Yoda Chronicles

Starwars.lego.com has launched a preview of the Yoda Chronicles. Not sure what exactly this will be. A show? A series? A video game? Okay, probably not the last one, but you never know.

Organized Sorter

Here’s my more meticulous side.

Most of my builds, especially big ones like my current project, generally start like this. Neatly organized bins, the bricks just waiting to fulfill their Christmas Destiny” (as my sister always says, even when its not Christmas ) of being used in some awesome creation.

As you can see, the bricks are mostly white or trans-clear. I’m not going all minimalist or monochrome, it just happens that this particular model is all white. Even so, my model does have a bit of color hidden inside.

There is a very simple reason I add colored bricks on the inside, and no, its not just so I know that they are there. The real reason is that I want to save my white bricks and plates where they need to be seen, on the outside, so where ever I need to have bricks that can’t be seen, but have to be there I change them to a color I have a large supply of.

That’s not to say I haven’t hidden things in my models before.

Fun fact: The 8-foot Star Wars Republic Attack Cruiser LEGO model has a hidden section on the side where the Star Wars characters are watching Lord of the Rings.

How do I know this? Erik is a friend of mine and I was there when the model was being built at the American LEGO Headquarters in 2005. He showed me the secret room in the model.

Do you put “easter eggs” in your models?

LEGO Wii-mote

I have yet to jump on the Wii bandwagon but this might just bring me on board.

This fully functional Wii-mote is officially licensed by Nintendo and features not only the iconically bright Lego colors, but also 37 interchangeable Lego mini-tiles to accent the controller.

It is set to be available at least in the US on October 16th for $40. I don’t know if this will be a US only product or not. It looks pretty cool, but like the LEGO Star Wars and Indiana Jones DS Lite cases from last year, I don’t know how well this will sell.

I did end up getting all three of the DS cases, but I only paid full price for one of them. Toys R Us put them on clearance in August and you still might be able to find them at your local TRU. I only picked up all three for the printed tiles, as I have a DS, but not a DS lite. I’ve since then traded or given away the cases and kept the tiles for myself.

But for the diehard collector out there this might be a must have. Especially because of the red brick separator. I may be wrong, but if you look closely at the picture, it looks like this brick separator might be different from the standard one. Which would make sense given that all the parts with the Wii remote are tiles.

LEGO Star Wars 2010 Early Images

Now that I’ve finally started to shake off the lethargy of too much good Christmas food and treats I can finally get back to writing about new and exciting sets.

One of the things I think is most exciting is that we are finally going to get a Wampa!

On Sky News you can watch the video where this image was taken from.

A list of rumored sets are as follows:

Set list January 2010:
8083 – Rebel Trooper Battle Pack
8084 – Snowtrooper Battle Pack
8085 – Freeco Speeder
8086 – Droid Tri-Fighter
8087 – Tie Defender
8088 – ARC-170 Starfighter
8092 – Star Wars Luke’s Landspeeder

Set list August 2010:
8089 – Wampa Attack
8093 – Plo Koon’s Jedi Starfighter
8095 – General Grievous’ Starfighter
8096 – Palpatine’s Shuttle
8097 – Slave I
8098 – Clone Turbo Tank

Other rumored sets:
8129 AT-AT Walker August 2010
XXXX Midi-Scaled Star Destroyer

You can see more early images and join the forum discussion at Eurobricks.com

1st Annual FBTB Charity Drive

FBTB.net (From Bricks to Bothans) the ultimate Star Wars LEGO Fan site is hosting its first Charity Drive.

FBTB is getting into the holiday spirit! This site, the community, and especially you, the readers, is what I am thankful for this holiday season. And it’s time to channel some of that good will towards a charitable cause.

FBTB is giving away one of these:

and all of these:

to one lucky winner. But wait, there’s more! If you’re not chosen as the grand prize winner, you are eligible to win the consolation prize! The second place prize includes everything in the second picture posted above, basically, everything the first place prize winner gets, minus 8038 The Battle of Endor. That’s 1 MINI Tie Fighter, 1 Chrome Darth Vader, 1 Chrome Stormtrooper, 1 Chrome C-3PO, 1 LEGOLand California 2005 Star Wars Weekend promo brick, and 1 LEGOLand California 2009 Star Wars Weekend promo brick . Sound cool? Here are the details on how you can win. There’s a lot of text, so please read carefully:

* It’s basically raffle where each “ticket” costs $2.00 USD.
* You can purchase your ticket by hitting the donate button below and completing the Paypal checkout.
* You can purchase as many tickets as you’d like. If you are planning on making a large donation, unfortunately, you will have to complete the checkout process each time in $2.00 USD increments. But remember, each time you complete the checkout, you get another ticket into the raffle increasing your chances of wining.
* The raffle is open to anyone in the world able to complete the Paypal checkout process.
* The last day to purchase tickets is 11:59pm December 20, 2009.
* As the donor recipient, I get an email notification for each donation received; that is your raffle entry. You will also receive a receipt of your payment via email from Paypal. You do NOT have to email me or forward me your receipt. There’s nothing more you have to do besides complete the Paypal checkout process.
* All the emails will be filtered into a special folder. After the deadline, I’ll use a random number generator to select the lucky winner numbered in the chronological order received.
* 50% of the first 100 donations will be used to cover the cost of the prize package and postage and handling for prize delivery. The other 50% will go towards the charity. After the first 100 donations, 100% of the proceeds will go towards the charity.
* Prize packages will be mailed out on December 21, 2009 via USPS Express Mail, just in time for Christmas.*

The charity chosen for FBTB’s Charity Drive is Penny Arcade’s Child Play, a non-profit organization raising money and toys for sick children hospitalized during the holidays. For more information on Child’s Play, visit their website: Child’s Play.

I’ve made my donation, so if you would like to be part of the raffle go to the FBTB Charity Drive Page. Good luck!

New Indiana Jones Case for Nintendo DS Lite

I mentioned on an earlier post that LEGO was coming out with a build-on LEGO Star Wars Nintendo DS Lite Case with printed tiles and it only makes sense that it wouldn’t be a one off product.

The new LEGO Indiana Jones DS Lite Case is just as cool with an equally awesome tile picture on the front. It looks like both cases will be sold wherever Nintendo DS accessories are available, although I did check Gamestop.com and I didn’t see either one available (at least not yet).

Both Toys R Us.com and StarWarsShop.com have the Star Wars Case available, it looks like Toys R Us is the only one selling the Indiana Jones one at the moment. For some reason its for “pre-order” at the Star Wars Shop, but “in stock” at Toys R Us.

My only problem with Toy R Us is that the cases cost $16.99 there instead of the $14.99 at the Star Wars Shop!

Toy R Us is often more expensive than other toy retailers, a fact that is blatantly obvious if you do any sort of price comparison. However, if the cases are available at my local Toy R Us I just might have to make an exception for these (because when you factor in the shipping costs, it would be about the same) and I don’t even have a DS Lite!

New LEGO Star Wars Case for Nintendo DS Lite

Who doesn’t love LEGO Star Wars and Nintendo DS Lite? Well with this latest DS case you don’t have to choose.

Although there have been other DS cases and stickers for both LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones this is the first time that the case actually had LEGO elements on it. And what’s even sweeter is the awesome tile mosaic of the classic Star Wars scene.

# Protective carrying case for Nintendo DS Lite has two buildable LEGO surfaces for extra fun!
# LEGO surfaces work with any LEGO blocks
# Play-Thru design: play games while the system is protected in the case

Available at StarWarsShop.com It retails for $14.99 UDS, ships worldwide (except Mexico, sorry for those of you South of the Boarder ) and is currently available for pre-order (product ships in November, just in time for Christmas).

Hopefully (fingers crossed) they are printed tiles and not some lame stickers that you have to put on. I’m not a fan of stickers versus actual printed LEGO elements.

Thanks Ace over at FBTB for pointing this out!