This Fett means Business

Kevin Ryhal has created a Midi-Mood Scale Boba Fett that is fully pose-able.

Pretty darned awesome!

Boba Fett Helmet

Need I say anything but cool?!!! Tyler Clites just keeps getting better and better at awesome models.

I know I just posted his Mario, but I couldn’t help but post this tribute to everyone’s favorite bounty hunter.

I love the use of both the smooth and “studly” surfaces to enhance the overall effect of the model.

Costa Mesa LEGO Store Grand Opening

Well, the LEGO Store in Costa Mesa, California officially opened today at 10 am. Along with the excitement of the store finally being opened there was the 8 foot tall Yoda Building Event.

Here’s a look at the new store:

And here’s where we set up to do the giant Yoda build:

This was of course before all the crowds and people got there.

Another special model that was on hand for the opening, a newly designed Boba Fett model:

Once the building got started at 11 am, every one was excited and ready to start building. You can see Master Model Builder Dan Steininger talking to the kids

We couldn’t let Dan have all the fun so we got into the spirit of building. Here is Hao with his 2×4 tan brick version of a AT-AT

Also Ace of FBTB.com built a whole fleet of Star Wars ships in brown:
(You can see him in the background looking a little tired )

As we started to get giant bricks (4x the size of normal 2×4 bricks) from the kids Dan started to build the giant Yoda. The 2 foot tall version is used as a guide to create the 8 foot tall one.

By the end of the day we had made a good bit of progress.

One of the other cool things was that Dan gave several LEGO sets away during the day, and naturally when there is free LEGO involved the crowds gather

Tomorrow and Sunday will be even more crazy but I look forward to being there even if I am super tired (I was there for about 11 hours today helping out). I will be sure to take more pictures to document this weekend. Now I’ve got to go to bed as it will be another very long day tomorrow. Night all!

Custom Minifig Stickers

Want a new way to show your love for LEGO minifigs? Check out these new vinyl decal stickers that just happen to be created by my brother Mike Asanuma.

They are all about 3 inches tall and prices range between $3-6 plus shipping.   The stickers are perfect for your laptop, car window, or just about any where else you feel like sticking them.

If you are interested in getting some click on any of the pictures or go to his Shallow Swamp Studios Etsy shop. He will also have these for sale at Bricks by the Bay at the end of the month.

Star Wars Celebration V LEGO CubeDudes exclusive

CubeDudes not only took Comic Con by storm, now they are invading Star Wars Celebration V as well. You can read an interview with Angus MacLane on StarWars.com

Almost makes me want to make the cross country trip to get one of these, but unlike Celebration IV (which was in LA), I won’t be going to Florida for this one. Of course I could build my own from the pictures, but its just not the same.

Comic Con 2010 Thursday and Friday

Before I say anything else I have to just say — yes, that is what you think, and yes, it is real!

From my sources I got confirmation that that is an official LEGO Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean! Now if you were paying attention earlier when LEGO canceled the regular Pirates line while at the same time announcing the LEGO/Disney relationship all you had to do was put two and two together. This prototype model was leaked into the Prince of Persia display as a sneak peek of this new line. No word on when it will come out but I would have to guess that it would be June of next year, about a month before the movie will be released.

Here you can see the built CubeDudes of the Comic Con exclusive set. The models are pretty cute, my only complaint is the $75 price and the very thin cardboard box. Angus MacLane, father of the CubeDude movement, was there today signing. He’s a pretty cool guy. I’ve met him before at Bricks by the Bay and have chatted with him online many times, but it’s always nice to talk to him in person.

Not only is there a raffle to buy the CubeDudes but there is also a drawing for a custom display case with three Boba Fetts — White Boba, Gold Boba, and Silver Boba. This is the one I forgot to snap a shot of before.

Although I usually stay away from mentioning Mega Blocks at all I had to post this, their attempt at model building.

I have seen models by them before in New York’s Times Square Toys R Us. And I was equally unimpressed with those models. The Halo fig and the Iron Man Bust seem rather blocky (pardon the pun) and about twenty years behind LEGO in design quality.

On a totally unrelated note Joe Meno of BrickJournal had his panel yesterday. It was really well presented and well attended. Jim Foulds (LEGO), Jonathan Bender (LEGO a Love Story), Brandon Griffith, and Nathan Sawaya made up the panel.

Attending the BrickJournal panel was Gabriel Cuevas, a huge LEGO fan and aspiring Model Builder, who created a LEGO Comic Con shirt using the brick baseplate t-shirt

Today, with the BrickJournal Panel behind him, Joe Meno is letting himself have a little fun with the Staro mask I found for him.

Another random LEGO find was the Brick Testament books at the Quirk Books Booth.

Its been a pretty crazy couple of days and there are still two days to go. Now I’ve got to go to bed so I can wake at the insane hour of 3 am to get decent parking tomorrow.

LEGO Star Wars Trilogy in 2 minutes

This is a fun and very quick version of Star Wars 4-6 (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). Need I say more?

Can you taste the different LEGO Star Wars figures?

That may be a strange question, but that is exactly what a girl in Germany had to do. I don’t really know what the story behind this other than its some kind of game show. Its really interesting to watch, even if I can’t understand what they are saying.

LEGO Star Wars 2010 Slave 1

One new set that is high on my list is the new 2010 LEGO Star Wars Slave 1

Now considering that I have all of the past versions of Slave 1 including the rather lame 2000 version and the Japan exclusive mini I don’t really need another Slave 1. But the color scheme along with the Minifigure assortment has pulled me back in.

Bossk, a newly designed Boba Fett, and my ultimate favorite an actual Han in Carbonite are the definate selling points to me. Ah heck, who am I kidding, its all about the Han in Carbonite.

Instead of the really lame 1x2x5 brick with a printed on Han this set has a poor tortured Han locked forever in a plastic mold. And the greatest thing is that the normal Han fits inside his carbonite coffin, smirking all the while.

To be honest I’ve lost interest in Star Wars in general over the years. Clone Wars just can’t get my interest. I can hear the gasps from here.

This set just might be my return to long ago in a galaxy far, far away. . .

CubeDudes

Usually when someone comes up with a new building style they make one or two sample models to start and immediately put them on display on Flickr or some other photo sharing site or forum. Angus MacLane on the other hand made 101 different CubeDudes before he posted them!!

Just a little smaller than Miniland scale, but with larger heads these Chibi-like characters are definitely their own scale. If you are going to BrickCon, look for the ones that Angus is bringing there.

They are so cool and so cute, you just can’t help but want to make your own set of CubeDudes.