Friday, January 31, 2014

Rice Krispies Treats Cereal is back!!!

YESSSSS! An old classic and personal favorite cereal has returned! When I happened upon this box, I couldn't believe it, instabuy!




As if that wasn't enough excitement for the day I came across this...

Chocolate Lucky Charms!? And now with three rainbows!? SWEET! But that review I'll save for another day.


Rice Krispies Treats Cereal is as good as I remember it! It's a little different than a straight up Rice Krispies Treat. The cereal is not soft n' chewy at all, it's nice and crispy. Also, the Treats version still has that satisfying snap crackle pop!

 
And for all you dry cereal eaters, not to worry, it comes in some pretty good sized chunks. Perfect for snacking on dry.

Overall, my score for Rice Krispies Treats Cereal is a 10/10! You really can't go wrong here! Well, unless you're worried about sugar content I guess.

Does anyone actually read this side of the box? I would always zone out and read the backside of the box.

Speaking of which, it ain't half bad reading material! They've even included character profiles for Snap, Crackle, and Pop. You just don't see that kind of dedicated character development for cereal mascots anymore!

Who's your favorite Rice Krispies...err, what are they, elves or something? Anyways, which one's your favorite? Have you tried this cereal yet, or have you tried it in the past?

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

LEGO Space City Update: New Life Forms

Right now my LEGO Space City isn't much more than a bunch of minifigures and vehicles standing around on a few base plates. I've been having way too much fun than a grown man should building custom minifigs. Meet some residents of Moon 9!


I love all the robot minifigures from The LEGO Movie sets! I always love a good robot.

I'm very happy with this custom figure! The head and serpentine tail are from the Medusa minifigure, the trans-clear helmet is from the old Spyrius droid. The jacket is an old Town torso with a nice Classic Space logo, and the whole thing is tied together with a shnazzy green double lightsaber.

Robo Tuesday and a robot chicken!

Awwww! He likes you! Can we keep it Commander? Huh? Can we, can we? (baby wrap custom piece from Brickwarriors.com)

Spyrius Dino alien with a technology sniffing reptilian beast.

I just couldn't help but mix other toys with my LEGO space city! This is a Goo Fish figure I picked up at the DI for a quarter. He looks right at home!


One of my personal favorites, Andy Droid of the Robot Mafia! The Andy Droid head is from the old UFO theme.

Shout out to Eric of Toyriffic for introducing me to Brickwarriors! My Andy Droid got a nice upgrade with this custom tommy gun from Brickwarriors. The cool new mustache piece is official LEGO, from one of The LEGO Movie sets!


I hope to add moon-men ranches, stores, eateries, refueling stations, and other typical city buildings, all in a sci-fi style of course. Also, seeing as how techie the LEGO Ninjago theme has become, I also have plans to add a Space-Ninja dojo to Moon 9. Space-Pirates are also a must, along with any other theme I can transform into a spacey theme.

Current structural builds in progress include Sheriff-Not-A-Robot's Lunar Lockup (a reimagining of set 6755 Sheriff's Lockup), and set 6987 Message Intercept Base, my very first set I built with my Dad and my brother, Dusty, when I was 5 years old. The Blacktron base could take a while, but I hope to be done with the Lunar Lockup within the week. Hopefully I can find the few pieces that I'm missing.

 Stay tuned for more exciting up dates and follow me on Instagram @spacemason and I'm known as Minifignewton on Flickr! I might even start tweeting and stuff, who knows. D.I. Treasures is also on Facebook by the way. So many new social avenues, it'll be interesting.

Thanks for reading! And as always I am open for donations/trades for just about anything LEGO! I'll be reducing my non-LEGO collection to make room, so let me know if you have any LEGO stuff you'd like to trade or just donate to a good cause! 


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Sunday Reflections: The Council In Heaven

Today our Primary class learned about following Jesus Christ and about the council in heaven before we came to this earth. We had the kids draw the council in heaven and everyone that was there. 

We learned that since we are here on earth today and have mortal bodies, we choose Heavenly Father's plan. Satan rebelled and was cast out with his followers. Since they rebelled they did not receive physical bodies and are evil spirits. Satan and his minions try to tempt us to rebel against God. 


I love teaching Primary with my wife, it's always fun learning with the kids.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Extreme Fighting: The Violence Continues


Remember that bootleg wrestler with a chainsaw (sounds like a B movie title)? Well, he's back! Only this time  he shrank a little and lost some articulation. However, his chainsaw hasn't changed and he brought a friend, El Serpiente!


Even though they both pretty much suck, I prefer the tag team duo over the single, larger figure. You get twice the toys and twice the deadly weapons! Plus, the chainsaw looks that much more deadly being almost as big as Mistico! El Serpiente has a pretty mean weapon himself, a stinkin' spiked baseball bat, now that's extreme! Well, not as extreme as a chainsaw, but still!


I'm gonna leave these guys sealed. They'll make a nice gift for one of my lucky friends some day. I hope there aren't any naive parents out there buying their kids Extreme Fighting "Playsets" from the dollar store. No kid should want these!

What do you think? I know the guy in white is Mistico, but does anyone know who the snake man is supposed to resemble? Do anyone want one of the Extreme Fighting "Playsets"? Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true. Just sayin'.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Sneak Peak: A Budding LEGO Space Community

Hey there loyal readers! As you know, my first toy love is LEGO So, it's kinda sad just how lazy I have been about MOCs. I really want to focus more on LEGO this year, as far as toy adventures go. To start I am embarking on a grand adventure of creativity; I will be creating a LEGO city! This won't be any run of the mill city, oh no! My city will be exposed to the cold vacuum of space! Located on some forsaken moon on the far reaches of some galaxy far far away, this city will be home to my LEGO space population. 


At first I wanted to create a traditional LEGO city, with trains, and cars, and cute little parks with those lovely little LEGO flowers. But, let's get real, I have hardly any City/Towne themed LEGO pieces and even less real world cash. One thing I do have a fair amount of is Space themed sets; Ice Planet, Blacktron, UFO, Space Police, even some Classic Space, and I hope to build upon that. Besides, a space themed city just makes sense for me. I love aliens, robots, sci-fi, NOVA ( the TV show), Dr. Who, Futurama, and all the like. Of course, that won't stop me from mixing themes a little. BraveStarr and Treasure Planet come to mind.

This new project should be fun, and I hope to add to the city little by little for the rest of my earthly days, which is just my style. Follow along with my upcoming "From The LEGO Bin" posts where I will feature different LEGO themes as I try to piece sets back together that I find in the ol' bin o' LEGO.

I am always looking to add to my LEGO collection, so let me know if you would like to donate, sell, or trade your LEGO stuff! 

What do you think of my new project? Do you have any suggestions for the city? What should I call the city? Do you collect LEGO Space sets? Doyou have a LEGO city where you park all your space ships? If you do have a LEGO space city, or any LEGO creations, then please share it with us in the comments below!

Monday, January 13, 2014

New Kids in the Deck

My Garbage Pail Kids collection has been steadily growing lately. I just can't get enough of these cute little guys! Here are a few of my favorite newbies. 













Creepy Cruisers: The Street Creeper




As you may know I love spiders. So this week's Creepy Cruiser is probably my favorite by far. Everything about this Hot Wheels car is just superb. I can totally see a little spider crawling into the driver's seat and driving off in style!

Very nice paint job, I love it! Great colors.



This little lady has eyes in the back of her head!



Nice attention to detail!


Please, if you spot the Street Creeper cruisin' done your street, have a heart and don't squash it! It's a beautiful little vehicle!

I don't know how the Street Creeper handles on official Hot Wheels track, but I would love to find out. If you have any spare Hot Wheels track laying around or any diecast cars that would fit into the category of "Creepy Cruiser" then please let me know! Thank you!

Also, turns out I'm not the only one that loves terrifying little automobiles. Be sure to check out Dex's Halloween Garage at AEIOU!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Sunday Reflections: Learning With LEGO

It's no secret that my favorite toys are LEGO sets. There are just so many possibilities, you can really let your imagination run wild. If you don't like coming up with your own creations you can always just follow the directions and still have a fun old time, all whilst developing your brain.

 Here's what the kids came up with.
   

LEGO bricks aren't solely for the mind, they can be a tool in the hands of God! Today we used a Primary activity we found at Sugar Doodle. We split the children into groups and had them choose one of 2 bags. One bag is labeled "bad choices" and one is labeled "good choices." The bad choices bag was filled with twigs and a glue stick, while the good choices bag was filled with LEGO pieces. We then asked the children to build a house with the materials provided. Needless to say, they much preferred building with the good choices bag.

          "I like her hair better this way!"

What lessons have LEGO sets and other cool toys taught you?

Friday, January 10, 2014

Of Beards And Men



I've had beards on the brain lately and that eventually led to a beard on my face. Not the grizzliest of beards mind you, my facial hair has always been a bit odd. Half of my facial hair is blonde, despite my dark brown head of hair. I never could grow a decent beard, though I did grow the nappiest goatee you ever did see during the tail end of my senior year in high school. I've always been a bit like my fictitious hero, Napoleon Dynamite. I was always super jealous of anyone in high school that could grow a nice beard or mustache. I totally have beard envy.

LUCKY! (Source)


Jared Hess (Director and Co-Writer of Napoleon Dynamite) with actor Jon Heder

(Source)
From soul patch...

...too full on beard! His wife, Jerusha, co-writer of all the Hess films, seems pretty thrilled about Jared's awesome beard!

On another note, I really like what Peter Jackson has done with the dwarves in The Hobbit movies. Each dwarf has a unique look with a unique beard to boot; proving that you don't need a huge honkin' 3 foot long beard to be considered a true dwarf. All you need is, at the very least, a few sprigs of facial hair. I may not have the fullest of beards, but by Jove, it's a beard fit for a dwarf!


When I first read The Hobbit I couldn't tell Nili from Gili, or Bofur from Gofur for that matter. In my mind's eye they were all just a bunch of dwarves, all with the standard dwarfy beard. They're pretty much identical in the original cartoon as well. No donut beard experiment going on here.


Since my wife isn't the biggest fan of my new facial plumage, I'm afraid it'll just have to go. Soon I'll be back to my baby face self again and I can expect to be called "buddy", "hey kid", "young man" and I've even been called "sweetheart" and "little one". Please, never ever refer to a grown man with such terms! Unless that man is your husband or boyfriend these terms are just downright hurtful!



  "it's like kissing a bush!"
         



My sister Percie was recently wed to a wonderful bearded man. He's quite the musician, so be sure to check out Rob's band L'Anarchriste and their latest album "Giant" on Kickstarter!

Laura of Boo Bobby suggested I catalogue some portraits with my toys before the beard goes down the sink and is lost forever. What a grand idea! 


 Shave that face, human scum!

       










Real men take care of there own, beard or no beard.


The beard came off and I went just mustache for a day!

It's not a hotdog mirror, but it's close enough.



The lip brow



The walrus


If I didn't mention your blog then I don't know whether or not you or one you love has a beard. Throw in a link below and I'll add you to the Bearded Blogger Greats! Mustaches count!