LEGO Star Wars: my take on the second wave 2012

Might as well warn you right away, if I like LEGOs, it is above all for Star Wars and not the other way around. And this second wave of sets is convincing. It brings everything a fan can hope for: beautiful new or updated minifigs, more detailed and able to compete with competing products like action figures Hasbro for example, while keeping the codes of the minifigure as we know it. We can, however, discuss the figurine turn taken by the LEGO characters and regret certain finishes that make the purists of the yellow-headed man cry blasphemy.

On this new wave of sets, I applaud with both hands the boldness of LEGO, which some will call opportunism, to offer sets based on the universe of The Old Republic. I don't care about the game itself, I don't have time to devote to MMORPGs at the moment, it's its universe that interests me, this temporal space filled by the imagination of the writers as it is also the case with The Clone Wars and which allows us to discover new characters and new machines. It must be recognized that the Sith Fury-Class Interceptor of the set 9500 has a good face. He is totally in the spirit of the Imperial Fleet, just like the Republic Striker Starfighter of the set 9497 is an obvious parent of the future X-Wing. A single glance at these two ships is enough to identify them as from the Star Wars universe.

Le Pre Vizla's Mandalorian Fighter of the set 9525 is a little less charismatic, he will join the T-6 Jedi Shuttle from set 7931 within the radius of the Clone Wars ships which are not really related to the canonical devices. Special mention for the Malevolence of the set 9515, beautiful playful compromise of more than 1000 pieces without any notion of scale or proportions but which will join the fleet of all these LEGO ships designed for the game and which make the happiness of the youngest. 

I'm more skeptical of the remakes of Gungan Sub (9499) Of the Desert Skiff (9496) or Jabba's Palace (9516). Obviously, the machines and buildings have evolved from their versions over 10 years ago, but not enough to cry genius for a palace the size of a half-hut or a submarine with problems of finishes. I am speechless when I see AFOLs choking with joy in front of the trap door of Jabba's palace which opens onto .... nothing.  

These remakes are of course intelligent pretexts for new minifigs, each more sublime than the next, so much so that we rightly wonder what Queen Amidala is doing in the set 9499 ... These sets will above all allow for the youngest or AFOLs rediscovering the LEGO Star Wars universe to treat themselves to key characters who have become unaffordable in their original, somewhat outdated version.

I hope that LEGO will persist in creating sets that incorporate new ships and unseen characters. And since it's gone again for 10 years, I still prefer to be entitled to minifigs from the extended universe than to an Obi-Wan every six months or a 237th Boba Fett ... you?