LEGO Superman Vs. Power Armor Lex

This is the biggest LEGO set I’ve ever built. I picked up this set because it had the classic Superman, while other LEGO sets were based on the Man Of Steel movie. It’s been sitting off to the side for months, and yesterday I finally decided to build the sucker! At the end of this article you can even watch me build it. Total time was about an hour and a half, but that includes time to get Google Hangouts On Air to work and chase pieces that fell off of my desk.

But before all that we’ll review the final product.

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Toy Report: Nickelodeon’s Donatello

OK, so I have another Ninja Turtle toy to talk about.

Recently Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom, bought the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Not the licensing rights, the entire franchise. This lead to a new cartoon and of course a new toyline. Rather than go with a new company, Nickelodeon stuck with long time Ninja Turtles toy makers Playmates. While I have no intention of getting the entire series or even all four Turtles, my curiosity as to whether they’ve improved since the previous toyline got the better of me (mostly because of my reviews) and I snagged me a Donatello.

Right in the package I can tell they toned down the “egghead” look the cartoon hasgiven him. (Yes, he’s a genius and “egghead” is the nickname, sometimes insulting, given to geniuses. We get it.) Otherwise, I don’t have a lot to say about the front of the package. A quick look at the back, and then it’s time to open this baby up.

Toy Report: Fugitoid “Mark 2”

I haven’t reviewed anything in a while, thanks to vacation and illness on top of the stuff I mentioned in my last post. Let’s fix that.

IDW has started a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series. Recently the character of Fugitoid popped up in the comic, and in the reprints of classic TMNT comics they’ve gotten up to his story. (I need to check to see if they’ve reprinted the one-shot used to debut the character.) This inspired me to break out the Fugitoid action figure from the original toyline. Except I goofed and the figure actually is from the 2000’s remake series, which is closer to the original comic premise–mostly.

Long story short: An alien scientist named Honeycutt accidentally has his brain transferred into his helper robot, Sal. The bad guys know this and want to get his scientific secrets and until the Turtles arrive on his planet there are no good guys to turn towards as both sides of a galactic war are pretty much evil. This is the original concept, which was also used in the remade TV series. There’s more but that’s all you really need to know for this toy review.

Toy Report: Bot Shots Bumblebee

Of course I’m going to add to the Bumblebee Shelf. Bot Shots is a new Transformers line that is more a game than a regular toy. I don’t know how many of you have heard of Heroclix, but it’s similar to that. This is probably the only one I’ll pick up, because it’s at least in part classic Bumblebee.  Let’s look more into it.

Toy Report: Transformers Prime Bumblebee

I wasn’t able to get the second new Bumblebee for the Bumblebee shelf, but I still have this one. From the “Transformers Prime” line, which actually debuted in animated form on the Hub some time ago, Bumblebee’s character design and personality is based on his appearance in the Michael Bay movies, only instead of talking through his radio he just makes noises. His personality is still Bumblebee as I’ve come to know him, but this bit is starting to get old. Anyway, we’re not here to discuss the show. We’re here to discuss the toy.

This first edition figure is the dominant figure of the line, currently shipping with Starscream and Arcee. The other two are harder to find according to reports I’ve heard. So how does this new Bumblebee stack up to his predecessors?

Toy Report: Iron Man action figures

Definitely not getting the best pictures this week. I need a better photo-taking setup. Anyway, our trip to Stark Industries continues with two different Iron Men. On the left is an Iron Man movie figure from Hasbro. On the right is the “classic” Iron Man armor from Toy Biz. There was a point where I was hoping to have a version of all the Iron Man armors. Those figures never came out and some that did I missed because my Transformers obsession trumped all other toy collecting interests. So this is what I have. Let’s review them separately.

Toy Report: Ronin Warrior Cye

Ronin Warriors was an American adaptation of the Japanese animated series (or “anime”) Samurai Troopers, with surprisingly little editing. It’s a great show in either translation, and my favorite character was Cye of the Torrent. (Granted, it’s mostly because he had a cool accent, wore blue–my favorite color–and I’m a bit of a water baby–for a guy who can’t swim. Also, his symbol (although I believe this was one that was mistranslated) was “trust”, which speaks to me personally, but you don’t need my baggage.) So I really wanted the figure when it came out. I do like me some armored heroes, and the whole series is about a group of guys who can summon magical battle armor to battle with. (Even the villains could summon armor.) The story behind the armor is different and makes for a great story and I highly recommend this show. This is why I wanted the action figure and Big Lots had a whole bunch that they were able to find and sell for clearance.

I can see now why they didn’t sell.

Toy Report: The Swan That Judges My Action Figures

As an adult with too big a toy collection, my criteria has changed from the days of my youth. When it comes to action figures, I collect to make a nice display or to even help me with my artistic skills. (I want to be a comic creator but knowing no artists and being tied to “my vision” I’m learning to draw on my own.) This results in having certain requirements when it comes to my action figures and even my Transformers, which I’ll be going through soon enough.

Before I begin burrowing through the rest of my “cubby hole” action figures, I thought you might want to see the standard by which I judge my action figures. Probably the coolest action figure in my collection, and anime fans will recognize the unintentional pun when I show you…

Cygnus Hyoga (the Swan)