Dumptruck

Mario got me a dumptruck for my birthday earlier this month. I freaking love Lego City Trucks. It's like I'm reliving the days when you love Tonka Trucks. I'm not even that fond of trucks as a thing, but if it's made out of Legos and it has movable parts, oh hell yeah, I'm all in. And this one does have moving parts, since it's a dump truck it has to be able to dump stuff.

Oh yeah! Oddly enough, the set also comes with 24 round single peg pieces for the dump truck to carry. That's their only function, to act as rocks or other refuse the truck has to haul away. It's really weird.

The Sacramento GI Joe show was taken over by a local toy store this year. I went to the show for the last hour. Oddly enough, I'm glad I went in that hour because I was able to pick up some free toys people were trying to get rid of. Here you can see some of the free toys I picked up. They include a knock-off Leo Convoy figure, a broken Phantom Stranger DC Direct figure (neck peg is broken), a gobot, a plastic airplane model kit, a poor condition GI Joe vehicle, a couple Green Lantern McDonalds toys and most impressively, two plastic assemblable Transformers statues.

This one is Terrorsaurus.

And I have no idea who this is. But the hard plastic with the pointy bits made trying to get the pegs to snap into the corresponding holes a pain in the ass.

So what did I actually pay cash for? Well I picked up a Puppet Master 12" figure and the guy threw in a Jackie Chan figure for free because he couldn't give it away. Except he did give it away. I'm actually interested in seeing what it can do. It boasts triple jointed arms and legs so I wonder what that really means. I also picked up a base bbi 1/6  scale figure to see if the brand is any good.

Also, I got a Black Widow figure because I put in a bid in an auction to get Mario a Nick Fury figure.

Oh, and hey, my Big Bad Toy Store order came in. 6 months of toy orders, finally here!

We'll go over that another day.

Bart Simpson

Let's pretend I'm on a Simpsons kick. So way back when the Simpsons first started, toys quickly became a reality. Including action figures from Mattel. This was first season stuff, so the figures were limited to the core family and Nelson the bully. (With a garbage can to shove Bart into!)

I was able to get my grandparents to get me a figure, and I chose Bart. He's actually a pretty good figure. More articulation than the Playmates figures, his head is soft hollow plastic and the rest is a nice hard plastic.

Oddly enough, this is one of the few figures I've been able to hold onto since my childhood. Even though I could have lost the figure when I used it as part of a science project display in high school. But I've held onto the figure and his skateboard. I did lose the other accessory. All the figures came with a plastic speech balloon that you could use to hold cardboard dialogue phrases. The speech balloons fit into the top of each figure's head using a peg/hole system.

The TV is actually from the line's playset. You got the TV, or Boob Tube as it was called on the box, and the family's couch from the infamous couch gag. I don't know where my couch is, it's possible I accidentally through it away in high school, but that's the television right there. You  might notice that the TV has pegs sticking out the top of it. That's so you can put one of the figures on top of it and have them ride it like a skateboard. The TV also allows you to swap out the screens, since they're all cardboard pictures. And in case you think the couch was just a couch, it had an ejector seat.

These days the figures can be found online for a reasonable price, depending on what you want. I've seen the Boob Tube & Couch set for under $20. And Homer for under $10. Seriously, consider them before you get the Playmates figures. These are a lot nicer.

AMP Episode 52: Stupid Internet Connection

Episode 52 of the Articulated Monster Podcast is now up. A Spotty internet connection kept interrupting the episode where we talked about what we picked up over the last couple weeks, some news, and what was the better toyline: Gi Joe or Transformers.

Simpsons Bust'em Ups Series 5

So I found these Simpsons Bust'Em Ups in a novelty store clearance section. Series 5, The romance series. I picked up a Ralph Wiggum and another school based one.

First up is Ralph and his iconic "Choo-Choo-Choose You" moment. The set is clever, but constructing it was a pain in the nuts. Because of how small these sets are, the plastic is really flimsy. I broke on of the chair legs. I got it to balance, but if I ever pick this set up again it'll fall apart in a second. It also requires that you put some pressure on the figure to get pegs to stick in their holes. But that amount of pressure snaps the plastic. So bad QC there Mcfarlane Toys. You see how the desk isn't in the peg holes in the picture above? That's because the desk legs are in a certain position and won't fit in the holes. No without stretching and potentially snapping the flimsy plastic. Yeah. And the one time i did get them in the holes properly, the pressure from the bending legs ejected the desk right away, sending all the various parts flying. Like the Valentine's day card. Which is a separate piece. Bleah.

The other figure I picked up is a Krabappel/Skinner set where they're making out in a Janitor's closet. You have to put the room together, which is much like trying to set up a house of cards. But once you do, it's pretty sweet. The door even opens and closes, allowing you to replay the shocking reveal to your hearts content.

I will say one thing, the level of detail in these sets is great. The calendar with a clearly readable month and dates. The back shelf stocked with cans. The mop and bucket. The only downside I had with this set is that Krabappel and Skinner were not packaged together, so you have to carefully interweave their limbs to get them in that position. And considering how small their limbs are, it is not easy. But once it works, man it's a trip. This is actually from one of my favorite episodes of the series, so neato.

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.

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!