Collectible Minifigures Series 13

Wow.. 13 full series of this amazing toy line. And they're still not running out of ideas!

Or are they...?

The first image is directly from Lego just now, and the second image resurfaced earlier November 26 We see the lineup of Series 13. It's obvious we have a few absolute hits here. The Hot Dog Dude is completely out of the ball park, and the carpenter, with a 2x4 is amazing. I also like the Egyptian warrior, the Evil wizard and the Unicorn costume. Fencer and Fakir are also nice.

But just stop with the female counterparts! Female cyclop, female disco enthusiast, female samurai, female explorer. Surely the designers of Lego can make female characters that isn't just "the other half" of a couple? It goes the other way as well, easily the most boring figure in Series 12 was the male lifeguard. We already have a lifeguard! Why not make the carpenter a woman instead? Or the fencer? Or something new?

Oh well. I guess I shouldn't rant. Truth is, the Hot Dog Dude makes up for the entire set.

Women in Lego

The story broke yesterday. A girl, Charlotte Benjamin (7) wrote a letter to Lego complaining about their selection for girls. It's here, and pretty much every other news channel. And it's awful!

The girl is of course as clueless as any 7 year old, but it's being blown way out of proportion. I get it though. It's newsworthy, to attack a major toy company for neglecting gender equality. It's all very brave. Of course, Lego tries to tell it like it is: Hey, we only make what we know will sell.

The girl complains that the "Friends" line doesn't offer what she wants in a toy. She wants adventure and bravery, real jobs, like the boys get in their toy line!

Lego has had a moderate success with their "Friends" line - a sub line aimed towards girls. It's what you would expect, pastel colors, hair brushes and problem free living. All in bricks.

Let me show you:

The Lego Friends are able to lounge on the deck of their multi-million dollar yacht. Isn't that adventure enough?

She has a pink skirt, a pink phone, her dog has a pink bow, her bucket is pink. 

This is kinda manly though, chopping up stuff with your bare hands. 

I agree, these sets are hilariously awful. Mostly because Lego abandoned their greatest invention: The minifigure. But also because of the activities the girls do. And here I agree with little Charlotte. This is pathetic. Lego is basically just painting the picture perfect life of teenage girls - just hanging around in the stables, feeding their pet lions, doing absolutely nothing of substance.

But Charlotte.. if you want substance, why don't you buy the proper Lego sets? Does it say anywhere in the Star Wars sets that these are intended for boys? Does it say anywhere on the police and fire fighter sets that girls should stay away? No!

Oh wait, you may complain about the lack of female figures in these sets. Well, those days are also gone! Almost every big set since the early 90s have included at least one female figure. They are being outnumbered by men, for sure. But Lego has made an effort to include at least some women in their various sub lines for literally decades and are showing far greater gender equality than their contemporary toy lines, Barbie, Turtles, G.I. Joe, etc.

I remember there were women in Ice Planet, I have the girl from the late 80s pirates set, all the various licensed sets have often had female figures. And off the top of my head, didn't the last Christmas calender include a woman fire fighter? Swimming with sharks you say? Look no further than 2010s Atlantis line.

This is a bit pointless, because I'm not really complaining about the opinions of a 7 year old girl, rather about the channels that report this as news.

The weird thing is, Lego is universal. If any sub-line is "strictly for boys", it would have to be the Hero Factory line. And either way, Lego is just making what they know will sell. And girls apparently buy the pink package that is the current Friends line.

For the girls that want their female toys to do real work, real adventure and real action, why not look to the collectible minifigures?

And this is just sample of the many female minifigures. 

Now, could the situation have been better? Absolutely. You know I'm a big advocate for equality in toys. I have written about female toys many times, even devoted entire articles to female action figures. Lego, specially with the collectible minifigures, are playing along with gender stereotypes. The fitness instructor, the bride, the fairy, etc. Even the space girl has a pink costume. But is this a problem? I mean, they are playing along with any and all stereotypes. I talked about this in the top ten list. If you want to complain, I'm sure you can find something where ever you look. Truth is, the collectible minifigures include more women than we honestly could hope to expect. Is it enough?

Well, I admit, Lego could have had better representation of women.

But fact is fact, Lego is being bought mostly by boys. And this isn't Lego's fault. Lego are building sets, and girls just don't buy building sets. If they did, we would have seen more building sets aimed towards girls. Who's fault is this? Probably the parents. But what do I know? I'm not a parent, nor a 7 year old girl.





With the Lego movie coming up - obviously with a male main character, but right next to him, as a strong supporting character: A woman.

Boy? Girl? You decide!

Not only that, based on reviews and what I know about the movie, she's significantly more capable than the guy. I mean, look at the picture above. Who would you trust to do... anything? The guy in the front or the girl right next to him?

And finally, as my friend Roxi pointed out: The letter from "Charlotte" may very well just be the work of a mother who just wants to stir the pot. Roxi, a life long fan of the bricks, has never had any complains, and as she says:

"You can't tell me the basic, nondescript minifigure isn't a girl. And that's the beauty of Lego."

Keep up the good work, Lego. News channels, keep on being awful. 7 year old girls, keep on being completely oblivious.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Costume Designs

Yeah, this actually doesn't look too bad. A significant improvement over Michael Bay's version of Transformers, these are actually recognizable as the characters they're supposed to represent. But knowing Bay, we should still expect the movie to be awful. Actually, knowing every and all Toy Line-turned movies, we should expect "Ninja Turtles" to be awful.

Real time toy hunting

I live in the dark abyss of nowhere when it comes to toys and toy stores.

Hasbro has started producing 6 inch SW figures

Seriously, our toy stores are completely useless, compared to what I've seen in bigger cities around the world. Remember that the biggest city in Norway is really just a tiny town. It's just very provincial, and the stock of our stores reflect that.  

But today, an instant message ticks in from my good friend, Runar.

"They have 6" Black series in a store here!"

And it's on. For real. My friend goes on a toy hunt all over the city, while keeping me updated in messages. And it's fun. It's toy talk, anticipation and enthusiasm. Because finding toys in stores is so much more rewarding and satisfying than buying them online. We haven't experienced this in years.

The Black Series looks good. 

I could of course just buy these toys on ebay, or through any of the other online stores.
But the feeling of finding a toy you like, holding it in your hand, skim through the rest of the toys to see if there are more. I miss that feeling. The toy hunt.

Apparently, each store got four figures - one single case of 6" Black series. It's almost hilarious, you'd think that with our economy, the position Star Wars has in our society, and the constantly growing mass of enthusiasts, that one of the biggest toy store chains in the country were smarter than this.
At the same time, this limited stock intrigues me. Am I not a collector after all? Do I not appreciate the toy hunt?

I really do, even today, when the toy hunt is done trough another person, in real time.

Well, at least they were smart enough to price them correctly - at around the same price Hasbro sold them for in their very own store. I appreciate that.

My friend picked up a Darth Maul for himself, and a Jumpsuit Luke Skywalker for me - thanks buddy. Can't wait to get this in hand!

And I suddenly have a reason to visit local toy stores again.

Do they really care about enthusiast like us?

A fellow enthusiast, Tom, over at Reasonally Intelligent Rambling, wrote a couple of days ago concerns over his content. With the growing awareness towards privacy, and the not-really-shocking news that NSA and other sections of the government has the ability to spy on regular folks, it makes sense to question our content and who our readers really are.

I see that Tom since then has deleted that specific ramble, but his short article went along the lines that he writes about guns, weapons, plastic and so on. His argument was that since these were key words for automated searches made by the NSA, he could potentially end on a watch list.

Relax. It's not a real gun!

Even though Tom has a much larger quantity of articles about military toys than I do, I guess I fall in the same category. I know for a fact that I have articles with "gun" and "weapon" in the titles. I have written about hydrogen peroxide, a chemical that for all I know could be dangerous. And I constantly complain about a certain huge corporation. I have even written about the great hazard a toy could prove to be! In the right hands, the head of a Minifigure could be lethal!

Is this enough to get me on NSA's watch list? Well, the fact that I publish and article containing the words "NSA" is probably enough. A more relevant question is if they care. I hope so. I hope they care enough to read my articles, because some of them are worth the read. Maybe I even reach that one NSA agent who, at the end of his shift, actually wanted nothing more than to relax, kick back, and read about Minifigures. You're welcome!

Any in any case, do not let the threat of ending up on a watch list restrain you from writing about action figures, and certainly don't let it scare you away from quality content, like the Reasonally Intelligent Rambling blog. Tom writes about military action figures, customizing, contemporary G.I. Joe figures and a lot more. Check it out!

Toys Sure are Dangerous

A morbid rant today. I guess I have seen one too many episode of Breaking Bad.

In Europe, and more specifically Scandinavia, where I live, this sort of thing is almost exotic. The various warning labels on everything and anything are of course not there to warn us, but to prevent lawsuits.

And that's a bit exotic. Because here, if a kid swallows a toy, the blame falls to those who deserve it, not the ones who made the toy. Any parents with brains know that kids put stuff in their mouths, and that too small pieces will be swallowed.

The most apparent consequence of this - that parents don't want to take responsibility - is of course the various disclaimers on toys.

THIS TOY WILL KILL YOU!

I usually don't give this a second thought, but the other day I was sent some minifigures from the United States. Immediately I noticed the difference. Where the disclaimers on my toys were printed on the back in a rather unassuming fashion, these US released minifigures had the warning right on the front. WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD

Choking hazard. Sounds serious, doesn't it? Someone would definitely have died if that warning wasn't written on the package, right? Parents who are stupid enough to give a Lego Minifigure to a toddler are probably not able to read the warning either. So the only reason for the disclaimer is to avoid lawsuits.

As you can see on my European released minifigures, they also come with a warning. A symbol that warns you not to give this toy to a kid younger than three years. In addition, I can read in twenty nine languages that minifigures contain small parts that shouldn't be eaten.

No warning on the front. I guess Europeans are less likely to eat their toys. 

That's a good thing. Because I've heard of kids older than three years that put stuff in their mouths.
I read somewhere that pen caps kill more people every year than sharks, lightning and snakes every year put together.

I will freely admit to being one of these people. Of course, I'm still alive to write this, but I also like to live on the edge. Whether it's toys, pens or other small items, I'm likely to put it in my mouth. I mean, what if it tastes good? Why should the other senses have all the fun?

Lego has taken this into consideration. They don't have to do this. After all, they have already warned us on the package. But because they actually care more about kids than some parents, Lego has started constructing the minifigure slightly different. Notice here that some of the heads have small holes on the top.

I haven't quite figured out why some of the newer figures lack this function, but after a quick check, it looks as though all the collectible minifigures have these small holes.
The function is of course that should someone swallow a Lego head, there's a higher chance that air will still reach your lungs.

I'm ok with this, but I don't really want to see this progress any further. I'm all for smart solutions, as long as it doesn't take anything away from the quality, aesthetics and play values of the toy.

I'd like to believe I have good enough control over my body to not choke on a Lego head.
But... I guess anything could happen, and if I had to go, wouldn't it be kind of fitting to choke on a toy? "Here lies Jon. He swallowed an action figure".

Apparently, to prevent me from becoming part of the statistics, pen maker Bic takes action as well. Should you swallow this pen cap, there's still a chance you will breathe.

Pens, toys, snakes and sharks sure are dangerous. It's important to keep our kids safe, but there comes a point where people has to start using good old fashioned common sense instead of shifting the blame over at someone else. What's next? Warnings on my kitchen knife telling me it's sharp?

What's DC doing, really?

I just got around to watching Man of Steel, DC/Warner Bros' latest attempt at making a Superman movie. For all the explosions, and impressive destruction, the lasting impression is not of the movie itself, but the lack of direction from DC. It just doesn't seem like they care.
I will try to explain, but first let me just say that while I am a Marvel fanboy, I also enjoy the comics from the Distinquished Competition. Titles like JSA, Green Arrow and Teen Titans have usually kept me interested. But it doesn't stop with "interesting". Some of the best comics I have read have had the label "DC". In fact, one of my top ten favorite storylines was a Superman comic.

So I always enter the theater with somewhat of an expectation. You can then imagine the result when I was watching movies like Green Lantern or Superman Returns. There was preciously little positive about either of them. The new Batman trilogy is ok for what it is: Action movies with cool tech, crazy villains and needlessly complicated storylines. But it's not Batman to me. There's a point where they forgot to sit back and realize that they were making a superhero movie, not an action movie set in the real world. Why is that a problem? Well, picture a Superman in the Dark Knight-trilogy universe. Certainly not superpowered. And this is the problem for me. The times WB have managed to stay true to the comics (for instance Superman Returns), they have made awful movies, and the times they have made good movies (Batman Begins) they steered so far off track from the source material that the movies barely have anything in common with the comics. And in either of the cases there is certainly no room for building towards a team-up.

Maybe it's unfair to expect a Justice League movie, and it's definitely unfair to compare single-hero movies like Iron Man and Thor to Batman and Superman. After all, Batman is more recognizeable than the entire Avengers roster put together. But it's not unreasonable to expect more from WB, and it's not unfair to compare the dedication from Marvel Studios to the lack of a plan from DC/WB. You have to marvel at the way Marvel Studios seamlessly combined the different themes of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America to build towards The Avengers, and then seriously push all the right buttons. The single-hero movies felt different, but similar. They were different because they obvously had different plots, took place in different times/worlds. But you still got a sense that it all took place in the same universe. Obviously reinforced by characters appearing in all the movies, but it was more than that too. It was the feeling that these were superhero comics, just translated to movies.

I will be honest, Man of Steel had its good moments (And some embarrasingly bad ones, like the forced relation between Lois Lane and Superman). We finally saw an all out brawl between Superman and a villain of equal physical strength, which was cool. The Krypton tech was neat and the costumes were nice. But the plot was bland, and you just didn't feel for any of the characters. Why spend that much time telling background stories when you still don't get any sympathy for the characters? Look to the two new Star trek movies. Both had villains similar to General Zod. All were exiles simply trying to get even, but were you you feel for Nero and Khan both good and bad, you end up feeling nothing for Zod. He's just there as something for Superman to hit. Same can be said about the main character. Where is the adversity he has to face, for us to see him as the deserving hero? Here it is easy to compare him to the Thor movie, which really got that part right, a hero who has to prove him self trough a series of trials, and ultimately make the right choices regardless of his powers. And this is not just about writing, but about movie making. Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers (and Star Trek, since I mentioned it) go out of their way with the right combination of camera angles, music, choices of actors, and so on, and the results are epic.

All in all Man of Steel just wasn't as epic as it should have been. And you didn't leave the theater anticipating the next move/movie from DC. Keep in mind, movies like Iron Man 2 or Captain America are not masterpieces by any measurment, and as individual films they are quite possibly surpassed by Man of Steel. But they felt like parts of something more, and that made them not only better, but also more true to the comic. A key word here is "continuity". I said it before: It was deliciously apparent that Marvel were in control of their own characters. It doesn't feel like DC is in full control over theirs. And when corporate people and executives think they can do better than actual comic book people, all we will get is re-make after re-make.

Reading will make you a better person

I've read a few books in my life. In fact, I would argue that I read a lot. At least if you include comic books.

Pictured: "High literature"

My parents and my sister read significantly more than me, and they would probably say that reading novels and other types of literature are their hobbies, and if you include comics - mine as well. It's a weird thing, my closest family read a lot, and I feel the effect of this. They are smart people, with many interests. I've said so before, and it's worth repeating: People with interests are usually interesting. You can't attribute everything to the act of being able to read texts longer than newspaper headlines, but there's no question that a person who likes to read will accumulate more knowledge than a person who only skim through the pictures in gossip magazines.

And I'm glad I've been raised in a family where reading has been encouraged, and both books and comics have been in available in abundance. I'm lucky, as I believe an interest in reading has ultimately made me more creative, curious and reflected. The broader family, with aunts, uncles and what not, have with just a few exceptions no interests in reading.

Of course today, you cannot simply use the lack of a bookshelf in a home as an indication of people who have haltered their own potential (all though in many cases this is true). Times are different. Bookstores and publishers are struggling. But that doesn't mean people will stop reading, it just means that our reading habits have changed.

I had my sister and my nephew over for a visit the other day, they spent the weekend. I have personally avoided the Lego Lord of the Rings sets, as well as the absolutely fantastic sets based on The Hobbit. I can't collect everything, all though I wouldn't mind the 79003 set, "An Unexpected Gathering". My nephew, on the other hand, is a die hard fan, and wants all the sets. Only 8, he has yet to read the books himself. I seem to recall that when I was at his age, I tried reading The Hobbit on my own. Of course, it was best when I got read to.

The weird thing is how my nephew prefers to obtain these stories: Through Lego, and the Lego video games. It's not unheard of to get good stories from a video game, but this just has to be a new way of experiencing the classic stories. It's an adaptation, first through Lego, then through a game.

Now, I'd argue that The Hobbit in its original form of a novel already is the optimal way an 8 year old could experience the story. But what ever makes the kids these days "read" quality material, right? For other, more mature books - like the Lord of the Rings trilogy - maybe a Lego-adaptation is the optimal way?

And if that in turn sparks an interest for actual reading, then the video games have absolutely served their purpose.

Anyway, Lego sets were bought, opened, assembled and played with. Pictures were taken, and articles were eventually written.
The sets were 9470 "Shelob Attacks" from Lord of the Rings, and 97001 "Escape from Mirkwood Spiders" which is a preview set for an upcoming part 2 or 3 of The Hobbit.

The evil of foods is a master of deception

And it should come as no surprise. It's called the "eggplant" after all. Disguised as the best thing in the world, all the while being the worst thing you can imagine.

Here's a picture of the evil vegetable while still infants. Why people don't just let them rot, I can't understand. But then again, people are weird and on a general basis have extremely poor taste.

In more cheerful news, the summer is gradually making its presence known, and I encourage you all too light up that meat, and enjoy an eggplant-free barbecue season!

Why do you travel?

Every time I visit new places, I try to hold on to the good memories of that trip, to the point where the memories becomes stories of their own. It's not necessarily a big issue, but I'd like any excursion or journey to matter. I try to thoroughly enjoy any travel, specially when visiting other countries. I like to experience something unfamiliar. Not only limited to food, but most relevant to this blog, I'll say that trying out local food is a big deal for me on trips.  And that's probably not that uncommon. What seems to be uncommon is to remember what you experienced. What you ate, saw, heard. What specific places you visited. The good and bad of a certain place. The people you met and talked to. I fail to see the reason of travelling, if you don't make an effort remembering this.

I expected to come back from New York with a wealth of stories, because in the end, that's really what travelling is about. Experiencing - and if you're like me - retelling the stories.

For this blog, I'll leave you with two of those stories, the first was when I looked for the toy stores of NYC. The second one is a big article about various restaurants, where to get good food in the big city. It will take a little more time to write that one, and I aim to have it out Thursday.

But the remarkable thing is.. Am I the only one that does this? Surely I can't be alone in actually remembering what I experience when I'm out travelling? Wouldn't other people also have specific memories connected to certain places they've visited? I mean, what other reason would you have to travel?

Here's the thing, leading up to my trip to New York, we did a lot of research. We tried to locate places of interest, or rather places we could be interested in visiting. And in this process, I talked with a lot of people who also had visited New York. I asked them: Got anything to recommend? Any places I should try to visit? Anything interesting, out of the ordinary I should know? Any stories of interest to share?

The answers I got usually went along these lines: Oh, you should totally go to see a show on Broadway! Oh, you should totally go shopping on Times Square! Oh, oh, oh... And that Statue of Liberty is worth checking out!

Don't mistake me for an asshole, I appreciated their advice, I took their advice and did see a show on Broadway, I did go shopping on Times Square, and it was great! Sadly I did not find time for the Statue of Liberty.

But these are probably very near the top five tourist attraction of the city, and nothing I couldn't read in any and all tour guide of NYC. No one suggested good areas/museums/monuments/art galleries that I should make an effort to visit. No one suggested specific stores of interest. No one suggested what to say/not say to people. Places to avoid. Mistakes not to be done. No one suggested a good place to eat. No one even suggested what food to try.

Obviously it got me wondering. Am I just as clueless were I to give recommendations on the places I've been?

I doubt I can give specific names and addresses to restaurants, but I'm sure at the very least I can give a suggestion what food to try from all of the different countries I've visited.
Italy: Go to any place that has ice cream and get a stracciatella. Amsterdam: Try the most random pancake you can find. London: go to a pub, order a pie.Visit any restaurant that has swordfish on the menu: Go for it! I guess I'm not breaking any ground with these suggestions, but this is just off the top of my head.

And I know I can share a story or two from every place I've visited, that could be interesting for a potential traveler.

I guess it takes time for people to dig out memories. And I really hope that later that night, these people thought for themselves Oh, I should have really suggested that awesome coffee place over at 14th and second. 

But I'm honestly not sure. Why do people travel, if they can't remember anything from the trip?

How to make a Club Sandwich

It's a remarkable thing, how easy it is to impress people. Just give them what they want. People want a sandwich with chicken and bacon. Why not make just that? Everyone loves a good club sandwich, specially if it's well made, with home-made bread and other quality ingredients. While we're at it, why not make extra bacon on the side as well?

A club sandwich can disappoint. I mean, I could use bad chicken, I could switch out the tomatoes with eggplant. Or just use less/no bacon. But then I would do just that. Disappoint. I will not disappoint. I will make an awesome club sandwich, not just because I want to, but because it's in my power to do so. 

So hop on in for my example of how to deliver what is promised, and Mattel's example of how to absolutely disappoint (Yup, this is another "Recipes and ranting"). 

Cheese Flutes

I'm not actually certain what the proper name for these things are. They are small bread rolls with cheese. I'd call them cheese horns, but I guess flute or bugle could do as well. I'm going flutes. Leave a comment if you think of a better name. 

This is a personal favorite after making pizza. I'm usually left with additional dough, and I'm way too cheap to throw away excess dough. Delicious with cheese, jam, ham, butter, etc. Great for breakfast the day after.
Step on in for recipe and pictures!

Recipes and ranting: Turkey Pie/Motuc at retail

Pie is not a dish. It's a concept. Much like the pizza, the pie can be customized in almost any way you can imagine. Maybe even more so than the pizza, the pie leaves you endless possibilities. And I like the thought of that. And I would like to try out more pies in the future.

I'll not show you how to make pie, because I honestly don't know. Obviously, what I make here ends up being a pie, but the main part about the pie has to be the lid of pie dough. And I just don't know how to make that. All I know is that it's actually a bit tricky. Unlike the bread, which is extremely simple, the pie dough can't be made while blindfolded.

So with this dish, using leftovers from the new years turkey, I used a pre-fabricated pie dough.

Read on for "recipe".. and another rant about toys.

Asceticism

Happy New Year, good people! I hope 2012 was fortuitous for you all, and that 2013 will be even better. I'll at least start off with a solid one: recipes and ranting! (I should copyright that phrase)

Read on for fried salmon in sour cream and almond sauce, quasi-asceticism, and a serious rant!

Finding the Christmas Spirit

These days it's difficult, for many reasons. The biggest reason is that Christmas starts way earlier than it used to. You don't even have to go that far back. 15-20 years ago, Christmas decorations in late November was unheard of, let along early November. This has watered out, weakened the esoteric emotion of a potential Christmas spirit. Then there's the fact that Christmas no longer is about emotions. Well, that's not entirely correct, but the emotions connected to Christmas today are different, in some way stronger.
Ideally, the holiday should be about getting together with family and friends, having nice meals and showing you care about them. For many, it's still like that. But there's the added pressure. The extremely high expectations. The rabid consumerism.

Make no mistake about it: I like to buy stuff, and I like stuff in general. I have closets filled with stuff.
I also love to give stuff to others. I take pride in finding tailor-fit gifts for the people I care about. But I'm not sure I like the pressure of having to buy and receive gifts just because the stores, the market forces tells me to. I don't shy away from the responsibility, I take it as a challenge. But that's just it, it shouldn't be a responsibility - and I know many people, especially parents, look at it that way. Where have we gone wrong?

I will  get back  to this topic, with even more rant. And hopefully some good words as well, because there are tons of elements of Christmas, and gift giving I love. Home made gifts, for instance. Love it! Whether it's custom made piggy banks from my sister, cakes from my mother, or a scarf from Roxi.

The point today was finding the Christmas spirit the right way. No Coca Cola commercials, no 24 hour open malls, not by spending thousands of moneys on gifts, not by being forced to live up to expectations.
But by getting together with good people, eating and drinking, having a good time.

We got told to bring seasonal cakes and cookies. We got presented with Christmas brewery - and after a while some really nice single malt whisky. A great evening, Christmas spirit the right way.

MOTUC Castle Grayskull set up to fail

At New York Comic Con, Mattel dropped the bomb on us. They would consider making Castle Grayskull in the Masters of the Universe Classics line.

A modern update of the playset we all had and loved. 

Realize that fans have been dreaming about this moment ever since the line began. We've actually been asking for the castle from the very second we knew there would be a Classics toy line. 

And it's happening. Maybe. Because it seems Mattycollector are intentionally setting themselves up to fail. 

Consider these facts:

1. Matty is not going into production of Castle Grayskull unless they reach their minimum limit. 

2. They have set a final date of November 10th. That's less than a month for people to decide on this. 

3. The decision should be easy enough, right? It's our dream toy! 

Well.. This is the best and biggest image we have of the current design process. 

Basically we're buying blind. Again. Like we did with the Hoverboard (which turned out to be completely shit). 

Top it off with a $250 price tag. 

4. International shipping is $200. Clocking in at more than $500 after import taxes, I'm surprised if they get any international buyers at all. 

And we know we'll be blamed. I can hear Toyguru... 

"You, the fans, did not want this enough!"

"OMG I'M SUCH A GEEK!"

Geek culture, nerdery, geekdom, fanboyism. Call it what ever you want, we all know what you're talking about. It's sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, video games, movies, books, tv-shows, comics, toys, gadgets, technology, collectible everything, enthusiastic about anything.

I collect comics, among other things. What does that make me, but a comic book collector?

I like that last word: Enthusiastic. A person needs a passion or two. Not excessive passion, which can be unhealthy. But I prefer to be around people who are passionate and enthusiastic, almost regardless of what the subject is. A person who collects vintage tea spoons? I love it! A person who's heavily into paranormal activity? Awesome! A person who watches obscure Italian sci-fi movies? Tell me more!

The last years, Nerd Chic has become a thing, a fashion, being a nerd has become cool - to a certain point.
Not too much, just enough to be in the loop with the most mundane terms and the absolute basics of the culture.

You totally recognized Thanos. Show some enthusiasm!

And I'm not sure why, but it rubs me the wrong way. It's popular to ironically associate with enthusiasts such as myself, but these "hipster geeks" only scrape the surface of what they consider to be the fanboy/girl culture.

In essence, the term "geek" has become cool, but only for extremely popular aspects of the culture (reading Lord of the Rings = cool. Reading amazing comics like Smith's run on Green Arrow = Lame), and threading past those limits (like LOTR cosplay) are still considered "lame". Maybe I'm a bit indignant over the fact that the hipster geeks doesn't dare to show their true colors.

So you went and saw The Avengers, and laughed ironically afterwards over what you described as a "kid's movie"? No. You loved it. Now go home and dig up your old comics.

Don't get me wrong, my best friends are all collectors, gamers or true enthusiasts of some sort, and the girls who are legitimately into "geekdom" can be cool. 

But every once in a while, I run into people like the "Idiot Nerd Girl".

I get the idea of labeling yourself, it's an important part of identifying with specific groups of people.

But more often than not, it's painfully obvious that the self-diagnosis is a way to ironically distance themselves from being who they truly are, and being legitimately proud - and most importantly - relaxed about their interests.

So, I'm sorry, but if you read Harry Potter you're not a nerd. You just happen to read an extremely popular fantasy book. If you like Star Wars, you're not a geek, you just happen to like the most popular movie franchise ever. You played a video game? Good for you, but does it really make you a geek? Are you sure now? 
You think toys are only for kids?

Anyone who are even remotely into Lego - or superheroes - should have these sets and be proud. You won't get a label from me, apart from "awesome!"

I must admit, I don't like labels, because we all have such a specific set of interests. But for all I know, "geek" may have a completely different meaning than the connotations that seem to be the consensus.
I guess people can call themselves what ever they want. But I'm not impressed by the guys and girls out there who are simply following the latest trend, instead of being honest about their interests and what they actually like.

A good example of that honesty is my sister. She's heavily into novels (books without pictures!) and movies, she likes the occasional superhero and watches an imperial ton of British TV-shows. She doesn't make a fuzz about her enthusiasms, nor does she brag about being a geek, even though I assume she would be considered one. Why would she? She's just a girl who loves cool stuff. I categorize her as enthusiastic, with a healthy amount of awesome interests. Does she engulf herself in very particular subjects from time to time? Oh yeah, but it's usually a phase.
She's proud of her passions and regularly share her enthusiasm for her - as well as others' hobbies.

For my birthday, recently, my sister finished some needlepoints for me. I had drawn the pattern, and she uhm.. stitched them. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and I'm going to frame them individually. I'm sure she would argue that this is something out of the ordinary, that anyone making – or owning such needlepoints has to be enormous geeks, but it really isn't so. There are few guys my age in the western world who doesn't recognize these symbols.

Finally, do I consider myself a nerd or a geek? Well, let me put it this way, I barely even know what the words mean, what the difference is, of if there is a difference. Read through my blog and you'll probably have a better idea of who I am than I do myself.
I'm consider myself an enthusiast. I have many interests, all which are awesome. (And my sister is kind of awesome too for making me Transformers needlepoints)