Toy Talk
Volume XXV
By Mark Patraw
Posted on 1/27/14
Well, we ended up having one (sort of) nice day last week, weather-wise, so, I took my chances and went out shopping--I'd by lying if I said it was a pleasant trip, but I'm glad I braved the cold and snow, because I got lucky and found a couple more Liv items that I'd been looking for, as well as some other nice miscellaneous stuff. The beginning of this week is going to be pretty terrible again, however, the weather is supposed to moderate somewhat after a few days, so, barring unforeseen troubles, some toy hunting will probably take place. Anyway, in this installment of Toy Talk: Mean and green, and dwarfing everyone else, is a 2003 Toy Biz Hulk: The Motion Picture 13" Rotocast Hulk (two dollars on 11/26/13); between Hulk's enormous legs are a couple of Spin Master/Sega Toys Zoobles!, namely Tundra and Freckles (Tundra: twenty-five cents "girls" grab bag on 1/24/14; Freckles: twenty-five cents "girls" grab bag on 12/5/13); cowering to the right of Hulk is a 2013 Hasbro/McDonald's Furby Boom! Wild Hair Furby (twenty-five cents "girls" grab bag on 1/24/14); moving on further to the right is a 2006 Hasbro G.I.JOE Sigma 6: Mission Series Snake-Eyes (twenty-five cents on 11/9/13); and, finally, on the far right, are three 2011 Spin Master/McDonald's Liv toys, Katie, a Daniela styling head, and Sophie (Katie and Daniela: fifty cents, each, on 1/24/14; Sophie: fifty cents on 1/10/14). I purchased everything from the Ishpeming St. Vincent de Paul Society thrift store on the dates noted above. If anyone reading this knows more information about any of these items, that I haven't already discussed below, and would like to share, or just chat about toys, feel free to e-mail me and let me know!
Everybody who has ever tangled with him agrees: the dim-witted Hulk's skull must be empty, and this toy finally proves them right! Here we have a Toy Biz 2003 rotocast Hulk, based on his appearance in Ang Lee's less-than-stellar Hulk motion picture. The toy was marketed as being 13" (33 cm) tall, but I found that to be slightly inaccurate, as I measured him at 12.2" (31 cm) in height. That's splitting hairs though (the sculpt is pre-posed with spread legs and bent knees, so, if this Hulk could stand straight, he'd easily be as tall as the packaging advertised)--the point to take home is that he's large! But don't just take my word for it, when I plunked him down on the counter, the cashier's comment, and I quote, was, "That's a big one!" Rotocasting is a manufacturing process by which hollow plastic shapes are created in a spinning mold via centrifugal force. Because the resulting objects aren't solid, they're lighter, use less materials, and cost less, making the creation of larger figures, like this Hulk, cheaper for consumers. So, believe it or not, this huge monstrosity originally retailed for less than $10, which was only slightly more than what Toy Biz's 6" superhero figures cost at the time (around $7-8). Ah, how I miss the glory days of cheap sixth-scale rotocast figures! At this point you may be thinking that there has got to be a downside, right? Well, there is. Generally speaking, because of how they're made, rotocast figures mostly rely on rotating cut joints, so they tend to be less versatile, in terms of posing, than standard figures. This Green Goliath has fifteen points or articulation, located at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, mid-torso, waist, hips, thighs, and ankles. The shoulders and mid-torso are simple ball joints, but everything else is a rotating cut joint (and man, does that torso squeak when you move it--one of our cats, who was sitting in my lap, trying to sleep, as I typed this, glanced up and gave me a dirty look every time I turned or tilted the Hulk's noisy upper body). You can get a fair number of interesting poses out of him, but this Hulk is somewhat limited in that regard. The usual aesthetic problem with cut joints also rears its ugly head: they only look "right" in one position, once you rotate them out of that sweet spot, the veins/muscles don't line up anymore, which looks weird. Speaking of which, the Hulkster's bulging anatomy is wonderfully defined, and the paintwork is also solid (his hair should've been a darker green, or black, though). As per his usual, the Hulk is wearing the tattered remains of Dr. Banner's jeans, which are made from real fabric and have a snap closure on the fly. They look great, but the pants don't come off (sorry, no naked photos of the Hulk for you). While they're not removable, the garment isn't physically attached to the figure in any way, so, thankfully, the pants don't hamper the articulation much. Oh yeah, if you want one of these, take note that there are two different versions of the toy, the one you see here, and an alternate "angry" Hulk that had a different, open-mouthed-roar head sculpt and purple pants instead of blue. Given the choice, I would have preferred the pissed-off variant, because I think Hulk looks best when he's mad and purple is the classic color from the comic books. Still, you really can't go wrong with either incarnation, as this is an all-around great toy. I've wanted one of these rotocast Hulks for years, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I snapped him up as soon as I spotted him on the shelf.
Well, here's another couple of Spin Master/Sega Toys' adorable Zoobles! critters.
But, before I get into these two in more detail, I'd like to write briefly about a related matter. Recently, the thrift store, where I bought these, was attempting to sell a Littlest Pet Shop playset with a plastic baggie taped to its' side that contained half-a-dozen or so "real" and McDonald's Zoobles! toys, for four dollars. I would guess that they were doing that because part of said playset consisted of a cylindrical hamster tunnel, and one, or more, of the store's employees probably assumed that structure was intended for these spherical animals. While I can see the logic behind that line of reasoning, Spin Master doesn't manufacture the LPS toys, Hasbro does, so Zoobles! have nothing to do with the LPS franchise, and vice versa. Anyway, several days later, I saw that same playset still for sale, but the plastic bag full of Zoobles! had disappeared--I wonder if one of the staff realized the error and removed them, or if somebody simply tore the bag off or outright stole the critters? Contrary to what one might think, it being a thrift store filled with nothing but secondhand goods and all, they apparently do have a shoplifting problem (if the signs warning of the legal consequences of stealing from the establishment are any indication). And, if you're wondering, no, they didn't mark the price of the playset down without the Zoobles! figures (which they should have), and, as recently as my last visit, that playset was still sitting there collecting dust.
This is #39, Freckles, who resides in the Petagonia (grassland) region of Zooble Isle. It's a good thing that I downloaded that list of Zoobles! from Wikipedia, because it turns out that I'm absolutely terrible at identifying what type of animals these critters are supposed to be. Last time, I thought Jumper was a rabbit when she was a kangaroo, and this time I assumed Freckles was a mouse, when in fact she's a cat. Like all Zoobles, when Freckles is in spherical shape, which measures 1.1" (3.1 cm) in diameter, placing her on a magnetic surface will cause her to instantly transform into her 1.9" (4.7 cm) tall animal form. I neglected to mention this with Jumper, but gently "petting" a Zoobles! figure on the noggin makes its head bob down and its eyes close as though they're enjoying it. That's not mind-blowing or anything, but it does give you a little extra something to do with the toys beyond their transformations.
And here we have #295, Tundra, who lives in Rockin' Rollers, a region for prehistoric creatures on Zooble Isle. I thought Tundra was a cow, but, nope, I was wrong again, she's a dinosaur. Unfortunately, Tundra suffers from some seriously wonky eyes, which seems to be a common problem with Zoobles! figures. Tundra is 1.8" (4.5 cm) tall in reptilian form, and like Freckles, 1.1" (3.1 cm) in diameter in sphere mode.
Here's a couple of group photos of all the Zoobles! toys I've accumulated to date (left-to-right, Tundra, Jumper, and Freckles):
I never owned one myself, but our home has been graced with the presence of two of the original electronic Furby toys in the past (which are still hidden away in storage somewhere). I can also remember that the robotics department at my alma mater had a "naked" Furby, with all of its internal mechanisms bare for the world to see, in their glass display case. Furbies are cute and amusing for the first few minutes, but, after that, their babbling and silly antics just become incredibly annoying in my opinion. This is Hasbro/McDonald's 2013 Furby Boom! Wild Hair Furby fast food toy. In addition to this one, the six-creature wave also included Googly Eyes Furby, Laughing Furby, Light Up Eyes Furby, Playful Eyes Furby, and Wobbling Furby. I haven't experienced one yet, nor am I eager to do so, but the new electronic Furby Boom! toys are supposed to be more sophisticated (and expensive) than the old ones, with LCD eyes that can change to convey all sorts of different emotions. As this is a cheap fast food toy, that obviously isn't the case here, but McDonald's did an admirable job of "faking" the effect with lenticular eyes. Wild Hair Furby's peepers change, from flaming hearts to sunglasses, depending on what angle you view them from. One of this owl-like monstrosity's parents must have been a Treasure Troll (now try to get the image of that sexual union out of your head), because a clump of hot pink hair has erupted from the top of its melon. Ignoring that tuft of fuzz, the critter stands 3.1" (8.0 cm) tall at the tips of its ears. While I'm not a huge fan of Furby toys, I have to admit that the color scheme on this one is very attractive. The blue and pink contrast nicely with the black (the other five Furbies in this line have similarly garish color schemes). The sculpt is pretty good too--a thick fur texture covers the body and I like the cut-out areas on the ears. I'm surprised that it's taken me this long to acquire a McDonald's Furby, as they're common finds in the toy bins at thrift stores, not to mention that McDonald's has produced other Furby Happy Meal toys in the past (1999 and 2000) as well. While they're different colors and each does something unique, in my opinion, if you've seen one of these Furby Boom! figures, you've seen them all, so I don't have much interest in owning any more (which, by Patraw's Inverse Law of Toy Acquisition, virtually guarantees that, over time, I'll probably end up with a complete set).
I just had that field sown with fresh landmines--damn that ninja hooligan and his bladed yo-yo! This is a 2.8" (7.2 cm) tall 2006 Hasbro G.I.JOE Sigma 6: Mission Series Snake-Eyes. The Mission toys were a smaller alternative to the normal 8" (20.3 cm) scale Sigma 6 characters. This particular one was available in the Nightblade 4-figure boxed set, as well as in a 3-figure plastic tube--as he's loose, I couldn't say which mine came from. Years ago, when I first saw photos of the G.I.JOE Sigma 6 Mission toys online, I had assumed that they were just unarticulated statues, not unlike traditional green and tan Army Men (albeit better quality). So, upon handling Snake-Eyes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they do have some poseability. He moves at the neck (cut joint), shoulders (pin-and-disc ball joints), waist (cut joint), and hips (pin joint). Of course, that then begs the question as to why Hasbro permanently attached his legs to a base, rather than making him a stand-alone action figure? Speaking of which, said base is kind of cool; the translucent orange blasts and flying rocks make it a lot more visually interesting than in would be otherwise, and those elements do a good job of masking their true purpose, namely helping to support the weight of the figure at his bent knee. While none of his weapons are removable, Snake-Eyes is fully armed for battle. There's a pair of katana strapped to his back, an uzi in his right hand, and a whip star, on a string, in his left. Said disc has a magnet embedded in it, which was meant to interact with the sword of the Stormshadow figurine that was part of the Nightblade Mission set (Kamakura and Ninja B.A.T. toys were also included in that particular assortment). All-in-all, I'm impressed with this figure and wish that, back when they were new, I had given the smaller Sigma 6 toys a try instead of focusing all my attention, and money, on the larger ones.
Comparison with a normal-sized Sigma 6 Snake-Eyes figure.
They say that, "When it rains, it pours.", and that's certainly been the case with me and the 2011 Spin Master/McDonald's Liv toys that I've been trying to collect. For months, despite diligent searching, I've seen nothing but multiple copies of the Hayden and Daniela dolls I already own, but then, within a short span of time, I found all three of these.
Sophie represents a little triumph for me. Why? Because she's the same doll that little girl got her hands on before I could buy it, a few months ago (see Toy Talk Vol. XII, and this one was a whopping nine cents cheaper than the one she got, so, petty and juvenile as it may be, I get the last laugh! Sophie, who's 5.9" (14.9 cm) tall, is looking pretty classy in this ensemble. Both the vintage-style hat and the asymmetrical tiered ruffled top are great. Hayden and Daniela were both tricky to get to stand, but Sophie is even worse--she simply will not remain erect at all (her feet are really small). She's got four points of articulation: rotating cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and waist. Sophie's head is a bit wobbly, but I don't think it's in danger of breaking or falling off or anything like that--it's just loose.
And here we have the lovely Miss Katie, who stands 6.1" (15.5 cm) tall. She's wearing a cute outfit (I particularly like the screened patterns on the front of her sweatshirt) and I appreciate that they went to the trouble of giving each girl a unique type of hat--a purple tossled winter cap in Katie's case. Just like Sophie, Katie can't stand to save her life (methinks these toys should have included stands), and she has rotating cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and waist. Amusingly, you can spin Katie's cap around so that it completely covers her eyes--maybe the Liv girls are playing a game of Blindman's Bluff?
Katie and her Mini-Me.
This is what Katie's locks looked like before the braiding.
The hair on my sample was hanging loose when I bought her, but this toy's tresses are supposed to be styled into two braids, so, my OCD tendencies demanded that I correct the situation. I don't know why, but I have a tough time remembering how to braid hair. It's an easy enough thing to do, once you recall how, but, for some reason, my brain sputters when I haven't done it in a while. I knew I had to begin by separating Katie's hair into three separate strands, but, the actual process of weaving them together eluded me for longer than it should have. The final result is a bit messy, but serviceable. I purposely save small transparent rubber bands for situations like this, but, sure enough, I couldn't find a single one when I needed them, so I ended up using some elastic white string from one of my socks to tie off her pigtails instead. If I ever have a daughter, knowing how to braid hair will surely come in handy, or, at least, that's what I keep telling myself.
In addition to the five dolls, the McDonald's Liv assortment also included three miniature styling heads (even though it'd mean more pieces for me to collect, I kind of wish that all five girls, instead of just Alexis, Daniela, and Sophie, had gotten the styling head treatment). Daniela's head and shoulders stand 3.5" (8.8 cm) tall, which is roughly the same scale as a full-size Liv doll, allowing you to use it as a prop or accessory if you so desire (cosmetology class perhaps?) She doesn't have any articulation, which isn't surprising, given the limited anatomy on display, but a neck joint would have been a welcome addition. Daniela's blush and eye shadow are a bit too heavy handed for my tastes, but, other than that, her face looks good. I also like that they gave her a unique necklace (with a "D" for Daniela, sculpted in raised relief, on it) and halter top, instead of just reusing the same mold from one of the other two styling heads. A complete sample should also include a comb, which mine lacks, but, as I often say, I have no shortage of doll brushes, so that omission is hardly a deal breaker.
My Alexis styling head has a lot more hair, particularly in volume, than Daniela's. It's possible that my sample received a haircut from its previous owner(s), but I'm not sure. One advantage Daniela's hair style does has over Alexis' is that her bangs cover up that ugly forehead seam. Daniela's darker brown eyes are also a bit more natural looking than Alexis' creepy green ones too.
All I need now is the Alexis doll and the Sophie styling head and I'll finally have a complete set (minus the combs).
I'm so close, I can taste it!
Just like with the full-size Liv dolls, the thrift store that I bought the Sophie and Katie figures and Daniela's styling head from is inconsistent on the pricing of these McDonald's toys. Sometimes they're twenty-five cents, and, at other times, like with all three of these samples, they're twice that, for no discernible reason (indeed, they were selling the Daniela doll, that I already have, in perfect condition, for a quarter, during the same period of time that I bought all of these--try to make sense out of that one). Fifty cents might not seem like much, but bear in mind that they also sell Barbies, and other sixth-scale dolls, which are double the size of these Liv figures, and arguably better quality, for the same price. And don't forget that McDonald's toys are generally regarded as next to worthless to begin with.
I'd say that Sophie and Katie are currently tied for second place (a position Alexis will probably steal, if I ever get her), but cowgirl Hayden still remains my absolute favorite out of the McDonald's Liv doll assortment.
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