The Avengers Movie: 3.75" Wave 1 Complete Review!!!

And it begins!

The countdown to the May 1st release date of the Avengers here in Singapore has begun!

Why now, you ask?  It's not because the Rangerlord sounded me out a week ago that the toys were out.  It's not because I walked into Toys R Us five days back and saw the 3.75" figures, the Quinjet, the Deluxe figures, the masks, or Captain America's Frisbee shield.

It's not even because later that same evening, I was picking up my wife at the nearby mall and she texted me "You're gonna wanna check out the department store.  There's lots of Avengers stuff!"

No.  It's because I walked into that very department store and saw these!

Oh, and if you've read this far, Happy April Fools! ;P

Yes, as you can tell, these ain't no action figures, nor are they 3.75" tall.  They're just, well, Mini Muggs!  And this is a review of the complete 1st wave!  (Gotcha!  Maybe.)

There was a set, only one complete set, and I had to snag it.  Sure, some other guys will probably pick up my leavings of a couple of Nick Fury and a Hawkeye or two, but I, I have the complete first wave of The Avengers Mini Muggs!  Mwahahahaha!

And here I review it. :P

Spiderman 3.75" Stretch Strike Venom

Hello, True Believers!

It's been a while since I reviewed a Marvel Universe figure.  I was planning a big one (Literally.  You'll see. ;P) for the next review I was gonna do from that line when Bam!--I spot this guy and a couple of his buddies sitting on the pegs at a local TRU (Vivocity, for the locals!)

At first I was a bit "meh" about it until the Rangerlord pointed out that the sculpt and paint looked pretty darn cool.  Moreover, the price was really ideal, even at S$11.90 retail.  So several "oohs" and "ahs" later, both the Rangerlord and I had bought one each.

If this figure was anything like the Rhino from a previous wave, we were in for a treat, especially since Venom looked to have knee and head articulation where Rhino didn't.

I have to admit though, I bought this figure because of the awesome looking accessory, which kinda reminded me of an old toy my brother and I used to play with when we were kids...

Transformer Cybertron Con 2012 Day 1

The entrance!

So I really didn't know what to expect despite having a schedule of all 4 days (11th to 14th) of the Con.

Would it really be more like an exhibition and less like a convention?  If so, would there be deals to be had on Transformers toys?  Would there be a greater focus on the movie versions of Transformers rather than other forms to attract the kids?

We thought this was the 22-foot tall Optimus Prime.

Well as it happened, it's never really what you think it is.  And I was glad tat I was presently surprised.

He's happy with the Con as long as the pass tastes good.

Resorts World Sentosa turned out to be a great place to hold Cybertron Con with people of all sorts attending--collectors, families, couples, even tourists.  So we made a family day out of it and with the wife and kid went forth expecting nothing other than a good time out.  Here's a pictorial journey of what went down! (with commentary from yours truly, of course. :P):

Star Wars Vintage Collection: 3.75" Qui-Gon Jinn

Right out of The Phantom Menace!

That title for Episode I is so sweet I still haven't gotten over it in 13 years...;P

Finally!  A Qui-Gon!  Funny thing is that when I first saw Phantom Menace, I actually loved it!  I strongly suspect it had to do with being starved of big screen Star Wars love from a galaxy far, far away for a long, long time.

And I loved Qui-Gon!  Perhaps is was because he was the only actor who didn't seem like he was trying to act.  Perhaps it was because he reminded most of old Ben Kenobi from Episode IV more than even the young Obi-Wan did.  Perhaps I just I love old Jedi dudes who (1977/1999 spoiler alert! Spoiler Alert!) die. :P

Either way, I'm really happy I have a Qui Gon!  And here's why:

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! ;)

Lego 6862 DC Superheroes: Superman vs Lex Luthor!

Guess what I got for my birthday from the dear wife, when it isn't even my birthday yet?

That's right!  Yer looking at it! :D :D :D

She's been getting me stuff early for special occasions for a while now, so I just thought to tell her that she needn't, and said that I feel bad for opening presents early and all that.  Her response: I need to get it for you before you see it and get it for yourself!  Hah!  The bonus?  She also got me the Batcave!!!  (Review to come...)

Apparently, this Supes vs Lex set won't be brought into store until next month here in Singapore, so this is a happy thing for me to be able to have and review it early.  That and the fact that I love Superman and the wife likes Wonder Woman makes me a happy 33 year-old kid.  Add to that the excellent looking mech that is Lex Luthor's power armour and this is a must-have set!

It's been a while since I really wanted badly to open something that I bought or was bought for me and review it, so what are ya waiting for?  Jump, jump, jump!!! ;D

Oh and watch out when opening the box--the parts come in three bags: two bigger ones and a small one for the little bits. There's also a Lego comic book and of course, the instruction booklet--but the cannon-to-power armour power cable for the Lex's mech is not in any of the bags but directly in the box itself.  So don't go throwing way the box with glee before checkin'! ;)