Wallace & Gromit BUILD YOUR OWN KITS - London Toy Fair 2023

If someone said cheese would you think of an onion or just smile? Well if you were a fan of Aardman Animation's Wallace & Gromit it would definitely be the latter.

So imagine Neil's enthusiasm that he returned to The Toy Fair 2023 in order to revisit the stand of Paper Engine. A company with a fine line in STEM paper and card kits that happened to be unveiling a series Wallace & Gromit build your own models.

So please watch and maybe like(?) Neil's video where he is given a tour of the Toy Fair stand by Geff Newland, Paper Engine's creative director, and they both forget the title of the third outing of the Wallace & Gromit series...

LINKS

For Build Your Own Kits; https://buildyourownkits.com/

For the Wallace & Gromit's Rocket; https://buildyourownkits.com/product/...

For Wallace's Techno Trousers; https://buildyourownkits.com/product/...

For the side-car plane; https://buildyourownkits.com/product/...

Here is a link to the BTHA list of this years 25 hero toys. https://www.toyfair.co.uk/british-toy...

Addicting Apps

Recently whilst hunting through our twitter I came across a cool website called addictingapps.org who have created some fun indie apps, I'm going to take a quick look at just two of them.The first of the three is aptly names Chickuns To The Moon...

You play as a poor chicken strapped to a rocket hurtling into space diving to catching as many floating coins as you possibly can. As a welcome relief from all the tapping game craze you keep your finger on rocket at all times, moving left and right to collect all the coins in your path. You need to collect coins to get a new pump before your current pump runs out - if it runs out you plummet to the ground.

A cute little game but the instructions are a bit tricky to follow, it took me a little while to work out how to get a new pump and how not to die!

The second game in the collection is called Balloon Destroyer...

An easy game to follow, destroy the balloons by popping them before they leave the screen, starting off slow and quickly increasing to challenge the player. You have 99 lives which is pretty high, but you lose a life every time a balloon escapes you which does mount up when you're not looking. You also have the added option of blowing all the balloons on the screen with your sticks of dynamite (but you only have three).

I really like this one, not too complicated and rather addictive (as the website suggests!) as you pop the balloons, I just wish they started a bit faster as it seems to take ages for them to speed up to a challenge level.

The apps are good fun and show great potential for even better games in the future so I would definetly keep my eyes on these creators -find them online or on twitter as @addicting_apps

Over and out!

Mel

Guardians of the Galaxy - Out of this world!

It's not just videogames old and new that we love at Blast Process! Many of the team are also avid comic book geeks, and it's no exaggeration that at a few of us were rather excited for the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

Guardians of the Galaxy, based on the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning 2008 reboot of the team, was always going to be a risky sell for Marvel. Only the hardcore fans know of the comics, and isn't as iconic as Captain America or Hulk - However the same could be said for Iron Man before the first film, and we all know how that turned out! Still, without the draw of well known characters a few feared that this could be a flop compared to the rather excellent collection of films so far.

Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic addition to the series, and frankly my favourite one so far, even eclipsing the nerdgasm that is Avengers Assemble! For a world tiring from superhero overload, Guardians mixes things up by taking us on an action packed sci-fi comedy epic with an awesome 70's soundtrack!

Rather than a band of infallible heroes, the Guardians are a bunch of losers and outcasts. First up we have Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) a Han Solo style smuggler and pirate who calls himself Star-Lord whilst sleezing his way through the female population of the galaxy while listening to his mixtape of 70's hits. Next we have Gamora (Zoe Saldana) assassin and daughter of the mad titan Thanos, she's a bad-ass warrior who is out to avenge for everything her father has done. The subtly named Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) is the muscle of the team a mighty warrior who has no sense of metaphor - in his own words, nothing goes over his head, his reflexes are too quick!

Finally we come to the true stars of the film, Rocket - a genetically engineered talking homicidal raccoon-thing mercenary voiced by Bradley Cooper who shows that a wisecracking CGI character can be so much more than Jar-Jar Binks! His sidekick Groot is a giant walking tree that can only say "I am Groot", hilariously played by Vin Diesel! Groot steals every single scene he is in, somehow managing his low vocabulary not become tedious over the run of the film.

The film expands on what has happened so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe regarding the Infinity Stones and sets things up for the people who want to obtain them...

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen in a long time, and had a stupid grin pasted across my face for the duration - from the hilarious script to the fantastic soundtrack (Seriously, go and buy it now - its that good!) It left me wanting to spend more time with the characters, I promptly pre-ordered the Blu-ray and started counting down the days until the squeal is out!

Guardians is everything that I want the new Star Wars films to be, and it certainly does a better job of crafting a sci-fi world with a lighthearted swashbuckling vibe than episodes 1-3 did. Episode 7 is going to have to pull something pretty special out of the bag to top what Marvel have put out with this film!

Finally I want to mention briefly the post credits scene, so if you don't want it spoiled before you see it make sure you close this page now...

... Still with us? Ok, last spoiler warning!

The post credit scene shows The Collector being licked by a dog in a space suit (most probably Cosmo, a dog sent into space by the soviets who also happens to have telekinetic powers!) and then being given grief by non other than Howard the Duck!

After the fairly horrific Lucas film, most people never expected to see Howard again, especially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - this post credits scene opens the door for things even stranger than Rocket and Groot!

Go out and see Guardians of the Galaxy now! You will not regret it! Now excuse me while I get in line for Avengers: Age of Ultron...