AMP Episode 26: The Wrath of Kahn

The latest episode of the Articulated Monster is up, and this is a very special episode where it's basically an audio commentary for the movie "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn." So you should probably find that movie on DVD or get it some other way. Then follow along!

Boomboxer and Catsette

I have no idea how I'm going to tag this. But pretty much, the Polly Pocket Cutants are on clearance at Target, so I finally broke down and bought a set. For those of you who don't know, which might be all of you, the Polly Pocket Cutant line consists of creatures who are the amalgamation of an adorable animal and a inanimate object.

So in other words, Polly Pocket now has pets that are the horrific result of genetic engineering gone wrong. Damn you Polly Pocket, why must you remind us of the horrors of science run amok?! Look no further than the entire subset of Cutants which are adorable creatures combined with tasty treats. One of them is Pigwhich, the Pig who has been combined with a cheeseburger. EAT HIM!

But let's talk about Catsette, the Cat crossed with a cassette tape, something the target demographic might be completely unfamiliar with, and Boomboxer, a boxer dog combined with boom box... a boom box that plays cassette tapes... So explain to me why Soundwave needs to be a jet? They feature almost no articulation, and at their original asking price of $4-$5, completely not worth it. But discount it to $1.50 and you've got yourself a deal. Especially once I found out Boom Boxer has an action feature. Press his handle down and his jaw moves.

Ultimate Construct Collection.

Toys R Us had this set, and all Green Lantern toys, on sale, do I picked it up. I'm doing what had always been my, and most people's plan, ever since it was revealed that the 4" Green Lantern movie toys constructs could be attached to the DCUC Green Lanterns by using the blast piece that came with larger Green Lantern 4" figures like Kilowog. Which means i could get rid of the Hal Jordan figure. Because screw Hal Jordan. It's pretty representative of the entire 4" DC figures. 6 points of articulation, weak plastic, boring sculpt, boring paint, very meh.

As for the constructs themselves, they're fairly solid. But when you connect them with the connector piece, they stick far out there. It's like the Green Lanterns only wanted to affect things far away from them. Like they don't want anything to violate their personal space. I'm also a little disappointed by the variety. I know there were only eight constructs, but three of them are essentially claws and two of them are spinning blades. That leaves shield, rocket launcher, and bow/arrow.

Fearless Fotog, as played by Mark

As I considered purchasing the Fearless Fotog today, I realized that his character profile which indicates that his MO of humiliating his enemies by showing their defeat repeatedly on his chest means he is essentially the car from the Kids In the Hall sketch about the smart car alarm.

White Tiger and Hand Ninja

The box profile completely ignores the part where White Tiger dies, gets resurrected, and is made evil by magic and demons. Instead it presents her as a hero from a poorly received Tamora Pierce miniseries and legacy character for a hero no one really remembers.

And the Hand Ninja is an over the top ninja! With all the bits you need to army build an army of red ninjas that aren't identical, even though that's kind of the Hand's thing.

Why'd I get them? I'm something of a completist and wanted the Hand Ninja, so I picked it up during a Black Friday sale a couple months ago. As for the White Tiger, I don't know the character, but I sort of like the design of the costume, so I didn't feel to bad about getting her. Still, star of the show here is the Hand Ninja.

Young Justice Robin

Yeah, I didn't have a 6 inch Robin figure, but the real reason I got this was it was $10 on clearance and I really wanted that rooftop diorama. The Robin figure is just a nice afterthought, although I don't watch Young Justice so I don't know which Robin this is. I'm just going to pretend it's Drake and pose him next to Azrael Batman.

But yeah, that diorama is awesome.

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.

Pepper Potts and Hammer Drone

It's the Iron Man 2 Gwyneth Paltrow minimate! and a giant robot! I haven't seen the movie yet but I think it's a bad guy!

But yeah, I was never really planning to get this set since, again, I haven't seen the movie and Pepper Potts minimate looks nothing like Gwyneth Paltrow. Maybe if she came with a acoustic guitar so she could do a bad cover of "Forget You." Oh, that was mean. Sorry.

But the set was $3 on Amazon, which makes it the perfect little item to push orders over $25 to get free S/H. The figures are okay, but neither can move their head very far due to restrictions caused by the hair or giant robot collar. Although the Pepper Potts figure could do a decent job doubling as a Namora figure.

Announcement

So, let me just say that I'm not going to be buying any Doctor Who toys for the next month (Unless there's an unbeatable sale, like all figures $1 or something) so I can save up all my toy buying for the Gallifrey One Convention in February. So any Doctor Who Toys I review in this period were bought a while ago and I'm just getting around to them now.

So when I get back from the convention? Cybermen Week. That's right, Cybermen Week coming February 27th or sometime after that. Whenever I get around to it. I'm busy, okay?

AMP Episode 25: Ice Cream Trooper

Newest episode of the Articulated Monster Podcast is now up.



Hopefully I've made it easier to follow along the news segment by actually describing what the news is in the episodes.

And remember, next episode will be our special audio commentary to Star Trek 2: Wrath of Kahn. So get your own copy of the movie so you can follow along!

Jeff Gorvette

Man, I was thinking they would never release any new Lego Cars 2 single figures. Glad to see I was wrong. now I just wish they could be more like this. I've come to the conclusion that I really prefer the Cars 2 figures when they're race cars. Something about the design is awesome. Unfortunately most of the Cars 2 figures aren't race cars, and for some reason that disappoints me. Who knew I had a thing for Lego race cars... although considering that's what got me back into Lego in the first place, I should have had an inkling.

This is Jeff Gorvette. I didn't see the movie, but I've seen the Wikipedia page, so I know he was voiced by Jeff Gordon in the American version of Cars 2, but his character and voice was replaced with region appropriate cars/racers in other countries. And now you know that too.

Superman vs. Power Armor Lex

You know how there's complaints out there about Lego lines being too male oriented and disenfranchises girls? Considering this set is about how Superman needs to rescue Wonder Woman from Lex Luthor, they might have a point. Especially since Lex is in a Kryptonite suit. It seems like if anything, Wonder Woman should be rescuing Superman. Hell, the mini-comic that comes with the set includes a "hilarious" bit where Superman tries to free Wonder Woman with his heat vision and instead blows her up on accident, which he plays off with an embarrassed shrug.

Superman is an excellent Lego minifig, but I'm a bit disappointed by Wonder Woman.The way her torso is painted makes her look like she's wearing a red tank top.

And I've got to say, even though I bough this set for the minifigures, the Lex Luthor Robot Suit is one of the best Lego giant robot suits I've had the pleasure to build and then play with. It has a solid design but the articulation is top notch, not something I usually experience with Lego Robot suits.

Horn Head

You know what, it was on clearance for under $1.50. The real question is Why wouldn't I buy That Toy?

Luigi!

I won't go into this one very much. I got it because I needed a Luigi and didn't want to buy any of the sets that Luigi comes with. The other James has been doing a pretty good look at the single bagged Mario Kart k'nex minifigures that can be found on toy shelves, but I've still got one question.

Why do they need to be packaged wrapped in tissue paper? It's the first bagged minifigures that I've seen like this, and it makes very little sense to me.

Mater's Spy Zone

Despite loving the Lightning McQueen version of a Lego Racers car, I never really picked up any of the other Cars 2 sets. Mostly because of how much they cost, fortunately there's a thing called Christmas. And Mario got me this. 

That's Holly Shiftwell, the female secret agent from England, and Mater, Larry the Cable Guy in a less racist truck form. Well, it's Agent Mater, which you can tell because he has rocket boosters and a gun. Because why the hell not.  It also comes with a nifty computer, but the impressive bits are all stickers. 

I like expanding my Lego Cars collection a little more, if nothing else than I feel like they're not actually Lego cars but Lego Minifigures... Because aren't they really? I mean, they don't use stickers on the Cars characters, they're all printed on, which these days only happens on minifigs.

AJ got me a potentially racist toy. Samurai

Oh Samurai, your powers didn't even have anything to do with the Samurai and yet that's what you called yourself. Should I be offended that you didn't wear a shirt, basically making yourself insanely vulnerable? Is it because of your wind powers? Or the ancient arts of superpowers that you learned somehow despite being a mild mannered History Professor?

I dunno, whenever I hear about an Asian Superhero who has ancient magic that he uses in battle, I always cringe. Even if he did get additional superpowers from a New Genesis ray from space.

I think this movie by YOU SAID YOUR DAMN NINJA COULD TAKE CARE OF ROBOCOP PRODUCTIONS, says it best...

AMP Episode 24: Pinball Machine Wife

Episode 24 of the Articulated Monster Podcast is now up. It's the 2011 Year end wrap up.

Buyer's remorse: DC Universe Edition

You know, one of my New Years resolutions was going to be to not buy toys through January unless they were from a convention or special toy show. Then I went to a Target that had some good clearance deals and a selection of DC Superheroes Legos. And that resolution ended in less than 24 hours.

But since this is about my Buyer's Remorse, let's go over why I bought each item and why I might want to return them. Because the name of this blog is WHY DID I BUY THAT TOY?

1. Fisher Price Little People: Batman & Joker 
I got this for my young cousin who is going to get hand me downs of his sisters Little People toys, so I thought I'd give him a boys toy update. Then if he gets into Batman I'll always know what to get him for Christmas and Birthdays. Also, it was on clearance, so I got a little bit off an otherwise expensive toy. I'm not set to see my cousin for a while, so I might return this if I find a better present for him.

2. Catwoman's Catcycle City Chase Lego set. 
Even though they were hard to find at Toys R Us at Christmas, the prediction that these DC Superheroes Legos would be plentifully available at Target after the holidays has proven correct even sooner than anticipated. This is one of the basic sets, and I've wanted a Batman Lego ever since I got into Legos (which was long after they put out the Batman Lego toys.) But I'm still on the fence about keeping this set. I feel I'll make my decision after I see/get the big Joker's Carnival set which comes with Batman, Robin, Joker, Harley, Riddler, and thug. After that if I think $12 is worth a Catwoman/catcyle then I'll hold onto this.

3. Young Justice Aqua Lad and Robin 6 inch figures
I got these because they were half off. I don't have either character in this scale, but they're animated style faces are a sharp difference from the rest of my DCUC collection. That said, $10 for the Robin Rooftop base seems like it might be sorta worth it. And I'm pretty sure this may be the only 6" DCUC figure of this Aqualad ever made. And even if it's not, this one was $10, came with insane accessories and a cool looking diorama base.

On the other hand, $20 for figures I'm not even sure I really want just because I like the diorama bases? I need to think on this one.

Explain it to me.

So if Toys R Us owns Fao Scwarz and that's why they sell FAO Schwarz merch in Toys R Us stores, why are they insistent that their coupons not count toward FAO Schwarz merchandise?

I'm just pissed because this means I can't use coupons for Muppet Whatnot accessories. Also because for some reason they upped the price $10 right after Christmas, so after I played with one for a while and decided I wanted another I ended up paying $10 than the last one. What the hell Toys R Us. What the hell?

Let's start the New Year off with a bang!

Get it, because Megatron turns into a gun. A tiny, tiny gun. Because it's a legend class figure that's smaller than 4 inches high.