Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Random Toys of the Day: Heroclix Midnighter, Apollo and Jenny Quantum

Apollo, Jenny Quantum, Midnighter
A while ago I realized that I've never shared any photos of my Heroclix game pieces outside of a few background appears in size comparison shots, so I thought I'd start to remedy that and take a few of them outside from some photo time.  They're fairly straightforward, so I won't do a full review, but I still wanted to give them some attention.

Heroclix figures are usually around 3cm in height, making them between 1/43 and 1/45 scale (also known as model railroad scale). The game that these pieces are used in is a grid-based board game - there are hundreds of game pieces available from dozens of different franchises. While I'm not a board game person, the variety of character figures that are available means that I have picked up several none-the-less.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Out of the Box: Titan Vinyl's Mass Effect Mystery Minis

L-R: Wrex, Kaidan, Liara
A year after unboxing Titan's Dragon Age Mystery Minis,  I'm looking at some Titan minis from another Bioware franchise, Mass Effect.  The figures I'll be looking this time are my favourites from the original game: Liara, Wrex and Kaidan (although he's called "Kaiden" on the packaging).

Having learned from all the duplicates in my Game of Thrones blind box collection (all of which have now been sold, luckily), I decided to trade the element of surprise for the certainty of character and picked up these three pre-opened on eBay.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Random Green Army Man

In what could be a sequel to The Lonely Doll Shoe, on today's morning dog walk we had another surprise toy encounter: this time a green plastic army man figure standing atop the dog bag dispenser.
The army man on his throne.

I wondered how he got here. Did a child leave him behind on the ground where he was discovered and then put on top of the box so that if the owner returned they'd find him more easily? Was some other toy blogger doing a photoshoot and accidentally left one of their subjects behind? Is he part of someone's scavenger hunt? Was there an artist hiding in the bushes taking photos of the people who stopped to look at him?

Friday, July 15, 2016

Attack of the Giant Barbies: Can SD-range BJDs wear Barbie BFF outfits?

Mattel has been putting out extra tall Barbies at regular intervals for years, but yesterday was the first time I realized that they actually sell extra outfits for their 28"/71cm BFF line.  And since that's roughly the same size as a number of SD+ (65cm+) sized BJDs, I naturally wondered if this meant we now have a mass marketed supply of giant doll clothes, and so brought one of the outfits home
The tag that caught my attention.
Today's photos aren't the best, but I thought this was too interesting of a find not to share.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Out of the Box: Brenton Rudy and his Barnyard (Cabbage Patch Kids Pin-Ups)

Normally when I post dolls of this vintage it's either a childhood toy or some second-hand discovery that my mother has made, but not this time.  While browsing for something completely unrelated I came across a vintage Cabbage Patch mini doll - in his original early-80s packaging and being sold at virtually his original price!  Having always wanted one of the Cabbage Patch boy dolls, I couldn't pass it up.

The somewhat strangely named Cabbage Patch Pin-ups (surely I'm not the only person making the '40s-style pin-up association?), were a line of miniature versions of the full size CPK, with vinyl heads, yarn hair, and cloth bodies. They were packaged with a plastic shelf/play area which could be hung on a wall and which had a strip of Velcro attached to the back wall, allowing the doll and their associated accessory (in this set a chicken) to be fastened to the backdrop when not being played with.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Funko Friday: Pops in the garden

After a week of playline doll reviews, I thought it was time to change things up a bit, so I took my four human-style Funko POP figures outside for some end-of-the-week photos.

L-R: Hiccup, Jamie, Hook & Bucky.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Happy Canada Day!

It's July already! Where did the first half of the year go?  Regardless of that, I hope that everyone is having a great summer - and if you're in Canada, enjoy your day off!

The Canadian superheros of Alpha Flight are ready to watch some fireworks.