Kings of the Wild Frontier!

Today we take a look at the Tim Mee Backwoods Battle Frontiersman Figures Set!

Little green army men too mainstream for you? Looking for more manly beard in your little plastic men? Then this set is for you: The Backwoods Battle set from Tim Mee includes 24 Frontiersman (or as we called them when I was a kid: Mountain Men.)

My elementary school mascot was a Mountain Man, and I would get 'Mountain Man of the Month' pretty much every month for my good grades, so these guys are a fond reminder of times gone by.

I especially like this guy, who is about to bludgeon some homesteaders with the butt of his rifle, because bullets don't grow on trees you know!

This Mountain Man is looking for a good woman. Or a knot hole of modest size. He's been alone for a looong time.

"Squeal like a pig!"

As you can see, the Frontiersmen are slightly larger than your average little green army men.

But they are in 1:1 scale to dinosaurs. Science!

I have to assume these guys originally came with horses or perhaps mules, because a few of them are bowlegged. Either that or they all have rickets. I suppose that too is scientifically accurate.

SCIENCE!

"I will both shoot AND stab you! No, you don't want to know what I'll do to you after that."

"Is that a b'ar? I kilt one of those when I was just three!"

This set really needs a few large bears or a moose or something. But they have their charms. If you're into plastic icons of lonely self sufficient men with dead animals on their heads (and who isn't?), I recommend you pick up a set.

But don't take my word for it:


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.

Ringside Collectibles Casket Playset

When I first caught sight of Ringside Collectibles' Casket Playset I fell in love with the concept. Fans of professional wrestling are pretty used to seeing this level of melodrama on stage, especially when it comes to characters like The Undertaker, so it's a natural for the hugely popular wrestling action figure scene.

I don't collect wrestling action figures, but I knew the playset would come in handy with some of the in-scale action figures I do own; every superhero worth their salt has died at least twice!

So when Ringside Collectibles offered to send me this Casket Playset for review I nearly died (hahaha get it?) Ok, enough gallows humor - let's dig into this thing...

The casket playset is available in either black or silver. They come packaged on a blister card just like all your favorite action figures.

Each set includes an urn, a shovel, and a 'breakable' tombstone to beat your opponent over the head with!

I opened up the black casket, because I figured I'd probably be most likely to display it with a Batman action figure (now I'm wishing I had picked up that Vampire Batman action figure when I had the chance!) and when Batman dies you know his casket will be black.

The casket itself is pretty sturdy. The door is split just in case your action figure leaves behind a pretty corpse. If they didn't, feel free to slam that door down on their smushed up face!

The inside is padded in a soft purple (in the black casket) material. You don't want your action figures heading off into eternal slumber with a crick in their necks, do ya?

The Mattel Batman of Zur-En-Arrh action figure seemed appropriate for this photoshoot, since Batman took on this personality around the same time Dr. Hurt buried him alive. I just can't remember at this moment if it was before or after he was buried alive. I need to go re-read that storyline.

"Batman is NOT dead!"

As you can see, the tombstone 'breaks' into three parts. It holds together nicely when assmebled too. The casket opens and closes nicely, and both doors hold together when opened. Even with his plastic cape, Batman was able to fit inside fine even with the doors closed.

My intern thought this guy looked a little dead, so...

"In you go, Mr. Ugly!" SLAM!

Yup, even MOTUC figures fit well in the casket playset. The casket is wide enough for their broad shoulders. In fact, on the Ringside Collectibles website they state "Large enough to fit Andre the Giant or Great Khali" - now I may not be up on my modern wrestlers but EVERYONE knows who Adre the Giant is! So from your smaller wresting figures like Rey Mysterio to your larger ones like Andre, Undertaker and Khali, you can expect them to fit just fine when they finally go to that great wrestling ring in the sky.

The Casket Playset is a lot of fun. It probably makes more sense to use it with relevant wrestling action figures, but it works just fine with most 6-ish inch action figures. If it doesn't become a part of any permanent display around here it will definitely be making an appearance every Halloween!

*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from Ringside Collectibles. You can get yours at RingsideCollectibles.com

Open the door, get on the floor: It's time for Tim Mee Dinosaurs!

The folks at Tim Mee also sent me a bag of their Dinosaurs! When I was a kid I had TONS of these little plastic dinosaurs. I loved them and could spend hours playing with them in the yard or on the floor of my room or the living room.

Let's take a look at the assortment Tim Mee has available now:

Ankylosaurs. These little tanks are the unstoppable forces of the dinosaur world. Even Tyrannosaurus rex can't bite through that armor! And that tail - WHAMMO! Like a mace to the face!

Dimetrodons. Not much on offense, but those sails keep them from becoming lunch.

Diplodocus. Or as we called them when I was a kid: Brontosaurus. I especially love the behind-the-science of these old school dinosaur toys. Dragging tails and upright postures; we've come a long way kids!

Hadrosaurs. I loved these 'duck billed dinosaurs' as a kid. Something about a dinosaur that was nothing more than a giant duck is pretty appealing. He's no threat, unless you have a giant loaf of bread you need to jeep safe.

Wooly Mammoths! Who doesn't love these guys? And we never cared as kids that they didn't exist in the time of dinosaurs, because GIANT HAIRY ELEPHANTS! Good times.

And speaking of good times:

Sabertooth Tigers! These guys were always bad to the fossilized bone. Those teeth may never have actually had any practical function in real life, but THOSE TEETH!

Stegosaurus was another favorite when I was a kid. Primarily because in the first or second grade I learned how to draw them from a drawing book I checked out from the school library.That whole year I drew stegosaurus all over the school. I was legend.

Triceratops. The lethal horns on these guys, coupled with the shield on the back of his head, made this guy the primary contender to the king of the dinosaurs...

Tyrannousarus Rex. What can I say about this guy? He's the king, baby!

Having these dinosaurs around again really brings back memories. My intern loves to play with them too, she asks me if I want to play 'dinosaur fight' and then we end up making them things to eat, feeding them tea, and taking them to the doctor. I don't think she knows what 'dinosaur fight' means.


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.

Galaxy Laser Team :: New and SUPER-SIZED! :: by Tim Mee

This may look like your average Galaxy Laser Team (aka Star Patrol) line-up. But look closer...

These are the JUMBO Galaxy Laser Team figures! And they're BRAND NEW and available now on Amazon from Tim Mee!*

Galaxy Laser Team figures have quite a history with my generation. A rag-tag group of little plastic also-rans tossed in a baggie in order to cash in on the Star Wars fervor of the late seventies and early eighties, these simple 'little green army men' figures now enjoy their own legendary status with 'men of a certain age.'

They were released in various sets under various names, and they hung on the generic/cheap toy aisles of grocery and dollar stores everywhere. You probably had some. I sure did!

But it was only within the past few years that I learned they had also made jumbo versions of these goof(space)balls too. I'd never seen the jumbo figures in person, they are rather hard to come by in the wild, and I certainly never expected them to be re-issued (lost molds, defunct factories, etc etc) when incredibly I did find an original jumbo Lobstrocity a few months back.

And now they're back in print. Move over Alanis Morriset, THAT'S ironic!

This laser toting space cowboy is clearly the hero of our team. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Buck Rogers. He filled in for all of them when the Director yelled 'CUT! Bring in the double!'

"One small step for little plastic men, one giant leap for little plastic mankind!"

The star of the Galaxy Laser Team in my opinion, and the only one not based on any pre-existing pop culture icon, is the guy I have dubbed The Lobstrocity. I just love this guy, and now I have TWO jumbo versions! Life is good.

Not until I got this jumbo astronaut did I realize he was probably originally from a set that included a lunar lander/ladder, which he was obviously designed to grip on to. Or perhaps he came with a flag originally, in order to claim this planet in the name of Earth. Isn't that lovely?

The 'R2' of the Team is this guy. Oh wait, he's not round, he's square. No resemblance. The larger version has an antenna, because more room for detail!

This baddie is clearly based on Darth Vader. I'll call him 'Ralph Nader.' His TIE-Fighter is unsafe at any speed!

Finally there's the mom-jean-clad wonky Wookie: 'ChoMama.'

The Jumbo Galaxy Laser Team figure set doesn't include the entire original sized character selection (missing is another astronaut and the girl with the computer panel.) But they are all sorts of nostalgic awesome, and it's really cool seeing them in super-sized mode! Especially the Lobstrocity. Man I love that weirdo!


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.

Cosplaying SpongeBob! :: Mega Bloks SpongeBob Invisible Boatmobile :: Countdown to Halloween 2014

"Zoom Zoom!"

Mega Bloks provided Toyriffic with a set of their SpongeBob Squarepants Invisible Boatmobile in exchange for a review, and if SpongeBob and Patrick cosplaying as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy doesn't fit right in to our current Halloween countdown, I don't know what does!

Umm, whose idea was it to let Patrick drive?

Let's face it, the best part of most builds is the minifigures, so let's start with a look at those.

It can be tough posing and photographing at the same time...fortunately, my intern was on hand to help...

First up, the titular Mr. Squarepants himself.

SpongeBob is dressed as his favorite superhero, Mermaid Man. And as far as I know, this set is the only way to get a minifigure of SpongeBob in this disguise.

These minifigures are a bit more complex than your average building-block minifigure. His arms are ball jointed for a bit more articulation, and the figures are not based on one basic body-model, allowing them more cartoon accuracy. It's funny, I'm not a huge fan of the character of SpongeBob (or Patrick either), but I absolutely love everything about Mermaid Man (and Barnacle Boy).

So I love this little guy in spite of myself!

Next up in Patrick as Barnacle Boy. At first I thought that perhaps his hat had not been included in my set, but it is packed in a different bag and I didn't discover it until later on in the build. But as a bonus, his head-tip is included, so you can pose Patrick with or without his Barnacle Boy hat.

And again, I appreciate the fact that these guys aren't based on a standard body model, allowing us the benefit of a minfigure of Patrick with protruding belly!

Patrick looks pretty serious in his Barnacle Boy guise.

He also matches my intern's shirt.

Last, and least - in stature at least - is this great micro-minifigure version of Plankton.

Plankton is extra small (and extra cute) in keeping with his cartoon scale in comparison with his compatriots.

Now on to the build...

the first thing I noticed: the bags are not numbered.

Well, some are numbered, and some aren't. So basically you have to dump all the pieces together in order to put the set together, making for quite the pile. In addition, most of the pieces are 'clear', making for difficulty in distinction. I put them all in a black pan so they would stand out against the dark color and be more easy to identify. You could start by dividing the clear and colored pieces out at least, as they don't cross-pollinate.

At least the instructions are easy to follow.

The Invisible Boatmobile is a surprisingly complex build, but that's probably due to the fact that all the pieces look almost exactly the same. And it's mostly made up of flat pieces; one would have expected more 'bricks', but perhaps they didn't give the desired finished effect with the 'clear' plastic make-up of the vehicle.

There are a lot of surprising details considering it's an 'invisible' car, and as far as I am aware has never before been shown in any physical form. Since on the cartoon, well, it's invisible.

Jet turbine engines in the back...

And a sweet 50s style grille and dual headlights up front!

Even the wheels and tires are made of translucent plastic.

The Invisible Boatmobile really is a nice vehicle and totally worth the price of admission!

Patrick and SpongeBob fit nicely inside (and upon) the Boatmobile. I really hope this line is successful enough to spawn an actual Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy minifigure - they need their Boatmobile back!

The Boatmobile has a net to catch and rescue jellyfish that are being flung by Plankton's garbage truck. The netting and jellyfish are made of sticky soft rubber (remember those wall crawling octopi of our youth? Think those) and the jellyfish stick well in the net when flung into it.

The Boatmobile was the big sell for me, but I suppose we should look at Plankton's garbage truck too.

Plankton's truck is a bit easier to build than the Boatmobile, perhaps due to the multiple colors. It comes with a 'scoop' to fling jellyfish up into the air (for SpongeBob to rescue, natch!)

As a classically trained animator, appreciator of toys and lover of the absurd, the Invisible Boatmobile with SpongeBob as Mermaid Man and Patrick as Barnacle Boy are all the major selling points of this set for me. And I can say they really deliver. I'm going to be keeping them on display on my desk at work for the forseeable future (and hoping for a Mermaid Man/Barnacle Boy proper minifigure set in the future!)

But my intern...well she's just a kid. So she likes the sticky jellyfish and the garbage truck flinging/catching feature:

Yes, she's wearing a different shirt. It took me longer than I expected to build that silly Boatmobile, so I had to span the photoshoot over two days! I considered faking you out and having her wear the same shirt again, but if there's one thing you can count on from Toyriffic, it's honesty!

Oh yeah, the set also included a couple 'sea-flower' builds and a 'jellyfish fields' sign - all ripe for the flinging! Mwuahahahahaaaaa!

I tell ya' it's tough to photograph toys around here, with all those grabby hands wandering about!

GRAB!

"Time to take out the trash!"

Plankton's truck's fling-arm is a serious a hit.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that...

...FLING!"