BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01571 Andy has been hard at work making mini replicas of tools and weapons from Minecraft. Andy looks for the pattern online and then uses Perler beads to create these minis. Andy’s ultimate plan is to attach magnets and Command Strips to them to display them in their room. We suggested that Andy make a bunch up for the rock sale this Summer. I think that Andy just wants to do these for fun for now.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01549 I was sent a box of fun stuff for the upcoming super Mario Bros. Movie. Mario and Luigi hats, t-shirts, stickers, buttons and bags. Lots of fun stuff. I made a video unboxing the swag. The movie hits theaters on April 5th.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01545 For a few years, Skylanders was my jam. They were the thing that I worked on all the time, playing the game, reporting on the game, collecting toys and pretty much anything else with them. Then they disappeared almost overnight. I’ve got a huge display cabinet with every Skylander ever except for one, Master Ro-Bow. That one was impossible to find because it was the very last one out. I held it in my hand once but did not buy it because I thought that Activision was going to send one to me. So instead that one is not part of my collection and it goes for several hundred dollars on eBay. I’d love to find it and add it to the collection one day but it is unlikely. I guess I should take my collection and start playing through the last game, Skylanders: Imaginators on my YouTube channel. Give some new life in these Toys To Life Toys.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01542 I took this using screenshot mode on my XBox and so it is a photo I technically took. There was an open beta for Diablo IV on XBox and I created myself an avatar that looked as close as I could make it look to me, if I was a shape shifting giant druid. There are a few character types to choose from and I chose the Druid specifically because they can use magic and also become a bear or a werewolf. The druid can also have a pair of wolves with them to fight all the crazy enemies that home their way. The game is fun to play, I played the original Diablo and Diablo II way back when but now it is much more detailed and the gameplay is rather fun. A good change of pace from Fortnite. I’m not sure if I will continue past the beta since the game itself is $100.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01526 Andy was home sick from school today. When school was out he was able to contact his friend Bella so that the two of them could play Beat Sabre together on their Oculus systems. When I found him he and Bella were chatting through a Facetime call but they both had on their Oculus headsets. We figured out how to connect them through the Oculus app so that they could play and talk with each other at the same time. He has a couple of friends who have the Oculus and now he can play with them and chat with them at the same time in various games.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01520 I have the ability to play on my XBox remotely. I can pair my XBox controller with my phone and use that to play any of the games that I have on my console. I use this when I am at work in the office so that I can let one of my games, Autonauts run through the night. In Autonauts you program robots to do a bunch of things for you in this little world. Some of it takes a while so I usually have it running at night when I’m watching TV. That way it can just run and I don’t have to do much. The little robots make a bunch of resources I can use in the game to advance in levels. Well, I had an XBox controller phone holder and I broke one and lost the other, so I had to get a new one. I like the design of this new one, however the one thing that is is missing is a stand. The old ones had a stand so that I could place the controller down and it would not tip back.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01474 In one of my old Loot Crates I got a Link action figure from The Legend of Zelda. The Legend of Zelda is one of my very favorite games and Link is one of the best game characters ever. I found a set of Perler beads that make Link’s shield. I think I may ask Andy to put that together for me. He does enjoy making things with Perler beads and this may be a fun challenge for him. Maybe he’ll have it done before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 comes out.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01471 The kids now have their own Xbox controllers and controllers go through batteries pretty quickly. So, in both an effort to keep them charged but to also keep the entertainment organized I got a charging station. This will keep the entertainment center cleaned up along with the hooks I put in for the headphones. The kids have also been really good about not overdoing it in the Xbox since that television is used by all of us.

  I was given two Nintendo Switch Game Codes for the upcoming game, Smurfs Kart for free so that I could review the game and do a giveaway. Opinions are my own. We all know that I am a child of the 70’s but my formative pop culture years were the 1980’s. I watched The Smurfs every Saturday morning as a kid. I loved Saturday morning cartoons and the Smurfs was a huge part of that. I had collected many Smurfs figures and stickers and so many Smurfs related things. I jumped at the chance to review this game. Playing Smurfs Kart is like being transported to Smurfs Village and being 3 apples tall. I had so much fun racing around the courses as Papa Smurf in a Smurf sized vehicle that had the look and feel of some contraption that Handy Smurf created. As I raced along in the Smurf Cup races and won nearly all of them. I was playing in “Fun” mode to start, I earned a bunch of Smurfs Stickers for my sticker album. Did I mention that I collected stickers as a kid and these stickers in the g...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01412 The other day I was at Five Below and found this candy tin that was shaped to look like a Gameboy from the late 90’s. I got one of these when I was a kid. I bought it myself after mowing lawns and working at The Dairy Tower on Cape Cod. My boss there let me buy it and a ton of batteries from BJs using their membership. I remember that I wanted one not only to play games anywhere but to play with my friend James while we road down to Florida on vacation. The Gameboy allowed you to tether two of them together so that you could play head to head with a friend. So, with a brick of double AA batteries and a day and a half car ride we were set to play to our heart’s content. This is actually the one video game system that I do not know exactly what happened to it when I left for college. I took my original NES with me but not the Gameboy. I have found a game or two from time to time but never the actual Gameboy. It definitely was fun for the time I had it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01366 I’ve been sleeping in my office since Monday and haven’t been venturing outside of it for much of anything except to pick up the kids from school or to take them to their classes and such. COVID has been kicking my butt and I haven’t felt like doing much other than resting. I haven’t been thinking much about photos either. At night I do notice that I have many Glow-In-The-Dark Skylanders figures in my display case. I decided to take a photo, not a very good one, of them using Night Sight on my phone. The red is coming from the light son my computer but the figure int he back is a Skylander that Glows.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01365 The fifth and final Marvel X Fortnite Zero War comic came out today and with it another free downloadable cosmetic for the game. What I did not know was that there was an additional set f cosmetics that I would get for free from having all the comics. I got the Iron Man Zero War suit plus back bling and harvesting tool. This is a great set because it also comes with a built in emote and the suit can be both Iron Man red and Gold or Fortnite Blue and red. It looks great. I thought, however that I’d have it sort of exclusively for a little while. You know, a reward for people who actually bought the comic books and and collected the codes but when the item shop reset at 8pm there was the set that anyone could buy using their V-bucks. I was mildly annoyed, but not surprised. On another front, COVID continues to run its course. I’m really run down because of it. This has really killed my training and I’m not happy about it. I took a walk around the block twice ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01285 With the last update to Fortnite they added a whole bunch of movement options to characters in Save The World. Now the characters can move like the characters in the regular Battle Royale game with the ability to slide, mantle and sprint. This makes the Ninja character so much better to play.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01275 The Fine folks at Funko sent me a free 2-Pack of Pop! Games figures. Opinions are my own. Back when I was a kid Street Fighter was a huge game and a social game that people played on consoles with each other and on stand up cabinets in arcades. It loved playing and mashing the buttons to try and beat anyone I played against. I won and I lost but always had fun. Now Fortnite is a huge game that people play socially online. Fortnite is also a game where you play as different characters and Fortnite is pulling in all sorts of pop culture characters including Street Fighter characters. Funko is also huge into Pop culture and they have put out a new two-pack of Pop! Games figures. The set has Ryu from Street Fighter and Brite Bomber from Fortnite. I picked up the Ryu skin in the Fortnite Game but have yet to actually find Brite Bomber in the item shop at the same time when I have some V-bucks to spend. I’ll have to jump at the chance next time she comes to the i...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01265 Today we celebrated Eva and her graduation from Eighth Grade. We had family over for a cook out to celebrate and also to celebrate Father’s Day. Eva’s friend Bailey came over as well. Eva wanted something small and that is what it was. We had excellent burgers from Chartley Country Store and also hot dogs and chicken. We enjoyed a great salad as well. Andy made the cake. He had big ideas for it but we were able to get him down to a more reasonable and manageable design that I think he was very happy with. Either way, the cake was delicious. Nintendo remembered that it was Father’s day and they sent me a fun free package of new stuff including the new game Nintendo Switch Sports. This is like the old Wii Sports but updated and lots of fun. Andy got very into playing and has become quite good at the games. I’m also excited that there were Legend of Zelda pint glasses included. Not pictured are some Super Mario Bros pajamas.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01254 When I went to the wild Time comics today I was able to pick up the new MArvel X Fortnite: Zero War #1 comic book. This is the new collaboration between Fortnite and Marvel Comics. I really enjoy when Fortnite does comic book crossovers and they are usually done very well. This is no exception. This is a well done comic that moves the Fortnite storyline along. I thoroughly enjoyed it and reviewed it for my YouTube Channel. Buying the comic also got me a special Fortnite skin and back bling.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01246 Apparently you can take your XBox controller apart and swap out different parts. I purchased some textured back panels for my controller that provide a better grip. I like that it is textured and not just smooth because I feel like it will slide out of my hands if it is just smooth. I also picked up a kit to replace the thumbstick controller within my other controller. I am going to have to pick up a soldering iron as well but It will be an interesting thing to try and fix.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01229 Today was Free Comic Book Day over at Wild Time Comics. Randy and the crew moved the celebration to this week because the weather was not going to cooperate last week. They really lucked out today with a great day. With the new location they had a bunch of room to set up a great outside display. Eva had a nice time. One of the comics that we have been reading together finally put out the final issue. She also picked up a Stanger Things comic and a Legend of Korra/Avatar one. Eva also saw someone there wearing merchandise from her favorite streaming group, Dream SMP. So she told them that she liked their jacket and they told her that hey liked her pins. I had to pick up a new controller because my other one had major drift. It made it so hard to actually play any games and making video was near impossible. I’m looking to get a repair kit but I don’t know if it will completely fix the problem. If it does then I will have a backup. If it doesn’t then I definit...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01227 I make Fortnite videos throughout the week. Sometimes things happen in the videos that cause me to get surprised. I was collecting items and got sniped at so I jumped and this was the result. I also realized the next day that I had not taken a photo so I took one from my video.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01222 My Skylanders collection is not doing much these days except for being decorations in my office. I keep talking about doing some streaming with these toys. I should really start doing that on my YouTube or Twitch channel.