Lego Arctic Batman and Aquaman - Slightly Modified

I found an incomplete Arctic Batman Lego set at the flea market last weekend, but couldn't pass it up for just $5 because it had a complete Lego Aquaman in the baggie. Also, I have tons of spare Lego pieces at home, so I figured it was worth the gamble. Unfortunately the only part of Batman himself present in the baggie was his white cowl and his Batarang, but I was able to easily create an Arctic Camo Batman with pieces I have lying around!

The set did have Aquaman and his frozen prison, making it worth the cost of admission alone.

Aquaman is a good minifigure. His head has two expressions as most of them do these days. He is missing his trident, but I might have one from the king Mermaid minifigure from a few waves back. I will have to look.

The baggie had most of the parts to make Batman's ski boat. One front spoiler and one side blade is missing, making it unbalanced designwise, so I modified it a bit by filling in the front with red and adding the motor on top. I might add some side pipes or something eventually, but this was a quick fix to see what was missing and what I needed to do to make it passable.

All in all, not bad for five dollars.

Poisunday Ivy :: Imaginext Poison Ivy and More Coming Soon!

Action Figure Insider recently revealed some exciting upcoming Imaginext DC Super Friends sets, and the biggest highlight was this two-figure set that includes Poison Ivy! In a series with only three females so far (Catwoman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn) another female is BIG NEWS, and Poison Ivy is a welcome (if surprising) fourth female choice to add to the line-up. The set also includes Scarecrow, both brand new figures and both figures I will buy the second I see them available!

Also revealed is a new Batmobile with an all new Batman figure included. This new Imaginext Batmobile joins the roster as the fourth or possibly fifth Imaginext Batmobile design, and is clearly influenced by the Batmobile from the Arkham Asylum/Arkham City video games. I need this one!

Batman's Batpod Batcycle is also all new, as is the New 52 influenced Batman included with it. Geez, I need this too!

A Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle and Beetle-Mobile was also revealed...

...as well as a New 52 version of Martian Manhunter and a bendable Plastic Man! This set is also very tempting. Looks like I'll be adding a handful of new Imaginext toys to my (and my daughter's) collection very soon. Some of these are labeled as Target exclusives in the images, and although the Poison Ivy/Scarecrow set isn't labeled as such, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a Target exclusive as well. I'll be sure to post as soon as I find it and let everyone know!

Via ActionFigureInsider.com

Lego Movie Minifigures and Sets available now!

Toys R Us had a ton of the Lego Movie blind bagged minifigures and sets out now. Some of the sets look like a lot of fun, but I'm holding out for the upcoming DC Superhero stuff as far as the larger sets go. But my daughter and I did nab a few of the minifigures, using the old squeeze method to find what we were getting. My daughter opened them all before we got home, so I wasn't able to note the bump codes, but they were all easy enough to squeeze for. This gal, the character Wyldstyle, is easy to find via her wedge 'dress', but double check for her fan or hairpiece, because there's another gal in the set with a wedge dress.

Abraham Lincoln was my 'must have' from this wave. His hat and beard are a single piece, so feel for that, as well as his copy of the Gettysburg Address.

I also wanted the 'Where's my Pants?' guy, who has been likened to Ace Ventura. He's ridiculous, and easy to find since he is packed with two sets of legs.

My daughter wanted the mermaid, and she's very easy to find with that giant fish tail!

Finally, this guy in a Panda suit is sure to be a fan favorite! Like the Man in Gorilla suit of an earlier wave, this guy has a zipper printed on his back. His face underneath the mask is sticking his tongue out too! And he comes with a cute little baby panda (or a stuffed Panda, depending on your imagination.) Feel for the baby panda or the large panda head.

That does it for our haul of Lego Movie Minifigures this time around. There were a few more fun ones, but we didn't want to go too crazy this soon after Christmas.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Frank Miller's Detective Comics #27 Cover

Next year, to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, the 'New 52' version of Detective Comics #27 (reflecting 1939's Detective Comics #27 debut of Batman) will be released. The issue includes contributions from many notable Batman artists, including Frank Miller, whose illustration of Catwoman graces the cover.

I suppose an illustration of Batman himself would have made a heck of a lot more sense for this upcoming issue, but who are we to argue with the wisdom of DC Editorial *end sarcasm.

Via Comics Alliance.

Harley Qwednesday :: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! May you awaken to find all the things on your wishlist beneath the Christmas tree.

As for me...well...my true Christmas wish is not likely to be under my tree:

So I'll just ask Santa for world peace or somesuch.

Cosplayers Ryoko Demon as Harley Quinn and Rei Doll as Poison Ivy.

Pic via Ryoko Demon at deviantArt.

Twas the Knight Before Christmas...

This Playmobil Knight is from the Fi?ures Series 1 blind bags.

I love the helmet on this guy - it's pretty unique in shape, and the shiny blue of the armor really makes this guy stand out. He must be a King. Dig that crazy thing on the top of his helmet!

He comes with a shield, a mace and a dagger. There was a sticker for the shield too, but I left it off. It looks much better without it. I do love the shape of the shield, very effective protection!

I did modify him slightly, by giving him a ghostly (glowing) head from another Series 1 Fi?ure. Now he looks like a Scooby Doo villain!

Now be good little boys and girls and go to sleep. Santa is on his way!

Hero World Voice Comm Cyborg by Fisher Price

I found this Fisher-Price Hero World Voice Comm Cyborg at Marshalls a couple weeks ago.

Even though my Hero World collecting has been very selective, I wanted this Teen Titan teammate to go along with my Hero World Robin. And discovering this figure came as quite a surprise, as I've seen no mention of his existence anywhere online! Not even as a 'look what they won't be releasing because they canceled the line!' post in some random chat room ('chat room' hahaha I'm showing my age!)

This Cyborg is completely off everyone's radar. He's stealth Cyborg!

There is a non Voice Comm version that was released with an ATV near the end of the standard Hero World line, but that figure is a completely different sculpt from this one, not to mention that this Voice Comm version speaks with the push of a button and interacts with other Voice Comm figures and vehicles.

Like with the Hero World Robin, I don't believe this Cyborg ever hit regular retail. Marshalls, like Ross and Big Lots, is a closeout retailer that pushes stuff at discount prices after picking up unsold product from mainstream retailers and manufacturers. Big Lots has recently stocked Hero World and Voice Comm figures, so Marshalls must have gotten their hands on some as well. That being said, I've seen no sign of Cyborg at Big Lots (where I found Robin) and at Marshalls there was no sign of any other figure besides Cyborg (of which they had two.)

The DC Super Friends Hero World line (and it's Voice Comm sequel) should have been much more of a success, but suffered a bit of retail mishandling and bad luck. Also, the shift from Hero World to Voice Comm was ill timed and helped lead to the premature death of the line. There was also the Imaginext 'redundancy' - two pre-school hero lines in different scales may have been too much for parents - which is why I believe the Voice Comm angle was brought on to begin with, to give greater delineation between lines.

That said I personally believe the biggest hiccup was Hero World's focus on Green Lantern characters. The movie was expected to be huge but flopped (and the cartoon never got it's rightful footing either), causing dozens of Hero World Hals, Kilowogs and Tomar Res to languish on Toys R Us shelves to this day. Ironically the Atrocitus / Dexx-Star and Sinestro / B'Dg sets disappeared from shelves fast due to fan popularity, but were never given the chance to be restocked because retailer shelves were choked with Hals that no one wanted. There is also speculation that these figures (or at least the Atrocitus/Dexx-Stars) were pulled by Fisher-Price because of their violent nature, but I don't think that happened. I just think collectors grabbed them up and production halted when the retailer orders didn't come back for more. These might have also been Toys R Us exclusive and made in lesser quantities, but I've never met anyone else who has one of them so I can't ask them where they bought theirs!

In addition, the other retailers that carried the line were subsequently cautious when Hero World released characters like Hawkman, Aquaman, Flash and the first release of Cyborg, and those characters didn't have the chance to hit stores in very large quantities or get the advantage of being restocked once they sold out. To add insult to injury, all of these characters were being shipped to retailers when Hero World 'ended' and evolved into Voice Comm, which retailers didn't order much of either due to their languishing Hero Worlders.

This type of thing really fascinates me. It's like the end of the Muppet movie where (if memory serves me) Kermit and Fozzie are reading the credits, and Fozzie (or maybe it's Gonzo?) says 'Who cares' and Kermit says something like 'They all have mothers.' I know I'm way off but I think you get the gist. The fact is, someone designed this toy, someone recorded their voice for this toy, etc. etc., and someone has to care that it exists, dammit!

I also just like Cyborg. The Teen Titans cartoon version is my favorite (even though I was never a huge fan of the cartoon) and I have a few of his Bandai likenesses too.

This Fisher-Price Cyborg comes with a cool energy blaster type gun...

...and maybe these are  handcuffs, or some sort of wrench or mechanical grabbers like you see on UHF after midnight or if you aren't reading this in 1983, maybe at an 'As Seen on TV' store.

Voice Comm Cyborg is copyright 2012, but like I said before I don't think he has seen the light of retail until now. Good luck finding him if you're interested. He may be an anomoly, or he may suddenly clog pegs everywhere. Who knows?

Only the Shadow knows!

Booyah!

Random Toy Pic :: Unmasked Batman Playmobil Custom

Using miscellaneous parts from multiple Playmobil figures, I was able to construct this unmasked Batman custom Playmobil figure!

The wings come from a Fi?ures Series 1 Knight, the head (complete with black eye!) and hair from a Fi?ures Series 1 Boxer, and the gloves are from a Fi?ures Series 1 Executioner. The yellow belt is from a random Knight I had in my spare parts pile, and the legs, torso and arms are from other random figures. He is holding a rope with a hook and a handheld computer too, more random pieces I had laying around.

I cut some electric tape into a bat symbol, but otherwise this Unmasked Batman is a simple parts swap custom!

Someday I will need to connect with someone with a 3D printer and get a Playmobil sized Bat-cowl made. I am surprised there aren't any sites online where people sell stuff like that, like there are with custom Lego parts, but I suppose Lego do have a bigger collector/customizing community at this point.

Terra-ble Twos!

 Last weekend's Bandai Teen Titans action figures finds yielded both versions of Terra!

I thought my daughter already had this version of Terra in her Teen Titans uniform, but we were unable to find it when we looked, so it's a good thing I grabbed this one. She's as basic as all the standard Teen Titan action figures...

 ...but since this is a later release, she looks more like her cartoon counterpart than the first release of Raven did!

Eventually Bandai got their act together and started busting out some real good looking figures; pretty much right before the line was canned.

Typical.

This version of Terra, in her traitorous Deathstroke affiliation outfit is an excellent likeness with a dynamic pose to boot. My daughter did already have this version of Terra, so this one will be added to my own collection!

I love finding these Bandai Teen Titan action figures at the flea market. They are so simple but quite charming, and as I mentioned before, the later releases to the line were actually some pretty darn good looking figures; like this Terra, Speedy, Red X and the later release of Cyborg. The only Teen titan figure I actually bought at retail was Speedy, but I do wish I had paid closer attention to the line when they were new, it would be nice to have the accessories for some of these guys! I also recall news that there was a planned release of the Doom Patrol, but the cartoon and toyline were cancelled before they got those figures made. Too bad, I would have definitely loved to have those action figures!

April (O'Neil) in December

For as many original TMNT figures as I have accumulated, there was one that I had, until this weekend, never picked up - that spunky reporter and friend to a quartet of teenaged terrapins, the inimitable April O'Neil:

But I couldn't pass up this fine example, in pretty near perfect condition for under a buck.

I know there were a couple versions of April, with stripes, without stripes, etc etc, and even a re-release or two. Don't know if this is an original or a re-release, but she's in pretty good condition, so I assume that she is. Which is fine, it was time to add her to the club.

She's a cute figure, and reminds me a bit of the original Teela. She's in great condition, with a little scrape on the paint of her hair but nothing too dramatic.

I'm only bummed that her action feature doesn't work.

What action feature?

I don't know...I kept pressing where it said to do so, but nothing happened...

That's So Raven(s)

I haven't seen any Bandai Teen Titans figures at the flea market in a long time, then today I found about six, from two separate vendors. It's funny how these things cycle around.  I even left a couple behind because they would have been doubles (or triples) and I just didn't need to buy them ALL, especially right before Christmas!

I did grab a couple that my daughter already has but that I don't have of my own, because they don't pop up that often, and was able to get a couple we didn't have as well, including the first version of Raven:

This version of Raven is pretty far off-model, but quaint in a 'toy for kids not collectors' sort of way.

She actually doesn't look that bad at this angle. She looks nothing like her cartoon counterpart, but not bad nonetheless.

I also picked up another of the later version of Raven. My daughter already has this one, but I didn't. As you can see, Bandai used the exact same mold from the neck down, and only updated her head. Which is fine, because the figure's body design was simple but effective, and it was that face that needed fixing the most.

The difference from Raven 1.0 is striking; Raven 2.0 looks just like her cartoon counterpart.

As a bonus, Raven 1.0 was wearing a removable hood/cape when I found her. I don't know if Raven 2.0 also came with the hood/cape, I've never found either version of her with a cape until today, but I swapped it over and she looks even better now! Yay!

Harley Qwednesday :: Elf on Harley's Lap on a Shelf

It helps during the holidays around here that Harley Quinn's costume colors are so close to festive, with all that red and white and diamonds and all. So while some of my toys are relegated to the other room to make space for the tree and lights and stars and tinsel, Harley actually becomes part of the fun!

"Tell Santa Quinn whatcha want, kiddo. Wait...have you been bad or good, cuz if you've been good, I'm droppin' ya!"

So while other boring houses have a lame old elf on their boring shelves, we have an elf on Harley Quinn's lap...on a shelf!

Imaginext Blind Bagged Series 2 NOW WITH CODES!

UPDATE: Reader 'Zero-Seven-Thirteen' has commented with the following codes for Imaginext Blind Bagged Series 2:

24 - Glider Suit
25 - Caveman
26 - "Bigfoot"
27 - Steampunk Dude
28 - Jungle Explorer
29 - Cowboy
30 - Artic Explorer
31 - Frankenstien's

UPDATE #2: Reader Aleksandur found them on the West Coast and these are the codes he discovered:

25 - Caveman
26 - Artic Explorer
27 - Cowboy
28 - Frankenstien's Monster
29 - Jungle Explorer
30 - Steampunk Dude
31 - "Bigfoot"
32 - Glider Suit

Looks like there may be some different codes out there. I recommend you squeeze them to be sure!

I still have not seen these at retail, but people are finding them, so good luck and happy hunting!

Action Figure Insider recently got their hands on images of Fisher-Price's Imaginext Blind Bagged Series 2!

Let's take a look at the eight new characters in this wave, due out...soon?

Arctic Explorer. This guy reminds me of the skiing GI Joe guy,,,was his name Snow Job?

A guy dressed as Bigfoot. Not to be confused with the real Bigfoot!

Captainnn...oops, I mean...Caveman!

A Cowboy, who is apparently borrowing Wonder Woman's lasso of truth.

Frankenstein's Monster. This guy is worth having for that electrocution helmet/backpack alone!

Glider suit guy. Neat idea and execution on this one!

Jungle explorer? Crocodile Dundee? Steve Irwin? I love the snake wrapped up to his hat.

And finally, a Steampunk dude! I love this one and if I only get one of this wave it will be him!

Stay tuned to Action Figures Insider and here at Toyriffic for more news on Imaginext Blind Bagged Series 2!