"Uh-oh. Toxic levels are off the charts. We're talking class 1 sludge: Fatal if swallowed, poisonous if inhaled, corrosive to the eyes and extremely hazardous to skin"

New LEGO!!!! It's one of the few things that will never lose its appeal! The great thing about LEGO is the way they reinvent themselves, they are continuously releasing new themes and products. It seems like the LEGO movie is still fresh in peoples minds especially with the release of the DVD. Since it made its way onto the big screen there has been some new Themed ranges, the Simpsons characters have made their way to the LEGO world, Guardians of the galaxy movie kits have ended up in the boys room and yet they have still managed to design and release a completely new concept.

I spotted LEGO Ultra Agents in the shops a few weeks back and as with all kits i was firstly dragged in by the minifigures. Seth is a big James bond fan so this range was always going to be on his wish list. Secret agents and a great selection of villains throughout the six kits, whats not to like. To kick start our collection, Ultra Agents Riverside raid. What i love about the smaller LEGO kits is they are pocket money prices and great for a gift without going all out. A goodie, a baddie, a vehicle and something to knock over, all you need to start making up your own LEGO scenario's.

Opeie was desperate to open the box when it arrived so as the weather was lush we took it outside to build. As with all kits built Opeie is the Minifigure builder, So Agent Max Burns and Adam Acid was his job to build. Its great how the range has a back story and it seems that all the bad guys names are based around harmful disasters. Opeie loved the green toxic coloured face, i think the look oozed 'proper baddie'.

The first part of the build is a boat for your Ultra Agent to get around on. One of the things i love most about the newer kits coming out are the weapons on vehicles. When playing with the boys and having battles the new stud shooter blasters (like below) and the spring action darts that have been on the new Marvel kits have made roleplaying with our LEGO so much more fun and the boys find them a lot easier to use than the flick darts.

 The second part of the build is a wheeled base meaning the vehicle when playing can be used on land and in the water which is great as Seth is a stickler for the rules. I like to pretend that vehicles can go on any terrain but not Seth, if its a boat it stays in the water, but give it wheels and you add a little more fun to the game.

 The greatest thing about Lego is the versatility during play, being able to swap and change the design of your creation is such a big thing. Plus each Theme works perfectly side by side. What other toy range could have Abraham Lincoln kidnapped by new super villian Adam Acid?

Only to be rescued by an unexpected super team of Spider-man, Santa, Spongebob and William Shakespear, Only in the LEGO world.

To top of this great kit there is a supporting App than can be downloaded for free, a moving interactive comic with in story games to entertain you when you're not physically building. Its a perfect way to find out more information about the characters and the back stories behind each kit. The technology side of things shows just how far this classic and timeless toy has come and Opeie had lots of fun playing the game and then acted out the story by himself.

The other five kits available from the range as expected are fantastic with the Ultra Agents mission HQ being the set Seth keeps looking at. Opeie has informed me that he likes Toxikita's Toxic Meltdown (or the 'green lady baddie set'). 

Agent Max Burns protected the civilians today and Astor city is safe once more.

Bad guys lose again!!

"I only work in black. And sometimes, very, very dark gray."

For those of you that know us or are regular readers, you may have wondered how the Lego movie had gone by without a mention. It was obviously going to be a huge thing at gifts from the pirates, a full length Lego movie featuring batman, a new series of minifigures, kits and video games, all the things we love. Well it obviously didn't slip our attention. The movie was amazing and me and both of the boys loved it and although I was going to write about it when we saw it a couple of weeks back it seems the movie was all the motivation the boys needed for some new custom builds. After coming out of the cinema we headed to Smyths. I had parked the car outside and walked down to the cinema as I knew the boys would be in a Lego frenzy itching to buy minifigures. One of the characters we ended up with was Wyldstyle and it gave Seth the idea of building Wyldstyle a house. Work began the minute we walked through the door and Lego building has taken up an hour here and there over the last two weeks ever since.

Seth knew exactly what he wanted and was quite clear about the end result he had invisioned. He wanted to keep the colours of the minifigure in the building so we stuck to black, pink, purple and blue which looked great. He also wanted saloon style doors because of the Wild West theme in part of the film and a robot butler (just because he wanted one).

The building apparently needed a garden with trees I guess to give the exterior a softer look...

Something that always makes me chuckle about Seth's Lego builds is that whatever he is building it always seems to come with some sort of holding cell. I'm sure a child psychologist would have a field day and come up with some explanation for that. But I think it's just because he knows already in this life that there's a huge need to lock up bad guys. We do always add into the build some sort of escape route though like this swinging slide out roof.

It's not all guns, getaway vehicles and action. Sometimes the heroes need to be able to pop their feet up with coffee and the daily paper, you can't be fighting crime and master building all the time.

But when it is that time you need to be fully aware what's going on which is why on most of our larger builds Seth includes some sort of CCTV command centre.

As the bulk of the bricks were black there wasn't much light being let in for playing so when Seth decided that the second floor needed to be a dance floor we built a see through floor that could fully slide out making it easier to play in the lower levels. The reason Seth wanted a dance floor is because in the movie people keep day 'wyldstyle' sounds like a DJ name.

We've been collecting the recent series of minifigures  (as we do with every series) so they inevitably appeared on the build too. I love it when a new series comes out and in the first few weeks of release I can be found feeling up bags in our local toy shops. Minifigures are educational too. If it wasn't for Lego Seth and Opeie wouldn't be asking who both Shakespeare and Abraham Lincoln were. So it's nice for them to be learning these things early. I'm quite sure they will both have had enough of Shakespeare by the time they reach their teenage years.

It didn't take us long to complete Wyldstyle's house and Seth and Opeie have been playing with it every day since.

And then all that was left to do was make use of the dance floor on the roof.

Seth being Seth though wanted to get stuck in to a second build. It's only fair that the star of the movie gets his own place too. I wanted to wait till the build was complete but Seth came up with the idea of photographing it mid build with all the Independent contractors present and working hard.

Seth even made a digger carrying bricks for the photos which I thought was an amazing touch. I really love the way he gets into the building. He reminds me so much of myself. Emmett's house is coming along nicely. It looks like a work site exactly how Seth wanted and is shaping up to be a great build with hidden trap doors, fun touches...

...and of course a holding cell for the less desirable characters from the movie.

Our Lego movie themed creating hasn't just stopped at buildings. Wyldstyle needed a way of getting around so we designed her a fun motorcycle with rocket launchers

And Mrs M made us all proud by getting involved too, building a garage for Wyldstyle's wheels, the boys love it when mommy plays and I love it when she gets involved too. Lego is a great for spending quality time as a family.

I'm sure there will be a post soon with the finished build and possibly a new one started. Seth has big ideas of building a whole town so it will be interesting to see how that all pans out.