Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 6

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 4

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Figured-Out 12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

CHRISTMAS RUN-UP: Festive Mousers Return!

Made another batch of these during 2015.
Will be shipping these out on request whatever time of the year.

CHRISTMAS RUN-UP: Putty 'Carol Singing' Patrol

It's Putty-speak renditions of Jingle Bells and other holiday favorites ahoy as the clay-based carolers have hit the streets!

Happy Life Day 2015

Today, we commemorate Life Day - or rather the day Star Wars: Holiday Special aired on TV for one time only in 1978.

aarrragghuuhw awwgggghhh aguhwwgggghhh (Happy Life Day)
Courtesy of Wookie Translator: http://www.wookietranslator.com/)

"This holiday is yours, but we all share with you the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom, and to harmony, and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we're all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage. And more than anything else, our love for one another. This is the promise of the Tree of Life." ―Princess Leia Organa

WEEKEND CAPTION FUN #23

George Pig enjoying his time at 'The Park', especially the raptors exhibit. Reply with a caption.

Figure Review: Nightmare Demon (Now Playing)

This figure comes from SOTA's Now Playing line and it is based off of a scene in An American Werewolf in London, which is one of my favorite horror comedies. I've had this figure for quite some time and I have to say that it definitely stands out in my movie figures collection not only because the characters which the Nightmare Demon figures are based off of are only in one scene in the movie, but also because there hasn't been that many figures based off of the movie to my knowledge. That being said, I'm glad that SOTA was able to make figures based off of the movie even though they didn't make that many.

Onto the review...

Sculpting - 10/10

This figure's sculpt is truly excellent and for the most part, screen accurate. The folds on the clothes are very convincing and the Nazi style uniform looks good with either head. I like the strands in the hair on the wolf head and the scar on the back of the demon head as both factors add a lot to the head sculpts. I also like that both head sculpts have different expressions, which are both unnerving to some degree, but the face anatomy is really well done on both. The wrinkles and ridges are nice little details that you don't really see a whole lot on high quality figures like this. 

                                           

                     
Paint - 9/10

The Nightmare Demon's paint job is, for the most part, flawless. I like the darks on the jacket and pants, which SOTA could've just left blank, but if they did, that would've taken so much away from the figure. The darks don't feel too dark either -- they feel just right. The darks don't get in the way of the textures and details on the clothes -- in fact, the darks enhance those aspects. The teeth and gums on both heads look nice and nasty -- and I like the fact that the eyes aren't traditional eye colors, which helps to make the eyes look more menacing. The only problem I have is that the paint on the belt buckle went onto the belt itself a bit, which isn't the worst thing I've seen on a paint job. I can understand if that was part of the belt's design, but it seems a little off to me in the sense that it looks a little sloppy.

Articulation - 6/10

This figure has about nine points of articulation...

• ball  jointed neck
• ball jointed shoulders
• rotating elbows
• rotating wrists
• rotation on the boots  

This figure has a decent amount of articulation for a movie based figure that came out in the mid 2000s. The waist area is rather stiff, so I'd hate to break the figure in attempt to move it around, so I'm not counting that part for that reason. The figure doesn't have a lot of pose options, so it's more of a display piece than a figure which one could pose and mess around with to pass the time.

                                      

Accessories - 9/10

Other than the demon and wolf heads that are included with this figure as I've pointed out, it also comes with a display base and a knife. SOTA's figures never really fell short in the accessories department, which is certainly a good thing. The only complaint I have is that the paint on the flames on the display base seem a little bland and could've had a little more color added to them to make them look convincing. I think you can connect the bases with the other figures, but I'm not sure because I don't have the other ones.
                          

                              
Overall - 9/10

I would highly recommend this figure to anyone who is a fan of An American Werewolf in London as it is kind of a niche figure. Keep in mind that there are two or three variations of this figure, which I believe all have the same demon head, but they all have different alternate heads and weapons based on the scene in the movie. No matter what version you get, though, I'm sure you'll be happy. If you're looking to pick up this figure, I believe I bought mine at a local convention a couple years ago, so a convention or your local comics shop may work for you. You can always look on eBay or Amazon if you're looking to buy online. 

Halloween Mood Table 2015

Stating this obvious this October, Halloween is approaching!

With that, scary stuff and pumpkins are a bigger topic than usual this month. As someone who doesn't actually celebrate the holiday, I humour it the best I can.

This year, I joined in with a fun concept of making up a 'Mood Table', as started up by popular site Dinosaur Dracula. Readers all over internet have been posting up pictures of their own with fun and creative results! I don't own much in the way of 'horror stuff' to showcase, but gave making up a table a go anyway. 

So without further ado, and more unstructured rambling. Here's the Figured Out Halloween Mood Table. 

A £10 Evening In by Poundland 2

 Almost 6 months have passed since the original £10 at Keynsham Poundland article.
We return again to squander the same amount of money on the delights a local pound-shop can provide for an evenings worth of amusement. 

Like before, 10 items have been randomly chosen in a trolley dash around the same store as before. I make the grab, bring the goods home and give each £1 item a rundown whether I like them or not. Most of this stuff is tat at best, but what does anyone expect? It seems the best way forward is to make the best with what there is. That's part of the fun (yes it is fun!).

So here we go:

CHRISTMAS RUN-UP: Hallmark Daryl Dixon Tree Ornament

Originally due for release on October 5th, this fine piece of Walking Dead merchandise has shown up early at Figured Out HQ - courtesy of Hallmark. Kudos!

After receiving this years TMNT ornaments (which will be shown in a later post) I'm almost prompted to put up the Christmas Tree 3 months early! Hopefully this showcase will encourage more acquisitions of this festive keepsake.

Hallmark will not end it here with further Walking Dead decorations. A Rick Grimes follow-up ornament is already planned for Christmas 2016!

 

October approaching...

Limited Edition Halloween Mouser Project.


Baxter Stockman prepping his army for some serious trick or treating in store next month...

5 Randomly Retro Pin-Badges, Part 2

Welcome to a 2^nd showcase of Randomly Retro Pin-Badges from the clutter pile.

The previous article received a suitable number of hits which warranted this part 2 even more. With a large biscuit tin in storage stuffed full of buttons there is certainly more than enough to pass a trilogy. Some of these feature designs that range from whacky, cheesy and downright cool spanning from the past five decades. So read on and marvel at the next 5 artefacts from pin-badge past...

1/ Bristol & West Snoopy Promotion (1987)

Whilst NatWest costumers enjoyed the premium of Piggy Bank characters, B&W kids savers received a Snoopy's Doghouse ceramic moneybox instead. I wanted a Powermaster Optimus Prime so bad back in those days, so I had an account set up with the local B&W building society. The insentive got me into banking at a primary school age and whatever was left from my allowance through buying Marvel comics and Garbage Pail Kids stickers went towards the fund. 4 years later, there was no Prime, but the collection went towards a Sega Master System I ended up passing on after a month. Oh yeah, the Snoopy badge (none of the other Peanuts characters were included in the promotion – not even Woodstock!) was part of a membership pack including some stationary (and that doghouse moneybox!). As for Powermaster Prime, I ended up acquiring his souped up Japanese God Ginrai counterpart in 2002 for next to nothing! Waiting does pay off.

2/ Vanilla Ice, Big Magazine (Early 90's)

This most likely came with the same magazine (or it might have been Smash Hits!) I found with a feature on how to mimic the artists trademark beak hairstyle. There's an earlier blog I wrote with a scan of the feature here - a blog which Vanilla Ice himself linked to via his official Twitter account. Nice to be noticed.

3/ Turtle Action (1990)

One in a long series of TMNT badges available from various greetings cards retailers. The image depicting Leonardo swinging through a white background (despite the rope being on the opposite side) is one of many images drawn in that 'no black outline' style on a lot of UK produced Ninja Turtles merchandise. 

 4/ Transformers Autobot Bumblebee (1985).

Acquired from the front of a Transformers birthday card. An insignia, a Transformers G1 logo and the name and function of a Transformers character are the design layout. There were other name badges too, including some for the dastardly Decepticons. Despite no character image, I was content enough to have a polished Transformers logo all the same, despite my name not being Bumblebee. 

 

5/ Care Bears, Birthday Bear (1985)

This suitably selected Birthday Bear card badge belonged to my brother. Like with Transformers, there were other character pins available too. A decent little artefact from the days when the Care Bears brand (pre-remakes) was at its most strongest. If memory serves correct these were also a free gift with an issue of Marvel UK's weekly Car Bears comic as well.

That's it for the second lineup of Randomly Retro Pin-Badges. A third summary of random enamel goodness is already in the pipeline. Whether its goodness is entirely up to you.

Until next time!

-HERO

Figured Out's on Twitter!!!

Don't forget to add us on Twitter via @FiguredOut_HQ

Pies, Pizzas or Sewer Lids?

The Trilogy is Complete!
 

TMNT Pizza Thrower (1989)

Chicken Run, Mr Tweedy's Chicken Pie Thrower (2000)
TMNT Sewer Lid Launcher (2004)

 

16 weeks to go...

There's no denying it. It is coming...

Star Wars Force Friday (Non) Countdown

Found in Toys R Us Brislington today, the countdown display for Force Friday this week. Empty space was made anywhere on shelves where Star Wars items were sold. Force Awakens merchandise is set to take over.

The staff at Customer Services caught me taking a snapshot of the Countdown Display and were not happy, but didn't/couldn't do anything about it. One of them ranted about the display malfunctioning and quickly turned it around the opposite way as a gesture of embarrassment. This would not be the first time Toys R Us Brislington Desk Staff have gotten crabby over nothing, and probably not the last...  

There was nothing to hide at this point. The sign was for public view and the wave 1 toys catalog has already hit online (Click Here). As far as I can see, the catalog does not spoil anything for the movie for those concerned and shows stuff that has been shown in the first trailer. I think the real meat in the sandwich as far as toys go will be saved for December. This wave 1 is the appetizer.

Oh yeah, Nerf Gun Chewbacca Crossbow is sure to be a hit! -HERO