Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Fortnite Crackshot and Rabbit Raider

Crackshot and Rabbit Raider
Jazwares - Fornite Legendary Series

I have never played Fortnite, but Jazwares' 6-in line is an action figure collector's dream!  Since I have no connection to the characters, this line offers a multitude of goons, lackeys, and henchmen to my DC and Marvel Legends collections.  I have several Skull Troopers for the Scarecrow,  Wild Cards working as a stand-in Royal Flush Gang, and random thugs and mercs here and there.  At first, I was gonna pass up this cool looking nutcracker guy, but then I remembered something...the Terrible Toyman!  I got two of these Walmart exclusives to go with my DC Universe Toyman and his oversized marionette from DC Direct.  And right in time for a Christmas review!

Each Legendary figure comes with swapable faceplates, so you can have something different on disply with your multiples.  Crackshot also comes with a candy cane staff, a rifle, a balloon, a bundle of dynamite, and a "wooden" cuckoo bird that fits on his back.  Toys with toys!  The articulation on these are over the top, probably because some folks from the Toy Biz Marvel Legends days work on this line.  The old-school hand and toe hinges are as unnecessary as ever, but man do they ever look great!













I also threw their Rabbit Raider figure in the mix because...well, duh!  It's freakin' Ralphie from "A Christmas Story!"  I gave him one of the nutcracker's more lethal rifles to him as an upgrade from the Red Ryder.  Now he's Toyman's right hand cheermaster!



























This line is super expansive and so much fun, even if you have never played the games.  I hope Jazwares keeps the goods coming.  They are certainly leaps and bounds above the McFarlane 7-in line...cheaper, too, at around $18 at Wally! 

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Baby Yoda

Baby Yoda
Star Wars - The Mandalorian
Custom 3 3/4" scale figure

I have seen "The Mandalorian", and as far as the future of Star Wars goes...this is the way.  Fan service done right without the goofy "Guardians of the Galaxy" humor and without lightsaber-a-second action sequences.  You also get the most adorable practical effects character since baby Ewoks:  Baby Yoda!  Yes, even the Terrible Toyman is on the cutesy bandwagon.  If it's good enough for Werner Herzog, it's good enough for you, cowards!  Baby Yoda is everything and bag of Star Wars Pop Chips!













Even though the floodgates are about to be opened on merch (The quick-fix Disney cranked out looked like Cafe Press garbage and the good stuff won't arrive until early 2020) covering this adorable lil fella (dubbed "The Child" or "The Asset), I'm betting us die-hard, crotchety 3 3/4" figure collectors are getting left out.  At best, we get ten to twelve "vintage" figures a year, and we're not even getting a Mandalorian until April 2020!  They could always surprise us with a pack-in accessory, but I have a back-up in case they don't.  











Ice Cream Maker Guy's ice cream maker isn't a Rebel data core anymore?  It's just a storage safe? Oh, that crazy canon!

I found three different tiny Baby Yoda sculpt to choose from with one seller alone, and the quality looked pretty decent...I took a shot, and I am not disappointed!  Sure, $10 for a figure that stands about an inch high sounds steep.  And sure I have to paint him myself...but it's Baby Yoda!  The savior of Star Wars!  






























My paint job is pretty minimalist, with the appropriate greens and browns.  I'm not much of a painter, and I certainly don't have the customization skills of a Warhammer miniatures fan.  I think it turned out fine, especially compared to other tiny Hasbro offerings of late.



Get Disney Plus just for "Mando." (Looking at the other content, one should burn out on it in two months tops.)  Feel all that Star Wars could and should be.  (Future prediction:  this feeling cannot be found in Ewan "I've-got-an alimony-payment-to-make" McGregor's Obi-Wan series or the Cassian Andor series.  Who cares about Cassian Andor, seriously?!)  Get your fix on Baby Yoda.  Buy this tiny figurine for your tiny figures.  Be happy...until Disney mucks it up again.




















Monday, December 2, 2019

Jumanji Part II

Jumanji Part II
Lanard Toys




I'm all caught up with Lanard's cheap-but-awesome-looking Jumanji offerings!  

Captain Marvel Shazam finally found his Tawky Tawny.


Catman could barely wait to take a cruise in on his new Jag.


The Penguin added a new, fine feathered fink to his aviary.



Wolverine already had a beastly encounter in our last review, so why not have the Hulk tangle with some wolves in the wild instead?


The hippo and elephant scale better with 3.75" figures, like the included Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson Smolder Bravestone figure.  Pity about the size, but my Indiana Jones figures needed a good ride to Pankot Palace anyway.




























The rhino works fine with 6-in figures, but since I had the Indy figures out, I decided to make a bonkers pitch from "Indiana Jones and the Monkey King" a reality.  I guess I still need to get on making that three-story monster tank?



























The hippo is the hardest one to fudge in any scale:  slightly too big here, still out of scale there.  It may be the head that's way out of proportion.  Maybe the cartoony, oversized noggin would work best menacing Explorer Mario? (Or is that you, Jack Black?)

I had to buy another rhino as part of the set to get the vulture and wolf, but I still think it's worth it.  Can one have too many of any of these critters?  The set came with another Smolder Bravestone and a Jumanji jeep.  The Rock fits in well with Lanard's Rampage sets, his GI Joe movie counterparts, and any bizarre Indiana Jones 5 concept they are probably pitching at Disney right now.  Keep the animals coming, Lanard!


Check out my previous Jumanji review here!