Moomin candy 2

Previously: http://fantasticpainkiller.blogspot.com/2015/07/moomin-candies.html

I found a bag of Moomin candies I've never seen before! And unlike every other Moomin branded confectionery in Finland this one is not made by Fazer! These candies are from Italy and made by Zaini! I recognize this brand for their chocolate eggs that are sold around easter in stores here in Finland. I never knew they made other candies as well!

It was kind of weird seeing this winter themed illustration on the bag in the middle of  summer, but who cares? I was already sold on the promise of a surprise figure inside! I bought two bags  right away and I think they only cost 1,59€ each, which is much cheaper compared to Fazer's price range.

The jellies (or can I call them marmelade?) come in four flavours, which are: strawberry, orange, cherry, lemon.

My favorite was the cherry and least favorite one the orange (surprise, surprise). Lemon flavour, I think, is a little bit unusual to be found in these type of candy but it wasn't terrible. I'd have preferred the strawberry to have a slightly stronger taste to it, but it was okay. If there wasn't a surprise toy involved, I wouldn't buy this bag just for the jellies. They aren't that good, just "meh" overall.

I was hoping the surprise would be an actual figure instead of some sticker and other kinds of cheap junk they put inside surprise toys these days. And yes, it was a tiny figure, but with my luck I ended up with a double of the same figure, Moominpappa. 

I would really like to get  Little My, Snufkin, Hattifatteners and Moominmamma of course. I wonder why they chose Snork instead of Snorkmaiden who seems to be the more obvious choice.

The figure from the candy bag is really similar to the one I got from the Moomin Christmas calendar, the most noticeable difference is the way the tail is positioned and the material. The calendar figure is made of a slightly softer plastic.

My Moominpappa collection

Oh Gingerbread

Since I don't find the time to finish any of my other half done projects at home, here's instead some stuff I did at school. These were made in December in the weeks before Christmas.

This was the first time I worked with marzipan, and it wasn't easy. Out of the end results, I only like the snowmen really, the others look terrible. XD The flower sculpture is made out of molten isomalt, and yes, those are supposed to be roses. I was under the impression the whole time that we were only allowed to use six petals to make a flower, but that wasn't true. By the time I found that out, I had already finished my sculpture. I wanted to make a second one in hopes it would turn out better, but there wasn't enough time. Working with isomalt was fun and challenging, I hope I get to do this again!

Next up, some traditional gingerbread cookies! I cut the hole too big on my piping bag so some of the lines are way bigger than I intended to make. And I really could have used a reference picture for the reindeer, but I just winged it.

Here's the big one, my Dala horse made of gingerbread. We were NOT allowed to make a traditional gingerbread house, but anything else was okay! I thought about making a spaceship from Star Wars, but the horse won due to its parts being much easier to draw down.

I baked a few extra parts of the smaller pieces in case I 'd break some during the assembly, which I did. While I was putting this thing together, I burned my left middle finger on the edge of the pan, leaving me with a small burn scar. Nothing serious, but goddamn it hurt like hell.

After baking the horse's parts I realized I had forgotten to make a mirror piece, so I did that and was left  with this extra horsey. It was good for practicing my piping skills, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

It turned out better than I dared to hope for, although all I see is the mistakes I made and wish I could undo. Now, the real question his how can I bring myself to eat it and destroy it after all the hours I put into  building it? In total, I think it took around 3 school days and some odd hours to finish it.

Done!

Star Wars Drink & Play & Disappointment

Yes, I'm a sucker for everything with a Star Wars label on it. Which is why  when I came across these multifruit flavoured juices that promised me a surprise toy, I bought three of them right away without even blinking! (Each with different characters on the label of course)

I'm not familiar with the concept of getting a toy while buying something to drink, it feels so bizarre. I'm only used to kids being offered toys from Chocolate Easter eggs, cereal boxes, big chain hamburger places and etc.

The first telling signs that I'm in for a disappointment was the juice itself. Just looking at it, doesn't feel very appetizing because the color is so "dirty" in my eyes. What do you know, I was right, the juice didn't taste very good. It wasn't exactly the worst dishwater I ever tasted, but it definitely wouldn't  be my first choice of beverage not by a long shot. However, the biggest reason for my disappointment......

I was cheated. Cheated by a children's multifruit drink. I don't think I've ever felt this feeling before. Well, those promised "surprises" where a surprise alright! Take a second look at the label, will you? It says Star Wars - The Clone Wars, right? You aren't going to be getting any of it.  2/3 of the contents are the Avengers! The f***ing Avengers!! Why!? I didn't ask for this!  Fine, 1/3 is Star Wars, but it is the Rebels, not the Clone Wars I was promised. I don't care if Disney owns it all, this is false and misleading advertising!
Hey Disney, I would like to have my money back now, thank you!



No, I'm not as upset about this I made it sound like. 

151.

I feel more like making a big smile

Little did I know, that I'd be getting much more than I bargained for when I walked into a toy store looking for something Star Wars to buy. I was about to leave the store after paying for my items, when the cashier asked if I play Pokémon. Hesitatingly I answered yes (because in my mind, I was wondering why the heck is she asking me that) and she handed over this most beautiful coupon I've ever seen in my life. A download code for a level 100 Mew. Thank you BR-Lelut!

For the entire way home to my 3DS I was sure the code wouldn't work, I can't have this sort of luck, but it did work! It actually worked! After nearly 20 years I got myself a legitimate Mew. Sure, I have used the glitch in Blue and Yellow version to get a Mew before (who hasn't?), but this is something else!!

Too bad that I still don't have the last badge in my Pokémon Y, so Mew won't actually obey me if I were to use it in a battle. Oh well, all I can do until then I stuff that cute little face full of Poké Puffs! X3

It's so damn cute!

Flea market findings 3

Mushroom minions?

Finnish edition of Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Tove Jansson. I have a faint memory that I may have seen parts of the Disney movie a long time ago, and already as a kid did it feel too trippy to the point that I was getting nauseous. I've stayed clear from anything Alice related since then.... until now. I'm halfway through the book and thus far, the Cheshire cat is the only thing I like about this book, besides the illustrations of course. Yeah, I don't care for the story really, I just wanted it for Tove's illustrations! <3

My first initial reaction to this was that this has to be a bootleg, but no, it still has a tag on its butt that reads Doraemon with copyright markings and a 7 - Eleven logo. After a little bit of google searching, I found this image with what looks to be a similar plush along with other characters from the series. Picture from: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/arjin/3871393216/

I wish this one could talk. I wanna know what it has been sitting on top of, because clearly it has been broken off something..... Something you can wear around your neck. First thing that comes to my mind would be one of those plastic,waterproof coin holders (or whatever these things are called) for some reason. Anyway, Gomamon was in a pretty rough shape at first glance, but after I removed the excess stuff and gave it a wash, it doesn't look too bad at all. ^_^

On Toad's butt it says Made for McDonald's 2013. I wonder why I bought these? 8D I don't even like Mario games that much....

 

These two Shaman King mini figures (originally surprise gifts from chocolate Easter eggs) and these 90's pacifier necklaces were in a box among other things, left out in the rain and it looked like it was about to be thrown in the trash. So, I "saved" them, the pacifiers for the nostalgia's sake and the shamankings just because of my "hey, that's anime! you can't throw that away!" -mentality (even if they aren't that pretty to look at).

Just because I want to repurpose/repaint it into something else. Don't know exactly what yet...

Total cost of all items: 3,00 €

Everything's Better with Dinosaurs

Front & back cover

Yes, this is about a sticker book. I'm not going to say much about this one, except that the concept in all its ridiculousness is freaking awesome! This sticker book is also, like the Velociraptor from my previous post, from the weekend cruise I was on a while ago. When I flipped through the pages and saw the cool images it withheld, I couldn't resist buying one.

Map of the world & example page

Background landscape

Jurassic Park III, anyone?

Various stickers & background

This whatchamacallit-Rex & Stegosaurus are my favorites

Battle armoured Woolly rhinoceros & Triceratops 

War painted, armoured Dinosaurs with guns mounted on their backs? This needs to be made into a movie. Seriously.
No? I guess I've to settle with watching Dino-Riders instead........

Jurassic Eggs: Velociraptor

An assembly set by Geoworld.

I went on a weekend cruise over to Estonia and while I didn't really find anything special on the shore, the more I found in the souvenir shop on the ship!

I had already visited the shop a couple of times, but it wasn't before the last time I went in there, that I noticed these big dinosaur eggs (height: 18 cm) on one of the shelves. I took a closer look,  and from what you can tell on the outside, I thought the quality looked decent enough, and it didn't set off any alarm bells for a cheap knockoff. I decided to buy one, then two, then three..... but then that little voice in the back of my head told me to buy just one, in case that the content of the eggs turns out to be complete garbage. So, in the end, after like 10 minutes of deliberating, I chose the Velociraptor. I think the price for one set was 13,50 €, but I wouldn't swear on it.

I was this close to buying a Spinosaurus and a T. Rex as well.

The set  includes 14 pieces in total. Assembling the Raptor was (mostly) easy,  there are pegs that you push in their reserved holes and that's it. No gluing required! ..... unless you want to. The only tricky part was getting the jaw attached to the skull, which you have to split open to get the skull hold on to the neck. I  needed some tweezers to push the very small pegs on the jaw to latch on to the skull, but otherwise it was easy peasy. The finished Velociraptor stands around 11 cm tall and length from the nose to the tip of the tail is approximately 26 cm.

There is a pamphlet included in the set with the assembling instructions and on the other side of it, an image of a feathered Velociraptor completed with some information on the species, but since it's in Russia (?) I unfortunately don't know what it's saying.

Other available sets are;

Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Carnotaurus, Parasaurolophus *, Pteranodon, Spinosaurus *, Stegosaurus, Stygimoloch *, Styracosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex *

* = want one!