Double Decker Couch

You know, considering the Lego movie minifigures cost $3 a piece if you were lucky, $15 for a set with 5 movie characters, a car and a ridiculous over the top movie prop is an amazing deal. (The double decker couch, not the waffle.)

Plus sad Unikitty is adorable. And she comes with a second head!

Batman and Super Angry Kitty Attack

New Legi movie sets? A year after the movie came out? Who says there aren't upsides to cynical corporate money grabs? 

The great figures in this set are happy Batman and Super Angry Unikitty. I've really wanted a Unikitty figure for a while but couldn't justify paying the prices of the other Unikitty sets just for Unikitty. Then this basic level set which only runs for $10. For 3 figures and a robot build, this set is actually cheaper than 3 blind bad Lego minifigures. Great deal!

Minimate Monday: Peter Pan set

For the Peter Pan anniversary a few years back they released Peter Pan minimates in 3 different sets. One was the Smee/Wendy pirate ship set I discussed earlier and another was this set of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

First things first, the Lost Boys suck. Not the toys, just the characters in the Disney movie. They completely failed to make an impact and I barely remember they're in the movie. Sure that might be because I've never watched the movie start to finish but I think I've got the gist of things. I wouldn't have gotten this set if it was just made up of Lost Boys, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

But then I think they knew that and that's why they put the Peter Pan minimate in this set. Because if you're going to be the type of person that gets Peter Pan minimates then you are damn well going to get the set that includes Peter Pan. And at least he comes with some cool accessories, like a flying stand and a Tinkerbell mini-minifigure he can hold to simulate her obsessive need to be at least 1 foot or closer to him. (A personality trait that does not at all gel with her characterization in the Disney Fairy straight to DVD movies of which she is the star. In those she's a sweet natured eccentric inventor.) although Peter Pan has his dagger so he can straight up murder the dude Peter goes out of his way to antagonize.

I'm not a fan of what I've seen of the Disney  movie. But damn do I love minimates.

Minimate Monday: Black Friday aftermath edition

I got minimates on Black Friday because of course I did!

Look, as much as I enjoy the concept of All-New X-Men (which for the uninformed is that the original X-Men, early in their careers when they are still young and idyllic, are brought to the present and are horrified by what the X-Men and mutants have turned into) the series has kind of lost its way and their new costumes are ridiculous, so I wasn't really too interested in a wave of minimates of the characters in their new costumes with minimate designs that make them all look like adults, not young teenagers. Fortunately Iceman in ice form just looks like any Iceman and I have yet to truly get my hands on a good Iceman minimate. And it comes with a Sentinel, which, let's face it, is a good army builder figure. So an easy Black Friday buy if it's on sale. Also, metal tentacles!

The other set is Urban Yukio and Black Clan Ninja from the Wolverine in Japan movie wave. But if you ignore that it's Urban Japanese Girl minimate and Ninja minimate. So my desire to own more Asian characters as minimates is sated. Although the ninja comes with a slightly curved sword and his sheath is straight so the sword doesn't fit without tearing the soft plastic it is made of.

Minimate Monday: Clerks box set

So the Clerks minimate set available at comic shops, online, and toy stores are in black and white, reflecting the original movie. I'm not a fan of b&w toys, even if I love the Clerks series of films/cartoons. But this Toys R Us set has repainted the figures in full color, meaning they look nothing like they do in any movie. Well... Randall and Dante kinda look like they do in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, but I prefer to think this is a Clerks the Animated series set of figures and they're preparing to do battle with Alec Baldwin as Leonardo Leonardo.

Minimate Monday: Peter Pan Pirate Ship

I mentioned last week that I only buy minimate vehicles if I want the figures that come with them. This is a prime example. The only way to get the Wendy and Smee minimates was to pick up the Pirate Ship that came with them. This made them the most expensive figures to acquire and also meant I would end up with a second minimate pirate ship since this is pretty much just a repackaged ship from the Calico Jack minimate pirate line. (Remember that? I barely do. But if they release more figures I'll snatch them up, because I have a sickness and it's called minimates.)

There's some differences, to be sure. The mast is larger to match the one from the movie and the sails are different, but the base ship is the same. I dunno, I would have just preferred they released the figures seperately.

I'm sure they knew they had collector's by the balls. Who would get Peter Pan minimates but not get the Wendy minimate? Weirdos, that's who.

Alien

My friend Bruce gave me a ReAction alien figure. Not sure if I'm going to keep it in the box or not. Unlike other Reaction figures the lack of articulation is more than made up for in design. Also, there's an action feature. If you pull I the top of the head there's a switch that can deploy the inner mouth proboscis. It's why the head has a rubber band around it, to prevent that piece from popping off and flying everywhere this giving potential customers the impression that the toy is broken.

Pulp Fiction

I'm not sure if I like the other Pulp Fiction minimates, but I do like the ones of Jules and Vincent, so this two pack is perfect for me. 

The only downside is that Jules' burger and shake are molded in his hand and there are no alternate hands. Lame.

Cars 2 cars

I've found myself getting into the concept of the Cars 2 diecast cars. I shouldn't be surprised, considering how much I really liked the Cars 2 Lego sets. Of course those ended up proving too expensive for me to get all the ones I wanted. And the same can be said of the diecast cars, morseo considering how freaking many of these things they make. And really, I can't say I care for all the figures, hell, there's a reason I never watched either of the movies.

So I've decided to limit myself to really weird sets. So only really ridiculous cars that tickly my funny bone or irony ligament or whatever. Unfortunately I've come to this party way too late, so all the good cars are now hard to find. But I still stumble upon some that I want.

Which is why I got this Mater/Zen Master Pitty. Because look at Zen Master Pitty in all his Japanese glory.

They put him in a rice picker hat... how much more Asian stereotype can you get? You know what, this dude is getting this post labelled with the Toys depicting Asians tag. And actually, looking at the wikipedia he's supposed to have a fu-manchu-esque mustache

The other recent set I got was of a car that is a priest and two forklifts that are cardinals because WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING THIS MAKES NO SENSE! This either means that the Cars have accepted human Jesus as their savior or at some time there was a Car Jesus... THERE WAS A CAR JESUS!!!

So anyway, here's Father Burke and Cardinals Antonio and Angelo.

Groot and Nebula

A friend of mine picked up some of those Guardian of the Galaxy bobble heads from Funko and gave me the ones he didn't want. (Blind boxes... they suck so hard.) The figures are basically mini vinyl figures except with a spring connecting their neck and heads, so that they bobble. The Groot bobbles much more than the Nebula since the space where the spring attaches to the head is very narrow, leaving only a minimal amount of bobble movement. Meanwhile Groot's head is barely attached to the body, so the spring gets a lot of freedom to bounce. It has the unfortunate side-effect of making it look like Groot's head is falling off if you look at it at the wrong angle, since the head is, as I mentioned, barely attached to the body, with only the spring connecting the two. Both my friend and I would have preferred these to be simple vinyl figures. The Bobblehead stuff is more annoying than its worth. Also, I prefer bobble heads to be more like the classic ones rather than the Funko design. Because without a base, when you push the head, you're just as likely to push the entire figure over.

Aleksei Sytsevich and Alistair Smythe

Paul Giamatti and BJ Novak as minimates! 'Nuff said!

Seriously, this might the best thing to come out of Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Penguin

Hmm, looks like my 4th of July post didn't go up. Ah well.

Anyway: they made a Danny Devito Penguin in the 1:18 scale. What am I going to do, not buy it?

Pfft, no. Then I wouldn't have a tiny Danny Devito Penguin. Batman Returns was awesome, what with it having less gruesome burned out skeletons than the first movie.

It has pretty good articulation, too. If Mattel made all their 4 inch figures as good as this one maybe the DC Universe Infinite figures wouldn't have been an abomination against all that is good with the world.

Godzilla

So Target has these Godzilla minatures from Neca/WizKids in their "collectible cards and stuff" area for about $3. There's some based on the new movie and a set based on classic looks. I picked up the latter and.. it's okay. Not my favorite version of Godzilla. I don't  know if I'll get another one, I'm guessing no unless I have $3 burning a hole in my pocket.

Tin Man

Let' get this out of the way, this figure looks good. It's a pretty damned nice interpretation of the MGM Wizard of Oz version of the Tin Man. I think they released this line of figures for the 75th anniversary of the movie and most of them look screen accurate. To the point that I would not be shocked if you told me these were made by Sideshow. (This only applies for the Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow. The female figures in this line look like Barbie dolls with surprisingly accurate face sculpts.) The use of plastic for the entire thing means it is head and tails above the older "cloth costume" version of the Tin Man that Barbie released a few years ago.

This would be an amazing figure except for one thing: The articulation is so horrible as to be non-existent. This is the worst case of impotent joints that I've ever seen. The sculpting of the plastic over the joints restricts articulation to the point that it might not even exist. Take a look at the knee articulation. Here's the knee straight.

And now here's the full extent that the knee can bend.

Wow. This means that the figure can pretty much stand straight up, and that's it. So that's the pose he has to stay because even with all his joints, the figure can't move. He is frozen into a pose. Seriously, might as well put in a sound chip where the figure murmurs "oilcan" because its just as frozen as the character in that moment. Unless there's some ridiculous solution where you have to put oil on the freaking figure.

And this is all a shame, because it really is a nice looking figure. Dig how good the likeness is: they simulated the way the make up was applied to the actor's face so that small bits of the human skin underneath broke through around the eyes.

Such a missed opportunity for a great figure.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Happy Meal Toys

I love that for the McDonalds Amazing Spider-Man 2 happy meal toys they're not doing a set of girls toys from a different property but instead are just offering pink Spider-Man toys with hearts on them.

Things I want that were shown as a thing at Toy Fair 2014

4" Twilight Zone figures

 (picture via Toyark.com)

1 Big Bang Theory figure with it's apartment diorama

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Skeletor's staff as a plush toy

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Jay and Silent Bob minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Kill Bill  minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Sin City Minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Booker Dewitt figure from Bioshock Infinite

  (picture via Toyark.com)

six inch scale Jabba the Hutt

  (picture via Toyark.com)

talking Strax plush toy

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Also... LEGO SIMPSSONS MINIFIGURES ARE BLINDPACKED GODDAMNIT!

  (picture via Toyark.com)

The Baroness

So hey, Sideshow toys fairly expensive Baroness 12 inch figure has been released.

I bought it. This is actually only the second 12 inch Baroness figure ever, and the first one doesn't really count because it was the SDCC exclusive 12-inch Sarah Palin Baroness that Hasbro made for the Rise of Cobra movie. This new Sideshow version (bought from Sideshow directly to get the second bonus head) is based on the original Real American Hero toys/cartoons/comic books. That's the more iconic version of the character.

And of course I've been interested in collecting good 1:6 scale GI Joe cobra characters. Well, sorta. I've only got 3. Because I've never been interested in the Major Blud look and I'm not a fan of the Sideshow Destro design. Also, it turns out Cobra Vipers are hella expensive on ebay.

But Baroness... if you're trying to create a patchwork Cobra 1:6 scale collection you need a Baroness. Which is probably why I did buy the Rise of Cobra one when I found it on sale at a comic book store. So now I own both Baroness 12 inch figures...

Let's compare:

Boxes: The boxes are quite different. The Rise of Cobra box is nicer, but it's also a SDCC Exclusive so they probably classed things up for that reason. The Sideshow box looks like it's designed to be disposed of. Very utilitarian.

Rise of Cobra Baroness:

Not many accessories with the Rise of Cobra Baroness. She also doesn't really look like a GI Joe villain. She looks like a generic "lady in leather coat" character from a low budget action movie. And she's designed to wear that coat always, because underneath is a sleeveless faux leather leotard. It's odd that in the promo print included with the box the character has sleeves on her leather jumpsuit, so that's the implied design, but in practice I guess sleeves under a leather jacket was too much for Hasbro. 

As for the head sculpt, this looks ALOT like they just rescaled the sculpt from the 4 inch figure. Because that looked like Sarah Palin and this really looks like Sarah Palin. 

And while I'm glad the hair is sculpted, I'm not at all happy with the design they went with for the hair. Because it's clearly designed for one pose and one pose only. Turn the head even a little and it looks ridiculous.

You'll notice I'm holding the figure up in that picture. That's because there's no stand and the figure isn't the greatest at standing up by itself. I blame the ridiculous heeled shoes they included. They look like Monster High's ridiculous heeled shoes, but are probably less practical. Also, the leather trench coat design is ridiculous. Why would a coat break up into sections like that over the legs? To provide leg mobility? Then you would just wear a leather jacket, not a trench coat. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does.

Sideshow Baroness: 

Meanwhile the Sideshow Baroness stands up quite nicely. The figure is covered in a shiny black body stocking which nicely simulates the look of the black leather catsuit you always assumed the Baroness was wearing. But they also included armored plating for the chest, legs and arms, which means this figure looks exactly like the art on the original figure's filecard.

And oddly, since this is depicting a cartoon version and not a live action version, the head sculpt looks more realistic than it's Rise of Cobra counterpart. Especially with how they sculpted the hair. And the glasses? Totally removable. And there's even a second head sculpt in case you want that wind swept look to her hair.

There's even a second pair of more traditional looking glasses that the Baroness is sometimes depicted wearing, so you can make her wear the style you prefer. Because people have fetishes about that kind of crap. You also get 8 alternate hands to make the poses seem more realistic/awesome. 

There's a few more accessories that come with the figure although not many more than the Rise of Cobra figure. The sideshow firearms are more detailed and look more realistic though. And there's a stand included to hold the figure up. And the interior box art is also very pretty.

Lego Movie sets

I bought some Lego Movie stuff yesterday because when you see a sign that says "$15 off any Lego Purchase of $60 or more" and you've already decided you're buying $48 in Legos you accept it as a sign that you need to buy at least $12 more in Legos. If you don't understand why that is, give it a moment, or learn basic math. (This was at Toys R Us, so if you really want $15 off Lego Movie stuff, that's the place to go.)

First off: Lego Ice Cream truck. I don't know how I feel about this "transforming" element some of the Lego Movie sets have, but whatever, I GET A LEGO ICE CREAM TRUCK! I'm a huge fan of Lego trucks, so any new variation really gets my attention.

Then there's the basic sets. Which are still pretty costly. Which makes sense because they're a licensed set... but is also really weird because that license is owned by Lego. Anyway, I went with the one that has Robot cowboys and some a hang-glider made out of Old West signage. Because I'm sure the Old West Signage can be reused somehow.

Then there's the minifigures. OH GOOD LORD THE MINIFIGURES!

Minifigure Lincoln!

Minifigure Shakespeare!

Minifigure Robot Secretary!

Minifigure whoever the hell this is! Just kidding! It's a robot Saloon Girl!

Minifigure Crazy Cat Lady who I only got for the cat and the fanny pack!

Minifigure Man in Panda Suit Who has Kidnapped a Panda Child

Minifigure Lincoln in front of  a Stargate!