LEGO Dagobah

  • August 7, 2022

In the previous post I referred to a pile of unopened LEGO kits in our house; it was time to make one. This one:

For me, this is the best of the three Star Wars dioramas they have released and I bought it as soon as I saw it a few weeks ago. And apparently it jumped to the front of the line as far as assembling kits goes 🙂

Here’s what was inside:

Exactly 1000 pieces apparently. When I opened it I didn’t pay too much attention to bag #3, but more on that later…

As with most LEGO kits these days it is built in stages, and the pieces for each stage are collected together in the same bags. This makes the build easy and fairly fast (in total it took me about 3 hours).

For the first few steps it feels like building a mosaic, with a lot of small pieces going into the flat base. And then you reach bag 3 and this step in the manual:

Yep, place 177 flat 1×1 transparent green tiles! I think this must be the largest amount of pieces I’ve seen in a single LEGO step! Thankfully the bag contained exactly 177 tiles and it was easy:

The next step built most of Yoda’s house:

What you can’t see is a cute touch: there’s a lightsaber hidden in the ‘attic’. While this obviously wasn’t in the movie (The Empire Strikes Back) it’s reasonable to assume he had it with him when he fled to Dagobah!

After the final steps – adding trees and the X-Wing – the diorama is complete. And it looks great! Here’s a detail of Luke ‘do or do not-ing’:

What an amateur he was in those days… he couldn’t even lift an X-Wing 😉

This is the ideal sort of LEGO kit for someone like me that makes these and displays them on shelves. I like it even more than I thought I would and am now considering the other two. And with so many iconic scenes in the Star Wars films I expect there’ll be more dioramas on the way.

  • Posted in Collecting
  • Robert

Lion Knight’s Castle

  • August 3, 2022

Back in 1978 LEGO released their first castle set, and we got it for Christmas not long afterwards. We had loads of LEGO in those days, but this set was always my favourite:

I loved all the mini figures, the drawbridge and the way the walls were hinged and the entire castle opened up for play. In time both Bernard and I could make this even without the instructions, and I remember playing with it for years. Since then I’ve always had nostalgia for LEGO castle sets, and despite a few others being released over the decades none wowed me like the original set ever did.

Until now!

This is Lion Knight’s Castle, a new set inspired by the 1978 classic castle that also incorporates elements from newer sets. It’s massive, with 22 minifigs and the level of detail we expect from LEGO sets these days (like the blacksmith). It was only revealed a few weeks ago and came out today for VIP members. I had to have it, and was at the LEGO store before it opened.

To my amazement there was a line, and a longish one at that! I was at the store just this past Monday (to get the Atari set) and had walked right in and bought what I wanted without a wait. What was going on?

It quickly became obvious this was a line for the castle. They let us in and there were very few sets to be seen, and I immediately sensed anxiety. Not just me (about 8th in line) but everyone was wondering if they had enough to go around? Very quickly the manager assured us did, and apologized for the fact it would take a while since only one register was working. It would be a slow process.

As I patiently waited my turn – and they were bringing castles out from the back room at this point – the line continued to lengthen behind me. A few people were grabbing other sets (but not the new Sanctum Santorum or Atari VCS, both of which were sold out) but everyone was there for the castle. It was a diverse line, with people of all ages, genders and colours. And here I thought only guys my age would be this excited about a nostalgic set 🙂

Before I got to the register the line was out the door, and as I paid and left I heard the woman at the door tell a customer they were sold out of castles and not sure when they’d get more. I believe they only got about 20 based on what I counted, and they’d sold them all at $400 in under half an hour! From what others in line were saying it sold out online almost immediately as well. Now we know why LEGO continues to make such big and pricey sets.

Here’s my castle. It’s the biggest set I’ve ever owned both by box size and piece count (over 4500) and quite a beast to pick up. Now I own it of course I’ll need to make it, but given there’s a bunch of other sets in this house waiting to be built it’ll probably be a while.

When I do, I’ll definitely blog it 🙂

The Jersey Shore

  • July 28, 2022

Ocean City is a seaside resort in southeastern New Jersey. It’s known for its family friendly atmosphere, and somewhat remarkably has never allowed the sale of alcohol (since it was founded 140 years ago)! We’ve spent the last two nights here.

The beach is about 10 miles long, and has a wide wooden boardwalk extending for about 3 miles. It’s lined with dozens and dozens of shops and attractions, and the entire place is full of people and incredibly busy.

The above photo by the way is KLS’s reaction when the Atlantic water splashed over her feet. Despite extreme temperatures today, the ocean was very cold and almost no one was swimming!

We had a hotel virtually on the boardwalk and spent much of our time here walking back and forth. Today is was dangerously hot (bordering 100F) so we took a siesta in the afternoon to wait until evening when the boardwalk really comes to life.

Almost everything on the boardwalk stays open until very late, and the crowds seemed to double as the sun began to set.

Once it’s dark and the lights start to come on the lines at the food shops are twice as long as they were during the day. There’s a slight night air chill from the ocean, but not enough to affect the long lines at the ice-cream shops.

The arcades and mini golf places start hopping (I played a Rush pinball machine!) and buskers are out in force. Kids run around with light toys and today we even saw Santa and Dr Strange posing with tourists for photos!

The lights on the rides at the amusement parks (there are two on the boardwalk!) are dazzling and the parks are so packed it’s difficult to even walk through them. Here’s a closer look at that intriguing rollercoaster you can see in the above pic:

I didn’t ride it, but apparently it’s one of the best in the USA. And it’s only about 100 feet from the waves!

We’ve enjoyed our brief stay here by the sea, especially the boardwalk after dark. To think that a few weeks ago we’d never even heard of Ocean City! Another reason why road trips like this one can be so much fun 🙂