Toy Talk
Volume XLV
By Mark Patraw
Posted on 8/11/14
Well, it's been a smidgen longer than two months since I last published a volume of Toy Talk, so, I figured that it was about time to share some more of my thrift store finds with my readers. Additionally, tomorrow is Toy Talk's first anniversary, as such, I figured this new installment could serve as a commemoration of sorts for that little milestone too.
Today, starting on the far left, and moving right, I present to you: a Michaels Darling Divas Papier Mache/Polystyrene Female Torso (ten cents on 6/18/14); a Tomy/Nintendo Pokemon Glaceon figurine (twenty-five cents on 8/8/14); a 2008 Wild Planet Skeleflex Triceratops model and carrying case (seventy-five cents for the dinosaur on 7/19/14 and twenty-five cents for its container on 7/25/14); two Hasbro Transformers: Robot Heroes figurines, Movie Brawl (2007) and Beast Wars Megatron (2008) (Megatron: twenty-five cents on 5/29/14; Brawl: thirty-four cents on 7/14/14); and, finally, a Hasbro 2004 My Little Pony: Glitter Pony Bumblesweet (fifty cents on 7/16/14). I bought Brawl from the Negaunee Vista Theater thrift shop, everything else came from the Ishpeming St. Vincent de Paul Society store. 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!
I've heard of paper-thin garments, but this is a bit too literal!
The item pictured is a Darling Divas polystyrene foam female torso, covered with a veneer of papier mache, that was originally sold in the Michaels chain of art/crafts stores. Some of you reading this are probably already thinking to yourselves, "This isn't even a toy!" Well, it could be used to make a custom doll, or, if you removed the newsprint "clothing" and mounted it on a stick base, it would make an excellent dress form accessory for an 11-12" play doll seamstress or tailor.
I didn't notice it in the store, but, on the way home, I took a closer look at the text on her newsprint one-piece and discovered that it's about a sexual assault case on a woman. That strikes me as rather poor taste, considering the shape of the object (the giant "O", on the bottom of her crotch, is also pretty suggestive). Now, as this was made in China, it's certainly possible that the worker applying the newsprint strips couldn't read English, but, that said, it does look deliberate to me. I suppose the intent could have been "artsy" as well--one might argue that the content of the newsprint's story, combined with the shape of the feminine torso, are making a statement about women, and how they're viewed and treated, in our society. That's being too charitable though--I think whomever applied the newsprint simply gave in to juvenile impulses.
I primarily bought this item as a curiosity. If I wanted to make a female papier mache torso like this for one of my art projects, I'd likely do it from scratch, rather than using a store-bought one, although there's certainly nothing wrong with an artist employing such items if they wish.
The thrift store had a second female papier mache torso as well, shaped something like the Venus de Milo, also for a dime, but that one was much slimmer and lacked newsprint "clothing". It didn't appeal to me as much as this one did, so, despite the cheap price, I left it there. There were quite a few other interesting odds-and-ends in that crafting supplies bin as well. I almost bought a Ziploc bag full of multi-colored yarn (to use for doll hair--I recently saw a custom Bratz doll that was re-rooted with yarn tresses, and she looked fabulous, the sight of which gives me an itch to try doing the same), but I ended up returning that to the bin before I headed for the checkout line.
Here's a comparison shot with a My Scene Barbie. She's noticeably thinner, but, keep in mind that Barbie is meant to be wearing clothing, which would bulk her up. Mattel has gotten a lot of criticism over the years about Barbie's unrealistic physique, but, in their defense, dolls with "normal" bodies have a tendency to look bloated when clothed, especially multiple layers, because, proportionately, fabric is thicker at 1:6 scale (six feet = twelve inches) than it is for real people. Making a doll slimmer helps compensate for that. I suspect that whomever originally made these is China used a doll body as their model for the polystyrene foam core. It didn't necessarily have to be a Barbie (given the geographic location, a Kurhn doll would be more likely), but the size/proportions [5.2 cm (2.0") wide by 10.0 cm (3.9") tall] are just about right for an 11-12" scale play doll.
This little cutie will melt your heart, then freeze it solid!
Here we have a 2007 Tomy/Nintendo Pokemon Glaceon figurine. Glaceon is a Generation IV (Pokemon: Diamond/Pearl/Platinum) ice-based variation of the mutation-prone Eevee. I've never played that installment of the franchise, so, I have no experience whatsoever fighting against, or training, this particular creature (in fact, I had to look Glaceon up, on a pictorial Pokedex, at Bulbapedia, just to identify what is was). I just found the toy adorable, which is the primary reason that I bought it--there were several other Pokemon figures in the store's toy bin that day, but Glaceon is the only one that came home with me.
The sculpt is very smooth and simplistic, but that's how Pokemon generally look. To me, Glaceon seems like a combination of a rabbit and a fox. The design also reminds me of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon's artistic style--I could see this critter fitting in just fine in that fictional universe. There's a very small cut in the tip of Glaceon's tail, and flecks of missing/errant paint here-and-there, but, overall, this figurine is in pretty nice shape. Glaceon measures 6.5 cm (2.6") long and 5.4 cm (2.1") high.
There is one aspect of this toy's appearance that I strongly dislike though, and that's the copyright information, etched into the creature's right side, which is far too large and looks terrible--Tomy really should have hid that better, like on the animal's belly, where it wouldn't have been as noticeable. I can understand and sympathize with the legal reasons for Nintendo wanting to stamp its name on its intellectual property (there are a LOT of pirated Pokemon goods floating around out there after all), but, still, there are less intrusive ways to go about it. Poor Glaceon looks like it was branded by a cowboy who used an iron intended for a much larger animal!
Some articulation, like rotating cut joints at the shoulders/thighs, ears, tail, and neck (there's already a seam joining the head to the body there anyway) would have been nice, but this icy critter must have frozen itself, because it's completely immobile. The animal's standing pose, while stable, isn't very dynamic, but I still like it. The cocked head/ears, erect tail, and swaying face "tassels" give Glaceon personality.
Glaceon surrounded by some of my other Pokemon figurines.
While I don't care to play the Pokemon video games anymore, I still enjoy the creature designs, and Glaceon is a particularly attractive one in my opinion. A mammal with ice-based powers in a fantasy setting isn't original by any stretch of the imagination, but I like the blue color scheme and soft, feminine appearance of this monster. In particular, I appreciate how the darker blue fur framing its' face resembles a woman's hair--I don't think Glaceon would be nearly as appealing to me without those tresses.
Glaceon, Alexis chooses you . . . forever and ever!
I gave the dog bones to chew, but the bones came to life and chewed up the dog . . . oh well, I never liked that yapping pooch anyway.
I first read about Wild Planet's 2008 Skeleflex Triceratops toy, a long time ago, in a review over at OAFE. I thought it looked and sounded like a great product, but, I never saw any of them in our local stores, so, I eventually forgot all about it. Flash forward about six years, and imagine my delight when I saw this ossified fellow standing on a shelf, patiently waiting for someone like myself to take it home.
The prehistoric remains look great and the assembled skeleton has an impressive height of 12.0 cm (4.7") and measures 28.5 cm (11.2") long, from the points of the two longest horns to the tip of its tail. The only visual aspect about this toy that I don't care for is that the color of the plastic used to mold the vertebrae is significantly lighter than the rest of the bones, which results in a rather mismatched look. I suspect that the spinal segments are made out of a tougher/harder plastic, both to keep them from breaking and to ensure that the ball-and-socket interface stays tight, which accounts for the difference in hue. Ideally, everything should have been molded in the same color (I have a preference for the "dirtier" brown tone, although either would have been acceptable), but maybe there was a cost/manufacturing reason(s) why that couldn't be done. Speaking of which, it can be REALLY hard to pry those vertebrae apart, so a younger child might find that frustrating.
The dinosaur is pretty flexible, due to every connection point, between the twenty-nine individual parts, consisting of a true ball-and-socket joint. A few of them are a little on the loose side, which is doubtlessly a result of the joints repeatedly getting pulled apart and then put back together again, but the creature still holds poses well and stands fine without any kind of external support. Typically, models of dinosaur skeleton are immobile affairs, which is why it's such a blast to get a super-poseable one like this!
The packaging-slash-carrying-case also deserves special mention. The fully-sculpted container, which features a cracked and pitted leg bone nestled inside a metallic blue-gray clamping device, is absolutely stellar. I'd even go so far as to nominate it as the best-designed toy package ever. It looks brilliant and also serves a valuable storage function--what more could you ask for? (Well...a paint wash and/or dry brushing would make it pop even more, but that's nitpicking.) Due to the size of the Triceratops' skull, it can be tricky to get it, and all the other bones, packed up together neatly inside the case so that the lid will close properly (TIP: stick the skull in the top part of the bone with the horns and crest facing downwards). On yeah, I should note that the "Skeleflex" sticker is missing from the front of mine, but that's no big deal.
Speaking of missing things, my loose sample didn't come with any, but a complete set should also include four optional rubbery joint extenders, which added even more flexibility to the dinosaur, although their black coloration contrasts strongly with the tan/brown of the rest of the toy, making them look out of place. Presumably this item would also have come with paper assembly instructions, but, as mine was already put together when I bought it (the lower forelimbs were on backwards though), that wasn't a problem.
This was another one of those toys that I ended up buying on an "installment plan", as I picked up the Triceratops, for seventy-five cents, one day, and then, about a week later, I found the package, at the same store, for a quarter. That's always annoying, as I prefer to get everything at once, if I can, but the combined total cost of one dollar was still a more-than-fair asking price for this particular item.
Comparison with my Becker & Mayer! Triceratops skeleton.
Skeleton Warriors Dagger taking his new "pony" out for a trot.
As readers who have been visiting my web pages for a while may recall, I already have several dinosaur skeletons in my toy collection, but the poseability and coolness of this Skeleflex Triceratops, plus its excellent carrying case, makes it my absolute favorite. Aside from just looking neat as-is, it also makes a great skeletal steed for your favorite undead warrior. This item is one of the best, if not the best, toys I've purchased so far this year, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in skeletons, dinosaurs, model building, or, like myself, an appreciation for all three!
Most of the Decepticons agreed that Megatron was taking the annual hand puppet competition way too seriously, but none of them were brave enough to broach the subject.
Here are a couple more of Hasbro's Transformers: Robot Heroes figurines: 2008 Beast Wars Megatron (the purple one) and 2007 Movie Brawl (the green robot). These were typically sold in two-packs, one Autobot and one Decepticon; Megatron originally came with Beast Wars Rattrap and Brawl came with Protoform Jazz. The Brawl sculpt was also released again, with a slightly brighter green color scheme, in a "Battle for the Allspark" boxed set with several other Robot Heroes characters. Megatron is 5.8 cm (2.3") tall and 7.5 cm (3.0") wide, while Brawl, thanks to his bulkier build and projecting weaponry, clocks in with a height of 6.3 cm (2.5") and a width of 6.5 cm (2.6").
Both mechanical miscreants have great sculpts, done in the super-deformed style. They're detailed (I particularly like the cracked, leathery skin texture on Megatron's T-rex parts), but also somewhat cartoon-y in nature, and that balance is what makes, or breaks, this type of toy. The paint jobs are also pretty good, and I'm pleased to see that Hasbro didn't skimp on the paint applications on the backsides of the figures, which was a complaint that I had with some of the other Robot Heroes figures that I've written about in the past.
They each have three points of articulation: rotating cut joints at the neck and shoulders. Brawl's neck joint is almost useless though, due to the way that his head is boxed-in. The addition of waist and hip joints would have been nice, so that they could sit and twist from side-to-side. And, if you didn't already know, no, Robot Heroes toys don't actually transform. If they did, Megatron's alt mode would obviously be the infamous flesh-eating dinosaur while Brawl would change into a tank.
"Talk to the hand!" takes on an all-new meaning when said appendage happens to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex head!
Brawl is learning the hard way that Megatron doesn't take too kindly to any backtalk from his Decepticon warriors.
While Megatron is well done from a visual standpoint, I'm not a fan of the Beast Wars incarnation of the Transformers franchise, so, I'm going with Brawl as my favorite out of this pairing (although, to be honest, I'm not that crazy about the recent computer-generated movie renditions of the Transformers either.) Speaking of which, Megatron is also an odd duck in that he's the only Robot Heroes figure I currently own that isn't based on the movie-verse designs. All that said, both of these Decepticons are solid additions to my collection that I'm happy to have.
My Transformers: Robot Heroes army continues to grow, and the Decepticons have numerical superiority, just the way I like it.
Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are doomed I tell you!
Honey, have I got something sweet for you!
This is a 2004 Hasbro My Little Pony Generation 3 (G3) Bumblesweet horse. Her body is actually dated 2002, but that's because the same molds got used, over-and-over again, for different characters, and Hasbro didn't retool them to reflect the year in which the later figures were produced (that's a pretty common practice with the toy industry in general). Bumblesweet is from the Glitter Pony assortment, so she has greenish-gold tinsel mixed in with her hair (which, alas, didn't show up very well at all in my photos). The vinyl body also has a shiny pearlescent finish to it, which looks nice. Her Cutey Mark is a honeypot surrounded by three bees and Bumblesweet also has a small heart on the ankle of her right foreleg. Excluding the mane/tail, she stands 11.5 cm (4.5") tall and is 7.0 cm (2.8") long.
Personality-wise, Bumblesweet has a friendly disposition and loves to make candy and other sugary goodies (fudge, jellybeans, and rainbow-colored taffy, according to her package--Hasbro should have included something in that vein as an accessory). Naturally, her treats are popular with all of her equine friends. If you've got a sweet tooth, this is a pony you'd want to get to know better!
I don't have it, but a complete sample should include a plastic golden yellow hair brush. Additionally, some Bumblesweet figures were also packaged with 30 bonus My Little Pony stickers.
Bumblesweet has a pink magnet on the bottom of her right front hoof. It's not strong enough to hold her upside down, but it will secure her to a vertical surface. Who doesn't want a herd of ponies stampeding up the side of their refrigerator?
Listen, buddy, you'd better keep your hands to yourself!
If I hear you mention anything about "pollinating" me again, you're going to get a horseshoe where the sun doesn't shine!
Go away, Pooh Bear, I'm not giving you any more honey!
Overall, I think Bumblesweet is a very nice-looking pony. The golden body and pink tresses go well together, her eyes and cutey mark are vibrant, and I like the honey/bee motif. The magnetic hoof and glittery hair are just icing, er, honey, on the cake! As always, I wish that Hasbro would have provided some joints, ideally at the neck and hips, as their MLP toys are little more than statues with hair that you can comb/style, which limits their play potential, but, other than that, I have no complaints.
Generation 3 Bumblesweet and Thistle Whistle.
« Return to my Toy Review Index