Toys and Stuff

Friday, May 29, 2026

Forces of Valor (FOV) / Unimax Deep Dive: Pt 27 Set #83005 (2003) - #93005 (2004) German 716th Infantry Division (Normandy 1944) Pt 2 Pose 1

FOV pretty much stuck with the 716th Infantry Division for all of its German troops, the same way most of their U.S. sets are designated as 82nd Airborne. There didn't appear to be as much effort put into changing up units as there was with their packaging! This was the first FOV German set photographed, so the figures are designated Pose 1-through-5 (of a total of 12 FOV German poses) and they will crop up again in later sets.

Disclaimer: As with any of the Little Green Army Men I photograph, I'm not going to get into the accuracy of the uniforms - that's a rabbit hole I refuse top go down. I'll let the die-hard history buffs quibble about that stuff. For blog purposes, these are just toys the manufacturer designated as belonging to a particular unit.

Pose 1

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Back to Hogwarts: LEGO Set No. 30706 Quidditch Lesson (2025) - Pt 1

Here's a nice (and inexpensive!) little Harry Potter treat for those on a budget. The elements are all based around the game of Quidditch, and are themselves fantasy items. For example, I know the movies never showed what would have been an enchanted practice Keeper (goalie) mannequin. An enchanted mannequin was however used in "Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix" when the students who had formed Dumbledor's Army practiced throwing defensive/offensive spells in the Room of Requirements against an enchanted sparring mannequin. **Hmmm, is there another word for that? I know similar wooden dummies were used in the middle ages to practice jousting skills and there has been evidence of them used by the Romans for gladiatorial practice.**

LEGO also included a nifty little Quaffle cannon for this set. As it's been forever since I read the books, I can't say if any of these elements were written about.

This set was packaged in LEGO's new environmentally friendly paper bag, vs. the polybags previously used.

Packaging and Contents

Assembled Components

Quaffle Cannon

The disc slides inside the barrel but there is an ever so slight resistance. When the trigger is slammed down, that slight resistance causes the stored kinetic energy to launch the disc - and it will go fairly far on a decent launch.

The trigger is up, the faux Quaffle is in the barrel, but will not slide down freely due to the ever so slight resistance.

Locked and loaded

Quidditch Trunk

The trunk can hold the Snitch, the Quaffle (or Blodger if you prefer), the faux Quaffle discs, and the couple of extra parts that came with the set.

Forces of Valor (FOV) / Unimax Deep Dive: Pt 26 Set #83005 (2003)-#93005 (2004) German 716th Inf Div Normandy 1944 Pt 1 Packaging and Contents

I gave myself a couple days break before heading on into the next FOV set. Before we get started I noticed a series of errors that had crept into my listings for the figures in the last set [#83004 (2003) -#93004 (2003) US 82nd Airborne Div Normandy 1944]. That set should have been listed as:

-Pt 1 Packaging and Contents

-Pt 2 Pose 1

-Pt 3 Pose 2

-Pt 4 Pose 3

-Pt 5 Pose 4

-Pt 6 Pose 5

Now, on to the latest set. This was one of those sets that I had tossed out the box years ago and had to rely on catalog listings, pictures from the backs of boxes, and eBay listings to get a handle on the contents. That said, I was able to ascertain all of the major components and believe I have figured out all the 'smalls' that came with the set. After that, it was just a matter of going into my boxes where all the figures and accessories were kept and pulling them out for photography.

Again, FOV did some odd things with their packaging. Set #83005 is dated 2003 and comes in the 1st series dark box. Then, that same year, they changed the set number to 93005 and offered it on a blister card. A year later, 93005 was offered in the 2nd series olive green box! Why?