Clearance Blast

Hey, the Toys R Us Clearance Blast is now at the stage where everything in the blast is at least 80% off. So a lot of things are under $2, which is a magic price where I realize it's cheaper than me buying a hamburger so why not. The downside is that what's leftover isn't very good. But here's some stuff I picked up this weekend.

Heroclix from those app games which also come with figures. Final price: $0.60. I pretty much just wanted these for the X-Men HeroClix, especially 90's Cyclops. Hell, I don't even play HeroClix, I just like them as tiny vinyl statues.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. K'Nex figure. I feel like I knew they made Nascar K'Nex, but they never appealed to me. But the chance to get a minifigure for under $0.50 was too strong a pull. I have no idea if this actually looks like Dale, but I doubt it. Meanwhile this minifigure sucks. The Pac-Man, Super Mario, and Angry Birds K'Nex figures are much better. I guess they need a video game license to make a good minifigure.

A $0.40 pez dispenser? Sure! That's how much 3 columns of Pex normally cost. So I'm basically getting a free Pez Dispenser. And it's a Muppet. Even better!

$0.80 for minimates? I already have two of this set, and I'm totally going to get it. That's like $0.80 for a Cardassian army builder. Score.

Hey, BattleBeast minimates! Better known as the minimate property that made me realize I don't need every minimate property because the more intricate with unique pieces the figure gets, the less like a minimate it looks like and the less I want it. But for under $2 I wouldn't mind seeing how they do a four legged minimate.

I've been thinking of getting this Kre-O Cityville set for a while, and now that it's under $1 I have no reason to not get it. I'm really impressed by the mechanics of the claw. I'm also really impressed by how well this building set works. I'd totally be up for buying more mechs in this scale, but they don't make them.

It's a World of Warcraft Pandarian on a mount. The Pandarians are a race in the game who have a mystical Far East kung-fu society which is why this post is getting a Toys Depicting Asian tag. I'm actually pretty impressed by the mount, especially since it's a giant turtle and you can take the shell off and put other bricks in its place. It's like a hermit crab, but with a horned turtle instead of a crab.

Oh, and I also picked up some Muppet Whatnot kits because at 80% off they're now $13. Well, the blue ones are. They're keeping the other colors the same price, and I think I know why. They're re-releasing them but with new accessories and new UPC codes. I saw one of the new one, instead of a black goatee you get a brown Magnum PI mustache. Instead of the black wig and green wig you get a white wig and rainbow wig. Stuff like that. Weirdly, based on the cost of individual eye and hair parts ala carte, it's still a better bargain to get the new set rather than the individual parts separately (parts that are near impossible to find online since FAO Schwartz doesn't like selling Whatnot stuff unless you buy a $100 custom made job from their New York Whatnot shop) since you get a free body with them.

Crazy Harry

Whenever I find a Muppet figure I don't have at a con I'll ask how much. That's how I found this Crazy Harry figure for an affordable price. Harry was one of the third tier muppets but was notable for being the insane guy who used explosives literally. 

And since everyone loves watching explosions, he became a cult favorite. As a palisades figure he's hit or miss. He doesn't balance well, so thank goodness for the stand. He also doesn't have a Muppetesque body. It just looks like someone shoved a Muppet head on a skinny guy. And the way the head is angled makes it difficult to get his face in a position that looks good when displayed.

The accessories are awesome though. The plunger actually plunges thanks to an internal spring. And a barrel! 

Pigs in Space

Ever since I got First Mate Piggy, I've been looking at maybe picking up the rest of the Swinetrek crew. Unfortunately, like most Palisades Muppet figures, they were ludicrously overpriced. Recently I found them at a price I'm okay with, so now I can add Link Hogthrob and Julius Strangepork to my slowly growing Muppet collection. Which is great!

I'm always impressed with how much articulation these figures have, since I usually expect just a few cut joints. The figures are just so well sculpted that conditioning has me expecting 90's McFarlane levels of articulation.

The accessories are also kinda awesome, you get some blasters, a copy of a sci-fi magainze (StarHog) featuring Link on the covers, a model of the Swinetrek, and a R2-D2 esque robot.

I admit that Pigs in Space was never my favorite Muppet Show sketch, but these toys make me want to revisit them and maybe change my mind. I mean, c'mon, look at the plot synopsis of one of the stories.

The Swinetrek is bombarded by snacko waves, which turn everybody's heads into food.

Sam the Eagle as Obi-Wan and Gonzo as Darth Vader, with Camilla as a Storm Trooper

I didn't go to Disneyland, but I did go to the souvenir store outside Disneyland, which I was happy to see had some of the exclusive Disney Park Star Tours toys. And I was really happy to see that they had the Muppets as Star Wars Characters figures. Of the three sets, I knew I was going to get the Gonzo as Vader set. Because I love Gonzo. And it has a chicken in a Storm Trooper helmet. I am ambivalent about Sam the Eagle.

One of the great parts about this set is that Gonzo comes with interchangable heads. You can either have him  with the default "Gonzo face" head, or you can replace it with a Darth Weirdo head that looks like the character in the episode of the Muppet Show where Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 showed up. (With special appearance by Mark Hamill as Luke's cousin.)

When I first saw these figures I thought they were PVC statue figures. But I was pleased to find that they have limited articulation. Sam has a ball jointed shoulder and elbow joints! Waist joints! Neck joints! Camilla is a PVC statue though. All in all, they're pretty nice figures. Sure they cost extra because they can only be bought at a theme park, but still nice figures.

Vacation window shopping

I went on vacation last week. Here's some of the stuff I didn't buy.

I was sorely tempted to get Elvis a Pegasus to ride, but I realized I could buy one of these sets any time. No need to waste precious luggage space by buying it on vacation.

Hey, they made a Hobo Superman costume.

They had Transformers at Universal Studios because of the Transformers 3D ride. They cost $10 more than they do in regular retail stores.

Although I was tempted to get the exclusive EVAC figure. Evac is a character created for the ride, he's basically the car you ride in. I love when they do figures for this kind of exclusive character, but $25 was too much to pay for a novelty.

I was tempted to get this POP! vinyl figure of Gonzo, but I just had to pass.

I also went to Downtown Disney (not Disneyland itself) and the Disney store there sold all the theme park exclusive figures. Of the "Disney Characters as Star Wars" figures they had, the one I considered getting was this 3 pack of the Duck Nephews as Jawas. They even come with pars of an R2 unit. But in the end I decided that it wasn't worth the $25 considering their insanely limited articulation. I dunno, maybe if they were in scale with regular Star Wars figures I'd be more interested, but the issue is moot.

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.

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?

Guess what came in the mail!

It's the Palisade's Animal figure I ordered! Yay! He comes with growing pills, like from the movie. The first one, not the one that just came out and all the veteran Muppet performers are disavowing.

Oh, and he's got corporate branding because he's an exclusive figure with a drum featuring the sponsor's logo on it! Because CAPITALISM!

Statler and Waldorf

Technically these two figures are sold separately, but c'mon, you know they were designed to be sold as a duo. They come with the same chairs for cripes sake.

It's a shame there's no balcony playset. Because what two figures would be better to place atop your entertainment center and criticize everything you're watching. Or maybe they're criticizing you, with their unyeilding plastic stares! OH NO!!!!

They come with a few odd accessories. The score cards and the Muppet Theater programs are fine, but they also come with Muppet vegetables! As seen in the Cosby Show episode where they had Muppets. Actually I think Statler was in that episode too. 

Super Scooter

I've been sitting on a few Muppet Toys for a while and after finding that Super Grover figure, I've decided it's time to open them. One of the ones I was searching for was Super Scooter. If I remember correctly this costume is from the Lynda Carter episode where some of the Muppets decide to become Superheroes and learn how to fly. To that end Super Scooter comes with a ladder to jump off of and a book which basically took its lesson from flight from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It is awesome, combining my love of the Muppets with my love of superheroes. I'm really digging the low budget interpretation of Scooter's costume. You can easily see his normal clothes underneath his vest. Actually the helmet, with a lightning bolt going all the way through it ala the arrow through the head, is pretty elaborate for this homebrew costume.

It almost makes me want to make an official "Hero" costume for my "Action Ranger Timmy" blogging persona.

Vote Super Grover!

Articulated Monster went over to the San Jose Toy Show this weekend. We'll have a special podcast up soon, but even more important: over the next week you get to vote which of our awesome toy purchases is the awesomest. To vote you can either comment on this post, e-mail us at articulatedmonster@yahoo.com, or by voting on the poll on the sidebar of the other James' blog All About Fett. Or do all 3 and vote thrice. THRICE!

You can vote for James (Fett)'s 2 Kevin Costner Robin Hoods that cost $1.

Mario's purple Transformers Animated Shockwave & Activators Bumblebee that cost $15.

Or you can vote for my Super Grover that cost $40.

Now I wasn't going to bring up the prices, but James already did. So I'd like to point out that while my nomination for most awesome of the awesome finds is the most expensive it is potentially also the hardest to get at a reasonable price. Seriously, on amazon the cheapest you can find it is for $165. Cinequest has one for $100. If you listen to the podcast I might have mentioned you can't find it on e-bay. That's no longer true, but I do see that the only one listed alone is $125.

But I got one for $40. There's a reason when the vendor mentioned the price I said, "Oh hell yeah."

Sometimes I'm not the best at bartering.

Why does this figure normally cost so much? Well back when Palisades had the Muppets license and were churning out amazing Muppet toys they announced that they were planning to do a line of Sesame Street figures in the same scale and with the same amazingly accurate style. The first figure they made was Super Grover and he was only made available in 2005 at conventions and through the Palisades online collector's club. The figure was a portent of great things to come...

Then Palisades went out of business and the Sesame Street figures was never happened. Now the prototypes for their accessories, like the bananna that Ernie could hold up, go for about $100.

So my Super Grover, for $40, was a pretty good deal.

It features a box with art by Alex Ross.

And inside you get Super Grover, a phone box for him to change into from his secret identity, and then you get an alternate head and a spare set of clothes to create that secret identity as a monster reporter.

So vote for Super Grover as the Awesomest purchase! VOTE THRICE! Vote in honor of those Sesame Street Figures that were never made!

Koozebane Kermit

Hey, it's Reporter Kermit! Not the superior Sesame Street version, the somewhat inferior if only because he didn't have the oversized microphone and hat one from the Muppet Show. Still it's based on an iconic Muppet Show sketch... just not one I like... or am entirely certain I ever saw.

But it's Kermit in a trench coat! And for some reason I'm really preferring characters in this line be dressed up in something ridiculous. You may say, Kermit wearing a trenchcoat isn't that ridiculous. WRONG! I've never seen frogs in the wild wearing trenchcoats, have you? When you weren't high?

The alien base is neat and the Koozebanians  look pretty accurate, I think. They never really made an impression on me, so I can't really recall them in any detail. But for me it's all about the Muppet News Reporter on the scene: Kermit the frog. He goes to other planets to report the news! Screw Newscopter 5, this reporter goes to space.

Muppet Newscaster

Okay, you see this? This is why I'm hesitant to buy loose figures on eBay. Here I thought I was getting a good deal on a Muppet figure, and when it comes in the mail the dude's head is off, and you can tell that there's some very tell tale signs of it trying to be stuck back on with some weird modeling clay.

Don't get me wrong, the seller refunded my money, but damn shame. The accessories are pretty awesome, the news desk and phone look great. The background with the stickers is a bit off since the stickers are peeling off. (Originally came with a sheet of 8 you could choose yourself.) This would have been a great figure. The design was solid. The glasses had a certain molded shape to let them attach easily, and it could easily stand on its own.

And the real shame is that you can't find the guy on eBay for the same price. Although the seller allowed me to keep the toy, so I guess in theory I could try supergluing the head back on, resulting in a lack of head articulation... Or I could keep it headless and have an awesome story about it.

Pigs in Space

There's no way I could afford one of the Palisades Muppet playsets... except this one. This is the one that goes cheap. Relatively cheap. So, as they say, hooray. The set comes with Miss Piggy as First Mate Piggy, which is good because there were only two time I really liked the Piggy character, during the Veterenarian Hospital skit and Muppet Babies. But I did like the Pigs in Space costume, a lot more than the other costumes they made action figures of her in. So if I'm going to try and complete the main quartet, this is the Piggy figure I like the most.

The playset itself is pretty cool. It looks very much like a 60's space ship interior. The image on the view screen in the back can be swapped out with other cardboard ovals that come with the set, everything from basic space backgrounds to planet surfaces to other Muppets flying/floating through space. The playset itself has a lot of moving parts, which I love in playsets.

The levers on the main console all move up and down, the doors have a mechanism that simulates the "swoosh" type opening movements, and the chairs are atached to the floor but in a manner that allows them to be pushed back so figures can sit in the chairs and then be scooted forward so their knees are under the console table. Also, the set itself folds out a bit to create a larger play area. The set also comes with a number of consoles that can be snapped together in various configurations. I'm not sure how they fit onto the playset itself as there isn't anywhere to attach them to the playset, so really they're like free standing sci-fi consoles. Which I guess is neat.

Patrol Bear Fozzie

So I never bought any of the Muppet figures when they came out. I was buying toys here and there but I never picked them up, despite the fact that the Muppets were one of two seminal properties that essentially shaped my childhood. Why I didn't buy the toys... I dunno, I was pissed off about something, their lack of articulation or... I don't actually know. I've long since forgotten. The line ended back in 2005... which may have been during the period of my third toy buying rennaisance, so I really can't figure out why I never bought the damned things. But I didn't. And that brings us today. A while back, deciding I needed to get one DEFINITIVE Indiana Jones toy, I ended up buying the Adventure Kermit figure, essentially the Indiana Jones Kermit toy, off of e-bay. AND Damn it's an awesome figure. I've finally come to a point where I no longer demand insane amounts of articulation, paritcularly if the toys in question serve as good display pieces. And The Muppet Toys deliver that in spades, with just enough articulation to allow awesome poses. So now I'm searching for Muppet Action Figures that don't cost a lot. That last part is what makes things difficult. These aren't toys anymore, they're collector's items and that means the price gets driven up, especially on e-bay. So I'm on a quest to get all my favorite characters at prices that aren't hyper-inflated. Which through a very long introduction, leads me to today's toy. I got Patrol Bear Fozzie in an auction along with the normal Fozzie figure. Together the figures cost me around $20 after shipping costs, which is pretty good considering the normal Fozzie figure goes for around $40 on ebay. Which leads to a dilemma I have, if I'm paying that much for an action figure, do I want to open them? That's one of the reasons I only want to pay low dollars for these toys, I want to feel okay opening them. So Patrol Bear Fozzie, which goes for significantly less, I have no problem opening up and tossing away the packaging. It's going to be an odd dillemma as I start collecting this line. Which ones do I open? I think I'm going to try to collect my favorite characters, but their variant costumes which came out in later waves and tend to sell for less. To this end the Patrol Bear Fozzie is a good figure to start with (if you ignore Adventure Kermit, which is in a box so can be easily removed and put back in with no problems.) A bit on Patrol Bear Fozzie, I enjoyed the Patrol Bear skits on the Muppet Show, and I get a weird kick of pretending that Fozzie is the police authority when I stand him next to my DCU Classics figures. (They're roughly in scale.) This figure is a good representation of the sketch. The sculpt is amazing and the articulation is adequate to good, with 10 points of articulation. (Neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips.) The hat is held on with magnets, and he comes with an insane amount of accessories that all attach to his belt. He's got a flashlight, a pair of handcuffs that open and close, a walkie talkie, some random pouches, and a billy club. A billy club. I guess Fozzie is supposed to... No... Fozzie wouldn't beat the living crap out of the other Muppets. There's also a stand to help with the posing and the standing and whatnot. All in all, I WANT MORE FIGURES FROM THIS LINE!