Let's be honest, the LEGO The Hobbit license is looking pretty bad ...

After The Bridge Direct for the USA and Asia, it is Vivid imaginations, an English toy maker who licensed The Hobbit for Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

The manufacturer will offer plush toys of the characters from the film, board games and mini figures. The Bridge Direct will offer Action Figures, Adventure Packs, Beast Packs and detailed collectible figurines. We can also afford role-playing accessories such as swords, battle axes, etc ...

Vivid has produced toys under the LOTR license in the past and therefore knows the industry well. The product lines of the two manufacturers will be unveiled to industry professionals within a few weeks, probably at one of the first Toy Fair in February 2012.

Still no trace of LEGO in the equation, and if we admit that the partnerships are signed and announced now for the end of 2012, we can start to worry.

But let's not forget that LEGO has learned to keep its secrets before revealing them at the most opportune moment. The LEGO Super Heroes range is a fine example of controlled communication. Nothing concrete had filtered before the San Diego Comic Con in July 2011 ...

You got it, I let you down yesterday. In question, the minifig of Chewbacca which was not really worth three lines on the blog.

I give in to temptation tonight and I therefore offer you a snapshot of Chewbacca, the grumbling wookie, with the accessories discovered in the box of the day ... Just as mean from LEGO and frankly uninteresting, but I would have you allowed to save a few minutes of your time last night, and waste half as much tonight (!?) ...

More seriously, I hope the worst is behind us, otherwise I am going back to my Kinder Advent Calendar. There at least, there are things to eat ...

It's certain eBay that we can already find for sale this Sandtrooper from the 2012 range and which comes from the set 9490 Droid Escape.

We discover a little more the silkscreen printing of the sand on the outfit of this soldier stationed on Tatooine. But what turns out to be even more interesting is the character's head. No more black head without serigraphy, here is a new version which goes much better with the body with the very heavy serigraphy of the minifig.

From memory, we have not seen a Sandtrooper or Stormtrooper without his helmet in the Star Wars saga and we can wonder if this serigraphy on the face is ultimately very useful. But it remains interesting because it will allow the use of this face on other custom minifigs for example.

We will be entitled to two of these minifigs in the set 9490 Droid Escape and this new visual comforts me in the idea that it will be one of the best sets of this first wave 2012. 

We also find on eBay the minifig of C-3PO from the same set. We already know her well, but this photo confirms an impression we all had so far: C-3PO's eyes are well screen-printed.

To begin with, let's use the terms of press release dating from San Diego Comic Con in July 2011 and endorsing the partnership between LEGO and Disney / Marvel:

"... The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises - Marvel's The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters ..."

"… Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form ... Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool… Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus…"

But this partnership is only valid for the comic versions of Spiderman and the X-Men, while it takes into account the film The Avengers which will be released in May 2012. Indeed, the film versions of Spiderman belong to Sony Pictures Entertainment which manages the license for derivative products.

But that is no longer true since Disney which now owns Marvel (are you following?) Acquired the rights to the next movie The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Sony will continue to produce and distribute the films in the franchise, but Disney will now have the right to market derivative products based on these films.
In my opinion, the second film in this new saga will likely be produced by Disney / Marvel, Sony having been ousted from the equation by then ... 

We therefore learn that:

1. The sets will be based on the so-called characters conventional from the Spiderman universe.

2. We will undoubtedly find Doctor Octopus alongside Peter Parker.

3. Disney has the rights for the next Spider-Man in theaters. Disney has an agreement with LEGO on the characters and their universe.

And that's all...

What we know elsewhere:

The film The Amazing Spider-Man, reboot of the series which will therefore not be linked to the films released previously in 2002, 2004 and 2007, will be released in France on July 4, 2012. Andrew Garfield (seen in not much significant so far) will don the spider-man costume alongsideEmma Stone.

The scenario of the film revolves around the youth of Peter Parker and the discovery and mastery of his powers.

LEGO will obviously take advantage of the buzz around the film to promote its sets.

What do I think of it :

If we refer to the terms used in the press release [... Spiderman classic characters ...], I can't help but think of the range of toys marketed in the early 2000s by Toy Biz under the name Spiderman classics. It was a series of collectible figurines sold in blister packs and accompanied by a comic book.
This range began in 2001 to be modified in 2003 (with the deletion of the comic book) and was taken over by Hasbro in 2009 under the name Spider-Man Classics (note the dash).

I'm more and more inclined to think that we're going to be entitled to union minimums for the Spider-Man and X-Men-based portion of the LEGO Marvel lineup. For lack of anything better, we should be able to get some mini-sets containing a hero and a villain, with a vehicle and / or a piece of wall, a lamppost and a trash can. A bit in the spirit of the set 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase from the LEGO DC Universe range which is coming out in a few weeks.

On the side of the bad guys, we should find the most charismatic of the spider-man universe. We will probably be entitled to a new version of the characters of the range under license Sony Pictures Entertainment released in 2003 and 2004 with Doc Ock (aka Doctor Octopus), Green Goblin and some emblematic enemies of Spiderman such as Venom, Carnage, or even Mysterio. All with very cartoonish and up to date minifigs (or younger ones).

 Personally, whatever the result, I would be satisfied with these new figurines. Even if those of 2003 and 2004 are already exceptionally successful.
The photo at the top of this article brings together in the background the 4 versions of Spiderman released to date and in the foreground a custom that I love and that I got from Christo after a hard battle on eBay .... 

Some information gleaned from Eurobricks, where a forumer contacted the LEGO sales department and got details on the highly anticipated set 10225 R2-D2 whose upcoming release has been the subject of more or less confirmed rumors for several months. This set as well as the 10227 B-Wing Starfighter had made a brief appearance in the catalog of the brickshop.nl merchant site in August before the reference 10227 was withdrawn (See this article from 24/08/2011 and this other article of 30/10/2011).

So today we learn that the 10225 set will consist of 2127 pieces. Its official release is scheduled for March 2012 and its retail price will be £ 149.99 or around € 175. The price remains to be confirmed for France, however, due to the differences between the prices charged by LEGO depending on the marketing zone and VAT in particular.

No information on the possible engine of this model which could probably resemble those presented on the visual above.  

The Eurobricks forumer in question has also obtained confirmation of the presence of the 10227 B-Wing Starfighter set in the internal LEGO system, but without being entitled to more details.