What geek worth her NaCl doesn’t have a brick-shaped soft spot in her heart for Legos? Especially when you add the iconic Star Wars images into the mix? For Star Wars fans, this magic formula played out during Star Wars Celebration 5, in Orlando, Florida, earlier this month. Lego blocked out a huge area in the main exhibition hall; sub-areas for watching Lego’s own Master Builders; admiring the creations of fellow fans; watching videos; participating in some real world charity; and of course, just playing with blocks.

We’ll be talking to Erik Varszegi, one of the Lego Master Builders, later this year, so for right now, we’re going to focus on two things – the pictures and the charity work. Because, hey… we’re hardcore geeks at GSB, too, and we know what you really want to see are cool pictures of fabulous Lego Star Wars creations.

But first….Let’s talk about kids and Legos. Specifically, let’s talk about the kids that are helped every day by St. Jude’s Hospital. Lego decided to combine their love of Star Wars with their love of kids, to give back to the community. They designed a mystery mural, with a Star Wars theme, to help honor the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. The image was slowly revealed at the convention in Orlando as fans helped put together small Lego tiles. Those tiles were numbered on the back, to match up to their corresponding locations on the mural. Each fan who helped out, and successfully matched colored blocks to tiles, were rewarded for their efforts with a limited edition white Boba Fett 30th anniversary Lego figure. More importantly, Lego promised to give 330 Lego blocks to St. Jude for each tile created by a fan. I think it goes without saying, the fans were happy to queue up for their chance to build a tile, get a limited edition Lego and do something good, all in one day. I was able to spend some time talking to Rachel, the promotions representative for Lego at the convention. She dished up the 411 on the mural, adding that at the last count, it looked like Lego would be donating 1.5 million blocks to St. Jude. The final tile was put in place at 4:30 Saturday afternoon, during SWC5. The mural depicted a stunning recreation of the original movie poster for The Empire Strikes Back, framed with imagery taken from the film. Of course, as an intrepid reporter, searching out new geeky goodness for you, gentle readers, I put together a tile for Geek Speak Blog – tile #4251 – so we helped make Star Wars history. My limited edition Boba Fett looks pretty good on my desk, too.

And here you have it – a smattering of the amazing Lego creations and fun from the convention.

Most of the photos were taken by me; however, I had a cub geek photographer with me – otherwise known as my best friend – so some of the pics were taken by M. Chris Williamson, too.

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May the Force (and the Block) be with you!