#17: LEGO Minifigures series 9 - Cyclops

One of the subsets of LEGO minifigures that I like collecting is the monsters or mythological beasts, so here is the cyclops. He's pretty easy to find by feeling for the club which has a pretty distinctive shape. The head fits over a standard LEGO head, with a hole for the eye. On the inner head, there is a complete face on each side. Well, complete in the simplified LEGO style of an eye and a mouth. The eye that is not pictured, the lower eyelid is narrowed, making the cyclops look more upset. It's a pretty fun way of doing an alternate expression when so little of the face is visible through the outer head piece. My favorite detail is that there is a tiny cyclops skull on his belt.

Here's the bump code for the cyclops.

#16: LEGO Minifigures series 9 - Chicken Suit Guy

Seemingly months after they showed up elsewhere, LEGO minifigures series 9 finally showed up at the local Target. Surprisingly, they were in the LEGO aisle for the first time. Now that we're in the ninth series, there is a certain amount of fatigue setting in, and I'm feeling more choosy about which minifigures I want to get. Part of it is that it can take a while feeling every package to find the figure I want, so I get more impatient. Fortunately, the more I do this, the easier it gets, so I'm getting fairly quick about it. It also helps when there is a very distinctive piece to find. The chicken suit guy is definitely distinctive because it uses non-standard wing pieces for the arms. The head piece is fairly distinctive, but there are several figures in the series with helmets, so it's probably not the piece that will stand out the most. He doesn't have any extra pieces or accessories (what would he have, an egg?) but the concept of the guy in a chicken suit is cool enough that it's okay he doesn't have anything extra.

Here's the bump code for the chicken suit guy.

#15: Bioshock Infinite - Boys of Silence

So, my second find at the toy show was a table that had a bunch of NECA figures. All for ten dollars each. Score! Unfortunately they didn't have the other figure from Bioshock Infinite, Elizabeth, but I was interested in picking up the Boys of Silence anyway, so this was a deal I couldn't pass up. I'm not sure exactly what the deal is with the Boys of Silence (shouldn't the figure's name be singular?), but I gather from the bio on the back that they are forced to wear these helmets all their lives, and thus are suitably cranky and ready to kill you if you wander across one. There's something vaguely unnerving about the character, in the grand Bioshock tradition. The BOS is well articulated, and I know that some people have trouble with painted joints on NECA figures, but I have been fortunate enough to avoid the problem with my figures. The head has a surprisingly good range of motion, as it's on a ball joint and the base of the mask is soft enough plastic that it can move around more than it looks like it would. There are no accessories or a stand (not that the figure needs one), so I suppose the BOS is more of a hand to hand combatant in the game. The paint is well done, particularly on the helmet which looks like tarnished metal. The little "mouth" even opens up a bit. Now that the Bioshock Infinite line is starting up, I'm still waiting for the release of the spider splicer from the Bioshock 2 line. They were able to get the brute splicer out as a TRU exclusive, so I hope that it will be released as well.

"Hands off, creep."

#14: Marvel Universe - Hulk

Last week, I went to the toy show in San Jose again. Having been a few times, I've learned my lesson about buying something I want immediately on sight. Instead, if I see something I definitely want, I make sure to walk the rest of the floor to find the best deal, and go back to whichever one is best. That's how I ended up with the new Marvel Universe Hulk for only 8 bucks, which is more than three bucks less than typical retail price here.

I have the comic two pack version of Hulk from a while back, and it's cool and all, but it's a very bright green. Because, comic pack, I guess. I like this version better for its more muted color scheme, and overall better proportions. It's both good and bad that Hasbro is willing to go back and re-do characters when earlier versions were maybe not so great. On one hand, it's good to have an improved version, but on the other hand, now you've got an extra you don't need. This Hulk could almost be a movie version. I'm not intending to get movie versions of all the Avengers, so that's not a priority. Since this one has better proportions, the articulation works better. He even has both a waist swivel and a chest ball. And two fists for smashing. There are no accessories included, and no stand. Just the little cardboard piece that fits in the tray, which is supposed to be a bonus pack in but is totally useless.

The day after I went to the toy show, I went to Target, and they had one of these Hulk figures on the shelf at normal retail. It was the only new Marvel Universe figure on the pegs, oddly enough. I suppose it's good to know that if I hadn't made it to the toy show, I'd still have the new Hulk figure for my collection.

HULKS

#13: K'Nex New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Princess Peach

There's a second series of blindpacked K'Nex figures, this time based on New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. Mostly it's repaints of Mario (Fire Mario is probably the only one I'm even kind of interested in), Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad, but there's one completely new character, Princess Peach. Or Princess Toadstool as she was known when I was a kid. I can see why they might want to change her name to something more attractive sounding, but as a princess in the Mushroom Kingdom, Toadstool makes sense. Anyway, Peach is the only new character in the series, and she's a completely new figure. She comes in three pieces: skirt, upper body, and head. She's easy to find in the package because the skirt is such a large piece. Now bring on Wario! Thanks to James for finding this for me.

PLEASE SELECT PLAYER

#12: Portal 2 - Chell

With the news that NECA had a deal with Valve to make figures based on their games, my most immediate wish was for Portal figures. Left 4 Dead, Half-Life, and Team Fortress figures made it out first, but now Chell, the heroine of the Portal games is finally out. Atlas and P-body are scheduled to come out later, and I'm hoping there will be a GLaDOS released somehow. It was worth the wait, because Chell is up to the usual high standards from NECA. In case you were ignoring the packaging, you would know that this is Chell from Portal 2 rather than the first because she is wearing the long fall boots, and her Aperture Science Enrichment Facility jumpsuit is half off and tied around her waist. In game, you only really get to see Chell when she's going through a portal that is in your line of sight, which usually means a side or rear view. NECA did a good job of capturing her look, as compared to promotional artwork and in game models. They even captured the almost vacant, drugged look on Chell's face. For accessories, Chell includes a stand which is necessary because the long fall boots are not good for standing around on. Even more necessary is the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, aka the portal gun. It lights up! It would have been really cool to get a companion cube or GLaDOS as a potato too, or a turret. Perhaps they will be included with Atlas or P-body.

And now, a special debate between Gordon Freeman and Chell on the subject of whose crazy gun is better:
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."

#11: Batman Unlimited - The Dark Knight Returns Batman

The Dark Knight Returns holds a special place in my mind as the first Batman comic I ever owned. I was way too young for it at the time, of course. Mattel is apparently using the retail Unlimited lines to put out story based variations of Batman, so we get a Dark Knight Returns version. The interesting thing about it is that it's basically a Masters of the Universe Classics body rather than another DCUC body repaint. It's a good way of reflecting the artwork, and Mattel gets some retail use out of the base body. I'm not sure exactly which pieces are reused, but the forearms, trunks, cape, and head must be new. I'm guessing the boots are new too. The head has a nice grumpy old Bruce look to it. This would be an easy repaint to the blue and grey costume with the bat symbol on a yellow oval, which Batman wears early in the story. Maybe they could do a Superman using the MOTUC base body as well. Lately the Mattel figures have been trending towards including fewer or no accessories, but Batman at least gets a Batarang in this case.

"I don't remember the Mutant leader being so slim."

#10: Transformers Generations - Fall of Cybertron Grimlock

One of the early selling points for Fall of Cyberton is that the game allowed the player to control Grimlock. The Grimlock sections of the game are pretty fun, partly because in dinosaur mode, Grimlock is nearly invincible and can breathe fire as well as stomping or biting enemies. Grimlock is a pretty popular character (he turns into a robot tyrannosaur, so of course he is!), so it's a pretty easy bet that he'll get a new toy whenever he shows up in fiction. It would be cool if they made the rest of the Dinobots as well, but there don't seem to be any plans for them.

So, about the dinosaur mode. It's kind of problematic. First off, the tail is way too wide. In the game, it's a longer, thinner segmented tail. Due to reality, that didn't work for the toy, and what we got isn't the most elegant tail that Grimlock has had. You can't really tell in the first photo, but the above photo shows that Grimlock's underside is mostly hollow. The transformations process is pretty similar to most previous Grimlock toys, although tucking the legs into the body for dinosaur mode is kind of glossed over in the instructions. One interesting aspect of his transformation is that the head folds into the back instead of just hanging there. That big open space on the dinosaur's underside is the back of the robot mode, so I guess it serves the purpose of giving the dinosaur head somewhere to go.

Fortunately, robot mode is pretty cool. In the game, he uses a sword and shield, which are included here. The sword is a bit undersized, but they're both made from translucent red plastic and look cool. They can plug into the legs in dinosaur mode, but that just looks goofy. There's also a light up feature for Grimlock. In bot mode, it lights up his chest. In dinosaur mode, it lights up his eyes and mouth. He'll definitely be staying in bot mode.

#9: Hot Wheels - Mars Rover Curiosity

Once again, the grocery store comes through as a spot to find rare Hot Wheels toys. I'd been keeping an eye out for the Curiosity toy, but having no luck finding one. The other day, I happened to walk by a Hot Wheels display at the grocery store and Curiosity was sitting right in the front of one of the display sections. I looked, and it was the only one in the entire display. Curiosity has some interesting construction in that the bottom part is made of clear plastic. Since the real Curiosity has the thin spindly legs, this is a good way of representing them without making the toy too fragile. There is some detail painted on the sides, but the top is completely white, which looks kind of plain. The NASA logo is on the front of the rover. The camera arm can be rotated. Aside from the wheels, I don't think many Hot Wheels cars have moving parts, so that makes things a little more interesting.

Hmmmm.

#8: Transformers Prime - Beast Hunters Optimus Prime

The third season of Transformers Prime is coming up, and already some of the toys are available. I never picked up the Classics Optimus, and ever since I've been itching for a voyager sized (non-movie) version of him. I thought about getting the first Prime version, but it really bugged me that the part of his torso below the windshields was grey instead of red. But this version has wings! And a big sword with a translucent green blade! I also think this is the first Optimus with green windows. I'm not sure why they're green, aside from matching the sword, but it's an interesting look and I dig it. The two rocket boosters can also be used as handheld rocket launchers. The instructions show them both being held by the same hand (on either side of the fist), but if Optimus has one in each hand, the sword can stow on his back.

On a bit of a tangent, the prices of Transformers toys is kind of weird. The deluxe figures have been getting more expensive and getting smaller. Meanwhile, voyager figures have been able to remain fairly consistent in price. In fact, the price difference between deluxes and voyagers at my local Target is only $3.50. That's crazy! If voyagers had increased in price at the same rate as deluxes, they would cost around $35 now. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it really does make voyager figures seem like a much better value when they're so much larger for only a small difference in price.

This version of Optimus has, for me, an interesting transformation scheme. Instead of the arms folding up into the cab like every other version of Optimus I've had, they just kind of fold back along with the legs to form the back end of the vehicle mode. So the vehicle mode is a truck sort of thing, rather than the typical trailer truck. I do like the way the wings stick up a bit in the back, it's kind of like having tail fins from 50s cars.

Comparison with Classics Optimus, courtesy of my roommate's collection.