Imaginext Bat Tech "The Batman" Batmobile

I was on the fence about getting this Imaginext Batmobile for a few months. I saw it on Amazon and thought I'd make a commitment or not if/when I saw it at retail. Then I found out it's an Amazon exclusive, so I had to decide if I was willing to buy it sight unseen.

Well obviously I finally (bat)caved. And I'm happy I did!

This Imaginext Batmobile is obviously inspired by the new Batmobile appearing in the movie The Batman. It's not a straight riff, though, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's nice to see something with some originality, but I'd also like to see a cartoony yet more direct interpretation of The Batman Batmobile. 

There are some design choices that make this Batmobile a bit of a mash-up. The turbine barreled front end is an obvious '89 Batmobile component and doesn't really fit this overall design. It does light up and fire a bat signal shaped projectile though, so if you're into that kind of thing then this might be a 'plus' in your book.

In fact, the more I look at this Batmobile, the more I feel like it's as if the '89 and The Batman Batmobiles had a baby.

The rear flame element also lights up, and spins when the Batmobile rolls.

I'm usually anti-noise when it comes to toys, as they're generally loud and obnoxious, but I will say that this Batmobile sounds GOOD! The beefy roar of the engine is like music to my ears and was obviously something they paid attention to when they pulled their inspiration from the sound design in The Batman.

This Batmobile comes with a Bat Tech Batman, whos chest lights up via a lightbulb in the driver's seat. I don't like this Bat Tech stuff but it's their current go-to feature so if it keeps the line alive I guess we'll suffer through it. It doesn't come with Spider-Man but his Spider-Buggy ran out of gas so Batman is giving him a ride back to Queens.

This Batmobile is larger than most Batmobiles Imaginext has made, but it's also a two seater and that's always good. It's around $31 on Amazon right now (there was a four dollar coupon that brought the price down a bit) so it's also not "cheap", and the price is probably due to the noise and lights, which I could do without but whatyagonnado?

All in all, I'm glad I have it. I don't buy every Batmobile Imaginext makes, but I really like the movie inspired Imaginext Batmobiles, so my collection would have been incomplete without this one.

Imaginext Darkseid, Parademon and Blind Bag Series 2 Kingdom Come Superman

A recent trip to Wal-Mart yielded the Imaginext Darkseid/Parademon two pack and the DC Blind Bag Series 2 Kingdom Come Superman!

This new Darkseid release from Imaginext is their second Darkseid release and far superior to their first. Not only is the new release based on Darkseid's classic look (while the first release was based on the less awesome New 52 Darkseid design) but for reasons unknown to anyone who has ever read a DC comic book, their original Darkseid release was a bit on the Smallseid. In fact, I hated this guy so much based on scale alone that I completely dodged him at retail, and only own him because I found him for fifty cents at the flea market.

The new Darkseid is both classically designed and slightly oversized, which makes him formidable without being overly large.

Darkseid is anticipated to play a big part in the upcoming Justice League movie (or at least it's ongoing series) so Imaginext is getting ready by releasing this figure now, and they have also including a Parademon along with him (which have appeared in the Justice League trailers.)

The Parademon (called merely a 'minion' on the Imaginext packaging; perhaps ParaDEMONS aren't kosher kid toy fodder?) is also classically designed, based on his classic comic book appearances and not on the modern comics or movies. Sadly the quality control on this set is pretty low, I saw multiple sets with extremely shoddy paint apps on the Parademon before I finally nabbed this set. And even this one, the best I've seen, has major over-spray paint issues.

That said, he's a Parademon and ideally I'd like a handful of these army builders, so I'm ok with an imperfect version now in the hopes that I get a few more in the future.

Kingdom Come Superman is part of the DC Blind Bag Series 2 wave. The first wave was Batman-centric and has been hard to find in the US (mostly being found in K-Marts and Barnes and Nobles) while Series 2 has had a wider release (I've seen them at both Wal-Mart and Target.) At first I didn't think I needed another Imaginext Superman, but the Kingdom Come 'S' symbol coupled with the grey hair makes this one a must have! He's now my 'go-to' Imaginext Superman, replacing the battle damaged Superman that came with Doomsday.

As usual., Imaginext has an embossed number on the back of their blind bags, taking the guess(squeeze) work out of finding the figure you want.

The DC Blind Bags Series 2 codes are as follows:
Kingdom Come Superman: 90
Brainiac: 89
\Aquaman: 95
Unmasked Black Manta: 96
John Stewart Green Lantern: 92
Sinestro: 91

There was only one other in wave 2 that I couldn't live without, to be posted about later!

"What the hell are you supposed to be?"

Teen Titans GO! Starfire by Imaginext

Last week I reviewed the Imaginext Teen Titans GO! Raven, and today we look at Starfire!

Starfire is a single figure set, one of the basic releases and retails for $7.99 (at Toys R Us). These new Imaginext Teen titans GO! sets are being spotted at Toys R Us and K-Mart as of press time. They should be showing up everywhere Imaginext are sold any day now.

Starfire comes with a pizza flinging bumper car. I may have missed the episode wherein a pizza flinging bumper car is a thing, or maybe it isn't a thing and they just threw in a pizza flinging bumper car because reasons, but either way I'm ok with it. If nothing else, I can pawn the bumper car off on Harley Quinn or the Joker as it is within their interests.

Starfire also comes with a pizza launchign pizza box. It doesn't connect to anything nor is there any way for Starfire or any other figure to hold it. But hey, pizza launcher. Good times.

Starfire is more off-model from the toon than Raven. Her head just isn't large enough. I also take issue with her ears being part of her hair-piece (and therefore not flesh colored.) That said, I'm glad Fisher-Price released Starfire (and Raven) right off the line. It says a lot for how far toy manufacturers have come and for who the Imaginext toyline is aimed at. Ye olde 'girl action figures don't sell' mantra of past decades may finally have lost it's delusional steam.

Ain't no party like a crazy pizza party 'cuz a crazy pizza party got anchovies, son!

Starfire comes with three pizza disks, so your kids will lose them all in about 30 minutes or less.

The Teen Titans GO! cartoon is hilarious and absurd. I'm hoping to see many Imaginext variants based on ridiculous cartoon storylines and moments. I also hope we get a lot of villains and additional heroes too (Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash etc.) In the meantime, it's nice that rounding out the four primary team members won't require you to buy massive and/or exclusive playsets or jump through other ridiculous hoops to accomplish.

Imaginext Teen Titans GO! Raven Review :: Azarath, Metreon, Zinthos!

Imaginext is now in the Teen Titans GO! toy game, and they've jumped into the ring swinging!

The sets are hitting retail now, being spotted at K-Mart and Toys R Us so far. I found the single figure sets of Raven, Starfire and Cyborg at Toys R Us yesterday. No sign of the bigger sets though. I picked up the Raven and Starfire sets immediately, as I am both surprised and impressed that the girl characters were both released in the first wave of figures, and as single figure 'starter set' releases to boot!

Had you asked me to predict the release pattern of these figures, I would have said Raven would be in a later wave (or never released at all if the series wasn't popular enough for multiple waves) while Starfire will only be available if you buy a massive, possibly second-time-around-repainted playset. Times, are they a-changin', maybe? Or is the release of both Raven and Starfire right out the gate simply a toy collecting anomaly? I don't know, but I'm not complaining.

The sullen, grouchy, goth, half-demon Raven is a must have for any Teen Titans GO! fan. Who doesn't love her dead-pan delivery and God (Devil) like powers?

Raven's figure design is pretty accurate to the toon. The Imaginext Teen Titans GO! figures are, like the Imaginext SpongeBob series before them, stylized to match their cartoon counterparts. They don't fit seamlessly into the standard Imaginext superhero action figure line-up, (they're taller, and of course their heads are larger and more cartoony) but kids probably won't care. I know mine mix genres and characters all the time regardless of size or scale differences. Adult collectors will be split, many will be fine with the cartoon aesthetic, and many will probably complain, because many usually do no matter what a toy company does. I for one am happy to see the toys looking like they stepped right out of the cartoon. I would have preferred Raven to have her hood 'shadow' over her upper face, but...

...her hood is designed to be removable. So the shadow would not have worked with the hood off. Perhaps there will be a variant, or I'll get a second figure and paint her, as I imagine many collectors will consider doing. I'm just happy the hood is removable, as this fact opens the door for a Lady Legasus repaint! Of course that would also be a pretty simple custom, in the off chance I end up with multiple Ravens.

"Where is 'Hell', Alex?"

Hahaha, 'Mommy, where DID Raven get her tentacles from?' Speaking of the tentacles, they are an ingenious accessory, they make a nice base as well as a rolling 'vehicle': when you push Raven across a hard surface, the tentacles portion of the base rotates! So awesome.

And Raven's cape is not only removable, but it stands on it's own. Not positive if the cape has sentience like Dr. Strange's cape, but I think it does. Anyways, I like to imagine it has a life of it's own.

The full set of Imaginext Teen Titans GO! figures and playsets can be seen on the back of the package. You can get Raven, Cyborg and Starfire at the basic figure level, Beast Boy and Robin at the figure/small vehicle level, another Cyborg at a large vehicle level and another Robin and Mammoth at the Titans Tower playset level. I'm sure Robin will be the figure with the most releases and repaints, and I am optimistic we'll start to see some villains next wave if the theme proves popular. Personally, a Mallah/Brain set is on the top of my wish list! who do you want to see?

The basic figures (Starfire, Raven, Cyborg) retail around $7.99 each. I assume the Beast Boy and Robin w/jet sets are probably around $14.99. The Cyborg and large vehicle is probably around $24.99 and Titans Tower will probably retail for around forty bucks.

Tune in next week to read my Starfire review!

Wonder Woman in theaters NOW!

I saw Wonder Woman last night and loved it. I really believe that if the WW film franchise carries on (and there's no reason to believe it won't) then Gal Gadot will be the Christopher Reeve of this generation. The whole movie was great, but a stand-out for me was seeing the Golden Age villain Dr. Poison, played by actress Elena Anaya. She didn't have a ton of movie time but every moment with her on screen was mesmerizing. I hope the action figure lines are successful enough to get a second wave so I can get me a Dr. Poison action figure!

All the Amazon stuff was great, (I'd watch a whole movie about kid Diana, played by little actress Lilly Aspell), all the WWI stuff was great, it was just a great movie. Go see it!

In the meantime, here's a handful of Wonder Woman toys that belong to me and my daughters. Viva la Wonder Woman!

Countdown to Halloween Twenty Sixteen :: Making Camp

"This seems like a safe place to make camp."

The Countdown to Halloween 2016 continues, as does Baby Rick Grimes' trek through walker infested woods!

Is nowhere safe?!?!

Imaginext Ice-Ice-Clayface!

A couple years ago Toys R Us began selling an exclusive Mr. Freeze Lair playset. The set came with a lair, a re-colored Mr. Freeze, a Batman, a Bat-Snowmobile and an ice version of the Imaginext Clayface!

The only piece  from the set that I had any interest in was Ice-Face (as I have dubbed him.) So I couldn't excuse the purchase of the whole set just to get Ice-Face. I just had to bide my time until this past weekend when I literally walked next door to find him for sale at a yard sale for a dollar...and I also got the lair and snowmobile for that same dollar!

Ice-Face is clearly in 'played-with' condition, having a few scuffed teeth and some scratches throughout, but for the price I can't complain. If I never find a nicer specimen I'll still be happy with this one. As with Clayface before him, Ice-Face's head is hinged and you can place a standard Imaginext figure inside him. What gives Ice-Face an added bit of 'oomph' is the fact that he's made of transluscent plastic, so you can see the guy just chillin' in his belly when he's inside.

It's really cool that I was able to skate on over to the neighbor's house and get Ice-Face for such a small amount of cold hard cash! HAW HAW HAW! I may be cold but my jokes are red hot!

Imaginext Doomsday is Here!

Fisher-Price has done it again! They've released another set inspired by current superhero trends that skew a bit too old for the pre-school action figure line, without directly referencing or paying tribute to said source material. Genius!

Similar to the inclusion of an Arkham Asylum Batmobile in Imaginext form, Fisher-Price just added Doomsday (and a battle damaged Superman) to their ranks, influenced by the final battle scene in Batman v Superman, but not a direct reference to the epic moment in a film kids shouldn't see (and some would argue no one should see!).

Fortunately Imaginext's Doomsday is far more comic-book influenced than the film's version. I absolutely love how much of his containment suit is still present. I can't imagine it's even remotely likely, but I wish a masked Doomsday variant would be released in the future!

Toys-R-Us had an online sale over Labor Day, with free shipping on all orders. I was able to get Doomsday and Superman for $11.99 and free shipping! Having not seen him in person at any retail establishment, I couldn't pass on the deal, especially since he's $17.99 (at least) full price. If you can find him!

The set is more like a figure/vehicle set, with Doomsday designed with an action feature dial on his back. An Imaginext figure placed in the footpad on his back can make Doomsday's arms flail when the footpad is rotated. The package shows Lex Luthor in the 'driver's seat' but kids and adults far too old to be playing with pre-school toys can also place Superman there for laser vision lobotomizing good times!

Doomsday even comes with a twisted girder accessory for Kryptonian clobbering fun!

Doomsday's head sculpt is pretty great, and very accurate to his original comic book appearance.

Doomsday is a basic action figure, and his action feature unfortunately makes his arm poseability limited (read: non-existent).  His arms only flail with the turning of the disk, and can't be held in any up and down position EDIT: actually they can be clicked up into more dynamic poses, I just hadn't realized it at first! His wrists do rotate, as does his neck and his legs rotate into a sitting position. Visually, the red footpad disk does little to detract from the beauty of the figure, especially if you place a figure in the footpad for display. He's also surprisingly large. He dwarfs even larger figures like Solomon Grundy and Clayface.

I'm surprised at how impressive the Superman variant that comes with the set is. I didn't get the set for another Superman, and would have gladly bought Doomsday sans Superman, but I'm really happy with this Supes. He may be my favorite Imaginext Superman yet! The angry heat-vision visage is just great, and the torn costume paint app shows this Superman means business! This is now my go-to Imaginext Superman!

I highly recommend this set if you're a fan of the characters. I'm trying to keep my Imaginext collecting more Batman skewed, but I suppose I can forgive this set since it's relevant to the most recent Batman movie, even if it's not even remotely Batman related. I'll have to do an Imaginext Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman vs. Doomsday photoshoot someday!

Imaginext Robot Body Plankton

I'm no fan of the SpongeBob Squarepants cartoon. In fact I hate the dang show.  But I can appreciate a cool character concept and design, and the show does have some good character designs and concepts. The idea of a megalomaniacal plankton is pretty damn clever. And anything that is a character in a robot body is extra awesome. So when Imaginext released a robot body Plankton, well, I knew I had to have it.

Sadly fisher-Price released the robot body Plankton in a large playset, rendering him out of my financial league, at least for a playset for a cartoon I loathe. But fortunately eBay came through again (a few years later) and I was able to grab this little lunatic for a song.

Plankton is understandably not removable (choking hazard!), but he 'sits' up top on the robot body, which is standard Imaginext figure sized. Which means his robot can sit in or on any Imaginext vehicle or playset, and can hold and Imaginext accessory any standard figure can hold, which adds to the fun of this little robot suit.

Half Shell Heroes Kraang

The more of these Half-Shell Heroes I get my hands on, the more I like them. Well, the villains, anyways. Ironically I don't have any of the Turtle brothers (besides a helmeted Raph but he doesn't count because he's not the 'standard' Raph). The Turtles themselves just come across as cheap and plain. But many of the villains are nice little designs with good sculpts, and this android Kraang is no exception. I like that he's holding a canister of mutagen (albeit he's PERMANENTLY holding it) and the limited paint apps actually work fine for this guy who's nothing more than a pink wad of bubblegum in a silver robot's belly.

I picked up Kraang from the flea market, but he was originally released in a two-pack with Leatherhead (who I have via a recent garage sale find.)

"Copycat"

Other Half Shell Heroes in my collection:
Slash
Baxter Stockman
Leatherhead
Casey Jones, Helmeted Raph and Stealth Cycle

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July from DC's Trinity, Imaginext and Toyriffic!

Imaginext Blind Bag Series 6 Mecha-Godzilla

I finally found the Imaginext Series 6 Mecha-Godzilla blind bagged figure the other day and I am loving him! He is seriously one of the funnest of all blind bagged Imaginext figures to date.

Upon bringing him home I immediately undertook the task of building a little LEGO city for him to roam around in.

This Imaginext figure is simply a guy in a robotic dinosaur suit, but is unmistakably inspired by the King of Kaiju, Godzilla, as well as his mechanical nemesis Mecha-Godzilla.

The detail is incredible, there's not a square millimeter on this guy that didn't get attention from the sculptor. Clearly a labor of love, this one is!.

Under the helmet, which I didn't bother to take a pic of thsi time, the guy is wearing a Robo-Cop-esque helmet and visor. The visor is red, and lines up perfectly with the open maw of Mecha-Godzilla helmet, giving a neat laser-ish effect when you look into his mouth.

If you look closely here you can kind of see some of the red in his mouth.

My Intern helped me build this city (on rock and roll), well actually she built minifigs and placed them all about the city while I tried to build a photogenic and passable LEGO city. She is going to be livid tomorrow when she sees that the minifigs she placed about the town aren't in the exact spot she left them! I tried to get them back to their proper places, but I know I failed.

I need to dig out my Imaginext Space Ape for my next photo shoot! He was out of reach during this photoshoot, but he'll make a pretty good Kaiju too methinks.

Blah blah blah, damn I took a lot of pics this time, didn't I. Oh well, I'll just yammer on to myself as you scroll past looking at the pretty pictures.

But seriously, I do LOVE this Imaginext Godzilla guy. I saw online somewhere that people have been using the helmet component and adding it to a Jungle camo G.I. Joe figure to amazing effect. Not sure which Joe figure it was they used though, perhaps someone will remind me in the comments.

After taking these pics, I remembered my original plan of adding flames and other destructive effects to the city. Maybe next time.

'History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man. GODZILLA!'