We already know almost everything about this set scheduled for August 2012 and which will allow us to add three very successful minifigs to our superhero collections. Here are some official visuals offered by GRogall.

And apart from the minifigs, the rest of the (play) set doesn't get me too excited. Another lab, with a small vehicle equipped with flick fire missiles and two or three functions to ensure the playability alibi.

But LEGO must have achieved excellent results with previous playsets in the Super Heroes range like the 6860 The Batcave or 6868 Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout, to insist and offer us exactly the same type of set ...

Side minifigs, nothing to say, I love the Spider-Man in Ultimate version, Iron Fist will go very well with his other a little more famous friends, and even if Doc Ock looks fake Harry Potter with his glasses, I m 'would be satisfied.

Confirmation just arrived via Brickset and Kevin Hinkle: There will be many exclusive minifigs at San Diego Comic Con 2012 (SDCC) and New York Comic Con 2012 (NYCC), as was the case last year with Batman, Green Lantern and Superman minifigs. This also confirms the presence of LEGO on these two events.

And the first exclusive 2012 minifigure we know of is Shazam's unveiled by   ksitetv.com :  ... Join ever-informed, fancentric WAC Podcast hosts George Feltenstein, Matthew Patterson, and DW Ferranti as they give fans a look at the upcoming DVD release of the popular 1970s series Shazam! The series' own Billy Batson, Michael Gray, will be on hand, and an exclusive, limited-edition Shazam! Lego figure will be awarded to a lucky number of fans in attendance ...

Kevin Hinkle (North American Community Coordinator for LEGO Group) explicitly posted on the Brickset forum : ... There will be exclusive! 🙂 The LEGO Group will have an official presence at both San Diego and New York Comic Con this year ...

Like last year, these minifigs will apparently be distributed randomly via a raffle. We will have to wait for their availability on eBay or Bricklink to get them at an undoubtedly unreasonable price ...

Summer has barely started that we find already on eBay the much overrated R2-D2 in snowman mode (Snowman) which will be delivered in the next Advent calendar: LEGO Star Wars 9509 Advent Calendar 2012.

Available between 10 and 20 €, this droid still looks a bit tart with its two carrots ... But as this will certainly be the only opportunity to get this version, it will absolutely be necessary to offer yourself (or to be offered ) this set to make sure you have a complete collection of astromech droids ...

If you are allergic to carrots, you can always treat yourself to the totally white version below pompously called prototype and currently offered by a german seller for € 7 ...

We dare to hope that LEGO will have learned the lessons of the failure of its previous MMOG LEGO Universe, whose final shutdown took place on January 31, 2012 ... (see this article)

And it would be better if that was the case, because today's announcement may leave many observers skeptical that the manufacturer has not convinced many with its first foray into the online gaming industry.

This time, it is the developer Funcom (Anarchy Online, Dreamfall) who sticks to it and who has just signed an agreement with LEGO to create a new massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) based on the line of collectible minifigs that we are eagerly awaiting Series 8. 

Be careful though, according to the official press release, it smacks of online play via facebook or via the mini-site dedicated to these series of collectable minifigs and we can deduce that the target will remain very young.

Suddenly, LEGO is taking much less risk with a game that will be distributed via the online channels (read social networks) currently most popular (...available to consumers in their online channels...) and whose universe will be more accessible (...maximum accessibility...), implied watered down and simplistic.

So I withdraw my comparison with the gas factory that was LEGO Universe and I just understood that all this ramdam concerns a game in the sauce Cityville which was not even worth these few lines ...

See the official press release at Funcom.

Superb realization that this micro Helicarrier proposed by Jack Marquez aka Ewok in Disguise (but where do they get their nicknames ...).

I put here a top view that you can compare with the capture below from the movie The Avengers, but Jack Marquez offers several other shots to discover this MOC from every angle on his flickr gallery.

Obviously, the micro format does not allow a level of detail comparable with the model from which this machine is inspired, but the distinctive signs are there and the general physiognomy is respected.

Hopefully this first MOC will inspire other artists and that we will quickly see some realizations in larger formats arriving on flickr, LEGO not having seen fit to reproduce this flying machine and having been satisfied with an interior for which it takes a lot of imagination in the set 6868 Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout (47.92 € on amazon.es).

(Thanks to Arnaud for his email)