FBTB

Category: LEGO Harry Potter

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 4

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 4

    The site hasn’t been the most active lately… 2023 has been a sledgehammer to the face of a few of us and it’s hard to get the time to keep up with everything. I can’t speak for everyone here, but the annual tradition of us opening all the calendars and being shocked at the iffy builds is something that we look forward to.

    We’re doing it a bit different this year, or more specifically, Nick just couldn’t find all that much joy in just doing the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. So he’s decided to do more than that one and compare them all a bit. Ace is going to do his normal review of it as well, and Eric will be covering Harry Potter yet again, for whatever the wizarding version of Groundhog Day is. And double the Star Wars!

    We’re also bringing back our “random advent” calendar tradition, because it was fun last year. So tune in to see we go through and talk about. Maybe I’ll even bring in a special guest expert to talk about the one that I picked up…

    Against all odds, Marvel managed not to suck and Nick’s triad of calendars were all solid entries.

    Star Wars: 2 Hits / 1 Misses
    Harry Potter: 3 Hits / 0 Misses
    City: 3 Hits / 0 Misses
    Marvel: 1 Hits / 2 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 2 Hits / 1 Misses

    Star Wars Day 4 – Ace

    A Christmas-themed pit droid. It’s okay but I’m giving it a thumbs down for a specific reason. Some of the connections were not great. In particular the claw bar that holds the inverted blue tap was especially not good. There was very little clutch power and the tap was able to slide forwards and backwards a little too easily. That led to the droid’s head being unintentionally tilted because it was so loose. There was a build earlier that had similar clutch issues that made me pause and take note. It was Day 2’s weird unfamiliar-to-me ship. The elements that attached to the vertical studs on the bracket pieces felt like they could fall off with the slightest. It was such an issue that my one son that chose the Star Wars calendar this year also complained about it.

    And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you have the 1×1 plates with the vertical clips that are used for the feet of the droid. The amount of effort to get them attached to the pneumatic t-bar was a very stark contrast to the head and neck assembly. I think if the tap was remolded so the body was a proper bar thickness, these issues would go away. LEGO has remolded elements in the past. Maybe one day the tap will be redone as well. But I’ve never liked attaching anything to that tap element that wasn’t the hole side for a stud, or the handle for a minifig hand.

    Now this is what I’m talking about: a chocolate truffle ball for Day 4.

    Here it is in its natural state, trying its best at a Death Star impersonation.

    There is something magical about the soft chocolate ganache center. It has a completely different melting point temperature-wise than the outer shell. This gives it a smoother texture in your mouth that is offset by the firmer outer shell. The inside of your mouth ends up being coated with a chocolate taste all around but disappears just as quickly as it came. The truffle balls come in a variety of flavors and the one you get today is the basic milk chocolate. I love the truffle balls and the back of the box doesn’t indicate how many you get. There’s only one pictured, but if I counted correctly there are 20 chocolates on the back and 24 days in the calendar. Hopefully, there’ll be some more balls in my future.

    Harry Potter Day 4 – Eric

    You know, not every day can be a winner.

    With eight pieces, it’s taking me longer to write this sentence than it took to built this. Although I should point out – it is a new 2×2 print.

    But it still sucks.

    Hopefully today’s tea is better. It’s called JOY. Short, simple, and vague. Apparently a Pukka staple.

    I will say – best tea so far. There’s hints of orange and lemon in this one that really spiced up the taste more than just “resembling plant-tasting water”. I really like tea with a lot of flavor, and I’m hopeful we’re heading in that direction.

    A solid 4/5.

    Onto Day 5!

    City Day 4 – Nick

    Winter does not mean holiday, but at least it happens in the season. Hockey is more known for their New Years’ Day game (played outside, typically)… Christmas is more of the NBA’s day for games. Still, this is a solid minifigure, and previously, hockey players had only been included in the Collectible Minifigure line as far as I’m aware. Plus, they included all the stuff for him in the one pack.

    Which reminds me, only 21 more days until we get the final (cry) season of Letterkenny on Hulu. So I’m going to imagine this is actually Jonesy when I say it’s (marginally) a hit.

    Marvel Day 4 – Nick

    Are you *bleep* kidding me?

    Miss. This isn’t even worth making fun of. I’m tempted to take away yesterday’s hit because of this.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 4 – Nick

    Take note, garbage Marvel calendar. This is how you make something “holiday” themed. Even without the green, it’s different enough from a standard little pit droid build that I recognize it’s different. Solid, solid hit.

    Pokemon Day 4 – Nick & Family

    After yesterday’s tree made of trees, we get another tree-adjacent in Turtwig. My daughter, upon seeing him, immediately started to recite the Pokedex entry and talk about how its a starter in Diamond and Pearl (which… she never played the original but has been playing the Switch remakes).

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 3

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 3

    The site hasn’t been the most active lately… 2023 has been a sledgehammer to the face of a few of us and it’s hard to get the time to keep up with everything. I can’t speak for everyone here, but the annual tradition of us opening all the calendars and being shocked at the iffy builds is something that we look forward to.

    We’re doing it a bit different this year, or more specifically, Nick just couldn’t find all that much joy in just doing the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. So he’s decided to do more than that one and compare them all a bit. Ace is going to do his normal review of it as well, and Eric will be covering Harry Potter yet again, for whatever the wizarding version of Groundhog Day is. And double the Star Wars!

    We’re also bringing back our “random advent” calendar tradition, because it was fun last year. So tune in to see we go through and talk about. Maybe I’ll even bring in a special guest expert to talk about the one that I picked up…

    Day three is here, and thus far, we have an interesting spread on the different calendars. City is running away on Nick’s three choices, while the Marvel Calendar sucks about as much as Marvel’s output in the last couple of years. Star Wars is splitting the middle

    Star Wars: 2 Hits / 0 Misses
    Harry Potter: 2 Hits / 0 Misses
    City: 2 Hits / 0 Misses
    Marvel: 0 Hits / 2 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 1 Hits / 1 Misses

    Star Wars Day 3 – Ace

    If you can believe it, this is supposed to be Mando’s N-1. At first, I thought it was another spaceship I didn’t recognize. The instructions on the back of the flap has you build it from the rear 3/4 perspective making the back look like the front. “I don’t remember a three-pointed ship of any kind in Star Wars”. And then finally after putting it all together it clicked. The tail isn’t long enough obviously. It could have used a 1×1 round brick in there right under the cone. Of course this isn’t the most flattering angle. Here’s a better shot:

    That’s more like it. Except that tail, man, still too short.

    And if that wasn’t disappointing enough, today’s Lindt offering was this:

    The second of the three Double Milk Teddy.

    I’m not going rehash what I wrote yesterday. This thing is still terrible on the inside.

    Harry Potter Day 3 – Eric

    I’ve done this for five years, and based on that, Day 3 is a very important day. Day 1 usually gives us a minifig, Day 2 a random build, but Day 3 sets the tone. Are the builds going to be consistent in a theme? Or totally random?

    Happily, it looks like we’re still running with the Hogsmeade theme. This is another candy stand from Honeydukes, but it’s different enough to stand out. There’s a little display stand, a dish, and a cash register.

    Plus you can put them together to have a little vignette. Considering in the past these calendars have given me two nearly identical tables (I’ll never forget), seeing this much variation is a real promising sign.

    The teas, on the otherhand, have been pretty mid so far. But today’s tea is called THREE GINGER, and that will certainly taste different, right?

    Weirdly, it doesn’t taste different at *all. But my body noticed the ginger. I’ve been recovering from getting sick, and this cleared me right up. Tastes bad. Good effect.

    Solid 3/5.

    See ya tomorrow!

    City Day 3 – Nick

    Our first micro-build in the City calendar, and it’s a very solid and cute little Reindeer. You recognize it right away, and that’s a win.

    Fun pointless trivia fact: Santa’s reindeer would all be female. Make reindeer have all shed their horns by mid-December (and most would have lost them before that). Female reindeer keep them much longer, likely more for protection. They’re also the only deer species where females grow and retain antlers.

    Marvel Day 3 – Nick

    The annual tradition of ugly sweaters slapped on a minifig is always going to be a hit with me. Spider-man, especially, would most certainly wear one. So we finally get our first hit of the calendar.

    Why he’s carrying glass cutting gear is beyond me.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 3 – Nick

    Another micro build, this time much better in the Mando’s Naboo N-1 Starfighter. Bonus points for being a better quality build than the full-size mini set. I need to take pictures and review that piece of fragile garbage someday. A solid little hit, with my triad going 3-for-3.

    Pokemon Day 3 – Nick & Family

    The Pokemon calendar is up front that it has several “accessory” items, and that basically means cardboard cutouts. We get a Christmas Tree here… and I guess its fine. But this thing is gonna die in the hands of an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old.

    Previous Days

    • Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 1
    • Seasons of Spam 2023 – Day 2
  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 2

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 2

    The site hasn’t been the most active lately… 2023 has been a sledgehammer to the face of a few of us and it’s hard to get the time to keep up with everything. I can’t speak for everyone here, but the annual tradition of us opening all the calendars and being shocked at the iffy builds is something that we look forward to.

    We’re doing it a bit different this year, or more specifically, Nick just couldn’t find all that much joy in just doing the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. So he’s decided to do more than that one and compare them all a bit. Ace is going to do his normal review of it as well, and Eric will be covering Harry Potter yet again, for whatever the wizarding version of Groundhog Day is. And double the Star Wars!

    We’re also bringing back our “random advent” calendar tradition, because it was fun last year. So tune in to see we go through and talk about. Maybe I’ll even bring in a special guest expert to talk about the one that I picked up…

    It was an interesting start to everything, with Marvel continuing it’s tradition failing to even achieve mediocrity, Star Wars starting strong, City going weird, and Harry Potter being Harry Potter.

    Star Wars: 1 Hits / 0 Misses
    Harry Potter: 1 Hits / 0 Misses
    City: 1 Hits / 0 Misses
    Marvel: 0 Hits / 1 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 1 Hits / 0 Misses

    Star Wars Day 2 – Ace

    I don’t know what this is. Judging by the color and general shape, I’d guess it’s some sort of ship. I’d also fathom a guess it’s an Imperial vessel but I could be wrong. Maybe it’s from Ahsoka. I haven’t watched that one yet. But hooray for obscure ships making the cut I guess? I’m ambivalent towards it so I’ll give it a thumbs up. Giving it a thumbs down would feel like I’m punishing it for my own ignorance so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt that it’s done well, whatever “it” is supposed to be. And no I’m not going to cheat and read ahead to see what Nick wrote about it.

    Day 2 of the chocolate calendar gives us a “Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Double Milk TEDDY”. Not sure why TEDDY is in all caps. Perhaps he’s a loud fellow and sends all his texts in all caps.

    Gotta had it to fine chocolate makers around the world for shaping their chocolates into the shape they are supposed to represent. TEDDY is no exception and looks the part.

    When I read “double milk chocolate” I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be white chocolate. I feel cheated. I was hoping for a slightly different milk chocolate texture on the inside. To be fair, that’s exactly what I got but after I took the bite I was like, “this is not what I was expecting”. It was passable as a chocolate treat, but the bar is raised when they claimed “double milk” and the treat fails spectacularly by giving you sweetened cocoa butter instead. Thumbs down. I’m sad that I have two more of these things to ingest in the coming days.

    Harry Potter Day 2 – Eric

    Okay, now that we’ve gotten our court-appointed Harry Potter minifigure out of the way, we can move on to potentially more interesting builds.

    Potentially, I said.

    This isn’t…I mean it’s not bad. But it’s hard to really say a whole lot about it. I’m assuming this is meant to represent Honeydukes Sweetshop based on the color scheme. Also, weirdly, looks like Honeydukes has a specific address in Orlando – 6000 Universal Blvd if you want to send them some fan mail.

    I do approve of this jelly bean print. Unfortunately I’m going to sort this in with the rest of my 1×1 bricks, which means I will likely never see it again. So now’s my only chance.

    And what about the tea, I hear you pleading with me?

    It’s called RELAX. These names aren’t exactly specific. Let’s give it a try.

    Well, it’s definitely better than yesterday. It’s still pretty light, and to me it tastes like drinking grass water. There is a nice aftertaste that keeps drawing me back to sip, but overall I’m still unimpressed. 2/5.

    See ya tomorrow!

    City Day 2 – Nick

    Okay, take note other calendars… this is a perfect little insert. A printed tile that has Santa and a reindeer? There are so many little joke tiles that could have gone into every single calendar like this. A great Day 2, and the clear winner for the things I put together (spoiler, to the other entries, I guess).

    Marvel Day 2 – Nick

    Bricklink calls this a Holiday Quinjet. Except… is it? It basically looks vaguely like the red-and-white Avenjet crossed with a Quinjet. Maybe if it had some green or something in there.

    No matter, though, it’s just ugly. The flat-across wings really kill it, and it’s fragile beyond belief. Better than Iron Man, but still a miss.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 2 – Nick

    The Justifier is an ugly and forgettable ship that appeared in one Bad Batch episode – Cad Bane is also whatever the villain version of a Mary Sue is, and he brings down almost any episode he’s in (except Book of Boba Fett, where he got what he deserved).

    I didn’t even realize that this was the Justifier at first, I had to look it up. I assumed it was some weird speeder or something. Seriously, if you’re going to go with the Bad Batch, why not do The Marauder, which is more important to the Clones and an actual important part of the show.

    Swing and a miss, Star Wars. Or whatever Star Wars-y pun makes up Baseball. Shoot at a womprat and miss… gonna have to workshop that one a bit.

    Pokemon Day 2 – Nick & Family

    My kid’s review: “Oooooh, a little Piplup, that’s so cute!” Cute, but he doesn’t stand up for anything.

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 1

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 1

    The site hasn’t been the most active lately… 2023 has been a sledgehammer to the face of a few of us and it’s hard to get the time to keep up with everything. I can’t speak for everyone here, but the annual tradition of us opening all the calendars and being shocked at the iffy builds is something that we look forward to.

    We’re doing it a bit different this year, or more specifically, Nick just couldn’t find all that much joy in just doing the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. So he’s decided to do more than that one and compare them all a bit. Ace is going to do his normal review of it as well, and Eric will be covering Harry Potter yet again, for whatever the wizarding version of Groundhog Day is. And double the Star Wars!

    We’re also bringing back our “random advent” calendar tradition, because it was fun last year. So tune in to see we go through and talk about. Maybe I’ll even bring in a special guest expert to talk about the one that I picked up…

    Star Wars Day 1 – Ace

    I’m not entirely sure about this, but I think this is Omega from the Bad Batch. Either that or it’s a youngling trying to escape from Anakin by way of sled during the Great Cleansing of Young Jedi. I can’t believe this is Day 1. Not only are we treated to (what I think is) Omega, but we also get a small build that is on theme. Are the days of having a single minifigure for an Advent’s day gone? Is this the dawn of a new era? I don’t know but this is a good sign. Of course, like everything else, I’m ready to be severely let down tomorrow. We’ll see.

    And for my fun calendar, I chose chocolate because I make bad life choices and have an uncontrollable sugar addiction, so why not?

    I picked up this monstrosity from Costco. It’s a Lindt chocolate advent calendar. I love Lindt chocolates. Even took a trip the Lindt store in New York many years back and loaded up on all kinds of stuff I had no idea they made. Most of the time you can only find those bags of truffle balls and maybe a selection of bars depending on how exotic the store you’re shopping in is. That trip was quite an experience.

    Day 1 was a “Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Elf with Hazelnut filling”. Looking back I should have taken a picture of the chocolate unwrapped but based on the back of the box I have two more of these things to look forward to so I’ll get that picture next time. And while I’m regretting pictures not taken, I should have taken one of the chocolate half eaten so you can see what it was like visually on the inside.

    Anyway, the chocolate itself had a milky texture, like any other Lindt chocolate ball. But unlike the truffle balls, the inside of this elf was not melt-in-your-mouth soft. It had a surprisingly crunchy texture that was more akin to crispy rice. The distinct hazelnut flavor was there though and that part was not overly sweet. The chocolate and hazelnut flavors were distinct and the elf was the right size to leave me feeling satisfied and not wanting more. Fun fact: I love hazelnut but can’t stand Nutella. I find Nutella to be way, way, way too sweet, so much so that I can’t really taste any hazelnut. It’s just dark brown sugar paste to me. If Nutella was hazelnut dialed up to 11, this was a nice subtle 3.

    I give this day a thumbs up because chocolate. From my favorite brand no less.

    Harry Potter Day 1 – Eric

    Thank God, hot sauce is off the table this year. I’ve stored all the bottles in the back of a cabinet and will uncomfortably stare at them every once in a while.

    I hear them calling to me…

    I’ve decided to go with a safer option this year. But we’ll get to that later. First – Harry Potter!

    After a pretty weird calendar last year, this year we’re back to focusing on one movie for all the builds. This year, we’re in movie 3: The Prisoner of Azkaban. Specifically, around Hogsmeade, based on the box art.

    I’m also doing something a little extra (or I guess extra extra) this year. Since this is the 5th year I’ve done a Harry Potter calendar, I’d like to compare some of the similar builds over the years. Stuff repeats, and not just minifigs.

    Speaking of, as is tradition, we get Harry Potter for Day 1.

    At least this is a totally new Harry for the Advent Calendars. New face, new clothes, new hood. I’m all about it. And I can never get enough of those middle-height legs.

    But yes – this is the 5th Harry Potter. And you’d think I’d be sick of him by now. And I am. Very sick. Especially of very young Harry. Still, 2023’s Harry is one of the best. So I’ve got to give it a thumbs up.

    AND – we’re doing tea this year!

    Why tea? Well, I love tea. That’s as far as my thought process went. Plus, it’ll be nice not to be in pain.

    Today’s tea is called FEEL NEW. Will it work?

    Ehhhhh, kinda. It’s a very light tea – and I’m not just talking about the color. There’s a very sort of vague flavor that doesn’t really linger. This tea’s made of three ingredients, none of which are extremely powerful, and I feel I could’ve gotten the same effect by sprinkling fennel seeds into hot water.

    Not a strong start. I’m giving it a 1/5.

    See ya tomorrow!

    City Day 1 – Nick

    In the late 90s / early 00s, there was a fever-dream known as the X Games… yeah, it still exists, but nothing like it was back then. There were so many tie-ins and spinoff, and in an era before all EA did was suck and overprice buggy games, they released the pinnacle of the era in the form of SSX. Snowboards, winter sports, and who knows what else took the Tony Hawk formula and thought “wait, what if we put it on snow… TO THE EXTREME!”

    I can’t help but think of those dark times when I look at this guy. A snowman on skis? Yeah, that tracks to some of the nonsense you would have gotten in that era. At least it’s winter, and it is very, very goofy. I’m going to call it a hit, even if it’s a very weird way to start.

    Marvel Day 1 – Nick

    My biggest complaint about last year’s calendar was that it didn’t feel holiday-themed at all… it was just a bunch of Marvel crap thrown in and very little of it felt like it belonged together. My second biggest complaint was that the calendar spread builds that should be together across multiple days. So hopefully we’ll see it improved this…

    … wait, why does this Calendar have the fewest parts out of all the ones we are reviewing and only a few more than the Friends advent, a line that has always carried fewer parts. Well, hopefully they at least give it more of a holiday theme.

    Oh. So that’s how its gonna be, then? No one needs another Iron Man. Huge muss to start this thing off.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 1 – Nick

    Out of the gate, the Star Wars calendar has decided that it’s going to just shame the other calendars. We get Omega, which is fun, because she has only shown up in the “who cares about this stupid ship” Justifier set. Like most Star Wars sets, it was too expensive and boring to look at, so a lot of people likely passed on it.

    She even has a sled, which is very on brand for Omega, gives a little holiday feel, and we start with what would be spread over five days in the Marvel calendar.

    Pokemon Day 1 – Nick & Family

    It’s been an explosion of Pokemon fever in my household, with my daughter going full-in to obsessing over all things Pokemon, sprinkling in some Minecraft, and making the rest of us go a little bit nuts with the endless talk of it. My son gets in on the fun too, and plays Let’s Go and Pokemon Violet as well, going so far as dressing up as a Pokemon Trainer for Halloween. In other words, its inescapable around here, so I figured why not add more to it.

    My daughter will be chiming in from time to time on these too… it might be I just listened to what she was talking about on Pokemon for a couple of minutes and I wrote it down, or maybe I’ll make her type for awhile to see how well she knows a keyboard. For her generation, knowing how to actually type will effectively be a superpower.

    Anyway, we picked up the Pokemon Deluxe Figure Advent Calendar 2023. This is apparently a long-running series, and there are multiple versions available out there. We got ours at Target, and it’s more expensive than that LEGO Calendars… $60 base (I got it on sale, and used a Circle offer to take another 25% off).

    The extra cost, in part, comes from the box. The whole thing comes with a display board, complete with a little chiptune-esque holiday theme.

    Outside of that, Day 1 opens with… a Spheal? The pokemon that you get bombarded with in Pokemon Go if you wander anywhere near something that’s even vaguely tangental to water.

    Still, he’s little and cute. So that’s fun.

  • A Year of Polybags 214/260: 30420 Harry Potter and Hedwig: Owl Delivery Review

    A Year of Polybags 214/260: 30420 Harry Potter and Hedwig: Owl Delivery Review

    I’ve been caught up with Tears of the Kingdom, so this is coming in late. But it’s just a temporary thing honestly. It’s part that and partly because today’s set, 30420 Harry Potter and Hedwig: Owl Delivery, sucks, and its hard to write about sucky things. Technically speaking, this was supposed to be yesterday’s set, for Thursday May 25th.

    I really like the concept. The owl delivery was a great scene where Hedwig delivers a gift, the Nimbus 2000, from a mystery gift-giver to help Harry get an edge in Quidditch. And what you build is pretty representative of that scene but there are several factors that really make this set blow.

    LOOSE THINGS. God I just love having loose things. Things like minifigs that have no place to anchor to. You’d think the bench seating for the table would have some studs for Harry to “sit”. Sit is in quotes because he’s using the short legs and thus can’t really sit but still. That 1×8 tile should have been a plate instead.

    You can improvise and just have Harry stand on the table. Yeah, that’s not bad table manners or anything. Thankfully, the food on the table is anchored down.

    Hedwig on the otherhand while functional in the sense it is doing exactly what it should be doing, only does what it should be doing while holding it in your hand. There are no stands made from transparent elements, no anchor or perch for Hedwig to land on. So you literally have to hold it in your hand to recreate what you see in the bag. Now, my ranting on this point may seem stupid since it is a toy and toys are meant to be held, but I’d argue that it is still dumb. It would only work if Hedwig holding the broomstick was exactly half of what you wanted to play with during any playtime leaving your other hand free to play with anything else. But if you wanted to do something else and had to put Hedwig down, where do you put it?

    Here. This is where you put it, right here. Slide the broomstick handle between the two goblets, with Hedwig on one side and the broom head on the other. It’s not as secure as having it clipped to something or anchored to a stud or something, but it is secure enough that should you want to move the table Hedwig won’t go flying around. It’s only Harry you’d have to worry about. Unless you have him standing on the table as well:

    And this is NOT what the scene was all about.

    Does It Suck or Does It Rock?

     

    This thing sucks. It could have been been completely turned around if the bench seating was made with a plate so Harry could actually be sitting on the table and if there was just some clip or something for Hedwig to perch on while still holding on to the Numbus 2000. Otherwise this thing is just dumb.

    Sponsorship

    There’s no sponsor this week, and with sponsorships lasting a whole week, you can get plenty of exposure for mere pennies. Pennies I say! Want to sponsor a review? Send me a message to admin@fbtb.net or hit me up on discord of the polybag set you have that you want me to review. If selected, in exchange for the set you’ll get a mention right here in the review post and a link to your website or social media account or just about anything else.. Nearly free advertising, so what’s stopping you?

    You Can Win This And Every Other Polybag I Review This Year

    I’ll be raffling every polybag I review this year in one big lot, all 260 sets (with the possibility of more). Each set will be individually stored in a ziploc baggie complete with the extra pieces, instructions, and the actual polybag bag it came in. The cost of a raffle ticket is just $1 USD and you can enter as many times as you want. Send a PayPal payment to paypal@fbtb.net for $1 USD for every ticket you want to purchase. DO NOT send one payment for multiple entries i.e. do not send one $5 USD payment for five tickets; five $1 USD payments must be made instead. Raffle is open to everyone in the world except where raffles are illegal. Be sure to put “POLYBAG RAFFLE” in the notes section of the payment in order to be entered successfully. Winner will be drawn sometime sometime in the second half of 2023 and contacted at the PayPal email address the payment was sent from to arrange for delivery. For a running list of all the sets that you can win, check this Google spreadsheet.

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Wrap Up

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Wrap Up

    Here we are again, the end of our series of spammy posts opening advent calendars, getting things wrong, questioning reality, and almost driving ourselves mad, and generally wondering how these things keep getting made. Somehow, inexplicably, Harry Potter ends up as the “winner” this year after Star Wars stumbled hard at the end. The loser is clearly the Marvel calendar, which was just… ugh.

    Final Count

    • Star Wars: 12 Hits / 12 Misses
    • Harry Potter: 13 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Marvel: 10 Hits / 14 Misses

    Ace’s Thoughts on Star Wars

    12 hit and 12 misses, a perfectly even 50-50 ratio of … hits and misses. No other way to describe it really but I would like to call out a few specifically.

    I think the lowest point for me was a tie between the inclusion of the Beach-going Darth Vader (and his paired sandcastle build) and the Battle Droid. Call me old fashioned, but I’d like it if my advent calendars stuck with a wintery theme. Hoth may be a beaten horse at this point so I get that LEGO is trying to put in inspired builds from a variety of sources. Vader here though felt so out of left field and honestly a little jarring to open up. And the Battle Droid was such a low-effort throw-in, throwaway day that it’s honestly insulting to get. There wasn’t even a paired build with it. It was just filler that was less that fulfilling.

    The highlights include the ugly sweater minifigs for the obvious reasons. One star is R2-D2 just for the mere fact that putting an ugly sweater on R2 is like dressing up your dog in a costume: there’s no point to it but you do it just cause it’s cute:

    It’s so kitschy I love it. But my absolute top pick? It’s gotta be this:

    B-wing from Day 14. I love me some obscure ships that are on screen for mere milliseconds! Fairly certain that there hasn’t been an official mini ship of the B-wing so if this is all we get, then I will love it til the end of my days.

    Overall, a multi-build set having only half the builds be great (in this reviewer’s opinion) is not a great value proposition. With some of the days being a paired build, it really feels like you’re getting rejected polybag sets split over two days to fill out the days as much as possible. The source material for this year’s set spanned multiple movies resulting in a disjointed experience. There’s a lot of material when it comes to Star Wars. I wish they would do a whole calendar based on a planet, a scene, or battle or something. Keep it consistent, and bring the quality up.

    Eric’s Thoughts on Harry Potter and Hot Sauce

    Was this the worst LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar I’ve ever done? Probably not. Was it a bad experience? Oh yeah.

    So it turns out, drinking a 24 tablespoons of hot sauce was a bad idea. I had a dozen stomachaches, nearly threw up once, and fell into a sort of subservient routine where I would just drink the hot sauce without thinking. It was easier that way.

    Maybe it’s because of that, but I really think this year’s calendar was BAD. LEGO tried something new last year, too – with a sort of Candy-Land-like board game. I hated that one back then, but at least that game made sense. This year’s…I don’t even know. It’s a bad game, and LEGO committed to it so hard. With last year, you could ignore the board game and just “enjoy” the builds. That’s impossible this year. Every build is on a 2×4 plate. Every third build is a minifig. It’s formulaic, and the surrpise of each day went from “ooh I wonder what piece of the puzzle this will be” to “I wonder how they’ll represent Order of the Phoenix in a bad way”. Am I jaded? Yes. I drank 24 tablespoons of hot sauce.

    But we also get a wild range of quality. From the excellent Knight Bus vignette, which is about as good as you can do when committing to these builds, to the Pensieve, which looks like a crap sci-fi button.

    I will admit, this is probably my favorite minifig selection since 2020 (which is still unbeaten in every single aspect). No Ron, no Hermione, no Dumbledore – we get some under-represented characters, albeit ones that we’ve seen before, for the most part. And an owl, which LEGO tried to pass off as a minifig.

    And here is the bane of my December: 24 hot sauces. What a wild ride it’s been. I genuinely will not forget some of these days: Day 2’s Ghost Pepper introducing me to what a horrible idea this actually was. Day 13’s Carolina Reaper just putting me in the ground. Day 20’s Spicy Agave, the greatest hot sauce, which reignited my love for all things spicy.

    There were some duds in here for sure, but if I piqued your interest, let me offer two approaches: for the spiciest, just absolutely brutal hot sauces, you can grab the Torchbearer Sauces off of Amazon. You’ve got all the hits in there: Carolina Reaper, two Ghost Pepper sauces, Horseradish, Garlic – it’s a HUGE range, and every single hot sauce tastes distinctive. But if you want GOOD sauces, let me introduce you to the Tabañero collection. The curry and agave specifically are top-notch, and genuinely my two favorites. The other two: Original and Extra Hot, aren’t shabby, either.

    Now we’ll see if LEGO will finally do a Slug Club Advent Calendar like I’ve been suggesting for two years. I swear, if I open one more day with a little Year 1 Harry Potter in it, I will lose my mind.

    Reading Nick’s thoughts, I guess we’ve opened Pandora’s Box and will be doing an extra calendar every year now. I’m down. But maybe something non-edible this year.

    Nick’s Thoughts on Guardians of the Galaxy and Space Marines

    I’m way too lazy to go and look up the previous calendars, but the Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy calendar has got to be the worst one that I’ve ever opened. The Avengers one last year was a mixed bag, but at least it was unique, and it’s just bizarre that it’s already fizzled in just its second year. Who knows if they’re going to try and continue it into next year… the mix of what’s going on in Marvel doesn’t exactly lend itself into continuing this.

    It feels like they could do this better with Spider-Man, since they could do villains or all the spider-verse and give it a fun theme in the holidays. There’s already so many jokes they can tap, but getting Marvel and Sony to play into the licensing is likely an impossible game for LEGO to do, and probably not worth it. Honestly, it feels like this calendar would work so much better over on the DC side. I mean, bring the LEGO Batman Movie and the rogues gallery back as an Advent with a Christmas theme and it would just be fantastic. Problem is that WB/HBO/DC/Whatever is just a gross tire fire right now and who knows how it’d all work.

    For my other calendar, it was a fun little exercise in just nerding out a bit on my main hobby. I didn’t really grade the calendar because it was mostly for fun – and because, part that I left out, the thing is totally not worth buying. Live vicariously through me, because that stupid thing is $100 dollars. I can’t even blame Games Workshop (notorious for their pricing) on that one, as it’s produced by Bandai. GW licensed stuff doesn’t tend to be marked up stupid amounts compared to comparable things – action figures are in line with similar things, video games, etc. Why these little Chibis were so expensive I’ll never know, but they’re fun. The few I care about are going to be on display, the unpainted one will get painted, and the rest will get put away.

    Now all I have to do is figure out is what I can possibly top that with next year…

    Check Out the Previous Days

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022:

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 24

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 24

    Our annual tradition moves along, another batch of Advent Calendars. Ace handling Star Wars (again), Eric handling Harry Potter (again), and Nick handling Marvel (again). We’re adding a little twist to this and doing our own bonus calendars of silly things, so Ace is doing <something>, Eric is sampling Hot Sauces that may kill him, and Nick is enjoying indulging his stupid amount of knowledge of the world of Warhammer 40k through little chibi Space Marines.

     

    Here we are again, on the last day. Ace got his pictures in at the 11th hour, Nick remembered to come in and edit his post to remove eighteen paragraphs worth of text that he’d put in to a nice succinct twelve pages, and Eric might actually be dead now from all the hot sauces he ate,  so we’ve replaced him with a Roomba.

    • Star Wars: 11 Hits / 12 Misses
    • Harry Potter: 12 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Marvel: 9 Hits / 14 Misses

    LEGO Star Wars / ??? (Ace)

    At last, we finally arrive at the last day of the Advent Calendar and we’re treated to an R2 unit wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. R2-D2 here is wearing a sweater emblazoned with C-3PO’s head. A nice counterpart to Threepio from Day 9 wearing a sweater with R2-D2 on it. Only besties would be that coordinated and be willing to wear clothing with the other person’s likeness on it. I realize I said person when referring to mechanical automatons but you get my drift.

    Today’s build is quite the winner, ending the calendar on a good note. The average is exactly half: 50% good and 50% bad. If we were in school, that would be a failing grade, so this entire calendar gets a thumbs down.

    LEGO Harry Potter  / Hot Sauces (Eric)

    For 24 days I have been putting one tablespoon of hot sauce in my stomach. That’s a cup and a half, which actually doesn’t seem like that much, but now that I’m looking back, this more than anything has outshone my Christmas season.

    Thank God it’s Christmas Eve so I don’t have to do any more.

    Fittingly, today’s build has nothing to do with Christmas, a great continuation of the last 23 days.

    This minifig is fine. I’m just bitter that literally nothing in this calendar has anything to do with Christmas.

    Today’s hot sauce – HOT SAUCE FROM HELL – is another version of day 1’s hot sauce, which couldn’t have been more circular if I’d planned it. But I do think it says something about how much my tolerance has grown that I barely felt this one. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve lost a piece of my soul along the way.

    Roombas aren’t supposed to have souls, anyway.

    LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy / Warhammer 40k Chibi (Nick)

    There’s something nice that this wet turd of a calendar isn’t going out on a low note, I guess. All of the minis should have had torsos like this, especially Mantis and Peter, which would have been directly on-theme for the Christmas Special, where they both were a lot more festive (where Drax was not). So this one is a hit, at least.

    The last day isn’t a chapter, but there’s honestly nothing more representative of Warhammer than this, a simple, unpainted, gray miniature (or grey, because, you know, they’re a British company). I’ve talked about the goofy lore about Warhammer 40k, some of the history of it, and the fandom that can give the bonkers and often infuriating nature of Star Wars fans a run for their money.

    Those are all part of the attraction of what draws me to Warhammer, but not the biggest part of what keeps me there. In the end, really, it’s the simple plastic guys. They’re not cheap – they give LEGO a run for their money on cost (though, thanks to the stupid escalation of UCS and adult collector sets, LEGO is a vastly more expensive hobby).

    I’ve been into this game several times in my life, and got back into it when COVID first hit. It was a rough time for all of us, and sitting at home, these little guys kept me sane while my family and I were all stuck inside. I’ve found that it’s the sort of thing that can scratch multiple itches of things I want and love. I can build things, I can do hobby things, I can play games, and I can get social fun. I’ve made new friends, gotten into new communities, and found a ton of new things to watch and enjoy.

    Of course, the purpose of these minis isn’t to stay as gray plastic, it’s to get primed, painted, and turned into something else. So… obviously, I need to turn it into something. Blood Angels and Ultramarines, the two chapters I collect, are already on done. So, I’m open to suggestions or ideas. Obviously, I should figure out something custom.

    Maybe we need an FBTB-themed Space Marine. What would the colors of the Bothan’s Chapter be?

    Check Out the Previous Days

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022:

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 23

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 23

    Our annual tradition moves along, another batch of Advent Calendars. Ace handling Star Wars (again), Eric handling Harry Potter (again), and Nick handling Marvel (again). We’re adding a little twist to this and doing our own bonus calendars of silly things, so Ace is doing <something>, Eric is sampling Hot Sauces that may kill him, and Nick is enjoying indulging his stupid amount of knowledge of the world of Warhammer 40k through little chibi Space Marines.

     

    One day left!

    • Star Wars: Star Wars: 11 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Marvel: 9 Hits / 13 Misses

    LEGO Star Wars / ??? (Ace)

    Santa Gonk Droid can go to hell. It doesn’t even look like a Gonk Droid. Me calling it a Gonk Droid is a huge assumption on my part. For all we know it could be a Jawa inside carboard box. It’s top heavy and tips over easily. The only good thing I can say about is that it has the Santa colors right. But not sure what the 1×2 ingot plate is supposed to be. It fits in neither the Santa nor the Gonk Droid aesthetics.

    LEGO Harry Potter  / Hot Sauces (Eric)

    Quick recap here: I have 24 sample hot sauces. I down a tablespoon, then open and build the day. Oh, and I record it all.

    The temperature in Nashville dropped 50 degrees last night. Snow is covering the ground now – gives it a real Christmas-y feeling that I hadn’t realized I’d been lacking. You know, because this Advent Calendar has nothing to do with Christmas.

    I can’t help but love this build, though. If every single day had been as good as today and yesterday, this calendar would have hit legendary status. The mini train is gorgeous, and I appreciate that they added a part of the station in the back – again, it gives it some depth, and makes it feel like much more of a real scene.

    I mean, just look at that thing!

    Today’s hot sauce is CHIPOTLE BBQ. It’s actually pretty good – I’d throw it on a pulled pork sandwich.

    One day left, and one minifig left! Maybe it’ll be Santa.

    LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy / Warhammer 40k Chibi (Nick)

    We are up to day 23, and we get a trash back on the butt of this butt of a build.

    Oh, look, it’s a garbage sleigh that took three days of this calendar. I think. It could just be something that someone made up. My wife and I watched the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special last night. It was good, we laughed – my comment at the opening was “this sounds like Rhett Miller” and then I saw that it featured the Old 97s, and Rhett Miller is the lead singer, so, that was really cool.

    There was nothing at all that looked like this at any point in the special. It doesn’t even look like anything I know of in Guardians. Maybe this could have come together and been a cool build that was worth three days, but it just didn’t. It’s like I want to go back and take away all of the marginal ups that I’d given this thing. This is awful.

    So I did a little mix-up and switched my day 22 and day 23, and this was supposed to be yesterday’s feature instead of the Flesh Tearers, but you know, who was gonna know that but me? I could have said nothing.

    I’ve mentioned that the lore of 40k is based upon the fact that the narrator is just… unreliable. I don’t mean in individual stories, I mean the omnipresent “narrator” of the whole universe. Retcons are something that can leave a Star Wars fan complaining for twenty five years as things get changed and rechanged and changed again. For a Warhammer fan, a retcon is just a Tuesday.

    I’m not sure I’m using that joke right.

    The Tome Keepers are the “official” chapter of White Dwarf, the official marketing materials magazine of Games Workshop. Out of game, they’re the newest one in the whole calendar, having only been introduced back in 2020. Of course, the history they got along with that was that they date back to M32 and the 4th founding, and have been in the background all along – and that they’re a bunch of book nerds.

    Well, one sort of book nerd, more of that they’re really big into journaling. Every brother of the Tome Keepers keeps a record of their deeds, their battles, and their actions. A written record, and when a brother falls, another brother acts as the scribe to write the final entry before it’s entered in the vault with the other fallen brothers. In theory, this means that the Tome Keepers likely have one of the most complete and unbroken records in the Imperium of, albeit a narrow slice, of what has happened over an 8,000 year period. Of course, that knowledge is mostly sealed away and likely forbidden, and like almost everything, looking at a lot of it is Heresy.

    All of the lore for the Tome Keepers has only ever been published in White Dwarf, which has short stories from their own staff and Black Library writers. Most of them have been fairly solid, though haven’t given a whole lot. The color scheme is fairly interesting and unique, but they haven’t been given a whole lot in background as of yet.

    Check Out the Previous Days

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022:

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 22

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 22

    Our annual tradition moves along, another batch of Advent Calendars. Ace handling Star Wars (again), Eric handling Harry Potter (again), and Nick handling Marvel (again). We’re adding a little twist to this and doing our own bonus calendars of silly things, so Ace is doing <something>, Eric is sampling Hot Sauces that may kill him, and Nick is enjoying indulging his stupid amount of knowledge of the world of Warhammer 40k through little chibi Space Marines.

     

    Three more days! Can Harry Potter and Marvel pull out of this nosedive?

    • Star Wars: 11 Hits / 10 Misses
    • Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Marvel: 9 Hits / 12 Misses

    LEGO Star Wars / ??? (Ace)

    This looks like absolutely nothing. But I remember seeing a picture somewhere, I think it was Amazon, on what it is supposed to be. It is, I think, supposed to combine with yesterday’s Hoth Luke to create a small yet stunning vignette:

    You can probably replace the bone with the lightsaber handle to secure it down a little better. I opted for the lazy approach and just laid it on top of the tooth plates. Yesterday’s and today’s build together would actually make for a nice polybag, doncha think? And together, like I said, make for a really nice small scene. But by itself, it sucks. I’m not sure why LEGO does these paired builds connecting one day to the next. Some are good, some aren’t. The good ones are ones where the builds stand by themselves, but in cases like today’s or the weapons rack mainstay, they suck.

    LEGO Harry Potter  / Hot Sauces (Eric)

    Quick recap here: I have 24 sample hot sauces. I down a tablespoon, then open and build the day. Oh, and I record it all.

    Moving on the final movie of the calendar – Deathly Hallows Part 2. Fingers crossed.

    Figures that just when I thought I was out of the woods, I pull a ghost pepper sauce. Very exciting for me.

    But WOW, today’s build! All the best parts of this calendar are really coming in at the end here. This is a spectacular adaptation of one of the most spectacular scenes in the whole franchise – the dragon busting out of Gringotts Bank. My only wish is that we could’ve had this dragon wing part instead, but it’s really a small nitpick.

    Today’s hot sauce – ASS-KICKIN’ GHOST PEPPER – was rough, but this is my third time with that particular pepper, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.

    LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy / Warhammer 40k Chibi (Nick)

    Oh… so our build isn’t a two day build. It’s more than that. Welcome to the shortest review I will ever write on this site: this is garbage.

    The Blood Angels are a chapter that struggles with a flaw and rage so deep that their Brothers spend their days in a constant struggle against it lest they fall to the Black Rage and are lost forever. As a chapter, they are a reflection of their fallen Primarch, a blend of prowess, regal grace, rage, and deadly efficiency.

    The Flesh Tearers, their most well-known successor, is what happens when you spin up a new chapter and go “hey, that Rage stuff looks great, but you can keep all that other stuff.” They were created in the second founding, with one of the survivors of the Chapter who recovered from the rage that followed from the death of their Primarch (most… did not).

    Nassir Amit was already extreme even by Heresy and Blood Angels standards, and his nickname, the “Flesh Tearer,” served as the name of the new chapter. His company carried flaying knives in standard to their standard war gear, and had been censured multiple times by Sanguinius for going to far.

    Coming out of the Heresy, they pursued the traitors and enemies of mankind with an incredible amount of zeal, but it also exposed that the Flaw was particularly pronounced in the new chapter. While all Blood Angels eventually fall to the Black Rage should they live long enough (with a few exceptions, though the longest serving have mastered it), the Flesh Tearers were falling to the rage within 200 years or so.

    This, in effect, means that the chapter cannot replenish their numbers effectively, and have always been among the smallest chapters. The Codex Astartes limits a chapter to no more than 10 companies of 1000 marines, but the Flesh Tearers have never had more than four. At their smallest, they’ve been down to a single chapter.

    More recently, leading up to the Indomitus Crusade, when the returned Robute Guilliman worked to reunite the galaxy and bring the Primaris marines to reinforce the chapters across the galaxy, the Flesh Tearers and dozens of others of Blood Angels chapters were nearly wiped out in the battle that was called the Devastation of Baal. Baal is the homeworld of the Blood Angels, and was under attack by the Tyranids – an unstoppable force that looks suspiciously like H.R. Geiger’s art for Aliens (because… they were directly inspired by it).

    The hive fleet that attacked Baal was the most massive ever seen, and was such a threat, that the Blood Angels called for all reinforcements. Nearly 30,000 Space Marines – More than 60 chapters in total, answered the call to defend the planet, and it was absolutely brutal. Seven chapters were wiped out completely, four chapter masters were killed, and a dozen more reduced under fighting strength.

    Ironically, it wasn’t just the Indomitus Crusade’s arrival at the last moment that drove back all the Tyranids… it was also an ancient Bloodthirster, a daemon of Khorne, Ka’Bandha, one of the oldest enemies of the Blood Angels and someone whose ass was kicked by Sanginius twice. He didn’t do it to be nice, he just feels that only he gets to wipe out the Blood Angels.

    After the battle, there was an argument between the surviving chapter masters, including current leader of the Flesh Tearers, Gabriel Seth – someone who is just a bit intense. He didn’t fight the fact that they would receive the new Primaris Marines, but also felt that without their inherent rage, they would lose what made them… I guess, special… as heirs of Sanguinius’ legacy.

    Good news, though, as things have played out, Primaris marines, including Flesh Tearer’s Primaris Marines, still totally fall to the Black Rage. So turns out that hasn’t been fixed. And these guys are still all bugnuts and angry.

    Check Out the Previous Days

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022:

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 21

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022 Day 21

    Our annual tradition moves along, another batch of Advent Calendars. Ace handling Star Wars (again), Eric handling Harry Potter (again), and Nick handling Marvel (again). We’re adding a little twist to this and doing our own bonus calendars of silly things, so Ace is doing <something>, Eric is sampling Hot Sauces that may kill him, and Nick is enjoying indulging his stupid amount of knowledge of the world of Warhammer 40k through little chibi Space Marines.

     

    It’s basically Christmas by now. Honestly, I’m just impressed that there are enough variations on Space Marines to fill 24 days. And also impressed that Eric hasn’t gotten tired of hot sauce yet. (Just kidding, he definitely has.)

    • Star Wars: 11 Hits / 9 Misses
    • Harry Potter: 9 Hits / 11 Misses
    • Marvel: 9 Hits / 11 Misses

    LEGO Star Wars / ??? (Ace)

    Okay, it’s not a Rebel Hoth Trooper. It’s something better: Hoth Luke! The unexpected upgrade was certainly a nice surprise. This version of Luke appeared in only one other set, 75298 AT-AT vs. Tauntaun Microfighters. I never got that set so this is my first exposure to this fig. And as excited as I was to get such a nicely detailed figure of Hoth Luke, I experienced an equal amount of disappointment. ‘Cause see, just in case this is also your first exposure to Hoth Luke, the head is double sided and the stupid thing is that the hat is designed in such a way that viewing it from the back gives you this unsightly sight:

    You see the bottom of the second print peek out just under the hat. I can’t figure out if the hat was molded in such a way that it was designed around a neck accessory like a scarf or a backpack even. I can’t be bothered to look that hard cause honestly, if it was that other accessory should have been included. I admit it’s a sharp looking figure with just the right amount of detail that I appreciate, but the back view is just stupid and ruins it for me.

    LEGO Harry Potter  / Hot Sauces (Eric)

    Quick recap here: I have 24 sample hot sauces. I down a tablespoon, then open and build the day. Oh, and I record it all.

    Okay, it’s a day divisible by three, which means we get a minifig! I wonder who it’ll be…

    It’s an owl. Gross.

    We also get a little spinner to correspond with the “game” that this advent calendar is really trying to shove down my throat. I explain how it works in the video above, but the point is – it’s kinda rough and not really strategic? You just spin and either win or lose eventually.

    The hot sauce – ASS KICKIN’ BACON – is pretty much what it says on the label. It’s kinda hot, and then your mouth gets filled with the taste of a whole lot of liquid bacon. I did not love the experience.

    I’m pretty disappointed to be honest, but hopefully we’ll get some cool builds in the next two days.

     

    LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy / Warhammer 40k Chibi (Nick)

    Oh, great, another multi-day build. Apparently we’re getting… a sleigh or a cart or something I guess? Honestly, I was almost tempted to take a picture of my facial expression in building this instead of the build itself. This isn’t just a miss, even if it wasn’t a multi-day build, it’s lame.

    The phrase “you can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” like so many phrases, is often is wrong as often as it is right. I’m not even going to make a joke about how people don’t buy books (print book sales have actually steadily been rising year over year for some time), but book art is often just lazy and boring anymore, so you can’t judge it because it says nothing. But the largest thing is usually the cover, and if it says something like, say, that Bill O’Reilly contributed to it I know that it’s going to be full of nonsense and idiotic alt-history, or if it’s John Grisham it’s likely to bore me to tears.

    In the Warhammer community, you could also turn that phrase on it’s head with something like “you can’t judge a player by their army.” Except, sometimes, you totally can. Not gonna lie, Warhammer, like so many “Game Store” hobbies, and nerdy things in general, has a stereotype stuck to it that’s often earned. It wasn’t a shock to people in the hobby that Games Workshop had to issue a big press release to tell their players “if you’re a Nazi asshole, you’re not welcome here” last year – literally. The setting is “grimdark” and built as a sort of satire where the focus group is a pseudo-fascist theocracy.

    The saying I mentioned at the start is that there are no good guys in 40k, and there are more than a few players who either don’t get that, or don’t care and overlook that fact. It’s not helped by the fact that individual stories often write about heroes, good people, or things like that, or just sort of look past that part of it in the grimdark… but it’s also not a unique thing for fans to miss the damn point and start embracing the wrong things as the hero (see… Star Wars, Rick & Morty, and just about every other property ever).

    What does any of this have to do with the Red Scorpions, today’s little Chibi character? Well… they’re the chapter that you have a much higher than average chance of being able pick a player as someone you absolutely don’t want to be around, don’t want to play with, and probably don’t want anywhere near you or your store. This is the chapter that follows the letter of the law, believes in absolute purity, and sees anyone who doesn’t follow the Emperor exactly, the Codex Astartes exactly, and only deal with “pure” humans as inferior beings that are to be shunned or destroyed.

    So in a grimdark future, full of a terrible human empire, they function as the worst of the worst representation of everything that’s wrong with the Imperium. They’re unbending, unyielding, and just awful. They don’t work with the Imperial Guard (the army of regular humans) because they employ “abhumans” (basically, the other “fantasy” races that also exist like halflings, ogres, etc). They don’t work or trust other chapters unless there are no other options, and they don’t revere any Primarch or draw ties to any founding chapter. It’s all just the emperor.

    There really aren’t any stories or Black Library books for the Chapter, just supplements and rule books, but that doesn’t stop any of the fans out there from filling in all sorts of gaps. Not at all saying there aren’t likely some decent people out there who picked this as their chapter… just saying, most of them ones who have picked them probably picked it for other reasons.

    Check Out the Previous Days

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of EXTRA Spam 2022: