Are these the two exclusive sets for the second wave of Star Wars sets in 2012? I'm not sure of it...

But Brickset references these two sets out of nowhere without further details:

9525 Pre Vizsla's Mandalorian Fighter

Pre Vizla is a human leader of the Mandalorian Death Watch faction during the Clone Wars. He is also Dooku's ally and governor of the planet Concordia, a moon of Mandalore. His ship featured in this set should be the Gauntlet, a class hunter Kom'rk seen in the animated series The Clone Wars (Season 2 - Episode 12: The Mandalore Plot).

9526 Palpatine's Arrest

 This set could reproduce the scene of the arrest of Palpatine aka Darth Sidious in TheEpisode III Revenge of the Sith. We would therefore be entitled to the minifigs of Saesee Tiin, Mace Windu, Agen Kolar, Kitt Fisto and Palpatine. Maybe we will also see Anakin in this set, he intervenes in this scene where he saves the Chancellor ... Saesee Tiin, Mace Windu, Agen Kolar and Kitt Fisto do not survive this failed attempt to apprehend Sidious.

Rest assured, I'm not crying scandal, as usual ...

I was quietly surfing the internet, looking for some interesting info, and I came across a revelation: What if Luke's minifigure helmet in the set 9493 X-Wing Starfighter was not the correct one?

Or rather if it was in fact one of the countless helmets used in the filming of the saga ...

If you are a Star Wars fundamentalist or just like to educate yourself on everything related to this universe, you owe it to yourself to go to this link.

You will discover, with descriptions and detailed analyzes, everything about the different helmets used by Mark Hamill during the filming of the first two films of the Original Trilogy.

I also can't resist the urge to give you a photo of Jek Porkins alias Red 6 at the controls of his T-65 X-Wing Starfighter, this hero of the Rebellion accompanied by his droid Astromech R5-D8 (in the background on the picture).

The photos of the minifigs are those of Huw millington (Brickset) posted on his flickr gallery.

Bane is a character little known to the general public, and I am not talking about die-hard fans of the Batman universe here. Everyone knows Catwoman or the Joker, but Bane remains a mystery to many late-night fans.

This son of a revolutionary activist escaped from prison in Pena Duro on the island of Santa Prisca located in the Caribbean and drug distribution hub namedand Venom, had to serve his father's sentence and gain respect among his fellow prisoners.

He soon became the king of the prison, assassinating his enemies from an early age with a knife he hid in his teddy bear. He also served as a guinea pig for experiments involving drugs Venom and found that it allowed him to gain exceptional physical strength.

He set out to travel to Gotham City, freed the Arkham Asylum inmates forcing Batman to redouble his efforts to avoid an upsurge in crime, and eventually confronted Batman in the Batcave before rendering him paraplegic. He was later ally of Batman (recovered from his injuries) in the fight against the drug cartel Venom before leaving Gotham to search for his father.

If you've read this article so far, I come to what interests me: the two Bane minifigs we have available. Both are clearly inspired by the different comics (Revenge of Bane, Batman: Gotham Knights) or animated series (Batman The Animated Series, The Brave & The Bold) which have been or are currently being broadcast.  

The two minifigs are equal, that of 2007 suffers from a coarser screen printing on the torso but better proportioned (pectorals, abdominals). The mask of the 2012 version is however more stylized and the eyes have a more aggressive appearance. I prefer this black version of the character, but I regret the hands in Light Flesh. Black hands would have advantageously completed the overall appearance of the minifig of 2012 knowing that Bane is almost always represented with gloves or mittens.

To offer you the 2007 version, you will have to pay from 40 to 60 € on Bricklink (bat021). For the 2012 version, count just over 12 € for now on Bricklink (sh009). It's up to you to see if you need both or if you will finally be satisfied with the 2012 version available in the set. 6860 The Batcave, the differences being minimal between the two versions.

I have you already talked about Mike Napolitan and its site The Legion of Minifigs on this blog: his work on the world of superheroes is well worth a look. This professional web designer regularly produces splendid 3D visuals of minifigs of super heroes or from the Star Wars universe. He also reproduces original comic book covers like the 1964 one above and is currently embarking on 3D animation with Maya to bring his designs to life.

You can also see below one of his essays featuring Magneto surrounded by levitating pieces. 

So put its site in your favorites, beautiful creations should see the light of day soon ...

The photo is dark, it's not your screen, nor an error ...

If you want to know what is hiding in the half-light of the Batcave alongside Batman, click on the image ...

For the others, it is a really successful MOC and creates a special atmosphere. The SNOT platform is successful, the rocky aspect is very well rendered. The Batwing finds its place there and the whole works wonderfully with Batman sitting in front of his control console.

To see in the flickr gallery by Hans Dendauw alias Tigmon74 which also presents very nice MOCs on a wide variety of themes.