My LEGO 2018 review: my tops and my flops

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 ...