Forget the Wookiepedia visual that everyone has been posting since this morning, I really turned the whole internet around for you and found you a real RED Republic Starfighter visual that served as the inspiration for the set 9497 Republic Striker Starfighter...

This ship appears in the webcomic  Star Wars: The Old Republic Blood of the Empire, a series of comics distributed on the web and which takes place in the world of MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.

He will presumably also appear in the video game.

By the way, if you are a fan of comics and understand English, take a look on this comic in 3 acts. It is top of the range.

And all of a sudden, this 9497 set takes on a little more meaning: This ship is really red, it has these shapes, and the LEGO reproduction is convincing.

So, thanks who?

Many of you are probably wondering where some of the ships in the sets of the second wave 2012.

Look no further, they come either from the Extended Universe, or from the massively multi-player online game. Star Wars The Old Republic whose official launch is scheduled for 20/12/2011. (Note the official Star Wars The Old Republic game logo at the bottom right of the boxes of sets 9497 and 9500)

So the set 9500 Fury Class Interceptor, reproduces the ship of Sith Lords used in the game. Originally designed to perform missions of very high importance, it was later adopted by the Sith Lords who have made it their preferred means of transport.

Although this ship does not belong to the canonical Star Wars universe, its distant kinship with the generation of Tie fighters and Tie Defenders and its obvious resemblance to the Sith Infiltrator especially at the level of the wings allow it to integrate rather well and I must admit that it is a priori rather successful.
This machine will be delivered with a Sith Lord whose name we do not yet know (Darth Malgus ??) and two Sith troopers.

This second wave of 2012 sets therefore marks the opening of the LEGO Star Wars range towards extensions of the canonical universe.

Some will see it as a logical continuation, with the main ships having already been produced and LEGO being forced to renew to perpetuate the license, while others will cry blasphemy and treason because they do not consider The EU or the video games drawn. of the license as canonical.

It is a vast debate that I would not launch here, but which deserves to be opened ...

As with the Star Wars range, it didn't take long to see the first preliminary visuals of the 2012 LEGO Lord of the Rings range appear.

9469 Gandalf Arrives - Gandalf & Frodo

9470 Shelob Attacks - Samwise, Frodo & Gollum

9471 Uruk-hai Army - 4 x Uruk-hai, Eomer, 1 x Rider Of Rohan

9472 Attack On Weathertop - Merry, Frodo, Aragon & 2 x Nazgulhs

9473 The Mines Of Moria - Pippin, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, 2 x Orcs & Cave Troll

9474 The Battle Of Helm's Deep - Aragon, Gimli, Haldir, Theoden, 5 x Uruk-hai

9476 The Orc Forge - 5 x Orcs

Those who expected something exceptional are at their expense. While these visuals are drafts, it does feel like this line is a big joke. We will have to wait for photos of the final versions to be sure, but I think that apart from the minifigs (and more), we should not expect much. It really feels like we're getting sets from the 1980s ....

It didn't take very long for the novelties of the second Star Wars wave of 2012 to be unveiled. Here are the images stamped CONFIDENTIAL and PRELIIMINARY of the new features to come with a list of minifigs (a priori, difficult to see on some visuals):

9496 Desert Skiff - Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett & Kithaba

9497 Republic Striker Starfighter - Satele Shan, Republic Trooper & T7-O1 Astromech Droid (Star Wars The Old Republic starship & characters)

9498 Saesee Tiin's Starfighter - Saesee Tiin, Astromech Droid R3- D5 & Even Piell

9499 Gungan Sub - Queen Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn & Jar Jar Binks

9500 Fury Class Interceptor - Darth Malgus & 2 x Sith Troopers (Star Wars The Old Republic starship & characters)

9509 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2012

9515 Malevolence - Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala would be in this set (but we can clearly see Ahsoka on the box), General Grievous, Count Dooku, Battle Droid Commander & Battle Droid

9516 Jabba's Palace - Jabba, Salacious Crumb, Bib Fortuna, Gamorrean Guard, Oola, Han Solo, Princess Leia in Boushh outfit, Chewbacca & B'omarr Monk

Not enough to roll on the floor for now, but I remain positive: The preliminary visuals of the Star Wars range rarely pay homage to the final appearance of the sets concerned.

Once again, LEGO favors minifigs, it's obvious. the rest is there to fill the box ... Special mention for Jabba's Palace, which can hardly accommodate Jabba ....

Click on the links to view the images of the sets: 

9496 Desert Skiff 

9497 Republic Striker Starfighter 

9498 Saesee Tiin's Starfighter 

9499 Gungan Sub

9500 Fury Class Interceptor  

9509 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2012

9515 Malevolence 

9516 Jabba's Palace 

Since the set 6857 The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape will probably not be released before Christmas in France, like the rest of the range, we just have our eyes to cry on.

And to take a look at these detailed views of the minifigs that this set contains announced by surprise by the manufacturer, who will undoubtedly go down as one of the best of this first wave of LEGO Super Heroes DC Universe. 

Batman and Robin are really successful. the serigraphs are sober but sufficiently original and confirm the care that LEGO decided to bring to the characters in 2012.

Over time, I still find Harley Quinn and The Riddler much less successful, as I got a little more excited about them when the first visuals appeared.

Both minifigs are successful but they ultimately lack a bit of fantasy to be really updated compared to their previous versions (Harley quinn 2008 & The Riddler 2006).

However, they have the inestimable merit of allowing all those who could not get the two previous minifigs today sold at a gold price on eBay or Bricklink, to get these two characters at a price almost Normal.