China having become the other land of LEGO, a lot of information comes to us from the online sales sites of the Middle Empire on which stocks of new parts are flowing which probably escape the factories of the subcontractors of LEGO through the pockets of a few poorly paid employees who decided to supplement their end of the month.

Now is the turn of these Iron Man helmets to make their appearance on Taobao (the equivalent of eBay but in China) and although there is no guarantee that these are official products intended to fill the boxes of the Avengers: Age of Ultron range expected in spring 2015, we can assume that they are there are three new attributes (Mark43, Hulkbuster, Iron Legion Drone ...) for Tony Stark's armor that we will soon have the joy of being able to afford.

Tongues are loosening about the UCS version of the Helicarrier which is at the center of all speculation following a very furtive appearance of what appears to be part of the set in the credits of the video presentation of set 10246 Detective's Office (see article below).

We now know the LEGO reference of the set: 76042, its US public price: $ 349.99 and the date of sale of this box: 1er March 2015.

For the visuals, we will have to wait a little longer ...

It's up to you: Some people see in the image above (capture from the Detective's Office set 10246 presentation video) a piece from the upcoming UCS Helicarrier (Marvel Avengers) set presented by designer Marcos Bessa. Why not. It even looks like a mini Quinjet just above the landing platform ... One more step towards confirming the rumor announcing this set for summer 2015.

It wouldn't be the first time that the official presentation video of a set has given us some clues about an upcoming box: In 2012, the set 10225 SCU R2-D2 had been seen for the first time in the video presentation of the set 10224 Town Hall (see this article).

The life of the LEGO fan is (thankfully) often filled with various and varied rumors about upcoming products and themes that the manufacturer could possibly decline. For 2015, two new rumors are fueling discussions and speculation:

In the LEGO Creator Expert range, the set  10244 Fairground Mixer released in spring 2014 would be joined by a big wheel (ferris wheels in English), to flesh out the concept of a fun fair. There is already a Ferris wheel model in the LEGO catalog with the Creator 4957 set released in 2007. This new version of the merry-go-round should be able to be motorized, as is the case with the attraction of the set 10244. The Luna Park of LEGOville takes shape ...

More exciting, in 2015, a new licensed theme would hit shelves: It could be a range in the spirit of what the license offered "maison"Monster Fighters, but with a minus side"zombie"and a retro touch that should awaken childhood memories in many fans. Based on this description, we obviously immediately think of the Scooby-Doo license. Some people mention the possibility of a Ghostbusters range, I am less convinced .

The Scooby-Doo license is in great shape, with a live show, DVDs galore, etc ... Derivatives are however now manufactured by character-building which also has the Doctor Who license. But we know that LEGO has solved its license problem for the Doctor Who brand, there is no reason why it should not be the same for Scooby-Doo ...

In short, this is enough to fuel the discussions for the weeks to come ...

Sorry for the illustrative image above, I tried to kill two birds with one stone ...

Update : The Scooby-Doo license becomes clearer. Another source (view comments) allows us to obtain more information: Marketing of several sets planned for May / June 2015. On the menu, a set with the Mystery Van and the minifigs of Scooby-Doo, Sammy Rogers and Fred Jones, a set with what looks like a haunted castle with Scooby-Doo, Sammy, Vera Dinkley and Daphne Blake, and two other sets. One of the creatures provided in these boxes looks like a "swamp creature".

The rumor at the moment is from a reliable source and it's worth mentioning here: The Next Set Ultimate Collector Series from the LEGO Star Wars line would be released in May 2015 and it would be a Tie ... something. It is cavegod which mentions the upcoming release of this set on the Eurobricks forum and I have no reason to doubt its seriousness when it comes to getting first hand info ...

At this point, no one really knows what version it might be: A standard Tie Fighter? The Tie Advanced Prototype of the Inquisitor from the Star Wars Rebels animated series (see image above)? Regardless, if this rumor is confirmed in the weeks or months to come, that's good news for me.

This box will be welcome and it will join in my collection the sets UCS 7181 Tie Interceptor (2000) and 10175 Vader's Tie Advanced (2006).

To be continued...