Merry Sithmas

I hope everyone enjoyed a break of some sort over the last few days, even though I don't really believe in Christmas I seem to have managed to have three Christmas dinners over three days and have enjoyed the holidays more this year than I have in a long time.  With all the (justifiable) hype over the new Star Wars movie I correctly predicted that I'd get a slew of Star Wars related gifts.

Some good stuff here, the 'Spark of Rebellion' DVD is one that I haven't seen and I really love the mug, I feel the tea will be strong in this one (sorry, terrible joke I know).  I'm not entirely convinced with the sticker book however.

The highlight has to be the metalworks 1:20 scale R2-D2 model.  This was a lot more complicated than it looked at first glance.  Clearly I'm no novice when it comes to model making, but this is the first time I've never done metal-folding and there was a lot of learning of techniques as I was building it, I found it pretty tricky at times and in the end I haven't got it quite right.  It took a lot longer than I expected as well, several hours in fact.  I like the end result and will have to try and get another one from the range at some point.

I couldn't help but buy myself some of the brand new Lego sets for 'The Force Awakens' as well, focusing for now on the incredibly stylish First Order.

I saw the new movie a couple of days before Christmas, and whilst I'm not going to do a full spoiler filled review I am just going to say that I liked it a lot, it's not perfect, but I reckon 8.5 out of 10.  Star Wars is finally back and I can't wait for the next installment.

May the force be with you, always....... 

New Stars Wars:The Force Awakens Toys!

 

New Toys!

One of the great sources of trial in my life is that I work in a shop that sells toys, this means every day there is the temptation to buy more stuff.  The Lego section in particular normally helps fill any remaining space in my house.  I returned from a week off to discover that the new Star Wars toys had come in, a wave of childish joy came over me as I headed off to the toy department to check them out, inevitably at the end of my shift I had to make a couple of purchases.......

Galactic Showdown 

As well as the action figures and Lego that I was anticipating I was delighted to discover that Micro Machines were making a comeback.  They were surprisingly cheap as well, the above set of five vehicles and two figures was only a fiver.  I'm sure that I can remember a set of three of the old Star Wars Micro Machines used to cost a fiver too, and that was 20 years ago!  In the set I picked up we have two TIE fighters (one that looks like it's been flying through snow), two X-Wings, a little snow speeder, which looks to be a new design, and what I can only assume is a good guy and a bad guy.  The set didn't come with any of the little plastic flight stands, but oddly all the ships had a hole in them which the flight stands from the original Star Wars Micro Machines fitted perfectly.

My Old Star Wars Micro Machines

Micro Machines were amongst my favourite toys as a child, and I had quite a lot, but spread over many different themes and properties.  After coming home with my new toys though I had to go and dig out my old ones.  The price difference suddenly made a bit more sense, the originals were of a much higher quality and the new ones do feel cheap in comparison.

My X-Wings Together

The truth is adding this cheap little set of figures and vehicles to my collection made my day and it was worth the price just for that alone.

Whilst the Micro Machines were an unexpected purchase, I knew that some of the new Lego would inevitably make it home.....

Rey's Speeder

I decided on the cheapest set for now, as an intro to the range.  This is the female lead, Rey, on her speeder, which was seen in the trailer.  I don't really know anything about Rey yet as I've trying to avoid any plot and character details as much as possible before the films release.  It's a nifty little set actually, the build was interesting and a bit different and of course features one of the main characters, she comes nicely equipped with her staff and hair and mask options.  The set had one negative and that was the number of stickers that needed applying and lining up, Lego can and do print pieces in some sets, I wish they did it all the time and did away with stickers.

Rey vs Thug

The speeder opens up and houses a storage container, although I was there was also a hole somewhere to hide the hair/mask piece that isn't in use at the time.  Rey of course needs someone to fight, and 'Unkars Thug' is provided, he's a bit of a mystery at the moment, but he's quite a nice minifig with some interesting printing.  A good set overall, and it gets my seal of approval.

After all this I really hope the movie isn't another episode I...