I just received and leafed through this book everyone is talking about: The Cult of LEGO four-handed written by John Baitchal and Joe Meno, publisher of BrickJournal magazine.

It will have cost me 29 € at Amazon to acquire this work from which I expected perhaps a little more than what it has to offer ...

The set of 290 pages is well bound, with a beautiful black cover, lined with a yellow overcover of the most beautiful effect. The inner flyleaves are adorned with the designs of the patent filed by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen on October 24, 1961. 

The content is quite uneven. The photos are often ugly, taken by the MOCeurs themselves with the means at hand, and the texts are more or less interesting depending on whether one is an informed AFOL or a dancing LEGO enthusiast.

Many subjects are discussed with among others the history of the LEGO company, AFOLs, minifigs, LEGO-based comics, different construction scales or even LEGO-based video games.

The text in English can be read and you don't have to be perfectly bilingual to understand. The layout is modern, and the photos just needed better quality for this book to be an essential Christmas present. 

I remain on my hunger as for the form. Basically, nothing to say, the essential is taken seriously.

It's up to you to see if you want to add this book to your LEGO library. It is currently for sale at Amazon for 29.75 €.

We were finally treated to some high-resolution images of what should be the definitive version of the LEGO Superheroes First Wave sets for 2012.

And this range is a good surprise. The gameplay will be there for the youngest and collectors will find their account between the new unpublished minifigs and the covers of characters already released in the Batman range from 2006 to 2008. It remains to obtain the prices, important data that will decide in part for the future success of this licensed range.

La Batcave set 6860, although more rudimentary than that of the set 7783 The Batcave: The Penguin and Mr. Freeze's Invasion released in 2006 remains a nice playset for children with many features and the 5 minifigs provided will delight collectors. This set will be the most expensive in the range, but it constitutes the starting point of any self-respecting playset around which the other sets will be articulated.

I'm a little more skeptical about the set 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase, which will have barely the merit of allowing us to get Catwoman in a set which should be reasonably priced. The bike is barely passable with its metapiece fairing. But this set is obviously a lead product.

The and 6862 Superman vs Power Armor Lex is my favorite of this new range. It already makes me regret having invested a few tickets in the Superman minifig offered at New York Comic Con 2011 which is identical in all points to the one in this set, but I am delighted to get Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor, two minifigs unpublished. The Down is interesting, well designed, and looks like he can hold a minifigure in his hands. It will allow you to make pretty thumbnails and beautiful photos, it will change us from Stormtroopers on flickr. Hopefully subsequent waves of sets will include more scenes with Superman, and as the box design suggests, the man in blue tights looks like he is entitled to his own line of custom sets.

The and 6863 Batwing Battle over Gotham City will appeal to children once again, the gameplay being guaranteed: Two flying machines, a bad guy, a nice one and before the frenzied chases. I'm a little disappointed with the Batwing which I would have hoped was a bit more elaborate. Looks like an old-time Blacktron machine. I will be able to add a "Henchman" to my collection, these henchmen with their beanies amuse me .... Note the tommy gun delivered with the Joker.

The and 6864 Batmobile and the Two-Face Chase also brings immediate playability with two vehicles and 5 minifigs. Unlike many AFOLs, I'm happy to see Two Face in a different color than the set 7781 The Batmobile: Two-Face's Escape released in 2006 and its assorted henchmen will once again make me happy .... the Batmobile is nice, even if I'm not particularly a fan of these Batmobiles in comic version. I prefer the versions seen in the movies. This set will allow you to obtain beautiful pieces in often very popular colors, such as tan, orange or purple. We also find purple as a common point to all the bad guys in the range.

The announced addition of paper comics in four of these sets is a significant added value. Hope they are well done.

In conclusion, I am obviously fans of this new license which seems to be on the right track. I can't wait to be able to add all of these new minifigs to my collection, and I remain confident for the future. The DC Universe as seen by LEGO is interesting but not new, and I can't wait to see what LEGO will do with the Marvel Universe even more.

By dint of wanting to flood the market with derivative products, LEGO sometimes makes a few missteps. We will be indulgent with towels, salt shakers, piggy banks, umbrellas and other products stamped with LEGO. We will be less so with this totally useless gadget and so badly designed that it is better to laugh about it: Minifigure Speech Bubbles, in other words, dialogue bubbles for minifigs. On the menu are plastic bubbles to put on the neck of the minifigure on which you can paste a predefined text or write yourself a line for the character concerned. 

This product is still sold for nearly $ 10 in the USA, especially at Toys R Us.... The pack contains a minifigure, 24 plastic bubbles of different colors, 12 pre-printed messages, 24 white stickers to personalize yourself and a marker ....

Technically, the product borders on the ridiculous with a completely silly attachment system and a final look that immediately makes one think of a minifigure committing suicide by hanging. I therefore solemnly award the finest derivative product for 2011 to this accessory. Hoping that by the end of the year it won't be dethroned by another gadget that came out of the minds of marketing specialists at LEGO ...

It was after reading tonight's VIP newsletter that I asked myself the question: What if the Sith were not successful?

In fact, LEGO doubles your VIP points with the purchase of the pack 5000067 pompously titled LEGO® Star Wars Sith Collection and grouping the sets 7957 Sith Nightspeeder sold 20 € on Amazon et 7961 Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator sold 48 € on Amazon.

We can already ask ourselves questions about this pack which should not interest many people and conclude without getting too wet that LEGO is trying to get rid of a few extra boxes in its stock.

If at least LEGO had made the effort to produce a new box as is the case with the usual Super Packs, I would have spent 105 € to add a new box to my collection. But there, apparently we are only entitled to a bundle of two known boxes that many of us have already purchased separately.

So, if you absolutely want to treat yourself to these two sets which frankly are only interesting the minifigs and you love the VIP points, rush on the lego shop. Otherwise, buy them on Amazon, or go your way and save your money for the 2012 novelties, you will need it ...

Because there are a little fed up with speculations of all kinds that turn into absolute reality from blog to blog or from topic to topic, I come back in this article to what has been spelled out about the collaboration to come between LEGO, Warner / DC and Disney / Marvel as of 2012 and this over several years as indicated by the mention "... multi-year agreement starting as of January 1st, 2012... ".

By relying on the official press releases released by LEGO that few people have finally read to the end, it is possible to clearly define what we are going to be entitled to, and what is only pure speculation. 

First of all, let's remove the doubt about the Marvel range. LEGO announces clearly in his official press release what will this range be made of: "... three Marvel franchises - Marvel's The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters ..."

It is clearly stated here that the lineup will be based on the movie The Avengers which will be released in May 2012 and the classic characters (as opposed to those in the licensed films) of the X-Men and Spiderman. Exit therefore the X-Men seen in the various films, or the Spiderman of Sam Raimi. Back to the good old comics.

Regarding the Avengers, and as I announced in previous articles (6868 Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout ... et 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle ...), the sets will be well based on the film, and by extension, the vehicles and the theme of the action as well.

The characters confirmed in the Avengers lineup are: "... Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form ...Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool ... Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus ... "the rest is pure speculation as well.

The minifig of Wolverine was presented at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2011. It will likely be delivered in the set 6866 Wolverine Chopper.

Regarding the actual release on the market of the Avengers range, here again LEGO gives a clear and precise indication which leaves no room for speculation: "... The retail debut of the Marvel-inspired LEGO SUPER HEROES collection is timed to coincide with the highly anticipated Summer 2012 blockbuster movie release of Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures feature film Marvel's The Avengers ..."The official release will therefore be based on the release of The Avengers movie in 2012.

On the DC Universe line, again the official LEGO release leaves little room for interpretation. 

First of all, this agreement is considered as an extension of an already existing partnership, and which had allowed the development of the LEGO Batman range a few years ago, with the success that we know, especially for video games. taken from the license sold 12 million copies since 2008: "... Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) with DC Entertainment (DCE) and The LEGO Group has announced the extension of a successful partnership ..."

The planned launch date, January 2012, without geographical precision is written in full: "... Construction sets, minifigures and buildable characters and creatures inspired by the universe of DC Comics are slated to launch in January 2012 ..."

The confirmed characters of the range are: "... Batman ™, Robin ™, Catwoman ™, The Joker, The Riddler ™, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn ™, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman ™, Lex Luthor ™ and Wonder Woman ™ ..."

We also have confirmation that  Green Lantern will at least be entitled to a minifigure, the one distributed during the San Diego Comic Con in July 2011. No set has been announced with this character yet.

It is clearly stated that the DC Universe line is a reinterpretation of the LEGO Batman line released between 2006 and 2008: "The company will revisit their previous successful collections like LEGO BATMAN ™ ... Given the fan enthusiasm for previous LEGO BATMAN collections, we couldn't be more thrilled to continue the build-and-play adventures ..."

In short, these two press releases give us sufficient details, it suffices to read and translate correctly what is mentioned therein. Everything else is pure speculation and should be seen as such.

To put in the box contradictory information : The catalog page that I presented to you in this article clearly indicates in French that the launch of the LEGO Superheroes range is planned for MAY 2012, at least in France. The images from the foreign catalog which presented the Ultrabuild range also indicated a launch in MAY 2012.

To put in the box speculation, no evidence is officially available:

The biggest sets in the LEGO DC Universe range will come with a comic inserted in the box. I got this info from one of my sources, and it is confirmed today by another source on Eurobricks.

 The two official LEGO releases: 

The LEGO Group to create LEGO® DC universe SUPER HEROES (20 / 07 / 2011)

Marvel Entertainment and the LEGO Group announce strategic relationship in construction toy category (21 / 07 / 2011)