Hello Kitty Stay Real T-shirt

The Stay Real Hello Kitty T-shirt is a certified chick magnet (Charmed an SIA stewardess, the Taipei hotel receptionist, a few colleagues, a little girl on the Taipei train and counting). It's a no-brainer for me to get another one.


Front - Same design but without the reflective eyes


Back - This is where it differs from my first one. "Cute or Die" indeed.


Stay Real labels


Stay Real tags


Famous silhouette tag on sleeve

Lego 7778 - Midi-scale Milliennium Falcon, Lego 8099 - Midi-scale Imperial Star Destroyer

Lego has released two midi-scale sets as of this writing. That fills the slot somewhere between the normal and mini sets.

The Lego 7778 - Midi-scale Millennium Falcon was released in 2009 but was strangely packaged under the Clone Wars banner. It consists of 356 pieces and when completed, measures 24cm x 17 cm x 8 cm. No mini-figures were included but it makes a good display piece. It features a movable access ramp, satellite dish and cannons. It was an interesting build process due to the colourful interior. Its asymmetrical design ensures that the build process was not repetitive. However, points should be deducted for the use of stickers instead of printed bricks, a flimsy satellite dish and a rather high price point (S$55.90) for the number of pieces.

The Lego 8099 - Midi-scale Imperial Star Destroyer is the latest addition to my Lego Star Wars collection. I called in a favour with my friend to help me pick up this set at the annual Toys 'R' Us Lego clearance sale at United Square. The set retailed for S$85.90 but was available for S$51.90 at the sale. The set consists of 423 pieces and measures 24.5 cm x 15.5 cm x 11.5 cm when completed. I love the detail available on this despite its size, although the build process was a little repetitive for the exterior. Overall, the number of pieces included makes this a better deal than the Millennium Falcon set.



Lego 7778 box



Lego 8099 box




Opened Lego 7778


Contents of Lego 7778 box


Opened Lego 8099


Contents of Lego 8099 box





Millennium Falcon


Imperial Star Destroyer (cut out with interior view)







Imperial Star Destroyer


Side by side



Spare bits from Lego 7778 (top) and Lego 8099 (bottom)

Lego Star Wars SDCC 2010 exclusive Cube Dudes

This is the third year in a row that Lego has released an exclusive product under its Star Wars line at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Participants at SDCC 2010 had to enter a raffle and picked for the right to purchase this Clone Wars edition of Cube Dudes for US$75 each. My own set is numbered #0302 out of approximately 2000 sets available and was purchased off a seller on eBay.

The set of 5 Star Wars Cube Dudes came packaged in a cube cardstock box and were designed by Angus Maclane. The set consists of 5 figures from the Star Wars franchise, namely C-3PO, R2-D2, Yoda, Captain Rex and Obi-wan Kenobi. They are characterised by relatively large boxy heads stuck on top of tiny bodies for a cartoony feel.

Angus Maclane has been creating hundreds of Cube Dude characters from a range of popular culture, TV, movie and toy franchises. You can check out his other designs on his Flickr stream. Lego took notice of his efforts and began collaborating with him. By day, he is an animator at Pixar, whose movie credits include the award-winning "Wall-E".

On the whole, these are cute little darlings that are easy to put together and would be a good addition to any collection. I spent barely an hour putting the five figures together. They also display well if you have more than a few of them. I certainly look forward to further Cube Dude releases in future.


Box (front)


Box (back)


Box (top)


Box (underside)


Serial numbered #0302


Contains 416 pieces. Unfortunately, I was missing a 1x2 white plate brick.


2 of 5 bags containing C-3PO (l) and R2-D2 (r)


2 of 5 bags containing Obi-wan Kenobi (l) and Yoda (r)


1 of 5 bags containing Captain Rex. There was also a supplemental bag with 2x 1x1 smooth square plates which they must have included after realising an error in the number of pieces required.


Instruction booklet (front and rear covers). Note the glossy figure silhouettes.




Instruction booklet (interior)



Obi-wan Kenobi



Captain Rex (my favourite figure from this set)



Yoda



C-3PO



R2-D2 (I had to steal one non-essential piece from him to build Obi-wan's hand)


The Laurel and Hardy duo from Star Wars


Full line-up


Mini-figure included for scale comparison (As you can see, they're really quite tiny...except for the head)