The successful publicity stunt of the day (Since we talk about it ...) is to the credit of the publisher Dorling Kindersley, well known to fans for his numerous books on the LEGO theme.

It was enough for DK to release a minifig scale version of his latest book, LEGO Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual History, so that the subject can circumnavigate the LEGO blogosphere.

All that to tell you that the human scale version is currently on sale, and that you should be wary before ordering from amazon: There are two editions of this book, one delivered with the three minifigs announced (A Stormtrooper , a bandit and a passer-by) and the other delivered without these famous three characters.

Click here to order the version with minifigs (29.08 €). The version without minifigs (which I ordered without checking the cover or the description too much ...) can be found at this address (29.71 €).

About the book, nothing to say, it's clean. A note however: The photos are quite uneven especially in the first part which presents the oldest minifigs, and recent minifigs are mostly illustrated by the official LEGO visuals. Too bad, it lacks "visual" homogeneity.

No minifig under Disney license (Toy Story, The Lone Ranger, Prince of Persia or Pirates of the Caribbean) is present in the book, undoubtedly a story of rights and money ...

You've probably heard of these compact printers that can 3D reproduce just about any object. They are starting to flood the catalogs of merchants with high-tech products and several brands are already sharing this emerging market: Cube, Creatix, Replicator, Robo 3d or even uPrint... The buzz is permanent, each new product marketed brings its share of promises: Freedom, creativity, savings ... We even find a Kickstarter project for a $ 3 100D printer ...

LEGO fans can already see themselves printing their favorite pieces, custom bricks or personalized minifigs at home, all at a lower cost and with a level of quality equivalent to that offered by LEGO.

We are not there yet, and there will still be a long way to go: printers are still expensive, the most affordable models produce elements that are far from being able to stand the comparison with the original products and the raw materials usable by the big public like entry-level resins or ABS / PLA filaments are not free from defects. There are already some custom minifigs, some of which have been made using a 3D printer. The result is so far mediocre despite all the creativity and goodwill of those who offer these products.

We can consider that opinions about the future of this technology are rather divided:
On the one hand, we find those who think that, as was the case in the past with the microwave or the inkjet printer, time will do its job, prices will drop and this technology will be sooner. or later accessible to all. For them, 3D printing is the next industrial revolution. And they might be right.

On the other hand, those who believe that 3D printing will remain a confidential hobby, reserved for a public of informed technophiles and small entrepreneurs who will benefit from a fad that is quickly stifled by armies of lawyers responsible for enforcing regulations. patents filed by rights holders pirated by the average Beijing in the back of his garage. And they are probably also right.
We can add that the downward trend in the cost of using these printers with proprietary technologies will also be limited by the cost of consumables, which will be specific to each brand. 

LEGO and Playmobil are already thinking about a response to this announced invasion of printers to eliminate intermediaries, reduce production and logistics costs and bring the producer closer to the end consumer. The two manufacturers are obviously concerned by this prospect, their products being made of plastic and the 3D printers already marketed allowing to manufacture or quietly reproduce at home objects similar to LEGO bricks or Playmobil figures.

Many LEGO fans already know how to manipulate 3D elements: LEGO Digital Designer, the brand's software, or MLCad, taught them the basics necessary for a first approach to 3D design. The next step could be the marketing by the manufacturer of virtual kits to be printed at home. Handling 3D objects is one thing, designing, drawing and preparing them for production is another.

3D printing could see its salvation come from the community aspect of its development: Many sites already offer concepts to download and print at home for a few euros. Toys, spare parts, cases for mobile phones, everything goes. Some create, others buy finished products or print them themselves. The whole chain is gradually being put in place with an almost convivial and good-natured spirit, far from the big brands, their questionable commercial policies and their pharaonic profits. For the moment.

Some will hide behind technologies once considered inaccessible to the general public but which have become popular and affordable a few years later to predict a bright future for 3D printing, while others are already announcing an unprecedented legal fiasco that will hamper development. of this industry.

It is difficult to know today who will be right or wrong. One thing is certain, LEGO has already taken the problem head on and is preparing its response. Perhaps by one day marketing a specific printer, with proprietary software and expensive consumables with which LEGO fans can become budding manufacturers. The great breath of freedom announced by 3D printing will undoubtedly have a price ...

And you ? Would you be ready to take the plunge? At what price ? To do what ? I await your comments on the subject.

After the LEGO watches for children, here are the models for adults.

LEGO launches its collection, manufactured by ClickTime (Who already produces models for children and clocks based on minifigs), with many models for older children, boys and girls, keen to display their passion for the small brick on their wrist.

These watches are obviously made of plastic, with some models incorporating a steel or aluminum part, the straps and the dial covering are interchangeable and there will be something for all tastes and in all colors with the added bonus of logos galore, minifig heads, studs, more "serious" versions, etc ... Everything for the adult LEGO fan to find the model that suits him.

These watches will be produced in China, equipped with a Japanese-made quartz movement and mineral glass. They will be waterproof up to 50 or 100m depending on the model.

Availability scheduled for next November at prices ranging from $ 85 to $ 185.

Many photos of the different models are visible on my flickr gallery or Hoth Bricks facebook page.

Many of you have already supported the project LEGORAMART initiated by Muttpop on ulule.com and I encourage anyone who has not yet made up their mind to do so quickly at this address, the financing of the project to be completed before the deadline of October 17, 2013.

This beautiful 144-page book, delivered for 40 € with a collector's box and a giant cover poster, brings together a selection of the most beautiful creations of seven LEGO artists (Cole Blaq, Jason Freeny, Nathan Sawaya, Mike Stimpson, Kristina Alexanderson , Dean West and Angus McLane) interviewed by Laurent Bramardi, founder of the publishing house dedicated to photography: Work is Progress.

But if the artists mentioned above are known to many of you, Laurent Bramardi is not a character who gravitates in "our universe": Work is Progress publishes books of photographs and documents combining politics, reportage, and artistic approach.

To offer us some ideas on his character, he kindly agreed to lend himself to the exercise of the interview, in the same format as those you will be able to discover in the book.

I therefore propose below a brief meeting in seven questions / answers with one of the men at the origin of LEGORAMART :

Your first LEGO memory?

Laurent Bramardi: I didn't play too much with LEGO when I was a kid, but I remember an '80s commercial for a LEGO space station. I found it on YoutTube, it has aged rather badly: in fact, CGIs are not bad, after all.

The toy of your childhood?

LB: Star Wars figures. I spent hours imagining that the shrubs in the garden were giant trees, I would have liked to get lost in them.

Damien Hirst (British contemporary artist editor's note) or Georges Lucas?

LB: Georges Lucas until I was 18, after Hirst was not yet known but I would have chosen him without too much hesitation. In any case they are real businessmen, each in their category, and this is not necessarily the kind of dreamer that I like the most today.

The photo you will never forget?

LB: A photo of Antoine d'Agata, a very dark view of a rough sea, in Japan I believe - one of his images that escapes his usual themes, at first at least. The grain is very marked, clouds of carbonaceous, dense points, which transform the landscape into an almost abstract view. We recognize the waves, the foam, the wind, the leaden sky, but all this tells about something else, an atmosphere. It's an image that comes to mind very often.

Your movie and bedside book?

LB: It's a really difficult question, there are so many things… A film by Malick or the Quay Brothers, if you really had to choose, something quite contemplative anyway. There are few other mediums to stretch time as well as cinema. For the books I will take two, La Nausée by Sartre and Tristes Tropiques by Levi-Strauss. They are old comrades who have followed me for a long time and whom I always reread: they tell me as much about their respective subjects as about the evolution of my way of seeing things ...

The thing you wouldn't dare say with a LEGO?

LB: That the class struggle is over.

Is there a LEGO art?

LB: We will see in a few years whether it is chosen, in any case there is indeed in my opinion a new form of dissemination of creation, which will perhaps be the new vector of art to come. In fact, I don't know if we can speak of "art", try to define it, other than in the past, if we can think of it other than as an established fact.

It is thanks to the poster below bringing together some big bad guys present in the game that we learn that MODOK (For Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing) will be playing alongside Bullseye, Magneto, Venom, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Kingpin, Mystique, Doctor Doom, Loki and Abomination.

The character will play an important role in the game according to Arthur Parsons, the Game Manager. He will intervene to slow down the player in search of "Cosmic LEGO Bricks"and allow Doctor Doom to escape aboard a submarine ... Quite a program.

Other images taken from the game on which we can see MODOK are online at my flickr gallery and Brick Heroes facebook page.