Marvel Universe 3.75" Masters of Evil 3-Pack (SDCC 2012 Exclusive)

I thought I'd see this set a lot more here in Singapore despite the fact that it was an San Diego Comic Con 2012 Exclusive.  We're lucky down here because we usually see SDCC Exclusives as store exclusives somewhere down the road.  And even if they don't show up in your regular department store or Toys R Us, they usually make it to the local weekend toy "flea market," though it's at "collector" prices.

But there was no sign of the Masters of Evil here, no sign until STGCC 2012 and Toyrealm had brought a few sets in as their "Exclusive".  Okay, so they didn't call it as such, but Vincent was the only one who'd bought it in.  Despite the rather hefty price, I didn't want to miss out on this box set because it was one of the few Exclusives at SDCC 2012 that caught my eye.

Now I don't particularly like any of the Masters of Evil guys as individuals, but as a group, I think they're more than worthy adversaries for the Avengers.  After all, they did form up for that purpose--to take on the good guys. 

The list of characters on the Masters of Evil roster is almost as long as that of the Avengers'.

In Marvel Universe 3.75" figure terms, this is the list of made characters so far :

Absorbing Man

Constrictor

Enchantress

Klaw

Ultron-5

Wonder Man

Whiplash (Iron Man 2 Comic Series)

The Wrecking Crew:

    -Bulldozer

    -Thunderball

    -Piledriver

    -Wrecker

Toastin' it the way only bad guys know how to...

That's about 10% of the villains on this list and not nearly enough to make a formidable force on the toy shelf!

Thankfully, we can add a couple more members to the roster, as well as their dreaded leader!

Enter Baron Zemo, Radioactive Man, and Tiger Shark!

The Avengers: Original Avengers 3.75" 4-Pack! (Concept Series)

As a result of a massive backlog of reviews I want to take on, I realize that not only do I have tons of unopened toys, I have tons of them in boxes.  Which ones, you ask?  Well, I have too many to name, so let's just call 'em a surprise for now.  (Yeah, ok.  I don't know myself.  Lol.)  For now, I'm determined to rid my collection of needless cardboard, so I'm hereby declaring October The Month of the Box right here on Chase Variant!  (I'm sure you wouldn't mind if the occasional carded or loose figure review slips in.  Right?  Or am I right?  Right, I'm wasting time...)

So to kick it all off, I'm gonna start with my newest boxed acquisition: The Avengers: Original Avengers 3.75" Toys R Us Exclusive 4-Pack!

I walked into one of my local TRUs last Sunday and I see this very set that I'd never seen, heard or read about it before.  So it was a very pleasant surprise when I find one of them, face down amid some non-movie Marvel Universe figure 4-packs.  Then the wife points out that that's not the only one there, because right above us on the shelf are about six or seven of them.  You can imagine my amazement when I had a good look at Loki--I'd never thought I'd see them re-use the Thor movie sculpt again!

Then I saw Iron Man--a brand new figure!--or at least a new armour.  I couldn't tell right off if it was made from older parts but it looked like a new sculpt and I dig bulky armour, so I was at least 50% in.

As for Captain America and Thor, I already have these very sculpts when they were originally released.  Both are great figures from their respective lines, so I didn't mind taking home some repaints...for now.

Yes, they look great in the box, but I hear you ask if they're just as good outside.  Well, let's find out! ;)

Cybertron Con 2012 Exclusive Swag!

Sorry folks, no review here, just an update on the toy-ly ongoings of our tiny island nation.

On the bright side, it's less than 4 days to go to Cybertron Con right here in Singapore and they've revealed a couple of nifty exclusives for the event!

First up, there's the movie Optimus Prime:

I can't quite be sure but it looks like it'll be a Voyager Class figure with a decent sized trailer.  That's a great thing because I think the smaller-sized Primes usually don't have trailers made for them--this one does and has some awesome Con exclusive designs all over it.

Also, Prime comes with this commemorative coin if you're into that sort of thing.

Secondly, some t-shirts for the event have been revealed:

I can't quite articulate how nice it is to see some G1 Transformers, even if they only exist as designs on T-shirts.  :,(

There's a whole bunch of other stuff that'll be on sale, form luggage to masks and all of the toys you've seen on the shelves in stores.

But I hope they give us some G1 TF toy love at the Con.  'Else I'll be nursing a Coke Zero in a dark corner somewhere shedding a tear or five.  Lol.

Transformers Kre-O: Exclusive Optimus Prime Review

**State of the Toy Union: My display room's a mess!  It's made me really not want to open up any of my recent purchases until I get it cleaned up.  I'm making progress with the packing/tidying up though.  So in the meantime, I'm very sorry for the long pause between reviews.  Enjoy this one though--he couldn't wait! ;)**

Call him an SDCC, a Botcon or a (insert your preferred)Con Exclusive, but for us here in Singapore, he's our Transformers Con 2012 Exclusive Kre-On! (That's what they call a Kre-O figure btw).

Messy room--enter at own peril!

That's right, in a month's time from March 11th to 14th, the bi-annual event is hitting our tiny island nation.  So the awesome people in charge sent over this little fella just to whet my appetite!

Now the idea of building a Transformer out of Legos or any other building blocks is hardly a new one because anyone who's ever laid hands on such toys will have at one point or another tried to do it.  But never has there been an official toy company who's gone out a produced a whole range of them--until now.

And while I have to admit that I was pleasantly when I saw Kre-Os on the shelves in stores, I was less than impressed by the sets.  First up, the robot modes aren't all that accurate to the G1 TF forms they were trying to mimic (and neither are their vehicles modes for that matter).  Second, they came with Kre-On (minifig) versions of themselves.  And that doesn't really make sense, if you catch my drift.  Third: the price. At US$30 a pop for the bigger sets, it was kinda hard to go out on a limb and trust the quality of a new building lock brand.

Still, those Kre-Ons looked pretty darn cute.  And they do have a whole range of them out right now--Optimus, Bumblebee, Mirage, Sideswipe, Megatron, Shockwave, and Prowl, just to name a few off the top of my head.  I had even told the Rangerlord what many have expressed online--if they sold the Kre-Ons separately, I'd grab 'em.  He agreed too.

So you can imagine my delight when the organizers of Transformers Con 2012 sent me this little package.  Now I can't wait for the Con to come.   So I guess I'll just have to settle for filling the time with a review of Kre-On Optimus Prime! ;)

Marvel Universe 3.75" SDCC Exclusive WWII Captain America!

This is one of the figures coming out of Comic Con International this year that I was looking forward to getting.  And despite it being an exclusive to the Con, it came to Singapore real quick--specialty stores brought it in the very week SDCC was done (mine came in the Wednesday right after).
 
It was also not overpriced, being there or thereabouts the local retail of S$18.90 (US$13.50).  Well, I got mine from Toyrealm (awesome store, great people) in China Square Central for just under at US$12.90 and got it pretty early, so I was pleased.

The larger departmental stores got them a few days later, ensuring that WWII Cap isn't going to scarce here for a while yet. (Last year's SDCC Frozen Grayscale Cap can still be found in abundance!)

Looking at the pictures online and seeing it in package will already set alarm bells ringing--good alarms, off course, the ones that go "this is a must-have!"  Why?  It just looks that good.  And right after saying that the new Star Wars Vintage Collection Bespin Luke Skywalker might be the very best 3.75" figure ever, I'm forced to admit that this guy might just snatch the mantle from him!  Well, can WWII Cap take down Bespin Luke once out of the package?  Let me help you find out, just like I did after cracking him open!

Bench Press Takes a Walk

Look what Bench Press has stumbled upon...

Could it be he's found some COBRA agents' campsite?

Or could it just be campers?

Cheap Exclusives!

As the holiday season rolls around, we find older waves of toys at the more popular stores going on clearance and sometimes even on massive discounts.  So that's what happened at Toys 'R' Us with the G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra figures.  They got slashed from the usual retail of S$18.90 (about US$13.50) to S$12.90 (about US$9.20).

Then some new stock comes in and these new Joes also get the same clearance prices!

Enter Toys 'R' Us exclusive Bench Press! Woot!

Will he be as buff as his name suggests?

Find out after the jump! :)

Captain America on Ice!

No, that's not the name of a new Disney on Ice perfromance, but rather Marvel Universe 3 3/4" black and grey San Diego Comic Convention Exclusive Captain America!

Now I wondered why Hasbro decided to come up with a black and grey scheme toy of a character that obviously looks better in his red, white and blue.

And it wasn't until after I decided to snag him at the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention (where he was also offered and a Con exclusive) that I fully understood what this Cap was all about. Here's what I noticed first:

I thought: hey that's cool. They changed the background story from the original realease of the toy. Then I looked over the packaging more closely:




















Hmm. Ice blue background on the front of the card, ice blue background on the back...then why the cheapo light pencils and mainly white sleeve...Even the Marvel logo and Cap's name on the bubble has ice on it--OH WAIT A MINUTE!

This is Captain America when they first found him in suspended animation, frozen in a block of ice!!!

That's why he's black and grey, and in a slipcase and card that looks like a block of ice!

How cool is that?

Now while I've been calling him black and grey, Cap is actually more 5 or 6 shades of grey, depending on how discerning your eyes are, and white.




















And this time, unlike the previous poor paint jobs on the mask beneath the eyes, they painted the detail on right.

And also unlike the first Cap released in this series, which is the Ultimates version, this guy is actually a repaint of the Secret Wars two-pack Capatin America that comes with issue #1 of Secret Wars and the Klaw figure.

The differences with this guy from the Ultimates release are the foldover boots and wide gloves, and the wings on his cowl.

This Cap also has a more rounded 'A' on on his forehead comepard to the Wave 1 version.

And the final difference is the Cap's shield token instead of the standard S.H.I.E.L.D token.

Now I'd normally rip open the packaging to get to the plastic goodness within. But in this instance, I'm gonna keep Cap on his card and in his slip case in suspended animation.




You have to hand it to the people from SDCC and Hasbro--this is a real peach of a collector's item. Get it if you can! :)