Your Latest Non-TF Toy Acquisitions

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
User avatar
HeavyArms
Protoform
Posts: 2207
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by HeavyArms »

Lego Nexo Knights 70322 Axl's Tower Carrier &
Lego Nexo Knights 70323 Jestro's Volcano Lair -

Paid off the lay-by for these items during the week.
Destruction is my specialty
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Lego The Batman Movie 70902 Catwoman Cycle Chase

First, the positives! This is a really great little set. The main build - Catwoman's Cycle - is one of the best official brick built bikes Lego have ever done (so much so, I've actually bought a 'split-from' set off ebay with thoughts of giving Ghost Rider a slightly less silly looking bike), with a very neat looking cycle achieved with a handful of technic elements and some small bricks. I really like the purple flame deco on the fuel tank and it looks powerful and nimble. Catwoman is pretty cool, nice printing and detail. And a whip. I'm not a fan of the weird dark flesh tone Lego have unveiled for a lot of the Batman mini-figures though. It looks like fake tan.

A small (and it is small! If this was 1987 and a Town set, this would be fine) jewellers is included with two jewels for Catwoman to pinch. Small though it is, it has some nice details with the signage, awning, lost cat sign, trash can (box?) and street lamp. Its really sparse inside, with just the two jewels and room for two mini-figures (at a push). Its not a huge deal, but building in a counter would have made this feel a little less of a side-show. Or at least giving us a shop keeper. This does have a small action feature of sorts, with the street lamp being hinged it can be brought down by Catwoman as she evades her two pursuers...Batgirl and Robin!

Batgirl is nice and colourful. Like Catwoman, she has her face printed onto a purple head piece, which makes it look a bit murky and orange. The moulding on the mask does also cover a lot of her face. I do like the comics-accurate ponytail though! Robin is brilliant, looking daft and colourful. Not to mention incredibly short-sighted if the size of those goggles is anything to go by!

Now, the drawback. Just the one, but I feel its worth commenting on. Its very telling that with its licensed products, Lego doesn't splash the part count on the box. Whilst there's a general level of acceptance that you'll pay a little over the average for a licensed set compared to your standard CiTY fare, the Batman Movie sets have distinct whiff of "How Much?!" about them. There really isn't a lot here to justify the RRP of £19.99 and if I hadn't managed to get this for half price, I'd feel stung paying that amount for what you actually get here.

Whether its because of Brexit, mad exchange rates, declining resources or greed, or a combination of all the above, I don't know, but comparative prices against Lego's other main major license Star Wars make the latter seem extremely reasonable. Maybe its the short shelf life of licensed movie sets or trying to nobble those folk who buy these sets just to sell the figures off for a mint on ebay, I don't know. Maybe its because Lego knows they're onto a good thing with Batman and its a license to print money (judging by the rapid sales of the Batman blind bags at £2.99 a go) , but something is a bit off.
User avatar
Tetsuro
Protoform
Posts: 2520
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Custom Title: Poe Dameron did nothing wrong
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Post by Tetsuro »

SH Figuarts Apollo Geist Reborn

The regular Apollo Geist was already a web exclusive, but Bandai apparently didn't consider the reborn variant viable even for that limited release outlet so it was instead sold in another Japanese-only webstore by Toei. Mandarake last sold him for about 7k yen but after waiting months for them to get any in stock again, I finally caved in and started looking at other, more expensive options; ebay had him going for like $150 at lowest and even that one was used, but then I eventually found one on the amazon marketplace of all places for $117 plus shipping and bought that.

...and just a few days before I finally got him, Mandarake suddenly had him in stock again. D'oh! :wall:
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

So apparently Mattel are making Super Friends-themed figures in their DC Multiverse line. I didn't realize this until I actually saw them in stores (and apparently no one knew they were coming until they started popping up this week at Canadian Walmarts). Batman looked cool though, so I grabbed it.

So, the bad news here is that this is the same timeworn body that Mattel has been using for Batman figures since the DC Superheroes line a decade ago. Anyone who followed the DC Universe Classics line probably has this figure 100 times over by now in different colours with different heads, as Batman and a ton of other people. So it's not super fresh at all.

The good news is that the dark blue colour scheme looks really good on it. The cloth cape is a major improvement too, in my opinion, since the rubber capes most modern figures use are always way, way too heavy. Using the Super Powers-style collar attachment for the cape maybe not so much, but considering the Mattel line's most obsessive collectors are Super Powers fanboys I'm sure they'll appreciate the reference. Oh, and it has actual accessories (a batarang and a batclaw) something that modern superhero figures are seriously lacking at times. It was also almost $10 cheaper than a Marvel Legend, at least at the Walmart I grabbed it from, which makes the clearly-inferior articulation a lot easier to swallow than when the BvS figures were $30.

So it's pretty, but not super fun to play with compared to modern figures. Also it's based on a cartoon from 1973 using a mold from 2006 that's been reused a zillion times. Not sure I'd really recommend this to anyone for anything other than nostalgic reasons, but if you grew up with the Super Powers toys or have a collection of DCUC stuff, this may hit the spot.
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Lego DC Superheroes 76012 Batman: The Riddler Chase

Managed to finally land one of these loose and grubby and in need of a bath off of the ebay. The Batmobile is awesome. Easily the best Lego Batmobile ...ever! The Riddler's dragster is pretty cool too. And there's the Flash too, although ...why???

Lego The Batman Movie 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape

Four pieces less than the Catwoman set I bought earlier, one less Minifigure and comes in at £11.99. Madness. Good little set with a nice scenery build with action feature and the principle figures from the world of Batman. Excellent little starter set!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

The new Marvel Legends Black Panther is very good. I think it's a Walgreens exclusive or something? I don't know.

It's a revamp of the previous comics version from the early Hasbro waves, but with some new accessories and I think a new colour scheme.

Reallllly like it.

That's all I can be bothered to say. It's a win.
User avatar
HeavyArms
Protoform
Posts: 2207
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by HeavyArms »

Lego Star Wars 75168 Yoda's Jedi Starfighter - I bought this as I like the how some of the prequel era vehicles look like predecessors to the original trilogy vehicles.
Destruction is my specialty
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

Two new Marvel Legends figures were waiting for me on my doorstep today!

After hearing what Brend had to say and looking at some pics, I was a bit put off by the recent Venom. It's a big figure, sure, but Venom is supposed to be big. And then I didn't really see any in stores, and it wasn't in stock online anywhere that I shop, so I kind of forgot about him. But when the new, smaller Spidey body came out I figured maybe he wasn't too small after all, and when the wave popped up again on Amazon I grabbed one. Now that I have it in hand, I think it just about works. It could stand to be a hair bigger, but this guy dwarfs the shit out of the new Teen Spidey body and still looks like a beast holding up my older ASM2 Spidey by the neck. I'm sure they'll do a classic Venom BAF one day in the not too distant future, but honestly I think this mold looks fine.

Not a huge fan of the alternate tongue-lashing head, though. I get the effect they were going for, but the green "slime" they painted on it is too bright and solid-looking to look anything like the monstrous slobber that sometimes dribbles out of the guy's mouth.

The other figure was the Enchantress! She's basically a repaint of the Scarlet Witch from a couple years back, but since she doesn't have the big cape that Wanda came with she can just about manage to stand on her stupid high-heels if you've got some patience to fiddle around. The paint job on the figure is superb, the rubber-molded skirt piece gives her a unique silhouette and the new head sculpt is once of the nicest I've ever seen. The cruel half-smirk makes it perfectly clear just what kind of character she is even if you've never seen her in anything.

Of course, I know almost nothing about her history in the Thor comics -- mainly I wanted her so she could face off with the upcoming Disco Dazzler. I have strange priorities, I know.
User avatar
HeavyArms
Protoform
Posts: 2207
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by HeavyArms »

LEGO Dimensions Team Pack - Adventure Time.

Lego Star Wars 75091 Flash Speeder - I missed this back when it was available on shelves locally a couple of years ago, so i finally pulled the trigger on it.
Destruction is my specialty
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Went to see the Lego Batman Movie last weekend at the IMAX (first time I've been to an IMAX cinema since I was about 8!) and really enjoyed it. Its not Lego Movie good, but is fun and has a high hit rate of gags. And I love the Batman song "someone stop him before he starts singing!" :)

Anyway, all that product placement has done the trick over the last few days as I've picked up:

Lego Batman Movie 70910 Scarecrow Special Delivery

This is probably the best of the £20 sets. The builds both feel substantial and interact well with each other (although I turned the direction of the barrier around to have the security check point make a bit more sense). Scarecrow looks excellent, wearing his costume under a pizza delivery uniform, and the bike-trailer thing is very cool. The guard comes with an interchangeable head - supposedly to represent him reacting to the fear toxins, but the differences between his two faces are so subtle as to have not been worth the effort. Another Batman figure rounds out the set. I will soon have a mighty army of Batmen (Batmans?).

Lego Batman 70905 The Batmobile

I bought this through Lego.com so got a free polybag of Disco Batman and Tears of A Clown Batman (currently cluttering up ebay by the metric ton with silly prices by greedy opportunists) and its a huge fun set, and definitely justifies its RRP. Its a very involved build, taking around an hour and half, and has quite a heft to it when complete. The styling on this is somewhere between a 1930s Limousine and a Monster Truck. It looks so good. The flip off roof hatch is a bit of a feeble feature, and I'm not mad keen on the stud shooters, but they're nicely integrated, so not much of a problem. The major action feature are the adjustable wheels, which allow to raise and lower the height of the vehicle (to a point where you can run a regular CiTY car underneath it - I have tried this!) which makes for some great play. The minifigure selection is good; in addition to Batman and Robin, you get Man Bat (love his worried face) and the Kabuki Twins, all of whom are excellent and nicely detailed. Batman and Robin can sit side by side in the cockpit, which is great, and I love the overall look and appearance of this - I love the use of the '60s Black and Red across Batman's vehicles and the yellow cockpit gives me warm and fuzzies for the original Blacktron stuff. All in all, an excellent and impressive set :)

Also popped along to TRU yesterday who had a free Mini-Build which is a small CiTY car done up with some bat wings. Its a compact like the one came with the Lego Movie Double decker couch, itself just a refresh of a vehicle that had appeared in CiTY a few years previous. Its a good thing for a freebie (although my branch was running short on a few of the parts), but a bit of shame that Batman can't actually sit in this thing (his cowl is too tall). Good for Robin though!

I also picked up the Joker's Lowrider, which I got £10 off and a free backpack (which is ace!), so that made that worth the while to pick up ( I wasn't going to bother as it retails for the same as the Batmobile, which seemed a bit much to me). I've yet to build this - thoughts will follow!
User avatar
Tetsuro
Protoform
Posts: 2520
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Custom Title: Poe Dameron did nothing wrong
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Post by Tetsuro »

SH Figuarts DC Devilman

There's been a few figures based on the 70's anime Devilman but they were all fairly old and showing their age (plus I never went out of my way to track them down), so a modern figure with a nicer sculpt was welcome.

Interestingly, the abdominal piece doesn't appear to be connected to anything and the joint connecting the chest to the pelvis is simply inside of it, rather than having separate pelvis and chest joints.

Annoyingly they didn't include a slot to fit a coin or a fingernail in to remove the backplate on the wing piece like they did on the default one, so removing it is frustratingly difficult.

Soul of Chogokin GX-08 Aphrodite A

First Mazinger girl bot I got! I must've not been paying a lot of attention because this one turned out to be brand new in a sealed box, despite being fairly old now, so I got to apply the label to the stand myself.

I have to admit that I'm not too thrilled about the fact that pretty much everything except for the upper torso, head and hands are die cast, including the joints, because 1) potential paint wear, and 2) the joints will probably become loose faster than if they were plastic and are that much harder to re-tighten.

SH Figuarts Shocker Combatman

So I bought a second one because these guys are supposed to be disposable mooks and there's supposed to be more than one, I take him out of the box, I swap the hands...and immediately snap the other wrist joint. Goddamnit.
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Lego Batman Movie some numbers Jokers Notorious Lowrider

First off, the Harley Quinn minifigure from this set is OUTSTANDING. Right, that's that out of the way. So, this set goes for the same as the Batmobile (unless like me, you manage to get it at a discount with free things to mitigate the cost. Or you live in the US, where the price is waay more reasonable. "Brexit" is to blame, says Lego...), and I can kind of see why - it packs in the same amount of parts, but they're just a bunch of largely small pieces which makes for a very dense build. The design of this is just awesome, like some old American car done up by that show from off of MTV. Except a bit more sober. The purple and lime green is excellent, as are the gold trim on the wheels and whatnot (love the chicken hood ornament), and I like the zebra print interior. You can shoot two spring loaded missiles (in green) from the boot, which is neat (unless you have the boot closed) and the low-rider suspension thingy thing for doing that bouncing stuff is a well executed feature (and you can get it to stay in a mid-bounce position, despite what some reviews say). The Joker is a very nice figure, reminiscent of his recent live action Suicide Squad appearance, and Batgirl makes for a nice addition. So why am I a bit cool on it? Well, in a line of imaginative vehicles and playsets (er, except for the Batcave, which is just a rehash of sets we've had before), this is a remarkably sober design. Its good, don't get me wrong, but its just not as wigged out as the DC line's Steam Roller or the even older Hammer Truck that Harley Quinn used to ride around in, which is a curious affair. I get what they were going for here, but with so many other imaginative designs in the series (and even compared to other Joker sets), this just looks a little less amazing than it should.
User avatar
HeavyArms
Protoform
Posts: 2207
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by HeavyArms »

Lego Nexo Knights 70350 The Three Brothers

Lego Batman Movie 70904 Clayface Splat Attack

Lego Batman Movie 70910 Scarecrow Special Delivery

Bought these during the last fortnight.
Destruction is my specialty
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Doctor Who 3.75" Figures Skovox Blitzer, Cyberman w/weapon arm, The Foretold, 12th Doctor in Caretaker get up w/ backpack

These Wave 4 (it says so on the packets) 3.75" figures have been cluttering up the aisles at Home Bargains for a few months now, and I was looking at them and thinking they look pretty neat. And they are! The Foretold figure is incredibly grisly looking and very nicely detailed. The Cyberman figure is really nice, I love the Iron Man-esque redesign and this is a very good representation of the thing. The Skovox Blitzer looks much better as a toy than the thing did on screen. Its a podgy little shooty robot thing. The 12th Doctor himself is excellent, and whilst likenesses are difficult to pull off at this scale, Character have done a very good job here. The back pack is a fun accessory and the tiny sonic screwdriver is nice. All told, I'm impressed and these are easily as good as Character's 5" scale DW figures.
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

I ran into the new Guardians of the Galaxy wave of Marvel Legends at the local EB Games today! I'm not much of a GotG fan (not read the comics, and wasn't blown away by the movie even if I enjoyed it), don't want a toy of Thor's skanky-looking sister and can't be bothered with Kid Nova. But Darkhawk? Darkhawk I'll take.

I'm not super familiar with the character and try my best not to buy Legends figures of characters I don't know just because they look awesome...but Darkhawk looks really, really awesome. Really, just an amazing costume design that Hasbro did an amazing job realizing in the plastic. The wings, the buts of silver armour, the amulet and the Cylon helmet all combine to give him a super unique look. The sparkly blue paint is great too. Obviously the wings get in the way of posing him a big, because they're freaking gigantic, but they also add so many posing possibilities that I think it's a net gain.

There's one pretty obvious flaw with the figure, though. The boot swivel on his right leg is pretty seriously misaligned. At first I thought there was an assembly error on my example, that maybe he used two of the same upper shin piece or something like that. But no. He's assembled correctly, but the lower shin just doesn't want to line up with the upper. No matter how you twist it, the lower part of the shin is a millimeter or so too far right and back compared to the top. And judging by the review pics I've seen, this is a common issue. It doesn't bother me too much, but it does put a bit of a damper on what is otherwise one of the nicest Legends figures I've bought to date.
User avatar
HeavyArms
Protoform
Posts: 2207
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

Post by HeavyArms »

Lego Batman Movie 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape

Lego Batman Movie 70903 The Riddler Riddle Racer
Destruction is my specialty
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Lego Batman Movie 70908 The Scuttler
Man, i love this thing! Its a scampering bat-robot suit thing! I love how expressive it is, with its waggily ears and tilty head. Its perhaps not as poseable as I'd like - whilst the rear legs have all the joints you want, the front legs (well, arms really, they're mimicking folded up batwings...sort of) only have 'elbow' joint and are a little bit limited by the extending gimmick. The detailing is excellent - I like all the hoses and vents and stuff - although the underside of the main body is a bit plain. Set comes with some cool minifigures too - Dick Grayson in his sparkly jacket, Barbara and Jim Gordon, The Joker, Batman and the absolute stand out- Poison Ivy, who looks stunning and gets to ride around on a plant thingy!

Lego Batman Movie 70907 Killer Croc Tail Gator
Of all the current LBM sets, this is probably the most mental. Its a big old croc driving a beat up pick-up truck that's got some raised suspension. Its utterly ridiculous, but incredibly fun! I like the box of frogs you can lob in the path of a pursuing enemy and the big ol' skull on the bonnet. Props have to go for the sily gearstick and steering column that poke out the back of the cab so Croc can drive this thing! He's partnered up with Zebra Man and Tarantula who are both aces, and Batman gets a cool little jet-ski to chase them on.
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Warcry wrote:There's one pretty obvious flaw with the figure, though.
That Darkhawk sucks?
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

I don't think I've even read anything with him in it, so I can safely ignore that and just concentrate on how he looks cool.

Even his Wikipedia article makes him sound Iceman-tier ultra boring though, I have to say.
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Warcry wrote:I don't think I've even read anything with him in it, so I can safely ignore that and just concentrate on how he looks cool.
"Who cares if he sucks, he looks cool" - shit like this is how the 90s happened, dude. :(
Even his Wikipedia article makes him sound Iceman-tier ultra boring though, I have to say.
His best showing was in War of Kings which crucially wasn't actually him for most of it.
Post Reply