7/30/12

Imaginext Battle Arena Tiger the Hunter

I spotted this guy at Target the other day and immediately fell in love. Like the Playmobil Headhunter before him, this little Tiki masked pre-school toy just had to be mine.

'Tiger the Hunter' actually comes packaged wearing a Lion skin/mask. I know I know, is name is 'Tiger' but he's wearing a lion's head. Don't look at me, I didn't design him.

A caveat: that lame backpack weapon to the left comes glued to the back of his lion mask. I had to pry it off, and it came off relatively easily for me, but your mileage may vary. There's a large attachment point on the mask's back, which means once removed it can be returned with ease, and it gives the impression that these toys were originally designed to have removable weapons but safety (or some other) concerns led to them being glued on. Regardless, had I known it was glued on to begin with I may not have bought the figure, and I may avoid future figures too for fear of the weapon being more difficult to remove.

But I got 'Tiger' mainly for his Tiki mask, which isn't hindered by anything. Each Battle Arena figure comes with two different masks, one with attached weapon and one without.

Here he is sans mask. Still pretty badass with that skull facepaint!

Tiger the Hunter is a fun little Imaginext figure and fits nicely into my superhero themed collection.

Other figures in the series include:

Axemin the Viking
Roman the General
Sir Peter the Knight
Cliche the Pirate
Wasabi the Samurai

The Fisher-Price Imaginext Battle Arena and associated figures are all Target exclusives, so don't bother looking anywhere else for them!

13 comments:

  1. Neat! I will have to go and check these out sometime at my Target.

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  2. Funnily enough I was looking at these figures just yesterday!

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  3. Why why why ony at Target?
    There is no such stores around here.

    :(

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  4. Thanks for posting this! I saved the article and finally made it to Target today. The figure is now mine!!!

    Might you have any tips as to how to separate the cool lion mask from the wacky "beige twizzler" weapon? Mine is glued on mighty, mighty tight, and I can't seem the budge the little fella.

    Right now have displayed with his tiki mask, shield, and spear; love him! (Without the mask, he looks amusingly Kamala-esque.)

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    1. You're welcome, Ted! Glad you found him!

      I suggest you try warming the plastic up in hot water for a few seconds, that way it will become more malleable and possibly bend out and pop the glue holding the dumb weapon on. Like I said, mine came off relatively easy but it might have just been luck.

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    2. Aha! Good advice! Many thanks...I shall try this later today and report back.

      In the meantime, the same day I bought Tiger The Hunter, I bought the new "Swamp Creature" Lego set (#9461), so now I have two spear-men.
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/7759154048/in/photostream

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    3. SUCCESS! That glue was immovable, but a little near-boiling water and a bit of brute strength, and the mask came off beautifully. Thanks for the tip, Eric! Photographic Proof

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    4. So glad it worked out for you, Ted!

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  5. Hey, love your feedback on the product. No joke, I am the person who designed this product. I designed the whole line that goes with Tiger. My original design showcased him with a TIGER head, but somewhere in the process, he got switched to a LION head. I am not sure what happened, but he kept his name with his original design feature. That's why his pants are more like that of a Tiger, not Lion

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    1. WOW! Welcome Jonathan, and thanks for commenting! I'd sure love to see some original design sketches etc. - how 'bout an interview?

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    2. You can get more of an idea from this youtube animation.

      http://youtu.be/EytGKyXRARo

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    3. Very groovy - are those your original drawings in the vid?

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