Chrome Stormtrooper Minifig just in time for Star Wars Weekends

[Staff]

Talk about out of left field: apparently LEGOLand California has already started putting these out for sale - because Eurobricks member PDQAg picked one up last Friday.

More pictures available in his Webshots album here. And my thanks to Dano for tipping me off about it, I need one to go with my other chrome minifigs!

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Permalink: http://www.fbtb.net/2009/06/09/chrome-stormtrooper-minifig-just-in-time-for-star-wars-weekends/

[Andi]

This fig looks awesome!
Will this only be available in Legoland CA?

[Solo]

Greetings! I picked this little guy up at LEGOLAND California last Friday as they were just being put on the shelves. First off, I must say I was totally surprised when I saw it, as I had no idea LEGO was making this! I am sure the timing is not a coincidence as Star Wars Weekend is coming up at LEGOLAND California June 13th and 14th.

Now on to the pictures!!! Sorry if the pictures turned out blurry, my camera was having trouble focusing on the chrome at such close distances.

First off, the front:
http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/45652 ... 500Q85.jpg
It's your standard stormtrooper, with a printed front and helmet, but in chrome!

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/pho ... 5221cOcARg
Underneath the helmet, there is just a standard black minifig head.

http://inlinethumb50.webshots.com/43505 ... 500Q85.jpg
The back is also printed! Good job LEGO!

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/41708 ... 500Q85.jpg
Everything that comes in the packaging.

http://inlinethumb20.webshots.com/43603 ... 500Q85.jpg
Perhaps a little armor envy?

The packaging is nice and simple with the original LEGO Star Wars logo:
http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/45517 ... 500Q85.jpg
Sorry, that is the only picture of the packaging I have. It met with an unfortunate end soon afterwards.

The price is $12.99 USD for the anniversary magnet. For those keeping track, the item number is 4560075.

Well, that just about wraps things up. Now I am going to head back to the park and pick a few more of these guys up before they're all gone!

[Obi-Wan Skywalker]

Well there's always ebay.

[Plo]

hopefully it will be available in the LEGO stores soon

[bigospedros]

man, this is v cool ... and so is the new magnet pack with a Snowie in it I hope these both become available worldwide!!

[Veers]

It's so beautiful... And shiny. So very shiny.

[Mister Ed]

I dunno. This just doesn't look good to me. I mean, the silver color-scheme is so random. To me it would be special if it looked all shiny-WHITE like a movie stormtrooper, but this is sort of pointless, IMHO.

But that's just my preferences. Not trying to rain on the parade for those that like this.

[b4p]

this makes the chrome vader look like an idiot

[meeotch]

I agree with Mr. Ed that it would look better if it was shiny white rather than silver. That being said, I'm still looking to add this to my collection. I have to say, it appears that Lego is at least hip to the fact that there are a significant number of serious collectors of the Star Wars line, and these chrome figs are a great way of giving us something cool that might not necessarily hold the same kind of value for a kid, and I think that's pretty cool.


edit: for what it's worth, I just called my local Lego store and my call was the first they've heard about these.

[BigBenKenobi]

It's beautiful! I would really love to get my hands on one of these .

[Wubbles]

I am totally gonna get one of these! DANG! Stupid picture made me drool on my keyboard! *drool*

[Iare Tosevite]

It would be awesomer with white chrome, but its pretty good as is.

[gratefulnat]

Looking at that sure gets my heart racing...oh yeah!

[thepatient]

So are these going to be sold after the Star Wars weekend? I'm going to be at LEGOland in two weeks. It would be nice to get something Chrome for once. I just can't win on any of the ways to get chrome anything. They're so expensive on bricklink and e-bay, not to mention I'll never get one through the sheer randomness of getting something like this in a box. I wouldn't mind the $12.99 price; but are these going to be gone by the time I get a chance to go to the park?

I just can't get a break on any of these Chromeified promos.

[Pdragon]

Are these available at the other LEGO stores?

[Drock]

yuck, that looks horrible. Not that chrome isn't cool, but it barely resembles a stormtrooper. I think Lego is trying to get too cute with releasing chrome figs. C3P0 made sense, but after that, they are really stretching it.

[Dendo]

I hope they sell these on s@h - I don't live close to any stores. I never could understand why they never sold the other chrome figs - I am sure they would have sold many more than the 10,000 randomly inserted in the US... That would have been some serious $$$ for TLG. My other beef is that those of us that are serious collectors (and not lucky enough to have had enough posts to compete in the contests...) are left to random luck or paying big bucks on eBay. Oh well. I'm just bitter because I haven't found a chrome Vader yet... big sigh...

[gfxguy]

I hope they sell these on s@h - I don't live close to any stores. I never could understand why they never sold the other chrome figs - I am sure they would have sold many more than the 10,000 randomly inserted in the US... That would have been some serious $$$ for TLG. My other beef is that those of us that are serious collectors (and not lucky enough to have had enough posts to compete in the contests...) are left to random luck or paying big bucks on eBay. Oh well. I'm just bitter because I haven't found a chrome Vader yet... big sigh...

I bet I'm bitterer than you. My spell check even says "bitterer" is actually a word...

I do live near a LEGO store. You think you're going to get a Chrome Vader there? Every package weighed and measured before going on the shelf, guaranteed. You can't even luck into one at Toys-R-Us or Target for all the sneaks who've gone in and weighed them (and the staff let them... which is bad enough, but when it IS the staff it's even worse... I'd fire you, if you were my employee). To top if off, LEGO then limits the best cheap sets that you might have a chance with...

And then you find out people in other countries are getting them for buying LEGO they would have bought anyway, or paying some reasonable fee without having to even buy anything else.

I didn't know LEGO wanted to follow the Beanie Baby model, but it sure does make me bitter about it, and I will apologize in this very thread if they make it available in any reasonable amount of time to other buyers. This is actually just one thing on my long whine list.

Now, on the topic of the item itself... I think it's gorgeous. Yes, it's not white... but it's not really one of the items meant to be played with, IMO, it's a collector piece... maybe the center of attention for some nice MOC you put on your shelf.

[Blacknight]

I'll admit it looks kinda neat but hopefully this is the end of the chrome chase figure fad, I think it's losing its luster, pun intended. It seems they can put chrome on pretty much any random fig now and all the start wars lego fans will still scream "my precious".

Cost to Lego to chrome a minifig - $1.50. Price people willing to pay on ebay = priceless.

What's next? Chrome Slave Leia?

I think the only character left deserving a chroming is TC-14, the silver protocol droid at the beginning of Phantom Menace.

If Lego really has lots of extra chrome lying around their factories they should invest it in a more productive use, like for example making one of Padme's starships into a glorious all silver set.