New England battle royal: Blue Lobster mania vs. yellow lobster mania

From the line around the block at CONCEPTS in Harvard Square, it appears the BLUE LOBSTER is winning.The yellow lobster, as we all learned last week, is a one-in-30-million phenomenon. (Either that, or it's Nike doing long-lead advance PR on next year's New England sneaker craze.) But that's nothing compared with the rarity of the new Nike SB Blue Lobster dunks, which are being produced in a one-time edition of 300 and retail for $250. (Hang tag, T-shirt, and lace lock included.) Come Saturday at 11 am sharp, when the Blues are released into the wild, this endangered species will be snapped up in hour or so -- which is why sneakerheads began lining up more than 72 hours ahead of time. A full 36 hours before the on-sale, the line outside of Concepts is already snaking around the corner . . . IN THE RAIN:


NOT PICTURED: all the people lined up out of sight around the corner.

If you're looking for something to be impressed about, try CREATIVEPILOT, the Boston-based design team that created the packaging. Yeah, the shoes are dope, but the level of detail in the wrapping is next-level: check the HAZMATy live-specimin boxes (a gimmick that we expect to be extended to dudes in toxic-sludge suits patrolling the Square on Saturday), not to mention the taxonomic genius of the new genus they've invented for this thing: Atroceruleous homarus?! No wonder these dudes landed the Clone Wars account:

If you can't get yourselves a pair of these -- and quite frankly, unless you're reading this on your iPhone from a spot in the line, it probably ain't gonna happen -- there's still the celebratory post-sellout cruise. Click here for details on the official Blue Lobster Party, featuring Termanology, Statik Selektah, and a bunch of people who will sweat you if you step on their toes.