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Archive for the ‘TV and Movies’ Category

Disney’s Transformers 2: Revenge of the Bumbleduck

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Thoom. Thoom. THOOM… Quack!

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Oh crap! They’re back!

You guys remember that awesome Disney Transformer I featured last year? Well, check this out. They’re back…

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…and they’re accessorized.

It’s the next bot in the series – Bumbleduck (that’s Donald Duck and Bumblebee).

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So, I’m not sure what there is to say about these toys that wasn’t covered last time, but I’ll give you a brief recap. Takara Tomy has yet again combined the unexpected flavors of Disney and Transformers, and has created this truly unique and charming amalgamation. Now we’ve got Donald Duck in robot form, and it appears that he’s got a beach theme going. He comes equipped with goggles and snorkel along with a jet-powered surfboard (a skateboard if you wanna be literal with the wheels and all).

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I’m thinking this guy is cooler than the Mickey. His robot form is anyway. I know there was a bunch of whining and complaining by Transformers fans about Mickey’s being a “shellformer,” but it looks like Donald has moved away from that. (I’m not a die hard fan, so I don’t care one way or another. Just thought I’d point that out.)

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He has amazing details in the sculpt and paint apps. But I love the added bonuses…

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like the pilot/driver Donald…

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the robot’s adjustable goggles and snorkel…

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the button-activated, “talking action”…

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and of course, the surf/skateboard.

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He looks pretty cute driving his Volkswagen Beetle too. I think they did a great job of incorporating the giant robot skateboard into the vehicle mode.

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These Transformers toys are fairly small, but what they lack in size, they make up for in quality. I’m no Transformers aficionado, so it doesn’t take much to impress me. A cool-looking Donald Duck that transforms into a cute, little car just interests me. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the absurdity or the novelty or something.

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And as before, I opted to buy the grayscale color scheme. It just feels so much more minimal and classic than the vibrant and gaudy color scheme. Am I wrong?

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I also wanna humor myself in thinking the alternate grayscale color scheme is a tribute to the vintage, black and white Disney era.

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Oh yeah, here’s the packaging. It’s pretty much the same as the previous figure. New photos of course.

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And here’s a look at the new Duck-themed Autobot emblem.

I’m pretty sure he’s not meant to be a Decepticon. Who would be a Decepticon in this toyline anyway? Who are the Disney bad guys?

Tags: Bumblebee, Disney, Donald Duck, Robot, Transformers
Posted in Cartoons, Robots, TV and Movies | 24 Comments »

Thunder Cats Villanos

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I think this is it.

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Quite possibly the most horrible, disgusting, poorly-produced toy I own.

Seriously.

Look at him.

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He’s a hairy beast, trapped in his own cobbled-together body – screaming in agony, because he’s stuck in this constant state of crappiness.

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Seriously. The guy looks like a failed prototype of a prototype or a badly-built model kit or something.

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Another weird thing about this monstrosity is its potent chemical smell. Not only does it stink, but the smell actually rubs off onto your hands when handling this thing. Now that’s a first in my toy collection. Even Stinkor’s stench doesn’t rub off on you.

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And just look at this awesome toy construction. Now that’s quality.

His pieces don’t even fit together properly, and he looks like he was painted by a small child… with a poor motor skills… using a partially-crusted, dry brush from a bottle of white-out.

I know this is a bootleg possibly produced using child labor, but c’mon! Teach those kids to paint!

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Oh, wait! The figure came in a little plastic baggy with a header card and everything. It looks so legit now!

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And look at the huge assortment of accessories he came with… which he can’t even use.

Wanna know why? Because most of the stuff was re-purposed from smaller toylines’ accessories – Masters of Universe, Galactic Fighters, Galaxy Warriors, and maybe a hint of Thundercats.

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Well, at least he can hold the swords… but only in one of his hands. Wanna know why? Because the shoddy production processes left him with some much extra plastic flack all over his body, his hands are filled and closed off.

Kind of gross actually.

Well, there is one saving grace to this figure – that custom package header. Let’s take a closer look.

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Not bad. I mean it’s crappily printed and all, but it looks awesome. It’s actually an original piece of art – hand-drawn typography and semi-sloppy comic art style. A lot of artists and designers strive for this look. You’d normally expect to see re-purposed packaging art from the original toyline on these Mexican bootlegs. I really like the personality of this piece (I even made it into a desktop wallpaper for you.).

I wonder what the original toyline was. I’m guessing it’s Thundercats. My first clue was the title “Thunder Cast Villanos.” Ha! Plus I recognize some of the characters in the artwork. (From left to right) Looks like we have Monkian, Slithe (who looks freakin’ great!), Mumm-Ra… and ummm… some wolf guy (is that supposed to be Jackalman?) and… uh… is that Golem from Lord of the Rings? Looks like Vultureman on the bottom though.

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So, there you have it. The most disgusting Monkian bootleg you’ll ever see, and the crappiest bootleg toy I’ve ever owned (and the greatest wedding gift – thanks Jason!)

Wow.

If you’re one of those folks who’s not even sure who Monkian is, or what the original toy looks like, here’s a pic for you.

Monkian Bootleg
Thundercats’ Monkian photo courtesy of ToyArchive.com.

I actually had the original figure as a kid. I liked him well enough, but he was never really as cool as all the He-man figures I had him surrounded by.

Beast Man

He was a wannabe Beast-Man in my book.

Don’t believe me? Check out this boring, yet semi-fun video of Monkian “in da club.”

Tags: Artwork, Bad quality, Beast Man, Bootleg, He-man, Illustration, Masters of the Universe, Mexican, Thundercats, Toy, Weird
Posted in Bootleg, Cartoons, Monsters, TV and Movies, Ugly | 16 Comments »

Disney Overtakes Earth. Next? Cybertron.

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

“WOW!”

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

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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.

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

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!

Posted in Cartoons, Robots, TV and Movies, Toy Packaging | 14 Comments »

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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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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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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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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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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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?

Posted in Animals, Monsters, TV and Movies, Wind-Ups | 15 Comments »

Classic Movie Monsters by Imperial Toy

Monday, May 18th, 2009

I’m sure you’re all familiar with these classic Universal Monsters. They’re the classic movie monsters that the world knows and loves.

Well, today I’d like to share with you Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein and the Mummy.

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These 8″ figures were produced by Imperial Toy Corporation and Universal Pictures in 1986. You may not recognize them at first glance because they’re so darned quirky and awkward-looking compared to most modern renditions of the classic monsters. That’s actually what I love about ‘em though. They’re so “off-model” and uniquely charming.

And according to their packages, they come “with posable arms and head.” Not a huge selling point, but what else were they gonna call out on the package? “With goofy, inaccurate likenesses and proportions?”

Let’s just see how they measure up to their on-screen counterparts.

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Here we have Dracula’s Grandpa…

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… Frankenstein’s swollen, awkward, teen-aged son…

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… Um… the Mummy’s stunt double…

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… and what actually looks kinda like the Wolfman.

I guess they do bare a resemblance to the movie characters but not necessarily to the actors portraying them. (I know these things were released in the 80s, so I probably shouldn’t be so judgmental. Everything nowadays is made from a feakin’ computer scan of a face.)

You thought their faces were funny? Wait til you see the rest of ‘em.

Let’s start things out with the time-honored blood sucker, Dracula

Dracula
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He’s a friendly Dracula (either that, or he’s waving down a cab).

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I’m really surprised they didn’t give this guy fangs. C’mon! That’s his gimmick. Now he just looks like a very pale, formal, butler-superhero type.

The figure is almost completely black and white except for the few dabs of red. None of the red is blood though (unless you imagine those a blood-covered lips). Oh, and his medal of honor and buttons are yellow.

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Don’t you just love those plump, cartoony hands they put on this guy? They look a lot like the classic cartoon gloved hand (you know, like Mickey Mouse or whoever would wear). I am glad they went the extra mile and added the rings though. I guess Dracula had a thing for bling.

Hey. He’s got a dab of green on his ring too. So that means they actually used 5 colors on this figure. Wow.

Now, let’s look at Frankenstein (or “Frankenstein’s Monster” as I like to refer to him when I’m feeling anal about it).

Frankenstein
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Jesus H! Look at those hands! What the hell’s going on here? I know Frankenstein’s cobbled together from various body parts, but I’ve never known him to have freakishly large hands at the end of super long arms. He can reach his knees without bending over. FREAKY!

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And look at his tiny head. Adorable (or should I say “abhorable”).

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This Frankenstein’s actually really great. I wish the other figures in this set were as distorted and goofy as this guy. I think he’s my favorite of the bunch.

Next up is everybody’s furry favorite, the Wolfman.

Wolfman
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I’m not quite sure what to say about this guy. He’s actually a decent-looking Wolfman figure. His yellow and red color scheme threw me off at first, but that’s about it. And I guess I find it hard to believe that he’d turn into a wolf, run through the woods terrorizing people and still manage to keep his shirt fully buttoned and tucked-in. That’s one prim and proper Wolfman.

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His feet actually look like furry boots or slippers or something. Wonder why only his shoes tear off but the rest of his clothes stay completely intact.

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One thing I’d like to point out is the subtle “gore” included with this figure. While Dracula, the guy known for drinking blood every day, doesn’t have a drop on him, this guy, the Wolfman, has blood spatter and fine mist sprayed all over his hands. Looks like he’s had a busy night. Maybe his shirt was actually white before sundown.

Oh yeah, and check out the chunks of flack on his fingers (or is that the freshly-torn flesh of another victim? Mwa-ha-ha!).

And lastly, we have the Mummy.

Mummy
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This Mummy honestly resembles an injured stuntman more than a centuries-old, decayed zombie wrapped in bandages.

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He’s just standing there in a body cast.

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He seriously looks like an over-the-hill daredevil who’s suffering from scrapes, burns, broken bones and probably a bruised ego.

You should probably retire buddy.

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Even the spots of dirt (or whatever they’re supposed to be) look like dried blood seeping through the wraps. Very, very goofy. This guy’s my second favorite

Okay, that wraps up our look at screwed up Universal Monsters toys.

So what if the toys are ugly. Why else would you want to buy them? Are you telling me perfect likenesses of each of these movie characters would be more interesting than what I’ve just shown you? I think not.

I hope you enjoy these guys as much as I do. If you like them, you can buy them on eBay right now!

Posted in Monsters, TV and Movies | 19 Comments »

Archive for the ‘TV and Movies’ Category

Disney’s Transformers 2: Revenge of the Bumbleduck

Thunder Cats Villanos

Disney Overtakes Earth. Next? Cybertron.

Tyrannosaurus Rexy

Classic Movie Monsters by Imperial Toy

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