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After a day at the Puyallup Fair with the wife and her mom where we ate too much and walked our feet off, my wife and I had a quiet evening at home. Then, I had an idea for something we could do together, put together a Lego set. See, I picked up Mrs. Puff's Driving School from the Lego Spongebob Squarepants line at the local Wal-Mart at $30 less than retail ($20 is what I paid for those keeping score). She agreed and we went at it. I organized the pieces and acted as quality control and she was the primary builder. A couple hours later, we were done:
And just in time too. My friend Jimmy, a regular on the TFW2005 boards, found the Wal-Mart exclusive Fracture for me yesterday and stopped by our apartment tonight to drop him off and visit for an hour before visiting another friend of his. He actually found a few, but can't seem to find too many locals interested, so he'll return them if no one bites.
Good family, friends, times, and new toys made for a great day (listed in order of importance).
I've been playing Lego Indiana Jones for a while now on the PSP and was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, and Chewbacca hidden in some of the levels. Turns out that there are five hidden Lego Star Wars characters in the game and when you find them all, you unlock Han Solo as a playable character. I found Leia earlier tonight and thanks to this site, I found R2-D2 just a bit ago, thereby unlocking a certain scruffy-looking nerf-herder to join Indiana Jones in his adventures.
Here is the video from that page I liked to above, explaining in detail how to unlock Han. I think it's worth the trouble. Now, if I could only find all the stupid artifact pieces to unlock the secret game levels.
Can't wait to get the upcoming LEGO Indiana Jones video game? Didn't know about it until now? Well, you can download the demo for it now at GamesForWindows.com.
For the last couple months, I've been eyeing the new Indiana Jones Lego sets. Today, I finally broke down and bought the cheapestsmallest most affordable of the current offerings; set 7620Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase. While fun, you don't get so much bang for your buck as opposed to non-licensed sets in the same price range.
For characters, you get Indy, Dr. Jones, and your very own Nazi Lego mini-figure, though he's not labelled as such. Also included are two motorcycles, a side-car, most of a guard post, a flag on a pole, and two crates. It's a fun set, though I wish there was more to it, like this set for instance. Both retail for $10. But, hey, it's Indiana Jones. Now to get him and Han Solo together for the first time.
Tonight, my wife and I had dinner at my parent's home for an early birthday dinner. They gave me $50 and my Father-in-law gave me a $50 AMEX giftcard. After a yummy, traditional German dinner made by my Mother, we stopped by the local Wal-Mart to see if I could find anything I wanted for my birthday from my wife. I was hoping to find the Hasbro Star Wars AT-AP or General Grievous' Starfighter or some of the new Evolutions 3-packs. But, as per my usual luck with that Wal-Mart, there was only the usual peg and shelf warmers, stuff I already had, or stuff I didn't want.
Then, I went down the Lego aisle and found my prize, the Rogue Shadow from the upcoming The Force Unleashed video game. Mrs. GripX asked if that's what I wanted and after 5 seconds of mulling it over, I agreed. I put it together right away when we got home. Well, I took a 1/2 hour break to watch TMZ with the misses. I have to say, this is one awesome ship. There are four landing gear that hold up under the ship, the middle hatch slides up and back to reveal seating for one, which is unfortunate as there are 3 minifigures included in the set; Juno Eclipse, the pilot, a battle-ravaged Darth Vader, and Vader's Secret Apprentice, the character you play in the game. June can be dressed with either a ponytail or a hat and Vader with a ripped-open helmet or undamaged one.
The right side of the ship opens to reveal a missile launcher that I have yet to figure out how to get to launch. So, at least I know the missile won't go anywhere. The left side opens in two places. In front, the compartment opens to reveal two rifles that any minifigure can wield. The back compartment opens to reveal two missiles. They don't fire, but that's fine by me. Add the underbelly guns and you have one well-armed vessel. Also, when in flight, the wings rotate forward which brings the engines to face back.
So, if you love Star Wars and Lego and want to delve into the expanded universe, you owe it to yourself to pick up this set.
I love Lego. I always have and will likely always will. Ever since I was a little boy, Lego has held some sort of fascination over me. It amazes me what you can build with it. It's my favorite display in the Hobby Hall of the annual fair in September. I remember when all you got was some bricks in various large sizes and shapes and you could build good houses or other buildings with them. Now, you can build space ships, lions, tigers, bears, lobsters, and undersea tanks with robot arms. I can only imagine where Lego will be 10-20 years from now.
The only problem I have with Lego is the cost, especially on their licensed products. For $10, you can get less than 80 pieces in a Star Wars set. That seems a little steep even if it's only 12.5 cents per piece. Their in-house designs are usually a better deal, but still rather pricey. That's not to say Lego isn't worth the money. It can just add up quicker than some other toy lines, especially if you're an adult who likes to build large displays with multiples of the same sets, which I'm not by the way.
Enter Target and their madcap clearance only 3 weeks after Christmas. Sure, there's not much left once the stuff hits 75% off, but you can still get some bargains if you hunt around. Take the Aquaraiders Lobster Strike set. It retails for around $20 for 223 pieces plus 5 extra parts. That's less than 9 cents a piece. I found it today for a mere $5. That brings the per-piece cost down to a fraction over 2 cents a part. Now that's a bargain.
I put it together this afternoon and had a lot of fun too. It's been a long time since I had a new Lego set, the last version of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon that Target blew out for $50 a a Black Friday bargain a few years back. You get two divers in the set, one in full scuba gear and spear gun and the other pilots the tank. There are two heads, one is rather neutral in expression, which I gave to the diver, and the other has a snarl to it, which is the guy piloting the tank. The tank has working treads and two arms with multiple points of articulation, something I could only dream of having as a child with my Lego of the time. The hatch opens and closes, though it doesn't seal all the way, so I wonder if the driver just holds his breath a long time or if I need to suspend my disbelief some more. One arms has a saw blade and the other a claw to grab crystals or lobster tails or what-have-you. It's a very nice vehicle, one I wouldn't mind driving to work some days.
Where this set should have shone through but failed to do so is with the lobster. It's a fine construct, with lots of articulation and some nice deco on the back. But, the legs are very flimsy and cannot hold the body up. Well, they can if you remove the claws and tail, but that's not a very scary sea-monster then, is it? The red parts than form the ends of the legs rotate under pressure, making the giant flop down on it's belly. It's a shame because it looks really nice on the box.
So, the divers retreat from battle with their crystals and a fat lobster withers away and dies on the sea floor.
