We now know the content of the two sets of the LEGO Architecture range expected for next summer: these will be the references 21045 Trafalgar Square (79.99 €) and 21046 Empire State Building (99.99 €).

Regulars of the range will remember that the Empire State Building has already been the subject of a LEGO-style interpretation in the Architecture range with the set 21002 Empire State Building of 77 pieces marketed in 2009 at the public price of 21.99 €.

If we take into account the public price announced for set 21046, we should logically be entitled to something a little more detailed than what set 21002 offered in its time ...

Note: To see the list of all the new LEGO CITY, Friends, Creator and DC Comics products presented during the Nuremberg Toy Fair with their public prices, go to Pricevortex.

It's time for the 2018 review with a small, very personal selection of sets marketed this year that I consider very successful, without much interest, or on the contrary as first-class failures.

I will not give you an inventory of the small boxes that deserve to be considered successful this year. Their reasonable price often justified taking the risk of acquiring them and the possible disappointment felt will not have put you on the straw.

Overall, in 2018 I therefore found something to please me in my favorite ranges (Star Wars, Super Heroes, Jurassic World) without being too tempted to spend my money on products from other universes.

So much the better for my wallet, too bad for LEGO who could not really attract me out of my comfort zone except for several copies of the LEGO Architecture set 21041 Great Wall of China because I am strangely fascinated by the possibility of aligning several of these boxes to make a long wall. At 50 € a box, I quickly revised my ambitions downwards, the very very long wall I dream of will wait a bit ...

I'm still just as allergic to the Speed ​​Champions range because of the concept: stickers with bricks and not the other way around. Even the atmosphere Revival around the Harry Potter universe left me a little indifferent. It all comes a little late for me and it smells warm, certainly intelligently updated, but I have long since moved on without particular nostalgia or regrets.

I assiduously collect sets from the LEGO Star Wars range and even though I'm generally very (too) indulgent with what LEGO offers us on this theme, I couldn't leave out the calamitous set. 75201 First Order AT-ST. This is the absolute failure of the Star Wars range this year. Fortunately, this fiasco will have cost me only about fifty euros and it is in fact already too much for what this product vaguely derived from the film offers. The Last Jedi.

This box perfectly embodies the permanent opportunism around the Star Wars universe and the portfolio of its most assiduous fans. By dint of trying to sell them anything, there comes a time when it goes too far. Here we are with this set. And also with the very dispensable set 75230 Porg.

The other product that I think deserves to be considered a failure is the LEGO Creator Expert set 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5 which does not really pay homage to the vehicle concerned. There will always be a few diehards to defend LEGO on this issue, but this box is proof that we cannot do everything with LEGO bricks and that we sometimes have to know how to let go at the risk of making a fool of ourselves and selling a product. that even the worst second-class Chinese brands would not dare to market.

I hesitated for a long time to put the Bugatti Chiron from the Technic 42083 set in this list of flops. There are a number of reasons why it belongs: the LEGO vehicle only looks like a Bugatti Chiron from a distance, and the designer's many approximations and other shortcuts do not make this set the ultimate luxurious model promised by LEGO. Fortunately, the building experience saves the furniture.

It is therefore ultimately the Aston Martin that wins between the two: if you do not tell you what it is, there is little chance that you will spontaneously find the model of the vehicle that LEGO has tried to reproduce. here. At 150 € joke, this box is not worthy of a manufacturer like LEGO.

Fortunately, aside from the usual small sets with scraps of scenery, more or less successful ships and a large handful of minifigs, the LEGO Star Wars range occasionally reserves some nice surprises with boxes with very successful content. This is the case with the set Ultimate Collector Series 75181 Y-Wing Starfighter, a true demonstration of LEGO know-how.

More than a simple opportunistic reissue of the 2004 version, this is a great adaptation that meets the expectations of today's adult fans, ever more demanding on the finish and the fidelity of the reproduction.

In the department of good surprises, the LEGO Marvel set 76105 The Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition is also worth mentioning. It is an exhibition figurine which is in my opinion very successful.

If we forget the absence of knee joints and the somewhat approximate reproduction of the armor, this product is a fine example of LEGO know-how that will find its place with any fan of the Marvel universe who does not he isn't necessarily a plastic brick addict.

Another set that I found really successful this year: the LEGO Technic reference 42078 Mack Anthem which is a really balanced mix between aesthetics and functionality. The workmanship is excellent and the final model really looks like the real version it was inspired by. You don't have to be an absolute fan of the Technic range, its construction machinery, pins and other gears to appreciate the contents of this box.

After a great 2017 in the LEGO Ideas range, I'm skipping this year's sets. Frankly, even if the set 21315 Pop-up Book was rather a good surprise, there is nothing to do with these niche sets which for the most part only have the merit of being "different" from what LEGO usually sells.

Each box marketed this year was the result of a global plebiscite on the selection platform and therefore inevitably found its audience at the time but these sets leave me rather indifferent with the passing time: A set on a nanar which dates from several years (21314 Tron: Legacy), a reference to an animated series that I have never watched (21311 Voltron: Defender of the Universe) or a concept that is really too kitsch for my taste (21313 Ship in A Bottle), nothing to ignite ...

I'll stop there, this small non-exhaustive selection obviously reflects only a very personal opinion and I know that there will probably be as many opinions as boxes. I look forward to hearing which were your favorite 2018 sets and which ones you consider disappointing ...

After Paris, it's now the turn of the other skyline of the LEGO Architecture range scheduled for 2019, the benchmark 21043 San Francisco (565 pieces - 49.99 €), to be the subject of a quick tour of the owner in order to give you some very personal impressions.

If I was logically able to have a critical look at the content of the set 21044 Paris (49.99 €), it is immediately less obvious with this representation of San Francisco. The designer has obviously condensed here everything that the city has of silhouettes that are a priori emblematic for most potential customers, starting with the most famous construction of all: the Golden Gate Bridge. Whether the result is too cartoonish or truly faithful, only those who live in San Francisco or really know the city well will be able to afford to have an opinion.

It is thanks to this red bridge that almost everyone can instantly recognize San Francisco and the designer has skillfully integrated the construction by creating a very successful forced perspective effect, especially when looking at the model from the front (see the last photo ).

We also find what makes the charm of San Francisco with the contrast between the alleys lined with Painted ladies, these Victorian-style houses with colorful facades that line the sloping streets, and the modern buildings in the center. It's picked up in a corner of the model, but it's successful. Everything is pad printed in this box, including the white 1x1 pieces with the small black square which are used for the Painted Ladies or the facade of the blue building visible from across the street.

The three buildings, 555 California Street, la Transamerica pyramid and Salesforce Tower, are wisely aligned behind the hill. I do not know if there is a point of view on the city which proposes this alignment, but the differences in colors of the facades and the characteristic architecture of each of these constructions are enough to make it pass.

With a little imagination, one can even spot two colorful trams running on the sloping street facing the Coit Tower, placed at the top of Telegraph Hill and whose summit offers a breathtaking view of Alcatraz.

It's hard to talk about San Francisco without talking about Alcatraz, which you probably already know from different sources depending on your generation (The Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood in 1979, Rock with Nicolas Cage in 1996 and for fans of Steven Seagal, the calamitous Mission Alcatraz of 2002).

In the linear spirit of skylines LEGO Architecture, the prison of Alcatraz is found here placed under the Golden Gate Bridge, which obviously does not correspond to reality. Nothing serious, I would rather have the island under the bridge than no island at all. The windows of the cells are represented by a few pad-printed parts, it is rudimentary but the effect is there.

This skyline is quite different from those produced so far by LEGO, the Golden Gate Bridge here occupying two thirds of the surface of the model. But if we consider that the set should reach a wider audience than the locals, it makes sense and few people would be able to list the names of the different buildings in this set anyway.

Note also the symbolic presence of the fortifications of Fort Point at the foot of Golden Gate, a place where many tourists take the photos that you find everywhere with this perspective effect from the lower part of the famous red bridge.

Thanks to the representation of Golden Gate, the set is immediately identifiable even by those who have never set foot in San Francisco and I note that the designer did not see fit to place an American flag somewhere ...

Lovers of skylines LEGO style, this set will not disappoint and it is probably one of the ones that best exploits this concept. That's a big yes on my part, especially for the very successful forced perspective effect applied to the Golden Gate.

AVAILABILITY announced for January 1, 2019 on the LEGO Shop at the public price of 49.99 €.

Note: The set shown here is put into play as usual. To participate in the raffle, simply post a comment on this article before December 30 at 23:59 p.m.. You have every right to disagree with me, this is not eliminatory.

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.

Eleventh "classic" contest of the Hoth Bricks Advent calendar with two pretty boxes from the LEGO Architecture range to be won: the references 21026 Venice (29.99 €) and 21031 Burj Khalifa (€ 39.99) which are no longer in the LEGO catalog. It is therefore an opportunity to catch up your delay at a lower cost ...

To participate, it's always so simple: You search the LEGO Shop for the answer to the question asked and you enter this answer in the area of ​​the form provided for this purpose.

Your contact details are only used in the context of this competition. I don't sell them to a spam box. As usual, this no-obligation competition is open to all residents of mainland France, DOM & TOM, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

The prize will be shipped by me to the winner and by Colissimo with insurance and signature on delivery (and suitable packaging).

Note to winners: The confirmation message I send you may end up in spam, please check back regularly ...

Good luck to everyone !

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It's a skyline eagerly awaited in the LEGO Architecture range, we are therefore quickly talking about the set 21044 (649 pieces) which features Paris (49.99 €).

It is difficult here not to enter into the inevitable debate which consists in calling into question the choices of designers in matters of monuments or emblematic constructions of such and such a city. If the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre obviously have their place in this skyline, for the rest, it is in my opinion less obvious.

The Champs-Élysées can be summed up here in a few colorful buildings (?) And two rows of trees whose mission is to represent the famous avenue. It's really, really minimalist, and I think it would have been better not to try anything. Paris has enough immediately recognizable places and monuments and the Center Pompidou, the Vendôme column or the Concorde obelisk could have done the job at this location.

The designer also chose to represent the only truly visible tower above the rooftops of Paris (outside the La Défense district in the Hauts-de-Seine) with the Montparnasse Tower. It was undoubtedly necessary to bring a touch of modernity to this skyline composed of historical monuments and balance the overall volume imposed by the Eiffel Tower, but this black and gray monolith does not bring much to this box. This construction will also be obsolete in a few years, the tower being the subject of a renovation which will bring it up to date by 2023 ...

The Grand Palais? Why not. Notre-Dame Cathedral could have taken the place of this building, it is a place visited by all passing tourists. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre could also have done the trick. And do not come and talk to me about the restrictions linked to the reproduction of religious buildings that LEGO has imposed on itself, Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice presents in set 21026 is a Catholic cathedral before being a tourist magnet ...

Not much to complain about the section representing the Louvre with its micro-pyramid. It's minimalist but rather convincing and it will please foreign tourists who are fans of the Da Vinci Code.

The question that must also be asked here is the following: must we absolutely caricature something to represent it? And that's the Eiffel Tower I'm talking about. Was it really essential to stick a big French flag at the top of the building? We are no longer in 1944 when French firefighters courageously hoisted a flag to the top under German fire.

Wanting at all costs to place a French flag in this box, you might as well put it on the roof of the Grand Palais where a flag usually flies ... Moving this flag would also have helped to give a little volume to what is at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in this skyline.

In my opinion, LEGO has still not found a convincing technique to correctly reproduce the Eiffel Tower. The LEGO model is far from being as graceful as the real one and we can also discuss the choice of the color of the parts: The Eiffel Tower is not gray, it is brown-bronze.

We will still remember the use of four transparent pad-printed windshields to represent the arches of the foot of the tower. It is convincing.

Thanks to the use of grids on the different uprights, the version of the Eiffel Tower present in this box has at least the merit of offering a rendering closer to reality than what the model of the calamitous set 21019 The Eiffel Tower (2014) proposed in its time.

Finally, in my opinion, the Arc de Triomphe is quite simply a failure. It looks like a Japanese garden portico, probably the fault of the overall scale of the set determined by the size of the Eiffel Tower. Same observation as for the Eiffel Tower concerning the color of this element: The Arc de Triomphe is not immaculate white.

In short, it is not worth doing tons of it, this box is ultimately only a luxury product for a souvenir shop with a somewhat approximate content and I do not think it pays a satisfactory tribute to The city of Paris. You will have to do with it and spend around fifty euros to get it.

If you prefer to buy some of the monuments in this skyline in detail and on a slightly less restrictive scale, know that you also have the LEGO Architecture references 21019 The Eiffel Tower, 21024 The Louvre et 21036 Arc de Triomphe in the secondary market.

Note: The set shown here is put into play as usual. To participate in the raffle, simply post a comment on this article before December 25 at 23:59 p.m.. You have every right to disagree with me, this is not eliminatory.

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.