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LEGO Star Wars TC-14 thoughts & review

by Thita (admin) on March 8, 2013

in LEGO Star Wars

(Written by Legoboy)

Remember the LEGO Star Wars TC-14 that was available last year a special promotional minifigure? A lot of people were unhappy that they were not able to get one, and were trying to find them on the secondary market like Amazon, eBay and BrickLink. The news and excitement have kind of died down since then and the prices dropped, so if you are still looking for one right now it’s actually a good time to pick one up on eBay. 😉

The TC-14 is still one of the most unique LEGO Star Wars minifigures, and really one of the best LEGO minifigures of all time; it is chrome, it is printed beautifully, and the details are amazing – much more realistic than the first version of C-3PO. If you are a collector the TC-14 is a must addition to your protocol-droid collection.

I also missed out on the promotional offer last May so I decided pick up my LEGO Star Wars TC-14 on eBay a couple of months later. The parcel arrived in a few days with TC-14 in the original LEGO polybag. I was very excited, but when I unpacked TC-14 I noticed scratches on the torso and started to get concerned. But then I read other people’s reviews and found out that this was a common issue. Here are a couple of pictures by Huw from Brickset showing the micro-scratches:

LEGO Star Wars TC-14 by Huw from Brickset

Apparently this has something to do with the production process. The scratches are actually on the plastic, not on the chrome, but viewed from a certain angle they show up under the chrome layer. The chrome plating is beautiful and very well done though, and the scratched only show up when looked at very closely. I love how the minifig shines when hit by the light! 🙂

Another minor issue is that the chrome doesn’t cover all parts of TC-14. First of all the hands are not plated. The inside of the legs are light-gray, and also the inside of the arms and the shoulder area. This is because the arms are raised during chroming. Hopefully the chroming process will improve in the future eliminating this problem.

Anyhow the LEGO Star Wars TC-14 is an awesome minifigure and definitely a collectors’ item. I would love if LEGO would produce more chrome minifigures as they really do look awesome! Here is a great picture by HothBricks of C-3PO meeting TC-14 the first time. 😀

I believe the LEGO Star Wars TC-14 is also a good investment as it has been released only once and although prices are not that high right now, they can only go up as time passes (unless LEGO decides to do a re-release – which is always a risk with LEGO investments). Here is the link to the LEGO Star Wars TC-14 listings on eBay.

Anyhow, I hope this review helped you a bit to decide if you would like to add the LEGO Star Wars TC-14 to your minifigure collection. If you have any questions and comments please share them below! I’m a TFOL (Teen-Fan-of-LEGO) and this is my second article here at theBrickBlogger. You can read my first post here: LEGO and Violence – a Gray Area…

And you might also like to check out the LEGO Star Wars section for more news, reviews and discussions, or select from the following recent posts:

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LEGO micro-building tutorials by Micro Square

by Thita (admin) on March 7, 2013

in Building Techniques

LEGO microscale building is quite fun and addictive. It also has several benefits; you can create an extensive LEGO diorama with much less LEGO elements, bringing down significantly the cost and the display-space needed. And smaller doesn’t mean less detailed or complex; LEGO micro-building can be just as intricate and extensive as building in minifig-scale.

LEGO Microscale Building Techniques by Micro Square

LEGO microscale building can also be mixed with regular minifigure-scale; creating backgrounds to a larger diorama, or using forced perspective techniques. I will link a few articles at the end of this post to give you some ideas and inspiration. 🙂

Recently LEGO launched a series of video-tutorials by LEGO designers addressing LEGO micro-building techniques that you can learn a lot from. I will show you some of them here and will also link to all the currently available videos in the series so you can check them out. Although the videos are short and primarily focused on a kiddie audience, the techniques presented are nonetheless advanced LEGO micro-building techniques adult LEGO builders can learn from as well.

Below is the trailer for the LEGO microscale tutorial series called LEGO MICRO SQUARE that was presented back in December of last year, introducing LEGO fans to LEGO designers Pete, Mark and Eric who are sharing LEGO building tips, tricks and building secrets, all in microscale.

➡ LEGO MICRO – SETTING YOUR SCALE: the LEGO designers in this series focus on showing you what is possible on a 48×48 stud baseplate. In this episode Mark explains that LEGO micro-building refers to any scale smaller than LEGO minifigure-scale. Here he establishes the size they were going to use as the micro version of the LEGO minifigure, which also sets the size of micro-size vehicles, buildings, doors, windows, trees, etc. The technique he shows for making micro figures is commonly used, however please note there are other ways you can create smaller versions of LEGO minifigures. For example the micro-figures from the LEGO Games series make excellent residents of your LEGO micro-world. Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 2

➡ LEGO MICRO – SEED ELEMENTS: here the focus is to encourage you to look at a single LEGO element in a different way. A minifigure-scale LEGO element could become something completely different in microscale. In fact looking at your LEGO pieces as seed-elements could be the inspiration for a whole LEGO microscale diorama! Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 3 or watch it below.

➡ LEGO MICRO – LANDSCAPING: here are some tips on building LEGO microscale trees, plants, bushes, and grass. It also addresses hills, elevation and even some caves that you can add to your LEGO micro world. Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 4

➡ LEGO MICRO – COLOR: color can be a huge part of your LEGO microscale models. The same LEGO bricks can look like a completely different thing if you only change the color. This is especially important in micro-scale, where even the smallest LEGO element can represent something big and the color will show up prominently. So choose your colors wisely! Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 5 or watch it below.

➡ LEGO MICRO – VEHICLES: in this session LEGO designers share ways for your LEGO micro-people to get around from boats to modern cars to futuristic spaceships – all in microscale! There are some really great tips here so check them out! Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 6

➡ LEGO MICRO – TREES: in this short episode we are back to landscaping your LEGO micro world, specifically focusing on trees. Pete shares the way he builds his cute LEGO micro trees. Here is the link to LEGO MICRO EPISODE 7

These are the LEGO micro-building tutorials that have been posted so far. It seems like new episodes come out every week or two, so if you are interested you can subscribe to LEGO’s YouTube channel to keep updated on future episodes: LEGO MICRO SQUARE on YouTube

What do you think? How do you like the tutorials so far? Did you learn something new that you are planning to incorporate in your own LEGO building? And do you use LEGO microscale in your own building style? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😀

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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LEGO Star Wars TC-14 thoughts & review

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