A boy and dad passion for action figures.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Our Favourite New Toys of 2012

1- Lego Monsters Fighters Vampyre Castle #9468
This incredible set contains 949 pieces and comes with 7 minifigures; Lord Vampyre, Vampyre Bride, two Bat Monsters, a skeleton and two monster fighters (Dr. Rodney Rathebone and Jack McHammer), one vehicle, traps, secret rooms and tons more! We love the design and all the details. The gate is very cool. The extended hidden staircase is a great idea. There is also an organ at the top. And it comes with all six magical Moon Stones.


2- Marvel Universe
We got so many Marvel Universe action figures in 2012 its almost ridiculous! Bulldozer, Skrulls, Iron Fist, Frost Giant, Hydra soldier, Namor, Daredevil, Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, Yellowjacket and Ant-Man, Doc Samson, Skaar, Red Hulk, Grey Hulk, Dr. Octopus and lots more!

3- Lego Super Heroes DC Universe and Marvel
I decided to combine them since both DC and Marvel are part of the Lego Super Heroes collection. So many great sets this year. This collection "helped" created our new Lego addiction. The Batcave, Batmobile and Two-Face chase, Batwing Battle Over Gotham, Catwoman Catcycle City Chase, Superman Vs Power Armor Lex, Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape, Captain America's Avenging Cycle, Hulk's Hellcarrier Breakout, Quinjet Ariel Battle, Wolverine's Chopper Showdown… wow!

4- Batman Arkham City
We got more action figures based on the awesome video game; Catwoman, Batman, Riddler, Hush and Mad Hatter.

5- Marvel Legends Sentinel
An awesome huge figure I got from a friend at work. It stands about 16" tall! It has a very rough and damaged look. The sculpt and design is simply amazing.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Our Favourite Retro Toys of 2012

1- Lego Space System Monorail Transport #6990
Released in 1987, this amazing set of 715 pieces, 6 mini figures and a battery powered space train was the coolest retro toy we got in 2012. This set also got us into building our new incredible Lego city.


2- Sectaurs
Last summer we found more Sectaurs figures, along with two monster puppets (!!), comic books and accessories. Isaac and I love Sectaurs.

3- Mego Pocket Heroes
We found both the late 1970s Batmobile and Hulk action figure, which I owned as a kid. Next year I hope we find more.

4- Star Wars
Thirty one years later I finally got my Wampa action figure! You seriously can't understand just how happy I am about it.

5- Clash of the Titans
As a kid one of my favourite collection was the Clash of the Titans action figures. For the past few years I have been trying to find some but no luck. Well during our last trip at the flea market I found some... for only 75 cents each!!! I took all the ones they had, two Calibos and Persus!! Considering that these are over 30 years old, they are still in good condition! Sure they are missing their weapons but we are so happy to own them!

Also we got lots of classic 1980s Masters of the Universe, Lone Ranger, G.I.Joe, The Real Ghostbusters, Aliens and others!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Lego Power Miners + Lego mid 2013 sets

The Lego Power Miners Crystal King set (#8962) that Isaac got for his birthday is very cool! It has a total of 168 pieces, including two miners mini figures and one giant Crystal King monster.



The monster can hold a figure in his hand. He has very flexible joints but can still stand up relatively well.


Here's a look at the upcoming mid 2013 Lego sets! The images are rather small but we can still see what will be release. We can't wait to get the new Sail Barge and some of the Lord of the Rings sets.




Friday, December 28, 2012

Lego Power Miners + Batman

The Lego Power Miners Granite Grinder set (#8958) contains only 94 pieces but is still very cool. It comes with one miner mini figure and one small blue monster Glaciator. The small vehicle is very cool with the jackhammer that really snaps in and out.


Surprisingly, I have seen this set goes for as much as $250 on Ebay!



Here's a look at the new Batman Arkham City action figures. Another Batman, really? And it is me or Nightwing looks kinda weird? Disappointing.


And here is an awesome new Bane figure, which sadly I don't remember from which collection it will be but we want that one!


Thursday, December 27, 2012

Lego Power Miners + Lego Bioshock

Here is the Lego Power Miners Cave Crusher (#8708) set that Isaac got at his birthday. It has a total of 259 pieces, comes with two miner mini figures and a giant rock monster Tremorox.



Its a cool set. We especially love the blades, red crystals (3 of them this time), dynamites, the flip open roof and accessories.


Check out this awesome custom made Lego Bioshock Big Daddy created by Pate-keetongu. Isaac and I love the first Bioshock video game and this is just too cool!


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Lego Orient Expedition

The other Lego Orient Expedition (#7411) that I got Isaac for his birthday was Tygurah's Roar. An even smaller set with only 87 pieces it is still very cool. It comes with a Dr. Kilroy mini figure and the superb Tygurah animal figure.


The collapsing bridge, yellow scimitars, snake and overall build makes it very cool.


Here are the other Lego Orient Expedition sets we want.





Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Lego Orient Expedition

Here is the Lego Orient Expedition (#7412) that I got Isaac for his birthday. The Yeti's Hideout is a simple but very nice little set of 107 pieces. It comes with a girl mini figure and a Lego Yeti, which is probably one of the coolest Lego figure ever!


There is a secret door that opens up for the Yeti's cave and a small shrine off the side. There is also a drawer that reveal some hidden treasure. Very cool.


Here's a look at the upcoming Lego Lone Ranger sets to be out around April 2013.

79106 – Cavalry Set – €14.99
79107 – Comanche Camp – €29.99
79108 – Stagecoach Escape – €49.99
79109 – Colby City Duel – €59.99
79110 – Danger in the Silver Mine – €79.99
79111 – Train Chase – €99.99 




Monday, December 24, 2012

Lego Minecraft

Here is the unboxed Lego Minecraft set. It contains a total of 480 pieces.


The Creeper micro figure!


Steve micro figure.


Here is it built with the instructions.


All four sections can be separated.


A cave!



You can take off the top.


Overall a very cool set and one of the most sought after by collectors these days.

Isaac and I will also like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Lego Minecraft

For two months, multiple times a day I would check out two web sites in hope that the highly wanted Lego Minecraft set would be back for sale online. Sure I could have bought it on Ebay, but its going for over $100, which is way too much.

Then one tuesday morning... there it was! Without hesitation I ordered it. Two months later it finally arrived... and that was WITH express shipping.

Look just how happy Isaac is.


Oh but wait, we got two of them!


Ah! We actually got three sets!


Selected by Lego Cuusoo members, this build features a cool design with lots of 1x1 LEGO tiles and 2 buildable Micromob characters: Steve and Creeper. Tomorrow we'll open the box for all of you and reveal what is one of our favourite toy of the year. 

Forbes recently had an article about the Lego Minecraft set, check it out!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Minecraft!

Here is Isaac in real life Minecraft situations!

My poor little son had to cut some woods...



to build himself a house before then night comes to fight the monsters!



MINECRAFT is a block-base sandbox game. The whole ethos of a sandbox game is that it allows you, the user, to do whatever you want. As you created a user and password and then generated a world to play in you will be transported into a huge landscape with trees, hills, sand and water around you. Its single greatest feature is that, every time you start a new game, it gives you a new, random and infinite world

With multiple dimensions to access, plants to grow, animals to breed, caves to explore, enchantments to collect, potions to brew, circuits to design, buildings to construct and an boss to track down and fight, the game can be a bit overwhelming but so much fun that you'll come away with shock, fear, pride, calm and a sense of incredible wonder at the your new blocky world.

HOW TO PLAY?
The great thing about MINECRAFT is that there are lots of different ways to play the game. Yet to advance you will need to go through some basic situations. There are four modes: Creative, Survival, Hardcore and Adventure. We will take a look at the Survival mode.

DAY 1
First thing first, for now don't even think about exploring too much on your first day. In MINECRAFT a day is about 10 minutes. Come nightfall you are going to need a place to hide. Creatures big and small come out once the sun sets and you do not want to find yourself without a roof over your head.

The easiest way to create yourself a roof is to collect dirt by hand. Gather some dirt by punching on a ground for a while. Eight blocks is the minimum amount of blocks you need. If you don't have enough blocks to make your shelter then dig one block down. This will lower you enough where nothing can get to you. Don't forget to create a roof but leave one block (space) opened for you to see when the day comes back.

DAY 2
After your first night of hidden in your dirt house, collect woods by punching trees. This wood will be very useful to you in building your next shelter, tools and other useful items. Get as many as possible. If the second night is coming soon, go back to your dirty house and hide again.

Now you are ready for crafting.

CRAFTING
Now that you wood is in your inventory, it needs to be crafted into planks. Go to your inventory. Take the stack of wood and place it in the crafting area. When you do this you will see that one wood block turns into four wood planks. Now you are ready to build your workbench. Once you place four planks in the crafting area, one per square they will turn into a workbench. Now you are on your way to creating some really cool and useful tools that will help you survive in your new world.

You will need tools. Tools are usable items that make blocks be removed easier, and being able to be picked up (Iron, Stone, Diamond, etc). There are 6 types of tools: Shovel, Pickaxe, Axe, Hoe, Sword and Shear.

The shovel is a tool that is used to remove dirt, gravel and sand faster. Pickaxes are used to mine stone, iron, coal, lapis lazuli, redstone and diamonds faster, they are one of the most useful tools in MINECRAFT. The axe is used to remove wooden blocks faster (Wooden Slabs are not included). The hoe's primary use is for tilling dirt/grass to make Farmland blocks. The sword is used to damage mobs (passive, neutral and hostile) with greater damage.

Crafting tools will make the job of gathering supplies and resources a lot easier. Starting off with a wooden pickaxe, you can gather coal and cobblestone. You can then build a cobblestone pickaxe, which will gather coal and cobblestone faster as well as gather iron ore. The stronger the material, the more efficient it is. You may think that gold is hard, but it’s not, hence the reason that gold is the fastest material to gather, but is less efficient than wood. Diamond is the most efficient and is also the hardest to find.

In general, you will want to gather supplies in the day and build in your shelter in the night.

In order to collect stone and coal, the next staple resources, you will need a pickaxe. Your first pickaxe will be made of wood; not very durable, but until you collect some stone, which is why you need a pickaxe in the first place, it's all you have.

You will need at least five planks to make one wooden pickaxe. Use your crafting table by right clicking on where you placed it. Your crafting table view is similar to your inventory view, except you now have a more useful 3x3 crafting space. First we need to make a handle for your pickaxe. To do this, pick up a stack of planks and place one above another anywhere in your crafting square. Two planks produces four sticks. To create your pickaxe, you'll have to make some new planks. You may have noticed that in order to craft a pickaxe, you more or less draw it with its components in your crafting square. Other items are crafted in a similar fashion.

DAY 3
Now its time to explore and find stone and coal. If you go toward a mountain range, you will see black lines in the rocks. The black lines are cracks and inside the cracks is coal. Locating your shelter near coal is a great idea, as you will need plenty of it. Building a wood house near a location where there are plenty of stone and coal is a good idea.

While you are making your preparations for nightfall, keep an eye on the sun. When you first start a new day in single player, it will be early morning. The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west; at midday, it will be directly above you. To better help you navigate, the Clouds in MINECRAFT always travel west.

DAY 4
Mine.
Craft.
Have fun!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Flea Market Hunting : Lego Star Wars + Lego history!

And the last Lego mini figure we got was R2-D2. This was actually a keychain, but for 50 cents we couldn't passed on it. I simply broke the chain, and voilà!


Let's continue our quick history of Lego...

1984
The LEGOLAND Castle Series debuts

1985
The LEGO Prize is founded in April. It is an international annual award of DKK 750,000 (increased in 1989 to DKK 1,000,000) for exceptional efforts on behalf of children.

1987
The brick logo is developed.
LEGO Products are now selling in 115 markets.

1988
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen introduces the LEGO Group vision.

1990
The LEGO Group is now one of the world's 10 largest toy manufacturers - the only one in Europe (the others are American and Japanese).

1992
A Guinness record in railway line construction is set - 545 meters of LEGO rails with three model locomotives.
The world's largest LEGO Castle is built on Swedish television. Over 400,000 LEGO bricks are transformed into a castle 4.45 m x 5.22 m castle, measured for the Guinness Book of Records.

1996
www.lego.com is launched.

1998
LEGO MINDSTORMS

1999
Star Wars (LEGO SYSTEM)

2001
LEGO BIONICLE

2008
The LEGO brick celebrates its 50th anniversary.

2009
The LEGO Group is now the world’s fifth largest toy manufacturer in terms of sales.
Warner Bros. and the LEGO Group announce plans to develop the first-ever feature film based on LEGO bricks and icons.
The LEGO Group announces a multi-year partnership with Disney Consumer Products obtaining exclusive rights to construction toys based on the entire portfolio of Disney and Disney Pixar properties.

2010
Online game LEGO Universe launches.

2011
Ninjago

2011
LEGOLAND Florida opens. The world’s largest LEGOLAND Park.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Flea Market Hunting : Lego + Lego history!

Look at what we found, a Lego Power Miners monster! We love those little creatures and wish to own them all!



The name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well". It’s our name and it’s our ideal.


The LEGO Group was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen. The company has passed from father to son and is now owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a grandchild of the founder.

It has come a long way over the past 80 years - from a small carpenter’s workshop to a modern, global enterprise that is now, in terms of sales, the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of toys.

The LEGO brick is our most important product. This is why we are proud to have been named twice – “Toy of the Century”. Our products have undergone extensive development over the years – but the foundation remains the traditional LEGO brick.

1932 
Ole Kirk Kristiansen, master carpenter and joiner, establishes his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. His firm manufactures stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys.

His son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, starts working in the business at the age of 12.

1934 
The company and its products now adopt the name LEGO, formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well"). Later, it is realised that in Latin the word means "I put together". 
The firm has 6-7 employees. 

1935
The business manufactures its firs LEGO wooden duck and markets “Kirk's Sandgame” its first construction toy.



1946
The LEGO Group is the first in Denmark to buy a plastic injection-moulding machine for toy production. The machine costs DKK 30,000. By comparison, the revenue of the firm this year is DKK 450,000.

1953
The Automatic Binding Bricks get a new name: "LEGO Mursten" ("LEGO Bricks").
The name LEGO is printed inside all bricks.


1955 
After further developing the LEGO Bricks, the company launches the revolutionary "LEGO System of Play" – creating an new play platform.
The first real export of LEGO begins. First country is Sweden. 

1958 
The current LEGO stud-and-tube coupling system is patented. The new coupling principle makes models much more stable. 
Ole Kirk Kristiansen passes away and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen becomes head of the company.

1964
Model sets, complete with building instructions, are launched as a natural addition to existing Basic and Supplementary sets.

1968
LEGOLAND® Billund opens its gates on 7th June and attracts 625,000 visitors in its first season, 3000 on the opening day.

1969 
The DUPLO series for under-fives is launched internationally. 

1978
LEGOLAND mini figures with movable arms and legs
Base plates with road markings

1979
LEGOLAND Space
FABULAND