LEGO today unveils the set  LEGO Ideas 21327 Typewriter, a product of 2079 pieces inspired by the project Lego typewriter by Steve Guinness. The official designer in charge of the file has taken some liberties with the original creation and we get here a crossover to the hull Sand green between a Silverette II type machine and a portable Remington that vaguely resembles the Erika-10 model used by Ole Kirk Kristensen in the 30s.

The machine is "functional" with a character bar placed in the center of the basket which begins to move when one of the buttons is pressed. It is possible to insert a sheet of paper around the roll, the carriage moves over the keystrokes and the lever placed on the left allows you to perform a carriage return. The ribbon color selection button only has an aesthetic function, the machine keyboard keys are pad printed and the two model identification plates are stickers.

Finally, LEGO provides a letter written by Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, great-grandson of the founder and chairman of the group's board of directors, translated into 43 languages. These different letters in A5 format are gathered in a notebook, you just have to detach the one you want to display with the machine. Dimensions of the object: 26 cm long, 27 cm deep and 12 cm high.

The set will be available as a VIP preview from June 16, before global availability announced for July 1, 2021. Retail price: € 199.99.

We will talk about this machine again in a few days on the occasion of a "Review ", the innards of the thing house a rather impressive mechanism.

LEGO IDEAS 21327 TYPEWRITER ON THE LEGO SHOP >>

(The link to the shop redirects to the version of the official shop for your country of connection)

It's signed: the Docks Brucksel shopping center in Brussels will host a LEGOLAND Discovery Center, the opening of which is in principle scheduled for summer 2022.

This is not a LEGOLAND park, the Discovery Centers are indoor versions of the concept managed by the company Merlin Entertainments, with a reduced surface area but which offer the same type of models and attractions. The one that will be installed in the aisles of this shopping center should benefit from a surface area of ​​3000 m², it will occupy the former premises of the MediaMarkt brand which has moved elsewhere in the center.

This establishment has been completed, but we will have to wait to find out more about the installation of a "real" LEGOLAND park in the Gosselies area near Charleroi. At this stage, we must be satisfied with the press release published by the company Merlin Entertainments which confirms that the group is seeking to expand its European presence and is very interested in setting up in Belgium.

(With The Echo, thanks to David for the alert)

On the occasion of Fan Media Days that took place online a few days ago, LEGO was telling us about the future of the home motorization ecosystem Powered Up and unveiled some avenues for the future of this set of components which allows certain products to come to life and extend the possibilities for play or education.

The manufacturer has understood that it is becoming necessary to guarantee a certain sustainability to this ecosystem of physical components and applications to obtain the support and the confidence of consumers and is actively working on the regrouping of all these elements under one and the same. banner: the official application Powered Up. All the components, including the elements of the Mindstorms universe, can therefore eventually be controlled and potentially programmed via this application, with the exception of the DUPLO Hub.

Products that until now had a dedicated application such as LEGO Star Wars sets 75253 Boost Droid Commander et 17101 Boost Creative Toolbox will be integrated into the application when the time comes to stop their marketing and to ensure the follow-up of the software part, but LEGO does not guarantee that all the original functionalities will be transferred.

Even if the grouping of all the more or less interactive products within a single application, the development of which will be monitored over time, is good news for the future of the various products concerned, it could only be a question of transfer of basic functions and the user will undoubtedly lose some specificities of the original product in the process.

Other products, such as sets 10273 Haunted Houses, 10277 Crocodile Locomotive, 21323 Grand Piano or even 71044 Disney Train and Station, more or less interactive but whose functionalities did not justify the creation of a dedicated control interface when they were marketed, are already integrated into the application. They will therefore be gradually joined by products which until now have benefited from a dedicated application.

As for the physical elements of the Powered Up ecosystem, no new components have been presented but LEGO confirms the arrival of additional products this year, no doubt via the launch of the novelties of the LEGO Technic range scheduled for the month of October.

Another important file LEGO is working on: the visual overhaul of the programming system based on numerous icons, some of which are often difficult to interpret. LEGO promises that this evolution will be available by the end of the year, let's hope that these changes are not only aesthetic and that the pictograms of some icons become a little more explicit.

The manufacturer also announces that it is working on the possibility of doing without a smartphone or a tablet to take advantage of the functionalities of a product: this emancipation will go through the availability of virtual machines which should in principle make it possible to program actions and then send the sequence to the hub which will execute it. There is no question for the moment of a physical controller in the form of a possible remote control which could receive and store these predefined sequences.

Here too, the durability of a "hard" programmed product would be better assured over time and the implementation of this functionality should pave the way for further automation of certain combinations of actions. LEGO was also talking about the concept of Behavior Building, an idea that would allow, for example, the youngest to enjoy their robots without going through laborious preliminary programming phases, this is already the case for certain models of the LEGO Boost ecosystem.

In the area of ​​purely cosmetic innovations, LEGO promises a visual evolution of the control interface via the addition of new widgets, some of which are based on LEGO parts, and some customization elements such as the theme representing the "painting board "of an electric vehicle.

Finally, the manufacturer admits that all these products are sorely lacking in documentation, even if the user community has long produced many tools that allow you to take advantage of the programming interface. LEGO promises tutorials, contextual support and extensive documentation of the programming interface. It took a long time, but LEGO seems to understand that the potentially educational aspect of some products does not necessarily mean the complexity of their use.

Upon arrival, we feel that LEGO has understood the need to guarantee the longevity and accessibility of these products which offer a certain level of interactivity. It will always be necessary to have a relatively recent smartphone on hand to take advantage of all the features offered, but the desire to group the digital portion under a single banner seems to me likely to reassure those who were worried about the gradual abandonment of applications dedicated to each of these products. It will remain to verify what really remains of the initial interactivity specific to the products which will be gradually transferred to the Powered Up application.

LEGO has released the LEGO Marvel What If ...? 76194 Tony Stark's Sakaarian Iron Man on the official store and we thus obtain confirmation of the public price of this box which will be available from August 1, 2021. The set of 369 pieces will be sold 34.99 €, it will allow to obtain Tony Stark, Valkyrie and Uatu (The Watcher) and the product inventory will be used to assemble a Hulkbuster made up of parts recovered from the Sakaar landfill. The armor in question can be transformed into a vehicle and the sheet of stickers promises to be provided.

This derivative is based on the 10-episode animated series "What If...?"which will air on Disney + this summer. This spinoff series from the comic of the same name explores the consequences of events that would have unfolded differently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Notice to cardholders Wow!!! : Auchan is offering from today its usual offer which allows you to obtain 25% reduction on a nice selection of LEGO sets in the Star Wars, Ninjago, Technic, CITY, Friends and even VIDIYO ranges in the form of a credit on the brand's loyalty card. The offer applies now online and will be valid from tomorrow in stores.

For information, the map Wow!!! is a loyalty card from the Auchan brand to which you can subscribe for free online. With each transaction, you accumulate euros thanks to the discounts offered, which you can then spend in store or on the auchan.fr site.

DIRECT ACCESS TO THE CURRENT OFFER AT AUCHAN >>