The turtles, last of the great saturday morning cartoons and one of the pillars of the geekdom 80s.

And in 2014, another movie came out, riding on the enthousiasm for our childhood cartoons being turned into films (think Transformers or GI Joe).

And it had Megan Fox...

Plot

A box office success, this film is once again the origin retold (hell, it's like Spider-Man it seems) as April O'Neill catches a vigilante on film interrupting a Foot Clan raid.  She finds out these protectors of the city are actually huge talking, mutated turtles trained by a giant rat named Splinter in the arts of the Ninja.  Ow, and that they where created by her dad...

Shredder, leader of the Foot clan, wants to catch them though after learning of their existence, inorder to drain all their blood and recreate the chemicals that made them.  This would allow him to create an uberdisease antidote, to overthrow the city and later the world.

Shredder finds the lair and defeats Spliter, capturing the turtles bar Raphael.  He and April set out to free his comrades and prevent the plan from taking form...

What I liked about it

* The critics dissed it, the people loved it, and I guess, not only out of nostalgia, I'm in the second category.  It's just sheer fun entertainment in an era of superhero movies.

* Megan Fox, still the looker after going out of the Transformers franchise.

What I didn't like about it

* Megan Fox, still hasn't learned to act after going out of the Transformer franchise.

Cowabunga dudes!

Welcome everyone to another weekly gathering of toys and stuff for my collections.

And it`s been a varied week, mostly grabbing myself some used thingies in the form of a box from the Troll Trader, on which I also did a small and shaky unboxing video earlier this week:

Now, in said box are mostly a heap of used figures to bump my Slaanesh and Order forces, things to round out units a bit more and such.

The first of those is the old, metal Cauldron of Blood, which will serve as the command for my 1000 points Daughters of Khaine force, though I stil have to look at the armylist, see later on in this post.

Also for Age of Sigmar comes this unit of 10 plastic Chaos Warriors, to form the heavy hitting backbone of the Slaaneshi force.

The 30k Ahriman model is my choice for the Chaos Sorcerer in 40k, I love the sleek lines of this model more then the spiky bits models currently in the range.

These 10 very classic Halberdiers are to expand my Altdorf colour scheme State Troop regiment, as they are easier to line up with the more dynamic basic state troop models.

Another 30k model is this loyalist Terminator captain, who I`ll be painting in the colours of the Emperor's Children to become a proud Lord of Chaos to lead my forces.

And the final set of models from the set can be used in both forces of Slaanesh, as the Deamonettes are an excellent cross-game regiment.

Something totally different to arrive this week is this classic Jazz model, my childhood favorite toy from the Transformers line.  When a buddy of mine reduced his collection, I took the opportunity to add him to mine and placed him in a nice and shiny center position amongst my toys.

I also passed by the Games Workshop this week to pick up the new White Dwarf, and a pot of Lilac paint as I thinnered to hell the previous one (how should I know it was supposed to be a lump inside, I thought it was half dried out).

The final thing I added, and why I have to look over my army lists soonish somewhere, is the new General's Handbook, in which apparently a lot of points values have been changed.  So all my prepared army lists and paint goals are probably not really valid anymore xD.

Well, that`s it for this week, quite a stack yet not the most expensive of hauls I ever did...

Hey all, and welcome to the weekly oversight of thingies I added to my collection.

A bit of a varied selection this week, as not everything has been purely for the wargaming collection.

The first thing I grabbed was this model of Thunderbird 2 and 4, which I found at a fleamarket for a few euro, and completes my collection of old Matchbox Thunderbirds again.  Overtime I`ll be looking around for a better condition 4, just like I have to do still with my 3 copy as age has been not to kind on that one.

I also picked up these two figures still carded, but I admit that is purely for trading onwards.  I paid 5 euro a piece for those, and expect to get around 10 each.

When visiting Standaard Boekhandel for something for my mom, I found this book at 9.95.  The series was rather okay, so let's find out how the book is, shall we.

My clipper, after years of loyal duty, was getting ruined, so I went to Modelbouw Verschooten in Antwerp to get a new one.  being there, I also picked up a fresh pot of Sky Grey (it`s a color I use a lot, as base for lighter tones) and a Naga lady from Avatars of War, which is excellently suitable to become a Herald of Slaanesh (she az bubz).

Right around the corner, I hopped in at the local Games Workshop to pick up a small order I had made the previous week.  My Sigvald, a Slaaneshi character for Age of Sigmar, had arrived so I went to collect him.

And brought along some paints as well while I was at it...

The final arrival was from Forge World, as my Chaos Index book finally fell in the mailbox, and quite a few of those units will be added to my forces in the future for sure!

A good week with some lovely stuff, and see you all next week!

Every amry needs a general, and what better model for a veteran of 4th edition to use an Elector Count for his Empire force.

This classic model was one of the 4 original Elector Count models when the 4th edition Empire army book came around, and I always loved those models.

Every Count wielded a Runefang, one of the 12 mystical swords the Empire possessed, and had something special.  In the case of the Hochland ruler, this was his warhawk that could make an additional attack.

Now, as it was a special character and it`s the general of my restarted army, a bit more of painting effort was required, and I went for my "old days" 3 steps per colour method. 

Not the hardest of techniques, I always loved the results it wielded.

And it also means another 100 points to the tally of the budding force, so the 1000 mark is becoming within my grasp now and I`ll be battle ready.

Next up on the painting schedule, well, Hochland State Troops of course

And so 2017 saw a reboot movie in the theatre's of a true mastodont franchise of my youth: the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!

I finally saw this nostalgia filled movie yesterday, and I loved it!

Not for the deepness of the story, or the new look of Rita Repulsa or the Rangers themselves, but well, it is just one of those enjoyable kidflicks that hits all the right tunes in an old geezer's mind, including the old theme when they go to battle in the Zords, or the Tommy Oliver reference in the midcredits scene.

It begins with an alien red and yellow ranger being betrayed by the green ranger 65 million years ago.  This green ranger, being Rita Repulsa, wants more and more power and needs the Earth's crystal to obtain this, but Zordon manages to prevent this at the ultimate price.

In the current day, some most unlikely kids hook up in an old mine, their only common point being all in detention for a variety of reasons.  They find mysterious coins and learn they suddenly have super powers.  When trying to figure this out they find the Ranger base, and (an excellent) Alpha-5 and Zordon teach them of their destiny and how they must save the Earth by stopping Repulsa.

The story itself is mostly an origin story, so it takes about 1.5 hours before they actually manage to morph into their Ranger armours, and it requires sacrifice of the highest level. 

The film is enjoyable, and I adored the "musical" part of the soundtrack.  Those haunting synthesizer tracks are pretty cool.  The series has "matured" in that way that they aren`t 5 perfect teenagers anymore, but handle some serious issues as well in their background and motivation.

Yes, I liked this movie, and yes, I`m not adverse to a sequel or even a full franchise again.  The movie might not be the high visual spectacles of the MCU or have the "kitch" value of the old series, but it is just what a movie needs to be at times...

Sheer entertainment

Hello everyone, here I am again with the weekly oversight of stuff I managed to acquire for my collections.

Now, I didn`t include all the figures I traded together at last weekend's BeLUG clubday, but apart from those I picked up some stuff left and right as well.

The first one is this new set for the Doctor Strange movie that is soon coming out, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  It`s the only tie-in set to the movie, and I really like it, containing some great figures and a nice setting.  I received this set as a thanks from Lego Benelux for exposing at this years Mechelen Speelstad, a nice token of appreciation!

This heap of Shell Polybags was a gift from my mum.  They went to Spain on holiday, and during one of the busstops in France she came across a Shell station that had these bags still lying around, so she brought home a stack of them, priced at only 2.5 euro per polybag. 

Totally not Lego related is this gun, the second half of the one I needed to complete my Modulex Masters of the Universe figure I found a while ago and have been completing with the two missing limbs and the two part weapon, making a fantastic trade token for the future.

I also received some small Brick Link orders this week.  The first one was to prevent a voucher from running out, and the trader had a black musket.  Topped with some studs for streets and water, this was a small order I made.

The second one contained the inverted corner slopes in brown, whom I need for my Buckleberry Ferry moc.  I didn`t have a single one of these, and need 4.   However, the fella had 8 in stock, was closeby for minimal shipping, so I took them all and can now proceed on building the ferry itself.

The last thing I got was a few wins through Facebook.  I scored yet two more Lake Guard polybags (making 4 in a week with the clubday trades), as I got both of them for 11.50 total.  I also won his two ACW figures to top it all out, and in a way this puts the two big MOC plans for 2017 nicely together in a single picture: an historical ACW build and the ever continuing building on Middle Earth.

A very good week indeed, and see you all next time!

Lego has long had sets with cooperation of Shell, and this resulted back in 1974 in the 73 part Shell Station.

I got the set at a local auction house for 4 euro, and of course I just wanted to build this before parting it into my brick boxes.

The set came with an 8 by 24 baseplate, that had rounded corners.

On this, the contours of the service house are first build, using the old mat transparent clears for the front windows.


Next, the pumps are installed, and I must say the printed elements are still in great shape.

We insert the door as the walls and glass front are raised to their height.

Onto this, the roof is then placed with the Shell brick on it.

The secondary pumps are then build.

And the full set stands completed:

It`s nowwhere near as impressive as the "true" gasstations that began appearing with the advent of the minifigure and their cars, but it makes up for a lot in pure nostalgia.  It`s always great to build these true gems from a time long before LEGO became the market leader in toys.

Hailing from half a decennia since two legendary things where born, namely the Lego minifigure and myself, comes this 1973 uber classic set.

I got it at an auction house for a few euro, with box, and just had to put it together for a build report before parting it into my element piles.

Counting a measly 37 parts, this set contains two vehicles for the Hospital subtheme of that age, being an ambulance and a helicopter.  Now, considering this came from some person`s basement, the bricks where still in an okay condition.

We start by building the helicopter first, whose landing gear is based around a 2x3 brick.

The bodywork and the tail section, all being made of basic elements, are then put together.


The final step is to add long plates to serve as the rotors of the helicopter.

Now we move on to the ambulance, which is based on a white plate on which transparant elements are added to make the windows.

The wheels and bricks to bulk the body out a bit are added under the plate.

The final step is to add the details and the roof as the car is ready then.

And the set stands completed:

It`s always a cool thing to put something together THAT old, even though it wouldn`t go in the collection per se except as single parts.