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. 😉
I mentioned earlier about the Brand Ribbon Models for the LEGO Store that my LUG (LEGO User Group) was asked to build for the new Costa Mesa LEGO Store. Well imagine my surprise when I got three huge boxes last week that was filled with LEGO sets!
Man, when I got all these models it was like Christmas! 66 sets were sent to my house and at first I didn’t know why they had sent them to me, but then a quick conversation with the new LEGO store manager I found out that they were all the sets on display. And it wasn’t just small sets — Ultimate Collector Imperial Shuttle, Harry Potter Diagon Alley, and the Tower Bridge were also included.
So there was nothing to do but gather some of my fellow LUG members and have another building party! 😀
Some models took only minutes to build (Hero Factory) while others took hours. We all had a fun time and the chance to build a whole bunch of LEGO sets was just plain cool. 🙂
We’ll be setting all of these models up at the store this Sunday and then next weekend is the Grand Opening!
LEGO Store Grand Opening Event:
South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA
March 11 – 13
Help a real LEGO Master Builder construct an 8-foot tall LEGO Yoda during our 3-day Grand Opening Celebration weekend! You’ll get a free LEGO Star Wars Certificate of Achievement for helping, while supplies last! Plus, visit the LEGO Store during the event to enter for a chance to win a $50 LEGO Store Gift Card! No purhcase necessary to enter.
I’ll be there all weekend and I plan on covering the weekend here for all of you who can’t make it. But for those of you who can, I look forward to seeing you there! 😉
First off, I apologize for my long absence from posting on this blog. I was a tad too busy this weekend to get around to posting anything.
This weekend and several of my fellow LEGO club members got together and built all day and all night long! What were we building you might ask? The post title might give you a clue. 😉
Well, did you know that when a new LEGO store opens in your area they ask the local LEGO club to build the display models? Those are the models that line the shelves — the Miniland scenes, ducks, fish, etc. Although I don’t know how many there are in total, Costa Mesa, California’s newest LEGO Store will be getting quite a few!
As you can see from the picture, this is what the LEGO models look like when they are in the boxes. 😀
The models vary in complexity from Miniland scale Circus performers
to large rats with cheese 🙂
Tim works on building a golf scene
Karen built a fast food tray while Skylar made a pair of bunnies.
And here’s what I worked on with Tiffeny, the Miniland scale LEGO Store.
There were about eight of us that worked from 10 am till about 10:30 pm at night. We all worked on several models, some more complex than others. Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures of all the models when they were finished (it had been a rather long day), but as they will be on display at the new Costa Mesa Store I’ll take pictures of them eventually. If you are in the area, the Grand Opening will be next month:
LEGO Store Grand Opening Event:
South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA
March 11 – 13
Come visit our new LEGO store in the South Coast Plaza. This grand opening event will feature a Master Model Build of Yoda!
In this video you can see Master Model Builders Ryan Ziegelbauer and Gary McIntire transferring the first of the Star Wars Miniland models into the Model Shop.
The more I see of the models, the more interested I’m seeing more. 🙂
LEGO Cons seem to be cropping up every where! The newest will be in Texas!
Mark your calendars and get ready to attend the most unique LEGO fan event in the central United States. The first Brick Fiesta is being held in Austin, Texas from June 30th to July 3rd, 2011. So save the date and come back to visit real soon, ya’ll. We’ll be looking forward to your attendance.
I’m certainly excited about this one, of course who knows if I’ll be going yet. There’s quite a few LEGO Conventions this year — at least 7 in the US alone! It certainly a sign that LEGO as a hobby is growing by leaps and bounds! Registration is now open so sign up now! 🙂
On a related note, there are two LEGO conventions happening on the other side of the world from me:
Which is being held in Melbourne, Australia this weekend Jan 15th -16th.
Bricks Adventure 2011
Date: 12th – 22nd January 2011
Time: 10:30 am – 8:30 pm
Location: Multi-Purpose-Room A&B, 4/f, Amenities Building, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
This picture was just posted on LEGOLAND California’s Facebook page. It says that Star Wars Miniland will be opening this March. There’s no other info yet, but if you look at the picture, several of those models look like they will be the ones in the display and from the looks of the models they will be spanning both the original and prequel movie trilogies
Update:I found this from the LATimes:
Eight model makers and two animators based at Legoland Germany have been working for a year with Lucasfilm to create 1:20 scale versions of iconic “Star Wars” characters, spacecraft and landscapes using 1.5 million Lego bricks.
In addition to posing for photos with life-size Lego models of Chewbacca, R2-D2 and Darth Vader, visitors will be able to wander through seven Lego-fied “Star Wars” scenes, including:
Episode I: Naboo
Battle scenes at the royal palace and a flight hangar feature a duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul.
Episode II: Geonosis
Obi-Wan, Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker battle creatures in the Geonosis arena while nearby a battle unfolds between a droid army and Republic fighters.
Episode III: Kashyyyk and Mustafar
A battle rages on the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk while Obi-Wan and Anakin engage in a fateful duel on the volcanic planet of Mustafar.
Episode IV: Tatooine
Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2-D2 appear at Luke Skywalker’s childhood home in addition to scenes featuring the Mos Eisley Cantina band and Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon.
Episode V: Hoth
Imperial AT-ATs as well as Rebel snow speeders and X-wing fighters can be found on the icy planet of Hoth along with Luke, Han, Darth Vader and Princess Leia.
Episode VI: Endor
The Rebel Alliance defeats the evil Empire on the Ewok’s forest moon of Endor.
Clone Wars: Christophis
In a scene that chronologically takes place between Episodes II and III, Jedi Knights Anakin and Obi-Wan appear amid an 8-foot-tall Crystal City building.
This will be the first time Miniland will step out of the “real world” of actual cities and step into a fantasy in a full cluster. When Miniland was created, it was supposed to be real cities and we were limited here in the US because the higher-ups at the time wouldn’t let us build anything but American cities, so all the interesting cities of the world were off-limits.
But at the same time, what’s really interesting was that we were talking about a possible Star Wars Miniland over four years ago when I still worked in the Model Shop. There’s an empty space where Miniland Florida used to be, that might be where they put this, but who knows. 😉
As soon as I know more, you’ll know more, so stay tuned!
Although this has already been posted on both FBTB and Brother’s Brick I would be remiss in not posting this jaw-dropping creation by Matt De Lanoy. At first glance it doesn’t quite hit you how big and detailed this model really is, that is until you notice that the room is scaled to the Toy Story minifigs.
That’s right, just like in the movie, Buzz, Woody, and all the other cast of characters (except the Toy Soldiers of course 😉 ) are doll-sized to Andy’s Room. 😯
My newest layout comes from Toy Story 2 – Andy has moved in to a new house which remarkably has an almost identical looking room as his last. This
This took me roughly five weeks to create, start to finish. The full layout is 30″x30″, and roughly 36″ high. The ‘scale’ I did this in would put the room at roughly 16 feet square.
A few changes have been made to the actual room in the movie. Since this is meant to be seen at shows, one wall needed to be taken out. The missing wall contains the main door to Andy’s room – the door on the side is just a closet. Because of this, the dresser and shelves had to be relocated. Fortunately there was plenty of open space – those corners were mostly empty in the movie.
For those of you in the Chicago area who would like to see this in person, this will be going on display for the first time at the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club’s Christmas Show in Wheaton, Illinois, Dec. 11th and 12th. I will also be bringing this to Brickworld 2011 as well as numerous smaller local shows all year round.
Well, Nannan of Brothers Brick has started it again. His second annual Creations for Charity is already underway.
From now until early December, you can buy a custom Lego creation made by Lego fans from around the world. All proceeds will be used to give Lego sets to underprivileged children during the holidays. This is an annual opportunity where Lego enthusiasts use their creative hobby to support a great cause. As buyers, you can own the original creations from a diverse array of builders and customizers, several of whom are among the best at what they do.
We accept creations for the fundraiser until December 1st. We also accept monetary donations at the store. For either form of donation over $50, you will receive an engraved Creations for Charity 2010 keychain assembled and glued by LEGO Certified Professional Sean Kenney and topped with a real gold-plated Lego brick from ChromeBricks. I sincerely hope you’ll take part in this event and help us set a new record. You make a lot of kids happy. Merry Christmas!
So go on over and check out all the wonderful creations made by your fellow AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO). I was going to mention the two creations I donated, but they have already been sold. 🙂
Kevin’s costume was constructed by first hollowing out R2’s head and body pieces with various tools including an xacto knife and electric drill– I would’ve used a dremel if I had one. I cut the studs off the top of the droid torso and drilled a hole for the minifig’s head to fit into. Because the holes in the side of the body are too large for a minifig’s arm pegs, I trimmed a toothpick down to the right size and attached both arms to it, allowing them to remain attached to the body while maintaining their full range of movement.
Kevin Chen, rookie cosplayer and avid R2 fan, is on his way to his very first Star Wars convention!
This is the overall vignette shot showing Kevin Chen in his R2 costume, waiting on the subway platform.
Okay, so it is modified, but at the same time it looks great! And who hasn’t seen some one dress like that for Halloween? 😀
Have you ever heard of LEGO Jambalaya? LEGO Jambalaya has nothing to do with the edible version. In fact its more of a Round Robin, but LEGO Jambalaya sounds more interesting. 😉
So, what is LEGO Jambalaya? Basically it is when someone makes up a bag or box of LEGO elements that they are willing to trade. The bag or box can be whatever shape, but a good size is a gallon-sized bag or a medium US priority mail box. So, the first person, who also acts as a moderator, gathers a small group of friends, no more than 10 (or it will take too long), and they all agree to join the Jambalaya. Person number 1 then hands off or mails, depending on distance, the box to person number 2.
Upon receiving said box, the second person can then take out whatever parts they want from the box. Once they have made their selection that person then puts in an equal or if they choose greater amount into the box and sends it off to the third person and so on.
I am currently participating in one so I will show you both what I took:
And what I put in:
Once it has gone through all the people on the list the first person gets the box back from the last person (#10) and he has a whole new box of parts to play with.
Now of course doing something like this requires a lot of trust. Usually you have to know at least some if not all the people you are trading with so that you can trust them with that much LEGO. It also helps if the group is on some sort of online forum or group (local or otherwise) so that they can know that it will get around to all the people participating.
But, if you are willing to try it, it can be a fun way of getting a whole bunch of fun new parts and also giving away some parts you are willing to trade. 🙂
I'm Mariann Asanuma, a former LEGO Master Model Designer and now a Freelance LEGO Artist and Author. Thanks for checking out my blog dedicated to all things LEGO. ;)
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in a custom LEGO model.
Modelbuildingsecrets's Weblog 