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Blast From the (TMNT) Past: Krang’s Android Body

While I included in a post back in September 2014 about Krang and the Kraang, I didn’t focus much on Krang’s Android Body there in any singular fashion, and what I was able to focus on was the toy itself.

Little did I realize that a couple years later, I would come across the original box it came in while cleaning out the attic at my parents’ house!

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Unfortunately, the pink brain-part–Krang himself, the character, is a “new” 2014 edition, part of the Classic Collection series of re-issued TMNT figures. But he still fits, still “completes” the otherwise genuinely-vintage piece!

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This is one of the few “accessories” or “vehicles” that I felt was truly worthwhile and fitting…and given what I recall of my obsession with the figures themselves (to the exclusion of vehicles/etc), that’s definitely saying something. And particularly with the new live-action/CGI film about to hit, it’s kinda fitting to find this “original” given how much “more” recognizable this piece becomes.

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Here’s the front of the box…”typical” from the line, and its time, with exaggerated art, ridiculous interpretations of the turtles, and just a small image of the actual product (since this was not a window-box). While this body was an “accessory” piece, it did have the “bonus” of the pink brain part of the figure (minus the walking contraption of the “standard figure” release) to make for a fully complete toy in and of itself.

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Not much new from the top you don’t get from the front, but it certainly helped cover the bases, making sure that whatever part of the box you looked at, you certainly know what it is!

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Same for the side–and they certainly don’t want you to miss that it included Krang himself, rather than you having to purchase the body and then go buy a separate additional figure just to play with it.

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Given this “figure”‘s size, the back sticks with that motif rather than showing off a bunch of other smaller figures (or even vehicles). More on that below…

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A closer look at the back, and the amazing alliteration that totally fits my present-day sensibility and is something I appreciate far more at present than I ever did as a kid!

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Interesting copy-text to “sell” one on the piece…

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And it points out various “features” of the thing, only about half of which I found important or relevant at the time back when I first got this, and the sentiments hold true in 2016.

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I’d mostly forgotten about them, but along with the “regular” figures and vehicles, Playmates had at one point had a line of $20 figures that stood about a foot tall–these oversized giant editions of the basic figures. $20 for one figure?!? What ridiculous nonsense! (Nowadays with $14 3.75″ figures, these would probably be $60+ apiece!)

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Then there were those Pizza Point things you could clip and save. I don’t think I ever learned what/where/how one could “redeem” them, or if I did, I don’t recall deeming anything “worthwhile” enough to be bothered to do anything about it. So hey, I still have at least 4 of the points available to me. Anything good still available?

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The box even has the remnants of the original price sticker, and confirming that I got this from Hills (and not Children’s Palace or Toys R Us or Kmart) (This was pre-Walmart/pre-Target!) (At least for me)

What an expensive thing then, and what a bargain that price would be, now, for such a figure/accessory of this significance and such.

And what novelty to find this original box after all these years, something that it never would’ve occurred to me that I’d saved for any reason! Truly a blast from the past, and a weird sort of “link” to the past, a tangible piece of ephemera in a world of stark contrasts these days–you either find something “mint in box” for HUNDREDS of dollars, or something “loose” for mixed pricing. And here I have originals of the opened box and the loose figure(s).

TMNT2 (2016) Toys – Kraang

Of all the “new” TMNT toys for the new 2016 sequel, the only one I really had any interest in was Kraang.

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Finding the figure recently, tossed it in my cart, and let it spike my groceries cost up a bit. Can’t say I’m all that thrilled with the figure in and of itself…but I like that it has a sort of updated look/feel to the ’80s cartoon version for the body, while the “brain” looks more current cartoony. I haven’t any idea if the film character is a singular entity or if this represents simply one of a bunch of generic entities…but with the inclusion of Bebop and Rocksteady I’m “assuming” singular.

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The back of the card shows other figures to look for. I’m really not interested in any of them offhand, except perhaps Casey Jones (I have the ’80s, 2003, and 2012 cartoon versions…add a 4th incarnation?) and maybe Bebop and Rocksteady…that might wait til the film’s actually out.

Five villains to six unique heroes…that 5:6 is not a bad ratio to have for a line of figures for a movie! Though I might be slightly more interested in trying to track down a set if three of the four turtles didn’t right here on this layout have variants (1. Where’s Donatello’s? 2. I like it better when there’s simply a different “version” of the four turtles in a given wave uniquely displayed on the card-backs).

It also helped a great deal that Target seemed to realize that jacking their prices up to basically $10 to Walmart and Toys R Us‘ $9 wasn’t doing so well, and so the price is back “down” (at least where I’ve seen lately).

As variants go on the TMNT toys…I’d really dig a line of these “standard” figures based on the IDW comics, in the Mateus Santolouco style!

New Year, New Toys…

I’m a sucker for certain toys, and characters…and certainly for formats, among a number of other factors.

Coming across a display of Deadpool plushies in Target recently, I couldn’t pass them up. I already have the oversized Funko Pop plush for Deadpool, so just the “standard costume” wasn’t enough…I also snagged the Uncanny X-Force one as well.

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These are a great size–small without being tiny, but large enough to plop where-ever and not lose them.

There were a couple other versions–the Blue and Gold from when he decided to join the X-Men, and what looked like an inversion of that costume as well (more gold than blue). I’m happy with these two, though I’ll be interested in what other merchandise will be out for the upcoming film, given general action figure issues with the whole Disney-Fox thing.

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I managed to hunt down the Extreme Heroclix Superman. This has the New 52 design that I’ve accepted as being pretty much standard now and what’s being pushed. While I no longer care for the game, I liked the sculpt, and have long appreciated the oversized Heroclix things as they make nice “statues” at a cost far under that of actual statues.

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While checking out the Batman v Superman stuff lately, I found these boxes of Mighty Minis–blind-pack miniatures. The ones I’ve seen are a mix of Batman v. Superman specific and Batman Unlimited (more comic booky than movie-based). I was going to pass on them until I spotted the Robin figure on a pack. It looks like the Batman Unlimited packs have Batman Beyond, Robin, Cyborg, Green Arrow, Flash, and Batman; and I don’t know if the package’s blacked-out silhouette image is to indicate un-advertised “chase” figures, or that when you buy the packet you don’t actually know which figure you’re buying.

I’d be interested yet in Batman Beyond and Flash, and wouldn’t mind Batman.

The Batman v Superman packs look to have Superman, a gold Superman, a black-suited Superman, Armored Batman, and green-gauntlet Batman. at this point I’d only want the regular Superman, so if I buy any more of these packs, I’ll probably go for the Batman Unlimited ones (though I primarily just wanted Robin, so I’m happy as-is).

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The packs are $2.99, which is rather steep for any bulk purchasing. As a random quick addition to a cart of groceries, it’s not bad, and I like the figures. They’re not particularly articulated, but look good.

And Robin (Tim Drake) is one of my absolute favorite comic characters (the version that was around til 2011 anyway), so I’m all for Robin figures…

Batman v Superman Toys in the Wild: Wonder Woman and Aquaman [SPOILERS]

I finally came across Wonder Woman and Aquaman last week…so they DO exist in the first wave, and are not just pictured to entice one into buying toys now when some that are most wanted won’t be out until later!

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I do like the design for this figure. She’s quite recognizeable, and yet (though the skirt is a bit on the short side) overall she doesn’t appear to me to be particularly sexualized. We have her sword and shield which look fairly generic, but ought to look better once the figure’s out of the package and displayed somewhere.

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…as the back does show. I do wish they’d opted to show Aquaman on the card back, to really emphasize that there are more than just variants of Superman and Batman (and this Wonder Woman) out there.

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I think I’m going to like this version of Aquaman. It’s definitely a depature from the typical design I think of, and yet the character still looks like an Aquaman to me. The trident looks like a worthy accessory as these things go…

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Yet again, instead of Batman variants, I would think it’d make more sense to show Wonder Woman on the card as well.

I’ve pretty much decided that as these toys go, I’ll probably end up purchasing these two–Wonder Woman and Aquaman–individually, and then the three-pack with Superman, Battle Armor Batman, and the Luthor battlesuit. I would also hope there’d be an oversized Doomsday figure later…but time will tell, of course!

More Batman v Superman in the Wild [SPOILERS]

Following up on my post from last week, I found a couple more neat-looking additions to the Batman v Superman toys over the weekend.

While the other post was what I found at a Walmart, I found these at a Toys R Us.

Do not read on if you’re attempting to avoid any/all spoilers for the film.

The variant costumes/versions of Superman don’t seem overly likely to spoil anything.

However, the back of the card–and something that grabbed my attention–very well could be deemed a spoiler.

So again…do not read further into this post or look at the photos, as there’s stuff that could definitely come off as spoilers!

Continuing on, now…

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I’m actually sort of surprised at this Epic Battle Superman. I’d half-hoped that maybe there would not be a bunch of Superman variants, at least, but here’s another.

Some sort of fancy armor with ridiculous-looking markings (the gold) that seem totally out of place to me on a Superman costume; and certainly to this one. And while I have no problem with the idea of Superman picking up/using a tool at hand in a fight as needed (especially if/while facing a clearly superior opponent), to me, a Superman action figure with weapon accessories just doesn’t work for me offhand.

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More of note to me, though, was that the figure’s card is well-suited to showing off the line, as it shows–instead of other Superman variants or multiple Batman variants–three other non-Superman characters. And for me–reveals the apparent existence of an Aquaman figure.

I’ve yet to see the Wonder Woman figure in person, but the fact she appears on a couple of the cards suggests quite heavily that she’ll be find-able in coming weeks.

I’d previously figured the figures in this line/scale would be $8.99-$9.99. At Toys R Us, these were on pegs marked as $9.99, so I’m assuming they might be had for as low as the $8.99 at the likes of Walmart and/or Target (unless these follow the 3.75" adult-collector Multiverse figures that are $9.99 at TRU and $13.99ish at Target).

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If I do buy into this line, I’d be likely to want to get this Aquaman. If I’m not truly gonna have a selection of villains, at least I can have an assortment of unique hero characters instead of nothing but variants of one or two.

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Then there’s this 3-pack that seems to give us our first "villain" of the line. We get an Armored Batman, a Superman, and a green-and-purple-Luthor-Power-Suit. I believe the price I saw for this was $24.99…which is actually cheaper than buying Superman and Batman individually with a third $9.99 Luthor; save $5 and get all three!

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In some ways, I’d much prefer "just" a "basic" version of all the characters…but in a world with these super-powered "gods," I have no problem with Batman in a clearly armored state; and certainly appreciate the look of this version of the figure.

This 3-pack’s figures seem to be the same size as the other "regular" figures, so if I had to guess right now about purchases I’ll make, I imagine I’d go for this 3-pack, and then the single-pack Wonder Woman and Aquaman and call it a day with the line.

I also saw some sort of new Batmobile, but I don’t have much interest there, particularly for assuming the price would be rather ridiculous or it would look way too small for these figures. I did not note the price.

The 3-pack above would also nicely match with the Total Heroes 3-pack I bought last year, featuring comic-style versions of the three characters.

I suppose time will tell if there are to be other figures in this line, and at what scale–and based on a trailer, I would certainly hope we’d have a large Doomsday figure "in scale" with these, even if it stands at $20-$30-something by itself.

Mega Bloks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I went into Toys R Us looking for one thing only: an Extreme Heroclix Superman figure I’ve seen several times and had finally decided to purchase (particularly given its price in the store compared to prices I was seeing the exact same thing listed for  online–via Amazon and eBay and such!)

I happened across a display of TMNT stuff I hadn’t known existed. I didn’t quite recognize stuff, but quickly realized they were Mega Bloks TMNT toys. That alone had my attention, then–so much for the TMNT Lego stuff.

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Along with the Krang’s Rampage, there were also mini-sets for the four individual turtles, some sort of Turtle-Van set with Shredder and Raph, as well as "trooper" packs with Bebop and several Foot ‘bots or Rocksteady and several Foot ‘bots.

There were also several sets for the "current" TMNT that didn’t really have my interest…except for "blind pack" minis. What the heck? For $2.99 (compared to Lego‘s $3.99 minifig blind packs) I grabbed a couple, figuring they felt like different shapes–so not duplicates–and since I didn’t have any, they’d be "new" to me.

Ultimately I decided I did not have nearly as much interest in those as I did the "classic" TMNT stuff…and though it was certainly more than I’d intended to spend for the evening, I bought Krang’s Rampage.

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I cared nothing for the pizza cart or News 6 billboard "accessories." I simply wanted the turtles, and Krang with android body.

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I had a visitor while I was first examining the contents of the box. Once Ziggy determined the rustling bags were not treats, he ignored me…but didn’t feel like leaving "his" space.

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Eventually I had to set the box between my "work area" and the kitty…he was quite curious, and after he tried to eat a minifig the night before, I wasn’t going to let him walk through the brickspace. He left and returned several times while I assembled.

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A couple hours after I started, the project was complete, and I had two of the four turtles facing off with Krang in his enlarged android body…and I’m quite happy with the result overall.

I did notice as I worked that these bricks feel like a lighter (cheaper) version of Lego, but I expected that–this set WAS cheaper in purchase-price than a Lego equivalent. A lot of pieces seemed pretty custom to this set (as opposed to repurposed pieces creatively integrated for a Lego set.

The mini figures–the two turltes–feel a lot more flimsy than Lego minifigs…but are far more poseable! The detail and articulation make them truly seem like miniature action figures rather than turtle-themed accessories on a standard blocky minifig structure. The weapons also seem much more "in scale" to the figures than the Lego counterparts had.

But all in all, I’m quite happy with the set, and glad for my purchase.

The miniature action figures leave me very interested in acquiring others–especially the Bebop and Rocksteady packs, and make me think it would be simply amazing if they would do a simple trooper pack with a dozen or so Foot ‘bots…making it far more possible in this scale to have the turtles face a small army of the robots than in any scale prior.

And surprisingly enough to me–in searching online for more details of these sets and what might be expected beyond what I saw, in the near future–I learned that "street date" on these was 1/1/2016.

I was in the store seeing these and buying the set I did…1/1/2016.

Though "purist" Lego enthusiasts will almost certainly find these to by physically inferior, on the "fun factor" and "enjoyment," as well as variety (the Lego sets were expensive and only focused on the "current" TMNT and then the 2014 film…Mega Bloks has sets for both the ’80s TMNT as well as the "current" series.

Mega Bloks also has the individual turtle packs–I believe they were $7.99 or so–which make it quite feasible for one to obtain all four of the turtles without having to invest in a $12.99 set and two or more $25-$60+ sets just to get the turtles.

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Above: a closer view of the image from the box showing Bebop, ROcksteady, Foot, and the individual turtle mini-sets.

Below: a differently-lighted photo of the box for Krang’s Rampage after the contents were removed.

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Batman v Superman Toys in the Wild [SPOILERS]

While I was happy to finally–months after “Force Friday”–see an actual assortment of new Star Wars figures, after enjoying looking at the various figures and finding myself slightly dismayed to not find Rey…I happened across what I initially thought was just another random Batman toy from the generic-ish Batman line of DC figures.

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But then I noticed a now-familiar logo at the top and realized this was a toy from the upcoming Batman v. Superman film due out in the spring. And along with Batman himself (in “Electro-Armor!”) there was a Superman.

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And they both talk and have sound effects…WHY Superman would ever have any kind of need for artificial WINGS is beyond me, though. And I get the “Heat Vision” but this toy just makes no sense to me with the lights on the chest (besides the S-shield).

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Pulling the indicator on the back of either figure deploys the “action wings” and activates the voice/sound stuff.

I’m really not impressed with either figure…but then, I’m not the target audience for these at all…they seem geared for the younger crowd.

These seemed roughly the size of those 12-inch barely-articulated “titan” figures that are usually about $10. I couldn’t find a price for these (and the price-scanner came up “please see associate”) but I’d guess these’ll probably be in the $24.99-$29.99 range due to talking and their size.

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Then there were what appear to be the “regular” figures for the line. I’m very disappointed in these because I’d far prefer the 3.75″ scale…but they probably want to differentiate these from the higher-end “Adult Collector” figures that seem to have become the identifier for the 3.75″ scale of late.

[A bit further below I show photos of a figure that could be construed to be a spoiler for the film. Stop reading now if you don’t want to see spoiler-type stuff regarding Batman v Superman]

Continue reading

TMNT Toy Acquisitions (Early December 2015)

While I’ve little interest in “variants” of the turtles themselves, and over the past year haven’t cared for any of the new characters I’ve come across…the more recent Dimension X figures based on the most recent season grabbed my attention.

I’d determined that I was definitely interested in the new Triceraton warrior Mozar, and the latest version of the Fugitoid, which I’ve had from the previous two major TMNT lines.

Last week, I came across Mozar and grudgingly purchased the figure…several days later I came across the Fugitoid, and did so with that as well.

Knowing I was already interested in these, and fast-approaching Christmas (where the last several years Christmas-time and a number of weeks after have left a gap in toy sections for the basic TMNT figures), I didn’t want to open myself to having seen these and then spending ages hunting them down, where I’d come across other toy-purchase-temptations I shouldn’t be spending money on.

So, unlike the TMNT Toys in the Wild…these two TMNT toys were recent purchases, added to my collection.

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TMNT Toys in the Wild: Dimension X, Mutant Shredders, and Karai Serpent

With another new season just started for the Nickelodeon TMNT series, it’s not surprising to find a new wave of the toys hitting at Target and Walmart (presumably elsewhere as well, but I have only been to and seen them at Walmart and Target lately).

Continuing with a “theme” like previous turtles variants, we have the Space-suit turtles for their apparent adventure in/from Dimension X, as well as villain Lord Dregg. I also happened across the Mutant Shredders pack.

A couple weeks earlier, I’d finally come across the Karai Serpent at a Family Dollar store, but where $8 is pushing it, $9 really pushing it…$10 is way too much for me for a basic TMNT figure like this.

As with my various other posts of this nature…photos of the figures on the card with their “profile” from the back are below.

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Continue reading

Like a Kid Again: Jurassic World Dino-Toys

I saw Jurassic World last week, somewhat on a whim–and absolutely loved it. While I would not put it above the original 1993 Jurassic Park, at the moment I’d place it in the #2 slot if I were ranking the movies in the franchise.

However–22 years later, being an adult, having a job and thus the money (sorta)…

This one certainly ranks #1 in terms of me getting the toys. I had a snap-together model of the T-Rex from the first film, as well as a Stegosaurus model…and that’s about it. I don’t consciously, currently recall getting any other merchandise that came out with the movie; and don’t recall any from the second or third films.

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I wanted to get Velociraptor “Blue”, but could not find this version, period. I found a version, but it was the one that has the “battle damage” hole to show the bone and such, and I absolutely did not want that version…not while spending much money on it. And given the pricing-to-size ratio, I didn’t want to buy the $15 battery-operated growling/roaring one.

Target had this “exclusive” 4-pack, and I grudgingly decided to go ahead and get it despite really just wanting the one raptor.

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This pack was on sale, so the per-unit pricing was good…and the more I thought on it, the more I considered how cool it’d be TO have the whole pack of raptors…and rather than having to pay more sometime in the next few weeks, I took advantage of the sale (I’d feared the store running out, but apparently they’re quite well stocked on these).

The only main drawback is that the raptors are not entirely in-scale with the two dinos I’d already acquired–the Indominus Rex and the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Both of those went straight to work and rule over the top of my cube’s overhead bins.

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While these were a lot in a short span…I don’t think I’m really interested in any of the other toys I’ve seen, given my active dislike of the battle-damaged ones.