Enemies of the Third Doctor set.

I knew I had to get this set when it came out. It features three bad guys from the 3rd Doctor's era in the Seventies. This is the era that has aged the worst out of all the Doctor Who eras, mostly because it was a bit too corny. Don't get me wrong, it had some great stories, but it also had stories that were a little campier/worse looking than the Adam West Batman show. Batman worked because it owned its ridiculousness. Not so much 70's Doctor Who.

But I'll say this, the 3rd Doctor's era had some pretty iconic bad guys. The Autons only showed up in two classic stories but their status as villains was so iconic that they were perfect for the first episode of the new series. That's almost 40 years between stories. 40 years!

So a set of Classic Doctor Who figures featuring three of the 3rd Doctor's enemies? I'm interested. Because toys of cheap 70's sci-fi monsters could be awesome. I mean we get a Drashig! I hated the story the Drashig was featured in. HATED IT! But I love that they made a toy of it, especially considering how cheesy it looked.

 Well let's look at what's included in this set.

A Drashig figure, which is actually a rubber hand puppet. In the show the Drashig was supposed to be enormous, so to make it in scale with the 5 inch figures would have been difficult, but this is a pretty good way to do it. Also, the Drashig on the show looked like a bad hand puppet so this is pretty much perfect in that regard. (British television in the 70's... what a hoot.) The puppet actually fits my adult sized hand, so hooray for that.

The other figures are a 70's style Auton, which I actually prefer to the modern day Autons, and Omega. Omega was the bad guy from the Three Doctors 10th Anniversary special. His body has vanished and he exists as pure will. He hasn't realized this yet, so he still wears elaborate clothing. He finds out his true state when he takes off his helmet and there's nothing underneath. I was wondering if they would figure out a way to turn that into an action feature, and they did. You can remove the helmet/head making it look like he has no head.

That pink globe? That's a Nestene Consciousness that controls the Auton. In the show they came to Earth as meteors that looked like pink glowing globes made of plastic.. so hey, just like that only bigger.

Muppet Orange Whatnot Kit

So after seeing a couple interesting blog entries about Muppet Whatnots I realized that I wanted one hardcore. I'm a huge Muppet fan, and of course I've wanted a Muppet since I was a kid. And one that can be customized? Hell yeah. So I used some giftcards and BAM!

Orange Muppet Whatnot Kit from the FAO Schwarz collection at Toys R Us. I got this before they were jacked up another $10. The hoodie cost another $20, which is a little bit much for what is essentially toddler clothing. Seriously, I ended up returning this one and just buying a hoodie from the Toddler Section at Target.

Because the Muppet is naked, and no clothes are included. What are included are extra eyes, hair and noses which connect via gravity and/or Velcro. It's pretty damn cool. Seriously, I love it.

There's a blue one too, but that one's eyes were more feminine and most importantly, the blue one did not have a mustache and beard. So I went with the orange one. Because mustache.

Puppet Theater

I continue to be amazed by the insane variety of Plamobil playsets. If the figures were more impressive I'd be buying Playmobil all the time. But as it is, I only can do it for playsets that I imagine would be hilarious if I placed my other 3 inch figures in those settings.

That's why I got the puppet theater here. The puppet accessory is particularly ingenious, fitting into the figure's hand without actually having to be a hand-puppet for tiny ball hands. But even more importantly, it fits the hands of my Edgar Allen Poe 3 inch figure.

That puppet is in for some hard times. I can't think an Edgar Allen Poe puppet show is going to be particularly cheerful.

Dollar Store Visit

I always browse the aisles of the Dollar store for toys, because hey, they're a dollar. As long as you don't get too much you can usually absorb the impact of a couple purchases. On my last visit I picked up the following: Star Trek Trading Card Game Booster Pack: I used to love these in high school. In fact this is from the same edition that was available back then. I never got any rare cards, just generic crew dudes. And that streak did not end now. I love that Youth is considered a skill. Uh oh, this challenege can only be defeated by someone under the age of 30. Guess they're dealing with a lot of late night partying issues on Away Team missions. Also, how weird is it that the espionage guys all have skills in regular professions. I guess that was what they studied in Undergrad before deciding to enroll in the world of espionage. I also picked up this punching Frog Pen. It's a pen with a punching frog puppet on it, you know, like the punching Nun puppet that's so insinuated itself into pop culture. Kinda cool. Although I don't know why they put a pen on it. Who is actually going to use it for that?

Target Gift Cards: Puppet, Lego, Voice Changer

So the current set of Christmas Gift Cards are out at Target now. You have your normal ones with maybe a small novelty like a lenticular picture or the weird finger puppet card as seen up top. You put your fingers in there and your fingers now act as the bear's arms. And he can give you a hug!

But even more interesting are the other two. One is an electronic voice changer. You press a button to record your voice and then each of the elves on the card are actually other buttons that will distort the recording by shifting the pitch or speeding it up. It's actually kind of fun. And it's called "Elfin' Around". When I bought it the cashier did a double take because she thought it said "Effin' Around."

And the other one, the one I'm marking out about, is a Lego set. Yes. It's a gift card that doubles as a Lego set. (Or to be more accurate the box that the Lego set comes in.) It contains the 31 Legos required to build a Lego version of Target's mascot Spot.

What I find fascinating about this is that you don't pay extra for these gift cards. So you get one, put $5 on it, and then give it to someone. Not only do they get a gift card to Target, they also get a bonus toy! Or, if you're more cynical and mercenary, you get a bunch of them, put $5 on each (that's the minimum amount required) and then you've got a bunch of free toys and some gift cards that you then spend at Target at your leisure....

And here is where it gets diabolical. Since you can use your gift card to buy other gift cards, you just buy one and then use the amount on there to buy another one, repeat. Although you risk being known as an ass and possibly being banned from the store. Also, you prevent your fellow toy collectors from getting in on this deal. So use this information wisely.

I did clear my store out, but I'm actually planning on giving them to kids. So I'm not 100% evil.

Spider-Man Handpuppet

So I love me some puppets. Hand puppets in particular. So when I got bored I looked for really cheap hand puppets in some of my favorite licensed characters, which is how I ended up getting this guy on e-bay for a song.

It's a nice puppet, but I've been noticing a trend with hand puppets lately. If you don't need to move the mouth, if the head is a plush piece, then it is difficult to fit your hand in the head of the puppet. The stuffing doesn't allow any room to put your fingers to manipulate the head movements. It's like trying to push your fingers through a solid pillow.

Or maybe it's because this puppet was designed for children. Maybe.