House of Frankenstein

Oh man, Frankenstein. He's a classic. Whether you prefer the intelligent version from the books or the shambling groaning version from the Universal movies... Well most people prefer the Universal version, versions...

Frankenstein was played by something like a dozen guys over multiple movies... and a while back the Sideshow folks made 1:6 scale figures out of all of them. Seriously, from every classic Frankenstein movie. Hell, even Young Frankenstein. And each figure was molded to look like the specific actor from each movie. Pretty neat.

At some point in my 1:6 buying frenzy I decided I should get a Frankenstein to help fill out my "Monsters and Villains" quota. But which one. A quick look at all the figures revealed 2 things: some of the actors that played Frankenstein looked weird with the make-up on. They made Frankenstein look like a  little chubster. Also: a few of the Frankensteins were packaged with Brains in Jars.

That second part immediately narrowed down the choice to two sets. One the original Frankenstein set which features Frankenstein's monster looking just like everyone remembers. It's the image that gets put on postage stamps. The other was the House of Frankenstein monster, from the first of the monster mash movies that featured Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, and some generic mad scientist and hunchback. (Although mad scientist was played by the original Frankenstein, Boris Karloff.) Both Monsters looked great in the pictures.

Ultimately I went with the House of Frankenstein version. It was cheaper and it came with two brains. TWO BRAINS IN JARS! Who ever heard of such riches. The figure looks great and has amazing articulation, although if the short sleeves ride up you see that his entire body isn't green and you risk exposing some regular flesh colored forearms. The figure also comes with a molded, plastic book that you can't open and is a little large to be considered the 1:6 scale version of the book from the movie. I think, it's been a while since I saw that movie. But come on, who has a book that's as high as their knee? (Besides toddlers. Although it was a monster movie, and giant mysterious tomes aren't out of the question.)

I haven't undressed the figure, but the upper torso has a weird joint and I'm wondering if it's held together by a rubber band. I admit, it makes me a little nervous, as if the figure is more delicate than I had anticipated. (Ironic?)

Also, and this is the first time I've ever experienced this, the twist ties holding the figure to the card, they were actually designed so the only way to get them off the figure is to take off the jacket and then thread the twist-tie around the figure, under the clothing.

Weird.

New Warriors set

Why'd I get this set? Well, it was cheap and I've already got a couple New Mutant minimates from previous Toys R us waves. And you know me, once I collect a couple members of a team I want to complete the team. Of course now...

The original New Mutants have taken to wearing their old uniforms again, but this is them when they were teens, at the start of the New Mutants series. We've got Wolfsbane (werewolf), Karma (can project her mind into other people), Sunspot (energy charged solar powered super body), and Cannonball (unstoppable flight propulsion). They didn't include Mirage (illusions) even though I'd say she's arguably more important than Karma... although this was probably the only way they'd make a Karma figure, so I guess that makes sense. They'll probably make a Mirage figure sooner or later. That'd be cool, there's so few Native American superheroes whose powers aren't somehow based on their heritage. But hey, Karma, the Vietnamese mutant whose powers aren't martial arts based! Awesome.

So one of the things I love/hate about this set is that two characters are in their New Mutants uniforms but the other two, Wolfsbane and Sunspot, are in their transformed forms. But they also spent some time in their un-transformed uniformed states. So they included spare heads so you can put them on the basic New Mutatnt uniformed bodies of the other figures. It's a neat feature, but now I want another pair of bodies for these heads, which means I'd have to buy another set... It's diabolical.

Abraham Lincoln

Because I slid back into 12" figures because of a good 1:6 scale President, I knew if I was getting more then I'd have to find other high quality President figures. Fortunately they made one of the most iconic ever and it was by Sideshow, the like #2 name in 1:6 scale figures. And even more fortunately I found it at the price point I was comfortable with (Not paying $100 for a Sideshow version of Grant or Washington.)

As the packaging implies, President Lincoln was released as part of a set of Civil War figures. Other famous historical figures: Stonewall Jackson, General/Future President Grant, and a bunch of soldiers I don't know because I'm not a Civil War buff and most of what I Know is a result of text books and that PBS Documentary by Ken Burns.

I will say that I'm glad they released this figure as Bearded Lincoln and not young weird looking Lincoln.

Since this is a Civil War based set, Lincoln he comes with appropriate accessories. He gets two mini version of the Gettysburg Address written on what feel like easily tearable paper and his iconic stovepipe hat.

And that's it.

Well, unless you count the stand he's packaged with. Or his clothing. But I don't. So he gets two pieces of paper that I'm never taking out of the box and a hat.

Although as far as hats go, it's a pretty good one. Very solid and stays attached to the head more than you would fear when put it on. Overall: Happy with the product and now I want more action figures of Presidents in this scale and of this quality.

AMP Episode 32: Do the Mario!

Oh hey, Episode 32 of the Articulated Monster Podcast is up now!

 

A little more teasing of Mario than normal, but then again, we also had trouble staying on track for the episode discussion on new Glossary terms for Toy Collectors. We also talked a lot about Battle Beasts, because we're a toy podcast.

Lego Minifigures Series 7

So yeah found these and spent 45 minutes squeezing packages to get the ones I wanted. I passed over a lot of this wave, although I might go try and find the daredevil at a later date. So many of the figures were too generic or dull for me. I mean really, what's the difference between a tennis player and one of the regular Lego City generi-men? And truthfully, I've never said to myself, I really want a Lego Hippie. There just weren't as many figures that I considered to be truly inspired. And quite frankly, after 7 waves these dudes don't fell as special anymore. They need to spread out the release schedule a little more.

So let's go over who I did want and why.

Aztec Warrior: He looks amazing, The helmet piece is surprisingly detailed, with painted eyes and a lot of sculpting. Also: one of the running themes in these minifigures that I really like is the historical warriors, so I wanted him to fill out that role as well. Meanwhile the Viking Woman was too similar to the Viking dude from last wave and featured the triangle dress piece I dislike, so I ignored that one. 

Bunny Costume Man: I just thought this was an amusing thing for them to try and create. Because really, if it's not Easter then this guy is a Furry. They made a minifigure that represents a semi-deviant subculture.

Glam Rocker: I just like the non-conformist look. It's a nice diversion from Lego's typical White Euro-centric Suburbia aesthetic that permeates the rest of the Lego lines. 

Bagpiper: Two things: 1) Bagpipes are awesome. 2) It's a Scottish dude wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've found this wave's Stereotypical depiction of a culture or ethnicity! Oh and one other thing they did, that I think is amusing, is that they gave the Scotsman something under his kilt. (As opposed to what legend says is usually under there.) Some white briefs. 

Although the Aztec has himself a thong loincloth apparently.

DeLoreans! (Pronounced the way they sing "New Orleans" in the Simpsons "Streetcar Named Desire" musical episode)

So like most minimates that show up in Toys R Us these days, there are two versions of the flying Back to the Future minimate Time Machine: one for the direct market and one for Toys R Us. I picked them both up. First I picked up the Direct Market version because it's the only way to get the Jennifer minimate. You know, Jennifer, Marty's girlfriend who was played by Elizabeth Shue in the sequels.

Now, while it's great to get a Jennifer minimate to round out my collection of Back To The Future minimate collection, she unfortunately comes with the version of the DeLorean that is in phase, so the front half of the car is cast in a transparent plastic. It looks cool, but it's hardly what one might call the definitive version of the flying car. (although I love that they added the food processor/ fusion reactor on the back.)

So, since I wanted a better representation of the flying time machine, I ended up buying the Toy R Us version, which is more solid and comes with a non-descript Doc Brown minimate. I'm a tad disappointed with this version. It's heavy in the parts reuse, to the point where he comes with two holes in his head to hold his sunglasses in place, even though THIS SET DOESN'T INCLUDE HIS SUNGLASSES. 

Yeah, so my Doc Brown just has random holes in his face. Because the only Doc Brown head they have without holes is the older looking Doc from the first movie set... So instead they use the younger looking Doc from the second set, which had holes for sunglasses... sunglasses that do not exist in this set. And yes I mentioned it again because it's pretty damn annoying.

The DeLorean looks good though.

AMP: Looking For Listener Questions

We'll be recording episode #32 of the Articulated Monster Podcast tomorrow evening, so I'm doing an open call for listener questions. Just leave a comment on this post and we'll respond on the podcast.