I open a toy & post it here

[dinga]

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

and it has Iceman's helmet design. The other one has Maverick's.

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by dinga

and it has Iceman's helmet design. The other one has Maverick's.

Does it? That's actually a pretty cool nood. I wonder if they asked Tome Cruse and Val Kilmer if they wanted to provide the voices? I'm sure Kilmar wasn't busy.

[dinga]

Val Kilmer (Iceman) is Bravo. Anthony Edwards (Goose) is Echo.

[Team Jetfire]

Poor Goose...

[Team Jetfire]

034
Hasbro: Transformers Age of Extinction- Hound.



Knowing that Hound was going to be one of my favourite figures of the movie line, I intentionally kept him last to open and overall I'm fairly impressed.

Two sizeable gripes with the actual character before I get on to the toy.

Firstly he should be named Bulkhead or maybe even Kup, but not Hound. I'm not normally a stickler for the whole name game with movie, but this one did bother me. He clearly has the look of Bulkhead and the "old timer" attitude of Kup. The name Hound also implies a tracker, or recon type soldier, who relies on stealth to complete the mission; much like the character from the G1 series. Movie Hound is none of those, quite the opposite really.

Secondly I love John Goodman. If I didn't already have a good relationship with my father, I would actively search out John Goodman to be my Dad. With that in mind I was mortified for him by the terrible one-liners they gave to him in the movie; Such a brutal waste of good talent; at least it is on par for these Bay-verse movies, but disappointing never-the-less. Maybe he will be included in the bevy of new movies that are apparently in development complete with a new personality? Who am I kidding? Those movies will never be about the Robots.

With those character gripes aside, I can move on to, what I consider, an overall great figure. Be it Saturday morning cartoons, team based comic books or even video game properties there is always a big, fat or big and fat guy. Movie-verse Hound certainly fits the part (one may even call him a... fat ballerina.... ugh) but his plastic incarnation unfortunately comes up a bit light. Not only is he too short, he is also too skinny and would have benefited greatly from the now defunct "ultra" size class. As his girth is a known complaint, the popular 3rd party accessory maker Dr Wu had released a kit to rectify it; but at $32 US it's just not worth it to me.

His other oddity is his soft plastic curved forearms. Most of the pictures do little justice as they actually look ok in person. I can see what they were going for and appreciate the design aesthetic in the movie as he is literally made of bullets, but the un-natural bend and flat grey plastic give it an odd look. It also limits the amount wrist movement, but that really has little overall bearing on the figure.

One thing I do love is the arsenal of weapons that he comes with, Kudos to Hasrbo for not only releasing him with all these great weapons, but for providing a place for him to hold everything in both modes.

Lastly I do appreciate the transformation; I have been very vocal about the level of complexity of the previous movie toys as it relates to my ineptitude for transforming them and Hound (as well as most of the other movie cast) has provided a near perfect balance of complexity and fun. It's just really too bad that Hasbro has now swung too far with the basic stuff.

Despite his "shortfalls" Hound is a solid contender for best of the line and esaily one of my favorites in recent years.

Pros: All-around fun toy to have, massive arsenal that both true to the character abd that fits everywhere in both modes, nice head Sculpt.

Cons: Size, girth, stature.

[Team Jetfire]

035
Disney Vinylmation: Park All Stars Series 5- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.

Oh great, another Disney item... As you may have guessed, my love of most things Disney comes from my many trips to California and Florida. Since 2003, my wife, kids and I have been lucky enough to take multiple trips to the various parks and continue to go at least once per year. As one does, I wanted to an item that I could purchase on every trip to remember the trip by and these Vinylmations were made to order for just that: They were cheap, constantly changing and for the most part, unique to the park locations. The only downside is that these are Blind Packed and I have not always gotten my first, second, third or even forth pick. That said, it is apparently part of the fun. Disney also has encouraged trading between the customers and various retail locations, but I have never felt the need to trad, even with a figure I don't care for; I paid my money and I took my chances. Unfortunately for me it seams that the popularity of these is waining and I could foresee them stopping production in the near future. If that is the case, I'm not really sure what I will collect, but given that Disney is a merchandise giant I'm sure I will figure something out.

Since we moved houses I had packed a good portion of them up, but these are the ones that I have been able to amass over the last 5 years.



Anyways, As you could probably figure out given the subject matter, we just got back from a trip to Disneyland and I picked this little guy up. Out of the options available I was pleasantly surprised to see I actually got my first choice: Roger Rabbit'ss Car Toon Spin. This figure itself is based on the Disneyland of the same name and still remains to be one of my favourite Disney Movies and Rides; which is also unique to the Disneyland Park in California. Roger is featured front and centre "driving" the Taxi "ride vehicle" and has his lovely Bride Jessica on the back. These particular Vinalmations are a bit unique as the figure is used more of a 3D canvas for a larger picture rather that and character shaped as Mickey. Would I have preferred a straight up figure painted as Roger or even Jessica? hard to say, but I am pretty satisfied with this one.

Pros: It's Roger Rabbit!

Cons: Nothing, its Roger Rabbit!

[BoNKerS]

I really wanted to build up a collection for my daughter so she could trade at the parks Since they have put halt to trading I've stopped collecting these.

They are really cool though!

[Team Jetfire]

Yeah, Disney really flooded the Parks with these and I think the collectible aspect of it fizzled rather quick.

Another alternative is the Pin Collecting as it seams to still be going strong with a lot of really neat designs.

[Team Jetfire]

036
Tarkara/Tomy: Masterpiece, MP12 - Sideswipe. (err... sort of)



This is a knock-off. I just wanted to get out of the way before I started. Without getting too far into the moral issues of knowingly purchasing a KO product, I will say that I have no intentions of reselling or otherwise tricking an unsuspecting would-be buyer with KO items; these are mealy used to fill a gap in my Masterpiece collection that has some holes that cannot be filled legitimate ones due to price. After careful consideration, and YouTube research, I decided to place an order from TF-Direct; surprisingly a Canadian Online retailer who has Chinese connections and has a great selection of Legitimate, KO and 3rd Party products alike. A few weeks later I had my first 2 KO Masterpiece Transformers: Sideswipe and Wheeljack. I'll get to Wheeljack eventually, But I figured I would start with Sideswipe.

As any kid from the 80's would know, Lamborghinis from the 80's are radical. Not sure what is it about boxy, angular designs on cars, but if they did not practically scream fast, I do not know what would. I even had the, oh so cliche, Yellow Lamborghini poster hanging on my wall. With that in mind, as a kid, I was instantly drawn to G1 Sideswipe, however was never lucky enough to get him. Incidentally I always like Sideswipe better than Sunstreaker. Could have something to do with the character as Sideswipe had such a major role in the "More Than Meets The Eye" mini series, but probably had more to do with not liking Sunstreaker's head design; For the lack of a better reason, it looked weird to me. Since then the character and his various incarnations have had a less than strong impact on me, but when I decided on the KO figures to buy first, it seamed natural that I would pick him.

As I mentioned before, I don't have any MP cars to compare the quality too, and now that I write these words, I just realized that I have not even opened any one of my other other Hasbro or Tarkara MP's (I have more of the big ones) either; I guess this is a first MP across the board.

The packaging looks to be legit, and the figure itself is boxed in vehicle mode in a functional and easy to "unpack" bister pack. KO or not, Japanese producers really have the right idea here as the Hasbro version on the same type of figure is in a laughably large box comparatively. Given the need to reduce waste and Hasbro's desire to save money, you would think it a no brainer to simply reuse the Tarkara Tomy box with english writing? Perhaps this is a simply a way that Hasbro and Toys R Us can ask such a steap price for a figure that has the stature of a toy that is much less in price.

The car mode looks great, with panels that all fit nicely together for the most part; This is remarkable considering it's a KO and the measurements need to be concise. Not all is perfect though, as noted on YouTube reviews, the chaise is a little low to the ground and as a result is does not roll smooth and the right side front fender is a bit off. Not a deal breaker for me as I'm not even displaying in vehicle mode.

Transformation is easy and intuitive; not all that more difficult than a ROTF deluxe figure. The fact that this is a KO is somewhat more clear in Robot mode. The first thing that is noticable is that the right knee is very loose and the chest piece does not properly tab in to the waste. Both being noted in as an issue with the KO and both being easily remedied. Otherwise the figure looks great and functions as well, if not better, that any of my legitimate figures; a pleasant surprise to say the least.

It comes with some extra accessories that attach on the hands as nice nod to the cartoon. I didn't attach these as I thought I would end up breaking something, Certainly a nice touch, but not beneficial or detrimental in my mind.

Overall Im very impressed and happy with my KO MP purchase. Given my need and desire to have these for display and not as an investment they are a cost effective way to fill holes in my collection. If you are looking for a cheap MP Sideswipe to fill a gap in your collection and get past the morality issue of buying a KO, I highly recommend it.

Pros: Cost effective, Remarkable KO to original version, MP level detail and transformation.

Cons: Technically illegal, Loose joints, moulding issues not fitting together.

[Team Jetfire]

037
Figma - Max Factory, 209: Indiana Jones.



Get this; I didn't mind Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Why such a blasphemous statement? Well, despite the countless flaws it still has one important thing: Indiana Jones and in my book, anything with the good Doctor is ok with me.

So when I saw this Figma release on Amazon I figured it would be a good addition to the collection; in fact, I'm a bit surprised I did not see him sooner, but my interests were probably sparked by his reduced price as it had been on sale and was quite a bit cheaper than other similar import figures .

He stands approximately 6" tail and sports a full range of articulation that is consistent with other Figma toys. Unfortunately his hip movement is hindered by his satchel and holster which somewhat limits his ability to pose. He comes with an assortment of hands to hold his signature whip (both coiled and loose), his trusty side arm and a selection of treasures from his greatest adventures: The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol, one of three Sankara Stones and the Holy Grail.

One rather strange detail though. His hat, while removable, is moulded directly to his head and acts to keep the face and back of the head attached. These front and back portions act to hold a set of eyeballs for the figure, with an additional spare set included in the box. I'm not sure why Figma does this as there doesn't seam to be a difference on the eyeballs, but maybe there is a tendency to lose them thus requiring a replacement set? Hard to say really, but the fact that his skull comes apart is more of a novelty for me because it look super creepy.

Decent likeness


Hat Hair?



Dear god...


Grrr.....BRAINS...


I suppose an alternative "hat less" head would have been cool, but it makes little difference to me as I much prefer him with his trademark hat.

Not sure I would call him screen accurate, as he looks much more cartoonish than other collector pieces, but I really don't mind. If you are looking for a screen accurate figure, the various 12" figures may look better in your collection. There was also a concern as to how fragile it is, according to Amazon review anyways, and I can't see much issue with it. That said, I handle all my expensive with great care so don't take my word for it's overall quality.

After opening him I was compelled to get a little creative, really for the first time, and construct some set pieces for his "treasures". The should be in a museum after all. I used florist foam to cut and "sculpt" out movie specific bases for each on of the accessories. A little paint and model bushes complete the look. Honestly I was super happy with how they turned out and I may do a few more to compliment some other figures.







Overall I love this figure. Yes, there are small issues that could hinder articulation, but otherwise it just has so much character to it. Well worth the "on-sale" cost if possible.

Pros: Nice accessories, decent articulation.

Cons: Movement hindered by moulded holster and satchel, somewhat fragile.

Pro or Con: Cartoonish look- could go either way depending on what you are into.