Why Adults Love Lego...

Saw this video today on Techland and had to repost here. I always like TED talks, and a TED talk about Lego can't be beat! Can't say I have as many Lego bricks as this fine man, but the allure of the tiny bricks are shared.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia

So, yet another post on something that I bought recently. I keep posting here because I am procrastinating about my other, more professional blog, Watchers of Tomorrow. I'll get started there eventually.

I recently picked up the latest DK Star Wars Clone Wars book, the Character Encyclopedia. It's 207 wonderful pages covering almost every single character that has appeared in the Clone Wars TV series to date. From the 2-1B Surgical Droid to Ziro the Hutt and everything in between. I mean, come on...the BD-3000 Luxury Droid, Davu Golec, the angel from Iego, Mathee Dunn (the Rodian mom from the episode where Cad Bane steals force-sensitive children). It covers everyone, which makes it a true encyclopedia.

I love books like this. With great graphics and short writeups, it is loads of fun to read (my daughter loves these types of books too, because she can ask lots of questions and memorize who everyone is). It has the standard witty DK callouts for each character like "welcoming expression", "jowls are evidence of vast appetites", and my personal favorite, "soul patch is kept immaculate". You also learn things you never, ever, ever thought you would know like Pilf Mukmuk (Hondo Ohnaka's pet monkey-lizard) has a brother named Pikk. Now you know...

I highly recommend this book to all fans of the Clone Wars TV show, it's a must have, and you'll flip through it again and again and agin.

Figure Review: Polar Sharc Submarine w/Ice Storm

I had to be torn away from the Top 25 Mythbusters moments special on the Discovery Channel to write this, but here I am. I am very excited to be reviewing the G.I. Joe Polar Sharc Submarine from the Rise of Cobra movie line.

The third wave of "Alpha-class" vehicles was cancelled after Hasbro tempted us with beautiful pictures and the chance to pre-order from our favorite on-line shops. The wave was mostly repaints, but one beautiful new, unique mold, movie-specific vehicle was part of the wave and is now in my greedy little hands. The product seemed to have trickled out to our neighbors in the north, and thanks to fine, enterprising Canadians on eBay, I now have the vehicle I was most looking forward to from the wave.

The Polar Sharc is a small "fighter sub" that was an integral part of the final battle in the movie. The mold is quite nice, the paint applications and color scheme are great and the detailing is top-notch. One nice little detail is the window on the bottom of the sub in addition to the canopy. My biggest complaint is that it is tiny! I think these were pretty large in the movie, and a bigger vehicle that could hold two figures would have been nice. It's a great futuristic design with a high swoosh-factor, make it bigger! My other complaint revolves around the stickers, I know this is a kid's toy, but the stickers for this were so small that applying them required magnification devices that worked at the angstrom level and tweezers.

The driver that comes with the vehicle is "Ice Storm", nice sculpt, good paint (love the metallic silver details). He looks exactly what you would expect an arctic sailor to look like (Helly Hansen-type jacket, high collar, snow pants, knit cap with a brim). He is just a bit too generic for a Joe, no personality really comes through that you would expect. If you need a plain arctic Coast Guardsman, Ice Storm is your man. (Overall Rating: Sharc 4/5, Ice Storm 3/5)