#57: Star Wars Legacy Collection Princess Leia

This is Princess Leia as she appeared at the very end of Empire Strikes Back, aboard the medical frigate. Aside from the arms and the head, this is the same figure as the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Leia, which I bought a month or so ago. In fact, the similarity is the reason I bought this figure. I felt the VOTC Leia was lacking in the arm articulation, while this one isn't, so I bought the Legacy Collection Leia so I could do a head swap and have a properly articulated bun-hair Leia. The skin tones are not a complete match, but it is close enough. Otherwise, anything I said about VOTC Leia applies here.

#56: Star Wars Legacy Collection Captain Needa

I have a lot of troopers, but not many officers. I have Grand Admiral Thrawn, Juno Eclipse, and Grand Moff Tarkin. Now I have Captain Needa as well. This is the guy that loses the Millennium Falcon after it lands on a Star Destroyer, and is then subesquently Force choked to death by Vader. I think this is a new sculpt as previous Imperial officers have had less articulation. His legs look a little funny, but otherwise this is a good figure. Due to the way it was packaged, the end of his gun is bent downward at an angle, rendering it ineffective. It looks like the hat is a separate piece that was attached slightly off center. At the store, there were two Needas to choose from, and the other one had its eyebrows painted on in such a way that he was displaying a comical expression of surprise. I decided to go with the more serious looking one.

Street date

Revenge of the Fallen toys officially go on sale tomorrow. For the most part, I am not particularly interested in the movie line, since I don't really like their aesthetic. The only toy I got from the first movie's line is the leader class Brawl. I got that because it doesn't really look too crazy for a movie design, and it's a big tank. As far as RotF toys, I want to get the biplane because I dig biplanes (I'm guessing it's a character that's not even in the movie) and the toaster. Yes, there is a Decepticon that turns into a toaster! His name is Ejector. That is so ridiculous that I cannot resist.

There are reports of stores out there that have broken the street date for the Revenge of the Fallen toys, and today I discovered that Rite-Aid is one of them. Among their Universe and Animated Transformers, there was a single RotF toy, a deluxe. I don't remember which, it was either Sideways or Sideswipe. One of the similarly named silver cars. I know that drug stores that carry toys tend to have exorbitant pricing, and Rite-Aid is no exception. They are charging $17.99 for a deluxe class Transformer, and $11.50 for a Star Wars figure. Outrageous! I am kind of tempted by Cyclonus, since I haven't seen one in stores for a few months, though.

If any of you are planning to buy Revenge of the Fallen toys this weekend, I wish you happy hunting!

#55: Terminator Salvation T-1

One of the positive things that can be said of Terminator 3 is that it gave us the T-1, from which all Terminators are apparently descended. More akin to a tank than a human, this isn't something you'd want to run into in a dark alley. Or anywhere, really. The T-1 is part of the six inch line, for which it is curiously undersized. It works well with the 3 3/4 inch figures, though. It's a bit large to be sold as a 3 3/4 inch figure, so including it with the six inch line makes sense.

The T-1's articulation is limited to swiveling its rear wheels, its torso, and its guns back and forth, so it seems like it would be easy to avoid being shot by it by either crouching down, or perhaps going up on a balcony. Also, the ends of its guns shoot off, which is an odd move for a pair of machine guns. Clearly Skynet had a lot of improvement to make before it got to the T-800.

As I've mentioned before, I dig killer robots, and this is a cool addition to any mechanical army. An army of these would be cool, but they're not exactly clogging the shelves, so buy one when you see it if you want one.

He can breathe in space, you know

Yesterday I went to see Terminator Salvation, or as I like to think of it: Batman vs Terminator. I rather enjoyed it.

#54: Doctor Who The Fourth Doctor

Until recently, if you mentioned Doctor Who, the average person probably thought of Tom Baker. He was the longest running Doctor and continues to be one of, if not the most, popular actors to play the part. His outfit has certainly been the most iconic, featuring a ridiculously long multi-colored scarf. Consequently, he has been hard to find available for a decent price. When I found one being offered for an acceptable price, I took the opportunity to buy it.

This is a really well done figure of the Fourth Doctor, I can't think of any major improvements that could be made. A large part of what I like so much about this figure is the manic grin that he was sculpted with. Something about it just screams Tom Baker for me. He includes an alternate head which isn't wearing the hat, but is sporting a more serious expression, and comes with a piece of the killer robot from his first appearance. He also comes with his trademark Sonic Screwdriver (which my other Doctor figure is lacking). His scarf is also removable, so any other figure it will fit on can dress up.

Now that I've got two Doctors, I'm contemplating getting a whole set, assuming they make all ten (soon to be eleven).

Not much going on this month, still

If I don't get any more toys over the next couple of weeks, then May will be Doctor Who Month. I still have one more Doctor Who toy up my sleeve. I like the Doctor Who toys, but I wish they weren't in such an oddball scale. I don't have anything else in a 5" scale. Mostly I have 3 3/4" and some 6", so it would be nice if they would fit in with one of those. Well, the month is only half over, we shall see what comes of it.

It seems kind of strange that it has been over a month since my last new Star Wars toy. By far the largest chunk of my collection is composed of Star Wars. As soon as I see that Empire Strikes Back wave which is supposed to be out any time now, I'll be adding at least one or two new figures.

#53: Doctor Who Cyber Controller (The Tomb of the Cybermen)

This is the first build a figure I have completed this year. Only my third overall, I'm usually not too into buying figures I don't want just to complete another one. All the pieces for this one came with the other Cybermen I've been posting about all this week. This makes a nice companion piece for the other "The Tomb of the Cybermen" figure that was part of this wave. I guess Cyber Leaders don't need the big chest unit. He also gets a double set of tubing on his legs and a nify semi-translucent dome atop his head.

I really like the design on the face for this incarnation of the Cybermen. Although it lacks the "teardrop" element on the eyes, it has this blank simplistic look to it. I think it really conveys the lack of emotion that the Cybermen have cultivated. If I remember correctly, there's a little flap in the mouth that moves when they talk, but aside from that it is immobile, a blank mask that betrays no emotion.

That does it for my new Cybermen.

#52: Doctor Who Cyber Leader (The Next Doctor)

Jumping ahead 40 years from yesterday's "The Invasion" Cyberman, we come to the Cyber Leader from 2008's "The Next Doctor". For their 2006 redesign, the Cybermen took on an appearance more of a guy in armor than the previous versions which looked more like a guy in a silver wetsuit. If you didn't know better, you might think they were merely robots. In fact, this version of the Cybermen is actually from an alternate dimension, so the Cybermen proper have yet to show up since the relaunch of the series. The Cyber Leader is differentiated from the standard Cyberman by the black markings on its head, as well as clear dome which shows its brain beneath. Since I already have the regular Cyberman, I'm glad that the version in this wave was a variation rather than the same thing.

#51: Doctor Who Cyberman (The Invasion)

Another year, another Cyberman design. From 1968, this is how the Cybermen appeared in "The Invasion," again featuring the second Doctor. He faced the Cybermen more often than any other Doctor until the tenth Doctor (depending on how you count these things). Their heads basically stayed the same until the Cybermen were reimagined nearly 40 years later. This version of a Cyberman has something that none of the others has: cybershoelaces! Also, he comes with a gun. It may be my imagination, but it seems like the "handlebars" on the head are a little too wide. Although the articulation is a bit lacking, there is some great detail in the sculpt. The eyepieces have a meshed texture which could have easily been overlooked at this scale.

#50: Doctor Who Cyberman (The Tomb of the Cybermen)

"The Tomb of the Cybermen" from 1967 was one of the first Doctor Who stories I saw, and the first I saw that featured the Cybermen. It is a good story and features one of my favorite Doctors, Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor. The Cybermen featured a much more streamlined look, although I'm not sure why they had three fingers. This design features an element that I think of as wiffleballs connected by pipes along the arms and legs. Although it looks cool, that does tend to slightly restrict the movement of the arms and legs. They still bend and turn properly, but I'm not going to push them too hard for fear of eventually pulling something off.

One thing I really like about this figure (this was a big selling point for me) is that it comes with Cybermats, which are the two small objects at the Cyberman's foot in the above picture. Cybermats are basically little drones that do the Cybermen's bidding. Thanks to their big cartoony eyes, I can't help but find them oddly cute.

#49: Doctor Who Cyberman (The Tenth Planet)

When I saw that the Doctor Who line would be including a series of Cybermen based on their different appearances throughout the years I was looking forward to getting them since I think they are one of the more fun groups that antagonize the Doctor. After getting a better look at the final products online, I was sold.

This Cyberman is from the first appearance of the Cybermen, "The Tenth Planet" from 1966, which was also the end of William Hartnell's run as the Doctor. Alas, the tapes for this story have been lost to time, so most of us may never get to see it aside from the few clips that are still available.

The figure accurately reflects the delightfully bizarre appearance of the Cyberman it is based on. It has a very mid Space Age sci-fi aesthetic that I really dig, so I am definitely enjoying this figure.

A slow start

May is off to a slow start for toy collecting. I placed an order which should be arriving soon, so there is that to look forward to. There are a couple new Star Wars figures that are out or will be out soon that I'm looking for, and Iceman, but that's about it for now. I think the Giganta wave of DCUC is supposed to be hitting soon, and I want a few figures from that wave.

It's too bad that the likenesses of the Star Trek 3 3/4" figures aren't very good, because I would buy some more of those. I guess if I want a Simon Pegg figure, I'll have to get one based on Shaun of the Dead. I saw the movie today, and as someone that is not into Star Trek, I quite enjoyed it.

Goodbye April, hello May

I thought that April would be a particularly slow month for new toys, but thanks to some unexpected finds and some internet orders, it wasn't as slow as I was expecting. I have another order pending which should be arriving next week.

It hasn't come up yet, but it will soon, so I need to decide how to treat build a figures. Although they come in pieces rather than being sold individually, I think I will give them their own post and count them as a separate toy for my numbering. I will definitely have two build a figures this year. If I decide to buy the Jawa, then I'll have a third.

It is interesting that Playmates is putting out both of its big movie lines for this year in two scales (3 3/4" and 6"). Presumably, the idea is to get people to double dip on characters by buying them in both scales (as I did with the T-R.I.P.). I wonder how effective this will be, or if people will just stick to one scale.

Speaking of big movie lines, I wonder how much longer the Iron Man movie toys will stick around on toy shelves. It has been a year now, that is some staying power!