I smell savings!!!

It has been a while since I did one of my Cheapo Toy Reviews, so I figured it was high time I did another one!



Yesterday I had to go to town to run errands, and I ran across some fun stuff on the cheaps.

First up is this Hot Wheels Custom Motors Batmobile Starter Set from Mattel



I had been wanting one of these sets, but I'm too cheap to buy one for 8 bucks. There was something about the way it looked in the package that made me wary of paying over 5 bucks for it. If the building gimmick wasn't all that great, I'd essentially be buying a small Batmobile toy for 8 bucks. But 5 bucks is a bit better. Thank God for Walmart's after Christmas clearances!



"100+ Combinations!" "Easy-Snap Customization! Build and play your way!" How can you go wrong with that intro?



These are certainly some interesting combinations! I particularly like the second one down on the first picture up there-- the "wheels in the back, tank treads in the front" version. I was all psyched to build that one!



So you basically get this roughly 4 inch long plastic (it looks diecast in the package) Batmobile "Tumbler" from the newest Batman movies and a buttload of extra parts to customize it.



You can have the tumbler in its standard open windowed version...



... or in its hatch-closed, armored version. It's a subtle difference, but it's really cool that you can do it this way.



You can see here that it's a beefier toy than the standard Hot Wheels vehicle.



That the Batmobile from the Hot Wheels 2010 series by it. Both of these are nice toys in their own right.




You can see that the Tumbler is a really nicely detailed toy... not quite worth 8 bucks by itself, but pretty nice indeed.




This is the fully armed Tumbler. It has a turning cannon on top with what appears to be an additional cockpit and side-mounted missile launchers. They too can pivot, if only slightly. This is a really fun configuration. I imagine this is the "riot control" version of the Batmobile!




This is the tank version of the Batmobile. The treads don't really move-- there are tiny wheels under the treads to suggest movement. I found that kinda lame, but so few toy companies make toys with working treads anymore. I miss the old tank I had when I was a kid. It had rubber treads that really rotated. This version is really cool looking, all things considered.



BEEP BEEP!!!

So I decided I wanted to make the "wheels in the back, tank treads in the front" version from the back of the package. This is where my disappointment began:



The tread parts are totally incompatible with the wheel parts... the wheels rely on the vehicle being flat, and there is no way to elevate either end of the Tumbler when it is connected to wheels.



What you end up with are weird "up in the air" treads that don't even let you use the tiny wheels under them. The treads are locked in the position they are in, and you can't rotate them down to better touch the ground. I was pretty hacked off when I found out about this.



It's the same story when you reverse the set-up. Again you have floating treads that don't even roll.

I'm pretty angry at the people at Mattel for putting pictures on the back of the box that show something that you can't actually make. To me, those pictures are a selling point, and playing with a buyer's wants to sell a lackluster toy is the lowest of the low. But, honestly, I should have expected something like this from Mattel. They didn't get the name of being the most corrupt toy company in the business without working for it.

Still... I'm glad I bought the toy at the price I got it. $5 is a very nice price for a well-made Batmobile that you can reconfigure several ways. Just don't expect to make that many different types of vehicles with the set. The way it is configured doesn't give you many options for building random shapes. You're pretty much bound by the wonky way the thing is made.

So... worth it? Not for $8, but definitely for $5!

Now... onto the other thing I found:

Right now Family Dollar stores are having an after Christmas clearance on their toys priced $10 and above. You get 50% off any of these toys! So when I snagged this Megabloks 6" Magnetic Buildable Iron Man 2 War Machine Figurine for $5, I was all kinds of happy!



I had had my eye on this set for a while, but I'm a cheap, cheap, horribly cheap person, so I just couldn't make myself part with 10 bucks for it. When I saw it for 5, I grabbed it faster than a ninja.



So basically you get the Terminator and some armor. Woo Hoo!



This is the core figure frame that holds the armor. It's actually my favorite part of the whole thing! It's poseable as heck, and the waist, shoulders and neck are all magnetically connected, so you get a really nice range of movement. The only drawback is that the waist and neck are REALLY loose. The shoulders have rubber resting cups for the metal balls and keep them from flopping all over the place-- the waist and neck needed these same cups to keep things from going all goofy. Still, it's a super awesome looking figure, and the ball joints allow for some crazy action stances.



Magnets rock.



So here he is all armored up. The set has 10 armor pieces and two weapons. The plastic is really sturdy and should hold up to lots of rough and tumble play.



The backside of the figure is kind of lacking in the armor department, however. They really needed at least a piece to cover up the back of the torso. But it's still a pretty cool looking figure without the back stuff.



He's still pretty poseable all armored-up, but the movement in his hips and waist are really hindered by the torso armor. Still... he looks nifty with his armor on. You can get some neat poses out of him.



AGGHHHH!!! IT SEES ME!!!

So... is the figure worth buying? Certainly not at $10... but if your Family Dollar store has him for $5, I'd say to definitely snatch one up! If nothing else, that crazy Terminator core thing is worth the $5 alone!

Until next time, happy bargain hunting, kids!

A Little Bit of Marvel

I picked up something pretty cool at the Dollar Tree today. I figured since the theme of today's cheapo toy review was decidedly Marvel, why not have two of our good friends from the Marvel Universe help with showing these bad boys off.

Say hello to The Hulk and Iron Man:


"RAAR!"
"'Sup?"


Today's toys are the Marvel Heroes Ultimate Collection from Preziosi (A company that I know NOTHING about!). They're blind-bagged, but it's not too shabby for a buck! With the multi-lingual and multi-currency packages that don't feature U.S. Dollars, I assume these were European releases originally.


"What in bags, Metal-Man?"
"Not quite sure, Jolly Green. Let's open them up and find out!"



"RAAR! Hulk hope this not like Cracker Jacks!"



"..."
"TWEAKIN' TRANSISTORS!!!"






Each package has a mini-figurine with a stand and two packs of stickers that remind me a lot of the old Panini stickers that I used to get when I was a kid. Each sticker pack has 6 stickers, so you wind up with a tidy stack of 12 stickers with each purchase!



"What this, Metal-Face?"
"Looks like a little toy of the Thing."



"RAAAR!!! HULK HATE ROCK-MAN!!! HULK SMASH ROCK-MAN!!!"
"Chillax, dude! It's just a toy!"


The Thing stands exactly 3 inches tall. He's really nicely sculpted, and the paint's not bad either. The inclusion of the stand is a really nice touch, but not necessary in his case, because he has huge foots to keep him standing.









"Hulk collect them all?"
"Well, only if you live in a Marvel Universe that's populated with mostly Green Goblins."


Yeah... out of the 5 I bought, 3 were Green Goblins. That was kinda my fault, because I was trying to feel the figures in the packages to see what I was getting (which is pretty much impossible, because the smaller framed figures feel almost identical through the package. I should have just grabbed the first five that were in the box. No matter... I'll find some use for the other two Goblins-- that or trade/give them away!




You can see that the Thing really looks nice standing next to the figures scaled to his size. The sculpts and paint on both of the other figures is just as nice as the Thing, with Spidey scoring extra points for having a nice black wash to bring out the web-lines on his costume.






The little catalog that comes with each figure shows that there are 12 figures in the series including The Hulk, Wolverine, The Invisible Woman, The thing, Silver Surfer, The Green Goblin, The Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus, Captain America, and Iron Man. I'll definitely be going back to Dollar Tree for more of these suckers... I really want The Hulk for my Hulk collection, and the others are really nice. I'm not really crazy about the low number of villains-- I think Doctor Doom and Venom would have been nice in there.




So for 5 bucks you get 5 figures and 60 stickers. Not too shabby at all! The stickers are really nicely done, and are broken up into three types: ID File stickers, shaped stickers with goofy sayings like "Fire and Ice" on an image of the Torch and Ice Man (har, har, bleh), and puzzle stickers that you put together to make one big sticker.


"RAAAAR! Hulk find good poster for wall in Avenger's Mansion!"
"Yeah... I think this one will look great in the foyer!"


So there ya have it! If you live near a Dollar Tree, hit it up to see if they got any of these gems in! You never know what you're going to find at that cheapskate's paradise!

NEW RECRUITS!!! Say whaaa???

I've said before that I grew up with modest means. That pretty much means that if there was a cheap, knock-off toy line I probably had more of those than the real deal. One toy line I had several of as a kid was The Corps! from Lanard toys. They were cheap, simply made, crudely sculpted military action figures constructed almost exactly like the G.I. Joe figures of the 80's. As the Joes evolved The Corps figures pretty much stayed the same. All the way into the late 90's Lanard was pumping out copies of the same figures they made in the 80's. You gotta love a company that just sticks to what works for them. In recent years, The Corps line started to slowly evolve. Gone were the rubber O rings holding the torsos together. There were no more ball-jointed hips. The Corps figures started being made with simple cut joints at the waist, hips, and neck. This limited the articulation, but the focus started moving toward better sculpts and paint applications. The packaging was starting to reflect the company's dedication to the line-- awesome illustrations of the characters by comic book artist Leinil Francis Yu started covering the fronts and backs of the cards. Suddenly the characters had personalities and backgrounds-- there were clearly defined good and bad guys. The figures still weren't up to the standards of the Joes of the same time, but they were getting there. The bodies of the newer Corps figures were a lot bulkier than Joes-- they dwarfed the Joes, and the accessories and the hands that held them were massive compared to the smaller Joe weapons and hands. Being a custom action figure maker, I liked where the toys were going, but I still couldn't use a majority of them because the parts just didn't look right mixed with Joes.

That all changed today.

I was in Wal-Mart checking out the action figures, picking things up and putting them back because, honestly, everything costs too darn much. Then I happened upon a section I usually ignore when scoping out potential custom fodder. There they were... The Corps! figures with their bright packaging featuring Yu's artwork. I started to walk past when something struck me as odd... there were NEW Corps characters...



These are the "New Recruits." Evidently there are 6 new characters in the line, and the figures are pretty darn exceptional for a toy line that has always played second fiddle for the Joes. I only picked up one pack, because I wanted to see how they were.




It appears the artwork on the profiles of the new characters isn't Yu's, but at least it's nice stuff. Good packaging art is always a plus in my book (I'd rather see artwork than pictures of the toys... I don't know why-- I guess Mattel spoiled me back in the He-Man years). There's a whole new team known as "Shinobi Squad" with new characters "Rain," "Mirage," and "Decoder" ; The "Flying Force" gains "Spade" ; The "Covert Commando" unit gets "Bolder" ; and the bad guys known as "The Marauders" add "Roadrash" to their roster.

Now... how are the actual figures? Not bad at all!



In my pack I got Slash (mysteriously he's called "Decoder" on the back of the package) and Bolder. Slash is a ninja type guy with big arm blades, and Bolder looks like the road warrior. I guess he's supposed to be some kinda ex-cop or something. The sculpts on these guys are really darn good for what I've come to expect from The Corps. There is a lot of sculpted on detail, and the sculpts are surprisingly sharp. The faces are nice touches as well, because they each have their own personalities that come through. Slash has a really sly, crafty look on his partially exposed face while Bolder looks suitably brash and cocky. He has a smirk that Harrison Ford would be jealous of.



They're fully detailed from head to toe with all kinds of interesting gear and doo-dads sculpted onto their uniforms. Bolder's sculpt is a bit soft, but Slash's sculpt is almost as nicely done as anything from Hasbro or Mattel in the 1:18 scale. The paint apps are nice and clean with very little slop or overspray. A few of the lines are weak, but I found similar if not worse paint apps on the Iron Man 2 figures I saw a few feet away from these figures.



The package claims that the new Corps figures have 15 points of articulation, but I have yet to find point number 15. No problem, though, because the newer articulation is a MAJOR improvement.

The articulation breaks down like this:

-cut neck
-pin and post shoulders
-pin and post elbows
-cut waist
-cut hips
-hinge knees

They've managed to trim down the joints on the figures so that they can have slimmer limbs. This allows for a lean, dynamic look that older Corps figure lacked. The older figures had big, wonky joints that required the rest of the figure to be bulked up to match-- this is one of the main reasons why the older figures looked so bizarre next to G.I. Joes. Now you get a much more streamlined figure that fits in much better with G.I. Joe figures. I had JUST been talking to someone last week about how the Corps figures needed to be trimmed down... my wish is granted!


Each figure comes with two accessories: Slash has his two arm blades that clip onto his wrists, and Bolder has a nightstick and a sawed off shotgun. The coolest thing about Bolder's design is that both of his weapons can be attached to the figure when he's not using them. NICE! Slash's arm blades can be turned around on his arms to give the appearance of being folded back-- not quite as nice as having a holster, but it works for me.



As you can see, these new guys look pretty good with other 1:18 scale figures. They're still a bit bulkier than G.I. Joes, but they fit in really well with Star Wars and Marvel Universe figures.

Are they perfect figures? Not really. Are they worth buying? You better believe it. This two-pack cost only 3 dollars. 3 bucks for two decently made, 1:18 scale, fully-articulated action figures with accessories is pretty much unheard of. Combine that with the fact that they have improved the design to fit in better with other lines, and you have a winner of a toy. I'm going to grab the other new guys when I go back to Wal-Mart. The guy called Mirage looks so insanely weird I have to have him. A ninja with a coolie hat? Oh, my!



If you see the new guys, give 'em a try. You just might dig 'em enough to collect 'em all!