07/12/2011 - 20:55 LEGO Ideas

Lego minecraft

It is done. The project Lego minecraft initiated by fans and supported by the game publisher MojangOn Cuusoo reached 10.000 supporters and therefore moved on to stage 2. By comparison, the first project to come out of the Cuusoo initiative, the Shinkai 6500, had barely reached 1000 supporters in Japan in 420 days.

What will happen now? The project therefore passes from the state of IDEA (idea) than Review. During this phase, a jury made up of designers, product managers and a few other decision-makers from the LEGO company will examine this project. Prototypes will be created to assess whether the concept meets LEGO safety and playability standards.

This phase of Review will last 1 to 2 weeks and at the end of this process, a decision in principle will be taken on whether or not to continue the project.

If the decision is positive, the project will then enter a third phase during which the products intended to be placed on the market will be designed, finalized and prepared for marketing. This phase will last several months.

But Paal Smith-Meyer, head of the LEGO New Business Group is already calming the ardor of Minecraft fans even if he readily recognizes the exceptional nature of the mobilization around this project: “It is still too early to say whether a Minecraft play set will become a LEGO product as it still needs to go through a review and approval process to ensure it meets our usual LEGO standards, but it is certainly a lot closer.”
In summary, he says it is still too early to determine if the LEGO Minecraft concept will go to the end.

So, LEGO Minecraft or not? I think the project will succeed. A tribute set for the game for sale exclusively at the LEGO Shop and the thing will be heard. There is something for everyone: LEGO will delight its new customers who are Minecraft fans, Mojang will do a good deed by donating the 1% of royalties to charities and Cuusoo will have shown that even on a global scale, every idea can potentially be successful. shape. 

The press release on LEGO Cuusoo: Minecraft project achieves 10,000 supporters on LEGO CUUSOO.

 

07/12/2011 - 20:19 Lego news

7958 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar: Chewbacca

You got it, I let you down yesterday. In question, the minifig of Chewbacca which was not really worth three lines on the blog.

I give in to temptation tonight and I therefore offer you a snapshot of Chewbacca, the grumbling wookie, with the accessories discovered in the box of the day ... Just as mean from LEGO and frankly uninteresting, but I would have you allowed to save a few minutes of your time last night, and waste half as much tonight (!?) ...

More seriously, I hope the worst is behind us, otherwise I am going back to my Kinder Advent Calendar. There at least, there are things to eat ...

 

06/12/2011 - 23:40 Lego news

2012 LEGO Star Wars 9490 Droid Escape - Sandtrooper minifig

It's certain eBay that we can already find for sale this Sandtrooper from the 2012 range and which comes from the set 9490 Droid Escape.

We discover a little more the silkscreen printing of the sand on the outfit of this soldier stationed on Tatooine. But what turns out to be even more interesting is the character's head. No more black head without serigraphy, here is a new version which goes much better with the body with the very heavy serigraphy of the minifig.

From memory, we have not seen a Sandtrooper or Stormtrooper without his helmet in the Star Wars saga and we can wonder if this serigraphy on the face is ultimately very useful. But it remains interesting because it will allow the use of this face on other custom minifigs for example.

We will be entitled to two of these minifigs in the set 9490 Droid Escape and this new visual comforts me in the idea that it will be one of the best sets of this first wave 2012. 

We also find on eBay the minifig of C-3PO from the same set. We already know her well, but this photo confirms an impression we all had so far: C-3PO's eyes are well screen-printed.

 2012 LEGO Star Wars 9490 Droid Escape - C-3PO minifig

06/12/2011 - 23:23 Shopping

2012 LEGO Super Heroes Minifigs on eBay

After the Mexican sellers who flood eBay and Mercado Libre, here is a Canadian seller on eBay which sells the 2012 minifigs from the LEGO Super Heroes DC Universe range.

Buy now prices are high but not crazy. Around 15 euros for the minifigure to have it a few weeks before everyone else, it's up to you.

At worst, we will take the opportunity to see these minifigs up close with close-ups that allow you to capture every detail and confirm that these minifigs are really superb.

2012 LEGO Super Heroes Minifigs on eBay

Red Robin and The Riddler in their comic version are very successful. The colors are bright and the serigraphs not too overloaded. We stay in the minifig in the true sense of the term.

2012 LEGO Super Heroes Minifigs on eBay

I already own Superman (distributed at NYCC), and he forms a cohesive duo with Wonder Woman whose minifigure is sublime. Lex Luthor is more generic, the costume is well rendered with the screen printing on the chest.

 

Spiderman - Custom by Christo

To begin with, let's use the terms of press release dating from San Diego Comic Con in July 2011 and endorsing the partnership between LEGO and Disney / Marvel:

"... The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises - Marvel's The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters ..."

"… Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form ... Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool… Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus…"

But this partnership is only valid for the comic versions of Spiderman and the X-Men, while it takes into account the film The Avengers which will be released in May 2012. Indeed, the film versions of Spiderman belong to Sony Pictures Entertainment which manages the license for derivative products.

But that is no longer true since Disney which now owns Marvel (are you following?) Acquired the rights to the next movie The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Sony will continue to produce and distribute the films in the franchise, but Disney will now have the right to market derivative products based on these films.
In my opinion, the second film in this new saga will likely be produced by Disney / Marvel, Sony having been ousted from the equation by then ... 

We therefore learn that:

1. The sets will be based on the so-called characters conventional from the Spiderman universe.

2. We will undoubtedly find Doctor Octopus alongside Peter Parker.

3. Disney has the rights for the next Spider-Man in theaters. Disney has an agreement with LEGO on the characters and their universe.

And that's all...

What we know elsewhere:

The film The Amazing Spider-Man, reboot of the series which will therefore not be linked to the films released previously in 2002, 2004 and 2007, will be released in France on July 4, 2012. Andrew Garfield (seen in not much significant so far) will don the spider-man costume alongsideEmma Stone.

The scenario of the film revolves around the youth of Peter Parker and the discovery and mastery of his powers.

LEGO will obviously take advantage of the buzz around the film to promote its sets.

What do I think of it :

If we refer to the terms used in the press release [... Spiderman classic characters ...], I can't help but think of the range of toys marketed in the early 2000s by Toy Biz under the name Spiderman classics. It was a series of collectible figurines sold in blister packs and accompanied by a comic book.
This range began in 2001 to be modified in 2003 (with the deletion of the comic book) and was taken over by Hasbro in 2009 under the name Spider-Man Classics (note the dash).

I'm more and more inclined to think that we're going to be entitled to union minimums for the Spider-Man and X-Men-based portion of the LEGO Marvel lineup. For lack of anything better, we should be able to get some mini-sets containing a hero and a villain, with a vehicle and / or a piece of wall, a lamppost and a trash can. A bit in the spirit of the set 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase from the LEGO DC Universe range which is coming out in a few weeks.

On the side of the bad guys, we should find the most charismatic of the spider-man universe. We will probably be entitled to a new version of the characters of the range under license Sony Pictures Entertainment released in 2003 and 2004 with Doc Ock (aka Doctor Octopus), Green Goblin and some emblematic enemies of Spiderman such as Venom, Carnage, or even Mysterio. All with very cartoonish and up to date minifigs (or younger ones).

 Personally, whatever the result, I would be satisfied with these new figurines. Even if those of 2003 and 2004 are already exceptionally successful.
The photo at the top of this article brings together in the background the 4 versions of Spiderman released to date and in the foreground a custom that I love and that I got from Christo after a hard battle on eBay ....