Dia De Los Muertos Monster High Skelita Mega Bloks Minifig

Just in time for this year's Dia de Muertos (or Dia de los Muertos depending on how white you are) celebration, I found the Mega Bloks version of Monster High's Skelita Calaveras at Toys R Us.

I'm a far bigger fan of the Mega Bloks buildable minifig Monster High toys than I am the dolls. Of course the dolls are dolls, so there's that, but I did buy quite a few for my oldest daughter back when they were first released. Beyond the difference in dollies and minifigs, I think the minifig aesthetic works better for these ladies. Their heads aren't as proportionally huge and their limbs aren't as proportionally stick-thin in minifig form. To me the minifigs look a lot better.

Regardless of my complaints about the physical design of the Monster High dolls, I've always loved the character designs themselves. Once the line got past your standard werewolves and vampires, they really started to branch out and bring some clever and unique concepts to form. Skelita is one of the best, with her skeleton/sugar skull design and Mexican heritage making her a real stand-out character concept.

As with all the Monster High Mega Bloks minifigs, Skelita comes with that silly coffin shaped cell phone or Die-Pad or whatever the heck it is, a bracelet, a necklace, and is made out of interchangeable parts so you can mix and match your Monster High minifigs to your Dr. Frankenstein heart's content.


I've previously posted about the Monster High Mega Bloks Spectra Vondergeist and Venus McFlytrap from Series 1. I didn't pick up any from Series 2, although I was pretty tempted by a couple of them. Now that I have Skelita and another I picked up from Series 3 (to be blogged at a later date) I may have to just admit I collect little dollies and get a bunch more. Here's hoping the line continues and has a long and fruitful run! Viva la dollies!

Mega Bloks TMNT Blind Bag Series 2 SLASH!

The Mega Bloks Nicktoon TMNT Blind Bag minifigs have already made it to wave 2, and the best figure of the bunch so far is Slash!

Of the two blind bagged series, I have thus far only picked up one from each (Raphael from series 1 and Slash from series 2). I'm trying to keep to my absolute favorite characters and have been lucky enough to find each series and squeeze until I found my needed figures.

Slash is pretty easy to find using the squeeze method; he has a huge torso with a spiky shell and you can double check for his mace as well to be sure you have the right figure.

Along with the Fully Disclosed Box TMNT 2 movie Casey Jones, I now have three TMNT Mega Bloks minifigs. They're all pretty cool, but I'm a much bigger fan of the classic toon, movie and comic versions of the turtles and their pals than of modern iterations, so it's been pretty easy to pace myself with these little things. I'd love to see Mega Bloks release some minifigs based on the classic action figure designs, that would be pretty Bossa Nova!

What If...Peter Dinklage had become Weapon X?!?!

"It's alright to be little bitty!"

We've had this goofy little Mega Bloks Wolverine around for a while now. I picked him up at the flea market along with a similar Mega Bloks Captain America (no idea where he ended up, perhaps he ran off with Hydra).

"Say 'ello to my little fren'!"

I love this Wolverine despite the odd proportions that make him look even stumpier than, well, Wolverine. I only wish he were representin' his brown costume look, which is my favorite Wolverine costume.

Wolverine is compatible with Duplo sized building blocks. In my experience, Duplo blocks are pretty useless, as you can't really build anything intricate with them. But I'm not their target market.

"Who you callin' shorty, bub?"

Mega Bloks Casey Jones TMNT 2 Minifig

I hit up Toys R Us this weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find a wave of Mega Bloks NOT blind boxed (Fully Disclosed Boxed?) minifigures for the upcoming TMNT 2 Out of the Shadows movie; and the wave includes Casey Jones!

The wave also includes a pirate Mikey, paratrooper Raph, stealth (translucent) Leo, camo Don and two different types of Foot Soldiers.

Honestly, I am excited to see TMNT 2 Out of the Shadows even though the first movie was only ok. With the introduction of Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and Casey into this new cinematic universe, how can it be anything but epic? (Sarcasm alert!) But seriously, I'm sure it will be full of explosions and Megan Fox butt shots and slo-mo action scenes and massive 8 foot tall ninja turtles, but whatever. I'll still at least see it on DVD.

Back to the minifig: for the size, this is a pretty good representation of Casey Jones. The mask could use some black eyes and mouth vents, and I will probably add that with a sharpie. But otherwise this isn't a bad figure and could pass for the comic version given the fact that the mask is pretty accurate to the original art. So even if you hate the movie but love Casey Jones you can't hate this figure based on it's own merits.

Casey Jones comes with a hockey stick accessory and is constructed like any of Mega Bloks' movie/comic book based minifigures to date, so if you are familiar with them you know what you are getting. If you aren't familiar with them they have a ton of articulation in such a tiny package, and they link into/hold onto your standard 'building brick' and other related components.

Toys R Us was selling these figures for the same price they charge for their LEGO minifigures ($3.99) which seems pretty par for the course nowadays. There was a full display box and no figure seemed short packed or limited, but I suppose any one figure's popularity or lack thereof may make your mileage vary.

So in conclusion: if you are a fan of Casey Jones, TMNT, Steve Amell or massive 8' tall humanoid turtles in general, you should get yourself one of these mini vigilantes! He's keen! (Now if I only had a LEGO cricket bat!)

Monster High Spectra Vondergeist Minifigure by Mega Bloks

In addition to the Monster High Venus McFlytrap Mega Bloks minifigure, I also picked up the Mega Bloks Spectra Vondergeist minifigure!

What can I say, I am a fan of pale women of Germanic descent.

I like ghosts, so Spectra was a must-have. And she's not just pale, Spectra has the added cool factor of arms that fade to clear. Spooky!

As far as buildable minfigures go, these Monster High Skullection Series 1 girls are pretty great. Spectra breaks down to a hairpiece, head, torso, necklace, skirt and legs/hips. She also came with a tomb shaped cell phone, a bracelet and a base. I have no complaints about the two I have so far, and they only tempt me to buy more.

Except, you know, then I'd have an actual Monster High collection and I'm not so sure I'm ready for that level of girly commitment.

It Came from The Dolly Aisle! Monster High Venus Mcflytrap by Mega Bloks

This blog is being overrun by dollies! Be afraid, be very afraid!

Actually this Venus Mcflytrap (Hello, Mcflytrap? Hello!) came from the Mega Blok aisle, not the dolly aisle, but that doesn't sound nearly as scary.

I wonder if she has a brother named Marty?

And she's not a dolly, she's a buildable minifigure! She's a Monster High buildable minifigure yes, but a buildable minifigure nonetheless. So I get a free pass here, ok?

Also, she's a pretty good stand-in for Poison Ivy. If only her hair were red and not pink. Oh well, perhaps Poison Ivy went through a punk phase in High School.

These Monster High minifigures are pretty cool. The parts interchangeability really enhances the monster theme. Collect them all and make your own wacky creation!

Venus Mcflytrap breaks down to a hairpiece, head, torso, vest, skirt and legs/hips (the legs seem like they'd pop on and off the ball joint pretty easily too, but that's not an advertised feature.) She also came with a tomb shaped cell phone or journal or whatever, a bracelet and a base piece to stand on. Quite a nice dolly minifigure for your dollar, since at the same price as LEGO minifigures you're getting quite a bit more bang for your buck here.

If you like Monster High dollies, you pretty much have to get some of these. If you like buildable minifigures, you'll have to decide if you're man enough to admit you need some of these.

I am.

Monster High Ghouls Skullection Series 1 Minifigures

I recently heard about these Monster High Ghouls Skullection minifigures from Mega Bloks, but only just found them at retail today. My older daughter went through a Monster High phase and I always liked the concept, even if the dolls could benefit from a couple sandwiches.

I found a whole fresh box at Toys R Us and picked up Spectra Vondergeist and Venus McFlytrap. The former because if I had to pick a favorite 'monster' it would definitely be ghosts, poltergeists and general spooky apparitions - no movies ever scare me more than ghost movies - and the latter because she might as well be a teenaged Poison Ivy.

The figures translate well into this pseudo-LEGO-Friends aesthetic. And even though they are only inches high, their limbs are about the same thickness as their larger dolly counterparts. Just kidding. A little.

Spectra is especially awesome because her arms 'fade' to clear plastic at her wrists down to her hands. She was also only packed two to the box, so she may be short packed but I don't know how shipments across the nation are panning out. I didn't count how many of any other figures there were, the only reason I did so with Spectra was because the first one I grabbed had some scraped paint so I wanted to find a better specimen.

Other figures in Series 1 are: Frankie Stein, Ghoulia Yelps, Lagoona Blue, Clawdeen Wolf, and the twins Meowlody and Purrsephone. And in addition to the single packed minifigures, there are larger buildable playsets too!

The best part? These aren't blind-bagged/boxed! You can see who you are getting right there through the clear plastic bubble. What a concept!

Cosplaying SpongeBob! :: Mega Bloks SpongeBob Invisible Boatmobile :: Countdown to Halloween 2014

"Zoom Zoom!"

Mega Bloks provided Toyriffic with a set of their SpongeBob Squarepants Invisible Boatmobile in exchange for a review, and if SpongeBob and Patrick cosplaying as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy doesn't fit right in to our current Halloween countdown, I don't know what does!

Umm, whose idea was it to let Patrick drive?

Let's face it, the best part of most builds is the minifigures, so let's start with a look at those.

It can be tough posing and photographing at the same time...fortunately, my intern was on hand to help...

First up, the titular Mr. Squarepants himself.

SpongeBob is dressed as his favorite superhero, Mermaid Man. And as far as I know, this set is the only way to get a minifigure of SpongeBob in this disguise.

These minifigures are a bit more complex than your average building-block minifigure. His arms are ball jointed for a bit more articulation, and the figures are not based on one basic body-model, allowing them more cartoon accuracy. It's funny, I'm not a huge fan of the character of SpongeBob (or Patrick either), but I absolutely love everything about Mermaid Man (and Barnacle Boy).

So I love this little guy in spite of myself!

Next up in Patrick as Barnacle Boy. At first I thought that perhaps his hat had not been included in my set, but it is packed in a different bag and I didn't discover it until later on in the build. But as a bonus, his head-tip is included, so you can pose Patrick with or without his Barnacle Boy hat.

And again, I appreciate the fact that these guys aren't based on a standard body model, allowing us the benefit of a minfigure of Patrick with protruding belly!

Patrick looks pretty serious in his Barnacle Boy guise.

He also matches my intern's shirt.

Last, and least - in stature at least - is this great micro-minifigure version of Plankton.

Plankton is extra small (and extra cute) in keeping with his cartoon scale in comparison with his compatriots.

Now on to the build...

the first thing I noticed: the bags are not numbered.

Well, some are numbered, and some aren't. So basically you have to dump all the pieces together in order to put the set together, making for quite the pile. In addition, most of the pieces are 'clear', making for difficulty in distinction. I put them all in a black pan so they would stand out against the dark color and be more easy to identify. You could start by dividing the clear and colored pieces out at least, as they don't cross-pollinate.

At least the instructions are easy to follow.

The Invisible Boatmobile is a surprisingly complex build, but that's probably due to the fact that all the pieces look almost exactly the same. And it's mostly made up of flat pieces; one would have expected more 'bricks', but perhaps they didn't give the desired finished effect with the 'clear' plastic make-up of the vehicle.

There are a lot of surprising details considering it's an 'invisible' car, and as far as I am aware has never before been shown in any physical form. Since on the cartoon, well, it's invisible.

Jet turbine engines in the back...

And a sweet 50s style grille and dual headlights up front!

Even the wheels and tires are made of translucent plastic.

The Invisible Boatmobile really is a nice vehicle and totally worth the price of admission!

Patrick and SpongeBob fit nicely inside (and upon) the Boatmobile. I really hope this line is successful enough to spawn an actual Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy minifigure - they need their Boatmobile back!

The Boatmobile has a net to catch and rescue jellyfish that are being flung by Plankton's garbage truck. The netting and jellyfish are made of sticky soft rubber (remember those wall crawling octopi of our youth? Think those) and the jellyfish stick well in the net when flung into it.

The Boatmobile was the big sell for me, but I suppose we should look at Plankton's garbage truck too.

Plankton's truck is a bit easier to build than the Boatmobile, perhaps due to the multiple colors. It comes with a 'scoop' to fling jellyfish up into the air (for SpongeBob to rescue, natch!)

As a classically trained animator, appreciator of toys and lover of the absurd, the Invisible Boatmobile with SpongeBob as Mermaid Man and Patrick as Barnacle Boy are all the major selling points of this set for me. And I can say they really deliver. I'm going to be keeping them on display on my desk at work for the forseeable future (and hoping for a Mermaid Man/Barnacle Boy proper minifigure set in the future!)

But my intern...well she's just a kid. So she likes the sticky jellyfish and the garbage truck flinging/catching feature:

Yes, she's wearing a different shirt. It took me longer than I expected to build that silly Boatmobile, so I had to span the photoshoot over two days! I considered faking you out and having her wear the same shirt again, but if there's one thing you can count on from Toyriffic, it's honesty!

Oh yeah, the set also included a couple 'sea-flower' builds and a 'jellyfish fields' sign - all ripe for the flinging! Mwuahahahahaaaaa!

I tell ya' it's tough to photograph toys around here, with all those grabby hands wandering about!

GRAB!

"Time to take out the trash!"

Plankton's truck's fling-arm is a serious a hit.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that...

...FLING!"