Another evolution of the platform bricklink which will generate a lot of ink (for not much): The marketplace specializing in LEGO products is opening its catalog to products of the BrickArms brand.

For those who don't know BrickArms, it is a manufacturer of LEGO compatible accessories that produces contemporary military weapons and equipment for minifigs, a niche left vacant by LEGO for philosophical and moral reasons.

BrickArms products are very popular. They meet growing demand and the manufacturing quality is at the rendezvous. These products are not counterfeits, nothing prohibits the manufacture of accessories compatible with LEGO products and the current market is flooded with various and varied accessories intended to extend the "LEGO experience".

In addition, the sale of custom products on Bricklink is not new, it has long been possible to sell unofficial products on the platform, including custom minifigs, as long as they remain in the ecosystem. LEGO.

Some are already crying scandal, pretending to pack their bags and invoke, as with each evolution of the platform, the betrayal of the memory of Daniel Jezek, the founder of Bricklink now deceased whose mother sold the concept to Nexon, a southern company - Korean specializing in online video games.

Over the years, many have "appropriated" the Bricklink platform, as if it belonged to them when it is neither more nor less than a market place, certainly specialized, as there are hundreds of. 'others on the internet.

To blame Bricklink for evolving in order to survive and develop is nonsense. Bricklink has never been a public service, sellers have always paid a commission on their sales to the owner, whether at the time of its founder or since the acquisition of the structure by Nexon ... nostalgic and followers of "It was better before"some of which are already" predicting "the arrival of LEPIN and other Playmobil to the platform's catalog.

The decision made by Bricklink is interesting, however, for both buyers and sellers. It expands the available offer with the arrival of new, very popular products and will ultimately increase the visibility of this space with the (a little less) austere interface and (still) obsolete ordering processes. If Bricklink is to become a hub for the wider (legal) brick market, in my opinion that's good news for everyone.

Those who saw Bricklink as a bastion reserved for official LEGO products will be able to continue to buy their bricks there, Nexon intends to maintain the BrickArms catalog as a separate and identifiable entity.

Fundamentalists who see the arrival of BrickArms as a betrayal of the platform's original spirit will be able to turn to other marketplaces that remain (for now) specializing in official LEGO products, but they will have to accept losing at increase in visibility and turnover to satisfy their convictions.

The market for LEGO and compatible products is changing and Bricklink, which only belongs to its owner, is adapting. Nothing more.

Another box that probably arrives too late but still deserves our attention on what it has to offer: The The LEGO Batman Movie set 70922 The Joker Manor with its 3444 pieces, its 10 minifigs and its public price set at 279.99 €. This box will be available from November 24 on the LEGO Shop and in the LEGO Stores.

The pitch of the set is as ambitious as its public price: it is about building the Jokerized mansion of the film, which includes "memorable details"and"super cool functions". Why not.

As usual, no guided tour here, just a personal opinion on this set.

Let's start by evacuating the usual remarks for this type of set. This Joker manor only remotely resembles the version seen in The LEGO Batman Movie. From far away.

This is a simplified version, or rather a reinterpretation, of the building revamped by the Joker and transformed in the film into a gigantic amusement park dressed in multicolored garlands. But since everyone has already forgotten the film ...

Those who hoped that this Joker manor could occasionally be reworked Wayne manor by removing the burlesque attributes set up by the Joker will be at their expense. This is not planned by LEGO, it would be necessary to redesign a large part of the center of the building which should not frighten some MOCeurs.

A two-in-one version could have been interesting. The playability would have been increased tenfold and everyone would have enjoyed it. It is now almost certain that the Wayne manor of the film will never be available in a LEGO set, even in a simplified version.

We can blame the set for the same flaws as all the LEGO "dollhouses" of the same barrel. Everything is crammed there and most of the spaces are difficult to access, but it is also this exaggeration of details that generally makes all the charm of this type of set.

I often regret the lack of depth of these half LEGO buildings. Here, the effect is blurred by the rollercoaster that encircles the mansion. The impression of a structure cut in two is less present and this is a good thing.

Finally, 25 stickers are needed, including the 4 mirrors in the "gallery", to dress up the different elements of the set. Some integrate rather well but those of the light panel on the front are catastrophic. The Joker's face is broken into three parts and it's ugly.

The LEGO logic that a sticker does not overlap two pieces applies here, but I think there should be some exceptions for aesthetic reasons ... Bonus: the word THE is also a sticker .

Exit the Ferris wheel from the film, the Luna Park spirit of the building is here mainly embodied by the few rails that go around the building with a very slight drop. The supports which hold each of the pieces of the circuit are also more or less well integrated. On one side two beams protrude nicely from the walls of the Wayne manor, on the other a large block of Technic parts that protrude does the job.

Visually, the superposition of the festive elements brought back by the Joker and the austerity of the original building works quite well. The contrast is successful, even if this set is sorely lacking a few light bricks judiciously hidden to recreate (at least partially) the psychedelic atmosphere of the film. I note the coin based HA HA is placed on the wrong side of the building, it is on the left in the movie.

A note concerning the assembly phase: This set is very quickly assembled, thanks in particular to the many pieces of different colors distributed in the bags. Sorting is done quickly and the instructions are even more readable.

Contrary to what one might suppose, this set is not very generous in functionality despite its opulent appearance. We will be satisfied with a hatch which opens onto a small slide and the mechanism which allows to remove the two fists dressed in boxing gloves present on the front.

The gallery of mirrors based on stickers located on the ground floor is of little interest, its access is in any case hampered by the rails of the rollercoaster. For the rest, your imagination will do the work.

Each interior space is a (compressed) homage to a scene from the movie, which fans will appreciate if they actually remember the movie ...

Special mention for the microwave oven and the piano, two very successful elements just waiting to be reused in another context.

No fun for hours: pretending to play the piano, watch a DVD, or play at the dinette in the kitchen has no interest, but this patchwork of furnished rooms nevertheless offers the possibility of recreating scenes from the movie if you want to expose the model on this side.

Obviously, all eyes are here on the assortment of purple tracks and the little green wagons provided to create the circuit around the mansion. As it is, the train cannot make a complete turn. We place the wagons on the highest part of the circuit, and the whole goes down once in three to the lowest point, if it does not stop at the first turn. That's all.

Since the announcement of this box, many fans are already imagining what could be the next LEGO Creator Expert set on the theme of the fairground: A rollercoaster, which would join the sets 10257 Carousel  (2017) 10247 Ferris Wheel  (2015) et 10244 Fairground Mixer (2014)

Why not, provided that LEGO invents us a way to make the wagons rise high enough to then take advantage of the inertia and make a complete turn of the merry-go-round. The friction between the rails and the wheels of the wagons is low, but the wagons are very light even when ballasted with a minifig.

A ramp with a motorized rack to take the train to the highest point of the circuit via the pines located under the wagons should do the trick.

This climax will have to be high enough so that the wagon train can then complete a complete circuit, if the latter has the true attributes of a rollercoaster (a looping!) And is not content to be in the style of the one supplied with the Joker Manor.

As for the minifigs, of the 10 characters provided, 4 are in the outfit seen in the end of the film clip (Friends are Family). Batman, the Joker, Robin and Batgirl will be joined in early 2018 by two other characters in the same very disco outfit via the second series of collectable minifigs based on the film: Harley Quinn and Alfred Pennyworth.

I will buy this set for these minifigs that I find particularly successful even if they are ultimately only versions from a clip itself from a movie ...

Nightwing is a bit loaded, but the minifigure is really original. Alfred is disguised as Adam West aka Batman in the 60s TV series. Nice wink. It also uses the legs of the minifigure seen in the set 76052 Classic TV Series Batcave (2016). The torso is minimalist but it is also the proof that a simple line is enough to give allure (and belly) to a minifigure.

For the rest, it's already seen in the range The LEGO Batman Movie, almost to the point of overdose.

Special mention all the same for the minifig of Nightwing, or rather Dick Grayson disguised as Nightwing in an outfit obviously a little too tight for him especially at the level of the crotch ...

In the tradition of the character attributes in this line, the glasses are molded onto the mask as they usually are with the hair. The armor of the minfig is unique, with two notches to insert the wings.

In conclusion, this Joker Manor is not a playset even if it incorporates an ersatz rollercoaster. The concept is certainly promising, but it needs to be developed. The other features of the set are really limited, and we will quickly tire of pushing the wagons harder and harder to derail them.

In the best case, this set offers a set to display with a nice rendering from a certain distance. Those who embarked on the diorama adventure The LEGO Batman Movie will find here the centerpiece of their creation. To be placed on a pretty rocky outcrop made from bricks for an optimal effect.

The assortment of minifigs will help some of us decide to spend 280 € in this box, with characters in new and exclusive outfits. I probably could have been a little more enthusiastic if this set had been marketed around the film's release. It's too late, the soufflé The LEGO Batman Movie has long since faded.

Note: The set provided by LEGO which was used for this test is put into play. A random draw among the comments posted on this article will determine the winner. You have until November 23, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself.

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.

If two sets are enough to confirm a trend, then we can consider that LEGO has decided to take matters into its own hands and reshuffle the cards to satisfy the fans and fight against speculation with in turn the implementation of a strategy to limit the impact of counterfeiting.

I deliberately leave aside the sets which are more reinterpretations than reissues like the references 10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter (2013) 75144 Snowspeeder (2017) or 75192 Millennium Falcon (2017), and I keep the few sets that are similar enough to the previous models to consider them as re-releases: 75159 Death Star (2016) et 10256 Taj Mahal. We will also remember the set 10249 Winter Toy Shop released in 2015, which was a reissue of the set of the same name (LEGO ref. 10199) released in 2009.

Obviously, anyone who arrived too late in the LEGO hobby to purchase the set 10189 Taj Mahal (2008) are now delighted to be able to afford this emblematic box at a reasonable price. LEGO makes new fans happy and shows them that their interest in this set has been taken into account.

The and 10188 Death Star will not have been absent from the shelves for long before the 75159 set replaced it: less than a year. Speculators did not have time to take advantage of the void left by the original box in the manufacturer's catalog.

By republishing a set that has become very popular with "investors", LEGO is also sending a strong signal and confirms that it is the manufacturer who controls the market and not the dealers. Today's surprise announcement is, in my opinion, the result of a carefully considered strategy. LEGO kept this set a secret until the end. No teasing, no communication, not even to fan sites or LUGs who are usually the first to know about an imminent new product announcement.

In my opinion, this is no coincidence, it was the most skilful method of catching the secondary market by surprise, without giving dealers time to lower their prices to sell their stocks. This secondary market with its hallucinating prices also maintains the "LEGO legend" and the collector's side of these high-end toys, but LEGO probably also wants to exploit the popularity of certain references and make a more ... financial profit.

If we can legitimately think that LEGO decides to put back on the market some very popular products to cut the grass under the foot to an aftermarket which has taken off in recent years and which provides good margins to the most patient resellers, However, I can't help but think that these re-releases are also a very effective strategy against counterfeiting LEGO products.

The secret behind the announcement of the set 10256 Taj Mahal has no direct impact on the counterfeit market: LEPIN is already copying the Taj Mahal from 2008 and this new official version is perfectly identical to the previous one. There was no risk here that LEPIN would take LEGO by surprise and offer a copy of the set before the official version was actually available.

But the Taj Mahal in LEPIN version is selling well, just look at the number of sales made by the different merchants who offer this copy on Aliexpress to realize it. It takes 200 € to afford a copy of the thing, delivered without box and with instructions in digital format.

By adding € 130, we will therefore be able to obtain an original and official version from November 1, with a beautiful box, a nice instruction booklet and parts made by LEGO ... The difference is almost reasonable, many customers potentials will probably agree to pay the difference to add a "real" Taj Mahal to their collection and not just a copy.

Anyone who turned out of spite to copies of sets whose official versions have become overpriced in the secondary market will now think maybe twice before doing the same for a future purchase.

More than the announcement of the set 10256 Taj Mahal, it is this trend that everyone suspects and hopes that should logically help curb the purchase of counterfeits. Many fans might be willing to wait a few more months to afford a counterfeit set, hoping they don't have to because LEGO is finally offering a reissue at an acceptable price.

If the trend is confirmed, LEGO will find its account in all sectors: fans will be in heaven, the secondary market will emerge from the current speculative bubble which only asks to explode to return to a more reasonable offer and the business of counterfeiting will also be gradually (and perhaps lastingly) affected.

You don't change a winning team and Megan Rothrock understood that. So here is a new book in the series "Lego workshop"translated into French by the publisher Huginn & Muninn: Brick adventures (27.00 € at amazon).

As with the previous two volumes from the same collection, this book is a mix of minifig-based comics, instructions and ideas around the LEGO product. The concept is enticing, we are promised "150 creative ideas and 40 models to build", but the realization is less and less convincing.

This series of books is in fact only a compilation of different models proposed by several creators and here vaguely united by a red thread without great effort on the layout and the readability which has further deteriorated since the first volumes.

It is on the side of the instructions provided that I criticize this work for its real lack of homogeneity. There are indeed about forty models to assemble, but the level of readability of the instructions provided now turns from (often) fair to (sometimes) indecipherable. The inventories of the parts required for each model do not always include any numerical reference allowing them to be quickly located on Bricklink or at LEGO.

Good luck, if you plan to replicate some of the models on offer while relying on your bulk of LEGO. You may not have some very specific parts and you will have to search for them on the internet based on the simple visual provided.

The book is ultimately more a compilation of good ideas than a collection of models, the layout of the assembly instructions really lacks consistency.

As with the previous volumes, you often have to be content with photos of the different assembly steps and deduce the positioning of the parts to be added. Some of the instructions offered in this third volume, especially those using white pieces, are almost incomprehensible.

Several of the models presented are only digital versions of each of the creations in question. A bit of a shame for a book that claims to be part of the collection "The LEGO Workshop".

We really have the impression that Megan Rothrock no longer makes an effort to offer real decomposed models and is now content with a few screenshots. Its name is undoubtedly enough to motivate certain MOCeurs who see in these books an opportunity to make themselves known a little more.

Yet today there are many tools that allow you to generate readable instructions, but maybe it was too much work ...

The few comics on offer struggle to hide the impression of shoddy work that emerges from this new volume. It's uninteresting filler, just to create a semblance of interactivity. We are very far from the promised "Adventure".

Since the proposed creations do not meet the most demanding creative challenge, this book is aimed primarily at young audiences. Unfortunately, the completion of this third volume is so poor that young LEGO fans should quickly tire of trying to decipher the instructions on offer.

I say no, at € 27 for 150 pages of passable photos and muddled instructions, this LEGO Workshop is not up to what the first volume of this series released in 2014 offered (LEGO Workshop 1: Ideas to build).

Megan Rothrock continues to exploit her juicy vein, some MOCeurs probably find there a forum to publicize their art and pocket some royalties in the process and sales are clearly sufficient to justify the publication of new volumes, but she does so less and less good.

LEGO Workshop 3: Brick Adventures - 192 pages - 27.00 €

Note: we do as usual, you have until October 15, 2017 at 23:59 p.m. to manifest yourself in the comments.

Update : The winner was drawn and was 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.

The offer of books around LEGO products continues to grow and if some of them are simple collections of beautiful creations to leaf through from time to time or catalogs filled with official visuals surfing on the popularity of such and such range, other books are more intended to help develop your creativity in a less passive way.

Your LEGO Movies: The Perfect Director's Manual falls into this last category of books from which one discovers a particular subject and one improves certain techniques in passing. This is the French version of the book The LEGO Animation Book written by David Pagano (paganomation) and David Pickett (brick 101), two benchmark Brickfilms directors.

For those who do not yet know, a Brickfilm is a video sequence featuring LEGO bricks and minifigs animated frame by frame (stop motion). Directing a Brickfilm therefore requires a lot of patience and creativity, but also requires some serious technical knowledge on the part of the director for the result to be visually successful. Many try, few manage to produce original content that is really enjoyable to watch.

This book is a real guide that will help the bravest to embark on this time-consuming and demanding activity. But did you really have to write a book to learn how to make an animated film? Both authors have thought of everything and this guide has an interesting common thread that highlights the purpose of the content, the video below. Many shots of this film are also used as illustrations for the various chapters of the book.

Watch a first time The Magic Picnic like an ordinary spectator before you start reading the book and then return to it with your eye of a director in the making to understand how the techniques presented in the book are implemented. You will then have set foot in this hobby which allows you to approach the passion for LEGO from an original angle.

Over the 216 richly illustrated pages, Your LEGO Movies: The Perfect Director's Manual really tackles all aspects of making brickfilms, from script writing to post-production, selecting a suitable camera, setting up optimized lighting and creation of special effects. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I had the impression that I had in my hands a product that really covered the subject.

As a regular viewer of the various more or less successful brickfilms that flood Youtube, I found answers to the questions I usually ask myself by discovering certain creations that fall short of recurring technical gaps: How to properly light a scene and especially keep the same level of lighting throughout the sequence, how to ensure perfect fluidity of the animation, how to tell a story with a beginning and an end, etc ...

Well-informed directors may only find there reminders of elementary rules that they already know by heart, but fans who want to get started will have in their hands a fun and well-researched manual that should help them methodically solve all problems. which they may face in their quest for the perfect Brickfilm.

Be careful, the book is not the result of an extreme popularization of this hobby which seeks to appeal to very young audiences. The assistance of an adult to explain certain technical terms to the youngest will therefore be welcome, in order to allow them to continue to progress in their discovery of this art.

I meet a lot of LEGO fans who have at least once wanted to create their own films. Most don't really know where to start and just spend hours looking at the creations of talented directors who don't really share their crafting secrets.

Their numerous attempts to produce something correct in turn sometimes end up discouraging them definitively, either because the result does not live up to their expectations, or because their audience generally does not fail to point the finger with a finger. your condescending the faults of their creation. Our skills as parents on the subject are often very limited and this book is in my opinion a relevant solution to give the youngest the keys to an enriching and creative activity.

David Pagano and David Pickett make an effort here to be truly didactic and the book is organized into thematic chapters to which those who have already started their career as an animator / director can refer to in case of doubt or need to find an answer. specific to a particular technical question.
I say yes, to arouse vocations or to deepen the subject.

The book, edited by Huginn & Munnin, is available at amazon at the price of 18.95 €. To offer with a small box to move without delay from theory to practice.

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

Update : The winner was drawn at random and was 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.