LEGO Shot First: Han Solo’s DL-44 Blaster Pistol

We all know Han Solo shot first, but looking at this awesome LEGO DL-44 blaster, I don’t even care. I just wish I had this sitting on my shelf – or in my waistband. It’s Han’s famous Greedo-killing blaster in LEGO form.

han solo lego blaster

It was made for the 2013 edition of the MocAthalon contest, by LEGO enthusiast Captain Infinity. I wish I had thought to build this blaster myself, but I know mine wouldn’t look nearly as good.

han solo lego blaster 1

Captain Infinity says that he had meant to build it for a while, and the competition’s “An Elegant MOC for a More Civilized Age” category was the perfect chance to do it. He focused on fitting as many details as he could into this blaster and making the shape as accurate as possible. I think he did an amazing job.

[via Brothers Brick via Laughing Squid]

LucasArts shut down by Disney

The Star Wars video game company LucasArts has been closed down and is in the process of being broken apart by Disney. As Disney owns LucasFilm and the rights to all media therein, the video game subsidiary LucasArts is (or was) part of what they purchased. With this breakup of the company, Disney will be moving from an internal development model (with LucasArts) to a licensing model, this allowing companies from across the market their chance at developing video games in the Star Wars universe.

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LucasArts created a collection of games over the past couple of decades including such mega-hits as X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and Dark Forces and some relatively lesser-known titles that will effectively fizzle. According to a statement provided by Game Informer, layoffs are imminent, if not already in-effect.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.” – Disney

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Reports today suggest that every single one of LucasArts remaining 150 employees have been laid off this month. This is the last wave, it would seem, of a series of layoffs that span back several years. According to Ars Technica, LucasArts employees numbered closer to 500 back in the mid-2000s. This also isn’t the beginning of LucasFilm’s LucasArts licensing out the rights to games without in-house development.

• Star Wars: The Old Republic – Bioware
• Star Wars: Battlefront – Pandemic
• Lego Star Wars – Travellers Tales

Though it’s always difficult to report news of layoffs in any of the industries we report on, this information can be seen as a positive force for those interested in the further adventures of the characters inside the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and several other LucasArts title universe. Though we’ve not heard specifically about anything beyond Star Wars titles at the moment, we’re certainly all for developers from all over the wide world of gaming taking their crack at A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away!


LucasArts shut down by Disney is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Iron Man 3 Flash Drives Power Up

Comic book geeks are perhaps the single greatest consumer of themed flash drives. If you’re a fan of Iron Man and are looking forward to the third movie in the franchise hitting theaters this summer, it may be time to you to start stocking up on some collectible flash drives. Three Iron Man 3 flash drives are coming out just in time for the blockbuster flick to arrive.

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I happen to think the coolest of the three is Iron Man’s Repulsor hand. When the flash drive is plugged into the USB port, the light in the center of the hand that Iron Man uses as a weapon glows blue. Another cool drive in the trio looks like Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor, complete with a little animated light show when plugged in:

The third branded flash drive looks like the red, white and blue Iron Patriot head. All of the flash drives have retractable USB ports and are available with 8 GB or 16 GB of storage. While I haven’t found them in the U.S. yet, you can pre-order the Arc Reactor and the Repulsor Hand over at Australia’s Mighty Ape now.

[via EverythingUSB]

Jar Jar Flash Drive: Meesa Loosa Yousa Data

Do you really want a Jar Jar Binks USB flash drive? There are so many better characters you could choose from. Well, at least this storage device can’t possibly be as inept and useless as the CGI Gungan himself, right?

jar jar mimobot

Continue Reading…

Ender’s Game teasers ignite: original novel popularity surges

As the film version of the story presented in the Orson Scott Card science fiction book Ender’s Game gains steam in the teaser and advertising world, the novel appears to be grabbing its own share of attention as well. This week is the 9th week that Ender’s Game has been aboard the New York Times Best Seller’s list, it currently resting in the #18 spot between A Clash of Kings and A Feast for Crows. For those of you excited about the movie, there’s been several teasers unleashed quite recently that you’ll want to wrap your head around, not least of these the first teaser poster, Battle Room and all!

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What you’re seeing in this poster (and it’s enlarged vision below) is, oddly, an illustration of what we’ll see in the movie theater. While this sort of thing is certainly not unheard of, (see: every single Star Wars movie), it is the first time that this particular movie has had a teaser that wasn’t an on-set photo. What we’ve got here is a battle school student – we’ll assume it’s Ender himself – standing in front of a new vision for the Battle Room in the Battle School where he’ll spend most of the film.

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What you’ll notice here as a fan of the book is the major differences between the written word and this visual representation, starting with the transparency of the whole thing. While in the book we had to assume that the walls were either black or metallic gray, here they appear to be perfectly see-through, with the Earth shining brightly behind. This makes a whole lot of sense, of course, since these kids are, indeed, training to be battling in space – not in a darkened room.

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Click the thumbnail for a full-sized version of the teaser poster.

The “stars” (aka the boxes) appear to be very much the objects written about in the book, and the Flash Suits look just as excellent as they did when we saw them in earlier previews of this film. You’ll see our first look at Flash Guns as well as the way the students will be blasting their way through one of the most important elements of the story – the game.

This film has been given a new synopsis in the last few weeks as well, mind you:

In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, ENDER’S GAME is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.

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Make sure you check this fabulous futuristic epic out on November 1st at a theater near you – and keep your eyes peeled as more website teasers like http://if-sentinel.com/ appear. Hot stuff!

[via Ender’s Ansible]


Ender’s Game teasers ignite: original novel popularity surges is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Doctor Who “Summer Falls” Book Will Be Available as an Ebook Tomorrow

Anyone who watched last Saturday night’s Doctor Who episode noticed the book Summer Falls by Amelia Williams when Clara and Artie talked about it. And no doubt you were interested in what lies between the pages. Well, starting tomorrow you’ll be able to download it as an eBook.

doctor who summer falls

In the episode it was hinted that there was something special in chapter 11. Something that will make you cry your eyes out. Here’s a synopsis.

When summer falls, the Lord of Winter will arise…”

In the seaside village of Watchcombe, young Kate is determined to make the most of her last week of summer holiday. But when she discovers a mysterious painting entitled ‘The Lord of Winter’ in a charity shop, it leads her on an adventure she never could have planned. Kate soon realises the old seacape, painted long ago by an eccentric local artist, is actually a puzzle. And with the help of some bizarre new acquaintances – including a museum curator’s magical cat, a miserable neighbour, and a lonely boy – she plans on solving it.

And then, one morning Kate wakes up to a world changed forever. For the Lord of Winter is coming – and Kate has a very important decision to make.

Sounds like it will tie everything together. We hope so anyway – and that it isn’t just marketing with no point.

[via Nerd Approved]

Darth Vader Homestar Projector: The Light Side of the Dark Side of the Force

Sega has been making their Homestar planetariums for a number of years, and has finally created one that might just be worthy of a place in my geek sanctuary, with the release of their new Darth Vader Homestar projector.

vader homestar projector

Shaped like Vader’s iconic helmet, a flap on top conceals a small planetarium projector that splashes about 10,000 tiny stars and planetary bodies on your walls and ceiling. You’ll also see Vader’s TIE fighter floating among the stars. Though I’m surprised there’s no Death Star out there in the heavens.  For that, you actually need to go with the R2-D2 Homestar.

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You can the Darth Vader Homestar projector over on Amazon Japan for ¥4,200 (~$45 USD) now, but if you absolutely must have one outside of Japan, you can find it over at the Japan Trend Shop for about double that price.

[via Japan Star Wars]

Alien Chestburster-in-a-Can: Open at Your Own Risk

How many times have you wanted to reenact that classic scene from Alien (and Spaceballs) where the xenomorph embryo pops out of Kane’s chest and does a little dance around the dinner table? While you might not want to implant one in your body, you can do the next best thing, with the Alien chestburster-in-a-can!

alien chestburster can

Just like the one in the classic Ridley Scott (and Mel Brooks) flicks, this pre-pubescent alien creature will spring to life, sure to scare the crap out of anyone who dare goes near the can of USCM standard-issue cornbread. Yummy stuff.

alien chestburster can 1

So put the keys in the Nostromo, rev it up, and pilot it on over to ThinkGeek for your very own Alien chestburster-in-a-can.

UPDATE: Happy April Fool’s Day!

Frosty the Snow Dalek Was a Jolly Happy EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!!

England has been having quite a bad winter this year, with snow continuing well into this month. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Who landed his TARDIS somewhere in the UK and encountered this… a snow Dalek.

snow dalek

Thankfully, Davros didn’t create an actual snow Dalek. It’s just a harmless sculpture made by DeviantArtist E-The-Zombie and her sister Fezhead11, and it’s not even in the UK.

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While a snow Dalek might want to exterminate you, the good news is that you can actually just pour warm water over it to put it out of commission. I suppose that’s easier than having to install staircases everywhere.

Boba Fett Stained Glass Spotted at The Church of Mandalore

If you worship Madalorian Bounty Hunters, your church needs to look good – and look good it will, with this awesome Boba Fett stained glass. Your lord and hunter Boba Fett will look amazing as light shines down upon him as if he were resurrected from his untimely demise in the Sarlacc pit.

boba fett stained glass

This is the latest addition to the stained glass collection of Michael McLane, who recently created that awesome Boba Fett helmet lamp.

boba fett stained glass

The picture on the left is natural lighting; on the right, artificial lighting. What does this tell us? Fett looks awesome no matter how he’s lit.I would love to see a church decked out in all stained glass panels of Star Wars characters. Now that’s a religion I can get behind.

[via Obvious Winner]