It’s just over a fortnight away and unless you want another jumper, pair of socks and a body wash set you better show this article to friends/family/loved ones/neighbours! The gang here have gotten together all hopped up on Christmas spirit and poured over catalogues, websites, store shelves and lists to find perfect gifts that will suit all budgets. So if you want to give your Secret Santa a few hints or you think your parents could use some guidance when it comes to shopping for you then this list is the only place you’ll need to send them!
What’s more we’ll try to find places/stores in Ireland that stock these gifts for you!
DECLAN – Gift Certificate and Collectibles
ANTHONY – Action Figures and Books
Gift Certificate -BoardGamer.ie
In the last year or so I’ve really gotten into board and card games, everything from Munchkin to Sentinels, Settlers of Catan to Zombie Dice and the best part is a lot of my friends play these games with me. The bad part is that we can’t always agree on the game to play with very different taste and opinions on what makes a good game! It’s even worse at home when I suggest cracking open a board game and the family all rush to the ancient Buckaroo I got when I was six(teen) while I’m standing there staring at the board for Ticket to Ride and my plastic train car pieces! Shopping for a geek/gamer isn’t easy and it can be pretty expensive too but with a voucher, you set the amount and there is no better place for me to spend it than on a new game that I want rather than get one people think I might want.
That’s why the gift certificate is perfect and viable option when it comes to a geeky Christmas! To pick up a Gift Certificate for BoardGamer.ie click below! If you know what game you want then you could just as easily point your loved ones in the direction and the team over at BG even off gift wrapping!
Click here to grab a Gift Certificate now!
TARDIS Mug – Available in Sub-City
Fan of Doctor Who? Well DVD Boxsets and memorabilia/cosplay accessories can be pretty expensive but you don’t need to splash out and spend big bucks to show off your Whovian love! No you can combine it with another favourite pasttime and in my case that’s drinking coffee and what better way to do that than with a TARDIS mug! Serving me hot beverages but also reminding me of my favourite Time Lord, companions and their many adventures, it even comes with a lid to help keep the heat in… and anyone who knows me knows that I usually have to finish half full mugs of ice cold tea… well not with this awesome little time travelling mug!
ANTHONY – Action Figures and Books
‘Star Wars: The Black Series’ Action Figures
One of my favourite memories from my childhood is watching Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi back to back on video (remember those!?) with my brother. It’s a timeless bonding experience, and even a rite of passage for the younger family members to be shown the way of the force and the glory that is the original Star Wars trilogy. Nowadays, the future of Star Wars has fans a little split.
Will the new trilogy be any good?
Will anything redeem episodes 1-3?
Will George Lucas ever stop re-releasing every piece of Star Wars film he can?
Only two things are certain, one is that the original trilogy still blows most other sci-fi and film epics out of the water, and two is that collecting the various wares associated with Star Wars is an absolutely irrefutable source of entertainment, no matter the age. Enter this range of affordable action figures from Hasbro. Spanning all six episodes of the Star Wars saga, this series provides all your favorite characters, from R2-D2 to Boba Fett to Darth Maul to the Storm Troopers, looking better than ever. Each one comes in a cool display case packaging with accessories, so if you’re a collector you can give them some nice pride of place on your shelf, or if you’re looking for some proper action figures to play with with your child/younger sibling, these are perfect for keeping the legacy alive and making sure the good memories out-weigh the bad.
Tardis Eruditorum: Vol. 1-3
It’s hard to believe that 2 and a half years ago, Doctor Who meant next to nothing to me. Just another show I was planning to check out at some stage. How things change. Nowadays, it’s counted amongst my favourite things ever. The recent 50th anniversary was an emotional event – sharing something that had become so personal to me with millions of people at the same time who had the same level and more of attachment to the Doctor was an incredible feeling, and it reminded me that I still need to dig deep into the ‘classic’ Doctor Who. I’ve read novels and listened to audio-books, but apart from some very choice episodes and some extended reading, I’ve not yet dived head-first into the old Doctors, and I know I’m not the only one in this position.
This series of books is a ‘critical history’ of Doctor Who, with each volume focusing on it’s own Doctor. It’s daunting with the older Doctors because there’s 7 (I count 8 as the start of the modern Doctors) of them, and literally hundreds of episodes to be watched, some absolutely incredible, and some absolutely terrible. Where do you start? How do you avoid the really bad ones? While, yes, everything should be watched eventually, it’d be nice to watch the key episodes first, the one’s that really add to the Doctor’s character and give you a greater frame of reference for the modern chapters of the Who-verse, these books provide that; showing the important episodes, why they’re important, and talking about the standards they set in terms of story-telling and special effects at the time.
It also shows the bad episodes, why they’re bad, and how they may have affected the canon in a negative manner. Normally I’d disagree with this sort of picking and choosing of what to watch, but I’m looking forward to spending my holidays with some good food, my Doctor Who t shirt on, reading and watching and making my way through the best of classic Who and seeing where it all started. And then arguing about what it all means fervently with other Whovians in spectacularly over-zealous fashion. Here’s to another 50 years!
DECLAN – Gift Certificate and Collectibles
Cards Against Humanity
If you’re like me and choose to surround yourself with horrifically broken people that the term “friend” can only loosely be applied to, Cards Against Humanity is perfect for you. The more twisted the company you play it in, the better. The gist is that one black card with a phrase on it is played per round, and each player completes the phrase with one of the white cards in their hand. This can lead to some bizarre non-sequiturs and some images you’ll wish had never been conjured, but the end result is a hilarious game for adults with a dark sense of humour.
And if you’re a student like me and therefore penniless, the entire set is available on the site in PDF format for free printing, so you could just as easily make your own set and have the team-building exercise of making all your friends cut out the cards into the bargain!
(Although, seriously: this is not a game for the young or faint of heart. A thick skin and dark sense of humour are essential to playing this game. If you’ve got those, though, you’ll have a blast).
Field Guide to Kanto
I like books. I like books with nice art in them even more. I like books with nice art of Pokémon in them even more-er. So this is a perfect gift for someone like me. Filled to the brim with illustrations of the original 151 in a gorgeous traditional Japanese watercolour style (provided by the ever-so-talented Kari Fry), the Field Guide is more than just an artbook. It also contains a detailed description of every Pokémon, written in the style of a real wildlife guide, including information such as habitat, behaviour and elemental affinity.
Add to this a detailed map of the Kanto region and some other useful info such as a Generation 1-era type matchup table, it’s an amazing item for people like me whose first major gaming experience as a young ‘un were the original Generation 1 games.
DECLAN – Gift Certificate and Collectibles
ANTHONY – Action Figures and Books
Fallout Bobblehead Collection
FALLOUT BOBBLEHEAD COLLECTION! HOLY CHRISTMAS CRACKERS! As you probably know Fallout 3 is my favourite game of all time, it was the game that really kickstarted my love for gaming and now for writing about them! God knows how much time I spent wandering the DC wasteland, but all I know was a lot of that time was spent hunting down, collecting and then starting at the 20 Bobbleheads. Prior to this collection I have been on the losing side of many ebay wars trying to get the Fallout 3 Special Edition which was the only way to get a beloved real life bobblehead. Now you can BUY ALL THE BOBBLEHEADS!
At the moment series one is available including the Strength, Melee Weapons, Energy Weapons, Perception, Endurance, Lock Pick and Repair bobbleheads, which are awesome. Really awesome. This is the perfect gift for me (cough cough) and for any other Fallout “enthusiast” (I prefer obsessive).
They can be bought online here!
As an entire pack or singles, be warned, there not on the cheap! At $15 per piece or $79.99 for a set of 7! BUT JUST LOOK AT THEM!
DC Comics Encyclopedia
Back in my younger days (the 17 year old says) I got this book as a surprise gift! Seeing as I loved videogames, comics seemed like the next best thing! I didn’t really know much about DC and their Superhero’s, so getting this was enlightening, I read the book cover to cover over and over and memorized all the hero’s I thought looked cool!
The book is jam packed with all of DC’s characters, a brief synopsis of them, key story lines and where to start for beginners along with original art by the artists, big battles, character rivalries, trivia and loads more . Since then I can literally build a fort out of all the comics I collected and haven’t regretted any of them!
This book is a beautiful guide for beginners and works great as a book to place on a coffee table, makes for good conversation and trivia on obscure characters!
Can be bought in your local bookshop or online here!
DECLAN – Gift Certificate and Collectibles
ANTHONY – Action Figures and Books
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
