A Vampire is Born (Built) in New Orleans

I posted earlier about the building event that happened this past weekend. Well, here’s some pictures for those of us who couldn’t make it down there.

Its looks pretty cool, but you don’t really get the true scale until you see Master Model Builder Erik Varszegi building it.

And here’s an awesome time lapse video of the whole thing being put together.

This particular building event held its own set of challenges —

1. It was outside at night, in the rain! Those lightening flashes aren’t special effects added to make the video more dramatic, it really was a dark and stormy night 😀

2. The fact that it was an all night event finishing at 6:15 am in the morning. I’ve done these types of events many times, but never over night.

Great work from Erik and LEGO for pulling off this impressive model!

Update:If you are able to go to LEGOLAND California this weekend October 6th and 7th you too can get a chance to build Lord Vampire with Master Model Builder Ryan Ziegelbauer.

New Orleans All-Night LEGO Vampire Build

If you are in the New Orleans area you just might want to check out this building event.

This spooky celebration is open to the entire family and features something for everyone, including performances from New Orleans Saintsations and community costume contest.

WHEN: Saturday, September 29th to Sunday, September 30th
Saturday:
12:00 PM-5:00 PM: Open brick building for Lord Vampyre model
5:00 PM: Lord Vampyre assembly begins
6:00 PM: Costume contest (for children up to age 14)
9:00 PM & 10:00 PM: Monster-inspired Saintsations dance performances
3:00-7:00 PM: LEGO Club Kids Activities
Sunday:
6:00 AM hour: Master Builder, Erik Varszegi, will place final brick
WHERE: Washington Artillery Park Amphitheater
750 Decatur St., between St. Peter and St. Ann Sts.
New Orleans, LA 70116
COST: FREE

Based of Lord Vampire from the new Monster Fighters sets this model will be 10 feet tall when completed. I know I’d be there if I lived closer. This is the first time that I know of an all night build. If you get to go, I’d love to see pictures. 😉

Costa Mesa, CA LEGO Store Building Event

If you are in the Orange County area this weekend, there will be a Ninjago building event at the South Coast Plaza LEGO Store in Costa Mesa, CA.

The LEGO® Store
South Coast Plaza
Costa Mesa, CA, USA

3333 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 668-9017

Store Hours:
Monday – Friday: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am – 6:30 pm

LEGO Store One Year Anniversary Celebration!
Celebrate the one year anniversary of the LEGO Store at South Coast Plaza and help build a large scale Ninja out of LEGO bricks! Plus, show your creativity by helping build a giant, free-form LEGO display! You’ll receive a free LEGO Certificate of Achievement for helping, while supplies last!

April 21 – 22
Carousel Court

Saturday, April 21: 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday, April 22: 11 am – 6 pm

During the event, visit the LEGO Store during the event for special offers that weekend only!

LUGOLA, the LA LEGO group will be helping out with the build. I would be up there too, but I can’t make it this weekend.

As you can probably guess, I’ve been pretty busy recently. Which is why I haven’t been posting much lately. And that’s also why I won’t be at the building event. One of my commissions is taking me to Florida this Sunday. 😀

I still don’t know if I will be able to post about this commission, I have to get permission from my clients, but as I will be heading down to the Sunshine State I plan on visiting both LEGOLAND Florida and the LEGO Imagination Center Store at Downtown Disney.

I have some pretty interesting commissions right now and I should be able to share some of them with you a little later so stay tuned. 😉

Star Wars Celebration V LEGO Mosaic Build

Photo Credit: Ricky Brigante

As I can’t be at Celebration V, I have to live vicariously through the pictures of others. One of the LEGO building events is a 15 foot wide mosaic.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, LEGO Systems, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. are summoning the force of LEGO® and STAR WARS fans and families to participate in a three-day collaborative build of an eight-foot tall, 15-foot wide LEGO mystery mural to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The mural will be constructed by attendees of Star Wars Celebration V and a LEGO Master Builder at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center from August 13-15.

Fans who help the LEGO Master Builder to construct the mural will receive one of 10,000 limited edition white Boba Fett LEGO minifigures. Additionally, for every LEGO plate a fan builds and adds to the mural, LEGO Systems and Lucasfilm’s “The Empire Gives Back” program will donate 330 LEGO System and LEGO DUPLO® bricks to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to encourage imagination and creative play and support the patients of St. Jude. In total, more than 1.5 million LEGO bricks will be donated..

“The STAR WARS franchise has creatively inspired so many people since its debut, and has motivated LEGO enthusiasts to build models, create their own stories and, in some cases, produce their own films,” said Michael McNally, brand relations director, LEGO Systems, Inc. “We’re particularly proud to partner with Lucasfilm’s ‘The Empire Gives Back’ charitable giving program to both commemorate an important milestone for The Empire Strikes Back, but also to help carry forward its creative spirit with yet another generation of children through St. Jude.”

STAR WARS enthusiasts will also be able to see new LEGO products on display, have their picture taken with life-sized LEGO STAR WARS models and check out fan created LEGO models. A second LEGO Master Builder will be doing a live build of a 6-foot tall Boba Fett model.

The LEGO Store will have products available for purchase and will feature an exclusive Celebration V STAR WARS CubeDude set, designed by fan and Pixar animator, Angus MacLane, who will be on-site to sign boxes. To purchase the set, a raffle ticket must be drawn. Tickets will be pulled at the LEGO booth each day at 11 a.m.

One of the coolest things about the LEGO mosaic is who helped build it — none other than George Lucas himself!

Photo credit: Michel McNally.

Yep that’s right folks, apparently the father of Star Wars plays with LEGO too, at least a little bit. And from the looks of the photo, Master Model Builder Mark Roe is so excited he can’t even stay still for a photo. 😀

Another random photo I found on Flickr is of a rather cool LEGO R2-D2
Photo Credit: legoriki

Celebration V is in full swing and will continue today and tomorrow. For those of my friends who are down there, have fun! 🙂