Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends

Trying to play catch up here.  It's been a busy spring, collecting toys across various lines:

The Disney Mirrorverse mobile game is still going somehow, and so is the toyline from McFarlane.  The scale offering shave always been confusing...some in 7 in, some more in the 4-5 inch range.  I had to buy a box set with a 7 inch Goofy and 5 inch Genie (already having the smaller Goofy and the larger Genie) just to get Scrooge McDuck (smaller scale).  The steampunk look is neat, and it looks like he flat out stole the Rocketeer's jetpack for this adventure!  He scales well with the PhatMojo and Disney Toy Box ducks.

The Outlaw skeleton cowboy from Boss Fight Studios is lots of fun, but I wish he were a smaller scale to work with my Dime Novel Legends cowboys.

McFarlane's Batman and Robin movie figures all look fantastic.  This is is first go at Poison Ivy period, and I think she is the stand out sculpt.  Too bad she's the weakest part of that film overall!  

Random McDonald's merch:  old cup, Funko burger and Speedee.  Again, hate Pops, but these actually look like the real deals.  Kirwin Frost McNugget Buddies stand in the back, still beloved spoils from the holiday season past.  My army of Changeables grows!  Just a few more to go, then they can join the Autobots and Decepticons in my Transformers collection.  Best Happy Meal toys ever.

A Disney Parks exclusive Indiana Mickey I picked up cheap at Planet Comicon Kansas City.  Hard to believe we arent that far past the newest Indy movie and we're back to scrounging for old relics....sad.  Oh, hey, and I broke down and got a Toony Terror Elvira since NECA refused to do a decent scale any other way.

Masters of the Universe Origins is dying down, but the Ninja Turtles have arrived to save the day.  I like this goofy mashup best of all the Turtles collaborations, and there have been some strange ones!  Mutated Ram Man is currently my favorite sculpt.

 

Disney Afternoon Series 2

Disney Afternoon Series 2

Funko

Out of nowhere, without promotional stills, Funko dropped another series of Disney Afternoon figures.  Color me surprised!  I though the first wave languished on the clearance pegs too long to merit another go.  That or Funko really loves this line!  

The "Q" of the Rescue Rangers, Gadget joins the team!  She's got that awkward, 90's female action figure v-crotch articulation, but her feet are big enough to support a couple poses nonetheless.  She also comes with an awkward to fit in her hand wrench...the only character here to get an accessory period.  Everything else looks and works fine.

Louie looks great as well, but like Baloo, he's a bit out of scale.  In fact, his head proportion might skew a bit big. Also, those long ape arms didn't deserve elbow joints, huh?

Launchpad might be the least exciting to me in this group, as I've already gone through PhatMojo's line earlier last year.  It is version accurate and he fits with either the DuckTales gang or Darkwing Duck.  His card was designed for a DW release because we got another duck.

Gizmoduck!  Duckburg's armored superhero rolls into action.  The wheel does in fact roll.  But what about balance?  He's got a nifty, clear stand!  Clearly he is the most unique and exciting of the bunch.

Lastly, a look at a convention exclusive 3-pack of Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  Character Con exclusives are the worst!  Luckily, these made their way to Target online.  I'm glad to have them, but there's something off about them.  The yellows in the bills and feet don't share the same glossiness of the others.  And their Joan Crawford eyebrows accentuate a dead-eyed look.  Pretty disappointing, considering Funko is gettting away with the same sculpt times three.  I have seen some pretty easy paint mods online that livens them up a bit, but we shouldn't have to in the first place.  

$20 for the set may be $5 too much.

I expect, or hope they can muster one more wave to complete the Rescue Rangers (Monterey Jack) at least.  I would love to see more Duckverse denizens (Beagles, Donald, Magica DeSpell) as usual, but at least they got the core members out.  Darkwing has a great villains roster that Playmates unfortunately did not get to realize back in the day.  And, even though it is my least favorite of the shows, I would like to see Tale Spin get Shere Khan and Don Karnage.  If we do get another set, I imagine it will drop out of the sky just like the others...right when I had forgotten about them.

Disney Afternoon

Disney Afternoon

Funko

Whoa!  A Funko acquisition that isn’t lazy and doesn’t suck?!  To be honest, I was obligated to buy these for Uncle Scrooge...and Darkwing Duck...and though they are waaay out of scale, I like Chip and Dale for their homage to Indiana Jones and Magnum PI...Sorry, Baloo, I love you, but I wasn’t a big Tale Spin fan.  You’re lucky to be along for the ride!  Until Launchpad gets here, Scrooge could use a pilot for his adventures.

These are solid, well-made figures that are technically in the four-inch scale.  Yes, either the Rescue Rangers were zapped by Wayne Salinski’s re-embiggen setting, or the others got shrunk to match.  Baloo should be a little bit bigger, but...The articulation varies character to character, and it good enough in keeping with the animated aesthetic.  

Scrooge fairs the best with accessories, coming with his cane and a classic money bag.  Darkwing has his gas gun, and Dale has a mini figure of Zipper...Baloo and Chip get nothing?  C’mon!  How about a shipping crate with Shere Khan’s business logo on it?  At least throw us a magnifying glass!

I have been sitting on these a while.  They just seemed to drop on retail without much warning one day.  They are great for the price (around $8) and can still be found at most Target stores and online (some marked down.)  I think I hesitated in posting these because Funko is notorious for getting a line out, then dropping it after one wave.  I didn’t want to get my hopes up for a robust DuckTales line.  Luckily I had Phat Mojo while I waited.  I waited and forgot and...well well well...there was a sequel!  Coming soon!

Around the same time that these came in, a collection of old Disney Afternoon Nintendo games were packaged together on PlayStation and XBox virtual stores.  I cant count how many runs I’ve made on the original Ducktales game.  The legendary pogo cane, the fun co-op option in Rescue Rangers, the variety of gadgets and bosses in Darkwing Duck...Capcom really made the best of these properties.  Except for...oh, sorry again, Baloo.  Your game got the short end of the stick.  Ducktales and RR even got sequels, also available here in this $20 package.  Not bad for a nostalgia kick!  Get it today before the rights lapse!

DuckTales

 DuckTales

5-Inch figures - PhatMojo

Sometimes a line completely slips under my radar.  I missed the news from NYC Toy Fair in February about a fairly new company, PhatMojo, producing a line of DuckTales figures.  Very few pictures leaked out, and even then, they were promos and prototypes.  Then, last week, these started to hit Target stores.  They popped up on the Target website, but they bungled it by not allowing you to select individual figures from the assortment.  It would have been ordering blind!  And even though I wanted a complete set, I wasn't going to take the chance to end up with four Launchpad McQuacks!  After some time issuing my complaint about this process with online customer service, the figures showed as "in-stock" at my local store.  Now, I don't know if I have complained about it before, but I loathe my local Target.  Restocking and supplying toys is inconsistent and the place is always packed with awful, uppity southsiders. (Springfield peeps know what I'm talking about)  I took a chance, drove down on my lunch hour, fought the hoards, and came out on top!  A full set of figures and accessories!  They were so fresh in the system, that a nice store associate pulled them from the back for me.  So, there's one plus for my Target.  Even if once I got to the checkout, it took three more associates to get them to ring up!

 

The first wave hits all the key players.  The adult figure assortment includes Scrooge, Glomgold, Launchpad, and Donald Duck.  (So great to see Donald in this series as a lead, just like in the comics!)  The kids come in 2-packs:  Huey and Dewey together, and Louie with Webby.  Each figure comes with one or two accessories and tops out at 5 points of articulation.  I have already seen collectors online complain about the articulation and scale.  Chill, dudes...you aren't the demographic for these toys.  And even so, smaller size (some wanted them closer to 3.75 inch) and more articulation would not only make them as fragile as all get out, but would affect the overall look of the figures in relation to the show's aesthetic. 

Collectors also complain about the scale of the plane, the Sunchaser, and the Money Bin.  Chill, dudes...its not like you've had to sacrifice scale for play factor and budget with vehicles and playsets before.  (There's a little movie that's been around for a couple of years that has some toys based around it. Maybe you've heard of it...Star Wars?)  Yes, the plane is a bit shrimpy, and wish it could seat at least two figures and had some sort of joystick or steering yoke.  It has rolling wheels, spinning propellers, and includes a Launchpad figure (you can skip on the single-packed figure going this route)...which is fine for this size and price point.  It's funny that the box advertises assembling the plane as an action/fun feature.  It made me wish that, keeping in line with Launchpad's gimmick, it had some sort of spring-loaded, button feature to make it bust apart. (like the old-school TIE fighters)

The Money Bin is, of course, way under scaled.  What? You expected something like a $500, crowdfunded Jabba's sail barge that doesn't even fit Max Rebo's keyboard?  Chill dudes...it works fine for a display piece/backdrop and the pop-open interior is a key location with play value.  I think it was made more to display the smaller PVC figures, but the 5-inchers do fit on the "shelves." It will look even better filled with all the spoils from Scrooge's adventures.  I'm probably going to throw in a lot of Hasbro Indiana Jones artifacts to fill it out.  It comes with a lucky dime replica, which fits on a pedestal in one of the rooms.  There is a vault dial on the back that you turn to make the playset pop open, but that's it for features.  At $30, I wish it had included a figure or at least more treasure.  Still, it looks pretty darn nifty and I cant imagine having the figures without it.

In getting my crack at fresh cases, I have to note that there are some downsides when it comes to paint apps.  There are some areas of bleeding and sloppiness, as well as scuffs and imperfections.  Also, be careful with the joints on the smaller figures.  I had to give the kids a hot water bath to loosen them up or they would be stuck in place or broken.  Other than that?  Quacktastic!

 

I couldn't be happier to have these.  It's one of those lines (like an articulated Word of Nintendo/Mario line) that we could only dream about as kids.  Now here they are in full force.  If the line stopped here, I would cope, as PhatMojo has already delivered what others could not. (I'm looking at you, Funko.)  I do have my fingers crossed for one more wave with Magica De Spell, Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, Gizmoduck, Fenton Crackshell, Mrs. Beakley, Gladstone Gander, Goldie O'Gilt...so many Duckverse figures on the wish list!

 

 





 

 

 

"Oh, by the way, Launchpad...you're fired."

 

DuckTales Pops

DuckTales

Funko Pop Vinyl Figures

 

Ugh... more Funko products.  They already got me with Twin Peaks, WWE minis, and Classic Arcade blind boxes, so why not?!  When it comes to Pops though...I had completely avoided picking any up until these.  I despise how they have managed to grab so many licenses and relegate them to these cutesy, cheap to produce, bobble-head equivalents.   Why did they have to get DuckTales, too?!

 

At least they had to put a little more effort into this line, since they get away without having to even sculpt mouths on their human characters.  They're brightly colored, and feature a nice variety of character appropriate poses.  But they still have those eyes.  Black... like a doll's eyes.  And when Funko bites into you and rolls over... 



 

As I have said before, I will buy any and all of Uncle Scrooge that I can.  Magica was a Gamestop exclusive that I just happened upon, and I couldn't go without Darkwing Duck, could I?  Gah!  I hope the bottom drops off on the Pop market soon and that we all get a good laugh seeing the exclusives we fought for at top dollar dumped into the flea markets of tomorrow just like Beanie Babies.  But not before I buy the Mad Max: Fury Road Pops... bastards.....