Tankblast and Red Ninja

I've always thought the GI Joe microforce was too expensive for what you got. But since I found a blind bagged two-pack on clearance I thought I'd see what was up. And wouldn't you know, I ended up getting two generic characters which might as well be generic army guy and ninja. Seriously, Tankblast was a character created for this toy line. Which means they just had a plain army guy in green with a bazooka and had to assign him a name because they already had a figure called "Grunt." You know which GI Joe has a bazooka? Bazooka. The one with an actually distinctive look.

Which is a pretty good indication that this type of set was totally not for me. Because blind bags suck ass. Unless they're under $1. But this was exactly $1 so it still sucks ass.

Incidentally, I think in a fight of bazooka vs. sword, bazooka has a pretty good chance unless they start the fight a few feet apart.

Sleepy Bear

Target had these miniatures for under $1. They're blind packed but they have a hole on the package that lets you see what color the figure is. I found that one of them was Sleep Bear and Sleepy Bear has become my favorite Care Bear due to a combination of childhood nostalgia (I liked the blue colored bears) and my newly found appreciation of naps. So easy choice to get this and set it up near my desk.

The figures aren't too impressive, really they're all recolored versions of the same mold with a different tummy symbol. (There are 3 possible poses and each bear gets 2 figures based on some of those poses. The difference is pretty much which hand they have raised: left, right or both.) I might be annoyed if I got this at full price, but for under $1, it's fine.

Phoenix capsule toys

Phoenix is the masterwork of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy among other manga. It's an anthology series, with each volume following different characters as they either hunt (for immortality) or are influenced by the legendary Phoenix. stories range from mideival Japan, the far future, to an f-ed up story about a man who goes insane because he's forced to be immortal and live through a nuclear apocalypse and the billions of years until new humans evolve and appear on the earth. The loneliness is too much for him but he can do nothing but exist and wait.

Nobody does metaphysical torture fiction like the post-war Japanese.

So anyway I found some capsule toys of the series, although at the time I had no idea what they were. I just knew I was in a Japanese grocery store and my impulse buy compulsion made me want to get something from their toy section. Fortunately I found a toy with a space squid/octopus thing so I picked it up. It comes with a two headed woman/man. And the picture on the box shows them holding hands.

I took them home, did some research and I still have no idea what chapter these characters are from, who they are, or what the heck is going on. I just like the visual of space cephalopod. 

Godzilla

So Target has these Godzilla minatures from Neca/WizKids in their "collectible cards and stuff" area for about $3. There's some based on the new movie and a set based on classic looks. I picked up the latter and.. it's okay. Not my favorite version of Godzilla. I don't  know if I'll get another one, I'm guessing no unless I have $3 burning a hole in my pocket.

Dinosaur Skeleton

I feel like most boys either wanted to be a paleontologist or astronaut when they were growing up. I was totally in the former class.

Saw this in a gumball machine at Toys R Us for fifty cents. I wanted a T-Rex but got a... I want to say Styracosaurus. My dinosaur knowledge is not as good as it was when I was seven. Back when I had the Dinosaur Dictionary and wanted to be a paleontologist. 

It's still pretty neat.

Halo avatar minifigures

I got these because the other James mentioned that the Dollar Tree had them for $1. And luck of luck, I got the ones I wanted despite being blind packed.

They look like bad cosplayers.

Cyberman Bust and Illustrated book

This Tiny cyberman bust and book are sold in the gift area of bookstores along with desktop zen gardens or the Harry Potter Golden snitch packs. It's plastic but looks like metal, and features the cyberman design from the recent Neil Gaiman episode. The book features a short description of every Cybermen episode from the classic and new series. Awesome!

I love this thing.

Also, the plastic fork is in the picture to establish scale.