#35: Transformers - Wreck-Gar

Although I've seen his casemates at the store, I still haven't seen Wreck-Gar on the shelf. So thanks to James for finding one and picking it up for me. I'm mostly into Wreck-Gar because he was voiced by Eric Idle in the Transformers movie. The Animated version was also great, with the bonus of Weird Al's voice. So when they finally got around to releasing a new toy of the original, it was a must buy for me. Apparently, Wreck-Gar can be positioned to ride on another Wreck-Gar in bike mode, just like in the movie. I'm not really willing to shell out for two Wreck-Gars just to do that, but it is a cool bonus. The back of Wreck-Gar's head is clear plastic because of the light piping for the eyes, but the eyes themselves are painted red, so it's not the best use of the effect. Overall though, it's pretty fun, and one of the cooler additions to my collection.

Articulated Monster episode 3

The latest episode of Articulated Monster, the podcast by me and James from Why Did I Buy That Toy? is up! In this episode we have special guests AJ (also from Why Did I Buy That Toy?) and Precentor James, aka PJ (from All Things Fett).

#34: Star Wars LEGO - AT-ST

I was expecting Target to have its Easter section up directly after Valentine's Day, but that didn't happen. It finally went up after St Patrick's day, though. Aside from Cadbury Creme Eggs, which are my favorite candy ever, I was also looking forward to the next Star Wars LEGO mini-set which this time around is the AT-ST. So this is four bucks which is kind of pricy for what you're getting, but I suppose that's Star Wars branded LEGO for you. It's really small, so it is necessarily a bit more abstracted than the minifig scaled version is, but I think it does a pretty decent job of getting the shape across.

#33: DC Universe Classics - Gorilla Grodd

A couple years ago, I got the Harley Quinn figure, which came with Grodd's torso and head. I didn't buy any of the other figures in the wave (I wish I'd bought Aqua Man so my JLA would now be complete!), but I kept the piece of Grodd as I tend to keep BAF pieces even if I have no intention of completing them. Recently, I did decide to sell off all the BAF pieces I've accumulated over the years, and in the process of sorting through them decided to finally complete Grodd. Through the magic of Ebay, I was able to accumulate the rest of the limbs over the past couple of months. Ultimately, I think I ended up paying slightly less than I would have if I had just bought all the figures during their initial release. So, good enough. In case you are wondering, the left arm is the most common piece being offered. That's the one that came with the red and blue versions of the electric Superman.

So anyway, it's pretty cool. He's about 8 inches tall, so he towers over the regular figures. Real gorillas aren't bipedal, they walk around with the knuckles of their hands on the ground, and Grodd can't properly stand like that. But real gorillas aren't 8 feet tall either, so it's okay as a willing suspension of disbelief. But if you want a figure of a real gorilla, this isn't the best way to go. Some knee articulation would have been nice, but what are you gonna do? It would also have been cool if the headset thing was removable, but it's stuck in the head.

#32: Pop! Heroes - Batgirl

Since Mattel is taking forever to release a Batgirl figure, I decided to go with the next cutest option, the Pop! Heroes version. I have the Batman from this line, and I was ordering something from Amazon and needed to add a few bucks for free shipping, so this is what I chose. This isn't a line I'd want to collect a lot of, but as a way to fill the Batgirl shaped hole in my collection, it's pretty cool. It's a pretty simple sculpt, and the head can rotate, providing the only articulation. There are a few spots where the paint is slopped or misapplied, so that is disappointing. It is what it is, so if you like how it looks, then that's the main thing going for it.

#31: G.I. Joe The Pursuit of Cobra - Firefly

I missed out on getting the 25th Anniversary Collection Firefly, which was pretty cool, so I was glad to pick one up when I saw the Pursuit of Cobra version finally. As Cobra's saboteur/demolitions expert, he is one of the few competent members of the organization. Naturally he comes with a lot of accessories, and he can almost carry all of them which is a bonus. He's got two pistols, a machine gun of some sort, a backpack, two explosives (which peg onto the backpack), two arm guards (which can hang off the back of his vest as in the picture), a stand, and swappable heads. One of the heads is closest to the classic version, and the other one reminds me of the Green Goblin's helmet from the Spider-Man movie. Unfortunately, it is too large to fit in the backpack, since I like the regular head better for display. Also, the backpack makes him hard to stand up since he is so back heavy, so I'm leaving it off. Overall though, Firefly is pretty cool.

Articulated Monster

So James and I decided to start a toy podcast, which is called Articulated Monster. Here is the first episode. Enjoy our dulcet tones, and feel free to share any questions or comments with us.

Please ignore the fact that I referred to Jeff Bridges as Jeff Daniels.

I'm sorry, Dude!

Day 28

Comrade Superman has to get out of here, the Bizarro Corps have finally caught up with him.

#30: All Stars Two Wheelers - Motorcycles

So when I bought Ghost Rider, I figured he needed a motorcycle of some sort, so I went to the next aisle over where they have that sort of thing. If you ever want a motocross bicycle for your figures, that is the place to go. At first, I was going to get one of the little Harley Davidson replicas, but then I noticed the same company made other motorcycles for a buck fifty less. So for a lower price, I'll take a generic motorcycle. At least, I think it's generic. There certainly wasn't any identifying information on the packaging. It is just perhaps a tad too small for Ghost Rider, but I think that's more to do with Marvel Universe figures being more of a four inch line than a 3.75 inch line. But it works well enough for me.

#29: Marvel Universe - Ghost Rider

After seeing Black Widow at Target a little while ago, I hoped they would continue to restock with new figures that aren't Iron Man (Iron Man already has his own line, stop putting so many Iron Man figures in the Marvel Universe cases!) and on my next visit Ghost Rider was sitting out on the front of one of the pegs. I've been looking for him for a while, so I swooped in on that immediately. The next time I went to Target, they only had a bunch of Iron Man figures and one Red Hulk.

So this is the Johnny Blaze version of Ghost Rider, so his leather outfit isn't as spiky as the more modern version. He's pretty standard as far as Marvel Universe figures go, so fairly decent articulation, and he feels kind of light. There's a spot on the cheek where the paint came off or was mis-applied, but I am okay with pretending that is just hellfire spilling out from his eye. His only accessory is a chain. Too bad he doesn't come with a bike...