Because LEGO is also and above all used to play and create and we are not here only to serve soup to the manufacturer as he pleases, here is a creation by Ben Andrews alias ninbendo on flickr that caught my eye.

He presents us his first MOC with this magnificent Tie Advanced, piloted by Dath Vader during the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) which he beautifully stages in the montage below.

Many other views of this MOC are available on ninbendo's flickr gallery.

Another episode of the mysterious saga The Yoda Chronicles which will be broadcast on Cartoon Network soon and from which at least one set from the second wave 2013 is inspired: 75018 Jek-14's Stealth Starfighter.

In fact, it looks like this is the real 1st episode of this new LEGO Star Wars saga.

In this new video which appears to be part of the series of "mini-movies"which will be broadcast on the official LEGO site in parallel with the television version, we finally find the protagonists announced: Dooku, Yoda, Grievous, etc ...

The characters are finally talking and we will be able to quickly understand who JEK-14 is ... probably in the next episode.

http://youtu.be/fAnZOZ0S0Ew

It's Kurt, again, who introduces us to the new 2013 X-Wing Starfighter in this pretty cool video. He is notably the designer of the Super Star Destroyer from set 10221.

We feel the designer relaxed, proud of his work, and he can be proud of it: This X-Wing is successful and the wing deployment mechanism that he presents in detail is fine-tuned. He also mentions the major differences between this new generation X-Wing and its predecessor of the 7191 set.

What some feared and others expected has happened: LEGO "re-releases" an X-Wing in a collector's version.

Here is the set 10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter (1558 pieces, 26x52x46 cm), a distant cousin of the 7191 X-Wing Starfighter set (1300 pieces) released in 2000 that he will take care of forgetting.

I like this new model. It is a modern evolution, updated, less cubic, logical ... The classic glass roof will not be to everyone's taste but it remains faithful to the model of the film, difficult to do otherwise ... Big development welcome on the tiles engines and on the nose of the ship.

It is also and above all a great opportunity for all those who have not had the chance to get the 7191 set at a fair price to add an X-Wing in UCS format to their collection. No reference to the range Ultimate Collector Series in the official press release by the way, as if LEGO wanted to avoid confusion and collectors' reproaches following this barely disguised remake.

Retail prices advertised by LEGO: US $ 199.99, CA $ 249.99, DE 199.99 €, UK 169.99 £. Marketing in May 2013.

Below is the official press release:

A quick glance at the section Retiring Soon from the LEGO Shop US to take stock of the sets that will soon be withdrawn from the catalog.

On the menu at the moment, a few sets from the Friends range (41017, 41018 and 41019), Legends of Chima (70101, 70102, 70103, 70113), the Architecture set 21016 Sungyemun and especially the 9 series of collectible minifigs.

Regarding the Legends of Chima range, we can indeed expect a very rapid rotation of certain sets and in particular Speedorz whose new references were officially presented a few days ago during the New York Toy Fair. If you are planning to collect them, now is the time to complete your ranges.

More surprising, but not unexpected, the announced withdrawal of the 9 series minifigs. Obviously, it will still be possible to get these bags on eBay, Bricklink or in stores. This announced end of life undoubtedly indicates that the series 10 should not be long in arriving ...