We already know almost everything about this set scheduled for August 2012 and which will allow us to add three very successful minifigs to our superhero collections. Here are some official visuals offered by GRogall.

And apart from the minifigs, the rest of the (play) set doesn't get me too excited. Another lab, with a small vehicle equipped with flick fire missiles and two or three functions to ensure the playability alibi.

But LEGO must have achieved excellent results with previous playsets in the Super Heroes range like the 6860 The Batcave or 6868 Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout, to insist and offer us exactly the same type of set ...

Side minifigs, nothing to say, I love the Spider-Man in Ultimate version, Iron Fist will go very well with his other a little more famous friends, and even if Doc Ock looks fake Harry Potter with his glasses, I m 'would be satisfied.

Confirmation just arrived via Brickset and Kevin Hinkle: There will be many exclusive minifigs at San Diego Comic Con 2012 (SDCC) and New York Comic Con 2012 (NYCC), as was the case last year with Batman, Green Lantern and Superman minifigs. This also confirms the presence of LEGO on these two events.

And the first exclusive 2012 minifigure we know of is Shazam's unveiled by   ksitetv.com :  ... Join ever-informed, fancentric WAC Podcast hosts George Feltenstein, Matthew Patterson, and DW Ferranti as they give fans a look at the upcoming DVD release of the popular 1970s series Shazam! The series' own Billy Batson, Michael Gray, will be on hand, and an exclusive, limited-edition Shazam! Lego figure will be awarded to a lucky number of fans in attendance ...

Kevin Hinkle (North American Community Coordinator for LEGO Group) explicitly posted on the Brickset forum : ... There will be exclusive! 🙂 The LEGO Group will have an official presence at both San Diego and New York Comic Con this year ...

Like last year, these minifigs will apparently be distributed randomly via a raffle. We will have to wait for their availability on eBay or Bricklink to get them at an undoubtedly unreasonable price ...

Summer has barely started that we find already on eBay the much overrated R2-D2 in snowman mode (Snowman) which will be delivered in the next Advent calendar: LEGO Star Wars 9509 Advent Calendar 2012.

Available between 10 and 20 €, this droid still looks a bit tart with its two carrots ... But as this will certainly be the only opportunity to get this version, it will absolutely be necessary to offer yourself (or to be offered ) this set to make sure you have a complete collection of astromech droids ...

If you are allergic to carrots, you can always treat yourself to the totally white version below pompously called prototype and currently offered by a german seller for € 7 ...

We dare to hope that LEGO will have learned the lessons of the failure of its previous MMOG LEGO Universe, whose final shutdown took place on January 31, 2012 ... (see this article)

And it would be better if that was the case, because today's announcement may leave many observers skeptical that the manufacturer has not convinced many with its first foray into the online gaming industry.

This time, it is the developer Funcom (Anarchy Online, Dreamfall) who sticks to it and who has just signed an agreement with LEGO to create a new massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) based on the line of collectible minifigs that we are eagerly awaiting Series 8. 

Be careful though, according to the official press release, it smacks of online play via facebook or via the mini-site dedicated to these series of collectable minifigs and we can deduce that the target will remain very young.

Suddenly, LEGO is taking much less risk with a game that will be distributed via the online channels (read social networks) currently most popular (...available to consumers in their online channels...) and whose universe will be more accessible (...maximum accessibility...), implied watered down and simplistic.

So I withdraw my comparison with the gas factory that was LEGO Universe and I just understood that all this ramdam concerns a game in the sauce Cityville which was not even worth these few lines ...

See the official press release at Funcom.

Let's talk a bit about the things that annoy (sometimes) and that relate (often) with this site which will allow you to assess as accurately as possible the theoretical value of your collection and which will guide you in your LEGO investments: I am obviously talking about Brickpicker.com. For those who are not yet familiar with this site, the goal is simple: Inform you in real time about the value of your sets, the possibilities of resale and capital gains, market trends, increases and decreases, opportunities to be seized, etc ...

As with the stock exchange or the gold market, LEGOs are treated more as a source of profit than as an exciting toy. The discussions that take place on the site's forum may shock more than a disinterested collector, but they bring their share of interesting information on this hobby which can also become a business, the two are not incompatible.
We discuss the quality of the boxes produced by LEGO, their ability to withstand time, the interest of storing boxes from the LEGO Lord of the Rings range for future resale, etc ...

Brickpicker.com also provides tools for quoting sets with the sales volumes recorded in recent months, the evolution of the average resale price on the internet, the ranking of best sellers on eBay, etc ...

The blog part offers some interesting articles on storage methods for example, on the reasons for insuring your collection against theft / fire / flood / attack of Godzilla, or on how to generate substantial profits from end-of-life ranges .

What to think of such a site? If you are allergic to the idea of ​​making a profit buying and reselling LEGOs in a market where supply and demand are on the rise, go your way. You will be shocked to see that LEGO is being treated like any raw material for profit. If you want to educate yourself on the future investment aspect of LEGO sets by looking out of the corner of your eye at your 10197 UCS Millennium Falcon, this site is for you. If you want to make a lot of money speculating on LEGO ranges, you probably already know Brickpicker.com...