You may have seen these animated display cases in some toy stores before. I had the opportunity to meet some of them at JouéClub on the Hero Factory and Ninjago themes recently.

For those who do not know, here is a video posted on YouTube which presents a rather spectacular staging of the sets 9488 ARC Trooper & Commando Droid Battle Pack et 9491 Geonosian Cannon on which is projected a very successful animation. The whole thing is really impressive when you discover the window for the first time. It is thanks to a system of mirrors integrated into the display case that this feat is possible.

Attention, for the youngest readers of the blog: These effects are not reproducible with the sets concerned. This is an advertising animation.

Huw millington go on brick set of his review of the set 9474: The Battle Of Helm's Deep and he's pretty enthusiastic. Sold for $ 130 in the USA (€ 140 in Germany) for 1368 pieces and 8 minifigs, this set is the flagship of the LEGO Lord of the Rings range. 

It is true that the set once assembled is impressive: more than 50 cm wingspan and 25 cm high. The fortress is divided into six sub-sections assembled together by Technic pines. the walls are made up of bricks and not of meta-parts which gives them a slightly more credible aspect and comes to feed the inventory of parts useful to MOCeurs. You can still extend the wall using the set 9471 Uruk-Hai Army, which will also allow you to populate your battle with a few additional fighters.

Small interesting detail, to allow a rider to arch himself forward when the horse is standing on its hind legs, just add 2 plates under the feet of the minifigure. This heightening allows the minifig to be tilted in a more realistic position.

Huw millington considers this set to be worth its price. No doubt this is the case for collectors who do not look at the expense. As for children (the box indicates the age group 10-14 years), it is less obvious. 140 € for a castle and a few characters, it's expensive to pay. With the same budget, it is possible to do much better in terms of fun. but this set is clearly not intended for children who are either not very familiar with the universe Lord of the Rings, or do not care a bit, preferring super heroes and spaceships.

Fans of overpriced goodies will be here in their element and they will show no objectivity, passion taking precedence over reason. Others will think twice before spending $ 140 on this set. 

If you want to see real photos of the sets of the second wave 2012 of the Star Wars range, a lucky little one, in this case Sir von Lego, was able to acquire all six sets planned for June 2012 at the park store LEGOLAND in Germany and posted a series of photos on Eurobricks of the assembled sets.

No big surprise, we have already seen these sets from all angles, and everyone will have been able to form their own opinion.
A few remarks however: Boba Fett in the set 9496 Desert Skiff has an antenna on his helmet but Sir von Lego forgot to put it, Darth Malgus in the set 9500 Sith Fury-Class Interceptor features a new, narrower cape and with a single hole for the head, both Sith Troopers have screen-printed faces under their helmets, the set 9497 Republic Striker-Class Starfighter has screen-printed pieces, a few stickers less and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn both have respirators screen-printed on one side of their faces in the set 9499 Gungan Sub...

For the rest, go to the dedicated topic at Eurobricks.

Just in case, the promotion organized by The Sun newspaper starts tomorrow Saturday May 19 with a first set offered: 30160 Batman Jetski Sunday May 20 follow-up of the set 30161 Batmobile.

The 30160 Batman Jetski sachet is already available on Bricklink at a relatively decent price starting at € 6.50, but shipping costs can quickly turn a good deal into a bad deal.

Let us wait wisely that the British sellers who will not have failed to rush to stock these free mini sets offer these two polybags for sale, which should take place from tomorrow for the 30160 and from Sunday for the 30161 to give them our money ...

Robert l king is a jack of all trades in the field of graphic arts, as evidenced by the various works presented on his blog. He notably worked for LEGO on the illustrations of the packaging of the Marvel Super Heroes range, on the Star Wars mini episodes presented on the official website as well as on the Monster Fighters range.

It presents the visuals of the Marvel range including that of the Spiderman minifigure that we will see in the set. 6873 Spiderman's Doc Ock Ambush, which is definitely long overdue ... He has also gathered all of his illustrations for the Avengers in a nice visual that I offer you below.

Do not hesitate to take a look on his blog every now and then his work is interesting.