Articulated Monster Podcast episode 87: Not Late At All

An all new episode Articulated Monster Podcast! We talk about Toy Fair! Also, we haven't done one of these in a long time!

K'nex super mario minifigure blindpacks, wave 3

Let the hunt begin!

Things I want that were shown as a thing at Toy Fair 2014

4" Twilight Zone figures

 (picture via Toyark.com)

1 Big Bang Theory figure with it's apartment diorama

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Skeletor's staff as a plush toy

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Jay and Silent Bob minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Kill Bill  minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Sin City Minimates

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Booker Dewitt figure from Bioshock Infinite

  (picture via Toyark.com)

six inch scale Jabba the Hutt

  (picture via Toyark.com)

talking Strax plush toy

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Also... LEGO SIMPSSONS MINIFIGURES ARE BLINDPACKED GODDAMNIT!

  (picture via Toyark.com)

Holy crap, they made Lego MODOK

But he's part of a $50 set where I don't want any of the other Legos enough to pay for them, so I'm not buying it. I doubt they'll sell MODOK as a single figure, and ebay is going to be  prohibitively expensive. I hope they make a keychain.

11th Doctor

I picked up an 11th Doctor in classic tweed costume on e-bay to finish off my set of Titans vinyl Doctors. Of course at London Toy Fair they showed off wave 4, with the War Doctor and probably Peter Capaldi vinyl figures that I will also have to go on ebay to get. I'm expecting to pay more than I'm comfortable with for the War Doctor. I think those figures are coming out later in 2014.

But for now... for this brief moment, I have all the available Doctors. (Not all the Titans Vinyl Doctor figures, since there are so many variants that it would be a fool's errand, and I don't care that much.) So for now... for this short period of time, I am content.... No I'm not. I REALLY WANT THAT WAR DOCTOR FIGURE! NOW!

Neca Simpsons figures

So now that I've seen the Neca 25th Anniversary Simpsons figures, the Celebrity Guest wave 1... I gotta  say, not impressed. For $11 (which seems oddly affordable due to the ever increasing cost of action figures... sadly) I wanted more. And I certainly wanted better sculpts.

The only figure I wanted from this wave was Tom Hanks, but now seeing the figure... it doesn't look like Tom Hanks... it doesn't even look like the Simpsons version of Tom Hanks. It looks like generic background Simpsons character in suit. Here's both the 5" version and the minifigure version.

I thought the Yao Ming figure was better done, even if you can only really tell who he is because of the basketball and the fact his sweater says "YAO."

Actually, the best sculpted figure was the James Brown figure, which I'm not talking about here because I actually bought it and might go over it at a later date. But knowing me, probably not.

Ultimately, I think these figures are a step down from the Playmates Simpsons figures. The Neca versions are too angular and sharp, losing some of the cartoon feel. Also, it's really only of interest if you want an action figure of a celebrity done in the Simpsons style, which seems like a really niche market. But these are nicer than the Macfarlane Simpsons, since these are actual action figures and not stationary dioramas with no play value.

Phoenix Five Colossus and Emma Frost

The other two figures not chosen for the Toys R Us poll driven AvsX minimate set were then released in a later wave of minimate figures that were exclusive to Toys R Us.

Oddly enough, they came with an accessory for the Phoenix 5 Cyclops that came in the AvsX minimate box set to make him more accurate to the comic. So now the question is: will they ever make a Phoenix 5 Namor and Magik? Especially since the story is now over a year old?