Mmm, Autumn

With the Big Launch of the brand new Firestar website just around the corner (5 days to go!) Firestar Towers echoes with the sounds of frantic typing, order slips eagerly whooshing through printers, the fearsome roar of the tape-gun and the click-focus-snap of Lego photography. It’s true – the Lego mini-figs have their own brightly lit studio in miniature, where they preen and strut their stuff atop a stage of white cardboard, before being expertly manipulated by our resident photoshop expert and photographer of tiny plastic men, Lauren.
It’s at such times that our thoughts turn to the beautiful golden Autumn days. That we’re missing, what with toiling night and day at the hot fires of the nascent website. And, as luxurious as the Firestar Towers are (I can exclusively tell you they are a den of Bacchanalian delights and pleasure boating in one of our many moats), who wouldn’t rather be outside, perhaps skipping merrily, picking up shiny conkers and crunching russet leaves. This of course brings to mind that beloved song of childhood, the Conker Song:

Bright and lovely Chestnut tree,
Will’st thou deign to notice me?
Bless mine eyes as didst of old,
With thy shining countenance gold!
Speak, O Tree, with rustling voice,
Let Autumn’s angels guide your choice.
And now thou must pay Autumn’s Fee,
Oh! Drop a conker just for me!

Henrietta S Tweenote ~1786
(To the tune of ‘Beautiful Dreamer’)

But conkers aren’t the only thing about autumn, as I’m certain Ms.Tweenote would be at the front of the queue to acknowledge. No, what about Halloween? All Hallows Eve, Samhain, The Spooky Dressy-Uppy Night. Whatever you call it, it’s coming soon. And, what better way to get into the ghoulish spirit than indulging your macabre side with some custom, seasonal Lego designs?
Get them while they’re topical, at www.firestartoys.com

Halloween Mummy

In life this Mummy was either a Pharoah or a big fan or bandages.

Custom Design Vampire

Don't let this Vampire's playful looking face fool you, he has a slightly more terrifing one on the back of his head!

Dr Frankenstein’s Monster

This reanimated monster actually has no name himself - it's Dr Frankenstein who made him (he went a bit loopy studing medicine at university, so the story goes). So you get to name him yourself! How about Steve? Just a suggestion.

Custom Design Lord Halloween

Who rules the pumpkins? Lord Halloween rules the pumpkins! And other sundry halloween themed items. Yeah.

Halloween Werewolf

Pretty snazzy duds, eh? Does our Halloween Werewolf have a more human face when the moon's not so full? You get to decide! Personally, we think his alter ego is hollywood comedy actor, Ben Stiller. But that's just us.

Keep a look out for upcoming Halloween promotions here on the blog, and even a giveaway or two!

Any Takers?

Got 50 grand to spare?
Good! Then you could be the proud owner of a 2 storey Lego house built by semi-famous car-enthusiast, James May, and a team of a thousand volunteers for his upcoming series on toys.
The house is 20 foot high, and currently sitting in a vineyard in Dorking, Surrey, until Tuesday, when (please, look away if you’re of a sensitive disposition) if not removed by a new owner, it will be hacked to bits. Possibly with a chainsaw, sources are unclear. If you’re anything like the team here at Firestar, you’ll be stifling despairing sobs by now, afraid to look up incase concerned passers-by notice the tears brimming in your eyes. But, you’ll also be absolutely desperate to see the house on the inside.
Well, it would be callous of us to disappoint.
The house’s interior is indeed a joyful work of artistic wonderment, and to prove it here are some choice pictures (sourced from the Mail article here)

The bathroom. With working taps. Check out the adorable toothbrush! Possibly a bit harsh for sensitive gums, so be under advisement if you plan to recreate at home.

What Lego house would be complete without the devoted companionship of a Lego cat? Real cats are, admittedly, less breakable, but do tend to cost more in upkeep.

James May stares soulfully out of one of the windows, which are made from clear coloured bricks making a stained glass effect! That’s so clever! (Does anyone else think for bonus points they could have built an illustration into the pane?) We wonder if the coffee he's holding is Lego too...

So, we want to know – were any of you involved in the build? Share your stories in the comments! Has anyone out there build an item of Lego furniture/ ornaments/ working plumbed appliances? Send your pictures in to: Juliet@firestartoys.com. The best ones will be shared on the blog soon!

Site Launch News!

Bad news - the original date for the new site launch has been pushed back to the 1st of October.

Good - no, wait, scratch that - huge, momentous, amazing news - the extra testing time means the brand new Firestar site is going to be bigger, better and cooler than we could've dreamed of.

Right now we're working hard on adding more than a thousand products to our databases.
Of course, you already know that Lego is going to feature highly (it would be slightly uncanny if it didn't). What you probably don't know is that we'll be focussing all our creative energies on bringing you more unique, custom Lego figures.

As if that wasn't already enough excitement for one post, we'll also be launching our new Wish List. Have a birthday coming up? Or just want everyone to know which sets, mini-figures and bits and pieces you're eyeing up at the moment? Well, the Wish List can help! Or, you know, you could just set one up for your kids / cousins / favourite young people, and allow their generous friends and relatives to tick off bits as they buy them.

We're also the first and only people in the UK (well, pretty much the whole of Europe, actually) to bring you fantastic new Japanese 3D construction sets from LaQ. The English translation of the LaQ website describes it as: "The infinite world of creation with fine square and triangle". While this may not make much sense, putting together the incredibly versatile pieces will - you'll be able to build anything you can imagine with LaQ blocks in a selection of gorgeous colours at your disposal (find out more at: http://www.yoshiritsu.com/html/new_eng/).

So, prepare to calibrate excitement drivers to fever pitch with the oil of anticipation (we are - watch out for the oil, it's murder to clean up) and look out for the big lauch coming very soon!