GM15 - TRG: Big Mouths/Big Words Victors

Let's not even bother to pretend I wasn't right.

The Victors for the fourth and final round of The Real Game are...

Smaug

"Come, help yourself again. There's plenty and to spare..."

Match 1 was a landslide, where out of 8 votes Smaug beat Audrey II 6/2 (75%/25%)

 

and...

 

 

 

Hermione Granger

"I hope you’re pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled."

Match 2 was another landslide. Out of 6 votes, Hermione beat Dinobot 5/1 (84%/16%). Interestingly, you'll notice that two more people voted in Match 1...why ignore?

Here's the breakdown. Check back tomorrow!

 

If Hermione keeps winning, she'll have to go by first name only

Geekdom Madness 2015 - The Real Game: Big Mouths/Big Words

In the final round of The Real Game, well, the titles say it all!

GM15: Miscellaneous Victors

You little @#$&ers....

The Victors for the eighth and final round of the preliminaries are...

Audrey II

"FEED ME!"

 and...

 

????????

Out of ten votes, Audrey got 7 (70%) to Austin's 3 (30%).

Now as for the second Victor, out of 10 votes, Rose and Dinobot got 5 each (50%). Leaving me to break the tie. Now, the last time this happened was during last year's final, so I used the same method to determine this outcome (no vids or pics this time because it's only the preliminaries).

So, the dice are cast. The winner of the roll and subsequently the second Victor today is...

Dinobot

"Maximize!"

Dinobot rolled a 6 on a d20, and poor Rose rolled a 1 - a Critical Failure in D&D terms. Damn...I was actually starting to root for her too. 

Here's the breakdown. Tomorrow, the Real Game begins!

Freaking Dinobot, man...

Geekdom Madness 2015: Miscellaneous

This week: The Mean Green Mother from Outer Space vs The International Man of Mystery, and The Bad Wolf vs The Deceptive Dromeasaur!

Merch Ado About Nothing

(Originally Written for Jedi News)

I think I’ve pinpointed one reason why Disney’s handling of the Star Wars property has left a bad taste in my mouth, and why I can’t help but feel worried about the fate of Episodes I-III.

Merchandising. Where the real money from the movie is made.

Geekdom Madness: Miscellaneous Left Victor

Well, that was unexpected.

The Victor for the fifteenth round of the preliminaries is:

Raggedy Ann

"Times get bad, but I don't worry...'Cause I know you'll see me through."

Even though I voted for her myself, and even though I made that little half-joke about substitutions, I am still shocked that out of 9 votes, Raggedy Ann scored 67% to Count Dracula's 33%. Let's see how much farther she gets in the competition.

Here's the breakdown. Check back tomorrow!

I did NOT see that coming

Geekdom Madness: Miscellaneous Left

It's the penultimate preliminary.

This week's match-up: The Candy-Hearted Rag Dolly vs the Bloodthirsty Count

My Wife is Amazing

Look at my wife. My wife is amazing.

Well, you can't actually LOOK at her here, because I'm not posting her pictures here because privacy. If you're that curious, she's on Facebook all the time (and I am NOT, despite what a page that hasn't been looked at much less updated in years might suggest).

Hanukkah 2013

So here's how I made out This year:

New Site in the Blogroll

First off, a few days ago I added the long overdue Lard Biscuit Enterprises to my blogroll. It's a fascinating reads, including some of my favorite essays on I-III ever.

The second new one has to do with a frequent poster here. T. Hartwell is not a fan of I-III. He constantly leaves comments on my Star Wars articles that make me facepalm so hard my nose is bruised. I'm afraid he's going to give me an anyurism one of these days. At the same time, I'm thankful that he keeps me on my toes, giving me a new apprciation of I-III as I battle his claims. He's become something of a worthy opponant to me.

What makes him worthy is that we find common ground on most other things, and we've had good discussions on a number of non-SW-related topics. I just found a blog by him entitled Toybox Memory, which really hits my nostalgia button hard, and I'm hoping it will hit yours too. Check it out.

MM 1: Remember Skylanders?

Ahh, yes. Skylanders. Haven't talked about them much in the last few months, have I? Well, that's mainly because there's been a small hiatus on collecting them until very recently.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 8

This is the end...my only friend, the end...

Another Hanukkah has come and gone, but not without a few more parting shots.

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Dr. Evazan. To be perfectly 100% honest, I was kind of hoping for Ahsoka, but at least I can finally complete the "Death Sentence on Twelve Systems" set I started with Ponda Baba earlier this year.

From my Wife:

Skylanders Series 2 Fright Rider. I know that his mount is canonically an undead ostrich, but since it looks far more like a Gastornis, that's what I'm calling it.

The 3DS grades and the Console Paths will probably be at least another week. Carissa and I got a "Buy One Get One Free" coupon for Series 1 Skylanders that's good until the 31st, so I want to group them all together.

As for Carissa's present, I saved the best (and most expensive) for the last day: A silver with aqua gems sea turtle necklace. And she did love it, really she did. But that's not what got the best reaction out of her this year. What she jumped up and down in excitement for was a few nights ago when I gave her the Sims 3 Ambitions expansion pack, since it includes a firefighting profession (she was once a volunteer firefighter) and contains a fire engine (which she goes nuts for) called, and I quote, the "Woo Woo 4000". Whatever, I'm always glad when I can make her smile.

Tell your friend Veronica
It's time to celebrate Hanukkah
I hope I get a harmonica
On this lovely lovely Hanukkah
So drink your gin & tonica
And smoke your marijuannica*
If you really really wannica
Have a happy happy happy happy Hanukkah!
- Adam Sandler


*Nilbog's Storybook Land does not advocate the use of drugs and/or alcohol, though if you do anyway it's none of my beeswax.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 7

The penultimate edition...

From my Father:

Star Wars  Vintage Collection Aurra Sing. I give her antenna a week before it snaps off like a twig.

From my Wife:

Lego Lord of the Rings Shelob Attack set. I like this one because it has Gollum in it. 'Nuff said. I'll probably post updates when we build this one like I did the last time.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 6

Only two more of these....

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Mawhonic. The dwarf Gran was the first to go down in the Boonta Eve Classic, which reading background information on the planet Malastare makes a very interesting choice (according to such info, the Gran colonized Malastare and displaced the natives - the Dugs). I missed this guy when Wal-Mart had the sneak peeks, but I'm glad I got him on his Vintage card.

From my Wife:

Skylanders Series 2 Pop Fizz. Okay, so he's exclusive to Giants, but Series 2 sounds better since he's not an actual Giant. This Jekyll/Hyde character was the only new character (aside from Tree Rex) I knew about prior to the release of Giants. I'm very interested to see how he handles.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 5

Five down, three to go....

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Weequay. I remember reading in a number of sources that these guys are all named after their race, kind of like the Marklar from South Park. With Hondo Ohnaka and his band of pirates, this has apparently been retconned (if it was even accurate in the first place).

From my Wife:

The Legacy Lightsaber.

Technically, this is Anakin Skywalker's (second?) lightsaber. I absolutely love the picture of Anakin they got for the box. However, I call it The Legacy Lightsaber because this is the saber that bridges the saga. It was Anakin's, and then got passed on to Luke.

Now, this one I actually knew about...because I'm the one who bought it! Let me explain...

Remember back in Halloween when we were looking for this saber and couldn't find it? Well, about a month ago, I was at Wal-Mart picking up some things when I see this at (what I thought was) a steal. I called Carissa and asked if it was worth picking up for the future, and she said yes with the caveat that it would be one of my Hanukkah presents.

When I saw it in the store, I noticed how remarkably closer to scale the hilt was than the rest of my collection. Opening it now, I see the downside: The blade is about an inch or two too short. It's still good enough for now, and I'll eventually replace my entire collection with Force FX versions anyway, if I can ever make that much disposable cash.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 4

Halfway done *sigh*

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Orrimaarko, a.k.a. Dick Tracy nemesis Prune Face. Yeah...just for a complete character collection's sake.

From my Wife:

Skylanders Series 1 Sonic Boom. More on her when I do the big Skylanders grading roundup at the end of this.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 3

Ahh, the magic three....

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Nien Nunb. A.K.A. Chewbacca's Seat Warmer during the Battle of Endor. A.K.A. That weird guy whose name I can never pronounce.

My father always goes overboard with gifts, and I tell him not to get me anything. This year, after years of him never listening to me, I go "All right, if you have to get me stuff, get me Star Wars stuff." Since I have a sub-wishlist on Amazon devoted solely to the Vintage collection, this will probably be a theme this year. Not that I'm complaining in the slightest.

From my Wife:

Skylanders Giants Legendary Bouncer.

A testament to how much my wife loves me (and I love her for it) is that she didn't even look at my wishlist when she bought this, even though this specific and Toys R Us exclusive variant is prominently on there. She caught a sale, and figured I'd want the blue one over the orange one. Not only is Bouncer here my first backup giant, but he's also my first backup Tech Skylander (in Tech Zones thusfar, I was SOL if Drobot croaked). With any and all Skylanders I get this year, I'm waiting until the gift-giving is done to give 3DS grades (moot in Bouncer's case) and Console Upgrade Paths.

At this point I want to assure my dear readers that this giving isn't one-way. I broke the bank for my wife this year. She's been receptive to the stuff I've given her so far. Really likes all of it. But I'm saving the best for the last day, and THAT'S the one you guys will hear about....

Hanukkah 2012: Day 2

So this is what I got after we finished the podracers.

From my Father:

Star Wars Vintage Collection Aayla Secura. Wow she's cool. She does fall into that "female figures stand weird" thing that I thought we got out of years ago, but still. She only came with the one lightsaber, but since my primary experience with her is Star Wars Battlefront 2 where she duel-wields, I knew I had to rectify this. Luckily, I had some spare generic sabers lying around, and one of them was small enough to fit in her tiny other hand (which looks like it was meant to hold something anyway).

From my Wife:

Lego Lord of the Rings: The Video Game. Now, I haven't sat down to play this yet, but you'll get a full review when I do. But I'll probably love it. I love Legos. I LOVE Lord of the Rings. And I've adored the other Lego parody games (SW, Indy, Batman, and HP), so this will in all likelihood be awesome.

One more note, you may see a brightly-decorated tree in the background of some of these shots. My being outspokenly Jewish, this may confuse some of you. Well, the thing is, my father and I both come from mixed marriages, and have always loved the aesthetic of the tree. Since the tree is a pagan tradition anyway, we figured it wasn't too bad it we got one, dolled it up with Jewish stuff (and some pop-culture stuff, since that's the kind of people we are), and called it a Hanukkah Bush. We've been doing it for years now, and we're not the only ones. The only problem is that my wife is severely allergic to pine, so when we get our own place it's fakesville as far as a tree is concerned.

Hanukkah 2012: Day 1

Just checking in via phone to show you guys what I got last night.

From my father:

Star Wars Vintage Series Wedge Antillies

He's a decent figure, but the helmet is hard to get on and off without decapitating him. His flight suit doesn't sit well with the little rings near his knees. But it's Wedge. It's Ewan's Uncle. That's still cool.

From my wife:

Lego Star Wars Anakin and Sebulba's Podracers.

I would collect more Legos if they weren't so expensive. My wife would too. She heard me say that if I could own only one Star Wars Lego set, it would be this one, And I love her that she got this for me. We haven't started building it yet, and may not for a while. But I'm so glad I have it.

See you tomorrow!

UPDATE!!!

My wife and I decided to build them yesterday. Here's what it looked like after an hour and a half:

Another hour and a half, and it looked like this:

After that, Sebulba's cockpit took maybe another fifteen minutes to build. Here's some pics of the completed set:

Wicked. Sweet.

Although, I just realized this. This set comes with an Obi-Wan minifigure...why? He was nowhere near the podrace. It should have been Qui-Gon. Oh well, at least I have A Jedi minifigure now.

MM: A New Reason To Collect

Today's post will be short. More on the Action Figure front, though sort of rolled in with a general life thing.

I got a Smartphone. I've never wanted a Smartphone, but I had to get one because A) My well-loved Moterolla Razor is starting to crap the bed, and B) I finally got onto a cell plan with my wife, and my choices for new phones were either Smartphones or flip phones that were far worse than my Razor.

So I bit the bullet, and honestly I don't hate it. You'll probably be seeing more pictures up here for one thing (not today, though).

I've found another use for my Star Wars figures in the "Select Contact Icon" feature. 90% of you probably have been aware of this for years, but you can match a picture on your phone to a contact on your phone so that the picture comes up when calling or called.

Naturally, the first thing I did was take tasteful portraits of all the Star Wars figures I had on hand, and match them the best I could.

Now the problem has become this: I don't have certain characters that would fit one of my contacts perfectly, and some of the figures I have taken pics of don't quite fit anyone.

So, during the holiday season, I'm going to have to step up my collecting (dares notwithstanding; I have the feeling I could only do that once).