Archive for June, 2009

Disney Overtakes Earth. Next? Cybertron.

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

“WOW!”

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

That’s what immediately came to mind when I first saw this Mickey Mouse Transformer (and I also thought if Minnie Mouse and Optimus Prime had a child, it would look something like this).

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

This toy is such a cool combo of cute, fun, iconic Mickey Mouse and the cool, high-tech, mechanical-giants Transformers.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer Mickey Mouse Transformer

And it’s Japanese. Yep. It seems like the Japanese have come up with another cool thing that we folks in the U.S. can’t enjoy without importing it (a costly import I might add). I could easily see this thing for sale at Disney shops or whatever (do those stores still exist?). I wonder what they’d call him. Optimus Mouse? Mickey Prime? There’s no name on the package (at least not written in English), so I think we should call him “Mechy Mouse” (thanks for the great pun, Mike).

Here’s a look at Mechy Mouse in his robot form. You can see the robot has elements from Mickey Mouse’s design – the shorts with the big buttons, the white gloves, and the plump cartoony shoes.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

Takara has managed to stay true to the original Mickey design elements while still giving it a robotic twist. The only real addition are the wings, which really make this robot that much cooler.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

He’s pretty detailed, but his transformation isn’t really that complex (that’s not a bad thing).

Now let’s see his truck form.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

The truck form actually seems a little more cartoony in style than the robot. I’m not complaining. It actually looks like a cartoony truck you’d see in an animated Mickey Mouse short (you know, if he were just hired to drive a big rig cross-country).

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

One of the coolest and most charming parts of this toy is the miniature Mickey Mouse that directs the robot and drives the truck. I love how he’s just riding on the head commanding the impending doom of Donald or Goofy or someone (probably Minnie).

What’s great is Mickey’s change in costume. When he’s riding the robot, he’s in a full space gear, helmet and everything, but when he’s driving the truck, he’s actually wearing a trucker’s hat. Ha! So great. (I don’t know why that amuses me so much.)

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

Also, note that he’s driving on the right side of the truck. That ain’t no American truck.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

The toy is pretty detailed and has a great paint job.  It’s not super-articulated or super-poseable, but he still looks nice, is well-built and has tiny surprises like the miniature Mickeys and other details like the poseable robo-visor.

Mickeybot Icon

I was even surprised by the inclusion of the mouse-themed Autobots logo.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention some stuff. This toy was released by Takara Tomy in collaboration with Disney in March 2009. It was actually the second of its kind.  The toy you’ve just seen is the Monochrome Edition. (I think the toys were related to the 25th Anniversary of Transformers. There’s a little “25 Years” icon on the box.)

Mickey Mouse Transformer

Mickey Mouse Transformer

Mickey Mouse Transformer

The original version of the Mechy Mouse toy which was released a few months prior to the monochrome one. Instead of the gray, black and gold color scheme, it actually has a full-color paint job reminiscent of Optimus Prime’s red, blue and gray color scheme. I think it looks pretty nice, but I still favor the monochrome version. It just seems a bit more “classic,” “darker” or “badass” or something.

Mickey Vs. Mickey

I wonder if the two versions are supposed to reflect vintage Mickey vs. modern Mickey. Makes sense.

I know this toy can be seen as a “sell-out” kind of thing for Disney or Takara. I think there’s a big divide by fans out there that don’t want their chocolate Disney to get mixed with their peanut butter Transformers.

Some fans are even knit-picking the fact that if this was a “true” Transformer, it wouldn’t have to be controlled by Mickey. Therefore it’s just a lifeless machine, so it’s not supposed to be Optimus Prime. Gimme a freakin’ break. It’s a damned toy (and a fun one at that). You might as well say something like, “I sure as hell hope his truck doesn’t have a manual transmission, because Optimus is an automatic.” Who cares??

I honestly think it was this unexpected pairing that made me pick the toy in the first place. I don’t give two craps about Mickey by himself (or do I?), but when he’s a 30-foot-tall robot that transforms into a semi-truck, you have to admit, it’s cool and fun.

The toy may seem a bit costly (retail price is $50 or so) for a casual fan of Transformers or Disney stuff. I’m a very casual fan, but this Mickey/Transformers combo toy really just pulled at my weirdo heartstrings.

Buy the Mickey Mouse Transformer on eBay!

The Apple Devil T-shirt is for Sale!!

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Apple Devil T-shirt

I’ve teased you long enough. Now’s your chance to get the very first Weirdo Toys t-shirt.

This is the first in what I hope to be a series of t-shirts featuring custom illustrations of various weirdo toys featured on this site.

First up? Apple Devil.

Apple Devil Graphic

Be the first (and only) person on your block to flaunt a brightly-colored, apple-headed devil on your chest. The shirts are all good quality, asphalt-colored American Apparel brand. The graphic is a 6-color print, so… it’s fancy-schmancy. (Also, note there is a small, black graphic which reads “WeirdoToys.com” on the left sleeve.)

I’ve also created a “Weirdo Apparel” page and a quick link to the shirt in the side nav bar. Hope it’s not to “sell-out-y.”

Thanks for all the your support guys.

(The shirt is “unisex,” so it’s not just for girls like the photos may imply ;) )

… and thanks to Bubba Shelby for inspiring the title of the t-shirt. Corny and Punny but still great!

Keep on Yuckin’
Asphalt Tee

Apple Devil T-shirt

 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt – 100% cotton by American Apparel

$20

Sizes


Weirdo Toys at Heroes Con 2009

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

So for those who don’t know, the Heroes Convention is a comic con that takes place every year in Charlotte, NC. It usually happens around Father’s Day weekend. It’s actually this weekend – June 19-21.

Heroes Con

Anyway, I try to make it there every year. I shop around some for random comics, toys and stuff, but I’m usually hanging around with my buddies from Wide Awake Press, Top Shelf or Dollar Bin. I’ll be doing the same this year, but this time Weirdo Toys is representing a little bit. It’s not much, but I’ve managed to design the very first Weirdo Toys t-shirt. Maybe you’ll recognize the guy featured on the shirt?

Apple Devil Shirt

Apple Devil Shirt

The shirt is American Apparel brand, Asphalt-colored, 100% cotton, unisex tee. I’ll have S, M, L and XL for sale. The shirt will be $20. If you guys like it, I can even put them up for sale here on blog.

Anyway, if any of you are in Charlotte this weekend, be sure to drop by and say hello, and while your at it, be sure to stop by and support the Wide Awake, Top Shelf and Dollar Bin crews:

J Chris Campbell
Duane Ballenger

Josh Latta
Brad McGinty
Andy Runton
Robert Venditti
Rob Ullman
Ben Towle

Not only are these all cool guys, but they even have cool comics and stuff for you to buy which include:

WAP books

WAP books

WAP stuff

WAP stuffWAP stuff

WAP stuff WAP stuff

WAP stuff

The Ancient Age (very few copies)
Avatards – Josh Latta
Traffic & Weather – Robert Ullman
Broken Rekkid – Duane Ballenger
Blast It – J Chris Campbell
Neatobot Trading Card – J Chris Campbell

Also:
Decision Decider Coin
FLUKE (variant cover very few copies)
Tobey Maguire Comics & Stories – Brad McGinty
Redskin Rashy – Josh Latta

Plus:
Mandar DVD by Brad McGinty
Apple Devil T-shirt by Justin Gammon
Music Bot T-shirt by J. Chris Campbell
Heroes Convention Attack Poster
New Duane T-shirt (not pictured)

And:
Back in print Rob Venditti’s Dads
New Dollar Bin Book with WAPPIES Brad, Josh, J Chris and Pat Lewis in
J Chris Campbell has a story in the AWESOMER anthology with cover by Heroes Con guest Jeff Smith.
Joey Weiser will have some of the FLUKE poster

Hope to see you there!

Tyrannosaurus Rexy

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

I was reluctantly in a McDonald’s restaurant the other morning ordering an Egg McMuffin for breakfast. (Don’t ask me why. It involves traveling to “in-the-middle-of-nowhere”, Georgia and being stuck with one or two options for food.) While waiting for my order, I casually strolled around the place when I noticed the familiar, plastic bubble filled with crappy Happy Meal toys based on some Hollywood blockbuster movie. The movie toys this time around were based on characters from “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithonsian.”

That’s when I saw this guy.

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Rexy - Happy Meal Toy - Night at the Museum

A dinosaur skeleton? I had to have him, but I sure as hell didn’t want to order a Happy Meal. I asked the cashier if there were any dinosaur skeleton toys left and if I could just buy it outright. She rummaged through a large pin of shrink-wrapped plastic, and it turns out, there were only two characters left – the T-Rex and some Octopus thing. What luck! Better yet, she said the toy would only cost me $1.07. Wow! Not bad.

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Rexy - Happy Meal Toy - Night at the Museum

If you’re familiar at all with the Museum movies, you’ll know that in the movie, after the museum closes, all of its exhibits come to life. Well, one of the exhibits is giant skeleton T-Rex that runs around like a super-hyper puppy fetching a bone for the museum’s security guard. So, this is a walking wind-up toy of Rexy, and I must say he looks pretty cool for a McDonald’s toy.

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Rexy - Happy Meal Toy - Night at the Museum

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Rexy - Happy Meal Toy - Night at the Museum

I’m actually surprised that I’m featuring a McDonald’s toy on the blog, but there are a few good reasons I’m writing about him.

1. He’s cool. (He’s a walking, windup dinosaur skeleton for crying outloud.)

2. He’s cheap. (Only $1.07 w/ tax.)

3. He’s at McDonald’s right now. (but I’m not sure how long.)

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Rexy card Rexy Card

Oh yeah, one last thing – the Rexy toy comes with a trading card. It contains bio info and trivia about the character. It’s nothing special to look at.

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Rexy - Happy Meal Toy - Night at the Museum

But the really, really, really, really lame thing is, in order for Rexy’s walking action to activate, you have to slip the card into his back to press a small trigger. What the hell kind of crap is that? Why not just let the toy walk on its own? If there needs to be a trigger, why not just let it be an on/off switch. If there needs to be some gimmick that wakes the dinosaur and allows it to move, why couldn’t it just be some cool extra piece like a bone or a little man to ride it or something? A playing card? Gimme a break.

Well, what do you expect for a dollar?