Many moons ago when I was just a youngster desperate to head off to the Imperial Academy, I had to make do with spending day after day playing with my Star Wars figures. And not a minute of that time do I consider wasted. For years I hounded my parents wherever we went to pick up Star Wars figures and help my complete my collection. I remember David Prowse visiting Lewis’s department store in Liverpool and the clamour for Vader figs to get them signed. I remember getting Boba Fett at TJ Hughes and I still recall very clearly finally finding Bespin Fatigues Luke Skywalker at a small store that sold occasional toys just up the road from there. In the beginning of this figure fixation was the original 12. These probably came out a year or two before I started collecting them but they still hold so many fond memories of so much of my childhood. Since getting back into Lego, I’ve always wanted to complete the Kenner figure lineup with their Lego counterparts and with the new Death Star a new slot was filled, so I decided to start getting some group shots to show the comparisons and where better than this photo?
The noticeable figure here is the Death Squad Commander which has been created from a mix of a couple of figures to give me something close to that original design. With figures such as Ithorian Jedi we’re able to create characters such as Hammerhead (Momaw Nadon) as well as the protocol droid in the same set being a dead ringer for the Imperial Protocol Droid. Here’s hoping that in the next few years we’ll get to see things such as the Cloud Car Pilot or even, dare I say it a Blue Snaggletooth. It’s incredible to think that one small component can have such a critical impact on history, especially in the Star Wars universe. Just think, if R5-D4 didn’t have a bad motivator, R2 wouldn’t have been able to deliver Princess Leia’s message to Obi-Wan, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru would have enjoyed their well-earned retirement together, and Luke would have continued to watch binary-sunsets for at least another season. If only the Jawas had taken a little more care whilst re-conditioning their droids prior to re-sale, but that’s always easier to say with the benefit of hindsight!
Anyway, that brings me neatly onto this rather cute creation from Miro78; a R5-D4 which is based on the UCS R2-D2 (10225). Whilst the original model is brilliantly designed, the dome is undoubtedly the weakest part, and looks a little ‘unfinished’ compared to the rest of it. Miro78 has taken the best elements of 10225, updated the colours, and replaced the dome with a bespoke version. Comparing it to images of the original film model, there are a couple of elements that aren’t totally accurate; the most obvious being the placement of the silver rivets close to the three eye sensors, but apart from that it’s very difficult to fault it. Miro78 is currently making some improvements to it, and I’m looking forward to seeing the final version. The new Star Wars is not any longer years or even months away, but just a couple of weeks! The slew of trailers succeeded in strengthening the hype even further, and we’re starting to see that reflected with loads of quality builds depicting each and every vehicle spotted in the previews.
It already looks like the new X-wing, particularly in its striking color scheme, will be a MOC favorite, with builders tackling it in a variety of ways and scales. Our colleagues at The Brothers Brick are organizing a . The objective is to take Rey’s speeder from the Force Awakens to the next level with paint, wings, cannons and – if possible – a nice place to store a shovel, a bucket and some sand molds for the kids. Every single entry is boggling my mind with its amashing creativity, but – I guess you expect I now say that ‘s creation above is among the best entries. Well, I won’t, because the lovely creation above isn’t an entry for the contest, it’s the inspiration for it. So Priovit70 was the first to look at Rey’s ride and see the enormous potential for adding all kinds of bells and whistles to it. He immediately picked the details that make us all giddy. A blue base, greebly grey areas, extra fins, yellow lights, bumblebee stripes and that logo, and you know that classic space has entered the monitor.
I love how the builder managed to couple the classic space aesthetic with the round shapes of the speeder by making sure there are some harder edges and slopes present. And that look of the back throws you back to the old days when Star Wars ships weren’t that polished and had exposed tubes all over the place. Creating something new but having it evoke the pleasures of the past, that really get’s me excited to see what the future brings, especially if it brings more of Priovit70’s wonderful creations! Hot on the heels of his Friends Landspeeder, Tyler Sky has created another, much bigger Friends/Star Wars mash-up, a minidoll-scale AT-AT. The twist: It’s a taxi for pets, complete with interior and working pet elevator! It’s not only a creative and humorous idea, but well executed as well, from the friendly color scheme and taxi paint job down to the little details such as the signs, lights, and flowers. I failed to mention this in my previous blog post, but this and the Landspeeder are not the only Friends mash-ups he has built.
He also made an AT-RT, TIE Advanced, and a podracer. You can see them all here. Creating mash-ups of two of LEGO’s most popular themes is a common thing to do, but they don’t always turn out well. However, this Lego Friends themed Landspeeder by Tyler Sky a.k.a. Bricksky is not one of those cases. His use of pink and light blue is fairly tasteful, and I could actually see it existing as a custom painted landspeeder in the Star Wars universe. The large engines make it look slightly “chibi” which adds to the cute feel of it, and using pets instead of the droids was a clever choice. You can see more pictures here. Another impressive Star Wars / Friends mash-up comes from Veynom who converted the Ewok Village into a Club Med all-inclusive vacation resort. A very unusual mod for this set, but very creative and gorgeous looking. There are many details to discover, so check them out here. May the Friends be with you. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an evil empire is on the rise.