Comicon, Part 4
Johnny and I were headed to a second exhibit hall when we encountered this pair. Unfortunately, I took their photo with the bright sunny day shining through the window. I tried to fix them up in Photoshop but this was the best I could do. As for the characters they are portraying, I could only guess — perhaps from Game of Thrones? I have not seen the show but they match my imagination.
And what was outside? We were looking south from the Convention Center — all the way to South Mountain (largest municipal park in the country).
It was hot and thankfully, the sponsors and vendors had a lot of umbrellas and tents set up to provide shade.
Meet the ferocious Sand People or Tusken Raiders from Tatooine (Star Wars). Funny, those kids in the background don't seem to frightened — they must feel the Force will protect them.
Perhaps they should be concerned — he has captured BB-8 — perhaps to sell the droid at a raiders' market.
This exhibit hall was somewhat different than the main one which I shared in previous issues of LAHP. Here Johnny is operating a giant spirograph which draws interesting curves on the chalkboard bed. Johnny's reaction? "Cool."
On display here is a replica of a T-Rex skull, loaned by the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa. I have been there a couple times (once with Johnny) — it is a very interesting museum. If you would like to re-visit those issues of LAHP from 2008, click here and here.
Next we encountered a Lego town complete with trains — I did not know that Lego sells train track pieces, but they do.
Here a port town complete with a ship unloading its cargo. I love the imagination involved in creating waves in the water all out of various Lego blocks.
Note how they used clear ones to create whitecaps.
More Lego ships — so well done.
Next up is a Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle from Star Wars. Both Darth Vader and other high-ranking Empire personnel used the Lambda shuttles to travel between Imperial capital ships and the Death Star. If you look closely, you can even see a Lego Darth Vader with his light saber standing in front of the shuttle. And is that the Emperor standing next to Lord Vader?
Here's a Lego version of the All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT Walker, a four-legged transport and combat vehicle used by the Imperial ground forces. Standing over 20 meters tall with blast-impervious armor plating, these massive constructs were used as much for psychological effect as for tactical advantage.
And last for today — "you certainly remember Darth Vader's flagship, Executor, from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The ship that hunted Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion was the same one that later crashed into the Death Star II's surface during the Battle of Endor. It's quite poetic that it's a Rebel A-Wing — one of the fleet's smaller fighters — that ultimately deals the killing blow. Still, the Super Star Destroyer (or Executor-class Star Dreadnought) is a sight to see, as it overshadows the Star Destroyers that once loomed over our heads in the opening scene of A New Hope. Surprisingly, the Executor had a pretty short lifespan of almost four years before its ultimate destruction. Another Super Star Destroyer, Ravager, became the Empire's prized possession in Aftermath (a trilogy of novels), before it was also destroyed in the Battle of Jakku. It's the same fallen Star Destroyer we see in The Force Awakens!" (Description borrowed from www.denofgeek.com.)
