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)

Figure Review: DC Direct Stargirl

Welcome to my first action figure review of many to come! I am going to try and post quick reviews of action figures as I get them (before they move off of my desk and sadly head off to cold storage in the basement).

I wanted to take a quick look at the recently released DC Direct JSA Series 2 Stargirl action figure. Stargirl, a.k.a. Courtney Whitmore, a creation of the illustrious Geoff Johns, has had her own comic serires (Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.), been part of the Justice Society of America for a long time, appeared in the animated show Justice League Unlimited (with her own figure from Mattel), and even had a live action appearance in Smallville.

We now finally have a comic accurate version of Stargirl to put along side of the other members of the Starman legacy (will we ever get a Mikaal Tomas, Prince Gavyn or Farris Knight figure? most likely not). The design is based on the JSA cover paintings of Alex Ross, with a pose typical of the more statue-like Ross interpretations of DC's heroes and villians. The blue metallic paint really works well and brings the figure to life. The attention to detail is nice with different reds used for the gloves and the Cosmic Converter Belt. There is something about the facial sculpt that strikes me a bit odd, but I can't put my finger on it (maybe the odd smile). Overall, I think this interpretation captures the character very well, and is a worthy addition to anyone's DC collection. (Overall Rating: 4/5)

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

First post! I don't get out to the movies much any more, but my wife is kind enough to encourage me to go out at night and see one now and again. So, given the opportunity, I had to go and finally see Iron Man 2 (thank you Island Cinemas for comfortable seats).

I have always been a HUGE Iron Man fan (as it was one of the first comics that I regularly collected as a kid) and I loved the first movie. The sequel is comparable, but definitely not as well executed. I won't go into a plot recap, but I wanted to mention that a large segment of the beginning of the movie was Tony Stark exhibiting self-destructive behavior and being a general snarky @$$. Pretty amusing, but it started to wear thin after a while. The whole "I'm dying, so I'll go out in flames bit" works at first, but it doesn't have the same impact as the gradual decent in alcholism from the comics. Loved the "futurist" tone of the movie and the issues it brought up such as the use of drones by the military, the techno-utopian Stark Expo, and privatized security. I loved the interaction between Tony, Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. Black Widow) in the donut shop. It really felt like a Marvel comic book come to life. The fight scenes were great. War Machine was awesome. Howard Stark as Howard Huges/Walt Disney/Wernher von Braun was classic. I was also quite happy that Agent Coulson returned (spinoff!).

The whole movie just seemed a bit frenetic and disjointed, it lingered too long on unimportant scenes and rushed through scenes that should have built dramatic tension. It just didn't hang together as well as the first. Still enjoyed it. Still can't wait for more exploits from Tony Stark/Iron Man in future movies whether it is the Avengers or Iron Man 3. I'll just count my blessings that I got two great films about one of my all-time favorite super heroes.