Rustin's Spoils of the Week #110

There is virtually nothing more fun than walking into a toystore and finding something new and cool that you had no idea was coming out. The happened to me not once but TWICE this weekend with some Imaginext DC stuff at a Walmart and then a killer new Scooby Doo pack at Toys R Us. I love the internet, and our fan community and everything, but man - what a high it is to experience that sense of "whoa, wait... what's this!?" Join me now, won't you, and perhaps I can share a hint of that wonder with you!

Character Options - Scooby Doo: Friends & Foes Action Figure Collection
While I've been tempted to pick up the 5-pack of The Scooby Gang from time to time I never pulled the trigger, and that has paid off in spades with the revelation of this 10-pack of figures available at Toys R Us for a STAGGERING $20!!! That's $2.00 per figure, each decently sized, sculpted, articulated and painted! They all have good enough paint (better than anything from Jazzwares) and pretty on-model sculpts. The Witch Doctor and The Ghost of Redbeard are both rotocast with only shoulder articulation but they each get an accessory. Ghost Racer gets the same treatment as the Gang but the real stars are 10,000 Volt Monster and The Beast of Bottomless Lake! They're both just classic, iconic designs and the Monster is even cast in translucent orange. All things considered these are pretty good figures, and when you compare them to everything else on the market they are an INSANE value! Run, don't walk, to pick these up! Lets support the heck out this line so that they do even more villains!!!

Lego - Collectible Minifigures: Evil Robot
I usually get the CMFs in bulk since it's such a rotten PAIN IN THE ASS to feel them out of their accursed blind baggery so I haven't reviewed them much in the last year or two due to laziness. But! I was excited to find two packs which included two characters I was looking forward to - and both are robots! This is essentially just a repaint of the white space robot from Series 10 and while I'm not too crazy about the design he is a solid enough evil robot for the awesome new Galaxy Squad theme that I'll be army-building an army out of this guy to fight the Squad since I'm none too crazy about the bug-aliens. The only downside to this guy is that his "gun" is the old megaphone piece whose wide funnel does not fit well with the shoulder pads so he can only hold it at an angle. Bad show, Lego. Still though, a cool like bad guy to be sure.

Lego - Collectible Minifigures: Girl-bot
I've been hoping for this figure ever since the Boy Robot came out many series ago. She's a straight repaint of him but is a great execution and I'm absolutely thrilled that her dominant color is pink since she is going to be a side-kick to the pink-suited Girl Astronaut from that same series what brought us the Boy Robot. She's a great compliment to both of those previous characters and a perfect example of how great this line can be!

Lego - Legends of Chima: Crug's Swamp Jet
FINALLY a Crocodile polybag has come out, this time a TRU exclusive, so I have a minifig of my favorite amphibian! Sadly this is the brown guy which renders a somewhat disappointing Croc. He does have a metal jaw which is kind of neat, but I would have preferred a green or beige one (I do love me some Orinoco Crocodiles [mad props shout out to Dallas World Aquarium]). The build is another 'cute, little, good-enough' mini vehicle made to look like the animal in question. There's some good bits in here to make it worth your time beyond just the figure. Certainly not one of the more exciting Chima polybags but any Croc is better than no Croc.

Mattel - Imaginext DC Superfriends: Bizarro
As you might know, I'm a huge sucker for Bizarro so when I saw this, without ever hearing about it, I was thrilled. Well, that excitement wore off fast because he's just a kind-of bland repaint of Superman and is disappointingly packed with the safe accessory that came with Two-Face and NOTHING ELSE. This is essentially as cheap a set as Mattel could have possibly done, and it's a bummer. I really, really wish there's been a second figure of some other neat Superman variation (blue Electric, Kingdom Come, T-Shirt Superboy, etc) or preferably some other, new character. Alas, Matty doesn't aim to please. Still though, it's an Imaginext Bizarro so I dig it on principle.

Mattel - Imaginext DC Superfriends: Hawkman & Flash
I'd been somewhat lamenting not getting this pack when I first saw it so was quite relieved to find it again, though in original blister package so I don't think it's being re-released. Flash is a simple figure and good enough though the face paint is sloppier than everything else in the line. Hawkman not only gets a cool, armored torso he gets an all-too-rare accessory - his mace. He's definitely the star of the set but this is pretty much a must have in terms of building your JLA.

Mattel - Imaginext DC Superfriends: Superman & Lex Luthor
POWER ARMOR LEX!!!! If there's one thing I love it's Lex in his Super Powers armor and I was surprised and tickled to all get-out to see it in this style! The figure itself is a somewhat weird repaint of his Super Friends outfit but it works well enough and the bright green armor slides over and helps take the edge off the very "loud" shirt color. Though the armor does ride too high on him I dig its semi-asymetrical design but would have liked some paint on it (perhaps the classic triangle logo). Superman is dumb repaint. They also had a super cool Lex in proper Super Friends colors packed with a large mech suit and I was oh so very close to getting it, but I am trying desperately to conserve funds. That one will be mine, though, mark my words!

NECA - Kick-Ass 2: Hit-Girl
I haven't seen Kick-Ass 2 but these are some wildly toy-etic costumes so I was definitely on board for the figures. Hit-Girl comes jam-packed with articulation and accessories! Sadly she can't really hold the throwing knives but they do fit well in the thigh-holsters. The blades on her staff are VERY soft plastic prone to warping and her cape seems a little too large, though it is removable. It's going to be tough to determine if I'd rather have her on display with the guns or the bladed staff, though, since both are so cool. Sadly, I'm finding it difficult to find good poses for her in which she can remain standing. The sculpt also perfectly captured Chloe's trademark pouty/snarled lips though they got warped somewhat in production into something weirder and I also lament to confide that the quality of the face paint varies significantly from figure to figure. It's another good figure from NECA, though there is some room for improvement.

NECA - Kick-Ass 2: Kick-Ass
Hit-Girl is undeniably cool just as Kick-Ass is undeniably lame. I don't like the character or the actor but goshdarn is his costume designed to be a toy! The figure came out pretty good too from the neck down. The articulation works pretty well, like Hit-Girl, though it's hard to keep him standing. I do like the way they double-jointed the knees but wish his elbow joint were cast in yellow to match the seam in his sleeves. I really like that the loops on his batons are articulated which helps a lot in adding options to poses. I mentioned from the neck down he's great, but from the neck up... well, this figure is cursed with bad paint. Like with the Aliens figures this is total "lesser of all evils" shopping. I never got Mezco's figures from the first film so I'm pretty pleased to have these, all faults aside.

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14 Responses to Rustin's Spoils of the Week #110

  1. Ridureyu says:

    I have had the 10,000-Volt Monster for YEARS.

  2. gl3600 says:

    Is Imaginext Lex an Aquaman repaint? Why all the scales? That just looks odd.....

    • Rustin Parr says:

      That's what I thought at first too, but they are a completely different pattern/sculpt. It is weird and a bit too detailed for the general Imaginext aesthetic - a weird choice, to be sure.

  3. jestergoblin says:

    Rustin - the evil robot is from Blacktron - the original LEGO Space bad guys in the 80s. His weapon is a call back to that.

    And I saw that Character Building Ltd. is making Scooby-Doo toys similar to LEGO, like their Doctor Who line!

  4. Adam says:

    That's not Evil Robot; it's Evil Mech. Evil Robot was in Series 8.

  5. Boot Hill says:

    I completely forgot Kick-Ass 2 was even a movie that happened. I should see if I can find those toys now. Because of Spoils!

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