Showing posts with label collectibles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collectibles. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Blind Box Portal Sentry Turrets

Portal 2 Blind Box Turrets from ThinkGeek
Have you seen the little Blind Box Portal Turrets? One of my favourite little collectibles from the Portal games, these little plastic Aperture Science Home Safety Turrets are based off the "alternative" designs featured in Portal 2, which you can see projected onto the walls of one of the lift chambers between levels and of course, this promotional advertisement from Aperture Science.

 Fortunately, Aperture Science no longer markets only to exclusive and secretive investors, but has made their murderously adorably product available on the open market, through Amazon and ThinkGeek.


Details

  • 3 inches high
  • Solid plastic
  • No moving parts
  • Two Series
  • 41 designs
  • Endless bullets

Available in two series, so far, each with some rare and random designs thrown in secretly, the first series features ten patterns that all look to be from the original designs (including the fantastic leopard-spotted Turret King). All ten turrets can be found both open (ready to kill) and closed (waiting), which makes for twenty different versions.

The BullsEye (series 1) and the Invisible Turret (series 2)
...just imagine testing with invisible turrets.

Series 2 is a bigger selection, with thirteen designs, including such glorious turrets as the Rainbow and Sunset, Hot Rod and Bee. It also includes a couple of original designs, such as the brick "Evening at the Improv".


The Bee and the Sunset (series 2)


The Tiger - Raaawrr!
(Series 2)
Price
  • Because they're meant to be random, blind boxed toys, if you want a specific one then you have to pay slightly more. Individual, identified turrets cost $15-20 on Amazon (not counting the rare versions, like this Series 1 Gold), while blind box packs are about $12.
  • On ThinkGeek, they're $5.99 (or four for $19.99, or 24 for $99.99!) for unopened, random turrets.
  • You may be able to throw in a turret as a Points reward on ThinkGeek (if you have already earnt points from a previous order)

More pictures!

I uh, accidentally ended up with an entire extra boxful of turrets (the 12 count Counter top display, which has no repeats!) in my order. Which is why I have so many. Mine! *clings* But this means you get plenty of pictures!


From left: Evening at the Improv (open), Earth, Picnic, Original, Bullseye (open), Rainbow, Classic, and a bunch of blurry ones.

Standing guard next to the Talking Plush Portal 2 Turret [reviewed here]
In order: Lemon, Bee, Bee (open), Sunset (open), Sunburst (open), Bullseye and Invisible (open)
>>Buy from ThinkGeek (unopened, better price)
>>Browse on Amazon.com (opened or unopened, rare versions)
Looking for more Portal stuff?
Check out these other reviews!
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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Firefly Les Hommes & Les Femme Poster Sets

Beautiful art nouveau posters of the crew from Firefly

All the Firefly posters in a row. LOOKING AWESOME.
Check out the Les Femmes Poster Set and Les Hommes Poster Set 


Highly recommended, am being nagged to buy again by people who want them as gifts. As in, they want me to buy the posters and hand them out. (Not a chance. If I buy these again, I'm keeping them, duplicates and all).

Poor Simon. He got moved because
we were repainting the end wall,
totally ruining my awesome line up.
Les Femmes on ThinkGeek
Les Hommes on Amazon.com
These posters are gorgeous, and can be handed out as individual gifts or kept for your wall. I bought two sets, and broke one up as bonus presents for friends and family, and kept the other for my flat, where they fill up an entire wall, look fantastic and attract a lot of attention.

The posters come in two sets, the men and the women, and are of decent quality, not just thin poster paper. They are 12x24 inches (30x60 cm), which is small for a poster but perfect for actually putting an entire set up on a wall. The paper is a bit too heavy for a full sized poster to have stayed up easily anyway!

They're half realistic (some are flat colour and some look heavily photo referenced) art nouveau style prints featuring the name of each character and a quote or caption associated with them, in a sort of old fashioned advertisement style. For example, Jayne Cobb's says "Mama Cobb's cunning headwear" and River's caption is "Straight from the Academy".

Even non-Firefly fans generally love them, and anyone who has actually seen Firefly tends to get carried away over them.


  • Price: Originally about US$50, now can be found on sale for up to half that.


Les Femmes: Kaylee, Inara, River and Zoe
On Amazon.com & ThinkGeek






















Would I buy again?: Yes, if anything happened to my current set, or I wanted them for a gift. Obviously I only need one of each poster, but I'd happily replace them!

Actually wait. I'm not sure about that last sentence. I'm pretty sure I do need more than one of each. Because there's an awful lot of rooms with no Firefly poster, which makes them pretty unshiny. So obviously I need to get several sets and put them up throughout the entire house.

But then, I'm pretty sure my friends and family might accidentally steal them whenever they visited... it's a dilemma.
Les Hommes: Mal, Wash, Shepherd Bush, Simon and Jayne 
On Amazon.com


Amazon.co.uk Links

The Les Hommes and Les Femmes posters are also available as individual prints on Amazon.com

If you really only like a couple of characters, or you know that everyone is going to fight over one character (seriously, as soon as they realise that someone else got Wash... ) then you may be better off buying individual posters (though obviously the sets work out to be cheaper).

There is an additional single Saffron Poster Print available, which isn't on ThinkGeek. ThinkGeek packed them safely in poster tubes; there are some complaints about the Saffron poster being poorly packaged, so if you'd like this one as well, be careful which seller you buy it from.

Individual Firefly Posters on Amazon.com
(Note: prices vary hugely. Some offer framing options, and some listings cost as much as the entire sets! The only non-set print is Saffron, so you may be better off buying the whole lot and gifting unwanted characters to people. Thereby earning their eternal love and gratitude and the right to be called Captain Tightpants for two months).




         


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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Minecraft Nightlights & Torches

It gets very dangerous at night in Minecraft and having a steady supply of light is important to surviving the long darkness.

It's equally dangerous to leave dark pools of shadow inside your home, as the deadly Creepers love to lurk there. 

Protect yourself and your bedroom with these Minecraft themed nightlights.

The Redstone Ore nightlight runs on 2x AA batteries, has four brightness settings and glows when tapped. The torch runs on 3 x AAA batteries and can be set on a wall, carried, or stood upright.

Both are officially licenced collectibles and the batteries are not included (so you might want to grab some so it can can be played with straight away)


Amazon.co.uk Links: Minecraft Light Up Redstone Ore and Minecraft Light Up Torch

Order Through ThinkGeek!

ThinkGeek is the original home of official geek stuff, and a great place to buy Minecraft toys - until they get bored f them and find a new game to stock merchandise for! It also usually sells batteries as an add-on.

Minecraft Fan Bundle

For Minecraft Bedding (including awesome handmade quilts and throws and cushions), visit


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Thursday, August 1, 2013

Portal Turret: Sentry Turret Photos

Tired after their big adventure,
they hide from pursuit by
lurking in someone's house,
disguised as decorative toys.

Check out the
 Portal 2 Talking Plush Turret review 
and the 
Life Size Inflatable Turret review!
If you've ever played Portal (and probably even if you haven't) then you will instantly recognise the robot that is the adorable, sleek, deadly and apologetic Aperture Science turret.

From giant inflatables to cuddly, talking plushes, they're the perfect companions to add that touch of elegant science to your home, and traumatise intruders.


Nobody can resist the plaintive cries of these adorable killing machines, as they track you with lasers and apologise for shooting you. So who could resist the magical science of real life turrets?

I have, of course, the willpower of GLaDOS when faced with a delicious piece of cake or a button labelled 'neurotoxin'. So I bought both the life sized inflatable and the cuddly, terrifying talking plush. They were perfect for cosplay, great for guarding stalls, and make a fantastic heart attack inducer, lurking in corners of my house.

It was a terrible mistake. They get easily bored with small domestic pods and go seek larger testing facilities, and my turrets escaped, to wander the city on a big Science Adventure. Unfortunately, they homed in on an annual scifi convention.

 The following images are pieced together from security footage and cameras discovered on the remains of convention attendees.

The Great Turret Escape

In which our terrible turrets embark on a quest across the great Outdoor Test Chamber to find suitable test subjects. And shoot them.



This image was taken from a security camera on a train platform.

Fortunately there were no other passengers waiting, but the turrets apologised constantly anyway.


Reaching the convention, they wandered in vague confusion through the crowded test chamber, overwhelmed by the surfeit of test subjects, stationing themselves in random corners and viewing spots. Nobody reports seeing them move.
But then, they apparently spotted two rival robots. Whether out of some robotic rivalry, or an urge to test some worthy opponents, they observed the Dalek and the R2-D2.
The Inflatable Turret froze innocently, as the Dalek rolled past, judging it too great a test for their experiment. Once it had moved on, the turret began following the R2-D2 unit.
Held back by a passing scientist, who recognised the instinctive impulse to test the passing droid unit, the Inflatable Turret can only watch, and wait. For now.

Here we see the inflatable turret has spotted R2-D2. One can only assume that it took the presence of another scifi robot as a personal affront.A small child took this photo, then ran away. 

The turrets were not foolish enough to take on the Dalek. The plush turret warily pretended to be inanimate, keeping an eye on it from a safe distance while the inflatable turret stalked R2-D2.



Should anyone notice it, it will use its store of catchphrases and unbearable fluffy cuteness to distract potential test subjects.

Security footage from the ATM shows the deadly, Angel-like stalk of the turret

Closer...

Closer... 

HOW IS IT MOVING?

The last recorded image of the turret in this area, found in the R2-D2's memory banks. The droid itself was found scattered in singed scraps across seventeen metres.

At some point after experimenting on the R2-D2, it decided to cunningly disguise itself with a fake moustache. It took three experts to identify it as the original Inflatable Turret and recapture it.


 And, like all the other turrets, it claims to be "different". THERE IS ONLY ONE DIFFERENT TURRET. And it is not this one.

They were safely recovered, and are now kept in a locked room, surrounded by plush companion cubes.I hope to train them to become guard turrets eventually, with a great deal of experimentation. And science.

Want To Buy Your Own Guard Turrets?

Where did I get my turrets? ThinkGeek! (but you can buy them from Amazon as well)

Buy your own Inflatable Portal 2 Turret!
(Price: Approx. US$20-30)

Buy your own Plush Portal 2 Turret with Sound
(Price: Approx. US$30-35)

Read the proper reviews of the Portal 2 Talking Plush Turret and read the Life Size Inflatable Turrets!
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Ecospheres - the Easiest Aquarium Ever


Ecospheres are amazing, entirely self contained little ecosystems. These biospheres come with live species inside (Hawaiian Red Shrimp), are completely closed, and never need feeding or watering or anything.

If you wanted to keep sea monkeys, but couldn't keep them alive, love aquariums but can't afford them, and want something decorative and charming on your desk, then an Ecosphere is ideal. They come as a simple and elegant handblown glass globe or teardrop, complete with plants, algae, micro-organisms and shrimp. They last 2-3 years, and only need a light source and a comfortable room temperature.

Basically, they are art and science.

Ecospheres come in all sizes!

How Do They Survive? How Long Do They Last?

It's a self contained circle of life!
Shrimp in the EcoSphere Closed Aquatic Ecosystem, Small Pod
Shrimp in the
 EcoSphere Closed Aquatic Ecosystem, Small Pod
The shrimp usually live 2-3 years, but can live a lot longer, as long as they get enough light, aren't broiled alive, and aren't bounced around. So be gentle and try not to knock it onto the floor!

It's basically a tiny version of what happens in the wider world - the shrimp eat the algae, which grows in the light, and uses the nutrients provided by the micro-organisms. The micro-organisms feed on any leftovers and shrimp waste.

A larger sphere would support a larger population, and if there are too many shrimp, some will die. And if there are plenty of nutrients and lots of space, they may breed, instead!

And that's it. Round and around. If your sphere finally runs out of shrimp, and you want to, you can get more. Otherwise, you still have an interesting ornament!


Small Ecospheres (Less than $100)

Pod, globe or teardrop? Smaller sized Ecospheres

Watch the algae grow, the shrimp dart about, and the light reflect off the water! A marvellous, living ornament and a perfectly safe, easy aquarium! At about 4 inches across, the small versions of each of these charming biospheres makes a nifty little paperweight, shelf ornament or desk decoration.



Medium-Large Ecospheres (Less than $250) 

Want something a bit larger? Try on of these Ecospheres!


Extra Large Ecospheres!Fantastic coffee table aquariums!


Slightly More Maintenance: More Self Contained Ecosystems

So you don't like shrimp...?

These lovely little aquatic ecosystems, ant farms and terrariums are a little more hands on - you set them up, and provide water and enough light, but are still very low maintenance. In some cases, you need to get hold of the species separately.
This amazing and sleekly designed desktop aquarium is meant to hold fantastical little moon jellyfish, but can also hold other small species. It stands 17 inches high and is 8 inches deep.


If you don't feel up to live jellyfish, there's always this LED Jellyfish Mood Lamp.

  These are some cool, desktop sized fish aquariums



Awesome little Ant Farms and Terrariums!

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