7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar 2010 Part 2

Slightly long overdue...commitments from work have prevented me from posting much. So here's to the next part of the advent calendar that I have been opening with the kids in the lead up to Christmas.

Day 8 - Throne

The right throne for royalty...color coded too!

Day 9 - Treasure Chest

Shiny baubles lie in wait, usually acting as a bait......

Day 10 - The pig and the apple

Pig: "Oink, oink! Snort!"

Apple : "......"

Day 11 - Prison wall (part of?)

For those who seek the glory of conquest or perhaps the shiny baubles of two days past.

Day 12 - Skeleton

Skeleton: "Hey! It's Halloween and I deserve a decent appearance!"

Editor: "Guards! Free the bony one and take a decent photo."

"Back so soon!! Boo Hoo!!"

Day 13 - The Prince

"What is it, that I seek?

Could it be found, in stone and bound?"

Day 14 - Sword in stone (Excalibur?)

By some silly knight who stuck his blade in there and never  found out how to retrieve it.

And to mark the end of part 2 with the strange assortment of seven items...

And the prince, emulating King Arthur of times past, struggles to pull the blade out.

"And it's mine, at last! Ha!"

(Good thing he didn't know about the silly knight story!)

To the last ten!

Lego Ben 10 Alien Force 8518 Jet Ray and 8517 Humungousaur

Finally get to post again! Shall do a light one on the second pair of Ben 10 Alien Force toys that was built  for playing purposes.

Introducing Jet Ray and Humungousaur!!

Front box art of Jet Ray

Remembered the rear this time

Front cover of the big brown baddie!

Rear box art

As usual, parts are mostly the same with one unique part to give it the correct look.

The all-red Jet Ray gets the glider-like wings!

Humungousaur gets rock-like fist and feet

And of course, to end of, we welcome the models to take center stage

"Don't I look like Hulk Hogan! Don't I?"

"Gotta show off the wings!"

"Who's the bad boy around here?"

"Let's rock 'n roll! Jive to the music!

That's all folks!!!

7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar 2010 Part 1

Do you know what an advent calendar is? I sure didn't until I became an AFOL (adult fan of lego) almost half a year ago.

An advent calendar is something used in the lead up to Christmas to kick off the preparations and sustain the fun and anticipation. It comes in the form of a 24 lot container that will be opened from the 1st to the 24th of Dec. What folks would put into these advent calendars would be mostly sweets, candies, small gifts that can fit in or even small notes or letters!

What lego has done was to come up with an advent calendar of their own using the same concept and I was really intrigued by it, which was why I hunted for the 2010 Kingdoms set and also bought this years 2 sets immediately when they came out.

A magical 24 days awaits you......

More magic from the back cover art

Well, I thought since I have three sets, why not start Christmas celebrations early? Thus, I began opening the Kingdoms calendar with my boys starting from last Saturday. It was fun for them getting these small little "gifts" which they could build and add on to the collection.

The floor map and the 24 perforated compartments waiting to be opened

I had a lot of fun checking out the items every time one lot is opened up. Had intended to post daily on what was obtained but found it difficult, so I will attempt a 6-8 days periodic update.

Here we go!

Day 1 - Blacksmith

"Watch me dual-wield hammers!"

A little pose to reveal hooded back

Day 2 - Blacksmith forge

The soul of the blade forged from the might of the flames

Day 3 - Weapon rack

"And I finished the spear, a pole arm, a shield...hmm, what's next?"

Day 4 - Black warrior

"Watch me dual wield morning stars!"

More menacing from the side!

Day 5 - Helmet and Armor (w stand)

The magical suit of armor...left carelessly lying in the snow near the Christmas tree

Day 6 - Spears on wheels!

Deadly medieval contraption

Day 7 - Queen

"Hello, my beloved subjects! Don't ask me why I am carrying a frog. 

Instead, ask what the frog is doing in my hand."

And a nice round up on a nice stand.

"Gonna get crowded around here."

Till the next update!

Lego Ben 10 Alien Force 8519 Big Chill and 8409 Spider Monkey

Grabbed the 6 Ben 10 sets during the TRU sale at United Square a while back and intermittently build a pair of them for the boys. They had agreed to choose three each and claimed the chosen ones as their own.

The sets come with pretty standard parts joint together by those ball and socket joints so that the figurines are pretty flexible. In fact, they are so easy to build you can literally combine any part from any alien with another.

So here's to the first pair built - Big Chill and Spider Monkey

Cover art for Big Chill

Cover art for Spider Monkey

Forgot about the back of the box...notice the similar hands, joints etc used. Just color changes and the unique parts for each alien differentiate them.

Two sets of wings for the cool dude

Extra limbs...for grabbing more bananas

Some poses after spending just less than 10 minutes on the 2 sets.

"Four legs good...four arms (not the red brute) better!"

"Common common, come nearer if you dare!"

"Whatcha' looking at, it's not cool to stare"

"Hissssssssss"

Hmm, kinda like a filler post....oh well!

Lego Star Wars 8088 ARC-170 Starfighter Part 2

Wow, it has been more than a month since I posted anything. Interestingly, I have had 100+ readers who came to take a peek at the various posts on the site. Thanks to whoever you are!

It has been a busy period and I am taking a slight breather to post this part 2. Have not build anything new for myself this past month either...sad...8(

Well, to cap it off, here's the various angle shots of the ARC-170 to whet the appetite. Enjoy!

Frontal shot from above - wings closed

Isometric view

Wings extended with close up of long cannon

Fully extended ARC-170, beautiful...if you ignore my forearm

Close up of the cockpit with twin engines

Shot from above, with view of rotating rear cannon