Scarecrow

Thanks to an error on the part of Toys R Us, an error which when we pointed out they then decided to change in our favor, we got our Movie Master Scarecrow figures for $5. That's a great price. I've been hovering over this guy for a while. I really love the Batman Begins approach to the Scarecrow, it's easily one of the best movie translation character designs ever. It's a perfect way to marry the superhero comic approach with the real-world sensibilities of live action film.

That said, $13-15 when he's got that annoying bolo tie bit from the sculpt they're reusing of one of the Joker henchmen... And it doesn't really fit the other DC comic figures I've already got in this scale. I know he's a Movie Master, but due to the scale and articulation, I've always just seen the Movie Masters line as part of the DC Universe Classics line. So that's how I'm classifying him. And compared to that he looks odd... ERNGH... no.

$5? Yes!

He comes with a burlap scarecrow mask which is in some wacky scale. Doesn't fit the figure, doesn't fit any figure, but is way to small for real life. I guess it could fit a 12 inch figure. Or maybe my thumb... wait... yes! Thumb puppet!

90's Beast & 90's Rogue

Continuing the process of releasing minimates of the 90's X-men, specifically the ones from the 90's X-men cartoon, here we have Beast and Rogue. We've already had both characters released, but this Rogue has a jacket and the big poofy hair that everyone remembers and is basically the iconic version of the character despite all the redesigns over the last 20 years. It's a great figure except for the big boots that go past the knees. Thos are actually attached to the feet, so it results in some awkward posing any times the knees have to bend.

Even weirder are the oversized Beast limbs. The enlonged fore-arms are actually just really just long hands. I get that Beast's thing is supposed to be his odder limbs that allow for increased agility, but damn, it looks wrong. Dude looks like a furry Mr. Fantastic. He does come with alternate hands so you can replace the longer forearms with normal hands, so that's actually pretty damn cool. It's a great figure.

Black Panther & 90's Storm

I think this is the first minimate 2-pack with a married couple. Oh, wait, no, sorry, forgot about the Cyclops/Dark Phoenix 2-pack. But hey, Black Panther figure is cool. I've got a few Storm figures already, but this is 90's storm. I don't know why that's important because I don't know what the character was doing in the 90's that was so impressive. She was on the fricking Gold Team for craps sake. The non Jim Lee team. Who cares.

Actually I guess this is interesting because it's the start of figures that look like the characters from the 90's X-men cartoon. Man, I hope they release a Morph figure.

I gotta say though, I'm not loving the capes. I hate capes on action figures, even minimates, because they restrict posing options. And on these guys... yeah. I forgot Black Panther had a cape. I'm not happy to be reminded via minimate.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Rose

Next up from the 22 figure ebay lot is Rose, the 9th & 10th Doctor's companion. I never thought I'd get the companion figures, but after getting Captain Jack I became much more open to the idea. There have been two different Rose figures. The first one was horrendous, in that it had almost no articulation and had a really awkward pose. This one has a more natural/neutral pose. It's also wearing a far more fashionable outfit, unless I'm mistaken it's the outfit from the story New Earth.

Which actually means that this figure could also be of Cassandra in Rose's body. So it can serve double duty! Hooray. Although I seem to remember the outfit in that story having more buttons done up. One button? That's kind of risque isn't it? Kid's show!

The likeness is fairly good. You can tell it's supposed to be Billy Piper, although the sculpt makes her seem more masculine than I remember. The articulation is more limited than later figures in the line, with no bicep swivel, no elbow joint, and no cut wrists. This results in a more natural looking arm, but a sadly less posable figure. The legs don't have a mid-thigh swivel but other than that have the surprisingly good articulation of the Doctor Who figure legs. All in all I like this figure, which surprises me because the lack of arm articulation would have made me think I'd be against it. But no, it's actually a really nice figure to look at and fits in well with the rest of the line. Glad it was in the lot.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Cassandra

The next figure from the 22 figure Doctor Who ebay lot I purchased is Cassandra, the last human. I've actually wanted a Cassandra figure for a while. She's one of the more significant Doctor Who foes to be introduced in the new series, and certainly one of the most intresting visual designs. A flap of skin stretched over a frame, connected to a brain jar. However I've never been tempted to buy the figure because it's essentially a small statue with wheels at the bottom. It makes sense, why would the figure be articulated? But it just felt like paying the MSRP of $15 for the figure was a little too expensive for what you were getting. And I've never seen this on sale.

So getting the figure through this ebay lot was actually pretty nice. It's a cool figure and is exactly what I thought it was. No big surprises, although it feels flimsier than I would have hoped. All in all, glad to have it.

Mole Man & Sue Storm

I already have a Sue Storm minimate, although I have to admit that this version is a lot more detailed and attractive than the other one which featured the limited design of the early minimate line. Imagine the difference of style of the Silver age comics and of modern comics and you get a pretty good idea of how insanely different these figures are. Also, that figure only came with a small transparent shield to implicate her invisibility powers. This one has a stand that simulates her ability to levitate using her invisible shields, she has a transparent shield, and she has both solid paint limbs and semi-transparent limbs to simulate her "turn invisible" ability. It's a far superior minimate.

The other figure is the first minimate appearance for a rather important Fantastic Four Villain: Mole Man! So yes, this pack was a must get for me. Mole Man has tiny feet to simulate his shortness. It's odd, but it does create a perceptible height difference between minimates. He's not a midget, but he seems smaller. His cape is too heavy, making it damn near impossible to make his stand up unassisted. (In this photo he's leaning against the case in the background. In the future I'll probably need a lego brick.) I hate that damned cape.

Iron Man & Whiplash

Hey, the Iron Man 2 minimates were on sale at the Toys R Us website which means I now have a movie accurate Iron Man minimate figure. (I already have the Stealth version of the figure that never actually showed up in the movie, but allowed them to sell a quick and cheap variant. It's a pretty good figure.) Admittedly I got this for the Whiplash figure because: Mickey Rourke minimate figure!

I never followed Iron Man so I have no idea about his villains, so I can't comment on having a Whiplash figure, but dam, Mickey Rourke.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Ood Sigma

It's Ood Sigma, the Ood who turned his boss into an Ood, in what was the most horrifying ironic justice in recent Doctor Who memory. Since Ood Sigma had such an important role, he's wearing a different outfit than the drab grey of the other Ood, or the rags of the Natural Ood. This Ood is stylin'. I can't believe I just typed that.

Even though Ood Sigma is from the Series 4 figures, he has some decidedly older parts. The arms and legs are missing the swivel joints in the bicep and mid-thigh that most of the Series 4 figures have. That usually only happens when they're reusing parts from older figures. I would assume from the older Ood figures.

The Creature & Doctor Reed

Hey, it's the Toys R Us 2-pack of Creature from the Black Lagoon. I've never seen that movie, so I have no idea who these characters are. For all I know Dr. Reed is a dentist who give the Creature a root canal before the Creature goes out for his big date, then hilarity ensues!

But the imagery of the Creature is iconic thanks to the way the Universal Monsters are presented. I like the monsters, so I wanted this minimate. And it was cheaper than the 4 pack, which unfortunately means I don't get the woman the Creature abducted. Or at least that I think he abducted. Again, didn't see the movie. For all I know she's his receptionist at his advertising firm.

Cable & X-23

90's era Cable (Retro X-Force) and X-23 (Modern X-Force). Yes, the X-force theme ties them together (they should have included a Doop minimate) but even more accurately, they're both characters which are completely in concept. X-23 is the teenage female clone of Wolverine who has problems struggling with her humanity and at one time was a prostitute who didn't have sex with people. Cable is a big cyborg with a gun. Eventually Marvel decided he should also be Cyclops son from the future. But originally the entire concept of him was that he was a Cyborg with a gun and a glowing eye. Oh, and tiny feet. And 1,000 pouches that didn't store anything.

Oh Rob Liefeld, you scamp. Will your characters ever not be the subject of ridicule?

Lockjaw & Psylocke

Could there be a more incongruent pairing of minimates?

Lockjaw is the giant pet dog of the Inhumans, aliens with superpowers from the moon. Lockjaw can teleport over incredible distances, and perhaps even through dimensions. He hangs out with the Inhumans and the Fantastic Four.

Psylocke is a British mutant whose mind was put into the body of a Japanese Assasin. She is one of the X-men and Captain Britain's twin Sister.

Actually this minimate is of Psylocke back when she was a British white woman, before the well known Japanese woman wearing a bathing suit period. This is back when she was moderately dressed (she got her desire to wear more scandalous outfits from parts of the Japanese woman's mind that were left over, also brainwashing) and didn't really have any fighting skills aside from the telepathy.


Lockjaw is a giant dog with a tuning fork in his forehead.

This 2-pack was a Toys R Us Exclusive. I wasn't even certain I wanted it, but I figured what the heck. Black Bolt needs a doggy.

The eBay order

Okay, this is one of those informational posts about something I'm going to do on the site.

A few weeks ago I purched a lot of Doctor Who action figures from eBay. It cost more than I probably should have spent, but it had some hard to find figures that I've been jonsing for lately. So anyway, I won. (Technically I pressed "Buy It Now.") And then I got a package in the mail.


It had come. My order of 22 Doctor Who Action Figures.


Over the next few weeks I'll be returning occassionally to figures from this box. So you've been informed.

Wolfman & Larry Talbot

Universal Monsters is a new Minimates license being released this year. The plan is to release 2 packs, each featuring a different Universal Classic Monster, every Halloween. This year the movies featured are going to be the Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. In addition to these 4 packs, Toys R Us will be releasing a number of 2 packs using the figures from the direct market 4-packs. (And some exclusives.)

Now since the 4-packs include redundant variations of the monsters, I decided it would be cheaper to just get a couple of the Toys R Us 2-packs. This is the first one. It features the Wolfman and the Larry Talbot, the man who turns into the Wolfman.

The Universal Wolfman always had some very non-wolf features, unlike the werewolves of the CGI era which basically look like giant wolves who can walk on their hind legs. But the Wolfman was always part man, and you can see that in this sculpt. The minimate kinda looks like a rodent.

Which really isn't that scary when you think about it.

Series 4 Figure Set

So full disclosure, what I am about to explain I have pieced together from various messageboard threads. I have no idea how accurate it is. So Tesco's, which as far as I can tell is some sort of British K-mart, has these exclusive Doctor Who toy three packs of figures previously only availble single-carded. One 3-pack for each season of Doctor Who. If you order them online you don't know which ones you'll get because they're all counted as the same item, so the only way to get ones you want are by going to the store yourself. And since that's very far away, I just got one over e-bay.

But make no mistake, I specifically tried to get the Series 4 set because I couldn't give a damn about most of the figures in the other sets. Since I don't know how much Tesco was selling these for, I have no idea if I was ripped off or not, but I can tell you this, I paid less than I would have paid for these figures individually. So I pretend that I win.

First off is the Judoon Captain, also known as the Rhino guy. They were featured in Season 3 and made a quick cameo in Season 4. A very short Cameo, but that apparently was enough to mean he counts as a Series 4 figure. Either way, I like the giant strict by-the-book police officer Rhinos. They aren't evil, or even malicious, but they're not exactly peaceful aliens. Plus a distinctive design. The only thing is that the joints were all very loose. I don't know if that's limited to these box sets, or if the original single figures had the same problem.

Sontaran General Staal. I was never a big fan of the Sontarans in the old series. They were kind of dull. But I admit I liked them in the new series. General Staal in particular was a fun character to watch. A cranky, doesn't understand irony, military commander with a melodramatic voice. He never got single carded in the States. You could only get him in a Sontaran Strategem 4 pack with Donna, a Sontaran Commander, and a helmeted Sontaran soldier.

It's a nice figure. The helmet comes off so he can either depict a faceless soldier or the General. Again, the joints are pretty loose. And there's some pretty noticable gaps where the joints should meet. But I'm satisfied with the figure. In fact it's made me consider getting more Sontarans. But you know what figure I know won't have any joint issues.

Baby Adipose. This thing is adorable.

See? The thing is just one solid piece of plastic. Tiny too. Normally I'd be railing about the lack of articulation, but look how small that thing is. No way you could get a good figure that small if you included appropriate articulation. But you know what would be better than 1 baby adipose? 25 baby Adipose.
Hilariously, these 25 guys were originally packaged on a bliste card together. Well originally they packaged 5 Baby Adipose with a 10th Doctor figure. They were the figure's accessory. But I guess they proved popular enough that they wanted to release some on their own. So what did they decide to give the people? 25 Adipose. It's sort of like an adorable accessories pack.

Master & Axon

So here are the villains from the Doctor Who episode "The Claws of Axos." In it the Axons appear as Gold Skinned Gods, here to help the Earth. Unfortunately the British officials never saw the Twilight Zone or they'd know never trust aliens promising you prosperity for nothing in exchange. Because in truth the Axons really looked like this and had evil in mind. Oh, and the Master was there too because it was the SEASON OF THE MASTER. In his first season the Master appeared in every story.



I'm shocked how much articulation the Axon has. A Ball & hinge joint for the shoulders and hips. Cut joints at the feet, wrists, neck and torso. And it's one huge hunk of plastic. It's pretty awesome.




The master is good, almost great, but the one I got has a problem in the paint. Specifically that black blob on his lower lip. Fortunately, if you don't look at it too hard it just looks like part of his goatee, but no, dude isn't supposed to have any hair on his lower lip. I can't stare too long or I get irritated.

Momma

So I found this dinosaur toys in a Goodwill 50 cent bin. I couldn't stop playing with the damn thing's action feature. If you push it's head down, it spins around and alternates with a second head.

Happy-angry
Happy-angry
Happy-angry

I couldn't stop playing with it. So for 50 cents I just bought it.

Now that I've done some research I know it's the character Momma from Ice Age 3. And that it's from a McDonald's Happy meal. To tell the truth, I sort of suspected this. Except for the fact that the character is named Momma. I assumed the dinosaur was a dude. So I was wrong. Unless in the movie Momma is a dude. Seems unlikely, but I haven't seen the movie.

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.

Captain Marvel & Black Bolt

A two-pack of Marvel Cosmic characters. Sort of. While both have alien origins, they have a tendency to get involved with Earth matters a lot. Although for Black Bolt that's because he lives on the moon.

Who we get here are Captain Marvel, Kree soldier and weilder of the might Nega-Bands, who served for a while as a super-hero on Earth, gaining the respect of the Earth heroes until he died of cancer. His legacy lives on in the form of offspring, time travel, and Skrull impostors. This is a pretty good interpretation, although to be fair I had hoped we'd get the Genis Vell version of Captain America. (This Cap's son and weilder of the Nega Bands for a while in a very well written series by Peter David.) But this is the more iconic version of the character. Also, he had some buzz on when he was released due to the character's involvement with Civil War and Secret Invasion.

The other one here is Black Bolt. His wings are attacked to his fore arms, so they look like wings rather than a cape. Good show.

All-in-all, these are nice minimates, although the lack of real accessories, like say an unmasked head for Marvel, or a hair piece for Black Bolt, doesn't make these guys seem like 100% must haves. Get 'em if you like the characters, are a completist, or if, like me, you're trying to obtain the entire roster of a fictional 70's super-team made up of various disconnected Marvel heroes.

Professor Yana

I like the articulation. He has the same as most of the newer Doctor Who figures, although the joints were a bit stiff.

In my attempt to build up my Doctor Who collection, I've decided to try and get at least one version of each of the Masters. A fellow Time Lord, the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes, the Master can regenerate into new bodies, so multiple actors can portray him. When they reintroduced him in the new series he had to take over the body of an old dude. Or something like that. I don't want to spoil it too much.

But this does mean that one of the greatest actors of stage and screen (Sir Derek Jacobi) ended up playing the Master for a brief moment. Again. (He voiced the Master in an old web-toon. Back when they thought Doctor Who was done forever on television.) And they made a action figure based on it. Originally part of a box set, then a single card, I got it loose on ebay. From England. I really wanted this guy. He's one of my favorite interpretations of the Master ever. (After Eric Roberts... Screw you, I'm allowed to have my own opinions.)

Even though this figure is called Professor Yana, don't make any mistake, he's the Master. (Although they already have a figure in single card called "The Master," so unless they called it "Pre-regeneration Master," this makes sense. Sort of. ) You can tell by the way they sculpted the eyes and expression. Yana (pre-Master) had a softer expression and wide, expressive eyes. When Jacobi played the Master he had a scowl and angry eyes, which this figure has. Also, the figure clearly feels a bond with my other Master figure.

Silver Nemesis Cyberleader & Cybermen

Silver Nemesis was a story in the 25th year of Doctor Who and served as the annivesary story. (Silver Anniversary, get it?) In it a bunch of different factions all fight for the Nemesis, Time Lord weapon of ultimate power. So you had the Doctor fighting neo-nazis, a 17th century sorceress who cast a spell to take her to the future, and as the big surprise cliffhanger of episode 1: Cybermen.

Interesting point, the original plot of Silver Nemesis would have revealed that the Doctor was actually God. But they decided not to go with that.

But yeah, the Cybermen. As with all Cybermen appearances, they made a few modifications from their last story. Not a lot of changes, their budget wasn't too impressive by this point, but a few. And again Character Options (and their US counterpart Underground Toys) do a bang up job of representing the new look.

Actually my only real gripe is that their blasters, while show accurate, aren't designed to fit in their hands. The hand grip sculpts are to wide and so the blasters just slip out of their hands. (It was a problem on the show too. A lot of the Cyberment looked like they were holding babies most of the time since the blasters were essentially planks.)

Darth Vader

This guy is from the Empire Strikes Back vintage line. So cool. I got it from AJ as a Birthday present. I've got other Darth Vader figures, but AJ remembered that I always wanted one that didn't have swivel elbows. And here he is. He's got swivel-hinge joint elbows, the best kind!

And his mask comes off to reveal a pasty middle-aged man inside! Unforunately the mask comes in two parts and falls apart easily, but whatever. I got it as a gift so it cose me nothing!

It's a neat toy.

Lego City Advent Calendar 2010: Not Buying

I don't think I'm getting a Lego Advent Calendar this year. Last year I was just getting back into Legos so it was very exciting to get all these figures and bricks. Now that I have a lot of Legos, the $35 price tag no longer seems worth it. (Even at $30 it's too expensive.) You don't get a lot of bricks for your money, and most of them don't stand out too much. Most of the figures and structures from last years calendar have been broken up and are in my Lego bin.

Although if I was going to get the Lego City Advent Calendar, it would be for the showering Santa.