Halo Hi-Jinxs

Guess who decided to make Snow Angels since it snowed again in NYC?

From the trenches of Toy Fair 2011

It'sa me, Mario!

I found this little guy! He was stuck in a FREE claw machine and he begged me to take him home. lol

Haven't had time to write and post since I'm attending Toy Fair 2011 but it's been a blast and I've seen some really cool toys that most likely will be reviewed or shared with, when they get released in stores. Anyways back to work. Working on a secret figure for Toy Dungeon Studios!

Keep an eye on...

Toy Dungeon Studios. They're a small up and coming studio that makes "designer toys" and I've been working with. I really can't say what's in the works (NDA and all) but some really cool stuff is gonna drop from them. So please support them and buy a zipper pull or two. Thanks :)

Toy question of the week

Collectors case or not collectors case. How do you store your figures?
How interested would you be in seeing posts about action figure collector cases?

Random pics of the week

Alley-Viper: Do you think we can make it past him?
Nitro Viper: When I'm driving, sure.

These Hulkbusters never had a chance.

Retro Review: Tron Legacy pt. 2

Here's a review I wrote before Grandma died but never got to post.
Enjoy

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So I broke down and got the rest of the Tron: Legacy figures and vehicles. What can I say? I got a good deal. That said let me say that this series, is a mixed bag.

I'll keep this brief as I already have reviewed Sam Flynn and with the exception different color of light, pattern design and accessories (barely on both accounts) most of the are pretty much the same except Kevin, who I'll go into further detail later.

As with Sam, Clu, Rinzler, Black Guard and Clu's Sentry all have the same articulation. Which means these figures are like Marvel Universe figures but w/o torso and double knee joints. Not bad articulation wise, I just prefer the double knee and torso, but I understand the lack of torso since the light up gimmick is in the way.

   

Accessories are pretty much the same as well. They all come with their own ID discs except for Rinzler who comes with two discs, two batons and a nunchuck. Also of interest, Clu comes with a katana. It's yellow and the handle is the same as the standard baton all the figures come with. I guess they do some martial artists in the movie.

And now for Kevin Flynn. In a word, he sucks. The scuplting on his face is horrible and looks like a bad sculpt from the Kenner Star Wars era. Not to say those figures were bad but they often did not look like the actors, except this is worse. In this day and age where figures in this scale are masterpieces, this is trash. I'm under the impression that Jeff Bridges didn't do the final approval of the sculpt and if he did, with all due respect, he needs to have he vision checked. This figure looks SO bad that even if I squint my eyes it does look like him. Even worse is that this figure has a soft plastic robe so it's rather difficult to fit him into his Light Cycle. Hey SpinMaster, wtf? If you MUST own this figure, by all means, go for it, but I, in good conscience CAN NOT recommend it.

On the other hand, Kevin Flynn's Light Cycle is pretty cool. Despite the fact that it can not accommodate Kevin, all the other figures in the collection fit well. It has a light up feature like all toys in this collection, which nice but the kicker is that when you place a figure in it and close it, the lights stays on longer than w/o a figure. Pretty neat and it sort of adds to value of owning one of the figures.

Sam also has a Light Cycle which is different from his father's model. It doesn't close around the rider, like his dad's and is more open. It comes with already posed figure of Sam who has three points of articulation, at his neck and at each shoulder. But the cool thing about it is that you can take the head off of this Sam and put it on the regular 3.75" figure. Which makes a difference since it's a different head on this Sam. As with Kevin's Light Cycle this one also has lights and sounds when you place a figure on it, the one difference that it lights
up when you roll it.

The Light Runner is also another vehicle in the collection and is a sort of F1 formula car but seats 2 passengers. I really like this vehicle for it's styling and features. It has similar light features to the Light Cycles and has a spinning front wheel section which turns up and down from the main part of the car. When I say this I don't mean up and down like with an suspension system but the whole axle spins on an axis. I'm not really sure how to explain it but it's cool.

One other thing to note with the Light Runner, be careful when removing your figures from it. To make a figure fit, you have to push the rear circle part of the figure into a crevice with a button to activate the light features, on the seat which also holds the figure in place. When I first placed Sam in it and took him out, he split in half. I don't know if it's because the glue was weak or there isn't any glue but he opened up like an egg to the edge of a frying pan. Luckily it wasn't broken so I put back together fairly easily. On a side note this car, if you're into customizing, in my opinion could be the base for a Batmobile. Not anyone Batmobile in particular but it has enough to make up your own design.

Once again like my previous review, this line is definitely clearance fodder for it's pricing and not because it's a horrible line, and that's when you should pick it up. And unless you're a completest, avoid Kevin Flynn as he's a total waste of plastic. Well I'm off to finish my Prince of Persia collection because that's on clearance.

And now for something different...

January is a horrible month for toys. I say this because as a collector I usually don't find anything to buy, as the stores around here don't seem stock their shelves. So instead of finding new releases like the Return of the Jedi wave from Star Wars, I find the older waves. To further add injury to insult, other collectors seem to have no problems finding certain toys like the Iron Man 2 wave with the Mandarin or Comic Iron Monger. Either way, on a trip to Target I picked up a couple of Mega Bloks Halo Hero Pack on a whim and boy, did this clear up my lack of new figures on the shelves blues!

Now I've heard people refer to Mega Blocks as the poor man's Legos but this is far from true, especially in reference to the Halo series. While Legos have their blocky charm the Halo line is far from blocky. These are figures are fully formed mini- figs with ball and socket articulation and in my opinion the next evolution of the building block figure.

Gone are the squared legs and round pumpkin like head of their Lego compatriots. In their stead there is a fully sculpted figure ready to kick either Covenant or UNSC butt. Ironically the only evolutionary holdover from their Lego brethren are the hands, but in fairness to the Mega Bloks, they do have lines to indicate their fingers and what could pass as a thumb.

In addition the Halo figures also have knee and elbow joints. Though only simple swivel joints, they are amazing to behold on such a tiny figure. These joints add more depth to the poses that they can take. Especially since Halo figures can look up without having to lean back due the ball and socket neck it has. The possibilities of poses are greater than Legos.

If you like Halo and want figures without plopping whatever McFarlane charges (what, $10?) for their figures, try the Mega Bloks line. They're only $2.49 at my local Target and well worth the price in opinion. Or if you're daring enough, pick up a vehicle, you might like it.

Winter Wonderland

So we, in NY, are up to our 3rd or 4th snow storm of the season and when I could,
I took pictures of some toys in action in the snow.

Enjoy!