The Tiniest of Tumblers

Larry Lars has created what has to be the smallest Batman Tumbler I’ve ever seen. Its simply brilliant in its design. All 12 parts of it!

He’s even been kind enough to provide instructions for those of us who desire their own tiny tumbler

Batman has never been cuter

“Cute” and Batman rarely go in the same sentence, but with Bruce Lowell’s newest creation, that’s the best way to describe this LEGO version of Funko’s POP! Heroes Batman

Once again Bruce has raised the bar when it comes to LEGO building. To make Batman in all his smooth goodness Bruce had to employ a lot of different SNOT (Studs not on top) techniques and a good deal of curved slopes.

I think my favorite part is how he built the arms and legs. Its a perfect use of the hinge brick and cheese slope combination.

Jingle all the way!

I was waiting till Simon Liu posted the complete verse before I posted this so here goes:

And here’s what they look like all together:

A great compilation of vignettes of a classic (if a bit raunchy) parody version of the Christmas song.

LEGO Lord of the Rings the Video Game Review

So I’ve been playing LEGO Lord of the Rings the Video Game for about a week now. I’ve beaten the story portion and I’m making my way through gathering all the extras. I’m playing it on PS3, as that’s my console of choice. First impression — Awesome!!!!

Before I played it, I was a little hesitant with this game. Some of you might cringe when I say this, but I’m not a fan of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. I love the Hobbit, which I’ve read several times, but the LOTR is just a little too heavy and depressing (if I want to be perfectly honest). Sure it has a grand sweeping story of power, tragedy and good triumphing over evil but I just can’t get into it.

I couldn’t even get excited about the sets too much. Somewhat because of my lack of interest in the subject matter, but also because there isn’t all that much in the way of parts that interests me in the sets. Yes, it is a bevvy of castle parts, and I used to be almost exclusively castle when I was younger. I just don’t build castles much anymore. And of course there are the minifigures but I don’t need to collect every figure either.

Putting all of that aside, I wanted to get the game and see for myself what it was like. And of course I wanted to share my opinion of the game with all of you.

Now after LEGO Batman 2 I wasn’t sure how TT Games could top it. Being able to traverse all of Gotham was simply awesome, especially flying around as Superman. There’s no flying in this game (or if there is, I haven’t found it yet ) and like the books you are walking around Middle Earth — all of Middle Earth.

Take that in for a moment. All of Middle Earth. Peter Jackson may have opened the window into the world, but running around a LEGO version of it is simply cool. Its all there — the Shire, Mines of Moria, etc. And you get to bash all sorts of things for golden coins to your hearts content. Its all laid out on the familiar map of Middle Earth and as you go through the different stages you unlock more of the world. The initial playing of the game as I beat each “story” version of the levels really kept me wanting to play till I beat the whole thing.

The Fellowship characters are all used with pretty equal amounts of time, which is nice. Giving even Pippen and Merry specific tasks that only they can do. Although I’ve found that Legolas is one of my favorite to play. Is that on purpose I wonder?

One thing I like even better than LEGO Batman 2 is that it is much easier to find the special silver bricks and items. In Batman I got a little tired of trying to find all the specials. I didn’t completely finish it after I went around the city for what felt like the 50th time.

You will probably get a little tired of traveling around here too as there is a vast assortment of items you need to collect. It is a little tiring traveling around all over. I feel as if I’ve gone on the long journey that the fellowship took. Here its easy to go on the map and actually select where you want to go and have the helpful transparent travel studs to show you the way. The only time I’ve found it hard to see them is in the snowy mountainous areas.

If you don’t want to wait for the game, but want to see all the “mini movies” you can see it here:

If you aren’t familiar with the story (and who isn’t really?) then there might be a few spoilers. There’s the now classic TT Games humor as well. But I have to warn you, it is an hour and a half long. So in essence, its really a full length movie.

So my over all opinion — get it! It might be a tad scary for the little ones, although they’ve skipped over a lot of the truly scary parts of the story. It would be a great Christmas gift for any little (or big) kids to play.

Here’s hoping (and I bet it will) that there will be a LEGO Hobbit the Video Game in the future.

Comic Con Day 1 and LEGO Hobbit News

What is a hobbit without his home? We saw the figures, but not the set until today when it was unveiled at Comic Con.

My first thought was — Green Parts Pack!!! Oh, and you get some figures too.

Okay at $59.99 its not exactly a steal for all that green, but of course you do get all those awesome new figs with fun new elements!

Today at the booth was all about Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. There was a scavenger hunt at the very, very start of the day where you got a map and had to get the parts of Bilbo

Unfortunately due to the crazy factor, the line for this was capped very early so even I was not able to get a map or a fig

There was also a mosaic build, part of a 4 day mosaic build. That anyone could participate in and a station so you could play LEGO Lord of the Rings Video Game.

Tomorrow the craziness factor increases to a factor of 11 (at least) due to it being Super Heros’ Day. Where they will be giving four different figures (100 of each) to those lucky enough to get their badges scanned early. You will only get a chance to win one of the four, if you win one at all.

It will be slightly (and I do mean slightly) better than last year’s fiasco with the Batman and Green Lantern figs. It will be more fair, but still the crazy factor will be off the charts. Lucky for me, I’m not working the LEGO booth this year, so I don’t have to deal with disappointed people unhappy with not getting a chance to participate.

I will be doing something I’ve never done before tomorrow (well today since its already 1:30 am) — I will be on a panel! I’m excited about it. Of course there are eight of us on the panel so I will only have about 5 minutes to talk, but hey, that’s more than most people get at Comic Con. I’m looking forward to my 5 minutes of Comic Con fame.

That’s all for now. I still have 3 days to go and very little time to sleep before I start all over again tomorrow.

LEGO Batman 2 is almost here!

In just a little over a week LEGO Batman 2 the Video Game will be out for all platforms — June 19th the be precise (at least here in the States). I loved the original game and with the addition of the Justice League characters, I can only see the new game as an improvement on a winning formula.

And if you pre-order the game as I just did today, you get an exclusive Lex Luthor fig!

I plan on doing a full in depth review of the game as soon as I get my hands on a copy and have time to play it. I still haven’t finished LEGO Harry Potter 2 or LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, but we won’t mention that.

Of course that is the kicker isn’t it — time. As you’ve probably noticed I’ve been so busy doing fun and interesting projects and trips that I’ve had no time to properly blog any of it! Its really and truly as frustrating to me to not blog as it is for you to only see the same posts for days on end.

After next week’s trip to BrickWorld Chicago I don’t have any other trips planned until BrickFair in August. So maybe I’ll have a little breathing room. There is the San Diego Comic Con in next month too, but at least I don’t have to fly anywhere.

Three conventions — Phoenix Comicon, BricksCascade, and BrickWorld — in 4 weeks has been a little much for me, especially as I’m still not recovered from my Florida trip and the project that came right after that one. And of course, as it is Wedding season, my Wedding Cake Toppers are selling like hot cakes and I’m trying to fulfill orders between trips.

I’m busier than ever and my blog is sadly the thing that suffers the most from it. But I can’t complain. A business is supposed to grow and evolve, I just need to learn to grow and evolve a little more.

Holy Micro Batman!

After I built my Mini Modulars building set I naturally wanted to have it on display. So I cleared off a few of my older models on top of my LEGO supply drawers and set it up there. I decided to leave my 2006 LEGO Batman San Diego Comic Con exclusive (which has apparently gotten very expensive!) up there since there was room. What I didn’t notice until just a few days ago was how perfect the placment was!

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes – Announcement Trailer

I do apologize for the lack of posts lately. I planned on posting while at Bricks by the Bay, but that obviously didn’t happen. I will be writing about the convention in my next post, but for now, check this out –

Oh, I am excited about this one!!! I’ve been a huge fan of the TT LEGO games ever since the first Star Wars game and even though they are basically very similar, that doesn’t stop me from getting each and every one of them.

A very noticeable difference this time is that the Minifigs are talking instead of mumbled undecipherable sounds. The mumbling is certainly cheaper for an international game, but after several mini movies, DVD movies and now Ninja-go as a TV series it makes a lot more sense for them to talk.

And although I do like Batman, I also like Superman and Wonder Woman. Of course there are all the cool bad guys to play too.

This will be available on June 1st and you can preorder it on Amazon.

There is also a great set of Pics on FBTB’s Flickr page.

BrickCon, just around the corner

BrickCon 2011 T-shirt Design by BrickShirts

There are only a couple of days to go until the last US LEGO Con of the year will be under way. I know I’m excited!

As I will once again be a vendor, I’ve created a lot of fun new items to sell. I’ve also got lots of new vinyl window sticker designs, some premiering for the first time and perfect for Halloween.

I have to say, my favorite is the new skeleton.

I will also be showing my Remembering 9/11 mosaic, along with an updated version of my Dreyer’s Truck that was originally designed when I worked at LEGOLAND California. There may be a couple more MOCs, but it all depends on if I get them done.

If any of you are going, stop by my booth and say hi! And for all those who can’t make it, I will do my best to cover it for you.

Now, back to packing . . .

Comic Con 2011 Recap

I do apologize for the lack of posts, I’ve been in a post-Comic Con coma the last few days and I haven’t really had the motivation to do much of anything including writing my blog. It seems that going from working 2 months flat out and getting no sleep on a commission piece — and yes, I will be posting about it soon — and then going to Comic Con for 5 days and getting no sleep tends to totally exhaust me for some reason, who knew?

So, back to the matter at hand, Comic Con 2011. This year was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. I don’t know why, maybe it was the panels I got to see, or the movies I got to watch. I’ve been going for at least 19 years, so Comic Con is not the overwhelming monster it seems to be to first or even second time attendees.

For me, as it has been for quite a number of years, Comic Con is very LEGO-centric. Mainly because I help out with the LEGO booth. Oh I go to the panels and watch the movies too, but Comic Con is part fun and part work for me, much like the LEGO Conventions.

This year, as I’m sure all of you know introduced the new LEGO DC and Marvel licenses that will be out next year.

I have to admit, I’m not to big a fan of the big Hero Factory like figures, but then I don’t really care that much for Bionicle or Hero Factory either. Now don’t get me wrong, I see uses for the pieces, and I know why little (and big) boys like the figs, its just not my thing.

I also enjoyed finally seeing the Captain Jack Sparrow model in person. After seeing it online earlier this year it was nice to see the real thing.

I was especially happy that they had fixed the hand holding the compass, as that was the only part of the model that bothered me when I saw the initial pictures.

The play area this year consisted of a mountain of 2×4 yellow bricks. It was a fun and interesting thing to watch. Because there was only one type of brick, it was more of a challenge to create models, but it also kept little ones from fighting over the bricks.
And no, I didn’t make the Star Wars sign.

I even had a bit of fun with the bricks.

You can see LEGO Events Coordinator Mark Fontanella literally shoveled up all the bricks at the end.

Now, I did not buy the LEGO exclusive this year, you can go check out FBTB’s review on that.

I couldn’t justify the extra cost (it was $50), just for special packaging and a poster when the set is coming out in October. Especially when I knew I’ll be opening my Advent Calendar to do my Annual Advent Callendar Review.

I did however manage to get my hands on the exclusive LEGO Batman and Greenlantern figs. And no, just because I was working the booth didn’t automatically mean that I got one. I had to stand in line like everyone else.

In fact, I managed to get quite a lot of LEGO swag this year.

Some of it, like the exclusive minifigs wasn’t all that easy to get. Warner Brothers had a special lanyard you had to get stamped at 3 different booths and then take it to their booth to get the swag bag. But it was worth it, the bag consisted of a LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 Video Game shirt (the white one in the picture), a Voldemort Minifig, a Batman Arkham City Water Bottle (not LEGO), a magnet and a bandanna (also not LEGO).

The big LEGO Harry Potter bag I got when I picked up my attendee badge. The LEGO booth was giving away LEGO Star Wars minifig posters, Heroica comic books, and Ninjago bracelets. Hallmark booth was giving away a LEGO Darth Vader poster. DK was giving away a LEGO Star Wars pin, LEGO Harry Potter lanyards, and a LEGO Star Wars poster. And Cartoon Network came by the LEGO booth on Saturday and handed out Ninjago pins.

I also managed (it helps to have many friends at LEGO ) to get into the special sneak preview of LEGO Star Wars: Padawan Menace that was shown in the Reading Theater of the Gaslamp District of San Diego. It was shown the day before it aired on Cartoon Network. All of us who attended got a LEGO Star Wars Padawan Menace poster, a small minifig (it’s the one that comes with the DVD when it comes out in September), and a LEGOLAND California luggage tag.

I even got to meet the director David Scott, seen here with Minifig Darth Vader.

Outside of the convention they had a Conan O’Brien fan art museum. One of the pieces was a “Flaming C” created by Nathan Sawaya.

I also went to the LEGO Star Wars panel on Friday. The biggest news that came out of that was that they are finally making a Queen Amidala minifigure in her red dress!

They are also re-releasing the Tie Fighter with a new design and new minifigures. My favorite is the new R4 droid. I can see that head part coming in very handy if they decide to make it in other colors down the line.

The tie fighter will be out in January 2012 and the Queen Amidala fig (no news on what set she’ll be in) in the summer 2012 line.

As for the cool non-LEGO Comic Con stuff I did. I got to see a preview of Captain America with actor Chris Evans introducing the movie.

I watched the Torchwood Miracle Day episode 3 with the entire cast merely feet from me and I met and talked with Timothy Zahn, author of many books that I enjoy reading.

And I think that is about it.

Check out my Flickr photostream for all my pictures.