LEGO “Star Wars” – Mos Eisley Cantina Playset

Hard as it may be to believe, I've never been a huge fan of the LEGO “Star Wars” line of playsets. Yes, I have plenty of the minifigures, and even a couple of the sets themselves, but, over the years they've tended to be more gearheady/spaceship driven stuff, which never really thrilled me. But all that's about to change…forever! That's right, amigos, the mad geniuses at LEGO have finally answered my childhood prayers by releasing the amazing “Star Wars” set pictured below.

An incredibly detailed LEGO recreation of the original Mos Eisley cantina scene depicted in the original trilogy's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the only thing missing from this killer set is that droid-hating bartender. Oh, and a few more creepy alien minifigures would be cool too…I mean, seriously, what's that scene without Walrus Man and Hammerhead?

But hey, the set includes badass minfigures of the cantina band and both Greedo and Han Solo come with blasters — which means we might finally get to figure out “who shot first” — so, I'm not complaining. All I can say is: “Hello, Amazon wish list!” Yee-haw!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Disney Princess LEGOS

Just when you thought LEGO had reached the pinnacle of coolness with the recent release of their fanboy-tastic “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” LEGO playsets, they take things even further by adding the Disney Princesses to the mix as well.

That’s right, brick lovers, the Disney Princess LEGO sets are here. And though several of the bigger name Disney Princesses like Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel have appeared in hugely-popular DUPLO playsets over the years, this is the first time Disney royalty has appeared in a “big kid” LEGO set and the results are freaking awesome.

Seriously, even if I didn’t have a Disney Princess-loving daughter, I would want some of these sets. Beautifully detailed with rich, subtle colors you don’t often find in the LEGO universe, the sets are far cooler than you’d expect, especially considering how totally lame and borderline sexist the company’s previous girl-themed efforts have been.

I mean, no offense to the toothy lasses in the LEGO Friends collection, but, girls can do much more than run an ice cream shoppe, beauty parlor and/or brush their horse’s plastic hair all day long. Say what you will about Barbie, but at least she has career ambitions, while even the best of the LEGO Friends sets feel a marketing scheme that never really took off.

Whereas the new Disney Princess LEGOS are so cool and character-specific that they actually breathe new life into a franchise that most parents I know feel has lost a little steam in recent years. And, by focusing on the strengths and unique skills/talents of each of the Princesses featured in the LEGO sets, the powers that be present girl characters that, you know, actually do things.

The Merida set highlights her archery skills, Rapunzel’s set focuses on her skills as an artist and even Ariel — who many consider to be the most offensive and weak-willed of the bunch — gets a chance to focus on her skills as a “collector of human artifacts” in one of her two LEGO sets. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but, it’s better than nothing.

But the biggest surprise of all comes in the largest, showiest set in the series, Cinderella’s Romantic Castle. If you ask me, Cinderella was always the first truly modern-skewing of the Disney Princesses, but, rather than showcasing her skills at sewing and cleaning (both of which she obviously excelled at) Cinderella’s LEGO set goes out of its way to highlight her cheeky sense of humor by sneaking all sorts of hidden treasures into the castle. Her bed features a “secret drawer” containing a mysterious envelope (a souvenir invite from the Royal ball that started it all perhaps?) and another “secret room” upstairs hides a treasure chest behind a door that is only opened by a key hidden behind a trick bookcase downstairs. Forget romance, this castle is downright magical!

And in case you were wondering how long it takes to construct a 646 piece LEGO castle, I can tell you from experience — Greta got the castle from her Grandma Linda for Christmas — it takes forever. Just kidding. I didn’t actually log the hours, but, it took us a good two or three days to do it right. But, Greta and I had a blast building it and luckily, all of the big new LEGO sets come with very detailed instructions, so, we had lots of help.

And with my new “Lord of the Rings” Battle at the Black Gate LEGO set (yep, Santa heard my pleas as well!) due to start construction sometime this weekend, I forsee much cross-movie franchise bloodshed and turmoil in the land of LEGOS. Poor Cinderella will never know what hit her!

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” LEGOS

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been geeking out about The Hobbit way too much these days. Finally saw the movie on Friday (and LOVED it!) and am seeing it again tomorrow with a Tolkien aficionado who will no doubt help answer some of my burning questions. I won’t spoil the movie for you by telling you anything more, but, know this…Smaug ends very abruptly with a doozy of a cliffhanger.  Yes, we have to a whole year to find out what happens. Unless, you could always, you know, read the book. But, even then, Peter Jackson’s Hobbit is so markedly different from Tolkien’s, that you never know what he has in store for us. Either way, be prepared to be left hanging.

Luckily, for big old toy geeks like myself,  there will plenty of fun, Middle-Earth adventures to be had while we wait for the next movie thanks to LEGO’s very cool line of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings LEGO sets. And since Greta just recently “graduated” to “big kid LEGOS” from her old DUPLO play sets. Now I actually have a totally valid excuse for dumping loads of cash into the beautiful The Hobbit LEGO sets. You know, because, ahem, I’m buying them for her too now.

Anyway, if you haven’t already seen them in stores or online, the LEGO sets are gorgeous and as textured, detailed and visually stunning as the movies they are based on. So far I only have the mini-pack Riddles of the Ring which includes LEGO mini figurines of Bilbo and Gollum as well as not one, but two shiny golden rings. You know, in case your kid drops one in the fires of Mordor or something. And while that set is cool, you can’t really build too much with it, so, I’m hoping Santa got my memo and sends me a couple more sets for Christmas.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad