Balakov's Cake Trooper

Wait a minute. A Balakov pic that's not part of the scavenger hunt?! Yup.

"The 307th Imperial baking division is one of the most feared special-operations units in the Empire."

(Via Balakov's Flickr stream)

Brick Comic: Tranquility Base

I was looking at a detailed space factory MOC by legoloverman and it had a note asking, "Do you want to know more?" When I clicked through it took me to episode #213 of Tranquility Base, a brick comic I had heard of, but never explored.

As you can see from the strip, Peter's MOC was featured as a 'blip' production line. This isn't the first time that Pete's creations have been used in brick media.

So what's the strip about? The answer (in their own words):

"Tranquility Base is the result of adding Classic Space, Futuron and one or two other bits of LEGO together to create a spaceport in which weird stuff can happen.

It is what would happen if we Brits had won the space race (I know, we weren't in "The" space race) -- it's an organisation that employs some eccentrics with brilliant minds but not necessarily any common sense, far too few highly efficient but under-paid workers who actually keep the place running, and all overseen by a bloated administrative layer that couldn't organise a... uh... bonfire in an explosives factory."

I've perused a few episodes and they really made me chuckle. I think I'll be keeping an eye on Tranquility Base in the near (yet distant) future.

(Via Tranquility Base website)

LEGO Star Wars Minifigures: Han Solo (AT-AT, 2010)

Now Showing
This new variant of Han Solo will be appearing in set 8129, AT-AT Walker. The new picture is shown on the left in the picture. The other minifigure shown here (sw088) is a variant of Han that came with set 6212, X-Wing Fighter, released in 2006. Due to similarities we will make comparisons to this figure.

Minifigure Parts and Accessories
Han is composed of four parts: hair piece, head, torso, and legs.

The hair piece appears to be exactly the same a previous figures (part 3901) in reddish brown.

The head has been updated to the white pupil design and modified smirk; however, this is the same head featured on the Slave I (2010) variant.

The torso and arms are dark blue with light flesh hands. The torso print is nearly identical to the Slave I Han, except there's a jacket print over the white shirt. The 'man-cleavage' remains...

The legs are also the same color and print design as shown on sw088 (part 970c00pb23).

The accessory shown with Han is a standard short blaster (part 58247).

Army Building Potential
The ABP for this figure is low. There's only one Han Solo, and most of these parts are not likely to be desired in multiples.

Big Draw
The only thing that is truly new with this figure is the torso print. No other Han on record has this jacket and white shirt combo. By process of elimination this will likely be part of the attraction.

(Pictures via Eurobricks)

(Back to LEGO Star Wars Minifigure Guide)

Three from the Scavenger Hunt

Item #15: Synchronized

"It's a good job Astromech droids are waterproof."

Item #16: Taped

"This is not a situation you ever want to be in."

Item #17: No Entry

"You shall not pass. This was all that was needed to protect Endor from Imperial occupation."

(Via Balakov's Flickr stream)

Karf Oohlu's Ivor Terribletemperski

Karf Oohlu has managed to get his hands on a LEGO minifigure keychain flashlight. No sooner than having the chain removed from his head, it manages to get in a fight with the Greedo Triplets.

Seeing a minifig at this larger scale still gives me hope that LEGO might adopt a maxi-fig format at some point in the future.

(Via Karf Oohlu's Flickr stream)

Two from Pedro and AMA News

Pedro is back and doing his best to customize and mod this series of minifigures. The figures are actually a mix of Space Police III, Star Wars, Power Miners, Harry Potter, and Amazing Armory accessories.

First up is this red armored warrior. The helmet is a modified version of part 85944 from Space Police III. The body armor is from Power Miners (part 85961). The shoulder cannon seems like it would be a custom part, but its actually a Star Wars Super Battle Droid arm (part 64796). The head? A Harry Potter death eater mask. Finally the gun is an Amazing Armory M4A1. So how does Pedro achieve that shiny, candy-like exterior? Mr. Color paint, cranberry red pearl.

The second figure utilizes the same SPIII helmet only modified differently to remove the head spikes. The armor is a modified version of Amazing Armory space armor. We've talked about the gun on the soldier's back. The gun in hand is Amazing Armory based on comments, but I can't seem to place the model.

Speaking of comments...Pedro mentions in the comments that he is soon to be the official US reseller of Amazing Armory. I'm not certain what this means for US customers (lower shipping prices, faster delivery), but Pedro's store should be opening soon.

(Via PEDRO-79's Flickr stream)

Series 2 Bar Codes for Europe?

This was just seen on the BrickLink forums. There is a new bar code pdf for the Series 2 LEGO Collectible Minifigures. I'm calling this as rumor for now, as I don't know if these have been verified.

This is coming from the website bricks.inof.de which debuted the original bar codes for Series 1. We also know Series 2 minifigures have started to appear at Legolands Billund and Windsor.

If these are accurate, you've just gotten a jump on the rest of the collectors!

US bar codes will hopefully be available soon...

(Via BrickLink forums)