Star Wars Celebration Means More HerUniverse Merch!

HerUniverse has more exclusive merch for those attending Star Wars Celebration in Germany this year!

HerUniverse is going to have some of the same things that Disney Star Wars Weekends like the Jedi necklace and Rogue Squadren dress: 

But Celebration will get this awesome dress as well! Totally jealous and want so badly!

Ahsoka fans will enjoy this new design:

And this "May the Force Be With You" shirt in multiple languages is pretty awesome!

I'm not going to Celebration Europe so I'm hoping the Darth dress is available to the general public on her site afterwards. One can hope right?? I am excited I'll be able to get the Rogue dress, necklace and R2 hoodie from Star Wars Weekends on Friday!!! So very excited!!!

**Editing to add: Spoke to Ashley Eckstein herself at Star Wars weekends and she noted that the Darth dress, along with all the other dresses (so many she can't tell us yet) will be available online after Celebration Europe. Hooray!

Captain America Sneakers

So today, I thought it was appropriate to wear my new Stride Rite Captain America sneakers. So they felt similar to the Jedi ones in terms of a deep heel well. But unlike the Jedi ones, the sides weren't digging into my ankles, even with my inward ankle roll.

But they were tight on me in terms of top to bottom (not in width). Under the tongue there is elastic holding the two middle pieces together instead of a common opening for the tongue. The tongue is actually on top as the strap velcros across it.

After wearing it all day, I realize I have to cut that elastic out. It's really restrictive and digs into the top of my foot. I couldn't put insoles in this pair if i tried. They would never fit me if I did.

Velcro-ing it across the tongue didn't look right for me due to how tight they were. So part of the criss-cross design was arched upwards just because I needed to try to loosen it somehow.

But I did like them a lot anyway, just like the Jedi shoes, it's something I know I'll wear to the Captain America movie premiere and maybe even for July 4th. I just need to cut that elastic to make them fit right.

New Star Wars Sneakers

Yesterday I broke in my new Stride Rite kids Jedi sneakers that have a cool lightsaber on the side of the shoe that lights up. 

 

I definitely need to put insoles in it. At first they were ok but eventually I could feel the shock to my knees. Also, the foot bed is deep. Not sure if that's because they are boys shoes or what. So my ankle bone kept getting hit by the side of shoe and digging in a little. Not to mention my ankles roll inward. So I think the insoles will help raise my foot up a bit for that reason too.

The other thing is the tongues were digging into the top of my ankles too because there is some silver leather-like fabric along part of it, so because it's still stiff, it was hitting my ankles. I had to stop a few times to adjust them to the sides so they'd stop digging into me. 

And I don't know how parents deal with kids wearing these cuz every step I took I was looking down at them light-up! I can't imagine dealing with kids who's not looking where they are going, especially in NYC! But that were fun overall. 

Despite all the problems above, they are coming with me to Disney's Star Wars weekends in a couple days!

Next, trying my Stride Rite Captain America sneakers! This time I'll put insoles in them from the beginning. 

Star Wars Weekends Project: Wampa Purse!!

With prospects of going to Star Wars weekends at Disney World confirmed, I set out to find a bag I could bring. More or less a small purse. I have the AT-AT bag from thinkgeek (which doesn't seem to be on their site any longer? It looks like this but with zippers along it's head and back and a strap of course.) But it's too much to pack and I don't want it to get ruined or dirty while traveling or on the rides at Disney.

I do have the tote from HerUniverse but it's so subtle that not many would notice. Not to mention it's not really a purse in size or that I can use as a crossbody bag.

So I took to Bonnie Burton's Star Wars crafts book a friend got me from New York Comic Con a few years ago, signed for me and everything!

Inside was a crafts idea using old washcloths to make a plushie wampa! Um, perfect! Tho I'd revamp it to make it into a purse, without stuffing it and then creating a shoulder-strap for it.

I used two new plush washcloths I bought for a buck each. Bought the brown, red and white felt from crafts store (I couldn't find my large pack around the house) and the appendages and shoulder-strap were made from a 4-pack of white terrycloth rags I found at Home Depot for under four bucks! (Of which I still have a leftover rag and then some!)

Here's my progress in pictures!

Made the mouth, tho unglued at this point, made the horns from the brown felt and just did a placement test and then  pinned the basic body together to sew. The horns were machine-sewed then flipped inside out which was a pain the butt to turn inside out as it's skinny at the point. oy. Then stuffed them with bits of leftover bits of the rags I had as I cut pieces out.

Here's the same shot but you can see the book underneath and its plushie outcome from Bonnie Burton.

 

Body sewn up. Placing horns to sew in.

Horns still not sewn in but checking mouth placement.

Adding left arm for placement view.

 

Placement test with left arm and one leg and to see if size of leg was acceptable. I hadn't made the other leg yet. Leg was thin and small but it was cut almost perfectly by accident so I decided not to waste it and just use as the leg anyway.

 

Same as above but with mouth placement.

Both legs and left arm sewn on by hand. At this point I was supposed to stuff them a bit but forgot. So the arm and legs are a bit floppy. oops. He looks like he's lounging hehe.

With mouth placement. Legs are a bit floppy as I didn't stuff them and they seem a tiny bit short. They are also attached a bit more sideways than intended. None of the pics show the white felt attached to the bottoms of the arm and legs to cover the washcloth ends.

Everything attached now except the eyes. The googly eyes I bought were too small as you can see from this test shot. So I vamped it with layers of white and brown felt underneath them. This did double duty anyway to secure the googly eyes better. I don't think they would have adhered to the washcloths, directly, very well.

Finished product! I added eyebrows though hard to see as they are white. Bonnie Burton's has them too but also hard to see as white on white in both project versions. Also added, are felt claws to the arm. I left off white "lips" that Bonnie did in the book. It just looked odd for some reason.

Yes, I left off the right arm just like in the movie. Bonnie of course had both arms attached. I was/still am tempted to make the other arm as a detachable product but I don't have time to do that for SWW. Also, not sure if it's too gruesome for Disney parks. Also thought about adding a bit of red felt to that side to indicate it's been lightsabered off by Luke but again, is it too gruesome for Disney? Probably, so I'll maybe adjust this at a later time.

A more closeup shot. Hoping people don't ask where his other arm is....

Closeup shot with the eyebrows. He's "angry Wampa" now!

Oh and I left the top open. I wanted to close it somehow, even if it was just a small clasp but couldn't decide the best way to do that and give myself enough time to do it. So it's an open top for now. Again, might revisit that and revamp later.

Thanks for viewing! Hope you enjoy this as much as I will carrying it around in a few days! ^_^

How I Spent My Geek Pride Day

For Geek Pride Day, May 25th, I went into Times Square to see the life-size Lego X-Wing. And do all the other Star Wars activities they had scheduled. It was basically to promo the new cartoon "Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles".

Wearing my HerUniverse R2 shirt and my Tokidoki Thor hoodie and my R2 felt hairclip. I should have worn and broken in my new Jedi sneakers too, but it was raining and dreary and I didn't want to ruin them.

the lightsaber really lights up and blinks!

First, I made sure to figure out how to get on the x-wing. I got on one line to get a colored brick for myself which then I could get in line for the real deal in about 45 minutes or by watching the monitor to see if they called my brick color. That process took roughly 15 minutes. And around the time I got up there, they were running out of colored bricks. But traveling alone had its perks as they needed someone who was only 2 people. I said I was a party of one and they gave me the last gray brick. Woohoo!

 So with brick in hand, I then went to scope out the area around the x-wing. It had Lego brick statues of Chewie, Darth Vader, R2 & C3P0, Boba Fett and another unit I can't recall (R5?) Anywho...

They also had a spot to take a pic with Lego Yoda who had a touristy shirt on that said "NY I <3"
 

I took that pic as the line wasn't long and kept moving. Having more time, moved on to the longer wait of the make and take area where you could build a little x-wing mini fig. Too cute!

Then characters started showing up. Darth Vader, an x-wing pilot and a few Imperial guards. I want to think they were part of the 501st Legion but saw no signs that they were from that.

I kinda feel like this should say that he was dancing with the Vader umbrella but he wasn't. sigh.

Finally heard they called my brick number! Got in line by the x-wing and it was probably another 25 minutes before I got into the cockpit. And right after I got on the line with my colored brick, I heard they were going to start just lining people up because they ran out of the colored bricks. Whew, glad I got my brick as the line was now about 2 hours long where you got the colored brick.

Once up there, you get an awesome picture of you in the cockpit with R2 as your pilot behind you!

And these are the awesome closeups of the x-wing. Lego of course made the smaller pieces into larger Lego pieces :) Attention to detail never escapes the Lego builders.

Night shot of the back

Under the nose, you can see how the smaller bricks are made to look like the bricks if they were giant sized.

The millions of Legos!

 There was also a "master class" in brick building but I heard it wasn't that good. They didn't really give you anything to build that was master class level or from the kits you normally would purchase (not saying they should give that to you free but even if you just take it apart afterwards). They merely told you how to sandwich a few bricks together. The only good thing about the class was you got a purple brick to cut the x-wing line.

They of course also had a few cabinets with new toys out for the cartoon.

And this was a special promo with Toys R Us. If you bought the x-wing, you got this cool NY Yoda figure,

Yoda figure. Too cute! I now own one :)

The x-wing is now on its way to Legoland California. Enjoy Californians!

It was a fab day albeit drizzly and cold. Thanks Geek Pride Day! Thanks Lego! Thanks Star Wars!

Fun factoids about the x-wing, courtesy of Lego.com:
• Contains 5,335,200 LEGO bricks
• Weighs 45,980 pounds/20,865 kilograms
• Height: 11 feet / 3.35 meters
• Length: 43 feet / 13.1 meters
• Wingspan: 44 feet / 13.44 meters
• 32 builders spent 17,336 hours to construct – about 4 months
• Built in the LEGO Model Shop in Kladno, Czech Republic
• Is a one-to-one replica of LEGO Star Wars set #9493; The model is 42x the size of the retail building set
• The model was heavily engineered to withstand all the transportation, setup/break down and to ensure it was safe for Times Square given the subway system below and California’s seismic requirements for the LEGOLAND California Resort installation.

“The Yoda Chronicles”
The Yoda Chronicles is an exciting, funny and action-packed new LEGO Star Wars story told in three animated TV specials. “The Phantom Clone” will premiere on Wednesday, May 29 at 8:00 p.m. (ET, PT) on Cartoon Network with specials two and three airing later this year. In the first of three specials, a brand new character, Jek 14 will enter the Star Wars universe. Created by the LEGO Group, Jek 14 is a clone who has been ‘enhanced’ by the Force. 
-via Lego.com