Star Wars

For as far as I remember I've been a Star Wars fan. The original film came out when I wasn't even five yet I remember seeing it at the drive-in with my parents. I clearly remember when The Empire Strike Back was announced in the newspaper (I was at my cousin's house) and seeing it was the very first time I went to the theater alone with friend (an ate that terrible Aero mint chocolate bar). And I was there the day Return of the Jedi came out.

I've always wanted a son but never did I expected all this to be so intense. The feeling of having a son, taking care of him, watch him evolve and grow up is a feeling that is beyond anything I have ever felt. Whatever happens at work, with women or with money (or lack of)... in the end it doesn't really matter because my son is everything.

I didn't forced him to be into Star Wars. He became a little Jedi all by himself. Sure, having his father know almost every little details of George Lucas' incredible universe probably helped but while my son is at an age where every kids are still into Dora the Explorer, the Backyardigans and such, I find it simply amazing that he is so much into the same thing that his father loves.

This weekend I am alone with him. These are the most precious moments for me. After picking him up at kindergarten tonight, we went to our local Toys R Us. We spend almost two hours there walking around and looking at all the cool stuff... in the end what he wanted was some Star Wars.

Like all cool kids my son is into the bad guy. After looking at all the action figures they had he picked up Emperor Palpatine. He loves the Emperor. After watching all six Star Wars films with him I can clearly say that he loves the Emperor. He's menacing, powerful and just evil. We got the very cool Clone Wars inspired figure so now he owns both the Emperor/Darth Sidious and Chancellor Palpatine.

We made a quick stop at the video game section and there he saw the Nintendo Wii version of Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga. My son loves the Nintendo DS Lite. He's been playing with it for about six months now and finished lots of games. But the Wii he rarely plays... I wasn't sure about getting it since he's already playing it on the DS but I decided to pick it up, and I'm so glad I did.

Playing together on our 120" projector screen was an experience I will never forget... NEVER! We laughed, screamed, had fun but most importantly spend some amazing quality time together... father and son. This is the best money I've spend all my life. Watching his eyes, hearing him talk and asking me questions and finding answers on how to resolves puzzles in the game was simply the best. I know he is my son but he is the most fascinating and loving human being I have ever met.

I love you Isaac.

Lego

A few months ago I got my son his very first Lego set. The other day while playing with it, we realized that we were missing some vital new pieces to create our masterpieces. I told him: "Let's go to the store right now and buy another set!"

We got a very nice Knight set (#6193) of 137 pieces. Its the basic type Lego set, the ones that you can build anything with it. Here's a look at what we created that night, it is now proudly display in our living room.

Grocery and action figures

While doing the groceries, we ended up getting a new action figure. I recently gave my son a bunch of comic books I used to own, one of them was the adaptation of Terminator 2 Judgment Day. So while looking at what we would get my son immediately recognized the Terminator figure.

Made by Playmates, this has to be one of the most fragile looking action figure ever made! While the attention to details and the sculpt is nice, it can't really do anything then just stand in there. Still my son is extremely happy about his very first Terminator action figure. That same night we watched Terminator Salvation... pretty cool for a three years old!

Star Wars Power of the Force Action Figures

After being on vacation for a week we are back! And one of the very first thing I did once I arrived home was to give my amazing three years old son another Star Wars action figure.

He loves the bad guys, especially Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt and the Stormtroopers. So this time I decided to give him a Imperial Tie fighter pilot. For my son, he's a black Stormtrooper that drives spaceship. We just watched Return of the Jedi and he was so excited to see glimpses of all the Tie fighter pilots during the space battle at the end of the film.

Star Wars Power of the Force Action Figures

Ever since we watched Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith, my son has been asking me to get a Yoda figure. The fight between our favorite Jedi and the Emperor really got him excited. So Yoda was the next logical figure from my own personal collection that I gave him. Needless to say he was extremely happy and told me many times during the night that he now owns Yoda.

G.I.Joe

While buying stuff at our local Wal-mart, we didn't have a choice but to go to the toys section. What we ended up getting was my son very first G.I.Joe action figure. And just like me back almost 30 years ago my son first G.I.Joe is a Snake Eyes figure.

Loosely based on the recent live action film, this new Snake Eyes is very cool. He comes with a trench coat, sword, machine gun and is trustworthy wolf friend. I'm so happy that my son is now geting into G.I.Joe because I'm seriously addicted to the old action figures and animated tv show.

Flea Market Hunting: Masters of the Universe

One of the cool item we found last weekend at the flea market was a $2 Battle Cat from the classic MOTU (Masters of the Universe) collection. While it is missing its mask, there was absolutely no way for me not to buy it.

As a kid I owed tons of MOTU figures, vehicules and playsets but never owned Battle Cat. This was also my son's first introduction of the world of He-Man and his friends. The plan is to get some MOTU figures and then probably watch the live action film and cartoon.

Flea Market Hunting

With the beautiful weather of last Sunday, my son and I decided to make a quick stop at the flea market. Lo and behold we came upon some great finds!

First of all we got the Wayne Manor/Batcave for only $7. The thing is big and even taller then our Hall of Justice. When opened it has six sections like the actual Batcave, computer room, rotative suit changing door, a special door for our Batmobile to go through and the actual Manor. Our 3 3/4" Batman and SuperPowers figures fit perfectly well.

We also got a Robin figure for a buck from the hyper colorful Batman & Robin film, which I watched with my son last week. He's been asking me for a newer updated version of his classic Robin ever since he saw the Joel Schumacker version.

And last but not least for only $2, I got myself the original Battle Cat from the classic Masters of the Universe collection! More on this amazing find this week.

Star Wars Power of the Force Action Figures

Another week, another Star Wars action figure for my son. This week I gave him one of the greatest movie character of all time, Han Solo. Making is very first onscreen appearance in Star Wars (later redubbed Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope), Han Solo became involved with the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire.

Always followed by his best friend Chewbacca, Solo quickly became one of the most interesting and favorite characters in George Lucas' universe. My son had been asking me how come he didn't owned a Han Solo figure... well now he does. Everyone loves Han!

Bakugan Battle Brawlers

Like most kids these days, my son loved the Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The Japanese tv shot centers around kids from around the world playing against each others a game of cards and magnetic spheres that can transform themselves into powerful warriors. The concept is easy and remiscent of Pokemon but the difference with Bakugan is that the characters are actually interesting, fun and colourful.

In the last couple of months my son received way too many Bakugans. But it was last Christmas that Santa really surpassed himself and gave him tons of new Bakugans, card, handlers, gun and an actual Bakugan battle ground. Sega and Spin Master have created a very cool spring-loaded miniature figures engine, which open itself whenever it rolls into a special metal card.

I'd say that his favorite character is without a doubt the evil Masquerade.

X-Men

For Easter my son received from friends of mine, two new X-Men action figures that are about 6" high. The figures are Colossus and Cyclops. After recently watching the live action films, these are two of my son favorite X-Men.

Colossus is a  Russian mutant, the character is a member of the X-Men, and is by far the physically strongest X-Man. Able to transform into a strong metallic form, even without his powers he still cuts a physically imposing figure standing at 6'6".

As for Cyclops (Sott Summers), he produces a powerful beam with great destructive power from his eyes referred to as an "optic blast". In uniform he wears a unique ruby quartz battle visor of which the lens runs from eye-to-eye giving him a one eyed appearance hence his namesake, Cyclops. Scott is the first X-Man recruited by Charles Xavier and as one of the original five X-Men.

Here they are with the recently bought 6" Mystique I got my son.

Iron Man Chocolate

Apart from Halloween, I ain't a big fan of holidays. But with Easter its always cool to get some chocolate to eat. For the last few weeks my son has been telling me about this Iron Man chocolate he wanted. Well guess what? That's the one I got for him. Doesn't he look like the happiest son ever! Oh, and we both can't wait for Iron Man 2 to come out in theater!

Flea Market Hunting

With the amazing weather outside yesterday my son and I jumped into our geekmobile and headed to the flea market. An hour later we ended up with some very cool and inexpensive action figures

With my son addiction to the extremely cool Lego Star Wars game on the Nintendo DS, his love for George Lucas' series is growing everyday. We got a very cool Jabba the Hutt for $5, while young Anakin was $1. On another table we got the other Star Wars figures for 50 cents each! The Storm Trooper is very cool and his helmet can be removed. My son immediatly recognized Jango! We also got Chancellor Palpatine (now need him as the Emperor), Padmé and some weird chick that I unfortunately don't remember the name (anyone knows?!).

One 4" figure we were missing was The Thing from the Fantastic Four team. Two bucks later, we got a very cool early 1990's ToyBiz version! He's bulky and rather funny looking. We recently watched Joe Dante's classic film The Gremlins, so when my son saw little Gizmo figure he picked it up right away.

Last but not least I got myself the Super Ninja ($1) from the Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos collection. Now our good old Chuck might just have some competition...

Wolverine and the X-Men

Readers of our blog must now be familiar with the fact that my son and I are big fans of Marvel. After watching all the live action films we are now going through the Wolverine and the X-Men tv show.

One must have figure that we were missing is Magneto, a powerful mutant with the ability to generate and control magnetism, Magneto has been the X-Men's most prominent enemy ever since his first appearance. In his early appearances, his motives were bent on megalomania, but Marvel have since fleshed out his character and origin, revealing him to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor whose actions are driven by the purpose of protecting the mutant race from suffering a similar fate. His role in comics have varied from supervillain to anti-hero to even hero.

The other figure I got my son is Mystique, the mutant shapeshifter whose natural appearance includes her blue skin and yellow eyes. From all the films, Mystique is the character that my son loved the most. Probably due to Rebecca Romijn.

Ben 10

One of the coolest cartoon and action figures of this generation is without a doubt Ben 10. My son first got into the tv show when he was about two years old. The show is about a ten years old kid named Ben Tennyson. While on summer vacation he finds a weird alien watch (the Omnitrix). After putting it on he can transforms himself into ten different and ultra cool aliens.

The tv show has everything for younger and older fans to enjoy. Colorful characters, cool animation, funny situations and interesting storyline. Needless to say that my son owns a lot of Ben 10 action figures. Well today we got the very cool three figures set based on the recent live action film Ben 10 Alien Swarm.