PS5 Pro: The Most Expensive Way to Notice a Frame Rate

Hardware Review · Purchased December 9, 2024 · $1,075.18 CAD via EB Games

PlayStation 5 Pro console — The PS5 Pro. Photo via Best Buy Canada.

This was the single biggest console purchase of my year, and it is also the one I have gone back and forth on the most while writing about it.

The Background

Sony announced the PS5 Pro in September 2024 with Canadian pricing set at $959.99 before tax, positioning it as a mid-generation refresh rather than a true next console: better and more consistent ray tracing, higher and steadier frame rates in supported titles, and a beefed-up GPU, all while keeping the same basic PS5 software ecosystem and game library rather than starting over. It also ships with a built-in 2TB SSD, up from the base model’s smaller drive, which mattered to me given how quickly modern installs eat through storage.

I picked mine up at EB Games in early December, and the total I paid ($1,075.18) reflects tax plus whatever accessory or bundle got attached at checkout on top of that base $959.99 price. By the time I bought in, launch week chaos had settled and stock was reasonably available, which was one small mercy in an otherwise expensive month.

Living With It

The honest starting point here is that the PS5 Pro is a real, measurable upgrade, but only in games that specifically support its enhancements. Sony calls this “PS5 Pro Enhanced,” and through the back half of 2024 that list was still filling in rather than covering the full library. In supported titles, the difference is genuinely noticeable: steadier frame rates during busy scenes, meaningfully improved ray-traced reflections and lighting, and in some cases the ability to run performance-mode frame rates at what used to be quality-mode resolution. In anything outside that enhanced list, you are playing the exact same experience as a base PS5, just on more expensive hardware.

The built-in 2TB drive is a genuinely welcome quality-of-life improvement on its own, and it means less immediate pressure to add an internal expansion drive the way base PS5 owners often need to.

Where this purchase gets harder to defend is the price-to-benefit math. Going from a base PS5 to a PS5 Pro costs roughly the same as buying a second console, for improvements that, outside of enhanced titles, you will not notice at all during actual play. This is squarely a purchase for people who already care about frame pacing, resolution, and ray tracing fidelity at a level most casual players simply do not track moment to moment.

What I Liked

Noticeably better and steadier performance in PS5 Pro Enhanced titles
Meaningfully improved ray tracing quality where supported
Built-in 2TB SSD solves the storage anxiety base PS5 owners deal with
No ecosystem changes, every existing game and save just works

What I Didn’t

Enhanced title support was still incomplete through the back half of 2024
No visible benefit at all in non-enhanced games, which is most of the existing library
At over $1,000 CAD out the door, this is priced like a luxury upgrade, not a necessary one
Requires you to already own or be replacing a base PS5, so the real cost comparison is steep

The Value Verdict

Rating: 3/5

I do not regret this purchase, but I also cannot recommend it to everyone. If you are the kind of player who genuinely notices frame pacing dips and resolution compromises, and you have the specific games in your rotation that support the Pro enhancements, this delivers real, tangible improvement. If you are a more casual player, save the money and put it toward the games themselves.

Where to Buy

Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale, More of a Formula I Still Enjoy

DLC Review · Purchased November 20, 2024 · $71.76 CAD via Xbox.com

Key art for Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale — Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Storybook Vale. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Background

Disney Dreamlight Valley built a loyal audience by blending cozy life-sim mechanics (farming, decorating, friendship building) with actual Disney and Pixar characters and storylines, and The Storybook Vale is a premium expansion pack adding new realms, characters, including Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and story content on top of that established foundation.

Living With It

This is the priciest DLC purchase in my entire 2024 spreadsheet, and coming in above the $70 mark puts it in a different category than the roughly $12 PowerWash packs and $21 currency bundles that make up most of this section. That price is more defensible than it might first appear, given how much new content the expansion actually adds: new realms to explore and decorate, meaningful character-specific storylines rather than generic filler quests, and enough new systems and content to genuinely extend the life of a game that some players had already worked through the bulk of.

Reviews at launch (and my own time with it) landed on similar ground: this is a well-produced, content-rich expansion that clearly understands what the existing Dreamlight Valley audience wants, more of the same core loop, done well, with new characters and settings to wrap around it. What it is not is a reinvention of the formula, and a small number of reviewers specifically flagged that as a minor disappointment given the price point, wanting the premium expansion to push the format somewhere genuinely new rather than expanding it along the same lines.

For someone already invested in the base game’s rhythm, spending an evening building out a new Rapunzel-themed area of the valley delivered exactly the kind of relaxing, satisfying progression loop that made the base game worth playing regularly in the first place.

What I Liked

Genuinely substantial amount of new content, not a thin premium reskin
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s storylines are well written and true to the source material
Extends the life of a game I was already invested in rather than replacing what worked

What I Didn’t

The priciest DLC purchase of my entire year, worth going in with clear expectations
More of the same established formula rather than a meaningful evolution of it
Value is heavily dependent on already being invested in the base game’s core loop

The Value Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Reasonable if you are already invested in Dreamlight Valley as an ongoing game, this delivers real, substantial content. Just know going in that this is a “more of what you already like” purchase rather than a must-have reinvention.

Where to Buy

Review

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, A Discount-Bin Curiosity That Confirmed the Discourse

Game Review · Purchased October 20, 2024 · $20.15 CAD via PSN

Key art for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

Rocksteady’s live-service superhero shooter launched earlier in 2024 to a rocky reception, a genuine surprise given the studio’s beloved Batman: Arkham legacy, and by the time I picked it up in October at a steep post-launch discount, the game had already become something of a cautionary tale in the industry about chasing live-service trends with a studio and franchise built around single-player storytelling.

The Review

Coming in with lowered expectations and a heavily discounted price actually made for a more fair assessment than launch reviews probably allowed for: the core shooting and traversal mechanics are genuinely fine, even solid in short bursts, with each character controlling distinctly enough to matter. The problems reviewers and the community flagged at launch are still present though: a live-service structure bolted onto characters and a universe that fans wanted a proper single-player Arkham-style story from, and narrative choices (without spoiling specifics) that a large portion of the existing fanbase found genuinely unwelcome.

Playing this months after launch, once the initial backlash had already reshaped the wider conversation around the game, it was hard not to view it as a case study in mismatched expectations between what a studio’s fanbase wanted and what got built.

What I Liked

Solid core shooting and traversal mechanics
Distinct character playstyles
At a steep discount, low financial risk to see the discourse firsthand

What I Didn’t

Live-service structure clashes with what fans of the studio’s prior work actually wanted
Narrative choices proved divisive within the existing fanbase
Full launch price would be very hard to justify given the reception

The Verdict

Rating: 2/5

At the deep discount I paid, this was a reasonable curiosity purchase. At full launch price, this would be a hard no, and the wider gaming community’s reaction backs that up.

Where to Buy

PlayStation Store listing

The Star Destroyer “Eviscerator”: The Single Biggest Purchase of My Entire Year

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased October 15, 2024 · $1,377.99 CAD via Vonado

A massive Ultimate Collector Series-scale brick-built Imperial Star Destroyer — A comparable UCS-scale Imperial Star Destroyer build. Photo: Brick Vault

Every year has one purchase that makes you pause before hitting confirm. For 2024, this was mine, by a wide margin.

The Background

“The Eviscerator” is a well-known name within the Star Wars fan-building community, referring to Ultimate Collector Series-scale fan designs of an Imperial Star Destroyer, built explicitly to sit alongside (and in some interpretations, surpass) LEGO’s own official UCS Star Destroyer sets in size and detail. At $1,377.99, this is the single most expensive line item anywhere in my entire 2024 spreadsheet, more than the PS5 Pro, more than any other individual purchase across the whole year.

I want to be transparent about what a decision like this actually involves: this is not an impulse buy in the way a $12 DLC pack is. A purchase at this price, in this hobby, requires real consideration about display space, assembly time, and whether the payoff genuinely matches the cost, and I thought about it for weeks before pulling the trigger.

Living With It

This is, without competition, the most demanding build I completed all year. Thousands of pieces, a build that ran across multiple sessions over more than a week, and a finished model that genuinely needs real shelf or stand space, not a spare corner of a bookshelf, once complete. The scale is the entire point: this is built to communicate the sheer, oppressive size of an Imperial Star Destroyer in a way that smaller official sets, constrained by more reasonable price points, simply cannot attempt.

Detail work across the hull, from the engine section through to the command tower, held up under close inspection, and the model’s sheer presence once assembled and displayed genuinely earns reactions from people seeing it for the first time, which is not something I can say about most of my collection, however much I enjoy the smaller pieces individually.

The tradeoff is exactly what you would expect at this price and scale: this replaces meaningful furniture space, demands real assembly commitment, and represents a genuine financial decision rather than a casual purchase. I do not think everyone reading this should buy this set. I think the specific person who has the space, the patience, and the existing love of the source material to want this exact thing should.

What I Liked

The single most impressive, imposing finished piece in my entire collection
Detail quality held up under close inspection across the whole hull
A genuine multi-session build experience that felt like a real achievement to complete
Delivers a scale and presence that no reasonably priced official LEGO set attempts to match

What I Didn’t

The most expensive single purchase of my entire year, by a wide margin
A serious multi-day time commitment, not something to start lightly
Needs real, dedicated display space, this genuinely competes with furniture for room

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

I do not make this recommendation lightly given the price, but for scale, presence, and the sheer achievement of finishing it, this is one of the most rewarding things in my entire collection. If you are fully committed to the display side of this hobby and have the space and patience to match, it delivers an experience nothing else on this list comes close to.

Where to Buy

The Sandcrawler: A Worthy Stand-In for a LEGO Set I Missed the First Time Around

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased October 15, 2024 · $475.99 CAD via Vonado

A large brick-built Sandcrawler model, the boxy Jawa transport vehicle from Star Wars — A comparable large-scale Sandcrawler build. Photo: USABlocks

Some sets you buy because you love them. Others you buy because the original is gone and this is the next best thing. This one is the second kind, and I am completely fine with that.

The Background

LEGO’s own official Sandcrawler sets, the classic 10144 and the more recent smaller-scale 75220, have been fan favourites for years, to the point where the larger versions command real collector prices on the secondary market once retired. Rather than chase down a retired official set at inflated resale prices, I picked up Vonado’s take on the same iconic Jawa vehicle from Tatooine, at a scale comparable to or larger than LEGO’s own mid-tier version, for a fraction of what hunting down the genuine article after the fact would have cost.

This arrived alongside the Star Destroyer Eviscerator, the single biggest purchase of my entire year, as part of an October order.

Living With It

The Sandcrawler’s boxy, weathered silhouette is honestly a forgiving shape to translate into brick form compared to some of the more organic, creature-based builds elsewhere in this series, and Vonado’s version captures the distinctive rust-and-sand colour palette and paneling detail convincingly. The build itself moved at a steady, satisfying pace, less physically demanding than the Tremortusk or Ghost, closer in scope to a substantial weekend project than a multi-session undertaking.

Interior detail, to whatever extent the set includes it, focused on the vehicle’s distinctive tracked base and boxy hull silhouette rather than a fully realized interior, which tracks with how the official LEGO versions have generally approached this vehicle too, prioritizing the iconic exterior silhouette over a walk-around interior.

Compared to hunting down a retired official Sandcrawler set, which by 2024 could mean paying well above original retail on the secondary market for a set in good condition, this felt like an easy, low-regret decision. You are trading a small amount of official-license cachet for a meaningfully lower price and, frankly, easier availability.

What I Liked

Captures the iconic Sandcrawler silhouette and colour palette convincingly
A meaningfully cheaper alternative to hunting down a retired official LEGO version
Manageable build scope, satisfying without becoming a multi-session ordeal
Comparable or larger scale than LEGO’s own mid-tier official release

What I Didn’t

Lacks the exact collector cachet of an official, licensed LEGO set
Interior detail is limited, similar to the official versions but still a missed opportunity
Still requires accepting the general Vonado tradeoff of clone bricks over genuine LEGO plastic

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

If you missed the official LEGO Sandcrawler window and do not want to pay collector prices for a retired set, this is a genuinely solid stand-in that nails the parts of the design that matter most: the silhouette and the colour work.

Where to Buy

The Ghost (VCX-100): Finally Getting the Rebels Ship LEGO Never Scaled Up

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased May 27, 2024 · $584.99 CAD via Vonado

A large-scale brick-built model of the Ghost, the VCX-100 light freighter from Star Wars Rebels — A comparable large-format Ghost (VCX-100) build. Photo: MOC Brick Land

Three months after the big February haul, I went back for more, and this was the first purchase of round two.

The Background

The Ghost, the VCX-100 light freighter piloted by Hera Syndulla in Star Wars Rebels (and later appearing in Ahsoka), has a devoted fanbase that LEGO’s official catalogue has never fully satisfied. LEGO has released Ghost sets before, but always at a smaller, more compact scale than fans of the ship have wanted. The compatible-brick and MOC community has filled that gap repeatedly, with several well-regarded fan designs running well past 2,500 pieces and including full interior cabin and cockpit detail that the official smaller sets simply do not have room for.

What I bought from Vonado follows that same large-format tradition, and at $584.99 it represented my first big purchase of a second, separate haul in late May, alongside the Star Wars Hangar and Horizon Tremortusk sets covered next in this series.

Living With It

The scale difference versus LEGO’s own official Ghost sets is the whole point, and it delivers on that promise. This build includes real interior detail: a cockpit you can actually see into, a cabin area referencing the ship’s crew quarters, and a level of hull articulation and greebling (the small mechanical surface detailing that makes a sci-fi ship look lived-in rather than smooth and toy-like) that smaller official sets simply do not have the piece budget to include.

Assembly ran a full weekend, broken into clear sub-sections (hull, interior, mandibles, landing gear) that made the overall size manageable despite the piece count. Structural rigidity held up well once complete, an important detail on a ship this large where sagging or drooping sections would undercut the whole display.

For anyone who grew up on Rebels or came to the ship through Ahsoka, seeing this ship rendered at a scale that actually matches how significant it feels on screen, rather than the compact official version, is a genuinely different experience than owning the smaller LEGO set.

What I Liked

Scale and interior detail that no official LEGO Ghost set has matched
Strong structural rigidity despite the large footprint
Manageable, clearly organized build sequence despite the high piece count
A real payoff for fans specifically because the official market has underserved this ship

What I Didn’t

A serious weekend-length time commitment, not a casual build
Large finished footprint that needs a genuinely sizeable shelf or display case
Price reflects the gap-filling nature of the product, this is not a budget option

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

For Rebels and Ahsoka fans specifically, this is close to a must-buy within the compatible-brick space, precisely because it does something the official market has never done. If the Ghost means something to you, this is the version of it worth owning.

Where to Buy

The Star Wars Hangar: A Display Base That Finally Gives My Ships Somewhere to Live

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased May 27, 2024 · $775.99 CAD via Vonado

A large brick-built Star Wars hangar bay diorama with ground crew figures and support detailing — A comparable large-scale Star Wars hangar bay diorama. Photo: MOC Brick Land

Buying a large diorama base right after buying a large ship is either very smart planning or a very effective upsell. I will let you decide which this was.

The Background

Purchased the same day as the Ghost (VCX-100) covered previously, this large hangar and diorama-style set is designed to give one or more ships somewhere purposeful to sit, complete with ground crew figures, support vehicles, and hangar bay detailing, rather than leaving an expensive ship model to sit awkwardly on a bare shelf. Modular hangar and display bases like this are a popular category within the MOC community specifically because official LEGO rarely produces display bases at this scale on their own, usually bundling smaller docking or landing elements into a ship set itself rather than selling the base separately.

At $775.99, this is one of the pricier single items in my entire 2024 haul, and its value is genuinely tied to what you already own or plan to display alongside it.

Living With It

As a standalone build, the hangar delivers a lot of the same satisfaction as the Coruscant Diorama covered earlier in this series: real detail work in the flooring, support struts, and background elements that make it feel like a lived-in space rather than a blank pedestal. Ground crew figures and small support vehicles add points of visual interest at a smaller scale that contrast nicely against a large ship once one is placed inside it.

Where this set truly earns its keep is exactly what I bought it for: giving the Ghost, and potentially other ships from this collection, an actual context to sit in rather than floating awkwardly on an otherwise empty shelf. Once I placed the Ghost inside it, the combined display genuinely looked like a professional diorama rather than two separate, unrelated purchases sitting near each other, which is the best compliment I can give a display base like this.

On its own, without a ship to put inside it, this is a much harder purchase to justify. The value here is almost entirely relational to the rest of the collection, which is worth knowing before buying: this is an accessory purchase dressed up as a standalone set, and it should be budgeted for accordingly.

What I Liked

Genuinely elevates the display quality of ships placed inside it
Detailed enough to stand on its own rather than reading as a blank pedestal
Ground crew and support vehicle details add scale and life to the whole display
Transforms a collection of individual ships into something that reads as one cohesive scene

What I Didn’t

Value is almost entirely dependent on already owning (or planning to own) ships to display in it
One of the more expensive single items in the whole year’s spending
On its own, without context, this is just an expensive backdrop

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Rate this one based on what you already own. As a companion piece to the Ghost, it turned two separate purchases into one genuinely impressive combined display, which is worth something real. Bought in isolation, without ships to put inside it, this would be a much harder recommendation.

Where to Buy

Vonado building sets

Vonado’s Death Star Falcon Escape: A Small Set That Explains the Whole Vonado Pitch

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $92.99 CAD via Vonado

Star Wars Death Star themed building block set — A comparable Death Star-themed compatible-brick build. Photo via USABLOCKS.

Before I get into any of the individual Vonado builds in this series, this is the right place to explain what Vonado actually is, because it colours every review in this category.

The Background

Vonado is not LEGO. It is a brand that manufactures Lego-compatible building brick sets, often based on designs originally created by hobbyist builders in the “MOC” (My Own Creation) community, then produced and sold at a significant discount to what an officially licensed LEGO Group product would cost at a comparable scale. This particular set, a compact Star Wars build built around the classic “escaping the Death Star aboard the Falcon” scene made famous by LEGO’s own sets over the years, was the smallest and cheapest of a much larger February 2024 haul that I will be covering across the next several posts.

I want to be direct about this upfront: if you go into a Vonado purchase expecting an official, licensed LEGO product, you will feel misled. If you go in understanding exactly what you are buying, a well-made compatible alternative built by a company that clearly loves the same source material, it is a genuinely reasonable way to get more Star Wars building into your collection for less money.

Living With It

At this price point, you are in small-to-midsize set territory: a compact ship model plus a slice of Death Star trench or hangar detailing, not a massive standalone display piece. Brick quality on Vonado’s smaller sets has generally matched what reviewers report across the compatible-brick space: clutch power (how snugly the pieces hold together) that is very close to genuine ABS LEGO plastic, with the occasional looser tolerance on smaller or more detailed pieces compared to official parts.

Build time here was an evening, not a weekend project, which made it a nice low-commitment entry point before diving into the much bigger sets that arrived in the same order. If you are curious about the compatible-brick space and do not want to gamble a few hundred dollars finding out whether you like it, a set at this scale and price is exactly the right place to start.

What I Liked

Genuinely close to official LEGO brick quality and clutch power at this scale
Clear instructions, no need to hunt for a digital manual
Manageable evening-length build, a good low-stakes entry point into the brand
Meaningfully cheaper than an equivalent official Star Wars set of similar size

What I Didn’t

Occasional looser tolerances on smaller detail pieces compared to genuine LEGO
Not a display centrepiece on its own, more of a nice addition to a larger collection
Requires accepting upfront that this is a compatible clone, not a licensed product

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

As an entry point into Vonado’s whole catalogue, this delivered exactly what it needed to: proof that the brand’s smaller sets are worth trusting before committing real money to their much bigger builds. Reasonable value, honest about what it is, and a fun single-evening build.

Where to Buy

Vonado Star Wars MOC collection

The Coruscant Diorama: Buying Furniture With Extra Steps

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $637.99 CAD via Vonado

Coruscant Jedi Temple diorama building block set — A Coruscant-themed diorama compatible-brick build. Photo via USABLOCKS.

At a certain price point, a building set stops being a toy and starts being a piece of home decor you happened to assemble yourself.

The Background

Large-format Star Wars dioramas, scenes depicting the Battle of Coruscant, the Jedi Temple, or the Senate district in sprawling, multi-thousand-piece detail, are a well-established genre within the MOC (fan design) community, with different builders and compatible-brick manufacturers producing their own interpretations at various scales. What I purchased from Vonado sits in that tradition: a Coruscant-themed display diorama, the fourth and priciest item in the large February order that runs through much of this series.

Sets like this are explicitly designed around presentation rather than play. There is no cockpit to sit a minifigure in, no opening cargo bay, nothing to actually do with it once assembled beyond looking at it, and the price reflects scale and part count rather than mechanical complexity.

Living With It

The build itself took the better part of a weekend, mostly due to sheer part count rather than any particular technical difficulty, section by section, layer by layer, in the way large diorama builds typically go. Once finished, the impact is real: this is a genuine centrepiece, the kind of thing that makes people stop and look when they walk past a shelf, in a way that smaller vehicle builds simply cannot match regardless of how well detailed they are.

The honest tradeoff is exactly what you would expect from a display piece at this price: it requires real, permanent shelf real estate, more than any single vehicle in this series, and once built, it is genuinely difficult to relocate or repack without risking damage to the more delicate architectural elements. This is a “pick its final spot before you start building” kind of set, not something you casually rearrange.

What I Liked

Genuinely impressive as a display centrepiece, more visual impact than any single vehicle build
Consistent with the strong scale-for-price value seen across the rest of this Vonado order
Detailed architectural elements that read clearly as Coruscant even at a glance

What I Didn’t

Zero play value, purely a display object
Requires committing real, permanent shelf space before you even start building
Delicate once assembled, not something you want to relocate often

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Judge this one entirely on whether you have the shelf space and the desire for a genuine centrepiece, because that is the whole pitch. If you wanted something to actually handle and rebuild, this was the wrong category to shop in from the start. If you wanted a showpiece, it delivers.

Where to Buy

Vonado Star Wars MOC collection