Double Dose of Elysium

 
  So we went to watch Elysium. 
Have a look below for my written review and the podcast.

 
 As always, check out Pillowmagazine.com for my official written review.

Or if you want something more in-depth and would rather listen to three guys prattling on about the film, Episode 07 of The Padcast can be found below – this week, with the return of special guest Tomi.

As usual, you can also download an .mp3 of the episode from HERE if you would rather do that.

If you’ve enjoyed it please show your support: LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE!

26th August 2013

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Double Dose of Kick-Ass 2

 Next up on Double Dose – Kick-Ass 2!

First up, the written review - up at Pillowmagazine.com.

Click on the link above to have a look.

Also Episode 06 of The Padcast can be found below, where myself and Paddy talk about the film in a bit more detail. No special guest this week, unfortunately.

 
As usual, you can also download an .mp3 of the episode from HERE if you would rather listen to it that way.

If you’ve enjoyed it please show your support: LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE!

18th August 2013

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My Journey Into LEGO - Part 2

        Welcome to Part 2!

        In case you missed it, you can read Part 1 HERE.

        So back to the story of my journey into LEGO…

Star Wars ‘Planet Sets’

        Just browsing through some of the Star Wars stuff in another of my trips through the LEGO shop, I noticed these little series of minikits. They consist of a plastic planet or a moon (or in one case the Death Star - “that’s no moon!”) within which you get a small model of a Star Wars vehicle to construct, a minifigure and a little plaque that gives the name of each piece. You can see one such example below:

        For someone who likes the idea of simple little models and cant afford/don't have space/cant be bothered to purchase a full blown LEGO kit, this was an appealing purchase. LEGO you clever, clever marketers, you!

        So I bought 2 of these: AT-ST (9679) and the TIE Interceptor (9676). You can see them here, chilling on my shelf:

 

       I’m not sure what people usually do with the planet thingees after they are emptied (baubles for a Star Wars themed Christmas tree?), but I’ve kept them anyway as one of them is used to hold some spare LEGO parts.

        Now these belong in a series, with 3 model kits in each one. Series 4 has just been released which means there are now 12. I’m not a fan of the ‘prequel’ Star Wars films (save for Darth Maul – he was a badass) so a few of the sets I’m straight up not interested in. But the others? I just had to get them.

        So next I picked up the X-Wing (9677) and the TIE Bomber (75008) – two iconic spacecrafts from the Star Wars universe at a reasonable price. The Twin-Pod Cloud Car from Bespin I’m not too bothered about, but Series 4 is looking good with a Hoth Snowspeeder (75009), B-Wing Starfighter (75010) and Tantive IV (75011) (for those of you that don't know, that’s the ship you see being chased by the Star Destroyer right at the very beginning of Star Wars). I haven’t picked them up yet but I will once they've been out for a bit and the price drops (for some reason they initially retail at a slightly higher price than the other sets).

        Why is all this important? Well, these are perfect ‘gateway’ sets. They give you a small sample of the simple yet satisfying construction of LEGO that you probably haven’t experienced since childhood. Everyone loves building stuff - in the LEGO store, adults seem to play with the blocks and ‘build your own minifigure’ just as much as the children do. Building and creating stuff is just plain fun. If you are a fan of Star Wars and you want affordable, minimal commitment and nice display pieces, these ‘Planet Sets’ are perfect for you.

        Although you do also get a minifigure inside each of these sets, it wasn't really these that started my minifigure collecting madness.

        It was actually…

Collectible Series Minifigures

        Since 2010, LEGO have been releasing various series of collectible minifigures, with 16 figures per series. They only sell one series at a time so once they are gone from shops, that's it - they're gone. We are currently on Series 10 (Series 11 is out in September) and so as you can imagine, earlier series are becoming more of a rarity and can be fairly expensive on ebay, especially if you are looking for that one figure that you just have to have for your collection.

        Here’s how it works: you pay £2 for a small foil packet containing one minifigure. You don't know which one will be inside (of the possible 16 of the particular series) so as well as the rush of excitement and the unknown, this setup allows for increased collectability and to encourage trading and multiple purchases. Again, a smart move on LEGO’s part.

        16 minifgs x 10 series… that’s 160 available minifigures to date. The designs are exceptionally good - varied too. You have historical characters, various professions and hobbyists, mythical creatures, science fiction… there is something for everybody. Whether you are a crazed collector that needs to get them all or a casual buyer who might pick up the odd one, £2 is a great price for an excellently designed and quality built minifigure.

        You can check out some from Series 1-8 in the pic below or HERE for
all the designs to date.

        I personally don't have the desire to collect all of them (some designs I’m not too bothered about), but there are many collectors out there who buy whole boxes of these packets every time a new series comes out just to ensure that they get every single one. Presumably they trade or sell the inevitable duplicates.

        There is a good market for these on eBay, as there you often don't have to buy a blind packet. You can get the specific minifig you want from any series – and as a lot of sellers combine postage, it’s always tempting to buy a few at a time. Obviously, the older series and more rare ones will cost you a bit more. For example, the Zombie from Series 1 goes for a minimum of £25!

        You think that’s ridiculous? That’s nothing compared to Mr. Gold…

Mr. Gold

        When Series 10 came out there was a special 17^th minifigure available to collect, aside from the regular 16.

       Now this guy is super rare. As in, only 5000 of his exist in the entire world. Collectors have gone mad over trying to find him, with stories of people bulk buying entire boxes of packets just to have a bigger chance of finding him. There have been some stories of LEGO/warehouse employees rifling through entire boxes using the feel method (more on this later) before they hit the shelves. Some want him just because they are completists, others because they know his rarity will fetch a pretty penny – eBay currently lists him for sale between £500 and £1000!

        Some in the community have criticised LEGO for this as it has caused a bit of mass hysteria amongst buyers as well as the inevitable slew of fakes appearing (there are many ‘custom’ Mr. Gold’s available for eBay) and despite each genuine Mr. Gold coming with a serial number, it’s still no guarantee that you wont be duped by some unscrupulous opportunists.

        Personally I’m not too fussed – I don’t think he is that great a design anyway and I’m certainly not a completist trying to collect every single of the 161 available collectable minigs.

       It’s just a piece of plastic after all.

       Ridiculous, right?

       Well what if I told you that that’s not even the most expensive minifigure out there right now? A Comic-Con 2013 exclusive ‘Azog’ minifigure from The Hobbit currently goes for around £1,291 on eBay. Or you can get a set of all 5 exclusive Comic-Con figures for a princely sum of £3746. Just wow…

Feeling Packets

        Ok, touching down to earth once again.

        Say if you are in a shop and you want a particular minifig for your collection. How can you identify what’s in a specific foil packet? Well it was first discovered (in the earliest series) that reading/scanning the barcode on the back of the packet would let you know what the packet contained.

        In later series, this changed to feeling for the little ‘dimples’ on the bottom ridge of the packet to identify the contents. Once again, LEGO got wise to this and now for the most recent series, the only reliable method of knowing what minifigure is in a packet is through the ‘feel method’ – the old fashioned squeezing and squishing of the contents inside to make an educated guess at what it could be.

        If you know what you are looking for, it’s not as a hard as it sounds. The shape of certain accessories or unique headgears are usually good identifiers. Most collectors are familiar with what each available character in the current series looks like and also they are usually on display (in LEGO shops at least) so you can always use that as a point of reference.

        In fact, LEGO shop employees are usually very skilled at identifying the contents of a packet and, if you ask nicely, will usually find you the one you want. I’m often in there chatting with the staff so they have no problem in helping me out in that regard, which has undoubtedly saved on many ‘blind’ purchases.

        Thinking of starting your collection of LEGO minifigures? You’d better hurry as Series 11 goes on sale at the beginning of September. Once that happens, Series 10 will only be available on eBay and other such traders (The Minifigure Store is another good place to buy). See below for a peak at what Series 11 has in store:

        Click HERE to be taken to Part 3!

13th August 2013

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My Journey Into LEGO - Part 1

      It’s been a bit quiet here on the blog front recently in terms of original content – the reason being that I have been going a little crazy with a new hobby - collecting LEGO!

      I feel that there is a lot of interesting aspects to discuss here and to attempt to explain why I find it all so fascinating. But first, here's is a brief outline of how it all started:

Beginnings

        Like a lot of my generation, I played with LEGO when I was a youngster. I didn’t really own huge quantities, but I did enjoy a bit of Pirate themed LEGO (interestingly this was way before the Pirates of The Caribbeanfranchise made it all extremely popular again) and I still have two big sets sitting (still constructed and very dusty) on a shelf back at home.

        In fact, it was these two (see images below) - the Black Seas Barracuda (6285) and the Rock Island Refuge (6273). The release dates on the database at Bricksetsay 1989! Wow.

       Apart from that I didn't really do much with LEGO growing up. Having played a lot of Videogames in my teens and adult years it was inevitable that I would come across the increasingly popular crossover games such as LEGO Star Warsand LEGO Indiana Jones. I’ve always loved the original Star Wars films, especially the design and aesthetic of the Empire (particularly the Stormtroopers) and was aware of the existence of Star Wars Lego product tie-ins, especially after the release of the ‘prequel’ trilogy. But that was about it.

       That was until a few months ago when 2 things happened.

      Firstly, my lovely girlfriend bought me a Lego Stormtrooper keyring off of eBay. It was too nice to actually put on my set of keys and get ruined by general scuffing, so I pinned it up on my corkboard.

      The second inciting incident was the opening of the long awaited new shopping centre in the middle of Leeds: Trinity Walk; and within it a LEGO shop. Now there are only 12 of these in the UK (so far) so of course I had to check it out. They had a small section with key rings – the ones I was interested in (the Original Trilogy Star Wars and Marvel/DC characters) were there and so I picked up one or two every time I popped in. As my collection of key rings steadily grew, I eventually bought a small felt board to display them on. You can see a picture of it below:

So why LEGO?

        A brief diversion: why do I like LEGO?

        Firstly, it’s the look. For me, it totally has to do with the style and aesthetic – especially in regards to the minifigures (although this can also be seen in the construction kits). I just like how a lot of LEGO is standardised and most minifigures that are newly designed often has to find a way that fits within that style and aesthetic. This leads to interesting instances of the recycling of certain pieces/accessories. A tiny stud has many different uses – a rounded tail light on the back of a car, a piece of gold in a chest, Iron Man’s hand thrusters – they are all from the same basic piece, just used in different ways.

       The design of every little piece also adds a universal interchangeability between almost everything. Want to switch around everybody’s body parts, headgears or accessories just for a laugh? You can totally do that.

        Sometimes I like to see what pieces are used in constructing a particular model just to see what common parts they have used and marvel at the ingenuity of the design.

        There are three main ways that fans of LEGO operate. Firstly: the standard idea of buying a set and constructing the contents by following the instructions. The instructions are always detailed, clear and in a way that is easy to understand by any country in the world (it's all graphical - now words needed), and being able to build a complex model relatively quickly provides a satisfying experience.

        Secondly: the collection of minifigs. Some people just like to collect minifigs and are not too bothered about the construction aspect. LEGO have been very smart in making a lot of minifigs exclusive to certain sets (eg: you cant get a ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Bane minifig without buying the whole Bat Vs Bane Tumbler Chase (76001) set which, at the time of writing, will set you back £40. As a result, there is a massive market for buying and selling solo minifigures on eBay and some large sellers even going so far as to buy multiple sets, remove the exclusive minifigs from the box and then selling them all separately on eBay to cater for the demand.

        Similarly there are also the aforementioned ‘key ring attached’ minifigs and ‘magnet’ minifigs (as due to licensing reasons LEGO are not allowed to sell them without being attached to something) that has also led to some people (myself included) researching ways to cleanly detach them. More on all this later.

        The third draw of Lego. takes the form of MOCs (My Own Creation) whether they be custom constructed models or art pieces. These take many forms, including custom minifgs, sculptures, dioramas, pixel art… there are endless possibilities. The simplicity and universality of LEGO design mentioned earlier plays a big part in people using existing pieces to construct their own creations. Again, we will take a look at some examples later.

       I have taken a particular liking to collecting minifigs mostly, but I do also enjoy the construction of certain sets (especially vehicles) - it’s just that larger LEGO sets are expensive and take up a lot of room that I frankly don't have in my house. I have also planned a pixel art piece made from a specific selection of brick sizes and colours – but more on that later. So I guess you can say I enjoy all three categories. That's why I find LEGO so damn appealing!

        Okay this is getting pretty long so I’ll split into a few parts.

        So…

Click HERE to go straight to Part 2!

5th August 2013

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