Need to do a better job of keeping this site updated. This build is from the LEGO Club Meeting back in April. It was a Pharaoh's Quest themed build, and Jesse built this cool car for his mummy hunter to drive around in, chasing down pesky bandaged wrapped trouble makers. I like that he kept it clean and simple on this one, and the style of car fits right in with the other Pharaoh's Quest vehicles.
There were no LEGO Club Meetings from November 2010-January 2011, most likely because LEGO Store needing to deal with the insane holiday season. The few times I went in there before X-Mas the store was absolutely packed. We missed registering for the February 2011 meeting, which I believe was World Racers themed, but we made sure not miss out on the March 2011 meeting which was all Star Wars.
I'm not sure why, but like the last Star Wars one, this was centered around building Bounty Hunter ships. Jesse wasted no time cranking out this ship out. A lot of his builds are usually based around a single color, especially gray for his Star Wars ships. This time he challenged himself, and used a mix of red, grey, and black bricks, complimented with a few dark green prefabbed pieces and decals, to come up with this cool looking ship.
Jesse thought Cad Bane's speeder was kind of weak, so he built this souped-up planet side fighter for CB to use while doing his dastardly deeds.
The Vengeance Battle Cruiser was Jesse’s entry into a LEGO contest at one of the city libraries. There were lots of great contest entries, so he was pretty stoked to win 3rd place in his age category (9-12yo), and his prize was the LEGO Race Turbo Tow truck.
The Vengeance is armed to the teeth and is a support ship for the larger Venator Class Star Destroyer. He put a lot of time into making all the different weapons, many of which can rotate and move up and down. Jesse also detailed the inner working of the battle cruisers with control stations, weapon racks, etc.
Check out the rest of the photos here.
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Jesse and I always regretted not getting our hands on the last version of the Slave I. We were excited when LEGO announced a new Slave I for 2010, but the $110 CDN the price tag deterred us. The 2006 model (537 pieces), which came with one more minigfig than the 2010 model, usually retailed in the $70-$80 CDN range. So for 36 extra pieces, and one less minifig, we get to pay an extra $40? Not cool.
But then the LEGO gods smiled upon us. One day we were at our friend's comic/toy/model store and there was a 2010 LEGO Slave I sitting on the floor. The price: $80. Not sure how he got such a great price, but there was no we were passing that up.
After a couple hours of assembling it, we finally had our LEGO Star Wars Slave 1. And a Boba Fett! And a carbonite Han Solo! Awesome!
Here are two microscale spacefighters that Jesse built, inspired by the jaw-droppingly awesome ships that Fredoichi keeps cranking out.
The Warbird is a hulk of a ship, designed to withstand a lot of damage while dishing it out in return. It doesn't mind tangling with with larger battle cruisers.
The Blizzard Fighter on the other hand is a fast, nimble starfighter that is ready to take on any enemy fighters. It's motto: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". If you're too slow, then the fight is already over.
LEGO Universe is the new massively multiplayer online game that LEGO launched last month. The gist of the game is that you play an explorer for one of four factions of the Nexus Force, each with their own unique ability: Assembly (building), Sentinels (battling), Venture League (exploring), and Paradox (Maelstrom research). Your goal as a Nexus Force member, is to help the citizens of LEGO Universe battle against the Maelstrom, the "dark-side" force of imagination, intent on spreading destruction and chaos throughout the LEGO Universe.
When I first saw the game I knew it was something that Jesse would love playing, but I didn't think our little old iMac would be capable of running it. Last weekend, when we were at the LEGO Store for the Building Club Meeting, I reviewed the system specs. Turned out all I needed was to upgrade my OS to 10.6.3. Woo hoo! Add in the fact that it was Double VIP Points for all LEGO Store purchases in October, and that we could write off the game as a home schooling expense, and the purchase was a no brainer.
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Once at home, I upgraded the OS, installed the game without any problems, and away we went. One thing to note is that you need a LEGO ID (username/password) to play. If shop and/or use the LEGO site then you should already have one, and you can use this to play LEGO Universe. Otherwise you can create one from within the game itself.
The first thing you do is pick your character's name. You can choose to have a custom name, which will be subject to approval from the game overlords. If you choose to go with a custom name, you also to pick a temporary name from a list of options provided to you. This will be your character's name until your custom name is approved. It seemed like our custom name was approved in no time though.
After that you get to create a custom minifigure that represents your character. Hair, facial features, body, and legs are all customizable from a carousel of parts. Once you're happy with your minifig it's time to go and kick and some Maelstrom butt.
You start the game on a spaceship, the Venture Explorer, where you will be introduced to the dashboard and game play mechanics through a series of simple missions. Once you have completed the missions aboard the Venture Explorer, you build a rocket ship that takes you to Avant Gardens, the entry to rest of LEGO Universe.
Jesse has had a lot of fun playing this so far, and didn't have much trouble learning how to play it. He loves all the different missions, although some have him stumped for now. He also enjoys collecting and buying new LEGO pieces, which allows you to build different creations. We'll keep you posted from time-to-time on how Jesse's ongoing quest to protect the LEGO Universe from the Maelstrom is going.
It would be an understatement to say that Jesse and I were stoked to find out that this month's LEGO Club Meeting was Star Wars themed. And to think we almost missed out on it. The demand was greater than usual because of it being Star Wars related, and they were offering three meetings instead of the usual two.
I called in early October to book Jesse for one of them, and was told they were all full. I think the LEGO employee heard the disappointment in my voice, because she offered to add us on the final meeting. "Heck yes!", I said, sending imaginary bear hugs down the phone line. Once again the LEGO Store customer service shines through.
Last Saturday we headed down, arriving a few minutes late, to find the store packed full of kids already busy building away. Their task was to pick a Star Wars minifig, grab a cup of Star Wars bricks, and to build both a spaceship and base.
Jesse wasted no time getting busy. He opted not to use the Star Wars bricks they provided, and build his stealthy bounty hunter ship using mostly black bricks and tiles from the various buckets of LEGO they had throughout the store. Unfortunately the camera battery was dead, so I had to use my cell phone, and the picture quality isn't all that great. There were lots of other great ships and bases built by the kids. It's really cool to see the stuff they come up with in such a limited time.
One last note...the shirt this month was by far the best Club Meeting shirt yet. It has a picture of the LEGO Star Wars Hoth Wampa, with the text "Have You Seen Him?" underneath. I wish I could have gotten one.
Been meaning to post this for awhile. This is Jesse's first go at a mech. I had attempted to build one, but wasn't very successful. Jesse tore it down and rebuilt his own version. In this scene the Light Armor Scout Mech is providing support for a scouting party in a war-torn city.
Every month the LEGO Store has a LEGO Club Meeting. Kids 6-14 years old can attend on a Saturday morning for about an hour before the store opens.
Each month's LEGO Club Meeting is geared around one of the LEGO brands. The children are given LEGO pieces related to the chosen brand, and then asked to build a model of some sort. Once everyone is done building they discuss their models, and the models get put on display in the store for the remainder of the day.
The cost to attend is $25, and includes a t-shirt with a design centered around the month's theme, a bag of basic LEGO bricks, and some other bonuses like coupons, posters, and building tips.
As you can see from Jesse's shirt, and the model he built, September's theme was the recently released Hero Factory. He named his model "Tentacles".
