Marvel Universe 3.75" Wave 10 Mystique

I was in the midst of packing and rearranging all my toys in preparation for the arrival of the baby, and that meant...cracking open all my unopened stuff!  And boy do I have a ton!  Some of the stuff I held back on because they kinda lost their appeal after I'd left them unopened for a bit; some of them I freed from their plastic and cardboard prison and went, "Ooooh...Now I know why I got this in the first place.  'Cuz I though it was awesome!" or some such.

But once in a while, one or two of them turn out to be real gems and I wonder why I never got around to opening them sooner.

Then the wife surprises me with this very figure for our got-to-know-you anniversary on April 10th, just 9 days before the baby arrived, sneaking all the way down town and back to pick it up.  What a gift--I was truly touched!


And I still am.  Strangely, I hadn't snagged Mystique yet because when Wifey and I came by it in the specialty store, it was S$22.40 (US$17.20) and I don't have to tell you that way overpriced.  But watcha gonna do when the ol' shapeshiftin' mutant wench is so hard to find? Wait for the price to drop, of course.  But thanks to my dear wife, I didn't have to!

On to the review!!!

He's here: The Ultimate Action Figure!

Christian Gabriel Mah was born at 2.20am on the 19th of April 2011 at 3.13kg (6.88lbs) and 53 cm.

He makes Melissa and I proud parents.

He's got countless points of articulation, a perfect sculpt and paint that is guaranteed to never chip or smudge.

His action features so far include a loud sustained vocal blast that would rival the Canary Cry and power sucking that would make the Parasite blush.  By the looks (and feel) of it, he's likely to develop a killer grip to rival the Man of Steel himself.

Just making sure he isn't the Ultra-Humanite or the Leader

A standard feature of this type of action figure is pooping and peeing, both of which trigger his villain-stopping scream.  But an immediate change of diaper will immediately put him to sleep and render him vulnerable.

During the change though, he's got an automatic last-ditch defence mechanism--his eye-blinding pee ambush.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT be mislead by the size of the weapon.  Needless to say, laughing and pointing is simply asking for it.

Christian is immensely fun to play with and brings limitless joy to Mel and I, who can't get enough of his super fat cheeks and soft hair.  Value for money?  Definitely--he's priceless and a must have! ;P

Lego Minifigs Series 4: The Werewolf

AAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooOOOOh yeah!

I love it when the figures I look for aren't really wanted by others.  Just like poor little ol' Werewolf here.  I got him together with the (Frankenstein) Monster on my first foray into the orange bags of goodness and there were easily a dozen of him.

He completes the foursome of classic horror monsters, with Dracula and the Mummy from earlier series, as well as Franky from this one. But you don;t have to stop at one werewolf.  Where's the fun in that--they like to hunt in packs, if a certain teen/horror genre series would have us believe.

So is he worth getting more than one of?  Check it out!

Lego Minifigs Series 4 The Monster: Frankenstein

Toy hunters in Singapore are fast.  Like fast.

That's why by the time I spotted Series 4 of these blind bag Lego Minifgs, entire boxes of these oranged-packeted goodness had been felt up and plundered of the Musketeer, Mad Crazy Scientist, Lawn Gnome, Hazmat Guy, Viking, and Kimono Girl.  Yes, after visiting many a store these remained the most popular figs.

But ah, luckily for me, I wasn't really keen on any of these except the Musketeer and Mad Crazy Scientist.  Instead, I was really excited by Frankenstein and the Werewolf!  And these were available in abundance!

Thanks to my dear wife, I found Franky right off the bat.  There were literally 10 Werewolves in the box we hit up, with the guy at the store admitting that these packs were all the remainder of 2 or 3 previously ravaged boxes.  After paying up, we opened the packs in store just to make sure we felt up the right figures.  We did.  And here's Franky!

Thor the Mighty Avenger 3.75-inch Movie Line: Sword Spike Thor!

Finally, they're here!

A big summer movie season with superhero movies means big anticipation for the movie toys.  With Thor to hit theaters real soon, the movie toy line has strangely been missing from department store shelves here in Singapore.

But we can always count on the specialty stores hereabouts.  And that's where I found Sword Spike Thor over the weekend.

Of the 6 figures released in the initial wave--this guy, Battle Hammer Thor, Lightning Clash Thor (light up), Shield Bash Odin, Secret Strike Loki, and the Invasion Frost Giant--SS Thor looks like he's the most value for money.

But I did have a hard time choosing him over BH Thor.  The latter has a more decent looking extra hammer/sword "weapon" accessory vs SS Thor's ridiculously large "sword."

Odin looked like a great sculpt but there was a lack of paint apps, while Loki had a rather bland expression.  After initially wanting to get at least one version of each character, I might now only settle for a single Thor.  So how did he turn out?  Could he end up convincing me to snag more of his brethren?  Let's take a look see, shall we? ;)

Marvel Universe 3.75" Wave 10 Ghost Rider

Well guys, it's been an awesome ride but his will be my final review on Chase Variant.  Yup, that's it for me--I've found reviewing toys takes up too much of my time and also I've gotten to a point where it's become somewhat of a drag to keep the reviews up.

So I'd just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who's been following Chase Variant, whether you've been there since the beginning almost exactly 2 years ago, or if you've just discovered the site.  Also...