If you are a fanboy absolute ready to go into raptures permanently and without restraint on what LEGO offers us, do not read on, there are other sites which serve soup better than me and which have made the use of laudatory superlatives their business.

For others, here is what I think of this LEGO Lord of the Rings range, after having seen what is undoubtedly the almost final rendering of the sets that will be marketed. First of all, I would like to point out that I am not an unconditional and fundamentalist fan of the Lord of the Rings universe. I really like the Peter Jackson movies, but I've always considered Tolkien's books to be boring and off-putting, and I'm not alone ... Obviously LEGO has a range based on the film version of this work, as will be the case for The Hobbit elsewhere.

Upon reflection, I think there is nothing to cry genius with this range as some do. Of Castle mixed with kingdoms, and sold with a bunch of characters carefully distributed to get you to buy the bundle, that's great marketing. The minifigs are successful, the animals too. I have never been a fan of ends of wall, wagons, rocks, etc ...

Only the MOCeurs will find their account in these varied inventories, the others will have to be satisfied with rickety reconstructions which make me think of movie sets: pretty on the front, but without depth. How LEGO could have titled the set 9474: The Battle Of Helm's Deep ? Haven't they seen the movie? What credible battle can we reconstitute with this set, the price of which will probably exceed 100 € ???

The problem with Lord of the Rings is that it is an epic epic populated by thousands of characters, and LEGO, which clings to its minifigs as if they were gold nuggets that you should not distribute too much under penalty of seeing the price drop, has a hard time restoring this grandiose side in these sets.

There are still beautiful minifigs, to line up in a display case or to stage in a diorama as desired. No one is going to play with these sets, they're not even designed for that. In the best case, they will please collectors, happy to be able to combine two of their passions, to speculators who already know that this range will be of the same ilk as a Pirates of the Caribbean or a Prince of Persia and will quickly become sought after by all. those who waited for the ultimate promo in vain, and to the MOCeurs who will give it their all to stage the emblematic characters of a cinematographic saga which some do not even know is taken from a literary epic.

For my part, this once again confirms the current trend for licenses that do not integrate any vessel, or rolling or floating devices: LEGO sells minifigs with parts around, to fill the box. This is not necessarily a criticism, but it is an important marketing turning point and it will take some getting used to.

If you don't agree with anything written above, feel free to say so in your comments, but be polite. Everyone may have a different opinion depending on their relationship with LEGOs. The debate remains preferable to unconditional ecstasy on the pretext that it is fashionable to bow down and open your wallet indiscriminately as soon as we talk about LEGO.

No way to go on weekends without LEGO announcing something these days. We therefore learn on February 13 that the Star Wars license is renewed for 10 years by an official press release which reminds us that LEGO began to market Star Wars products in 1999, that this was the first license operated by the brand, and that roughly this license is the best in the world, it saved LEGO, itself sells without forcing and will continue to delight fans and Georges Lucas for a long time.

Obviously, I am happy with this extension of the Star Wars range, hoping that it will know how to renew itself without giving in to the ease of chain remakes. My portfolio already less ...

Read the LEGO press release: “The Force” Remains with The LEGO Group.

As we already knew for a few weeks, the set 9509 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2012 will include two exclusive minifigs: a Santa Maul and an R2-D2 in snowman mode.

We had heard of carrots on the astromech droid dome, and I think LEGO presented a version ultra-temporary-which-serves-to-furnish at the New York Toy Fair. The dome is decked out in a snow effect, but the droid's body is completely white. This minifigure should in my opinion probably still evolve between now and the final version which will be marketed in September 2012.

It's the disappointment of this wave of Marvel sets as far as I'm concerned, Iron Man and his helmet a little too big. FBTB has uploaded a video that reveals the opening mechanism of the helmet and I tell myself that I would have done without this feature to have a better proportioned minifig.

To see all this in pictures, it's on the FBTB flickr gallery. 

A past master in the art of selling us minifigs in a box with a few parts, LEGO has understood the interest of its customers for the most anticipated characters from the Star Wars universe in 2012. The two flagship minifigs of this new wave of sets are undoubtedly the two important characters of the saga, Queen Amidala and the Bounty Hunter Boba Fett, which will be delivered in their most iconic outfits: Amidala finally available in a ceremonial outfit perfectly interpreted in LEGO sauce and Boba Fett with his look inevitably reminiscent of the version of the set 10123 Cloud City released in 2003 and became famous as much for its rarity as for its screen-printed legs. I even wonder if LEGO isn't giving us a voluntary wink on this ...

2012 is the year of minifigs, with beautiful, never-before-seen versions of much-desired characters and interesting updates to great classics well known to collectors. The appearance of characters from the Star Wars The Old Republic game universe is also a plus, which revives the interest of the most jaded among us for minifigs and awakens the spirit of collection even among those who seemed invaded by weariness over the waves of sets. 

The two sets containing these Queen Amidala and Boba Fett minifigs will not be unaffordable big sets or any exclusives, and there is no need to worry about their future availability. However, we can bet that these two versions will not be distributed in several sets over the months and they should still become relatively rare over the years. We should not hesitate to get them as soon as they come out to avoid paying a high price for them as soon as these sets are removed from the shelves of our favorite stores.