Cyberman Leader Helmet

This is a mini-version of the Cyberleader Helmet from the 80's (So essentially the Earthshock design, which is my favorite)... made by WETA. The guys who made all the props for Lord of the Rings. They made this a while ago, a couple years before I decided I wanted one. (And a full year before I even knew it existed.) By the time I wanted one it cost too much, because a couple years in this market for limited edition collectibles is like a decade. Seriously, limited to 500 pieces.

I never thought I'd be able to get one. But I found a couple at the Doctor Who convention I went to back in February. The one I ended up getting was discounted because it had a few scratches and a large scratch in the back. But I didn't care, it was something I really wanted, at a dicounted price. THAT IS AWESOME. Because truthfully, I figured it would get scuffed up when I displayed it anyway, so a few scratches aren't that big a deal to me. As long as the front looked good enough to me (it did) then I would be overjoyed... and happy... same thing.


You see that dent/scratch? Yeah, only if you're looking at it from the back, which I don't. So who cares? But that was enough to drop the price by 50% so HOORAY!

Okay, so down to brass tacks. It's fairly small, under 8 inches tall when you include the display stand, has a good heft to it, and IT IS AWESOME BECAUSE IT IS A CYBERMAN HELMET DEPICTING THE CYBERMEN FROM THE 80S! I really like it. And it classes up the joint in a way that the Mandarin bust I got a while back never could. Since it sits on a black display stand it looks like a piece of art, and the robotic design makes it seem more mainstream and less geek niche than a supervillian in costume. Of course I have them both next to one another, so that kind of makes it moot.

Also, Cybermen are awesome. Have I mentioned that before?

Mickey Smith

Hey, you're saying, this guy isn't one of the Cybermen. No, it's Mickey Smith, one of the Doctor's companions who was constantly insulted by the Doctor and everyone else because... well pretty much because he was the boyfriend of the Doctor's travelling companion Rose and they felt like Mickey wasn't good enough for her, even though he tried his hardest... The Doctor can be kind of a dick sometimes.

But the thing is, after Mickey decided to stay behind in an alternate dimension he became a hero and started carrying around huge guns... TO HUNT CYBERMEN.

That's right, this isn't a figure of a Cyberman, it's of a Cybermen hunter. They're greatest fear... if the Cybermen could experience emotions like fear. Which they can't. Not really. They removed those emotions from their brains. It's kind of their thing.

I like the way they depict the glove/sweater combination that Mickey usually wears. The face isn't a great representation of actor Noel Clarke, but it's close in a way that makes the dude look like he's totally spaced out.

The Sixth Doctor & Stealth Cybermen

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet the second ever Doctor Who toy that I have no plans to remove from the packaging. I decided at some point long ago that I wanted to get every iteration of the classic Cybermen in action figure form if they released it. That changed as they came up with some stupid variants that I didn't care about, like Black & White version cyberman. And this dude, the Stealth Cyberman, was always in the "I-Don't-Know" column.

You see, the main problem I have with this figure is that he comes packaged with the 6th Doctor. And not a variant either, it's exactly the same as the one I already have from when he was single carded. And the Cyberman itself is the all black Cyberman from Attack of the Cyberman, which is simply an Earthshock Cyberman painted black. The figure reflects this, as it's an Earthshock Cyberman figure (which I already have) painted black. So I ask you, is that worth $40?

No. Not unless you find yourself in a Doctor Who action figure buying frenzy... and you can haggle. So that's the story of why I have the Stealth Cyberman. As to why I'm not opening it up.. I really don't want another loose sixth Doctor, so if I leave it in the packaging then I can put it next to the Time Crash set I've got... So I can have the Stealth Cyberman, display him, but not feel like I wasted my money on another 6th Doctor. Because they both serve as another form of display of my Doctor Who figures...

So let's talk about the Stealth Cyberman... He's an all black version of the Earthshock Cyberman. Which is okay since that is my favorite Cyberman design... to the fact that I sometimes consider buying more figures of it. (Fortunately my brain remains somewhat fiscally responsible.) Stealth Cyberman is nice to have, but if you're not in love with the Cybermen, you can probably skip it.

Challenge of the Cybermen

Because it's Cybermen Week, here's a little Doctor Who fan film I made with Mario from a Year of Toys. It features the Cybermen!

Cyberman Color Blank

So I decided to use one of the Color Blanks I bought a while ago and try to make a Cyberman. I decided to start off coating the figure with the silver/gray pen. As you can see the markers that came with the vinyl blanks suck.



Worried that the markers completely wouldn't work, I tried to see if I could get the eyes visible over the crapy gray coating. It was sort of a success.



And BAM! Final, product. I'm really disappointed by the markers that came with the box. I think I'll have to move on to either Sharpies or acrylic paint pens. I heard those are supposed to be good for custom designing vinyl.

Articulated Monster Episode 3: The Willineum

The third episode of our podcast, the Articulated Monster is up. The topic of the episode is Cyberment. It features myself, AJ, Mario from a Year of Toys, and PJ from All Things Fett. Give it a listen. To make it part of Cybermen week, the episode's discussion Topic is Cybermen and Cybermen toys, but it eventually devolves into a discussion of Will Smith. So get jiggy with it.

Cybermen Week... Opening Ceremonies!

Right after the first month I had this blog I did a Cybermen week, dedicated to the new Cybermen wave of toys that came out in the Classic Doctor Who line. This year I thought, what the hey, let's bring it back!

So sit back for a week of cybermen related posts!


The Cybermen have always been my favorite Doctor Who monsters/villains ever since I got into Doctor Who back in 1992. The first Doctor Who story I saw had the Cybermen in it, and watching them in clip shows and future Doctor Who stories cemented my love of the cyborg boogeymen. It's no surprise that when we started making Doctor Who fan-films the first classic monster I wanted to introduce was the Cybermen.

Ever since their first appearance, the Cybermen have evolved with every appearance, their design altering subtley or dramatically depending on how long passed between their appearances. Each time they became streamlined, as you would expect from a mechanically based race who constantly sought to improve their functionality in a bid for Universal domination. Even their weaknesses evolved over the years, with each new iteration of the Cybermen becoming harder to kill. (Unless you had gold coins and a slingshot. Gold could clog up their breathing units and kill a cyberman right away. Usually producing some foam and a low pitched moan.)

Slitheen & Space Pig

They made a space pig action figure. Heh. The Slitheen were really the first monster to become a regular during the New series of Doctor Who. The Space Pig was their pawn, killed just after it was introduced.

The Slitheen is an impressive action figure. Unlike most Doctor Who figures, the Slitheen gets ball joint shoulders, although no waist or wrist joints. This, as well as the ball joint hips, allow for quite a number of poses. The feet and legs have extra plastic on them to support the figure's weight and allow it to stand freely. I don't think anyone's so invested in the Slitheen that they mind this small addition to the character's design. If anything it makes them look more alien, which is always good because the baby head doesn't do a lot for me. It's the like a little baby, an evil baby with sharp teeth. BABY! I do like their claws though.

Faceless Grandma Connolly & The Wire

Seriously, who the hell wants a Grandma Connolly figure? Even a faceless one? I wanted this set for one reason and one reason only: The Wire. Which is technically Grandma Connolly's accessories.

I know, I know, I already have the Wire. But getting this figure means I can get the other Wire, the one that comes on the portable Television the Doctor fights at the end of the episode. Hooray! (Also hooray for lenticular technology. It's a lost art.)

And having a second Wire in the Television set isn't exactly horrible. In the show she was on every television set, so having her on two is a good start. (Although I'll be befiggered if I'm buying more Grandma Connolly's.)

Actually interesting story, when I asked the vendor if he had this figure, he told me that when they first came out they couldn't give them away, but recently its become a high demand figure... But the price from when no one wanted it remains in place for now... which sort of explains why I thought it was affordable enough to purchase an action figure of an old woman.

Wind Up Robots

I have no freaking idea how to properly tag these guys. I found them in the clearance shelves of Target's Party/Art section. They're clearly meant to be gift bag goodies, but I saw them discounted to a dollar and decided that I really liked their retro design. Because it turns out I enjoy classic looking robots. Their wind up action is actually rather fun to play around with. They walk across my table, their arms pumping up and down, their heads nodding back and forth in what I can only assume is a scientists attempt to humanize their android creations but which only resulted in an uncanny valley situation that unnerved the workers that served alongside the robots.
You know, for what is essentially 25 cents each, I love these guys. Worth every penny, even if their paint job isn't great because damn, 25 cents.

Cybermen Week is Next Week!

And we'll be doing a special Cybermen Week episode of the Articulated Monster podcast. If you have any Cybermen questions you want to ask the podcast crew, or any listener questions at all, e-mail us at articulatedmonster@yahoo.com or leave a comment here!

And let me know if you plan on doing anything for Cybermen Week so I can post a link to it.

Pac-Man Hide & Seek

I'm rather disappointed by this set, if only because it was the one I was most looking forward to. When I heard Wendy's was doing this promotion and went to their website to see what the toys looked like, the faces on the cups looked like they were painted on. But no, they're stickers. You've fooled me again advertising industry.

So this is essentially a version of the Shell Game, but with blue cups with cheap stickers on them to evoke the imagery of the Ghosts during Pac-Man's Power Up time. Those stickers are really cheap and obvious. And the yellow ball with a Pac-Man sticker on it isn't great shakes either. But it does function fairly well as a shell game. I tried it on a few of my co-workers and after a few rounds they were perplexed as too the correct placement of the ball.

Lil Edgar Allan Poe

Obviously Lil Edgar, part of Accoutrements Toys Lil Genius line, is based on Edgar Allan Poe. This is rad because Edgar Allan Poe basically created the mystery genre, popularized horror literature, is arguably the greatest American writer of all time, and wrote some of the greatest literature ever.

He was also the subject of one of the best songs from the Broadway musical Snoopy, which was then adapted to an animated television special. The best song from Snoopy is probably "Just One Person," but Edgar Allan Poe has the benefit of actually teaching people while using a catchy tune. EDUTAINMENT!



Where was I? Oh yeah, they made an Edgar Allan Poe mini-figure!

The reason I like these "Lil" figures is that they're in scale with so many mini-figures. Which leads to all sorts of hijinks that Edgar Allan Poe can take part in.

Jewel Theives

I've always been fascinated by Playmobil. It combines the simplistic joy of imagination toys with some of the most horrifying concepts known to man. Sure the pirate ghosts can be attributed to the pirate fantasy line, although the gladiator arena with gladiators carrying tridents and swords is less cheery. But it's the Playmobil toys that fall under the theme of "the real world" which are the most odd, showcasing the real world horrors alongside the stuff we normally show to kids on children's television. Which is why you get playsets for hazmat clean up or police snipers alongside the doctors and veterinarians. It makes you wonder how much the Dutch tell their kids about how the world works.

One of the popular subsets of this theme is the cops and robbers sets. Which is how we come to this Jewel Thieves set. I love this set. For one thing it's a crime playset that features no police or other law enforcement. It's just criminals. Which seems to imply that the thieves will be successful in their heist. Also, it's got a toy version of a museum display case, complete with round bit cut out of the top so whatever is displayed inside can be pilfered. That is freaking awesome.

The other accessories that makes this set are the Playmobil painting and easel (like you see in the best museums he said snarkily) and the crowbar. Although I'm betting that the fishing rod isn't really used much in modern thievery.

The only bit I'm a little annoyed at is the base of the display. It's designed so that when you take off the glass box an alarm sound, courtesey of some electronics biult into the base. It goes off for about 10 seconds, a high pitched beeping that gets annoying real fast.

Arcade Prizes

Hey look, it's some crap I won at an arcade by exchanging my tickets and the tickets given to me by a dude who didn't give a crap!

Let's see what we've got.

A plush Octopus keychain by Russ, the stuffed animal juggernaut company.

A plastic Indian from one of the hilariously out of date and completely historically inaccurate Cowboys and Indian themed plastic figures.

A toy spider that is sure to eventually to cause me to mistake it for a real one someday during a night when I'm not wearing my glasses.

A small plastic lizard which is pretty neat.

An toy ice cream cone that fires its foam "ice cream" when you press a small lever. "Would you like a lick from my obviously fake ice cream?" BOP! Ha! Fooled you!

One of those rubber cup things that you turn inside out and then place it on a table so it snaps back, causing it to be propelled into the air for a few seconds.

The end.

Mini AT-ST

The Easter stuff is finally being put up in my area. I'm surprised by the variety this year. But as always the first thing I look for is the Legos. I found the one set I was looking for, the Mini Star Wars Lego set. This time it's an AT-ST, also known affectionately as the Chicken Walker.

Once it's assembled, it feels a little flimsy. The licensed promotional items always cost a little more, and I can't say that I feel like this thing is worth $4. I don't want to go into cranky old man mode, but in my day $4 would get you a minifigure and a small small lego vehicle... actually it still does. They're right next to the bags of Star Wars Legos. If I wanted a Fireman Lego set it would have been a much better deal. ($3.50)

So this is a meh. I'll be happy with the one I have, but I'm not feeling a need to army build like I normally do.

Hoix

The Hoix is a Doctor Who Monster that has never had an episode dedicated to it. It has appeared in a quick comedy sequence, appearing for like a minute and a half before vanishing from the story completely with not even a capture/defeat scene. Just BAM gone. Then it appeared in a crowd scene last year in what was essentially a... barely a cameo... more like serving as an extra.

Seriously, it got like second or third billing to the Absorbaloff.

But it has a cool design, so they made a toy of it and I bought it. So what does that say about me? That I'm willing to buy $5 Doctor Who Toys if they look good enough, apparently.

Pac Man Tag Game

Did you know that Wendy's has Pac-Man toys in their kid's meal until April? I found out the other day so at lunch I drove to my local Wendy's and got some. I didn't find out until after I bought the kid's meal that you can also just buy the toy's for a buck. But whatever, I needed lunch anyway.

I didn't get them all, because quite frankly I didn't want them all, so here's one I did get: The Pac Man Tag Game. I don't actually care about using these game pieces to play tag, or Pac Tag, which is pretty much a 4-person tag game where whoever is "it" gets to hold onto the Pac Man game piece. (There's an included booklet that explains the rules to Pac Man Tag and also a weird hide and seek variation where the three ghost players try to find and tag Pac Man.) No, I wanted them because the game pieces of Pac Man, Inky, Blinky and Clyde can all double as key chains. Noot good keychains mind you, the images are stickers attached with cheap cardboard placed in the plastic frame. But for cheap kids meal toys they'll do. My plan is to use them as decorative wall hangings.

The Articulated Monster Episode 2

Episode 2 of our toy podcast with Mario is up. You can either use the player at the top of the blog or go to the podcast's webpage. Have fun.

2 year anniversary!

Two years ago I started this blog. It's an anniversary! Long time readers, or people who read through the old entries, will notice I didn't celebrate the 1 year anniversary. That's because I'm lazy. Seriously, you know why this blog will be going on for a while? Because here's a picture of the backlog of toys I need to open.


But this year I hope to start what will be an ongoing (I'm not going to declare annual, I might get lazy again sometime in the future) Anniversary tradition: A list of my Top 5 favorite toys.

Not of the last year, not that have been featured on this site, AND certainly not my favorite toys of all time... No, this list will be of the top 5 toys that I currently own. As the years go on, I hope that the changes to the list will reflect my ongoing changes both in my collection, but also of my tastes. So, having said that, let's begin.

5. Dinosorb the Meteorb
I've already gone into why I love this guy, so I'll just reiterate that this is the perfect combination of transforming toy, dinosaur, and childhood nostalgia to make it one of my favorites that I picked up in the last year. Plus it gets a He-Man toy on this list, always good for the nostalgic toy fan audience.


4. Nixon's Head from Futurama
I know this figure was an accessory to the Zapp Brannigan figure, but I don't care. This is an amazing toy in its own right. Why? Because it's the disembodied head of President Nixon. It's a toy depicting one of history's most fascinating Presidents... but only his head which has been kept alive and got himself elected President of Earth.... Man, Futurama is a great show. But even without all that context... IT'S A TOY OF RICHARD NIXON'S DISEMBODIED HEAD!


3. Archangel Minimate
You knew a representitive of the minimates line was going to show up here eventually. I didn't think it would be so when I bought this guy, but he's become one of my favorite minimates of all time. He is just depicted so well within the limitations of the minimate form. It's a striking use of the complex and simple... and damned if that wingspan isn't impressive.


2. Galactus Mighty Mugg
I love me some Galactus, especially when he's portrayed so ironically adorable! Who's the cutest world eater? You are. But seriously, it's hilarious that they took the character who is supposed to be cosmic and overwhelminingly majestic and created this.


1. Cyberman from Earthshock
They made a very accurate looking toy of my favorite design of my favorite monster from my favorite television show... Hell yes this is my favorite toy right now. I've wanted something like this for almost two decades. And now it is mine in all its glorious glory.


Okay, so that's my 5 favorite toys that I own. And that is that.

What do you think mini-block-figure of Reginald VelJohnson?

Request for Questions

Just a reminder, we'll be recording another episode of our Podcast: Articulated Monster this weekend. If anyone has any questions for us sned them to articulatedmonster@yahoo.com

Dalek Sec Hybrid

So what do you do if you want to expand your Dalek collection but want to move away from more actual Daleks? You focus on the mutated Kaleds that are inside of them, or in this case, the Human Dalek Hybrid from the Daleks in Manhattan episodes.

It's a dude with a mutant Dalek head and splotches of dried goo on his suit. It's an interesting design and a nice addition to the Dalek shelf, but I'm glad I paid under $8 for this. Although I find the spats very amusing.

Glow In The Dark Mini Aliens Capsule Toy

Every now and then I get these things because they're a quarter, but I gotta say. Glow-in-the-Dark alien dude isn't as cool as the monkey figures.

Due to the lack of paint for the glow-in-the-dark feature, details are hard to determine. I didn't even realize the little guy was wearing a baseball jersey or holding a bat until... about a minute ago when I looked at the close-up photo I just took for this blog entry.

He's a baseball playing alien. Sure. Kinda dull. I think there was an X-files episode about that, except the alien wasy playing in the Negro Leagues, so it was a hell of a lot more interesting than this.

It's a sad day when a 25 cent Alien toy from a gumball machine disappoints. Even the glowing from the glow-in-the-dark is dull and barely glowing.

The Editor

The Doctor Who episode "The Long Game" isn't really anyone's favorite. It's certainly not anything that will go down as a classic, even the writer/Executive producer admits that. But it does have one thing going for it, Simon Pegg as the Editor. He's evil and played by Simon Pegg, which is pretty much all you need to know if you want the action figure. Because that means this is essentially an EVIL SIMON PEGG action figure, and on that ground, I want it. So I bought it.

The head seems like its a little small for the body, just slightly out of scale. But the likeness of that head is close enough that if you told someone that it was Simon Pegg they'd look at it and nod.



It sort of depends on how you look at him. In the right light the likeness is incredible close. Otherwise its something that bears an incredible resemblence. But whatever, it's an evil Simon Pegg action figure.

Easter's less than a month away, dag nab it.

Dang it Target, get your Easter stuff out there already. I want to get the mini AT-ST lego set and probably the red ninja with dragon set.

Buzzerk

Hey, Hot Wheels. It's been a while. Okay, so let's talk about this Hot Wheel I picked up. It's most prominent feature is the giant buzz saw. I had hoped when I picked it up that it would spin when the car moved across the ground. It did not. Oh sure, if it suddenly hit a new surface, like say a small piece of cardboard, it would spin, but it takes more than just pushing the car across the floor to make it happen.

And that makes me sad.

However if you drive your Hot Wheel car by pushing down on it with you finger and guiding it around, then the buzzsaw will spin. Yup, you've got to apply the ole pressure on the car continuously. I'm sorry, I don't do that. I'm an adult collector of Hot Wheels, so to me this isn't going to happen. At least not that often... I think. Maybe if I get really bored. But I'd have to be really bored.

Tricorder

I had one of these when they first came out. I found it recently hidden in some corner of my old room when I visited my parents' house. It had a horrible case of battery crust on it, so I had to toss it.

So onto e-bay we go to pick up a new one! Hooray for e-bay. This sucker is awesome. I love the sounds it makes. Just like the tricorders on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Whee!

Nostalgia!

Just a reminder

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.

Supreme Dalek

The Dalek Supreme only showed up in a couple episodes of the new series, the latest in the long line of Dalek leaders that never really caught on. But it did result in a new Dalek design, and that's always kind of neat. Especially if you're trying to put together a Dalek shelf, like I am. There have been Daleks dubbed "Supreme" before, but they were never that impressive. And I think they were known as Dalek Supreme rather than Supreme Dalek. Although one of the new Daleks is called Supreme. (The white one.)

But this guy, this guy is red, gold, and has three head lights. That might serve a functional purpose, but I bet it was designed that way because people of power always have more of something to prove their dominance. Also the gold clamps for some reason. I dunno, I think it's a pretty neat Dalek design variation so I'm not sad I bought this one. Even if it did have a higher aftermarket value than I would have liked, but I guess it's also rare so that's to be expected.

Peri & Sil

So everyone wants to know WHY PERI? Everyone who collects the Doctor Who toys wants them to make figures based on classic companions, but the first one they make is Peri. She's well known, but certainly not the most popular of the companions. The fandom is pretty split about her, with some enjoying her camp appeal and others hating her for being a poorly accented, shrill, American who wears really tacky spandex clothing and bikinis in an attempt to sex up Doctor Who. I'm the former camp. I think the fact that she's a poorly accented, shrill, American who wears really tacky spandex clothing and bikinis in an attempt to sex up Doctor Who is fricking hilarious, and I will go out of my way to buy any variants they make of this figure in the "tarted up" costumes that John Nathan Turner (the executive producer that all the actors point out had horrible fashion sense, but insisted on choosing the costumes for the main characters) put her in. Seriously, they made a point to put her in a braless spandex costume then have her run down the street.

And they made her the first companion in the Classic Doctor Who line. And they packaged her with Sil from the Vengance on Varos story. Sil's basically a corrupt buisiness man from a race of amphibious lizard-fish things. The sculpt is very good, and it better be, since it has no articulation at all, making it essentially an in-scale statue. This is the kind of crap they did in the 80's with characters like Snarf from Thundercats. As you can see from his expression, Sil's rather a lacivious character. I think this is from the scene when the bad guys are using a transmogrification ray to forcibly turn Peri and another girl into a bird and a lizard respectively. As the girls watch in horror they start growing feathers and scales. Sil was watching and taunting them, making vaguely sexual remarks about how they would look. So yeah, he was that kind of character.

For a static piece of plastic, it's okay. But at the very least I wish he had shoulder joints so you could moves his arms up and down. Is that too much to ask for? I think it says something that I'm far more impressed by the aquatic tank that Sil is mean to rest atop of. It to is a sculpted piece with no moving parts, but the paint application for the water and the sculpted bubbles which give the illussion of a bubbling tank are done really well. Seriously, most impressive part of this set. (Which is sad in so many ways.)

The detail on this tank is just amazing.

So with the acquisition of Peri, I now have four of the Doctor's female companions. (As you can see, Peri looks the worst out of them. Her crotch looks too much like a T-joint and the way her costume is depicted looks horrible. Although that might just be because it's screen accurate. I watched a clip of Vengance on Varos and holy crap that outfit is painful to look at, even if it's meant to display Nicola Bryant's... uh... oh screw innuendo, it's a skin tight shirt meant to show off her boobs. Do you think it's a coincidence that she's the first action figure in this line to have visible cleavage?

Color Blanks

So you know how they have blank vinyl figures, using whatever template the company produces, which you can then paint/design yourself to do whatever you want? Well you know how those blanks also cost like $12-$20 and come with a black pen, if that, and such?

Okay, here's the cheap alternative to that. They're Color Blanks and I got this set of 2 for $10 at Target. Which how much I'd probably be willing to experiment and dip my toe into this weird little hobby.

The figures themselves are hollow plastic, but still feel reasonably sturdy. If I stepped on them they'd deflate like a baloon, but when I hold them they don't feel like they'll collapse unless I squeeze really hard. The markers they come with are a little lacking, and I might have to get better ones for future projects. There's about a dozen different head designs (geometic shapes, animal head shapes, heads with hair shapes) and two body designs (walking pose & standing still pose)

Also, it looks like there are two types of packaging. There's this one you see here and then there's a version with a plastic handle on the top of the package. If you see both, go for the one with the plastic handle. That one comes with modeling clay to create accessories or sculpt specific features for the figure.

Man, this seems like a lot of fun. I can't wait to get started. And no, I'm not going to do anything filthy.