Speaking Lego in Wookinese

Man accused in $200,000 Lego Internet scam

2005-12-01T05:39:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted much lately. Been busy with my other blog. But when I heard about this I had to get it on here asap. Below is an article from CNN.com with the details.

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the evidence from a suspect's house -- mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nevada, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks.

Swanberg was indicted by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which charged him with stealing Lego sets from Target stores.

Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets pilfered from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos were resold on the Internet, officials said.

Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000 bail, were unsuccessful. It was not known if he had retained an attorney.

Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.

Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area store November 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set.

In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.

Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick

2005-07-10T18:11:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've got another video for you. This is a promotional video from www.lego.com to highlite the new sets for Episode III. It's full of laughs and definately worth checking out. Click on the link below and then click the play button to open a seperate window the video will play in.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick

NEW!!! Lego Sandcrawler

2005-07-10T17:45:00.000-04:00

www.shop.lego.com

Here's the newest set to be released in the Star Wars series. It has 1669 pieces and measures 15" long, 7.5" wide and 9" high. It also includes 11 minifigures and droids: Uncle Owen Lars, 3 Jawas, R2-D2, C-3PO, R5-D4, R1-G4, ASP droid, gonk droid and Treadwell droid. Check it out at:
Lego Sandcrawler

Star Destroyer construction video

2005-07-10T17:34:00.000-04:00

Here is a video clip from www.adognamedfish.com. They started building the Lego Star Destroyer and set their webcam to take a picture every five seconds and made a stop motion video out of the pictures. The video is just over 4 mins long. Click on the picture to go to their site and download the video.

7181 TIE Interceptor for sale

2005-04-16T08:12:00.000-04:00

Here is a pic of the completed TIE Interceptor (set #7181). I am offering an unopened box still factory sealed up for sale. The box isn't in the best shape, mainly the corners and edges, but this set is becoming increasingly harder to find. I'm asking $70 plus shipping or best offer. If interested, leave a comment including you're email address and I'll email you back. As far as payment goes I'll accept money orders or personal checks, but the check will have to clear before I ship.

Update: Lego Star Wars - The Game

2005-04-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

Good news! The release date was moved up and the game is now available for $39.99 on PS2 and Xbox and $29.99 on PC and GBA. Check out the official site for the game. You can download a demo version (file is 203MB) for the PC. I picked up the PS2 version. It's very easy to play, but it'll be difficult to master and unlock all the characters and extras. If you like Lego's and/or Star Wars, you'll be a big fan of this game.
Lego Star Wars - The Game Official Site

Episode III sets now available

2005-04-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

And on somewhat a less exciting (but still cool all the same) note, the new sets for Episode III are now out. Yes, I know I'm a little behind and they've actually been out for several weeks, but I wanted to note it here on the blog. Again, work has kept me quite busy. I've already started adding them to my massive collection. Check them out here...
Star Wars: Episode III Legos

A Lego Death Star - Finally!!

2005-04-14T15:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry about not posting any new things for a while. I've been really busy at work getting a submarine ready for sea again. Well, it's about time Lego came out with a Death Star. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has long been awaiting this day. Unfortunately we'll have to wait just a bit longer till it is released in Septemeber 2005. This awesome replica of the Death Star from Star Wars: Episode VI has 3441 pieces, includes a stand and Imperial Star Destoyer to scale, and measures 25 inches high and 19 inches wide with stand. Too bad it costs $299. I'll still be adding it to my collection asap! Check it out here...
Lego Death Star II

Lego Star Wars - The Game

2005-01-17T13:29:00.000-05:00

Finally, after all the Star Wars games out there we'll get to enjoy the Lego version. With an expected release date of May 2005 I can hardly wait to get my hands on it. Check out IGN.com's review of the game for a few screenshots and even videos.
Lego Star Wars - The Game

Nathan Sawaya - Lego Sculptor

2005-01-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

I found this site while searching for a custom Death Star Lego project. He's only done 2 using the Star Wars theme, but his ofther projects are definately worth checking out.
Check out these 2 Star Wars projects...
Death Star
Han Solo in Carbonite

and check out his home page to see his other projects...
http://www.nathanbrickartist.com/

Official Website

2005-01-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

The most obvious source for Star Wars Legos is the official Lego Shop@Home website. They've recently updated their site to allow you to view 360-degree view and to zoom in on the pics.
Check it out here:
Lego Shop@Home - Star Wars

In the beginning.....

2005-01-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

Just started this blog for one of my hobbies. I'm in the US Navy and pretty busy at work so it'll be slow for me to get this up but I'll keep on posting new stuff when I can. For now I'll be adding links to some good related sites, but eventually I'd like to add pics of my own collection. Hope you all enjoy.