It's
back!
Yay,
it's Christmas! Well, not quite yet, but the start of our annual
Stocking Fillers features means it is time to start thinking about
what to get those special somebodies in your life. As with previous
years, we'll be running regular features with a few ideas for gifts,
gadgets, and toys in each, and generally being festive and cheerful.
Sorta. Anyway, let's start with...
Star
Wars: Rogue One Big Figs
Yes,
there is another Star Wars film out in the cinemas this Christmas, so
expect quite a few entries in these features to include things from a
long time ago, and from a galaxy far, far away. First up is the
Deathtrooper Big Fig from Jakks Pacific. This beast of a toy stands
at 20 inches in height, so a little big bigger than your standard
three inch action figures. That said, he still features points of
articulation just like a smaller fig, as well as a couple of
accessories.
Size comparison with a LEGO R2D2. Yep, it's big
We
had a choice of Jyn Erso, a Stormtrooper, or the droid K-S20, but we
opted to see the Deathtrooper, and we're glad we did. These guys
garnered plenty of interest from the trailers for the film, and the
finished product looks pretty badass up close. The level of detail is
great, and as Jakks have a lot more room to play with, there is also
a good deal of texture in that black uniform. Collecting a whole set
of these guys would take up quite a bit of room, but we have to agree
that it looks awesome.
£19.99
Visit
www.jakks.com
365
Things to do with LEGO Bricks
Hot
from out recent reviews of DK's LEGO Build Your Own Adventure books,
here we have another publication from the book giant to inspire minds
young and old in their LEGO creations. This full-colour and weighty
tome features, as the name suggests, 365 ideas, and not all of them
are for buildings and vehicles.
You
can get inspiration in building a tissue box, a literal family tree,
a bowling alley, and so much more. Unlike the previous books from DK
that we reviewed, there are no LEGO bricks included, but it does come
with a a small timer to be used in the various building challenges
in the book. There are so many great ideas in here, and fortunately
many of them don't require you to own a huge stockpile of LEGO.
£16.99
Visit
www.dk.com/
Go
Travel Micro Fan
Okay,
so you or your intended giftee might not need it for a couple more
months, but this tiny pocket fan from Go Travel is worthy as a fun
stocking filler. Unlike other pocket fans which leave the blades out
to catch on your clothing and things in your bag, the Micro Fan folds
up into itself, keeping the blades safe from damage.
It
comes with the battery needed to power it, so it is just a case of
whipping it out and switching it on. Held a few inches from your
gorgeous face, it does the job of keeping you cool without sounding
like a jet turbine. As “a little bit of something extra”-type
gift, it's great.
£7.99
Visit
go-travelproducts.com
K'NEX
Cars Building Set
We've
fallen a bit in love with K'NEX this year, it being the first year
that we've taken a look at their many varied construction sets.
Although there are roller coasters, blasters, and STEM-encouraging sets, we wanted to include a far cheaper, more versatile one for this
feature. The Cars Building Set includes just 187 parts which can be
used to construct an array of different cars, and more.
As
the box claims, the parts can be used to build 12 different kinds of
vehicles, but with a bit of imagination (and a healthy dose of
madness) you can chuck together a hell of a lot more with them. The
most important bits in the set are the wheels, so getting them is
worth the cost alone. After that, if you already own some K'NEX
pieces, you can build some pretty awesome wheeled creations.
Open-ended
toys like this always go down exceptionally well as Christmas gifts,
so this year maybe try something different than the usual LEGO.
£9.99
Visit
www.knex.co.uk