Today is the last day of 2009 and I've got so many unreviewed toys sitting around I wasn't sure what to review. I knew I wanted to get one more toy review in before the new year, but there are so many great choices. If I review a DC, MOTU or GI Joe figure it'll drive more traffic. That said I decided it might be best to go out the way I came in, with a Doctor Who figure review.


When I did my first Doctor Who review this past year I mentioned that the main reason I wanted to put a solid focus on Who figures is that they're a largely undiscovered line by the masses and there just aren't very many quality reviews out there. The bulk of the toy reviews are done by young British kids on YouTube and while those kids have been a great resource to all us Who collectors, it's nice to have some other variety out there as well.


Which brings me to today. Although not all of my Who reviews have been great, I think the site has become a bit of a hub for Doctor Who reviews and has become quite a resource for Who fans. I've seen my reviews linked all across the web and I've helped people get off the fence on many a Doctor Who toy, so for that I'm quite elated. Hopefully I can provide an even better resource for Doctor Who toys in 2010! Let's take a look at today's review, a double pack feature Jon Pertwee as the 3rd Doctor and one of his arch rivals, the Sea Devil.

Packaging:
I'm not as big of a fan of the Doctor Who Classics packaging as I am of the packaging for the regular line, but the clamshell that these come in are decent enough. It's a nice round bubble and it's great for MOC collectors as it shows off the figures nicely. If you want to open them up however, you have to hack into it with scissors.


It's nice that both figures fit so well on the bubble and it's hard to tell the difference between this and regular package. Obviously there is a difference, but it's good that the package is so adaptable. That's been a theme throughout the history of the Who line and I'm baffled we don't see this more in the states on lines like GI Joe or DCUC. There's a great wind blown picture of Jon Pertwee as well as a Sea Devil in the lower right hand corner.


The back tells a little about the Third Doctor as well as the Sea Devils themselves and the episode this package is highlighting. It even tells the production year, which is a nice touch for fans who might not know those sorts of details.

Articulation:
I'll try to avoid as many aquatic puns as I had in my Original Sea Devil review. Needless to say since the Sea Devil is just a repaint of that previous released version, he has all the same articulation which includes ball jointed shoulders, Who Crotch®, swivel thighs, swivel forearms, swivel wrist, swivel waist, swivel feet, cut neck, cut arms, cut legs and knee and elbow joints.


Despite the fact that Jon Pertwee is the last "old" looking Doctor, he was quite nimble and often threw down with monsters using Ju-Jitsu... Who-Jitsu? I'm actually not kidding when I say that. Petwee was a man of action, moreso than a lot of other Doctors, so he needs a fair amount of articulation.


He's got a cut neck, cut shoulders, cut upper arms, elbow hinges, swivel wrist, cut waist, Who Crotch®, cut legs, cut thighs and knee hinges. It's pretty much the standard for Doctor figures now although the 10th Doctor never has gotten all of the updated articulation. Make of that what you will. There's plenty here to make your Pertwee get down with his bad self, although his overcoat can impede some of the articulation.

Sculpt:
Character Options has some of the best sculpting around in the world of toys. Every time a new head sculpt comes out with a Doctor, it seems to be better than the one before it. Jon Pertwee has a somewhat peculiar look, as have plenty of the Doctors and it's reflected here to perfection.


The head sculpt is one of the best, if not the best likeness in the line so far. That's a heavy compliment because the other classics sculpts have also been top notch. I think there could be a tad more gray wash in his hair, but his hair was various shades of white and gray throughout so it's debatable. The rest of his face looks great though with a serious, stern look.


Of all the wacky Doctors, Pertwee must have had the most unique fashion sense. The elaborate outfits of the 3rd Doctor were unlike any before or after him. This outfit is honestly rather tame overall, but it hits all the right spots as one of his traditional getups. He has his puffy undershirt, suede coat, overcoat/cape with red underneath, it's all here. The coat's paintwork is exceptional giving it that crushed velvet/suede look.


He even has pinky ring which is painted with surprising detail and even the inside of his hand has the ring. That's a tiny little detail that could have easily been left painted, but CO didn't miss it.


As much as I thought the original Sea Devil looked good, this Sea Devil beats it in just about every way. I don't think anyone disliked the original Sea Devil, but this newly painted version just shows how superior it is. It's just a repaint, but the darker, wetter colors better reflect the classic monster.


Accessories:
At this price point you'd love to say that these guys have tons of accessories, but they just have their basics. For the 3rd Doctor, that's his trusty Sonic Screwdriver. Since it was Pertwee who first got to using this device, it's nice to see him with it.


The Sea Devil comes with his heat ray gun/belt just as the original figure had. The only difference being that this time the ray gun is silver in color instead of gold. Technically the Sea Devil's clothes and Pertwee's cape are removable, so you could count those as accessories if you wish.


"I said sonic screwdriver, not a wrench!"

Value:
This pack runs about $40, which breaks down to about $20 a figure. That's pretty steep, especially when the regular Sea Devil figure can be had for about $10-$12 these days. Most people are in this for the Jon Pertwee figure so you could say it's $25 for the Pertwee and $15 for the Sea Devil. However you justify the cost, this is a must have for Doctor Who collectors. It's pretty expensive, but it's so nicely done I'm more inclined to overlook it.


Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 9
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Heat Ray, Sonic Screwdriver
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10


Two really good figures for $40 isn't the steal of the century, but given the sharp attention to detail, the fact that this is based off an old dude from 70's and the general obscurity of the license in general I'm content with the purchase. Doctor Who is hitting a big stride in 2010 and hopefully so are we here at Infinite Hollywood.com and I can't tell you how thrilling it is to continue to put these guys on the shelf. It's a freakin' Jon Pertwee figure! Good times.

So check this out, I just discovered a new site that I think might interest a lot of people on here. It's called Listia.com and it's a great place to get free stuff! Sounds like a scam, right? Well it's not. Listia.com is a bit of a mix between Ebay and Craig's List. Users on Listia offer up free stuff and put it on the site like Ebay, then you use credits (which are free and earned by listing stuff) to bid on the items you want. When the bidding ends the person who bid the most credits wins the item.

You just pay shipping and tons of items don't even require you to pay shipping. Listia also has a ton of charity programs and it's a good way to get rid of stuff that you might otherwise throw away. Old toys that you know you can't sell on Ebay, but also don't want to end up in the scrap heap? Put them on Listia! Same for old cell phones, computer games even TVs!

Plus they're running a current promotion of giving away 300 credits free to those who join and list an item.

While this site probably won't replace Ebay for you, it's a nice alternative to look for inexpensive stuff for trade. I'm only advertising it because I believe that the more people know about stuff like this, the more the content will improve. I may put some stuff on there soon myself.

You never know what you'll find on there, I saw some Spider-man figures, cool Batman comics, and even these Dungeons & Dragons supplies.


D&D Stuff For Free!

So if you're looking for a place to find neat odd stuff or find a new home for your old stuff, Listia.com is the place for you.


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You know despite seeing that other folks have had some luck, I still haven't seen DCUC Wave 10. I've pretty much given up on looking for it and given up on DC Universe Classics in general. I realize that by now I probably could have gotten DCUC Wave 10 off Ebay or some other avenue, but I'd really just like to buy it in store. I'm not sure why that's such a hard concept. But today I thought, maybe I'll just buy the Joker online. The prices for the figure aren't terrible, but they're more than I care to pay...


Then I saw this beauty. It's from overseas and I can actually afford this Joker and not feel bad about it. Except, take a closer look at that desription, "All figures may paint lost and dirt randomly."

Damn it Mattel, is it so much for me to want to buy the Joker for under $20 and not have "may paint lost and dirt randomly"? And so the saga continues...

Every year new shows debut in the fall and by January it's usually pretty clear who's going to make it to the next season and who's not. Lots of shows experience big falls from grace and sometimes, a show like Chuck, which was nearly canceled last year is looked to return in January as the darling of NBC's lineup. However for other shows things aren't always that way, such is the case for Comedy Central's Jeff Dunham show.


I guess it's not really fair for me to review the Dunham show as I only ever saw one episode and could barely sit through it and tried one other time to watch it for a couple of minutes before changing the channel. I should make a confession, I like ventriloquists. I think it's a neat thing and long before Jeff Dunham was a household name, I liked him.

I remember seeing Dunham on A&E's "Evening at the Improv" which I could write a whole other rant about, WHERE ARE THE STAND UP COMEDY SHOWS ANYMORE?! However I'll leave that for another time. Instead I'll just say that back then Dunham's act was brilliant, he usually worked with one puppet, Peanut and on occasion he'd use the old guy. Years went by and I rarely ever saw Jeff Dunham on TV.

Eventually he resurfaced and seemed to be doing largely the same stuff but his Jalapeno on a stick routine was down right knee slapping funny for a while. Once he had a whole cast of characters it really livened up his show. Dunham has never been a very good ventriloquist, it was his material that was good. Then one day, Jeff Dunham was famous. I'm not sure when it happened, it just did. He was all over the TV and internet.

Comedy Central came calling and gave him his own TV special. A few in fact. I watched some here or there and noticed that Dunham's act wasn't as funny anymore. He had too many characters, his act was getting a bit stale and some of his jokes played to the lowest common denominator. Still, I couldn't argue with his success and that was that. Until I saw Comedy Central give him his own TV show!

I decided to tune in because I figured this guy must have gotten really good. Instead what I watched was an abomination of a show. To be fair, it's clear that Comedy Central was trying to replicate all their other shows with Dunham's. First there was Chappelle's Show, which was racist black comedy. Then there was Mind of Mencia which was stolen racist Latino comedy. Finally we got Dunham who did racist white comedy, WITH PUPPETS! All of these shows are essentially the same and follow the exact same format, which is why no doubt Dunham's show became a pretty massive flop.

It's interesting because the original show attracted a 5.6 rating, which is gigantic for Comedy Central, but it quickly dropped off. Who thought it would be a good idea to run a show about a ventriloquist and then do a bunch of sketches with just the puppets? Wouldn't a show about puppets make more sense? Dunham's characters nearly all sound the same and are only funny because he's doing a ventriloquist act. Beyond that it's kind of pointless.

I'm not sure when Dunham ran out of material either, but it was pretty clear he didn't have near enough material to sustain all the specials, much less a weekly TV show. Comedy Central's format didn't help matter either as it felt like they were trying to stick a square peg in a round hole. Plus as Dunham got more famous, his act began to get exposed more for basically making racially insensitive jokes, which I'm not sure when he added to his act but no doubt helped his rise to fame.

And so the Jeff Dunham show is no more. Good riddance I say, the show was terrible and only served to wear out what little humor Dunham had left. I wouldn't worry too much about Dunham and his puppets though, he made around $30 million dollars last year. Plus Jeff Dunham was pretty awesome on 30 Rock earlier this year, basically doing a send up of his own routine. Hopefully this will get him back to doing more stuff like that, you know, comedy.

The holidays are over (Well not counting New Years, but that's less of a holiday and more of a fixed point in time), which means I won't be reviewing anymore Christmas figures for at least another 12 months. Hooray! As fun as reviewing holiday toys has been for me, I've received a lot of toys either as gifts or personal purchases over the past month and I really want to crank out some of these reviews.


Which brings us to Nemo Publishing's Commander X! This is not the first time I've mentioned Commander X here on this blog, in fact it's the fourth time for those counting at home and it started with this little Figure Comic that I put together using this toy. Since Commander X is still on sale at CaptnEli.com till the end of the month I figured it was time I sat down and truly did a review of the big guy himself.



Packaging:
The package here is representative of what I think most "new" Mego packages look like. It's a collector clamshell that has to be cut open but can be resealed once it's opened. Inside there is a basic card, but in this case it's actually more like paper stock than card stock.


The front features an awesome picture of Commander X in this, his trademark outfit. The artwork is absolutely vintage and reminds me of some old Buck Rogers style art. That's intentional of course as Commander X is a modern homage to the old pulp comics and serials. Think Tom Strong, without all the pent up jadededness and strangeness of Alan Moore.


The back shows off a more modern Commander X done with CGI imaging. There is also some retro artwork for other variants, some of which have not come out yet. It's a neat idea and I definitely hope that Jay Piscopo and crew are able to produce some of these other variants in due time. Undersea and Star Knight look interesting to me.

Articulation:
The figure features all the standard articulation that is seen on the new EMCE Toys/Doc Mego figures. For a complete breakdown check out my look at the Ape Soldier Picture with a complete diagram. In general you get a mix of string joints and traditional joints that allow a fair amount of posing.


In general I find the figure to be well articulated and I'm surprised at how lifelike they are when you can get them into a variety of poses. There are still some areas that could be improved, but overall the classic Mego articulation holds up as fairly relevant even in today's hyper articulated world of toys.


As always your mileage may vary, but these figures are pretty good for general poses and I really love that Commander X seems to hold his poses quite well. The inner strings are quite tight and he doesn't seem to be too loose. Although I can feel the joints loosening somewhat as I move them around.

Sculpt:
I would have never known it had someone not told me, but the head here is based off of the old Mego Superman head. It looks great though, with it's Zorro-esque mask and pencil moustache. If this guy doesn't remind you of a classic pulp hero, what will?


The first few times I saw Commander X, I thought he looked a little dopey, but the whole look has grown on me quick and it's quite iconic in my view. His outfit is made of quality material and doesn't seem cheap or flimsy like some Mego outfits do.


The belt fastens in a unique way in the back. It works really well, but as a word of warning, be careful if you take it off and try to put it back on with the jacket. It's not super hard, but with all that material it's a bit more of a hassle than you might expect. Still I really like the way it fastens and it keeps the belt secure for hours of play.


With his hat on the Commander is ready for undersea adventure or really any kind of adventure. Commander X has had all kinds of journeys in his day and that's what makes this figure so versatile. You can plop him down into just about any situation and he's a perfect fit. The toy really emulates the character and that's really all you can ask for. The Mego format is perfect for a character like this.

Accessories:
What would Commander X be without his gun and knife? Well he'd still be pretty cool, but he's got them just in case. The Commander also has his removable hat, removable clothes, belt and boots as well. I'll be honest though, the hat doesn't fit on his head great. It more or less just sits on there and won't stay on during "play" but it works well enough if you just pose your figures.



Additional Notes:
As an added bonus, when you order the figure you get one of the limited edition Capt'N Eli comics. While this introductory comic isn't the best of the Capt'N Eli series, it's a great little bonus and it's just enough to wet your whistle to want more.


Originally I wondered why a Commander X figure came with a Capt'N Eli comic, but it turns out that Commander X is a very important part of the Capt'N Eli story. Plus there are those free Commander X supplemental comics on the Capt'N Eli website!

Value:
At $20 this guy is a tad expensive, but that pricing falls right in line with other figures in this genre (See Mattel's Retro-Action) so I can't fault them for the price. In fact if you were to assemble a similar Mego you'd probably pay twice as much for half the quality. As an aside, the company making these guys is very small and they're working with the equally as small EMCE toys so this pricetag probably just barely covers costs. However if you're a super cheapskate, right now till December 31st you can get this figure and all of the variants on the Capt'N Eli website for $14.95! That's a great deal! Act fast though.


Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Gun, Knife, Hat, Belt, Comic
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10


I'm tempted to give this guy a higher rating just because he's a lot fun. This is what toys are all about. You could give this to a kid and they would be able to dream up all kinds of adventures to take this guy on. Certainly he's a little plain by today's standards, but my favorite toys as kids were the ones where I could add a little to make him something of my own.


Commander X is a Modern-Retro character and these Mego toys are Modern-Retro toys, which makes this a perfect marriage of concept and execution. The folks making and selling these guys are class acts all the way around and I can't recommend these any higher if you even have the vaguest interest in this type of stuff.

And if you need just a little more to put you over the edge when it comes to the good Commander, check out this commercial the team over there whipped up last year:

You may remember earlier this month our little website came under some controversy as I speculated that Mattel's new Re-MEGO line, Retro-Action, was actually using the old Big Jim base. The general consensus seemed to be in agreement with me, although there were some who vehemently disagreed. Joe Sena the president of SphereWerx and partner with EMCE Toys weighed in today to confirm that Mattel did go to the Big Jim body as the base, but that they have worked with Mattel along the way to make tweaks and alterations. Their plan is to continue to adhere to the Mattel and DC guidelines, while continuing to improve the body and make it less Big Jim and more Retro-Action.

Hi, Joe Sena, president of SphereWerx here. Our EMCE Toys brand produced these figures with Mattel due to our having brought back the MEGO brand a few years ago in partnership with Diamond Select Toys.

I can probably shed some light on this, as we're under NDA until Mattel goes public with things, then they're gracious enough to let us speak as much as we want on the topic.

The subject of the body was discussed at length for months when we all decided on an approach toward the classic MEGO tools. First off, Mattel and DC both share a policy of not retooling something they can neither own nor source the original of. Although it's common knowledge that MEGO's assets went into the public domain with the dissolution of the company in the '80s, and despite my (and partner Paul "Dr. Mego" Clarke) having sourced, reclaimed, recast or retooled most of those assets, Mattel and DC both decided that they wanted to have a base body with a clear chain of custody.

Of all the previous male figures Mattel has don over the years, the Big Jim base body was a logical place to start. There was discussion and disagreement internally about specific aspects of it, but I can say that Mattel was receptive to our comments and made alterations along the way. For example, Big Jim's quads were so wide that it restricted arm movement when the character was costumed. The delts were cartoonishly big, and yes, everyone has noticed the bowlegged appearance due to the very tiny pelvis.

Unlike collector brands like EMCE which are restricted by finances to committing to tooling once cut, Mattel has a fascinating approach, which allows for changes and improvements along the way. The base body for Green Arrow is already incorporating some of these changes, whereas I hope I'm not going to get in trouble for saying that some of the other issues will be addressed in future iterations of the body. I think that, by the time (God willing) a few waves of this line are done, collectors will notice changes from the Green Arrow base body as well.

Additionally, it should be noted that the current creative trend at Mattel/DC is to have a more heroic look to certain musculature structures, such as more of an emphasis on the abs. Classic MEGO bodies reflected 70s esthetics, with more emphasis on the chest. More of an inverted triangle. Mattel made it clear that this base body should reflect current esthetics, which place more emphasis on a longer, sleeker torso.

Your piece here is great and reflects the kind of attention to detail that we've been trying to keep at top of mind while designing these lines. I hope that when you get these figures you'll see what we've been talking about and give us more feedback. It is heard, and applied where it is realistic to do so.

Thanx for the time.

Joe Sena

I sincerely appreciate Joe stopping by and letting us know a little more about the process.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM INFINITE HOLLYWOOD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Wait, that's not right. Merry Christmas! See when Frosty comes alive he has the tendency to shout "Happy Birthday!", just because. I hope you're having a Merry Christmas and I figure while you're unwrapping Christmas presents from under the tree you can stop in and say hi to Frosty and me!


Frosty the Snowman is the big star of the show. You might notice that this is the Round 2 toys version, as opposed to the Forever Fun version. Round 2 turned into Forever Fun or got bought out or whatever. The figures are basically identical. So is there some magic in this old silk hat? Frosty comes alive after the cut.

Packaging:

The package here is similar to the Jack Frost figure but it has a bit more personality, IMO. The back of the package is different as it doesn't include the newer figures. There have been minor tweaks to the card text as well.


It's still a pretty attractive package all things considered.

Articulation:
Frosty has a surprising amount of articulation for a holiday figure. For starters he has a pair of ball jointed shoulders, cut wrists and unique peg cut joint legs that allow him to move his legs up and down. Frosty can boogie down.


Frosty the Snowman also has a neck cut to give him a little extra poseability.



Sculpt:
Frosty looks really good. His soft goods scarf works surprisingly well. He has a detachable corn cob pipe as well as a his broom. He also has a cool magnet in his head that helps his hat stay on. It works like a charm.


The rest of his sculpt is solid as ice. This looks like Frosty fresh from the cartoon, especially his eyes which have a bit of a goofy look to them. The big lug was always a little silly, which comes through in the sculpt. This guy's sculpt definitely shines.


Everything is removable and when it's all said and done he'd look a bit like the unanimated Frosty. Some of the joints and cuts do impede the sculpt a bit, but that's to be expected with a design like this. It's unquestioningly Frosty.

Accessories:
As I said before he comes with his hat, broom, corn pipe and scarf. It's all really quite good. I do wish he could hold his broom a little better. Despite all that, he's loaded up and ready for play or display.

Value:
The $8 you'd spend on Frosty is much easier to swallow than on some of the other figures. This guy is iconic and he makes the perfect Christmas display item or toy. You can replay your favorite Frosty adventures. It's very cool to get all these Rankin/Bass characters finally.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Hat, Scarf, Pipe, Broom
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10


Frosty is an awesome figure. There's no denying it. He can be a lot of fun for kids, he's quality enough for collectors and overall he's just a cool dude. REALLY COOL! See what I did there? Cause he's made of snow. Anyway I hope you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's the night before Christmas and all through the web, nobody else is doing reviews so I'm here instead!


Tonight I'm looking at Jack Frost from the Frosty the Snowman toyline. Tomorrow morning, (Yes Christmas Morning!) I'll be taking a look at old Frosty himself to finish out our Christmas in Hollywood spectacular. These toys much like the other Forever Fun toys started out under Playing Mantis. Then they became Round 2 and now they're under the secondary label of Forever Fun.

Packaging:

The packaging is nice enough, but a little cumbersome. It's an odd angled shape, but it works out pretty well. I do like the Frosty logo up top. The figure is quite visible inside and that's always a plus.

Articulation:
The articulation on Jack Frost is a bit strange. He has an articulated waist that pivots forward and backwards and it gives him some good pose ability but his legs don't have individual cuts. Instead they move as one solid piece. He also has ankle cuts.


Rounding out the rest of his articulation is a cut neck, cut shoulders and cut wrists. That does improve his posing quite a bit. Be careful though, in certain stances he can't stand up for long. It's a bit of a balancing act.



Sculpt:
Overall this guy looks pretty good. Jack Frost had a elf-like look and that's complete here. The best part is in the subtle light blues and different tones throughout. He definitely looks frigid.


He has a little potbelly and a whimsical smile.


There is some issue with paint slop throughout. Forever Fun's lines with more detailed paint aps seem to be lacking a bit.

Accessories:
Jack Frost comes with the "wrong" silk hat as well as a very cool unanimated Frosty. That's his best accessory. The hat is interesting because it's sculpted with handles and clearly was made to fit some hair on the inside, but who's I don't know.



Value:
These holiday figures seem a bit much at $8 but they are smaller runs and only available one time a year. If you miss out on these guys one year, you can hope they come out the next year in a re-release or else it's off to Ebay to pay two or three times that price. The choice is yours.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 6
Accessories - Hat, Frosty
Value - 7
Overall - 7 out of 10


Jack Frost is one of the cooler looking figures in this line. Rankin/Bass were on to something with Frosty and his cohorts and these figures represent that well. You can't pass this guy up if you want to have a complete Frosty display.