LEGO Mini figs Max bootleg

Right prior to Episode 7 debuting on cinema screens, those of you on Facebook might have noticed the promoted adverts for a Sith Lord named Darth Revan (who many have said Kylo Ren's look is partially inspired from).

I decided to see what was up with it, betting on it being a China made knockoff of some sort, and in no way really officially anything made by LEGO. There was a bit of worry that my bit of postage was just going to disappear into the far east, and I'd never receive this "free" minifig to offer up a review with. 

He came with an extra hand. I don't know why, aside from people losing and gaining hands in Star Wars is pretty normal and I just didn't think about it.

But show up it finally did. About this time, I happened upon another minifig knockoff company, but this one had a big old fancy pants logo on the standee brick that accompanied the two figures I picked up. Deadpool (upper left hand corner in the clear polybag), and what appeared to be Ultron, both of these manufactured by a company called "BlockWorld", which only shows up on the internet on Aliexpress. 

If LEGO was the Dr. Pepper of bricks, these are the Vess cola Dr. Suckage brand ones...

If you get to looking at the images, yes I was having a bit of  focus issue, but I think I captured enough of the details that you can see these are decent enough in looks, little rough on the hand parts casting. But it's when you are putting any of these three together, there is a definitive lower quality lock together sort of mechanic at play that is so satisfyingly there when you mess with real LEGO bricks and minifigs, which in all three of these felt like, there was just a thin sheen of oil or something on all of them.

The Darth Revan minifig is the most well fitting of the three, but the plastic is lighter, has a less dense feel to it, an almost fragile feel to it. But the art tampo details are clean and clear, you'd honestly think this was a real LEGO fig if you were not holding it.

Deadpool and Ultron both had studs that were ill fitting that connected the upper body to the legs. After a while, the two halves while just STANDING there, would start to almost muffin top up, and then fall off.

Also, the accessories that came with Ultron (his neck brace/armor and his clear bricks), and the swords that came with Deadpool had that, "don't push these too hard into place or they will break and slide up under your fingernails and you will cuss like a sailor" plastic feel to it.

As more and more excellent and well crafted companies like my two favorites BrickWarriors and Brick Forge, keep making top notch original items, it's really not worth my time or money to look to these sub par alternate Brand X type ones.

Speaking of, I've got more great items from BrickWarriors coming up in my next review that I'm sure you all will love to see!

Until next time! -Mario, the Artisan Rogue

Stats	Rating/Information
Items	Polybags of Darth Revan/Deadpool/Ultron
Made by	Epic Gear/BlockWorld
Rarity	Common
Classification	In Production
Condition	New
Procured	Facebook advert for Revan / Comic store for Deadpool and Ultron
Worth	$5 of shipping / $6 for the store polybags.
Investment	$5 and $6
Further Research	n/a
Trivia & Fun Facts	Bootleg items like these have been around as long as popular culture sort of items have been. I personally find them to be interesting oddities and will on occasion pick them up, but for my money, stick to LEGO originals, or the high quality created brands out there.

The KinTiki H.U.S.T.L.E from UME Toys

KinTiki are a blind assorted minifigure from the H.U.S.T.L.E. line sculpted like a traditional Tiki idol with "wooden" mask and skull belt.  They come in various colors of flexible rubber and are produced by Tru:Tek.  They are limited to a total of 15 pieces.

Purchase MAN-E-TOYS — The KinTiki H.U.S.T.L.E from UME Toys here

Critters Resin and Rubber Figures by Eric Nilla and Friends

<terrible pun> These Critters are a handful </terrible pun>

This movie terrified me as a kid.  But I can't help wanting to own one of these little guys.  Sculpted by Zectron and painted by Joe Whiteford, these Critters were cast by Eric Nilla and are available for pre-order from today (3-13) until Sunday at Noon for $25 plus shipping.

Pre-order resin

And if resin's not your thing you can get the same sculpt in black sparkly rubber for only $12!  Killer.

Pre-order rubber

+The Highest Fever 

MICROFEAR - Tiny Horror Scene Dioramas

Six scenes of tiny terror

A fantastic new Kickstarter has popped up, and it'll be especially interesting to all the miniature figure lovers and gamers out there.

MicroFear is a new line of tiny dioramas based on classic horror scenes from movies and books. Each piece is crafted with a process that retains impressive sculptural detail like you wouldn't believe, and at an incredibly small scale!

Note: Dioramas do not actually assemble themselves.

Each MicroFear comes with a wooden base, resin scenery, a bronze figure (those scenes with a figure) and even decorative items like real sand.  There are six scenes for this Kickstarter; The Mummy, Bigfoot, The Nanny (It was all for you!!), The House of the Sociopath (stay out of the shower), The Pit and the Pendulum, and Spook Shack.  I went with the fully painted and assembled Bigfoot level since my painting skills wouldn't come close to doing that thing justice.

MicroFears are fully funded but there's only ten days left to pick a reward level you want.  Rewards start at just $25.

MICROFEAR - Tiny dioramas based on iconic horror scenes

+The Highest Fever 

  

Steve Jackson Games Exclusive October Toys' OMFG Series 2

Fans of the Munchkin game series, G.U.R.P.S., Illuminati, and Cthulhu Dice know exactly who Steve Jackson is.  Today, October Toys revealed a Steve Jackson Games exclusive orange edition of the OMFG series 2 gang.  The set includes a Munchkin bookmark featuring Puke Knight, a member of  "The Overpowered Munchkin-Fighting Gentleman".  Head over to Warehouse 23 to get your set.

+The Highest Fever 

Throwback Thursday - Mighty Max

This is the first in a series of posts I'll be doing every Thursday, honoring the toys from our past and their influence today.  If you have any suggestions for toys you'd like to see on Throwback Thursday drop me an email!  - THF

Pictured: Concept artwork for the cancelled Mighty Max and the Giant Logo Playset

I was 11 back in 1992 when the Mighty Max toy line launched.  I can remember coming across them on a trip to Kmart and falling in love.  I've always had a special place for minifigures, having had LEGO, M.U.S.C.L.E, and Monsters in my Pocket figures previously.  But Mighty Max upped the ante.  Ultra-miniature figures, some even had a point of articulation, and entire playsets that could fit in your pocket!  This was action figure aisle's answer to your sister's Polly Pocket sets.

A small portion of the various sets and figures included in the Mighty Max line

But where Polly Pocket featured blondes and brunettes living it up in palm-sized dream houses and shopping malls, Mighty Max placed the titular hero in the "Horror Zone".  Transported via a magic ball cap (so sayeth the official backstory, because why not?) to a world filled with evil monsters and mad scientists, the world of Might Max allowed for a huge variety of playsets and figures.  I personally had the Skull Dungeon playset which came with Max, an Igor-esque mad scientist and a Frankenstein's monster lookalike.  

Might Max Escapes from Skull Dungeon!

The beauty of these sets were in the details.  Tons of tiny details sculpted in to every corner of the playsets. Bookshelves, stairs, cobblestone floors, bones and bugs, vials and bottles.  Everywhere you looked there was something interesting.  The Skull Dungeon playset, for instance, included a tilting table for bringing the monster to life along with tiny Tesla coils and of course a switch to throw.  

The Mighty Max line eventually expanded from the basic pocket-sized playsets to larger sets, like Trapped in Skull Island (boy there's a lot of skulls in this line) and even smaller sets like the Shrunken Heads series which mainly included enough room inside for one or two characters.  Even McDonald's got in on the action, including some exclusive sets in its Happy Meals.

Mighty Max may not have been in every boy's pocket in the early nineties, but it's influence was seen throughout the toy industry.  After seeing the popularity of the line, other companies jumped on the "tiny toys in slightly less tiny heads" fad.  I personally remember seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets.  Others included Godzilla, Batman and Galoob's Star Wars minifigure and vehicle line which are still popular, although unfortunately no longer produced, today.

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives - the Aftermarket Effect

A quick movie and toy tie-in review of what turned out to be an entertaining bit of cinema story animation, the LEGO movie, and it's two variant exclusive minifigures that most people are probably not even aware they can get free.. sort of.

The movie opened this weekend, which unless you live under a bin of Lego bricks, you did not need this blogger to inform you of that fact...

Now there have been exclusives before that had toy tie ins that you could get at theatres, the re-release of Star Wars did it with Jedi Luke, in two inadvertent variants (the brown vest and black vest versions, which I think were more an accident of manufacturing at the time, but I digress...), and LEGO took that same approach in what is panning out to be a more low key sort of action by offering two minifigures through two different movie chains, Regal Cinemas and AMC.

Shown here is the LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives for AMC, which as of 4 hours ago I got into my grubby little hands. This variant is one of the Robot DJs that were in the movie, wearing what looks like an homage logo design of the real world Lego Master Builder Academy's logo.

Now if you cannot tell from my ticket purchase above, I saw the AMC 2D version, and there was little to no signage advertising the fact that these figures were available. Even the ticket lady was not sure they had them, but if they did, the ticket taker would know more.

Observational note - [How is there a separate job for this? How do you apply for that ticket tearing job? I'd love to apply for that job with a bucket of paper confetti and pour it out saying "I believe my resume speaks for itself..."]

So as shown above, I did manage to get this fellow and he is a great little robot character, good clean lines on the graphics, great unique hair sculpt, nice extra detail with the wallet chain (that seems to be a little variant as I have seen the chain on both the left and right leg now, but considering the hair sculpt is reversed as well on the packaging, this could just be a bit of photoshop error on some package designer's part).

The advert shown above was misleading in that this exclusive was to be reserved for the 3D showings but this location here in KC had no issues giving out one PER TICKET, as stated, but some locations were doing it wrong and doing it per TRANSACTION.

LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusive for Regal Crown Cinemas, which I am going to have to resort to either ebay, or my comic convention travels to attain evidently, as there is only one Regal Crown here in KC and I might have missed the boat on this exclusive, we'll see how this pans out for me.

Now the one shown above is of the main character "Emmit in sleepwear" (voiced by Chris Pratt), and out of the two of these, seems to already be making it's mark on the aftermarket pricing I am seeing showing up on ebay. Some listings are already at upwards of $40.

Which brings me to the latter portion of the reason I titled this "LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives - the Aftermarket Effect". As a toy collector, I have a love hate relationship with aspects of exclusivity, which in the 80's caused crazy things like Wonder Bread He-Man to become a holy grail for He-Man enthusiasts to this very day, caused the Pixar Cars line to bring parents of all kinds to front line retail store warfare with Hot Wheels collectors, and brings about equal amounts of joy, pride, frustration, and customer satisfaction when it happens like no other aspect of toy collecting.

From a marketing standpoint, like my last review, this makes sense for LEGO to do this, as both of these figures will no doubt be considered part of the Series 10 minifigure releases by simple fact of time of release and scarcity and both are nice niche renditions of characters in this movie.

I feel that a balance needs to be struck when it's in a more mass market sort of aspect like these two minifigures are part of. One that could maybe help prevent the crazy price gouging that the collector community can suffer from, often under self inflated prices. What that answer is, I don't know.

But I'd love to hear how many of you even knew about this promotion, or how you feel about these kinds of local/restricted giveaways. There are from what I've just found out as well tonight, exclusives available also from pre-ordering the Lego Movie video game as well as one that is only available at LegoLand amusement centers.

Show above in the inset, "Western Emmet" only available with the pre-order of the LEGO Movie game tie-in, and "Emmet with Piece de Resistance" that is currently available at your local LegoLand attraction venues.

They certainly differ from the more upscale artist line sort of toys that I believe deserve a more limited run like stuff from Kid Robot and the like, I see a difference in audience and buyers for those.

So if you get the chance, and you have either one of these cinema houses near you, it never hurts to ask, and you might just get some free toys out of it, instead of going the ebay route. The movie was really great, and hit a chord with me on a pretty deep level, especially the end. I won't ruin it for anyone.

Till next time (when I'll dive into my first Sega item review), this is Mario, the Artisan Rogue.

@theartisanrogue

October Toys' SDCC Exclusives: Blue and Yellow OMFG S2 and Baby Deadbeets

Fans of little rubber guys better add a stop by Booth 4591 at this year's San Diego Comic Con (you know you were going to anyways) and check out the exclusive offerings from October Toys!

Brought to you with exclusive header packaging, each set of SDCC Blue OMFG (Outlandish Mini Figure Guys) Series 2 includes five collectible 2” PVC mini figures – Shirtle designed by Kenjitron & George Gaspar, Cry-borg by Andrew Scribner, Cuddlehard by turboPISTOLA, Grimm Gourd by Greg Merreighn, Charles Marsh, and Mike Fleming Jr., and Puke Knight by Jared DeCosta (with alternate color Puke!).

Alternate. Color. Puke. 

The SDCC OMFG Series 2 sets will be $10.00 each.

And my personal fav, Baby Deadbeets, are getting an SDCC exclusive color as well.  

Clocking in at 1.5″ of PVC goodness, each set of Baby Deadbeets includes one SDCC Yellow and one SDCC Blue mini figure in exclusive header packaging. Designed by Scott Tolleson and sculpted by George Gaspar.

The blue and yellow Baby Deadbeets will be sold as a set for $4.

via October Toys

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

You can find OMFG Series One and an exclusive OMFG White Series 2 here!

Custom Articulated Sawtooth Battle Beasts minifigures from Sandtastic Toys now available

Just announced via the Sandtastic Toys FB page, two new minifigures by Sandbagger Jr Deem.  The Sawtooth Battle Beasts comes in two fantastic color ways, crystal clear Stealth resin and Keshi metallic blue urethane.  Both feature articulated arms, just like the original figures!

Grab them here.

You can find another limited piece of custom resin from Sandbagger in our store.  The Super Sandbagger Death Nipples Tenacious Exclusive Ocean Galaxy edition 7-inch resin figure.  Could there be a cooler name?

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

These Spelunky Minis have dug right out of XBLA and into the palm of your hand!

The blind box series Spelunky Minis by Derek Yu are based on characters from his popular Xbox Live Arcade Spelunky games.  The set features ten unique figures.  The styling of these figures are great.  They really look like they leapt right out of the game.  Available at FanGamer in blind boxes for just $5 each, you can also purchase the full set for $40!*

*Currently, the full sets are out of stock but a waiting list is available.

via SpelunkyWorld

-The Highest Fever
@thehighestfever

Titan Vinyl readying the release of Doctor Who Series 2 blind box set

Titan Vinyl, creators of the first Doctor Who mini figure series based on the adventures of the 11th Doctor, are getting ready to release the next series in that line.  This new series will focus on the 10th Doctor and feature classic villains like Davros and the Sontaran and newer characters such as the Weeping Angel and Vashta Nerada from Silence in the Library.

This set will go on sale August 1st of this year and is available for pre-order now.

via Lunartik.com

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

More info on Topps Garbage Pail Kids minifigures

This series just gets better and better.  Topps will be producing a full 130pc set including four different colorway chase figures for each character.

via MAN-E-NEWS

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

Splatterhouse and Ghouls n' Ghosts mini figures

There's very little info that I can find on these but they're too awesome not to share.  I really hope to see a full line-up of old school gaming figures. Arthur from Ghouls n' Ghosts and Rick Taylor from Splatterhouse 2.  

The Capcom branding on the back of the figure is a cool touch.

Zoomoth.com (site in Japanese)

-The Highest Fever

@thehighestfever

Don't Deadbeet around the bush!

Imma just break it down like this:

Exhibit A: Killer concept by Scott Tolleson

Exhibit B: Killer sculpt by George Gaspar of October Toys, scaled with OMFG figures

Exhibit C: 2 FREAKIN' DOLLARS EACH!?  Awesome.

Exhibit D: First Class Shipping option (so your $2 minifigure doesn't cost $11 to ship - a pet peeve of mine)

I did not feel guilty about buying these immediately and neither should you.

- Ahren

New O.M.F.G. AP series - King Castor

File under: HOW DID I MISS THIS?!

The King Castor O.M.F.G. Artist Proof has been released.  Buy it here for $6 or get an AP with sketch card for $12.  The original flesh color is also available for $3 each.

I have gone on record that this is my favorite Series 1 figure.  I have ordered my AP with sketch (and an extra flesh one because I am weak).

Also, if you haven't pre-ordered your O.M.F.G. Series 2 (in Tenacious Toys White here, complete list here) what are you waiting for?

- Ahren