Lady Jaye

I swear I always thought her name was Lady Jaye until the internet corrected me about a decade ago. So anyway, I picked up this figure because 1) it was on sale and 2) I was wondering how Kre-O would handle a female Kreon. And now I have my answer: NOT WELL.

Whereas other block figures usually heavily emphasize painted curves or try to feminize the face, Kre-O has instead decided to pull back and apply those more subtlety, which is a problem on a tiny block figure. With no long hair piece (or any hair piece at all, which means Kre-o's Lady Jaye is meant to be rocking a bald head) this figure very much looks like "guy with really red lips."

Also, this is the first time I noticed the expanded ends of the arms to allow for the insertion of the hand pegs. It makes it look like the figure has flesh colored wrist bands... or a swollen wrist that really should be looked at by a medical professional.

Also: Why the hell do I keep getting Kreons? They're never satisfactory.

Traffic Cone Zombie

I've only been able to find these figures at Toys R Us for $3.99 and that seemed way too much for what you get, but I gotta admit, the number of joints that this guy has almost makes it worth the price.

Almost.

As in, no, it's not worth $4. GET IT? I DID NOT THINK I GOT MY MONEY'S WORTH.

That said, I do like the extra articulation. The heads are ball joints, which makes them semi-unique for building brick minifigures. And I'm digging the 70's style for the zombie. The traffic cone's a little difficult to keep on his head, but it's a nice interpretation of a sci-fi traffic cone. (Unless traffic cones have antennas now and I just haven't noticed. RC Traffic cones? The future is so bright that I have to wear tinted prescription glasses.)

I might get other figures from the set if there's one of those "buy one get 1 half off" sales that Toys R Us likes to do.

AMP Episode 91: Mario's Tiny Hands Are Like Baby Hands

Hey, it's time to start our countdown to the Articulated Monster Podcast 100th Episode. So T-Minus 10? I think that's how it works. Anyway, here's episode 91.

Also, I previously posted about the Barbie figure that comes with a pooping dog. I've begun to see at Wal-Mart a Barbie figure that comes with a peeing cat, so you can scoop up her droppings from a litter box.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE MAKERS OF BARBIE TOYS?

Lucy Lawless

I found the second series of Simpsons celebrity figures today. I was tempted to get the Roger Daltry, but ultimately webt for the standout: Lucy Lawless in her Xena costume. I owned a Xena figure back in the 90's, but I got this figure not out of nostalgia, but because I really liked Lucy Lawless' appearance on the Simpsons. Especially the way she had to keep reminding people that even though she was dressed like Xena, Xena was a character she played on television.

It resulted in two great lines: "A wizard did it." And of course:

"Xena can't fly!"

"I told you, I'm not Xena. I'm Lucy Lawless."

That second line alone is pretty much why I bought this figure.

Dino

Whelp, looks like the Toys R Us Clearance Blast has gotten to the point where I'm picking up toys I've been interested in but not enough to pay for. Now it's Dino, from the Flintstones. An animated dinosaur with surprising articulation...for under $1.25.

I was always kinda interested in these Hanna Barbara figures, but they all had weird paint or bad sculpts or all the reviews online said they had any number of issues. It basically put me off them, but at this insane price, sure, I'll get a dinosaur.

I remember when these first came out I was interested in Dino because of all his articulation. I count 9 and there might be more! I mean he has ball jointed shoulders and a tail with two points of articulations! (Cut legs though, what?) I wondered if he could be posed both on his hindquarters and all fours while actually looking natural.

The answer: kinda.

The bone is kinda a lame accessory considering he can't hold it. Although I guess you can pose him in close proximity to it? 

Potty Training Taffy

I really love the Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse faux reality show series because of its hilarious skewering of a Barbie Cartoon. One of the elements of the series is that the pets get to do testimonials, where they make animal noises and their translations are dubbed. They also do stuff like drive golf carts in an attempt to get away from bath time or order other animals over the internet.

It also results in a toy like this:

This is a Barbie toy where the dog has a special action feature that simulates eating and pooping.

REPEAT: THIS IS A DEFECATION SIMULATING BARBIE TOY.

BARBIE: LIFE IN THE DREAMHOUSE FOREVER!

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Happy Meal Toys

I love that for the McDonalds Amazing Spider-Man 2 happy meal toys they're not doing a set of girls toys from a different property but instead are just offering pink Spider-Man toys with hearts on them.

AMP Episode 90: Mario's Tiny Head

Here's Episode 90 of the Articulated Monster Podcast. We end up talking about Mario's tiny head while we're having our regular discussion of toys. It's longer than the last few episodes, but still a good listen if you like our podcast.

Inky, Blinky, Clyde or whatever they call the ghosts from Pacman now.

K'nex Pacman blind figures were on Clearance so I decided to get all the ghost characters because I love the generic army builders they come packed with, and I'm a fan of the old school bedsheet design for ghosts.

Emperor Palpatine

 I picked up this older Kenner 12 inch Emperor figure because I really wanted a 1:6 scale Palpatine, but every other one available looked completely inaccurate. Even the expensive sideshow one. So I went with this figure which hits that just right place of looking close enough and being relatively low priced.

I got it on ebay, so I wasn't certain what kind of articulation it had, but I'm pleased with the result: elbow joints, ball wrists, etc.