ILikePi

Great idea! If I had one of those ice cube trays (they're too expensive for my liking), I would definitely do that sometime. Now, if only those had tubes and hollow parts on the bottom... Hmm...what about ice cream bricks? Or brick cookies? Or potato bricks? Okay, I'm going too far.

Today, I am bringing you an overview of the LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary event that took place in LEGO Stores across the U.S. on October 10, 2009 at 2-4 PM. These pictures are of the LEGO Store in the Valley Fair Shopping Center, which is in Santa Clara, California. You have voted for this to be the next review for me to do in the chrome black Darth Vader review, and here it is! The Event I had arrived at the store at 2:05 PM. Luckily, nothing had started yet and I made it just in time. I had brought my book to the store, along with my dad's camera. There was a line on the left of the back of the store where you could take pictures of the 501st members that were there, and get your book signed. Here's the first sighting of the members. Also notice the nice LEGO Star Wars stormtrooper T-shirt on the bottom part of the picture. That was not being given out in a raffle or anything, unfortunately. While waiting in line, someone in front of me asked a worker for a poster. The worker gave one to the person. I then asked if I could get one. She looked at my book (which was covered in a red book cover), and asked, "Did you bring one from home?" I said yes, and she secretly gave me a poster, and said, "You didn't get it from me." The first sighting of the other members of the 501st! The stormtroopers! It was at this point that I got my book signed and took a picture with one of the stormtroopers. Sorry guys, I have decided not to upload the picture, even if just only for my best friends (when it comes to "best friends" on the Internet, that is) to view. My identity will remain hidden in the shadows forever (or for at least five more years)! Over here you can see a very cool-looking green and silver clone trooper. Can anyone please point me out to a Wookieepedia entry of this clone? EDIT: Natman and 501st Commando have confirmed that he is Commander Gree, CC-1004 (which is who EB member JCC1004 is named after). Thanks guys! You can see here that the store has many enthusiastic children inside. Either that or their parents dragged them here. Also notice the hand at the bottom. That was my mom telling me to get in the back-right corner of the store to wait for the employees to ask questions to the kids. Over here you can see the children that were waiting to answer questions. It looks like the stormtroopers are heading out for a break! Let's follow them... They're starting to come out of the store... Over here you can see the piece of paper that was on the store's front wall telling people that an event is taking place (it's next the the stormtrooper on the right). The right of the store (ignore the reflection of the "Journeys" shoe store's sign )... ...and the left. Notice the three modular sets on display. A picture of the female rebel pilot. If I was older, I would use the "wub" emote. It was at this point that I spotted the Christmas themed sets. I only took pictures of the $5 ones, which you can see here. What's this? Chrome gold minifig keychains? It looks like LEGO has decided to sell them normally after all! Also notice the multiple Santa Claus KimT clone keychains on the right. After taking this picture, I went to look at some other stuff for a while. When I returned, over 15 of the gold keychains (there were about 20 total on the rack) were gone. I then went to look at the PAB wall's selection. There were 8 x 16 dark bley tiles and other things like trans-light blue 1 x 1 round plates (my favorite color of 1 x 1 round plates!), flower bases, and flowers on sprues, all of which I would have gotten if they were there when I filled my first PAB cup! At about this point, I won a chrome Vader by answering a question! You can read the review here. Also we get a first glimpse of November's Monthly Mini Model Build model, which is a nice brick-built turkey. I won't be going to get it, as I do not want to wait in line for two hours just to get a few bricks. My first look at the Tantive IV in real life! It's very huge. Pictures don't do it justice! Home And now, the event is over. There isn't much left to this overview, except for the freebies and purchased things, which you'll see next. Freebies The chrome Vader is just worth going to the event, and all of the other things are a nice bonus! A closer view of the poster that I was secretly given. The idea of putting the books in a way that they look like lightsaber is very clever. Two LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary activity kits. Unfortunately, these were made for kids, and everything in it is too easy (also the whole thing is black and white). I have taken pictures of the other pages, which you can see when the folder goes public. The third to last page and the last page is pretty interesting, though: An interview with the 501st... ...and a small article about the book. Next up is this card which I just found on a table, lonely and abandoned. And the back. I have blocked out his e-mail address because he probably doesn't want to be bombarded with many spammy e-mails. There is this card advertising the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Republic Heroes game, which came out four days before the event. And the back, which shows a black and white Obi-Wan Oky Wan. EDIT: If you go to watchtheclonewars.com and have a webcam, you can hold the Oky Wan picture up to it and get a transmission from him. You can also view a Yoda, Anakin, and Captain Rex transmission that do not require cards (The Oky Wan one doesn't either by the way). A Star Wars: The Clone Wars small booklet with four tear-out cards. The inside Back of Ahsoka Tano's card Back of Embo's card Back of Cad Bane's card Back of Sugi's card And last but not least (this is actually the second best freebie, other than the chrome Vader), two stickers and a signature from TK3390, the stormtrooper I took a picture with. You can find his profile here. There were about five Visual Dictionary stickers, but I could only get two by asking one employee and the manager. Jango Fett sticker Celebration Luke sticker - It's odd how a very old X-wing set was used instead of the 2006 version. And finally, for the "freebies" section, a summary of what I got: Star Wars "book lightsaber" poster chrome black Darth Vader two activity books Republic Heroes advertisement card and Oky Wan "access picture" Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series collectible cards "business card" of one of the 501st members two Visual Dictionary sticker signature from a stormtrooper named TK3390 Purchases Now for the purchased goods! Yeah, all of the sets are already opened. Over here, the Separatist Shuttle minifigs are wondering why their pictures are on a box. The dog is going over 50 miles per hour, so the police officer is pulling him over. And over here, the firefighter is attempting to chop up the flame with two hatchets (yeah, I've been reading Gary Paulsen's "Brian" series lately ). A list of everything I bought: Separatist Shuttle ($30 USD) chrome silver stormtrooper magnet ($10 USD) chrome gold minifigure keychain ($5 USD) Firefighter ($3.50 USD) Police Officer ($3.50 USD) Conclusion Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience, and I would love to go to larger events in the future (like BrickCon and BrickWorld). I hope you enjoyed reading this! I finished this two days earlier than I planned (it took 1½ hours to make). Be sure to cast your vote on what you want to see next! Like last time, I will count the votes tomorrow at 5 PM Pacific Standard Time, which is approximately 23 hours from the posting of this overview. Only 30 or so pictures were used in this overview, and over 100 can be found in my Brickshelf folder when public. Also, feel free to point out any typos, mess-ups, or grammatical mistakes. Thanks!

Wow, an exclusive keychain that comes with the game? Not really that hard to make, but the LEGO Rock Band tile seems to be exclusive. I don't really see how this game will be that much different than the other Rock Band games, though (other than the pictures of LEGO minifigs singing). Unless some special LEGO drums, guitars and microphones are released.

Okay, sure!I know where you live, too: Jeremy Beckett LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary Consultant ... snip ... EDIT to whoever snipped the address: It was a fake one, you know... Unfortunately, the shipping costs there and back will cost more than what I paid for the book ($12.50 USD), so I can not (words are separate because it is still possible to do so) include the Sharpie. *ISBN number of the book I will write a review soon highlighting all of the mistakes, complete with page numbers and pictures. When will you be sending the list of errors to DK? I want to get my review made before you send it.

Ahh, thanks for clarifying! So is a corporal or an officer a higher rank? I currently have two sandtrooper officers from the Imperial Landing Craft set. I for one would like the pauldron to be a cloth piece, so that the enlisted/rookie sandtrooper in the landspeeder set will fit in with the other sandtroopers in the past. Me too (that is, if you are referring to LEGO Star Wars, not just Star Wars in general)!

Oops, a part of the review I missed! Ahh, so that's a minifigure version of George Lucas?It would have been very cool if that minifig was the one we got instead. However, notice the yellow neck print on the torso...

Thanks for the picture, Navy Trooper Fenson! The fact that it does not include Garindan (no idea what he does yet - I fought him in LEGO Star Wars II, but all he did was use a radio and call for backup, and I still have to watch all six movies ) does not disappoint me much because I figured that he would not be included in the first place because there are already enough figures, two of which were only included in very expensive sets before (C-3PO and Ben Kenobi). In my opinion, the black pauldron does not look as good as the orange-black combination. Also, if you look at this Wookieepedia entry about sandtroopers, you will notice that they wear orange-black ones. I wonder why LEGO would make the minifigure less accurate (unless black pauldron sandtroopers exist)? Keeping boxes is, in my mind, keeping a part of the set. You can look at the box arts every now and then and enjoy the nice photo editing that LEGO has done to the set. Also, in some sets, the insets showing the features are not inside the booklet, so that is also another reason to keep the boxes of LEGO sets. Much, much more to learn, you do as well, young Padawan. EDITed in order to save a post instead of making a new one to reply to CommanderFox: Ahh, thanks for clarifying! I thought that he did something like spy on them, but was not completely sure on what he exactly did.EDIT: Forgot to give the link to the Wookieepedia entry!

Great review Mr. Mandalorian! I was going to review this in a month or two, but you beat me to it! I don't really have much to say since I already own the book, but you pretty much highlighted some of the interesting parts, and just gave enough pics of the pages to interest someone who is thinking of buying this book (but not too many pictures to spoil his/her reading of it). But, there is one thing I really have to scold you for: How could you do that to your book? There is a simple round and clear sticker which you peel to open the clamshell plastic plastic clamshell. Surely that would have been much easier than ripping the whole plastic casing off? My picture: Hooray, it just has a clear plastic sticker to hold it tight, instead of those annoying blister packages!

That is most definitely a motorized AT-TE. There's no way that someone could make a stop-motion animation that is that good. Thanks for sharing that video, too! I've deeplinked it for quicker viewing:

Okay, it looks like the next "review" is an overview of the DK LEGO Store event! Luckily I took pictures of the freebies and my purchases yesterday - today, it rained, and rained, and rained ( ), and is still drizzling a bit as I am typing this post. (It's really dark today, by the way.) Thanks!Now all you need for your Vader is a chrome red lightsaber blade and a cape made of shiny black fabric. Thanks. I don't think that there will be any more chances to get the chrome Vaders in the UK, so I guess that you'll have to keep it MISB. Wow, really? That's a really rare find you got there. Thanks!Yes, the chrome Vaders are still being randomly put in summer 2009 sets. About half were put in the first wave of sets, and probably a few thousand are still in some boxes around the nation. Thanks! That's sad to hear. I hope that one day, LEGO will decide to open LEGO Stores in Canada, so you guys can get in some of the events and deals. Mine was the third question in the third wave of questions, if that makes any sense. There was a 15 minute break between each wave, and the number of questions for each wave was something like this: wave 1 - four questions (Not really sure, since the questions started right when I arrived at the store) wave 2 - two questions wave 3 - four questions wave 4 - four questions Okay, now to make some slight adjustments to this review... Hopefully I'll be able to start on the event review tomorrow and finish on Friday.

Yes, that is exactly why I post pictures of the packaging. Finally someone that gets me! No problem for posting the review, it was actually my pleasure to be giving back to the EB community. It's too bad that Australia never gets anything good.

Thanks for all of the comments guys! Thanks!I know the answer to that question, but I probably would not be able remember it at that event since I was pretty nervous (this was my last chance at getting a chrome Vader). And about the packaging - I thought that this was a very special item, so I decided to highlight everything about it, even all of the words on the packaging. I have also added a word of thanks to you at the conclusion. Oh and by the way, could you consider putting your different thoughts on different lines (like what I did on this post)? It would make your posts much easier to understand. Thanks!It's rather unfortunate that you did not go. It would have been nice to meet you (although we probably would not have recognized each other [i'll be posting the picture of me and the stormtrooper later for people I know well only, including you ]). And you "like" in Silicon Valley? Yeah, I noticed that it was overly detailed. I took around one hour for taking pictures, and 1½ hours for the actual review post. Yes, I know. I am pretty annoyed that there is a one in 300 chance (or close to that) of getting a chrome Vader randomly in a set. Your best bet would be to attend an big event hosted by LEGO.ADDITIONS (to the review): a link to the "pieces of interest" picture () overall rating conclusion a word of thanks to JCC1004 (thanks so much!) pros & cons many typos fixed TO-DO LIST: retake 039.jpg add a mug shot without the helmet

If you read my post, you would see that I said that the parts are bagged separately. All LEGO parts (cows, rock monsters, etc.) that are bagged separately are always made in China.

At the LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary release event in the LEGO Store in Santa Clara, CA, I answered a question that was on the lines of this: 'Which Jedi Council member was an exceptional lightsaber fighter and had a rare purple lightsaber?' Of course, the answer is Mace Windu. I answered that simple question correctly, and was rewarded with a chrome black Darth Vader, which is worth $30 USD! And now, I bring you the review of this exclusive limited edition minifigure. Enjoy! Set: Darth Vader™ Item Number: 4547551 Theme: Star Wars (Episodes IV - VI) Pieces: 7 Minifigures: 1 Price: Can only be found randomly in LEGO Star Wars 2009 sets, or acquired from events. Current BrickLink price is $30 USD. Minifigure Resources http://starwars.LEGO.com/10 EB's own chrome Darth Vader thread BrickLink Brickset LUGNET (no Peeron catalog exists) Character Resources Star Wars Databank Wookieepedia Other Reviews I Scream Clone "Box" Art The package is in a bag, so that's why there are quotations around the words "Box Art." Front The front is very nice, with the old LEGO Star Wars logo and the 10th anniversary stamp. The logo is gold, symbolizing the golden anniversary of LEGO Star Wars, which is very nice. We have an updated version of the classic LEGO Star Wars picture that was on the boxes of the first sets, which is also great. Over here, you have the set information. It is pretty hard to read, so I'll type it out for the sake of you readers: Ages/edades 6+ Darth Vader™ Cont. 7 pcs/Stck/pzs/db Building Toy Jouet de Construction Juguete para Construir On the bottom left-hand corner, we have a circular LEGO Star Wars 10 Year Anniversary stamp. It is a nice addition to the bag, and it is colored differently at different sections to give the impression that it is shining. On bottom-middle, we have a link to a site where everyone at LEGO congratulates you on finding a chrome Vader. http://starwars.LEGO.com/10 I have also taken a screenshot of the page in case it is deleted by the end of 2009. It can be found here. Back On the back, we have the usual things. The chrome Vaders were apparently made in 2008, but of course were released in 2009 with the January sets. There are some lines of text telling you to "please keep the LEGO address for future reference" in six languages. Also there are pictures below telling you that: a green circle (I don't know what this is, can someone clarify?) this product has the CE mark, please do not complain as this product meets the European consumer safety, health (please do not eat or taste the product), and environmental requirements we beg of you to not feed the bag or parts to babies ages 0-3 this bag is polypropylene, please recycle or else (who in their right mind recycle this bag? ) Here we have the item number and a link to the LEGO website. The parts are not made in China! Hooray! "Choking hazard. Contains small parts" has been printed in what seems to be 29 languages. Contents Parts Here all all of the parts, neatly spread out. The chrome black parts are looking very shiny already! Pieces of Interest (Yeah, all of the parts are intersting ) Build You didn't actually think that I was going to post pictures of the build, did you? Oh, wait... We start off with the torso and legs assembly, which is conveniently already attached together for us, saving us some one step of the strenuous build. However... ...the hands have been rotated 180 degrees, and the arms have been moved up for the chroming process. This adds two extra steps, canceling out the convenience above and actually adding one more step! Boo! With that aside, we rotate both hands 180 degrees... ...and move the arms down back to the normal position. Next, we add on the cape (which is extremely hard to do)... ...then the head (which is the new Death Star version)... ...and finally, the nice chrome helmet. We then put that aside, and start a new sub-model with the metallic silver lightsaber hilt (unfortunately, chrome lightsaber hilts are now extinct). The red lightsaber blade is attached, and the sub-model is complete! Phew! After that, it is attached to the right hand of the Sith lord. And finally, the right arm is moved up at a 90 degree angle. Minifigure Umm...Yeah, the minifigure is actually the whole set. A front shot. The chrome black makes the minifigure look amazing, and I really like that new 2008 version of the torso print. A bonus is that it is printed in metallic inks, which is very cool. Here is a mug shot (sorry, I forgot to take a picture with the helmet off). The back of the limited edition minifigure, which shows my fingerprint on the back of the helmet. D'oh! With the cape removed, we can see that the whole back of the torso is plain chrome black, which will probably be very useful in the making of some custom minifigures. Other Pictures Now we have some random (or not so random) pictures of the parts of the minifigure. Helmet I never knew that Vader's helmet was this big! It's very shiny (obviously ), and the detailing on the face of the helmet is amazing. (Please ignore the reflection of the camera and my hands. ) The underside has some chrome, which becomes normal black at the part where the minifigure head just barely fits. The chrome here is a bit rough, no idea why though. Torso The chrome here stops right before the neck "pole." Arms As you can see here, there is no number on the hand, and the arm has no indentation with numbers/letters. On the more visible side of the arm, you can see a bit of black near the top-left of the side of the torso. Hands I have no idea why, but there is a chrome black "bump" on each hand. Legs & Hips I will not take apart my minifigure, even for the sake of the review. Sorry guys. You may have noticed that the right leg of my minifigure has some unchromed-black. This does not bother me much, since it was free. It's also a "mis-chrome," which might make it worth more (although I would not sell something that was given to me for free if I only have one of it). It's also one-of-a-kind, sort of like Eurobricks member menq's chrome Vader with a chrome black head (but, of course, his is much, much cooler and more valuable). The chrome on the legs continues to the black line that is in between the tan and white line. Over on the back, the inside of the legs are partially chrome silver, and partially chrome black. On the bottom of the legs, one of the feet is chrome black, while the other is a sort of chrome grey color. And when we look inside, it is the opposite. This time, chrome black is on the leg with a chrome grey foot, and vice-versa. Also notice the LEGO logos inside there, which I have never seen before on my minifigures. In between the legs, the chrome goes in a few millimeters, then becomes regular black. Storage Now to place the chrome Vader in a bag... ...and the accessories (including cape) in a separate one... ...which then go into the original chrome Vader bag... which then go into a Ziplok Ziploc brand plastic bag, which is sealed tightly. Ratings First, the pros and cons: Pros: shiny exclusive limited edition valuable very nice to look at Cons: can not be played with, as the chrome will wear/chip off my Vader came with a leg that was missing some chrome black (chrome silver was there) accumulates dust and fingerprints very easily Now for those totals! Build: 10/10 Design: 10/10 Minifigures: 10/10 Playability/Play Features: 5/10 Price: 10/10 Reviewer's Tilt: 10/10 Overall (Average): 9.2/10 Wait a minute, we need a completely new rating scale for minifigures! Time to make one from scratch: Accessories 10/10 (It comes with everything that Darth Vader has: a lightsaber, and cape!) Accuracy: 10/10 (It looks very accurate to what Vader looks like [in terms of minifigures]) Design: 10/10 (The printing is very detailed and well made, along with the helmet mold) Look: 10/10 (The chrome black makes it look very good, of course) Poseability/Playability: 5/10 (You can't really play with it often since the chrome will wear off) Quality: 7/10 (The chrome is very nice, but some parts are bumpy, and one leg is missing chrome black) Value (for your money): 10/10 (It's free, so it obviously gets a 10!) Reviewer's Tilt: 10/10 (Darth Vader is one of my favorite Star Wars characters, and the chrome black makes it even better!) Overall: 9/10 Conclusion This is definitely an amazing minifigure. It's currently my most valuable one, and will certainly be worth more in the future (if MISB). If you plan on buying multiples on BrickLink to sell in the future, I would recommend that you do now as the prices will soon skyrocket in 2010. I also believe that the value of these will rise to the current price of chrome gold C-3POs in two years. However, if you want to purchase one to keep for yourself. I would not recommend it. It is not worth $30 USD in my opinion, as it has no playability. Sure, it does look amazing (), but there is no playability as the chrome will wear off (especially at the corners, where the color is already chrome silver) if you do so. I plan on keeping it in storage, just taking it out every few weeks to admire. Also, I have to give thanks to JCC1004 for posting that he won a chrome Vader at the event that I went to. Luckily he lives on the Atlantic Coast of the US (while I live in the Pacific, that's a four hour difference there), so I was able to read his post thirty minutes before the event actually started (I arrived five minutes late, but did not miss anything ). Thank you so much, JCC1004! Without your post, I probably never would have been able to get a chrome Vader (and this review would never have been made). Be sure to vote on what you want to see next! The poll "closes" (not actually, but I will count the votes at that time) at 5 PM Pacific Standard Time (21 hours after this review was posted). When Vader came back from the chroming salon, the Death Star crew rushed up to him poke, touch, punch, and do other various obscene things to him. I (the shadow trooper) was smart enough to grab his lightsaber before he had a chance to retaliate. Thanks for reading! I had much fun writing and taking pictures for this review. The Brickshelf folder where all these pictures live can be found here.

I saw these on Saturday at the LEGO Store in Santa Clara, CA. All of the Christmas themed sets were there, but I only took pictures of these three. The Cool Santa set is $15 USD (or $10 USD; I can't remember, but it was probably $15). The Santa mini-set that has the "Happy Holidays" brick and other stickers was, I think, either $6 USD or $10 USD. The ornaments are $5 USD each. I did not get any since the pieces were only simple bricks and plates. Pictures of the three ornament sets: 40001 40002 40003 Enjoy!

That is the main reason why I don't like going to stores early for Black Friday. That and the other incident where a store worker was trampled to death by the crowd... I haven't gotten anything good yet from Black Friday sales. I might get up early if there is a very good one (like last year's 40% off the Imperial Star Destroyer, normally priced $100 USD), but if not, I probably won't. EDIT: Wow, really? I'll probably be going to the LEGO Store for my Black Friday morning, then. Hopefully I can get a good price on the Battle of Endor.

Wow, that is an amazing MOC! The use of those brown pieces for the lighthouse make it look very old and wooden - nice work! The SNOT/tiled rock is amazing! It looks so detailed, yet so simple at the same time. The rock arch is also a great touch. Keep up the good work!

I would love to participate in this game, but unfortunately I do not have enough time on my hands. I only get about 1-2 hours of computer time every day, and I spend most of the time browsing the other Eurobricks threads. Sorry ADHO15. If you decide to host another game in the summer or during a vacation time (Christmas, spring break, etc.), I would love to join in.

When did I say that my mom would not want to take me to Toys 'R' Us twice in a week?And anyways, my mom would not do such a thing. That is virtually stealing, in my opinion. I also have missed out on the first brick, so there's no point in getting the second brick, either. I also have a very limited budget to spend on LEGO. I might get something like Echo Base and a small set to get the free tractor, but I wouldn't count on it, since I have already bought about $57 worth of LEGO at the LEGO Store on Saturday's event. Yes, I know. LEGO is our most favorite toy and hobby. Why would we want to scam/steal from them?Anyways, I can't wait to see the discount/bonus for next week. Hopefully it will be something good like this week's (getting an item worth about half of what you paid for free).

I can't do that since the LEGO Store is over 20 miles away, and I can't drive. My mom probably would not want to take me back so early, too.And also, all items in the LEGO Store have a price sticker on it, so the employees might see the sticker missing and not accept it.

I would love to see a return of the Western theme. I was never around to see it, and, judging by the pictures in The LEGO Book, it looks like it was a very good theme. Signed, π

Pictures of bag-built firefighter and police impulse sets: 5612 Police Officer: 5613 Firefighter: And both sets together: Enjoy! Well, I know you better now, so I'll spell it right next time.

Argh, I should've bought my Separatist Shuttle there instead of at the LEGO Store (I bought it yesterday, but already opened it)!

Wow, these look awesome! They capture the shape and look of both WALL-E and EVE. Nicely done!

Because there wasn't anyone who helped with the making of the book that was there, so I figured that I should at least get a signature from one of the 501st people.