Destiny 2’s Renegades Silver Bundle, Stocking Up for the Star Wars Crossover Era

DLC Review · Purchased March 10, 2026 · $20.99 CAD via Bungie.net Store

Destiny 2 Silver currency artwork
Photo credit: Bungie.net

The Setup

Yes, this is another entry in my ongoing series of “bought Destiny 2’s premium currency instead of anything with actual content in it.” With Renegades, Bungie’s Star Wars-inspired expansion, in full swing, I wanted a stash of Silver ready to go for whatever seasonal cosmetics or Eververse items showed up alongside it, so I grabbed a smaller 1500 Silver bundle with a 200 bonus Silver top-up rather than committing to one of the bigger round-number tiers.

Living With It

There’s genuinely nothing to review here in the traditional sense: it’s a number that goes up in a menu, and then you spend it on ornaments, emotes, or the occasional armor set that catches your eye. What I will say is that Renegades has been a good excuse to actually spend Silver again after a quiet stretch, since the Star Wars-flavored cosmetic sets that came with the expansion are some of the more tempting Eververse offerings Bungie’s put out in a while, and having Silver already banked meant I wasn’t stuck waiting for a sale or a bigger currency purchase to grab one the moment it showed up.

The math on smaller bundles is never quite as favorable as the big ones, and this one’s no exception, but I’d rather buy a slightly worse per-dollar rate on a bundle sized to what I’m actually planning to spend than have a pile of unused Silver sitting around forever, which is exactly the trap the bigger bundles set for me in past years.

What I Liked

  • Sized closer to what I actually planned to spend, less waste than the bigger bundles
  • Renegades’ Star Wars-themed cosmetics made this an easy purchase to justify

What I Didn’t

  • Worse Silver-per-dollar rate than the bigger bundles
  • It’s still just a currency purchase, so there’s not much substance to actually review

The Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Fine for what it is, and a smarter-sized purchase than my past Silver bundles, but still just currency.

Where to Buy

LEGO’s Bouquet of Pink Roses, a Second Bouquet That Actually Outshines the First

Lego Review · Purchased February 12, 2026 · $79.99 CAD via The Lego Store

LEGO Bouquet of Pink Roses set 10374
Photo credit: LEGO.com

The Setup

Longtime readers might remember I already own a LEGO rose set, the original red Bouquet of Roses I picked up as a Valentine’s gift years ago. So when LEGO released the Bouquet of Pink Roses (10374) last October as a genuinely new, multi-tonal pink variant rather than a straight recolor, I couldn’t resist grabbing it around Valentine’s Day again this year to see how it compared sitting right next to its older sibling.

Living With It

At 789 pieces, it’s a slightly smaller build than the original 822-piece red version, but the extra design work shows. Instead of a plain round brick for the flower centers, this set uses a white peony piece paired with a light nougat inverted dome, and the petals shift from deeper pink at the core to softer blush tones toward the outer edges. It’s a small change on paper, but it makes each individual bloom look noticeably more like a real flower up close, rather than a uniform-colored LEGO approximation of one.

The build itself reuses a lot of the same clever tricks as the original: wheel-arch pieces and minifig whip elements to fake the coiled, layered look of petals, all built onto a sturdy stem-and-leaf structure that holds its shape well in a vase. Having both bouquets on display together has turned into an accidental little collection, and I’d honestly recommend the pink version first if you’re only planning on getting one; the color gradient work alone makes it feel like the more considered design of the two.

Close-up of the LEGO Bouquet of Pink Roses petals
Detail of the multi-tonal petal work. Photo credit: LEGO.com

What I Liked

  • Multi-tonal petals look far more like a real flower than a flat single color
  • Clever reuse of wheel-arch and whip pieces to fake coiled petal layers
  • Never wilts, unlike the real thing it’s replacing as a gift

What I Didn’t

  • Slightly fewer pieces than the original red version for a similar price
  • If you already own the red bouquet, this is a lot to spend on what’s ultimately a similar centerpiece in a different color

The Verdict

Rating: 4.5/5

A genuinely improved take on the Bouquet of Roses formula, and proof LEGO is still finding new tricks for its botanical line rather than just reskinning old sets.

Where to Buy

LEGO Architecture’s Paris: City of Love, a Postcard You Build Yourself

Lego Review · Purchased January 28, 2026 · $99.99 CAD via The Lego Store

LEGO Architecture Paris: City of Love set 21064
Photo credit: LEGO.com

The Setup

LEGO Architecture’s original Paris set (21044) has been around since 2018 and I always found the monochrome city-skyline format a little sterile compared to some of the line’s later releases. When 21064, Paris: City of Love, launched right at the start of the year, I was curious enough about the format change to pick it up almost immediately. Rather than a single skyline silhouette, this one is built as a hangable, postcard-style piece: the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and Sacré-Cœur are all worked into one framed composition using forced perspective, in a warm tan-and-brown monochrome palette instead of the older set’s grey.

Living With It

At 958 pieces, this is a genuinely absorbing evening-or-two build, and the forced-perspective trick actually works better than I expected once you step back from the table. Landmarks that are miles apart in real Paris get compressed into a single, coherent composition without feeling like a jumbled mess, which is a neater piece of design than the format’s “we just squished everything together” premise suggests. The included display frame is a nice touch: you can either hang it on a wall like actual art or prop it on a stand, and I ended up going with the stand so it can live on the same shelf as the rest of my Architecture pieces.

Compared to the original 21044, which always read a little flat and abstract to me, this one has an actual sense of place. The tan-on-tan palette does mean fine details can blur together a bit under certain lighting, and if you’re looking for a straightforward skyline silhouette rather than a landmark collage, the older set still does that specific job better. But as a standalone display piece, City of Love has more personality than I expected from an Architecture set.

Close-up detail of the LEGO Paris: City of Love set
Detail of the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame section. Photo credit: LEGO.com

What I Liked

  • Clever forced-perspective composition that actually reads as a coherent scene
  • Includes a display frame, so it can be hung or stood up
  • More visual personality than the older monochrome skyline format

What I Didn’t

  • The tan monochrome palette can make fine details blend together in low light
  • If you specifically want a clean skyline silhouette, the original 21044 still does that better

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A satisfying, well-designed reinvention of the Architecture Paris concept that earns its spot on the shelf next to the original.

Where to Buy

The Lenovo IdeaTab 11, a Budget Tablet That Does Exactly Enough

Hardware Review · Purchased January 15, 2026 · $269.99 CAD via Amazon.ca

Lenovo Idea Tab 11 inch tablet in Luna Grey
Photo via Amazon.ca

The Setup

My New Year’s resolution, such as it was, involved needing something lighter than a laptop for reading and casual browsing on the couch, without wanting to spend flagship tablet money on what’s ultimately a couch companion device. The Lenovo Idea Tab 11 in Luna Grey, 128GB storage with 4GB of RAM running Android 15 on a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor, fit the budget-tablet brief exactly. The price came in a bit over the tablet’s usual sticker because I added a case and screen protector bundle at checkout, which in hindsight probably wasn’t necessary but did mean it arrived ready to actually survive being tossed around the house.

Living With It

For a budget tablet, the 11-inch 2.5K display is a genuinely pleasant surprise, sharp enough for reading text comfortably and with a 90Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling feel smoother than the price point suggests it should. The octa-core Dimensity 6300 handles everyday tasks, browsing, video, e-reader apps, and light social media, without any real stutter, though it’s clearly not built for anything demanding; I wouldn’t try running a serious mobile game on this and expect a good time.

Battery life has been solid across a normal day of intermittent use, and the quad-speaker setup is a nice touch for a tablet in this price bracket, giving video and music a fuller sound than the tinny mono speakers a lot of budget tablets ship with. Where it shows its budget roots is in build materials; the back panel has a slightly plasticky feel compared to more premium tablets, and 4GB of RAM means I’ve noticed occasional app reloads when switching between a lot of open tabs and apps. For what I actually use it for, a bedside and couch companion device, none of that has been a dealbreaker.

What I Liked

  • Sharp 2.5K display with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate for the price
  • Quad speakers are a genuine step up from typical budget tablet audio
  • Handles everyday browsing, reading, and video without stutter

What I Didn’t

  • 4GB of RAM means occasional app reloads when multitasking heavily
  • Plasticky build materials give away its budget price point
  • Not a device for anything performance-demanding

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A genuinely solid budget tablet for casual use, exactly the light, secondary device I was looking for and nothing more than that.

Where to Buy

Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch Deluxe Edition, Now With Horses

DLC Review · Purchased November 21, 2025 · $71.67 CAD via Xbox.com

Key art for Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch Deluxe Edition
Disney Dreamlight Valley: Wishblossom Ranch. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Background

Following last year’s Storybook Vale expansion, Wishblossom Ranch takes Dreamlight Valley’s formula in a horse-focused direction, sending players to the Wishblossom Mountains to restore a neglected ranch affected by a mysterious phenomenon called the Decay, while befriending iconic Disney steeds like Maximus, Khan, and Pegasus alongside characters including Snow White and Tinker Bell. The Deluxe Edition adds 10,000 Moonstones and exclusive items, including Mount Sven from Frozen.

Living With It

This is a bigger swing than last year’s expansion, which mostly extended the existing formula with new realms and character storylines. Building out an entire horse-focused ranch, complete with new companion mechanics for riding and caring for named Disney steeds, gives this expansion a distinct identity of its own rather than feeling like the same core loop with a new coat of paint, which was my main criticism of Storybook Vale.

Mount Sven specifically is a fun, well-realized inclusion for anyone with fondness for Frozen, and the Decay storyline gives the new area a bit more narrative stakes than the average Dreamlight Valley content drop, without straying too far from the game’s fundamentally cozy tone. The Deluxe Edition’s Moonstone allotment is generous enough that it meaningfully offsets the price difference over the standard edition if you were going to spend on cosmetics anyway.

The core loop is still recognizably the same farming, decorating, and friendship-building systems that have defined the game since launch, and whether that’s a positive or a negative at this point depends entirely on how much of that loop you’ve already gotten out of the base game and its prior expansions.

What I Liked

  • Horse and ranch focus gives this expansion a more distinct identity than last year’s
  • Mount Sven and the other Frozen-themed exclusives are a genuine highlight
  • The Decay storyline adds a bit more narrative weight than usual
  • Deluxe Moonstone allotment offsets the price gap if you’d spend on cosmetics anyway

What I Didn’t

  • Core gameplay loop remains fundamentally unchanged from the base game
  • Value depends heavily on how much of the existing formula you’ve already played through

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A stronger, more distinct expansion than last year’s, thanks largely to the horse-focused hook actually changing up the moment-to-moment gameplay rather than just adding more of the same map to explore.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator 2: Same Great Grime, Better Toolkit

Game Review · Purchased October 23, 2025 · $37.50 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator 2
PowerWash Simulator 2. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

After an entire year of buying nearly every crossover pack the original PowerWash Simulator put out, picking up the actual sequel felt less like a purchase and more like an inevitability. The sequel drops the fictional town of Muckingham on players, with new locations including Sponge Valley, Power Falls, and Lubri City to scrub clean.

The Review

The core loop is exactly as satisfying as it’s always been, which is the correct instinct for a game this beloved for its simplicity, but the sequel adds real mechanical texture rather than just reskinning the original with new levels. Multi-stage jobs give individual cleaning tasks more structure than the original’s more single-note approach, and new tools like an abseiling rig and a cherry picker open up verticality that the first game never really had a good answer for.

The bigger structural change is multiplayer: split-screen co-op alongside online play for up to four people turns what was always a solo, meditative experience into something you can genuinely share with friends or family, and it works well without disrupting the low-stakes, relaxing tone that made the original a hit in the first place. Small additions like a customizable home base and a cat companion are the kind of low-effort, high-charm touches that this series has always been good at.

Coming off a year of buying five separate crossover packs for the original, this sequel makes a genuinely strong case that it will be worth doing the same thing all over again once its own crossover content starts arriving.

What I Liked

  • Core cleaning loop remains as satisfying as ever, with real new mechanical depth
  • New tools like the abseiling rig and cherry picker add welcome verticality
  • Split-screen and online co-op meaningfully expand how the game can be played
  • Small charm additions like the customizable home base and cat companion

What I Didn’t

  • Still fundamentally the same core loop as the original, for better or worse
  • No crossover content yet at launch, which was a huge part of what kept the first game interesting all year

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A genuine improvement on a game that didn’t strictly need fixing, and the new co-op options alone make this an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoyed the original with a friend looking over their shoulder.

Where to Buy

Dying Light: The Beast, A Standalone Sequel That Earns Its Own Name

Game Review · Purchased October 18, 2025 · $89.59 CAD via PSN

Key art for Dying Light: The Beast
Dying Light: The Beast. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Originally planned as DLC for Dying Light 2 before growing into a full standalone release, The Beast follows Kyle Crane, the protagonist of the original Dying Light, now carrying both human and zombie DNA after years of captivity and experimentation. Set in the new, zombie-infested valley of Castor Woods, it blends the series’ trademark first-person parkour with a new dual playstyle built around Crane’s monstrous abilities, plus up to four-player co-op.

The Review

The parkour, the series’ defining strength since the original game, feels as good here as it ever has, fluid traversal across a genuinely well laid out map that rewards momentum and vertical thinking over just running in straight lines. Bringing back Crane specifically, rather than a new protagonist, gives the story a sense of continuity the more recent mainline entry sometimes lacked, and the new beast abilities add a satisfying second layer to combat that goes beyond the usual crafting-and-melee loop.

Castor Woods as a setting strikes a good balance between the series’ urban roots and something a little more open and rural, giving traversal a different rhythm than the tightly packed cityscapes of past entries without losing what made the movement systems fun in the first place. Whether this fully justifies growing from planned DLC into a full-price standalone release is a fair question, but the amount of new content and the strength of Crane’s return make a reasonable case for it.

What I Liked

  • Parkour and traversal remain the series’ strongest asset, and it shows here
  • Bringing back Kyle Crane gives real narrative continuity
  • New beast abilities add a genuinely fresh layer to combat
  • Castor Woods is a well-designed change of pace from past settings

What I Didn’t

  • Started life as DLC, and the full-price ask reflects some growing pains from that transition
  • Newcomers without prior series context may miss some of Crane’s return’s emotional weight

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For longtime Dying Light fans, this is an easy recommendation, sharp parkour, a satisfying new combat layer, and a genuinely welcome return for Crane. Worth checking current pricing before buying, since it launched at a premium for what began life as an expansion.

Where to Buy

Destiny 2: Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition, A Statue That Finally Justified the Price

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased May 6, 2025 · $434.16 CAD ($315.00 USD) via Bungie.net

The Destiny 2: Year of Prophecy Collector's Edition contents, including the Guardian classes statue
The Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition contents. Photo: Vice

The Background

After last year’s Final Shape Collector’s Edition left me with mixed feelings about Bungie’s physical tiers, I pre-ordered the Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition anyway, tied to the launch of The Edge of Fate and the start of a new saga for the game. This one includes a 1/8th scale resin and PVC statue of the three Guardian classes in their classic super poses on a weighted, logo-etched base, a “classified documents” folder of in-universe letters and diary entries building out the expansion’s backstory, and a metal badge styled like something out of a secret government operative’s collection.

At $315 USD before conversion, this sits close to last year’s Final Shape edition in price, which made it a useful direct comparison point for whether Bungie’s collector’s editions are trending up or down in quality.

Living With It

The statue is the clear centrepiece, and it earns that role. All three Guardian classes rendered together in their classic super poses gives it a sense of scale and occasion that a single-figure statue wouldn’t have managed, and the paint work holds up well under close inspection, with battle wear and armor detailing that reads as deliberate rather than sloppy. The weighted base, etched with Guardian phrases and logos, gives the whole piece the kind of finished, gallery-shelf presentation that last year’s Final Shape statue mostly delivered too, but this one felt like a genuine step up in sculpt quality.

The classified documents folder is a nice bit of world-building for anyone invested in the Edge of Fate storyline, letters and diary entries that reward reading rather than just being packaging filler, and the metal badge is a small but well-made touch that fits the espionage angle of this year’s narrative. Taken together, this is a collector’s edition that feels like it was actually designed as a themed set rather than three unrelated bonus items bundled under one price tag.

The same caveat from last year’s review still applies in full: none of this means anything without existing investment in Destiny’s world and characters. The documents only land if you care about the lore they’re building, and the statue only justifies its price if seeing your classes rendered this way actually matters to you.

What I Liked

  • The three-class statue is a genuine step up in sculpt and paint quality over last year’s edition
  • Classified documents folder is well-written world-building, not just filler
  • Cohesive theming across all three physical items rather than a grab-bag of extras
  • A noticeably stronger collector’s edition than the one I reviewed last year

What I Didn’t

  • Still entirely dependent on prior investment in the franchise to justify the price
  • Pre-ordering physical collector’s editions remains a leap of faith on final quality
  • At $315 USD, this is a serious purchase even for a longtime player

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is the collector’s edition I wanted last year’s Final Shape tier to be: a cohesive, well-sculpted, genuinely display-worthy set rather than a handful of loosely related extras. Still strictly for existing Guardians, but for that audience, it delivers.

Where to Buy

PlayStation Plus Essential: The 12-Month Plan I Should Have Bought Last Year

DLC Review · Purchased February 21, 2025 · $106.39 CAD via PSN

PlayStation Plus Essential tier artwork
PlayStation Plus Essential. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

After reviewing last year’s single-month PS Plus Essential top-up and explicitly calling out how much worse the per-month math was compared to the annual plan, I actually followed my own advice this time and bought the full 12-month Essential subscription upfront.

The Review

The service itself is unchanged from last year’s review: online multiplayer access and a rotating monthly selection of free games, delivered exactly as advertised without incident. What’s different is purely the math, and the math is genuinely better here. Paying once for the full year works out to meaningfully less per month than the single-month purchase I made in December, which is the whole reason this review exists as a kind of quiet correction to last year’s entry.

There isn’t much drama to a subscription renewal done correctly. It’s the boring, sensible version of the same purchase, and boring and sensible is exactly what you want from a recurring cost like this.

What I Liked

  • Meaningfully cheaper per month than paying monthly, exactly as expected
  • Same reliable online access and monthly game claims as always
  • A rare case of actually taking my own advice from a previous review

What I Didn’t

  • A larger upfront cost, even though the per-month value is better
  • Locks you in for a full year rather than leaving room to cancel if your habits change

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

If you use PS Plus regularly, this is simply the correct way to buy it. Nothing new to report on the service itself, just a smarter purchase than the one-month top-up from last year’s list.

Where to Buy

The MOC-56649 Modular Tatooine: The Biggest Single Build I’ve Ever Attempted

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased January 15, 2025 · $788.51 CAD via Vonado

The MOC-56649 Modular Tatooine City Space Wars build, an 18-building modular Star Wars diorama
MOC-56649 Modular Tatooine City Space Wars. Photo: LetBricks

The Background

MOC-56649, designed by fan builder gabizon, is a modular Tatooine cityscape built from 18 separate buildings that connect into one continuous Star Wars street scene, at a claimed 9,585 pieces and a finished footprint of roughly 60cm by 40cm. It is, by a wide margin, the single largest build I have ever taken on, easily eclipsing last year’s Star Destroyer for sheer part count.

Kicking off 2025’s spending with a purchase this size was either a bold statement of intent or a sign I never really learned my lesson from the 2024 Vonado hauls. Given how this list is shaping up already, I suspect it’s a bit of both.

Living With It

Eighteen individual buildings sounds like it would make this build more approachable, broken into bite-sized chunks rather than one continuous slog, and in practice that’s mostly true, each structure is its own manageable session. Where the scale really hits you is once several buildings are finished and sitting next to each other on the table: this is not a shelf piece, it is closer to a diorama that needs its own dedicated surface, full stop.

Several of the buildings include opening panels and interior detailing, which is a nice touch that keeps a project this long from feeling like pure repetition, cantina interiors and market stalls tucked behind facades that look plain from the street side. Piece quality held up consistently across the full set, no obvious drop-off in tolerance or fit between the first building and the eighteenth, which is genuinely impressive at this scale from a compatible-brick manufacturer.

The honest tradeoff is time and space, in equal measure. This is not a project you finish in a weekend, or realistically in a single week if you have anything else going on, and once complete it demands a genuinely large, permanent display area that most people simply do not have sitting empty.

What I Liked

  • Modular structure makes an enormous build feel approachable one building at a time
  • Genuine interior detailing on several buildings, not just facades
  • Consistent piece quality across the entire 9,500-plus piece set
  • The most substantial single display piece in my whole collection once assembled

What I Didn’t

  • A genuinely enormous time commitment, easily multiple weeks of sessions
  • Requires a large, permanent display footprint most people don’t have available
  • The most expensive single item to open this year’s spreadsheet

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

For anyone with the space and patience, this is one of the most ambitious and rewarding builds available in the compatible-brick space, official LEGO included. Just know exactly what you’re signing up for before you order it.

Where to Buy