We learned at the end of July 2012 that Peter Jackson had decided (see this article) to recut the two parts of the film The Hobbit in order to obtain a trilogy.

The manufacturers of toys and derivative products had obviously based their ranges on the two opuses initially announced and we learn by herr-der-ringe-film.de (info relayed on the forum of theonering.net) that Warner Bros. has decided to withdraw the derivative products that are no longer concerned by the first part which will end with the rescue of Thorin and his companions by the colony of eagles living in the Misty Mountains.

LEGO had, like its competitors, prepared a range of sets that included events that are now found in the second part of the trilogy (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Released on December 13, 2013) and no longer in the first opus (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  - Released December 14, 2012)

Two sets are therefore a priori problematic because of their content: The set 79001 Fleeing from the Mirkwood Spiders and the set 79004 Barrel Escape.

LEGO has not communicated on the subject but the range has not been officially announced to date. The information we have comes from online merchants who already offer these sets for pre-order and who may be forced to withdraw the two sets mentioned above if Warner Bros asks LEGO not to distribute them this year.

It's because of an article from Le Figaro published yesterday that we learned that the 300 m2 LEGO Store in the So Ouest shopping center (Levallois-Perret) will officially open its doors on October 18.

The Lille store located in the Euralille shopping center will open next December.

LEGO also plans to open one or two stores per year in France for the next five years.

The article also tells us that LEGO has just overtaken Playmobil in the world ranking of toy manufacturers to take third place behind the two industry giants, Hasbro and Mattel.

Another interesting info: The Friends range would have largely contributed to this rise and it currently represents 10% of sales of LEGO products.

(thanks to Alan and SuperSympa for their emails)

That night was the first broadcast in the USA on Cartoon Network of the animated short called The Empire Strikes Out (watch trailer).

And obviously two questions are already being asked: Will the Blu-ray / DVD version be delivered with a minifig? If yes which one ?

Recall that the previous animated short film The Padawan Menace comes with the hero's minifigure: Young Han Solo. (available on amazon for 9.99 €).

The Brickshow, which publishes the image above, takes bets on the next exclusive minifigure with this version of Darth Vader with his medal, while viewing Boss Nass, also heavily featured in the short, as an unlikely challenger.
For its part FBTB recently declared that no minifig would be delivered with the Blu-ray / DVD edition of The Empire Strikes Out without specifying where the information was obtained from. I would just say that as long as no official announcement has been made anything is possible ... 

For now, no broadcast date in France has been announced. The Padawan Menace had been broadcast in the USA on Cartoon Network for the first time on July 22, 2011 and then broadcast on France 3 in the youth program LUDO on October 22, 2011. Blu-ray / DVD version was released in France on November 23, 2011.

The products of The Hobbit saga begin to flood the shelves and we discover what some characters look like. This allows us as best we can to anticipate the look of the next minifigs in the The Hobbit range.

The Bridge Direct, manufacturer of action figures collectors, offers the Goblin king and the coward but vicious Grinnah, two characters that should be adapted in minifig version if LEGO does its job and will undoubtedly be in the set 79010 Cave of the Orc King.

(Thanks to xwingyoda for brickhorizon.com for his email)

It's certain the mightyape.co.nz merchant site that are offered these special versions of the video game LEGO Lord of the Rings with the bonus of a replica of the Ring and a DLC entitled Middle Earth Character Pack 2 allowing to activate several characters in the game:

Corsair Pirate
Mini Balrog
glorfindel
Farmer Maggot
Barliman butterbur

The game's availability date in New Zealand is set for November 2. No trace of these bonuses at our French merchants for the moment ...