Lego has gotten fans and collectors talking this week with two announcements of new product lines. Earlier this week, Lego announced their “Lego Friends” line. Targeted at young girl, this line features revamped – almost Polly Pocket-esque – mini-figures and lots of pink, blue and purple bricks. Of course geeks of all flavors are up in arms about gender stereotyping and other things, so I’ll let google be your friend on this one. For some images of the sets and figures, check this out.
Today’s announcement focused on the addition of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ to Lego’s list of licensed properties. I’d expect these sets to be on display at Toy Fair in February with a global launch in June 2012. You can read the full press release here.
With this holiday season having the first Lego Star Wars advent calendar, Lego has set-up a small Star Wars holiday site featuring a Santa suit clad Yoda. On this site, Lego has 3 free holiday e-cards and as an incentive for sending them to your friends and family, for each card sent Lego will donate to Toys For Tots! This is a fantastically easy way to make a difference for a child this holiday season – and the middle card is pretty awesome to boot! Head over to 
Earlier today, the news hit that not only would Lego be releasing construction sets based on DC Universe properties, they would also be releasing sets based on Marvel properties as well! At preview night, Lego had a bit of a teaser on hand as they had a select few mini-figures from each Universe. And frankly, they looked great. Check them out in the gallery below; I’m going to have to get my hands (or claws!) on these!
Lego sent over an announcement for their brand new 30-minute animated Lego Star Wars special that’s set to air on Cartoon Network in just a few weeks. Debuting July 22nd at 7:00 PM (Eastern and Pacific) this special features animation and humor in the style of the Lego Star Wars games. Check after the jump for full details on this special – Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace!