All 3 older kids were away last weekend.  Yes, with this family and where they go (Jade to Nanny & Poppy’s, Damon and Georgia with Steve to Grandie and Grandad’s) there’s always fallout.  Sometimes it lasts for days.  And sometimes you have to wear that just to get a day where there’s peace.

Worth it.  Not hugely, but still.  Wifeage and I actually completed a conversation on Saturday.  Hell, we did it TWICE, and they lasted longer than 8 seconds too!  Sometimes, you just need that.

So I sat with my Steel Badger tank, that I’d recently painted in all black with grey tones, and repainted it.  The Freedom Chopper (or hatever the hell Seebs keeps calling it) had been painted up with black covering the wads of silly that Chap Mei puts on things, so it only seemed fitting that I’d give the tank to the Cobras.

Here’s the Seebs Freedom Chopper:

I not only painted over everything that was white, bright or that weirdass pinkish maroon, but I cut out the doors on one side, glued on some pushpins (and melted a hole for the pin) and made hinges for the dropout door.  It’s not perfect, in fact the Dremel left it quite rough around the edges and I still need to clean that up a bit, but I LOVE that I can reach all inside the thing now without going up its ass.

Speaking of which, here’s the back hatch:

That’s Duke and Stalker with their JUMP packs on, ready to prove Mythbusters wrong.

I’ve got Wild Bill and Hawk piloting it (though I don’t know if Hawk is a pilot or not, he had a helmet and this page has all of the 25th anniversary Joes that I have really, purchased in two amazing eBay wins for about $30 w/shipping).

Here’s the pilots:

And I’ve got my ninjas hanging out the door.  Of course, this is the Storm Shadow that’s turned Good Guy and he and his buddy Snake Eyes are ready to jump out and pop a can of ninjawhoopass.

The Joes in the helicopter are ready to, well, really for it to land so they can jump out and kick a whole bunch of ass.  I’ve got Mainframe (Dataframe?), Beachhead (really, why eleventy three versions in 2 years?  Killin’ me here…), Roadblock (the one that came with vines instead of his signature .50 cal, WTFMATE, but thank you Marauder’s Gun Runners) and Flint.

Now, ideally the helicopter would be fighting these guys:

That’s the Cobra-coloured Steel Badger.  I have yet to get some Cobra stickers, but the boys on hisstank.com have a few suggestions and I reckon I’ll be all over that when things are a bit more settled down.

So, in the FANG, I’ve got a Cobra Trooper (or Cobra Officer, I don’t remember, but I’ve got a version of each).  The Badger’s carrying a couple of Cobra Troopers (etc) in the front hatches (that I had to Dremel out) and Destro is swinging his Highlander Cutlass in a menacing way while driving.  Firefly is perched behind him because he’s going to scurry off and plant something boomy somewhere secret.  Cobra Commander is behind him, but riding bitch in a troop transport isn’t his style, so I reckon it’s an imposter (or decoy) and I’ll put the “real” CC in some other cool, egotistical, vehicle when I get my hands on one.  Next to him is Major Bludd, and then Mercenary Wraith.  Maybe it’s not their style, riding in the back of a Shoot Ute, but maybe it was some sort of rescue, I dunno, but until I can get some cooler vehicles for them and armybuild (love that it’s a verb) with some troopers, this is the goods.

Copperhead is manning the other gun in the back, with Flint ditching his disguise and about to take shit over.  Since there’s already a Flint in the helicopter, these two won’t work together because I’m a  bit OCD about that shit.  But, it works for now and I likes.

Oh, I had to Dremel off the back panels so figures could stand back there and I finally found a use for those Friggin’ Spring-Loaded Nightmares from the Rise of Cobra toys.  I cut the handles down and fit them in the pegholes at the back of the Badger, and I drilled holes in the sides of it and glued one on either side before painting them red.  All up, I’m pretty pleased, for one of my earliest efforts at least.  Once I get stickers on, and hopefully a few more vehicles, I’ll be able to fit these nicely in the shelves.

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But wait, there’s more!  WIfeage and I went op-shopping Saturday arvo, and I found a 95% complete set of Technic lego stuff.  Well, technically, two of them.  And I’m SO GLAD that I bought both, because they were clearly from the same guy and one had WAY more pieces than the other, though they were supposed to be on their own.  These things run $80 new at Toys R’ Us, $50 on eBay at least, and I got both for $10.

Haven’t taken pics, but that’s why this apptop is so frickin’ awesome.  Ready?

And…

Now naturally I couldn’t just give these to Damon, my 11-yo, and expect him to make magic happen whilst Not Knowing if there’s all the pieces there.  I had to play with… *ahem* Quality Control, each set.  There are, in fact, pieces missing, but they’re pretty basic and we should be able to find replacements pretty easily.  Except for a big wheel, I’m not sure about that.

But really, I need to shop for more Lego Technic sets?  OH NOES!

All up, it was great to have a quiet weekend with wife and toddler, play with a shitload of toys, and hide from the inclement weather that pounded my swordnerd friends who were Medievalling up in York this past weekend.

Happily embracing my nerdhood.  Feels good.