Hero World Cyborg from Fisher-Price

Scored this Fisher-Price Hero World Cyborg from the flea market last weekend. I love Cyborg, but never got too deep into the short-lived Fisher-Price Hero World series. When this figure was at retail (included in a set with an ATV which just didn't appeal to me at all) I passed him over.

I'm glad I was able to find him now, and for so cheap (and especially without the lame ATV) because this is one great looking Cyborg!

I love the classic armor Cyborg; he's cartoony enough to remind me of the latest version of the Teen Titans cartoon, which is absolutely hilarious.

Even though I never really got into the Hero World theme, this is actually my second Hero World Cyborg! The first, from the later Voice-Comm sub-line, I found at Marshall's long after the line had died. The Voice-Comm version is a more modern Cyborg, and while he's cool, I much prefer the classic look.

As you can see, standard Cyborg and Voice-Comm Cyborg are completely different, which is interesting considering how easy it would have been to re-use a part or two (like the head or hands). And since Fisher-Price is owned by Mattel, parts re-use kind of comes with the territory. But no, each is figure is completely unique.

Hero World was a great line, sort of an upscaled Imaginext for kids a little bit older than Imaginext's target audience. It would have been fun to see the line last, grow and evolve, but it was never meant to be.

Flea Market Finds

Took my intern to the Flea Market yesterday, and even though the pickins were pretty slim (did everyone think it was going to rain or something? Because it didn't!) we came away with some fun stuff for CHEAP!

For five bucks we came away with an original '88 soft-head Splinter (fortunately I have his robe and belt from a previous flea market TMNT accessory haul), a Space Usagi that will be going to a fellow toy blogger in a trade, Masters of the Universe Roboto, Hero World Cyborg, a TOMY wind-up Donald Duck, a traveling Smurf with bindle, a DUPLO goat and an Imaginext ankylosaurus.

A silly assortment of bits and bobs that made for a day full of fun for my intern and I!

Flea Market Finds

I don't usually go to the flea market on Sundays. I prefer the smaller scale, less pressure Saturday trips. But I found myself completely on my own yesterday and decided 'what the heck.' It was crowded, and vendors tend to be less fond of making deals on Sundays, but it turned out to be totally worth it!

I'm apparently on a roll with the 2007 CGI TMNT animated movie action figures, having found Karai to add to the Casey, April and Foot Ninja from a couple weeks back. Still no sign of the Turtles themselves though! I also found 'Gen' who's action figure is from the 2004 TMNT cartoon, but the character is from the Usagi Yojimbo comics (which I absolutely love!) The figure has a terrible action feature (more on that later) but I have wanted this figure ever since I read Usagi Yojimbo and learned of this figures existence (long after he had been on the toy store shelves.)

I bought the Imaginext parrot and toucan because they were bagged with the Imaginext bat. My intern will have to absorb those into her Imaginext jungle collection (even though she already has them) and the bat will hang out (haha get it?) with the Batman themed Imaginext stuff we have all over the place. I also found one half of the Teen Titans team 'Mas and Menos.' I found Mas. Now I will forever be on the hunt for Menos, but had I passed on Mas I would probably find ten Menoses in the next three days. That's how things go.

Then there's this newer Imaginext Robin. I already have this sculpt which came with his Mech Suit, but their costumes are colored differently, so this one can be Jason Todd. I still hate the fact that he doesn't have a cape, but I do like this sculpt.

Finally, a toddler Donatello staff. I already have one of these (what I need are toddler Leo and toddler Raph's weapons) but you don't see this stuff often so I grabbed it. And then there's Cyborg's robot hand from Teen Titans. This must have been an accessory or perhaps part of a figurine set. Whichever the case, it's pretty awesome.

Bootleg LEGO Cyborg and Batzarro

Rounding out the six Bootleg LEGO minifigures I just picked up is this modern take on Cyborg.

this latest bootleg Cyborg comes with a gun that shoots single LEGO disc pieces. I have yet to see one of these in their offcial LEGO version but I know they have recently been popping up in some Star Wars sets.

I already own a bootleg LEGO Cyborg, but the previous one is a more classic take on Cyborg. I kind of prefer the older version as he's a bit more cartoony, but both are pretty awesome.

I also already own the official LEGO Batzarro, but this set included a bootleg LEGO Batzarro and who am I to say 'no thanks' to any version of Batzarro.

Both minifigures have two faces, and Batzarro comes with a batarang (Batzarrorang?) which is more than his official version came with!

Cyborg Minifigure by Sheng Yuan

I have always been fond of Cyborg, the half-teen half-machine member of Teen Titans. I especially love his representation in the modern Teen Titans cartoons and have a couple great action figures from the Bandai line that accompanied it.

And now I have the Sheng Yuan BootLEGO version  to add to my SmorgasCyborg. This minifigure is currently hitting the direct-from-China bootLEGO market and can be found on eBay, AliExpress and other slow boats from China.

As soon as I had Cyborg assembled I set about putting together a gun-arm for him. Plus a base, because it's all about the base...I mean because he was a little off-balance once I attached his gun arm.

There is an official LEGO Cyborg available as part of a larger Justice League set; it's different from this guy, who is based on Cyborg's appearance in the LEGO Batman 2 video game. The official one is probably based on the LEGO Batman 3 video game. It's one thing to get a bootLEGO that is a straight across rip-off of an existing LEGO minifigure, and another thing entirely to get something unique. I much prefer to get the unique creations. Or the bootlegs based on ultra-limited LEGO minifigures that are otherwise unattainable on my working man's salary.

This Cyborg minifigure really is great. My only complaint would be that the right side hair component of his helmet doesn't look enough like hair, and they didn't paint the rim. A small gripe, otherwise I really like this unique headpiece.

Sheng Yuan Cyborg came with a stand and a couple parts to make a little Cyborg-symbol. We don't buy these things for the extras, and I think Sheng Yuan is getting the hint by no longer including silly mini-build weapons racks and whatnot. The base is appreciated, and the five-piece symbol is silly but sort of a good idea, I suppose. At least it isn't too much clutter.

Cyborg is just shy of LEGO quality - the hair issue I pointed out for one thing, and his right arm pops out relatively easily, but otherwise this guy stands tall and proud next to his official brethren. If you like him and can get him for a couple bucks, I say 'go for it.'

And if you have a lot of LEGO bricks lying about and can make cool constructs for him, even better!

The gun barrel even rotates! POW POW POW!

I've already altered the gun-arm a couple times since shooting these pics. I've been having a lot of fun modifying this guy, and as Colin of Super-Duper Toy Box always says: "Make it Fun!"

Sheng Yuan Heroes Assemble BootLEGOs: Beast, Red Robin, Galactus, Ant-Man and MORE!

Check out some incredible and unexpected bootleg LEGO minifigures - Heroes Assemble by Sheng Yuan - coming soon to eBay for cheap (or if you can't wait and want to pay a little more or buy in bulk, available now on AliExpress.)

This first batch may seem a little 'meh', until you get to the lower right hand corner. Yes, kids, that's Red Robin in BootLEGO minifigure form! Also shown is movie Hawkeye, yellow Deadpool, and Phoenix. Not sure how these will be bundled when they come to eBay, but I'll take any Marvel also-ran to get my hands on that Red Robin!

This next batch shows Beast and Ant-Man, along with Green Arrow and a masked brown costume Wolverine! None of these are 'must-haves' for me (I already have the Decool brown costume Wolverine) but I wouldn't mind owning all of them, so I'll wait and see how I feel or how they are bundled when they hit eBay.

Here's a batch that I will definitely try to get: Comic book Hawkeye, Galactus (!!!), Cyborg and Nova. That Galactus is just incredible and probably will never be seen in an official LEGO set.

Finally, Sheng Yuan has bootlegged the recent GameStop exclusive Plastic Man, a minifigure I would love to own. This batch also includes Daredevil, Loki and Magneto. If bundled in this manner, I may pass and just try to get an official LEGO Plastic Man, since none of the others really appeal to me (and since I already own a Decool version of that Magneto.) EDIT: I just noticed Plastic Man has elongated arms and legs, unlike the LEGO version. Looks like I will have to pick this one up after all!

These should be popping up on eBay really soon, so keep your eyes peeled. In my experience Sheng Yuan makes some top quality bootleg LEGO minifigures, and while many of these may be available in official LEGO form, some aren't and probably never will be.

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!

More Brave and the Bold style action figures...for 2013?!?!

What the...?

This small image was just brought to my attention by a twitter friend. It's of a Target exclusive seven figure set of the Justice League called simply "Batman Legacy Justice League Figures"

This seven pack of figures appears to all be in the long ago canceled Brave and the Bold action figure style but includes a never before seen Cyborg, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, a beardless Aquaman and omg - WONDER WOMAN (in a line that Mattel stated emphatically would not include any female characters).

This news really came out of left field! The set is unavailable online as of writing this post but will retail for $49.99, so I probably won't own it until it hits clearance (which it probably will.) I will also have to see it in person to make a final judgement.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! Apparently Target has Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern figures available as singles, and while these are clearly the Brave and the Bold style figures, you can see the much maligned hex holes are no longer a part of the figures' sculpts (a change I said would happen way back in my first B and the B toy review in 2009 - but even I never expected it to be so late in coming!)

(pic borrowed from eBay. Don't be stupid enough to buy them there now. They'll be plentiful and cheaper soon, I promise.)

Depending on the price of these, I'll probably get that Batman. Sadly it appears Wonder Woman is not part of a single figure release, and if past Target multi-pack exclusives are any indication, I doubt she ever will be.

Has anyone seen these at retail yet?

Domo Arigato Mr. Cyborg-o

I found this larger-than-standard Cyborg action figure at a school flea market this past weekend. For fifty cents I couldn't pass him up!

Amazingly he's in near perfect condition with only a couple small scratches. He was a little dirty when I found him but cleaned up nice and easily.

Teen Titans action figures are relatively hard to come by and I am always surprised when I find them, and I try to snag them when I see one in good condition (and selling for cheap!)

I have amassed a modest amount of standard sized figures (mostly for my daughter) but this is my first over-sized figure. Cyborg here is about 5" tall. Released as 'Action Sound Cyborg,' this guy has a button on his chest and makes sounds of some sort (apparently he says 'Booyah!,) but the batteries are long dead and slightly corroded and needed to be thrown out asap. I don't know if the sound feature still works, but at least the 'button' is part of the character's design, so it isn't an obnoxious and useless when batteries are dead add-on.

Cyborg here is a solid figure with great articulation; he reminds me a lot of the current Ninja Turtles offerings. Well built, solid, durable, a great cartoon accurate design, and ready for play!

Did I say 'durable'?

"Medic! Mechanic! BOTH!"

Oh wait - he's supposed to do that!

I found Cyborg in a box of random toys with nothing else worth grabbing. I almost passed up looking in a second box because another guy was digging enthusiastically into it and seemed like he'd be there a while (the box didn't appear to contain anything I cared for anyways.) But when he suddenly stepped away, and since the Mrs. was still perusing clothes or some other nonsense, I decided to give the second box a quick dig-through.

I'm glad I did, because buried deep inside I found this:

Cyborg's gun arm!

Not being terribly familiar with these figures, I didn't even realize this was something I should have been looking for! Luckily I stumbled onto it.

"I know what you're thinking...did he fire five fingers or only four...?"

Action Sound Cyborg also originally came with a small Titans communicator, but I didn't see it in the box and am sure it is long lost (also...who cares. I have his gun-arm!) And who needs to call the Teen Titans anyways when they're now a member of the Justice League!

Be sure to click over and check out my smaller scale Teen Titans Cyborg I reviewed years ago, who also would have had an alternate arm but unfortunately I didn't find it at the time. Fortunately, he happened to already be wearing his gun-arm!

Also check out more pics of Action Sounds Cyborg when reviewed brand new over at RTM.

Finally, check out this fun little Teen Titans Go! short from DC nation: