LEGO today unveils a new reference in the LEGO Ideas range, the set 21340 Tales of the Space Age which is now online on the official store and which will be available in VIP preview from May 5, 2023 at the retail price of €49.99.

IF you follow, you know that this 688-piece product is inspired by creation of the same name proposed by Jan Woźnica (john_carter) which had been definitively validated in October 2022 following a competition organized on the LEGO Ideas platform.

LEGO having as usual reworked the original idea, we therefore go from three to four spatial scenes 14 cm high by 9 cm long while maintaining the principle of the relief panel to be displayed on the corner of a shelf. . It's minimalist, decorative and the somewhat vintage aesthetic is retained. To be displayed on a piece of furniture or to be hung on the wall via the part usually supplied with the paintings in the LEGO ART range.

21340 TALES OF THE SPACE AGE ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

Forward for a new contest with the game of a complete set of LEGO Harry Potter coats of arms which includes the four sets marketed since the beginning of the year: 76409 Gryffindor House Banner (€ 34.99), 76410 Slytherin House Banner (€ 34.99), 76411 Ravenclaw House Banner (34.99 €) and 76412 Hufflepuff House Banner (34.99 €). The winner will therefore have saved the modest sum of €139.96 and will be able to move on with the complete collection on hand.

To validate your participation and try to add these four coats of arms and their respective figurines to your collection at a lower cost, simply identify yourself via the interface below and follow the instructions provided. As usual, it is a question of finding information on the official online store and then answering the question correctly. At the end of the participation phase, the winner will be chosen by lot from the correct answers. Participation is free and without obligation to purchase.

Your contact details (name / nickname, email address, IP) are only used within the framework of this competition and will not be kept beyond the drawing of lots which will designate the winner. As usual, this no-obligation competition is open to all residents of mainland France, DOM & TOM, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

The batch of sets is as usual generously provided by LEGO, it will be sent to the winner by me as soon as his contact details are confirmed by return email.

As always, I reserve the right to disqualify any participant who has attempted to defraud or hijack the entry system in order to increase their chances of winning. Hateful and bad losers to abstain, the others will have more chances to win.

Good luck to everyone !

No participation via comments, I leave the form open as long as the contestants who cannot read are not yet there. Then we close.

For information: the name / nickname of the winner is displayed in the participation interface once the draw has been made. I also notify the winners by email, but remember to check anyway.

The official visual of the new edition of the LEGO Harry Potter Character Encyclopedia expected for July 6, 2023 has been updated at Amazon and it allows us to get a better look at the exclusive Rita Skeeter minifig that will be inserted in the cover of the book.

Here you will find enough to populate the aisles of your set a little more. 75978 Diagon Alley, a diorama that incorporates the entrance door to the premises of the Daily Prophet and which already allows to obtain the photographer of the newspaper.

This 200-page book, which includes more than 200 minifigs from the LEGO Harry Potter range, is currently on pre-order at Amazon:

LEGO Harry Potter Character Encyclopedia New Edition: With Exclusive LEGO Harry Potter Minifigure

20.89 €

BUY

New lifestyle accessory available on the VIP rewards center: a reversible bucket hat in the colors of your favorite brand with one side 100% polyester and the other 100% cotton. If you have a big head, it will not pass, the bob is suitable for head circumferences of 59 cm max.

This headgear is available in exchange for 2850 VIP points, the equivalent of approximately €19 in counter value, which you will therefore not spend as a reduction on your future orders. This is the price to pay to be noticed on the side of the roads of the next Tour de France in the middle of the Cochonou and Cofidis bobs.

To take advantage of this offer, you must redeem the amount of points requested, you then obtain a unique promotional code to be used on a future order and the product concerned will then be added to your basket. The code obtained is valid for 60 days from the date of issue. Only one code for a physical promotional product usable per order.

Don't push, there will be something for everyone.

 DIRECT ACCESS TO THE LEGO INSIDERS REWARDS CENTER >>

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75352 Emperor's Throne Room Diorama, a box of 807 pieces currently in pre-order on the official online store at the public price of 99.99 €, as well as at Amazon et FNAC at the same price and Auchan at 84.99 €, and whose official availability is announced for May 1, 2023.

I'm not drawing you a picture, the scene reproduced is emblematic enough for the context to be obvious at first glance. The stunned will as usual have before their eyes the logo of the LEGO Star Wars range, a line of dialogue in English and, as is the case for the other diorama expected on May 1, a pretty pad-printed brick that makes perfect tribute to the 40th anniversary of the film Return of the Jedi.

Once again, this box intended for an adult clientele will replace any diorama made up of children's toys already marketed on the same theme, such as sets 75093 Death Star Final Duel (2015) or 75291 Death Star Final Duel (2020) by a frankly less voluminous staging but also a little less coarse.

The product offers a fairly satisfying building experience with a base that takes into account the rest of the model from the start of the process, such as the stairs or the back wall, which will be dressed in very convincing sub-assemblies surrounding the magnificent pad-printed canopy provided.

I am much less convinced by the frontal covering of the perimeter of the niche which accommodates the throne of Palpatine, the whole lacks in my opinion a little finesse especially on this scale and we visually graze the crossover with the stargate of Stargate . The use of darker gray pieces might have helped to highlight the niche and make this large crown of pieces visually "disappear" a little.

For the rest, and even if we lose a bit of the gigantism of the room seen on the screen, it is all the same nicely executed with some refinements such as the very correct throne of the Emperor, the railings with their arms of metallic droids, the two control stations with their colored micro-screens or even the solution used to surround the 10x10 canopy with two flexible tubes and 13 sub-assemblies made up of windows with their frames to clip onto these tubes. Impossible to completely place Luke in one of the two control stations as in the film, they are not hollowed out.
The rear view of the diorama reveals the mounting and reinforcement solutions used to make this display product a sufficiently robust unit, nothing serious, the construction is intended to be displayed from the front. Perhaps more embarrassing for some fans, there is still a little void visible on the sides of the stage at the level of the stairs as well as between the steps, this will have to be done.

Watch out for scratches on the big dish pad-printed, LEGO does not protect it and it is simply thrown in a bag. This is the centerpiece of the product, I was hoping for a little more care from the manufacturer in a high-end set sold at a high price and targeting an adult clientele necessarily more demanding than the usual young clientele.

We will remember that Palpatine's two lightning bolts can be stored under the removable forecourt of the room, it's always better than losing them and not being able to get your hands on them again if you ever want to change the setting a little on stage. LEGO has also provided four visible studs on the floor of the room to allow the minifigs of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader to be positioned without the risk of them falling each time the object is moved, it is well seen.

Three minifigs are delivered in this box: Darth Vader, Palpatine and Luke Skywalker. Vader is not new, it is the version available since the beginning of the year in the LEGO Star Wars set 75347 Tie Bomber (64.99 €). It was not necessary to modify this figurine, it seems perfect to me in this configuration with the pad-printed arms and the face which I find rather successful. I would have appreciated a plastic cape with a nice draped effect for the occasion, especially at €100 a box.

Luke Skywalker is finally enjoying a hairstyle that matches the haircut seen on screen, it was time for LEGO to look into the subject and it's very well done. All previous versions of the character in this outfit are therefore definitely getting old with this new hairstyle. The character's torso is yet another variant of the outfit seen on screen, it's faithful but LEGO can't resign itself to removing the too white area of ​​the neck which still doesn't match the color of the head. The legs remain neutral.

Palpatine is also a little "updated" with white pupils that are no longer really in line with the look of the character in the film and an evolution of the graphics of the outfit, but he retains the fabric cape and the angular hood worn by the character since 2020. Difficult to do better in the context of the scene presented here even if we could discuss the slightly too yellow tint of the character's face and that a metallic buckle under the neck could have in my opinion brought a little finesse to the somewhat dull design of the outfit.

To conclude, I find this diorama very convincing despite its few flaws, it perfectly symbolizes the scene concerned in a contained volume and it offers some very interesting assembly techniques as a bonus. The public price of the product does not seem to me justified, however, and as usual we will have to wait for the various retailers to offer us a sufficient reduction in this price to crack.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at April 19th next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.