Batcave

This is a thing? Adam West head? Shakespeare bust that flips open to reveal a button?

Batman and Super Angry Kitty Attack

New Legi movie sets? A year after the movie came out? Who says there aren't upsides to cynical corporate money grabs? 

The great figures in this set are happy Batman and Super Angry Unikitty. I've really wanted a Unikitty figure for a while but couldn't justify paying the prices of the other Unikitty sets just for Unikitty. Then this basic level set which only runs for $10. For 3 figures and a robot build, this set is actually cheaper than 3 blind bad Lego minifigures. Great deal!

Surf's Up Joker

I didn't even know this was a thing until I saw it on a peg at Wal-Mart. And when I did I snatched it up so it could go up on my wall next to Surf's Up Batman.

Toy Show haul

Went to a toy show and bought some stuff: here's what/why?

Hot Toys Iron Man Mk4 from the Iron Man  2 series. Guy was selling some Hot Toys for original asking price. So I finally got an Hot Toys Iron Man in the classic suit design, which I've wanted for years. Something about the intricate machinery design at this scale is appealing. The big selling point was the articulated fingers.

Guy had some insane deals. Black Widow Hot Toy for $100! But I could only afford this guy. Glad to have him.

Also picked up a used Storm Shadow to fill out my 1:6 scale Cobra army. Some times the cheap Hasbro figures are a better value than the $200 Sideshow ones. Especially when I don't actually want the Sideshow Storm Shadow, I just want to collect a cobra team in 1:6 scale.

A Meanie Babie because I thought it was cute/amusing. No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

And I also got Virus Attack Mr Freeze, which is Mr Freeze's internet crime avatar. Or.... You could pretend, like I plan to, that he's 1:6 scale Mr. Freeze post-losing his body. 

That show could be so weird when it wanted to.

Penguin

Hmm, looks like my 4th of July post didn't go up. Ah well.

Anyway: they made a Danny Devito Penguin in the 1:18 scale. What am I going to do, not buy it?

Pfft, no. Then I wouldn't have a tiny Danny Devito Penguin. Batman Returns was awesome, what with it having less gruesome burned out skeletons than the first movie.

It has pretty good articulation, too. If Mattel made all their 4 inch figures as good as this one maybe the DC Universe Infinite figures wouldn't have been an abomination against all that is good with the world.

Harley Quinn

Okay, Sideshow 1:6 scale Harley Quinn figure.

I picked this up because 1) They're not going to make a Harley Quinn Hot Toys figure any time in the near future and 2) I'd like to collect a bunch of 1:6 scale Batman villains in "movie style." There's that Medicom 1:6 scale figure but that looks too stylized and cartoony. This Sideshow isn't as "photorealistic" as the Hot Toys sculpts tends to be, but it's close. The face is too smooth. It lacks the fine detail, although one could just say she's wearing a LOT of makeup.

Still, compared side by side next to a Hot Toys figure, the Uncanny Valley becomes a lot more obvious. The nose is too perfect and the eye paint isn't as "taxidermy" perfect as the Hot Toys figure.

It's a small complaint though. On the upside, I love the articulation, even her jester prongs on her hat can be moved around and posed. The cuffs and neck frill are soft plastic to maintain shape, which is a cool idea. Also, second head:

The main downside I see is that her hammer accessory is so heavy that if you put it in her hands it has a tendency to yank the hands out of their sockets. I'm half worried it will tear the arm out, or even worse, break the elbow joint. So that's a big worry.

Ah man....

Ah man, Hot Toys announced on Facebook that they've got an Alfred (Michael Caine) figure and he only comes with a ridiculous Batman Armory set, so the whole thing's going to be mad expensive. Especially if they make you also buy a Christian Bale figure too. The way they worded the posts makes it unclear if the Armory comes with both figures or if you can also get it with only one of the two figures.

I'm willing to pay good money for a Hot Toys Aflred, but not $600.

Batman

I don't know why I like cheap minifigures, but DC Grab Zags for $2 at Walgreens? Where you can easily tell which one is Batman?

Done.

Tiny batman!

Now I'm tempted to get a tiny Wonder Woman because they made it so her face looks like a character from Adventure Time. 

Penguin

Hey, it's the Penguin. Old school comic book Super Powers Penguin, before everyone tried to make him dark and gritty because of the Tim Burton vulgarity version. This Penguin was just a wannabe gentleman who had some cleer umbrella/bird/monocle gadgets. 

But I have trouble justifying buying Mattel figures for full price these days. So good thingario got me this guy for my birthday!

Riddler

Making a well articulated Riddler figure? I'm there.

This Batman '66 Classic figure of Frank Gorshin as the Riddler is pretty good. A lot of articulation, a pretty good likeness, but dang is it scrawny. Sure, Gorshin was skinny, but look!

So obviously not in scale with the DCUC figures.

Riddler

At Stockton-Con there was a vendor who was selling blind box vinyl figures. But if you didn't like what you go you could put it in a special box and take something from the box. One of the figures was a Riddler from Funko... so SOLD!

I got a Penguin, put it in the box and took the Riddler.

I asked what they do if someone doesn't want a short-packed figure. The lady said they'd treat it just like any other figure, it goes in the box. They say they'll be doing this at cons, so if you see them, check them out.

Batgirl

I went to Stockton-con an found a guy selling one of my top five wanted toys for almost no markup. I'm so happy. I have the 6" Mattel interpretation of Asian Batgirl! And even happier to pay less than half what they go for loose on ebay.

Saw it at Target

Sorry Target, I can't justify paying $20 for an Aquaman minifigure. I really want one though.

Man Bat

Hey everyone, it's Kirk Langstrom, better known as Man-Bat! He turned himself into a giant mutant bat! That's the perfect bad guy for a man with no powers but who calls himself Batman. It's like how Zorro fights werewolves all the time.

This is the minimate of Man Bat from the hard to find second wave of the C3 series of Minimates. They  came with vehicles because it was the only way to get license back then, and since I didn't want to also pay for another Batman with a Batcycle, I couldn't get this guy when he first came out. Now I have him, and really, would you think that he's from the Batman minimate line if you didn't know? He's far more fitting for the Battle Beast minimates line.

Bane Mask

Okay, is it weird that I want everyone to get the Halloween Bane mask and add it to whatever their costume was going to be. Ballerina Bane! Cowboy Bane! Wizard Bane! Sexy Nurse Bane! Batman Bane!

EVERYONE IS BANE! 

Arkham City Batman and Catwoman

Look, I liked the game and all, but I'll admit that if I had one of the other DCUC Catwoman figures I would have skipped this set entirely. But it turns out that those figures are near impossible to get at a decent price, so it was actually cheaper for me to get this 2-pack than a used Catoman figure.

Not that these figures are bad. Although the surface are on the bottoms of Catwoman's feet prevent her from standing up unaided. It's like a delicate balancing act, and you have to sort of lean her on her whip to prop her up. And she has no hole at the bottom of her foot so using a DCUC stand won't work either.  It's a little disappointing. But at least she has the same articulation as a DCUC figure. I was worried she wouldn't.

Oh, and yes, she's a little bigger than the rest of the DCUC figures, but it's not that noticeable. She just looks like a very Amazonian Catwoman.

Batman is awesome. But he's Batman, so of course.

Catcycle City Chase

Look, I'm not thrilled to be paying $12 to get the 2 minifigures out of the set, which is really the only things I want from the set. I've never had a burning desire to get the "barren street corner" Lego playset, but ever since I got back into Legos (Which would have been, the Summer of 2009,) I've wanted some Batman minifigures. And since they've been discontinued and expensive, the return of the characters in the DC Heroes line has been great. Even if it means I'm pretty much paying $6 per figure. Still cheaper than what they were going for on e-bay.

While everyone else and their mother with a toy blog has already gone over this set if they're interested in it, so I just wanted to bring up the bit I find weird. The Batman minifigure, with the big plastic wings, pretty much falls right over if you try to stand it up unaided. So they had to add a jet pack with "flame" to serve as a third leg. Otherwise you have to either choose to have Batman falling over or capeless. Or I guess you could attach him to a brick, but that almost feels like cheating.

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.

If you're going to have an Injustice League you're going to need some Joker

Seriously, if you mention the top DC Villains and Joker isn't in your top 2, then you're wrong. So I seriously need the Joker to beef up my shelf of 6 inch DC Villains. (It's sadly sparse compared to my hero shelf and my Rainbow Corps shelf.) Yes, I picked up a Mad Love 2-pack, but before I open that I should probably address the Joker &  Harley figures I already have... Well actually Harley's going to be placed in the closet to one day be taken out if I have a friend who REALLY digs Harley and has a birthday coming up, and the Joker I just opened.

Because the Mad Love Joker is in a Tuxedo, or something approximating that, I decided I still needed a traditional colors Joker, even if they do share the same face. (Or does that make it better? Now you can pretend he just changed clothes. Or his clothing was sprayed with black paint.)

Now in recent years the Joker has been turned from the clown prince of crime, a criminal doing it in style, into a homicidal lunatic with varying levels of sanity, and considered deadly chaos. I'm not sure I like this change, but story wise, it tends to work. Still this figure can be scary if looked at in the right angle.

Toy Show Purchases (pt. 1)

So yeah, we went to the toy show on Saturday, so over the course of this week I'll be occasionally going over what I picked up. I've already mentioned Super Grover (so vote now!), so we'll skip that. Let's start with the big ole overview to get your attention piqued.

We'll start with the robot rabbit. It's a robot rabbit, why I bought it should be obvious. It's a robot that is also a rabbit. I'm pretty sure that he came with a Mad Hatter figure from the Batman Animated Series line. But who really cares one way or the other It's a rabbit robot.

Next up is one of Kevin Smith's inaction figures. This was in a box of loose figures that were being clearanced, which is the best part of any toy show. It's Ben Affleck as a killer angel, which explains why he has the blood stains. The wings are pretty impressive, they plug into peg holes in the back. Surprisingly, while the design is more impressive, I can't help but feel that killer angel Ben Affleck isn't as cool as Rabbit Robot. But it's still cool. (Especially for $1.)



Now we're going to move onto the stuff in that cardboard box. (Reference the picture at the top of this article.) I was looking at one of the figures in the box, which was labelled $2 each, when the dude who ran the table offered me the whole box for $5. I said sure. So what did I get? Well I found to my surprise that the box included a Magic the Gathering starter deck and a pack of basketball cards. But since those are cards and this is a toy blog, I'll instead show you this.

There were some Gashapon toys. Gashapon is Japanese for capsule toys, but in Japan they're more impressive than the crappy $1 minifigures they sell in the states. I only know one of those characters shown above. (Tsuraya from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya... Hey, spelled it right on my first try.) The other three I don't know at all, not even what series they're from, but they're adorably marketable. And how can you not love a little girl wearing a head-flashlight?

There were also a couple Gashapon figures that hadn't been opened and assembled. So that's cool. This one is Tsuraya in her maid outfit from that one episode where she worked at her class' cafe during the school festival. Oh those Japanese.

There was also a book. When I got a closer look at it I thought it was a Beast Wars manga. But when I opened it up I found that it was something amazingly better. It was in fact an episode and toy guide to Beast Wars. Page after page of illustrations, photos and screenshots of robots that transform into animals.

Of course it's all written in Japanese, so I have no idea what it says. It's also falling apart, but it's still kind of neat.

And finally:

Really badly preserved Ernie and Bert finger puppets. With real hair. Okay, that's it for today. The hair is freaking me out, as is the prospect of putting my fingers in those things. Dirty. Dirty.

We'll continue on another day.