Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Ideas set 21332 The Globe, a product inspired by the project Earth globe submitted by Disneybrick55 (Guillaume Roussel) on the LEGO Ideas platform in early 2020 and approved in September 2020. A year and a half later, LEGO finally gives us the official and definitive version of the idea in question, with an inventory of 2585 pieces and a public price fixed at 199.99 €.

Unlike other "ideas" largely reworked, or even completely reinterpreted by LEGO, the official version of this globe remains very faithful to the original project, both in appearance and in the proportions of the object. After all, those who voted for this idea shouldn't be disappointed to get exactly what they showed their support for.

Personally, I was hoping on the contrary that the handling of the project by a designer from Billund would allow us to obtain a more successful product, but this is not really the case, apart from a few details. The initial idea is however very interesting and I was one of those who imagined that LEGO was going to put all its know-how to work to convince us that it is possible to make a beautiful round ball out of bricks. Even a year and a half later, it is not so. On the bright side: Guillaume Roussel will be able to autograph a box containing a product that visually conforms to the idea he proposed.

LEGO does not forget to throw a few flowers from the first pages of the instruction booklet by associating this product with its various initiatives in terms of environmental protection and, by extension, the planet. Why not, even if it is ultimately a plastic product delivered in a box too big for what it contains with a large handful of plastic bags and a large paper booklet. To go through with this discreet recovery of the product to promote its efforts, LEGO could have thrown in the box some of the new paper bags to replace the plastic ones, it was the perfect opportunity to introduce this evolution. logistics, hitherto reserved for the set 4002021 The (Ninjago) Temple of Celebrations offered this year to employees and partners of the group, to the general public.

As you can imagine, there is nothing really exciting about assembling this globe, which is neither perfectly round nor very smooth: it's a ball fixed on a support and we therefore spend our time reproducing the "slices" that successively constitute the surface of the object. Of the 16 sachets of the set, 4 are dedicated to the support, 3 to the central circle which is itself made up of identical sub-assemblies and 8 to the cover of the globe in small slices all identical in their design, with a variation on their decoration. depending on their position on the surface of the object. It's the product that wants it and it was logically difficult to escape the repetitive aspect of assembly but you will not have the best assembly experience of your life as a LEGO fan. For those wondering where the 2585 pieces of the set are, know that the cover of the globe only uses nearly 500 elements, the rest is in the support and the internal structure of which you will find an overview below.

The support is very convincing, it is aesthetically successful with a few touches of golden strapping sprinkled on a structure that imitates wood quite well. The vintage effect is there, we are in the theme. Things go a little wrong when it comes to moving on to the internal structure and the surface of the globe and this is where you really become aware of the very approximate adjustments between the different slices. This defect is obvious because we are in the process of assembling the product, it will fade a little when the globe is exposed and seen from a certain distance if the positioning of the clips which are used to connect the slices at the ends of the surface was perfectly executed.

The assembled product is solid and stable. It must be gripped by the base to avoid dropping a few plates, but the internal structure is well designed. Contrary to what some might imagine, the four wheels with their yellow rims and their tires are not involved in the rotation mechanism of the product, it is just a ballast that returns the globe to its predefined presentation position.

There are no stickers in this box and all patterned elements are therefore stamped. The oceans and continents are identified but you will not progress much in geography with this globe. The scale of the construction requires that the smallest continents be reduced to a few pieces that struggle a little to reproduce the usual curves of these terrestrial spaces. Once again, it will be necessary to take a step back and observe the object from a good distance so that the geographical simplification is less penalizing and that the identification of certain countries is possible, often by deduction. It should be noted in passing that Oceania is absent, LEGO only locating Australia in this area. The Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean are not identified.

The different small Tiles identification of continents and oceans are phosphorescent. It's not very interesting but it compensates for the impossibility of integrating internal lighting into the product as on the globes of our childhood, the external surfaces being matt. The typeface used by LEGO for these different elements seems to me a little off topic: The graphic designer has probably tried to obtain a vintage effect but we come close to Comic Sans and I find the result a bit disappointing. The fan designer of the product will at least have the satisfaction of having his initials present on the edge of the Dish white representing Antarctica (GR for Guillaume Roussel), you won't really see them when the product is assembled, but you will know it's there.

Beware of the finish defect sometimes encountered on the golden pieces, my copy of the set did not escape this problem (see photo below) but only a small 1x1 piece was concerned. Fortunately, LEGO provides many additional elements and I was able to replace the affected element. I was also missing a black piece which in principle fits on the upper part of the central axis.

The most demanding will take care to orient the cover plates and their green or beige overlay with the LEGO logo in the direction of the hemisphere concerned. I didn't have that patience but you only see tenons on arrival and it might be wise to think about this detail before starting assembly. There will remain the possibility of using these visible tenons to mark, for example, with the help of a small red piece, the different destinations visited by the owner of the object.

On arrival and as I said at the beginning of this review, we can't decently blame LEGO for having sabotaged the original idea. The official product is visually identical to the reference project and that, as far as I'm concerned, is the problem with this set. I find that LEGO confuses here "vintage", "kitsch" and "old-fashioned", notions that often overlap or are in any case very porous between them, with a rendering that generally sends me back to the 90s/2000s with their lots official sets that have often aged very badly. Too banal for vintage, too dated for LEGO.

The assortment of blue/green colors reinforces in my eyes this somewhat cheesy aspect of the object and the curves which are not really do not help, just like the empty spaces between the different sections. At 200 € the pure exhibition product intended for an adult clientele, in my opinion the whole thing frankly lacks finish and contrast between visible tenons and smooth surfaces to, for example, create a difference in texture between the continents and the oceans. The assembly does not even save the furniture, we get a bit bored with a systematic repetition of the same sub-assemblies.

I don't find either the aesthetics of a really old globe or that of the colored object that I knew during my childhood with its integrated bulb and in front of which I was bored in my spare time discovering countries or capitals. This globe is a mix between two eras and two objects which ultimately had only their round shape in common with a decorative side for one and a more educational ambition for the other.

As you will have understood, I am personally not convinced by this globe which I find a little coarse and falsely vintage. We know that LEGO sometimes has trouble producing curves with square pieces, this product which frankly lacks finish in my eyes is a new brilliant demonstration of this and it's a bit of a shame. The initial version of the project had already roughed the file, yet all that was missing was an effort on the finish to convince me.

Other "imitation" products from the LEGO lifestyle universe, such as the typewriter in the set 21327 Typewriter, the piano of the set 21323 Grand Piano or the guitar of the set 21329 Fender Stratocaster all benefit from a finish that allows them to deserve to be proudly displayed. In my opinion, this is not the case with this globe. As it is, it seems that the designer in charge of the project did not want to spend too much time on it and that LEGO thought that the technique used for the surface of the globe was sufficiently accomplished to deserve ending up on the shelves. some stores.

Either Guillaume Roussel aka Disneybrick55 had indeed found the best possible solution to produce a globe based on LEGO bricks and the official designer could not do better, either LEGO wanted to get rid of the file quickly and settled for the bare minimum. We know since his participation in the first season of the LEGO Masters show that Guillaume Roussel is a talented creator, my first guess may be the right one. Whatever the explanation, it will be without me, especially at 200 €, a price range in which we find products with a more accomplished aesthetic and a much more entertaining assembly experience.

Tastes and colors are indisputable and this product which gathered the 10.000 supporters necessary for its passage in the review phase and then was definitively validated by LEGO will obviously find its audience. Complete collectors of the very heterogeneous LEGO Ideas range will find it difficult to ignore this new reference and there will inevitably be a few lovers of decorative products to find a place of choice for this globe in their interior. You have my opinion, it's up to you to make yours.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 27th January 2022 next at 23pm.

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

LEGO today officially unveils the LEGO Ideas set 21332 The Globe, a product inspired by the idea Earth globe submitted by Disneybrick55 (Guillaume Roussel) on the LEGO Ideas platform. In the box, 2585 pieces to assemble a terrestrial globe and its support, everything will be available on the official online store and in LEGO Stores at the retail price of €199.99 from February 1, 2022.

Continents and oceans are identified via a few Tiles phosphorescent pad-printed and the manufacturer tells us that this terrestrial globe turns on itself and that it measures 40 cm high by 30 cm long by 26 cm wide (base included).

I'll leave you a few minutes to discover this new product from every angle with the visuals and videos below, then we'll talk about this globe again on the occasion of a "Review ".

LEGO IDEAS 21332 THE GLOBE ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(The link to the shop redirects to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)

The LEGO team in charge of evaluating the LEGO Ideas projects that have reached 10.000 supporters will still have to roll up their sleeves: 36 projects have been selected for the third phase of the 2021 review.

As usual, the selection is made up of more or less interesting ideas, a little wacky projects that have no prior chance to pass, various and varied licenses, modulars, other modulars, the return of Baba Yaga, etc ...

Fans (or bots) have voted en masse, now it's up to LEGO to sort through and select the idea (s) that deserve to be passed on to posterity. Always so difficult to risk a prognosis, we know that LEGO sometimes has the ability to surprise and disappoint us at the same time.

If you want to find out more about all these projects, go to the LEGO Ideas blog, they are all listed there. Result expected for summer 2022.

In the meantime and if you have time to spare, you can always try to guess who will come out on top of the next review phase, the results of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Ideas set 21331 Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone, a box of 1125 pieces sold at the public price of € 69.99 vaguely inspired by the project Sonic Mania - Green Hill Zone posted by Viv Grannell on the participatory platform.

There is actually nothing to ask too many questions about this product derived from the legendary video game that has accompanied many fans since the 1990s, its rather reasonable public price avoids wondering whether to crack or not.

Assembling the set is a bit laborious, unless you like to chain stack the 1x1 pieces together and try to line them up neatly. But it is at this price that we get the famous iconic pixel effect of the Green Hill level and we can not deny that it is successful. The construction experience is therefore in my opinion nothing very attractive, but it is the finality that prevails here with on arrival a nice exhibition product 36 cm long by 17 cm high and 6 cm depth.

I regret a little that all the elements of the set are not grouped or associated with each other, in particular to facilitate the display and movement of the product. Here, you have to find how to present the level itself, the small display with the emeralds of chaos and Robotnik installed in his Egg Mobile. Small funny detail that brightens up the laborious assembly of the product: the different Chaos Emeralds are obtained at each end of the assembly step and they are then installed on the intended display.

The four modules of the level are associated with each other over the stages and are then held by the black border which circulates at the foot of the building. It is technically possible to change the arrangement of the level, but the task is complicated by the presence of Technic axes which cannot be extracted from their respective modules without a little disassembly and some of which are too long to allow a perfect adjustment. between two modules. It's a bit of a shame, especially for those who would like to line up several sets and who would like to reorganize the level along its entire length without complicating the task too much. A real modularity thought out from the start would have been welcome.

The playability of this pure exhibition product logically remains very basic: a platform allows Sonic to eject to allow him to reach the three rings placed nearby and the transparent supports can be folded back to simulate the capture of the rings. . It is not possible to fix Sonic upside down in the heart of the loop, nothing has been planned in this direction.

Two sheets of stickers are necessary to dress different elements of the product and the background of some of these stickers does not always match the color of the parts on which they are placed. LEGO even went so far as to impose two stickers on us for the Motobug's facial expressions. The manufacturer who usually doesn't skimp when it comes to pad printing dozens of different items in the LEGO Super Mario line-up disappoints here with these two stickers that really feel like they're looking to save the money.

On the other hand, the designer did not forget to "sign" his creation via the scoreboard which mentions Viv Grannell (VIV), Lauren Cullen King (LCK) who worked on the graphic aspect of the product and Sam Johnson (SAM) the chief designer on this file. Five other stickers embody the different bonuses that Sonic can get and LEGO obviously provides the Tiles on which they take place. It will then be necessary to change these Tiles on the level according to your mood of the day. The possibility is there, but LEGO does not provide the supports which would have made it possible to complete the level with all the bonuses provided. As usual, everything that is not on the two sheets of stickers that I scanned for you is therefore pad printed.

As soon as the product was officially announced, many fans were enthusiastic about the presence of the two Technic pins at the end of the level. Let's not get carried away, until proven guilty, these two pins are only there to possibly combine several copies of the set and fill a shelf along its entire length. It is not me who says it, it is visuals lifestyle of the product. If you only plan to display a single copy of this product, you can simply remove these two pins for a "smoother" finish.

We could also discuss the buoys that embody the rings. As I said during the official announcement of the product, it is compatible with the accessory included in the LEGO Dimensions pack 71244 Sonic The Hedgehog Level Pack, even if the effect obtained here is a bit poor and a new, more suitable gold coin would undoubtedly have been appreciated by the fans.

The only minifigure in the set, Sonic, is successful. It is technically more accomplished than that of the LEGO Dimensions set 71244 Sonic The Hedgehog Level Pack and those who had not invested in the extension of the late video game launched by LEGO will have a minifigure of the character at a lower cost. As often, the official visuals have been retouched and the pad-printed flesh-colored area on the chest is a bit pale.

For the rest, it is necessary to compose with assemblies of bricks more or less convincing: Robotnik is in my opinion frankly failed. I think the character would have deserved more attention from the designers, for example with a cast figurine or at least a more accomplished head. As it stands, it is not worthy of an 18+ stamped set which is only intended to satisfy the nostalgia of an adult clientele who can afford this type of derivative product. The Egg Mobile is doing a little better, but the machine would have in my opinion also deserved some additional efforts. The Crabmeat is very correct, the Motobug is totally missed, it has absolutely nothing of a beetle mounted on a wheel.

On arrival, this product derived from a cult video game franchise does not demerit, in particular because it is sold at a reasonable price. I still have the impression that LEGO has applied a lot to the packaging to the detriment of certain elements of the product itself. The spirit of the initial idea submitted by Viv Grannell is however there and we find the first emblematic level of the Sonic universe, even if the Robotnik of the initial project seems more credible to me than the one delivered here. LEGO hasn't betrayed the idea that fans got excited about on the LEGO Ideas platform and that's already a good thing. For 70 €, it does not have much to think about anyway if nostalgia invades you to the point of wanting to exhibit this product with the very correct finish and limited space.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 16th January 2022 next at 23pm.

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

It's January 1, 2022, and as of today, LEGO is launching a handful of new sets on its official online store. There is something for all budgets and for all fan profiles with new references in almost all of the ranges currently marketed by the manufacturer.

As usual, it's up to you to see whether to crack without waiting by paying the full price for these boxes or whether to show a little patience and wait for the inevitable reductions that will be offered in the boxes. weeks and months to come at Amazon, on FNAC.com and at a few other resellers. The debate does not arise for the exclusives, at least temporary, of the Shop with the Modular 2022 10297Boutique Hotel and the LEGO Ideas set 21331 Sonic The Hedghog - Green Hill Zone.

ALL THE NEWS FOR JANUARY 2022 ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(All links to the shop redirect to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)

Below is the list of sets, classified by universe, which are therefore now available for sale on the official online store: