Long Before Friendslop, Portal 2 Made Co-Op Cool https://ift.tt/jMpcx4l April 18, 2026 marks the 15-year anniversary of Portal 2's release. Below, we reminisce about its memorable story, novel cooperative two-player mode, and enduring comedy. There was a time in the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 era when Valve was spoiling us with games, packaging some excellent titles in The Orange Box and bringing us back-to-back Left 4 Dead entries. But the company hit a stride with the 2011 release of Portal 2, which might be its finest accomplishment of that generation. Following up from 2007's Portal, Valve would still have had a hit if it had only made and released the single-player campaign, but the developers went the extra mile with the addition of a full-fledged co-op campaign--which itself would have been an equally worthy sequel to Portal on its own, and in retrospect, was a harbinger for cooperative and social games trending today. Continue Reading at GameSpot
Pixar fans can save 10% on Lego's 613-piece model of Luxo Jr. and the Pixar Ball. Normally $70, Lego Ideas: Disney Pixar Luxo Jr. is on sale for $63. Lego's recreation of the iconic Pixar mascot launched last June and has rarely budged from its MSRP. The current discount is the best we've seen for the set, but it's not marked as an official deal. Over the past few weeks, Luxo Jr.'s price on Amazon has sometimes changed multiple times in a single day, so we wouldn't be surprised if the the price has changed again by the time you read this story.
The 613-piece replica of Luxo Jr. measures 5.5 x 4 x 11 inches--though Luxo Jr.'s height varies based on how you pose it. Luxo Jr. can stand next to the buildable Pixar Ball or balance on top of it by making a couple of simple adjustments.
Lego designed Luxo Jr. as a fully articulated model capable of being displayed in poses from the iconic Pixar production logo and short film starring the semi-anthropomorphic lamp. The light bulb doesn't actually work, but Lego did a good job of making it look realistic.
As a Lego model, Luxo Jr. is quite different than the vast majority of Disney Pixar building sets. Designed for experienced builders and collectors, the model has an interesting build process thanks to its multi-hinged arm, modifiable base, and the many Easter Eggs Lego worked into the authentic recreation.
There are dozens of references to Pixar movies hidden throughout the Luxo Jr. and Pixar Ball builds. For instance, the Pizza Planet truck from the first Toy Story movie is included inside the light bulb. The lamp's base has a miniature build referencing Marlin & Dory from Finding Nemo as well as clever allusions to Inside Out, Cars, Coco, WALL-E, A Bug's Life--and possibly others that we missed.
The instruction booklet calls out the Finding Nemo character builds as well as the mini-builds found in the Pixar Ball. The interior of the colorful ball features multiple characters from five different Pixar movies:
Toy Story - Woody & Buzz
Up - Carl & Russell
Monsters, Inc. - Mike & Sully
The Incredibles family
Ratatouille - Linguini & Remy
As mentioned, one of the display modes is Luxo Jr. "deflating" the toy ball, just like in the production logo's animation sequence. Once you remove two of the rounded plates from the ball, Luxo Jr. can connect to the top. It's a quick and easy modification. The Pixar Ball has its own buildable stand, so the model still feels stable with Luxo Jr. on the ball.
Luxo Jr. was the star of Pixar's first short film in 1986. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, but most Pixar fans were introduced to the character when it hopped across the screen to complete the Pixar logo at the beginning of Toy Story in 1995. The short film originally only played at film festivals and conventions, but it eventually played in theaters worldwide before screenings of Toy Story 2 in 1999.
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