LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Mighty Micros review

The LEGO Super Heroes Mighty Micros series are small sets that feature two characters with their own vehicles and accessories.

These ones are Marvel characters, and come in three sets: Captain America and Red Skull; Spider-Man and Green Goblin; Hulk and Ultron.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Mighty Micros packshot

They skew younger than most of the other Super Heroes sets, with recommended age of 5-12, but my 4-year-old daughter put them together herself – with a little encouragement from me to stay focused!

While the choice of characters is likely influenced by their movie appearances, the mini figures are more cartoony that previous incarnations. They are  also smaller, with the normal articulated legs here replaced with shorter mobile ones – presumably so the figures don’t loom out of their diminutive vehicles too much.

Might Micro minifigures compared with their standard minifigure counterparts.
Might Micro minifigures compared with their standard minifigure counterparts.

The combos mostly make sense, with an established hero/villain combo from the movies. The only exception is the Hulk/Ultron matchup, but neither character really has a direct nemesis to face off against.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Mighty Micros setsThere’s no real scenario to each set, other than each character has a vehicle and an accessory. Some of these make sense – Cap has his shield and a tank vs. Red Skull in another military vehicle plus the cosmic cube. However, Hulk is driving a Hulk car and eating a drumstick. It’s not a problem – I really like the Hulk one (as does the kid) with its ‘Hulk hands’ and green & purple colours – it’s just clear that some characters suited the format more than others.

These are fun and reasonably priced LEGO superhero sets. It’s a shame that no female characters are included in this Marvel series, but Catwoman does feature in one of the DC Super Hero sets.

Age wise, I would say these skew towards the younger end of the recommended 5-12 – but then again I had fun with them, and am somewhat outside of the recommended age.

The LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Mighty Micros sets have an RRP of £8.99

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These LEGO sets were provided free of charge for the purposes of this review.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – Crossbones’ Hazard Heist Set Review

This set ties in with the (frankly magnificent) Captain America: Civil War movie. The scenario occurs near the start of the film when the Avengers are trying to foil a heist.

Toy manufacturers rightly got a lot of stick for essentially rewriting Black Widow out of one of her big action scenes in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was a crucial chase scene, and they replaced her with Captain America in certain sets. Thankfully, nothing similar here – in fact Cap is missing (because he’s in two other related sets), while Widow is back on her bike.

In this portion of the chase Black Widow, plus The Falcon with his drone Redwing, are after former Hydra agent Crossbones, who is in possession of a some kind of bio weapon he’s stolen (I forget exactly what…).

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Crossbones' Hazard Heist Set Review packshot 76050

The biggest draw for us was the inclusion of Black Widow, one of the few onscreen female superheroes – yet one we had yet to acquire a minifigure for. It was also great to get the Falcon, who is out first non-white superhero LEGO figure.

The suggested age is 6-12, and my 4-year-old daughter made it in a single session with minimal assistance. Despite not having seen the movie, she was keen to find out from me what the scenario was and re-enact it – subsequently involving other characters from her LEGO Avenjet set.

However, my daughter is also adamant the jeep is in fact a tractor that Crossbones has stolen from a farmer.

At the lower end of the price scale (be on the lookout for the right price), this offers decent value for money for a licensed LEGO set – with 3 figures, 2 vehicles, plus accessories.

And adding another female minifigure to our Superhero collection is always welcome.

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The LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Crossbones’ Hazard Heist set (76050) has an RRP of £19.99.

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Disclosure: We were provided with the LEGO set free of charge for the purposes of this review.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – Avenjet Space Mission Review

There was one simple reason I wanted us to have this LEGO Avenjet Space Mission set.

Yes, we love superheroes and I have a particular fondness for Marvel. We are of course big LEGO fans too. And it was a pretty cool looking spaceship version of the Avengers Quintet.

But there was one very small but important inclusion in the set – a Captain Marvel LEGO minifigure.

Captain Marvel LEGO minifigure, Carol Danvers LEGO minifigure, Captain Marvel LEGO
The wonderful Captain Marvel LEGO minifigure – happy, unhappy, and ready for action!

Why is a Captain Marvel LEGO figure so important?

Formerly Ms. Marvel (who in the 70’s & 80’s was probably my first introduction to feminism) as well as a few other incarnations, she is a hugely important character in the world of female comic book fandom.

There’s too much to go into here, but basically writer Kelly Sue Deconnick took a tier 2 Marvel character and propelled her to the A-List. So much so that Marvel Studios will release a Captain Marvel movie in 2018, with the character making her big screen debut a year earlier in the next Avengers movie.

So as soon as I saw this this set, I knew I had to get it for my daughter as I really wanted her to learn about and engage with the character.

But it’s not just about Captain Marvel…

The set also features 4 other figures. On the heroes side, we have Captain America with his mighty shield plus space accessories. He is teamed with Iron Man wearing what is presumably a white space armour.

Iron Man Captain America LEGO minifigures Avenjet Space Mission
Shell head & Cap in space gear

There is also Hyperion, a character who is literally Marvel’s version of Superman, from their riff on the Justice League, the Squadron Supreme. They’ve faced off against – and then with – the Avengers a few times.

Hyperion and Superman LEGO minifigures
Hyperion is Marvel’s deliberate homage to Superman (Supes is not included in this set in case you were wondering)

Plus there is a large sized figure of Thanos – the intergalactic villain already seen in a few Marvel movies. He’s shaping up to be the big bad guy of the next two Avengers movies.

He’s also been copied – in this case shamelessly ripped off – from another DC character called Darkseid. My daughter noticed the similarity – proud geek dad moment.

Thanos LEGO figure Avenjet Space Mission
Thanos – who my daughter correctly pointed out looked like DC’s Darkseid (he was a Marvel ripoff)

The actual Avenjet model is in fact 2 spaceships in 1 – the smaller ship slots into and sits atop the larger one. It has been keenly noted by my daughter that the Captain Marvel LEGO ship is much bigger than Captain America’s. Both come with the ubiquitous stud guns and missile launchers.

The set has over 500 pieces in 3 numbered bags, and the completed model is less than 1sq ft. The stated age range is 7-14, but my 4-year-old daughter and I happily built it over a couple of sessions, with her doing the majority of the construction (I think she mostly wanted the company rather than assistance).

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Avenjet Space Mission Review packshot, Captain Marvel LEGO

The only disappointment was the Thanos figure. While he looks great, he has very little articulation – the legs do not move at all and his arms only move in the shoulder and the wrists.

But it’s a minor quibble. My daughter is now enjoying playing out space adventures with familiar and new heroes – and with the Captain Marvel bug firmly planted in her mind she has yet another great female superhero to engage with.

The LEGO Avenjet Space Mission (76049) has an RRP of £49.99.


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We were provided with the LEGO set free of charge for the purposes of this review.

Family Fever

Does My Daughter Love Star Wars Because of Me?

People often wonder why I’m so enthusiastic about sharing my love of Star Wars with my daughter. For the most part, they’re questioning it. Familiar comments are “Why not just let kids be kids?”, “Why not just let her choose herself?”, “Why am I imposing my interests on my daughter?”, or worst of all “Why am I trying to make her into a boy?” (I’m not).

Although I feel it’s no different than a sports fan passing on their love of a favourite team, for me it goes beyond mere parenting nostalgia.

We live in a world where cultural life is formed increasingly by the market, yet only certain brands are actively marketed to girls. If I was to simply “let kids be kids” and merely encourage what my daughter responds to in the pop cultural landscape around her, all I am doing as is relinquishing my parenting influence to that of the marketeers, and beyond that letting them define to her what is and isn’t for girls.

There is nothing inherently male about Star Wars. As a child, I don’t believe I liked it because I was a boy, but because I was a child and it was insanely cool. I don’t remember it being overtly marketed to males, something that changed as I grew older. When I was a kid, the other biggest Star Wars fan I knew was a girl who lived around the corner.

As a giddily excited new dad, I enjoyed buying Star Wars onesies and baby toys, but as she grew up I was happily surprised she continued to enjoy engaging with it. As a toddler, she loved us to read Darth Vader and Son. When I brought home my old Star Wars toys from my parents attic, I assumed I would store them away until she was 6 or 7, and give them a go then. She spotted them, wanted to play with them straight away, and they never made it past our lounge.

So am I imposing what I love on my daughter? You may have read this and other posts and think I am. I disagree. In a way, I am marketing to my daughter. I am trying to give Star Wars, seen widely as a ‘boy’ interest, the same chance of taking hold as the dozens of other ‘girl’ brands being presented to her. I do the same with superheroes. I’m just trying to level the gendered marketing playing field. She’s already accepted that Star Wars is for both boys and girls (and will often tell her friends this). Whether it will stick, I have no idea.

While I admit I will find it slightly sad if she decides that Star Wars isn’t for her when she is older, I will completely respect that choice (and not try to change her mind!)

But in the meantime, Star Wars is something we enjoy together as father and daughter, and today we have a day of Star Wars toys, dress ups, and watching The Empire Strikes Back ahead of us. Fun times that I shall always remember with joy.
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Star Wars: Episodes I-VI, The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are all available to watch on NOW TV. 

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Disclosure: I receive free access to NOW TV in exchange for blogging about the service.

Japanese Udon Noodles with Miso Carbonara recipe

This Japanese Udon Noodles with Miso Carbonara recipe has become the breakfast of choice for my daughter and I, and we’ll have it 2-3 times a week.

Before you go “ugh”, this is not a cheesy dish.

We kind of made it up ourselves, and it was born from solving a problem: Despite our daughter generally being a very unfussy eater, eggs were something she didn’t like – whether fried, scrambled, boiled or as an omelette.

This was annoying because I really liked eggs for breakfast, and is was also a really convenient joint breakfast. While I could still make them for myself, making separate breakfasts for you & your toddler is a real pain. So how to get her to eat eggs again?

I was probably inspired by this recipe for Miso Scrambled Eggs, but the eggs in this dish are not scrambled – like a traditional Italian Carbonara, they are a thickening agent for the sauce to bind it all together. Y’know, like the force.

This dish has been great for a) Enabling us to have a convenient and tasty joint breakfast of eggs, b) Getting her to eat chilli*, c) Getting her to eat with chopsticks**.

Japanese Udon Noodles with Miso Carbonara recipe

Serves: 1 adult and 1 toddler/preschooler 

Ingredients

  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 small red chilli/tsp chilli flakes
  • portion Udon noodles
  • sachet/portion of miso (approx 25g)
  • 3 eggs

Method

  1. Cook noodles as per packet instructions.
  2. In a large frying pan, fry the chilli on a low heat.
  3. In a bowl, mix miso with a little water. Add eggs, and lightly whisk.
  4. Pour egg & miso mixture into the pan, then add drained noodles.
  5. This is the crucial part. This needs to gradually thicken into a sauce, not cook into scrambled eggs. Start on a low heat, then whack it up for short blasts of high to get it going. Keep stirring all the time, to make sure the eggs cook evenly.
  6. Divide into bowls (we go 2/3 adult, 1/3 child) and serve immediately.
  7. Eat with lightsaber chopsticks (Pictured. Optional, but cool).

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*How to get your kid to eat chilli

As a kid – and even a young adult – I never ate chilli. I hated it. Didn’t see the point of it. But once I finally embraced it, I loved it and realised what I’d been missing. So when I had a kid, I knew I wanted to get this chilli indoctrination out of the way early.

So I started gradually at about 2. It clearly wasn’t pleasant for her, but I offered an incentive – a piece of chocolate afterwards. And eventually, she stopped asking for the chocolate and started to enjoy it. One time, I forget to put chilli in this, and she got very upset, crying “ButI want the tingle!”

I also championed the soothing power of eating chilli when you have a cold, and she agreed. Now she requests chilli in her food whenever she has a cold.

**How to get you kid to eat with chopsticks

This was also something I learned late in life, so I wanted to try and get my kid in the habit early. Easier said than done I though, but I had a great ally in the films of Studio Ghibli.

These Japanese animated movies have frequent scenes of people eating with chopsticks, so I merely encouraged her to eat with chopsticks like her favourite characters in My Neighbour Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, etc. and this was motivation enough. She is now completely at ease using them.

It also helps to have an awesome pair of Lightsaber chopsticks, that we picked up in Japan. My daughter and I take turns in who gets to use them. 🙂

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So that’s our Japanese Udon Noodles with Miso Carbonara recipe. For another child friendly noodle dish, also see my Teriyaki Udon Noodles with Chilli and Egg Recipe.

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