should we invest € 300 in this set? If you are looking for a nice display product with a maximum of references that will flatter your longtime fan ego in a minimum of space, I say yes. You will get what you pay for and you will really have fun putting it together. As a bonus, you will have a souvenir set really representative of the atmosphere of The LEGO Ninjago Movie that does not take up too much space.

If you have kids and are looking to treat them to a few boxes based on the movie to have fun with, go your way and instead look to the mechs and other gear available in the same range.

For the rest, you know what it is with LEGOs. We only really get excited about what we have not yet added to our own collection. As soon as a set hits our shelves, we already look to the next one. It's up to you to see if this box really deserves your 300 € while waiting for the next sets that LEGO prepares for us.

Note: We do as usual, you have until September 3 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself in the comments.

Bonus: Following a comment, here is a photo made with the means at hand which highlights the different elements trans neon of the set under black light.

Update : The winner was drawn and 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.