Monday, September 13, 2010

Mini-Time Machine with Marty McFly



First things, first. The Marty McFly in this set isn't the same as the Marty in the original Minimate 4 pack. It's damned close, but there are slight differences in the paint application. Also, the orange vest is slightly different. In the end however, it's not enough difference to make you feel like you've got two versions of the same character.

There's another version of this that comes with Marty in a radiation suit. But I didn't get that one because the Mini-Time Machine is different, it has paint designed to make it look like it's covered in ice and forst, which it is how it's supposed to look post time drive. So screw that, give me this version and redundant Marty.



The minimate Delorean is pretty nice. It looks squished, sure, but the way the back is designed, with all the iconic Back To The Future mods looks pretty sweet. It's a little difficult to get a minimate into the driver's seat, since the steering wheel has a tendency to get in the way, but you can get them in there and they look... well they look right.


If there's one thing I'm going to complain about it's this, you have to put on stickers. I hate putting stickers on toys because my OCD means I never feel it's done perfectly. But if you want headlights, the "OUTATIME" license plate, dashboard controls, the time display, or even the flux capacator, you have to affix the decals yourself and getting your fingers in that tiny cabin space is not easy or fun.

In the end though, I really like this toy. None of the other minimate vehicles out there are appealing to me, but if they make an Ecto-1 in this scale I'll get that too.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Mariachi, Pharaoh, Karate Master


Which minifigure from Series 2 is a more racist depiction? Mr. Maracas (originally listed as "Mexican," and listed in Germany as "Mariachi"), the Pharaoh, or the Karate Master (known in Germany as "Judoki")?
In series 1 it was clearly the Indian (or as he was condescendingly renamed, "Tribal Hunter.") But I think in this wave it's a toss up. I'm probably going to go with Mr. Maracas.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Karate Master


I was initially kind of ambivalent about the Karate Master. $2 for a fairly plain minifigure didn't seem worth it. But two things brought me around. The first was his award which depicts a tiny statue of a lego dude. That thing is seriously awesome. And the fact that it came with two of them, so I can give another guy an award for something or other, means this set was totally worth plunking down the cash.
The other reason I wanted it? Because it amuses me when Lego depicts Asian characters. And this dude is definately Asian. You can tell because, hey, slanty eyelids.

Vampire & Witch


Okay let's do this.


So when I found out that Target had the blind-bagged minifigures they were going to close in 20 minutes. I ran home, grabbed my sheet of barcodes, and ran back. With 4 minutes left I didn't have time to try and find which bags had which figures, so I shoved a basket full of sixty bags and went home. I then spent the next hour figuring out what each bag contained, picked out what I wanted, and returned the rest.

It was expensive, because quite frankly, there were about 15 figures I wanted in this wave, and that means about $30 and then tax.

Here we see the vampire and the witch. It's been a while since Lego put out its monsters, so I'm glad I got a chance to pick some up. The cape on the Vampire took a little figuring out, since it requires figruing out the proper way to fold the cloth. The witch's legs are a solid piece used to depict dresses, which quite frankly I find annoying.

I really want the werewolf, mostly to re-create my Rock Band Lego avatars.