Holiday Gift Guide Part 2: The Sequel

Disclaimer: Some links in this post are from affiliates and clicking on them will give a small percentage to the Fandads. 

Following the format of our last guide, this one will not only have sections for the dad in your life, but it will also have some sections for the family. In this guide, we will share some fun games that we play as a family along with fun activities that the entire family can take part in. Ready? Let's begin!

Who you gonna call? Transformers!!

Autobots, Decepticons and ghosts?! Hasbro, Inc. and Sony Pictures Consumer Products today revealed the first-ever TRANSFORMERS-Ghostbusters Collaborative figure, the ECTO-1 ECTOTRON, available at GameStop summer of 2019 and for pre-order starting February 15 at HasbroPulse.com, GameStop and EB Games Canada. This year marks the 35th anniversary of both the TRANSFORMERS brand & the original Ghostbusters film.

Bumblebee Early Access Screenings

Paramount Pictures announced today that on Saturday, December 8th fans at select theatres in the U.S. and Canada will have the opportunity to attend paid early-access screenings for its latest film in the Transformers series, Bumblebee, starring Hailee Steinfeld.

Hasbro takes over Providence at #HASCON

HASCON has come and gone and it seems like there was a great time had by all that experienced the 3-day event from Hasbro. While the Fandads were not able to attend, we do have some awesome news regarding upcoming Transformers exclusives and some great pictures from the event to share with you. Let's begin! 

Hascon Final Scheduling is Released!

Last month we told you about an awesome event coming up with Hasbro and the final programming schedule has been released and it looks like it will be a great time! For those of you in the Providence, Rhode Island area make sure you try to make it to HASCON with your family. 

Get Ready to play with Hasbro at HASCON

What happens when Hasbro, a toy company know for making some of the most iconic toy lines, decides to host their own convention for their fans? You get the 3 day family extravaganza know as HASCON! Hascon will be the first time that hasbro has done an event like this and they are going all out for their fans. Continue reading to see all of the amazing things that will be available for fans to see and do in September. 

What's coming soon from Hasbro?

The San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone and in it's wake it has left us with a barrage of images of toys that will be out later this year. Man, my wallet is already starting to hate me. Some of the toys we have highlighted below are from the Star Wars line and the Marvel Legends series. Which figures will you pick up when they are released? 

Get ready to be engulfed in Hasbro's Cinematic Universe

When I was younger, I remember playing at my friend Jose's house with his Visionaries figures. In our story, his character, Darkstorm, captured all of the staffs from my characters giving him ultimate power. I had to figure out a way to get my staffs back, but if I remember correctly, his brother quit playing because he thought the whole idea was too farfetched.  

Little did we know that the episode we saw the next morning had almost the exact same storyline. It was almost as if my friend predicted the future that day, but who knows if he could have predicted this new storyline that is going to take place on the big screen in the coming years. 

Chasing away the rain with Hasbro's latest toys. #PlayLikeHasbro

With spring coming up it can only mean one thing for parents everywhere: Spring Break. If you have been following the weather here in Chicago, you know that we go through about 3 seasons in one day.

Now picture this, your kids are ready to go out and enjoy the day when all of a sudden it starts raining. What do you do, hotshot? Luckily, our friends from Hasbro have provided us with some fun toys to play with on those rainy days.

Escaping with our imagination and Yo-Kai Watch #ad

I remember when I was in elementary school I would start counting down the minutes until I got to go home once my lunch period was over. I mean I did pay attention to my teachers, don't get me wrong, but my mind was already on the gathering after school. Maybe there was some type of ghosts controlling my mind during these times.

Once the last bell would ring, I would race home with a few of my friends and depending on whose house we would go to, we would all sit around the television and watch the latest episode of our favorite cartoon series. We would all just sit there quietly focused on the screen in front of us and every now and then laugh or groan in unison as to what we just witnessed on the screen. Again, I think there could have been some type of celestial beings watching over us and making us all feel the same feelings during those moments.

Learning about Life with #PlayskoolHeroes

When I was younger my babysitter would always have a stack of comics waiting for me when I was dropped off by my parents in the mornings.  Those comics were my escape. I would sit there and get lost with super heroes that would later become my favorite friends.  Since I was the youngest in my family, I was always too small to hang out with my sisters and cousins, so I just read my comics and joined my "friends" on new adventures.

Learning what's new at the #TNTChicago event.

Recently the Fandads were invited to the #TNTChicago Lunch and Learn event held by @TravelingMoms and @Techlicious at the InterContinental Chicago. This luncheon was a way for bloggers to see the latest in car technology and learn about improving their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for their blogs.

It was a fun afternoon talking tech, touring the fabulous InterContinental Chicago, and eating some delicious meals with fellow bloggers. Now let's go over some of the fun things we learned that afternoon.

Are you ready for the My Little Pony Equestria Girls:Friendship Games?

Do you have a My Little Pony fan at home? If your answer is yes, get prepared and start training for the Friendship Games in the latest My Little Pony Equestrian Girls Blu-ray/DVD coming out this October 13th. 

Choose a Side! The Resistance or The First Order.

Recently our friends at Hasbro sent us an ominous tube which held two amazing looking Star Wars posters. The posters were for The Resistance and The First Order, which are the two factions battling each other in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Now while these posters were great on their own, there was a disturbance in the letter that came with them. The letter was asking us to choose a side: #ChooseLightSide or #ChooseDarkSide.

May Mayhem is here are you ready? #ad

With the Fandads Homebase being Cybertron this year, I felt I should let you know that May does not  only bring flowers to the land, it also brings mayhem in the form of the Combiner Wars.  Have you choosen a side yet? Are you staying on top of the figures that are being released?  We are here to let you know about the two latest Transformers that might change the odds in the Combiner Wars: Stunicon Brake-Neck and Aerialbot Quickslinger. 

My home is now Cybertron.

If you are a fan of our Facebook page you may have seen this blue box from Hasbro before.  You may have also seen us tease about the contents of this box and if you have read our post about the Dad 2.0 experience you already know what's in the box.

Now if you haven't done any of the previous mentioned things: A. You are a slacker and need to start visiting us more, B. You do not really care about mysteries or C. You like to be surprised.  Ok, so if you are either of the above, let's help you out and dig into the box.

My experience at my first Dad 2.0

The main stage for Dad 2.0

Before I begin my recap of my experience at Dad 2.0, I will say that this will not be a play-by-play account.  I will not bore you with the minutiae of every second that I was there. Instead, I will tell you a tale that includes, friendship, magicians, robots and dust in the eyes.  Let's continue on, shall we?

The Fandads learn to #CommandTheForce #sponsored

The Fandads were supplied with samples of the Star Wars Command line and were not paid for their review.  All thoughts and opinions are our own.  

When I was younger I had a huge Star Wars collection.  I had a good amount of the figures and I would always get together with my friends to replay scenes from the movie or just stage some epic battles.  The one problem that I would have with taking my figures to my friends' houses was that I would always end up losing a weapon or two.

Imagine staging a huge battle between your figures and your stormtroopers have to share their blasters to protect themselves.  That's not a fun battle, not fun at all. Recently the Fandads teamed up with Life of Dad and Hasbro to try out the new Star Wars Command line.  Check out how we tried to #CommandTheForce.

Toy Time with the Fandads! #Hasbro

The Fandads Homebase has been lucky enough to receive some toys from our friends at Hasbro, but we have been a little behind in letting our friends know about these great toys.

A lot of these toys are movie tie-ins and the boxes they come in are pretty awesome.  It's great to see the look in the eyes of my little girl when these boxes arrive and see all the cool things inside. Let me share a little with you.

What happened to the shirts?

Hey friends,

Sorry for taking a break on the #30DaysofStarWarsShirts, but with everything going on in my city (Chicago) right now, I thought I'd put it on the back burner for a while.

It seems like every weekend there is an insane amount of people that are shot or killed and it's really troubling.  I have been sitting up at night wanting to address this situation, but I don't know if this is the right outlet for it.

I realized that we all need to escape our reality from time to time and maybe the #30DaysofStarWarsShirts was a way for some of you to escape the bad news from the day or just look at the day's shirt and think to yourself, "I can't believe this guy has that many Star Wars shirts!"

Well, the shirts will return tomorrow.  I will continue with the challenge and continue showing you all the shirts that I have compiled and give you all an opportunity to vote on your favorite one.

If you follow us on Instagram, you have probably seen the awesome boxes of toys Hasbro has sent us and we will be reviewing them soon.  Along with those toys, we will review a few statues and Hot Toys figures that the Fandads have gotten their geeky hands on.

We know how much you all love giveaways, so we will be doing one sometime soon.

Thanks for being a fan.

Thanks for understanding.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Victor