Schwag Brag In Space - Featuring: Space Walls!

So I bought these panels called "Space Walls" and thought they would make a good post...just a very short one.  So, since they're basically background materials: Why not toss a Schwag Brag in with them?

You know we gona start with them Space Walls, though.  Lets open up that box.

Space Walls are a product by Galactic Trading Post (or just GTP).  Within the first wave of panels, you get 9 of 'em that you can set up however you like, though, there's one particular use for which they were meant.  You'll probably guess, but we'll get there, so hold your horses.

You get two of these walls, and:

Two of THESE walls, and:

THREE of these walls, and finally:

Two of these, the most fun walls.  The white plastic allows light to shine through!

You can also remove them for other purposes, if you wish.

Like if you have any space lying around to put behind them.  Granted, I just threw something together - it would look better if you shoved the space into the back, but this worked in a pinch.

Now, like I said: There's a specific use for this, but my first thought and reason for buying them was to get SOMETHING other than my castle background!

And for that purpose, they are GRAND, though my camera tends to focus on the background more than the figure, but I can whip it into shape when I need to now (more or less).

I love having the separate panels for customizing my backgrounds, though, there is one drawback: I REALLY wish they came molded with a connection system.  I feel like something could have been worked out, but I think they were going for something seamless and classy.  As it is, the only option they give you for attaching them is this:

Stickers, with which to attach to the backs and tops and bottoms.  They work....but they're stickers, man.  They're gona get used and reused and eventually become useless, and I bought these specifically for being able to shift them around to suit my needs (use them as walls, floors, what have you).  These'll work if you're planning on building a set and leaving it that way, but I'll be moving these around too much for those stickers to last.

Sooo...I did this:

The backs looks like this, and the sides aren't very thick.

Clips!  Those crazy paper clips that may have a name, but I don't know it.  Hopefully you recognize them as the random office fodder that they are.  They work well enough for most of my setups and hold them tightly.

Now, if it wasn't obvious: These "space walls" are meant to be the walls of the inside of the Death Star.

All you need is some sort of black floor and you're good to go!  The panels are much taller than a 6 inch figure, so the Black Series of Star Wars stuff works best, though anything below that will do (and a little over, as well).

These panels are pretty dang classy, sturdy, and interactive.  I recommend them for their purpose as Death Star walls, however, if you want them as Space Walls, you might want to get some items to keep them together beyond the stickers they provide.  I'm pretty dang happy with them, and you'll most likely see them from here on out, when I don't want a castle background.

Like RIGHT NOW!

We now bring you our SCHWAG BRAG portion of the show!  Sit down, where are you going?

To begin, since you saw her above, already:

This is the World of Nintendo Samus in fancy, shiny colors.  She was an exclusive to this Loot-Crate-like thing called Comic Con Box.  I happened upon news that she would be included and signed up for one box, just to get her.  In general, the box wasn't for me, but it had some cool stuff all the same, and I'm sure it's a good box for comic fans.  Not sure what Samus was doing in there, but I'm glad to have her.  I'll probably do a small focus on her in whatever World of Nintendo post I do next.

In other video game toy news:

Jakks is also doing this sprite-based World of Nintendo stuff in the smaller scale.  They're cute as hell and I love 'em, but this was all I've been able to find so far.

Shovel Knight Amiibo!  Yes, I'm still buying Amiibos.  No, I barely have a use for them beyond the fact that they are very nice little statues.  I wanted Shovel Knight merch!  He activates a two-player mode on Shovel Knight for the WiiU, but I only got the version on the 3DS, and this seems like a game that's WAY too hard to have a second person fumbling around after you while you try to make pinpoint jumps and attack enemies at the same time.

Makes for funny Let's-Play material, though!

But wow, well timed, Alexx.  A tiny knight featured on one of the few times you don't use the castle background!  Well, at least I don't have much else to---

-------oh, well, this too.  The sadly defunct Palisades did a 3 3/4 Army of Darkness toyline a good while back, and I missed all of it because I didn't have much cash back then.  I kinda forgot about it over time (even though that's one of my all time favorite movies) and my buddy Heli brought it to the forefront again when he offered some of his extras up for trade.  They can be a little fragile feeling, but what works: works.  The skeleton is the most surprising of the bunch!  He really moves well and is fun to mess with.

I didn't get amazing choices or anything, but it's dang good for a trade, and it may push me to hunt down a few others at some point (assuming the prices aren't beyond all reason).  For now, it's just neat to get a few of these guys, and, in particular, that skeleton, since he's one that stands out in my memory from when I used to watch that movie over and over (at a much younger age than I probably should have been, for that movie).

Now, keeping with things that still don't work for a sci-fi background:

This is my first purchase from the DC Direct Batman: The Animated Series toyline.  I've stayed away for the early ones, due to many reviews talking about breakages, but it sounds like DC took care of that, and dangit, I NEED ME A PHANTASM.  And Batman, of course, which thankfully came packed with The Phantasm (sporting a better head sculpt than his single packed version, in my opinion).  I really like these two, and they'll probably get their own post not long from now.

In other Super Hero news:

Found this little guy at Barnes and Noble - it's from a blind boxed series of teeny tiny Secret Wars bobble heads.  The package seems to be a part of the whole product, so I kept him in there, since it doesn't look like he'll be able to stand very well on those tiny legs.  I got Spider-Man on the first try, so I probably won't try for more unless they make Dr. Doom - THEN I'll HIT THEM WITH  A VENGEANCE.

Continuing with Super Heroes:

I found a good portion of the current Captain America-themed Marvel Legends.  I wouldn't have bought many of them, but they come with parts for a buildable Onslaught, in his first form, and I've ALWAYS wanted a figure of him.  Granted, this one is technically some crazy clone of Red Skull, so it comes with a Red Skull head - but they'll put out a classic Onslaught head in the package with a later figure of 90's Rogue (in her leather jacket).  So yeah...that's going to be hell to find.

Anyway, once I get them all, I'll probably do a review for them again, like with the buildable Hulk Buster Armor.

I'm only missing two of 'em (Taskmaster and some dude named Scourge).  So far, though, if you have to know: Buy Mockingbird (center one, in black and white).  Best out of these five, at least.  SHE'S NOT WEARING HEELS, THANK THE GODS.

Finally, sort-of-a-super-hero:

I bought this sometime before Christmas and meant to focus on it then, but haven't yet.  I still plan to, 'cause she ROCKS.  This is from the I am Elemental toyline, which is mostly 3 3/4 sized.  This one, though, is a six inch figure "amalgam" of all the different Elements of Courage, meaning: This is Courage.  All the other elements build up to HER, this magnificent figure.  The articulation is amazing and she's seriously fun to pose.  I really think Hasbro needs to take a look at some of the articulation points here, because this is how to do a female action figure.  I'll save the rest of my gushing for a future post on her, but know that I went and bought her right after seeing a review - that's how cool she looked.

I don't have any of the smaller figures yet, but I'd like to get them when I get the chance.

Alright, how about we move on to things that actually fit the space background?

TMNT is in space right now, and that means: So is everyone else!  They made this cool space April figure (with a new updated headsculpt to actually match her look in the show) but took away her neck, so she looks a little sad.  The helmet makes it a little better, but you can still see she doesn't have a neck.  Also she lacks knees and elbows, which is still annoying.  The other two are a Robug (on the left) and Lord Dregg - new enemies in the TMNT's space faring adventures.  I'll cover these in depth like usual, at some point.

Equally spacey are the Sci-Fi Mystery Minis, which I sorta got in to, once again, from a trade with Heli.  He gave me the Predator, but my next two purchases allowed me to make out like a bandit: my first two were the Cylon and Locutus (Captain Picard as a Borg) and my next two were Leeloo and Bender.  I mean...I don't think I could have gotten better choices.  Hell, I couldn't have, with Leeloo and Bender - they were exactly what I wanted!  To the letter!  The luckiest pull I've ever gotten from blind boxes.

They're neat little figures and very well painted, so I'd suggest 'em if you like that sort of thing.  I'm a little hesitant to get more, 'cause I'm not very interested in any more beyond Dr. Lazarus (RIP Alan Rickman, you magnificent gentleman) and I'm not sure I wana try for the same luck I got with the last two.

Alright, what else is spacey...

Perfect!  A Dom, from Mobile Suit Gundam.  Perhaps you remember that it's one of my top favorite Mobile Suits?  Of course you do, I know you keep track of all my interests.

This is a little thing called a "puzzle figure", in that he comes apart in a million pieces.  It's a puzzle you subject yourself to, however, because he comes packaged completely together.  You only put him together if you feel like taking him apart....which I didn't.  He's fine the way he is!

I got him awhile back, but totally forgot he'd been staring at me from high on the top floor of Grayskull, wondering when I'd mention him.  Well there you go, buddy.  Don't say I never gave you nuthin'.

In other "purple piloted armor" news:

Imaginext continues to be awesome in every way with this armor-up series of DC characters.  Batman and Superman have these little planes that fold into armor for them, but Luthor gets this awesome robot that slides over top of him to make armor.  It's cool, comes with a translucent sword, and features Lex Luthor in purple and green, so it checks out, for me.  I'll never need another Luthor.

In other armored-up news:

I've gotten a lot of Glyos lately, but these are worthy of mention: The GLYARMOR.  It's Glyos figures, but with new armor parts!  I love them, and I can't wait to start mixing them on to my own creations.

Okay....more space....um...AH!  I got it:

This is one of those preorder-and-forget-it kinda deals: I preordered him last year some time, and here he is!  Figuarts Super Saiyan Vegeta, to add to my Vegeta collection (that I've mentioned but never shown, yet).  The first version of him (this is just a repaint and re-release) went for bonkers amounts of money, so I'm glad they brought this out again, 'cause he ain't worth bonkers.  He's pretty much worth the basic price.  Certainly nice, well painted (much better than the first time) and tight joints that won't fall apart, but he's no where near as poseable as you'd expect from someone who fights so much.

The waist joint is what gets me: It's useless.  It pops up, I'm assuming, to allow him to bend forward...but he can't.  The pop-up waist joint is just there to pop up all the time and make you force it down again, because it's utterly useless.  Otherwise: He's nice, but I feel like Figuarts needs to go back to the drawing board.

And speaking of Figuarts:

Kamen Rider 3!  He's an alternate future Kamen Rider made by Shocker and you don't care, do you?  Well whatever - look at him!  Isn't he cool?  He's REALLY nice and poseable, and I love him.  The waist joint works like you'd expect one to work, too.  Go figure.

Oh yeah, I don't need to force this segue!  Here's more Kamen Rider:

One of my favorite things in story are grunts: The troopers, the mooks, the cannon fodder.  Kamen Rider doesn't often have good-guy versions of these, but apparently these came around in one series.  They're called ZecTroopers, and they don't normally come with big bug robots ( I think).  This is from a toyline called "Cast off"....something.  Point is: All the figures cast off some sort of armor.  He doesn't have much, so they gave him this bug that pulls apart into various weapons, and you can attach the legs to his back.  They pop off at the press of a button.  That's the "cast off" part.

I bought him to work with other figures, but he's MUCH bigger than everyone else (in the 6 inch range).  Doesn't matter much, 'cause he's still a fun figure and I don't regret him.

For semi-current Kamen Rider stuff: There's Kamen Rider Chaser....who I won't go in to.  He's just cool looking.  Look at that slick, shiny purple!  Love this guy.

Speaking of cool-looking: Kamen Rider Knight flies in from a series called Kamen Rider Ryuki, which came over to the US for a short time under the name of Masked Rider Dragon Knight.  I loved the designs, but the toys were only okay.  I found out Japan got much neater toys, and, since I wanted something a little more playworthy, I hunted down the more toy-like ones rather than the Figuarts or Figmas.

The line is called R&M, or "Rider and Monster."  Knight comes with a bat friend that gives him a sweet 'ol hug from behind to become his wings.  It's a really cool figure, and I love it.

And finally, from the same line comes Ryuki himself, in his "blank" form (meaning: The form before he gains any powers from a monster).  The little one was the only figure I bought from Masked Rider Dragon Knight, and I decided to hunt down a more articulated version of him.  It's a REALLY cool figure, and a definite upgrade to the little one.

Moving on, in a sort of related note: Power Rangers!

They've been releasing villains, as of late, and I've been getting them here and there, depending on how cool they are.  These three are some of my favorites, so far, with the one in the middle looking particularly awesome.  They all move pretty well, save for the silver guy, who has no knees and thick skirt armor, but he does what he needs to and makes for a fun figure all the same.

And finally, (finally, finally) lets look at a couple Transformers:

You remember that post I did on Minicons?  Well they've started packing them with Legends sized figures (the smaller ones, but not the smallest) and giving them translucent armor that forms into weapons for catching Minicons.  Optimus gets awesome armor, but it all forms into a "hammer" thing that catches Minicons, and is kinda boring (but the armor looks cool!).  Grimlock's armor, on the other hand, isn't that cool, but it all forms into a GIANT T-REX HEAD that he can put on his arm as a weapon, or over his own T-rex head in dino mode!  He's the one to buy, I tell ya.  I don't have to tell ya, and I shouldn't have to, because it's a giant translucent orange T-rex head.

And now we'll end with Brawl, one of the components of Bruticus, the current Combiner Wars beast you can build.  This was one I was waiting for, BUT....they announced a G2 colored version, so I'm going to wait for that.

...still, I couldn't wait to see how Brawl came out, so I bought him.  He's a nice figure, save for the midsection.  It's a little floppy, but not to an annoying degree, and you can pop out his combiner joint to fill in the gap in his stomach area.  Overall: I'm happy with him, and I can't wait for the G2 version!

*PANT* *GASP* Okay!  All done! We saw some Space Walls, and a million little toys that probably have you wondering how I even have room for them all (Hint: huge...mess...).  Stay tuned for next time when I totally don't have a plan, because I rarely plan ahead and kinda roll with the punches.  As if that wasn't obvious.  TOODLES, YO.