Ash and Pikachu

I played Pokemon X/Y through to the final boss and then gave up from doing any more because of how frustrating the game became to me. I don't want to fight another low level pokemon, thanks. I've already caught a dozen of that Pokemon. WHY CAN'T I GET A PSYDUCK! But from what I remember, you play a generic character that isn't named Ash Ketchum. But hey, they did make a Pokemon X/Y Ash Ketchum figure wearing some Pokemon X/Y style clothing that I bet he wears in the cartoon if I still watched that. (I'm not that young. Yes I used to watch the Pokemon cartoon, but I used to watch the show in high school and college out of a weird love for all things Psyduck.)

So in a confluence of events: I had a coupon that expired soon and a desire for more Nintendo figures when I spotted this 4 inch Ash Ketchum figure. Hey neat, I thought. I've wanted an Ash figure in the past but they've either had horrible articulation or looked horrible or were out of scale with what I was collecting at the time. This one is decent and has a surprising amount of articulation. There's ball jointed hips and shoulders, some knee and elbow joints, and a ball jointed neck. Unfortunately there are no ankle  joints, so posing becomes a little difficult. Is it too much to ask for cut joints at the ankles so that I can balance what I can do with the ball jointed hips? Also, why can't he hold a pokeballs? Why is there no pokeballs accessory?

The Pikachu is not articulated and only can sit on Ash's shoulder because the backpack has a hole to plug-in his foot.

And sadly, this is not in scale with the other Nintendo figures I own. I mean, looks how Ash towers over Link... I know Link is supposed to be part elf or something, but no.

Doctor Who, Series 3

So after my little bout of buyer's remorse I opened some of the Walgreen figures I picked up. Specifically the 10th Doctor figure, the Asylum Dalek, and the Genesis of the Dalek exclusive.

The 10th Doctor is pretty good for this scale, although I'm disappointed that the stripes on his pinstripe suit are implied by carved lines on the plastic and not given any blue paint, but I'm sure it would have looked horrible if they had done it. This is him in his coat, which was never my preference for 10th Doctor Toys (I preferred the suit) but it's pliable enough to allow plenty of movement, and hey, 3.75" scale 10th Doctor. It's a surprisingly good likeness for the scale, much better than the 11th Doctor figure which hinted at the idea of the 11th Doctor rather than trying to recreate his face in this scale.

The Asylum Dalek is pretty much exactly like the previous Dalek from this toy line, but with a red marking on it to designate it as "insane." The paint also gives it a grungier look to imply it's inattention to Dalek grooming.

I was surprised by the Genesis Dalek, rather than a repaint, it's an entirely new sculpt. Everything on it is simpler to reflect the lower budgeted time the character represents. I'm wondering if they just used the models for the 5" line and had the manufacturers shrink it to scale. It's pretty dang nice.

Buyer's Remorse: Dalek Edition

Finally found the third series of the Doctor Who 3.75" figures, only at Toys R Us rather than Walgreens. It's cool to see Toys R Us carry Doctor Who stuff, but they're charging $5 more than Walgreens... Although Toys R Us is still cheaper than other places I've seen previous waves at.

And unlike Walgreens, Toys r Us is carrying Wave 2 and a wave of 5 inch scale Daleks. The 5" Daleks cost the same as the 3.75" ones, which is... I don't even have the words.

But it allowed me to finally collect the last of the rainbow colored Dalek designs from season 5.

Of course buying all this stuff ended up pricier than I had expected. So I'm probably going to return some of it, especially if I find the same figures at Walgreens for cheaper. Seriously, some Walgreens have the figures on buy 1 get 1 half off, which makes the average figure half the cost of what Toys R Us is charging... Of course it's difficult to find any at Walgreens so it's a tad moot...

Oh, but I did find two Daleks after checking 5 Walgreens.

Amy Pond

Walgreens is going to carry Doctor Who toys. Part of me thinks this was part of their plan to reclassify thaelves as a British company to avoid paying taxes. But now that the tax dodge was cancelled due to fear od mass boycotts, I can look forward to being able to buy Doctor Who merchandise in a physical atore that isn't Hot Topic.

So far all I've been able to find are some aonic screwdrivers and 3.75 inch Amy Pond. Surprisingly, she features more articulation than her 5 inch counterpart or any other Doctor Who figure in this scale. She has a bicep swivel, ball shoulders, cut wrists, knees, cut ankles, and a head that isn't hampered too much by te sculpted hair. It's a shame that so many joints on plastic in this scale makes the figure feel very flimsy. i keep expecting to tear it apart every time I twist a joint. I feel like half the cut joints are falling out of their sockets. That's the biggest downside. As a plus? The face sculpt isn't horrible.

Fair trade-off? You decide.

Pikachu

Ionix Pokemon figures are out. These are pretty much just Tenkai Knights transformable bricks except they turn into Pokemon (or Ash Ketchum) instead of generic warriors.

Pikachu doesn't transform from a regular brick but rather from a round ball thing that unfolds into hemi-spheres which you can attack Pikachu parts to. Kinda disappointing for $6.

But I'm a sucker for Nintendo licensed brick figures... As my continuing purchases of Mario K'nex can attest to. 

The Impossible Set

I love that Character Options/Underground toys is continuing to produce 5 inch figures, albeit irregularly. It means I get a Clara figure in the scale I prefer. Sure, she comes in a two pack with ridiculous packaging that is basically two cards glued back to backso it  takes way too much space and wastes so much cardboard and plastic in order to justify packaging together these two characters; Oswim from the Asylum of the Daleks episode and the Doctor wearing a costume he only wore in the Snowmen episode. 

Whatever, the fact that there's a headsculpt of Jenna Coleman means we'll probably get more Clara figures. After all there's already been 2 Ace figures, 3 Leela figures, 2 Jo Grant Figures, 3 Brigadier figures... If they can get away with getting more use out of a headsculpt to create new box sets, they will. I'm guessing we'll be getting a 12th Doctor / Clara set eventually. After all, they already did a 12th Doctor headsculpt for the regeneration figure coming out soon.

Pizza Planet Truck

Remember the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story 2? Well now he's a Cars character! Combining your favorite Pixar series with your most hated Pixar series! 

Look, I only like Cars for the resulting toys, and when the toys are as ridiculous and inside jokey as this, it's almost enough to justify giving Larry the Cable Guy a paycheck. And I hate that guy.