Geektropolis Star Wars Day Twitter Contest Prize Pack

Hey, everyone! Mike here and I'm going solo today to bring you all something a little different. Back in May, I entered the Geektropolis Star Wars Day Contest on Twitter and ended up being one of the winners! The prize? A Star Wars button pack! Fast-forward a little and I recently received an envelope with the following inside:

Geektropolis Business Card

Who knew something as simple as a business card could be exciting? Geektropolis' one has a freakin' fire-breathing dragon with a frog hanging from its mouth on it. How cool is that? What a great design!

Geektropolis Logo Button

Admittedly, this is the only button in the "Button Pack" and it is pretty sweet. I've always been impressed with the Geektropolis logo and it looks amazing on a button.

R2-D2 Pin

The first of 2 Star Wars pins is of R2-D2. It's made of metal and plastic with a rubber pin back. Outside of the geekily phenomenal design, the pin itself is sturdy and well made. I'm definitely going to have to find something to put this pin on!

BB-8 Pin

This pin helps to round out the pack as R2-D2 was something old and BB-8 is something new. I like that! The pins go together as a pretty sweet pair that should be worn together. The only thing missing? A C-3PO pin.

Overview

Look, make no mistake - This button pack is something won in a contest and I am very, very happy about it. But, I've seen bad prizes before, so it feels great to win something awesome. Props to Geektropolis for putting some thought into a Star Wars Day Contest prize.

Now, before I conclude this post, I want to mention that I also uploaded a video review of this button pack onto Youtube. You can watch it here:

And, that's it for now. Many thanks to Geektropolis for the amazing prize. And, thank you all for reading this entry. More is coming soon, so stay tuned!

~ Mike

Geektropolis: www.geektropolis.ca / twitter.com/gktrpls

Marvel Tsum Tsum - Series 1

Have you seen those cute, 4-legged plush versions of Disney characters they're selling at the Disney Store? You know, the ones that come in different sizes so you can stack them all over your house? Well, they now have hard plastic versions that come in blind packs! Plus, these versions come with display stands! I picked up a couple of Marvel packs over at Toys R Us and made a review video so you can all share in the awesomeness. Check it out!

I hope you enjoyed that. More is coming, so stay tuned!

~ Mike

Funko Pop! Figure - Gaston from Beauty and the Beast

Did you know I speak French? No? Well, I do. It's my third language. But, isn't French Canada's official second language? Why, yes, it is. So, why is it my third? It's because I'm of Chinese descent and my parents taught me both English and Cantonese Chinese before I learned French in school. Why is this important? Because I speak some French in the following review of the Funko Pop! figure of Jess' favourite Disney villain - Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast". Enjoy!

C'est tout, mes amis! Merci beaucoup!

~ Mike

Star Wars Science Kylo Ren Mini Lightsaber Lab

Hello! Mike here, and not so long ago in a Toys R Us not far, far away from my home, I came across the Star Wars Science Kylo Ren Mini Lightsaber Lab by Uncle Milton.

Being a huge Star Wars fan, I was very much interested in the build-your-own aspect of this toy since Jedi and Sith generally build their own sabers and I have always wanted to do that myself.

What you get in the box is an assortment of parts to build the Kylo Ren lightsaber and a cool little "poster" that talks about the "science" behind how this toy works. Here's a photo of the parts:

I am rather impressed with how sturdy every piece feels. Considering the $24.99 CAD price tag for this set, I'm quite relieved about that.

Putting the lightsaber together is simple, which is good since this set is mainly for kids and you wouldn't want it to be too complex. Here's a video of how to build the saber:

Once the saber is complete, it looks fantastic. I'm especially impressed with the details in the hilt. For something of this size, getting this much detail is unexpected.

Another unexpected detail is the light blades are shaped to reflect the "unstable" nature of Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Uncle Milton could have just put standard round blades in this package and people would have still bought it. But, this extra detail shows that they are willing to go the extra mile to bring us a truly great product.

My one criticism is something you probably noticed in the video. The LED's used to light the blades are extremely weak. Sure, they light up in 2 stages and have a cool pulsing effect, but what's the point of all that if you can't see them under normal lighting? Still, when you can see the light effects, they are actually quite cool.

And, you can do some fun stuff with the lightsaber, like take pictures of yourself as a Sith.

Yep. That's me as Kylo Ren... *Cough*

All in all, I really like this build-your-own lightsaber set. Although the price is steep, what you get is a sturdy, awesomely detailed toy that you can easily carry around and maybe even use to up your nerd cred by telling people that you made your own lightsaber. So, go out to Toys R Us and pick one up so we can have miniature lightsaber battles!

~ Mike

Disney Vinylmation - Marvel 3" - Series 1

Hey, everyone! Mike here, and thank you for checking out this first "In Box with Mike & Jess" entry about a blind box toy product! Today, I am going to be sharing my thoughts about the relatively new Disney Vinylmation Marvel series. If you haven't heard of Vinylmation, it is a line of vinyl figures by Disney. Each figure is shaped like Mickey Mouse and painted to look like a character from the series it belongs to. They are also able to have their heads and arms rotated.

Since Disney bought Marvel Comics, I have been waiting for a Vinylmation series based on its characters. It took a while, but the announcement finally arrived and I was extremely excited. Well, that was until the launch day here in Canada. A friend of mine showed up at the Disney Store near his house before it was open and there was a huge line outside the door. When the store opened, several people at the front of the line were allowed to buy a whole case of the Marvel Vinylmations each, selling them out in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, my friend didn't get a single figure. What's worse is that those people who bought the cases would stand near the Disney Store afterwards and try to sell individual figures to shoppers at a ridiculous premium. That deserves a huge "WTF?!?!?!" Anyway. my pal soon discovered one store that is out of the way that still had some Marvel Vinylmations for sale and drove out there to get some for himself and for me. (THANKS, BUDDY!)

Okay, on to the review. The first thing people will notice about these new Vinylmations is the box. It's the same height and depth as the old boxes, but it's thinner. Personally, I like this new box because it's less wasteful. Plus, for people who like to display their boxes, these take up much less space. The Marvel box has some really nice art on the sides. One side has Iron Man and the other has Captain America. The back of the box has the usual listing of available figures. As can be seen, this series comes with the following characters:

- Iron Man
- Thor
- Captain America
- Hulk
- Black Widow
- Spider-Man
- Vision
- Black Panther
- Doctor Strange
- Spider-Woman
- Nick Fury

The Chaser Figure for this series is (SPOILER) Ultron. There are also a couple of variants. The first one is a bearded Thor and the second is a translucent version of Vision.

So, which Marvel Vinylmation figures was I lucky enough to get? Captain America and Vision! I was thrilled when I opened my first box and Cap's shield fell out. He's one of my faves and getting him made my day. The figure itself is very well designed. I was a little sceptical about the Mickey ears at first since I felt that they should have been painted with the feathers from Captain America's helmet/mask. However, seeing the figure in person, I think the "explosions" work. Vision is also designed quite well. He even has a cape on his back, adding to his really cool look. My brother-in-law drove out a few days after my friend did and got himself the Variant Vision and now I'm envious. It looks a lot cooler than the original. But, hey, getting ANY Marvel Vinylmations is a good thing, so I'm not going to complain about what I got.

As for the rest of the figures, I only question the decisions made on one of them - Spider-Man. Of all the version of his costume Disney's designers could have picked, I think the Future Foundation version was one of the worst. I didn't hate it too much in the comics, but as a Vinylmation, it just looks cheap. Plus, there's no Variant with the Classic costume, making the FF version the only version at this time. It's truly a shame. The least they could have done was given us a Variant with the Iron Spider costume or Spidey's stealth outfit. But, no. Disney went with only one costume. Well, here's hoping we get Classic Spider-Man in Series 2.

I honestly really like the new Disney Vinylmations Marvel series. The designs are fantastic, the selection is great, and the figures are also very well made (unlike series such as Robots 2, which seem to be on the cheaper side). If you actually find some Marvel Vinylmations, I highly recommend you buy a figure or two because, even now, they are selling at insane speeds. Don't miss out on this awesome set, True Believers!

~ Mike