Toy Talk
Volume XXII
By Mark Patraw
Posted on 1/6/14
Time marches on, and here we are at the start of another new year with the twenty-second installment of Toy Talk. Due to the really nasty winter weather that's been plaguing much of the country, I barely got out to do any toy hunting at the local thrift stores last week (although I did score a few back issues of Game Informer magazine that I was missing, so, I didn't come away completely empty-handed), but, that's one of the reasons why I have 3-4 weeks worth of secondhand toy reviews written up in advance, so that I always have material to work with, even if I haven't acquired any new stuff recently. Anyhow, this time around, starting at the center, there's a 1979 Kenner Star Wars Snaggletooth, and then, moving to the back, and continuing around in a clockwise fashion, we have a 2013 Mattel Batman: Power Attack "Killer Croc Takedown" Superman, a 2012 Build-A-Bear Workshop Peace and Sweetheart Bear (McDonald's), a 2009 Astro Boy Flying Astro Boy (McDonald's), and a 1999 Disney/Pixar Toy Story 2 Little Bo Peep (McDonald's). I bought everything here from the Ishpeming St. Vincent de Paul Society thrift store: Superman was fifty cents on 11/9/13, Snaggletooth was twenty-five cents on 11/19/13, Bo Peep was in a twenty-five cents "girls" mystery grab bag on 11/26/13, Peace and Sweetheart Bear was in a twenty-five cents "girls" mystery grab bag on 12/19/13, and Astro Boy was in a twenty-five cents "boys" mystery grab bag on 12/26/13. 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!
It's happy hour at Chalmun's Cantina, and this round is on me! Here's a 3" (7.5 cm) tall 1979 Kenner Star Wars Snaggletooth figure. His "proper" name is Zutton, but Snaggletooth is what most people know him as, including myself, so that's how I like to think of him. Don't recognize his handsome face? That's because he's another one of those random aliens in the Tatooine cantina scene that you barely get a glimpse of in the film. Zutton is a Snivvian, an alien species from the planet Cadomai, and, in addition to working as a bounty hunter, like many of his kind, he's an obsessive artist and author. I had dozens of the original Kenner Star Wars figures when I was a kid, but I don't believe that I ever had Snaggletooth. His sculpt, while not exceptional, is decent for the time period. He kind of looks like a cross between a gorilla and a pig. Some of the better details include the fur texture on his hands/feet and the ribbed piping on the limbs of the outfit. His left leg is slightly shorter than the right, so he leans a bit to the side when he stands. Zutton's only got five points of articulation (cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips), but that was pretty standard back then. My sample is missing his black blaster pistol accessory and the paint has rubbed off in numerous spots, but, for a toy that's roughly the same age as me, he's not too shabby. It's too bad that this wasn't the uncommon blue costume Snaggletooth, that was sold exclusively through Sears, because that one is worth some money . . .
I had a hard time identifying this 5.9" (15 cm) tall figure, because, while, yes, it's obviously Superman, it didn't come from either a Superman or Justice League toy assortment, which were my first two guesses. He's actually from Mattel's 2013 Batman: Power Attack "Killer Croc Takedown" boxed set, which includes action figures of Supes, Batman, and, obviously, Killer Croc. That's a really weird match-up. Not Batman and Superman, because they have a long history of working together, but Killer Croc, because Superman should be able to flatten him with almost zero effort (sure, K.C. is strong, but he's nowhere near Kal-el in physical power). Inviting Superman to a Killer Croc fight would be like bringing a nuclear bomb to a paintball match--it's overkill, pure and simple. Well, maybe if Killer Croc coated himself with kryptonite dust first it might be a fair battle . . . Anyway, on to the figure itself. I'm disappointed with the cape; it's a simple triangle of vinyl. I would have much preferred a fabric or sculpted one. Superman's articulation could also have been better for a figure of his size. He's got rotating cut joints at the neck and shoulders, pin elbows, and pivoting hips. At the very least, I think Mattel could have also added knee and waist joints. The sculpt and paint are all right, although there's far too much blue and not nearly enough red in his costume design. Superman with blue boots just looks weird and unfinished to me. Interestingly, I saw a photo of this figure, from the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, with a better cloth cape and more red on his costume, but I'm assuming that's a stand-alone release. Gripes aside, at the end of the day, the Killer Croc Takedown boxed set costs around $20-30 brand new, and I only paid fifty cents for the Superman from it, so, I shouldn't complain.
We don't have any where I live (that I'm aware of), but the Build-A-Bear Workshop chain of stores are special in that they allow you to create and customize your own unique stuffed animals. This is a 3.4" (8.7 cm) tall Peace and Sweetheart Bear from their 2012 McDonald's assortment. There were a total of eight Build-A-Bear Workshop plush figures available in that promotion: a monkey, a frog, a dog, a rabbit, and four different bears (including this one). It probably wouldn't have been practical, or cost-effective, but it would have been nice if McDonald's could have found a way to implement the customization that the brand is known for (some removable clothing or velcro accessories maybe?) Now, I have to admit, I'm really not much of a teddy bear type of person (unless they're the animate evil variety), but I can appreciate the colorful design of this one. The pattern is pretty "busy", with all the peace signs and hearts, but I think that they chose a nice arrangement of colors and shapes. The stitching on Peace and Sweetheart Bear is well done (I only found one loose blue thread, which I started to pull on, until common sense kicked in and I realized that was probably a bad idea and snipped it off with scissors instead) and the fabric seems to be of good quality. When it comes to stuffed animals, I prefer small ones like this, because they're easier to store than the larger variety, so the size of this item is also a plus in my book. If nothing else, Peace and Sweetheart Bear's vibrant coloration definitely sets it apart from the other relatively plain teddy bears in my collection. Oh yeah, one last thing: when my Aunt picked up this toy and inspected it, she thought that it was missing its left eye, probably because that peeper doesn't have an orange peace sign behind it (which she probably interpreted as an iris) like the right eye does. The black eyes don't contrast very well with the blue material under normal lighting conditions either (these images were done with flash photography, which generally makes everything look brighter than it actually is), which was also probably a contributing factor to that impression. While I didn't perceive the left eye as being missing, I always find it interesting when people see the same object in a different way.
1951 marked the birth of manga master Osamu Tezuka's most famous creation, Tetsuwan Atomu (鉄腕 アトム, "The Mighty Atom"), or Astro Boy as he's known in the USA. Said robotic lad was treated to a new, computer-generated movie in 2009, and this 4.5" (11.3 cm) long Flying Astro Boy toy is one of the six figures produced for the McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in. In addition to this aerial version of the titular hero, you could also get Astro Boy Launcher and Astro Boy Puncher (which has a cool half see-through body); the rest of the six figure assortment was rounded off with Zog, Trashcan, and Peacekeeper. This toy depicts Astro Boy dressed in his "normal" clothing, and, while that looks okay, I would have preferred that he was attired in his more recognizable black shorts and red boots. There are some minor scuffs and stray marks in the paintwork, but, on the whole, my sample is in decent condition. Other than the three wheels embedded in his chest and ankles, this figure is completely immobile, but the sculptor chose a suitably heroic flying pose. Despite the name, Flying Astro Boy doesn't actually jet through the air (which would have required a launcher of some sort), instead, he zips across any flat surface with the help of his pullback feature. The mechanism works fine, but I was a bit disappointed that his feet jets don't light up. They're made out of translucent yellow plastic, so I was expecting that there would be some kind of illumination to take advantage of that (specifically, I was hoping for sparking flints), but, alas, that isn't the case. I generally like manga and anime, although I can't say that I'm a big fan of Astro Boy in particular (Unico is my favorite Tezuka character), but this is a fairly nice toy. Given the choice, I think I would have preferred the Astro Boy Puncher figure over this one though.
Apparently Little Bo Peep got tired of losing her sheep and stapled them to her petticoat! She's a 1999 Disney/Pixar Toy Story 2 McDonald's toy, and a pretty large one at that, clocking in at 3.7" (9.5 cm) in height with a 2.8" (7.0 cm) dress diameter. While I don't have much interest in the character, I am rather impressed with this toy's action feature. Simply roll her across any hard surface and her two sheep will continuously revolve around her dress--that's pretty creative and neat! The only suggestion for improvement that I would offer is that multiple, separate sheep, rather than just the two stuck together, would have been more visually interesting. Bizarrely enough, when looked at head-on, that pair of sheep seem more like a mutant three-eyed mammal (see first photo above). Other than the wheel on the bottom of the toy and the corresponding rotating disc, circling her dress, that facilitate the spinning animal mechanism, she doesn't have any articulation, so, when it comes to Bo Peep herself, what you see is what you get. I do think it's funny that she's posed as if she's looking off in the distance for her flock, when the damn things are right at her feet. Mutant Three-Eyed Sheep is all like, "Down here, you blind ditz!" At least bendy Jesse (see Toy Talk Vol. XV) will have someone to talk to.
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