Star Wars and LEGO, two great tastes that go together!
January 7, 2009 12:31 PM Subscribe
Flickr stream. "...[T]he 5′X10′ diorama is comprised of 60,000 Lego bricks. It cost creator Mark Borlase about $3,000 and four years of construction time to complete." Take note of his custom LEGO pieces.
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In the event that studentbaker's head explodes, this automated message is to inform his friends and family that whatever the cause, it must have been freakin' awesome!
posted by studentbaker at 12:42 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by studentbaker at 12:42 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
I was under the gun of a large project that was pretty much sapping the life out of me. My dear mother thought she'd bring some "childhood fun" back into my life and bought me a few sets of legos (on sale of course) and sent them to me as a birthday present.
I was so elated to get them since I'd not played with legos in like 20 years or something. I remember getting halfway through building the creation and I was like "damn this is really involved and I even have instructions." I couldn't imagine building something from scratch or imagination. Hats off to this guy (but wow he had 3k to drop on Legos? Wow)
posted by Hands of Manos at 12:45 PM on January 7, 2009
I was so elated to get them since I'd not played with legos in like 20 years or something. I remember getting halfway through building the creation and I was like "damn this is really involved and I even have instructions." I couldn't imagine building something from scratch or imagination. Hats off to this guy (but wow he had 3k to drop on Legos? Wow)
posted by Hands of Manos at 12:45 PM on January 7, 2009
What would be creepy and a waste of energy in any other children's toy medium immediately becomes awesome and heart-warming because it is LEGO.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:45 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Damn That Television at 12:45 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
This is really cool. I wish the presentation were better. When you spend 3k on your Lego creation, you should spend a bit extra to get some decent hosting so looking at the thing isn't like searching for a two-top in a box full of four-tops.
posted by OmieWise at 12:47 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 12:47 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
I bet no one's allowed to play with it.
posted by djgh at 12:49 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by djgh at 12:49 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Not to be all Han-shot-Firsty but isn't using custom Lego pieces sort like using steroids in the Olympics? By that I mean, not in the spirit of the game and grounds for disqualification, no matter how awesome you are?
Is there an official governing body I can ask about this?
posted by bondcliff at 1:00 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Is there an official governing body I can ask about this?
posted by bondcliff at 1:00 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
My son is going to 100% wig out when I show him this.
posted by jquinby at 1:01 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by jquinby at 1:01 PM on January 7, 2009
I knew a guy who did a HUGE lego Samurai Jack. But this takes the cake.
posted by flipyourwig at 1:03 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by flipyourwig at 1:03 PM on January 7, 2009
the word is "GUARD" you clod!
posted by boo_radley at 1:08 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by boo_radley at 1:08 PM on January 7, 2009
oh, and nice lego thing.
posted by boo_radley at 1:09 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by boo_radley at 1:09 PM on January 7, 2009
bondcliff, I'd think it's more an issue of creative license vs. canonical accuracy. With minifigs, there's only so much you can do with the pieces provided. If there's no suitable headpiece, you do without or you make one. Making one takes the whole thing to the next level of dedication to the project.
$3k for legos sounds like a lot, but how does $3k for a 5' x 10' miniature world, built from scratch and to scale, sound? Or $750 per year? This kit has 592 pieces and retails for $99.99. Does $3,000 seem that outlandish for 60,000 pieces?
OK, it still sounds like a lot of money.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:27 PM on January 7, 2009
$3k for legos sounds like a lot, but how does $3k for a 5' x 10' miniature world, built from scratch and to scale, sound? Or $750 per year? This kit has 592 pieces and retails for $99.99. Does $3,000 seem that outlandish for 60,000 pieces?
OK, it still sounds like a lot of money.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:27 PM on January 7, 2009
HoM, Yes, the slideshow is better, but I still think it fails to capture the grandeur of the whole undertaking. My criticism, you understand, is rooted in the awesomeness of the project.
I was never hugely bowled over by Star Wars, but Empire was always my favorite because there was something about the whole Hoth scene, and the subsequent space flotilla, that really captured my imagination.
posted by OmieWise at 1:32 PM on January 7, 2009
I was never hugely bowled over by Star Wars, but Empire was always my favorite because there was something about the whole Hoth scene, and the subsequent space flotilla, that really captured my imagination.
posted by OmieWise at 1:32 PM on January 7, 2009
Think he gets laid a lot?
posted by fixedgear at 1:38 PM on January 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by fixedgear at 1:38 PM on January 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
I'm torn between showing this to my husband because he'll freak out and think its awesome and not showing it to him because he'll freak out and then I'll have Lego pieces all over the floor for the next few months.
We have a closet that mostly holds huge trunks of Legos. As a gas station attendant once said to me after my husband freaked out over the $1 Lego sets on sale: "Look, honey, it could be a lot worse. He could be addicted to cars, or women. Legos aren't the worst possibility."
posted by threeturtles at 1:43 PM on January 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
We have a closet that mostly holds huge trunks of Legos. As a gas station attendant once said to me after my husband freaked out over the $1 Lego sets on sale: "Look, honey, it could be a lot worse. He could be addicted to cars, or women. Legos aren't the worst possibility."
posted by threeturtles at 1:43 PM on January 7, 2009 [3 favorites]
Think he gets laid a lot?
I bet his weird, creative, eccentric talent gets laid all damned day.
posted by mrmojoflying at 1:44 PM on January 7, 2009
I bet his weird, creative, eccentric talent gets laid all damned day.
posted by mrmojoflying at 1:44 PM on January 7, 2009
Not to out-geek him, but 'cmon, it's the 501st Legion.
posted by fijiwriter at 1:53 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by fijiwriter at 1:53 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Of course he gets laid a lot -- he built a woman out of Legos long before he even began this Star Wars thing.
posted by jamstigator at 1:59 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by jamstigator at 1:59 PM on January 7, 2009
Think he gets laid a lot?
While I do admire the effort and attention to detail, I also wonder what you tell people when undertaking a project like this. How do you explain to friends, parents, and potential love interests that you have a "pet project" that is taking up an entire room in your home and you spend a fair amount of time and money regularly working on your miniature Star Wars diorama? I'm not judging here, I just can't image trying to explain this to anyone.
"Are you doing this for work?"
"No."
"Are you going to sell it?"
"No."
"Enter it into a competition or something?"
"No. I just felt I needed to spend a lot of time and money on this for me."
"Ah..."
posted by Avelwood at 2:00 PM on January 7, 2009
While I do admire the effort and attention to detail, I also wonder what you tell people when undertaking a project like this. How do you explain to friends, parents, and potential love interests that you have a "pet project" that is taking up an entire room in your home and you spend a fair amount of time and money regularly working on your miniature Star Wars diorama? I'm not judging here, I just can't image trying to explain this to anyone.
"Are you doing this for work?"
"No."
"Are you going to sell it?"
"No."
"Enter it into a competition or something?"
"No. I just felt I needed to spend a lot of time and money on this for me."
"Ah..."
posted by Avelwood at 2:00 PM on January 7, 2009
i am more impressed by the idea of custom legos. how does one make their own legos? melt plastic down and form them in the oven? also, unless i missed it somewhere, i'd really like to see a picture of the whole room.
posted by fuzzypantalones at 2:14 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by fuzzypantalones at 2:14 PM on January 7, 2009
How do you explain to friends, parents, and potential love interests that you have a "pet project" that is taking up an entire room in your home
Looks like he uses his garage. I've got woodworking equipment in much of my garage, so I can't really argue. tons of people have random junk in their garage; might as well have the space be used for something entertaining if not actually useful.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 2:20 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Looks like he uses his garage. I've got woodworking equipment in much of my garage, so I can't really argue. tons of people have random junk in their garage; might as well have the space be used for something entertaining if not actually useful.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 2:20 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
As much as I love legos... and as much as I love star wars...
Even I'm going to buy the gun to help this guy end it all.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 2:23 PM on January 7, 2009
Even I'm going to buy the gun to help this guy end it all.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 2:23 PM on January 7, 2009
Is it custom?
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:39 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:39 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
*Vader voice*: Impressive.
posted by starman at 2:52 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by starman at 2:52 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Err...well, let us say that someone, not me of course, was confronted by this hobby by a potential love interest. The question would be, "how truly dedicated is he to this?", could I, for experimental purposes only, be able to seduce him away from this? How is my power vs. the power of a lego diorama from the Empire Strikes Back? In essence, do I (not me of course, just the hypothetical person) have the WILL to WIN? Can superior yoga and 4th school Taoist techniques be strong enough?
Oh yeah, he gets laid plenty.
posted by jadepearl at 3:04 PM on January 7, 2009
Oh yeah, he gets laid plenty.
posted by jadepearl at 3:04 PM on January 7, 2009
Impressive
Self-serve Vader party!
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:07 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Self-serve Vader party!
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:07 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
I bet his weird, creative, eccentric talent gets laid all damned day.
Yeah, by Rosie Palm and every single one of her five sisters.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:07 PM on January 7, 2009
Yeah, by Rosie Palm and every single one of her five sisters.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:07 PM on January 7, 2009
While I do admire the effort and attention to detail, I also wonder what you tell people when undertaking a project like this. How do you explain to friends, parents, and potential love interests that you have a "pet project" that is taking up an entire room in your home and you spend a fair amount of time and money regularly working on your miniature Star Wars diorama? I'm not judging here, I just can't image trying to explain this to anyone.
As someone with a decent amount of LEGO myself, I have no problem telling people about it or showing them my LEGO room.
At risk of sounding like an afterschool special, don't apologize for who you are. This is my hobby. I enjoy it. I have made some good friends who also enjoy it. We have a great time together and when we set up a public display, seeing kids and adults alike go nuts over it is really rewarding and fun.
I've even had the opportunity to participate in designing a couple of LEGO sets with the company. They have a very cool community program that most toy companies lack.
Sure, there are always the snarks about living in your mom's basement or not getting laid. (Although most of the guys I know who are into it to this level are married with families)
My favorite response is "This is what I do instead of sitting in front of the TV every night."
posted by Fleebnork at 4:18 PM on January 7, 2009 [5 favorites]
As someone with a decent amount of LEGO myself, I have no problem telling people about it or showing them my LEGO room.
At risk of sounding like an afterschool special, don't apologize for who you are. This is my hobby. I enjoy it. I have made some good friends who also enjoy it. We have a great time together and when we set up a public display, seeing kids and adults alike go nuts over it is really rewarding and fun.
I've even had the opportunity to participate in designing a couple of LEGO sets with the company. They have a very cool community program that most toy companies lack.
Sure, there are always the snarks about living in your mom's basement or not getting laid. (Although most of the guys I know who are into it to this level are married with families)
My favorite response is "This is what I do instead of sitting in front of the TV every night."
posted by Fleebnork at 4:18 PM on January 7, 2009 [5 favorites]
People have had rooms full of model trains, musical instruments, movie posters, old toys, beanie babies or what the hell ever for years. It's a hobby. something to do. How is this any worse than some lard-ass who sits in front of a football game on the weekends?
At least it's fun and creative. If he has, or plans to have, kids they will *love* it.
Think he gets laid a lot?
I'm sure he gets laid enough.
There are plenty of women who are happy to tolerate or even, *gasp*, indulge the oddball hobbies that a man might have. Women, this may surprise you, often have diverse interests and hobbies themselves.
I'd bet a lot of women would see this and think "I bet he'd be great with kids". I'd bet a few more would see this and say "Can I help?"*
*The right answer is "yes"
posted by device55 at 4:26 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
At least it's fun and creative. If he has, or plans to have, kids they will *love* it.
Think he gets laid a lot?
I'm sure he gets laid enough.
There are plenty of women who are happy to tolerate or even, *gasp*, indulge the oddball hobbies that a man might have. Women, this may surprise you, often have diverse interests and hobbies themselves.
I'd bet a lot of women would see this and think "I bet he'd be great with kids". I'd bet a few more would see this and say "Can I help?"*
*The right answer is "yes"
posted by device55 at 4:26 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Why does sex have to come into discussions of geeky collections? Does woodworking get anyone laid? How about putting boats into bottles? Or is that to high-brow? How about ice sculpting or chainsaw art? Are those different because you can get paid for that work?
Can't anything be for fun? And can't that fun be just because the person who is making it thinks it's fun?
For whatever record there is, my wife is the more avid Lego collector of the two of us. She still gets Legos for presents, and she's in her late 20s. This was never a turn-on, just a shared interest that was another fun shared hobby (along with collecting glass heads, but that's another story for another time).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:27 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
Can't anything be for fun? And can't that fun be just because the person who is making it thinks it's fun?
For whatever record there is, my wife is the more avid Lego collector of the two of us. She still gets Legos for presents, and she's in her late 20s. This was never a turn-on, just a shared interest that was another fun shared hobby (along with collecting glass heads, but that's another story for another time).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:27 PM on January 7, 2009 [2 favorites]
And on posting, it seems other lego maniacs came out to defend geeky fun all at once. So, ditto Fleebnork and device55.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:31 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by filthy light thief at 4:31 PM on January 7, 2009
I wish the presentation were better.
Using the Cooliris addon with firefox is awesome for viewing sites like flickr with images and sub-optimal layout/navigation.
posted by Bort at 4:33 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Using the Cooliris addon with firefox is awesome for viewing sites like flickr with images and sub-optimal layout/navigation.
posted by Bort at 4:33 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
How about putting boats into bottles? How about ice sculpting or chainsaw art?
I can say that without reservation that putting boats into bottles will not get you laid. You might get to second base with chainsaw art.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:47 PM on January 7, 2009
I can say that without reservation that putting boats into bottles will not get you laid. You might get to second base with chainsaw art.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:47 PM on January 7, 2009
Before I quit a while back, I probably spent more than that on cigarettes.
My lungs or his awesome lego model?
Hmm, tough question, huh?
The money shouldn't really be an issue should it? I probably spend $750 a year on newspapers and magazines, or sandwiches, or any amount of other stupid crap.
I won't even start on dumb obsessions that I can fritter my time away on.
posted by mandal at 5:06 PM on January 7, 2009
My lungs or his awesome lego model?
Hmm, tough question, huh?
The money shouldn't really be an issue should it? I probably spend $750 a year on newspapers and magazines, or sandwiches, or any amount of other stupid crap.
I won't even start on dumb obsessions that I can fritter my time away on.
posted by mandal at 5:06 PM on January 7, 2009
What would be creepy and a waste of energy in any other children's toy medium immediately becomes awesome and heart-warming because it is LEGO.
Yeah, everyone's still giving me shit about that Play-Doh woman I made.
posted by nanojath at 5:31 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Yeah, everyone's still giving me shit about that Play-Doh woman I made.
posted by nanojath at 5:31 PM on January 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Cool. I love people like this who are utterly obsessed with a hobby; it's inspiring. Now I bet it's only a matter of time before there's a stop motion film made from these sets.
posted by wastelands at 5:58 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by wastelands at 5:58 PM on January 7, 2009
I've easily spent more than $3K on my homebrewing habit hobby, except the only thing I have to show for it is an alcohol problem a keggerator in my dining room.
posted by slogger at 8:38 PM on January 7, 2009
posted by slogger at 8:38 PM on January 7, 2009
I look at this and think: "oh man, that's so awesome, I should do something like that!"
Then I look at it again and think: "...maybe not."
posted by Vindaloo at 5:33 AM on January 8, 2009
Then I look at it again and think: "...maybe not."
posted by Vindaloo at 5:33 AM on January 8, 2009
DSC_0083: Custom ATAT attacking w/ wench...
If only.
posted by FormlessOne at 12:33 PM on January 8, 2009
If only.
posted by FormlessOne at 12:33 PM on January 8, 2009
People have had rooms full of model trains, musical instruments, movie posters, old toys, beanie babies or what the hell ever for years. It's a hobby. something to do. How is this any worse than some lard-ass who sits in front of a football game on the weekends?
At least it's fun and creative. If he has, or plans to have, kids they will *love* it.
Sheesh! I really wasn't knocking him. More power to him. I only ask because I generally have to end up explaining my weird hobbies away when I'm confronted with people who don't quite "get it." My odd projects tend to be realtively small, never on the same scale as this guy's, and I'll claim they are a school project or the result of some strange bet with a friend.
I have to say I like Fleebsnork's line about not sitting in front of the TV.
posted by Avelwood at 4:20 PM on January 8, 2009
At least it's fun and creative. If he has, or plans to have, kids they will *love* it.
Sheesh! I really wasn't knocking him. More power to him. I only ask because I generally have to end up explaining my weird hobbies away when I'm confronted with people who don't quite "get it." My odd projects tend to be realtively small, never on the same scale as this guy's, and I'll claim they are a school project or the result of some strange bet with a friend.
I have to say I like Fleebsnork's line about not sitting in front of the TV.
posted by Avelwood at 4:20 PM on January 8, 2009
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posted by deborah at 12:34 PM on January 7, 2009