Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Harry Potter set 76405 Hogwarts Express Collector's Edition, a very large box of 5129 pieces which will be available from August 31 at the retail price of €499.99. Those who can go to a LEGO Store on Wednesday August 31 can therefore try to quickly assemble the train for a departure on September 1 at 11:00 a.m., like in the movies. Others will have to wait for the delivery of their package. It should also be noted that this product is the testament set of designer Marcos Bessa who managed the return to favor of the LEGO Harry Potter range and who is now changing position within the LEGO group.

This is not the first time that LEGO has dealt with the subject, but until now it had to be satisfied with more or less detailed playsets which sometimes had difficulty satisfying fans dreaming of a more successful version than those of the usual toys. The first interpretation of the train dates from 2001 with the set 4708 Hogwarts Express, it was followed in 2004 by that of the set 4758 Hogwarts Express, then that of the set 4841 Hogwarts Express in 2010, the motorized version of the set 10132 Motorized Hogwarts Express in 2004 and the most recent version dates from 2018 with the set 75955 Hogwarts Express.

According to the designers that I was able to interview with other members of the LAN, this new interpretation of the train was never designed to be motorized and it is simply an exhibition model. static which is not intended to circulate on a circuit of conventional rails. The width of the train was chosen based on the space needed in the passenger car with cabins spacious enough to accommodate the minifigs that populate the different scenes and the possibility of leaving a side corridor for circulation. Many fans were hoping for a motorized or motorizable version that was compatible with the LEGO rail ecosystem, but they paid for it. One question will remain unanswered: is there any point in offering a LEGO train if it cannot be used as a LEGO train?

Let's get rid of the subject of the color of the train right away: we can legitimately wonder why LEGO did not opt ​​for a color Dark Red (dark red) which seems a priori more appropriate for a reproduction of the train seen on the screen and the designers invoke the fact that this color, darker than the classic red, can sometimes take on a brown hue depending on the lighting used. They therefore justify the choice of Ferrari red which for its part could simply become a little darker, always depending on the ambient lighting and thus correspond to the version of the saga.

Why not, we'll settle for this official explanation even if I think the designers also wanted to save themselves the usual drama around the tint Dark Red which is not perfectly uniform depending on the parts. Those who assembled the set 10290 Pickup Truck necessarily remember the glaring differences in color on the vehicle body. And that's not to mention the fragility of some batches of these pieces.

Regarding the dark yellow elements used on the different sections of the locomotive and on the sides of the tender and the wagon, the designers simply invoke the difficulty of producing certain golden parts to justify this aesthetic choice. In the end, we still see that the official visuals have been extensively retouched to let us believe that the train is darker and more golden than it actually is.

The assembly process is divided into four separate instruction booklets, so it will be possible to build this model with several, each dealing with the choice of the locomotive of the Hogwarts Express, the passenger car, platform 9¾ of King's Cross or the tender (the coal wagon) and the rails. There is therefore plenty to share the experience with friends even if the locomotive and the passenger car remain the most interesting modules to assemble.

The locomotive of the Hogwarts Express indeed offers its share of very entertaining subsections with some good ideas to obtain the final result even if I do not find on the screen the funnel effect present on the boiler of the LEGO version. The locomotive is by the way the only element of the train that integrates a real mechanical functionality: you can turn the new large wheels of the locomotive using the small black crank placed on the boiler.

The effect is interesting, although far from being as "hypnotic" as LEGO claims, knowing that the locomotive does not roll because it is held in suspension above the rails by some supports placed between the sleepers. It will be enough to go there with an enthusiastic "tchou-tchou" while milling to impress your friends.

The assembly of the two sections of rails that will have to be joined together to obtain the nearly 1m20 long display stand is the most repetitive step of the set. Everything is built in a few minutes and you really realize that you will have to find a lot of space to display this model. This long section of rails can be separated into two parts to facilitate transport and storage of the model, but it will be difficult to display the train on the two separate parts of the display: two pieces of rail straddle the junction.

The 9¾ platform seems to me a little too compact when it is staged with the rest of the product, it is barely longer than the tender. No "magical" passage through the wall and the designers justify the reduced size of the thing by invoking the obligation to remain "reasonable" in terms of the inventory used in this box. The same argument is invoked to justify the absence of rooms under the platform on the side which will be connected to the rails. It's a bit petty when you know that the public price of this high-end product is set at 499.99 € and some may try to plug the hole or lengthen the existing section by duplicating the construction which has nothing very complex. Nothing serious though, there is often a vacuum under the platform of a real station. Note that you can install the dock wherever you want along the display, the latter being provided with the necessary fixing holes along its entire length.

The single passenger car provided in this box is also very pleasant to assemble with some interesting techniques at the level of the seats and the access to the cabins. Two out of three cabins are identical with attractive pad-printed sliding doors. The cabin which allows to stage Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood and Draco Malfoy (Draco Malfoy) as in the sixth installment of the saga, is arranged differently to conform to the scene seen on the screen.

Each of the three scenes is lit by a classic luminous brick and it will therefore be necessary to hold the finger on the button which protrudes from the roof of the wagon to add a small luminous touch to the scene. If you do not intend to content yourself with admiring your minifigs through the windows of the wagon, you can always remove the removable side sections which allow access to the different spaces. The tender, for its part, goes straight to the point: the interior of the wagon is empty and a few black parts vaguely embody the pieces of coal on the surface.

Some would no doubt have preferred to obtain an additional wagon by sacrificing the level of detail of the internal fittings. The model is already 1m20 long, a few tens of centimeters more would not have changed much and the train would have looked a little more substantial.

The bogies of each of the train's modules are on the whole aesthetically very successful, even if the most keen on the railway world may find them a little too simplified. However, they create an illusion when the model is observed from a certain distance, and that is the main thing. I also think that some fans may be a little disappointed by the general simplicity of the construction by expecting much more elaborate techniques. We stack a lot of smooth surfaces or large sub-assemblies and even if some steps are in my opinion very creative, I can understand the disappointment of some. The inverted assembly of the arches of the quay is rather well thought out, I leave the pleasure of discovering this section to those who will buy the set.

The sheet of stickers here is relatively substantial, especially for a pure display product sold for €500. The stickers on a red background are fortunately matched with the color of the rooms that host these stickers and the model is also flanked by a small presentation plate which brings together a few "facts" of little interest and whose role is above all to give a collector side to the product.

It failed, there are two errors on this plate: The Hogwarts Express locomotive is class 4900 and not 5900 and the station is called King's Cross and not King Cross. These two errors should be corrected soon. Three stickers also show lines of dialogue from the various scenes evoked in the cabins of the train and you will have to be a fan of watching the original version of the films on a loop to really remember these sentences. If you prefer Hogwarts to Hogwarts, these few sentences in English will probably not remind you of much.

The set also includes a life-size ticket in addition to the two minifig-scale copies, the plate is nicely pad-printed and was originally to come with the LEGO Harry Potter set 76391 Hogwarts Icons Collector's Edition. You will easily find a place for it next to Hedwig and the various accessories stacked on the pile of books in the set, there is nothing planned anyway to place it next to the train of this new box.

In the box, 20 minifigs: The train driver, The Trolley Witch, four different versions of Harry Potter, two versions of Ron Weasley, two versions of Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, a Dementor, Luna Lovegood, Draco Malfoy (Draco Malfoy), Ginny Weasley, Albus Severus Potter, Lily Luna Potter, James Sirius Potter, a student from Ravenclaw house (Ravenclaw) and a student from Hufflepuff house (Hufflepuff).

Nothing crazy about these figurines with a large Harry Potter handle and a large majority of neutral legs whose size varies according to the period concerned as in the rest of the range. The designers specify that the set is an ode to the epic of the young Harry Potter and to the various appearances of the Hogwarts Express through the years and the films, until the epilogue. We will therefore do with this explanation and these figurines.

As you will have understood, it is a question here of staging these different minifigs with the model to populate this station platform and the train parked in front of it. The idea is not bad with a somewhat empty construction without all these characters, but the public price of the set is necessarily affected by the presence of this quantity of figurines. Many fans will think that it was not necessary to provide these minifigs that any good collector of the range already has multiple copies in his drawers but this product is not intended for them. LEGO is here aimed at the more dilettante fans who only spend their money on a few high-end products to decorate their shelves and who ignore the myriad of small playsets marketed each year and which make it possible to obtain all these characters. It's not a toy, it's a model.

Do not look for a particular explanation for the presence of the two anonymous students in uniform, LEGO confirms having simply added these two figurines to please the fans of the houses concerned and to compensate for the presence of many characters in street clothes. If you are also wondering where the driver delivered in this box and yet never seen on screen comes from, it was added by the designers who claim to have been inspired by the costume worn by Warner Bros. employees. Studio Tour of London who play the role of the driver of the Hogwarts Express.

To conclude, it seems obvious to me that this product is tailor-made for a clientele that is not necessarily the one we usually think of when it comes to plastic toys. This exhibition model and its slew of figurines is aimed at a very specific audience who has the means (and the space) to afford this type of decorative object and who would not have bought a motorized train to watch it anyway. turn in circles on a circuit.

If the set does not convince you, it may not be for you. The fact remains that apart from its few aesthetic errors, its usual syntax or documentation errors and its many slightly scratched black parts, this train to be exhibited is, in my opinion, a fine demonstration of force on the part of LEGO which, even if it was not to break sales records, is a great marketing tool for the brand: even if it was ultimately only to be used to get people talking about LEGO, the objective would, in my opinion, be largely achieved for Billund strategists. I'm not worried for the fans of motorized trains, LEGO will no doubt hear the relative disappointment of the latter and will offer them the expected train in the years to come.

Personally, I'm not a fan enough of the Harry Potter universe to spend €500 on this model train. I prefer to reserve this financial effort for a model of the Star Wars range, even if it is ugly and gray. Everyone has their favorite worlds.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at September 4, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

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

As expected, today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Ideas set 21335 Motorized Lighthouse, a box of 2065 pieces which will be available from September 1, 2022 at the retail price of €299.99. You probably already know that this official product is freely inspired by the project Motorized Lighthouse originally submitted by Must Build Roses (Sandro Quattrini) and definitively validated by LEGO in June 2021. The adaptation of the initial idea into an official product is in my opinion rather successful, we go from a microscale format with a slightly outdated look to a scale that allows add two minifigs, just to populate the rocky peak in question and add a "human" dimension to the construction which becomes a little more modern.

The name of the product clearly indicates it, this lighthouse is motorized without having to go back to the checkout as is often the case with sets which can possibly benefit from a motorization but for which LEGO imposes to acquire separately the different elements which prevent milling. You will still have to buy the six AA batteries needed to power the supplied motor.

In the box, there is therefore a battery box 88015 Battery Box (34.99 €), a motor 45303 Single Medium Linear Motor initially marketed in 2016 at the retail price of €12.99 in the Education WeDo 2.0 range and since removed from the catalog and a kit of LEDs 88005 LED Lights (9.99 €). These three elements are not high-flying technological exploits and the accumulation of their respective public prices, i.e. 57.97 €, is therefore probably not enough to justify the relatively high price of this product. However, we escape a simple luminous brick whose button you would have to hold down with one hand and a crank that you would have to manipulate with the other to really take advantage of this lighthouse. We can not have everything.

The assembly is quite entertaining, we start with the base plate dark Blue 32x32 on which the integrated mechanism is installed which will be hidden in the rocky peak on which the lighthouse is installed. This is well done with the battery-operated insert of the Battery Box which will remain accessible from one of the sides of the rock, hidden behind a removable rock wall.

The motor is connected to the axis which rotates the lighthouse lamp and a lever accessible from the "treasure" cave placed under the rock allows the whole thing to be started. The LED circuit is also installed very quickly with a diode which will illuminate the chimney inside the caretaker's house and another which will run along the inside of the lighthouse to illuminate the lamp.

If you intend to acquire this box, don't spoil yourself too much about the different construction stages visible in the photos below, nothing can replace the pleasure of discovery. Don't forget to test the proper functioning of the mechanism before covering the various elements that make it up, you can never be too careful and you will avoid a tedious disassembly and correction step.

The designer has taken a few aesthetic shortcuts at the level of the rock with the use of very large elements which are however a little forgotten when the various finishing touches and the staircase which allows to go up from the quay are in place. The rest of the assembly is rewarding, it's only the various panels that cover the sides of the headlight itself that are a little repetitive, but that's the subject matter.

The construction being collected on a limited surface, some may have a little trouble seeing the 2000 pieces provided even if the set makes a strong impression by culminating at nearly 50 cm high. The inventory is there, however, with a slew of small 1x1 elements.

LEGO has taken the time to do its homework and the manufacturer has endeavored to develop a unique element that reproduces the effect of a Fresnel lens by multiplying the light intensity and the range of the lighthouse lamp. It's very well executed and thanks to the mirror sticker integrated into the rotating support, the effect is really convincing on arrival, especially in the dark. For those who are interested, LEGO went through many prototypes before obtaining the perfectly adapted element and a visual illustrating the different options considered by the manufacturer is in the instruction booklet:

The purpose of the product is to be able to take advantage of the promised functionality built into this headlight. LEGO does not disappoint and the rotation of the lamp is fluid provided you have perfectly positioned the last gear at the end of the axis which goes up along the walls of the lighthouse and which drives the plate with the mirror and the lens. Regulars of LEGO motorization systems suspect it, the mechanism that puts the lighthouse lamp in rotation is really very noisy, and I don't see many people letting it run even for a few minutes on the corner of a shelf.

We can ask ourselves the question of such a debauchery of motorization elements for a simple lamp that turns on itself, but I would have been the first to regret not having the right to a functional headlight if LEGO had done the 'dead end. We will therefore take advantage of the integrated functionality sparingly, just for the pleasure of seeing this headlight come into action in the dark and trying to convince ourselves that the investment was justified. It's up to LEGO to work now on the sound level of its motors so that the pleasure is not spoiled by this background noise which quickly becomes unbearable.

The caretaker's house is well laid out and the removable roof allows you to take advantage of the premises a little so as not to be satisfied only with the visibility offered during the assembly phase. This pretty house is also the guarantee "details and finish" of this model whose rock with its lawn in visible tenons and the lighthouse remain relatively simplistic for a top-of-the-range model. The interior space of the guardian's accommodation is, as is often the case with LEGO, too small to really enjoy it, but we know that the furniture and details are there. On the headlight wall, three side panels can be removed very easily to provide access to the internal space. The possibility has the merit of existing but it is anecdotal, there is nothing inside except for a few ladders instead of the expected winding staircase.

The front of the house is pad-printed and everything that is not on the sheet of stickers that I scanned for you is therefore printed as usual. The number of stickers to be installed in different places remains limited, but the one that takes place on the boat is a little missed with smudges that are not at the level of what one would expect from a top-of-the-range product sold at strong price.

The manufacturer provides two minifigs in this box: the lighthouse keeper and a young woman rowing in her boat. The two new minifigs are nicely executed, they bring a little life to the construction. Too bad the boat can't really be better stored on the base plate, just to contain the diorama in the space delimited by the latter.

At €300, this set is obviously a niche product reserved for lovers of coastal dioramas who will undoubtedly find what they are looking for. This pretty lighthouse, too expensive to be really accessible, will effectively decorate a thematic diorama alongside the sets 21310 Old Fishing Store et 910010 The Great Fishing Boat, you will undoubtedly see it staged in all the exhibitions that will take place at the end of the year or next year.

More generally, only those who do not pay for these "adult" products or who have ample means to afford them find that their retail price is "reasonable", in an attempt to justify the skyrocketing prices or even try to show us with biased graphs and dubious statistics that LEGO products do not increase over the years, but we must know how to be honest: end of the world or not, inflation or not , new parts or not, the range of LEGO products aimed at adult customers accumulates products presented as high-end with the arbitrary pricing that goes with it. And it's more and more expensive for a few kilos of plastic even if some of these models are impressive and detailed. And for those who desperately cling to the martingale of the price per piece, I remind you for all intents and purposes that a kilo of tomatoes can contain more or less tomatoes depending on the size and therefore the weight of each of them. , there will always be a kilo...

Many adult fans have traditionally been content to collect the best-designed and most detailed children's toys sold at relatively affordable prices. LEGO has chosen to directly and very regularly target these "historical" fans as well as the brand's new customers with logically higher purchasing power than children who count their pocket money, and it is becoming increasingly difficult not to not have to be very selective to stay within the budget allocated to this hobby. It will therefore be without me, I could have added a lighthouse to my collection on a whim, but not at 300 €.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at August 29, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

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

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO Marvel set 76231 Guardians of the Galaxy Advent Calendar 2022, a box of 268 pieces which will be available at the public price of €34.99 from September 1, 2022. As you will have understood, the Marvel Advent calendar this year puts the Guardians of the Galaxy in the spotlight on the occasion of the release at the end of the year of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on the Disney+ platform.

Apologies to anyone who hates getting spoiled the content of these calendars before they're available, LEGO has offered to go around them as early as August so you can have time to forget what you've seen of here in December.

It should be noted that LEGO still does not make much effort on the packaging of these Advent calendars despite the very active communication around the manufacturer's desire to pollute the planet less. This type of product was however the perfect opportunity to provide us with 24 paper bags instead of the usual packaging, knowing that LEGO has since 2017 eliminated the thermoformed black plastic tray to replace it with an equivalent cardboard insert.

These calendars are designed to maximize the promise of daily treats for 24 days: beautiful box with an attractive design with the added bonus of a flap that is sold as a game support, internal packaging that allows you to give volume to the micro-sachets, the recipe is the same here as for other calendars whose content discovery is sometimes a little disappointing, like the Kinder versions with their many daily mini-eggs and their single classic egg at the end of the course. In the end, a lot of cardboard and plastic in the trash and not much in the drawers or the stomach.

I'm not going to detail you by the menu each of the 18 micro-thingies that accompany the 6 minifigs delivered in this box, others will gladly take care of it. I sorted the things by category with the ships which are frankly in the theme, the accessories which are more or less in the theme and finally the things which are supposed to be more or less festive accessories but of which one sometimes wonders what it's about. Some boxes will later allow you to solve the mystery of an earlier stage, you will have to wait 24 hours or more and combine their respective contents to obtain something more or less identifiable.

I always wonder why LEGO does not offer daily content that would allow at the end of the journey to assemble a construction grouping the inventory of the product. I would forgive anything unfinished to get the ability to keep all the contents of this calendar on a shelf as a single construct instead of throwing the gizmos in the bottom of a drawer and forgetting about them ever.

With the mini-stuff aside, we're left with six minifigs: Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Mantis, Drax, and Nebula. It's meager for a product that offers us to discover content over a period of 24 days at 1.50 € per box.

The Groot, Rocket Raccoon and Mantis miniatures those already seen in the set 76193 The Guardians' Ship, a box still sold at the public price of 149.99 € which makes these figurines difficult to access for all those who struggle to optimize the management of their pocket money. The Star-Lord minifigure comes from the same set, the character here losing his legs in two colors and changing his hairstyle. So there are only two new figurines left on arrival that will probably forever be exclusive to this box, those of Drax and Nebula who are wearing very successful ugly Christmas sweaters here. Neutral legs for everyone except Groot, there are no small savings.

Should we marvel at this type of product in 2022? I don't think so, even if the youngest may find it useful provided they are familiar with the universe of the Guardians of the Galaxy and show a lot of imagination on days when the content of the box is less inspired. I think it is still possible to do much better with 35 € on hand, most of the boxes in this calendar being of little interest.

To end on a positive note: there will however be the possibility of obtaining a handful of minifigs with their accessories, some of which are difficult to access without spending around 150 €, it's always taken.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at August 26, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

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

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Star Wars set 75323 The Justify, a box of 1022 pieces which will be available at the public price of 169.99 € from August 1, 2022. For those who wonder where this new ship comes from within the LEGO Star Wars range, it is a product derived from the ninth episode of the anime series The Bad Batch available on the Disney + platform.

As usual, this is just a children's toy and not a model. We also feel that the specifications of the product required above all to slip in the mechanism which allows the reactor to be folded down to 90° to switch to the flight position, even if it means sacrificing the rest a little. The designer applied himself to include the functionality but we quickly notice that the aesthetics and the solidity of the ship have been a little left aside even if this Justifier still has allure.

The Technic beams which serve as a relay for the mechanism to synchronize the rocking of the engine and the movement of the landing gear remain clearly visible and no effort has been made to integrate them in a slightly more discreet way. Those who want to expose the ship in flight position and with the landing gear deployed because it's sexier will be able to do so, the mechanism is easily modifiable thanks to the two upper flaps of the wings which allow access to it without having to dismantling to be done.

Playability inside the ship is relatively limited, you have to make do with the cockpit and the cell designed to accommodate Omega because the imposing mechanism of the reactor clutters up the central part and limits the internal space available. Access to the front of the vessel is possible by removing a sub-assembly placed on the upper zone and care must be taken not to overdo it with the product in the hands because this assembly is simply placed on the front of the cabin. There is indeed a hold with a hatch at the back of this ship, but it is difficult to access when the ship has landed...

However, we cannot blame this interpretation of the ship for being totally sloppy, the appearance of the thing is indeed generally consistent with the exception of the growth under the reactor which is reduced here to allow the ship to hold on to flat when exposed in flight situation. Those who have seen the relevant episode of the series The Bad Batch will easily recognize the Justifier at first glance, this is the promise of the product and it is delivered with the added bonus of an integrated functionality that allows you to enjoy a ship with the same capabilities as the version seen on screen.

LEGO therefore manages here overall to satisfy the two audiences targeted by the product thanks to the usual technique of double scale: a vessel with a sufficiently acceptable exterior look that will end its career exposed on a collector's shelf and some interior spaces vaguely the scale of the minifigs which allow to have a little fun.

Even taking into account the fact that it is, according to LEGO, a simple toy, I still think that this product frankly lacks finish and solidity and does not live up to the manufacturer's usual claims on these two points. And that's not to mention the price that places these few grams of plastic in the category of luxury products.

Seen from a distance, this Justifier in the LEGO version will be enough of an illusion for many fans, closer up it is still in my opinion very messy with somewhat hazardous adjustments, visible tenons which do not help the readability of the together and subsections that only fit on a few pins or are simply held on by two clips on one side and nothing on the other. The set is in my opinion a little too fragile and will not allow the usual fantasies of the youngest fans who wish to play with this vessel.

The number of stickers to stick on the fuselage is relatively limited but the background color of the two large side stickers is very far from fitting with the color of the parts. The three stickers used to reproduce the canopy of the cockpit are presented on a transparent background and their application with the glue which remains visible in places will not facilitate the visibility of the interior of the front of the ship.

The fans wanted the minifigs of Omega and Cad Bane, LEGO heard them but the manufacturer is above all a seller of derivative products and these two characters are therefore delivered here in a box at a very high public price. The other two characters delivered in this box, Hunter and Fennec Shand, are not off-topic but they were already available in other sets. LEGO does not force the assortment of characters, but it is in keeping with the context of the episode of the animated series.

The minifig of Omega is acceptable, in any case it will be necessary to be satisfied with this version of the character even if there was undoubtedly better to do in terms of the length and the color of the legs of the figurine to stick to the version view on screen. Legs with a piece of tunic extended from the torso would also have been welcome.

Same observation for the hairstyle used, this highly anticipated figurine probably deserved better than this lambda hair. The torso is correct, LEGO has even made the effort to stamp the two red areas present at the shoulders and sleeves and the color of the neck area matches that of the head. The character is popular with fans, LEGO could have treated the figurine a little to satisfy those who were expecting something a little more accomplished.

Cad Bane, absent from LEGO since 2013 and the version seen in the set 75024 HH-87 Starhopper preceded in 2010 by that seen in the sets 8098 Clone Turbo Tank et 8128 Cad Bane's Speeder, is also globally successful even if I would have appreciated two patterns for the repulsors on the sides of the legs and a little more details on the arms. We can not have everything. The new respirator is a nice piece, but the color of the accessory seems a bit too light to me. Personally, I would have preferred a Cad Bane figurine based on the character's appearance in the series anyway. The Book of Boba Fett.

LEGO doesn't really make any effort on the accessories, Omega's handcuffs are in the usual version while it would probably have been possible to offer a blue version embodying the lighting visible on the screen, Cad Bane makes do with two generic black blasters that struggle a bit to embody the character's handguns, and Fennec Shand lugs around the classic brown suitcase.
The presence of the little droid Todo 360 is appreciable even if the molded micro-thing is ultimately only a somewhat simplified allusion to the reference robot. We'll do with it, getting the character is already good news.

Hunter and Fennec Shand both come with their helmets and additional hair that will show off their respective faces. The two figurines are not new, Hunter is also delivered in the set 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle and Fennec Shand is also provided in the sets 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser et 75326 Boba Fett's Throne Room, with only his helmet in one and his hair alone in the other.

Some, too happy to be able to add Cad Bane and Omega to their collection, will perhaps think that I quibble over unimportant details, but this set is in my eyes an expensive pretext to obtain two new minifigs. Even the youngest fans of the animated series were bound to get an Omega figurine, their parents will have to resign themselves to buying everything else with it to satisfy them. I therefore find it a bit of a shame to have to pay 170 € for a product without panache and which seems to me tailor-made to take advantage of the foreseeable enthusiasm for two of the figurines that it makes it possible to obtain.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at August 10, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

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

Today we are going around a new pack "Royal" offered by the Super Briques brand with an unofficial mini-set that allows you to assemble a king and his throne. It is no coincidence that this product is currently arriving on the shelves of the brand, the latter obviously benefits from the marketing from August 3 of the LEGO Icons set. 10305 Lion Knights'Castle. You already know if you follow, the big set in question includes a queen of the Knights of the Lion and Super Bricks had the idea to complete the cast with a king.

This small pack of 81 pieces sold for €19.99 therefore brings together enough to assemble a throne, a minifig of the king and some accessories. Several elements are personalized thanks to the UV printing process: the king's torso, the shield, the armor, the banner fixed on the throne and a pretty Tile 2x2 which puts forward a "royal decree".

The throne composed of 69 pieces is rather well designed, it will in any case match with the other elements of the set 10305 Lion Knights'Castle. It's opulent, a little vintage and on arrival perfectly in the spirit of the Classic Castle universe. Note that the assembly instructions can be downloaded from the brand's website, they are accessible via a QR code placed on the back of the product packaging.

As with many custom minifigs, the design on the minifig's torso won't be to everyone's taste. It is a very personal interpretation on the part of the brand which also takes into account the technical limitations imposed by the printing process used. The photos that I present to you here do not really serve the product, with this level of zoom, it is easy to distinguish the dotted line from the printed area. Seen from a "normal" distance, the rendering is more pleasing to the eye and will not shock in the middle of other stamped figurines.

La Tile with the parchment is rather well done, we manage to read the title and the rest of the pattern is thin enough for the rendering to be acceptable. The solid blue on the shield also flirts with the technical limitations of the UV printing process, but the grainy appearance is only visible from very close. The cape provided is not an official version, it was made by a small artisanal company based in Nantes, Flo's Daydream. The accessory is largely of LEGO production level.

Some may be surprised that the emblem present on both the banner, the armor and the shield is not the one imagined by LEGO for the Lion Knights, but Super Bricks has done its homework and this interpretation allows teaches him to stay out of trouble. However, the relationship between the two products remains almost obvious thanks to the assortment of colors used, that's the main thing.

I remind you that the brand only uses new official LEGO parts for these small packs, this is an important detail. For those who wonder why Super Briques does not pad print its parts, the process requires the manufacture of a relatively large quantity of parts to amortize the fixed costs (plates of clichés, pads) and the same product pad printed and manufactured in limited series would see its price sales at least double or even triple to be profitable, taking into account the fact that the brand that markets it is a company that pays its taxes and duties.

This new product on a theme much appreciated by nostalgic fans will not necessarily appeal to everyone, there are already several "official" kings in the LEGO catalog, including the one present in the 13th series of collectible characters marketed in 2015 and you have some you may already have one on hand. However, we cannot blame Super Bricks for staying too much in its comfort zone by simply printing a few Tiles and other lambda bricks: trying to seduce LEGO fans with this type of pack is always a bit risky bet, to see if it will quickly find its audience on the occasion of the launch of the big castle celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Mark.

ROYAL PACK AT SUPER BRICKS >>

Note: The pack presented here, provided by Super Bricks, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at August 8, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate.

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