I put on a layer because I think the minifigs in the set 9500 Sith Fury-Class Interceptor are the ones I look forward to the most this year. It's hard to explain why, but these three minifigs have the same effect on me as when the Shadow ARF Trooper was presented for the first time ...

I have always had a fondness for these anonymous characters decked out in their ultra-design helmets. And Darth Malgus inevitably reminds me of Darth Vader, the good big bad, powerful, enigmatic, tortured, and symbol of a dark side that rocks normal beings in an endless quest for supremacy and domination ... 

After all, Star Wars are kind heroes who take on the galaxy's worst villains. And the villains of the Star Wars universe, we already have them more or less all in the form of minifigs. So I welcome these new really successful minifigs with open arms. They are original and at the same time they clearly affirm their belonging to the dark side of the Force.

Definitely, this set  9500 Sith Fury-Class Interceptor is exceptional.

The photos come from FBTB, which is ultimately the only site to have released really interesting series of photos and videos from this New York Toy Fair 2012. As much as their content sometimes leaves me skeptical between ads and recaps of The Clone Wars episodes, that I take my hat off to them for the thousands of photos made available on their flickr gallery.

Might as well warn you right away, if I like LEGOs, it is above all for Star Wars and not the other way around. And this second wave of sets is convincing. It brings everything a fan can hope for: beautiful new or updated minifigs, more detailed and able to compete with competing products like action figures Hasbro for example, while keeping the codes of the minifigure as we know it. We can, however, discuss the figurine turn taken by the LEGO characters and regret certain finishes that make the purists of the yellow-headed man cry blasphemy.

On this new wave of sets, I applaud with both hands the boldness of LEGO, which some will call opportunism, to offer sets based on the universe of The Old Republic. I don't care about the game itself, I don't have time to devote to MMORPGs at the moment, it's its universe that interests me, this temporal space filled by the imagination of the writers as it is also the case with The Clone Wars and which allows us to discover new characters and new machines. It must be recognized that the Sith Fury-Class Interceptor of the set 9500 has a good face. He is totally in the spirit of the Imperial Fleet, just like the Republic Striker Starfighter of the set 9497 is an obvious parent of the future X-Wing. A single glance at these two ships is enough to identify them as from the Star Wars universe.

Le Pre Vizla's Mandalorian Fighter of the set 9525 is a little less charismatic, he will join the T-6 Jedi Shuttle from set 7931 within the radius of the Clone Wars ships which are not really related to the canonical devices. Special mention for the Malevolence of the set 9515, beautiful playful compromise of more than 1000 pieces without any notion of scale or proportions but which will join the fleet of all these LEGO ships designed for the game and which make the happiness of the youngest. 

I'm more skeptical of the remakes of Gungan Sub (9499) Of the Desert Skiff (9496) or Jabba's Palace (9516). Obviously, the machines and buildings have evolved from their versions over 10 years ago, but not enough to cry genius for a palace the size of a half-hut or a submarine with problems of finishes. I am speechless when I see AFOLs choking with joy in front of the trap door of Jabba's palace which opens onto .... nothing.  

These remakes are of course intelligent pretexts for new minifigs, each more sublime than the next, so much so that we rightly wonder what Queen Amidala is doing in the set 9499 ... These sets will above all allow for the youngest or AFOLs rediscovering the LEGO Star Wars universe to treat themselves to key characters who have become unaffordable in their original, somewhat outdated version.

I hope that LEGO will persist in creating sets that incorporate new ships and unseen characters. And since it's gone again for 10 years, I still prefer to be entitled to minifigs from the extended universe than to an Obi-Wan every six months or a 237th Boba Fett ... you?

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.