After Tokyo, it's time to take a quick look at the other early 2020 LEGO Architecture skyline: the set 20152 Dubai Skyline (740 pieces - 64.99 €).

As announced, here we find a selection of emblematic buildings of the most famous city in the United Arab Emirates, a constantly evolving city where cranes are almost as numerous as buildings. This will not mean that the set will become obsolete in the years to come, unless one of the existing structures is demolished to build something even bigger, taller and more impressive instead.

In order in this skyline: the hotel Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Subway Station Ibn Battuta, The Dubai Frame, The Dubai Fountain, the Burj Khalifa and the hotel Burj Al Arab Jumeirah.

First observation, the base of the set is covered with Tiles beige (Tan) instead of the usual gray pieces. It is in keeping with the geographical context of the city, even if the streets of Dubai are not simple dirt roads ...

On the construction experience side, there are some good and some not so good. It starts off pretty well with the two hotel structures Jumeirah emirates towers, two almost twin towers with a resolutely modern design. the LEGO version is obviously super-simplified and struggles a bit to reproduce all the finesse and grace of these constructions, but there are some interesting techniques here used to achieve this result.

At the foot of the hotel, there is the metro station Ibn Battuta with its golden dome and its rails which run on a set of pillars. I appreciate this type of detail on LEGO skylines, even summary, they help to give context to the different constructions and to dress the base of the model. Four palm trees are planted on the base, they are embodied by pieces in Olive Green very apropos.

We then install the Dubai Frame, the giant photo frame (150 meters high) which allows spamming on Instagram. No frills here, we forget the elegant friezes and the mirrors which circulate along the frame and we are satisfied with a golden door frame which gives an illusion on this scale.

Before moving on to the most imposing construction of this micro-diorama, we assemble the hotel Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. The real sail-shaped building is magnificent. The LEGO version does its best with a lot of stacked pieces, clips and Harry Potter candles for a result that I find really very average. It's a little clumsy, really very fragile and it is only with a little distance that the whole works visually.

The last construction is the most laborious and the least creative. The Burj Khalifa is just a stack of irrelevant items with over a hundred blue 1x1 round pieces. It's more varied than the monochrome version of the set 21008 Burj Khalifa marketed in 2011, it is in my opinion much less elegant than the version of the set 21031 Burj Khalifa marketed in 2016 and it is especially an abysmal boredom. This is not really the level of what can be achieved with a product from the LEGO Architecture range. In defense for the designer of the set, the overall rendering of the construction is quite faithful to the reference model.

At the foot of Burj Khalifa, there are two micro-fountains that embody the aquatic and musical spectacle offered to tourists, like what we find in Las Vegas in front of the Bellagio. Symbolic but sufficient.

In the end, I hesitate a little to qualify this set of product for tourists anxious to get a nice souvenir in an airport shop before leaving the city.

Nothing to say about the skyline in itself which allows to recognize Dubai at first glance thanks to the few easily identifiable structures, but we are however really hungry for the techniques used and the assembly of the Burj Khalifa offers nothing very exciting in this field. Mixed results therefore in my case for this box.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 25, 2019 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.

After a quick overview the first 8 characters, we continue today with the second part of the minifigs of the new series of 16 DC characters to collect (ref. Lego 71026).

One of the good surprises of this series of collectible minifigs is the presence of Jay garrick. The character here wears a buttoned jacket on the right as in the comic Smallville Titans # 1 but we also find some of the attributes of the version Earth-2 seen in Flash # 123. I'm not really convinced by the lightning bolts attached to the transparent piece to slide on the neck of the minifigure, but these elements are removable. The gray helmet is successful, it is perhaps a little wide which visually crushes the minifigure. Nice pad printing on the side of the legs, and in any case I'm happy to be able to add this version of Flash to my collection.

Aquaman is inspired by the version seen in Aquaman # 45 released in 1998 and the minifig is perfect with a very well made torso protection, a pair of legs in two colors with print of the tortoiseshell pattern and an arm pad printed all over the outer surface with a simple but convincing pattern. The head is that of the version delivered earlier this year in the set 76116 Batman: Batsub and the Underwater Clash, she does the job. Otherwise, you will also have in the bag a new light green fish, that's always taken.

Huntress wear the outfit New 52 of the character and it's almost successful from head to toe through the pad-printed shoulder pads on the upper arms. Too bad for the slightly dull white stripes on the black torso. I'm not totally convinced with the use of the Batman / Catwoman belt here, I would have preferred a pad printing with a round belt buckle more faithful to the character's costume. For the rest, it's very correct and very homogeneous with fine lines that help to highlight the tight-fitting outfit of Helena Rosa Bertinelli.

The minifig of Stargirl seemed very successful on official visuals, it is a little less successful in real life. The area that should have been flesh-colored on the torso is an appalling pallor which spoils the rendering a little and it lacks a little white ink on the knees. The stars on the arms and torso are also in principle white, they turn a little gray here. Susan Caraway's belt, on the other hand, is a good example of what I would have liked to see on Huntress. The minifig is here accompanied by its cosmic stick which takes on the air of a glass tube with material melting at the end. Bof, the accessory deserved a more successful piece with the hook at the end of the handle.

Mister Miracle is the escape king, so it makes sense that here he comes with a pair of handcuffs and a chain. The holding of the minifig is the one seen since 2017 in the comic Mister Miracle and the LEGO version is in my opinion very successful: The effect of superposition and relief of the different elements of the costume is really impressive. Here too, LEGO puts forward all its know-how in molding and pad printing and even if it is in the service of a character less known than others, this minifigure is really worth the detour.

Metamorpho He is also a supporting character for many fans, but the minifigure is very faithful to the character with different textures and colors for the two legs and the two halves of the torso, arms included. Visually, it works and it was difficult to make it look more like Rex Mason's comic book version. A technical detail that spoils the rendering a little: the neck area on the torso is a pretty pink color, but it should be white like the head, this is also the case on the official visuals. Small alignment problem of the black briefs which reveals the brown of the right leg but we will do with it.

Simon baz is here in version Prime Earth, with a sober costume but faithful to the Comic version. Too bad the mask gives it a little Mexican wrestling side, but it is also the case in the comics. The white surrounding the logo placed on the torso is here rather ... white and that's great news. For the rest, I retain the light green border at the junction between the two zones of different colors of the legs, it is aligned. Nice coordination between the green of the torso is that of the lower legs and upper arms. The character has its ring of power and its battery that allows it to be recharged.

The minifig of Sinestro is based on the character's first appearance in Green Lantern (vol.2) # 7 published in 1961: The costume is really faithful to the reference comic version where the character displays a haircut which the LEGO version unfortunately does not pay homage to. We will do with it. The brief is here made by keeping the blue base of the legs and pad printing black around it. It's prettier than on other minifigs that have alignment issues at that exact spot. Power ring and battery essential in the bag, everything is there.

In short, this series of 16 characters has the merit of giving a little depth to the DC Comics universe in a LEGO version by allowing us to obtain some new characters that would not necessarily have found their place in a set and historical variants. reference for some prominent characters.

Everything is not technically perfect, but LEGO still offers us a nice demonstration of its know-how and experience in the fields of injection and pad printing. At € 4 a bag, that's the least of it and it's hard to stay indifferent to the gap between what the official visuals promise us and the actual versions of some characters.

As i said it on Hoth Bricks, we know that some resellers will only have access to boxes of 30 sachets, but we do not yet know the exact distribution of these boxes. In the best case, we can count on a complete series and 14 additional characters. So be careful if you pre-order with several at Minifigure Maddness which offers an interesting offer for a set of two boxes of 30 sachets.

Note: A complete set of 16 characters, supplied by LEGO, is involved. Deadline fixed at December 25, 2019 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 interested in the collectible minfigs of the new LEGO DC Comics series bearing the reference 71026. Too many second-class characters for some, not the expected characters for others, difficult to satisfy everyone and in any case you have already had plenty of time to get a very precise idea of ​​the content of this series of 16 bags that divides fans a bit.

This new series of minifigs at least has the merit of existing and it will probably introduce some little-known characters from the DC universe to some fans who were content until now with the major and recurring characters that LEGO regularly delivers to us in sets more or less successful.

As usual, I will therefore content myself with giving you some personal thoughts on these miniatures without overdoing them. I am also not going to give you an academic presentation on the transparent accessory provided in each bag which allows to present the different characters in a more dynamic pose than usual. It's cool, you'll see it in the different photos, but that's not everything, especially at € 4 a bag.

For collectors of variants, there are of course in this series some usual characters, delivered here in a different version from those already encountered in the various boxes sold. The inevitable Superman is here in version Rebirth, without his red briefs and with a musculature that benefits from a beautiful shadow and relief effect on the torso. The suggested boot effect on the legs is a bit minimalist, but we'll do with it. The minifigure, on the other hand, is accompanied by a pretty exclusive Tile representing the Daily Planet.

Bat-Mite is a fan of Batman to the point of donning the outfit, but with a little less allure. We find here the slightly neglected side of this character's outfit with a logo sewn on the chest, a poorly stored belt and a mask with one of the ears hanging down. Like a good fan, Bat-Mite reads comics and he is delivered here with a very nice cover of the Detective Comics # 27 published in 1939 in which Batman made his first appearance. Just this accessory, this bag deserves in my opinion all your attention.

Wonder Woman is here in the outfit introduced in 1941 in the 1st volume of the character's adventures. The minifig's torso is almost perfect, if you don't take into account the missed flesh-colored hue that turns pink and no longer matches the face and arms. The skirt / leg set works well and LEGO has not skimped on finishing the legs. The tint Flesh of the legs is not perfectly centered but the skirt hides this technical defect a little.

The minifig of Cheetah delivered here is different from the one supplied in 2018 in the Lex Luthor Mech Takedown set 76097, it is Priscilla Rich whose first appearance dates from 1996 in Wonder Woman # 160. While the character's outfit will delight fans of animal-disguised characters, in my opinion, a pair of yellow claws are missing. On a yellow background, the flesh tone of the upper torso roughly matches that of the head, it's almost a feat when you see what this layering often looks like on other figures.

Like Superman, Batman couldn't be absent from a series of characters based on the DC Universe. Fortunately we escape yet another uninteresting variant of the character and we get the version of Detective Comics # 27 appeared in 1939 with its mask with longer ears. the outfit is consistent with that of the comic with black briefs which are unfortunately not perfectly centered and the correct symbol on the chest. The face is as usual a little too pale and the blue Batarang is currently exclusive.

The Joker featured in this collectible minifig series is based on the comic The Dark Knight Returns designed by Frank Miller and published in 1986. The minifig version struggles to reproduce this very "serious" version of the character but it was difficult to do better without departing from the usual codes used at LEGO. The outfit is simple but consistent and the Joker has two accessories here: a pink barbapapa and a playing card whose pad printing is very successful with a Joker in profile holding a card on which we can see the silhouette of Batman.

Bumblebee is delivered here in a version that seems inspired by that of the animated series Teen Titans and the minifigure is very accomplished with a torso whose finish would be perfect if the flesh part was the same color as the arms and the head, which is not the case. The color of the two areas that feminize the torso is even closer to what it was necessary to obtain and that's a shame. It was enough to apply the right color in the center and put the side areas in black. The wings are elegant with a pretty and discreet pad printing which helps to make them visually thin and light and the double face is technically flawless.

Cyborg is he here in a version very close to the one on the cover of Tales of The New Teen Titans # 1 appeared in 1982 with an open armor on the shoulders, on the chest and on the upper legs. The character is added here with the purple chains visible on the cover of the comic in question. The finish of the minifigure is perfect, it also uses just about all the molding and pad printing techniques that LEGO masters for a very convincing result. Special mention for the colored reflections on the muscles of the torso.

The results are therefore a little mixed for this first part, with globally successful figures but whose finish is not always at the level of what we can expect for a product sold € 3.99 per unit. At this price, I do not let anything go and I repeat, we must always be wary of the official visuals provided by LEGO (look at the one of Bumblebee or the face of Batman ...). The second part arrives quickly with the 8 other characters of this series of 16 which will be available in January 2020.

Note: A complete set of 16 characters, supplied by LEGO, is involved. Deadline fixed at December 22, 2019 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.

Without transition, today we are quickly interested in the set LEGO Speed ​​Champions 76897 1985 Audi Quattro S1 (250 pieces - € 19.99), one of the novelties for 2020 which benefits from the passage to 8 studs of the vehicle chassis. This change in the scale of the vehicles in the range did not leave fans indifferent, some seeing it as a welcome development that significantly improves the proportions and level of detail of the vehicles, others regretting this break. the aesthetic homogeneity of the range.

No one can deny that some of the various 6 stud wide models released so far tended to be a bit too narrow and seemed like stretched in length. This detail is corrected here with an aesthetic that is generally more consistent in my opinion.

The Audi Quattro S1 is a very angular vehicle which lends itself rather well to the conversion into a LEGO model and the construction obtained with the 240 pieces of the set including the new 12x6 chassis (6287679) and the new axles in 6 studs wide ( 6287680) is like the reference model.

This set is no exception to the usual large sheet of stickers, including very small stickers that are a bit laborious to stick. It's almost model making at this stage and you have to constantly alternate between assembling parts and applying stickers. LEGO indicates on the box that this set is accessible to children aged 7 and over, which is the case with assembly techniques, but unless they are used to sticking very small stickers, young fans should get help so as not to end up with a vehicle that no longer really looks like what was originally planned.

As usual, the stickers printed on a really white background stand out on parts that are not the same white. There are all the same three pad-printed parts in this box: the front cover and two elements which come to take place on the rear pillars of the passenger compartment.

This 8-stud wide passage does not solve all the problems: With the use of the new chassis, the cockpit has 5 studs, two studs per minifig and a central stud on which we find here the gear lever and the hand brake.

But there was room to slide the windshield and the steering wheel does not really fall in front of the driver. The minifig can also not keep its arms outstretched towards the steering wheel, it then becomes impossible to plug the windshield on the planned location.

A note in passing, the windshield on which the vehicle roof is clipped only fits on two tenons placed at the front and does not come to be placed correctly on the smooth support provided just behind the driver's head. The pilot's helmet does not interfere, however, on condition that the minifig is properly plugged into the studs in the driver's seat. Fortunately, it suffices to reverse the central black piece above the seats to have two fixing lugs which correct the problem (see photos below).

Overall, it's obviously less sexy than a supercar from the 2000s, but I think this LEGO-style Audi Quattro S1 is doing pretty well and should appeal to those nostalgic for the exploits of Walter Röhrl and Michèle. Sheep. Everything is there, the shapes of the vehicle are respected and the whole is solid enough to play with. It's up to you to see if your 6 stud vehicle collection will accommodate these new, larger and more detailed models.

The driver provided in this box, which is obviously Walter Röhrl, is not very exciting. The torso pad printing is correct and includes the elements seen on the combination of pilots of the time. No badges on the arms, it's a shame. LEGO provides extra hair, that's always what it takes.

Finally, I think that if we can welcome the change of scale for this range of vehicles which makes it possible to obtain products with a little more accomplished exterior aesthetics, the significant increase in the public price of these boxes which passes. from 14.99 € to 19.99 € for those which contain only one vehicle will limit even more the access to the youngest ones who however love to have fun with these small cars. You will have to ask parents to drive out the promotions and save a little more on your pocket money while waiting for the opportunity to be able to have fun.

The LEGO Speed ​​Champions set 76897 1985 Audi Quattro S1 (250 pieces - € 19.99) will be available on the official online store and in the LEGO Stores from January 1, 2020.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 21, 2019 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 quickly interested in the LEGO Architecture set 20151 Tokyo Skyline (547 pieces - 64.99 €), a box that will join at the beginning of 2020 the already long list of panoramas of different cities converted with LEGO sauce. Here it is Tokyo that it is about with some emblematic structures of the Japanese capital, the Tokyo Tower, Gakuen Cocoon Tower mode, the park Chidorigafuchi, a view of shibuya, tower Tokyo skytree and the exhibition center tokyo big sight all placed in front of Mount Fuji with a forced perspective effect.

La Tokyo Tower is quite convincing, we find this red and white Eiffel Tower side of the 333-meter construction visible from all parts of the city, but without the lightness of the structure which is here embodied by solid parts. So we hesitate a bit with Tintin's rocket, but it was undoubtedly difficult to do better on this scale. At the foot of the Tokyo Tower, we find what appears to be the temple of Sensoji, a pagoda surmounted by a golden element. Nothing is specified about this structure in the instruction booklet.

La Gakuen Cocoon Tower Mode is in my opinion a little less successful. The 204-meter-high structure that accommodates several thousand Japanese students is a little more elegant than the LEGO version and the pad-printed pieces with a simple geometric pattern struggle to reproduce the "nest" effect visible on the real building.

Further in the skyline, there are two emblematic places of the Japanese capital: the path of Chidorigafuchi which runs along the moat of the Imperial Palace with its cherry blossoms in spring and the intersection of the Shibuya district, an incredible place that sees thousands of people crossing the street at the same time and in all directions without jostling each other.

Even if you've never been to Japan, you must have seen this place at least once in a movie. I was able to go there during a business trip and it is a strange feeling to find myself in the middle of the flow of people who cross this simple crossing.

The LEGO version obviously does not convey any of these emotions, but the presence of this place in this set is a detail that I particularly appreciate. There are buildings with their colorful signs, giant screens that display advertisements and ground markings that make it easy to recognize the place.

At the end of the display, we find the exhibition center Tokyo Big Sight with the very particular structure of its conference space relatively well reproduced here. Just behind, we install the Tokyo Skytree, a 634 meter high structure whose LEGO version is in my opinion unconvincing.

The metallic mesh which covers the tower is symbolized here by a few flexible tubes too far apart to produce a credible effect. Once again, I am well aware that the scale of these skylines does not allow all the fantasies usually seen on the sets of the Architecture range which only feature a single construction, but I am still a little disappointed .

It's hard for me to criticize the choice of buildings that make up this Tokyo skyline, I don't live there. Everyone will have an opinion on the subject depending on what they may have learned from their visit to the Japanese capital, but from my point of view as an occasional tourist, I think the selection is quite representative of what best symbolizes this city.

I remain a little on my hunger concerning the Gakuen Cocoon Tower Mode and the tower placed to the far right of the model. Mount Fuji, despite its rough finish, brings a bit of depth to the product and helps highlight the two elements that I think are the most successful here: Chidorigafuchi and Shibuya.

Overall, this set is a nice souvenir for those who have already been able to go to Tokyo and who have taken the time to visit the city a little without spending their entire stay in Akihabara ... The district would have deserved to be included in this skyline, with a few micro-buildings adorned with illuminated signs.

Lovers of micro-constructions based on LEGO bricks will also find their account there with a set that offers varied and always ingenious assemblies. Some structures, on the other hand, are a little fragile, but as it is a pure exhibition product that you do not touch after mounting it, this is not very serious.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 20, 2019 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.