It's off again for a few days of speculation before the list of Star Wars 2013 sets is officially revealed during Celebration VI (23 - 26 August 2012).

And it's on RebelScum forum that things take shape with burnsnet who will host a Star Wars panel at the convention with Duncan Jenkins and who has already seen the sets for the next wave. Everyone has their own speculations, and Burnsnet confirms that one of these three assumptions is a priori correct: Ewok Village, Yoda's Hut or A-Wing ...

In addition, the LEGO catalog intended for resellers and which allows them to position their orders for 2013 has just been released (the one with the images crossed out with a mention Preliminary & Confidential) and the usual leaks are long overdue. No one has dared to publish scans of this catalog yet, but I think it won't be long ...

One of the attractions of Brickfair 2012, an event that just took place at the beginning of August in the USA, was undoubtedly this reconstruction of Rivendell (FondCombe by us), a valley that is difficult to access where the elves live (have Elrond) and that we see notably in the Peter Jackson trilogy.

At the origin of this creation, Blake Baer, ​​better known under the nickname of Blake's Baericks, a young 16-year-old MOCeur full of talent and who seems to have a bright future at LEGO if I believe my little finger. I have already presented several of his creations to you on this blog.

You can see more on this diorama on flickr and discover the work of this MOCeur on his flickr gallery, its MOCpages space ou his Brickshelf gallery.

In order to celebrate its 80th birthday with dignity by sharing this event with all its client-fans (note the touch of irony in this sentence), LEGO offers us a small animated film that will at least have the merit of avoiding all those who do not yet know the history of the brick to avoid spending hours on Wikipedia to return to the sources of the mark at the studs.

17 minutes for 80 years, with a few shortcuts and a few omissions, but the essentials are there. 

Since this morning, social networks have been swarming with dripping congratulations and for good reason, LEGO is celebrating its 80 years ...

80 years for this company that started from (almost) nothing in 1932, with its glory days and dark years, its current 10.000 employees, its world-famous ABS plastic, its status as the 3rd largest toy manufacturer in the world, its loyal customers and its licenses profitable that allowed him to save the furniture and bounce back.

So LEGO is celebrating all that, with the tools of our century like facebook (more than 2 million fans, after that we don't count any more) or Twitter (more than 31000 subscribers @LEGO_Group) ....

The advantage with the fans is that you just have to motivate them, and the buzz is launched. And in addition it costs nothing. When LEGO tells them: "Wish us a happy birthday!", the fans do so without flinching ... And it's the orgy of thanks and congratulations for all these good childhood memories, these superb products that make our children creative and intelligent, this inimitable quality of service, etc., etc...

LEGO is a rockstar who is 80 years old, but who knows that myth is about worship and admiration. TFOLs, KFOLs, AFOLs, thing-FOLs, children, their parents, their grandparents, the poor, the rich, everyone loves LEGO.

Everyone loves this brand which has crossed the generations, which continues to innovate, to offer products always at the heart of trends and fashion and which cultivates a high-end, almost elitist image, so that each customer feels almost privileged to have the right (and the means) to be part of the big toy family.

So, all in heart, Happy Birthday Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), uh, LEGO !!!. Excuse me, I got the wrong rockstar ....

This year again flickr should suffer with the hundreds of photos posted when opening the daily box of the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar.

Worse still with the massive use of Instagram which allows smartphone owners to think of themselves as Arthus Bertrand on LSD with pseudo-artistic effects applied to micro-vessels unwrapped with relish on D-Day ....

No joke, it's 40 ° C and we already know everything about the very wintery upcoming Star Wars Calendar, the fault of LEGO for leaving its images lying around, and what we already remember is the Darth Maul in his coat of Santa Claus accompanied hard R2-D2 in snowman mode. Minifig collectors will be in heaven and the rest of the content of the set will quickly end up in everyone's memory or in their bulk.

The and 9509 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar is obviously already in pre-order on amazon.de at a rate of 29.99 € for availability announced on September 29, 2012. It makes sense. But the existential question that torments me this morning is: Why is Maul equipped with a shovel? To collect the snow? To dig a hole and bury itself in it for fear of ridicule?

I don't have the answer, but GRogall has some high resolution photos for you to enjoy on his Brickshelf space.