Imaginext Robot Body Plankton

I'm no fan of the SpongeBob Squarepants cartoon. In fact I hate the dang show.  But I can appreciate a cool character concept and design, and the show does have some good character designs and concepts. The idea of a megalomaniacal plankton is pretty damn clever. And anything that is a character in a robot body is extra awesome. So when Imaginext released a robot body Plankton, well, I knew I had to have it.

Sadly fisher-Price released the robot body Plankton in a large playset, rendering him out of my financial league, at least for a playset for a cartoon I loathe. But fortunately eBay came through again (a few years later) and I was able to grab this little lunatic for a song.

Plankton is understandably not removable (choking hazard!), but he 'sits' up top on the robot body, which is standard Imaginext figure sized. Which means his robot can sit in or on any Imaginext vehicle or playset, and can hold and Imaginext accessory any standard figure can hold, which adds to the fun of this little robot suit.

Half Shell Heroes Kraang

The more of these Half-Shell Heroes I get my hands on, the more I like them. Well, the villains, anyways. Ironically I don't have any of the Turtle brothers (besides a helmeted Raph but he doesn't count because he's not the 'standard' Raph). The Turtles themselves just come across as cheap and plain. But many of the villains are nice little designs with good sculpts, and this android Kraang is no exception. I like that he's holding a canister of mutagen (albeit he's PERMANENTLY holding it) and the limited paint apps actually work fine for this guy who's nothing more than a pink wad of bubblegum in a silver robot's belly.

I picked up Kraang from the flea market, but he was originally released in a two-pack with Leatherhead (who I have via a recent garage sale find.)

"Copycat"

Other Half Shell Heroes in my collection:
Slash
Baxter Stockman
Leatherhead
Casey Jones, Helmeted Raph and Stealth Cycle

Imaginext Patrick and Spongebob

A recent trip to the flea market resulted in a couple residents of Bikini Bottom coming home with me. Patrick Star...

And Spongebob Squarepants.

I'm not generally a fan of the Spongebob cartoon, but I do love me some Imaginext and these guys are pretty cute and fun, especially when they aren't speaking.

And besides, my Intern likes them. Here they are joining April O'Neil and a LEGO policeman for ADVENTURES!

Flea Market Haul!

I didn't make it to SDCC this year, so instead I went to my local flea market (yeah, small consolation!)

But hey, I did at least come away with a handful of fun toys to be reviewed more closely (or not) in the coming weeks.

Starting from the top:

Battle Cat. He's a little scuffed up but isn't broken or chipped, and for a dollar I can't pass up a Battle Cat even if he's sans armor.

Middle row:

Spongebob and Patrick Imaginext figures. I hate the Spongebob cartoon - mostly because his voice makes me want to kick puppies. But I like the character designs and the Imaginext aesthetic, and for a quarter each, I couldn't say 'no.' They will either be absorbed into my intern's collection or be traded off anyways.

April O'Neil, Foot Ninja and Casey Jones from the 2007 TMNT CGI animated flick. It's funny that exactly one week ago John of Robot Monster Space Superhero posted his score of a complete TMNT Casey Jones and today I find three figures from the line, including Casey! Sadly mine is missing his hockey mask, but I will just consider him an unmasked variant until I can get my hands on his mask.

Bottom row:

A rubbery (possibly squeak toy) Rocket J. Squirrel. I need to do some digging to find out the details on this guy, what he is and when he's from, but he's old (at least from the 70s I reckon) and I do love me some Rocky the Flying Squirrel!

Next are three LEGO minifigures. Obi Wan (sans hair, but that's ok, I have a grey hairpiece somewhere) and a couple random characters, one with a female head which are always a plus.

And last nut not least, Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia. My intern was way less interested in this figure than I expected her to be, but then again she had just gotten herself a Cinderella doll when I spotted this one.

Not a bad haul - and I got it (and my intern's Cinderella doll) all for less than ten bucks!

But still, I'd rather be at SDCC. Oh well, maybe next year!

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!"

Imaginext Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy action figures!

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy!

I have never been secretive in my dislike for Spongebob Squarepants. The cartoon is ok I suppose, and the character designs are cute. But THAT VOICE! Good lord it's so grating.

But one thing I have always loved about the show (or should I say two things) are Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Parodying not only the most obvious pair Aquaman and Aqualad, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are also homages to Batman and Robin (in the form of television's Adam West and Burt Ward) and maybe even The Skipper and Gilligan. With a tiny bit of 'Little Mermaid' thrown in.

Voiced in the show by the not-at-all-grating Ernest Borgnine (Rest in Peace) and Tim Conway, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are retired superheroes in the undersea world of Bikini Bottom.

The Imaginext Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy action figures are a Toys R Us exclusive, and have just recently started appearing on their shelves.

These guys are wonderfully designed, fitting right into the Imaginext aesthetic while representing their cartoon designs almost perfectly.

Mermaid Man has swivel jointed shoulders and his legs swing forward in unison. About as much articulation as you can expect from an old dude like him!

Barnacle Boy has the same articulation as Mermaid Man. His head might turn, but I'm not going to force it.

Mermaid Man comes with his Mermerang...

...and Barnacle Boy comes with his Water Ball.

I absolutely adore these two figures, as much for their association with Aquaman as with their association with Adam West and Burt Ward. They are conceptually wonderful and hilariously designed. Even if you aren't a fan of Spongebob, you owe it to yourself to track these guys down. 

'...part of your wooooorlllld!'

Upcoming Imaginext Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy!

Revealed at the 2014 Toy Fair is this wonderful pair from the Sponge Bob Square Pants cartoon: Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Imaginext figures!

Now it is well known that I am no fan of Sponge Bob (or is it Spongebob?) But Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are parodies of not only the obvious Aquaman and Aqualad, but also of Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. Which makes them pretty awesome in their own right, without even mentioning that they are voiced on the cartoon by the late Ernest Borgnine (Mermaid Man) and Tim Conway (Barnacle Boy).

These are a must have for me, and will be slid directly into my Imaginext Justice League roster when I find them.

Pic via ActionFigureInsider Forums

Weekend Flea Market Haul

Got a chance to hit the flea market this morning. I don't generally like going on Sundays (Saturdays being my preference) because it's a madhouse, and rarely are vendors willing to negotiate on prices when they figure there are hundreds of other schmucks just waiting to pay full price after you're done trying to negotiate a better deal.

But I was wifeless and kidless today, which makes the milling circus sideshow easier to navigate, so I decided to head on out this morning and see what I could find...

Probably the coolest and most surprising find was this Popeye water gun from the seventies/eighties. I've seen similar examples that portray Batman, with their unfortunately placed triggers and plugs, and couldn't pass this one up for the low price of a dollar! I actually talked this one down from two dollars, so maybe people are willing to haggle on Sundays after all. I'll probably trade or sell this one off - I LOVE Popeye but other than my action figure collection, I don't really collect Popeye memorabilia (partly because so much of it is just...odd...like this squirt gun.)

I actually found this Red Baron Fokker DR 1 painting at the Goodwill on Saturday, so it's not a flea market find, but for $4.25, I had to have it. It is now hanging proudly in our kitchen, making it appear an 80 year old man lives here.

These books set me back a quarter each. Frank Miller's Ronin and a Spring 1990 issue of Weird Tales. Each is a little roughed up, but they should be good reads regardless. I also found a couple collected Simpsons comics for my Step-son's birthday, but those are already wrapped up!

Last but least, I got these Spongebob and Patrick Lego minifigures in a bag with a few plastic dinosaurs for 75 cents. Hear me now and believe me later: I HATE Spongebob and Patrick. I hate the show, I hate these inane little turds, I hate their idiotic shrill squeeling. HATE HATE HATE!

But I like Lego minifigures and for 75 cents, I figured I could at least trade them off or sell them...or torture them...

Ahhh, that feels better!

Well, that's it for my Sunday finds. Not too shabby!