Lego Minifigures: Geisha, Painter, Hazmat Suit

A local Toys R Us had Series 4 of the Lego minifigures out. I picked up 9. Geisha: She has the triangle dress block that I hate. Other than that the white skin and unusual hair piece makes her seem so very unLego-like. As a depiction of an ancient culture it's pretty cool. Unfortunately I suspect that it's mostly been chosen for the superficial aspects of the Geisha and the West's continual fetishization of Asian women. WOAH! Political! That's right, sometimes "Why Did I Buy That Toy" gets deep! Painter: The wooden palette is pretty genius in how they pulled it off. The paint brush, which if its to scale would be about the size of your forearm, is kinda weird. Also, talking about stereotypes: the beret and hipster expression of disdain: someone doesn't think too much of painters. Hazmat Suit Guy: No comment necessary.

Dragon Fight

It's Easter! Almost! And as we've seen before, that means it's time for Target to put out some promotional Legos for your stocking/trick or treaters/easterbasket/valentine. Another one of this year's offerings is a Ninjago, Master of Spinjas, set. Although like all the sets in this line under $10, it doesn't come with the top battling system for the mini-figs, which means it's a poor way to get people into the central "game" conceit of the line. Instead it just becomes a Ninjas vs. Skeletons series. Which is surprisingly not that interesting.

2011: Ninjas are played out. Who woulda guessed?

But this set doesn't have a skeleton. Instead it has the red ninja (Kai) which looks a lot like the ninja from the 1st series of minifigures, but red. There's also a bird thing that they say in a dragon. But look at it, it's a bird. A BIRD!

Overall, it's hit or miss if this is worth the cost. Considering a ninja minifigure in the blind bag minifigure line cost $3, this is pretty much getting that bird thing for another buck. So if that's your thing, totally get it. Me, I'm underwhelmed.

It does have an interesting lego piece that I've never seen before, but is that really worth paying $4 for? No.

Cyberman Pandorica Guard

Yeah, I got this a while ago, but I held back for Cyberman week. When they announced this figure I knew I wanted it. The New Series design isn't my favorite, but I like the idea of a Cyberman with a removable head. It was one of the cooler parts of the last season.

This isn't the first Pandorica Cyber guard. There was an exclusive at a UK store that came with... I think a TARDIS set... which featured "stab through the chest" action feature. Personally I prefer this detachable head feature with tentacle snap on. (Yeah, the head snaps onto the neck and the tentacles the same way. There's a slot and peg system at work here.)

I am disappointed that the detachable head, with open helmet, doesn't feature hinges. Those parts of the helmet, they don't snap shut, which I really wanted to do. I don't know why, I like toys with opening and closing features.

So headless Cyberman? While I want that helmet to close, I'm going to put this in the win column.

Cyberman Leader Helmet

This is a mini-version of the Cyberleader Helmet from the 80's (So essentially the Earthshock design, which is my favorite)... made by WETA. The guys who made all the props for Lord of the Rings. They made this a while ago, a couple years before I decided I wanted one. (And a full year before I even knew it existed.) By the time I wanted one it cost too much, because a couple years in this market for limited edition collectibles is like a decade. Seriously, limited to 500 pieces.

I never thought I'd be able to get one. But I found a couple at the Doctor Who convention I went to back in February. The one I ended up getting was discounted because it had a few scratches and a large scratch in the back. But I didn't care, it was something I really wanted, at a dicounted price. THAT IS AWESOME. Because truthfully, I figured it would get scuffed up when I displayed it anyway, so a few scratches aren't that big a deal to me. As long as the front looked good enough to me (it did) then I would be overjoyed... and happy... same thing.


You see that dent/scratch? Yeah, only if you're looking at it from the back, which I don't. So who cares? But that was enough to drop the price by 50% so HOORAY!

Okay, so down to brass tacks. It's fairly small, under 8 inches tall when you include the display stand, has a good heft to it, and IT IS AWESOME BECAUSE IT IS A CYBERMAN HELMET DEPICTING THE CYBERMEN FROM THE 80S! I really like it. And it classes up the joint in a way that the Mandarin bust I got a while back never could. Since it sits on a black display stand it looks like a piece of art, and the robotic design makes it seem more mainstream and less geek niche than a supervillian in costume. Of course I have them both next to one another, so that kind of makes it moot.

Also, Cybermen are awesome. Have I mentioned that before?

Mickey Smith

Hey, you're saying, this guy isn't one of the Cybermen. No, it's Mickey Smith, one of the Doctor's companions who was constantly insulted by the Doctor and everyone else because... well pretty much because he was the boyfriend of the Doctor's travelling companion Rose and they felt like Mickey wasn't good enough for her, even though he tried his hardest... The Doctor can be kind of a dick sometimes.

But the thing is, after Mickey decided to stay behind in an alternate dimension he became a hero and started carrying around huge guns... TO HUNT CYBERMEN.

That's right, this isn't a figure of a Cyberman, it's of a Cybermen hunter. They're greatest fear... if the Cybermen could experience emotions like fear. Which they can't. Not really. They removed those emotions from their brains. It's kind of their thing.

I like the way they depict the glove/sweater combination that Mickey usually wears. The face isn't a great representation of actor Noel Clarke, but it's close in a way that makes the dude look like he's totally spaced out.

The Sixth Doctor & Stealth Cybermen

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet the second ever Doctor Who toy that I have no plans to remove from the packaging. I decided at some point long ago that I wanted to get every iteration of the classic Cybermen in action figure form if they released it. That changed as they came up with some stupid variants that I didn't care about, like Black & White version cyberman. And this dude, the Stealth Cyberman, was always in the "I-Don't-Know" column.

You see, the main problem I have with this figure is that he comes packaged with the 6th Doctor. And not a variant either, it's exactly the same as the one I already have from when he was single carded. And the Cyberman itself is the all black Cyberman from Attack of the Cyberman, which is simply an Earthshock Cyberman painted black. The figure reflects this, as it's an Earthshock Cyberman figure (which I already have) painted black. So I ask you, is that worth $40?

No. Not unless you find yourself in a Doctor Who action figure buying frenzy... and you can haggle. So that's the story of why I have the Stealth Cyberman. As to why I'm not opening it up.. I really don't want another loose sixth Doctor, so if I leave it in the packaging then I can put it next to the Time Crash set I've got... So I can have the Stealth Cyberman, display him, but not feel like I wasted my money on another 6th Doctor. Because they both serve as another form of display of my Doctor Who figures...

So let's talk about the Stealth Cyberman... He's an all black version of the Earthshock Cyberman. Which is okay since that is my favorite Cyberman design... to the fact that I sometimes consider buying more figures of it. (Fortunately my brain remains somewhat fiscally responsible.) Stealth Cyberman is nice to have, but if you're not in love with the Cybermen, you can probably skip it.

Challenge of the Cybermen

Because it's Cybermen Week, here's a little Doctor Who fan film I made with Mario from a Year of Toys. It features the Cybermen!