REVIEW – HOT TOYS SCARLET WITCH (AGE OF ULTRON) 1/6 SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 2, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , .

Marvel Studios smash hit Avengers: Age Of Ultron was the next big adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by not only introducing us to Ultron but also bringing us a number of new Avengers too. Scarlet Witch being one of them. Even if she initially wanted to destroy the Avengers, she and her brother Quicksilver soon realised the error of their ways after Ultron revealed his master plan to them and they joined with the Avengers to help in defeating him.   

Name: Scarlett Witch
Line: Movie Masterpiece Series
Product Code: MMS 301
Manufacturer: Hot Toys
Released: 2016
Price: $199 – $266 USD MISB
Scale: 1/6
Accessories: Various hands and items as well as a display stand

I’ve been pretty sparse with my Hot Toys reviews, but with good reason, firstly, I don’t buy every figure anymore or as many figures as I used to and secondly, I was waiting for my pre-orders to come in and ship them all together to save on shipping costs and that day finally came recently, with a bundle of Hot Toys making their way to me in good time from the always excellent folks at Animarket.

Tonight I’m reviewing Scarlet Witch (with Quicksilver to follow very, very soon) but truth be told this isn’t my figure it’s actually my brothers, he’s more of a Scarlet Witch fan than me and when you live in the same house it makes it a lot easier to fill out collections when you aren’t buying every single figure yourself.

With that said, the more I worked with her during the photo shoot the more I liked the figure, so I might pick up the Civil War version for myself, seeing I know my brother isn’t getting that one. But we’ll see what happens as I keep my pre-orders a lot looser and a lot more commitment free then in the past, as the options online are quite plentiful if I happen to change my mind.

Now onto the review of Hot Toys Age of Ultron Scarlet Witch!

LIST OF PARTS

Inside the box you get the following items:

One Scarlet Witch figure

Eight interchangeable hands

Two necklaces

Two Scarlet Witch power flame effects

One Ultron Heart

One display stand

SCULPTING

One of the main focus points on any Hot Toys figure is going to be the head sculpt, with every new figure announcement there is always heated discussion among fans in forums and Facebook groups about how good or how bad the likeness is to the actor or actress.

Scarlet Witch was no different. However, most sane collectors agreed that the prototype was close and just needed some slight tweaks to make it a home run.

Thankfully, Hot Toys have done just that, in my opinion. It was already a strong likeness to Elizabeth Olsen, (as Scarlet Witch) but now I feel it’s been refined just enough to make it close to perfect, the only thing they can do to make it better, is to refine the paint applications with each continued release.

(Like for the next two upcoming Scarlet Witch releases which use the same head, much like they are now doing for Hawkeye and Captain America’s Steve Roger’s Head.)

Which I’ve got to say, doesn’t bother me one bit, make an excellent head sculpt to begin with, there is no reason (or point) to constantly remake it when you don’t have to, that’s just smart business and a welcome change as far as I am concerned.

PAINT

I don’t think there’s anything new I can really say here as far as paint applications go. Hot Toys continually put out the best mass produced painted figures in the market, no one can come close to surpassing them yet, they are all still struggling to keep up and it’s not just the heads, it’s the whole package! A lot of companies don’t bother to paint things like hands or bodies properly, not Hot Toys, it’s things like this that make them the best.

The care and attention to detail are second to none. Scarlet Witch is another shining example of this. The paint application on the face is extremely realistic and brings an unparalleled level of realism to the figure and excellent job by JC Hong and his team. If I had one nit pick, it would be that on the translucent hands, the flesh tones look a little flat when compared to the standard hands, otherwise, it’s what you would normally expect from Hot Toys.

ARTICULATION

Scarlet Witch uses what I guess we can call by now the standard Hot Toys female TrueType body, which appeared around the release of Jill Valentine, Baby Doll and Resident Evil Alice figures. Which we haven’t seen a release of it by itself yet, either, but we can only hope and pray for that!

It’s a great base body and has a few different leg, arm and bust variants to make it quite versatile. This particular version has the following articulation:

Ball jointed neck, ball jointed chest, ball jointed shoulders, double jointed elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed waist, ball jointed hips, double jointed knees and ball jointed ankles.

You can get Scarlet Witch into a good number of poses and she’s not hampered too much by her clothes, the only part where she struggles are her boots, the ankles are restricted a bit by the plastic, if the boots were a little softer, I think there would be no issues. So wider stances are a bit of a no-go for her. Otherwise, it’s all good, nice and tight joints, she is a pleasure to pose.

OUTFIT

Yet another category Hot Toys by default excels in.  They have mass produced 1/6 clothes down to a fine art. Now there are other companies that are catching up. (in my opinion, Blitzway are the closest) But Hot Toys still consistently nail it with each new release and keep pushing that envelope more and more.

I’m very impressed with Scarlet Witch’s Jacket and multilayered dress the tailoring is great and they don’t look oversized at all, plus the darkened effects on the end of the jacket look fantastic.

The stockings or leg warmers are a bit annoying as they don’t really have a way to stay up, so from time to time as I changed poses I did have to pull them up and adjust them, but it was never a big deal, once you pose her up, they aren’t going anywhere.

ACCESSORIES

You aren’t getting a lot of accessories with Scarlet Witch. A few extra hands, some “power effects” attachments and “Ultron’s heart”. Compared to other releases it’s not much, but then there’s only so many things they could have given us, maybe a few more magic effects in different sizes?

(BTW the magic effects were a little tricky at first to figure out which way they went on, seeing the instructions are pretty useless, but once figured out, you’ll never get confused by them again!)

Ultron’s heart is a nice inclusion, but not really needed and will be left in the box by me.

I feel the choice of hands is great, there is enough variety to get a lot of great poses from Scarlet Witch and I did have a lot of fun trying different combinations out and playing around trying to get the best poses out of her.

You also get what I’m calling the “standard Marvel display stand” which at first I didn’t think I’d like, but now I have a group of Avengers assembled I have actually come to like the stand a lot more now.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

There aren’t really too many things to look out for with this figure, handle her carefully and read the instructions are two good pointers. Also, take care changing the hands out, I haven’t had a problem with the female figures wrist joints yet, unlike some of the males ones, but it never hurts to heat up the hands a little to make them a touch softer, if you want to be extra careful!

PRICE

I paid $199 USD from Animarket, which worked out to be not too bad seeing after the deposit upon placement of the order when you finally have to pay the remaining amount it sure makes it a lot less painful on the bank account. Especially when you can have your orders shipped in one big box together (with plenty of bubble wrap and padding too btw) works out to be a pretty good deal, I have to say.

Also, because I refuse to support the local sellers as they do not know how to pack an order properly, let alone a simple thing called “business ethics”. Unfortunately, most Australian sellers of Hot Toys figures don’t know or have these two simple things, a shame really, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

OVERALL

I was indifferent about Scarlet Witch at first, after having a play around and posing her up for this review she really started to grow on me a lot. Even though this isn’t my figure, it has really brought me around to potentially buying a Scarlet Witch for myself. But if you only want one in your collection I would strongly suggest this one as she looks great with Quicksilver, but it really comes down to what costume you prefer the most as to which Scarlet Witch figure you should buy. She definitely looks great on a shelf with her fellow Age of Ultron Avengers!

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REVIEW – HOT TOYS QUICKSILVER (AGE OF ULTRON) 1/6 SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 1, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , , .

Marvel Studios smash hit Avengers: Age Of Ultron was the next big adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by not only introducing us to Ultron but bringing us a number of new Avengers too. Quicksilver being one of them. Even if he initially wanted to destroy the Avengers, he and his sister Scarlet Witch soon realised the error of their ways after Ultron revealed his master plan to them, and they joined with the Avengers to help in defeating him.   

Name: Quicksilver
Line: Movie Masterpiece Series
Product Code: MMS 302
Manufacturer: Hot Toys
Released: 2016
Price: $185 – $260 USD MISB
Scale: 1/6
Accessories: Various hands as well as a display stand

Having just reviewed Scarlet Witch, how could I not review Quicksilver too? He was my favorite character in Age Of Ultron, even if he didn’t make it to the end credits. His banter with Hawkeye was quite amusing, I do have to say.

A lot of Hot Toys fans didn’t have high hopes of Quicksilver being made, I myself hoped they would make him, but the only thing that’s for sure about Hot Toys, is nothing’s for sure (to paraphrase Sting) and after Hot Toys posted a picture on their Facebook page of the “complete Age Of Ultron set of figures” and Quicksilver wasn’t there a lot of people weren’t happy, thankfully after a short time, they updated that picture to include Quicksilver and all was right in the world.

Finally, I have Quicksilver in my hands and even although I’m heading over to Japan soon, I wanted to at least get a few more reviews out before I left and I just felt inspired to do so.

Now onto the review of Hot Toys Age of Ultron Quicksilver!

LIST OF PARTS

Inside the box you get the following items:

One Quicksilver figure

Eight interchangeable hands

One display stand

SCULPTING

After the initial pre-order announcement for quicksilver came up, much like Scarlet Witch’s head sculpt being a close match to Elizabeth Olsen, the head sculpt was a very close likeness to Aaron Taylor-Johnson.  Even the test shot photos shared by Hot Toys master painter JC Hong showed an excellent portrait and paint application.

Of course, there were still a few nay-sayers, who for whatever reason just couldn’t see the likeness in the sculpt. Thankfully these people were ignored and what we have is pretty close, if not even more so improved from the prototype.

I’m very happy with what I have in hand and hopefully, my photos have done the head sculpt justice too, it’s an excellent representation of Quicksilver from AOU, in fact; all of the previously released characters from the Avengers so far have been immensely improved from their previous versions.

Needless to say, I’m happy with the head sculpt and you should be too.

PAINT

Once again another great effort here, the paint really helps bring the figure to life and makes that sweet head sculpt even better. Even the paint on the hands is up to the expected standard we’ve come to know and love, he may be lacking accessories, be he’s not lacking craftsmanship and quality.

ARTICULATION

Quicksilver has a little bit of a Frankenstein’s Monsters body in a lot of ways. Hot Toys have built up a vast catalog of arms, legs and torsos with each new figure they needed to make new parts for. Which means now they have a lot of parts to pick and choose from when putting together a body for a figure.

His arms are similar to the Advanced Truetype put out years ago, his torso similar to Indiana Jones or Hawkeye (with the shorter neck that torso has) and his shins are from the Tony Stark body they developed. So it truly is a bit of mix and match, but it works quite well I have to say.

Quicksilver has the following articulation: Ball jointed neck, Ball jointed torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, double jointed elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed waist, swivel/hinge hips, double jointed knees and ball jointed ankles.

And it’s the ankles where he tends to fall down – literally. I had heard from other reviewers that Quicksilver had really loose ankles so I was curious to find out if I had the same issue.

Unfortunately, I did, but the fault lies in design. For whatever reason Quicksilver has the same long foot pegs that came with the T-800 (MMS/DX) which is fine if you have long boots to help hold the legs, not if you have nothing but the balance of the figure to hold you up and it didn’t help the ball joint was loose in the shoe too.

I changed out shin and ankle joints, matching the height but reducing the ball joint length, the ball joint was still a little loose in the shoe, but not as bad as he was at first. Still, I shouldn’t have to do that straight out of the box and I can’t help but wonder what Hot Toys green horns would do in that situation.

OUTFIT

Here’s another category that should be an obvious win, but once again its a bit of a let down. Quicksilver’s outfit maybe basic, but it still is executed quite well, I love the look and feel of the running pants, they have even used a similar material that you would find normal running pants made of. (Hopefully, it does attract too much lint!)

However, the shirt, although looks great, I find it a touch too thick and it’s difficult to move Quicksilver’s arms and torso. Not to mention it can cause the hands to pop off too. But, that is remedied once you change hands a few times and the hole for the wrist peg stretches a bit on each hand.

ACCESSORIES

You get some different hands and that’s it. But, they are all pretty appropriate, I guess. You get relaxed hands, fist hands, grabbing hands and running hands, two pairs of each, left and right. Considering all Quicksilver did was run and punch, you couldn’t expect much more than that. They are all sculpted and painted to the usual high standard we come to expect from Hot Toys.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

There is really not too much to look out for, besides loose ankles and the always-present fear of snapping a wrist peg, I find these larger male wrist pegs more susceptible to snapping than any of their older stuff, so of course, they then use it for everything!

Always be careful with Hot Toys wrist pegs, it takes 5 seconds to heat them up for an easy swap out, especially when it looks like if you broke one of Quicksilver’s ones you’d have to take off his shirt to change it out. Yeah, no thanks.

PRICE

I paid $185 USD from Animarket, great price and as per usual great customer service. Best to shop around and get as good of a price as you can seeing Quicksilver isn’t one of the main Avengers or characters from AOU.

OVERALL

I was quite excited when Hot Toys finally announced Quicksilver from Age Of Ultron and now I have him in hand, I’m still quite pleased with the finished product. He has a few flaws, but I’m still happy to have him in the fold. Really up to you if you need him in your collection or not. Personally, I did, hence why I bought him, plus he adds a little more depth and flare to my Avengers line up, even if he just looks like a guy out for a jog.

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Mike’s Toy Blog – Tokyo and Osaka – Toy Shop Guide – PART TWO

Posted by Mighty Mike on July 25, 2014
Posted in: Toy Guide. Tagged: , , , , , .

Please note: Originally posted back in 2014, my Tokyo and Osaka toy shop guide is a little bit out of date. I will clean it up slightly if required, but ultimately it still serves its purpose and remains a time capsule for some stores that are no longer in business or have changed locations too.

GENERAL INFO – OSAKA

Travel in style!

What’s the best way to get to Osaka? Shinkansen of course! Travel time is about 2 and a half to 3 hours, but it’s a great way to see the country side and if it isn’t cloudy, Mt. Fuji!

Once you arrive in Osaka you will be at the Shin-Osaka Station and you will want to grab a Metro train line map (sorry, but you won’t be able to use your JR Pass here) and head for the following Metro Line stations:

Ogimachi (K12) – on the Sakaisuji (K) (Brown) line

(ALT Station: Umeda (M16) on the Midosuji (M) (Red) line)

Shinsaibashi (M19) – on the Midosuji (M) (Red) line

Nippombashi (K17, S17) – on the Sakaisuji (K) (Brown) line or Sennichimae (S) (Pink) Line

(ALT station:Namba (M20)on the Midosuji (M) (Red) line

It’s worth noting most of these stores are open 12pm to 8pm, 7 days a week. However, each shop’s opening hours and days can vary. (See Hero Gangu for details)

OGIMACHI  (UMEDA)

One of the two entrances to Mandarake Umeda

Even though Umeda station is easier to get to from Shin-Osaka, if you haven’t been to Osaka before or like somewhat confusing combination station/shopping malls, then by all means use Umdea! To make the trip as easy as possible, the best way to get to Mandarake Umeda is to get off at Ogimachi! Take Exit 2A and walk through the park, and then follow the map below to get to Mandarake – There are two entrances located between Club Sega.

How to get to Mandarake Umeda – Click on the map to view a larger version of it.

Ogimachi station exit 2A

Exit of Ogimachi Park.

SHINSAIBASHI

Next one-stop shop is the second and last Mandarake store in Osaka, Shinsaibashi. Once again use the map below to get there. You want to use Exit 8 from Shinsaibashi station.

Mandarake Shinsaibashi

*EDIT* Mandarake Shinsaibashi has been closed and there is now a store located in Nanba very close to the other toy stores in that area.

Both Mandarake’s in Osaka are worth checking out, However I still feel Tokyo’s Mandarake’s are better overall when comparing the two cities. You can still find the odd toy you might not expect to find there (which has been the case for me, when I’ve visited these stores).

NIPPONBASHI (NANBA)

This is the easiest way to get to Osaka’s version of Akihabara, “Den Den Town” in Nanba. If you get off at Nipponbashi you just have to walk in a straight line down Sakai Suji Street until you reach the stores. When you get off at the station, use the station map to find exit 5, once outside, look for Super Hotel (they are tall, blue and yellow buildings, with Super Hotel on them – great place to stay in Osaka too!) to know which direction to head in. Use the map below to help with the location of the stores.

Map of the Nanba area from Nipponbashi station down to “Den Den Town”. Click on the map to view a larger version of it.

ENTERTAINMENT HOBBY SHOP JUNGLE

Entertainment Hobby Shop JUNGLE

One of the more well-known stores to visit in Osaka, this store is packed with tons and tons of toys and figures, both new and old: Transformers, Gundam, Hot Toys to name a few. However, the prices on some items are bordering on absurd, IMO. Best to check it out on the way to Hero Gangu and come back to buy, if you couldn’t find the same figure cheaper elsewhere and you have your heart set on it.

HERO GANGU

Hero Gangu

Another giant hobby store and anchor of Osaka’s Den Den Town as far as toys go; Hero Gangu features a massive amount of new and old toys! The ground floor features mainly newly released toys and figures, while floor 2 will have a massive amount of vintage Transformers and Hot Toys as well as Sofubi! If you visit any stores in Osaka this one must be top of your list! Even if it’s just to browse the amazing selection on offer!

Please note: Hero Gangu is not open on Wednesdays!

G-ONE SUPER POSITION CAPSULE

G-One Super Position Capsule

G-One mainly stocks capsule toys with small pockets of other toys here and there. If you are looking pick up a set of Gacha Gacha toys and don’t want to waste your coins, this is the place to go! The ground floor features isle upon isle of small little toys, with most prices being a steal. On the second floor you will find Kaiju and Chogokin and some Sofubi. There are also small sections which will feature Hot Toys and other figures too, so it’s a good idea to spend some time checking out each corner of the store.

*EDIT* G-One Super Position Capsule is no longer open.

ASTRO ZOMBIES

Astro Zombies

Down one of the side streets on the main strip of Den Den Town is Astro Zombies! Superhero toys are featured on the ground floor and upstairs will have many Sci-Fi figures and toys as well as model kits and movie props. They also have their own Sofubi Character as well!

PSYCHDELIA TOYS

Psychdelia Toys entrance.

Psychdelia Toys can be a little tricky to find and is also further away from the main cluster of stores, being right next to Nanba City, in its “City Hobby” section, However it can be worth the short trek as it has a great selection of Kubricks, Hot Toys, Sofubi and wrestling figures as well as Capsule toy sets! Best to stop here last if you are toy hunting in Osaka.

*EDIT* Apparently, Psychdelia Toys has changed its name to: ADAMSKI and had a location move, but is still located in Nanba City – I can’t confirm this, but will look for it on my next trip to Osaka!

Multi-level Toy store, in Nanba.

*BONUS: ONE STOP STORE IN TOKYO – HOT TOYS – TOY SAPIENS

Hot Toys flagship store in Tokyo.

How could I write a Japan toy shop guide and be a fan of Hot Toys and not cover their Japanese flagship store in Tokyo!?!?

This is more of a one stop area as there really isn’t any other toy stores close by. If you are a Hot Toys fan you must visit this store at least once! Hot Toys current in stock products and pre-orders are beautifully set up on display surrounded by many retro and current figures and toys from various companies.

I will always check out this store on a trip to Japan as it’s very exciting to see soon-to-be-released prototype figures on display and, depending on the demand, pick up a newly released Hot Toys figure or two!

*EDIT* Toy Sapiens has moved locations! I will try and update this part when im next in Tokyo.

This concludes my Japan toy guide. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and hopefully it helps you in your travels. As stated before, this is not a “have all, end all” guide, but the stores listed here are great to check out if you have the time and if you like some of the toys reviewed on my blog, you can find many of these types of toys at these stores!

Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. I will be adding to it and improving it where I can from time to time!

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Mike’s Toy Blog – Tokyo and Osaka – Toy Shop Guide – PART ONE

Posted by Mighty Mike on July 20, 2014
Posted in: Toy Guide. Tagged: , , , , , .

Please note: Originally posted back in 2014, my Tokyo and Osaka toy shop guide is a little bit out of date. I will clean it up slightly if required, but ultimately it still serves its purpose and remains a time capsule for some stores that are no longer in business or have changed locations too.

I’ve often mentioned in my reviews of Japanese toys little stories or observations from my trips to Japan. What I want to share in this post are some of the places I go to, to toy hunt and also some hints and tips to getting the most out of a trip to Tokyo and Osaka at least.

Firstly, this guide will not cover every single store you can visit, if you want to do that there are some great websites, like Kaiju Korner which has an excellent guide that covers I would have to say almost all the stores in Tokyo. Also, a great book you can buy for Tokyo, it’s this one:

Yes, this is my book and it’s had a good life.

Super 7/Collection DX’s Tokyo Underground 2 – Toy and design culture in Tokyo (the edition I have was published in 2010) for my first trip, this book was one of my greatest assets. I was told about it by a friend of mine who had just returned from a trip to Japan. I was going to go myself and I wanted to know the best toy places to visit. This book handled about 95% of my questions.

It has straight forward and easy to read maps of each area as well as points of interest and things like locations of ATMs and best part about the maps was that you could add a new store and cross out ones that didn’t exist anymore, which can tend to happen. I will be referencing back to this book a few times in my guide, so if you can get a copy, it will make the hunting a lot easier.

I’m going to break this guide down into a few sections, these are the main areas that are great to go shopping for toys, but as stated before, this is not everything.

GENERAL INFO

TOKYO- NAKANO, AKIHABARA, SHIBUYA, UENO

OSAKA- UMEDA, SHINSABASHI, NANBA

GENERAL INFO

This is a collection of helpful tips I’ve put together over many years of travelling to Japan.

HOTELS – AKA Where you will be staying!

The Super Hotel

One thing you need to make sure before you even buy your plane ticket is that you MUST have a place to stay booked beforehand; no place to stay, no entry into the country. If you are after a fairly cheap and convenient hotel to stay at, I recommend the Super Hotel chain of hotels, the staff’s English isn’t too bad overall, and they have plenty of hotels in Tokyo and Osaka, in some cases very close to the stores you want to go to.

Just make sure you have your Passport (duh) and print off your booking confirmation that is sent to your email address (it always helps, as you can just show it to them, if they don’t understand what you are saying). They take cash and credit cards, so nothing to worry about.

TAX – Important to keep in mind

As of April 2014 everyone including tourists have to pay 8% Consumption Tax on purchases, of goods and services – not a really big problem, but something to be aware of.

ATMs – Your source of money.

I’m not 100% sure about cards not issued in Australia, but here, all our cards have this “plus” symbol on the back of them. Good news with that is that every 7-11 as of 2014 will accept these cards, unlike in the past where it was a bit random. This means there is no need to worry about pulling out cash at all! Choose “English”, enter your pin, choose your desired amount and done. It couldn’t be any easier than that. (When pulling out money make sure to always cover your pin number with your hand and it’s better to choose a large amount each time to avoid unnecessary fees)

You may still be able to use your credit cards in some of the toy stores, but in most cases cash is king.

Also, it’s good to have at least some Japanese Yen in your wallet before you leave, in most cases your bank will have a pretty good exchange rate, so use them. Otherwise the airport exchange business will rob you blind.

JR PASS – Save money on train travel (you will need this, trust me)

Japan Rail Pass

A great way to travel around Japan is on a train. It’s fairly cheap, very efficient and almost everywhere covered in this guide is very close to a train station. So, it makes sense you would want to save some money because you will be using trains a lot (especially if you are going to travel to other cities). A JR Pass must be purchased before you go to Japan and you can choose the length of time: 7 days, 14 days or 21 days and unless you want to feel all important and such, you will only want the “Ordinary” version of the pass not the “Green 1st Class” version.

Other things to keep in mind are, once in Japan you still need to activate your pass at a JR ticket office, a good one is located in Tokyo Central Station. You will also still need to purchase tickets after activating the pass; they will be free once you have a valid pass. Also you can only ride on certain trains too, but the staff will let you know which you can ride.

You will not be able to use any Metro lines for free, but that’s not a big deal as most of these places you can use JR lines to get there. Also another great thing to do is pick up an English version of the JR train line map too, but, if you buy Tokyo Underground, it will have one in there for you already!

TRAVEL INSURANCE – You need this.

The last thing you are going to have to organise before going is travel insurance. I know people who don’t buy any, but at the end of the day, if something happens, you are covered and that is very important. It’s also pretty cheap so I don’t see any reason why you would not buy any.

Ok. Now that the formalities are out of the way, onto the purpose of this guide – toy stores!!!

Even though a lot of these store locations are very well known, I stress it is not that everyone knows about them, it depends on when you go there, because these places always get new stock and they don’t always list it on their websites! Sometimes you can get pretty lucky with what you can find. I am proof that this is the case as for the last four years I have always found a good number of rare items in these ‘high traffic’ areas. Another thing I have noticed is a steady rise in some toys matching prices on eBay. This is just going to be a fact of life, but deals are still to be had!

TOKYO TOY STORES

It’s worth noting most of these stores are open 12pm to 8pm, 7 days a week. However, places like Nakano Broadway or Akihabara, each shop’s opening hours and days can vary.

Firstly I’ll start with the biggest, oldest and probably most well-known store – Nakano Broadway.

NAKANO

Nakano station is on the JR Sobu Local (yellow) line or the Tozai Metro (light blue) line. Once you get off the train you need to head down either the stairs or escalator to the ground floor, then head toward the north exit. After walking through the ticket gates you should be facing the Sun Mall entrance, you have to walk all the way up to the Nakano Broadway entrance. (On the walk up, if you are short on cash or think you will need more, they’ll be a 7-11 down one of the last left side little alley ways/streets.) Inside there will be an escalator and stairs, take the stairs up to the 2nd Floor and you have reached Tokyo toy heaven. Floors 2-4 will have store after store selling almost anything you could want. If this is your first time, you could be here for a few hours/days/months making sure you don’t miss anything. I always check out Nakano at least 2-3 times per trip, firstly in case they get new stock and secondly, in case I missed anything on the first visit.

The building is covered in great detail in Tokyo Underground 2 (also referenced to as ‘TU2’) and if you can only go to a few places on your trip, this has to be one of them. The sheer amount of toys is breath-taking and any first timer will be blown away by the many, many stores located here. Bring money and lots of it.

This is what the north gate exit looks like.
This is the entrance to the Sun Mall.

AKIHABARA

One of the many entrances to “Electric Town”

Akihabara station can be reached by either the JR Yamanote (green) line, the Sobu Local (yellow) or the Hibiya Metro (grey) line. The most central station will be the JR line. Once again, the Tokyo Underground 2 book is very helpful at mapping out where everything is. Highlights in this area include Mandarake Akihabara branch, Akiba zone, Supoji, Liberty 7, Liberty 9 and Yodbashi-Akiba.

This is the second “Must Go” destination for any toy hunter in Tokyo! There are literally too many stores to list! My TU2 map of Akihabara has SO many additional stores added that it’s not even funny! There are at least two stores not included in the edition of TU2 I have and they are the Akiba zone and Supoji, both are really close to Mandrake Akihabara, Supoji being right next to Mandarake’s entrance, beside a Lawson and Akiba zone can be seen if you are standing at the bottom of the stairs that climb the side of Mandarake and look down the side-street, you will see it quite easily.

Near Yodobashi-Akiba is a large bus stop area, and next to that is a McDonald’s and a 7-11 in case you need money – just like in Nakano, bring money and lots of it!)

You will find a great collection here of many different toys: vintage, retro, robot, monster, high-end, and designer. Every type of toy is represented here in Akihabara, along with anything else you would file under ‘Otaku’.

Mandarake Akihabara from the outside.

Mandarake Akihabara – a giant black building at least 8 levels high, it is very hard to miss this flagship Mandarake store in Akihabara. Head up to Floor 7 and 8 for toys, it’s up to you whether you use the stairs (great exercise) or wait for a lift (there are only two and they get packed really quickly). Level 7 has a lot of vintage Sofubi and Chogokin and toy cars, whereas level 8 is where the big guns are: Hot Toys, Transformers, Real X Head and all other manner of toy goodness can be found on this level. I only managed to take a couple of photos, as the staff don’t like pictures being taken.

Main entrance.
This is what you will first see when entering floor 8

Plenty of vintage Transformers!

Akiba Zone – A short distance away from Mandarake is the Akiba zone, head up to levels 3 and 4 for a number of case shops and toy stores: RobotRobot (3F), One up (3F), Trio (3F) and GanKing (4F), are all great stores worth having a look in.

Akiba Zone

Supoji – literally opposite Mandarake, Supoji is a fairly new store and has been open for at least two years; like Mandarake it deals in mainly second-hand toys and is only one level. You will find a small number of Hot Toys, Transformers and other collectibles – I say small number, only because the shop is so small. It can get very crowded very quickly! Always worth checking out as it is not very hard to get to.

*EDIT* Apparently Supoji has moved locations in Akihabara, I’ll update when I’m next in Tokyo!

*UPDATE* Supoji’s new location in Akihabara is not open to the public, so that means they aren’t doing any business in Tokyo atm. That’s a shame as the store was in a great location and the prices and items for sale weren’t that bad.  So long, Supoji for now, it’s been fun. I’ll fondly remember them for being able to acquire a Hot Toy’s 1/4 scale Endoskeleton for about $350 AUD, used, but in great shape. It was a small store, but like those small stores, jam packed and the occasional deal to be had. 

Supoji

Liberty 7, Liberty 9 – both stores are located quite close to each other near the Suehirocho Metro station on the main road through Akihabara. (Chuo Dori Street) There are numerous levels in each building loaded with different types of toys. Like Mandarake they can be a bit of a hit and miss depending on when you are there. These two stores are definitely well-walked with high foot traffic, best left to later in your visit as you may be disappointed by the lack of toys now in these stores.

Liberty 7

Liberty 9

Yodobashi-Akiba – If you are looking for newly released toys head to Yodobashi-Akiba, located right near the JR station, opposite the “electric town” exits. Floor 6 will have a lot of toys, but only newly released ones. There is also a special hobby section on this floor for anything not considered a “kids toy” – best to check this store out last as it’s huge and crowded all the time.

Yodobashi-Akiba

Mandarake: Rulers of time!

There’s always a first time for everything!

*EDIT* No more Gundam Cafe, sorry 🙁

SHIBUYA

Shibuya’s giant crosswalk

Shibuya Station is on the Yamanote (green) line, Ginza (orange), Fukutoshin (brown) and Hanzomon (purple) Metro lines. If using the JR Line you want to exit via the Hachiko Gate exit and look for the giant crosswalk as seen in Lost in translation once again TU2 is your friend here. There are only two toy stores worth visiting here: Mandarake Shibuya and Medicom’s Project 1/6. You’ll see a lot of tourists around here, but not many of them are going toy hunting. Shibuya Mandarake gets a bit of a bad rap from some collectors as not having a lot of good stock, but I beg to differ. Shibuya has a lot of hidden gems, and it is worth the visit and to carefully check each isle. You never know what you might find if you keep your eyes peeled.

Mandarake Shibuya entrance.

Lifts around to the right of the main entrance.

Medicom’s Project 1/6 is a bit out of the way but once you get there it is worth checking out; there is also a 7-11 very close by to it too. I went there for the first time with my brother, on my most recent trip. We must have been the first people to come through the door, the first time that day, let alone the week! There were two guys working there and we could feel them staring at us as we browsed, sending us psychic messages to buy something. We did end up picking up a couple of small things and then the atmosphere felt a little more friendly. The store is worth checking out, but only after you have been to Mandarake or while you are waiting for it to open.

Medicom’s Project 1/6

Hachiko Gate exit

UENO

Yamashiroya store front.

Just two stops from Akiharbara on the Yamanote (green) line or the Hibiya (grey) and Ginza (orange) Metro line. For some strange reason Yamashiroya isn’t listed in Tokyo Underground 2 I find this a little weird as it’s at least 5 levels of toys in one place, mostly new toys, sure, but it also features indy toys on the top level and special events from time to time as well. It’s a one stop shop for all currently released toys. I always check them out for more widely released RealXhead figures like Fortune Cats or Tanuki as gifts. But you can find plenty of Bandai, NECA, Hot Toys, Transformers, Pokemon etc, just to name a few.

To get to Yamashiroya, it isn’t too hard. Once you get to Ueno station. Just use the Hirokouji exit and walk towards the road in front of you and it is just across the road to your right.

Hirokouji exit

Your view from the Hirokouji exit

This concludes the Tokyo part of my guide. The next post will cover Osaka and a few choice toy stores that are worth visiting.

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REVIEW – MEDICOM GIZMO VCD (Prop Size)

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 28, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , .

Gizmo is the cute and adorable Mogwai creature from both Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch films. Unlike the other Mogwai’s spawned from Gizmo when he touches water, Gizmo is very kind in nature; whereas all other Mogwai’s tend to be mischievous or vicious.

Name: Gizmo
Line: Vinyl Collectible Dolls
Manufacturer: Medicom Toy
Released: 2011
Price: Then: $220. Now: $450 MISB Minimum.
Scale: 1:1
Accessories: None

I found out about this particular Gizmo figure a while ago and after learning about how cool it looked I wanted to get one. Checking out eBay they were quite expensive and I could not justify the heavy price tag of at least $450 for this particular figure. So I decided to wait until I went back to Japan and hopefully buy one from the source. As luck would have it I managed to find one at Mandarake Shibuya for a great price and unopened too. Needless to say it was an instant buy for me. I’ve finally got around to reviewing Gizmo after having him in my collection for a few years now.

SCULPTING
Even though Gizmo is covered in a fur body suit, parts like the face, ears, hands and feet are sculpted. The sculpting is quite detailed and looks very faithful to the source material. He definitely looks cute and cuddly. The fur body suit is great too; the fur looks and feels really nice and not cheap at all, which you would think it would, considering this is meant to a high-end recreation of how Gizmo looks in the movie. I feel the look of Gizmo is based more on the second movie then the first.


PAINT
What paint we have, mainly on the sculpted parts, is excellent. It looks really good and mimics the fleshly parts of Gizmo not covered in fur, really well. I can’t fault it at all, it’s top-notch.

ARTICULATION
Gizmo does feature a bit of articulation, but by no means is he super poseable. Gizmo has a ball jointed head, swivel arms, swivel wrists, swivel crotch and swivel feet. The head and arm articulation is great and you can achieve a good number of poses suitable for Gizmo. The leg articulation is pretty pointless and really just helps make Gizmo not feel like a statue, from the waist down. It’s nice it’s there, but it’s not necessary. Gizmo also features moveable eyes as well, a small lever hidden at the back of the head when moved either left or right, move the eyes either left or right, it’s a pretty cool feature, even if a little limited, but adds a lot to Gizmo, in my opinion.

ACCESSORIES
This particular version of Gizmo doesn’t come with anything, unlike newer releases like the Santa version (2012) or the 3D Glasses version (2013). But that’s ok, because I like Gizmo just the way he is – without gimmicks, he doesn’t need.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Nothing I can really think of. However, just me careful with the fur, perhaps it might deteriorate if it’s not looked after properly.

PRICE
I paid around the original retail price of 25,000 Yen, I was lucky enough to find one on my second trip to Japan and my wife went halves with me, because she loves Gizmo too. It’s going to be very hard to find one at that price anymore as they have skyrocketed quite a bit and rightfully so. If you can get one below $400 you are doing all right.

OVERALL
I really feel this is the most perfect version of Gizmo any company is going to make as it looks incredibly close to the source material and looks very impressive due to its 1:1 scale size. Nothing else out there comes close to being this good! If you can find one at a decent price, I highly recommend picking it up, even more so if you are a big Gremlins fan! Medicom definitely have the market cornered when it comes to the best Gremlins figure, no one else comes close to making anything this good.

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RETRO REVIEW – KENNER JURASSIC PARK YOUNG T-REX

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 21, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , .

The Young T-Rex was one of the many dinosaurs released for Kenner’s original Jurassic Park line of toys, based on the hit movie. Even although the young T-Rex never appeared in the first movie, it did appear in the novel and was sort of a cheaper alternative to the full sized T-Rex from the same line, but never the less, still cool in it’s own right.

Name: Young T-Rex
Line: Jurassic Park
Manufacturer: Kenner
Released: 1993
Price: First released – $30 AUD (guestimate). Now – varies $200-$450 MIB
Scale: 6 Inches in height
Accessories: JP Collector card #1.

I have a little bit of a long story about my original Young T-Rex (it’s not this one in the photos) that I owned as a kid (so I’ll try and keep it short). One night one of our family cats decided to have a fight with my Young T-Rex and rip up most of his face, needless to say I wasn’t very happy about this, but kept the toy anyway.

But you can bet what was at the top of my Christmas wish list that year – yes, that’s right a Jurassic Park Young T-Rex.

Unfortunately what I ended up receiving was the Triceratops from the series instead, although happy with it, it wasn’t what I wanted so badly. (The surprise of also receiving a G2 Megatron took away some of that let down, however)

Skip to years later and I decided I wanted to re-claim that part of my childhood and purchase a new Young T-Rex for myself, which is what I went and did, although this was a few years ago now. I decided I may as well review him now, in all his mid-1990s glory.


SCULPTING
This T-Rex has always had one of the more amazing sculpts out of the plethora of dinosaur toys my brother and I had as children. I’ve always loved how cool it looked and how much it evoked the look of the movie T-rex, even if on a smaller scale then the larger version (owned by my brother). There are a lot of great details here – skin folds, scales, claws, every little bit of detail looks great. Whoever sculpted this for Kenner went above and beyond in my book, kudos to them!

PAINT
The paint on the Young T-Rex is kept to a minimum, mainly skin pattern and things like the claws or the white underbelly of the dinosaur. That’s fine with me, I feel the base colour of the figure works great, it doesn’t even need a wash to bring it up either. All the paint apps are nice and neat, no problems there, just watch out for paint rub on the figure.

ARTICULATION
The Young T-Rex doesn’t have much of anything in the way of articulation, only his little arms, which are swivel joints and can be rotated 360 degrees without any problem. the T-Rex’s whole body is bendable, due to the rubber, but it doesn’t hold any poses, unfortunately.

The Young T-Rex also has a “Dino Damage” feature where a section of the side of the dinosaur can be removed to show internal organs, its cool, but never something I bothered too much with.

ACCESSORIES
None. Unless you are counting that collector card and I wouldn’t count that.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
There isn’t too much to watch out for here, besides paint rub and perhaps tears in the rubber body, discoloration maybe?

Dino Damage!

PRICE
I paid a decent price for a new mint in box, even although I can’t remember how much I know it wasn’t over $250. This figure was important to me, so I was happy to pay a bit more for one that was going to be in excellent condition and this one did not disappoint.

Don’t forget kids, if your dinosaur has the JP logo on it, then it’s a genuine Jurassic Park dinosaur!

OVERALL
I think the Young T-Rex toy is great, it has really excellent sculpting, nice paint application, even if it’s limited in actual play value. I’d still take this over anything Hasbro has put out for the most recent movie any day of the week. If you are a fan of Kenner’s Jurassic Park line (and who wouldn’t be?) or just dinosaurs in general, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a spot for this guy in your collection, if you already haven’t.

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RETRO REVIEW – McDONALD’S CHANGEABLES

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 6, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , , .

McDonalds Changeables were Happy Meal toys, first available in the United States during the 1980’s and then Australia during 1990. The Australian version consisted of a set of four transformer type toys, which changed from McDonald’s products to robots. The set varied from the US releases as it contained less toys and slight re-molding as well as colour changes.


Name: Changeables
Line: McDonald’s Happy Meal toy
Manufacturer: McDonalds
Released: 1990
Price: Then: comes free with a happy meal. Now: $30-$60 for a set, depending on condition
Scale: 2 -3.5  Inches in height
Accessories: instructions

You would be pretty hard pressed to find a kid from the 1980s up until now that has never gotten a toy from a happy meal. As a kid I remember every now and then my brother and I would get a happy meal toy, sometimes the whole set if we were lucky. But thankfully my parents never took us to McDonalds all the time! (It’s just not healthy eating after all.) One such McDonald’s toy I do remember were the Changeables, Being a big transformer fan as a kid, it’s hard to not to get excited about getting more transformer type toys. These toys weren’t too bad either; they were made well and looked fairly cool.

One thing I found interesting after doing some research was that between American and Australian Happy meal toys there are some differences, Firstly we tended to get less toys per series in most cases, like the Changeables and Fry-Kids sets. (In the Fry-Kids case the toys were even smaller then the US release.) Also, with the Changeables we not only got different colours for some of the toys, (Big Mac and cheese burger) but a re-moulded toy as well (Shake/soft drink cup) which has a friendlier face, that seems exclusive to Australia. It has been hard to find much info on the Australian release of Happy Meal toys, than it was for the American line.

This review is for the full set of the Changeables.

SCULPTING

The sculpting for the toys is great. They look very close to the products they are meant to represent and have a very professional look to them, considering they are  “cheap Happy Meal toys”. They have lots of smooth surfaces, with little bits of detail here and there. For the food mode there is no mistaking what each toy is meant to be, it’s very clear that we have a Big Mac, Cheese burger, Shake and large Fries. For the robot mode each toy has an overall cute and friendly look to them, with only the Big Mac and fries looking somewhat unhappy. No evil robots to be had here.

The Big Mac, fires and cheeseburger are all the same sculpting seen in the American release; the shake however, is different. I’m fairly certain that a shake was released with the same transformation in America, but a less friendly face. This one, on the other hand, has a much more welcoming appearance, and I like it more. One thing these robots are lacking are legs. Besides the fries, the rest only have arms, a head and the suggestion of legs, if anything. The Big Mac and cheeseburger in particular don’t have really anything.

PAINT

What paint there is, is crisp and well applied. In most cases the part is cast in the colour its meant to be. The paint is mainly used for detailing the cheese or burger patty in food mode and for adding some contrast in robot mode. The colour selections are nice and better then their US counter-parts, in my opinion. Far more detail and care went into the painting of the Australian versions. For example, on the cheeseburger there is a brown spray on top for the burger, where as the American version is just plain boring orange plastic.


TRANSFORMATION

McDonald’s version of transformers aren’t going to be very difficult to transform. You don’t even need the instructions for them. Even as a kid it was always very easy to change them from robot to food and back again. In most cases it’s only three steps and you’re done. Sixshot these toys are not. No challenge here, even for kids.

ARTICULATION

These toys don’t really have articulation so to speak, as it’s mostly part of the transformation sequence that gives them articulation. For example, the cheeseburgers’ arms can be moved, but only because of his transformation that they have that option. Regardless in most cases, the arms are the only articulation you are going to get with these toys. They are intended for small children after all.

ACCESSORIES

None.  Come on, did you really expect guns and firing missiles coming out of these things? It would have been a nice addition if they did.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Nothing that I can think of besides paint chips due to play wear

PRICE

I paid $40 AUD for the set and I am happy with that, seeing this set was only available in Australia. It is hard to find these toys in good condition, as most have been played with and there’s no point in wasting your money on it.

OVERALL

One thing about McDonald’s Happy Meal toys is that they won’t ever really go up in value too much. Another thing is that they won’t be for everyone either. But I’m sure there are plenty of collectors out there that like these toys and enjoy having them in their collection, like me. I quite enjoy the simplicity of the toys and the designs are quite good. Not to mention that nostalgia hit I get from looking at them. It takes me back to a time when McDonald’s wasn’t all “healthy focused” and still tasted “good”, a taste I’ve only found similar to what I remembered from McDonald’s bought in Japan.

This page copyright 2013 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

REVIEW – KONATSU NEGORA

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 4, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , .

Negora is a small Godzilla like feline originating from Japanese company KONATSU and also produced by American company MAX TOY CO.

Name: Negora
Line: N/A
Manufacturer: Konatsu/Max Toy Co.
Released: 2010
Price: 3,150 YEN – MIB
Scale: 4 – 5 inches height
Accessories:  N/A – Max Toy Co version comes with a fish.

In a recent trip to Japan, mostly for family business, I will always make time for toy hunting, Being in Japan how can you not resist the urge? I’ve found a fair number of good places to visit, mainly through toy guides found on the internet or the very helpful Tokyo Underground by Super 7.

It was during one of these outings – to Sibuya  and the Mandrake store there, while browsing through the many soft vinyl figures on display, (mainly looking for Ryusei Ninjas) that I came across this Negora. I’ve only just recently gotten into Japanese soft vinyl figures or Sofubi, so I had a little bit of an idea what there is available from companies like RealxHead etc, there’s some pretty cool stuff out there, if you can find it!

I liked the design and being a cat person I decided to pick this one up (Btw I did end up buying a black Ryusei Ninja for 1,200 YEN too)

SCULPTING

The figure is very nicely sculpted, I would have to say in an anime style, there is some nice detailing on the stomach and around the face as well as other small sections on the figure, It’s in a standing pose with it’s arms outstretched and mouth slightly open.

I quite like this sculpt, its very cute and the two tails and Godzilla like scales or “ruffles” as I call them along the back are very cool! The tails do a great job of keeping Negora upright.

PAINT 

Negora is cast in a white base colour with greys and blacks added to most of the body to mimic fur patterns, according to the back of the box, translated by my always helpful wife, that the patterns are created by the fish that Negora eats.

There is some yellow for the eyes, red mouth, striking blue and red for the scales on the back, as well as pink for the nose, ears and paws. All the paint is expertly applied and there is no slop at all.

ARTICULATION

there is only one joint here and that’s a cut waist which swivels 360 degrees it adds a little play value and doesn’t look  too out of place, I don’t find it too distracting.

ACCESSORIES

Nothing. It would be nice to have a fish for Negora, But this isn’t a Max Toy Co version.  

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Not really anything I can think of, unless you somehow scratch the paint, this is one rock solid toy.  

PRICE

3,150 YEN was fine by me, it’s roughly 35-45 AUD and no shipping costs because I bought it back in my suitcase – always a good thing 


OVERALL

I really like Negora, It’s a fun little toy which not only looks cute, but won’t take up too much space either, the hard part can be getting a variation that you like, I missed out on a X-Ray version from Max Toy Co. But still really like this one. If you are like me and getting into soft vinyl figures, at least one Negora should be in your collection!

RETRO REVIEW – PLAYMATES TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES – Movie Star Turtles

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 3, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , .

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a group of crime fighting mutant turtles lead by their sensei, Splinter and are named after four Renaissance artists’. They battle anything from small-time criminals to megalomaniacs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic series before being turned into a cartoon series on TV with a number of movies made as well. The toy line to accompany the cartoon series was very popular and successful lasting about ten years or more.
The Movie Star Turtles toys are based primarily on the second movie, The Secret of the Ooze and feature accessories used by the turtles from this movie.


Name: Movie Star Leo, Movie Star Don, Movie Star Raph and Movie Star Mike
Manufacturer: Playmates
Released:1991
Price: Then $5 to $12, Now – $50 to $100 MOC
Scale:4.5-5 inch figure
Accessories: Various weapons/props for each Turtle and ooze canister

Packaging

The Packaging for each turtle consists of clear plastic cover with tray, to hold the turtle and it’s accessories which are mounted on a sturdy backing card which features stills from the movie on a film negative roll and turtles logo on the front. On the back of the card there is a large still from the movie as well as product picture of all four turtles and accessories with a bio for the turtle at the bottom of the card. Each card is mostly the same with slight differences being the name of each turtle and “Mutant Movie Moment” picture on the back of each card and the bio. I quite like this packaging as it is very bright and colourful and features stills from the movie; I would say it would blend in fairly well with the previous turtle packaging, but still stand out on its own as well.

Sculpting

The sculpting for each turtle is done really well. I feel these are accurate to the source material and in my eyes capture the look of the turtles as they appeared on film.  They have nice sculpted details on the skin to give them a realistic appearance. There might appear to be re-use for each body, But it seems that all four turtles arms, legs and torsos are all different sculpts with subtle differences to each arm and leg as well as torso, for example there are scratches placed differently on each turtle’s stomach shell. Each head also has a different facial expression ranging from plain (Mike) to just down right crazy! (Leo)  The Arms, Legs and Head are all cast in a rubbery material used to mimic the look of the turtles in the movie, it works very well, however it can sometimes affect how well each turtle will stand in certain poses. The accessories for each turtle are also sculpted quite nicely and tend to be cast in either grey or brown plastic where applicable. In a lot of ways this keeps in step with the original turtles and weapons.

Paint

There is very little paint on each turtle – it is mainly kept to just on the bandanas, arm and knee pads, wrist covers and shell for each turtle. The paint application tends to be fairly clean, but there is still some slop here and there on each turtle, but it’s nothing to really affect the overall appearance. The eyes on each turtle are also nicely painted. For whatever reason, there are also dots or marks varying on each turtle painted on, with Leo having the worst of these, I’m assuming they are meant to add more detail, but do tend to look a little odd. There is no paint on the accessories the detailing on these are stickers applied to various items, such as the ooze canister.

Articulation

The turtles have the following articulation: Ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed arms and ball-jointed legs, giving them a grand total of five points of articulation. It’s not much and less than the original figures. This is largely due to the rubbery material the parts are cast in making things like wrist articulation a little hard to do. You can still get the turtles into a number of nice poses, but, not as many as I would like.

Accessories

Each turtle comes with a fair amount of accessories, besides their own personal weapons, they share the same ninja stars and ooze canister, but also come with additional movie or character themes items, such as Mike with the sausage nunchuku as used in the Secret of the Ooze movie or Don with the fire extinguisher. These accessories are quite fun and work well with each turtle and in most cases can be swapped between them. I understand Raph is a rough and ready dude, however I’m a little puzzled as to why he would want a turtle shell shield and turtle shell yuk-yuk yo-yo.


Potential Problems

The only real problem besides losing those damn ninja stars would be having the turtles fall over on you due to their rubbery legs, current count Raph – 2.These are well made toys so there are very little problems to be had


Price

Mint on Card prices can vary, but it seems the going rate is about $50 per turtle. Not too bad, but they will be cheaper to buy loose. Ebay is the place to go, as usual.


Overall

I really like these figures, I never had the movie versions when I was a child, only the original four, but I did enjoy the movies, they were fun for what they were and in a lot of ways so are these the figures. They aren’t prefect, but only have a few minor faults. There is a lot of play value and they sure do look good posed together. They have many nice accessories and very detailed sculpts and do look quite cool. Highly recommended for teenage mutant ninja turtles fans.  

 Please note. This post has been republished due to issues with the original post. First Published March 15, 2011.

This page copyright 2011 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

REVIEW – HOT TOYS THE TERMINATOR T-800 (TECH NOIR VERSION)- 1/6 SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 2, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , .

In The Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger is an unstoppable cyborg killing machine sent back in time from the year 2029 by the artificial intelligence network, Skynet to terminate Sarah Connor, the woman who will give birth to the future’s Resistance movement leader, John Connor

The original terminator movie was released in 1984 and is considered one of the best sci-fi films ever made, It featured terrific action sequences, a well written story and incredible special effects for it’s time.

Name: T-800
Line: Movie Masterpiece Series
Product Code: MMS 136
Manufacturer: Hot Toys
Released: 2010
Price: $180 to $260 MIB
Scale: 1:6
Accessories: Figure base with T-800 nameplate and the movie logo


LIST OF PARTS
Inside the box you get the following items:

One T-800 figure
One interchangeable Alternate battle damaged head
Seven pieces of interchangeable palms including:
One pair of relaxed palms
One pair of gloved fists
One pair for holding gun
One damaged right arm
One dark grey jacket with metal chain on left shoulder
One black patterned under shirt
One pair of khaki pants
One pair of black boots with chain on left side
One long slide pistol
One machine gun
One long shotgun
One medical pincer
One medical knife
Four pairs of medical scissors
One figure base with T-800 nameplate and the movie logo
One set of instructions


SCULPTING

The head sculpt, for me, is always the focal point on any figure.  With this figure you get two, one undamaged version and a wounded, burnt, blood covered version. Both head sculpts are instantly recognizable as Arnold Schwarzenegger, I tend to like the un-damaged version the best out of the two. It has that determined, angry look which suits it quite well. Whereas the wounded/burnt version looks great, with its missing eye brows and closed up eye. The body is the same type that comes with the Terminator 2 T-800 with a slight improvement, namely being that the ends of the neck/chest section now extends over/up to the arms, making it look much more realistic in my eyes. The body features plenty of muscle detail and is a very good representation of Schwarzenegger’s body from the film. The gloves are also nicely done as are the boots. The only other sculpted items are the weapons which are excellent and appear to be scaled quite well with the figure.

PAINT

Time and time again Hot Toys’ paint applications are always done incredibly well and almost make the figures look alive. The main application of paint is on the face, on both heads there is no slop at all and the paint work is very neat; the eyes, lips, skin tone and hair line are all done exceptionally well. Also the gloves are painted and the work on the wounded extra arm and head is great too.


ARTICULATION

Articulation for the T-800 is as follows: double ball jointed neck, swivel/hinged shoulders, hinged arms (up to 90 degrees motion) swivel/hinged wrist, chest pivot, swivel waist, swivel/hinged thighs, double joined knees, and double ball jointed ankles. This is similar to  Royce’s (Wolverine)  muscle body, if not exactly the same. You can achieve pretty much any pose the human body can and you can get it to “hang” in a very realistic way. However some poses are restricted by the body for example the neck/chest region does lack poseability and that the elbows only move up to 90 degrees motion does affect some poses. I really like the direction Hot Toys are taking this particular body type in; it has become a very good balance of possibility and aesthetic appearance, there will be small trade offs here and there but overall the articulation is great.

 
ACCESSORIES

The T-800’s Outfit consists of a number of gloved hands, grey punk jacket, khaki cargo/climbing pants, black tank top undershirt and boots. As with all Hot Toys figures the clothing is tailored exceptionally and fits well on the T-800. The grey punk jacket is the stand out for me with black leather sections with studs and the chain on the left shoulder making it very detailed. You might find a stray thread, but it’s quite rare. The boots and gloves/hands are sculpted, however they still look great; I feel the boots could be slightly smaller, but they do have to support the large bulky frame of the Terminator’s muscled body. The gloved hands look great with studs sculpted on the gloves among other details, I’ve found the end of the gloves where the glove meets the wrist peg does restrict it partly, still, there is a good range of motion and many nice poses can still be achieved. The weapons the T-800 comes with are: Long Slide Pistol, Shotgun and Uzi 9mm. All these weapons are used by the Terminator in the first part of the film and all look great, once again this are well made and up to the standard you expect from Hot Toys, with removable ammo clips moving parts etc.


POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

One potential problem can be damage to the neck of the T-800 muscle body; make sure you carefully turn and pose the head/neck according to the included instructions, as you can tear the softer rubber/pvc material which makes up the chest and neck of the body. I haven’t heard any stories of damage to this area, but I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way! Besides the possibility of breaking the wrist pegs  there are some parts that can be a little brittle or delicate, such as the chain attached to the jacket or the medical scissors, but otherwise they are minimal as long as you handle the figure with care after all you’ve paid a fair amount of hard earned money for these high end figures and of course ALWAYS read the instructions that come with the figure first before anything else.


PRICE

I paid $180 AUD for the T-800 and that’s right to my front door. Of course shipping cost is always something to take into account as it does tend to affect the overall price you pay. But, there are always bargains to be had on eBay, I try to always shop around and find the best price. With all Hot Toys figures, its best to try and purchase them around the time of release, as the price for most figures tends to sky rocket pretty quickly!


OVERALL

I’m not going to lie, this version of the Terminator, is without a doubt my favorite, so that makes this review ever so slightly biased. However something tells me Hot Toys have to be a fan of the Terminator too, after all their first movie masterpiece figures were from the same Terminator movie! Finally, having a quality Terminator figure, from the original movie, is a dream come true as far as I’m concerned. I’ve studied enough screen shots from the movie to be able to tell that this figure is a very faithful to the source material. I would really like to see a second Terminator figure and at least a new version of Kyle Reese. Only time will tell if we get to see these figures made If you are a fan of the original Terminator movie or the Terminator in general, I highly recommend this figure, it would make an excellent addition to any Terminator fan’s collection.