A forumer of Brickhorizon offers us a first review in pictures of the set 9676 TIE Interceptor and Death Star of the Planet Series range. We discover the back of the box that we already know, and which reveals the planet without protection on both sides, as well as the minifig of the Tie Fighter Pilot with a screen-printed face identical to that of the Sandtrooper in the set 9490 Droid Escape.

The presentation plate is also silkscreened (if you follow, you already knew that), as is the canopy of the cockpit of the Tie Interceptor, something rather rare on models of this scale. 

In the end, a nice set which, with all these finishing details, seems really very interesting. The Death Star could have benefited from a discreet silkscreen printing, but it is still very nice as it is with its relief molding. It remains to be seen the price with us, probably around 12 €, and the real availability which begins to be delayed ....

Until now, we've only had blurry images from catalogs, or 3D visuals provided by LEGO.

hew (brick set) got the set 9674 Naboo Starfighter and Naboo for £ 9.99 and it confirms what we feared for a little while: The planet is not protected on the front of the packaging and you will have to be very careful when buying in store or by mail order.

Like a Kinder egg, the planet, with a diameter of 11 studs, contains a bag with all the parts and the minifigure of the set. In this specific case, it is a Naboo pilot.

The 4x4 parts presenting the set are screen printed. No sticker this time, and that's a very good thing, especially for those who want to exhibit these mini sets.

Well, even if it's always nice to see close-ups in super high definition of the death of the sets to come, I must say that over the months we get a little tired of the official photos of the sets of the first Star wave. Wars 2012.

In their place, I would prefer to see the sets available to finally have in my hands this new X-Wing, this Tie Fighter and these sublime minifigs that these images promise us ...

We already suspect that the prices will be very high and that we will have to pay a high price to continue acquiring the Star Wars sets. But in 2012, we will have to make even more choices, between the Star Wars, Super Heroes and Lord of the Rings ranges ... or be patient and buy in the right place at the right time ...

Count on me to follow this closely and share it with you here.

In the meantime, it's on grogall's Brickshelf gallery that it happens ...

To end this December 25 in style, here are two superb thumbnails of Chris McVeigh, the creator of Christmas balls in the shape of Death Star. He offers us here a nice scene which originally features Luke, Leia and the head of Darth Vader at the top of the tree.

Following the comments of Internet users, Chris McVeigh remade the photo with the head of C-3PO. He did not use the new minifigure from the 9490 set, as this shot might lead one to believe, but C-3PO's eyes have been retouched to embody this new minifigure.

To comment on these photos or see other photos of Chris McVeigh, visit his flickr gallery.

No, I hadn't forgotten this A-Wing from the 2011 Star Wars Advent Calendar. But I have to say that I never really liked this ship, even in the set. 6207 released in 2006, and yet the model is correct. I'm not even talking about the one in the set 7134 released in 2000 and which is too connoted Space Classic ... So what about this mini-micro ship ...

For the record, the A-Wing designed by Ralph McQuarrie was originally supposed to be blue. The color was changed to red during the shooting to get around a technical problem: The shooting in front of a blue background, to then add the special effects.

Brickdoctor offered his Midi-Scale version of this really not very charismatic ship, and I must admit that it is quite successful. Fairly basic but ultimately successful. For those who would like to reproduce it the lxf file is for download here: 2011SWAdventDay22.lxf.