Two of the novelties expected this summer in the LEGO Disney Mickey & Friends range have been put online by a dutch sign and it is therefore the opportunity to discover the content of the sets 10774 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse's Space Rocket (88 - 19.99 €) and 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Truck & Station (144 - 49.99 €) which will be accompanied by at least three other references:

Official visuals of many products in the CITY, Friends, Creator, Disney, DOTS and DUPLO ranges are also available in their respective sections. on Pricevortex.

Anything that can help make a LEGO product even more interesting is worth taking and LEGO has posted an "alternative" set of instructions for the LEGO ART set online. 31202 Disney's Mickey Mouse (2658 - 119.99 €). On the program, enough to assemble two new mosaics which feature Mickey and Minnie in a configuration different from that provided by default by the manufacturer.

You can download the instruction file in PDF format which will allow you to assemble any of the above visuals at this address. These variants can be considered as "official" versions, they were imagined by Kitt Grace Kossmann, designer at LEGO who is at the origin of several of the products marketed in the LEGO ART range.

For those who would have missed it, LEGO offers the same for the set 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests (4249 - 119.99 €) with an instruction file in PDF format which allows you to assemble three alternative mosaics to those provided by default with Hedwig, a Snitch or the King's Cross lane number. The file is available for download at this address.

If you have the courage to dismantle the mosaic or mosaics that you have already assembled, then you have something to occupy yourself for a few hours. In the worst case, grab the instruction files and store them somewhere until you have the will to jump into a teardown / reassembly operation, it's unclear how long LEGO will keep them online.

Today we quickly go around the LEGO Disney sets 40456 Mickey Mouse (118 - 17.99 €) & 40457 Minnie Mouse (140 - 17.99 €), two new references from the Brick Sketches range which, like the other sets based on the same concept, are directly inspired by the work of Chris McVeigh, a long-time AFOL at the origin of the idea that has since been 2020 become a designer at LEGO.

The product packaging does not change and the box is still too big for what it contains. We understand LEGO's desire to try and showcase these small sets of just over a hundred pieces, but we could easily halve these cardboard boxes without detracting from the appeal of the product.

There must be a few complete collectors who plan to collect all the portraits offered in this format and we are already there. with six different references, these two new boxes joining the sets 40386 Batman, 40391 First Order Stormtrooper, 40428 The Joker et 40431BB-8. The disappointment of some will undoubtedly come one day from an exclusive model at a convention that will have to be paid at a high price on the secondary market, the format seems to me particularly suitable for making some exclusive creations with a more or less limited edition.

The assembly mechanics here are the same as for the other references already on the market: You must both assemble the white 12x16 frame of 29 pieces which will serve as a support for the 3D work concerned and work in successive layers to obtain the promised result. the two portraits are almost identical in their construction, it is very very quickly assembled and we cannot say that we are spending a moment of pure creative madness with these two products. But it's the result that counts and these portraits sold for € 17.99 per unit cost much less than the mosaics in the set 31202 Disney's Mickey Mouse sold for € 119.99.

If you look closely at the photos below, you will notice the flaws in some parts that tend to wavy slightly or where the lower tenons are seen transparent. These flaws have been more or less present at LEGO for years but I still have the impression of noticing them more often in recent months.

I'm not going to be a bad language, you recognize Mickey and Minnie at first glance and the two small pictures to hang on the wall or to put on a dresser will be an illusion from afar. Up close, I'm much less convinced by the designer's choices: the eyes of the two mice seem a bit empty and in my opinion a touch of red is missing in the mouth. The superimposed pieces also produce a "carnival mask" effect, the four studs visible under the nose resemble teeth and the cheeks based on large ones. Tiles rounds remind me of Jigsaw for those who can see what I'm talking about. In my defense, I've always found that there is something scary about Mickey and Minnie in their historic white-skinned version and these two portraits won't change my mind.

I understand despite everything that these are simplified and figurative reproductions of the two characters and that it is up to everyone to assess whether the proposed "artistic" interpretation is convincing. I also know that many fans of these two characters will pay little attention to the finish or the "artistic" choices of the designer and that they will not hesitate to pay the 35.98 € requested just because it is Disney by LEGO.

Good luck to the children who will have to sleep with these things on a shelf in their bedroom. Mickey and Minnie are watching you kids, think about it. Even in the dark.

Note: The lot of two sets presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at March 3, 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

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.

Today we are quickly interested in the LEGO Disney set 43186 Bruni The Salamander Buildable Character, a small box of 96 pieces sold at the public price of 12.99 € which features a character from the film Frozen II (Frozen 2).

Bruni the Salamander is one of the many characters created especially to fill the shelves of toy stores, like the Ewoks or the Porgs. It's often small, it's sometimes cute, it's always funny and it easily turns into a plush or figurine. But Frozen is not Star Wars and LEGO was content with a modest reproduction of the salamander rather than offering a more imposing minifigure of several hundred pieces in the style of a Porg or a Grogu.

From the publication of the first visuals of the set, I was one of those who found this little figurine rather successful. Looking at it more closely and from other angles than those offered by LEGO on the packaging or on the product sheet, it is a little less obvious.

Comparing with the creature from the animated film, it's confirmed: the LEGO version is only a very rough adaptation of the creature. She loses in the process what makes all her charm on the screen: the cute and mischievous side of the character. But it is LEGO under the Disney license and we can therefore count on the indulgence of fans who will be content with this reproduction with the tail a little too straight and the head a little too flat.

There is no miracle, with an inventory of 96 pieces of which a large handful is used to build the campfire and the marshmallows, the little salamander therefore remains a little rough. There are, however, some good ideas such as the car hood that dresses the head or the shell that forms the lower part of the jaw and everything is nicely pad printed.
To quibble, I think that LEGO could have considered lengthening the tongue to make it protrude and pad a flake on it. The large snowflake provided is indeed not to scale, but at least it has the merit of being there.

Let's see the bright side of things, this small set sold for 12.99 € remains affordable and it will please Frozen fans who already have all the other boxes based on the franchise and who accumulate mini-dolls.

I still believe that LEGO could have been a more ambitious in this file by offering a larger and more detailed creature. The public price would have inflated as well, but we all know that is only a side issue when it comes to successful franchises around which derivatives sell like hot cakes.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 18th February 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

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.