With two of Aloy’s Horizon adventures under my belt, I’m now something of a robot dissection expert. I know how to X-ray any murderous appliance that's out roaming on the plains. I can confidently pick which of their innards may be harvested for parts—or detonated to turn them into bits. Honestly, engaging in that fast-paced, life or death version of Operation on mechanical megafauna is the best part of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.

Understandably, it feels a little weird doing everything in reverse with this PlayStation and LEGO collab—cobbling a robosaur together instead of stripping it down for shards and components. Weighing in at 1,222 pieces and shooting up to an impressive 38 cm (15″) in height, the LEGO Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck #76989 is a towering achievement if you like your builds a little different. The exotic, overlapping armour plating of Guerrilla Games' dinos is unlike any other model out there, stylistically, but a clear love for the source material (plus a bonus Watcher and unique Aloy minifig) make it hard to pass on.

Building the Tallneck

As you'd expect, the groundwork for this set begins with the…well, literal groundwork. The LEGO designers have allowed themselves a relatively small 23 cm (9″) by 17 cm (6.6″) oval on which to depict the nature-reclaimed, post-apoc 31st century. It's nice to have an ovoid base for a change, something that better complements and accentuates the curved headpiece that will tower above it. I also dig the little colour Easter Eggs that are used in the “soil” of the base – subtle nods to the earthy tones and bright streaks of color that characterise the Horizon palette.

Once you've covered those chromatic winks with a layer of overgrown vegetation, it's time to clip in some other neat additions. In 3020, the world has become your gardener's worst nightmare, a fact represented by large overgrown reeds, a towering maple, knee-level weeds and a choking vine. The latter needs to be snaked around a rusting traffic light which has clearly seen better centuries. It's such a clever bit of visual storytelling.

Embedded into all this greenery is the minifig version of Aloy. I'm very happy with her brickification, particularly with her hunting spear and unique hairpiece. The latter does her shoulder length braids justice and even has a focus hardwired in the spot where her ears ought to be. The only downsides to this minifig: a sweptback/ponytail design would have allowed for some head pivoting. Also, while it's similarly unique, I'm not feeling the all white bow and arrow piece. It looks too pristine and plain. Out of place. Some metallic accents would have solved this.

Last but not least, there's a superdeformed version of a Watcher, the very first machine that 'junior' Aloy learns to be wary of. It's a quick study that doesn't require many parts. It doesn't offer as much articulation/posing as I originally assumed (leg joints only). Mind you, I do appreciate that it comes with a few translucent 1x1s which let you communicate its alert level status. For those of you new to the series, they would be: blue (situation normal), yellow (something is up, not good) and red (time for me to disembowel a meatbag).

And for your necks trick

When it comes to the titular Tallneck—everybody's favourite U.S.S. Enterprise-headed robogiraffe—the build process is an absolute pleasure. Construction begins on the torso and that distinctive neck which must be climbed in-game (to initiate an override/map details reveal). Everything is relatively straightforward but also a little repetitious as you're effectively stacking vertebrae and outer armour together.

What the neck construction lacks in entertainment factor, it makes up for in aesthetics. The distinctive 'museum skeleton meets futurism' appearance of a Tallneck is quite pleasing to the eye. What's presented is a more than fair LEGO-ification of the in-game asset which, obviously, is several magnitudes more complex.

The one caveat: though that neck may look ligament-like, the reality is it offers low pose-ability. The best you're gonna get is a very slight tilt forward or backward. No quizical head cocks. Certainly no sexy serpentine twists. MInd you, I don't recall the actual Tallnecks being particularly emotive anyway.

The last thing on our checklist is the big ol' frisbee disc of a melon. Honestly, there aren't a lot of surprises with that one. Because you're effectively building a big circluar bonce in quarters, there's actually a fair degree of build deja vu. Beyond the big capstone node that Aloy must override, the coolest final flourishes end up being the half a dozen antenna 'dreadlocks' that bristle along the Tallneck's back and butt.

When all's said and built, the Tallneck not only looks authentic and all sorts of cool, its legs prove to be way more posable and stable than I'd imagined. Using a simple system of four anchor poles (which slot into dedicated holes in four frankly adorable feet) you can secure your Tallneck to the base. That said, it's just as viable to go for a bit of a walkabout on a flat surface of your choosing. Possibly to the accompaniment of Henry Mancini's – Baby Elephant Walk. Or the Jurassic Park theme.

Whatever way you choose to keep your Tallneck—tethered or free-roam—even a casual observer will recognise that a lot of care and thought has gone into this set. As a fan of Guerrilla Games' work on this franchise, I'm more than satisfied with this tie-in product. Truth be told, it's only made me hungry to hunt down any sister sets that (hopefully) may appear on my horizon. LEGO, my kingdom for a Thunderjaw or Slaughterspine.

Other great games inspired LEGO

Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.

Ubisoft's open world pirate game Skull & Bones will reportedly be released on November 8, after years of troubled development.

As reported by Eurogamer, industry insider @ALumia_Italia shared on Twitter (below) that a release date had been found amid an apparent Xbox Store entry, also listing a plethora of DLC packs for the game. These include a preorder bonus, Bloody Bones' Legacy Mission, the Ashen Corsair Mission, the Smuggler Pass Token, digital soundtrack and artbook, and Premium Bonus Pack.

✅

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) June 28, 2022

While it's unclear exactly what these are individually, their placement on the Xbox Store certainly implies that Ubisoft is nearing an official announcement of Skull & Bones' release date, from which point players will be able to preorder it. Repeated leaker Tom Henderson subsequently followed up to add weight to the November 8 release date (also in the tweet above),

It's also not the only evidence to suggest a major reveal is coming. Skull & Bones was rated by the ESRB on June 27 (and by South Korea's ratings board in May), and games are usually only presented to ratings boards once they're in a complete or near-complete state. Gameplay also leaked in April that had a pretty comprehensive overview of the game, and while it's not clear what stage of development this was from, we do know that certain members of the public have been playing Skull & Bones to test it for Ubisoft.

The game was first revealed five years ago in 2017 but suffered delay after delay and as of July last year had reportedly been in development for eight years. It reportedly entered an alpha stage at this time after receiving a major reboot in September 2020.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Prime Day is right around the corner on July 12, with the 48-hour shopping event ready to set the deals world on fire with a bunch of new deals on video games, tech, homeware, and pretty much everything else under the sun.

For now, there are still plenty of early Prime Day deals to check out as well. Yes, the whole ordeal seems like a misnomer. Prime Day is two days long, and there are even Prime Day deals before Prime Day has even started. But, we're not complaining, as there are even more opportunities to save right now. So, without further delay, here are the top 10 early Prime Day deals to check out before Prime Day.

Prime Members Get 3-Months of Audible Premium for Free

So why is this an excellent deal? First of all, it's free for Prime members, so you can currently consider it just another benefit of your membership for the next few months (just remember to turn off auto-renewal). The only catch is your need to be a new Audible member, so take that into consideration.

Not only that, but you get three audiobooks of your choosing, for free, during this period. These are yours to keep, and you don't need to keep paying for Audible to listen to them. The membership would usually set you back $14.95 per month, in total you're saving almost $45 overall on the service.

More Excellent Early Prime Day Deals

Complete These Steps and Get Another $10 for Free on Prime Day

Amazon is also running a "Prime stamp card" promotion that nets Prime members $10 in Amazon credit. Once you have a Prime membership, you can get started collecting stamps. Note that you need to do all four things before 11:59 p.m. ET on July 13. Here’s what you have to do:

• Stream a show on Prime Video
• Listen to a song on Prime Music
• Borrow an eBook on Prime Reading
• Make a Prime-eligible purchase ($5 or more)

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ Star Wars series was originally pitched as a trilogy of feature films, still starring Ewan McGregor.

In an interview with The Direct, one of Obi-Wan Kenobi's credited writers Stuart Beattie revealed that he didn't actually collaborate with the production team but was instead responsible for writing a screenplay for the first of three planned Obi-Wan films. He added that, at the time, both Disney and Ewan McGregor were "absolutely" on board with the idea of a trilogy.

"I wrote the film that they based the show on," Beattie said. "I spent like a year, year and a half working on it. When the decision was made not to make any more spin-off films after Solo came out, I left the project and went on to other things.

"[Executive producer Joby Harold] came on and took my scripts and turned it from two hours into six. So I did not work with them at all, I just got credit for the episodes because it was all my stuff."

Beattie pitched three films to Lucasfilm as he believed the Obi-Wan from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith had to undergo three different evolutions before he became the Ben we know in A New Hope.

"The first one was the first movie, which was the show, which was: 'surrender to the will of the Force. Transport your will, surrender your will. Leave the kid alone,'" Beattie explained. "The second was thinking about where Kenobi ends up. And one of the most powerful and probably the most powerful moment in all of Obi-Wan's story is that moment where he sacrifices himself in A New Hope.

"Great moment, you know, makes you cry. But, if you stop and think about it, it's a pretty sudden thing, to just kind of go be fighting a guy, to see Luke and go, 'I'm gonna die.' You know, that to me, that required forethought. That required pre-acceptance that this was going to happen."

Beattie didn't share his ideas for the third film but said he was devastated when the trilogy was scrapped as Disney and Lucasfilm shifted major parts of Star Wars storytelling towards TV shows instead of movies.

"It certainly crushed us. Devastated, absolutely devastated," he said. "But, that's the business, you know, highs and lows. I'm glad it got made. I'm glad the show got made. I'm proud of my story that [got] told."

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said in May that Star Wars is now about "persistent storytelling" instead of film trilogies, as a regular output of TV shows, one-off films, and even novels, comics, and games will now be used to expand the universe instead of just landmark movie collections. The next film set to be released is from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, who also said in May that he'll bring a completely fresh story to the Star Wars universe.

The new model appears to be working, as in our 8/10 review of the first season, IGN said: "Bookended by strong opening and closing chapters, Obi-Wan Kenobi bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope to satisfying effect."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

All six episodes of Baymax! arrive Wednesday, June 29 on Disney+.

Big Hero 6's second animated spinoff series comes in the form of Baymax!, a gentle, jovial run of six minisodes designed to comfort and delight. At around nine minutes each, give or take, these short adventures feature lovable, inflatable doctor-bot Baymax patrolling its bustling San Fransokyo neighborhood in search of those in need of medical — and emotional — assistance. It's light, rewarding content for those looking for a brief reprieve.

Baymax, as a character, is a triumph on more than one level. Like a reverse-Terminator, it's relentless in its mission to help others and much of the humor here comes in the form of our own reluctance to, basically, get a check up. Our own stubbornness, as humans, to practice self-care or even our fear to face a diagnosis collide with Baymax's programming to be both kind and logical. So it's no surprise that a few of these chapters involve a chase scenario, where the episode's patient literally scrambles to evade Baymax's dopey, determined care.

30 Rock's Scott Adsit reprises his role as Baymax (which he also did for Big Hero 6: The Series), once more providing a calm A.I. presence with notes of childlike innocence. The dichotomy between Baymax's bloated, cumbersome form and its approach to others, which feels tame and respectful, taps into its usual comedy, giving us a hero who'd rather do things right than do things fast, shirking all shortcuts to wellness.

Ryan Potter and Maya Rudolph are also back as Hiro and his Aunt Cass, to help embed these tiny capsules of attentive aid within the larger Big Hero 6 universe. The episodes themselves mostly run as single-serving stories, though the season wraps up in a serialized manner, nicely tying things together. The animation's crisp, the action is entertaining, and the interaction between Baymax and the fair citizenry of San Fransokyo is lovely.

Since the season is small in stature and breezes by quickly, there's not too much to dig into story-wise without delving into full spoilers, so let's just say that Baymax tenderly treats patients from all walks of life (and species) who are dealing with everything from allergies to phobias to menstruation (Episode 3 is a standout in both topic, humor, and messaging).

Baymax, sweetly slow on the uptake, is eternally well-meaning, and the series not only reinforces the importance of community but also the idea of people needing emotional support and how often that's connected to physical health. Baymax is "programmed" to care, but its packaging and demeanor never place you in a cold vacuum of robotics. Its drive to nurture all, as funnily boring and lumbering as that's supposed to be, feels as human as the need for us to flee from healing and self-reflection.