Poisunday Ivy :: Pam's Bum

I couldn't agree more...

From Joker's Asylum - art by Guillem March.

Raphael Tumble For Ya

This is the flip-action ninja jumparoony I don't know what he's officially called Raphael:

This guy came out in 1993. I got him in a trade with Brian of Cool and Collected, and when he arrived he was clutching that weapon. I don't think he originally came with that weapon but who cares.

The reason I wanted this Raphael, besides the fact that Raphael is the coolest ninja turtle around, was because the figure's design really harkens back to the original TMNT comic book art. From the multiple gashes in his shell to the triangular toothy grimace - even the squatty pose needed to make this guy's action feature effective. Who needs NECA?

And backflipping abilities notwithstanding, this really is a cool looking ninja turtle.

As you can sort of see, he has a little counter-weight on his back to aid in his flipping ability, sculpted to look like a backpack of sorts. It's not too obtrusive, and at least they designed it to look like something of relevance, so it does little to detract from the toy's aesthetics.

His legs are spring loaded, so you push his head down and release...

...SPROING!!!...

...and he land's on his...shell.

Sometimes he does land on his feet, but getting the flip action/release just right can be tricky.

But who cares, he's a cool looking Raphael and you can't have too many of those.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Catwoman Beyond

Catwoman of the future demonstrating her duplication powers in Batman Beyond #4 via Firestorm Fan

Harley Qwednesday :: Merry Quinnmas!

I hope everyone had a splendid Christmas yesterday! To finish off the celebrations, here's Ryoko-demon as Harley Quinn!

Ryoko-demon on deviantArt
pic by Kifir

Random Christmas Pic :: Merry Christmas and a Beep Boop Whoooowooooo!

Santa and his helper R2-D2, along with everyone here at Toyriffic, wish everyone out there in internet land a very Merry Christmas!

We hope you got a lot of toys!

Poisunday Ivy :: Rei-Doll Cosplay

Here's an incredible traditional Poison Ivy picture of the stunning cosplayer Rei-Doll...

...and here she is in a Steam-Punk Poison Ivy costume. Beautiful!

Finally, here's Rei-Doll with fellow cosplayer and Harley Qwednesday alum Ryoko-demon!

For more cosplay fun, check Rei-Doll out all over the internet:
DeviantArt 
Facebook 
WorldCosplay 
Twitter

Photos by Kifir

Monster Fighters Hearse

Man, it has been a BUSY holiday season! I haven't even posted a single birthday present I received this year, and my birthday was way back in mid November! It's of course my own fault, being so easily distracted by the toys that are right in front of me at any given time, I can't be expected to step over those to photograph a toy that's way over there in another room! Add to that my intern's penchant for making everything about fifty times more work than it needs to be and...well...let's just say I have my hands full.

Back on topic - one thing I did get for my birthday is the Lego 9464 Monster Fighters Vampyre Hearse:

I love station wagons and hearses, so this thing is right up my alley. A Hot-Rod hearse driven by a zombie!

The hearse is great - lots of cute details like the side-pipes and torch/rear-view mirrors. And fangs!

The hearse comes with a zombie driver, the main man vampire himself (they don't call him Dracula for legal reasons but...he's Dracula!) and a Monster Fighter dude on a motorcycle. The Monster Fighter dude is interesting, I suppose there's a little steam-punk influence in these sets, as he has a robotic leg (which I didn't take a pic of...my bad.)

The vehicle also has an 'action feature' - flip a lever on the side and a coffin pops up through the roof - set it up just right and you can make Dracula fling across the table. Good times.

This Lego Hearse was a must have for me. The Hot-Rod elements are great and the vehicle itself is all sorts of cool cartoony fun. And thanks to my older sister and my birthday, I now have it! Yay for birthdays! (The jury is still out on older sisters ;)  )

Random Christmas Pic (and overdue review!) :: Santa Kalibaklaus

"Merry Christmas, filthy Earth worms!"

One of the few DCUC 'Collect and Connect' figures I was actually able to complete is the second favorite son of Darkseid Kalibak the Cruel! I have been reading Kirby's New Gods lately and my love of all things Kirby has been re-ignited, so I dug out my Kalibak and realized that I have yet to review him on Toyriffic! Crazy but true!

I'm so far away from DC Universe Classics now that I honestly can't remember which wave Kalibak appeared in as the 'Collect and Connect' figure...checking Google...ahh, it appears he was part of wave 6 which included black suit and mullet Superman, Mister Miracle, Hawkman, Killer Moth, and Captain Marvel. That was a nice wave, and explains why I wanted them all to complete Kalibak. But truth be told, I would have completed a whole lot of waves had Mattel had any inkling on how to distribute these things...but I digress. The only other DCUC Collect and Connect figures I was able to complete are Metamorpho and Gorilla Grodd, so owning Kalibak is somewhat of an accomplishment. 

Kalibak is a massive figure and a great likeness of Orion's half-brother. When I dug him out of the box he was stored in I forgot to grab his Beta Club, so I'll have to go back for that soon. In the meantime Kalibak is going to serve as a Santa stand-in at home because he's awesome, as are pretty much all things Kirby.

DASH is Giving Away Amazon Gift Cards

At DASH we have a pretty good idea what collectors like, but we can’t make everyone happy with every single contest. So we’ve decided to take the route of grandmas around the world this holiday season and simply give away gift cards. You might think it lacks creativity, but there’s nothing quite like a shiny new gift card underneath a tree, especially when it gives you the control. Welcome to the DASH Community Contest #7, where 10 lucky winners will win a prize that transforms into the toy of their choosing.

To enter, just register on Collector-ActionFigures.com (if you haven’t already), and then add new items to your My Collection page. Each item you add is an extra entry into the contest (up to 100 per day), so take a few minutes to fully update your collection and you’ll be increasing your odds of taking home a free gift card along the way. And when Christmas Eve rolls around, keep your eyes out for a lifesize Santa action figure as he brings more contest entries down the chimney.

We hope you enjoy adding figures to your collection, and we think once you start, it’ll be difficult to stop. And don’t forget to go ahead and start adding items to your wanted list to get ready for next year too!

And don’t forget we’re also giving away a Captain Action figure signed by Joe Jusko! Just like Captain Action on Facebook for all the details and to enter!

For complete contest rules and requirements, please email corey@Collector-ActionFigures.com

Catwoman Purrrsday :: I'm dreaming of a white Catwoman

During the 'Contagion' storyline,  Catwoman donned a white snow-camo suit to head for the mountains and help Robin and Azrael find a cure for a deadly virus wreaking havoc in Gotham City.

Because...comic books.

With less than a week to go until Christmas, it seemed appropriate to glance at a few covers from the Contagion run that included Catwoman in this get-up.

Not everyone shares Selina's concern for stealth. Azreal says 'Screw subterfuge, I'm goin' in orange and ON FIRE!'

Robin also heads to the snow sans camouflage (not to mention full sleeves,) proving that Catwoman is really the only sensible member of the team. It's amazing the mission succeeded at all.

I'm pretty sure it snows a lot in Gotham City too, so the white camouflage actually makes a lot of sense, and other than the inexplicable boomerang designs on the boots it looks pretty good!

Harley Qwednesday :: Free Harley Quinn 2013 Calendar!

What is that you say? Harley Quinn once a week just isn't enough? How about Harley Quinn EVERY DAY OF THE FREAKIN' YEAR THEN?!?!

Over at Inanimate Objects the great Casimir has created a free downloadable 2013 calendar featuring three of the best Harley Quinn Cosplayers around: Tara Strand, Laura Magnusson, and DesiRee Preston.

This calendar is all the proof you need that the Mayans were wrong, because even they wouldn't deny you 365 days of Harley Quinn!

Well, what are you waiting for? Head on over to Inanimate Objects and download your 2013 Harley Quinn Calendar for free!

Monster High Dollies

I've been wanting to further explore the Monster High phenom on my blog for a while now. But I've avoided it mainly because I have a manly anti-dolly image to preserve.

But a lot of my readers love Monster High dollies (both male and female readers - shocking I know!) so I suppose I owe it to them to report what I see.

And once again, with Christmas upon us (and with Monster High on my daughter's wish list) I'm back in the strange and foreign dolly aisles looking at what they have to offer.

Now that Monster High has gone through all the basic monster themes (vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein's monster, zombie etc) it's interesting to see what they come up with to keep the line fresh (outside of re-releasing the same old characters in new sub-sets ala roller derby, sleep-over and prom.)

I found one today that is pretty neat and unique and takes the line in a direction I didn't anticipate but makes perfect sense. But before we get to her, let's run down the dollies my daughter already has in her collection...

It all started with Lagoona Blue:

Lagoona is obviously based on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a personal monster favorite.

Next my daughter wanted Clawdeen Wolf. Werewolves are also very cool, so this one is tops!

I later got Operetta for my daughter's birthday, but we opened her up and she was broken (you can tell it's Mattel,) so we had to return her, and could only find Nefera De Nile...

Fortunately I was able to soon find another Operetta. Based on the Phantom of the Opera, Operetta is one of my own favorites, as her rockabilly styling is quite keen, Deady-O!

A couple months ago we found Rochelle Goyle. Based on a gargoyle (naturally) Rochelle is a unique concept and proves that the creativity of the Monster High line is far from dead.

Which brings us to my daughter's newest Monster High dolly, to be presented to her on Christmas:

Skelita Calaveras. Skelita is very unique and surprised me when I saw her on the shelves. Probably the skinniest fashion doll ever (she's an actual skeleton!) Skelita is based on the sugar skull designs of El Dia De Los Muertos. How cool is that?!?! And while many figures are released as individuals first and later as part of a sub-line, Skelita appears to be new to the Scaris: City of Frights sub-set (along with a Chinese Dragon based Jinafire Long.)

Monster High dollies have been surprisingly well received, it can be hard to find new releases on shelves as they are snapped up by collectors and speculators alike. And really, who can find fault with such a sure-fire formula: Monster based teen fashion dolls.

In the future, I hope to get my daughter a couple more of the cooler new releases I've seen around recently, like Robecca Steam...

 ...and Venus McFlytrap (who makes a great Poison Ivy stand-in!)

I guess it's a good thing I have daughters. I wouldn't want anyone thinking I am buying these for myself!

Random Christmas Pic :: Bat Santa

It's Bat Santa and Vampire Elf, along with a reasonable approximation of Frank the Bunny from Donnie Darko.

They know when you've been sleeping because THEY ARE IN YOUR ROOM WATCHING YOU!!!

Poisunday Ivy :: Vector Ivy

A couple of Poison Ivy vector illustrations done in Photoshop by yours truly.

You can see more character variations on this template at my art blog and deviantArt page.

Loco en la cabeza

This is the GoBot Loco, also knows as Machine Robo Steam Robo designation MR-05.

He's pretty Christmasy, with his vintage steam engine look and shiny red trim, and is currently on display with our Christmas decorations.

I'm way too busy to transform him myself however, so I'll go grab an egg-nog and let the Toyriffic Intern take over for a minute...

"I got this, Daddy."

"Okay folks, follow along closely. First, you grip the train like so..."

"...then you unfold his legs like this..."

"...then you turn him over in this fashion..."

"...then you make sure his legs are straight..."

"...you might have to wipe some dust off his face before you pop his arms out...and voila..."

"...you have a nifty robot!"

Thanks intern! Now go eat your oatmeal.

Loco is as simple as GoBots get, but is very effective in both robot and train form. His body is die-cast and his joints are pretty tight for such an old toy, in fact he's in unbelievable condition considering the fact that I found him at the flea market in a pile of Hotwheels and only paid a buck for him.

Helpful hint: look for GoBots in piles of Hotwheels/Matchbox when at flea markets/garage sales etc. They often get piled in by the uninitiated.

Back in Bat

I previously posted about the Hotwheels version of The Bat, the hideously ugly not-Batwing from The Dark Knight Rises. A surprise entry into the Hotwheels ranks I must admit, as it is neither Hot nor Wheeled.

Well hold on to your love of aesthetics, because Mattel continues to surprise by releasing a Matchbox version in their Sky Busters die-cast aircraft series!

As you can see, this Matchbox Sky Busters version is larger than it's Hotwheels counterpart, and probably closer to a true 1:64 scale. I found my Bat at Kohls and although it is listed at $3.99 it was on sale and I got it for around $1.50. (I don't think it's humanly possible to pay sticker price at Kohls. Their entire business model is jacking up prices so they can have a 'sale' every single flippin' day. Their price signs are digital, for heaven's sake!)

I've seen Sky Busters at Toys R Us and Target and they are probably available most anywhere Matchbox are sold.

Part of the 2012 Undercover Series, The Bat is just an odd inclusion into any sub-set that isn't Batman specific. But as ugly as it is, it is kind of fun to swoosh around the room and I know any kid (or adult) into aircraft and Batman would love to have it in their collection.

As you can see, the Matchbox Bat is quite a bit larger than the Hotwheels Bat. There are a few differences in sculpt as well, meaning this isn't just a larger scale of the same exact toy.

The positioning of the rear tailfins is the most obvious difference in physical design. Sky Buster Bat is also painted in a flat black while Hotwheels Bat is shiny. Matchbox wins for movie accuracy there.

The engine thingys up front are a little stubbier on Matchbox's Bat too.

It wasn't until I looked closely at Matchbox Bat underneath that I noticed both versions have the propellers sculpted into the undercarriage details. That's pretty neat!

If I could only have one, I'd say the Matchbox Sky Busters Bat is the better Bat. They're both Bat-Ugly but definitely fun, unique vehicles and a must have in any Bat vehicle collection!