Civil War Captain America and Arnim Zola

I got this set mostly for Arnim Zola, because a Nazi Scientist who put his consciousness into a robot with a tiny head and a chest with which to project his face like in Robocop 2 is a toy you need to get for the sheer ridiculousness. But when I did, I found out that the Captain America figure was kind of cool.

It's supposed to be Captain America from the Civil War miniseries, but that's ridiculous as that Captain America was just the regular looking Captain America. He didn't wear his WW2 goggles and helmet look. And he sure as hell didn't wear his 90's Avengers Leather jacket...

Wait, what?

Yeah, in the early 90's the Avengers went through a period where all the members wore leather jackets with the Avengers "A" logo on the sleeve. This is when the Avengers consisted of Black Knight, Sersei, Crystal,  and who cares it was a ridiculous look and is emblematic of the 90's comic book culture. Everyone was wearing a leather jacket. Wonder Woman, Sue Storm (which was hilarious because this was back when the rest of her uniform was the swimsuit with a boob window shaped like the number 4), even Gambit... Actually Gambit may have been the guy to cause it all to happen... ANYWAY...

But yeah, this set includes alternate arms and chest piece to create a Avengers Leather Jacket version of Captain America... Or any other minimate you want to put in that jacket. 10 stars!

Freeing Dobby

I only bought this set because it was discounted to under $3. But I've got to say, the Dobby minifigure isn't bad. And I like the sock plate piece. Otherwise the set ain't great shakes. The Harry figure isn't anything special, although I like Malfoy's alternate face / death eater mask on the other side of his head.

The odd thing though, is that the archway is designed so you can send Malfoy flying away by thumping him with a cleverly hidden stick.

Minimates Maximum Zombies

I admit, the first few wave of the Minimates Max line were pretty boring. They felt more like army builders than anything else. Firemen, cops, army people... yawn. Then they released the pirate ghost subline and things got much more interesting. And now they go into AWESOME!

The minimate Zombies subline started last year as a SDCC exclusive. New sets have been announced for near future release, but until the details are a little more firm we get this surgeon and biker. The Biker looks a little too much like Dogg the Bounty Hunter, but that's okay. The surgeon's alternate head looks a little too like Doc Brown, so maybe that's all intentional.

Yes, like the original Minimate MAX line, it looks like these figures come with alternate heads and accessories so you can make multiple characters from each Minimate. It's a nice use of the customization and modular possibilities of the minimate form. One downside is that for the Biker Minimate, the base body has a leather jacket illustrated on it. The accessory to change the torso is... a leather jacket accessory.... So essentially the same thing but bulkier.

Anyway, these things are awesome and even though they were a SDCC exclusive they're still available for reasonable prices. This portends great things for the eventual Minimate MAX Zombie line if it actually materializes.

Harley Quinn (Batman Legacy: Arkham City)

It was sorta a given that I'd get this. After all, what Batman fan can resist a Harley Quinn variant that is based on a pretty cool character design? (And isn't as obviously exploitative and stupid as the Suicide Squad Hot Topic Harley.)

So like I mentioned on the Articulated Monster Podcast, the soft plastic used on the bat has the unfortunate quality of being incredibly pliable, thus making it possible to make the bat look floppy, which has the unfortunate side effect of resembling the Penetrator weapon from Saints Row 3. (LINK to the entry on the Saints Row wiki. NSFW.) And the white face paint and shape of the head make the figure look more like an action figure of a Harley Quinn cosplayer than the video game character, but it gets the idea across as much as it can given the limitations of the medium. (Also, most people still think Harley Quinn cosplayers are pretty cool, so not a huge problem there.)

Overall, it's a good figure. The boots allow for a swivel/hinge joint at the knee, so a bit of extra flexibility there. And the boot top means that the mid-thigh cut joint is well hidden. Neato! And the figure is pretty much in scale with the DCUC line. So even more neato.

tAMP: Episode 30: My Original Care Bears Title Is A Bad Idea

Oh snap, episode 30 of the Articulated Monster Podcast is now up! I originally wanted to call it something else, but James convinced me that it might be a bad idea. Because apparently referencing Saints Row 3 and Care Bears in the same title might draw unwanted attention.

Keeper of Traken set

Okay, the figures above, left to right, are the 4th Doctor, the Melkur, and the Master... And that's about all I know really... Okay, not really, I'm a Doctor Who fanboy, but I don't know the detail. The big details. I do know that the 4th Doctor is called to Traken to deal with the living statue known as the Melkur who might be planning on disrupting an important to the entire universe ceremony. The Melkur is actually a robot controlled by the Master, who is about to die with his body almost as dead as it was during his last appearance on the show, "The Deadly Assassin."

There's also some stuff about a dude named Tremas and his daughter Nyssa who would both become regulars on the show as the new host to the Master's mind and the 5th Doctor's companion respectively. But they don't matter in this little article.

Why did I buy this toy? Other than the obvious fact that I love Doctor Who? Two reasons. 1) This is one of the few 4th Doctor variants that doesn't just repaint one of the 2 base bodies used for 4th Doctor figures. 2) I never got the Deadly Assassin Master figure, so if I wanted to get a figure of the "withered corpse" Master (also known by me as the 2nd Master) then this would be my best bet.

The 4th Doctor features the new ball jointed shoulders that I'm hoping will be adopted by all Doctor Who figures soon. I like the figure. The lack of a coat or scarf is a nice change from all the other 4th Doctor figures I have. People forget that the 4th Doctor wore a number of different outfits, and did spend moments without his scarf. So it's nice to get a figure of one of those moments.

The Master features the more often used cut joint shoulders with bicep swivel. His cape is plastic and glued to his chest, so posing the figure is very limited. The cowl gets in the way of the head, so don't expect to be able to move it. But he balances, so good enough.

The Melkur is a hollow plastic disappointment. 5 points of articulation, all cut joints, and is made of a soft plastic that feels like a sad rubber duck. There's also the Master's TARDIS, which is just a hollow Block of plastic with a clock face sticker on it.

Ultimately the set is very disappointing. Aside from the Doctor, the figures all have big problems that might not be deal-breakers, but combine to a very frustrating mess of a set. It doesn't help that I have no idea what that accessory globe thing is.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Cyberleader

Wow, I bought a 8 inch cloth figure... WHAT THE HELL...

Oh, it's a Cyberman. Okay, that makes sense. If I was going to get only one 8 inch figure then this was going to be the one. Oddly enough, I skipped over the 4th Doctor from this wave even though it was the exact same price.

Why? Because the fourth Doctor isn't a cyberman. And this Cyberman is from Revenge of the Cybermen, which means it's part of my favorite design style of the Cybermen, the style that uses the weird earmuffs.

I haven't opened it yet. And I don't know if I ever will. It looks so nice in the package, but I don't really feel like it would be more fun if I took it out. Right now I don't have to worry about articulation or balancing it. I can just appreciate how silly it looks.

The only reason I might think of opening it is to get access to the Cybermat in it. But then again, I've got the one from the Revenge of the Cybermen 5" figures, and they're basically identical.

3D THURSDAY: CYBERMEN WEEK: Cosplay Video

So I went to the Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles earlier this year and took some 3D footage of people in their Doctor Who themed cosplay.

Some of them were dressed as Cybermen!

Also, at least one toy makes an appearance in the video. Enjoy.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Corroded Cyberman with Chest Damage

Let's return to the story "Closing Time." In that episode we see a number of Cybermen that have been burried underground for thousands of years. Their bodies are damaged and corroded.

So of course Character Options made figures of each Cyberman and their specific type of damage. Seriously, they're doing it. So far they've done 4 of them, each with a different type of damage on the body. It's insane.

I can't afford them all, so I got this one: the Corroded Chest Damage Cyberman.The reason I chose this one is that it comes with an awesome accessory, the Cyberman Mask that is waiting for someone's head to be put inside it so they can be turned into a Cyberman.

Since this is a Corroded Cyberman there's all sorts of small details on the body that required new sculpting. There's the impression that metal plates have been welded onto different parts of the bodies and sculpted elements to simulate exposed wires and circuits. There's also a lot of various paint apps to simulate rust and tarnish.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Cybermats

One of the dangers of being a toy collector is that if you think something is going to be hard to find, you snatch up toys early for a slightly higher price than it eventually becomes available for. Which is why I spent so much on this set of 16 Cybermats and sort of regret it now.

These are basically accessories that would usually come with a Cybermen, tiny pieces of unarticulated plastic. They've pretty much taken the sam distribution method they did with the adipose. Although the Adipose were initially an accessory pack in, they proved so popular that Character Options stopped making that figure available and packaged 20 Adipose in their own card and charged the same as a regular character. That's what they did here for the cybermat, the big differences being that 1) the adipose figures were bigger, 2) the adipose set came with more figures, 3) the adipose were characters whereas the cybermats have no personalities and thus are harder to justify as being action figures that deserve their own seperate packaging.

But what about the Cybermats themselves? Well unlike the Adipose, which had only two different sculpts, the cybermats have 4. They correspond to the position of their tails, with one straight, one curved to the left, one curved to the right, and one in the middle of a serpentine  sliter. The one with the sliter also features an open bitey mouth as seen in the episode "Closing Time." (In my opinion it's an underrated episode. It also features the first real use non-alternate universe Cybermen, so I might be biased.) These things are tiny, so small that the guns that come with the other figures are bigger. Putting 16 in a pack and making it the only way to get cybermats is kinda wrong. Very wrong. Hell, remember when the Tomb of the Cybermen figure came with two kinds of cybermats? What happened to those kinds of practices?

Unfortunately I'm a Cyberman completist, so I had to get these guys.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Doctor Who Character Building Cyberman Collector Set

So Character Building put out some Cybermen as part of their minifigure line. Then they released an army builder 5 pack. But that one had 5 Cybermen that all looked the same. But then they released a second 5 pack that featured two previously unreleased Cybermen figures. Then I got it!

Three of the guys in this set are the typical Cybermen design featured in the blind packs, but now you can get a Cyber Leader (Which I think they've now put in a wave of the blind packs) and a damaged Cybermen, with paint to imply rust damage and a missing arm. Surprisingly they didn't just pack in a figure with a arm not inserted into the joint hold, but instead they sculpted a one armed base body. That's pretty awesome. And it means they can now make one-armed dudes in their normal CB line. They should get the Fugitive license.

OR MAYBE THIS CYBERMAN KILLED RICHARD KIMBALL'S WIFE!!!

Incidentally, you know what I love? I love that the Cybermen all have the big O chest piece so that means they're the extension of the "classic" Cybermen from the old show. Except the broken one that features the Cybrus logo that indicates the cyberman is from an alternate universe. I pretend he's in such bad shape because he's not a "REAL" Cyberman but one made from cheap parts on the parallel earth which made us deal with "Not Our Native" Cybermen.

I've never been that into the Character Building sets of figures, but this set actually convinced me that the minifigures might be worth looking at. Which explains why I ended up getting the minifigures from last week's article.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Bump & Go Cybermat

Look, I knwo it migth not seem like it sometimes, but I like the Cybermats. I really do. I thought they were a great part of Classic Doctor Who. So when they updated them guys for the new show during this last season, well I was pretty excited. I hoped we would get some toy Cybermats packaged in with some cybermen, but instead we got that pack I was disappointed in. But I still really like Cybermats.

Fortunately Character and Underground Toys have released another Cybermat toy. One that's a fair bit bigger than the other ones. Postly because these aren't in scale to action figures. These are in scale to us.

YES! A 1:1 scale cybermat toy. Sure anyone who wants a Doctor Who accessory for role playing will get a Sonic Screwdriver, but this should be #2 on the list. (It's certainly cooler looking than the Memory Cube.) Even if you don't put in batteries so it acts like a Roomba, careening across the floor until it hits an obstacle, causing it to turn around, it's a great toy.

Personally, I got it so if I ever do a Doctor Who fan film with a Cybermat then I can avoid building one and just use this guy.

CYBERMEN WEEK: Cyberman

You know, if we're going to do a Cybermen week then we might as well start with a Cyberman... Makes sense, right?

This figure is almost identical to all the NuCybermen figures that have already come out. (I've never looked over a regular one on the site, but the base body is just like this one or this one)

The only difference: This one doesn't have the Cybrus logo on the chest, and instead just has a regular circle on it. That implies that this Cyberman isn't from the alternate universe, but rather a Cyberman from the proper Doctor Who universe and is an offshoot of the Cybermen from the classic Doctor Who series. Why do they look like the alternate universe Cybermen? Well, realistically it's because it's more cost effective to use existing costumes rather than spend a lot of money to make new costumes. But the in-story reason isn't expanded, so I'm going to assume its because the real Cybermen found some alternate universe Cybermen and assimilated them and upgraded to incorporate advantages of the new form.

So yeah... NERD!

Still, Cybermen are awesome! And I'm happy to finally have a NuWho Cyberman that isn't from some stupid alternate universe.

St. Patrick's Day...

Because I just wanted another reason to say I hate Hal Jordan.

Character Building Doctor Who blind packs

When I was at that Doctor Who convention so way back, I picked up a few of the blind packed Character Building sets. It involved a lot of bag pressing to see if I could determine shapes. Daleks were easy, but the others... I figured out which sets had the Doctor because you could feel the sonic screwdriver, but the one figure I really wanted, the Rory figure, that was damn near impossible.

But one hour later I finally figured it out. I really wanted a Rory because I'm figuring out that they're not going to make a Rory in the 5" scale, so I'll take what I can get. He's one of my favorite Doctor Who companions.

The figures feel just like other Character building minifigures, just with Doctor Who Paint jobs. The real interesting one is the Dalek. I've provided a break down of the pieces here.

So the top piece does rotate, allowing for some interesting Dalek head posing.

At the con the pieces were selling for $3.50-5 depending on which dealer you bought them from. I don't think they're really worth that much per figure, especially since Wal-Mart sells the generic CB minifigures for $2 and Lego minifigures generally go for $3 and are made from much better quality plastic. They're a little taller than a minifigure though, but the hair is part of the head piece, so there's not mix-and match hats or hair in the CB minifigures. Just swappable heads. Although that does mean you can play with the "Rory dies a lot" theme by substituting another Character Building head.

3D Thursday: Kilowog and Zilius Zox

It's time for a new semi-regular feature here at "Why Did I Buy That Toy," where we present some original 3D content. Today we've got some 3-D picks as I go over the Action League 2-pack of Green Lantern Kilowog and Red Lantern Zilius Zox. Just as a heads up, I'm not really a fan of these types of Galactic Heroes super deformed tiny vinyl figures. I've skipped over every other version of them in the past. But I got this 2-pack back in the height of my "Green Lantern" obsession when I desperately wanted new Rainbow Lantern characters. I figured this would be the only way I would get a Zilius Zox figure, so I bit the metaphorical bullet and bought the pack. A year later and I just got around to opening it.

They're everything I expected, which is to say heavier than they look and not very exciting. The limited articulation doesn't leave me a lot of play features, so I'm pretty much getting these to display Zilius. I don't know what I'll do with Kilowog. For what he is, Zilius is pretty good. he doesn't balance very well, but what do you expect from a giant solid ball supported by two tiny legs? I will say that despite his distinctive look, he almost fits in on my Rainbow Lantern Shelf.

All things said and done, I'm not impressed with this set, and it sure as hell doesn't inspire me to go out and get other similar styled figures. They cost too much for what they are and if I hadn't been in Lantern Madness last summer I would have skipped these entirely. As it is now, I only opened and displayed Zilius for completeness reasons. Kilowog is going into a drawer somewhere.

Okay, time for the...

Current Rainbow Corps Collection Display Count

Green Lanterns: 11 (I removed the Movie Masters)
Sinestro Corps: 7
Red Lanterns: 4
Star Sapphires: 3
Blue Lanterns: 2
Black Lanterns: 1.15
Orange Lanterns: 1
Indigo Lanterns: 1

Colonel Catcher

I'm always curious when MegaBloks releases a new line with a new property. Not enough to buy their bloks, but usually the blind pack figures give me pause. I'm not a fan of the Halo or Marvel Mega Bloks style of figures, although I'm impressed by their articulation, but the Hello Kitty style stuff or the Dragons, those intrigue me. The way they combine various parts of the Lego aesthetic (because let's face it, that's what it is) but using distinctive non-Lego sculpts can lead to some cool stuff. And because of the MegaBlok compatability with Lego systems, it means all these minifigures will be compatible with Lego builds. So when it comes to stuff like the Smurfs or Hello Kitty, I'm curious to see if the figures are any good.

So I finally broke down and picked up one of their latest lines: the Moshi Monsters. Research (wikipedia) tells me that it's based on a British online Social Network game for kids. Combining Webkinz with Facebook or something like that. Don't know, don't care. I'm more interested in the toys which seem to include characters like overly happy sasquatches and angry rabbits.

Fortunately the local Target has the blind packed figures in the Easter section. Yes they're blind packed, but I smooshed the packages and felt around until I found one that seemed interesting to me. This guy.

I like him The pith hat, handlebar mustache, and over-sized monocle eye makes him look like a Victorian era British adventurer. More research (The Moshi Monsters Wikia and 30 minutes more than I wanted to spend) tells me the dude is named Colonel Catcher and he's the playable character in  butterfly catching mini-game as well as a helpful character for the Moshling "Catch them all" game.

His hat is removable, but that and the base block are the only parts of this figure that is modular. So the rest of the figure is pretty solid with four points of articulation. (cut shoulders, combined t-joint legs, and a cut waist) Fortunately the hat peg fits the hole at the top of the minimates I have. So that's awesome. Yes, it's an over-sized fit, but still hilarious.

Actually it kinda looks like the over-sized hats those guys were wearing in Big Trouble Little China.

Nerf Jolt

The Jolt is tiny. Possibly the smallest Nerf blaster ever. Seriously, look how small this thing is.

But even though it's tiny, this might be my favorite Nerf Blaster of all time. OF ALL TIME. See, it's deceptively powerful. Rather than having to pump up the air pressure like the other pocket Nerf Blaster, the Nerf Secret Strike, the Jolt has a simple cocking mechanism. Pull down the handle on the bottom and fire. End result: the Jolt fires about the same distance, possibly further, than a Maverick. Fired at close range it offers far more of a punch than a Maverick. The Nite Finder doesn't even enter to this discussion.

So if you combine the Jolt with a sonic dart you get a good whistle before someone or something is hit by the dart. The feeling is that you have fire pure power from your hand. ALL FEAR AND TREMBLE AT THE MIGHTY MAN WHO BRINGS DOWN THE PUNISHMENT OF THE FOAM DART FROM HIS SECRET BLASTER!

The Calling... It Calls to me.

Uh oh, my collector brain is trying to make me buy 12 inch figures again... I don't know if my pocket book can afford that kind of collection. And where would I pose them? I don't even use the 12 inch figures I already have... except for Jesse Ventura. And a Barbie I put in a Dragon Toys Police Sniper outfit.

Thunderstrike and Stone Alien

Remember Thunderstrike? Eric Masterson was Thor in the 90's. There was a lot of wacky crap which ended up with Thor asking Eric to take over for a while, which he did, until he was tricked into fighting the real Thor over Sif and lost. But it was okay, Odin gave him a new Mace which gave him Thor-like powers as the new hero Thunderstrike. And yes, he wore a chain belt, had a pony tail, a leather jacket with torn off sleeves and other 90's badass look attributes.

So yeah, dude is the closest thing there will ever be to a Thor legacy character, except that now he's dead and his son is the new Thunderstrike.

But Eric Masterson will always be one of the big symbols of Marvel in the 90's. (Although more for his 90's Thor costume, which was silly since all it added was a beard and a weird visor thing attached to the helmet. It's also the variant figure for this set.)

The Thunderstrike minimate has issues standing, but I wanted him and the variant because I loved comic books in the 90's. It was such a fun time, before the decompressed storytelling and the "Let's make things realistic" trends of the 2000's took over.

He comes with a Stone Warrior Alien from Journey into Myster #83, Thor's very first Marvel comic. It's been retconned that one of the Warriors is Korg, Hulk's friend and Warbound. So I'm gonna pretend this is a figure of him, since I'm pretty sure they'll never make a Korg minimate. That means they just have to make an A-Bomb, Lyra and a Red She Hulk and I'll have my very own set of the Incredible Hulks minimates. Cool.

Armored Thor and HOLY CRAP BETA RAY BILL!!!!

Armored Thor is from some silly story where he gets cursed with brittle bones so he wear magic armor. And it's a large and bulky figure that is difficult to balance and looks ridiculous. But he came with Beta Ray Bill so I had to get him.

If you don't know, Beta Ray Bill comes from a planet of Horse faced people who was deemed worthy to carry the hammer of Thor. Which he did, leaving Thor kinda at a loss. Misunderstandings happened and when it was over, Beta Ray Bill was named Thor's hammer-brother and given his own Thor Hammer which he used to be Space Horse Thor... or Beta Ray Bill.

They made a minimate of a Space Horse with the power of a Norse God. Sure it's got a bulky chest cover, but THIS IS AMAZING AND EVERYONE SHOULD BUY 2!

Episode 29: The one with Two Jameses

Episode 29 of the Articulated Monster Podcast is now up.



If you're looking for the youtube video that James and Mario did before I showed up, you can find it here:

Remembrance of the Daleks

I never did get that other Remberance of the Daleks set. Mostly because it was a UK Exclusive and damned if I'm paying $100 for 4 Daleks when I only want one of them. Meanwhile, $40 for these two Daleks apparently is fine. I think seeing it in person was the thing that made me go: DO IT! BUY IT! And what do I get for my money? Two variants of the Imperial Dalek. One is a busted Dalek, based on the one that got destroyed when the Doctor's companion Ace destroyed it using a nuclear powered baseball bat. (Oh 90's Doctor Who, we miss you so.)

You never saw in that busted Dalek, aside from a tentacle that shot out and tried to attack people. They've decided to sculpt the mutant inside the Dalek shell as the mutants from the new series. Whatever.

The figure I really wanted was the Emperor Dalek. It features exactly two bits of articulation. One: The shell of the bulbous head opens up to reveal Davros inside! And Davros' head move a slight bit, but all the wires attached to his head limit the movement!

Holy crap this set isn't worth $40 unless you're hardcore into Doctor Who... Did I mention I bought this at a Doctor Who convention? So I'm a hardcore into Doctor Who. Fine, just take my money Character Options. But I'll be damned if I'm paying $40 for the Attack of the Cybermen set... unless I see it person... or read  positive review... or see it on e-bay... I'm a weak man when it comes to Doctor Who toys.

Prepare for the Upgrade...

Starting March 19...

Anti-Buyer's Remorse: GI Joe Edition

Is there an opposite of Buyer's Remorse? Because the second I saw these guys on the shelf I knew I was going to buy them. Sci-Fi is a nostalgia purchase because he was one of the few Joes I had as a kid. Lifeline I wanted for the insane number of accessories and the fact that in the cartoon he was the pacifist that couldn't even shoot people when he was alone with his stalker girlfriend and Cobra attacked the secluded cabin they were in to kidnap the girl since she was the daughter of rich people.

Saw them, snatched them, and also decided not to get the Zombie Viper. Because compared to these two day-glo character it just wasn't making the cut. Also, why would a infantry trooper wear neon green? Who cares, the more important part is why does GI Joe have two laser specialists? Shouldn't more people have laser rifles? Or is it an expensive and  rare technology? In which case why are they being carried into battle on the back of infantrymen.

Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hell, they were $4. And for that you get Star Lord, who I know almost nothing about, and Drax the Destroyer, about which I know a little but mostly from the 90's before he transformed into the look he has here during the Annihilation miniseries. They're both good figures, especially if you're paying $2 for each of them. Starlord is cool, in that his helmet makes him look like an awesome cyborg. Like I said, I'm not familiar with the character so he could be a cyborg, but from what I can recall, I think he's just some human who accidentally got stuck in a space opera back in the 70's. And then there's Drax. I like Drax's knives, they serve the character well. (I did read the Annihilation comic, but all you need to know about Drax is that he was created by cosmic forces from a dead human to kill Thanos the mad Titan, a guy who worshiped death and would regularly gain control over all of reality. He used to be stupid and insanely strong, but then he evolved to be less strong but insanely more cunning and clever about killing people.)

Of course the real stars of this set are the two accessories. Rocket Racoon and Groot. I hesitate to say that they're figures in the set because Groot has no articulation and Rocket racoon has two points of articulation: a ball jointed head and a cut joint where his tail meets his torso. So you can spin his tail around and make him look up, down, or side to side. Other than that, he's stuck in one pose... You know... like a statue. So that's why I consider them accessories and not action figures. Because they lack action.

Ganger Doctor

So I'm going to parse out the Doctor Who Toys I got at the convention over the next few weeks so it's not just a steady stream of Doctor Who posts. And we'll start with the Ganger Doctor. This is a figure based on a recent set of episodes dealing with clones made out of a goopy material known as "Flesh." It creates a copy of a person out of a goo that is supposed to serve as a person's avatar for dangerous operations (like in the movie surrogates) but some of the copies, or gangers, short for doppelgangers, get separated from the psychic link, gain sentience, and decide they don't want to be melted  after the job is done.

So as part of the story, the Doctor gets duplicated and a Ganger Doctor is created. Now when the gangers emerge, they look a lot more goo-like, as if their skin hasn't congealed yet. They look like you would expect people made out of goop to look like. And this figure depicts that moment.

There's actually two versions. One is made of stretch armstrong like material and has a neck that can be stretched if you pull the head. I didn't want that figure. I hate those squishy plastic figures since I'm convinced they'll eventually decay and crack as the years go on. Fortunately I ended up with one where everything is hard plastic. I like the figure, not just because it shows off one of the new features found on Doctor Who figures, ball-jointed shoulders. Only took them 6 years. And knowing Character Options, we'll still be seeing the old articulation show up on all the figures that feature parts reuse. Which is weird because aside from the head and hands, this is essentially all the same parts as all the other 11th Doctor figures. That's prime for parts reuse. But instead we get better articulation.

I'm not complaining, but I know it means I'm going to have to get new figures of characters I already have if they add the ball jointed shoulders. I just know it.

The figure comes with a couple of accessories. There's a packet of "The Flesh," which is essentially white toy slime, and a hard plastic "Flesh Mask" that replicates the look of the unformed flesh on a Ganger that can be placed on other figures... although yes, it's kind of silly to include it with a figure which already has a Ganger face. I got a couple figures with those accessories, so here's a look at the Flesh Masks. I'll cover the Flesh Packet itself later. (But really, no different than the slime you can get in a gumball machine.)

Buyer's Remorse: "I Don't Even Play The Damn Games" Edition

Since my Target has the Series 6 Halo Reach accessory packs I picked up the Team Objectives Spartan Mark V. When we first talked about the wave on the Articulated Monster Podcast (I don't remember what episode), I expressed great interest in the Capture the flag set since it came with standard Red & Blue Spartans with flags. I thought it was the perfect way to get Sarge and Caboose figures, two great characters from the Red vs. Blue Series by Rooster Teeth.

But then it turned out that I read the solicitation wrong and it was actually this set.... Also they added the skulls because they cancelled the Headhunter set. (I don't know what a Headhunter game is. The other James says its a game mode. Or something like that. I just read the press releases.) It's cool and all, but it's not a perfect interpretation of Sarge since it's not an interpretation of Sarge at all but a generic red character. Still, you've got to love all the accessories. Flaming skulls and three flags! Also a gravity hammer. But I dunno if it's worth $30. (Are 5 flaming skulls good? I assume it's a game reference.)

Still, Sarge is awesome.