The Star Wars 2012 first wave sets are finally up for pre-order at Amazon, with an in-stock date announced for January 7, 2012.

Don't delay, prices fluctuate very, very quickly, sometimes downwards, but also upwards. The same goes for availability. The prices are those expected and initially announced when Amazon first uploaded these sets in October.

9488 - ARC Trooper & Commando Droid Battle Pack 14.40€ 
9489 - Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper 14.40€ 
9490 - Droid Escape  26.20€
9491 - Geonosian Cannon  26.20€ 
9492 - Tie Fighter  57.10€
9493 - X-wing Starfighter 69.70€ 

Still no information on the availability of Planet Series sets.

A forumer of Brickhorizon offers us a first review in pictures of the set 9676 TIE Interceptor and Death Star of the Planet Series range. We discover the back of the box that we already know, and which reveals the planet without protection on both sides, as well as the minifig of the Tie Fighter Pilot with a screen-printed face identical to that of the Sandtrooper in the set 9490 Droid Escape.

The presentation plate is also silkscreened (if you follow, you already knew that), as is the canopy of the cockpit of the Tie Interceptor, something rather rare on models of this scale. 

In the end, a nice set which, with all these finishing details, seems really very interesting. The Death Star could have benefited from a discreet silkscreen printing, but it is still very nice as it is with its relief molding. It remains to be seen the price with us, probably around 12 €, and the real availability which begins to be delayed ....

A little word about a Cuusoo project that I'm discovering (thank you in Ezéchielle) and which appeals to me on several points:

1. The chosen ship would really deserve to see the light of day as a set, in the spirit of the 10198 Tantive IV or 7964 Republic Frigate. After all, this is one of General Grievous' ships during the Clone Wars, which is entitled to beautiful scenes in theEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith, where it ends up cut in half and Anakin crash-lands one half on Coruscant.

2. LDiEgo has worked well on its subject, it intelligently details its project and argues in favor of its virtual MOC and its possible conversion into a set System. Its playset would allow several scenes from the film to be reproduced, and the list of minifigs to include is carefully determined.

3. The whole is realistic and although LDiEgo sees many additional small ships and no less than 18 minifigs, LEGO has already released this type of well loaded playset (10188 Death Star) which, despite a high price, sold well and still sells very well on the second-hand market.

So if you have five minutes to spare, go to Cuusoo and support this initiative which could allow a nice virtual MOC to emerge, even if the milestone of 10.000 supporters should be difficult to achieve.

To see this MOC in close-up, go to LDiEgo's Brickshelf gallery.

Until now, we've only had blurry images from catalogs, or 3D visuals provided by LEGO.

hew (brick set) got the set 9674 Naboo Starfighter and Naboo for £ 9.99 and it confirms what we feared for a little while: The planet is not protected on the front of the packaging and you will have to be very careful when buying in store or by mail order.

Like a Kinder egg, the planet, with a diameter of 11 studs, contains a bag with all the parts and the minifigure of the set. In this specific case, it is a Naboo pilot.

The 4x4 parts presenting the set are screen printed. No sticker this time, and that's a very good thing, especially for those who want to exhibit these mini sets.

Well, even if it's always nice to see close-ups in super high definition of the death of the sets to come, I must say that over the months we get a little tired of the official photos of the sets of the first Star wave. Wars 2012.

In their place, I would prefer to see the sets available to finally have in my hands this new X-Wing, this Tie Fighter and these sublime minifigs that these images promise us ...

We already suspect that the prices will be very high and that we will have to pay a high price to continue acquiring the Star Wars sets. But in 2012, we will have to make even more choices, between the Star Wars, Super Heroes and Lord of the Rings ranges ... or be patient and buy in the right place at the right time ...

Count on me to follow this closely and share it with you here.

In the meantime, it's on grogall's Brickshelf gallery that it happens ...