Schwag Brag: I'm Interested In Way Too Many Things

I was waiting to do another one of these when I got enough new things, but....man, I guess I already had been getting new things.  ALL THE TIME.  If you folks wana schedule an intervention, I'm available whenever, man.  Bring donuts.



Lets start with my old high school obsession: Mobile Suit in Action, or MSiA!  Those two are both the classic RX-78-2 Gundam, 2.0 version.  Out of all my various RX-78s, I think the 2.0 MSiA is one of my favorite molds in terms of sturdy playability, accessories, and design.  These two are a couple of Japanese exclusives that I had written off years ago, due to ridiculous costs (and inability, back in high school, to buy things online).

Something struck up my interest recently and I decided to check out what these went for nowadays - and WHOA MAN - they went way down in price!  I dunno if these were found in some warehouse in mass and there's a sudden flood in the market, or people just aren't as interested now - I don't care!  It worked out well for me.

So now I have them: The red 'n white one is "Rollout Colors", which I assume means that's what color they would have been if the Federation had decided to produce a bunch more of the Gundam.  The slick stealth one is colored in the signature Titans scheme; the Titans being the badguys (corrupt officials) in Zeta Gundam (the sequel to the original series).  A Titans Gundam never technically showed up, but it could be assumed that they had built one as a test subject in their efforts to build the Gundam MK II.

Alright, movin' along!

Glyos had another drop of figures, and though I haven't taken part in too many recent ones, I felt like the dark scheme they had going on was pretty cool.  Also: Bright translucent green!  Awesome!

TMNT stuff!  One is the Newtralizer, a sort of Predator-type hunter.  I think he turns out to be fighting the same fight as the turtles, so they team up.  The other may be easily recognizable: It's Krang!  Playmates has re-released the vintage turtles - AGAIN - and they are still selling like hotcakes.  Not sure how.  Seemed like I kept seeing them pegwarm the last time they brought these back, but here they are again, and off they go from the shelves!

This time around they brought back Krang, which I pounced on.  My original was trashed, because I was a child once (kinda like now, but different).  The bubble broke off and the tiny pegs (holding the arms on) snapped.  The bubble still works the same on this one, but the arm pegs are now super thick, so they won't break off as easily!  Score!  This was one of my old favorites, and I'm glad to see him all in one piece for the first time in....probably since I got the original.  I'd most likely lose the bet if I said I didn't break him right out of the package, so the original probably wasn't whole almost immediately.

Speaking of Ninja Turts: I found some of their Imaginext-like figures and decided to try them out.  They're kinda neat, but they're missing something that draws me to them.  They sure are selling well, though, which is awesome.  You can tell (from the back of the package) that these were planned with removable weapons in mind, but they took out the feature, and all the weapons are molded in.  I'm personally a little bummed about it, but I think it's a better option, in the long run.  Imaginext has a ton of accessories, but perhaps it's best to market these little guys to even younger kids.  Who knows?

And hey, Speaking of Imaginext:

There's a few more blind bagged figures (including BATTLE SANTA) and this awesome diving mech from the pirate line.  It's got a drill arm, it's all steam punk, and it's pretty much a Big Daddy from Bioshock.  With a pilot.

Also: Here's some space stuff and medieval stuff in one shot!  Ignore everything and look at that owl, though.  When you push in his feet, his wings flap.  IT'S COOL.

And speaking of cool:

I am loving these Mashers, from Hasbro.  This one is Ice Man!  He's translucent and pops apart so you can swap his parts, which pretty much makes him mandatory, in my book.  I also got another one in the form of Spider-Man's Iron Spider suit:

And speaking of the Iron Spider (I'm on a roll here!):

Meijer still had these cheaper figures lying around, so I got this guy mostly for the web shield, because none of the Spider-Men in this size have ever had one!  However, the figure is actually pretty nice!  I've always said that, if you going to do limited articulation, then make sure the figure is posed for ACTION.  He very much is.  Reminds me of the old Secret Wars figures, honestly.

Speaking of secrets: How about Robots in Disguise?

This is Roadbuster (in orange) and Tankor.  Roadbuster was an awesome toy from the vintage days (based on another Japanese franchise and brought over to Transformers) and he has been BEGGING for a new figure of his own for awhile!  Other figures have been repainted in Roadbuster colors, but this is the first time in awhile that he got a whole new figure just for him!

It's okay.  Perhaps I had my hopes too high.  I kinda wish his weapons swapped out in better ways, or that the combined weapon (when you put them together) looked cooler.  He's also kinda kinda thin-looking and his hips run into his torso unless you unlock the chest from the center.  I still like him, but I was hoping to be blown away.

Tankor is cool, though!  Very much something I would have run into the ground, as a kid.  Perfect, simple, and playable.  According to what I've read from fans, he's supposed to be HUGE in his original TV show (Beast Machines?) but since I don't have the nostalgia behind him, I love 'em how he is.  A very cool grunt-looking robot toy!

And since we're on Beasts Wars (or things related to it) here's Rattrap!  I got him by default, since I got it for my buddy Heli around the same time another friend of his found him one: So I kept it!  He's pretty cool, but a little hard to transform smoothly.  I think I'd enjoy him more if I had watched more Beast Wars, back in the day (it's in my list on Netflix for a future binge).

And this last Transformer is Skrapnel, a remake of an old Insecticon from the vintage days.  I never had any, but I knew plenty of people who had Insecticons, and I loved them!  I'm glad they carried over the yellow chest, but I do still kinda miss that it used to be a cockpit of some sort.  Doesn't matter, 'cause this guy is awesome!  Easy to transform and fun to play with.  His little partner is a camera, too!  Dunno why, but I love it!  You can stand it on end and it becomes a "robot" of sorts, but for once, it works best as an accessory.  It works as a camera, a gun, and it transforms into an actual gun (by folding down the lens) AND you can fold the robot arms forward for a claw-like weapon.

And speaking of claws:

There's a movie coming out called Big Hero 6, and the toys are looking pretty cool!  I bought what I assume is the badguy (who knows, really) and he comes with this claw-ish hand that looks like it might be technological.  Like he's extending it to take over a machine, or something.  His name is Yokai (which totally takes me back to the Inuyasha days) and he's pretty well articulated!  Check 'em out if you see 'em.

And speaking of movie toys:

I have to admit: Funko's ReAction figures are kinda cool.  I mean, in a toy world of improved actor likenesses and incredible articulation, you have to wonder how the heck these fit in.  They're styled after the 70's Star Wars figures in form and fuction, in that; they're sculpted to only SORT of look like who they're supposed to be and they only have stock-straight poses and limited articulation.  Here we have Doc, from I-shouldn't-have-to-tell-you, and a T-800, from DUH.

Are they hilarious?  Are they useful?  Should they only be displayed in the retro packages?

EH, they're hilarious.  Leave it at that.

See?  Hilarious.

And speaking of hilarious:

I failed to mention (or did I?  I don't feel like checking) that I got a crater set along with those fire sets, from Tamashii.  It's not as useful, because when you take it apart, you sorta need some extra stands to make the rocks "float" and look like they're being busted up.  Still: Makes a nice crater!  It's actually in the fire post, but it's hard to see.

And speaking of making craters, how about a Meteor?

Kamen RIDER Meteor!  Got this off my buddy Heli and I LOVE IT.  It's not Figuarts - it's actually a simpler toy version (whereas the Figuarts would be more collector-toy, this is just toy-toy).  He came with that awesome satellite bike, and his head reminds me of the Final Fantasy 7 logo, so he makes me all sorts of happy.

And speaking of Kamen Rider:

Since I liked the non-figuarts toy so much; I got another one that caught my eye: Kamen Rider Wizard Infinity Style.  His head lights up!  They even managed to do it without making his head a big motionless brick, too.  The head is on a normal ball joint - but the ball joint itself lights up!  Genius!  Anyway, he's awesome.  Well articulated and fun, with some points taken away for having articulated hands. That normally kills it for me, but he seems to hold on his his gear well enough, despite the worst idea for hands in an action figure ever.

My final Kamen Rider for the time IS a Figuarts: The Robo Rider!  It's another form of Kamen Rider Black RX, brought on from.....ya know what?  It's complicated.  It's a cool black and yellow robot toy with a gun!  I like him, though he could move a bit better for how expensive these things are.

Hey, speaking of expensive toys:

The SDCC exclusive from Tamashii this year was a KA-RAZY colored Vegeta in this Figuarts line.  This is displaying how he first appeared in the TV show (due to the animators not knowing how to color him, since Toriyama hadn't even colored him in yet).  He appeared like this twice (I think) then showed up on Earth in the colors you are familiar with.  As you might expect: I love these colors!  They're weird, in a great way.  Also: The figure is an improvement over his normal version, or, at least, over MY normal version.  The legs on my normal one pop off super easy, but they're nice 'n tight on this new one!  Bonus!

Piccolo was an extra, of sorts.  They put up Vegeta on their exclusives website and last year's SDCC exclusive, Piccolo, was still on there...so I got him too.  Makes the shipping costs go down easier.  The reason he's "exclusive" is because these are his animation colors.  The pink on his arms is apparently yellow in the comics (and he wears a red sash).

Speaking of spending a lot, still:

This is Aigis, from the Persona series of games (specifically Persona 3).  Got her on a whim - I like robots, and she looked ready to party with pyrotechnics!  I added the sword, but otherwise, this is basically what she's got, save for a few faces, hands, and a normal arm to swap out with the buster (also has another hair piece with that awesome visor down over her eyes).  Nice figure!  Highly suggest it if you like the look.

Speaking of mostly-white toys:

I found a Black Series Storm Trooper, somehow!  Never thought I'd see one, let alone three in one place.  I'm not trying to make a big collection of these, though, so I only got the one.  I really like him!  The head, in particular, is on a two part joint that allows for some really expressive poses when he's getting killed and ramming his head into doors.  At least he's protected from said doors!  Not from getting shot, but certainly protected from doors!

Speaking of useless armor: Spandex!

Well okay, somehow Power Ranger "armor" protects them by turning all offending blasts or hits into sparks, so I guess that's useful.  Anyway, this is the Red Zeo Ranger, from the original Power Ranger's first foray into new territory.  The creators ran out of footage from the series we all knew and loved (maybe loved? Accepted?) so they moved on to another Super Sentai series and used that.  Behold: Power Rangers Zeo!  I had wanted a version of the star guy back in the day, but never got it.  So here it is in Bandai's newest flashback series where they make a whole bunch of older Rangers from throughout history.  Kinda neat!

Also the Zeo Rangers were the inspiration for my old Stick Ranger comics from back in early high school.  They were stickmen with crazy symbols on their helmets...and they did things.  It was a good time.

Yeeeanyway, speaking of powered suits:

Batman Beyond, FINALLY!  I watched through this series last year and loved it, so it's nice to finally get a figure of him.  It's from Mattel's current DC Total Heroes toyline which collectors seem to hate (but don't seem to stay on the shelves long).  This one in particular is a deluxe confusingly sold in Mattel's own site (where you can sort of buy He-Man guys).  It's confusing because they didn't need to sell special versions of these to collectors, 'cause they kinda didn't want them!  The regular ones are selling well in stores, though.....so why not sell the deluxe ones in stores as well?  WHO KNOWS?

Point is, it's a cool figure and here's some more pics because I dunno if I'll ever do a focus on 'em:

And finally, FINALLY, speaking of Batman:

Total Heroes Batman in the old blue and greys.  He comes with smoke grenades and batcuffs!  I think he might be my favorite yet - out of the normal Batman figures.  'Cause Batman Beyond is totally in a league of his own.

Holy crap!  That's a lot of stuff since August!  Maybe I better cool it down, lay low for awhile.  Clean...clean things.  Clean things up.  A lot.  Like, move stuff off the coffee table.  Use it as a...table.  Or something.  Maybe clean the toys up from beside me, and off the computer table.  And off the floor of the toyroom.  And---- *blacks out from a chloroformed rag suddenly forced across his face*

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"Alexx awoke an hour later to a room full of loved ones telling him about his problem.  It was finally time to confront him about the plastic objects filling his life, or, at least, it would have been time to do so, if Alexx hadn't somehow obtained toys in the middle of the intervention and couldn't hear a thing over the wooshing, clashing, and laser noises he made.

This went on for, oh, say, three hours, before Alexx pulled out a plastic dinosaur head on a stick and moved it's mouth to say 'Well, I had a good time' in a strange voice.  That was the last they saw of him before he evolved into a being of Pure, Brilliant Comedic Light and ascended to the heavens on a pair of spring loaded shoes."