End of the Eurobricks LEGO Batman Contest and Batman Returns de Legomaniac finished 3rd in category 1 behind the winner: The Dark Knight by Skrytsson and the 2nd: Joker makes a withdrawal by TooMuchCaffeine.

A well-deserved place for this technical and creative MOC which once again demonstrates that the work of the French MOCeurs is largely at the level of what can be seen on the most famous English-speaking blogs or sites.

So if you are a little creative, risk yourself in one of the many contests organized on the web. You will probably not always win, but you will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with the cream of the MOCeurs and benefit from the opinion of a whole community about your works. With a little patience and humility you will progress and you will be able to have the satisfaction of having been able to show your work to many AFOLs across the planet.

In the meantime, you can find out the full ranking of the competition on the dedicated topic at Eurobricks. Also come congratulate LEGOmaniac on the topic dedicated to its MOC at Brickpirate.

Nothing transcendent with these first visuals of series 2 of Planet Sets with from left to right:

9679 AT-ST & Endor
9677 X-Wing Starfighter & Yavin 4
9678 Twin-pod Cloud Car & Bespin

Not enough to see much in these images, except that the three machines seem successful. Endor displays beautiful colors, the other two planets, Yavin4 and Bespin, are more uniform.

Minifig side, an Imperial AT-ST Pilot, a Rebel Pilot, and (finally) a Lobot.

You didn't ask me, but I'm still going to give you my opinion on these sets from the second wave 2012.

First of all, it is clear that LEGO is once again venturing into the twists and turns of theExtended Universe with two sets clearly identified (via the game logo on the box) as from the video game Star Wars The Old Republic.

LEGO had already attempted on several occasions a foray into this Expanded Universe in 2004 (10131) 2007 (7664), 2008 (7667, 7668 & 7672) 2010 (8087) with sets that will not necessarily remain in the collective memory, but which will at least have had the merit of offering something other than remakes of remakes.

In this new wave, two sets are inspired by the game: 9500 Fury Class Interceptor et 9497 Republic Striker Starfighter. Both reproduce ships that will appear in SWTOR and will play an important role there by allowing players, depending on their faction, to move around the game world.
Le Fury-Class Interceptor is very promising (see here), its line is racy, dynamic, and the first visual available augurs well for a future bestseller. We will not dwell on the finishing details yet, even if the ship already looks very well designed, because in this respect the sets will undoubtedly still evolve significantly. 

Le Republic Striker Starfighter is him a little less attractive in these images. It correctly reproduces the model from which it is inspired (see here), but its design is immediately reminiscent of the old ships from the beginnings of the Star Wars range: Angular, with too thin wings, again and again the same cockpit canopy and a front fuselage which will have to evolve further to convince. Difficult to make convincing a model of this type crammed with apparent studs where Dark Red predominates, the choice of associated colors must be judicious otherwise it will look like a bad Chinese toy if this is not the case.

Side figurines, these two sets will be delivered with unknown or little known characters, the added value on this side is negligible.

The and 9516 Jabba's Palace is correct, but not exceptional. I expected more from this remake of the 2003 set (4480). It is saved by the minifigs delivered, which are all interesting, even new for some. The palace itself is what LEGO offers when it comes to replicating buildings: a roof, a few walls, and two or three doors. Nothing to get carried away, this palace does not closely resemble the one seen in the film from a distance and it is barely enough to accommodate the Jabba figurine, white on the visual because not yet finalized. We will be satisfied with this set for the minifigs and the few cool pieces it provides to MOCeurs.

Another remake of a great classic of the range released in 2000 (7104), the and 9496 Desert Skiff  borders on the ridiculous. I put that down to the preliminary nature of the visuals while waiting for something better. The proportions and colors are more reminiscent of a prototype and the Sarlacc Pit is just laughable with these big purple pieces that have nothing to do there, this set is not a Space Police or a Power Miners ... This set is undoubtedly still at an ultra-preliminary stage. Side minifigs, classic with finally a much awaited Weequay Skiff Guard. Wait and see ...

The and 9499 Gungan Sub is also probably still a very preliminary version. The curves are strangely managed, and the finish leaves something to be desired for the moment with problems of alignment and space between the slope of the front panel which have a disastrous rendering. In view of the surface to be covered, the stickers will be there. The cockpits are also very strange ...
The and 7161 released in 1999 has finally aged rather well and in view of this visual one wonders if it had to be redone .... As for the colors, there too we will have to wait for the final version to be sure that we will be entitled to a coherent mix ... The minifigs look interesting, with Jar Jar Binks, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Padme Amidala.

We will be entitled to another Starfighter with the set 9498 Saesee Tiin's Starfighter.
This model is based on the Delta-7B Aethersprite-Class Light Interceptor used by this Jedi Master during the Clone Wars. 
Nothing sensational about this set, two interesting Jedis (Saesee Tiin & Even Piell), a ship and an Astromech droid. And maybe a new canopy for the cockpit.

The and 9515 Malevolence is undoubtedly the master piece of this wave of sets. The ship is already visually very accomplished, the colors are well chosen and coordinated, and some parts look interesting, especially with regard to the ion cannons. The minifigs are classic and already seen, except new design really convincing (Ahsoka?), Impossible to detect on the preliminary visual. We will certainly be entitled to a mini interior piloting space with removable cover, and an integrated carrying handle as is the case on sets of this size to ensure a minimum of playability, this set not being a UCS intended at the exhibition.

LEGO had to give us a good joke in this second wave 2012, and that will be the set 9509 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2012 which promises us micro-vessels in spades, a few minifigs and even a Santa Darth Maul if we are to believe the visual of the box. Let's not sulk, this Darth Maul all dressed in red will undoubtedly be epic and ultra-collector ...

Finally, as is and unlike the first wave scheduled for January 2012, this series of sets is attractive only by the new minifigs it offers. Those who screamed on all the forums and dreamed of a UCS at Jabba's Palace are obviously at their expense ... It's not knowing LEGO to believe that such a set could come out one day ...

I would like to mention again that these visuals are preliminary images from the 2012 reseller catalog, and that one should not draw conclusions too quickly about the quality of these sets.

2012, it's done, let's move on to 2013 ....

This is the site yakface which unveils the rumor: The official packaging of the products derived from the Star Wars license for 2013 could see Yoda replace Darth Maul who dresses the 2012 range.

Don't get carried away, this is just a rumor, which would come straight from Lucas Licensing anyway, and the visual above is a montage from YAK_Jayson meant to show you what it could be like ...

We will probably know a bit more in the coming weeks.

The and 9515 Malevolence is arguably one of the most successful of this new wave of Star Wars sets slated for mid-2012.

If you do not know this ship, here is a few words what it is:

The Malevolence was General Grievous' flagship. It was equipped with two gigantic ion cannons, which caused the loss of many Republic ships.
The fleet led by Jedi General Plo Koon was destroyed by this mastodon, which was then sent by Dooku to attack a medical center near the Ryndellia system.
But Anakin Skywalker and his teammates, aboard their Y-Wings, destroyed the Malevolence's two ion cannons before the attack.
Padme Amidala was also a prisoner of Malevolence, before being freed by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Grievous managed to escape and the Malevolence was destroyed while attempting to enter Hyperdrive mode when it was no longer functioning, crashing into a nearby planet.

Basically, that's it.

But this ship has been interpreted by LEGO in the past, and few remember it.
I told you about it already in january 2011 : You just need to participate in the game LEGO Star Wars: The Quest For R2D2 in order to gather the 4 parts of the instruction booklet allowing to build the Malevolence (749 parts) with the contents of the following sets of the 2009 range:

7748 Corporate Alliance Tank Droid
7749 Echo Base
8016 Hyena Droid Bomber
8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter
8018 Armored Assault Tank (AAT)
8019 Republic Attack Shuttle
8036 Separtist Shuttle
8037 Anakin's Y-Wing Starfighter
8038 The Battle of Endor
8039 Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser

Obviously, Hoth Bricks saves you time by offering you the 4 pdf files you need here:

Malevolence - PDF Instructions - Part 1
Malevolence - PDF Instructions - Part 2
Malevolence - PDF Instructions - Part 3
Malevolence - PDF Instructions - Part 4

What would I not do for you ...