Amazon’s running some kind of wacky sale. I hesitated reporting on this sale because a) it’s only 20% and b) I usually find out about it only for it to revert to a higher price before I hit the publish button. Some of these deals seem to be sticking around though.
Amazon still has 9496 Desert Skiff marked down 22% down to $19.44. They’ve also lowered the price once again on 9516 Jabba’s Palace down a whopping 27% to $87.97.
Update: This video is being pulled faster than I can keep up with updating the link, unfortunately. I will post the fan-made storyboard interpretation from back in September as a place holder for those who missed it.
Of all the upcoming movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man is the one I’m looking forward to the most and for the longest time. Wright brought this test footage to last year’s SDCC, but it’s been in the works for more than three years now. Wright has stated that the film will be an origin story that will fit within the MCU, but still feel “like its own piece”. The film is supposed to feature both Hank Pym and Scott Lang and while I’m sure it will have loads of Wright’s signature humour, it will not be a parody or spoof. I’m sure the Ant-Man design will change quite a bit, but the aesthetic ceratinly fits with the technology established by the Iron Man films.
My theory? A tale of two Ant-Men starting in the 60′s or 70′s with Pym’s discovery of Pym particles and the developement of the Ant-Man technology. Pym, inspired by the works of Howard Stark, shuns the financial and public aspects in favour of strict scientific pursuit. His pacifistic ways force him to put his Ant-Man persona on ice after a personal loss until, years later when a young thief steals the technology and Ant-Man is publicly re-introduced to a new generation and a much larger, far more dangerous world.
It’s been long rumoured (wishful thinking?) that Nathan Fillion would be Ant-Man, but the films have skewed to a mostly younger cast and he really doesn’t have the box office draw or interest to fit. With a tentative release date of November 6th, 2015 we should be hearing casting news soon as well as filming updates. We’ll keep you posted.
Looking for more TMNT sets? Well, we’re all out of luck there. But LEGO’s done possibly the next best thing and have created PDF instructions for alternate models for each set. Unfortunately, there is no such file for 79103 Turtle Lair Attack which is a little puzzling. 488 pieces and they couldn’t come up with anything? Download the entire zip file (about 15mb) and get re-building!
I simultaneously applaud and curse Okay Yaramanoglu (Oky – Space Ranger) for the above MOC. Anyone watching the cartoon will instantly recognize the above recreation of one of the opening shots from the cartoon’s intro, and for that I applaud him. But I also curse him for reminding that we’ll never get official versions of the turtles like this. This is how the turtles should have been made. Or at least have a set or two with their eyes like this. An exclusive maybe? Is that asking for too much? This is also one step closer to how I prefer my turtles. Sigh.
The LEGO x Ferrari x Shell cross promotion is hitting more countries. The latest is Australia which launched a few days ago on March 14th. It seems that no matter the country, the promotion is the same: you get the same set of six vehicles, which is great ’cause I’d hate to try and chase down country exclusives. No word yet on when the promo will hit stateside but we’ll try and stay on top of it. If I was a betting man, I’d guess sometime during the summer.
With the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Blu-ray/DVD tomorrow, and Target having their exclusive version that comes with an exclusive Bilbo Baggins minifigure, and with the announcement of the exclusive Special Forces Commander Clone Trooper minifigure included with The Yoda Chronicles book, I figured now would be as good of a time as any to make a checklist for all the exclusive minifigs that came with a book, video game, or Blu-ray/DVD release.
Okay, I originally wanted to get this review done back when the movie was in theaters and fresh in everyone’s mind, but we’re going to have to settle for the upcoming BluRay release to refresh it for everyone! You know, life and what not.
After the achievement that was “The Return of the King,” the standard is set pretty high for The Hobbit. How do you follow-up the first Fantasy picture to ever win best picture? I mean, come on, the Academy didn’t even give best picture to The Wizard of Oz (okay, granted, it was up against Gone With the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, and Of Mice and Men). More than that, how do you follow-up on the book that defined pretty much the whole of high fantasy after it? While The Lord of the Rings was an epic tale, The Hobbit is the granddaddy of pretty much all high fantasy.
While I reviewed a goodnumber of the LotR sets, a sad confession is that I’ve never actually read the books. I’ve tried before, but I’ve always held that Tolkien was a brilliant linguist and a below-average writer. However, I did read the Hobbit twice… once in High School, and once in college for a Fantasy Literature class (never let it be said that a Creative Writing doesn’t have it’s uses… okay, say it a lot, because it’s very true, but that was a very cool class). And that experience really solidified in my mind that I felt about Tolkien the exact same way I felt about Michael Crichton: great ideas and concepts… but iffy stories at the very best.
Now that I’ve fired a broadside across fans of The Hobbit and Jurassic Park like, let me say that the movies that were born out of those ideas have been fairly awesome. The Lord of the Rings can be called a work of absolute art. It’s one of those movies that actually gets better when you peel away the illusion of how it was done (unlike, say, the PT Star Wars films that are basically a bunch of actors standing in front of a whole lot of green screens). More than that, the LotR trilogy captured the essence of what Tolkien put into his books (at least the stuff that I could bring myself to read), and it remains to be seen if The Hobbit can do the same.
Oh, and obviously, there will be some spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk. Also, there will undoubtably be jokes about walking… and it’s going to be a long, long, review (like a lot of the walking scenes).
Target has put on sale their entire LEGO Star Wars catalog for this week. Savings range around 10%, nothing great but they do have 75003 A-wing Fighter on sale for 20% off at an even $20. Deal is good all week long until Saturday March 23. Got a REDCard? Save an additional 5% and get free shipping to boot.
In typical Amazon fashion, they’ve price-matched the set. If you live in a state where Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax, this may be a better deal for you if you have a Prime account or pad your order to hit the Free Super Saver Shipping threshold.
Just a friendly reminder that the follow-up to Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, The Empire Strikes Out is being released across the pond in the UK tomorrow March 18. For us here in the colonies, the US release date is set for March 26th, Canada too. If you can get past continuity issues and you enjoyed Padawan Menace, you’ll like this one as well:
Your favorite characters are back to save the galaxy in LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. The heroes of the Rebel Alliance including heroic Luke Skywalker, swaggering Han Solo and steadfast Princess Leia have no time to celebrate their victory over the Empire as a new Imperial threat arises. But as Jedi-in-training Luke embarks on this next mission, he discovers that his celebrity status as a “Death-Star-Blower-Upper” can be a double-edged lightsaber when he’s constantly mobbed by crazed fans. So much for secret missions! Meanwhile, Darth Vader and Darth Maul are locked in a hilarious “Sith-ling” rivalry as they compete for the Emperor’s approval. It’s an action-packed comic adventure that’s out of this world!
Unfortunately for Blu-ray collectors, there is no Blu-ray edition of the show, which is really, really odd. I mean, why not just release it on Laser Disc or Betamax to really push the annoyance factor up? But you do get a medal ceremony Darth Vader exclusive minifigure to make up for it.
I’m very conflicted about this review. I’m going to try very hard to judge this set on it own merits, but I may veer off into a mini rant about the movie from time to time. I’ll try to keep it focused on how the set and flick pertain to one another, but I’ll apologize in advance if when I stray from the path. One way or another, this is going to contain spoilers so keep that in mind before you proceed and once more unto the bricks. (more…)
