Infinite Hollywood

Figure Review: Mectorians Mr. Head

2012-01-28T23:44:00.003-05:00

Mechtorians Series 1
Mr. Head
3 Inch Scale
By: Mindstyle (Doktor A)
$14.99
Today we're taking another look at some designer vinyl. The world of designer vinyl is an interesting side market of toy collecting. These toys tend to be high end (very expensive) and yet are often relatively cheap as well (via blind bags, etc) and there are many different tiers for collectors. Perhaps the most interesting part about designer vinyl toy collectors is that they're often not "traditional" toy collectors, although some certainly are.

The moral of this story is that the market for designer vinyl is different than the traditional toy market. What makes a good vinyl toy good is not the same as what makes a regular toy good. It's tough to discern for some folks and it was something I struggled with for a while. Doktor A's Mechtorians line immediately spoke to me though, as the designs were very cool and I just had to have a couple.

Mr. Head

Philosopher and thinker extraordinare. Responsible for the big ideas in Retropolis. Advisor to royalty, big business and the lay-mech alike. His thoughts are wonderful, colourful and huge in scope. Though he is a tad forgetful and so makes endless reams of unintelligible notes on napkins and envelopes. Not a great dinner guest as he tends to mutter to himself constantly.

Let's learn more about Mr. Head and the amazing retrobotic world of the Mechtorians!

Packaging:
Packaging is a big part of the designer vinyl world and often it's either a huge part of the production or on the cheaper smaller figures, it's an afterthought. These small scale Mechtorians subscribe to the former mentality.

The package is truly fantastic, made of a very thick cardboard. The design oozes the same Victorian retrobotic world that the figures themselves do. The sides feature a vintage poster style like you might see for an old carnival sideshow and the back shows off the other figures in the line. There is a lot of style in these packages and while I'm not a MOC kind of guy, I love these containers. It's also perfectly easy to reseal the character inside, allowing you to display in the box if you'd like.

Unlike most smaller scale figures, these are not actually blind boxed. Instead of having to guess which figure you're getting, there is a nice window box in the front revealing the figure. That's a great little feature and at $15 a pop, it makes sound business sense. Unfortunately that also means that the most famous Mechtorian character, Stephan LePodd, is hard to get your hands on. A lot of people snatched him up quick.

Inside the figure is protected by two pieces of plastic, which are also taped together. It keeps the figure safe, but there is no tape anywhere on the actual box, so you don't damage the part you actually see.

Sculpt/Paint:
Doktor A specializes in creating crazy sort of robots which have a certain English pizzazz to them. They're sort of a steampunk influenced style, but Doktor A definitely has his own take on things. The story behind the Mechtorians is an imaginary one where H.G. Wells stories are true and that a friend of H.G. Wells, Professor Whistlecraft, learns of Wells traveling to the future (The Time Machine) and that Martians are about to take over the world (War of the Worlds) and creates a set of robots to send to the future to prepare. Hence the vintage stylings of the Mechtorians.

Mr. Head has a unique alien look as he's covered in eyes, as well as rivets and metal. He looks like the side of a submarine or something, but only amplified a million times. Of course, it's hard not to notice the huge mustache on his face as well.

He also has a large key for winding, like a lot of old tin toy robots did. It's a nice little piece of styling. The entire figure is very well sculpted and not like some of the cheaper little vinyl pieces you might see on many Kidrobot toys. This is not a soft sculpt.

The paint is excellent, but whatever they did to make him appear to be so metallic has it's drawbacks. The figure has some sort of grease on him in parts and honestly, I'm not sure if some of the metal in the paint istself isn't starting to oxidize or something. That certainly makes it seem more authentic, but it's not exactly pleasing either. The vinyl itself is hard, not rock hard, but not squeezable soft either.

There was actually green residue on the inside of Mr. Head's package. I wiped him off, but it definitely had an effect on the figure. I suspect keeping him in package is what caused this (the figure is a couple years old), as he hasn't leaked anything since breaking him free of his plastic prison.

His scale is a little over three inches, which seems to be the norm for this line. The paint work (aside from the grease deal) is quite sharp with very little slop in the lines, which is an accomplishment in the eyes especially. There is a definite feel of metal and even rust throughout, which may be what caused that strange liquid.

Articulation:
Nothing, nada, not a single joint.

This figure would be awesome if the wind-up crank turned, but sadly it doesn't. Having no articulation isn't really an issue as a lot of designer vinyl has few if any points of articulation. But the key would have benefited from being able to turn.

Accessories:
Again, nothing.

Unless you count the bottom of the box, which doubles as a stand. It's a nice little display stand for the figure, but it's not necessarily a traditional accessory. Then again, this guy doesn't have hands, so short of a hat, there isn't much you could give him.

Value:
The price will likely put off many traditional toy collectors. At $15, this is not a cheap toy. I mean, I paid this much for my Bandai Thundercats Classics Lion-O and that figure came with a heck of a lot more. Of course, you have to realize that A, this is different market, B, these are a lot smaller run (probably only a couple thousand) and C, these are made for a different kind of collector. You don't find these at your local Target. The good news is that I found these to be a pretty good value for a designer vinyl toy.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 8
Paint - 7
Articulation - N/A
Accessories - Stand?
Value - 6
Overall - 7 out of 10

This is not the same kind of 7 that a traditional action figure might get. This is a different type of toy altogether. It's not for everyone, but even us regular toy guys can find some cool odds and ends in the designer vinyl world. Hopefully that gap can continue to be bridged in the future.

I actually picked this guy up for another reason, which you may or may not see on this site at some point. I managed to catch him on sale as well, so I saved a few bucks. However, this is not a cheap toy and some of his other Mechtorian friends are getting harder and harder to find (and more expensive) so if you're thinking of getting some, you should seek them out soon. Hopefully Mindstyle releases another series as I really dig the work that Doktor A is doing and I would definitely buy some of his other designs in these small scale options.

Figure Review: Thundercats Classics 6 Inch Lion-O

2012-01-26T10:07:00.004-05:00

Thundercats Classics
Lion-O
6 Inch Scale
By: Bandai
$14.99
I am not the biggest Thundercats fan. It's a property that I liked, but didn't love. It ranks below things like Inhumanoids and Centurions for me. When Bandai announced it was doing a classic Thundercats revamp, I was so-so on the project. If the figures looked cool, I might pick a couple up. That was my philosphy. To date I've watched absolutely zero episodes of the new cartoon. When the first exclusives hit, I liked them, but not enough to pay the prices. Plus the figures were in an odd 8 inch scale, which didn't bother me much, but didn't entice me either.

A few months later, Bandai decided that 8 inch wasn't the way to go and changed the scale to 6 inch. They also gave Lion-O a new head. I still wasn't too interested, even though the figures looked pretty good. But low and behold, I keep seeing these figures in Target. Eventually, they beat down my resistance and I picked up a couple. There's just something inherently great about seeing old school toy properties reinvented in the toy aisle.

As a kid, I liked Thundercats well enough, I had a few figures and I watched the show... But there wasn't enough nostalgia to make me order these things online. Seeing them in store for a decent price is another matter entirely and that's why you're getting this review today.

Packaging:
The packages are pretty bland and not very aesthetically pleasing, especially in comparison to something like Masters of the Universe Classics, to which this line is most closely compared. There is a tiny bit of classic toon art, or at least a picture that looks to be ripped from the cartoon, but it's nothing fancy. In what is a bit of a recurring theme with this line, the package is more utilitarian than collector designed.

Bandai is clearly trying to target not just old guys in their 30's with this figure, but also kids. In fact they may be more interested in the latter and just hope to catch some of the former. This has the multilingual card as well so that Bandai doesn't have to offer up different cards for different markets.

I do like that they show off the other figures not only in this line, but the modern Thundercats line as well. That's a smart strategy to capture the attention of folks who might not know these figures are out there. I also find that the package is collector friendly in the sense that it can be resealed and the figure can be removed without destroying the container. That's a positive that I wish MOTUC had.

Sculpt/Paint:
Putting aside the new head sculpt, this figure is for all intents and purposes a smaller version of the previous 8 inch figure. The good news for Thundercats fans is that this is instantly recognizable as Lion-O and looks really impressive. I didn't pull out my old Lion-Os (I have two) but it definitely conjures up a ton of memories of them.

Instantly you feel as though this is what LJN would have tried to do with this line, had Acclaim not killed them in the 90's. The sculpt is sleek, modern and not as clumsy as the old figures, but yet still retains the bright colors and overall feel of the classic line. It's a nice mixture of both new and old vibes.

Turn him around though and you'll find one of the biggest weakenesses of Bandai's American divisions. They just don't care as much as Bandai Japan and they let you know that these are toys, with cost cutting measures like big screws in the back. One screw might get a pass, but this is a half dozen. I'd rake Mattel over the coals for this, so I'm damn sure going to call Bandai out for it too.

Even when just posing him, the screws tend to show up. It doesn't bother me THAT much to be honest, but it's a bit of an eyesore. I know Bandai can avoid this if they tried. The same could be said for the ankle joints, which are cast in a orange-yellow color instead of a blue color. It's just inexcusable, because if these joints were blue they would blend in seamlessly.

When Bandai unveiled the 6 inch line, I absolutely hated the new head sculpt. It looked so stupid to me. Pictures are strange, because in person it doesn't bother me near as much as it does looking at it in high quality photos. I still prefer the more stoic first head sculpt, but this one isn't terrible I guess.

When Bandai decided to relaunch their brand new line in the 6 inch scale, many fans immediately thought (and hoped) that what Bandai really meant was the toys were going to be scaled around 7 inches to fit in with the MOTUC line. Sadly that is not the case and these figures are pretty much a true 6 inches. Whether you imagine these guys as smaller or not, is up to you.

I am not a huge scale Nazi and given that many lines are called 6 inch or 3 3/4 and end up being varying heights, I don't get too bent out of shape about this stuff. I do like it when lines can mix and Lion-O does seem a bit more like a Teen Titan next to He-Man than I'd like, it won't stop me from buying future figures.

Plus it would appear as though there is a scale within the line itself, meaning certain characters will be larger than others. Spoiler alert, Mumm-Ra figure review coming soon.

The paint is simple, clean and effective with little to no slop. The same could be said for the sculpting itself, as it's a bit softer than MOTUC, but it's appropriate for the style of figures. It will be interesting to see how some of the more visually dynamic characters like Vultureman or Slythe look in this line.

Articulation:
The old LJN line was loaded down with goofy gimmick actions and pretty weak articulation. Thankfully the Bandai line has plenty of articulation to make this figure quite poseable. It's not the most poseable figure on the market, but it's up to par with DCUC or MOTUC.

You've got all your typical joints, including cuts at the top of the boots which are quite well hidden. The only weak area is the neck, which does have a ball joint but it doesn't really move up thanks to the hair sculpt.

The torso joints are a bit different too, as you have two joints there, with one being more of a pivot/crunch and the other doing some swivel.

But you won't have much trouble posing him in a variety of situations. The hands are legit ball joints, so you can get some extra movement out of them as well.

In fact the posing may be the best part of this figure. He's a lot of fun to fiddle with and he's got a great center of balance. You don't feel like you need a stand to do anything with him. The ankles in particular have great rocker motion.

I think most people will be impressed. I did feel a bit of loosening the more I posed him, but not as much as many other figures on the market.

Accessories:
One of the best parts of the Thundercats concept was the cool glove claw and sword of Omens. Bandai has included that along with a few other things to round out a solid figure.

You get two sets of hands, one pair of slightly open claw hands and one set of sword gripping hands. I found the sword gripping hands to be very tight and nearly impossible to just slip the sword into. However the hands are soft enough rubber than you can bend the fingers with your own hands and then sort of pop the sword in.

"Shout out to my gloved brother Rene Goulet!"
The glove is actually a hand all it's own, which definitely works better than just a clip on attachment.

The small sword of Omens even fits into the glove, just like on the show. Another great little detail from Bandai.

There is also a little belt strap that can be plugged into the side of the hips. This allows you to carry the glove on the figure, for even more poses and accuracy.

The swords both look great and the long sword is actually quite long... The only problem with the swords is that they're made out of a very pliable rubber.

I am very lucky that my Lion-O's sword is not warped in the least... But ALL of the three other Lion-O figures in the store, were. I've seen some really warped figure's swords in other people's photos as well. This should really be made of a harder plastic.

The hands all pop off quite easily and aside from the sword's flimsy nature, the accessories are quite good.

Value:
A highly articulated figure with two sets of hands and three weapons for only $14.99?! That's like 2008's prices or something! Seriously, the value here is quite good. While it's not cheap by any means and it certainly has a few cost cutting measures (like the screws) it definitely does feel like there is a value here. It's been so long since we've seen a 6 inch property that actually comes with more than the bare minimum. I don't feel like I'm getting robbed with this toy, which is something I can't say for a lot of toys at this scale.

Another thing I noticed is that Target has sold these figures well, yet I have had no issue finding them. It's almost like you could actually market a line like this in stores, so long as you don't overstock unpopular characters and keep the main guys out there for purchase. Pretty amazing concept!

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Paint - 9
Articulation - 9
Accessories - Extra Hands, Claw Glove, Holster, Sword of Omens (small), Sword of Omens (full)
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10

This figure has it's flaws, but the decent price point and the nice amount of accessories make this a pretty good buy in today's market. I'm not sure how much of that is because of how expensive toys have gotten or if it's just neat to have some classic Thundercats toys on the shelves.

I wouldn't pay $20 for these at the 8 inch scale, but I don't feel as bad paying $15 at the 6 inch scale. As if often the case, your mileage may vary. Bandai was able to sell me on these by putting them in stores, though. That's a big advantage to a line like this.

I never would have bitten had these been online exclusives.

Need more Thundercats? Wes reviewed the SDCC 8 inch version: SDCC 8 Inch Lion-O

The modern 6 inch version: 6 Inch Modern Lion-O

And a long time ago I reviewed a Snarf pencil topper/straw holder: Snarf!

Figure Review: Figma Robocop

2012-01-24T15:12:00.009-05:00

Figma
Robocop
5 Inch Scale
By: Max Factory
$49.99 (price varies)
Part Man. Part Machine. ALL Cop. Paul Verhoeven's 1987 Robocop film transformed the concept of a cyborg. Robocop was a movie that had a lot of social commentary, gratuitous violence and one of the coolest looking "robots" in film history. It also instantly became a hit with kids, which is pretty amazing because the movie is actually Rated R. That didn't stop toys from being made, cartoons from being launched and Robocop becoming everything that perhaps the movie was against.

None of that matters though, because Robocop is a badass. I love Robocop, even the bad sequels and the underrated TV show. I owned a ton of the Kenner figures and I bought quite a few of the Toy Island figures, even Commander Cash! Despite a ton of attempts from McFarlane, NECA and even Hot Toys, I'm not certain we've ever had a perfect Robocop figure.

Ultimately, this figure isn't "perfect" either, but it's damn close. I'm sure Hot Toy's second attempt at Robcop will be perfect... But it will also run you $300 or so. For $60 or less, you won't find a better Robocop figure than the Figma. This guy is incredible, both in detail and design, but most importantly in articulation. This is the most poseable Robcop to date and he's an amazing figure because of it.

Packaging:
The packaging is a fairly plain window box. The presentation is nice, but not nearly as sweet as Revoltech or the Bandai MonsterArts packages. This does it's job, but won't likely make you want to keep it MIB for display.

The package art does conjure up a bit of a Robocop feel, but I think they could have had a lot more fun with that concept. The back has some details about the posing and accessories.

There's a picture of the figure on the sides.

The nicest part of the package is actually the inside backing card. It has a lot of little wires and circuitry as well as the Robocop logo. As usual, kind of a shame when the nicest part of the package is something you see the least of.

Sculpt/Paint:
The sculpting on the Figma Robocop is fantastic, with just about as much detail as the McFarlane figure, at around half the size. Robocop has actually had a pretty good run with figures, as they've always had a lot of sculpted detail. Toy Island did nice work, and Kenner wasn't too bad, but the Figma is really amazing for the small size.

It's a stunning figure and is immediately recognizable as Robocop. The paint has a mix of blue and purple hues in it, but in some shots it looks like there is too much purple. I would say that there is a TAD too much purple, but it's not as bad as some photos may have you believe. I'd rather they went with more blue than purple, but such is life.

The other area that is of concern to many collectors is the mouth. This doesn't appear to be Peter Weller. It looks pretty generic and the lips aren't given a lot of detail, making this look a bit flat. It doesn't bother me, but it's worth noting. You could sculpt a bit more detail in yourself, but honestly macro function cameras are tricking you for the most part... In hand you're not seeing the face as close up.

To many, the McFarlane Robocop is still the standard bearer and Figma's Robocop does not have quite as much detail. However, for the most part, the detail is very close. Given the difference in size, it doesn't seem like anything was directly omitted.

This Figma Robocop even has working pistons on the heels. In fact these pistons work quite a bit better than the other pistons on similar figures, because you can move these around a lot more. Although they can pop out and are TINY so don't lose them (I almost did) if you drop them.

The pins can come out, so be careful.

The intricate detail at this scale is pretty astonishing. He's just the right amount of bulky, complex and slick. Some Robcop figures just don't seem to nail the overall feel of Robocop, NECA's is gangly, McFarlane's head is a bit small but Max Factory has succeeded in getting just the perfect mix.

The body looks good and the articulation is hidden rather seamlessly. This has often been a problem with other Robocops, but it's not an issue here.

The hands all look great and there are quite a few to choose from. The data spike hand is particularly impressive. It's tiny, but so well detailed for it's size.

They managed to cram in a lot of details.

The figure's height will get to a lot of people. He's more in line with 5 inch figures than he is 6 inchers. That means he'll look great with Doctor Who, but won't work with Marvel Legends or DCUC. He matches up okay with the old Kenner Terminator, though.

The scale doesn't bother me too much...

So long as Max Factory gives us a Figma ED-209! He's too big for my old version. I'd like a RoboKane too please!

The crowning achievement of this figure, though, has to be the opening leg compartment for his gun. This is an important part of Robocop that is often not made into a figure for various reasons.

Figma has nailed it! While it's not "fully" functional, it's perfect for recreating those iconic poses.

Articulation:
The articulation is the other truly amazing part of this figure. He's just so much damn fun to fiddle around with. Robocop toys usually get a pass because Robocop didn't seem all that poseable in real life... But this one isn't a big hunk of unarticulated junk.

Robocop can finally disco dance!

Or meditate!

Or do his best Shawn Michaels impersonation!

Or even relax after using his roboweiner to rock Anne Lewis's world!

Seriously though, this guy is super poseable. The joints all move smoothly and they're not clicky like a Revoltech. They are just easy to function. Nothing strange or odd about them.

This means you can put Robocop in lots of wacky poses that you might never had imagined him in before.

But it also means you can help him hit essential Robocop poses, better than ever before. Nothing you can't do within reason with this articulation.

Accessories:
Japanese toys tend to load you down with accessories and low and behold, Figma's Robcop is no exception.

You get a total of 10 different hands. Two look nearly identical, but they are actually different stages of trigger pulling. You also get a Figma stand, a bag for your accessories (this is a nice little bag) and a battle damaged head. Not to mention the removable leg for the gun, his actual Auto 9 and a little gun blast effect.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?!?!"
The helmet just pops off to replace it with the battle damaged version. It's easy to remove, but at the same time, it's not going to fall off either.

The battle damaged helmet looks great and although there isn't a matching chest piece, you can remove parts of him to make him seem more damaged.

Like an arm!

The outer thigh pops off to reveal the inside where you can attach the opening gun leg portion. That is two separate pieces that plug in.

Note the very minor differences in these sculpts. Not necessary for some people, but quite cool to be included.

The Auto 9 is an incredible sculpt and the firing effect is decent, but a bit cumbersome to plug in.

The stand is a of a pretty high quality. It's not the best stand, but it can help you to acheive some poses. He stands fine on his own in most posing situations, though.

Everything is really well made, no cheap flexible plastic. This is all made to last.

Value:
Of course the kicker here is that this guy is at least $50 in most locations. That's certainly a lot more than a MOTUC or something you might find at retail. He's also under 6 inches, which will upset a lot of people. However, if you're a big Robocop fan, you simply can't not have this in your collection. All other Robocop figures pale in comparison and I should know, I pretty much have them all. If there continues to be more Robocop Figmas, I will be in LOVE. I can only hope we get several more figures from the Robocop films in the Figma format!

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 9
Paint - 9
Articulation - 10
Accessories - 10 Hands, Stand, Auto 9, Blast Effect, Battle Damage Head, Bag, Leg Pieces
Value - 9
Overall - 9.5 out of 10

This is not perfection... But it is close. It's as close as we've ever gotten and I'm not sure we'll ever get any closer at a price point this low. For that reason, he's very much worth it.

Sometimes you have to pay a little more, to get a little more.

If the mouth sculpt was a little tighter, the purple a little less and perhaps more blue, this guy would be perfect. As is, he's an essential for Robocop nuts like myself. Don't miss out on this one.

Your move...

Creep!

Figure Review: GI Joe Action Battler Cobra Viper

2012-01-20T03:25:00.008-05:00

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra Action Battlers
Cobra Viper
6.5 Inch Scale
By: Hasbro
$12.99 (price varies on secondary market)
More crap from the vault, this time a figure that very few people seemed to want. The Action Battlers were a strange concept from Hasbro introduced during the roll-out of Rise of Cobra movie toys. While many have labeled these the bastard sons of Sigma Six, the figures honestly seem more like giant versions of something like Imaginext. Had these actually been in scale and used the Sigma Six molds, I suspect they'd been revered as great figures. Instead, I think few if anybody picked them up.

That's where I come in at. I loved this figure from the moment I saw it. The design was similar to the smaller 3 3/4 ROC Vipers, but it had a little bit of something extra to it. The stylistic chunky design, just looked awesome to me. Despite that, I, like most, balked at the price, especially considering I knew these figures were limited in articulation.

However, when the opportunity came to army build this guy for cheap, I was all over it like white on rice. One crappy figure is just that, crappy, but a small army of them? Awesome! The real question is... Is this figure crappy at all, or is it just misunderstood?

Packaging:
The packaging is a neat little window box with a peg hook. It was surprisingly shelf friendly during it's time in the retail stores and as best as I can tell, these guys were average to slow movers. Hasbro really screwed the pooch by offering so many different ROC toys, that they muddied their own toy market.

The package is pretty nice, but it won't blow your socks off. The artwork is the best part, showing off a cartoon drawing of the Viper. That's just downright swank.

It appears in a couple of different forms on the package, to really help sell the character. It also helps make this box look nice if you're keeping him MOC and it dare i say it, seems to borrow a little bit from what we see in designer vinyl figures these days.

Sculpt/Paint:
The sculpting on this guy is pretty fantastic, with a design that definitely harkens to the smaller scale version of this Cobra Viper... But yet, does it's own thing too. Of all the Cobra Viper figures from ROC in all the scales, this is my favorite.

The alien look of the face is really highlighted in this bigger, chunkier figure. The gold and black contrasts well and although the figure doesn't have a ton of paint, the mixture of molded color plastics and paint mingle quite well to give a good representation of color depth for this toy.

A lot of people compared this to Sigma Six when it first came out, but oddly aside from the large feet, it's really not much like Sigma Six at all. The lines and angles are a lot smoother and even softer here, than the more angular Sigma Six line. Of course, I think you could recreate this figure using parts of the Sigma Six line (Shipwreck's legs for example) and have a much better figure. I really wish this WAS a Sigma Six figure.

Unfortunately, even if you wanted, this guy is nowhere near Sigma Six scale. He's 6.5 inches exactly, making him a decent fit for DCUC. His thick body actually allows him to mix it up with MOTUC or some of your favorite 7 inch lines. However, for the most part he's an oddball all his own.

The design is nice though and he looks pretty wicked. He's definitely got that softer sculpt that is designed to appeal to kids, but he doesn't look particularly "kid friendly" either. So it's a nice compromise on the aesthetic.

Articulation:
Ultimately where this figure falls down is in his articulation. He's not nearly articulated enough, BUT he's not the brick that you might think he is either. He works surprisingly well with just a few basic joints.

The Action Battler line is all about using cuts. However much like an old Kenner figure, the arms and knees are semi-bent already, allowing the cuts to give the figure a greater range of emotion with just a few simple poses. I know it's hard in the days of modern articulation to appreciate something like this, but I do.

Unfortunately all the Action Battlers have a stupid squeeze leg action, that hasn't been neat since... Actually it's NEVER been a neat toy feature. This means his arms sort of want to pop into place, but they do retain full poseability. The legs amazingly can also be rotated, though the actual "squeeze leg" is a tad bit more limited.

Accessories:
The Viper comes with his big goofy gun. It's hollow molded and it seems a bit cheap. Remember that this figure was competing with ROC figures that while smaller, were coming with TONS of accessories. It seems odd that this guy has such a weak weapon.

The gun does have two spots to hold it from and he can hold it in both hands. However, the grips on either hand is not particularly good at holding the gun. It can be held, but it's a tad looser than I'd like.

"I can raise my gun. What awesome action battling this allows me to do!"
That's it for accessories and it just seems, very light. The gun is okay at best and just sort of junk at worst. Some of the other figures had neater guns or swords, so it's really the Viper who suffers.

Value:
At around $13, this figure was horribly overpriced. You can find them for about $10-$15 now on the secondary market and that's still far too much. Remember that the awesome ROC 3 3/4 figures were about half that price at the time these came out. It boggles the mind that Hasbro would release worse figures, for more cost. Tht said, if you can pick them up for a $5 bill or so, they're nice little toys.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Paint - 6
Articulation - 4
Accessories - Gun
Value - 4
Overall - 5 out of 10

This is not a terrible figure. I really mean that. The design is sharp, the articulation although limited, is actually more poseable than you might think and the general presentation is nice. Unfortunately, the wacky action, the lack of good accessories and the price point knock this guy down to being a low average toy.

Of course if you're insane and like to army build stuff like this, the figure gets cooler with the more of these guys you have. They look good in a row or as a platoon of evil and I definitely want to pick up the Cobra Commander (who looks awesome) to lead this little gang of miscreants. The Action Battler Viper has some charm to him, despite all the flaws.

Hasbro really misfired with this line, the designs were good, but they should have been applied to a pre-existing platform like the Sigma Six line and left the gimmicks off. Trying to create another subline that had no real rhyme or reason and was saddled with uncompetitive pricing and lame gimmicks really struck the fatal blow to the Action Battlers. If you like stuff like designer vinyl or old school 1980's figures, you might warm up to this guy's charm. I did.

Sponsorship News: Browsergame-World.de

2012-01-20T00:20:00.003-05:00

Do you like browsergames? Of course you do, it seems as though everyone does these days. There are so many great broswer games out there available right now, but it's often hard to figure out where to get the best games and it's even harder to find them in German language. That's where www.browsergame-world.de comes in. They offer tons of top quality, super fun browser games for download in German language! Es ist wunderbar!

Here's a screenshot of their website just to give you an idea of what all they offer to fans across the globe, particularly those who speak German.

Doesn't it just look like a blast?

Visit their website: Browsergame-World.de for all the info and games that you need.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Toy News - January 17, 2012

2012-01-17T17:36:00.004-05:00

While I wait for Mattel to send me the monthly Q&A answers, which they've already sent out to some sites, but apprently not us... It's time for some general toy news. This is a new column, where I'll give you updates on various things.

Speaking of Mattel, today was the first on sale date for the 2012 MOTUC subscription. Do to a ton of logistics hiccups, the first figures shipping are the Star Sisters 3 pack. According to our in the field reporters, this was the first MOTUC sale in history to have no WSOD. Likewise, enthusiasm seems at an all-time low for this set of figures, especially as it arrives on the wave of various other customer service issues with Mattel. Will the Star Sisters become the worst selling MOTUC item to date? Mo-Larr sure hopes so.

Mezco Toyz have confirmed that their Earthworm Jim figure will launch in July of 2012. You may recall that Mezco originally announced this figure way back at SDCC 2011. No word on why the figure has taken nearly a year to get to market, but Mezco promises that the 6 inch scale Earthworm Jim will feature 8 points of articulation and not only with his plasma blaster, but with an alternate “bendy” unsuited worm body as well. Several websites have erroneously posted up news that Mezco is making a 3 inch Earthworm Jim. That appears to be nothing more than an error on the part of those sites.

The limited edition Knight Avenger Commander X which launched on Christmas Eve, is still for sale at the Capt'n Eli website. Remember that the figure normally retails for $19.95 but is on sale for $15 until the 15th of February. The sale is also good for all previous Commander X figures, such as 1950's Commander X. Be sure to tell them Infinite Hollywood sent you if you pick up one of these spiffy throwback figures.

3A's Ashley Wood has confirmed that the upcoming F-Legion Cyborg figure does NOT have a moustache, despite the preview pictures seemingly containing one. This will no doubt disappoint a lot of 3A fans who believed that the figure did, but likewise may please others. The moustache was the subject of much discussion and artwork during the recent 3AA membership drive (which has expired now) but the figure's full visage has yet to be seen. This exclusive is scheduled to ship in April.

Glyos has a big sale coming up this Friday where they will unleash the new Gendrone Revolution: Shock Force figures, as well as man others. These guys tend to sell out fast, so be ready to get them on Friday or else you'll be without. Full details on all the figures being released on this mission drop can be found here.

The Crystar inspired Backyard Legends: Action Figures of Yore are reportedly in the final stages of QC testing and are on target for a 2012 release. Those who originally invested in the project via Kickstarter will be the first to get their figures, with online retail variants to come. We first covered the legends back in December of 2010, so these figures are definitely long anticipated.

Figure Review: Bandai S.H. Figuarts Barnaby Brooks, Jr.

2012-01-16T11:43:00.002-05:00

S.H. Figuarts: Tiger and Bunny
Barnaby Brooks, Jr.
5-inch-ish scale
By: Bandai
$45+ Online

All is lost. I’m stuck halfway between tokusatsu and anime and the toys. My God, the toys.

It seems the Figuarts goal is to be as accurate to the source material as possible while maintaining a high amount of articulation. When you look at the characters from Tiger and Bunny, an anime about a superhero reality show in which heroes are granted points based on heroic acts, you can see that some of the designs might pose a problem in this arena. Barnaby is one-half of the superhero duo the show focuses on, so it’s essential that they nail the figure if they plan to release all 8 heroes and other characters.

Will Bandai rise to the occasion and make a highly poseable action figure with well-hidden articulation or fall prey to its own celebrity?

Let’s find out. Bonjour, heroes.

Packaging:

Barnaby (or Bunny, depending on how awesome you think Kotetsu is) features the standard window box of the Figuarts line. The character is easily seen, though the accessories are mostly packed out of sight.

One thing I like about the Figuarts figures I have is that the insert features a friction bubble over all the accessories. This way it stays locked down without the use of tape, which is great for photos and play and absolutely necessary considering the scale of many of the accessories.

I can’t tell if this little feature on the back is meant to be a joke or a feature of the figure, who has real-world corporate sponsors, but it tickles me either way.

Aesthetics:

I gotta hand it to Bandai. This figure is damn near flawless. This figure depicts Barnaby in his powered down state, which basically just means the pink Tron-like details aren’t glowing and neither are his eyes.

Bunny’s sculpt seems to feature all the requisite features of his armor in the show. One of the more interesting elements of the armor is that it’s not as complicated or segmented as most anime armor or mecha suit, instead focusing on a more aerodynamic, streamlined look. It’s very cool and very unique, with large patches of white that draw the eye as well as transparent bits here and there for flavor.

He’s basically a walking iPod.

Also included in the package are a relaxed pair of open hands and an alternate right leg to display him in his “Good Luck Mode,” a sort of super-powered up state that transforms the appendages of the users into giant robot-looking things for ultimate smackdown. According to the show, they don’t actually allow for any extra power, but look super awesome.

To swap the legs, you have to tug downward on it, which gives me serious concerns about the life of the hip joint, but so far I’ve had no issues.

Bunny’s package also includes a stand, which I believe is one of the Stage Act variety, but I’m not familiar with them enough to know which one. It’s a very pretty pink clear plastic and features his superhero name as well as his secret identity, which in this rare case happen to be the same thing.

Overall, the paint is not awful, but does seem to be laid on a pit thick in certain areas. It’s packaged with a few plastic baggies meant to protect some of these areas from rubbing together, but unfortunately mine still came right out of the box with a nice big patch of pink paint ripped off the arm and fixed solidly to his torso. This is a rather expensive toy to be dealing with paint defects, and most e-tailers won’t replace a toy for this reason, so you might want to buy from somewhere like Amazon, where it’s sure to be more expensive but who’ll replace just about anything no questions asked.

50 bucks for a five inch toy and it’s got paint rub?
Articulation:
Well he looks pretty good, all told. How does he move?

Figuarts figures are designed to move. While he’s got a lot of joints, some of them are just restricted enough to cause trouble.

Let’s do the run-down: Hinged upper neck, ball lower neck, hinged shoulder pads, ball socket inner shoulders, swivel hinge outer shoulders, swivel biceps, double hinged elbows, hinged forearm armor, ball socket wrists, ball torso, ball waist, hinged inner hips, ball socket outer hips, swivel thighs, double hinged knees, swivel ankles, hinged ankles, rocker hinged ankles, and hinged toes.

Now he can get into a lot of neat poses, from the classic Iron Man Adi Granov shot to a bare-bones sitting position, both of which are fairly convincing and allow him to be posed both dynamically for action scenes and subtly for comedic ones. In fact, his hip articulation is becoming standard for the Figuarts line and allows for a ton of motion. Basically, the hip can be pulled downward before rotation so that his kicks can go much higher than a standard ball joint would allow.

Well, that looks great! Are you just nitpicking again, Wes?

Perhaps. What problems I have with the articulation stem not from the amount of joints, which is uncanny, but from clearance and mobility issues.

For all the joints in the midsection, his ability to bend in any particular direction is extremely compromised, mostly confined to swivel action. His neck, while excellently hinged for downward motion can’t look up at all, leaving a straight-on stare as his maximum upward range. The armor that comes in around his neck renders the lower neck ball almost useless, and as you can see from the photo above, makes paint chipping on the jaws a regular danger. Finishing off with the feet is the range of the rockers. The rockers are excellently jointed, but the armor again restricts the ankle just enough that he won’t be able to stand flat-footed in extreme poses.

That being said, the inclusion of the stand does help to offset some of the issues you might face. After all, the feet are made of die-cast metal, which adds a lot of weight and stability when posed correctly. In addition, the Good Luck Mode leg is a very light plastic and jointed very similarly to the regular leg, so you can still get a lot of great poses there as well.

Barnaby thinks I’m just being a nitpicky silly goose, but for the price, I really expected a lot from this toy. This, of course, brings us to…

Value:
I picked up Barnaby Brooks, Jr. for 52.95 from ToysLogic through their Amazon store. This is about the average price for the toy. Unfortunately, it’s not average for the line, which is usually closer to 30 or 40 dollars per figure. Well he’s got the stand, which is nice, I’ll admit. I love having stands that allow for dynamic posing. He’s got the Good Luck Mode leg, an awesome addition that really looks good on him. He’s got one extra set of relaxed hands, a nice bonus for different poses. Finally, he has a swappable armor piece for his forearm which says Amazon.co.jp as his corporate sponsor.

Normally, you get a lot more hands with Figuarts toys, so the extra set they toss in kinda just make you wish you had more. The swappable armor piece is okay, unless you’re like me and didn’t even realize that he’d changed sponsors at all throughout the season and though he always had the Amazon gauntlet. More hands would have really made this set a better deal, but the inclusion of an open-masked alternate head would really have sealed the deal, especially considering he spends a good amount of time every episode with his mask open so he can talk smack about Wild Tiger.

Barnaby’s a 5” scale toy that’ll cost you at least 50 bucks. He runs on the large side for the scale due to the armor, but with the small amount of accessories, limited poseability (for the line), and less than perfect quality control, I can’t say he’s much of a value.

Score Recap:
Aesthetics: 8
Articulation: 7
Value: 4
Overall: 6.3

Remember that I just reviewed SIC Stronger and Tackle, which I paid less for and got two larger figures with better poseability and better gimmicks. Barnaby is a really solid figure, excellently represented from his animation model. However, at more than fifteen dollars higher than his fellow Figuarts figures, you should really expect a lot more for your money. I recommend this figure only to extreme Tiger & Bunny fans who plan to collect all the heroes from the line. The fact that his teammate, Wild Tiger, is notoriously difficult to obtain only adds to his plight. There should be a reissue in the spring for both figures, but I strongly doubt this highly popular anime will lend itself to discounted prices and fully expect this figure to remain at a premium for quite some time.

If you’ve got the cash and are a fan, then you’ll probably enjoy the figure quite a bit. Casual fans of the show or of toys in general should pass this one up.

Thanks for reading and as always, it’s just a toy. Open the darned thing.

Figure Review: 1/6th Scale GI Joe Snow Job

2012-01-13T15:26:00.006-05:00

GI Joe RAH 25th Anniversary 12 Inch
Snow Job
12 Inch Scale
By: Hasbro
$15 (price varies on secondary market)
Sometimes I forget how long I hold on to stuff before I review it. This figure came out in early to mid 2009 and was technically part of the 25th Anniversary figures that Hasbro was doing for Joe at the time. In addition to the 3 3/4 inch figures, they began doing larger 12 inch figures of familiar RAH characters. It certainly wasn't the first time they tried to bridge the gap between 12 inch and 3 3/4 inch fans, but it was probably the best effort.

Yes, that means I've been sitting on this guy for about 3 years. We just had a big snow, so I decided it was finally time to unearth this guy from his plastic tomb. I really liked the effort that Hasbro was putting into their 12 inch figures at the time, as it was one of the few occasions where I found myself compelled to pick some up. Unfortunately, Rise of Cobra happened and just as it neutered the 3 3/4 25th Anniversary line, it straight up killed the 12 inch incarnation. Shame too, because they were planning a Crimson Guard figure (which did see limited release as a con exclusive) that was easily the best 12 inch RAH figure EVER produced. But at least we got this pretty cool Snow Job out of the whole ordeal.

I have a unique history with Snow Job. Since he was one of the earliest Joes released (arriving in the second wave) I had him in my collection practically from the beginning. However, one snowy day of play saw Snow Job get lost and presumably to never return. In fact Snow Job was mysteriously absent in my backyard for several years, until one faithful day when we were doing some remodeling and tore down our old shed.

At the time we had a couple of sheds and the old shed was never used, full of scrap lumber and such. There inside was Snow Job, with all his gear, sitting there as he had been for literally years through the harsh weather environments. As it turned out, I had stuck Snow Job into the shed through a rusted out side portion which probably had made for a perfect snow cave during the original day of play. Needless to say, Snow Job was back into the fold, after being "on assignment" for several years.

It was fun at the time to get Snow Job back and he instantly moved up my ranks as an important character. Normally he would be the kind of guy who you didn't use much, but given his ordeal, he became quite important to me. The 12 inch 2009 version while different, is quite a bit in resemblance to the classic incarnation of the character, so when I saw him on the shelves, I just had to have him.

Packaging:
The packaging is sort of unique in that it's a typical blister card with a peg hook like you might have seen on a smaller Joe, but it's also a bit like a window box too. It has a full box side and could also be displayed standing up. Some stores had these on hooks, others had them stacked in rows like a box.

The package itself isn't too impressive, but it's nice enough. It has a great big GI Joe RAH logo on the side and some general green graphics all about. The back has your bio card type information, but no official bio card. It also shows the other figures in this wave, which was the last wave of these particular figures.

I should note that the inside packaging has this great arctic display. It looks like some sort of base, perhaps a Soviet Cobra base that Snow Job is sneaking into. The art comes out perfect and isn't damaged at all, so you could use it for display or perhaps for a 3 3/4 dio scene if you wanted. I really liked it, so I wanted to show it off. This art is practially invisible when Snow Job is in the package, but it's quite nice.

Sculpt/Paint:
Through the years Snow Job has only ever had seven smaller scale versions and the majority of those have been repaints. While a lot of the Snow Jobs look similar, I'd say this one is mostly based off his original incarnation.

Right off the bat, he disappoints a lot of 1/6 scale collectors because he has the molded on shirt. They think that looks cheap. Certainly it was created to help Hasbro save a few bucks, but I actually think it works pretty well on Snow Job. He needs a coat, mind you, but the undershirt could be made of plastic as far as I'm concerned.

The original Snow Job didn't wear a helmet (in fact no Snow Job but this one ever has) but it actually works pretty well as a replacement for his puffy coat's hood. The goggles help to complete the look. His shirt has the name "Snow Job" on it.

Underneath he has a great gruff sculpt, just as you'd expect from Snow Job. We've only ever seen his face in plastic form a few times, but this one is nearly identical to his small scale 25th counterpart, only a lot better. He has the trademark scar that Joe always has in his 12 inch versions and he definitely has an Adventure Team sort of feel to him.

He's also got a GI Joe logo on his sleeve. Overall I think it's a pretty good look, but you definitely get the vibe that he'd look fantastic with an overcoat. I plan on picking one up for him, eventually. It'll make him look complete, I just know it. It's a shame Hasbro couldn't afford to put one in there for him.

Now enjoy this mini-adventure with Snow Job!

The cold is unforgiving, but Snow Job knows that only he can locate the Cobra base. The rumor is that the base has an important part of the weather dominator inside it. Cobra specifically chose this region of the country to hide the device, knowing that no one would dare venture out into this frozen tundra.

Just 200 yards away, a lone Cobra Trooper stands guard protecting the polar weather dominator. He thinks for a moment that he sees something out there in the whiteout... No, it can't be. He shivers, wondering why he ever got involved with this group.

Finally Snow Job arrives, but he notices a Cobra Trooper. Intel told him that this place wouldn't have guards. He's not prepared for a battle...

But he's a GI JOE! He only needs the element of surprise as a weapon! Snow Job was rarely stealth, but on this day, he would have made Snake Eyes proud.

The battle is swift, Snow Job is victorious. Now to dismantle the polar weather dominator. Does Joe succeed? The adventure continues, YOU DECIDE!

Articulation:
The articulation is the same as other 12 inch figures from this era such as the Rise of Cobra Destro which I reviewed way back when. If you want a diagram of the articulation, you can check out that old review.

Needless to say it pales in comparison to say a Sideshow or Hot Toys body in terms of articulation. Of course, you should remember that these are aimed more at kids. Hasbro does actually have a "super articulated" body, but they haven't been using it much and it did not appear at all in this line.

For my money, the articulation is pretty darn good. Yeah it's less than most bodies, but it's still quite poseable. Certainly better than those old Hall of Fame bodies. The main issue is actually in the hands.

The hands are pretty neat as the trigger finger and the rest of the fingers (three as a solid piece) move on a hinge joint. This is great for gripping stuff, but unfortunately the fingers just aren't curled enough, so more often than not this ends up as a pretty loose grip. It's a shame because this is a good piece of innovation on Hasbro's part, but it just doesn't quite work as well as it should.

Also, I should note that for whatever reason everybody shares these fingerless glove molds. Hasbro apparently never molded a fully gloved hand. For most people, even Snake Eyes, it's okay, but it's kind of silly for Snow Job. I would have settled for the regular hands, but painted to look like gloves. I mean, it's cheaping out either way.

Accessories:
Snow Job has quite a few accessories. This may have been one of the reasons that they couldn't afford to do a coat, as they have given him a fair amount to work with here. I can appreciate that, and if nothing else Snow Job is a good figure to kit out your winter warriors with.

You get the removable helmet and goggles (as well as pants you perv) and rubber boots. The boots are particularly rubbery and not very hard at all like most Hasbro boots. You also get a gun, two skis and ski poles. Plus his webgear.

Skiing, pronounced She-ing, is a sport that appeals especially to the rugged, wide awake, out of doors individual.
The skis attach via a neat little strap and opening boot holder. It works REALLY well and you don't have to worry about the skis falling off. You can also hide the strap under the pants, I'm just showing it here so you can see it.

The rifle is big, but not too big not to be realistic. It has a missile launcher made into it, but again, it's pretty well hidden. This is a gun that they would have used in the RAH toon, so it's a good fit.

The only issue is that you can't have him hold the gun and his ski poles. He needs somewhere to store the rifle. I suppose you could rig something up with the webgear, but it's worth noting. Also be careful of those ski poles, I dropped them in the snow a few times (hand grip issues) and nearly lost them!

Value:
At the $12-$15 these originally retailed for, they were a pretty good deal. Some figures could pass as complete and in a pinch, even with a molded shirt, I don't think Snow Job is too bad. If you threw a coat on this guy, he'd be pretty much perfect. This is what I like to think of as a base figure and with a few bucks and some extra gear, you could kit him out to be a perfect Snow Job. If you like the character and the scale, he's not a bad pick up, but I wouldn't pay over $20 for him in today's market.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Paint - 6
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Skis, Ski Poles, Rifle, Helmet, Webgear, Goggles
Value - 7
Overall - 7 out of 10

If Snow Job had a coat, I'd feel comfortable bumping this guy up to an 8, perhaps even an 8.5 or so. However, without that coat, he's just an average figure. Not great, but not as terrible as some 1/6th scale fans might have you believe. Hasbro has a great winter coat pattern too, which would look great on this figure. If I track one down, I'll post up an updated photo of this guy.

Hasbro's 12 inch figures, particularly the RAH versions are hardly perfect. However Snow Job is a great little start on what could be an awesome figure. I'm glad to have him in my collection and he's a lot of fun to have out in the snow.

Video Review: WWRp F'ed Up Jungle Battle 2 Pack

2012-01-12T02:29:00.004-05:00

Wesitron drops another swank video review on you, this time with three times the fun. It's the 3A F'ed Up Jungle Battle 2 Pack. This is a hefty video review, so it's broken into three separate videos. The other two behind the cut!

Packaging Review Video:

Angry Jungler Dropcloth Review Video:

Enjoy 20+ minutes of 3A video goodness! Now that's F'ed up!

Sponsorship News: Disney Movie Club

2012-01-11T22:13:00.001-05:00

Ah, Disney Movies, just saying that phrase conjures up a lot of memories for most of us. Who doesn't love them? I'm always torn on what's my favorite Disney movie, as Beauty and the Beast was always one of my favorites, but Lion King is right up there too. Of course that's not including all the Pixar films, which are in a league of their own. It's hard not to like Disney movies and although some of the older films have become "girls" movies in recent years, I always had a soft spot for those films as well. The Little Mermaid was for boys too, darn it!

Plus Disney is responsible for all kinds of classic older films that aren't just cartoons. You know like The AbsentMinded Professor, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and many others. What you might not know and is one of my personal movie night tips, is that for very little money you can get access to tons of Disney films via the Disney Movie Club!

The Disney Movie Club is an archive of awesome, which allows you to access a bunch of your favorite films and allows you to share them with your friends or family on movie nights. I can imagine it'd be a great way to introduce youngsters to some of the classics. Perhaps their most amazing offer right now is for new members where you can get 4 Disney DVDs for only $1.00 total, plus free shipping and handling! That's just insane in terms of discount savings.

Visit their website: Disney Movie Club for all the info and tell them Infinite Hollywood sent ya!

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Sponsorship News: Walgreens Prescription Savings Club

2012-01-11T21:01:00.002-05:00

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

For decades Walgreens has become the name you know and trust to get your medical supplies and prescriptions filled. Walgreens has more 24 hour locations than any other pharmacy in the country. Walgreens is always seeking to help out it's clients with the best, most affordable and efficient services to get prescriptions filled. Unfortunately that also means coming at odds with businesses like Express Script who have recently refused to renew their contract with Walgreens, despite Walgreens working to keep the relationship fruitful to those who need it. You can read more about the issue here: Walgreens and Express Script.

The good news is that Walgreens is planning on expanding some discounts to users who formerly used Express Script and now want to continue to have those Walgreens benefits. Their Walgreens Prescription Savings Club is now being offered for $10 a year for a family membership which covers everything from you, your spouse and any children under 22 and even PETS! Also if you are a single person it's only $5 per individual. You will receive discounts on your prescriptions filled through Walgreens. Plus savings on over 8,000 brand name and generic medications.

So what exactly is happening with Walgreens and Express Script? Express Script wanted to change the terms of their contracts as they saw fit and consistently held back Walgreens from being able to perform it's services most efficiently, including blocking certain 90-day refill forms. Walgreens tried to negotiate and keep prices down without cutting any services, but Express Script would not play ball. Now Express Script will likely see it's rates and prices rise, because they won't have the confidence and competitive pricing of Walgreens.

Remember that only Walgreens patients with prescription insurance plans through Express Scripts are going to be effected. You should check with your local Walgreens pharmacist to find out if your plan is impacted and see if you can sign up for the Walgreens Prescription Savings Plan to help offset the difference.

In addition, be sure to follow Walgreens on Twitter and like Walgreens on Facebook for discounts, news and information about any future Walgreens promotions.

Figure Review: Batman Action League Chemo vs Batman

2012-01-11T17:50:00.005-05:00

Batman: Brave & The Bold Action League
Chemo vs Batman
2 Inch Scale
By: Mattel
$9.99
From the vault of crap I bought a year and a half ago but haven't reviewed yet, comes these Batman: Brave & The Bold Action League guys! I've reviewed a few Action Leaguers, but never this set. I think I got this on Christmas clearance a year ago, but don't quote me on that. Needless to say it's been collecting dust for months now and it's time I crack her open!

I love big translucent figures, so I originally wanted the DCUC Chemo. Of course, as per the norm for DCUC, I could never track down half the figures in the wave. So I settled for this little guy, who cost a fraction of the price and has that cool Scooby Doo vibe about him. Plus that Batman reminds me of one of the old Kenner Batman color variants, which I have a soft spot for.

Packaging:
The package is your standard window box, which was pretty typical for the vehicles and larger villains of this line. It's bright, colorful and continues that 60's Batman vibe that the show itself had. I also like that the inner cardboard is the streets of Gotham, to help seem like they're battling it out in the package.

The back shows off a bunch of other figures in the series, which I think was the last of this series before the line transformed over into a generic DC line and not Brave & The Bold. Honestly I don't think these figures ever saw a true release and if they did, it was brief. I never saw any of them on the shelf. Too bad, I would have picked up a few.

Sculpt/Paint:
You have to like the design to like these figures. I know I've went round and round with collectors on these. Personally, I loved the aesthetic here. It fit the Brave & the Bold show, yet it also did it's own thing. Your mileage may vary, but I think they're four kinds of awesome.

Chemo is the star and he looks fantastic. I love translucent figures and Chemo really pops in this small scale. He's a very basic design, but is also quite faithful to his origins as well. He's top notch. As mentioned up top, something about him just screams Scooby Doo.

Batman has all the spunk and personality of his previous incarnations, but now in bright orange colors. Some folks hate multi-colored Batman, but to me it's a big part of Batman's history. When he encounters a unique villain, he pulls out one of his 900 rainbow colored suits and adapts to the situation... Or at least that's what he did when I was kid.

Up until I opened this guy today, I assumed he was a repaint of the basic Batman, but in fact I just found out that he's a rocket pack Batman. Don't respond telling me his official name, I don't care. The point is, this guy has a rocket pack on his back, to help him fight Chemo. Groovy.

Mattel deserves some credit here too, as they didn't just slap some orange paint on him (or perhaps more accurately, mold him in orange) but they actually gave some black throughout to make the costume look unique. He's also got some cool circles o his gloves, which I imagine heat up with radiation and send plasma pulses when he punches people.

Together these two guys are a TON of fun. Perfect for the desktop or long rides in the car to your Aunt's house. These sure as heck beat some Hot Wheels in my book and I can't imagine any kid or grown ass manchild not enjoying them on some level.

While the sculpting and paint is minimal for both, where it's at is quite well done. It's not something that they just glossed over, the put some time and attention into the parts, particularly Chemo. There isn't a lot of paint throughout, but the paint that's there has pretty clean lines and such.

Chemo is quite big too, perhaps the biggest figure in this line? He pretty much dwarfs Grodd and friends.

I actually think you could use him pretty seamlessly with the Imaginext bad guys.

Articulation:
The articulation is pretty standard for the line, but Chemo has a few more points than you might expect.

Chemo has cuts at the top of his head, the shoulders, his waist, both wrists and both feet. It's not a Revoltech or anything, but you can get a lot of different little smashing poses out of this dude.

Batman is the same as previous Batman figures with a cut at the neck, shoulders and waist. Less you can do with him, but he stands up well... So that's a plus!

They're limited, but the cuts actually work well with the style. As I said before, great desktop toys!

Accessories:
Nothing. Neither figure is sculpted to hold any weapons, so they don't come with any.

Value:
This set ran from $10 to about $15, with most stores coming down around the side of $12. I picked them up for $10 or less which I think is a fantastic value all things considered. Unfortunately, I sort of lost interest with this line as the switch over to regular DC came with a price hike. The regular size two packs now run about $8-$9 which is just rich for my blood. Plus I can rarely ever find the things. Imagine that, a Mattel toy that's hard to find and costs too much. At $6 I'd buy these all day long.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 8
Paint - 6
Articulation - 6
Accessories - N/A
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10

I was torn on the score here, because for what they are they're pretty wicked, but in comparison to other toys on the market, they're hardly amazing. Ultimately I think these fall enough into a catagory of their own that they can't be put up against a GI Joe or a DCUC figure, so I'm going with a pretty solid 8 on the pair.

This hasn't been on store shelves in over a year, so if you want to track one down Ebay is probably your best bet. Get them before they get you! Coming soon, more crap I should have reviewed years ago!

Video Review: Modern Thundercats 6" Cheetara

2012-01-10T11:14:00.001-05:00

It's Modern Cheetara! She was hanging out around Walmart, but now she's in my clutches!

Classic Comic Ad: Mighty Crusaders at K-Mart!

2012-01-09T11:10:00.003-05:00

There used to be a great time when we had secondary "major" toy companies like Remco. I love all the old Remco stuff, as some of it was really cool. Remco was the kind of company that would license AWA to make toys or in this case, give the Mighty Crusaders a bunch of figures. On the surface it doesn't make sense, but underneath was some pretty cool figures.

Certainly these weren't a hit and you can tell by this comic ad, which advertises they were only going to be at K-Mart as a likely part of the problem. Of course you have to remember that when these came out, appearing at K-Mart was a pretty big deal. Remco had a lot of great lines though, even if they were all short lived and while this classic ad isn't that exciting, it does explain all the figures in the series and give you a lot of information.

I miss toy ads like this in comics. I remember when I first discovered that there were X-Men figures, via a comic ad. I imagine someone was just as excited as I was, when they saw this Mighty Crusaders ad just a few years before. I don't think comics even run toy ads now, it's all deodorant and power drinks these days.

Sponsorship News: Pimp My Cube Contest

2012-01-08T03:00:00.002-05:00

This post brought to you by Contest Factory. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you have a crappy workspace? Is your boss making you spend your days in a drab, dreary and downright depressing cubicle of doom? Then enter the Pimp My Cube Contest and get a chance to change your cubicle into the cube crib of royalty! Winning this contest will allow you to pimp your cubicle in an all new way. You could become the quintessential studmuffin (or studdette muffin) of the office with this prize package.

All you have to do is send in a video explaining why your cubicle is the worst, then send it off to be judged. You should try to make your video humourous and let everyone know why your cubicle is in desperate need of being pimped. It's just that easy! Register at the Pimp My Cube website, send in your video and encourage your friends to do so as well! The contest is only going from 12/5/11 at 12:00PM to 1/31/12 at 12:00PM, but there's only a few entries right now, so you've got a huge chance to win!

And you can win all sorts of great stuff. The second prize is a $200 gift card, but the main prize is worth over $1200! New chairs, new computer and all sorts of accouterments to make you pimping in the office. Don't you want to be the biggest pimp in all of the workplace? Visit the PMC website for more information about how you can win and the complete contest listings, rules and information.

The better the story and video, the better chance you have to win the big prize. Make it funny, make it good, then reap the rewards! You heard it here first, now go out there and document that pathetic cubicle and then win big!

GI Joe Adventure Team ATV Restoration Project

2012-01-05T15:14:00.004-05:00

Here's a little project for the new year that I thought I should post about. In recent years I've fallen in love with the GI Joe Adventure Team. I'm not sure why, but something about it I love. I suspect it's all the beards and manliness! Anyway, about a year and a half ago I purchased my first Adventure Team vehicle, the infamous ATV.

I got a good deal on the thing, but it was in some rough shape. Hardly destroyed, but "well played". Having never owned one of these before, first I must say how taken back I was by the size of this thing when it arrived. These are not small vehicles. Immediately I began to clean it.

The nice thing about these old vehicles is that they were built to last. Hasbro deserves a lot of credit, because this thing had clearly seen some serious playtime and yet despite a few minor issues, it was by and large, still in great shape. It just needed some loving. If there's anything I'm good at, it's loving.

After a long soak and plenty of scrubbing, I found that this was not going to be easy. Some kid, perhaps 30 years ago, had taken this thing out in the rain and through the mud. There was lots of mud caked on the inside of the vehicle. If I was going to make the outside look nice, I might as well clean up the inside. I slowly took the ATV apart and again, cleaned it thoroughly.

The project began to take a backseat, as I struggled literally with the seat. The seat was warped and try as I might, I could not get the seat to be unwarped. I tried heating it, resetting it, clamping it, nothing seemed to work. In addition, I found a real issue with the stickers. While they were hard to get off, once they were removed there was a ghosting effect, which showed up on the plastic. This meant even when she was clean, I could still see where the stickers had been.

I had purchased repro stickers, so you would think that wouldn't be a problem. However, the original stickers placement was off, which meant the best I could do was place new stickers in the same cockeyed spots as before. I was officially confuddled as to what to do.

I was a bit stumped at first on how to get rid of the faded sticker look. I was close to consider painting it, but sought out the advice of some Joe veterans. Thankfully others have had the same issue and told me to try some Meguiar's PlastX. I buffed it with that, using nothing but my hands and a soft cloth and eventually I had that baby shining like a mirror.

I've been told that you could actually use some sandpaper on this, but it really didn't seem necessary as scratches were minor and most of the issues buffed out. Of course, you can still see where some of the stickers had been, but not nearly as bad as before and all that extra shine tends to take your focus off of them... Ohh look, shiny... Where was I?

Never leave screws on the floor. That's a dummy move!
This all took place over the course of a couple months. Since I had stuggled a bit with taking the ATV apart originally, I left her in pieces. Vowing to reassemble it only when all the parts were ready. Also in my infinite wisdom, I decided that the basement floor would be a good place to leave the screws. It was for several months, until my girlfriend finally decided to clean up that area and of course, my screws were gone.

More issues, no resolutions. Figuring all hope was lost, the project was once again shelved. I was certain I was going to have search out either another junk ATV or try my best to find matching screws for the one I had. Finally I decided to ask around to see if anyone knew what size screws the ATV took (seeing as how I didn't have even a single one to compare) and once again I was helped out, this time by 3rd Sons Books who sent me a set of ATV screws! Free of charge! I've learned there are some truly great folks in the Vintage Joe Community.

Now we were back in business. Only one problem... I had lost my reproduction stickers. Given that it had been months since I first started this project and I had moved in the interim, I thought for sure they were as lost as some missing Idol the Adventure Team would have tracked down in the 70's. Amazingly, my detective skills are uncanny and I found them and quickly applied them to the new and improved ATV in fear that I might misplace them again and have to bestow the completion of this project on to my as of yet unborn children.

Next came the seat installation, but it STILL was warped. Less so than originally, but far from where I wanted it. I tried some Carter's Loctite Adhesive and clamped it down, but sure enough it eventually broke free and returned to it's warped shape. So close and yet so far. Eventually I settled for a combination of Loctite and Super Glue. "Eureka," I shouted as if I was Old Zeke, the aged prospector who has a penchant for falling into crevices. This concoction took hold and she was all ready for her big debut.

But it's been raining and nasty for a while so I never did get to take her out for a spin. Until today. Yes, there's still some issues. I'm missing the tie down racks, most importantly. I'll get around to getting them sooner or later as they're only about $7 for a repro. I also didn't apply all of the stickers, as the sticker set I have doesn't have the "Adventure Team Vehicle" sticker in clear, but rather in yellow which would be in contrast to the yellow of the ATV.

Regardless, here's the finished product!

Still I'm pretty proud of the finished product, as it turned into quite the adventure in itself. I learned a lot along the way and I now know what to do in the future when I have some of these issues. I will be buying another ATV or perhaps a Trouble Shooter in the future and maybe I'll even do a custom job on one... But for now, my Adventure Team has a means of conveyance and man, it's a sweet ride!

2011 in Toy Reviews

2012-01-03T16:42:00.006-05:00

2011 is officially in the books and it proved to be the most active year in reviews yet for Infinite Hollywood. Thanks no doubt in part to some staff growth (huh huh, he said staff growth) and a variety of great toys released this year, we managed to do a staggering 140 different toy reviews. I bet at least two or three of them were pretty good too!

Amazingly that doesn't include any Spotlight On segments which often highlighted opened toys or classic figures. Nor does it include stuff like Infinite Cuisine or Video Reviews. This is simply a list of basic reviews, for your pleasure.

This year saw a huge increase in Pro Wrestling, Video Game and MOTUC figure reviews on the site. In addition, we had a massive ton of Miscellaneous Toy reviews. Proving once again that Infinite Hollywood is the place to visit if you're looking for offbeat and interesting toys. Will 2012 prove to be the year of even more action figure reviews? We hope you join us to find out!

Pro Wrestling Figure Reviews:
TNA Micro Impact Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed Figure Review
Deluxe Classic Ric Flair Figure Review
WWE Legends Hacksaw Jim Duggan Figure Review
WWE Legends "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff Figure Review
WCW Thunder Champions Figure Review
WWE Elite 5 Vladamir Kozlov Figure Review
WWE Defining Moments Ultimate Warrior Figure Review
WWE Defining Moments Randy Savage Figure Review
WWE Elite 6 CM Punk Figure Review
WWE Elite 6 Goldust Figure Review
TNA Deluxe Kevin Nash Figure Review
WWE Legends Kamala Figure Review
WWE Classic Superstars 2 Pack Bobby Heenan & Abe Knuckleball Schwartz Figure Review
WWE Legends Akeem Figure Review
WWE Legends Rick Martel Figure Review
WWE Entrance Greats Undertaker Figure Review
WWE Elite 9 Zack Ryder Figure Review
WWE Basic Vladamir Kozlov Figure Review
TNA Genesis AJ Styles Figure Review
WWE Basic Extreme Rules Sheamus Figure Review

Doctor Who Figure Reviews
Peri & Sil Figure Review
11th Doctor with Fez Figure Review
3rd Doctor and Giant Maggots Figure Review
7th Doctor and Imperial Dalek Figure Review
Kiss-O-Gram Amy Pond Figure Review
Time Lords Spinning Tardis Review
Amy Pond Figure Review
11th Doctor Character Building Micro Figure Review
Red Dalek & Cyberman Character Building Micro Figure Review
Series 5 River Song Figure Review
Pandorica Guard Cyberman Figure Review
Face of Evil Leela Figure Review
BifBangPow 4th Doctor Figure Review

Gamera Figure Reviews
Revoltech Gamera 1996 G2 Figure Review
Revoltech Legion Figure Review
Revoltech Gyaos 1967 Figure Review
Revoltech Gamera 1967 Figure Review
Revoltech Gamera 1995 Figure Review
Revoltech Gyaos 1995 Figure Review
Trendmasters Viras Figure Review
Trendmasters Guiron Figure Review

UFC Figure Reviews
UFC Legends Mark Coleman Figure Review
Pride Rampage Jackson Figure Review
UFC Legends Don Frye Figure Review

Video Game Figure Reviews
NECA Crysis 2 Alcatraz Figure Review
McFarlane Halo Reach Kat Figure Review
NECA Assassin's Creed 2 Ezio Figure Review
Custom Karnov Figure Review
NECA Dead Space 2 Isaac Clarke Figure Review
Castle Crashers Red Knight Figure Review
Onimusha 2 Yagyu Jubei Figure Review
NECA Duke Nukem Forever Figure Review
Minimates Halo Warthog Review
NECA Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver Raziel Figure Review

1/6 Scale Figure Reviews
Sideshow Star Wars Momaw Nadon Figure Review
Puppet Master Decapitron Figure Review
Walmart Repro Adventure Team Sea Adventurer Figure Review
Sideshow Frankenstein Figure Review
Hasbro/Kenner Universal Monsters Imhotep Mummy Figure Review

Mighty World Figure Reviews:
Mighty World Hazmat Unit Figure Review
Mighty World Light & Sound K-9 Unit Figure Review
Mighty World Ken's Kayak Adventure Figure Review
Mighty World Dean The Highway Patrolman Figure Review

DC Comics Figure Reviews
Action League Superman & Bizarro Figure Review
Imgainext Green Lantern & Lantern Jet Figure Review
Blammoids Sinestro Figure Review
Happy Meal Brave & The Bold Penguin, Batman & Batmobile Review
SDCC DCUC Swamp Thing Figure Review
Green Lantern Classics Naut Kei Loi/Medphyll Figure Review

Marvel Comics Figure Reviews
Marvel Select Thing Figure Review
Captain America Deluxe Hydra Soldier Figure Review
Marvel Universe Thor Figure Review

Masters of the Universe Figure Reviews
MOTUC Vikor Figure Review
MOTUC Eternian Palace Guards Figure Review
MOTUC King Hss Figure Review
MOTUC Sy-Klone Figure Review
MOTUC Battle Armor Skeletor Figure Review
MOTUC Panthor Figure Review
MOTUC Catra Figure Review
MOTUC Megator Figure Review
MOTUC Man-E-Faces Figure Review
MOTUC Queen Marlena Figure Review
MOTUC Clawful Figure Review
MOTUC Battleground Teela Figure Review
MOTUC Faceless One Figure Review
MOTUC Leech Figure Review
MOTUC Hurrican Hordak Figure Review
MOTUC Faceless One Figure Review
MOTUC Faceless One Figure Review

Power Ranger Figure Reviews:
Samurai Fire Power Ranger Figure Review
Power Rangers Jungle Fury Retrofire Jungle Pride Megazord Figure Review
Power Rangers Super Legends RPM Wolf Ranger Figure Review

Lego Reviews
Lego Hero Factory EV 2.0 Figure Review
Lego City 2011 Advent Calendar Review

Miscellaneous Toy Reviews
M.A.R.S. Heroes 3 Pack Figure Review
NERF N-Strike Barrel Break IX-2 Review
Quick Change Robots Figure Review
Trans-Robots Gator Figure Review
Imaginext Robot Police Villain Figure Review
Deep Fried Figures Bionic Bjoern Figure Review
Air Craft Intruder Robot Figure Review
Revoltech Fraulein Pocco Figure Review
Minimates Max Special Ops & Law Enforcement Figure Review
Star Wars Clone Wars Aqua Droid Figure Review
Filter Kings Major Throckmorton Figure Review
GI Joe Rise of Cobra Canceled Target Deluxe Figures Review
Paas Mini Monsters Egg Dye Kit Review
Beserk Guts The Black Swordsman Figure Review
My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle & Rainbow Dash Figure Review
Space Explorers Mantis Figure Review
Tenchi Masaki Figure Review
Space 1999 Number 8 Figure Review
Burger King Megatron Flip Out Figure Review
Imaginext Winged Lion & Knight Figure Review
Transformers Dark of the Moon Powerglide and Blackout Figure Review
NECA The Crow Eric Draven Figure Review
NECA Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Figure Review
Kidrobot Simpsons Marge & Homer Figure Review
Thundercats Modern Lion-O Figure Review
SDCC Blazing Sword Voltron Figure Review
Playskool Heroes Star Wars Jedi Force Darth Vader & Stormtrooper Figure Review
Playmobile Blind Bag Figure Review
GI Joe Snarler Cycle w/Rollbar & Beachhead Figure Review
Transformers Dark of the Moon Shockwave Figure Review
NECA Robocop Figure Review
Monster Mash Mr. Potato Head Figure Review
NECA Gremlins 2 Mohawk Figure Review
Army of Darkness Ash and Deadite Scout Collector's Club Bloody Variant Figure Review
$1 Magician Play Pack Review
Walking Dead Comic B&W Rick Grimes Figure Review
Mezco Mez-Itz Pirates Figure Review
Ben 10 Vinyl Aggregor Figure Review
NECA Trick r' Treat Sam Figure Review
Playmobil Pirate Dinghy Review
Blue Hair Frankenstein Figure Review
Jun Planning Pumpkin King Figure Review
Muppets Sweetums Figure Review
Vinyl Pop Bumble Figure Review
SIC Kamen Rider Stronger & Tackle Figure Review
Toy Story 3 Sunnyside Rescue Pack Review

Figure Review: Doctor Who BifBangPow 4th Doctor

2011-12-30T01:56:00.005-05:00

Doctor Who
4th Doctor
8 Inch Scale
By: BifBangPow
$20.00
It's a great time to be a Doctor Who fan, as the show seems to be reaching a high point in terms of popularity and that's translating into a lot of product on the shelves. For decades fans of Who were left with rather subpar toys and now not only do we have great import toys from Character Options, we also have for likely the first time ever, American companies making Doctor Who toys!

BifBangPow is a little company that has been making niche toys for several years now. BifBangPow teamed up with EMCE toys about a year or so ago to form a relationship where BBP would use the designs made famous by Doc Mego, but crank out a variety of new licensed product. The toys have had mixed success within many collectors circles and some of the license choices have frustrated certain sects of toy collectors.

However, BifBangPow has provided some incredible product and have slowly built up a catalogue of products and licenses leading to what ultimately has become a surge in the new Mego-like toys market. This has led BBP to arguably their biggest license to date, Doctor Who! This brand is not foreign to having Mego style figures as in the 1980's Deny's Fisher, a UK branch off of Mego made a short lived Mego Doctor Who line. However those figures were not in the classic Mego scale and were not readily available here in the United States.

Now twenty plus years later BifBangPow has given Doctor Who the classic Mego treatment and have brought Who to our shores in a way never thought possible before. I've fallen behind on Doctor Who figure reviews this year but it's where we've often specialized here at Infinite Hollywood, so let's close out the year with some more Who-goodness. Can this Who compare to the classic brands and is it worth your time and money? Read on to find out!

Packaging:
Mego often had charming packaging with neat art on simple bubble cards. BifBangPow and several of the other companies making these style of figures have often replicated those types of packages with varying success. However, with Doctor Who, BBP has sort of done their own thing and while it definitely has a classic Mego feel to it, it also feels very Doctor Who-ey as well.

The result is a fantastic card that is far and away my favorite modern Mego type of card to date. It's simple, but sleek and appropriate. I could totally see this on the shelves in the 1970's or 80's and yet ti looks perfect on the shelves today! It's rare that I find a toy I want to keep in the package because it's so nice, but this is one of those times.

The back has all the appropriate info and shows off some of the other figures in the series. It also has some other Doctors listed, hinting that perhaps BBP will make other classic Doctors as well. I also like that the 4th Doctor has an inner tray holding him upright, and that does wonders for making the figure not slouch or get beat around like many of the other figures that are loose in these packages so often have issues with.

Sculpt:
BBP has had pretty good success with capturing likeness in this scale for some time. In fact if anything, they've often had figures that looked a bit too realistic for what Mego used to do. I'm happy to report that they've hit a homerun with the 4th Doctor as he's unmistakably Tom Baker, but he also has a bit of a toy look to him. It's a perfect medium!

Some of the early BBP "Mego" figures suffered from ghost face syndrome. That is to say that their heads were cast in a nearly transparent vinyl color that made them especially pasty and stand out from the color of the rest of the skin. Thankfully the Doctor Who line doesn't seem to suffer from this problem and although the good Doctor is a bit pasty, his head skin tone matches his body's skin tone.

The face is sort of a blank stare, but I appreciate that. This Doctor can be in any variety of poses and not look out of place. It's better than having a big grin or something, which will only look good in certain poses. This is the 4th Doctor doing one of his stoic, deep thoughts. It's nearly identical to the first Character Options 4th Doctor figure's alternate head.

"Doctor, you've been to the future... Tell me, how do they remember me?"
The costume is always important on a small scale figure like this, especially since they use soft goods. Again BBP has soared beyond expectations, as the 4th Doctor has all his patented attire on and it's quite colorfol and vibrant.

The most important part of any 4th Doctor outfit is the scarf and this one is appropriately gigantic! It's quite a bit bigger than the Doctor himself. It can be a bit hard to figure out how to wrap it around him properly, but it's really a nice piece.

I think it looks better than the classic Deny's Fisher brand Doctor, but at the same time there were elements of that figure which were better... Like the hat!

Underneath the Doctor has his waistcoat which is a separate piece, but one that is actually connected to the shirt underneath. So essentially, it can open like a vest, but you won't be removing it. He has nice rubber shoes and brown pants. The quality on the clothes is pretty good and appropriate for this style of figure where hyper-details are not necessary.

He also comes with a hat. I'm not going to lie... It's a mess. The Mego scale of heads have often been a bit too big and the Doctor suffers a bit from this. BBP tried to compensate by making his hat even bigger, to help sit on the curly afro of Tom Baker.

It doesn't work at all. It looks gigantic, it doesn't sit properly and honestly even the sculpt looks a bit too "cowboy hat" for some reason. Deny's Fisher was able to make their Doctor with a removable hat back in the day, but BBP just couldn't replicate it. Supposedly they were working on this problem, but I guess they never could find a solution.

So yeah, the hat sucks. It's not the end of the world, just don't display him with the hat. My hopes is that BBP will release a version with a hat sculpted on, or rescale the head in future 4th Doctor releases. If not, it is what it is. You could possibly cut some of his hair away and glue the hat down, but I'm not brave enough to try it.

Articulation:
Mego and Mego clones tend to have a decent amount of articulation. The one area that they're really lacking is a swivel joint for the arm. Of course, ball joined heads and thigh swivels would help as well. What you're left with is a cut neck, some rubber band ball joint shoulders and legs, as well as swivel hinge wrists, hinge knees, elbows and ankles.

BifBangPow actually had an EMCE body made with swivel arms, but for some reason the 4th Doctor didn't get them. It's not a huge deal and to be honest, EMCE's swivel arms seem a bit clunky in comparison to Cast-A-Way toys swivel arms. So perhaps the figure is better off without them.

He's still pretty poseable and fun to fiddle around with. The only area I have found that's concerning is that his ankles tend to be a bit loose, causing him to want to lean forward. This is rarely a problem with most Megos, as they typically wear long boots, but the 4th Doctor's short shoes cause him to have less support there. it's not a issue all the time, but it could be for those who pose him a lot.

Accessories:
I've always said that these style of figures need accessories and lots of them, more often than not. BBP has done a pretty good job here of giving the Doctor everything he needs. From his giant removable scarf, right down to his sonic screwdriver.

The sculpt and paint, while minimal, is perfect. This is a great small scale rendition of the 4th Doctor's sonic. It fits into his hand quite well and he can be posed with it as needed.

"I once caught a gumblejack this big! Almost as big as my hat!"
The hat is a failure, but we've already went over that. At least they included it, so at least you can decide what you want to do with it.

The coat and tie are removable. Speaking of which, I've heard some stories of the coat and also the red portions of the scarf staining the figure. Mine isn't stained, but there does seem to be some red going onto the white shirt underneath. This is a frustrating problem that I'm not sure how to fix. Possibly by gently washing these items. Not everyone seems to have the issue, but it's something to be aware of.

And that's pretty much it. Be careful when removing the figure from the package, so that you don't lose your Sonic Screwdriver. While it's bigger than the Character Options version, it's still quite small.

Value:
$20 for a single figure in today's toy market is a tough pill to swallow, but one we're seeing more and more. To make matters worse, this figure is sold bundled with a Sontaran in most retail settings. That means you'll end up paying $40+ for the both of them, more often than not. However, the quality here is pretty nice and aside from a few issues, this guy is worth tracking down if you have even the most modest interest in Mego-like figures. Even classic Mego collectors will want to have this guy in their collection, as he fits right in with the vintage stuff.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 9
Sculpting - 8
Paint - 8
Articulation - 9
Accessories - Sonic Screwdriver, Hat, Scarf
Value - 8
Overall - 9 out of 10

Let's face it, I'm a sucker for the 4th Doctor and I tend to like Mego-style figures more than most people. This figure is not without it's problems, with a tad oversized head, a hat that doesn't fit and clothes that could eventually stain this figure. However, he has a lot of strong points, including a great likeness, nice cloth clothing and a few accurate accessories.

These figures are limited to a run of only 3,000 and each package is individually numbered. While I have hopes that this line will become a huge success for BBP, you may want to pick one of these guys up while you have the chance. It's not a perfect figure by any means, but it's the kind of neat retro toy that you might kick yourself in a few years for not picking up when it was affordable.

Figure Review: Revoltech Gamera (1996 G2)

2011-12-28T17:05:00.004-05:00

Sci-Fi Revoltech #033
Legion
5 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$50 (price varies)
What's this? Yes it's the 12th Day of Gamera... Better late than never. This is my final Gamera review for now and with this review, we at Infinite Hollywood can claim to have more Gamera toy reviews than any website on the net! Or at least English speaking websites. This Gamera is the Revoltech version of 1996's Gamera 2: Advent of Legion.

This Gamera figure is similar in many ways to the original Revoltech Gamera and yet, quite a bit different too. Kaiyodo continues to find new ways to make these figures stand out. As much as I love the 1995 design of Gamera, I must admit that the 1996 design and by proxy this figure, are quite awesome too. The 1996 design is a perfect marriage between the original Heisei Gamera and the final Heisei Gamera.

Is this Gamera big and bad enough to take on Legion?!

Packaging:
This comes in your standard Revoltech adult collectible packaging. It's quite nice and the picture of the Gamera figure on the front is pretty stunning.

The back shows off the details and has your only instructions.

The inside panel has plenty of details in Japanese along with photos from the film. I hope you can read Japanese!

Everything is nicely packed in the velcro fastened window box. Perfect for display if you're a MOC guy.

Sculpt/Paint:
Watanabe Yuuki is sculpting again and I was quite shocked to see how much this sculpt mirrors the 1995 version of Gamera. Don't get me wrong, there are some serious differences, but there are actually more similarities than I was expecting. However this is not a repaint by any means, any parts that look similar are in fact different but similar sculpts.

The face, head and elbows are the main areas where the design is different. I'm really digging the look on the face and the added bone claws in the elbows just help round the figure out. His hands are more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon than before.

The shell is slightly different and oddly rnough this time Revoltech have given him a rubber tail. It has only one Revoltech joint where it connects to the shell.

The paint is darker, richer in som easpects, but also a bit flatter. It helps set this Gamera apart from the previous ones and is a nice color tone, somewhere between classic Showa and 1995 Heisei. These are some great paint details on the claws and elbow spikes.

He's just a tad bigger than the first Revoltech Gamera. Gamera was supposed to have grown a bit, but this isn't a huge deal. I thought for sure he would be bigger, but he's nearly the same size. He's thicker however, which makes him appear bigger.

It's hard to say which I prefer.

Both are excellent!

The big difference of this Gamera is the Guyver-like Mega Smasher which he uses in the climax of the film. This is recreated here, with a detachable chest cavity piece that shows his chest open.

The details are sharp and the paint vivid and bright.

The front of the shell is removable, while the center "hole" is always there. You either chose to expose it or cover it.

Swapping the shell pieces is easy enough.

Articulation:
The articulation is largely the same as the previous Gamera.

The amount of joints is more than enough to allow you plenty of poses. The key differences would be that he has Revoltech joints in the writs (which are mostly negated by the sculpt) and the aforementioned lack of joints in the tail. I can't decided if the tail is bendy or not, but I'm thinking perhaps not.

That said, he moves really easily and if there are missing joints, you won't miss them too much.

Everything moves naturally and fluidly.

Accessories:
G2 Gamera is packed with accessories, although they aren't as useful as some of the previous Gamera accessories.

To start you get seven more mini-Legions. These appear to be the exact same sculpt and if anything the yellow stripes on them may be a tiny shade different. These are still super small accessories and bound to get lost.

Flying Legion
You also get three of the flying sculpt Legions. This is the second form of Legion.

The paint work is quite nice on these and they all get their own stands.

You also get the Legion nest thing. It looks really nice.

In the film Gamera shoots like a super fire by nearly unhinging his jaw to spray the flaming blast. This is replicated by removing his jaw piece.

And then threading the fire blast through the Revoltech joint in the jaw. Unfortunately I had issues reconnecting the jaw back in with the fire attached. I'm sure I could have gotten it if I messed with it long enough, but it wasn't worth it to me.

The G1 fire works well enough attaching the normal way.

You also get the nameplate and the orange box to round things out.

Value:
While this Gamera is the newest Sci-Fi Revoltech on the market (and thus more expensive than G1) it's still a great figure. There's enough that's different to make you want to have both versions. I suspect a lot of people will use this as their default Gamera, even though it doesn't have some of the perks of the first version. I too am finding myself falling in love with this design.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 9
Paint - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Name plate, 7 Mini Legions, 3 Flying Legions, Fire Blast, Legion Egg Flower, Orange Box
Value - 8
Overall - 8.5 out of 10

I'm giving this guy an 8 1/2 out of 10. He could be a 9 really, but I feel the G1 had a few more neat perks that should make it rate a bit higher. This is still an excellent figure, especially if you prefer this Gamera design.

This is definitely a Gamera figure worth owning, even if you have the 1995 version. I hope you've enjoyed the 12 Days of Gamera as much as I have.

Figure Review: Vinyl Pop Bumble

2011-12-25T10:34:00.003-05:00

Vinyl Pop Holidays Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Bumble
3 3/4 Inch Scale
By: Funko
$5
MERRY CHRISTMAS! So although I didn't get everything up (stay tuned tomorrow for the 12th Day of Gamera!) we did get quite a few things up this holiday season. We'll conclude with an old favorite, the Bumble!

We've reviewed Bumble Mugs and Bumble Action Figures in years past, but when I saw the Funko Pop holiday characters, I knew I had to have the Bumble. While all the characters look nice, the Bumble is clearly the best and most popular. Target had these for only $5, but good luck finding the "Bumble" Abominable Snow Monster, as I had to drive all around to find this little guy.

Packaging:
In the world of designer vinyl, the package is very important. Even in these little mass market vinyl pieces, packages can be important and I'm quite fond of this one, actually.

The designs are nice and simple, but there's a fun little cartoon Bumble on the front. Along with a nice big window for the character himself.

The side has the full picture, along with a bright red banner and the number of this piece.

The back is more of the same, but it shows off the rest of the Rudolph series. Oddly enough it doesn't show the other holiday figures, which include the Misers.

I love that the Bumble's head keeps peeking out from different spots, like Kilroy or something.

Sculpt/Paint:
The sculpt here is adorable, with a cute little stylized Bumble. Of all the Rudolph designs, this one translates the best. Rudolph didn't look so hot. The Bumble just works, though.

He's pretty small, at around 3.75 inches or so. He makes the perfect desktop trinket or minature Christmas decoration. This is good for people who love toys or those who aren't even action figure fans, but love the character.

I've heard lots of bad things about Funko's products, especially as it relates to paint. Mine is pretty good, with only a little of the paint rubbing off the back of his head. It's no major issue, but you might want to look at a few in hand. I think the paint on the face and details is pretty sharp and the quality on the vinyl seems nice.

Articulation:
He has a single cut at the neck. Thankfully although this is designed like a bobblehead, it's not a bobblehead.

I really wish he had arem cuts as well, but perhaps in the future Funko can add those in. As is, it's not much, but it's a nice static item.

Accessories:
Nothing.

Value:
Target has these for around $5, which isn't a bad price at all. They're hidden in the holiday stocking stuffer section and I noticed that many Targets don't carry them. Only some. That said, I'm glad the price on these holiday Vinyl Pop figures isn't that much. The regular Vinly Pop figures gor for $10 each and they're clearly not worth that. I don't feel bad dropping a Lincoln on this little Bumble though.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 8
Paint - 8
Articulation - 1
Accessories - N/A
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10

I love the Bumble, so this guy gets an easy pass with me. I'd say he's about an 8 for what he is. Certainly this is no action figure, but he's really cool sitting here on the desk and he's just so darned cute. The others just aren't as nice as this one. That said, I wouldn't pay more than $8 for this guy, tops.

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 24

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's all over but the crying now. Twenty four long days to get here and each and every day I've had a new post reviewing this crap. I deserve a medal or something. So now the first ever epic Infinite Hollywood Lego Advent Calendar (and my first Advent Calendar of my whole life!) comes to a close. Join us and leave a comment, won't you?

Like you didn't see THAT coming!

Here's Santa's sack...

And here's the man himself. Santa Claus! Kris Kringle! Sinterklaas! Pere Noel! Babbo Natale! Pelznickel!

Topo Gigio?

He comes with a bag and a couple of brick gifts. That hat is old school. This is like, your Grandfather's Santa... Maybe even Santy Claus!

He also comes with a pretty swank fireplace with chimney. It has a couple of orange ambers for flames. I added some other stuff from my stockpile of useless extras.

Santa enjoys a good brew.

And that's it! 24 Days of Lego Advent! I hope you had as much fun as I did... Actually I hope you had a lot more fun. This was torture. Okay, it wasn't THAT bad... It had it's moments. Like any good Christmas celebration.

Merry Christmas (Eve!) Everyone!

Figure Review: Revoltech Legion

2011-12-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sci-Fi Revoltech #032
Legion
5 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$50 (price varies)
To say that the modern Shusuke Kaneko Gamera trilogy was massively different than the kid friendly 1960's Gamera films would be an understatement at best. If 1995's Gamera: Guardian of the Universe still seemed a little men in rubber monster suits for you, Gamera 2: Advent of Legion destroyed any preconceived notions about the genre and the character.

What is Legion? The film never explains too much, he's simply an alien hybrid thing that comes down to Earth and unleashes hell. Not in the typical giant Kaiju way, but in a much more visceral, the entire planet is truly in jeopardy way. Eventually Gamera defeats him, but not before Gamera is nearly killed and whole cities are literally obliterated from the face of the Earth.

The Gospel of Mark, 5:9, describes the following:

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

In short, Legion is badass in biblical proportions. Kaiyodo's Revoltech line seemed to be headed to the past, but now we're back to the more modern era with the release of supposedly the "biggest Revoltech yet" in Legion. It's an odd choice, in the sense that Legion isn't exactly a character that has a huge following, nor does he fit the typical action figure mold in any fashion.

Much like the character, Legion's figure is unlike anything we've ever seen in this line before.

Packaging:
By now you know that Revoltechs have nice collectible quality boxes. Legion's is no different in that respect, except that it's HUGE. At first it might seem that this is a similar box to the others, but it's actually almost twice the width.

There's a good picture of Legion on the front and usual assortment of stuff on the back.

The inside panel has plenty of details in Japanese. There aren't too many good shots of Legion in action, but then again, we didn't see Legion very well in the film because of the cityscapes he tended to be standing in as he destroyed them.

Legion is safe inside.

Comparing the boxes, it's still good for display, but it's gonna need a bit more room.

Sculpt/Paint:
We have a different sculptor for this monster, Watanabe Yuuki. Whoever they are, they've done an incredible job as I'm doing the same thing with this figure as I did when I watched film. Asking myself, "What exactly am I looking at here?"... I do not know!

Getting to look at a perfect small scale recreation of Legion like this, just lets me know how utterly creepy this character is. He's got all these bug traits, insect-like qualities and yet, some aspects like a crustacean or something too. He freaks the crap out of me.

Looking him over, I find myself noticing lots of things I never paid much attention to in the film. Like the fact that he has arm pincher things, coming out of his thighs. Whoever designed this guy definitely conjured up something from the stuff of nightmares.

That said, the sculpting and paint are superb. There's nothing left with any sort of bland detailing. Nope, this is all excellent.

He's just covered with little fibers and pods and crevices and other freaky areas. You know, like your great Aunt Edna!

There are a couple of neat translucent areas, which sort of glow when they catch the light right. That's cool, especially since his eyes and such sort of did the same in the film. It'd be even better if we could swap out the eyes for red eyes, but maybe that's just asking too much.

There's a little bit of everything in this guy.

The different colored Revoltech joints are not a flaw, as Legion actually had brown joints. It's a pretty genius way to work those in.

Scale wise he's okay. He works well with the Gamera 1995, but that Gamera trends a bit small. Kaiyodo actually released a smaller "to scale" Gamera statue to have posed with this figure. It's a statue though... And I don't buy statues. Plus it costs almost as much as a Revoltech, so whatever... I'm fine with him being a tad smaller than he should be.

Articulation:
Legion is super articulated. When I say that, I mean it. Basically every little piece on his body moves in some way. Most move in several ways. Everything is either a hinge or a Revoltech joint.

The amount of joints here is staggering. Mattel can barely get ball jointed shoulders into Megator and Tytus, but the Japanese can cram 58 moving parts into a Revoltech.

That said, he's not really that poseable. Say what? See, the thing with Legion is his design. He's not nimble. He basically just stands there, maybe lumbers around a bit.

So while he has 500 billion joints, you've only really got two or three variations of the same pose for him to do. Which is why I said this made for an interesting choice for a Revoltech figure.

And unfortunately, in a lot of ways, all the joints work against him. Each of his tiny arms on his head have three or so joints in them. Which means just barely touching it will cause it to move out of place. Multiply that issue by ten (the number of "arms" on his head) and you're in for some frustration.

Basically, you should get Legion into the pose you want him in and then don't mess with him. He's not something you're going to fiddle around with at the desk. I mean, you could, but it'll be tough to get him back into that beauty shot pose.

Accessories:
Because of his size, Legion doesn't come with much. At the pricepoint, that stings a bit.

Legion doesn't have a stand (not that it's needed) or any force effects. That's disappointing because Legion spent most the movie shooting shit at Gamera. But we don't get any of that. Legion does have the nameplate, if you need that.

GET THEM OFF!
What we do get is a bunch of the mini Legion soldiers.

They're actually quite detailed for their size. Speaking of their size... They appear to be accurate scale.

Honestly I can't tell you how small these guys are. I've picked things out of my nose that's bigger.

So while it's nice to have seven of them... They're not something you can just leave laying around. Also, why seven? What an odd frickin' number to pick!

The coolest accessory is the small flying Gamera. This one is different than the others we've gotten in this line. It's not to scale, I don't think. Although Legion is supposed to be huge.

It's got a great sculpt and paint work for such a tiny item.

And that's pretty much it. Well the stupid orange box, yeah, gotta have one of those.

Value:
Legion trends higher than any of the other Gamera Revoltech figures. Of course, he's also one of the newest figures and he's rather large. Most of his size comes in the form of length, though and his accessories are a bit light. Truth be told, this is only for hardcore Gamera fans or someone who just wants a strange creature on their shelves.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 10
Paint - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Name plate, 7 Mini Legions, Flying Gamera, Orange Box
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10

Legion gets a mixed 8 out 10 here. On one hand, he's absolutely perfect in the sculpt and paint department and it's hard to complain about the articulation because it's NOT bad articulation. It's not like, stupid articulation that Toy Biz would cram on a figure. It's good that these things move. However at the same time, they don't add a lot to posing and having to fidget with 97 limbs can be a bit daunting.

If you love Gamera or just want to complete the collection, then pick this guy up. Otherwise, he's actually probably worth a pass. This is not the figure you want to make be your first Revoltech.

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 23

2011-12-23T08:45:00.000-05:00

One day left to go. This thing is almost over. Are we going to go out with a bang or a whimper? Or perhaps a bark?

It's a mutt!

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

It's a doggie bag!

He has no articulation, but oddly a peg so people can stand on him. I don't even know what to think anymore. Also he has an extra bone. That's useful I guess?

I'm sure I would have been more excited 10 or 15 days ago. Right now I'm writing this at 7 in the morning and I haven't had any sleep in many, many hours. Because I've practically killed myself this holiday season and this crummy little dog is not worth staying up this late to review stuff... Also I built my own damn dog back on Day 12 and Block-Boo kicks this dog's ass!

A Gamera Christmas - Lost Film Found

2011-12-22T20:00:00.001-05:00

In 1968, Daei studios commissioned a Gamera Christmas film with acclaimed stopmotion animation studio, Bankin-Rass. Unfortunately Bankin-Rass went out of business before the film could ever be released and no footage from the film has ever been released... Until now!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 22

2011-12-22T19:10:00.002-05:00

It's almost Christmas and this Lego Advent Calendar only has two days left. Today we get an actual winter item, but is it deja vu?!

Seriously I just got one of these a couple of days ago.

WHAT'S IN THE ~~BOX~~ BAG?

Seriously, they just gave me a snowmobile a few days ago. Don't you think if you were going to give two of those away you couldn't have spaced it out a bit more?!

Sure this one is blue and white, because everything in this stupid Lego advent has to be Police themed but seriously... HEY LOOK! It's another bonus ski!

Now I can complete my set!

Pick your favorite color!

The bonus ski is the best part. And screw you Lego, I won't do a Police chase. I'm done playing cops and robbers.

Tomorrow... More snowmobiles?!

Infinite Cuisine: Cherry Cordial and Cinnamon M & Ms

2011-12-22T07:03:00.005-05:00

Originally this year I planned a bunch of Christas themed reviews, as I usually do with my "Christmas in Hollywood" celebration each year. However, because of the damned Lego Advent and the 12 Days of Gamera, I've had to cut a bunch of that stuff out. Most of it I'm just shuffling off into things I'll review for next year, but some of this stuff I need to get up so that it won't be dated.

Such is the case with these two types of holiday M&Ms. I believe that they may both be new for the season, but I feel fairly confident that at least the cinnamon M&Ms are. So here's my brief review of both the new Cinnamon M&Ms and the Cherry Cordial M&Ms.

First up is the cinnamon M&Ms. Let it be known that I'm not really a huge fan of cinnamon, but for whatever reason as I was looking through the sales papers on Thanksgiving, I saw an ad for Cinnamon M&Ms at Target and I thought they sounded good. So I then began to search for them. I'm convinced that they are Target exclusives, because I went to every other retailer and local grocer in town and ONLY Target has them.

Anyway, when I finally bought them at Target (M&Ms were cheaper elsewhere, which is why I searched around) I picked up a bag of the Cherry Cordial ones too, because Target was doing one of those Buy 2 for $5 deals.

Cinnamon and Chocolate is not exactly a new idea. I'm pretty sure that the Aztecs or the Mayans or some other ancient civilization used to mix the two together all the time. Granted they also used to sacrifice babies and virgins and pierce their testicles, but hey we got Twilight, Rap music and Jersey Shore so no era of civilization is not without it's flaws. Anyway, it sounded like a interesting new way to eat M&Ms.

The first thing that you'll notice (and this is true of both holiday M&Ms) is that they're huge and misshapen. These are about the size of Peanut M&Ms, yet there isn't anything in here but chocolate. There's no reason that Cinnamon M&Ms should be any bigger than M&Ms original recipe. And yet, they are? My theory is that these are made in a bootleg M&M factory and not in the REAL factories where they produce their top quality products.

Which brings me to the candy themselves. The Cinnamon M&Ms are a ripoff. Only the red ones taste like cinnamon and even then it's only a hint of cinnamon. The rest of those M&Ms? The slightly red and brown ones? They're just filled with regular chocolate. So not only can you barely taste the cinnamon in the ones with the cinnamon in them, but they're packed with an asston of giant misshapen regular M&Ms that drown out any cinnamon flavor you might have tasted.

There's also some odd thing on here about starting your own chocolate business. WTF is this about? If I'm starting my own business, I'm sure as hell not going to give my secrets to Mars! Or Dove! Or whoever the hell owns M&Ms! Screw you Cinnamon M&Ms!

The Cherry Cordial M&Ms fare a bit better as they have an overwhelming taste of cherry cordial. In fact I think they're far too strong. You can eat one or two, but you can't eat handfuls. It's just too strong of a taste. It'd be like dumping a whole box of Queen Anne's down your gullet.

Yes I'm well aware that I just complained that the Cinnamon M&Ms were too faint and now I'm bitching that these are too strong, but it's just a fact. Also for some reason, these have less sodium and less fat, even though they're essentially the same thing.

Also notice how there's one darker Cherry Cordial M&M? Well there's supposed to be two colors (they both have the same flavor) but I had a grand total of TWO of the darker red M&Ms in the whole bag. TWO! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! What the hell is up with that?

Bootleg M&M factory, I'm telling ya.

Figure Review: Revoltech Gyaos (1967)

2011-12-21T23:58:00.000-05:00

Sci-Fi Revoltech #027
Gyaos 1967
5 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$40 (price varies)
Just as it did with the first Heisei version of Gamera, Kaiyodo followed up it's 1967 version of the character with the 1967 version of Gyaos. Gamera versus Gyaos was the third Gamera film for Daei and was really the beginning of some of their better efforts. Gyaos is unique in that he appears twice in the Showa series, once in this form and later repainted as "Space Gyaos". Of course he shows up a few other times via stock footage.

The original Gyaos was weakened by the sun, an interesting plot that the original film had. Gamera's early Showa films often focused on unique elements, such as the effects of different elements on the creatures. Of course, because he's a monster, he shoots lasers from his mouth.

Obviously this figure goes great with the Showa Revoltech Gamera and I can't imagine anyone not buying both of them together. However, you could easily have this version of Gyaos do battle with a modern Gamera as well. His design is quite a bit different than the modern Gyaos. So does this figure fare better than it's predecessor? It's time to find out!

Packaging:
Revoltechs are treated like higher end collectibles. These guys come in nice packages, like something from Sideshow Toys might. They have really awesome boxes that are great for display, but you already know that by now.

The Gyaos box is nice, but not particularly more impressive than any of the others.

The inside panel has the usual assortment of movie stills and info in Japanese.

Gyaos always buckes up for safety and you should too!

Sculpt/Paint:
Sculptor Matsumura Shinobu has done another outstanding job crafting this figure. It looks exactly as Gyaos did in the film, while giving him that certain edge that helps avoid him looking too cheesy or like a man in a suit. This is definitely a depiction of Gyaos as a real monster.

The original 1995 Gyaos Revoltech had sort of leathery wings that allowed you to pose them in a variety of ways without losing the design. This figure also has leathery wings as well as some leathery torso pieces. However, it's not as poseable. The design of the character is more of a hinderance in that sense.

They're actually around the same size, but the 67' Gyaos is more straight up and down. That's because his design is much more of a man in a suit than the later version where he seems more dinosaur-like.

There's some great sculpting in his armadillo inspired back plates. There's less overall detail here than the Heisei incarnation, but again, that's par for the course in the era. There's some nice highlights and wash throughout, to help him stand out on the shelf and not just be super dull.

For whatever reason, I've always loved Gyaos face. I'm really impressed with how nice it looks in this figure.

He comes with an extra foot that pops apart, that you can use to replicate the scene from the film where Gamera rips his foot off. Or rather, Gyaos rips his own foot off trying to get away from Gamera. It's kind of hard to get the foot into one whole piece, but I suppose you don't really need it to be a full foot anyway as that's what the regular foot is for!

There's a little bit of blood and it's sculpted pretty neat.

He looks like Gyaos from every angle.

Overall he's very solid in the paint and sculpt department. No surprise there, honestly.

Articulation:
Oddly enough, Gyaos suffers a bit in the articulation department. You'd think he'd do better than Gamera, but he's fairly stiff. His character design just doesn't allow him much movement.

His wings move, but not as fluidly as the previous Gyaos. The wings are thicker and because of his chest, they don't really turn like the other Gyaos. His legs are in a similar position and although they did make his crotch piece out of a softer material, you still can't get a ton of poses there.

The feet and ankles do have a pretty nice range for in flight posing and the removable foot pops off with no real issues.

Accessories:
Gyaos comes with a nice assortment of stuff and thankfully unlike the previous version, he does have his laser breath.

You get a stand, the name plate, orange box, laser, eaten foot, mini Gamera in flight and the destroyed Jet plane. Not to mention the Revoltech flight stand. It's pretty neat how it works by plugging into the butt of Gyaos, but it's still kind of clunky and an eyesore.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WON'T STOP PLAYING WORDS WITH FRIENDS?!
In the movie Gyaos uses his laser beam breath to cut through a plane like a hot knife through butter. They've included a small to scale plane so that you can recreate the scene.

The laser beam itself is pretty nice too, although not amazing.

You can shoot Gamera with it... So that's a plus!

RUN GAMERA RUN!

The coolest accessory is the small flying Gamera.

It's got a great sculpt and paint work for such a tiny item.

Great for forced perspective kind of shots...

Or to chase the mini Gyaos that came with the Modern Gyaos figure.

Value:
If you're a classic Showa Gamera fan, Gyaos is a pretty important villain. That said, this figure is the weakest of the Gamera Revoltechs in my mind. Yes, he's 100% accurate and a really spiffy figure, but his design hinders some of his articulation. He's worth having, but he's not worth breaking the bank to get.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 7
Paint - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Laser, Jet Plane, Orange Box, Name Plate, Flight Stand, Injured Foot, Mini Gamera
Value - 7
Overall - 7.5 out of 10

Despite a few issues and the lowest score of the Gamera Revoltechs, this is still a very solid figure. He's just not as poseable as one might would like him to be. However I can't complain too much, as I love adding another bad guy to the Gamera rogues gallery.

Plus any figure that allows you to do this, can't be too bad!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 21

2011-12-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

Only three days left. It's almost over. Christmas is almost here. Today's little Lego advent gift is sure to be a mind blowing experiance. I can just feel it!

Or it could be a crate...

It comes in a bag! RADICAL!

Build it yourself!

At first I built it like this, because I'm stupid.

It's supposed to go the other way. This is so it can be towed.

So much fun!

Best Christas advent calendar ever!

Figure Review: Revoltech Gamera (1967)

2011-12-20T22:52:00.006-05:00

Sci-Fi Revoltech #026
Gamera 1967
5 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$40 (price varies)
Today marks the first day of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights and it's also the 8th day in the 12 Days of Gamera! For the rest of the days of Gamera, the famous green turtle will be lighting the letters in his name. It's gonna be four more crazy nights of Gamera! The Festival of fire, if you will!

I'd be lying if I wasn't shocked when Kaiyodo first announced these 1967 versions of their famous Gamera monsters. I wasn't sure if the Gamera would be as cool as the Modern Gamera version. But sometimes I'm an idiot!

This Gamera figure kicks all kinds of ass. In fact it's even BETTER than the other Revoltech Gamera. As much as I raved about that figure, to be even better is a tall order of business. Somehow Revoltech delivers again and this is one figure that any classic Gamera fan should rush to have as part of their collection! This guy can do everything!

Packaging:
Revoltechs are treated like higher end collectibles. These guys come in nice packages, like something from Sideshow Toys might. They have really awesome boxes that are great for display.

The box has a great little image of the figure on it, as well as a back with a ton of Japanese language explaining some of the features. It should be noted that those are really the only "instructions" for the figure, but thankfully the photos can help you figure out how to transform him. Yeah, he's got some Transformer-like qualities!

There's also a crapload of info about the film, I presume. Along with some photos. I don't read Japanese, this could be saying how Americans are dumb for all I know... But I doubt it.

Once again, Gamera is wrapped up nice and snug inside with rubber tubing covering the twist ties. He also has a lot of plastic and a extra bubble protecting his flight fire. It's really well done. These are the things that make paying a little extra for a figure like this, worth it in my view.

Sculpt/Paint:
I suspect Kaiyodo chose the 1967 version of Gamera to be their "classic" Gamera figure because he's sort of the perfect Showa Gamera design. Gamera really did not seem to change his look from film to film as drastically as Godzilla did, so this is a perfect catch-all classic Gamera.

Obviously there isn't as much detail on the classic Gamera as there was, say the modern one. However, Matsumura Shinobu has outdone himself again making this Gamera look as fierce as the classic kaiju design will allow. He really looks fantastic, head to tail. He's made a bit different than the other Gamera and he's numbered exactly 20 figures away in the lineup from his first Gamera, so I think they have perfected it by this point in terms of design.

The shell's patented shingle look is perfectly recreated with each one having a ton of intricate detail on it. There's a nice paint to the whole thing, including some highlights, but it's nothing overly impressive. The simpler design of course is accurate to the era, so it's not like they didn't put in a ton of paint to be cheap... There's just less to paint in general.

Gamera looks great from every angle and the Revoltech joints are even more hidden this time around. The joints just disappear pretty seamlessly into the sculpt. Gamera's dark grey color also helps to hide them a bit better than the green of the modern Gamera. Mine does have a small paint scuff on the face, but it's very tiny and might could be scrapped off.

Gamera Leap Frog?!
He's also considerably bigger than the other Revoltech Gamera. By at least a good ince or so. This makes me wonder if that original Revoltech Gamera wasn't sclaed wrong for some reason. I think they knew the modern designs would tend to be bigger and perhaps to keep everyone in scale, they shrunk the figures a bit? I don't know...

Remember the old Head Dropping, Storage Shell and Mutatin' Ninja Turtles figures? Well Gamera has something in common with them. His chest opens so that you can pop his head off and put it in there. I have no idea why you'd store in there, but supposedly you can. The idea here is to remove his head for flight mode.

His hole neck comes out, since it's on a Revoltech joint.

Then you plug in a new neck piece, which shows how Gamera looks with his head tucked in. I guess if you store his head on the inside, you can actually look in this hole and see his head. It's a neat idea, actually, but I don't need to be that authentic.

Then you pull the rest of the arms and legs off. Revoltech joints remove pretty easy and I am glad to report that I didn't have any of the issues I've had in the past. These popped out with no problem and even when the sculpt removed from the joint (if you have owned a Revoltech you know what I mean) it wasn't hard to remove the joint itself. No pliers needed!

You then remove the tail. The tail is on three Revoltech joints and it breaks down into three pieces (but you only need to remove the tip) and you take the smallest piece and plug it into the hole. Now Gamera has his tail tucked in for flight mode!

Then you plug in the jet flames however you want and Gamera is ready to fly!

On each of Gamera's sides, there is a small piece that unplugs. This allows you to plug in the Revoltech stand. It's a neat concept, although not really needed. I still hate the Revoltech stands.

But it's a cool display option. Heck it makes me want to have a second Gamera just to display him this way!

The easily removable parts allows you to do a lot of fun things.

"I LOVE BEING A TURTLE!"
It's pretty awesome what all you can do with this Gamera. He's really able to do just about anything the real Gamera could. Wait, Gamera's real? OF COURSE HE IS!

Articulation:
Revoltech's infamous revolver joint is hard to understand for the uninitiated, but here's a diagram on how it works. Basically you get a swivel in two places, and a clicky hinge that goes 180 degrees or so, depending on the sculpt surrounding the joint. All Revoltech joints are "plugs" which basically means that the joint can be removed from the sculpt.

Gamera has a few less joints than the last version, but his design is faithful to the Showa Gamera design. He has a standard hinge at his elbow instead of a Revoltech joint. I'm not sure if that's better or worse to be honest, but it seems to function pretty swell, yeah swell... So I'll just call it a wash.

This guy is super poseable. The other Gamera may be able to get a few more poses in some areas, but overall you won't find much to complain about here. Perhaps his only weakness is that he can not turn his head left to right, at least not without lifting the Revoltech joint up and then it doesn't look natural anymore. This is just part of the design.

He has a ton of articulation overall, though. Especially when you consider Gamera has typically only had very limited figures, often even worse than Godzilla, because of how the Showa design was. Which is a shame because Gamera was very acrobatic, in the Showa films, showing a great knowledge of wrestling and judo. So that can be recreated here, finally!

Accessories:
Gamera comes with a TON of stuff. The most of any Gamera Revoltech to date. It's all really useful too, which is splendid!

You get a stand, the name plate, orange box, four jet streams, fire and the extra neck piece. Plus that Revoltech token that's useless to me until I finally take a trip to Japan.

LOOKOUT!
The jet streams are cool because each one is on it's own Revoltech joint. Which means you can get some extra posing out of them. It's not amazing or anything, but it's cool none the less.

The sculpts on them are all identical. They have a semi-translucent frosted appearance, which adds to the design.

Only the Japanese would engineer a toy with a separate neck piece like this. I love you Japan!

The fire breath is perfectly accurate for the era. I really like it. It's clean, simple and works well. I do wish he had some extra hands, like a punching and gripping hand, but we've got a lot of accessories here.

Value:
If you're a classic Showa Gamera fan, you need this figure. It comes with everything you need to basically recreate any scene with Gamera. All of the extra accessories, plus the really cool flight mode options just put this guy over the top. Sure he's expensive, but he's really high quality and even higher fun!

Score Recap:
Packaging - 9
Sculpting - 9
Paint - 9
Articulation - 9
Accessories - 4 Jet Flames, Fire Breath, Stand, Name Plate, Orange Box, Alternate Neck
Value - 10
Overall - 10 out of 10

In the end I'm giving this guy the rare and coveted 10 out of 10! He's just perfect. Plain and simple. I don't know what more you could honestly want out of a Gamera figure. He's very poseable, has tons of relevant accessories and he's fun to play with.

I wasn't certain that I was going to like this figure and I never imagined that I'd like him more than the other Revoltech Gamera. I was wrong. This guy is AWES to the OME. Keep on celebrating the 12 Days of Gamera with me, as we have more reviews all the way up until Christmas!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 20

2011-12-20T21:38:00.002-05:00

It continues. Like the Energizer Rabbit, it just keeps going and going. Today we get something that is totally not a Police station or a car part! It's the miracle of Christmas!

It's a snowmobile! Why didn't we get more stuff like this?!

It comes in a bag! Fun fact, I have a pile of these little bags where I just throw them to the side each day after opening. I'm a pig!

I can already tell there's a bonus ski. I bet I could make this into one of those snowmobiles with three skis if I wanted to.

Yup an extra ski.

I gave the ski to officer Dick Cramp. I wish I had another ski now. It's a perfect fit. See, we should have gotten extra skis each day!

I like this advent gift.

I'm not sure why they chose orange for the color, but it's pretty cool.

Christmas is coming entirely too fast. What will tomorrow bring us?!

Figure Review: Bandai S.I.C. Kamen Rider Stronger and Tackle

2011-12-20T18:20:00.001-05:00

Super Imaginative Chogokin
Stronger and Tackle (Vol. 55)
7.5-inch-ish scale
By: Bandai
$48.99+ Online

Well, I’m not dead. So there’s that.

Bandai sort of has the market cornered on awesome toys. Kiwami Tamashii, Armor Plus, S.H. Figuarts and now MonsterArts, SoC, SRC—there’s truly something there for everyone, regardless of whether your interest is in anime, kaiju, or tokusatsu.

A line of theirs I’ve recently become aware of is called Super Imaginative Chogokin, which is basically a line of tokusatsu figures (primarily Kamen Rider) centered on re-designs of classic and modern characters. Do these figures capture the essence of great tokusatsu, or do the re-designs fall flat on their collective faces? Let’s find out!

Packaging:
Let’s get this out of the way first. I’ve only just begun watching Kamen Rider Kuuga, so my knowledge of any Kamen Rider character is extremely limited and any poses for the figures are purely from either Kuuga or my own imagination. On to the box!

I dig the box. The large window on the front provides an excellent view of both figures and their accessories, and the back features the usual “check out this pose” extravaganza as well as the tons and tons of stuff at the bottom that I can’t read. Standard Japanese fare.

Inside you’ll find two trays. The first holds the figures and most of their accessories and the other has some additional armor pieces and scarf trails. Be prepared for an ordeal here. You will be dealing with no less than nine twist-ties PER FIGURE. Bandai was definitely making sure these guys weren’t going anywhere but to the cash register.

You also get a small set of instructions that show you how to switch out the option parts like hands and armor. Like any good Japanese toy, you’ll need the box to store all the extras that come with it, so it’s good that the box doesn’t suck.

Aesthetics:
Let’s see dem toys.

Daaaaaaaaaamn. These figures look fantastic. The re-designs are absolutely phenomenal, bringing a much more modern and alien look to both characters. For some reason I’m reminded of a cross between the Casshern and Guyver movie costumes for Stronger. Cool stuff. You can get a better look at their original costumes by checking out this overview of the series. Some SICs just get some bumps in detail, but this guy got a full costume update.

The previous design for the helmet featured huge eyes and was so large it almost evoked more of a housefly image if not for the rhino beetle horns. The new version has a much more toned-down, streamlined look, more akin to the modern riders’ helmets. The eyes are still large and fully detailed, but they don’t jump out at you so much. The large shoulderpads are cast in clear red plastic and painted over with metallic silver, meaning in certain poses the exposed clear plastic will allow red light to show through. They also serve to maintain the bulk of the original costume without having to be represented by a solid mantle. The chest is also cast in clear red plastic and allows Stronger’s signature S emblem to be seen behind.

The belt buckle seems to be cast in a mix of bright yellow and bright red clear plastics, which adds a lot of depth to the sunburst effect. You can see a similar technique done on the side of the belt, where the color fades from blue to green. It’s a really beautiful effect that pictures don’t do justice. His hands feature a very bright silver on the fingers, which breaks up the solid white of the gloves and, panel-lined, adds a great deal of depth and detail even in fisted poses. The metallic red featured on his shoulders runs down the length of his arms and legs and onto the gloves and boots. This is true for each set of hands, and really makes the design stand out.

The same high level of sculpted detail and paint are present on the back. A neat feature was the incorporation of the screws for the battery hatch into the design. Just above the screws on either side are sculpted screw-like details that make it seem like the hatch screws are just part of the costume. Nifty! Sure it doesn’t fool anybody, but it they sure get the good try award. The boots are just as lovely as the gloves and at least in part give us the Chogokin out of this Super Imaginative Chogokin. Chogokin on a Bandai toy simply means part of the toy should be die-cast metal. I haven’t given this toy the ol’ in-out, in-out dirty molesty hands search, but I can tell that at least his feet are die-cast.

All in all, Stronger is an incredibly good-looking figure. Now onto the second half of the set, his Electro-Magnetic Wave Human sidekick, Tackle!

I’ll be honest. Stronger is one gorgeous toy, but Tackle is the reason I bought the set. I don’t buy many female figures because for some reason it makes me feel weird (which you can take to any Freudian psychiatrist you’d like), but as soon as I saw her design, I fell in love. Tackle’s costume has seemingly made a smaller jump from classic to re-imagined, but it’s still a significant one. Her cloth costume has been replaced with a more leathery look, her ladybug armor and helmet have been better incorporated into the suit, and even her body has changed into a slightly more militant, new age Bucky type of demeanor. The details are fantastic, and they managed to play down her costume to the point that she doesn’t appear like a helpless damsel as she appears in the old one. She looks like she can kick some ass. Some have said they could see gears down in the clear bits of the helmet, but they’re pretty difficult to make out on mine.

Her belt and skirt also look fantastic, with little rivets and a huge “T” dead center, the last thing that’ll catch the light as her foot crashes down on your skull and knocks you into sweet oblivion. I love this figure because you can instantly imagine what her original design would have looked like even if you hadn’t seen the show. She’d look like a Mouseketeer or Girl Scout or cadet of some sort, but upon re-design she retains all of those elements, but with a much harder edge. With the grimace on her face and her wide shoulders, she looks almost like a WWII soldier, all nerves and balls and full of unwavering conviction. Well done, Bandai.

Articulation:
I’ll admit straight away that while there are a couple issues with the articulation, these things are some of the most poseable toys I’ve messed with in quite a while.

Her drill will pierce the heavens!!!!Gar!!1!ONE!

The figures have nearly identical articulation, but I’ll count off Tackle’s. We’ve got a ball and socket head, ball and socket neck, swivel-hinge-swivel scarf, ball and socket interior shoulders, swivel-hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel glove tops, swivel-hinged hands, ball torso, ball and socket hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel calf, swivel-hinged ankles, rocker ankles, and toe hinges. She had some very minor waist movement I think, but it’s very tight and difficult to use with her skirt. The ankle rockers allow for very deep stances, perfect for really imposing or fatigued posing. Love it.

Stronger has very similar articulation save for hinges in the shoulder pads and a useless neck, which is nearly immobile because of the light-up gimmick. He has some very slight left to right movement, but it says clearly in the instructions not to try and move his head in any direction. Kenjitron posted a very simple mod on how to fix this and I will be performing this following the review. With NECA’s Isaac Clarke from the first Dead Space game sporting a very dynamic ball and socket neck several years ago, it is a bit of a letdown to see newer, more advanced figures lacking this feature.

It’s easy to get them into the Kuuga henshin pose. I don’t know if it’s always the same, but they both included that hand so I figured I’d imitate it.

Honestly they can achieve an incredibly dynamic range of poses. Out of everything I wanted to do there wasn’t a single thing that restricted me aside from the aforementioned head problem on Stronger.

The extra hands combined with the range of motion does allow for some nice emotion to be brought through in posing. After finally getting to watch Marwencol with Katastrophik at the gentle prodding of Mr. Gimmick, I can easily see how important a certain hand or joint can be when trying to emote. Luckily, these figures can be posed quite naturally and are very fun to fiddle with. The only other issue I ran into was that the hinges in the hands can be hindered by the depth of the wrist socket, but if you don’t clock the hands all the way in you can retain maximum poseability. Tackle also has a stuck upper left knee joint, which accounts for her leaning a bit during the review, but this seems to be a one-off error as I’ve seen no other reviews where this issue has been duplicated.

I can say that for those who are willing to try the neck mod, it really improves the personality of Stronger. I didn’t want to take any pictures because you’re not supposed to have to fix your own toys, but Kenjitron’s tutorial has some nice “after” shots if you’re interested.

Gimmicks/Value:
I picked these figures up for 49 bucks from BBTS, which is the cheapest place I could find ‘round these parts. For about 25 bucks apiece you get two really great figures with excellent poseability and a ton of accessories. Crap, did I not mention the accessories? This review needs more power!

“CHARGE UP!”

Apparently Stronger was the first Kamen Rider to feature a unique look for his charged up mode. In addition to the ten extra hands, you also get new shoulder armor, chest piece, and faceplate which all feature new silver accents and really differentiate the two looks of the character. Both versions look really impressive, and while it would have been cool to see some slight sculpt difference between the pieces, I do think they look great. Also included is something that was never featured on the show—a facemask to turn Tackle’s Rainbow Kids bike helmet into a fully-fledged badass Kamen Rider-lookin’ deal. Sweet!

All the pieces have pretty straightforward removal and the sculpts underneath are fully detailed, from the cyborg internals of Stronger to Tackle’s stern visage. Just swap the parts and you’ve got some pretty awesome new looks for your toys!

Stronger also has the light up gimmick mentioned all throughout the review:

Of course, it’s very difficult to see under the harsh lights of the studio (which is really just a curved piece of poster board, two floodlights, and the occasional post-shoot cropping), but on the right you can see that in natural daylight the glow is still pretty bright. I’m not terribly fond of the removal of neck articulation--most people aren’t going to want to cut their brand new toy up to add in an articulation point that should have been designed around in the first place—but at least the light-up feature works well.

Scale is kind of difficult to work out here. You could say that Stronger is a pretty big guy, which I think is pretty accurate to the character, and then he fits in scale-wise with your 7” Crysis or Riddick figures. However, that leaves Tackle being almost as tall as Riddick even if her helmet were removable. I’m thinking the scale is closer to 7.25 or 7.5”, somewhere in the range of the older PlayArts figures.

If you know anything about Japanese toys, then you know a standard 5 or 6” figure can easily cost you 50 bucks. For 49 you get two 7+” figures with plenty of poseability, gimmicks, and accessories. These figures both are incredible durable. I never felt like I was going to break a post on a hand or pull off a hinge by being too rough. I’ll give them a slight hit for the QC on Tackle’s knee and the Stronger neck design, but on the whole these figures at the BBTS price are a really great deal.

Score Recap:
Aesthetics: 10
Articulation: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 8.7

Kamen Rider Stronger and Tackle may not have been on your radar if you weren’t already a Kamen Rider or tokusatsu fan, but the Super Imaginative Chogokin line is a nice branch-out for Bandai into the world of highly-detailed, extremely poseable toys that don’t have to mimic exactly what you see on the screen. If you’re into tokusatsu, alien or armored designs, or just unique-looking and fun toys, you can’t go wrong with Stronger and Tackle.

Thanks for reading and as always, it’s just a toy. Open the darned thing.

Figure Review: Trendmasters Viras

2011-12-19T23:59:00.000-05:00

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Viras
4 Inch Scale
By: Trendmasters
$13.99 (price varies)
This is my final Trendmasters Gamera figure (toys I began reviewing over a year ago) and it's our seventh day on the 12 Days of Gamera but I assure you this one's a winner. Viras is my favorite of the Trendmasters Heisei designs and easily the best "toy" of the Trendmasters Gamera series. Heck, I'd say it's probably the best Viras figure ever made!

Fusing together, hideous space squids from a distant water world from the mega-monster Viras,a beast with the power of mind control! Using his six thrashing tentacles to squeeze the life out of his monster foes, Viras plunges his spear-like head into his adversaries to finish them off. Can Gamera ward off the awesome mental powers of this alien menace who's bent on taking over Earth

As usual, Trendmasters has a fantastic bio on Viras and of all the kaiju that they suped up for their Gamera line, Viras is far and away the most fantastic. Viras just screams evil and with just a few tweaks, he's able to become something awesome.

This figure is a perfect compliment to Dark Horse's Viras character and a great little toy regardless of if you're a fan of Gamera or not. Trendmasters, I love what you guys did here. If the guy who designed this figure ever visits the site, just know, good going bro!

Packaging:
I'd love to tell you that there's something new and exciting about the package, but the Viras package is the same as everybody else in the line. With the exception of his Viras name card.

The back of the package is universal, which has bios for everyone, They're pretty fun and well written. The font is a bit small, but it's great for kids who want to know the "story" of each of these guys and they go hand in hand with the Showa films.

Sculpt/Paint:
Viras has always had a pretty interesting look, but he definitely seemed cooler in artwork than in the Showa film. The poor actor was forced to wear a suit where he couldn't really use two of his six arms and his legs almost had like elf shoes on. It was definitely one of the weaknesses of the era... But the design's concept was cool and that's exactly what Trendmasters was able to exploit.

Trendmasters didn't have to do much to Viras' face, which has always looked sort of evil. Plus squids and such are freaking creepy. Trendmasters has added some extra arms on the top of his head. I don't love them, but I don't hate them either.

Real squids have eight arms and two extra tentacles, but Viras only ever had six arms, with two acting like legs and the other four as arms. Trendmasters gave Viras some squid inspired tentacles, with neat little shards and stickers on them. It reminds me a bit of Neo-Otyguh from LJN's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line.

Instead of goofy "human" legs with little boots, they've given him two static folded legs that look like a squid would use if he sat down. This helps make him fairly stable and they are the only arms that are not bendy wire material. There's a nice amount of paint and wash throughout the figure, which makes these little suckers pop out.

"Get off my planet's lawn!"
He's also the biggest of the Gamera Trendmasters figures, which helps to make him seem like an imposing, destructive monster. The added head tentacles just give him more height and general nefariousness.

Articulation:
Surprisingly, Viras is the most articulated of all the Gamera Trendmasters figures. In fact he may be the most articulated Trendmasters kaiju in all of their monster lines. He has swivels at each arm (except the two "legs" which keep him standing) and his head turns as well.

I realize that doesn't sound like much, but then you have to remember that most of these figures only had a few cuts and he also has the addition of wire in all of his arms/tentacles. That means you can move those around a fair bit. There's really only a few poses where he can stand properly, but if you used a posing stand of some sort, you'd be able to do quite a lot with him.

The wires all feel fairly solid and I'm not worried about any breakage. Trendmasters did a lot of bendy wire figures and they were always pretty sturdy. This seems to be the case here as well.

Accessories:
Viras doesn't shoot anything, so he has no accessories. This isn't a bad thing in my book and there's really no accessories that would have made sense, other than perhaps the small alien ship.

Thankfully Figumate already took care of that for me.

Since he's the non-electronic version, he does have the stuff for the sounds, but they don't work. However I must say, they're hidden much better in Viras than any of the other figures. Another reason he's my favorite.

Value:
I'm not certain what these retailed for originally but it would have been a reasonable price as Trendmasters were always good on pricing. I heard these ended up at discount stores and my guess is that many major retailers didn't bite. It's a shame as these are fantastic figures for the era and the property and Viras is stunning.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 9
Paint - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - N/A
Value - 9
Overall - 9 out of 10

Viras gets the highest score out of any of the Trendmasters figures, because he's the best. He's almost a perfect figure and like I said before, he's easily the best Viras figure I've ever seen. That's pretty impressive for an American Trendmasters toy!

We've got a lot more Gamera figure reviews to come in the 12 Days of Gamera! Until next time, don't let any monster alien squids take over your brain!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 19

2011-12-19T18:39:00.003-05:00

We're six days away from Christmas. Do you think Lego has finally decided to ramp it up for the big conclusion? If your guess was no, have an eggnog drink!

It's a safe! At this point I'm ready to lock this advent up in the safe and forget the whole miserable thing.

Seriously... A safe on day freaking 19! I should be building reindeer or something!

The safe has gold in it. Yay?!

The build is kind of different, but it's not particularly hard. It looks like you get a bonus black Lego button that I assume is the "lock".

So now I have a safe. I assume this was for the crooks to break into, but yesterday I had them murder all the law enforcement in town, so breaking open a safe seems a bit mundane by comparison. Maybe I'm doing this wrong?

Gamera Fun Facts

2011-12-18T23:43:00.001-05:00

So here's some fun Gamera facts that you may or may not know. Just in time for the holidays! So learn some more about your favorite turtle for the 12 Days of Gamera!

A lot of people know Gamera from his days on on Mystery Science Threatre 3000. What some folks may not know, is that Gamera debuted on the original Mystery Science Theatre 3000 back when it wasn't on cable, but local TV in Minneapolis. What's interesting is that these were "holiday" episodes, airing during the month of December.

Gamera versus Barugon, Gamera the Invincible and Gamera versus Gyaos all aired during December and the guys were in a particular festive spirit. In fact Crow was transformed into a Christmas tree and did not participate in two of the shows.

The actual original Gamera movie episode is particularly interesting as Joel comments on the movie alone. It's an interesting episode to watch, albeit not very funny. It's more like watching a movie with a friend who occasionally speaks, not the usual MST3K goodness.

This was back in the day when they took calls. Some kid invited them to his birthday party... That's pretty awesome. These episodes are actually the first known surviving episodes of the early days of MST3K. Eventually the movies would be reshown in later years and were parodied more extensively.

Speaking of fun facts, actress and model Ayako Fujitani who plays Asagi Kusanagi in the modern Gamera trilogy... Is the daughter of Steven Seagal! Thankfully she didn't get her acting skills from him!

And finally, here's a look at Gamera and friends, from the inside!

Tomorrow, more figure reviews! Gamera's Christmas celebration continues!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 18

2011-12-18T23:00:00.001-05:00

Things are really starting to get strange in this advent calendar. It's clearly not a Christmas calendar. This I'm convinced of. I think perhaps this is a Oz advent calendar. Not like the Wizard of Oz, no like Oz, the prison rape show. Seriously, things get, uh, awkward in today's advent.

It's another criminal. Seriously, would a snowman be so wrong?!

Build-a-Schillinger!

He comes with two crowbars (not of the Devon Storm variety) and an extra grey toboggan.

Mine has a scuff on his eyebrow. I don't think that's intentional, but it gives him more character. Makes him more street. He could easily pass for JC Ice.

I have no clue what to do with the extra hat, so I gave it to my Best Lock cop and made him a badguy. Plus, let's be honest he looks much more shady than anything Lego has produced. No cop has a Pepsi logo as a badge.

And then this happened. I mean really, what else am I supposed to do with a bunch of crooks and weapons? It's riot time!

Nothing says Christmas like a little Lego Attica reenactment! Deck the halls!

I would have loved a sled, some snowmen, a chimney with stockings, something, anything... But instead I get murder and mayhem. Thanks Lego!

Silent Night, Deadly Night in LegoLand!

Figure Review: Trendmasters Guiron

2011-12-17T22:49:00.007-05:00

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Guilon (Guiron)
4 Inch Scale
By: Trendmasters
$13.99 (price varies)
We're 5 days into the 12 Days of Gamera and what better way to show that than with the fifth Gamera villain, Guiron! Guiron is perhaps the most inspired design of all the Gamera foes, as he's really not like anything else. He's part dog, part shark, he can walk on all fours or stand up, he has a huge knife for a head and he can shoot throwing stars out of his head. He's all kinds of awesome.

The protector of a race of brain-eating aliens, Guilon massacres the enemies of his ravenous masters with his cleaving butcher knife head and firing shuriken stars! Even the most devistating blasts of Jiger, Gyaos, Zigra and mighty Gamera are deflected by the gargantuan blade of the saber-beast! As a battle of monstrous proportions rages, Guilon seeks to split Gamera's portective shell and bury his blade!

That's the actual bio from the back of the package and it does a good job of explaining Guiron's story, even mentioning the crazy brain eating aliens from the film. It adds a little bit, talking about battles we haven't necessarily seen and it's done with some great language. Kudos to you Mr. Trendmasters bio writer.

For some reason, perhaps the pronunciation, Guiron's name was often spelled "Guillon" in the United States. Trendmasters has went with the spelling "Guilon" to confuse things even more, I suppose. Gamera and Guiron do battle on the frozen planet of Terra in the movie and they actually have some snow scenes. It's a perfect compliment to Christmas!

Packaging:
The Trendmasters packaging is nice, if not a bit too dark and simplistic. I really appreciate the cover though and I know that Trendmasters didn't have much to work with. At the time only one new Gamera film had been made.

The back of the package is universal, which is also pretty sweet. It includes bios for everyone and I also approve of that. It should be noted that Trendmasters has listed his name as Guilon, sort of splitting the difference between his American and Japanese names. However, I will refer to him as Guiron.

Sculpt/Paint:
I've mentioned this before in my other Trendmasters Gamera figure reviews, but in case this is your first one, Trendmasters had to make up their own Heisei designs for these characters. As Guiron never appeared in any Heisei films, Trendmasters just recreated them how they thought he might look.

Trendmasters was also trying to make these toys perhaps a bit more appealing to kids. So they gave Guiron a big dose of bright green paint. It's a mixed result, as it's just too much green in my view. I think if the eyes had been a different color, maybe that would have helped.

It's still a pretty nice design and it's definitely one that they've taken some liberties with. That said, it's not a massive amount of change. He still has his tusk teeth and almost goofy grin.

He's not as unique as the Figumate Guiron, but he does have a firing blade in his head. That might seem a bit silly, but it's not a terrible idea. Sadly there are no removable stars in his head, but they are sculpted on.

I NEED THAT LIKE I NEED A HOLE IN MY HEAD!
Plus it was the 1990's and every toy had some sort of rocket launcher. The only problem is that messes with the sculpt from the front.

He looks okay with the blade in, but I kind of like how he looks without it in. I guess it's up to you how you want to display him.

Speaking of sculpt issues, these are the non-electronic versions of the figures. That means they do not "roar" but they still have all the switches, speakers and battery compartments sculpted into their design. It's a bit of a bummer, but it's not too distracting I guess. Heck the 4 Horsemen are scultping that crap into MOTUC figures these days. The nice part about these non-electronic versions is that their buttons aren't bright red.

Of course the best part about these figures is that they are perfect scale with the Revoltech Gamera, instantly allowing you to recreate classic battles in new Heisei forms!

Articulation:
Although he's able to fight Revoltech Gamera, he's not going to match up in the articulation department by any means. He has just a few simple cut joints, but it's still not too bad.

All four of the legs are on a simple cut, but they have a decent range of motion on them. The head looks like it's one a cut too, but it does not turn. I'm assuming that has something to do with the rocket mechanism.

His tail does turn though. So there's that.

Accessories:
You don't get much with this line, but these dudes were like $8 when they first came out, so I wouldn't expect too much out of them anyway. It's not like Guiron normally wears a hat or something, so it's not much of a loss.

You get his firing blade and that's it. My blade was a little warped, but it's been in a package since 1996ish, so I guess that's to be expected.

It's a decent little piece and the rocket element fires really well. Check out the video below! Sorry for the seizure inducing flashing.

You could definitely put your eye out with this thing. It's got some power behind it.

Value:
I'm really not sure what these retailed for originally as lord knows I never saw them in the store. I'm thinking $8-$10 for the non-electronic versions and maybe up to $15 for the electronice versions? Or pehaps even half that. Who knows. What I do know is that you'll pay at least $15 for these (assuming you can even find them) in today's market. They're rare and don't come up too often. I am super stoked to have them in my collection as they're really special pieces.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Paint - 6
Articulation - 6
Accessories - Missile Knife
Value - 8
Overall - 7 out of 10

A seven isn't the strongest score in the world, but this isn't a perfect toy either. However, that's not really the point with these guys. They're one of kind in the sense that they're the only Heisei versions of these characters and they're fairly rare. They're awesome in that sense and definitely neat pieces to have in the collection.

Their compatibility with the Revoltech figures is just bonus icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. Keep coming back for more 12 Days of Gamera with many more neat things to come!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 17

2011-12-17T18:44:00.003-05:00

Oh Lego Advent Calendar, you have turned into quite the fountain of disappointment. Once again, look at all the cool stuff going on in the window there. There's even Lego ICE with people skating on it. Do we get any of that cool stuff in the advent calendar? No, we get more frickin' car parts!

This has turned from a Lego advent into a damn automotive shop!

I skipped right to the build, so sue me. Why is the windshield in two pieces? They couldn't have made that one long solid piece?

It's a decent car, but it's nothing amazing. I don't know if there will be more parts or not. What I do know is that I went to Walgreens and found a bootleg Lego toy that has a bunch of Police vehicles for $6, including a car that BLOWS this one out of the water.

This is from the Best Lock "Town" collection. It was a bit harder to put together, but it also didn't take up half of my advent calendar either!

It even came with it's own Lego-like cop figure. I'll confess, we're seriously getting into Maniac Cop territory now. This guy has freakish skin and I'm pretty sure his Police badge is a Pepsi logo.

Still his car blows Lego's away. And he came with other stuff too! Also his stuff is fully compatible with Lego!

Did I mention his car has working doors?!

His ride makes the Lego advent cop car look like a Power Wheels.

Maybe I'll combine the two into some super awesome cop car. Or maybe I'll throw the Lego one in the river and pretend I got this cooler one out of the advent, but it was only one day, not 17 of my advent days.

SUCK IT LEGO!

Gamera Christmas Song & Music Video

2011-12-16T22:09:00.005-05:00

Last week I wrote this song and then Jaysun, rocking lead guitarist of Clynch (go see one of their shows) and Planned Banter podcaster extraordinaire put together this rockin' rendition of the song. I then created a video for the song and now we present to you this awesome piece of history.

If this doesn't put you into the spirit of Christmas and of course, the 12 Days of Gamera, then you need to check your pulse! So enjoy this head banging, face smashin', turtle tree rock!

You can also download and MP3 of this new hit single, over here: O'Gamera

And be sure to join us tomorrow for even more GAMERA!

Here's the lyrics for you that want to know!

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are so green and fiery!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are so green and fiery!

You spin around like a dreidel,
You fight monsters on basic cable,
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are so green and fiery!

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are a Guardian and a Friend...
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are a Guardian and a Friend...
How often have you had a Kenny?
Why have there been so very many?
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You are a Guardian and a Friend...

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You shoot fire so brightly!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You shoot fire so brightly!
You spin around like a Jewish game,
You've left the city in flames!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
You shoot fire so brightly!

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Around and round you do spin!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Around and round you do spin!
Watch out for the spacemen!
Use stock footage now and then!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Around and round you do spin!

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Why do they mock you?
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Why do they mock you?
Barugon shoots rainbows,
Tell him that he's a real hoe!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
Why do they mock you?

Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
I wish I could meet you!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
I wish I could greet you!
Oh Gamera, Oh Gamera!
I wish I could eat you!

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 16

2011-12-16T21:15:00.004-05:00

Look at all the AWESOME stuff going on in that Day 16 window. Man, if only there was something like a sled or some of those neat little guys were in today's advent. But what do we have instead? If you guess more car parts, give yourself a cookie!

I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.

So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunch box full of gears
Now, I never considered myself a thief
GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it out over several years.

Now, up to now my plan went all right
'Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.

Sorry... Uh, this is a review right? Well you get an extra headlight.

Ain't she a beaut!?

I gave the extra headlight to Officer Dick Cramp to wear as a hat. I don't think he's pleased.

I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.

Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on

Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this machine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?
Well, it's a fortynine, fifty, fifty one, fifty two, fifty three, fifty four, fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine automobile! It's a sixty, sixty one, sixty two, sixty three, sixty four, sixty five, sixty six, sixty seven, sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy automobile

Comic Review: Dark Horse Gamera Mini-series

2011-12-15T22:05:00.007-05:00

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe #1-#4
Dark Horse
Story by Dave Chipps
Art by Mozart Couto, Mike Sellers & Art Knight
Covers by Yuji Kaida & Mitsuaki Hashimoto
In order not to bore you to death with only figure reviews, on the third day of Gamera, I give to you... COMIC REVIEWS! Yes I'm reviewing the entire Dark Horse mini-series of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe.

Dark Horse optioned this series of comics, right around the time they were losing the Godzilla license. It was a smart move on their part, as they could test the waters with Gamera who had just seen his revival begin with the 1995 film. Unlike Toho, which forbid Dark Horse from using other Godzilla canon kaiju like Mothra or Ghidorah, Daei Studios allowed Dark Horse to use all the characters.

Dark Horse decided to cram as many monsters as they could into the 4 issue run and I suspect their hopes were that sales would be strong enough to offset the loss of Godzilla and start a regular series. Unfortunately, Gamera's Heisei films were just starting to trickle into the market and all the storylines take place BEFORE Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. In fact, when the comic was first released, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe wasn't quite on VHS here in the states. Sadly, this was before DVD was the norm and Gamera never got past his 4 issues.

Using classic Gamera villains, Dark Horse was able to stretch the concept and ultimately this makes a great companion piece to Trendmasters Gamera action figures. It's a shame that these comics and those toys mostly flew under the radar of American audiences, as they offer up some nice additions to the Gamera legacy.

That's not to say these comics are a perfect set, either. If anything, the entire series is uneven at best. The first issue is pretty standard, introducing us to our "main character" a guy named Lutz. He's a pilot/con/loser who just happens to be in the wrong place at the right time. He meets up with Asagi Kusanagi from the Gamera films and they end up crossing paths with Gamera (naturally) and a reborn Gyaos.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this and I actually like that they have Asagi here, particularly as the first issue seems to be more about filling the audience in on a dumbed down version of the plot from the first film. Unfortunately, there's no real reason for Lutz to be here and I can only suspect that Dark Horse felt that an American character would be more appealing than a Japanese girl.

Part of the problem with Kaiju stories is that you almost always have to have human characters, as they drive forward the action. This is especially true in comic form as the monsters can't talk or provide narration dialogue. Dark Horse struggles a bit here by introducing a very "comic book" villain in the form of Doctor Greta Karbone. She's diabolical and evil, for no real reason... At least in the first issue.

Karbone has been using stolen samples from Gyaos to create her own race of supermonsters. One of them escapes, a Gyaos, and Gamera is called in to do battle. Dark Horse doesn't seem to know how to play up the psychic link between Asagi and Gamera and instead it's sort of a muddy plot point.

The second issue is much stronger, as Gamera and Gyaos not only have a wicked battle, but we get the introduction of Zigra. Truth be told, Zigra is sort of shoehorned in, but for the most part it works and Zigra is actually shown to be a pretty fierce opponent for Gamera.

Throughout the run, the art is decent 1990's comic art, but nothing you'll be amazed at. There are some neat Kaiju battles and some inspired death scenes. The best art comes from the covers, which were not done in-house, but simply imported art from Daei's crew. As good as the second issue is, the last few pages force in an alien character who speaks in "code" and the comic includes a decoder in the back so you can read her secret message. SPOILER ALERT! Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine! Okay, maybe not that lame, but close.

By the third issue, Lutz has actually grown on me somewhat, although he's really a despicable bastard. He actually stole Asagi's Gamera pendant (and removed her from the plot as well!) but he never managed to do anything with it. Greta Karbone continues to get some actual character development (which would have been nice in the FIRST issue) as we learn that as she started to create Viras, the monster began to control her brain.

It's a nice idea, although it sort of contradicts the first issue when she was clearly a cardboard cut-out nefarious villain. It seems as though writer Dave Chipps may have been making this stuff up as he went along. The end result is that the final characters are fairly engaging, but their journey there is misguided. We get more monster battles and Viras is introduced as the big bad guy for the mini-series.

I approve of this as Viras is an awesome design. Okay, his Showa design wasn't great, but the concept is solid. He's also shown mind control powers before, so him using a human vessel to unleash his power is par for the course. Sadly this isn't as developed as it could be, but I'm inferring that he's a cool character. I'm allowed to do that.

Unfortunately the alien character drags the whole story down, as she finally starts to speak out of the code and it's revealed that she's basically a Neutrino bounty hunter type who is sent here to capture Zigra. When Zigra is killed, she opts to stick around to capture Viras instead. Freena is her name and she offers absolutely NOTHING to the plot. He dialogue is horrible as she can only speak in "slang" and she accomplishes absolutely nothing in any of the issues. I can only assume that Dark Horse added her in to try and punch up the characters a bit.

Ultimately Gamera and Viras do battle, Lutz and friends manage to stop Doctor Karbone and Gamera kicks everybody's ass. He also yells out GWAAAR several times. I assume he's a fan?!

Speaking of fans, Dark Horse added a letters section for their final issue. Even they seem to realize this is stupid, as they say it was only a mini-series but didn't get to printing letters until the last issue. Talk about futile. That said, there is one lonely guy who asks fellow Kaiju fans to write him letters...

I think we should all write him letters now and tell him how we found out about him through the 12 Days of Gamera. I'm sure he's totally cool with me republishing his address 15 years later. If you write him a letter, please send me a copy too!

In the end, I can't complain too much. This is not something you absolutely must seek out, but for about $10 you can pick up the whole mini-series. It's not amazing, but it's worth a read. Something to enjoy on the crapper and an interesting peek into what it might have been like to have more Heisei versions of Showa monsters.

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 15

2011-12-15T16:54:00.005-05:00

We're fifteen days into this thing and by now we should be at the high point, I'd think. Honestly, I have no idea what Lego is doing with this set. Some of the items are neat, but not really Christmas oriented at all. Today's item is more of that.

It's a car or at least some sort of four wheeled vehicle. From the looks of it, there might be more pieces in the next few days. Oh joy!

A car in a bag? That sounds like something you'd find at Bob Ryan's "The Old Smilin' Irishman" car lot. It is Louisville's #1 Used Car Lot!

Looks like it could be a lemon. Can I get a Car Fax on this?

The last owner looks kind of shady.

Once it's all put together, it's actually not a bad little vehicle. The tires are real rubber and it rolls well. It doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, but it rolls well. I can say that for it.

You also get a bonus rim, which is absolutely useless. It's a shame it wasn't a bonus hubcap, because I'd turn this little Lego thug into a Lego version of PG-13. Wolfie D or JC Ice? YOU DECIDE! See you tomorrow for more of this.

Figure Review: Revoltech Gyaos (1995 Version)

2011-12-14T23:48:00.003-05:00

Sci-Fi Revoltech #007
Gyaos
4 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$40 (price varies)
On the second day of the 12 Days of Gamera we take a look at Gamera's arch nemesis and most recurring villain. Gyaos first appeared in the 1967 film titled, Gamera versus Gyaos. He would eventually reappear in several forms throughout the years, leading to the 1995 showdown in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, which is what this toy reflects.

The original Gyaos character was not so closely tied to Gamera, however when Shusuke Kaneko rebooted the franchise in 1995, he made it so that Gamera and Gyaos were mortal enemies. It was a perfect fit, given that the two monsters had clashed more times than any other. Kaneko also added in the element of many Gyaos, allowing for what would be a constant struggle with the creatures.

Revoltech released this figure in 2010 in conjunction with Gamera from the same film. The result is essentially getting two great figures ready to do battle. Technically this is "Super Gyaos" as Gyaos got bigger through the film, via eating his own relatives. Nasty guy, that Gyaos is.

Packaging:
You've got the same nice packaging here that we saw on Gamera. As I said yesterday, the packages reflect the idea that these are not children's toys. They're collectibles made for an adult audience. These could be displayed nicely.

I actually like this box better than Gamera's. There was something a bit off on the cover art used on the Gamera figure, but the Gyaos one just looks super sharp. Gyaos is sort of a strange design for a creature, but I like this angle used.

The box opens and the inner sleeve has some nice movie photos. As well as presumably some details about Gyaos. That's just a guess though, I don't read Japanese. One of these days, maybe.

Gyaos wingspan is so massive that one of the wings is packed separately. Once again, everything is carefully packed and this bad boy came to me all the way from Japan, but nothing was shuffled out of place. There's only one twist-tie and it's got that rubber tubing to protect it, just like Gamera. There's also some plastic sleeves to protect the figure's paint.

Sculpt/Paint:
Gyaos is a hard "bird" to capture in plastic form. The Trendmasters Gyaos was off model and often Gyaos art doesn't quite peg him down. Thankfully, Revoltech delivers yet again.

Once again Matsumura Shinobu does the sculpting and is able to capture all the nuances in Gyaos' sculpt. In the film, Gyaos was a combination of puppets, suits, props and CGI. It's tough to be able to make a single toy look like all those incarnations, but somehow Revoltech has delivered. Once again, the head is an area where the sculpting really shines through.

The exhaustive amount of ridges and ripples on the sculpt are incredible. Likewise, there's a ton of paint applications here. As with Gamera, it's hard to notice them all because they tend to all be a reddish-brown hue, but upon closer inspection, you can really come to appreciate the work put in here.

The wings are just wonderful, with lots of detail and sculpting all over.

Gyaos Patented Pose!
There are some interesting little tidbits, such as a rubber piece under the neck, which allow you to pose Gyaos head in various positions and you never see the joints or does he look out of place. It's really a testament to the sculpt and design.

He also looks great with the Konami Gashapon Gyaos laser blast. Sadly this Gyaos figure did not come with one. I'm not sure why he didn't get his ultrasonic laser beam cutter.

Scale wise, I guess he's okay. Gyaos is supposed to be 88 meters or about 26 feet bigger than Gamera. He seems particularly larger though, due to the wings and long legs.

He's actually not too much smaller than my Bandai Vinyl Hyper Gyaos, but he's much less bulky. That is to say, he's actually a much better Gyaos proportion.

Articulation:
Revoltech's infamous revolver joint is hard to understand for the uninitiated, but here's a diagram on how it works. Basically you get a swivel in two places, and a clicky hinge that goes 180 degrees or so, depending on the sculpt surrounding the joint. All Revoltech joints are "plugs" which basically means that the joint can be removed from the sculpt.

Gyaos is absolutely loaded down with Revoltech joints, but they are really well hidden thanks to his design. He has around 14 Revoltech joints, including three in each arm, giving you a wide range of motion. He's also able to stretch out flat, so you can do flying poses.

Gyaos can open his tail in the films, sort of like Titanosaurus and this is replicated in the figure form as well. It doesn't open very wide, but it does open.

The legs have Revoltech joints at the hips, which are mildly hindered because of the sculpt, as well as Revoltech joints at the knees. The lower half of the legs and the ankles are simple hinges, which is probably for the best.

The range of motion in the wings/arms is the most impressive though. It's really incredible what they have been able to do on these figures and much like Gamera, I don't have any of the issues I've had with previous Revoltechs. These guys movie easily and gracefully.

Accessories:
The one area where Gyaos comes up a bit short is the accessories. The lack of the beam is a bit disturbing and I would have loved to see like his nest or something from the film. We do get a stand, but it's one of those largely useless Revoltech stands.

You get the stand, a nameplate, the orange box and token and his only really good accessory, a mini Gyaos bird. The mini version also has a nice clear stand.

The detail and paint work on the mini Gyaos is really top notch. It's better than some full size figures I own!

This is supposed to reflect some of the smaller Gyaos from earlier in the film. Although it could also be used as a Gyaos from far away. Personally I want a small army of Gyaos figures, but sadly, only have the one at the moment... So the mini one helps out in the meantime.

He's pretty terrific, but it still feels a bit weak to only have a few accessories and that stand is pretty crappy. You might as well just spring for a Tamashii Act stand. I wish Revoltech would work something out so they could have their figures come with those stands instead or at least a nice clone of them.

DIE GYAOS!
I can't help but think the nameplates would be better on a stand of some sort too, but I guess it's a moot point since it's in Japanese anyway.

Value:
As always, these guys are a bit expensive. I'm listing the price at around $40, but honestly he's only around $30ish if you know where to shop. The problem is that with shipping, you're going to be in for at least $40. Also, don't be fooled and order from an American site, unless they are having a huge sale. It's almost always cheaper to just actually import the figure. Many stores overcharge for the imports and then you still have to pay shipping anyway. Just bite the bullet and order from a Japanese site.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 9
Sculpting - 9
Paint - 9
Articulation - 9
Accessories - Stand, Box, Mini-Gyaos w/Stand
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10

Gyaos takes a bit of hit because he just doesn't include much. The lack of accessories is what knocks his score down a bit, even if there are some elements to him that are more sophisticated than those on Gamera.

He's still a fantastic figure, though and my biggest regret is not ordering a bushel of these guys (yes a bushel) a year or so ago when a Japanese site had them on sale for $20!

Enjoying the 12 Days of Gamera? Let us know by leaving a comment! Also be sure to visit this Friday when we unleash our brand new, world premier exclusive Gamera Christmas song and music video! You don't want to miss it!

Mattel Q&A December 14th, 2011

2011-12-14T17:43:00.004-05:00

If you enjoy these Mattel questions, don't forget to take a look around the site and check out the 12 Days of Gamera and the Lego Advent calendar!!!
1.Will 2013 be the year of a return to a 3 3/4 scale for DC? It seems like ages ago that Infinite Heroes went away, with the promise that perhaps something better was on the horizon.

We are still in the midst of 2012 reveals… you'll have to wait and see what we have in store for 2013.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I can't recall if I asked this question intentionally, or if I'm completely unaware what year it is. Either way, the answer probably would have been the same.

2. Rather than stringing them out into two quarterly variant slots, has Mattel given any thought to taking characters who are a bit of a tough sell on their own and packing them together in a 2-pack? Like intead of Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor being two releases, making them one?

This is something we have thought about and you may see it down the road. Nothing locked in right now.

3. You guys have mentioned that you have a pretty good roadmap of where things are and were in Eternia in the MOTU saga. We've been reading the bios and piecing it together, but do you think there will ever be a time when you can reveal the MOTU bible of sorts? Like either on the website or perhaps in some sort of special book. Just so we can all read the story without having to try to infer between the gaps and hunt down the obscure details.

Yes, we do hope one day we can get to something like this. And by the end of 2012, there should be enough info out there that the bios will start to fill out and the timeline will be much clearer. The mini comic will also help a ton in clearing up some time line questions!

4. We've seen more sales on MattyCollector this year than any year prior. To fans this has been a great thing, as they've been able to pick up missed figures or some extras at a great value. That said, should folks be concerned about these sales or is MattyCollector just now finally starting to have them because it took a few years to build up a back catalogue of leftover products?

These sales were in part our way of reducing inventory in prep for 2012. Starting in 2012 our production runs will also be much smaller and much closer to the sub number. There will be some day-of sales, but with a lower overall quota then you have seen before. While we will have some older product too, it won't at all be like it was in 2011 and there may not be the same type of extensive sales in 2012 like you saw in 2011.

5. Some wrestlers have recently been deemed unmakable by Mattel for various different reasons. While this edict will likely remain the same on some guys, is there potential for someone who is a "no" now, to become eligible down the line? Originally we were told that there was only like one or two people that WWE didn't want Mattel to make, but it seems that list has grown exponentially in the last year or so.

It's true there are only a few Legends that WWE does not want us to make, but that's not the only reason for someone to be ineligible. Some people already have exclusive action figure deals with other toy companies or simply aren't interested in making a deal with us. People who are in the latter two categories can certainly become eligible in the future if the situation changes.

Lego Advent Calendar - Day 14

2011-12-14T17:21:00.002-05:00

Two days ago a robot went on a rampage. Plus we met our friendly Lego dog. Yesterday we had the debut of Officer Dick Cramp and a Gamera attack. What lay in store for us behind the cut for Day 14 of our Lego advent calendar? Let's find out! Only 10 days remain!

It's an evidence center?! Originally I thought it was a stove, but it looks like maybe a fingerprints station or a forensics lab.

Does that make this an evidence bag?

NO BONUS PARTS!

However, part of the setup is clearly a spyglass. Even if it's not supposed to be one. So you can use that for new purposes!

Also, the magnifying glass is pretty cool.

IT ACTUALLY WORKS!

Which makes it kind of lame to strap it down to this table.

The police are so busy using their new table, they're missing all the action!

Then again, perhaps that's for the best. See you tomorrow where I'll review another piece of the police station or something equally as boring... Or perhaps not? You'll just have to wait and see!