Little Bitta IG-88, Little Bitta SCHWAG BRAG

Time for another Schwag Brag - aaaaand a minor review of the Star Wars Black Series IG-88, since I don't think I'm gona give him a full run-down.  Pull up a chair and join me, won't you?

Ah, sorry, all I have are cheap folding chairs.  I did cover them in what looks like red velvet, though, so there's this illusion of finery and high-class.

Alright, now that you're seated:  I've been getting a Star Wars Black Series figure every so often, here and there.  I don't want to make it a whole collection, but I've got my favorites.  IG-88 is certainly one of them!  Not only am I already a fan of robots, but this one is a doozy!  You can't get any more "robot" than IG-88.  Not a single human thing about it, beyond being bipedal.

And that's why I love it!  It's so friggin' weird.  Like someone made IG-88 out of a few car axles, some air conditioner parts, some fence latches, and a few tin cans thrown in for good measure.  Hell, chances are, he WAS made out of things like that, outside the film continuity.  I've heard of some of the junk they used to build some of the props, so he's likely made of whatever scrap they could come across.  I haven't seen the movie in a good while, but I'm not even sure if he moves much, in his scene!

And boy, is that obvious.  I mean, nothing about this guy was built with articulation in mind, leading to some interesting and somewhat awkward figures (when they tried to add knees and elbows, anyway).  Not only that, but with great detail comes great complications.  What was once molded on to the body now has to be separate, so the thing jumps right off the screen.  Great for a display piece, not so much for a toy.

I don't have to tell you he's cluttered - you can see that for yourself.  One thing that sticks out, in terms of moving him, is those wires on his legs.  Like I said: They used to be ignored or molded into the body, but now they're separate!  So you need to bend his knees carefully, so as not to risk breaking the wires.  He does have double jointed knees!  So be careful.

You can get him in some cool unassisted poses, but you're not gona be leaving him in a display without seeing him on the ground from time to time.  I can't imagine he'll stay standing for long.

He's technically articulated well, but so much of it is almost pointless.  He's got the double jointed knees, twist thighs, and ankle movement (forward and back) but all of it means next to nothing with those standard cut hips.  His legs are STOCK straight, right next to each other, so you can't splay them out even a little.  Heck, even the sculptors of the 3 3/4 one recognized that as a hindrance and splayed his legs a tiny bit!

Not only that, but once again, when you add more detail, you get less function.  The Joe sized one can hold weapons with both "hands", but the Black Series' figure has these real rubber sheathes over his elbows, preventing them from doing much more than bending slightly.  The only up side is that his shoulders can move outward, leading to the only dynamic poses you're likely to get.

That, and you can use the chest joint to hunch him over a bit, which actually does help in the pose department.

IG-88 holds his guns well, because of the tiny pegs on the top of his wrists.  The guns just slide in there and stay on, but be careful, since the pegs are soooo tiny.  IG-88 can't hold his blade thing, though.  Just...not at all.  They didn't even try.  The small one has more closed "hands", so it can hold the blade, but this one, once again, is a slave to accuracy, so it won't be holding anything but what it was made to hold.  ...and it wasn't made to hold one of its accessories.

In the end, I'd get it if you want something that jumps right off the screen.  Just don't expect IG-88 to do much of what the other figures in the series can do.  It's actually not that bad, I just wish the arms didn't have the rubber on the elbows, and that the legs could have tossed screen-accuracy out the window and just allowed them to have sideways movement.

Seriously, if you want to have some posing fun with an IG series droid, then get that little one on the right, from the Clone Wars TV series.

I just bought IG-88 last night, and I wanted to do a review, but found I didn't have much so say on the poor thing.  So, on with the Schwag Brag!

Since we're on Star Wars: This is a car designed off of a Tusken Raider.  I bought it because of a horrible Tusken Raider noise I can make, leading me to transform it into a car driving/Tusken Raider noise.  That is the only reason I have this.  So I could roll it around while making a loud, annoying noise.  I'd say my wife would be divorcing me soon, but she knew what I was when she married me.

Whoa, what's with all the Star Wars, lately?  Well, I make exceptions for favorites and SHIPS!  Lovely, lovely ships.  I'm always up for a ship collection, it's just that most of them are large and expensive.  I miss the Micro Machine days!  That was a cheap and easy way to get a ship collection.

Hot Wheels recently began a die cast ship collection for Star Wars!  Yay!  They're five bucks apiece, but I think that's reasonable for the heft of the little guys, and the fact that they each come with a durable little stand.  Not only that, but the stands can fit on your finger so you can put them at eye-level and WHOOSH them around the room!

The first wave is a little strange, with no Tie Fighter or X-Wing, yet (I think those are next).  They do give you the Millennium Falcon as one standard, though.  The others are Slave 1 and a Y-Wing (as you can see) and a ship from the current Rebels series, along with a Snow Speeder.  That's it!

My only complaint so far is with Slave 1, which attaches to the stand in landing mode, only.  If it's on a stand, I kinda want it to look like it's flying, ya know?  Also, the wings don't pivot, which I think would be nice, for five bucks.  Not every ship has moving parts, so it would be cool to get what little movement some of them have, when it's warranted.

Otherwise, I REALLY like them.  I'm gona be getting into this line.  Now all I need them to do is get the Star Trek license.

Okay, lets not leave space just yet: It's Lord Zedd!  He's from the Loyal Subjects' "Action Vinyl" line of blind boxed figures.  I went over two of the Rangers in my Acen post, and lamented not being able to get Lord Zedd, only to go on Ebay and buy him straightaway (for less than what I got the Rangers for, blind boxed....).  I love him dearly, and will raise him like a son.

Moving on to Super Hero news!  I bought some of the tiny Age of Ultron sets - just the ones to get some Iron Legion suits and Ultron and some Sub-Ultrons.  I probably should have put something else next to them to show you how tiny they are, but you can see them in stores regularly, so you're probably already aware of the itty-bittyness.

I like 'em well enough ('cause I like tiny things) but they do make me lament the fact that we probably won't get any full figures of the Iron Legion or of the Sub-Ultrons.  As usual, for me: The grunts are where it's at!

Next, I got the current Spider-Man from Marvel Legends.  Possibly one of the best, depending on your preferences!  He's certainly the most articulated, if you ignore his strange limitation in the hips: They don't move sideways, very far.  It's odd, 'cause they look like they're supposed to move farther, but somehow the plastic injection added more plastic to the inside of the hip than was needed.  There's this grove on the top of the hip, as if you could cut the plastic out of the groove and get the outward movement back.  I may try to open it up, at some point.

He also comes with pizza, which is important.

I do want to point out, however, that it took me FOREVER to find a good one of these.  The paint apps were atrocious on each one I found, and almost every one was missing the same paint spot on the abdomen.  If I found one with only a minor smudge there, then there was something wrong with the eyes!  Bah!  Finally, when I found a good one, his head came free of the neck.  That's the one you see there.  It's not broken - I just shoved the neck peg back in.  I don't feel like hunting down another one.  This is good enough.

Finally: Some random folks!  These were all obtained in a trade with my buddy Heli.  He was getting rid of some Marvel Legends, so I snagged Ms. Marvel, Steve Rogers (mostly for the clear shield, though he ended up pretty awesome all around), and Madame Masque (because I liked the look and never saw her in stores).

And speaking of that trade with Heli:

Figuarts Kamen Rider Fourze!  Quite the trade item, I must say.  I've been told to watch this series continuously by Heli and Zach, and amazingly enough, I did fit in ONE episode!  Turns out my picture isn't all that off from how he first handles the ridiculous powers of Fourze. 

Aaaaand, one more item acquired in that Heli trade:

I also got the current Grimlock from him, because why not?  He's simple and neat, though he really could have used a sword.  So I gave him one!  (In fact, the lack of sword was why I never bought him in the first place.  Swords are important to me.)

And speaking of transforming: This is from that same egg series as the Buzz Lightyear I bought.  It's Baymax, from Big Hero 6, and it's another one that works great as an egg!  They also made the armored version, but I just opted for this one, due to his egg-ness.

I'm testing the Jurassic World waters with one of the Playskool figures.  You push down on him and he bites!  It's neat.  I'm still thinking of getting a dino here or there, but we'll see.

Otherwise, there's one dino I knew I wanted:

A Mashers Indominus Rex (Target exclusive, by itself); what I believe is the film's star monster.  I'll probably get some more Mashers ('cause all the Mashers are awesome) but I got this one in particular to be able to do this:

CYBORG DINOSAURS!  With these Mashers, you get the chance to mix some fantastic toy series, from Transformers, to Super Heroes, and now dinosaurs (and soon to be Star Wars).  I mixed Mashers Grimlock with 'ol Dommie Rex here to make some cyborgs.  I am not disappointed.

Now lets finish off this Schwag Brag with a little section called: "How are you able to afford this?!"

This one is my first "Third Party" Transformer, bought on a whim when I saw a review of her.  The colors just JAZZED my eyes - I freakin' love it.  What really pushed me overboard was the swords, though - even if those are just carried over from this mold's original use, as Arcee.  This is a figure by Mastermind Creations, called "Salvia Prominon", which I can never remember.  I think (emphasis on "think") this is supposed to be someone called Solus Prime, one of the original 13 Transformers (story wise) and a blacksmith who forged some legendary weapons.  Which is why she comes with a hammer:

...but I don't care, honestly.  It's just a beautiful freakin' figure.  She works best as a robot, because OH MAN, the transformation is like a puzzle - even with the directions.

She's a neat little side-scrolling-shooter type ship, but I don't think I'll be transforming her very often.  Hasbro has a way of making sure everything fits in a proper slot, when transforming, and this is more like move-the-part-EXACTLY-or-it-won't-fit.  I was watching a video review of the transformation frame-by-frame until I understood what minor movement of the arm needed to happen before she would finally snap together.

Otherwise, I like her!  As a robot.  Surprisingly sturdy!  Maybe not for play (unless it's an older kid) but it still stands up to rougher movement that I thought it would.

Finally, to top it all off - also from a "third party":

Called "Cerebral", but you know it as Krang's robot body.  This is from a company called First Gokin, and BOY do they make a fine figure!  Expensive out the wazoo, but apparently I found what I'm willing to shell out the big bucks for (just...not very often).  They're also going to be working on Krang's little walker, too!  I won't go to much into this, however, 'cause I wana cover this bad boy in detail.  It's BIG, heavy, and works for just about any TMNT line, since the robot body has a history of size changing.

Alright, that's it for today, folks!  Please put the chairs back where you got 'em and be careful - it's obvious I can't afford new ones.  I have toys!