Star Wars Pocket Models

I think I might have discovered the perfect trading card game, having bought a couple of packets of these in the last week (well actually Cathy bought me one). In each pack you get six game cards, two styrene sheets of model spaceships for you to assemble (with a minimum of four ships in each pack), and the smallest dice in the world ever.

I’ve always loved stickers/trading cards ever since I was a kid. I think it’s the excitement of no knowing what you’re going to get in any given packet. I also like model kits, especially ones you can put together without too much hassle. So, I have more Kinder Surprise toys than a 31 year old should, a shelf-full of Zoids and B-Damans and a cupboard full of Lego.

But Star Wars Pocket Models ticks all the boxes. You get the mystery element, the ‘something to build and play with’ element and it’s all Star Wars themed. I’m not sure there’s any way you can improve on that really. The only downer is that it claims the game is ready to play straight off, when it blatantly isn’t. The set up guide says you need to start with thirty cards, or five packs’ worth, which is a bit naughty really.

But as the packs are only £2.99 each, I think I’ll accrue thirty cards before too long.

B*Damen Army

Having built some belated birthday presents from Irony Boy and Dr Nicholls, here's a picture of my B*Damen army. I've only bought half these figures - most of them for 99p from the new Toys R Us round the corner. The dragon thing is a targetting device and the little guys themselves have a range of functions, including one-handed firing, dual-loading and bias-control so you can fire the pinball in a curve.

It's a nice little problem to have

The hardest part about Christmas is finding homes for all the new stuff I've been given. Artoo-Potatoo will join Darth Tater and Spud Trooper quite easily. Books go on the shelf. Nightmare stuff in with the ever-growing collection of Nightmare stuff. Clothes go in the wardrobe etc. etc.

But suddenly I've got a collection of B-Damen. After Irony Boy gave me one in our pre-Christmas House Christmas, he then found a Jap import version cheap in Yeovil for me. I also found 3 import versions in our new fancy 'out-of-town, but nearer my house now' Toys 'R' Us for the ludicrous low price of 96p each. Suddenly I have an armada of the things and I'm not really sure where to put them.

Still, I guess the hassle of finding space for all my new toys is a nice hassle to have.

Another addition to the Spud Wars family...

House Christmas

Last night we had house Christmas. This was because Viv has to work over Christmas, we're visiting rellies and Irony Boy is off to his homeland - although, technically, he isn't part of the household; he just pretends to live here when ordering stuff off the web.

One of our Christmas traditions is to watch Bernard and the Genie. It's a BBC film, written by Richard Curtis of Blackadder and Four Weddings fame, which we have on video from 1991. As you can imagine, it's a bit crackly and faded by now, so maybe it's time to lobby the BBC and get them to release a decent version on DVD.

We also opened some presents. I was given another B*Damen to keep the one I bought a few months ago happy. Or, maybe they'll fight... who knows?

B-daman (no, you da man!)

Yesterday I bought a B-daman launcher in Woolworths on Cowbridge Road East, mainly because it was reduced. I've been looking at B-damans for a while as they have that nice manga styling that you get in the Japanese toys, plus they're quite funky little ball launchers.

Helen had told me how tricky they'd found building one for their lad Adam, but I can only conclude that they obviously aren't very adept at putting together kits. It took me about 15 minutes to get it ready for action. One cool thing about them is that they give you some extra stickers to customise him.

My little guy is called Proto One.


As you can see he's mainly red and white, with a nifty little shield. The grey bits you can just about see underneath are the b-daball launcher, and all the rest is just for show. This wouldn't be my first choice for a colour scheme. I'm going to keep and eye out in case there's one in blue and amber.

I went into Toys R Us in Gloucester today and they had loads more of them reduced, including some in import Japanese packaging. I'd be tempted, but the instructions were a bit tough to follow in English... No point making it harder for myself.