Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75364 New Republic E-wing vs. Shin Hati's Starfighter, a box of 1056 pieces which has been available since September 1 at the public price of €104.99.

This product inspired by the series Star Wars: Ahsoka currently being broadcast on the Disney + platform allows you to obtain two ships and a small handful of characters from the cast of the series. At the end of assembly, I had the impression that this box in fact brings together two products initially thought to be sold separately: the two ships offered are in fact not really on the scale of one of the The other one and the one piloted by Shin Hati is too big compared to the E-Wing piloted by Captain Porter.

The fact remains that these two constructions seem successful to me, they benefit from the overall reduction in scale initiated by LEGO over the past two years and they benefit from a very appreciable level of detail for a simple toy intended for of the youngest.

The E-Wing, which will bring back memories to anyone who has ever held a copy of the LEGO Star Wars set in their hands 75018 JEK-14's Stealth Starfighter, even has the luxury of having retractable landing gear in addition to being entitled to a nicely pad-printed canopy.

There are a few stickers to stick on the cabin and some of them are often printed on a background that is too white for the rooms on which they are placed but the number of stickers used to add a little finish to the together remains relatively reasonable.

The assembly of the E-Wing also reserves some interesting techniques, particularly at the nose of the aircraft with convincing angle management for a product which is not a pure exhibition model.

As usual, both Stud Shooters imposed to bring playability to the product can be easily removed if you find them superfluous. The astromech droid that accompanies Porter is, as is often the case, on LEGO ships of this scale placed in the wrong direction, we will make do with it.

On the side of the ship piloted by Shin Hati, we change the scale but we also benefit from some appreciable refinements with a pretty pad-printed glass roof, two Stud Shooters easily removable and two easily accessible spaces to store the various accessories provided. The ship is rather faithful to the version seen on the screen and the few stickers to stick on the cabin reinforce the "used" side of the craft.

The two pilots are in a lying position in their respective cockpits to make the most of the space available under the canopies, nothing serious even if there was undoubtedly a way to allow them to be installed in a slightly more credible manner.

This box therefore allows you to obtain two ships seen on the screen in different scenes, it's always a good idea to combine them with other ships available elsewhere to reproduce some action scenes from the series, for example Ahsoka's ship from the set 75362 Ahsoka Tano's T-6 Jedi Shuttle.

The set's supply of minifigs is rather convincing with three major characters from the series: Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati and Morgan Elsbeth.

These three figurines have their faults but you will have to put up with them: Morgan Elsbeth has to make do with a black skirt without any pattern and it is a little disappointing with a "half-finished" rendering while the rest of the elements are very about. The hairstyle is perfect, the facial expressions are successful and the torso is beautifully executed.

For his part, Baylan Skoll could have benefited from a cape and pad-printed arms to really pay homage to the character's outfit on screen, as it stands it's a little too sober for my taste knowing that the hairstyle of the character in LEGO version is already very approximate. Shin Hati fares a little better but also suffers from the absence of patterns on the arms. I'm not a fan of the braid that ends up on the character's right shoulder, it's not really in the visual continuity of the chosen hair.

For the rest, we obtain here a pilot who logically reuses the outfit with a slightly too light blue and white areas on the not really white legs of Lieutenant Beyta seen in the set 75357 Ghost & Phantom II, and which benefits from both a pretty helmet with unique pad printing and additional hair which allows you to enjoy the two faces printed on the character's head. The astromech droid that accompanies Captain Porter is a new example of the problems encountered by LEGO in terms of pad printing, the blue printed on the dome of the robot does not match at all with the rest contrary to what the official visuals of the product promised .

However, we are not going to be too choosy, this box brings a little freshness to a range that often goes in circles and we will welcome the arrival of two new ships and completely new characters in our collections. There is no point in spending more than €100 on this derivative product, it has already been seen elsewhere than at LEGO for less and it will quickly be available again at a more attractive price than its usual public price. It's new, it's well executed, we feel the desire to offer constructions that make the most of the imposed scale and the set allows you to obtain a large part of the cast of the series in one go, I say yes .

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 4th October, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. Avoid “I’m participating” or “I’m trying my luck”, we suspect that this is the case.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Onward to a new handful of novelties that are now available on the official online store. Many ranges are concerned and the most impatient will undoubtedly find their account.

As usual, it's up to you to decide whether to give in without delay by paying full price for these boxes or whether to show a little patience and wait for the inevitable reductions that will be offered in the weeks and months to come at Amazon, on FNAC.com, at Auchan and at a few other resellers.

Note that Insiders (ex-VIP) previews for LEGO ICONS sets 10318 Concorde (199.99 €) and LEGO Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection (79.99 €) will only begin on September 4, that of the LEGO Harry Potter set 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank Collector's Edition (429.99 €) starts today.

ALL NEWS FOR SEPTEMBER 2023 ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(All links to the shop redirect to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75357 Ghost & Phantom II, a box of 1394 pieces currently on pre-order on the official online store and elsewhere at the retail price of €169.99 and which will be available from September 1, 2023.

This set is a derivative product of the series Star Wars: Ahsoka currently being broadcast on the Disney + platform and it is already the second version of this ship at LEGO: the manufacturer had offered a derivative product of the animated series Star Wars Rebels in 2014, then marketed in two parts under the references 75048 The Phantom et 75053 The Ghost. The Phantom was then entitled to a new version in 2017 under the reference 75170 The Phantom.

At 170 € the toy, it is normal to be demanding and I think that LEGO does not disappoint with this new version of the Ghost if we keep in mind that it is not a pure exhibition model. .

The surface finish is very correct, the adjustments between the different sub-assemblies are acceptable and the object will look great on a shelf while waiting for a hypothetical release Ultimate Collector Series which will undoubtedly not fail to arrive one day at LEGO. We can only regret that the vessel is here equipped with fixed landing gear which will therefore remain deployed in the flight phase.

Regarding the assembly, the designer has not done things by halves with an internal structure made up of Technic frames which guarantees maximum rigidity to the vessel during handling. It's almost academic but this solution is essential so that everything does not fall apart in the hands of the youngest who are the main target of the product. We then plate different sections of the cabin, like the process already used for example on a Millennium Falcon and that's it.

The various interior spaces remain accessible by removing the central section of the vessel and opening the two canopies placed at the front, but the layout is rather basic. If we try to see the bright side of things, there is therefore space to store the figurines provided. The central turret is summarized here in its simplest form with a bubble and a cannon which should protrude a little more from the cabin and which do not pivot on this toy.

It also lacks the large access ramp at the front, LEGO replaces it with two side ramps and only the two cockpits and combat stations remain to offer some interesting details with in particular the use of a saber handle of inquisitor for one of the firing positions.

The transition from the model seen on the screen to the LEGO model is necessarily facilitated by the colorful side of the reference ship: the Ghost is not a monochrome ship and we find the different colors on the surface of the cabin. It's a bit flashier than the stock version of the ship, but we're not going to complain about getting something every once in a while that isn't almost entirely gray or black in the LEGO Star Wars range.

The surface of the ship is covered with a large handful of stickers which refine its silhouette a little, some of these stickers are however on a transparent background which does not offer the best rendering when they are applied on the glass Trans Black.

The bubble placed at the front is pad-printed, it was anyway almost impossible to stick a sticker on it properly. LEGO could also have split a pattern printed on the other canopy placed at the front, the installation of the planned sticker is a bit laborious and the rendering is not very convincing with traces of glue which remain clearly visible against the dark background of the room.

The Phantom II is here rather well integrated into the Ghost, it can be easily removed and put back in place without breaking everything and the visual continuity between the two vessels is perfectly ensured. Two Spring-Shooters are integrated at the front under the cabin of the Ghost, they are actuated by a mechanism incorporating a long Technic beam which is also well concealed and accessible without having to turn the ship over. These two attributes do not disfigure the construction, this Ghost can serve as a provisional model without looking too much like a child's toy.

We could debate at length the proportions of the object, the scale which does not allow to install more than one figurine in certain spaces, the angles of the different panels of the cabin or even the aesthetic approximations and the lack of detail inside the ship, but it should be borne in mind that despite the asking price which could give hope for better, this is a simple toy for children whose parents can afford to spend the amount asked.

This product derived from the series Star Wars: Ahsoka is only an interpretation that takes a few shortcuts and we will have to make do with it while waiting for something better or ignore this toy while waiting for a product intended for the brand's adult customers. As it stands, I consider that the contract is largely fulfilled knowing that it will necessarily be possible to pay for this box a little cheaper elsewhere than at LEGO in the weeks and months to come.

As for the endowment in minifigs, we logically do not find here the original cast of the animated series but a crew based on the cast of the series currently being broadcast. The pad prints are generally successful even though the Chopper Droid loses its print on top of the dome.

Lt. Beyta's New Republic pilot's outfit is nicely executed even though the blue used looks a little light to me, Officer Hawkins' is very accurate even though the legs could have been darker and the various attributes and other details graphics are pretty fitting except maybe the hair color of young Jacen Syndulla, the character with green hair in the animated series. Check it out when it first appears on screen in the currently airing series.

I also have a little trouble with Hera Syndulla's eyes, at least they lack black pupils so as not to give her that slightly too neutral look. On the other hand, I appreciate the offset of the belt from the hips to the top of the legs, it matches the outfit seen on the screen and it seems that the pants go up well above the waist.

This endowment of figurines is generally interesting for a set in this price bracket, even if I think that LEGO could have put a copy of Ahsoka in the box to thank all those who will spend 170 € in this set and who will skip over the other products derived from the series.

This box will therefore largely do the trick while waiting for a more detailed version of the Ghost and those who missed the model marketed in 2014 should not regret having skipped it at the time. This new version is a little more accomplished, a little more detailed and better proportioned even if everything remains a little coarse and approximate in places. It is above all a simple toy for children, but a beautiful well-worked toy with accessible interior spaces, some features and a very acceptable finish.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at September 9, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.

Forward for a very large batch of new LEGO which are available from today on the official online store and at some retailers. This summer wave brings together many references distributed in the majority of the major ranges of the manufacturer, there is something for everyone, for all tastes and almost for all budgets. Note the VIP preview which allows you to buy the LEGO ICONS set today 10321 Corvette before the global availability announced for August 4th, remember to identify yourself on your VIP account.

On the promotional offers side, you can get a copy of the set 40593 Fun Creativity 12-in-1 free from €80 of purchase until August 6, 2023 and choose from one of the two polybags offered from €40 of purchase until August 6, 2023: LEGO Speed ​​Champions 30343 McLaren Elva with the code MCE1 or LEGO Friends 30417 Garden Flower and Butterfly with the code GFB2.

Also note the sale of four lots of two sets with a 20% reduction on the price usually charged for these boxes individually:

As usual, it's up to you to see whether to crack without waiting by paying the full price for these boxes or whether to show a little patience and wait for the inevitable reductions that will be offered in the boxes. weeks and months to come at Amazon, on FNAC.com, at Cultura or even at Auchan as well as some other retailers.

ALL NEWS FOR AUGUST 2023 ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(All links to the shop redirect to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)