We are now quickly interested in a book which this year takes over from the first edition based on the same concept and dating from 2011: The LEGO Ideas Book New Edition is, as the title of the book indicates, a collection of construction ideas proposed by some of the most prominent LEGO artists of the moment, such as Rod Gillies, Mariann Asanuma or even Nate Dias and Tim Goddard. The previous edition very quickly became the historic best-seller in terms of LEGO licensed books, the publisher was not going to hesitate to try to repeat the feat by using the same recipe.

Dorling Kindersley (DK for friends) therefore spreads these ideas over 200 beautifully illustrated pages and embellished with some somewhat vague explanations about the techniques presented. This is also the limit of this book to leaf through in your spare time, there are no real assembly instructions inside, you have to be satisfied with the finished models and in the best case of a few exploded views that will have to be observed very carefully in order to hope to be able to reproduce them.

We can not say that the book is sloppy, as is sometimes the case with some of the many books published each year which take advantage of the LEGO license and are content to accumulate full-page 3D renderings. The whole of this book is illustrated with real photos of real creations and it is appreciable even if one has a little the impression to fly over only very quickly the various topics approached.

It will also be necessary to have a very substantial and very varied bulk of parts to be able to reproduce most of the models offered, which can very quickly become frustrating for some fans even if the children who accumulate the sets in their toy box will undoubtedly find over the pages some ideas to reuse part of their inventory and get a little more out of their parts.

A good point: the book covers a very wide range of themes and subjects, and there is something for all types of fans, from microscale to animal creations, vehicles and fantastic creatures. It will therefore be necessary to leave the object in evidence on the living room table and to come back to it from time to time to really discover all of its content and possibly draw some good ideas from it. It is also what one could call a "beautiful book" with a very accomplished finish, heavy paper, very well-treated photos and a plush cover. If you're looking for something to give a LEGO fan who already has almost everything without breaking the bank, this book may be the solution of choice.

You will therefore have been warned: do not expect a book of detailed instructions, it is simply "ideas" and techniques that can be used as a starting point. It is enough to read the comments of customers disappointed by the previous edition at Amazon to understand the extent of the misunderstanding on this specific point.

Should you spend nearly €30 for construction "ideas" collected in a book that is certainly pleasant to leaf through but whose creative added value becomes a little debatable? Nothing is less certain and I think that a few illustrated construction steps would have been really welcome, especially for the more complex models presented in this book. No more or less exclusive model provided with this book as is sometimes the case with other thematic books, the publisher must have imagined that the reputation of the previous edition would be sufficient to ensure a substantial sales volume.

The English version of this book will be available from September 27 on Amazon, we do not know for the moment if a localization in French is planned one day:

The LEGO Ideas Book New Edition: You Can Build Anything!

24.10 €

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Note: The work presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at September 13, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Notice to the most demanding collectors of products from the LEGO Harry Potter range, the book entitled LEGO Harry Potter 5-Minute Builds with its 96 pages of ideas and 65 pieces including a minifig of the young student will be available from October 18, 2022.

The inventory provided will make it possible to assemble two mini-models: Buckbeak and a giant owl. the minifig provided will be the one already seen in the set 76388 Hogsmeade Village Visit (2021). For the other ideas proposed over the pages, it will be necessary as usual with this type of book to call on your personal stock of parts, they are not exclusively based on the 65 elements delivered with the book.

Pre-orders are already open at Amazon:

5-Minute Harry Potter Builds: Over 100 Building Ideas and Challenges!

15.42 €

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We are now quickly interested in the new edition of the encyclopedia of characters from the DC universe in LEGO version with the availability of the book concerned. I will spare you the content of the book, you will find examples of pages on the product sheet at Amazon and I think there wouldn't be many people to buy this type of book anyway if it weren't accompanied by an exclusive and unpublished minifig.

For this time, the publisher Dorling Kindersley and LEGO have made an effort by offering us a character that is certainly second-rate but which has the merit of being completely new to LEGO and which will remain exclusive to this book: it is Val -Zod in Earth-2 version, as he appears for the first time in the comic Earth 2 #19 published in 2014. We also know that a series around the character produced by Michael B. Jordan is in progress writing for the HBO Max streaming platform.

The minifig is overall successful, no doubt about it. We could however quibble about the differences in color between the blue tinted in the mass of the torso and the ink of the pad printing of the legs, it is not perfectly fitting. Same observation for the pad-printed white areas on the chest, we guess the blue background under the thin layer of ink.

We are delivered a classic one-hole soft cape and once again I regret that LEGO does not generalize the solution used for Batman and Doctor Strange with nicely molded plastic accessories. No accessories with the character, the minifig is delivered alone.

Another interesting technical detail of this book, the publisher is now changing the process for inserting the supplied minifig: the figurine is no longer directly visible on the cover and you have to remove a sticker and tear the flap of the interior insert to access the elements.

This solution should limit the theft of minifigs in bookstores, the old transparent sticker that closed the plastic insert could be peeled off and reattached in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, it will be advisable to be careful on delivery or during the purchase of the work and to check without delay that the insert is indeed intact and the minifig is present, it is no longer possible to ensure it visually from the cover.

We are not going to complain about being able to add a character from the DC universe unpublished at LEGO to our collections, knowing that the sets in the range have become rather rare since the beginning of the year. The book that accompanies the figurine is only a collection of digital visuals of the minifigs of the range which distills some statistics and anecdotes about the different characters concerned, it will be necessary to wait for a possible edition in French if you plan to give to a young fan who has a poor command of English.

This 200-page book and its exclusive figurine is currently available for almost €22 at Amazon:

LEGO DC Character Encyclopedia New Edition: With exclusive LEGO minifigure

21.21 €

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Note: The work presented here, provided by DK editor, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 19th June 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

If you collect minifigs in costume but don't want to bother with the bricks sold with them, know that the LEGO Official Annual 2023 published by Buster Books will make it possible from September 15 to obtain a copy of the thief disguised as ice cream which is already available in the LEGO CITY set 60314 Ice Cream Truck Police Chase (29.99 €) on sale since the beginning of the year.

It is obviously not a question of paying this 64-page book at a high price just to obtain this figurine which will be delivered without its crowbar but with an ice cream cone, it will therefore be advisable to wait wisely for the book to be available. like every year for a few euros to acquire this pretty character at a lower cost. Unless you like coloring and games for children.

LEGO® Official Annual 2023 (with Ice Cream crook LEGO® minifigure)

20.17 €

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Better late than never. The publisher Huginn & Munnin, which handles the localization of LEGO works published by Dorling Kindersley (DK) via its QILINN collection, announces the arrival on the shelves of the French version of the book LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia New Edition accompanied by the exclusive minifig of Darth Maul.

The original version of the book was published in 2020 and if you have waited hoping to see a French version of this non-exhaustive dictionary of minifigs from the LEGO Star Wars range come out one day with very large photos surrounded by some information and other anecdotes on the character concerned, your patience is finally rewarded.

Darth Maul is here in his Crimson Dawn version (Scarlet Dawn), named after the criminal organization of which he is the leader. We therefore find the pendant which takes up the logo of the organization on the tattooed chest of the character.

The 224-page book is sold at the public price of 24.99 €, the English version is still available for a little less:

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