Category: Hoth Heat Wave

The Hoth Heat Wave has stranded Special Forces Snowtrooper Unit SF3298 on the surface in a rather mucky mess. The melted snow has revealed beasts and plants that are otherwise unknown to the Galactic Empire. It has also resulted in a dense cloud cover that has rendered ground communications flimsy and hypothetical at best.

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Galactic Warming

Last year I acquired a Lego Wampa specifically for shooting outside in the coming winter snows… but the snow never came. It wasn’t till the following February that we actually got a bit of snow.

So I had to be creative. I was itching to shoot the Wampa and since the weather wasn’t cooperating I created a storyline called the Hoth Heat Wave. This storyline has since branched in many ways including a Snowtrooper Unit that has been stranded on the surface because all the ice melt has created a thick cloudy atmosphere that thwarts interstellar communications.

Special Forces Snowtrooper Unit SSF3298 works together to scale the massive cliffs that have been uncovered from the ice…

I recently acquired a Hasbro forcelink Wampa and it has spurred more Galactic Warming shots. The snow is all but gone and has turned Hoth into a swampy wet mess.

Such a Swampa mess!

This past weekend I took a group of scout out to the Arizona Strip on a campout. We hiked the next morning to what is known as the Glitter Pit. It is an active gypsum mine that is in the form of Selenite crystals. The selenite crystals are nature’s form of glass and you can actually see through the rock fairly easily.

Home Sweet Home

When I was younger I remember going down into this selenite mine and being able to see into the ground three to four feet. It was mesmerizing as the depth of the stone slowly changed from clear to blue to blackness. Utilizing an Estwing prospector pick, I could chisel a good 10-12″ slab out of the ground. Nowadays so many folks have visited this site that it has been transformed into somewhat of a tourist trap. The surface has been hacked at so much that now it’s just a white cloudy mess. Which is perfect for a Wampa Cave!

Wampa made it out just in time…

I had a volunteer scout to drop handfuls of gypsum powder over my new Hasbro forcelink Wampa. It was nearly noon and the sky was clear and blue and reflected so much light that I had to use my neutral density filter applied to my Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 lens to even get any shots. This ND filter darkened it quite a bit but I ended up utilizing my Litra Gear LitraTorch to add a few opposing highlights on Wampas legs. The contrast was a bit overwhelming and I lost a lot of my detail in the shadows so the LitraTorch was indispensable in bringing out those details.

Wampa Snow cave collapsing…

It took quite a few tries to get the “snow” captured just right. The other scout leaders watched from a distance as I pulled out my toys and worked my magic. The scouts were quite gung-ho about helping and because of them it turned out awesome!

As I was finishing up a few cars pulled up and out came some families with little kids to explore the Glitter Pit.

The Galactic Warming will continue as I find new ways to incorporate the heat into the Hoth landscapes – and I’m actually dreading snow this winter season!

All the water released from the Hoth Heat Wave has resulted in enormous plants…
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Icy Sauna for Wampa


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Such a relaxing icy sauna for wampa… Even wampa deserves a day off.

I took my boys to school this morning and it was frigid!  And I mean frigid… It was 6 degrees F.  Bitterly cold.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I don’t know why I thought it would be a good time to stop and take pictures.  I liked the thick frost that had formed on everything during the night and the snow piling on the long june grass made for some excellent little pockets of glowing caves.

I guess that is what made me get out.  Within seconds my fingers were no longer there.  They had become numb, and still I strived for a shot.  The snow turned out to be very hard to work with because it was not packed down at all.  It was so cold that the snow flakes had come to rest in a stillness that left tons of air between each flake.  I could literally blow the snow with one little puff through 8 inches and clear it to the ground below.  This was not ideal for my wampa figure.  I set him down ready to position him and he disappeared instantaneously.  I hadn’t been smart enough to bring gloves so reaching through the puffy snow seemed to cut my hands with coldness.  I could actually feel the sharp edges of the flakes as I brushed them aside.

I worked with what I had and added snow to the cave to compact it.  I had to add like four times the snow to compact it enough to hold my Wampa.  It worked though and the lighting had the glow I was looking for.  I wanted a warmth to the shot even though Hoth is far from warm.  I wanted the wampa to seem comfortable as he relaxed in a cave of fresh deep snow.  I think I succeeded here but I still think something is missing from this shot and I am not sure what it is?