Black Bean

I wrote about these a long time ago, but I just got my hands on the Black Bean. Mameshiba's insanely popular, they've spawned anime shows, a manga. They've even decided each type of bean has its own personality.

Black Bean here is described as "Has a tendency to to stare and likes to hide." So he's like the creepy stalker of the Mameshiba world, if the pure innocence of that world could have a stalker. What's the adorably cute version of a stalker? Black Bean would be that. Also, pink hippo sweat.

 

German Hello Kitty

I don't buy toys from Urban Outifitters very often. They usually only have vinyl blind pack figures that I consider way too overpriced for a blind pack. ($10... no.) But every now and then they clearance out some and they get to a price low enough for me to justify buying one. Especially when some other person has gone through them and opened them so I actually know what I'm paying for.

Which is why I was okay with paying $2 for this Hello Kitty from the Hello Kitty International series. It's the German. And if there's something that's going to amuse me to no end, it's a German version of Hello Kitty dressed in lederhosen. The only thing that would have made it better is if she was holding a stein full of beer.

Seriously, look at how awesome that is. LOOK AT IT! GERMAN HELLO KITTY DEMANDS IT! SCHAUEN SIE SICH DEN GLORREICHEN HELLO KITTY!

Hello Kitty

Let me just say that the blind packed Mega Bloks Hello Kitty figures are a step down from the Marvel and Halo blind packed Mega Bloks figures. Mostly because the Mega Blok minifigures usually have 7 or more points of articulation and Hello Kitty minfigures have three, their shoulders and head. Although, to be fair, that's pretty much keeping in step with the character design.

Meanwhile the figures are easy to find in their blind packs. The feel and squeeze method works amazingly well since the figures all come with easy to differentiate base blocks and accessories. So when I wanted the basic Hello Kitty without a hat and traditional coloring, I found it in less than two minutes.

HOORAY.

But it cost $3.49.

BOO!

Toy Show Purchases (pt. 1)

So yeah, we went to the toy show on Saturday, so over the course of this week I'll be occasionally going over what I picked up. I've already mentioned Super Grover (so vote now!), so we'll skip that. Let's start with the big ole overview to get your attention piqued.

We'll start with the robot rabbit. It's a robot rabbit, why I bought it should be obvious. It's a robot that is also a rabbit. I'm pretty sure that he came with a Mad Hatter figure from the Batman Animated Series line. But who really cares one way or the other It's a rabbit robot.

Next up is one of Kevin Smith's inaction figures. This was in a box of loose figures that were being clearanced, which is the best part of any toy show. It's Ben Affleck as a killer angel, which explains why he has the blood stains. The wings are pretty impressive, they plug into peg holes in the back. Surprisingly, while the design is more impressive, I can't help but feel that killer angel Ben Affleck isn't as cool as Rabbit Robot. But it's still cool. (Especially for $1.)



Now we're going to move onto the stuff in that cardboard box. (Reference the picture at the top of this article.) I was looking at one of the figures in the box, which was labelled $2 each, when the dude who ran the table offered me the whole box for $5. I said sure. So what did I get? Well I found to my surprise that the box included a Magic the Gathering starter deck and a pack of basketball cards. But since those are cards and this is a toy blog, I'll instead show you this.

There were some Gashapon toys. Gashapon is Japanese for capsule toys, but in Japan they're more impressive than the crappy $1 minifigures they sell in the states. I only know one of those characters shown above. (Tsuraya from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya... Hey, spelled it right on my first try.) The other three I don't know at all, not even what series they're from, but they're adorably marketable. And how can you not love a little girl wearing a head-flashlight?

There were also a couple Gashapon figures that hadn't been opened and assembled. So that's cool. This one is Tsuraya in her maid outfit from that one episode where she worked at her class' cafe during the school festival. Oh those Japanese.

There was also a book. When I got a closer look at it I thought it was a Beast Wars manga. But when I opened it up I found that it was something amazingly better. It was in fact an episode and toy guide to Beast Wars. Page after page of illustrations, photos and screenshots of robots that transform into animals.

Of course it's all written in Japanese, so I have no idea what it says. It's also falling apart, but it's still kind of neat.

And finally:

Really badly preserved Ernie and Bert finger puppets. With real hair. Okay, that's it for today. The hair is freaking me out, as is the prospect of putting my fingers in those things. Dirty. Dirty.

We'll continue on another day.

Yotsuba&!

Man, I really love the manga Yotsuba&!. It chronicles the adventures of a five year-old girl in suburbia who is constantly pleased by all the things around her. It is the least cynical thing I have ever read, which is doubly amazing because I also consider it one of the funniest and most nuanced things I've ever read. It's one of the few Manga that the author has stated will never be adapted into an anime, which is cool especially when you remember that his other manga, which was adapted into an anime, became an insanely popular anime series and probably netted him a lot of cash. This is a really roundabout way of saying I really like Yotsuba&! and I really wanted a toy to commemorate this.

And they released one, and then another, and then they became collector's items imported from Japan... which means they go for about $80 now. Unless you go to a convention where a vendor is selling one of the few domestically re-releases on sale! SCORE! Yotsuba Kowaii is a Revoltech figure, which means a crazy amount of articulation. (Ever want to see a figure clap? Now you can.) And just to let you do all you want with the high number of joints, the figure comes with a stand that will prop the figure up... also allowing for jumping simulations. Another great feature of this figure is the accessories, which come in the form of an ice cream bar, a squirt gun, and alternate heads/hands.

I love this. I shoudln't have waited when it first came out. (I was poor back then.) But even so, I have one now and I am happy. Until I walk away from the figure and my cynicism returns.

Damakor

Bakugan was on clearance at Target, with some of the sets going under $1.50. Since the only Bakugan toys I had ever purchased were from McDonalds Happy Meals, I thought I'd pick one up to see how it fared as a "transforming ball" toy. Because I don't know anything about the card game and I don't ever want to know. I'm old damnit. STAY OFF MY METAPHORICAL LAWN!

So one thing I didn't know about these toys is that the real non-Happy Meal toys come with a slate of metal that is placed inside of one of the playing cards. When the toy ball touches the metal card it activates the transformation from a ball via some sort of magnet. That's pretty cool.


The toy itself is rather flimy once its transformed. The joints aren't strong at all so there's no posing going on. It simply has two modes: ball and not ball, in this case some sort of dragon thing with floppy legs and arms. When you're done you simply take it off the card and fold it back into a ball.

The whole process is kind of neat, but I don't think I'll be buying another Bakugan ever again... although that isn't the first time I've declared that... Which is kind of pathetic really.

Hawktor & Swayther

Damn the collector's mentality. I've been having a lot of fun transforming the Bakugan from McDonalds. Too much fun. So I decided to go out and get another one.

I know it's a silly purchase, and not really worth it, but damn it, transforming balls... ARGH!

Then I wondered what the Battle Gear, which connects to the Battle Balls (they really call it that) look like, so I went back and got another happy meal.

Something is wrong with me. But yeah, when you transform and then combine them, they look like this.

And with that I feel my need to obtain any more Bakugan fading into oblivion. Unless the collector streak flares up again.

Dharak

I've always been intrigued by the Bakugan toys. They all seem like crude transformers that turn into balls. If they didn't cost a ridiculous amount I would already have bought one. (Since technically they're game pieces and come with cards for the game. So, pretty much they're plastic miniatures.)

So now that McDonalds is giving out fully functional Bakugan, which are actually bigger than the toys, as one of their happy meal toys, I decided to bite the bullet. It's actually cheaper than getting one in a retail store, plus I get a burger.


It's pretty nice, I gotta admit. There's a button on the bottom of the ball which activates some springs, and BAM, it turns into like a robot dragon thing. I am totally unfamiliar with the Bakugan univers, although the Happy Meal box implied that all the characters are named something-oid or something-tor.

Whatever, It's a nice cheap toy. Not bad. But I really don't need another one. I'll just stick with the trasnforming sphere I already have. Although according to the insert that came with it, I guess you can combine two transformed pieces together... Wait, no.

Mameshiba Plushes

So yeah, I didn't go to Comiccon, but I did have a couple friends pick up these exclusives. They're plush toys of Mameshibas, a Japanese property which essentially means bean dogs. They're tiny beans (all sorts, including jelly, coffee, and peanut) which show up out of nowhere, spout off useless trivia, and freak people out. They're adorable. The guys above are chilli and edamame.

So yeah, when I heard they'd be selling toys at the SDCC I asked my friends to pick some up for me. These are the smaller plushes, around 3 inches long. There's a huge number of merchandise for these guys in Japan and Toynami is starting to release some stuff here in the states.