You used to add one or two bricks purchased at retail to reach the minimum purchase and take advantage of a promotional offer on the official online store? You may have to change your strategy soon.

LEGO is testing from today the introduction of a minimum purchase on the online service "Pick a Brick" and it is the United Kingdom which sticks to it first with the obligation to reach the sum of £ 12 in order to benefit from the service. The idea behind this test is to align with the cost of the jars sold in LEGO Stores (£ 11.99) and alleviate the workload of the little hands that manage these parts orders.

At this stage, this is only a test phase and LEGO is not communicating for the moment on a possible timetable for the generalization of this new constraint to countries other than the United Kingdom. The manufacturer will learn from this full-scale test before making a decision.

Be careful not to confuse the service "Choose a Brick" with the possibility offered through customer service to buy replacement bricks for your sets. This last service is obviously not affected by the possible establishment of a minimum order amount.

Today we quickly tour the LEGO Star Wars set 75302 Imperial Shuttle, a box of 660 pieces which will be on sale at the public price of 84.99 € from March 1st and which will finally take over from the previous version of the shuttle marketed in 2015 in the set 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (937 - € 99.99).

Even if the comparison with the previous interpretation is inevitable for many collectors, it is advisable to put this new set in the current context of the LEGO Star Wars range: LEGO has been offering since January simplified and a priori more accessible versions of the great classics of the Star Wars universe: sets 75301 Luke Skywalker X-wing Fighter (474 - 49.99 €) and 75300 Imperial Tie Fighter (432 - 39.99 €) marketed since the beginning of the year are perfect examples of this simplification with their reduced number of pieces and a low retail price which makes them more affordable for many young fans keen to build up a collection. The manufacturer's bias appears a little less obvious with this new box of 660 pieces which will be offered at the public price of 84.99 €, barely 15 euros less than the previous version.

The first visuals that had leaked on social networks suggested a rather successful version of the shuttle. We then discovered the packaging of the product with its photos with carefully designed angles to hide any weaknesses of the model. Putting the set online at the beginning of February on the official online store then allowed us to better observe the construction as a whole and to give us a clearer opinion. The assembly of the product confirms the few aesthetic compromises which will undoubtedly disappoint those who waited for a shuttle with an irreproachable finish.

With only 650 pieces, there are bound to be shortcuts and even if this LEGO version of the shuttle looks like the benchmark ship overall, it also accumulates approximations. The lower part of the cockpit, for example, lacks finishing and the black protuberance here is totally irrelevant. It reinforces the impression of having only a half-cockpit with its plunging nose which only deludes when looking at the shuttle from above.

Both wings would also have deserved a little more attention with even partial coverage in Tiles to double their thickness and match them to the center fin and the body of the ship totally smooth except for the few studs visible in the cockpit. Another revealing detail of this passage to the wringer: the landing gears are summarized here in their simplest form just like the interior of the cockpit. No stickers in this box, the only piece with a pattern is pad printed. Perhaps a grid effect is missing on the nose of the ship, it was enough to take the pattern of the part placed under the central fin. For those wondering, there is no deployable access ramp under the shuttle.

This product is mainly a toy for children and so it was necessary to think of those who will have fun with this shuttle. The upper cockpit hull tilts forward and the interior of the vessel is accessed by lifting the center fin which is held by a relatively inconspicuous latch. It's simple, it does not penalize the general aesthetics and these two features offer a certain playability to the product. Even if the cockpit can only accommodate one minifigure, the three characters provided can therefore take place in the shuttle, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader having "seats" in the back.

LEGO has nothing planned for those who would like to exhibit the shuttle with the wings spread, it will be necessary to DIY a support. I simply stacked a few bricks for the photos and by finding the point of balance it is possible to place the ship on a simple rod. Too bad that LEGO does not offer an integrated solution in the set. Even if it is a simple toy, it would be interesting to have a base to allow it to be stored on a shelf in its most interesting configuration and about fifteen pieces are enough here to achieve the desired effect.

On the side of the three minifigs provided, we find a mixture of parts present for many years in the LEGO Star Wars range and more recent elements: The torso and the head of Luke Skywalker are parts already seen for the first in 2015 in the and 75093 Death Star Final Duel then delivered in several boxes. The torso of the imperial pilot is a new reference to the minimalist pad printing on legs present in the Star Wars range since 2014. The character's head also dates from 2014 and the cap made its first appearance in 2016.

Darth Vader's minifigure uses elements already seen in the sets 75291 Death Star Final Duel et 75294 Bespin Duel but without the arms with the pad-printed shoulders. Note that the legs used here are also those of the festive version seen in the LEGO Star Wars 2020 Advent calendar.

To put it simply, LEGO continues to decline the iconic ships of the Star Wars range in frankly simplified versions which should in principle be more affordable. Unfortunately, this is not really the case here with a public price that seems too high for a slightly minimalist product that ignores several aesthetic details and the few finishing touches that would have made it possible to make a model. more faithful to the reference vessel. So we end up with a simple children's toy that is a little too expensive for what it has to offer.

Sooner or later this box will necessarily end up on sale somewhere, so you have to be patient to pay for it at the right price. Those looking for a slightly more accomplished version of this Imperial Shuttle can always turn to the aftermarket where the set 75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium from 2015 is trading new at around € 140.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 28th February 2021 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.

If you are considering purchasing the 21st series of collectible LEGO minifigs (ref. 71029), it may be better to invest directly in a box of 36 sachets rather than hoping to be able to taste the sachet in your favorite store in the weeks to come.

We do not yet know the exact distribution of these boxes which could in the best case contain 3 complete sets of 12 characters, but Minifigure Madness offers the box at 118.99 € or about 3.30 € per bag instead of 3.99 €. Shipping best announced for January 25, 2021. You can always pre-order and change your mind if the distribution is confirmed and it does not allow sharing of the contents of the box between three people.

I remind you of the list of 12 characters, the titles are those used by LEGO:

Some promotional codes to use on the site:

HOTH80 so that the box of 36 LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 21 bags (71029) goes to 118.99 €.

HOTH78 so that the batch of 3 boxes of 20 LEGO Super Mario Series 2 sachets (71386) goes to 174.99 €.

HOTH82 so that the box of 60 LEGO Harry Potter Series 2 bags (71028) goes to 184.99 €.

HOTH84 to obtain an additional € 8 reduction if you combine the three offers above.

DIRECT ACCESS TO THE OFFER AT MINIFIGURE MADDNESS >>

Bonus for those who have a facebook account: if you place a pre-order of a box from the Harry Potter series and then go to the brand's facebook page, you can try to win a prize including a copy of a LEGO Star Wars Advent calendar from a previous year accompanied by four bags of minifigs put into play for the occasion by liking the page and then sending a DM mentioning your order number. Draw and announcement of the winner on December 28th.

The PicwicToys sign could reduce the wing in the coming months with the implementation of a "reorganization" project which provides for the closure of 23 of its 63 points of sale, a logistics warehouse and one of its two administrative centers resulting in the loss of 447 positions, or one third of the group's workforce.

The schedule for these closings and layoffs is known: at the end of October 2020 for the warehouse and the power plant and before the end of January 2021 for the 23 stores concerned.

The time when the brand that emerged from the merger between the companies Luderix (Picwic with its 20 stores) and Jellej Toys (buyer in France of the Toys'R'Us brand with 43 points of sale) aimed to become the N ° 1 French toy is well over.

A representative of the sign is trying to save appearances by indicating that the sign has hired for two years, a profound change in its concept and that it will accelerate its transformation towards a more digital model, centered on proximity and relationships with its customers. To believe the feedback that I could read here in the comments on the occasion of various promotional operations organized so far by the sign, it is far from won ...