Our new friend Motayan, posted on his flickr gallery these two visuals of the next polybags of The Lone Ranger range (see this article for the 2013 sets of this range), and I would like to take this opportunity to briefly review the reason for these bags from a marketing standpoint.

LEGO polybags are NOT designed for AFOLs to build armies of generic minifigs. Obviously, we would all have liked a bag with a lambda Indian and another with an unnamed cowboy, all offered during the checkout at your favorite toy store.

But with a few exceptions (30212 Mirkwood Elf ou 30211 Uruk-Hai for example), LEGO has no interest in encouraging the purchase of a bag rather than a more expensive set to accumulate copies of a particular minifig. 

LEGO produces these sachets primarily to encourage consumers to embark on the purchase of larger boxes after tasting the emblematic characters of the universe concerned. It's the same with polybags Xnumx gandalf, 30210 Frodo ou 30167 Iron Man, 30163 thor et 30165 Hawkeye who introduce the Super Heroes and Lord of the Rings / THe Hobbit ranges to potential customers.

In the LEGO Star Wars range, polybags 2013 are clearly scaled-down reproductions of existing vessels in format System. Another way to encourage the recipient of the bag to buy the equivalent set. This was also the case in 2012 in the Super Heroes range with the polybag 30162 Quinjet.

It is Toys R Us Hong Kong which reveals the contents of the LEGO Super Heroes Marvel polybag - 30167 Iron Man vs. Fighting Drone.
This sachet will be offered as part of a promotion on Sunday January 6, 2013.

The Iron Man minifigure is identical to the one we already got in 2012 in the set 6867 Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape.

It's hard to say if this minifigure accompanied by a combat drone is intended to reproduce, even vaguely, a scene from the film Iron Man 3 which will be released in May 2013.

I do not remember having seen Iron Man fight against a drone in the two previous games, nor in The Avengers for that matter.

No trace for the moment of the other polybag planned for early 2013: 30166 Robin and Redbird Cycle.

30240 Z-95 Headhunter & 30241 Gauntlet (Pre Viszla Mandalorian Starfighter)

It did not take long for the first visuals of the 2013 polybags from the LEGO Star Wars range to appear.

As I told you before, I am a fan of these sachets and therefore I will not be objective about them.

That being said, this 2013 batch promises to be pretty cool with these 3 ships and this gun, microphone versions of their counterparts in System format.

I would add that the packaging with Yoda is perfect and that the visuals are really highlighted on the packaging. It's colorful, it flashes and it makes you want to.

30242 Republic Frigate & 30243 Umbaran MHC

There will be at least 4 LEGO Star Wars polybags in 2013, and we will have to stay on the lookout to be able to get them, especially in the case where some of these 4 bags will be linked to exclusive operations of short duration and which have place on the other side of the planet ...

It's Brickset who reveals the list to us:

30240 Star Wars Z-95 Headhunter
30241 Star Wars Gauntlet (Pre Viszla Mandalorian Starfighter)
30242 Star Wars Republic Frigate
30243 Star Wars Umbarran MHC

The polybag, I must admit that I love it. It is often expensive for what it is, but it is a real pleasure to hunt the bag (of the hunter knowing how to fish, etc ...) on Bricklink or eBay.

I try to keep sealed a copy of every Star Wars, Super Heroes, and LOTR / The Hobbit polybag released to date and I feel the pace will pick up even more in 2013.

In addition to the 4 LEGO Star Wars bags, we will also note the existence of 2 LEGO Super Heroes bags:

30166 Robin and Redbird Cycle
30167 Iron Man vs. Fighting Drone

Unless you never watch Gulli or have no internet access, you'll find it hard to escape the Legends of Chima wave: TV commercials, LEGO "commissioned" reviews on many blogs or sites, etc. ...

I'm not a fan of this line, it's no secret, but I'm not bigoted either.

And so I take the opportunity not to die idiot by making me offer a polybag "30250 Acro Ewar Hunter"(!?!) for an order of a minimum of 55 € on the LEGO Shop.

The offer is valid until 31/01/2013 (or while stocks last).

Note that shipping is free from 55 € of purchase until 14/01/2013 (More info here).

On the sales side, I didn't find anything very interesting but I'll let you watch at this address.