Schwagmas Schtuff

It's time!  Time to wonder why someone my age is still getting THIS many toys for Christmas.  Seriously though: are you still wondering after having seen the contents of this blog?


First off is "Transformers: Devastation" for the PS3, because I don't have a PS4 yet and come on....you don't think that cell-shaded graphics are honestly gona look that different between the PS3 and PS4, do you?  I wana play it NOW, anyway, not later - whenever that is when I get a PS4.

This is the third in a collection of post-show Avatar: The Last Airbender stories that clean up a lot of mysteries and also act as a bridge between Last Airbender and Legend of Korra.  If you're a fan: I highly recommend them.  They're written by the series creators, so you're getting the Total Legit Real Deal, son.

Break the code!  It's Mastermind, a favorite from my childhood (and something that, for some reason, I never sought out after all these years until it landed in my lap on Christmas).  It's hard, it's easy, it's everything in between depending on whether or not you feel like using your brain.

You....you should probably feel like using your brain.  Not gona work, otherwise.

...so my wife thought this was a "cute" picture, and thought I should put it up.  It's kinda hard to show how crazy this thing is without the picture of someone holding it, so here I am, Christmas morning, because why not?

This is the "Bladebuilders" set where you can build various impractical lightsabers.  I've added two other sabers that didn't come with the set to create: THE SABRELABRA.  It cuts at six hands per second and does not differentiate between friend, foe, or your own body.  Do try to be careful.

After that monstrosity, I rebuilt it into the Saberscythe.  I'm seriously contemplating getting a second set so that the impracticality will be off the charts.  That, and they really missed the chance to make smaller sets of parts and blades, so you kinda have to buy a whole second set to do anything SUPER crazy. 

Star Wars was kind of a "thing", as you might expect, so I also got a Mashers set of "Return of the Jedi" stuff.  It's the only place I've seen Jedi Luke, so far, and I need me some Jedi Luke.  Plus: Electrified Vader parts!

Then there's THIS set: A ship collection from the Hot Wheels series.  I ended up deciding to go with the Hot Wheels stuff (instead of the Titanium stuff) because these will probably stand up to play better than the "collector" items.  I doubt I'll focus on these in their own post, so here's what's in it:

This one was a little strange: Two sizes of Tie Fighter labeled both as "Tie Fighter."  Clearly something is different here!  Why is one smaller?

I looked it up, and apparently the smaller one is from the new "Rebels" series (that I still need to watch) and was build with smaller, sturdier solar panels so it could make planet-side landings, unlike the standard Tie.

Here's the First Order Ties from "Force Awakens."  The one marked with red is an elite fighter.  They don't look much different, but apparently the specs are higher.  Yay for specs!

X-Wings through the ages!  Here we've got a standard X-Wing that you remember, and the new one from the new movie with new engines other little details...but that's it.  If it ain't broke!

This is the Ghost, from the "Rebels" series I mentioned.  The main characters ride around in this badboy.

Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter (and, I guess, precursor to the Tie Fighters, the poor thing).  Next to it is a Droid Fighter, which always kinda bored me.  None of the Droid Army stuff ever really caught my eye beyond the Battle Droid and the Super Battle Droid.  Nothin' like an army of machines with slapstick programming. 

Finally, everything is rounded off with some multi-pack exclusives: gold versions of the Millennium Falcon and Boba Fett's Slave 1.  Call me a sucker, but I like shiny exclusives like this.  So fancy!

Now, my wife and I are trying to keep Legos on the low side, but we still end up getting each other a little Lego here and there.

Like....more ships!  I love these mini-builds, especially when it's a ship.  Granted, they may become parts later on, but it's fun to build for the moment.

Speaking of parts: MORE TRANSLUCENT GREEN!  Lego has been slowly turning certain parts of the minifigures into this color (like a translucent green hook from AquaRaiders, I think) so I'm going to eventually be able to build a translucent green figure.  One day...

Also, in terms of minifigures: There's Carnage and the current Ultimate Spider-Man, and some Ultron drones, because drones!

Everything else in my X-Mas haul are props and effects, so here we go:

LIGHTNING!  Same Tamashii Effect items as the Fire, but with lightning.  It's a tiny bit disappointing, since it's not made from the same slightly softer plastic as the Fire, making them unable to wrap around larger wrists, but it's still cool!  I'll most certainly be making a post for them, so keep a lookout for that.

Next is the smashed ground, in tan.  I've had the gray one for a long time, so this rounds out the collection and make a nice smash effect for those times that I use a sand background.

EXPLOSIONS!  They need support from a stand, but I can light them up and they look neat.  I was kinda hoping they would connect on their own, so that you could add more (without tons of stands behind them) but they look way more impressive that I thought they would in person, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Also in gray, for smoke.  They don't look as impressive, and I don't have as many ideas for them, but I WILL come up with something!  I always do.  Besides, there are always plenty of fart jokes to be had!  Plenty indeed.

Doll house furniture!  You can see how "what did you get your husband for Christmas" is a hard question for my wife to answer as we get further and further down the list. 

This is a desk set that you'll probably be seeing any time I need a computer joke.  It even has a printer!  And look at that old computer tower.  That's gotta be....what, Alienware, right?

Along with that, my wife also got me a few smaller independent items, like this old-lady lamp.

And packages, and letters!

And books!  For the reading!  Or throwing.  Depends on what's goin' on, ya know?

Words to live by! 

And finally, of course, a little saucer with a cup of tea.  It's all one piece, but works all the same.

That's it for Christmas, folks.  Hope you had a good one, or at least good days around this time for any particular holiday (or none, for that matter).  See you next year!