Come on, for fun, a close-up photo of the Troll from the set 9473 The Mines of Moria. Which brings me to a highly philosophical reflection on these figurines that are not minifigs. I really like big minifigures with LEGO sauce, even that of the Hulk about which I had some prejudices during the first presentation of the prototype. The Wampa, Tauntaun, Dewback, etc ... are all very successful. Paradoxically, I already like smaller or more compact minifigures less than classic minifigs like Sebulba, Gollum or Salacious Crumb.

On the other hand, the swimming pool blue color of this troll is a little weird. It seems to me that this critter is rather gray in the film and that it is the ambient lighting that gives it this bluish tint. But maybe I'm wrong ...

The news is significant, and paradoxically it is not commented more than that, or at least not as much as it deserves.

The LEGO Lord of the Rings range introduces a new horse model including the set 10223 Kingdoms Joust yet recently released does not benefit. This model is articulated at the rear end and will allow your valiant riders to take more realistic poses.

Beautiful technical innovation which brings real added value in terms of visual rendering but also playability on these sets. Nothing beats a prancing horse to give dynamics and a beautiful effect of movement to your dioramas.

I don't deny it: I like this Planet Series mini-range. It's cute, compact, it's collectable, it lands on a shelf without disfiguring the living room and it takes up the emblematic machines of the saga. But make no mistake, with this range, LEGO organizes and organizes what we already know with the range of mini sets in boxes or bags that can be obtained on Bricklink or eBay because we do not see them never arrive in France. We add the ball-planet plastic, a minifigure and presto it's done.

Where I'm going to complain again is when I realize that the set 9677 X-Wing Starfighter & Yavin 4 is none other than a vulgar repackage of the X-Wing of the set 30051 X-Wing Fighter released in bag in 2010, and reissued in 2011 with the new official look. An effort would have been desirable: change a few parts, change a color ... just to convince us that this model is the latest to date, and that it is better than all the others.

The and 9678 Twin-pod Cloud Car & Bespin is already much more interesting: I am not a Lobot fetishist as there are on various forums, but the unique minifigure of this character dating from 2002 (7119 Twin-Pod Cloud Car) deserved a new version. The machine is successful, as far as possible with as a reference the model of the film seen in theEpisode V The Empire Strikes Back which is awful all the same. Orange, red ... I prefer orange.

We will not dwell on the 9679 AT-ST & Endor. We no longer know what to do with all these AT-STs at all levels and at all levels.

Regarding the planets, I'm not sure what to tell you. It is a nice storage for the rooms. And maybe a nice Christmas decoration to put on the tree ...
Roughly speaking, if I listened to myself I would only buy the 9678. But that's without counting on the collection virus ... Well, at € 9 at P&P, we will survive ...

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?