The Force is Strong With Playskool

Ever since my oldest daughter saw The Force Awakens she's been a huge Star Wars nut. And I couldn't be prouder! I never thought I'd regret thinning my Star Wars collection down a few years back, but now I really wish I still had all those Force Awakens and prequel action figures for her.

Thank goodness for the Flea Market, where I can still find her all sorts of fun Star Wars goodies from every generation!

This last weekend I scored for her a POTF Hoth Luke, a handful of Playskool Star Wars figures, and a  Sandtrooper from the earlier Super Hero Squad styled Star Wars Playskool line.

I love the little chibi R2-D2, and I'm tempted to keep the general Kenobi figure for myself. But since I've already been giving my daughter all the figures I had from these lines, I probably shouldn't start backpedaling now.

LEGO Obi-Wan Kenobi

My wife is far more fond of garage sales than the Flea Market, so yesterday I didn't go to my usual Saturday morning haunt and instead went with the Mrs on the garage sale route. I like garage sales too, don't get me wrong, it's just the constant attempt at parking, getting in and out of the car (and getting my intern in and out of the car), following weeks old signe etc etc that wears on me. Thankfully the morning wasn't a complete loss as I found a young Obi-Wan Kenobi minifgure as well as a couple Star Wars prequel/expanded universe troopers for a buck each!

I am not even going to try to figure out who or what these prequel troopers are. I know someone out there will tell me, at which time I'll update the blog post here:

Thanks to (YOUR NAME HERE) I now know that these guys are in fact .....

Now I have a young Obi-Wan to go along with my LEGO old Ben, which I found (lacking hair) a few weeks back at the flea market. Has LEGO made a spirit of Obi-Wan yet? If not, why the hell not?!?!

Random Toy Pic :: LEGO Bikini Stormtrooper

"Are you the droid I'm looking for, big fella?"

You have to admit, 'Bikini Stormtrooper' would make a pretty sweet band name.

In my garage sale wanderings, I often come across bits and pieces of cool LEGO minifigures. While it pains me to find incomplete minifigures instead of the whole enchilada, it certainly opens up the possibility of making fun customs!

Today, among a few other parts, I found a lone Stormtrooper helmet. A few months ago I found Leia's bikini torso. Then, naturally, I put them together and stuck her in a sudsy toy tub and took a picture.

Man, I need professional help!

Arctic Bat Trooper LEGO Minifigure

I posted about my Batman-slash-Stormtrooper Arctic Batman LEGO minifigure before...

...but in digging through my stepson's LEGO stuff, I found a sweet Boba-Fett/Clone Wars jet-pack in white! My Bat-Stormtrooper is now complete!

Happy Star Wars Day :: May The 4th Be With You!

Awkwaaaard!

Happy May 4th aka 'Star Wars Day'! While geekdom may be torn between celebrating their beloved franchise today (due to a convenient if not altogether clever pun) and May 25th (the actual release date of Star Wars: A New Hope waaay back in 1977) the rest of the world doesn't give two hoots about your borderline Asperger's and would rather celebrate on the convenient marketing soundbite day.

So who cares what day you celebrate, just enjoy the Star Wars-y goodness you are able to wallow in throughout the month of May (and every day for that matter!)

Yesterday Toys R Us had another of their free LEGO build events. This time, in conjunction with Star Wars Day, they provided a couple micro-spaceships: An X-Wing and a TIE Fighter! The X-Wing is especially cool in this micro size, and as an added bonus the laser cannons can be used as lightsaber handles for your minifigures!

The TIE Fighter is...well...it's a bit jinky. But it gets the point across and makes good target fodder for your X-Wing.

My Toys R Us was only allowing one vehicle per customer (even though the website declared you could build both) but I had two kids with me so we were able to get each vehicle. And who can resist free LEGO?

Not me!

Enjoy your Star Wars day today, May the 25th, and every day!

Duck Week, WooOOOooo! Stormtrooper Donald Duck :: Disney Vinylmation

Or: 'My wife and kid went to Disney World and all I got was this awesome Stormtrooper Donald Duck!'

A few weeks back Grandma took everyone but me to Disney World. I had to stay home and work! But that's ok, I also did not have to chase a toddler around Disney World, which does not sound like a vacation to me.

All I asked for was a cool Star Wars themed souvenir, and I got it in the form of a Disney Vinylmation Donald Duck in Stormtrooper armor!

Vinylmation is Disney's answer to the collectible vinyl craze, and each one is based on a standard Mickey Mouse body, head and ears. Of course that means everyone has Mickey Mouse ears, so in situations like Donald Duck in Stormtrooper armor, the designers have to get clever. In this case, they made the ears a field of stars against the blackness of space.

I originally intended to keep Donald in his box for display purposes, but when I was looking around online to see other Vinylmation figures, I discovered that Donald comes with a blaster! You couldn't see it in the box, as it was packaged behind Donald.

That cinched it...he's just GOT to be holding that blaster!

The blaster really adds that extra level of awesome to an already incredibly awesome concept: Donald Duck Stormtrooper.

Wizard World Sacramento 2014 and Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday (Happy Birthday Natalie!) and to celebrate, we all ran up to Sacramento last weekend for the first annual Sacramento Wizard World Comic Con!

Here's Natalie meeting Posion Ivy.

And here I and my intern meet our favorite superhero Batman. Or as my intern calls him 'Super-Batman.'

I am somehow both taller than Batman and shorter than Dark Helmet! Am I back at the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot?

Darth Vader told my intern that the force is strong with her. I was somehow able to control myself and did not call him 'Annie.' The force must be strong with me too.

Norman Reedus aka Daryl from the Walking Dead was buried in hugs and bras. My Mrs. wanted to see him, but was wise enough not to spend the $45 or so bucks it cost for a signature, so we just held up the camera when we walked past and I got this shot. If I photoshop my wife into the shot I shall become obsolete.

Here's Natalie and a great looking Rule 63 classic Joker! She had the smile down perfect! Probably the best looking Joker we saw, Rule 63 or otherwise.

Me, the intern, and a nbunch of Mandalorians (I think.) The guy on the left might be some sort of RC Trooper or something. My Star Wars knowledge doesn't venture far from the films. Regardless, these folks all looked great and it was hilarious to hear one of them say  to another 'Hey, check it out, Black Cat incoming' in his helmeted speaker voice when a Black Cat cosplayer walked by.

We only attended one panel: Michael Rosenbaum. Natalie and I love Smallville and the Justice League, so listening to Lex/The Flash was a no-brainer. Michael Rosenbaum is hilarious and very friendly with his fans. He jumped right off the stage and spent the whole talk interacting with folks in the audience. What a great guy!

We didn't really meet Sheldon, just a cardboard cut-out. Come to think of it...what's the difference? HAR HAR HAR!

Another great group of Star Wars cosplayers. It's amazing how accurate these folks get with their costumes!

Natalie and a Stormtrooper. I was really happy with how Natalie just jumped right in to get her pics with these great people. Nothing like seeing your daughter with her arm around a Stormtrooper to warm a geek-daddy's heart!

Last but certainly not least - Velma!

We had such a great time at the convention. We only attended on Saturday, but it was small enough to see on just one day trip. Plus, chasing a toddler around a comic convention gets pretty tiring! Natalie picked up a couple art prints by some great artists in attendance, and I didn't run off with any Harley Quinn cosplayers.

But there's always next year!

Bat Wars :: Episode VII :: A New Knight

Original version. "Robin...I am your father!"

After putting together a custom arctic Batman, I realized I could simply slap that white Batman cowl onto one of my Lego Stormtroopers. That idea led to the following handful of photos.

From the re-mastered re-release. "Robin...I am your father!"

Batman with Darth Vader's helmet, or Darth Vader with Batman's cowl. Which do you prefer?

Personally I am rather fond of the Batman body and Darth Vader helmet combo.

Here's that white Batman cowl on a Stormtrooper body, along with Batman's body and Darth Vader's helmet...

 ...and again.

I only have Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing flight suit in Lego form, so I mashed it up with Robin. I could have gone another way with it but I felt it worked best with the Darth Vader Luke Skywalker relationship.

And here's Robin with Luke's head and helmet.

I had a lot of fun putting this quick photoshoot together. I have a few more Star Wars and Batman themed minifigures, so I may do more silly combos in the future. Stay Tuned!

The force is strong with this chicken

Chicken Suit Guy from Lego Minifigures Series 9 is pretty much comedy gold wherever he's placed. I've already moved him around my desk multiple times, every time into a hilarious new scenario. He may very well appear again on the blog in the future!

Random toy pic :: Feelin' hot hot hot!

'It's gettin' hot in here, so take off all your helmets!'

More fun with Lego minifigures.

The sweaty head from the man in the gorilla suit (Series 3) is so versatile! To pose with the helmet 'up,' I merely added a few single circle shaped pieces on the top of his head until the helmet was just the right height!

Also of note, the Stormtrooper helmets are different. Sweaty head guy probably has an older model.

Random Toy Pic :: Sneaky Sneaky

May the 4th be with you!

It is both hard to see and hear in those Stormtrooper helmets!

Random Toy Pic :: I'm Bat Han!

Random Toy Pic :: Batstormtrooper