DC Comics Bombshells The Batwoman from Funko's Rock Candy line

Being unboxed today is the final figure that I mentioned in my "incoming toys of 2018" summary, A vinyl figurine of Batwoman (in her DC Bombshells form) from Funko's Rock Candy line.

The Rock Candy line is a series of 5 inch/13cm character figures which are more detailed and more proportional when compared to the Funko Pop line. T line was originally dedicated exclusively to female characters (at launch the tagline was "“the most powerful women around" and consisted of superheroine and Barbie characters). The line has since expanded and some recent releases in the line have been male. Each single-piece figure comes with a clear circular stand.

I mentioned the DC Bombshells version of the DC Universe characters when I reviewed my Tonner Batwoman Doll, but for those who are unfamiliar with the sub-brand, these are essentially 1940s-style pinup versions of the characters.

The figures are generally offered for sale at prices between $10 and $15 USD.

Let's take a closer look!

2018 in Review - Doll and Figure Entrances and Exits

2018 was quite a dramatic year for me personally and included relocating back to Canada.  As a result, I ended up selling and donating more dolls and figures than I have in years.  But let's start with the dolls and figures that joined us!

In February, I was joined by  Disney's Couture De Force 20th Anniversary Esmerelda from Hunchback Notre Dame. When I first posted about her I hadn't planned to keep her, but in the end she stuck around.

Random Toy Sightings 2018

I've been collecting random toy sightings at the local park over the past few months and thought it was time to share a few again.  Enjoy! 😃

This tiny dollhouse-sized pram was lying next to a pile of tree branches.

Out of the Box: Kotobukiya ArtFX Star Wars Poe Dameron & BB-8

Up for today's unboxing is the two figurine set of Star Wars' Poe Dameron and BB-8 from Kotobukiya's ArtFX line.  I've had mixed experiences with Kotobukiya's figurines. I loved the single-piece figure of Tali from Mass Effect from their Bishoujo line but was disappointed by the assembly-required Hawkeye from their Marvel Now line which fell apart within hours of opening it.

I've been cautiously enthusiastic about the Star Wars line: the amount of detail on this figures is impressive, but the fact that they have the same multi-piece construction and magnetic base as my Hawkeye figure worried me.  But then a sale + a gift card overruled my caution and I brought this one home.

The PVC figures are 1/10 scale and are labelled as a "model kit" rather than as a statue or figurine, which I found interesting.  While the Poe figure does require assembly, BB-8's head and body are held together via magnet, which worries me (I can imagine it falling off and getting lost easily).

Out of the Box: Disney Couture De Force 20th Anniversary Esmerelda Hunchback Notre Dame

While I've never been a big Disney collector, so many of my friends are (both real life friends and online doll/figure collectors) that occasionally I get swept up in their enthusiasm.  One recent case of this was the number of people I've seen collecting the Couture De Force resin figurines, which led to me picking up their Esmerelda figure, which was released to mark the 20th Anniversary of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 2016.

I've always thought that Hunchback was such an odd candidate for a Disney adaptation, and so even though it wasn't a completely successful movie I've always had a soft spot for it.  Perhaps it's because it was so oddly-themed that there's relatively little merchandise out there for it (I've long said that I'd love to buy a villain-themed snow globe that plays the Hellfire song).  Seeing this pop up, I decided to give it a try.

This figurine, in line with most of the Couture De Force line is 8 inchces/20cm in height.  The retail prices on the various figures in the line range between $44 and $90 USD, and Esmerelda landed right in the middle at $66USD.  The marketing promises that "faux gems, encrusted crystals and opalescent paint bring each sculpture to life".

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.

Out of the Box: Green Lantern & Cyborg (Hero Plug & Play)

Out of the box today are the two figures that I mentioned in my Discount Shopping Adventures - two game piece figures of Green Lantern and Cyborg. As mentioned in that post, I found them at Tuesday Morning for $2.99, although apparently they normally retail for as high as $12.99 (although $9.99 seems to be the more common price).

DC Super Heroes: The Watchtower is a Plug & Play game that seems to have a similar theme to  the more well-know Skylanders or Disney Infinity games in that they involve attaching different character figures to a base that communicates with the game.  These figures are smaller and lighter than most of the ones from those other games though, and reminded me a little of Heroclix figures (although they are quite a bit larger than those ones).

Let's open up the box!

Out of the Box: Eaglemoss Hellblazer/John Constantine

We got a break from the rain today, so I took advantage of the dry-but-overcast weather to take some photos of the newest member of my Hellblazer collection, an Eaglemoss figurine.

Eaglemoss puts out 1:21 scale die-cast lead figurines from a variety of genre/media franchises (I've posted about my Eaglemoss Captain Britain figure here before), and allows buyers to purchase subscriptions to their lines.  Each figure also comes with a biographical magazine featuring the character of the month. On their own, the figures usually retail for between $15 and $25 USD.

Personally, my interests are too narrow for a subscription, so I've always waited for the reviews to come in and then picked up the ones I wanted on the secondary market. Since I've never wanted to pay a premium for any of them, that often means waiting forever until a deal comes along - but this time I lucked out and found this one at a reasonable price on eBay the first time I looked!

Out of the Box: "Canterwood Crest" Breyer Horses

Reading Serenata's The Grand Summer Gymkhana post reminded me that I was planning to post about of a pair of Breyer Horse figures that I picked up recently.

When I was 10 years old, I remember going to a horse show and picking up a miniature Breyer catalogue from one of the sponsor booths.  I was fascinated by all the detailed models of different breeds and various famous horses and carried that booklet around with me for months. I never actually owned any of those models though, and I eventually forgot about them until I started reading reviews of them over on Traci's A Wild Review Appears blog.

Out of the Box: The X-Files Alien (Funko Pop)

One of these days I'll be getting back to articulated figures and dolls, but before I do, I have yet another Funko figure to talk about.  This time it's the X-files alien.

I've mentioned a few times that I'm a huge X-files fan, and with the new miniseries and season 11 of the comics in the pipeline, it just seemed like the perfect time to pick up a new collectible.  Unfortunately more the main characters in the franchise just aren't physically unique enough to make for interesting Pop! figures, so this is the only one I'll be picking up, but it's still a cool addition to my X-files shelf.

The Pop! figures are all quite similar, so this one isn't distinct enough for a full review, so it's all photos from here:

The Wish List: Dolls, Figures and... throw pillows?

I haven't been making any major collection purchases this summer (in part because of all the travelling), but every now and then a preorder item pops up somewhere and catches my eye - and just these week there have been several, so I thought I'd take a break from sorting through the older items in my mother's basement and share a few upcoming items that I'm watching.

Photo credit.

First up is a re-release of Soom's Chrom, with brown tan as one of the resin options.  He's on their Super Gem body which, while not their largest, is still 65cm tall - and I've been holding off on adding any SD+ sized dolls to my collection for three years now.  Still, I've admired this sculpt before, so it's tempting.

He'll be available for pre-order through the end of the month, so I have time to think it over.








Next up is Titan's upcoming (January 2015) release of a series of Dragon Age mini figures, to be sold as blind bags (or boxes).  I'm generally grumpy about the idea of blind bags over the price of $2, but knowing my ridiculous fondness for the Dragon Age games (and the franchise as a whole) that fan-feeling is probably going to get the better of me.

Photo credit

I didn't follow SDCC this year (aside from checking for a couple of game demos), but when I noticed the new Monster High Vandala Doubloons, she ended up on my watch list as well (both because I like the pirate concept, and because she needs to join the figure-with-prosthesis collection).

 And then last night I came across this Captain Britain throw pillow over on Studio6.  It might not be my favourite piece of fan art, but I can't help but think that it would look fantastic in my Captain Britain-themed guest room...

Photo Credit

And finally just this morning I was scanning recent posts over at toyhaven and discovered that Fewture/ArtStorm is putting out three figures based on characters from Fringe.  I was slow to get into that show (I'm currently working my way through season 4), and I'd always wondered why there wasn't more merchandise.

The Olivia isn't a great likeness, but the other two look decent.

And that's it!  At least for now...

Random Toy of the Day: Captain Britain (Eaglemoss)

Today's mini-post is a reveal about the latest addition to my Captain Britain collection.

This Captain Britain figure is from Eaglemoss Publications' Classic Marvel Figurine Collection, which was a magazine series of Marvel characters accompanied by hand-painted lead figurines.  The Captain Britain issue/figure was issue #21in the series.

The figurine is posed in a very simple stance, but it's colours are deep, and it's richly painted, so it still makes for an eye-catching display piece.  Some of the paint on the base of mine has chipped, but since I'm the second owner of it, that was something I was expecting (and it's something that would be easy enough to repaint).

This is the first figure from this line that I've picked up, but I'm impressed enough that I don't think it will be the last!