Angry Birds Plush!

Look what just arrived in my letterbox today!

I waited for a full month before it reached me from dealextreme.com . It costs me US$8.30, and shipping is free.

Check out the label, it's even got the Angry Birds logo:

Dimensions: 7.48 in x 7.09 in x 6.30 in (19.0 cm x 18.0 cm x 16.0 cm)

The fabric surface is very silky, but the plush is rather hard on the inside. It's the kind of quality that you will expect to find selling in reputable department stores. It comes with a suction cup and a string. If you don't like it, just cut it away.

There are other birds on sale too, but I decided not to get them as I'm only interested in getting the red one for iconic purposes. I'd be waiting for the Green Pig to be on sale (hopefully they will offer it).

Order yours here! And if you can't wait for a month, you can opt for express shipment that costs more than the item itself. You do the math.

P.S. If you want a larger Angry Bird (26cm) that cannot be hung, you might be interested in this link.

Iron Man Mark 3 Battle Damage 12-inch collector's figure

I recently added another item to my collection of toys and figures. When I buy a toy, an important criterion is that it must fully resemble the character on-screen. Most of the small Iron Man figures have terrible paint jobs and awful details that make the character look, well, disgusting. That explains the awe when I came across this Iron Man 12-inch figure at a hobby shop. I didn't know Iron Man figures of such details exist!!!

Iron Man Mark III is the "first" armour that Tony Stark wore for his battle against the villains (Mark 1 was the primitive bulky suit that led to Tony's escape from the terrorist. Mark 2 was the silver unpainted armour that Tony wore for his first test flight).

The one that I bought is called "Battle Damage", which reflects the state at the end of the movie while fighting Iron Monger. As such, this figure, unlike the other Iron Man variants (also produced by Hot Toys), has the following additional accessories:

- interchangeable chest armour
- interchangeable heads: one allowing the eyes to light up, the other allowing the front mask to be removed, revealing Tony's face
- an additional naked hand (Tony removed his armour glove during the movie when he thought he had defeated Iron Monger)
- a display stand modeled after the rooftop of the Arc Reactor building in the final battle scene, including cracked glasses
- details of scratches all around the armour figure (good thing, so I don't have to take extreme good care of the paint work)

(in some exclusive editions, the package even cos with a crushed helmet. Iron Monger crushed it at the final scene, leaving Tony's head exposed. I didn't get that because it was about $150 more expensive than this edition, not worth it)

What's amazing about this collector's figure is that it comes with numerous articulations and features in the armour that are faithful to the movie.

- light-up eyes, chest and palms
- removing the chest armour reveals internal details
- the face armour reveals internal details
- expendable wrist gauntlet as shield, as portrayed in the final battle scene
- micro munitions pod on both shoulders. He used it during his first battle scene when the terrorists held civilians hostage, the ammo locks only at the terrorists and fires with accuracy.
- countermeasure dispenser at the hips. He deployed it when fired upon by the 2 US planes chasing after him, and also at the final battle scene to temporarily blind Iron Monger.
- air flaps at the back of armour, as detailed as the movie.
- airbrake deployment system at the legs

The figure is built with plastic, metal and rubber, to allow flexibility of posing and still maintain faithfulness to the joint details.

I was actually contemplating between this figure and the Mark 4 version, worn by Tony in Iron Man 2. I like the movie look and toy design of Mark 4, which comes improved with torso articulation and movable fingers. But I like the playability of Mark 3 Battle Damage with more interchangeable accessories. Besides, Mark 4 is still in pre-order phase while Mark 3 Battle Damage is only made publicly available recently. If I were to wait a few more months, this version might be either out of stock or the value might have increased.

We can't blame the makers, Hot Toys, for the delay. It takes months to properly sculpt and develop such detailed figures, and more months to create the mould to mass produce. As of current, the Mark 5 (briefcase version) and Mark 6 (with the new triangular arc reactor chest) is still under development, and probably will reach mass production in 1-2 years. Hot Toys is also the licensee of several other movie collectible figures like Prince of Persia, Terminator, so they have a plate full of projects (and fans) to satisfy.

With much thought and procrastination, I decided to get this Mark 3 Battle Damage before it becomes unavailable.

Generally, I like the quality of the product. My few nitpicks:
- the chest armour colour is slightly darker than the rest of the body.
- the arm articulation is rather restrictive, so there are many poses that I cannot achieve.
- I cannot deploy the shoulder munitions pod unless I remove the armour.
- limited articulation at the hips.
- limited articulation at the neck. I would like the head to be able to tilt even higher so that I can do a pose of Iron Man flying.
- Tony looks "dead" with his eye levels permanently raised.
- naked hand is longer than the armour hand.
- I would love to have the feet soles to be lit up too.

My favourite parts of the figure would have to be the legs and the back. Apart from the details of the airbrake systems, the legs are designed such that the joints are movable and yet there are armour details to cover the ball joints. The back of the armour unfolds to reveal all the intricate mechanical details of the air flaps.

Analysing the design of this figure arouses my curiosity about how a real Iron Man suit could have allowed the wearer to move flexibly. Hot Toys have really made an effort to include all the armour details and yet giving room to allow articulation. And I am proud to own a piece of comic and movie history.

It's Timmy Time for Mayenne

Timmy Time is a spin off from the Shaun the Sheep animation which introduced the Timmy character, Shaun the Sheep itself a spin off from the Aardman Animation series Wallace & Gromit, which introduced the Shaun character.

Since the animation was broadcast on Playhouse Disney, Mayenne is hooked. There is no dialogue, just animal sounds, and that's the beauty of it. Even my mother-in-law can understand and would explain to Mayenne about the good and bad things that each character did during the 10-minute episode.

(Mayenne also likes "Special Agent Oso". Too bad, Disney did not manage to get any official merchandise produced to earn money off parents like me worldwide)

Personally, I have always been fascinated by the stop-motion animation technique perfected by Aardman since Wallace and Gromit. Like many less-popular cartoons, local retailers do not carry this toy, but it didn't take me long to find the toys to brighten my daughter's days over eBay. Fortunately, this cartoon was a hit in UK, the country of origin, so there are quite a few official products for me to choose, albeit limited variety. Within a week of order, they arrived safely in my mailbox.

I bought this set of posable figures from the animation (strange why only this 3 out of the 12 animals are available), which costs less than S$30 including shipment. Made of quality plastic. they look absolutely identical to the cartoon, something that pleases me a lot as a collector. The size is good for a 3-year-old, although I wonder if Timmy and Ruffy's ears can withstand Mayenne's rough hands. All the heads, limbs and tails are posable, but not the ears.

Mayenne couldn't keep her eyes and hands off the figures.

Did I also mention that she can sing the theme song already? Let's sing along!



Catch Timmy Time on StarHub Cable Channel 311 Playhouse Disney every weekday at 9am and 8pm.

Growing Up With Toys

My new house has a large display cabinet that allows me to showcase my humble toy collection. It's not a lot, because I only had a small display cabinet in my old house, and my practical personality prevents me from buying them. I mean, I never thought that I would move out of the house where I have enough room to house my collection. Besides, toy collection is never a priority at all. I recalled selling a bagful of dozen M.A.S.K. toys for less than $100, complete with boxes. That must have been a collector's dream, but I decided to make room for more room to house practical stuff.

I must have been fortunate enough to experience some of the collector's toys that my family bought for me to play. Star Wars C3P0 (played until limbs detached from torso), Red Imperial Guard, X-Wing Fighter (diecast), they are all long discarded. I recalled loitering at United Square ogling at the fresh boxes of M.A.S.K. that I yearned to own. I was totally fascinated with M.A.S.K. and that it is the only toy line that I collected. I owned nothing from Centurions, G.I. Joe, or Transformers then.

My parents were very strict with me with regards to toy purchases. I remembered I had to pay for my own toys, and even so I needed permission to buy them. During those 80s, the cheapest toy like the M.A.S.K. Piranha costs about $13.95, the larger sets like Goliath would cost more than $50. I remembered buying Rhino at a discount of $29.90 (probably an end-of-line sale). I also once owned Thunderhawk, Gator, Switchblade, Stinger, Vampire, Raven, Slingshot, Bullet, Buzzard, Detonator (wow, as I listed them down, I realised the amount of money I've spent on M.A.S.K. toys) At that era, it's a lot of money. Thinking back, I wonder how my parents actually allowed me to spend that kind of money on toys, but I am grateful that they did. M.A.S.K. is great fun because it's easy to transform from one vehicle to another, so you get double the fun with a single toy (today's Transformers toy series are so difficult to transform - and fragile too - that it can take many minutes of delicate action to accomplish the task. The cartoon series also helped in evoking fantasy stories when playing with the toys. I even drew several books of M.A.S.K. comics!

Over the weekend, I returned to my parent's house, where many of my childhood toys still remained. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still have a few M.A.S.K. "relics": posters, instruction sheets, a few action figures, and empty boxes that I used to store other toys. No M.A.S.K. vehicles in sight, sadly.

Another pleasant discovery of a toy that I almost forgot - Gatchaspartan! 旋風小飛俠! Gatchaman F, Battle of the Planets, G-Force, whatever you call it. It's not the Phoenix-looking plane that it's commonly associated with. This is a triangular jet plane formed by combining the 5 vehicles manned by each of the Gatchamen. I can't recall how I convinced my parents to buy them for me at Isetan Outram, and I can imagine how expensive they must have been, because the build quality is really very good. In fact, it's made in Singapore. I also can't believe I kept every accessory that came with the toy, like the rocket launchers and the 5 mini-figurines.

In those days, you do not buy toys for collector purposes. You play them, abuse them, and most of the time, lose them. As for Transformers, it's a toy that I started to collect in recent years. The revival of my interest came about when I discovered that many of the characters are being remoulded with greater details and accuracy. The Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, has been successfully remoulded to look accurate in both robot and vehicle. But it appears there is no way Megatron the Decepticon leader can be remould to be accurate both ways - not beefy enough. While many collectors would buy every single Transformers product ever released, I go for those toys that look accurate when transformed both ways. Nothing irks me than a Transformer that doesn't look like a robot as illustrated in the cartoons or movies.

Transformers is really a grown-up toy because of the challenges in transforming the figures. A young child would easily rip it apart. Hasbro acknowledged that a majority of the collectors are grown-ups and so they have various versions (and prices) of the same character, ranging the "Legends" (smallest), "Deluxe", "Voyager", "Leader", and "Ultimate" (largest) classes. Interestingly, the Japan Takara-Tomy editions are more sought after by collectors because of the attention to details and the absence of laws governing the safety of the toys. Not that there aren't laws in Japan, but the target market for these "collectors editions" is the grown-ups, unlike the U.S.-made Hasbro line that is meant for all-age mass-market. For instance, the Optimus Prime 20th Anniversary Edition smokestacks (above picture) are shorter than the Japan version.

(left: Devastator "Legends" size got hold of Bumblebee "RPMs" series while Prime and Ratchet tried to fight back)

My latest and most expensive single purchase to date is the Takara-Tomy "Jetpower Optimus Prime" that consists of Prime and Jetfire that can be combined into a single figure, just like the movie. The issue with collecting Transformers is that the makers always come up with new variants that are better than the previous. I was almost convinced not to buy any Optimus Prime movie figures because I believed it can only get better. But the price offer was too good to miss, so I decided to just buy it and keep it until when I'm in the mood to play it (or sell it). In fact, some of the toys I bought months ago are only opened recently to fill up my new cabinet. Technically, toys that are opened will no longer have much value, but the irony is that most recent toys rarely appreciate in value unless they are true "limited edition" items. And even so, savvy collectors would buy them off and sell the extras to make quick bucks on eBay. More often than not, they end up selling below purchase price when the items proved to be less than desirable. I happened to pick up a few bargains from these "speculative collectors". In all fairness, though I do hope some of my unopened toys could get some collector's value, I'm really just waiting for an appropriate time to play them in future.

Action figures have evolved too. Decades ago, these figures can only articulate 90-degrees on each limb joint in a single direction (like those M.A.S.K. figures I still have). Today's figures can allow multi-degree joint rotation by using ball bearing. So for my latest grey Iron Man figure, the movable parts include: neck, chest, shoulder, elbow, wrist, thigh, knee, ankle. 

There is this "Revoltech" series in Japan where the figures are sculpted to be cartoon-accurate and the joints allow much better articulation, but are non-transformable. I recently got myself Megatron and Rodimus Prime (there was also Optimus Prime and Starscream but I did not get them because I already have them in alternate versions). I also bought Macross Valkyrie VF-1S Fighter because I recalled I used to have one. This Revoltech edition happens to be able to transform just like the cartoon. Nostalgic!

I'm really not a hard-core toy collector. These toys that I bought selectively are capsules to my childhood memory. They signify a time of innocence and boundless imagination that I once possessed. While I might forget the movie I casually watched last year, I'll always remember the impression I've had on the cartoon series I watched 2 decades ago.

All photos shot using Samsung NX10 hybrid interchangeable lens camera, except the collage of M.A.S.K. boxes and the full cabinet shot.