toydejour - Toy Reviews Daily(ish)

New site and a storefront in Chicago!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 04:06:00 +0000

In case you're going to this site via the blogger link instead of the site's url you would probably think that we'd stop posting - but that's not the case! Tons of exciting stuff going on and that includes a new site at www.toydejour.com as well as the fact that we're opening a vintage toy shop in Chicago!

We have an Indiegogo campaign running right now that if you're so inclined, we'd love the help on. Be sure to stop by the store when we open in March 2014 and watch the new site where we'll be adding reviews and such there!

-S & L!

Toy de Jour (286) - MotUC Rokkon & Stonedar set

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

One of the other items I got two of because of Matty Colletor's site working like a healthcare website "forcing me to get healthcare!" on it's launch day. I had a really nice friend picking stuff up for me at SDCC 2013 but the one item they weren't able to grab was this MotUC set of Rokkon & Stonedar. So I was glad that I was able to pick one (and another one) up on the site afterwards.

Toy de Jour (285) - Monster High Webarella

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Another SDCC exclusive - I picked up a Webarella when MattyColletor.com put them up for sale just to resell it as I know how crazy people are going for the Monster High stuff for the last few years. And while I was more than happy to turn this over for a quick profit, it was MattyCollector's shitty site and customer service that wound up selling me two of these "one per customer" dolls. Thanks to the reliable "white screen of death" that customers are faced with when Matty releases their items for sale, I got a double order placed. A white screen at every single click, which when buying three items makes it very very frustrating to complete the checkout process.

But they wouldn't allow me to order two, right? I should probably email them and let them know that my order went through twice. That probably happens to people all the time. No big deal.

Dear Sucker,

Thank you for contacting the All-Might MattyCollector.com online store.

Please note that MattyCollector.com does not accept cancellations, idiot. Once
an order has been placed it cannot be cancelled and the gates of Hell cannot be
closed once open! This applies to all orders, including subscriptions and black magic spells.

This is outlined in our returns and cancellations policy, located at:

http://www.yourmomshouse.com/store/matty/en_US/DisplayReturnAndCancellationsPage

If you do not wish to receive the shipment and you would like a refund,
you may refuse delivery. Good luck with that. I know I'm usually home when the UPS
driver delivers packages.

I was shocked but hey, if they were going to let me buy two of the figure that the rules clearly stated I could only purchase one of, who was I to disagree.

Toy de Jour (284) - MotUC Mo-Larr vs. Skeletor

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

I hate Robot Chicken. The fact that someone else gets to play with toys all day and write what I assume are jokes about them. I'm not bitter. Whatever. This set was available at SDCC a few years back and I had no desire to add this set to what I considered a "complete" collection of MotUC figures. Mainly because of the Robot Chicken connection - but also the price tag. But when all of the over stock figures hit Big Lots over the summer, I couldn't pass this up for only $10. That's five bucks a figure. Math.

The one cool part of this set is not the Skeletor with a missing tooth, but rather the cardboard dental chair that is part of the packaging. A good reason to leave it in the box.

Toy de Jour (283) - Cap'n Crunch, Sogmaster & the Soggies

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

These figures are game pieces out of the 80s Cap'n Crunch board game. Of course a cereal had a board game. Why not? But it gave us some pretty amazing collectible mini-figures. That Sogmaster figure is pretty inspiring, and the Soggies; Sylvester & Snyder are pretty hard to come by. Throw the board game away, these figures are all you need.

Toy de Jour (282) - Some random Star Wars Battle Droid

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Not sure why I felt like taking pictures of this guy - but he was hanging out with me for a few days in the living room so I got kind of fond of him. Battle Droids were not as annoying in the prequels as say, Jar Jar - but that's only because Jar Jar was around to distract from how stupid they were. Though the Jedi needed nameless non-human characters they could "kill" without giving kids nightmares. Whatever, this guy looks cool.

Toy de Jour (281) - Thundercats Bengali statue by Hard Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Bengali has long been my Great White Buffalo of collecting. Though I got him recently I first filled that void with an awesome Mexican bootleg figure and more recently this amazing statue from Hard Hero. It was sculpted by Paul Bennett with art direction by Rob Potts and painted by David Fisher, all people I do not know. I love that Hard Hero did Bengali before they went to more prominent characters like Tygra and Panthro. The statue's likeness of the character isn't exactly what I'd expect, but I think it does a great job of portraying the fierce kitty that is Bengali.

Toy de Jour (280) - The Lego Movie blind bag figures

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 16:00:00 +0000

The first two we got were the orange main character guy and a gentleman wearing a sombrero, a poncho and holding a plate of chips. He also has quite an impressive mustache. I've also got the guy wearing a panda suit in hopes of stealing a panda baby, Abe Lincoln (that was later turned into an awesome Lincoln-bot) and the backwoods robot guy. Lego has a great thing going with the blind bags and with an awesome movie lined up I don't foresee an end to the blind bag figures any time soon.

Toy de Jour (279) - Transformers Kreo Springer

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 04:06:00 +0000

I've always loved the character which is weird because I've never owned the G1 figure, though that may be the entire reason why I like him so much. My friend Andrew gave me an extra he had so I got the chance to put him up on the site. I love that he's an Autobot but has a frowning face. I'm a fan of a grumpy good guy.

Toy de Jour (278) - Marx Disney figures (Donald Duck & Pinocchio)

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:00:00 +0000

For about the last two years or so I've really been into solid-color toys. I was super excited when I found the first of these two figures at Joe con this year in Indianapolis. I got Donald for in a junk box for pretty cheap and the Pinocchio we picked up at a weird flea market in Washington while driving to see the Kurt Cobain memorial park.

Each character was made in numerous colors and they made a handful of figures so if you were going to collect all of them you'd have quite a lot of figures to hunt down in various colors. These are not too expensive on eBay, so I think we'll just pick these up when we see them in random spots. But nothing's stopping you from heading on over to eBay...

Toy de Jour (277) - G.I. Joe Kreon single packs (Wave 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 02:41:00 +0000

So having the codes for the figures helps, but having a Toys R Us that refuses to stock anything doesn't. These figures have been out for quite some time and it took me approximately 500 trips to TRU to finally end up there on a day when they had stock these guys. I was able to snag one while in Rhode Island a couple weeks back (as well as an open Blowtorch that was at the register) but now after this haul I have all but the B.A.T. figure. Here's a few of the better figures from this wave.

Pictured are Snowjob, Mutt & Junkyard, Blowtorch, Ripper, Dr. Mindbender, Eels, Major Bludd and my favorite; Tunnel Rat. I should add, Major Bludd is a great figure too. A real surprise winner.

Toy de Jour (276) - Wolverine Shadow Strike Ninja

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 05:22:00 +0000

It's a very rare occurrence that I come across a toy in stores that I didn't know was coming out. The last time it happened I think it was the Beast Wars Mutants, and even then surprised me that I didn't know about it. And it just happened this week with this new Wolverine Shadow Strike Ninja figure.

What makes this figure unique is that Hasbro used the basic idea behind a GI Joe figure (Storm Shadow/standard Ninja figure) along with the head sculpt to make the Shadow Strike Ninja. He's got limited articulation; head is on a ball joint, the shoulders and legs. He comes with a sword and a bow that he doesn't really like to hold. Pretty cool figure though, already displaying him with my Joes.

Toy de Jour (275) - Exclusive Dreadnok & Slaughter's Marauders boxsets

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 17:30:00 +0000

I got these from Road Pig. I love you, Road Pig.

Toy de Jour (274) - Mega Man & Proto Man Kubricks/Be@rbricks

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:30:00 +0000

I think we have enough new Be@arbricks to do another month, but these guys were too cool to hold onto until then. I honestly can't remember where we picked these up. I hope it wasn't a gift from someone, cause I totally forgot.

Toy de Jour (273) - Marvel Universe Iron Man Stealth Ops

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:30:00 +0000

There's a white version of Darth Vader? Bought. A red Cobra Commander. Definitely. So a blue Iron Man. Yeah. That's mine. I took a long time to finally get this and after having it for a year or so, I gave it to a friend. Never opened it.

None the less, I have a repaint weakness. I'm starting to think it spawned from when my older brother bought me a bunch of tiny plush dogs when I was little that he put in a basket so I had a place to keep them all together. They were all different colors but the same dog. Man, that's probably it. Thanks, Iron Man.

Toy de Jour (272) - SDCC GI Joe vs. Transformers 2011 boxset

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:00:00 +0000

SDCC is this week and that means there's a ton of new exclusives hitting the internets so I figured now would be a good time to post some pictures of an exclusive that came out two years ago. Pretty bad timing actually, but I care not. This is the first of a set of three G.I. Joe vs. Transformers boxsets released by Hasbro that pay tribute and continue the comic series from the 80s. This boxset features a G.I. Joe Skystriker painted as Star Scream, a pilot Cobra Commander (the best Cobra Commander to be released in a long time in my opinion) and a "Megatron" pistol.

The box front was done to resemble a comic cover and is marked as issue 5 (where the comic series left off at issue 4) while the back features a few panels from a page out of this non-existant comic.

I took a lot of pictures and it's obvious that I like this figure, it's a good use of the Ace mold that was released a year or so before this figure. The head sculpt is amazing, both the removable portoin and the chrome portion. Even if the gun wasn't Megatron, it's a great mold and looks great with any figure. It's a shame that this was only released with this exclusive set, it really should see mass production.

The following year saw a Shockwave H.I.S.S. tank, Constructicon B.A.T., Destro and a small non-transformable version of Soundwave with a few cassettes. This year's set (and the last of the series) contains a G.I. Joe scale version of Bludgeon, a Skystriker as Jetfire, the Baroness, a non-transformable Ravage and Blaster (with some cassettes), a V.A.M.P. as Hound and a Snake-Eyes figure. I've grabbed them every year and I'm a little sad that they're stopping with this year's set.

_____________________________________________________________

Liz: How do I feel about this Transformers/GiJoe crossdresser? I feel like this is 2013 and Cobra Commander should be allowed to follow his bliss. I mean we have a black president and it's legal for gays to smoke pot in most states so who am I to tell him how to live his life? Liz out.

_____________________________________________________________

Plastic/Material – 5/5
Poseability – 5/5
Packaging – 5/5
Design – 5/5
Playability – 5/5
Price (value) – 5/5
Overall – 5/5

Toy de Jour (271) - Ultraman Monster by Tsuburaya

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:00:00 +0000

I feel like we've bought this guy before. But it may just be the two-heads playing a trick on me.

Toy de Jour (270) - Playmobil Special Red Knight

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Haven't opened him yet, but I seriously love out "out there" Playmobil is willing to go with their figures. I assume it's because they're not a US-based company.

Toy de Jour (269) Vintage Battlestar Galactica Belt Buckle

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Wonderfully 70s.

Toy de Jour (268) - New Thundercats Slithe

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 03:18:00 +0000

This guy was in the last wave of figures that was produced in pretty low numbers and didn't make it to most stores. I found him in an airport toy store, twice. Such a shame that this show didn't continue. I wasn't a fan of the toyline, but the show was great both in design and story.

Toy de Jour (267) - Wooden Donald Duck Seesaw

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Apparently Huey Dewey and Louie have a fat duck for an uncle. This is a weird toy that we came across but we have no idea what it came from. There's a peg on the bottom so it looks like it was part of something bigger. Whatever it was someone wanted it pretty bad because it did fairly well on eBay.

Toy de Jour (266) - TMNT Dragon Chopper w/Dragon Fang Foot Soldier

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:30:00 +0000

We were able to pick this up from a closing FYE in the Loop here in Chicago so it was fairly cheap. I can honestly say the helmet was the driving factor in making this purchase.

Toy de Jour (265) - MotUC Karatti Figure

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 05:00:00 +0000

There seem to be a lot of Space Aliens that wear the same pants. But we all know in the future, wardrobes are streamlined for efficiency. Hair styles however...

Toy de Jour (264) - 80s G.I. Joe knockoff figure

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:16:00 +0000

I had a bunch of G.I. Joe knock-offs when I was little but I don't remember this guy. His construction is similar to the A-Team figures and possibly shares the mold with one of them. There's no markings on him so I'm having a hard time identifying him. Also I don't care too much. Grabbed him for a dollar at a show recently. I think he's evil just based on his hair color. Evil red-heads...

Toy de Jour (263) - Spaceman figure with helmet

noreply@blogger.com (Sam Wells) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:55:00 +0000

Thank god he has that helmet. I'm sure laser pistol and communicator are handy as well, but that helmet... WHEW!