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| Santa's Presents Before Opening – The Calm Before the Storm |
Santa has come and gone, and in the days after Christmas
the greatest delight is discovering the wonders of new toys. My nine-year-old
and I have opened most of the toys the Jolly Old Elf brought down the chimney,
and the fun part – after the excruciating process of cutting through the layers
of thick plastic packaging, undoing security ties, and inserting batteries – is
actually playing and experimenting with these toys.
Before getting to the list of top ten toys, I must point
out that Santa has changed in two salient ways since I was a kid – he is making
much cooler toys and he has become exceedingly more generous. I do not deny my
son the benefits of these changes in St. Nick, but I am a bit envious.
The following list represents my son’s choices in order
from ten to one, with one being his favorite toy. The narrative attached to
each toy is my paraphrase of my son’s words used to explain why he likes each
one. In some cases, I have thrown in my own two cents, but this list mostly
represents his opinion about each item and a brief description.
10. Mega
Construx Destiny
This toy comes with a figure and features a “gladiator
battle” scene. I thought it was kind of a LEGO imitation, but my son did put
this on his list to Santa and he seems to like that the playset features
multiple accessories and very vivid colors. Judging from what is included in
the set, it offers many opportunities for creative play. Oddly enough, he likes
the packaging so much he has yet to play with this toy, so the fact that it has
made his top-ten list is pretty impressive.
9. Laser
X – Laser Tag Set
We have gone out to the large and rather crowded and
annoying arcades where prices for a few games are quite expensive, and the gear
can be heavy and cumbersome. Somehow Santa has come up with this cool set that
comes with two blasters and two attached vest sensors. Now we can play as long
as we like and have our own adventure in the basement, attic, or in the yard.
The blasters have about a 40-foot range and – at least it happens to me – you
can get shot from behind if the signal somehow bounces off a mirror or glass
panel. I love this game because it gets my kid moving and keeps him active.
Daddy gives thumbs up to this one!
We both loved the Spider-Man:
Homecoming movie that actually made us both fans of the Web-crawler once
again. These figures are beautifully sculpted and feature vibrant colors and
come with accessories. As you can see both remain sealed in their packages, so
we have not had an actual play experience with them yet. For some reason my son
likes the packaging and has been displaying them. As with the Mega Construx
set, I am surprised that these figures have made the list.
If you like master pilot Poe Dameron’s adorable droid
BB-8, you might also like his “evil” counterpart – the First Order’s cunning
BB-9E. This little fellow makes all sorts of noises and races around the room
knocking over other toys and ramming into people’s legs. It is a beautiful
looking toy in a sleek, cool, smooth black and illuminates with multi-colored
lights. I’m not too keen on this one, but my son loves it which gets it on the
list.
In Star Wars: The
Last Jedi there are a number of new creatures, but my son’s favorite was
the little bird-like creatures called the Porg. They are really cute and find
their way in Chewie’s – and ours – heart as he sits by a fire and gets ready to
eat one of their roasted brethren. The toy makes a number of little noises and
waddles across the floor. My son did not put this on his Santa list but did
express a wish to get one after seeing the movie, and that Santa somehow knows
everything for goodness sake.
While my son has been into LEGO figures over the past
couple of years, he did express interest in getting some action figures after
seeing the movie. The one he wanted most was Luke Skywalker, and this figure
did not disappoint. Featuring an impressive likeness to the character,
removeable hood, and accurate representation of the clothing, this is one fine
figure that could be displayed or played with. It comes with one accessory – a
boring staff and not a light saber – which still didn’t stop it from landing on
this list.
While my son has always loved Chewie, he really likes
this set because it comes with a Porg. As you can see from the picture, Porgs
are tiny compared to a Wookie, but they had a big impact on Chewie and gave us
insight into his character in the film. My son thinks that Chewie is just a big
old softie, and the proof is that the Porg get him to adopt them (and their
babies). He wanted this figure more because of the little Porg than Chewie.
While I thought this Christmas would have been all about
The Last Jedi, my son still likes The Force Awakens and especially remembers
the scene on Han Solo’s freighter when the Octopus like Rathtar’s escape from
their holding pens. This LEGO set lets him recreate that scene and it has great
details and features like opening and sliding doors and comes with Han Solo,
Chewie, and BB-8 as well as two of those ravenous creatures. He assembled it
all by himself and rather quickly. It has provided him an opportunity to
creatively change some aspects of the scenes from the movie, and Daddy gives
two thumbs up for this one.
The last two items on this list came as a surprise and
beat out an X-Wing and TIE fighter from The Last Jedi; however, I should have
expected it because my son loves the TV show Star Wars Rebels and would want to have vehicles used by the
characters. The Phantom is an attack shuttle from the Ghost, the mothership, and
is used as a transport and to interact with adversaries on the ground. My son
loves the opening cockpit and spring-loader shooter. Included with the vehicle
are Ezra Bridger (with blaster) and Chopper (a droid). This is a beautiful toy
and attaches to the next item on the list.
The best way to describe the Ghost is as the Millenium Falcon of Star Wars Rebels. It is used in the battle against the Empire but
is also home to the crew. A significant portion of the show’s action takes
place on the ship. This item has been discontinued by LEGO but is available
online or, as in our case, from Santa. It is a very attractive and intricate
toy but, with almost a thousand pieces, it took us about five hours to build
it. If you have patience, you will be rewarded because it is a wonderful toy.
If you have the shuttle The Phantom (sold
separately), it fits into the bigger ship just as in the TV show. The set comes
with Ezra
Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Zeb Orrelios, and a new Stormtrooper
(five figures with a vehicle seems quite generous) and features two escape
pods, two gunner turrets, and opening cockpit. Despite the long building time, we
have played with this toy a lot and enjoyed recreating scenes from the show. Daddy’s three thumbs up for this one.
There is my son’s very subjective list of favorite toys, and I agree with him for the most part except regarding the two unopened items. I like to see and feel a toy and also gauge its playability factor, so I reserve my judgement on those until we play with them.
There is my son’s very subjective list of favorite toys, and I agree with him for the most part except regarding the two unopened items. I like to see and feel a toy and also gauge its playability factor, so I reserve my judgement on those until we play with them.
I’d like to give honorable mentions to Star
Wars: The Last Jedi Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter and Poe Dameron’s X-Wing, both
of which I can’t believe didn’t make the list since he has already played with
them. They are fabulous toys and I have enjoyed when we have played with them.
As this will be my last
article for 2017, I would like to wish all my readers Happy New Year and all the
best in 2018.
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