Today we take a quick look at the contents of the LEGO Star Wars set 40591 Death Star II, a small box of 287 pieces that will be offered on the official online store and in LEGO Stores from May 1 to 7, 2023 from 150 € of purchase in products from the LEGO Star Wars range. The inventory of the product allows, as indicated by the title of the set, to assemble a reproduction of the Death Star II about fifteen centimeters high to be displayed on the corner of a shelf.

No minifigs in this box, but we still get the pretty brick celebrating the 40th anniversary of the film Return of the Jedi. It's still taken even if this pad-printed brick is also delivered in several other sets marketed from May 1, 2023: the references  75356 Executor Super Star Destroyer, 75352 Emperor's Throne Room Diorama et 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama.

For the rest, the assembly of the object will logically only take a few minutes with many identical sub-assemblies to be clipped around the central structure of the construction. LEGO promised us in the official product description the presence of a miniature replica of the throne room, it is there even if it remains very symbolic with Palpatine overlooking Darth Vader on one side and Luke Skywalker on the other. It takes a little imagination to see the characters in question in these little heaps of two pieces, but the wink is appreciable.

The Death Star II rests on a simple black base but of sufficient sobriety not to detract from the development of the construction while grayscale, the ray is embodied by a plant and a few very well chosen pieces and the greebs (details based on small parts) of surface are very convincing on the unfinished part of the ball. It was probably difficult to do better in terms of adjusting the different subsets to this scale, so we will forgive the few empty spaces here and there.

In my opinion, we get here a nice little display product that will not invade the living room or the room dedicated to LEGO activities and the presence of the anniversary brick really gives character to this micro-model. You will have to spend at least €150 on products from the LEGO Star Wars range to get this pretty box, which is always a little too big for what it contains, but we all know here that this minimum amount will be reached very quickly with prizes. relatively high audiences for some of the new releases expected to hit shelves on May 1, 2023.

I'll make the effort because this set is in my opinion a nice, neat and creative spin-off that I think is an acceptable reward. This is the product that manages this year to convince me to buy one or two sets at full price to get it, the rest will wait for more contained prices at Amazon, the doubling of VIP points offered elsewhere at LEGO not being not really likely to compete with the reduction percentages regularly practiced elsewhere.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 5th May 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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

Today we take a quick tour of one of the promotional products that will be offered at LEGO during the annual May the 4th operation: the reference 5007840 Return of the Jedi 40th Collectible. Valued at €14.99 by the manufacturer, the object will be offered to members of the VIP program from May 1 to 7, 2023 from €85 of purchase in products from the LEGO Star Wars range.

The official visual suggested a nice product with a successful finish, the reality is a little more disappointing: the packaging, a small black cardboard box, is of very poor quality, as is the insert that houses the blue plate and the coin. "collectors". It's sloppy, cheap, dusty, scratched and damaged right out of the box. Yet the packaging here is an integral part of the product since it is used in principle to expose the famous piece by tilting the interior insert.

The contents of the box also leave a little to be desired: the blue plastic plate is scratched upon unpacking and the scrap metal part has a more than questionable finish with burrs, especially around the logo of the LEGO Star Wars range present on one side of the coin.

We are far from the "collector" pieces offered elsewhere, the edge of this one is not even dressed to give it a little cachet. This item is as usual made by by Chinese company RDP which usually produces this type of goodies for LEGO, we can not decently say that the end result lives up to the elitist policy of the Danish manufacturer in terms of finish.

The minimum amount required to be offered the thing therefore seems rather high to me if we take into account the general level of quality of the object. It's cheap, the black box which is not even in a blister will not fail to be damaged a little more by walking around in the box containing the rest of your order and you will only be left with the part and the plate. blue that must be displayed elsewhere than in its original packaging.

LEGO should definitely be more demanding with its external suppliers, especially when it comes to derivative products that no longer have much to do with plastic bricks. I'm not sure that the proliferation of these slightly off-topic goodies brings anything in terms of image to LEGO even if it's probably cheaper than systematically offering sets or polybags and it seems that these products appeal to a certain part of the fans.

The general idea isn't bad, but there was probably room for improvement with, for example, a plastic box and a piece with a slightly more accomplished design. As it is, I'll settle for it because my order will exceed the required threshold, but it won't be the promotional product I'm most looking forward to in the package.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 4th May 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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

Today we take a quick look at the contents of the LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz set 40623 Battle of Endor Heroes, a box of 549 pieces which will be available from May 1, 2023 at the retail price of €39.99.

I'm not repeating the pitch of the BrickHeadz range imagined by LEGO in 2016 to go hunting on the land by Funko, it is simply a question of bringing the subject treated into a cube to be then aligned on a shelf in the company of other equally cubic figurines. The most assiduous collectors already have the possibility of aligning more than 200 different ones, and it seems that this range is not ready to stop for the moment.

This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film Return of the Jedi andt LEGO therefore currently has several products that pay direct or indirect homage to the film and among these derivative products, we are entitled to a non-exhaustive figurine pack grouping together some "heroes of the Battle of Endor".

No commemorative brick in this box as is the case in the sets 75356 Executor Super Star Destroyer, 75352 Emperor's Throne Room Diorama et 75353 Endor Speeder Chase Diorama and it's a bit of a shame for an anniversary product. However, it had its place for example in front of Luke or Leia, just to bring a little character to this pack sold for 40 €.

No specific pad printing either on the minifigure supports, LEGO misses in my opinion here the opportunity to offer us something a little sexier than a simple pack of characters placed on their usual black bases. collectors will probably not agree with me, the visual continuity of the range being assured.

For the rest, this pack of five figurines is rather correct if we admit that R2-D2 has also undergone a forceps conversion to allow him to enter the codes of the imposed format. We lose almost all the characteristics of the chubby droid, the robot's body becoming very angular and the dome being vaguely symbolized by a few flat parts and a dish. The pad printing of the Tile placed at the front saves the furniture a little, but there is nothing at the back.

Luke and Leia seem rather believable to me, with a special mention for Leia's poncho and helmet which I find really successful. Lando Calrissian suffers a bit on the caricatural side because of his big mustache in Sergeant Garcia mode even if the character's hair and outfit seem very well executed to me and Wicket is very cute. The latter really seems to take advantage of the format with an apparent simplicity but a judicious choice of parts which make this figurine a very convincing product in my eyes.

Regulars of this range know that there are no stickers in these boxes and all the patterned elements are therefore pad-printed. The color of Wicket's belly is suddenly a bit too dull to be perfectly matched with the bear's face, but it's passable.

The set works quite well on arrival and will make a very original gift for fans of the Star Wars universe who do not have any particular affinity with these cubic figurines. These are fun to assemble, LEGO also provides five instruction booklets that allow you to share the pleasure of assembly with several people or to space out the assembly sequences over several sessions, one character at a time. .

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at April 29th next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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 Marvel set 76256 Ant-Man Construction Figure, a box of 289 pieces currently in pre-order on the official online store and which will be available from May 1, 2023 at the retail price of €34.99. We no longer present the concept of "figure construction" in LEGO sauce, each of these figurines more or less uses the same recipe as the previous ones and indirectly combines the same qualities and the same faults.

I was rather convinced by this version of Ant-Man when the first official visuals were available, I'm a little less convinced after assembling this 24 cm high figurine: children will probably find something to their liking with a few joints which allow more or less creative poses but the finish seems to me overall too succinct to make it an acceptable exhibition product: connection ball joints too visible from certain angles and gray articulation points with a bright red pine which stand out a little too much with the rest of the outfit, it's very sketchy.

The fact remains that LEGO does not include any stickers in the box and all the patterned parts are therefore stamped. So much the better for the commercial target of this product vaguely derived from the film Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania which targets the very young public, this figurine can therefore be handled for long hours without risking damaging any stickers. Nothing comes off during the manipulations, it will however be necessary to regularly readjust the respirator of the mask simply fixed on a ball joint to put it back in the planned position.

For the rest, we obviously recognize Scott Lang aka Ant-Man at first glance, knowing that he is also here accompanied by a microfig of Hope Van Dyne aka The Wasp. The latter is also provided in two copies in the box, so you will have the right to lose one before you start complaining.

The figurine is very quickly assembled and it benefits from many points of articulation whether at the level of the pelvis, the head of the arms or the legs. However, the mobility of the knees and feet remains very limited, no doubt to guarantee the stability of the character whatever the pose chosen. The arms allow a little more fantasy but it will be necessary to find the ideal pose to really highlight the figurine and they will inevitably come up against a fixed part which will determine the maximum authorized amplitude.

The character's head is a pad-printed piece that is aesthetically very well executed but whose proportions seem a bit rough to me if we compare the result obtained with the version of the outfit seen on screen. The back of Ant-Man's skull is sorely lacking in finish and it's a bit of a shame, even if it wants to produce this type of figurine, LEGO should consider a suitable mold to obtain a slightly more convincing head. The supplied microfig is very successful with a rather surprising level of detail for such a compact pad printing, it enhances the rest of the content a little.

This product could have "exist" more easily if LEGO had decided to market at least one other product derived from the film which would have made it possible to use the figurine in the context seen on the screen by destroying for example any micro-structure. This will probably not be the case.

For 35 €, we can conclude that LEGO finally provides only the minimum service with this action figure of "Giant-Man" which should however appeal to the youngest and lovers of dioramas. It's well done even if the usual recipe has its flaws, it's designed to play with and resist over time and we'll be satisfied with it on our shelves while waiting for a hypothetical version a little more accomplished. It's also a little too expensive, but we all know here that it will quickly be possible to afford this figure for a little less at the usual retailers.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at April 28th next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75356 Executor Super Star Destroyer, a box of 630 pieces currently on pre-order on the official online store with availability announced for May 1, 2023 at the retail price of €69.99. This set will therefore offer a less expensive but also less ambitious catch-up session to all those who missed the set LEGO Star Wars 10221 Super Star Destroyer marketed in 2011, here with a more compact version perched on a display stand that is only 43 cm long and 18 cm wide.

The pretty model is quickly assembled, there is nothing to worry about for a few days with barely more than 600 parts in the box, some of which will also go into the display. We stack several layers of colored pieces for the interior of the ship and we add a few sets of round pieces representing the different characters seen on the screen (Darth Vader, Dengar, IG-88, Boba Fett, Bossk, 4-LOM and Zuckuss ) which form a easter egg choice for fans.

We then plate two gray subsets which will form the outer surface of the vessel by adding a few greebs which add a bit of texture. The contract is in my opinion largely fulfilled here with a result up to what can be expected from a pure exhibition model on this scale.

Two micro-Star Destroyers are added on transparent rods to further assert the overall scale of the model and give this Super Star Destroyer even more scale. We then connect the ship to its elegant black display stand with a somewhat unusual construction without beams and other pins, we finally add the small presentation plate and the commemorative brick of the 40th anniversary of the film Return of the Jedi. I would have designed the display to tilt the ship slightly to lean forward and sideways a little bit instead of leaving it horizontal, but that's a very personal consideration.

The finish of the ship seems to me very correct and from all angles. The alternation between exposed tenons and smooth surfaces is perfectly balanced and this Super Star Destroyer can be observed from above, horizontally or from behind without the impression that part of the construction has been deliberately sloppy or forgotten. Even the reactors are nicely executed considering the scale of the whole thing. Too bad for the injection points which are really visible on the surface, especially on the ingots, and which are digitally erased on the official visuals.

On this scale, these technical brands have a little trouble being forgotten on a model that uses many small finishing elements. Same observation for the somewhat sad gray of the real ship which contrasts with the more "textured" and shaded one of the official visuals. Although I know that these images are extensively retouched to attract the barge, I fall into the trap each time.

I'm a little disappointed by the presentation plate which simply tells us that it is the Executor, Darth Vader's personal ship, without more text and with a large, somewhat empty space. Either it was necessary to center the text on the plate or to add something more or simply to be satisfied with a Tile, but as it stands, it's a bit messy with that misplaced italicized text.

The pretty anniversary brick also delivered in other boxes planned for the month of May can be fixed on the presentation support by removing a metallic grid, it then disappears a little under the surface of the ship, or left flying next to the model to highlight it, it's up to you. You will understand, there are no stickers in this box.

You know it if you follow me long enough, I'm really a fan of formats micro scale et midi-scale, the latter being at work in the sets 7778 Mid-scale Millennium Falcon (2009) et 8099 Midi-Scale Imperial Star Destroyer (2010), too rarely used wisely at LEGO. The manufacturer also invokes the success of the LEGO Star Wars set 77904 Nebulon B-Frigate marketed exclusively at Amazon USA in 2020 to justify the development of this one and I want to believe that LEGO will not stop there.

We could in any case discuss the content/price ratio of this box and find it a bit expensive for what it really has to offer, especially in the absence of at least one minifig which could have been proudly enthroned on the display. , but this format suits me with great exposure potential without cannibalizing half of the show.

To conclude, I think this product should appeal to all those who don't necessarily have the space and/or the budget to accumulate the big sets of the universe. Ultimate Collector Series at home and that the format used is perfectly suited to this type of vessel which does not really benefit from a larger scale apart from the duration of the construction process which is logically extended when it is a large model of 300o parts .

This micro Super Star Destroyer is also, in my opinion, proof that it is possible to do as well without falling into a somewhat useless gigantism for a ship in LEGO version which in any case will never be on a minifig scale. For yourself or to gift a fan who loves some nice models, this box seems to me to be a very well calibrated product that won't break the bank or cause unnecessary debates about taking up space on an already very crowded shelf. .

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at April 28th next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

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