FBTB

Category: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

  • Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 4

    Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 4

    This has been a quiet year for the site… for some documented reasons for some that will probably be documented later on in this whole thing. But we’ve all been looking forward to doing the Advents, our yearly tradition that still happens to be a thing despite the fact that the internet is dead and it’s just bots talking to bots now. Beep boop.

    Originally, we were going to mix it up this year but… things didn’t work out. Scalpers went hard in Dallas and the Star Wars Advent disappeared within a few days and never came back in stock, so Nick’s plan to do the Star Wars calendar fell through. We’re going to go with it just being the universe punishing him by making him do the Marvel Advent yet again. Something that just might finish him off this time.

    We’re also going to do the newer tradition of going with non-LEGO calendars, because Advents are the new socks are the new ugly sweaters are the new yearly ornaments. Okay, that joke got away, but the point is that everything has an advent now.

    Even Rocks.

    That’s a hint, LEGO… bring back Rock Raiders. The world needs them now more than ever.

    The scores so far:

    • Star Wars: 3 Hits / 0 Misses
    • Disney: 2 Hits / 1 Miss
    • Marvel: 0 Hit / 3 Miss

    Ace: Star Wars Day 4

    Yeah this was bound to happen. There’s always a battle droid. ALWAYS. Not impressed. Every time I get one in a calendar, I feel like it was phoned in. Kinda like this review.

    Pretty sure this was Ariel’s home under the sea before she made it to the landwalkers domain. That’s an assumption based on the pattern thus far of Disney Princess one day and their home build the next. And I only know it’s called Triton’s Castle because I cheated and looked ahead at what Eric wrote below. I’m gonna have to give it a thumbs down.

    Two calendars, two misses. I wonder how Marvel did…

    Eric: Disney Day 4 (and Hot Sauces)

    I am doing the LEGO Disney Advent Calendar this year. I am not in the target demographic for this advent calendar, and that is okay. I am also eating a hot wing every day, tossed in one of 24 random hot sauces. Enjoy my pain.

    WATCH ME EAT AND BUILD THIS ON TIKTOK (18+)

    Today’s build is Triton’s Castle! Or…as close as we can get with 14 pieces. To be fair, these advent calendar builds go for recognition over accuracy, so I can’t dock any points for that. Good faith argument and all that. 

    Also, turns out there are a few Little Mermaid LEGO sets out there, including this Clamshell that I have never seen before. It’s not the…worst LEGO set I’ve ever seen, but it looks like it was 40% off recently, which is never a good sign for LEGO sets.

    There’s also a more accurate Triton’s Castle (or Ariel’s Castle, I guess?) with a much better Ariel figure. I’m jealous.

    The sauce of the day is CASCABELLA HOT SAUCE. Cascabella is a type of pepper similar to a jalapeno, and let me tell you: that did not translate at all. This is a weak, thin sauce that taste more like a very acidic lemon pepper than anything else. It poured like water. I’m immensely disappointed. 

    LEGO Day 4: 5/5

    HOT SAUCE Day 4: 2/5

    Nick: Marvel Day 4 (and Rocks and Dice)

    What? Just… what? This might just be one of the most confounding builds I’ve ever gotten in an advent calendar. I mean, the whole “Peter hiding a camera to take pictures of Spider-Man” is a thing… but usually not on some old-timey street lamp. Which, for some reason… is gray. Things that are famously green on black in all those old timey photos, because they were always painted green or black.

    But why did they include a banana peel? Did this suddenly become a Mario Kart advent… something that I would welcome with open arms and tears? This is not the “what the hell” season, LEGO. And while getting a banana peel I can give to my son for him to use with all his Mario Kart Hot Wheels is cool, that doesn’t change this strange miss of a build.

    I’ve bought the Chessex “Pound of Dice” a few times, usually because I have some project, I’m bored, or it showed up on an Amazon sale or something. The thing about those bags is that they’re basically just “leftover crap” or weird batches that don’t match the existing colors. It’s pretty clear that these dice sets are going down that path, because while we get a second pink and purple, it feels like almost a different style than the other one because of how it comes together.

    Not gonna lie, I have no idea what this rock is. So I went to the handy-dandy insert on my Advent, which explains what all 24 stones look like…

    … and I think it’s Dalmatian Jasper, despite that picture not looking like it, mostly based on the description. Jasper can be orange, and this rock is really orange. So this is clearly the secret faction of our Rock Raiders 2.0 reboot.

  • Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 3

    Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 3

    This has been a quiet year for the site… for some documented reasons for some that will probably be documented later on in this whole thing. But we’ve all been looking forward to doing the Advents, our yearly tradition that still happens to be a thing despite the fact that the internet is dead and it’s just bots talking to bots now. Beep boop.

    Originally, we were going to mix it up this year but… things didn’t work out. Scalpers went hard in Dallas and the Star Wars Advent disappeared within a few days and never came back in stock, so Nick’s plan to do the Star Wars calendar fell through. We’re going to go with it just being the universe punishing him by making him do the Marvel Advent yet again. Something that just might finish him off this time.

    We’re also going to do the newer tradition of going with non-LEGO calendars, because Advents are the new socks are the new ugly sweaters are the new yearly ornaments. Okay, that joke got away, but the point is that everything has an advent now.

    Even Rocks.

    That’s a hint, LEGO… bring back Rock Raiders. The world needs them now more than ever.

    The scores so far:

    • Star Wars: 2 Hits / 0 Misses
    • Disney: 1 Hits / 1 Miss
    • Marvel: 0 Hit / 2 Miss

    Ace: Star Wars Day 3

    I should have seen it coming. LEGO likes to do two things with advent calendars: spread what should be a single day’s build over multiple days, or paired builds as I like to call them, and conflict builds. With day 1’s X-Wing, a TIE Fighter was bound to come along. This little thing rocks though! Such a nice efficient build.

    We’re only on the third day but I’m sensing a pattern here. With baby Ariel, I’m thinking we’re going to get another island or coral reef vignette tomorrow. Since I gave Moana a thumbs up, I guess I have to give this one a thumbs up as well.

    Eric: Harry Potter Day 3 (and Hot Sauces)

    I am also doing the LEGO Disney Advent Calendar this year. I am not in the target demographic for this advent calendar, and that is okay. I am also eating a hot wing every day, tossed in one of 24 random hot sauces. Enjoy my pain.

    WATCH ME EAT AND BUILD THIS ON TIKTOK

    I am not used to getting two minifigures (or whatever these things are) in a calendar so close together, so getting Ariel here was a nice little surprise. However, I don’t enjoy this type of figure. It is totally immovable except for the head. It’s like a cheap knock-off of LEGO than LEGO itself.

    Today’s hot sauce – HABANERO HOT SAUCE ESPANA – is the hottest yet! It is still nowhere near what I am hoping (and preparing) for, but maybe it’s just a slow build t his year. The sauce is delicious, however, and I would eat it regularly.

    LEGO Day 3: 4/5

    HOT SAUCE Day 3: 3/5

    Nick: Marvel Day 3 (and Rocks and Dice)

    Dear LEGO: putting a white base plate does not make something holiday-themed… nor does using Red and Green. I mean, this little thing is fine, in putting together a playset, but I’m not exactly sure what the commentary is that Peter is now hiding his backpack inside of the machine. Okay, yes, I can’t honestly remember the last time I bought a physical newspaper…

    The real issue here is that this, yet again, takes stuff from the previous day to “finish” this build. See that clip at the bottom? You have to put a big web from that pack on the side here to emulate Spidey sticking his stuff to things and having it stolen later. Creative use of a roller skate, though. Maybe I’m being harsher this year, I don’t know, but gonna call it a miss. It’s better than the last two days, but I dislike using parts from previous builds that were just filler.

    The dice calendar starts to be confounding, with us getting some rather holiday themed dice, but suddenly getting multiple dice instead of the single ones that we got the first two days. I like them, though, solid contrast and big numbers.

    Mmmm… Jade. Which gives me weird flashbacks to playing Mists of Pandaria in World of Warcraft for whatever reason. Lots of Jade in that, I guess. It’s a fascinating stone that’s always cold to the touch. Being pretty helps too.

  • Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 2

    Season’s of Spam 2024: Advent’s Galore Day 2

    This has been a quiet year for the site… for some documented reasons for some that will probably be documented later on in this whole thing. But we’ve all been looking forward to doing the Advents, our yearly tradition that still happens to be a thing despite the fact that the internet is dead and it’s just bots talking to bots now. Beep boop.

    Day one was… interesting. Marvel managed to be basic and terrible, Disney was pretty rough, and Star Wars pulled out an X-Wing that wasn’t half bad.

    Here’s our running tally.

    • Star Wars: 1 Hits / 0 Misses
    • Disney: 0 Hits / 1 Miss
    • Marvel: 0 Hit / 1 Miss

    Ace: Star Wars Day 2 (and Disney)

    When you think of LEGO Star Wars advent calendars, LEGO and Disney is hoping that by now you associate ugly holiday sweater minifigs with it. So to really drive that point home, we are treated to our first minifig and it is none other than space buns Princess Leia. And of course the knitted scene is appropriate for the theme being the assault on Hoth. Leia comes with a pink mug. Maybe this means tomorrow’s build we aren’t going to get an accessory pack or something similarly stupid.

    And I realized too late that that I accidentally doubled up on the Disney advent calendar with Eric. So my apologies to my fellow writer for stealing a bit of his thunder. Today’s build goes with yesterday’s Moana. It is a tropical island micro vignette and it rocks. I think that white swirl is supposed to be an island hut? Not entirely sure, but that is definitely the Heart of Te Fiti. And it includes a spare in case the first gets lost or stolen. Anyone seen the second movie yet? Kinda wanna see it. I enjoyed the first one enough.

    Eric: Disney Day 2 (and Hot Sauces)

    I am also doing the LEGO Disney Advent Calendar this year. I am not in the target demographic for this advent calendar, and that is okay. I am also eating a hot wing every day, tossed in one of 24 random hot sauces. Enjoy my pain.

    WATCH ME EAT AND BUILD THIS ON TIKTOK

    The build? Good. Nice little vignette. The sauce? Bad. Tasted like vinegar.

    I know that’s not much of a description, but that’s where we’re at on Day 2. 

    I have the sickening feeling that a lot of these sauces are going to end up tasting like different shades of vinegar. I ran into that in 2022. 

    Nick: Marvel Day 2 (and Rocks and Dice)

    Ah, the old tradition of giving us part of a previous build in a day and calling it good. It’s a bunch of busy junk for Spider-Man. I love minifig accessories, in general, but like minifigs, they’ve gotten hyper-specialized and too diverse to be all that useful. Big miss… it’s not Christmas theme, and it should have been with Spidey.

    Okay, blue and purple swirls, this one is right up my alley… and I actually own a couple of other sets not unlike this. Though not Chessex brand, I haven’t bought Chessex in a few years, preferring to just grab weird dice more. It’s a good d8, though, with a great font print and contrast for the number. Contrast is really the most important thing for me in dice, and my old eyes*.

    Hey, it’s some volcano poop black obsidian. This is two in a row where I actually recognize the rock, a trend that I’m certain will not keep up. Think about how cool it would be for these to be the new villain in some Rock Raiders sets…

    *Seriously… I had 20/10 vision or better for almost all of my life, only having to get reading glasses a few years ago. But last year, I had to upgrade to progressives and actually wear them full time so I could read things easier.

  • Season’s of Spam 2024: Advents Galore Day 1

    Season’s of Spam 2024: Advents Galore Day 1

    This has been a quiet year for the site… for some documented reasons for some that will probably be documented later on in this whole thing. But we’ve all been looking forward to doing the Advents, our yearly tradition that still happens to be a thing despite the fact that the internet is dead and it’s just bots talking to bots now. Beep boop.

    Originally, we were going to mix it up this year but… things didn’t work out. Scalpers went hard in Dallas and the Star Wars Advent disappeared within a few days and never came back in stock, so Nick’s plan to do the Star Wars calendar fell through. We’re going to go with it just being the universe punishing him by making him do the Marvel Advent yet again. Something that just might finish him off this time.

    We’re also going to do the newer tradition of going with non-LEGO calendars, because Advents are the new socks are the new ugly sweaters are the new yearly ornaments. Okay, that joke got away, but the point is that everything has an advent now.

    Even Rocks.

    That’s a hint, LEGO… bring back Rock Raiders. The world needs them now more than ever.

    Ace: Star Wars Day 1 (and Disney)

    You know, one good thing about being away from the hobby for so long is that everything is like new and fresh and (mostly) awesome. I don’t feel as critical as I used to be. Maybe that’s age and maturity coming through. Maybe it’s my current situation where I feel like having a positive attitude is really the only thing that keeps me going. More on that later I suppose. I mean, I feel like the old me would take a look at this Day 1 X-Wing and rip it a new one for the odd proportions everywhere but I’m actually digging it. So far, Star Wars is starting off with a banger

    I happened to be fortunate enough to visit my local Costco to pick up some LEGO advent calendar sets and one of them was this Disney one. It seems to be trying to do two things at once: be an advent calendar and also use the daily builds as elements to a simple board game.

    I feel like this has been done before, maybe with one of the Harry Potter calendars in a previous year. Let’s see how this shakes out at the end but for now, today’s offering is Moana.

    That thing I said earlier about being away from the hobby giving a new perspective? Well, it also highlights just how ignorant I’ve become. I don’t know when LEGO decided to introduce a mini versions of a minidoll. Is it supposed to be a minidoll baby mold? I have no idea and to be honest I’m too lazy to look it up. But from the box art it looks like all of the Disney princesses we get in the calendar is in this style.

    Hard to avoid spoilers with this kind of post so I’m sorry if I accidentally revealed something with those pictures. Oh, and it included what looks like a wrapped gift. Maybe we’ll get a tree build where we stick this under it. Or maybe it’s a pile of gifts for whoever wins the game. I’ll say a thumbs up for now, which will be standard for any day that gives us a princess. The other days I don’t have much hope for.

    Eric: Harry Potter Day 1 (and Hot Sauces)

    Something’s different, something’s the same. For once, I am not reviewing the LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar. Honestly, I’ve gotten a little tired of writing the same thing every year. So, I am also doing the LEGO Disney Advent Calendar. I am not in the target demographic for this advent calendar, and that is okay.

    What’s the same, you ask? Well, I’m doing Hot Sauce again. 24 more hot sauces, randomly picked every day. Oh, except this year I’m putting the sauce on chicken wings, to up the ante.

    Godspeed, myself.

    WATCH ME EAT AND BUILD THIS ON TIKTOK

    As is standard with most of these advent calendars, we kick off with a minifig. Or – a microfig? Whatever this Moana is; I’ve never seen a LEGO like her. She’s locked into this one pose: no arm movement, no waist movement, nothing. I also had a hell of the time trying to get the hair on the head, although that could’ve been thanks to the chicken wing grease on my fingers. The little “present” is as basic as basic gets, and really feels like filler.

    The sauce – JAPAN WASABI HOT SAUCE – kicks things off on a more lowkey note than 2022. The heat lasts for maybe 5 seconds, and then you’re left with a pretty acidic sauce. I would hesitate to call it enjoyable, but it is at least better than the worst sauces from 2022.

    LEGO Day 1: 3/5

    HOT SAUCE Day 1: 2/5

    Nick: Marvel Day 1 (and Rocks and Dice)

    Last year I put down the rule that “should be holiday theme” for minifigures for them to be good. Right out of the gate, we have a big whataday? sort of thing, with just… Spider-Man. A generic Spiderman, with half of a… I guess web shooter? More that he clogged it up. Oh, and a pizza tile. Because when I think holidays, I think Pizza. Off to a wet fart of a miss with Marvel, so, you know, as expected.

    Still better than Madame Web, I guess.

    Of course, our latest tradition expansion is buying Advents just because we can. For me, this year… I went with rocks. Yeah, my Rock Raiders joke was more serving for that, and also those sets rule. We’ve got the National Geographic Gemstone Advent, and if there’s not some coal in here, they’re really missing a good joke. But I didn’t think that was going to be enough… so I’ve also got a Chessex Dice calendar, because the one from Baron of Dice was way too much for my tastes. I’m kind of hoping that it ends up marked down a lot after the holidays.

    First up on the Rock Calendar is… Tiger’s Eye! A member of the quartz family that I’ve never seen as a round rock before. It’s a pretty rock to start with.

    The first dice from my Chessex calendar is an orange-and-white d6, which is… fine, I guess. I use a bunch of d6 dice playing Games Workshop games, but I prefer pips over numbers for them. This wouldn’t be a choice I’d make for D&D either, since I prefer higher contrast between the numbers and actual die.

    Weirdly, both of my “other” calendars came with a spot that said “open first” and was full of extra stuff. A d20 and plastic dice containers I typically just throw away, and a bunch of… stuff… for my rocks.

    The rock calendar was also a pain to open up, but it does include a handy chart that I’m sure will be super useful in identifying everything.

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 24

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 24

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 13 Hits / 10 Misses
    Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 12 Misses
    City: 17 Hits / 6 Misses
    Marvel: 6 Hits / 17 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 12 Misses

    Star Wars Day 24 – Ace

    I get it. I get what they’re trying to go for. Winter = snow = white stuff on the ground, so maybe this Ewok was out all morning shoveling the walkways of the village. And that’s why he’s white? I assume this is supposed to be Wicket. But it begs the question why isn’t he just brown with white highlights? I guess it was cheaper to do it this way? I don’t know. It just seems so off but it keeps up with the theme that all hairy aliens are white for the winter. They did the same treatment for Chewbacca. Seems a bit weird to only target those characters and not anyone else. Darth Vader didn’t come in a white winter suit now did he? I would have preferred just a regular brown Wicket with the green festive ugly sweater-esque hood instead. It’s a miss for me.

    Now, remember yesterday’s epic fail? I think this is what it’s supposed to look like when you put them together.

    Wicket + glider doesn’t stand very well given that the contraption is way behind the the minifigs feet. On a LEGO plate it’s not an issue obviously, but it just didn’t stand very well.

    Wicket doing his best.

    This is it. This is the big one. Day 24 of the Lindt Chocolate Calendar and we get a big ol’ hollow Santa.

    The molded details are pretty top tier if you ask me.

    I thought I took a pic of the hollow figure with its head chomped off but I couldn’t find it in my camera roll. No matter. It’s just like the other hollow chocolates but bigger! The sheer volume of the thing is almost enough to make you forget that there are no insides. Still, every last bite was enjoyable if even a bit crumbly. I ate this over a plate and there were tiny chocolate particles. Yes I licked them up like a dog. I have no shame.

     

    Harry Potter Day 24 – Eric

    It’s been a disappointing few days, and right now this calendar is sitting at 11 hits and 12 misses. So the best we can hope for is something to break even.

    Will it be a minifig? Or a cool build?

    Or a…snowman? What? I feel like this should be in the City calendar. In fact, wasn’t Day 1 a snowman for the City calendar? And it was way cooler!

    I am disappointed.

    At least today’s tea – JOY – was really good. There’s a whole bunch of spices in here that leave a wonderfully sweet aftertaste. Glad this calendar ended on a high note. A solid 5/5.

    City Day 24 – Nick

    There was never going to be another figure in the final day of the City calendar. The downside, of course, is that if you’ve gotten a City Calendar before, you have a Santa Claus minifigure. There’s no real change between them, but it’s a great minifigure. I can’t knock it for that though, it’s the cap off for a Christmas calendar, and it had to be there. So, clearly, going to give it a hit, even if I wished it was something more.

    Marvel Day 24 – Nick

    Oh, what a wet turd of a way to end the Marvel Advent. Part of a Christmas tree… not even a full thing.

    The shield from yesterday is a “stand” and a tree skirt, I guess. We can go back to the second worst day until the cape came along, and add a topper. Of course, the only way you’d know to do that is by looking at the box that you’ve likely already torn apart by punching out the various days. Seriously, hard miss, which has been the this whole calendar.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 24 – Nick

    I don’t understand why Palpatine was the mid-calendar figure and a nameless Ewok was the Christmas Eve figure, but here we are. Overall, a weak figure, but the holiday theme is still… fine, I guess. I’ll call it a marginal hit, but they could have done so much more with this. Like putting a life-day tree on the hood instead of a Christmas tree, or giving us a globe with the little murder bear.

    You can add them to the glider, and it’s as awkward as ever, doesn’t stand up, and barely works. So, yeah, that’s a thing.

    Pokemon Day 24 – Nick & Family

    Pikachu is, for better or worse, the face of Pokemon to multiple generations at this point. I’d argue for better, because he’s adorable and fun, and you know he’d be extra mischievous throwing snowballs. Be careful if he’s on your team in any given fight, because he’s just as likely to throw it at you as the other team.

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 23

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 23

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 13 Hits / 9 Misses
    Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 11 Misses
    City: 16 Hits / 6 Misses
    Marvel: 6 Hits / 16 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 11 Misses

    Star Wars Day 23 – Ace

    When I popped the cover open and saw the picture on the other side of the flap, the first thing I said to myself was “WTF is this thing?” The handle bar threw me off and I thought maybe the whole thing was from Solo, that ship during the train heist segment that could lift away a container, and that the handlebars is what hooked onto them. I was really confused considering we’ve had such a long streak of builds centering around Return of the Jedi, why would they all of a sudden throw in a build from the worst Star Wars movie ever made? I was mulling over how I was going to write this when I cheated and read ahead on this draft and saw what Nick wrote. It is not the container lifter ship from Solo, but in fact, it is an Ewok glider. That makes so much more sense, right? But how bad does the model have to be to be completely mistaken for an entirely different ship, from an entirely different movie, and breaks from an established pattern of build? THIS bad. This is how bad this model is. This is, without a doubt, the absolute worst day of builds ever.

    Ahhhh. In a calendar full of doubles and repeats, we finally get a second helping of a Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Nougat Praline.

    Haven’t had one of these since Day 8

    Still as nutty and delicious as ever. It was so good I almost forgot about the terrible Star Wars build. Almost. Unfortunately, no amount of chocolate will ever let me forget about that build.

    Harry Potter Day 23 – Eric

    I cannot believe this. Another Christmas tree. This one is taller than the one a few days ago, but that only means I had to spend more time building it. What a total waste of everyone’s time.

    And let me be honest. I had this tea over 24 hours ago, and since then I drove through the night, slept restlessly, and have already been inundated with family drama and anxiety, so…my impression of NIGHT TIME was kinda lost in all of that.

    I didn’t hate it, at least. So I’ll give it an optimistic 3/5.

    One last day!

    City Day 23 – Nick

    It’s odd that the cart is better than the sleigh, usually works the other way around, but this is a solid little build that will eventually take the trash gift sack.

    I’ll split the difference, and call the cart a hit, but the sleigh is still ugly, so it’s half good. There’s probably a decent way to build this thing without adding a whole lot of extra parts, but here we are. Mixed bag for the penultimate build combo.

    Marvel Day 23 – Nick

    Captain America’s shield as a… micro build for one of those ugly action figures? A larger than minifigure size version? Some kind of stand? It’s a mystery… a miss of a mystery.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 23 – Nick

    An Ewok glider… which you know, this isn’t a great build, but given that the original LEGO Ewok glider is legendarily awful, it’s at least interesting. It’s also got some utility for the figure we know is coming, because they’re on the box art. The issue is that the whole thing is just awkward, and the figure that goes on it isn’t going to be able stand upright. Since we don’t have a stand… that means you’re going to need to swoosh it or lay it down. Hate to say it, but a miss for me.

    Pokemon Day 23 – Nick & Family

    Finally back to a holiday figure, and it’s a winking Bulbasaur, or a Bulbasaur that’s sighting in a snowball throw. There is nothing not to love about this figure, and once these are all done, he’s going on the shelf up by my bulbasaur plush (I’m a big Bulbasaur fan). He’s the last of our original starters from the Red/Blue days, who made up the holiday themes… but I think everyone can guess who is coming tomorrow…

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 22

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 22

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 12 Hits / 9 Misses
    Harry Potter: 11 Hits / 10 Misses
    City: 16 Hits / 5 Misses
    Marvel: 6 Hits / 15 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 11 Hits / 10 Misses

    Star Wars Day 22 – Ace

    Not sure when that wedge plate came into existence or if its been used in a larger scale model but they are what makes this the most screen accurate Star Destroyer to ever be built. I’d take this over that $700 UCS model any day of the week. I guess LEGO isn’t afraid of kids accidentally stabbing themselves with the pointy end.

    I first thought today’s chocolate advent were the solid milk chocolate balls but once I bit into the first one, I knew by the texture I was wrong. These are in fact “Lindt Mini Milk Chocolate Double Milk Balls” according to the back of the box. And yep, just like the other “double milk” offerings, it’s white chocolate on the inside.

    Not sure which is worse, hollow chocolate or white chocolate filling.

    Harry Potter Day 22 – Eric

    Bench.

    The range of quality between these builds is truly shocking. We’ve had some really good stuff, and then they hit us with the six-piece bench.

    Getting to the end of the teas, and today’s is LEMONGRASS & GINGER. At the beginning of the month, I complained about how a lot of these teas taste like hot grass water but, strangely, this one does not. The ginger is doing enough work to offset the lemongrass, and the combo is one of my favorite teas of the calendar.

    4/5. Solid stuff.

    City Day 22 – Nick

    Continuing our extreme theme, we get a Sleigh that’s been… kind of tricked out? There’s plenty of parts, and we can see where all the unsorted Chima stuff is going… but honestly, this thing is just ugly. Going to call it a miss, but we’ll see how it looks when we get the inevitable other part, given the clip on the back.

    Marvel Day 22 – Nick

    Okay, so, getting Wong in a set is cool. He’s not holiday, though, so that’s not cool. Given the character, he would lean pretty hard into Holiday stuff, and they could have gone the phone-in route and just put a Santa hat on his head and it would have been fun.

    This is the version of the fig, with the Tesseract, that comes in the Avengers Tower and Sanctum Sanctorum sets – both of which are much more expensive sets. So this is by far the cheapest way to get him. But… it’s still just some random figure thrown into the calendar, that has nothing to do with the holidays. So a miss.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 22 – Nick

    Is there a term for a chibi micro build? I want to love this Imperial Star Destroyer, I really do… but it just doesn’t look right. It’s too stubby, the bridge is too big, and there’s no color where the engines are (famously made bright in the special edition back in the 90s). Hate to call another micro a miss, but this one looks off. These started so strong and so hot, but have fallen off at the end.

    Pokemon Day 22 – Nick & Family

    The cardboard stuff hasn’t been all that great, but this one in particular is just junk. The tab to put it into the side was too flimsy, and we couldn’t ever get it pushed in. Which is a shame, because it would have been a great backdrop for pictures. But sadly, it just went into the trash.

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 21

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 21

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 12 Hits / 8 Misses
    Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 10 Misses
    City: 15 Hits / 5 Misses
    Marvel: 6 Hits / 14 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 10 Hits / 10 Misses

    Star Wars Day 21 – Ace

    I don’t like this chair. I want to like it I do but I don’t. I’m not a fan of builds that are split up where a single day’s offering really is nothing to write home about without another day putting it into context in some way. Day 7’s Snowball Sentry Post is a prime example of this. By itself is meaningless and borderline worthless. It’s not until you pair it with the Clone from the day before where it finally comes together. Today’s chair is slightly better because even without Palpatine sitting in it, it still looks ilke a chair pulled from a scene in Star Wars. It’s when you couple it with yesterday’s Palpatine that it really shines:

    See look at that! It looks great. But by itself, again, it is nearly acceptable except that it is unbalanced. The chair back is attached to the seat by way of a clip and bar putting the center of gravity so far back that the entire chair will fall back. It’s not an issue once you seat the good Emperor since the weight of the minifig is entirely over the seat. And because of that, I poo-poo on today’s offering.

    Thankfully, I got another Hazelnut Elf to wash away the bad taste left behind by that chair. Mmmmm.

    Harry Potter Day 21 – Eric

    Final four builds!

    And what is probably the last minifig of the calendar: Draco Malfoy. Honestly, every minifig this year has been great. I love the winter gear.

    Especially this hat. What a great piece.

    I want to give a shout-out to today’s tea LOVE. I put the teabag in at 10:20, and was going to drink it during a job interview. BUT – I forgot about the tea. The interview lasted 45 minutes, and the whole time the tea was sitting on my counter, which is usually way too long. But, honestly, the taste wasn’t bad. Not, you know, great, but that’s more of a me problem.

    I give the tea a 4/5 just for being a good sport.

    And I give myself a 1/5.

    City Day 21 – Nick

    Okay, we opened this calendar with me talking about SSX and that weird time in the early 00s when the whole world cared about winter sports for about seven months. Here, we get the most extreme version of that, in what would have been an unlockable character in one of those games – and sadly, turned into a $25 DLC in modern video games that also cost you $70 and run ads inside it, because capitalism is the worst – Mrs. Claus on a snowboard.

    She’s fine, but the snowboard could have been better. I would have loved to see something with printing or more interesting than just… green. Still, I’m not going to give a Mrs. Claus. I’m not a monster.

    Marvel Day 21 – Nick

    Six parts. They couldn’t even give us a base for the table leg to sit on, or raise it up. You get a wine bottle, I guess. You know, this calendar has included a lot of things that feel vaguely Asgardian, except, you know… any Asgardians.

    Miss. For the six reasons/parts I listed above.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 21 – Nick

    It feels like Secret Labs is really missing out in not offering a branded Imperial Chair that looks like Palpatine’s throne. I’d seriously consider buying new armrests for mine that had Imperial or Rebel logos on them, TBH, even at their absurd prices.

    Side note, the engineering of the chairs is impressive if you’re in to that sort of thing, and the armrest pads are held on by magnets. So you can swap them freely if you have more than one set. I’ve got regular and memory foam pads for my chair.

    The build is absolutely fine and goes well with our fantastic figure from yesterday, so solid hit. Like I said with the City tree, I don’t mind at all combining days across builds, so long as they can stand alone in some way, or have some substance to them.

    Pokemon Day 21 – Nick & Family

    This is not specifically a holiday Eevee, but it is adorable, so that counts for something. Eevee is a favorite of this family, so we’re always happy to see one. I suppose this one is destined to become a Glaceon, but only if we find her an ice stone.

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 20

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 20

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 11 Hits / 8 Misses
    Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 9 Misses
    City: 14 Hits / 5 Misses
    Marvel: 5 Hits / 14 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 10 Misses

    Star Wars Day 20 – Ace

    You know, I’m starting to dig these ugly christmas sweater clad minifigs. Emperor Palpatine here, sporting one with the Death Star II on it, you know, to keep the Endor theme going, is looking quite dapper. It softens him up a bit, making him looking like the grandpa at your holiday gathering who spikes his hot cocoa with a bit of Kahlua or Bailey’s. He’s just casually walking around zapping little kids as he walks by, chuckling to himself. A bit Grinch-y, a bit loveable, all awesome.

    You know, I’m starting to forget about the long streak of hollow chocolate rip offs we had last week. Another truffle ball today went down so, so smoothly down my gullet. I’m not a fan of repeats, but if they’re good repeats, like today’s ball, I won’t complain.

    Harry Potter Day 20 – Eric

    Okay, here’s the best thing I can say about this table: if this was in the Marvel calendar, it would be split up over two days. There’s not a whole lot going on with this. It looks cheap, feels cheap, and I’ve already forgotten about it.

    But I will never forget today’s tea: PEPPERMINT & LICORICE. I thought: “hey, this’ll probably taste pretty good! Very Christmas-y!” How wrong I was. For some reason, I get 0 peppermit OR licorice. It just has this nasty warm taste. Never drink this tea. 1/5.

     

    City Day 20 – Nick

    I didn’t like the earlier animal and stand, but this is an absolute hit, given the thematic touch of milk and cookies for Santa, and the addition of a food and water bowl for the Taco Bell chihuahua.

    Marvel Day 20 – Nick

    Have I slipped into some parallel dimension where the Marvel Calendar suddenly started to do good things, like making this banger of a micro build of Captain America on the Hydra train from the wonderful First Avenger? The only knock on this is that it uses a plain blue “state” figure, instead of the printed Captain America one that has been out there. That one is more of the modern take, but still. This is a huge hit, and one of the best of the calendar.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 20 – Nick

    It’s been a shaky couple of days, but wow, we get Sheev in a Star Wars sweater that I legit want (I have one that’s close, but it has Vader on it, not a Death Star). Also, the idea that he’s just hanging around, drinking coffee… sorry, caf, makes me laugh. Especially since you know he’s likely to electrocute more peons before he’s had his morning cup.

    Okay, so, ever since I first saw this figure, I’ve wished I had the skill to make a stop-motion animation of the Emperor walking up the Darth Vader, sitting in a cubicle. Heeey Anakin, “What’s Happening.”

    Pokemon Day 20 – Nick & Family

    Nice to be back with a Vanillite after yesterdays nothingburger of a day. Interesting to see a little flying stand for it, something that makes the Warhammer 40k player in me twitch in revulsion. It works here, and this is a cute representation. Both my kids and I are kind of getting bummed at the lack of seasonal Pokemon over the last several days, though.

    Previous Days

  • FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 19

    FBTB’s LEGO Advent Season of Extra-Special Spam 2023 – Day 19

    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 Nick picked up…

    Star Wars: 10 Hits / 8 Misses
    Harry Potter: 10 Hits / 8 Misses
    City: 13 Hits / 5 Misses
    Marvel: 5 Hits / 13 Misses
    Bonus Star Wars: 9 Hits / 9 Misses

    Star Wars Day 19 – Ace

    Keeping up with the Endor theme, for today we get that giant radar dish. I’m okay with it. When I was young, I was always confused how the radar dish was able to put shield around the Death Star II. Yeah, that was the one thing my adolescent brain couldn’t wrap around. But The Force was totally believable.

    I think the last time we got a Mini Milk Chocolate Elf with Hazelnut Filling was way back on Day 1. It’s nice to not get something hollow and with hazelnut to boot! Yum.

    Harry Potter Day 19 – Eric

    Wouldn’t be a Harry Potter calendar without a fireplace!

    Although looking back, 2023’s fireplace is, like, the third best. But they’re all pretty indistinctive.

    Today’s tea is definitely distinctive. I have no idea what TULSI CLARITY means. Maybe something to do with former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard?

    It tastes pretty fruity, which I don’t generally love in my teas. A 2/5.

    City Day 19 – Nick

    This is a good build with one thing that really bugs me… the candelabra that is missing the central candle. Did Lumière finally go to far and Cogsworth snapped in the middle of the night and “took care of his problem?” Are times hard and thy traded a candle for the turkey? Was someone so much of a sucker that they thought a candle was worth more than a turkey? A hit in spite of the missing center.

    I do like that the turkey is actually made to be put on the table so it doesn’t just fall off, unlike…

    Marvel Day 19 – Nick

    I mean, you know, sure, why not. Let’s just throw an apple on this thing with a lamp. Everyone remembers that iconic scene in Avengers: Turn on the Lamp, where there was an apple. It was a memorable performance, because the actors were so amazing, they made you actually believe that a Red Delicious apple was actually delicious, and not just a collection of sawdust and leftover pulp that’s been assembled into an apple shape, like your typical store-bought red “delicious” apple.

    What I’m trying to say is… miss.

    Bonus Star Wars Day 19 – Nick

    Oh hey, it’s that thing that blew up somehow when Han and friends put down those cylinder things that the Emperor let them do because it was all an elaborate trap to bring the Rebels to Endor in order to lure the whole fleet so they could be wiped out…

    … you know, the plot of Return of the Jedi makes no sense – honestly no more than Rise of Skywalker. Every plan Palpatine makes is so bonkers convoluted that it could be easily undone if he wasn’t surrounded by a universe so oblivious and incompetent. It’s only that the rest of the film is still fun that makes it a great movie. Oh, and there is an actual plot and things happen, not just “somehow Palpatine returned” and then stuff keeps popping up without any reason or explanation.

    While Return of the Jedi will always be my favorite of the OT movies, because it’s the one I have memories of as a kid, I’ll admit that the layout and scale of the Imperial base on the moon make no sense to me. The Rebels broke in to what looked like a small garage to plant their bombs. There clearly was not a giant shield projecting satellite dish above them at any point in the fight, yet that’s the thing they were trying to blow up. Where was this thing during that whole fight?

    Anyway… as a build, it’s mostly meh. The dish is fine, but it needs more green cones to surround it by forest. I would have rather seen a small landing pad or something like that to put our shuttle on, because that feels more in the movie, where Luke turned himself in to Vader. But that’s just me. Going to call it a miss because it just feels so slapped together compared to the other great builds.

    Pokemon Day 19 – Nick & Family

    Um… what? Did… they like forget a day and need to scramble to throw something inside there? Honestly, this feels like something was missing, but based on the count for things, it’s right. So… random single sticker. They must have let the Marvel advent people come visit or something.

    Previous Days