and like the terminator...

I'm back... well, sort of. First I would like to say thank you to all the people who have sent messages wishing me well. It has taken a lot longer to get to here than I hoped it would and I have stayed quiet because I just can't keep up with the demand on my time right now. I have missed being part of such an awesome community and seeing what everyone has been up to. So, what I'd like to do is to offer up a position as a helper, if you want to help write the blog or maybe pick up some minifig competitions with me then that'd be great... Otherwise things will still relatively quiet over here.

Thanks again, Beck

Custom figure round up

Geoshift strikes again, this time with this Praetorian Guard... excellent painting as always (o:

Little workstation moc from Tom Leech... I know I've said this before but check out his stream, it's good. Also, loving the nanofigs Tom (o:

Siercon and Coral bring us this Dawn Valkyrie for the Castle Contest minifig section... nice work! Thumbs up for tinfoil usage (o:

~Cmorganweck~ brings us a nicely painted Apocalyptic Juggernaut... like the contrast with the blue head underneath.

BrickCommand Closing and new items

As I posted earlier, BrickCommand will be closing it's doors in December bringing an end to the avaliability of the 2011 batch of custom accessories. Brett is now taking ideas for the second run of items to be avaliable in the new year. So, is there an accessory you have been itching to see made? Head over to the BrickCommand flickr group and voice your opinion, you never know it might become a reality.

And, to get your hands on some of the 2011 batch of accessories either head over to the BrickCommand website or enter my minifig design contest over on flickr. Brett very generously donated plenty of items to give away as prizes (o:

Brick Command closing soon....

Hello! As you know, hopefully, Brett at BrickCommand has very kindly donated some items to use as prizes for the current Star Wars themed Minifig Design contest. Well, he has just informed me that he will shortly be closing his store for an inventory update and will not reopen until January. All the current stock will no longer be avaliable to buy once the store closes. So, get your order in now or enter my contest for what might be your last chance to get hold of some of his wands, swords, throwing stars and stands.

Arealight printed items

I finally got a hold of some of Arealight's newest printed items. For those of you who haven't heard of Arealight (come on... surely everyone has!) he has been in the business of manufacturing custom helmets, torsos, heads and jetpacks that are minifig compatible. They are very much based in a galaxy far, far away which is why I love them so much. So, onto the new pieces...

First up, the new line of printed jetpacks. Pictured above is Boba Fett sporting his jetpack. It is worth noting that the warhead (here is silver) and the jetpack are two separate parts - I couldn't find my sand green ones so I stuck this silver one in. You can also buy smaller rocket heads to attach to the jetpack as well. The printing here is good, lined up properly and matches really nicely with the official Lego helmet (and, obviously, the corresponding printed helmet Arealight offers). Pictured below are the other printed jetpacks I received, they are all equally well printed and match their corresponding printed helmets arealight offers.

 As you can see, these jetpacks are all pretty well printed and I think they are much better in design than Lego's own version.

Now onto helmets... I have to say, I am not a clone army builder - I like Jedi, Sith and Mandalorians but I thought I would go ahead and get some of these helmets, just to see what they were like.

The middle helmet here is Lego, for a comparison. The Arealight helmets are more compact vertically but a bit longer horizontally (as you can see in the picture below). The printing is pretty good, although is there a reason the camo one has a gap at the back? I dunno, maybe so. I tend to find it a little awkward that Arealight helmets have holes where the eyes are... only because it means you need a black head underneath but that's just my own personal niggle, I'm sure others prefer it this way round. There is a very large range of clone helmets to choose from in his store, plenty for any army builder.

Finally, shadow arf trooper helmet, here compared with the Lego original.

Again, the shaping here is different, not sure which I prefer... maybe Lego just edges it but I do like the silver printed decal on the Arealight helmet. Factor that in with the limited run of the Lego shadow arf trooper and Arealight is onto a winner! 

In conclusion, I am very happy with these items that I got from Arealight. I am particularly fond of the jetpacks and am making some good use of them on my Mandalorian army. They are quite pricy for small bits of printed plastic... but Arealight is offering some genuinely brilliant accessories for any minifig enthusiast. Arealight has always produced good plastic pieces but with the addition of printing he is really raising the bar. If you can afford it I would certianly recommend buying from him. http://www.arealightcustoms.com/shop/home.php

Just found another painter

I have just stumbled upon MR. Jens' Photostream over on flickr and was quite pleasently surprised, he's got some minifig painting going on - and chopping up hair to use with hats... I like that!
Check out a couple of his offerings here...

Brick Command prizes

Brickcommand.net have very kindly donated some of their custom wares for me to offer as prizes in my 'Can you feel the Force?' minifig design contest. Here are a couple of pictures of what's on offer . I will be dividing these into first place and runners-up prizes.

Head over to the contest page on flickr for more details on how to enter the minifig design contest and get in the running to win these kuhl accessories PLUS 15% discount at Firestar toys!