Skeleton Domo Kun Qee Figure Review

Posted in Domo Kun, figure, Qee, review, Skeleton, Toy Reviews on July 3rd, 2010 by VitaminZinc

This is a mini review for an impulse buy I made for a Domo Kun Qee figure. It’s painted up to look like a Skeleton. I think skeletons are awesome. It can move its arms and legs a bit. That’s about it. It’s a nice desk accessory to pose around. It’s actually sitting on one of my shelves, though. I like it.

Pros:

  • DOMO KUN!
  • Skeleton.

Cons:

  • ???
  • Profit.

Motoko Kusanagi: Stand Alone Complex – Variable Motion Figure (VMF) Toy Review

Posted in figure, ghost in the shell, kusanagi, motoko, review, sac, stand alone complex, Toy Reviews, variable motion, vmf on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

I really like this toy. Really. It was worth every bit that I paid for it. That being said, I got it for $75 off Amazon. My normal source of toys, BBTS.com, was sold out of it and has been for the longest time. Also, I think I got it about $5 cheaper off Amazon, too. So cheers to me!

She stands at about 8.5 inches tall, and is fully articulated. She can make about any pose you can think of. I was even able to get her into some crazy Kung Fu poses and was able to balance her with it on one foot. The joints are tight as hell–which explains why she’s able to do such crazy poses. The problem with that is, the joints like to pop out. Mainly the hips and shoulders. But, I’d rather they be too tight than too loose.

She comes with an extra pair of upper arms so you can switch them out when she’s not wearing the jacket. Oh, by the way, the jacket’s removable. You also get the choice of a handgun, or the big rifle thing–which comes with a silencer piece that can be added. With the awesomeness that this figure is, I’d kind of disappointed in a lack of hand options. I understand the fact that she only has one head. She’s not a very emotional character. So, it works with just the calm face. She also comes with a small circular base to stand her on. Although, it’s not very necessary considering how solid her stances are.

Over all, I can say that this is one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. I’m glad I did it.

Pros:

  • Very articulated.
  • Good representation of the character.

Cons:

  • Price. $75 – Although it’s not an issue to me, since it’s a very quality figure, I can see where someone else would think it’s a con.
  • Lack of interchangeable hands.

Armor Plus Ronin Warriors: Ryo of Wildfire Toy Review

Posted in armor plus, figure, review, ronin warriors, ryo, toy, Toy Reviews, wildfire on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

IMG_0348To start off, I was quite stoked to hear they were remaking Ronin Warriors toys (or ‘Samurai Troopers’ to others). The figures were even available for preorder on some sites, and even solicited in Previews. However, this was not to be. All orders were canceled, and the only way to get the toy was to import it. So, that means sellers on eBay, generally. I don’t like that idea at all, so I used BBTS.com–who I use all the time. They were nice enough to honor the preorders for the toy, but at a higher cost since they had to import it as well. I’d rather pay a couple of dollars more to KNOW I’m getting my product.

I was on the fence for a long time on this, since the price was right at $90. That is a lot of money to me. I really liked Ronin Warriors, though. But, I’m not a fan of Ryo. I actually think he was the lamest of all of them. But, knowing my luck, they’d come out with all of the rest of them, and I’d be missing one and have to pay even more to get it. Of course, now that I’ve bought the toy, they’ll obviously release a cheap American version for half the price. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t!

On to the toy itself– it’s ok. For the price you pay for it, you’d expect it to be a little more sturdy. I started off very excited about it because of all of the extras it came with. It’s basically the perfect representation of Ryo of Wildfire. He comes with 2 heads (angry/open-mouthed, and calm), and and 3 sets of hands (fists, open hands, and holding swords). He even comes with a black armor dummy to put the armor on for display purposes while the main figure… does whatever he does.

It also has 2 helmets–one with the face showing, and one with the mask down. It’s interchangeable, just like the faces. So, you can have it however you like. You can also have it with the swords in the sheaths, swords in hand, OR the swords together as they are in the final attack.

IMG_0301I originally started taking lots of pictures for this, but then got very very frustrated with how the armor is put on. Specifically, the shoulder armor. The white shoulder-piece comes off its hinge, and the hinge of the red shoulder piece goes in its place. It took me about 10 minutes to get ONE shoulder on. I think it was more of just my particular figure having the defect, but there’s a lot of room for problems. I think they could have engineered the combination a little better. There also aren’t any instructions to speak of. You just kind of have to figure this out as you go. Maybe it was supposed to have instructions and mine didn’t have them…?

Now, parts of the armor are die-cast! It makes the figure very heavy for the size. Which, by the way, it’s about 6 inches tall. It makes sense that it would cost as much as it does, knowing that it’s got metal parts and all sorts of options to go with. While I do really like the figure, it’s not really one that I want to mess around with. The pose it’s in now is the pose it will be in forever.

I do look forward to future releases of the Ronin Warriors figures if they continue to make them. I’d be more happy to pay this price for them instead of Ryo, him being my least favorite.

Pros:

  • Very accurate representation of the character.
  • Die-cast armor.
  • Lots of options for poses. Heads, hands, swords, etc.

Cons:

  • Price is a bit high.
  • Difficult to switch armor. It’s a chore.
  • Kinda heavy.

Voltron: 25th Anniversary Metallic Lion Gift Set Review

Posted in 25th, anniversary, figure, gift set, lion, metallic, review, toy, Toy Reviews, volton on December 5th, 2009 by VitaminZinc
Voltron Action Pose!

Voltron Action Pose!

Just last week I received this fun addition to my collection of junk I could have lived without. It’s a Voltron toy, much like the one of way-back-when, but slightly updated to be slightly more poseable. It works pretty well on that, since the elbows and knees are now jointed. It transforms, like the old one. Same five lions are basically as show-accurate as I remember them. Take in mind, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched the cartoon, so it might not be 100% show accurate.

As far as the pose-ability goes, it’s nice to have the option to move it around and ATTEMPT to put it in some awesome poses. However, it’s really not meant for any of that. For the price range, I suppose it makes sense that it would be limited on this. And I’m glad it has as much mobility as it does considering it transforms. But the jointed knees are a tease. The action pose I have pictured on the left is very unstable. I feel as if it’s about to fall over at any moment. And, as fun as this toy is, it doesn’t feel like it would survive a fall in the least. I’m also a bit wary of any fall it might take due to the metallic paint. I feel like it could chip off at any moment. I’d never display this anywhere that it might fall. To have it out at all, I put it on the top shelf over my PC–and put it into a more boring/heroic pose.

The pose-ability of each of the lions separate is pretty good, too. There’s some slight horizontal give in the joints so the legs can take a wider stance and they look more ‘natural’ (as far as giant robot lions are concerned…) Each leg has three basic joints. One at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. You’re still pretty limited on how much they move, but the horizontal movement helps a little.

It comes with the sword and shield, which are painted metallic silver. I seem to remember the sword being more of a golden color, but upon further googling, every image I see has a silver sword. It’s nice that it came with the shield, but I don’t remember them ever using a shield. Makes sense, though, since that’s a pretty freakin’ big sword. How could this imaginary robot made of robotic lions use such a huge sword that forms from nowhere AND use a shield at the same time?!?

I was a bit disappointed by the fact this is just purely plastic,though. There is a die-cast version, but it’s much more expensive. For some reason, I read “Metallic” as “die-cast”. Metallic means… metallic paint, obviously. It still looks great, and is very well done, but… it’s plastic. It would certainly explain why it was only $50. Honestly, for what it is, I probably had my hopes a bit too high. I was expecting more of a ‘modern toy’. Which is to say, I wanted it to be super-pose-able, be super-accurate, and for some reason, made of metal (which isn’t very much like modern stuff at all… but anyway). Time for the breakdown.

Pros:

  • Affordable option for Voltron fans.
  • More pose-able than the old toy.
  • Nicely painted.
  • Very show accurate.

Cons:

  • No metal… at all.
  • Not as pose-able as I’d like.
  • Not really as impressive as I’d had hoped.

‘Aerial Team Appendage Add-On’ Kit for Superion

Posted in add-on, custom, Fansproject, figure, review, superion, toy, Toy Reviews, Transformers on November 18th, 2009 by VitaminZinc
Superion

Superion

Next on my review list is the ‘Aerial Team Appendage Add-On’ Kit. This add-on is meant for Superion, which was a Target exclusive. Let me just start off by saying, I saw this in stores and laughed at it. It looks so damn stupid as-is. There is literally no reason whatsoever to buy this without the intent of picking up this add-on kit. I have pictures of the original mode of this down at the bottom. It’s just… argh. It’s angering to see something this ‘durpy’.

Needless to say, there was no hesitation to pass on this because I wasn’t as into Transformers as heavily as I am at the moment. I basically just bought the Transformers: Animated toys, and that was it. To buy a toy like Superion would have been a waste of money–not to mention, it’s considered a Movie toy. I hate the movie toys. I’ve never bought one–aside from Superion and Bruticus–when I heard FansProject was making add-ons for these. Kind of a peer pressure buy.

Seeing the pre-order for this on BBTS.com made me think, “Oh, that looks kind of neat. I don’t remember it looking nearly that… Oh. my. gawd… That thing is hideous.” Maybe it was my reaction to how much of a difference this add-on makes that made me want it. It’s like Extreme Robot Makeover. HOWEVER, I’m not too keen on how much this set cost. Supposedly it’s a very limited run, but I find it hard to believe this should have cost $45.

It basically fits together the same way the durpy version goes. The durpy version is supposed to have the limbs alternated. One jet for a leg, one for an arm. One plane for an arm, and one for a leg. It’s able to stand up better like that since the planes are a bit too wide to stand up without the ‘knees’ rubbing, but the way it does the hands and feet looks dumb. This version keeps some semblance of symmetry and has the jets be the arms and the planes be the legs. It can take a much wider stance with the add-on feet, so the ‘knees’ aren’t rubbing together.

What would normally be part of the arms is now the shoulder–which looks great. He’s an all-aeronautical Transformer combiner, so to have jets as shoulders makes sense. What’s normally an arm for the stand-alone flips down and you’re using that ball joint to give him more mobility of the limbs. A ‘forearm’ is placed over that stand-alone, and then a fist is attached at the end into a peg. It works surprisingly well. He also comes with a visor, which helps him looks more like the G1 counterpart. It stands at about 10.5 inches tall–to the topmost point of the shoulders.

I wish I’d have thought to take some pictures of the stand-alone figures with the accessories, but to me that wasn’t the appeal of this. It’s great they made everything fit together and work as one cohesive unit, but the only reason I got this was because it was a combiner that was getting the FansProject treatment.

For those that may have picked up Superion directly from Target, I’m sorry. I feel your pain indirectly–since I basically paid the retail price for it, but on eBay. So, that was $35 spent on the durpy toy. And then $45 to make him look cool. Why does this math not make sense? Don’t get me wrong–It looks so cool. On a scale of 1 to 10, Ultra Magnus would be a 9.5. The Superion add-on would be about a 6–drunk 7–so to speak. The price tag is just too high for this considering how much Ultra Magnus is. I’d have paid $30 tops for this. If it goes on sale on tfsource, or bbts, then go for it. You won’t be disappointed FOR THAT PRICE. If you’re going out to specifically get this toy just to get the add-on (like I did), then you should save your money. Not worth the price unless you’re very into Superion. What’s sad is that when they come out with the add-on kit for Bruticus Maximus, I’ll probably buy that as well. Blargh.

Pros:

  • Figure looks awesome with the add-on. Very much so accented by the fact that it looks DUMB AS SHIT otherwise.
  • More G1 accurate… If you’re into that kind of thing.
  • Fits in amazingly well with the single-vehicle mode as accessories.

Cons:

  • Price. $45 is a lot to pay for some appendages, a gun, and a visor.
  • The figure is worthless without this add-on.

‘City Commander’ Ultra Magnus Add-On

Posted in add-on, city commander, custom, Fansproject, figure, toy, Toy Reviews, Transformers, ultra magnus on November 18th, 2009 by VitaminZinc

I got my ‘Pile of Loot’ from “Big Bad Toy Store” yesterday. It was a happy day, so I’ll be posting some pictures and my opinions on each of the things I got.

First on the agenda is ‘City Commander’ Ultra Magnus. As I said in my preview, I was really stoked to see this. All of the previews I watched made this seem very cool. It did not disappoint. Well, maybe it did disappoint some. I kind of imagined it would be a little bigger. With all the armor, it comes to 8.5 inches tall–to the top of the shoulders. It’s about the size of a normal ‘Leader’ Class figure. Really not all that big of an issue to me, but I was expecting something more of the size of the original Ultra Magnus trailer.

For the price of right at $90, it’s kind of worth it if you’re really really into Transformers, and already have an Ultra Magnus sitting around. With the re-release of this add-on, the eBay market is now averaging around $40+ for just the figure. So, all-in-all, it makes this figure ~$130. So, honestly, you’re not going to get this figure unless you’re really into Transformers to begin with.

It’s kind of a shame that Hasbro didn’t make some kind of add-on like this themselves. It would be much cheaper if it wasn’t being made by a third-party, but at the same time, I don’t think Hasbro would listen to the fans as much, or at all. The original add-on didn’t include the missiles for the shoulders, or the white, transforming gun for both modes. Fans pointed out it would be much more G1-accurate if he could have missiles and a gun, so FansProject did an addition to their add-on that updated their original.  Pretty fancy, and shows that they listen to what people say. After all, they are getting $$$ from us, so it only makes sense they should listen. Good for them. So, to break it down… even though my cons will outnumber the pros, the pros are far greater if you’re a Transformer fan.

Pros:

  • A very cool re-imagining of the G1 version.
  • Collectible third-party add-on.

Cons:

  • You have to have an Ultra Magnus to start with.
  • The price is a bit steep at $90.
  • Not as big as I’d hope for the price tag.