LEGO introduces Classic Disney Minifigure Series

My kids love the blind bags that you can purchase at the store that contain a random LEGO minifigure and are always excited when I let them get one.  In fact they enjoy playing with these minifigures and the ones that came within the LEGO playsets they've gotten almost as much as they like building things with LEGO bricks.  Based upon how much my own children like minifigures, I'm pretty sure LEGO fans of all ages will appreciate that the toy company is launching a collection of Classic Disney character minifigures that can be purchased individually without having to buy a playset to get them beginning May 1, 2016.  I know my kids have often wanted to purchase individual DC Comics, Marvel and Star Wars LEGO minifigures but we couldn't get them without purchasing a specific playset so it is interesting that these characters are being made available for individual purchase and this is an opportunity you may not want to miss out on.

The available characters LEGO fans can pick up will include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck.

Plus characters from classic 1950s Disney animated movies such as characters Alice and the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland, Peter Pan and Captain Hook from Neverland and villain Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.

Some minifigures will also be available from more recent Disney animated movie releases such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and  Lilo & Stitch.

Also never-before-seen in the LEGO world, Mr. Incredible and Syndrome from The Incredibles will be released as part of the Classic Disney minifigure collection.

Beginning May 1st these LEGO minifigures will be available at LEGO Stores and other toy retailers nationwide and online via shop.LEGO.com for $3.99 each.

Comic Book Review: Alice in Wonderland

Our bedtime reading this week has been Dark Horse Comic’s adaption of “Alice in Wonderland”. This hardcover book demonstrates that comics can be a fun outlet for parents to enjoy with their young children...in my case 4 year old twins.  I enjoy finding books that have artwork that will draw their attention into the pages, help expand my childrens' interaction in the story-telling, and foster an appreciation of creativity and the arts.  Eisner & Ignatz Awards-nominated Rod Espinosa accomplishes just that in his sketched version of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale that provides a mind’s eye of Wonderland to its readers.

I appreciated that this book was entertaining enough to keep my children’s attention as we read through the pages together and didn’t have content that would be concerning in regard to potentially creating nightmares for the kids.  Many of the recent revisions of Alice in Wonderland in movies, television, and publications have had a very dark and dangerous tone to them and I was pleased that the comic did not take that tact in its interpretation of Alice’s adventures.  That being said there are challenges and dangers portrayed in this comic where anyone could risk at anytime losing their head at the displeasure of her Majesty ... you just can’t have a Queen of Hearts who doesn’t say “Off with her Head” ...  which demonstrates that Wonderland may be a fascinating place for a visit, but you really don’t want to stay too long.

Espinosa illustrates this comic with a Manga-influence that gives a light air to the artwork which helped capture my kids’ attention.  We had recently read some Beatrix Potter books at bedtime and my daughter was delighted to tell me the drawings in this “Alice in Wonderland” story reminded her of some of the watercolors from the Potter stories.  The other thing the artwork reminded me daughter of, which has become somewhat amusing, is she believes the Mad Hatter character looks like Jay Leno so whenever she sees a commercial for the Tonight Show (of course she doesn’t stay up that late to watch the show) she yells out “look daddy it’s the Mad Hatter”.  One critique is that while characters like the Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, and Deck of Card Knights really boldly pop out from the pages at you, the White Rabbit just has this blah uninteresting appearance to him that really isn’t up to par with the rest of the drawings in the comic and becomes somewhat of a mild distraction from enjoying that character’s portions of the story.

All in all Dark Horse Comic’s “Alice in Wonderland” was an enjoyable read that passed the Geek Daddy’s bedtime reading test in that it was exciting and interesting enough to entertain my children, kept their attention long enough for them to get sleepyheaded, and didn’t have any content or pictures that result in either of my kids waking up in the middle of the night because they became scared from the story.  My daughter who dressed up as Alice for Halloween last year really enjoyed us reading the story together and seeing how the character was portrayed in the comic so an extra kudos to Rod Espinosa from her as well!

 I was provided a free advance copy of the comic to review from the publisher.  The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

“Alice in Wonderland” is scheduled to go on sale February 19, 2013 for a suggested retail price of $19.99.  Amazon.com has the book available for pre-order at a discounted $13.59 and Barnes & Noble has it available to pre-order for $13.45.