Today we are quickly interested in the LEGO Disney set 43179 Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters, a large box of 1739 pieces which will be sold for 179.99 € from July 1st and which allows to assemble two emblematic characters from the Disney universe, Mickey and Minnie.

This new exhibition product is intended according to the box and the official description for a hyperactive adult clientele anxious to relax while playing LEGO and the first opinions on this set have been very divided since its announcement with on one side the fans of the Disney universe who find these two models very successful and the other fans who remain a little dubious or even frankly disappointed. And that's without counting on the public price of the product which seems to him to be almost unanimous: it's too expensive.

The good news that will add a dose of user-friendliness when assembling the product: LEGO provides two independent instruction booklets, Mickey on one side and Minnie with accessories on the other, which allows a two-person assembly to be relax as a couple or with friends. Please note, these are not figurines in the true sense of the word.

The two characters, here directly inspired by those seen in the episodes of the animated series Mickey Mouse broadcast since 2013 and which reintroduces "classic" versions of the characters, are in fact statues which have no articulation and which are permanently anchored on their base. It is still possible to change the direction of the arms by modifying the orientation of the two black curved pieces that form the limbs and to turn the hands, but that's it.

We start with the pretty plinths in the form of a photo negative or cinema film on which the two characters sit. The staging is very interesting, some will undoubtedly see characters who come to life when they leave their 2D support. As for the innards of Mickey and Minnie, the interior of the two pedestals based on frames Technic is full of colored parts, which in addition to facilitating the positioning of certain elements makes the instructions on a black background more readable.

The two large white plaques with pad-printed signatures then add a little collector's touch to the two statues and dress the surface bordered with bands, perfectly reproducing the perforation visible on the films.

The effect is obtained by inserting smoked glass in windows and it is really very successful. These 48 panes are the parts shown as using the new color that joins the LEGO palette: 363 Transparent Brown with Opalescense. The result is more blue than brown.

The two figures are firmly anchored on their support, which ensures the stability of each of the statues whose heaviest element is the head. Mickey's right leg is the most successful, it consists of two of the ten new pieces curved at 45 ° and smooth also used for the arms. The other three legs are more classic, they are straight with parts threaded on a flexible axis.

We can't escape the usual barrels used to symbolize something other than what they really are and two red elements form the bottom of Mickey's shorts. There are also two barrels at the base of the necks of the two statues, but these will be hidden during the insertion of the head.

The inside of the torso is a stack of colored pieces on which a few sub-assemblies are attached which are responsible for bringing a little roundness to the two models. If Mickey's shorts and Minnie's skirt are quite successful, the upper torso is in my opinion much less with angles that are a little too pronounced which produce a "pear" effect.

The hands of both mice are very well done with three fixed fingers, a movable thumb and the outer layer of the glove which is pad printed. Be careful during assembly, in the copy that I received one of these four pad-printed parts has a printing defect with a white spot.

To be honest, I'm one of those people who find these two figures a bit too rough to be really attractive. We obviously recognize Mickey and Minnie, difficult to confuse them with other characters, but all this is still too stylized to convince me. Up to the neck, we can admit that the designer did quite well. Above, it is much less obvious with a too angular rendering which gives me the impression of dealing with characters wearing a mask on the lower face.

The two heads are built on the same principle as the torsos with a stack of colored parts on which we attach sub-assemblies which try to give a little roundness to the whole. The remaining spaces are filled in with half-dome quarters in two different sizes and the nose is the result of a somewhat odd assembly that uses a white version of the piece already seen in red in the LEGO Star Wars set. 75247 Rebel A-Wing Starfighter and which made the heyday of the range Cars in 2017. This piece is also present in yellow on the back of Mickey's shoes.

At the end of the nose of the two characters, there is a copy of the helmet Space Classic in black plugged into a neutral head. LEGO also recalled when announcing the product that this helmet had not been produced since 1987. It's up to you to see which way you prefer to put it, the opening downwards if you place the two statues on a chest of drawers or upwards so that your friends will notice it and you can tell them this anecdote before going to dinner. The ears are made up of an assembly of two semi-circles with visible tenons fixed on a Ball joint. A few Tiles would not have been too much to smooth the inner surface of these ears a little, which as it is, seem a little thin to me.

From the front and from afar, the two characters are almost illusory and the whole will easily find its place on a shelf. Some approximations can be justified by invoking an "artistic" bias or the limitations of the LEGO concept, but in my opinion you have to be really lenient to consider these "interpretations" as faithful to the reference models. It is moreover by placing the two mice in profile that the difficulty of adapting round shapes with square bricks is felt a little.

The Minnie statue shares a lot of techniques and internal sub-assemblies with Mickey except obviously for the attributes specific to this character like the pumps or the skirt. The skirt, composed in particular on the sides of large pad-printed red windshields, is rather successful. I am less convinced by the pumps which are really crude if you look at them closely. Once again, it will be necessary to contemplate the model as a whole and from far enough away not to focus on certain sub-assemblies that are a little too rough to really convince.

Like Mickey Mouse, the mouse's gaze is a big half Dish in pad-printed bi-injection which covers the upper half of the face. LEGO had the good taste of pad printing the eyes on a white piece, thus avoiding the usual color shifts. Unfortunately, the eyes are not as deep black as their outline which is tinted throughout. Too bad, even if from afar, it passes.

To accompany the two mice, LEGO provides some accessories to assemble in the box: A vintage camera in Reddish brown on its tripod with new rounded corners, a cigar box guitar to a rope seen in Mickey's hands on many illustrations, a bouquet of flowers for Minnie and a book whose cover and interior are decorated with four stickers.

I would have preferred a picnic basket and a cinema camera, but we will do with these generally very convincing accessories that allow you to place items in the hands of the characters to boost the presentation a little.

In short, Mickey and Minnie or Michel and Monique, tastes and colors are indisputable and it's up to you to see if these slightly angular LEGO versions of curvaceous characters deserve your money.

To try to end on a positive note, I think the staging of the two characters is really effective and the props provided are very successful. However, I am not really convinced by the aesthetics of the two heads or by the prohibitive price of this exhibition product. But I'm not the ideal customer for this type of set: Mickey and Minnie scared me more than anything when I was young and I preferred the service ducks like Scrooge, Donald, Daisy, Gontran and the Castors Juniors.

This LEGO version will not change my mind about the slightly disturbing side of these two mice, quite the contrary, and so I don't really want to display these two smirking statues in a corner knowing that 'they watch me all the time, especially in the dark.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at 30th June 2020 next at 23pm. 

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.

Today we are talking about the set again 40501 The Wooden Duck, an exclusive unveiled yesterday that will be sold only in the LEGO House store in Billund. You will have to pay the modest sum of 599 DKK, i.e. a little over 80 €, to afford this first box of a series of products from June 22, XNUMX that will pay tribute to the toys that have marked the history of the LEGO group. Those who do not wish to make the trip to Denmark will also have to reimburse the gasoline, hotel costs and pizza from the vendor who will provide them with the set on the secondary market.

I'm not going over the history of the wooden duck on wheels reproduced here using plastic bricks, there is enough to say about this toy which should also mark the history of the LEGO group in its own way. .

In terms of the fidelity of reproduction of the duck on wheels, it is successful, it would be bad faith to say the opposite. All the markers of the toy from the 30s are there and on this point the set achieves its goal. LEGO has taken the attention to detail to include the string that in the 30s allowed a young Dane to pull the duck.

Because this is a construction toy offered by the world leader in this field, LEGO does not forget to provide us with an almost fun little feature: The duckbill opens and closes when the base is in motion thanks to a Technic beam pushed by the axis of the front axle and which raises the upper part of the spout. Some people will see it as a somewhat superfluous function on a pure exhibition product, but as usual, we know it's there and it makes us happy even if we don't use it.

The assembly of the duck and its presentation base is quickly shipped, we stack, we fit, we clip and we admire. The interior of the animal is filled with colored pieces, an appreciable bias that breaks up the monotony of the assembly of the almost monochrome blocks that constitute the base, the feathers and the wings.

And this is where this set, which should be a high-end product to the glory of the manufacturer and its legendary know-how, goes down in history: The color differences on the assemblies based on dark red bricks (Dark Red) and green are obvious and quite disfigure this model with the aesthetic yet very successful. On each of these two shades, we even reach here three different levels, from the lightest to the darkest. Great art, the injection points too visible on the blue parts of the base become almost anecdotal (see first photo in the gallery above).

The official visuals published yesterday already suggested such deviations but the images had been retouched to minimize the effect. When you have the real model in front of you, it is impossible not to notice these flaws and it would take a hell of a dose of bad faith to forget to mention this detail or downplay it.

I see from here those who will try to convince others that it is not so serious by drawing their usual panoply of arguments of bad faith: "... there is nothing to make a drama of it, it is a technical limitation ...","... it's intended, it gives a vintage effect to the duck ..." or "... I can't see anything, everything seems normal to me ...".

No, this is a problem that LEGO confirms without providing a solution. The manufacturer takes refuge behind a "tolerance threshold" invented by him to kick in touch and send back to the ropes all those who complain. At the moment, it's also the turn of the buyers of the LEGO Technic set. 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 to pay the price for this tolerance threshold with a nice mix of green on the body of their € 380 car.

To display the duck with a slightly washed-out look, LEGO provides a display that mobilizes just over 70 pieces out of the 621 items provided in the box. The two plates specifying what it is about are pad printed, as are the eyes of the duck.

The instruction booklet is embellished with some texts in English telling the usual legend and praising the know-how of the brand. The text is in English and I doubt that it will one day be possible to download a French version of the booklet, this set being exclusive to the LEGO House.

In short, the idea of ​​offering a series of sets that pay tribute to the founder of the LEGO group and his first creations is excellent. But Ole Kirk Christiansen would probably be annoyed to see that his successors have still not managed 60 years later to standardize the color of certain rooms.

We all know here that many fans will buy this box to keep it in the back of a closet without ever opening it and the finishing flaws will not affect these collectors. On the other hand, those who want to exhibit this model to show their attachment to the brand and its origins will be a bit for their expense even if they can try to save face by explaining to their passing friends that "... the different shades of red and green give a real vintage patina to this LEGO duck ...". On a misunderstanding, the explanation will perhaps suffice.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at June 30, 2020 next at 23pm. 

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.

The promise is simple: allow you to build an interactive game board on which Mario will have to evolve while avoiding traps and collecting coins and bonuses before reaching the finish line. On paper, we can imagine having fun for long hours trying to complete the level within the time limit, 60 seconds excluding time bonus. In fact, it's a little less glamorous and you quickly get bored typing Mario on the different barcodes to scan to discover the different interactions offered.

Worse, this is a purely solo experience, only one player manipulates Mario and the others have to watch him evolve while waiting their turn. The spectators can not really take advantage of the evolution of the player through the level, the part not being "broadcast" on the smartphone or the tablet.

The events caused by the passage on the various bar codes are displayed only on the tiny screen placed on Mario's stomach, all illustrated with sound sequences that all those who have already played on console necessarily know. The screen of the device on which the application is installed remains black during the play phase and LEGO confirms that it has voluntarily focused all the interactivity of the product on the Mario minifigure and its screens.

LEGO also claims to have tested the concept with groups of children who have not been bothered by the obligation to remain spectators of the adventures of the only player on the track. The results of my few group sessions are less optimistic on point.

The interactive figurine reacts to everything presented to it under the sensor placed between the characters' feet: the colors (blue for water, red for lava, green for grass, yellow for sand), movements and the barcodes that allow you to earn coins, defeat a creature or unlock multiplier bonuses and gain time bonus. The discovery of the many programmed reactions and the animations corresponding to each action broadcast on the small screen of the figurine is a pleasure that fans of the Mario universe will appreciate.

While self-sufficient, the base set that obtains the interactive minifigure can and should be combined with one or more of the expansion packs to begin to deliver a compelling play experience. There are many organizational possibilities for each of the elements that make up the basic level, but it is the variety of the different interactive blocks distributed throughout the level that allows you to have a little fun by exploiting the entire minute of authorized progress. and some of these modules are exclusive to one or more packs.

The and 71360 Adventures with Mario is also the only one to provide the parts to scan which are used to start the game and to validate the end of the progression within the level. It is therefore not possible to build two real levels at the same time by combining parts from different packs.

The absence of real rules also affects the playing experience a little. The player organizes his level as he wishes, respecting the obligation to clearly identify the starting and finishing points and the time limit. For the rest, there are no particular progression constraints and it is virtually possible to never die or lose a game if the level has not been designed to offer a sufficient challenge.

All that remains is the pleasure of accumulating coins by tapping on the various villains and collecting the few bonuses distributed on the game board. By adding several expansion packs, the duration of the progression through the level is lengthened and it becomes more and more difficult if not impossible to complete the level within the allotted time, except to cheat a little while returning on certain bonuses.

If we put aside the "fun" experience offered by this new range, fans of the universe concerned will find in these different boxes some characters to isolate and possibly collect. The Mario figurine is not the most successful of the lot, the integration of electronics having imposed a format a little too cubic to be credible. The other characters provided are on the other hand more successful and it will be relatively easy to modify those equipped with bar codes to make them simple exhibition figures. There are no stickers in these sets, everything is pad printed.

LEGO sets aside all its usual principles here, along with the usual excuses to justify the presence of stickers or limit the number of new parts: Everything is pad printed and there are about thirty new elements spread over all the sets.

Note that LEGO will not be offering from August the possibility of acquiring Mario alone, to replace a too damaged minifigure or allow a second player to participate more actively in the games.

Some of the pieces that are making their first appearance with this range should appeal to MOceurs of all stripes who will find new possibilities or solutions to some of their problems.

By building my own levels and repositioning different modules to modify the course, it seemed to me that the small base plates with rounded edges had a little trouble holding the plates that serve to connect them together. Whether on two or four studs, the "Clutch Power"[the resistance to the interlocking / withdrawal of the pieces between them] of these new plates seems to me a little weak and it is difficult to move a set of several islands already built without breaking everything. It will also be necessary to provide sufficient space. to install the board which will not be transportable without disassembling everything, LEGO did not see fit to provide some base plates which could have been used to organize the game board into large modules to be linked together.

In addition to the many expansion packs, LEGO offers a series of 10 "surprise" sachets based on the same principle as those of the series of collectable minifigs with your choice of Bullet Bill, Peepa, Buzzy Beetle, Urchin, Spiny, Paragooba, Bob -omb, Eep Cheep, Blooper or Fuzzy. Each character comes with a few pieces that allow you to directly integrate a new island on the game board. You will therefore have to carefully feel the packaging to avoid duplicates or invest directly in a complete box to obtain your favorite characters and enjoy the interactions specific products they offer thanks to the barcode provided.

Each sachet will be sold for € 3.99 and it is therefore still about forty euros to spend to ensure not to miss anything of the "experience" promised with a global invoice which climbs to € 579.95 if we wish to acquire the whole of the products offered.

The application that allows you to benefit from the product is very well done. I had access to an unfinished version which already offered almost all of the expected functionality and I did not notice anything shocking. Connecting with the minifigure to transfer progress and score is hassle-free, the instructions provided are easy to follow, and each new expansion pack that you add to your game board is added to the home screen after you have finished. scanned a specific item with Mario.

During the assembly of the main level or of an extension pack, small video sequences specify the operation of the various interactive elements present in the box and the learning is done without difficulty. A young fan who has never played a video game from the Mario universe will undoubtedly miss some visual or sound references, but he will have at his disposal a sufficiently comprehensive tutorial to exploit all the possibilities of the LEGO version.

The application does not currently offer interactive content beyond the assembly instructions, some examples of personalized levels to reproduce based on the visuals provided and the possibility of saving your score. It is therefore more of a tool that allows you to fully enjoy the toy itself than a virtual extension intended to add a layer of interactivity. LEGO promises to offer "challenges" on a regular basis, it will be necessary to check what it really is when the functionality is available.

In summary, I think that LEGO offers us here a very successful concept on the technical level and we feel that the manufacturer has invested a lot at all levels to leave nothing or almost to chance. Unfortunately, and despite all the efforts made to offer a technically almost flawless product, the gameplay is in my opinion in decline and the pleasure of immersing yourself in a universe that brings together two emblematic brands does not survive beyond the first parts.

Knowing that it will be necessary to spend in total nearly 580 € to take advantage of all the possibilities of the product, I am convinced that the requested investment is much too high for what this range offers with an effect of surprise that fades too quickly and a concept that quickly becomes repetitive and a bit boring.

Even if there will undoubtedly be a few young fans to find their account, I remain convinced that the same range, freed from the overlay of interactivity and sold for less, would have more easily found its audience among video game enthusiasts who wanted just get a nice spinoff from one of their favorite universes. To each his own profession, it was perhaps not necessary to want at all costs to make this range a somewhat laborious ersatz of the video game from which it is inspired.

Note: LEGO has requested that the products shown here not be directly donated or donated, they are "pre-releases" not intended for commercialization. I am therefore putting into play a batch of "commercial" versions of these products which will be sent to the winner as of next August. Deadline set at 30th June 2020 next at 23pm. 

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.

Before moving on to the boxes of the second half of 2020, today we take a quick look at the LEGO Marvel Spider-Man set. 76163 Venom Crawler (413 pieces - 29.99 €), a small set which takes the concept of the mechanical spider, except that it is Iron Venom who this time is at the controls of a machine similar to the one piloted by Spider-Man in the set 76114 Spider-Man's Spider Crawler (2019)

The youngest who will have the chance to own both boxes will also be able to stage a beautiful confrontation of mechanical spiders and if you have already had the opportunity to assemble the Spider Crawler from set 76114, you will be in familiar territory. . This new mechanical spider is, with a few details, identical to the one in Spider-Man's colors and it includes all the technical solutions allowing it to move by moving its legs.

The machine is matched to the pilot with a Stud Shooter at the end of the tail, a pad-printed shoulder pad for the head and a handful of stickers which contribute to "venomizevisually the whole thing. Carnage can embark behind Iron Venom, the designers having planned two places on the back of the mechanical spider.

If you stick to this set because you mostly want the exclusive minifig it provides, you'll have to settle for a clash between the Venom Crawler and the Spider Buggy that Spider-Man drives. Nothing crazy, it's not the level of the vehicle available in the set 76151 Venomosaurus Ambush but we still have two Stud Shooters lateral to balance the balance of power between the two machines.

Most buyers of this box will no doubt consider this small vehicle to be of little interest, but the Spider Buggy is a machine that some Spider-Man fans are familiar with and see it appear here in a format that perfectly matches that of the comics is a nice nod. For once a Spider-vehicle is really linked to a machine already seen in different comics, it was important to point out knowing that this new version is much more successful than that of the set 4+ 76133 Spider-Man Car Chase marketed in 2019.

Unsurprisingly, the Spider-Man minifig delivered in this box is the one present in half a dozen boxes released in 2019 (76113 Spider-Man Bike Rescue, 76114 Spider-Man's Spider Crawler et 76115 Spider Mech vs. Venom) and in 2020 (76148 Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock et 76150 Spiderjet vs. Venom Mech).

The Carnage minifigure is less common but it is not exclusive to this box, it is the one delivered in the set 76113 Spider-Man Bike Rescue, here freed from the tentacles present on the 2019 version of the character.

There remains the minifig of Iron Venom, a new character at LEGO who benefits here from a new torso and a helmet, the double-sided head of Tony Stark already seen in many sets and a pair of legs unfortunately neutral. The "venomization"of the torso is interesting is rather well done but LEGO could have pushed to propose a black leg and a leg in Dark Red.

I am much less convinced by the helmet on which the fusion between the two characters is in my opinion less successful. The use of Tony Stark's usual head under the helmet is also disappointing, the character in question here deserved better with for example a face also with a hybrid look.

In short, I think that for 29.99 €, there is still nothing to complain about with a mechanical spider interesting to assemble, a playability guaranteed by the presence of two machines equipped with Stud Shooters, a nod to comic book fans with the Spider Buggy and three minifigs, one of which is exclusive to this set.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at 17th June 2020 next at 23pm. 

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.

Today we take a quick look at the contents of the LEGO Harry Potter set 75979 Hedwig (630 pieces - 49.99 €) with, once is not custom in this range, a product that offers something other than a building or a piece of wall accompanied by a few minifigs. The real star of the set here is Hedwig (or Hedwig), the white owl given to Harry by Rubeus Hagrid for his eleventh birthday.

The display unit on which we fix the owl to build is in itself a real success. No black support without details or frills as is often the case in the LEGO Star Wars range, here we assemble a relatively elegant base with a slightly inclined central post that will highlight the main construction of the set. The stability is there even if it is a little difficult to put Hedwig in motion without holding the base of the model, the support is obviously not weighted.

The mechanism that will be used to move the wings of the bird is integral with the central upright of the support and it knows how to be quite discreet, knowing that you can possibly remove the two side cranks if you do not intend to have fun with the integrated functionality.

LEGO could have offered us a simple exhibition product, many would have been satisfied with it. But the manufacturer has made the effort to integrate a rather original functionality into this model, even if most of us will only benefit the time to discover the process used and the result obtained. In my opinion, this is a real plus for those who expected something other than a simple model of the bird.

The setting in motion of the model is astonishing with a rather graceful evolution of the owl, thanks in particular to a decomposition of each of the wings into two sub-assemblies linked together by a few beams and pines. Technic. The beats are a little jerky if you grind too quickly but the effect obtained is in my opinion very credible when you find the right rhythm of rotation.

The head of the bird, connected to the rest of the construction by a simple pine, perhaps slightly oriented on the horizontal axis but not vertically. The two eyes on a black background are dressed in a golden pad-printed circle. The pupil is intentionally eccentric and it will therefore be necessary to install these two elements correctly to obtain a credible look.

The technical detail that is a bit difficult: The background color of the stickers to put on both Tiles of the envelope does not really match that of the parts and the Tile central which accommodates the red seal with its sticker remains blank. It's ugly. The visual effect obtained with the folding claws which are superimposed on the envelope is however very successful.

The minifig delivered in this box, young Harry in Hogwarts uniform with his house Gryffindor scarf, is currently exclusive to this set even if the character's head appears in a good half-dozen sets from the LEGO range. Harry Potter marketed since 2018.

The Hedwig figurine is for its part rather common, it is already found in three other boxes of the range marketed this year, the references 75968 4 Privet Drive, 75969 Hogwarts Astronomy Tower et 75980 Attack on the Burrow and in the polybag 30420 Harry Potter & Hedwig. The two figures are brought together on a small stand that matches the rest of the model which can be integrated into the main model or presented separately.

In short, I find this box very successful: It offers something different within a range accustomed to declining walls and furniture to the limit and LEGO was not content to sell us a simple too static model. so as not to end up forgotten in the dust after a few years of exposure.

I say yes, even at 49.99 €, for the association between a pretty model and an interesting functionality which allows to benefit in a way a little more "active" of the product.

Note: The product shown here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at 14th June 2020 next at 23pm.

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.