Star Wars Itty Bitty: BB-8

My BB-8 Itty Bitty is several years old, and honestly, he looks it. He's beautiful, but not as white as he used to be. Let's have a look:

Easily recognisable. The main body is a roughly spherical piece with the characteristic orange and grey markings, and the "head" is more of a hemi-sphere, with what feels like a piece of rigid plastic keeping it in shape. It's got the black "eye" and a few more markings. The marking is all printed, and continues the whole way around BB-8:

He is exceptionally cute. He's not quite as cuddly as Catwoman, because of the piece of plastic in his head. See this picture?

That's the plastic there in the bottom. It does a great job at giving him shape though.

As with almost all things, there's labels! Here's what the label says:

Yeah, boring stuff, but it does have the Hallmark logo to prove it's credentials. The other side has washing instructions, so maybe some day soon I'll see about returning him to his former whiteness.

The design is pretty much perfect. It might have been interesting if the markings were done by embroidery rather than printing. Could be cool if they do another version with an extra piece added to make BB-8's welding torch. A fair number of Itty Bittys have extra bits like that.

I got my BB-8 when I got my Catwoman, and I love both of them. I am of the opinion that Itty Bittys are one of the best lines of merchandise available - they're high quality, a versatile design, and Hallmark are doing a pretty good job. I'll probably talk more about my opinion of the line another time.

Of course, my fondness for them might be influenced by my being of the female persuasion. I love Star Wars, and superheroes and Star Trek, which are traditionally more masculine, but I also love the soft toys, more traditionally feminine. It's interesting, isn't it? Most stereotypes have a degree of reality in them, so I won't discount the possibility of my female nature influencing my preferences. That said, I don't particularly care. I like what I like, no matter why I like it. Just amusing to speculate.

Well, I'll be talking about Itty Bittys again soon, I'm sure. 'Til next time.

DC Superheroes Itty Bitty: Catwoman

Today's reviewed critter dates back to when I started really collecting, in 2016. This is Catwoman, from Hallmark's Itty Bitty collection of soft toys, aka plushies. Catwoman first appeared in the comic Batman issue 1, all the way back in 1940, where she was called simply The Cat, and spends the entire story in disguise. She doesn't appear in costume until Batman issue 3. Her catsuit goes through numerous incarnations, and this one is one of her grey outfits used largely in the late eighties and early nineties. Let's take a look at her:

The most recognisable aspect is the cat ears, with the mask covering the top half of her face, her yellow belt, and black on most of her arms and on the bottom of her torro representing her long gloves and thigh-high boots. If we turn her around, we can see another cat-like feature:

Her tail.  And so, we have Catwoman.

Her look is a little out-dated - although not as much as the purple dress with the green cape - and it probably isn't so recognizable as the black leather. But I suppose Hallmark could be holding the black in reserve for if/when the DC Cinematic 'verse brings her in. That said, I like her. I like her very much. She's cute, easily recognisable as who she's meant to be, and a well-made little toy.

Let's have a closer look at her tag.

The other side has the Hallmark logo. I wouldn't say it's the most exciting thing, but I do appreciate the manufacturer's marks.

Other thing worth noting is a little thing on her tail.

There's a fissure in the printed stuff that makes up her tail. Pretty sure that's happened since I got her. It's tiny, and scarely noticeable, but you can see how there's printed detail unlike the embroidered detail on the face.

So, that's my first itty bitty reviewed, and also the first itty bitty I bought.and I do really, really like her. She's soft and snuggly, and a beautiful interpretation of a classic character.

Star Wars Action Figure: Wampa (1981)

This is one of my most recent acquistions, and the oldest to date! This is a wampa, the abominable snowman type creature on Hoth at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back, where it attacks Luke, kills and eats his riding beast, and is going to eat Luke when Luke cuts it's arm off with his father's lightsaber. Interestingly, there were some deleted scenes where a wampa got into the Rebels' base, and ran amok until they shut it in a corridor with a warning sign on the door. When the Empire attacks and the Rebels evacuate, C-3PO removes the warning sign, and a couple of snowtroopers open the door only to get mauled by the previously-trapped wampa. It would have been nice if those scenes had made the final cut, but they wouldn't have really added much to the story, and they already had enough sub-plots, with Vader's search for Luke, Luke's training, Han and Leia getting close etc.

Anyway. This creature figure was made by Kenner, the original license-holders, in 1981, around the time ESB was released. It should be no surprise to learn I got this second hand. It was loose, with no packaging, and has been without packaging for some time. Let's have a look:

Isn't that a terrifying monster? He's got scary horns around his face, strong arms and big claws. His arms and legs move, and he stands well unsupported. You can't see it too well from the photo, but his arms and torso are made from a different plastic to the legs, and the two types have aged differently. The legs are still a fairly bright white, but appear to have a slight pink tinge. The torso and arms have yellowed. They're mostly a sort of cream, with some orange-brown pieces. The worst of this orange-brown is behind the ears, as this photo shows:

So he's not exactly mint, but he is still in very good condition. Likewise, the paint on his paws and claws is only a little chipped and rubbed:

That's a little chip near the side of the paw and rubs at the edge of the claws. The large unpainted streak from the heel of the paw is part of the design, not wear and tear.

I don't mind these defects. They give it a little character while still leaving it in good condition.

The wampa also has an action feature, where if you pull the arm back, it will swing back into postion and give a firm clout to any figure in the way. Unfortunately, my wampa can only do this with it's left arm. I think it's a slight degradation of the plastic on the right shoulder joint. But let's see that left arm pulled back:

It's not easy trying to hold him in position with one hand - the arm keeps trying to swing back!

This picture also gives a slightly better look at the contrast between the aging of the two types of plastic, if you look at where the right arm is resting on the leg.

The legs also have molded marks on the back:

The leg on the left has the copyright symbol followed by "LUCASFILM", with the year "1981" written below. The leg on the right says "MADE IN HONG KONG". Of course, because the molded words are going on top of the fur pattern, they're a little hard to read, and did require some tilting. I'm not entirely sure if the Country of Origin mark has any significance, but I like the date stamp - a reminder of how old this little treasure is!

The molding and design leaves a little to be desired, what with the advances in toy design over the last 40-odd years. But I love the swinging arms, and the paws and face. And this is my first bit of vintage Star Wars, something special in and of itself. I do really, really like it.

Star Wars Lego: Escape the Space Slug

This is a promotional kit released for May the Fourth events in 2016. Not having been to the invitation-only events, I've bought it second-hand from eBay, because it is sweet. It is a vignette of a scene in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where Han, Leia, Chewie and C-3PO aboard the Millenium Falcon take refuge from Imperial pursuers in an asteroid field, and land in a cavern that turns out to be the mouth of a giant space slug.

Let's have look at the box:

Looks good, but a bit small. And is that a teeny tiny Millenium Falcon?

Why, yes, it is the smallest Lego 'Falcon ever! Can't wait. Time to open the box.

 Looks like a lot of dark tan and grey. I'll have a bit of a rummage.

There's the instructions, and one bag of bricks. Building time.

Here's the first bit, the asteroid. Lots of dark tan. It's a bit tricky to interpret the instructions, because so much is tan-on-tan, but there's nothing particularly difficult about the construction. Putting all the little bits together to create the more textured look was fun.

The second section is the slug. The mouth is on a hinge, and opens and closes fairly well, although the clip on the tongue stops it closing completely.

 And that is the Falcon! I feel like I can't overstate how tiny that thing is. It's hardly larger than a two-by-two. The transparent blue is nice, it really gives the impression of speedy engines. Final step, clip everything together:

And isn't it lovely?

I do really, really like it, but because it's an exclusive, it's seriously expensive. One of these, new in box from eBay, would set you back the best part of three hundred pounds. Mine was already opened, and still cost me ninety. I don't regret it, but it was a lot of money for not that much kit. That said, there's something extra about knowing it's an exclusive. And it was a brilliant build. Maybe if it had seen a regular release, I would be happier. But I stand by my earlier statement, it is sweet. Both in the cute-sense, and in the awesome-sense, but not in the sugary-taste-sense.

That is gorgeous.

Star Wars Micro Machines: DoubleTakes Death Star Playset

Today I'm writing up my review of the Micro Machines DoubleTakes playset, Star Wars' Death Star. I actually unboxed, assembled and photographed it over two months ago - it was a Christmas present to myself. But because I photographed it while unboxing, you should get a good flavour of what to expect.

First, let's have a look at the box.

Isn't that lovely? The painting, I do believe, is a piece of Ralph McQuarrie concept art, and of course there's a wee photo of a kid playing with it. It is quite a large box; I'd estimate it at about 75x45x30 cm. I bought it at a little independent shop, which didn't have any bags big enough for it, and consequently had to cart it around for the rest of my shopping trip, which did include some time in the local Christmas market.

Anyway, let's have a look inside.

Safely held down with cardboard and tape, we can see the playset already opened to reveal the planet Tatooine, and what looks like a hanger in the Death Star. It's a little plain at the moment, and not quite complete. So, let's pull it out and see what's what.

And there we have it. There are two pieces to attach - the top of the Death Star and a small flap - a Millenium Falcon, some figures, and the main body of the playset.

Here are the figures, and the Millenium Falcon. This Falcon is the normal size for a Micro Machines vehicle, which follow a set size rather that a set scale. The big animal in the middle is a Ronto, being ridden by a Jawa. It's a background creature, but looks very nice. The two small beasties on the same plate are called "scurriers" on the box, but are probably womp rats. Those are the things Luke mentions shooting later in the film when talking about the plan to shoot the Death Star exhaust. Unfortunately, we don't have a Luke here to shoot them. We have Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, Aunt Beru, and Uncle Owen. Ben has his lightsaber out, perfect for lobbing the arms off volatile cantina-goers, Beru is hollering for one of the menfolk to attend her, and Owen is in the middle of bargaining for some droids - or he would be if the Jawa on the Ronto had any droids.

While the lack of main characters is a little annoying, the minor and background ones here will really flesh out a collection, and main characters aren't too difficulet to get anyway. If I had to change the line-up, I'd have included a droid. The "Droids" collector's pack (which I will review some other time) has most of the droids the Jawas offer, but there's probably at least one more they could have given. It would also have been fun if there was a Cantina alien - I think the only one offered in any set is Greedo. Then again, the Action Fleet line had a battlepack of just cantina denizens, which are only a little larger-scale.

One thing I have to give Galoob, is that the figures are lovely. They don't have a wealth of detail, but they're tiny enough for that to be fine. Especially in comparison to the figures Hasbro produced in their attempt to resurrect the line a few years ago, these figures are well-made, well-painted, and feel like they're made to last.

Let's see what else is in the box:

Yes, it's instructions and a sticker sheet. If you consult the above pictures, you can see that some stickers were pre-applied, because some of the molded pieces were fitted over them. This is the case for the sandtroopers behind the molded dewback in the middle. In case you're getting confused, the cantina band on the top Tatooine level aren't stickers, they're molded. It's kind of annoying, because the stickers are quite fiddly to stick on, and clearly Galoob could apply them themselves. But, I don't enough about toy manufacture to know how difficult adding this quantity of stickers would be.

The stickers are beautiful. The circular piece showing a space scene and the troopers standing around inside the Death Star are particularly gorgeous, and the round ones for the tables in the cantina and the homestead a brilliant idea. But the black strips with the red bars are hard to figure out, and everything's a bit of a pain, honestly. Several times I had to peel off and reapply a sticker beacuse it ended up wonky - or in the wrong place, in the case of the red-barred strips.

The final result is worth it:

It's got so much depth and detail! Let's look closer at some of it:

We've got the lower portion, for Beru to call Luke back from, and the homestead opens up to reveal a set table and three stools around it. The brown crate next to the entrance can be pressed to make the dome of a landmine pop up, and to the right, the burned remains of Owen and Beru can be revealed by flipping over a small sandy block. Now that's a feature that wouldn't be added nowadays!

Let's follow the molded tracks to another area.

The womp rats are scurrying, but watch out! If they jump on the little orange rock, a Tusken Raider will pop up and shoot them! Obviously, this would work better with the Tusken ambushing Luke. The tracks then lead up to a doorway in a cliff face, before heading back to the centre of the playset.

If you look to the left of the lower staircase, there's a bit of orange-brown molding with a wee sticker that makes the shape of a sandcrawler. Now we know what was leaving the tracks. It's come back to Mos Eisely to pick up it's crewman and his Ronto. Up the next set of stairs, Ben is menacing a nearly-empty cantina with his lightsaber. The stickers show the patrons enjoying their drinks, but staying well away from the scary wizard. And up the last set of stairs is the band - molded, as I mentioned earlier.

The last section is the interior of the Death Star:

The Falcon gets stuck on a rod representing the tractor beam, and pulled in through the hatch. The hanger is lit with red lights in the floor, and many stormtroopers are painted on the wall stickers. Should the Falcon take off, she can fly around on the clear rod in the middle before exiting:

And when she does exit, there's a new rod to sit on with a sticker-backdrop of a bunch of TIE fighters coming at her. The centre circle rotates when a piece of the exterior molding is turned. If you have a TIE of some variety, you could even stick it on the other rod so they can chase each other in circles. But finally, the Falcon must leave.

And it all folds up into one Death Star. The clear rod pokes out through a hole in the side, and that's what the Falcon is sitting on. But there are also a number of pegs that can be stuck into the trench around the middle for the Falcon or other vehicles to fly around the outside. The spherical superweapon is stuck on a stand with the Star Wars logo, and on the lower half, at the right of the picture above, there's a small handle, or lever, to help open up the Death Star again. It's not the easiest to open and close, but it's a really clever design.

As I mentioned at the start, I've had this for just over two months now. Since taking all these photos, I managed to knock it off my desk a time or two. This had the unfortunate effect of snapping two of the pegs on the trench in two. Luckily, there are spares. Also, the stickers haven't all stayed in place very well - I suspect it might be the ones I had to reapply once or twice. They're peeling, not sticking. This is sad, but it may well be my fault for peeling them off first, and anyway, they are over twenty years old.

These setbacks have not detered my enjoyment of this set. I love it. It's not perfect, but then again, what is? When more Galoob Micro Machines are added to it, it should be even better. It's certainly worthy of it's place on my desk.

Marvel Superheroes Lego: Outrider Dropship Attack

Today I'm reviewing a set I got for Christmas, and made up before photographing. This is the Outrider Dropship Attack set from Lego's Marvel Avengers: Infinity War wave.

As you can see, it consists of a small ship with two Outriders, opposed by Captain America and Black Widow.

For context: Outriders are troops sent by Thanos to retrieve the Infinity Stones. This set is for their assault on Wakanda, where Vision went to have the Infinity Stone in his forehead removed safely so it could be destroyed.

Here's another look at the box.

I managed to miss the second Outrider piloting the dropship, so I was a little surprised when I started rummaging through the pieces and found the second set of plain black legs - I couldn't find Cap's navy legs straight away either, which did lead to the fear the set was wrong. Boy was I glad when I worked it out.

Shown between Cap and the Outrider on the box is the blue Infinity Stone. I'm pretty sure this represents the Space Stone, which was actually taken out of the Tesseract in Loki's possession on the Asgard refugee ship earlier in the film. Each of the six Infinity War sets have an Infinity Stone, and they don't strictly correspond with scenes from the film, due to Thanos' claiming of the stones being sometimes not particularly set-worthy, and in one instance completely off-screen. The six sets give a good flavour of the film without being as unappealing for children as, say, a ship full of corpses (frankly, I'd be put off too), so I think this is a nice compromise to give the chance to collect 'em all.

This set has four gems and two gold settings. As you can see in my first picture, I've given one of them to Cap to hold onto.

The main build is, of course, the dropship.

It unfolds to give space for both Outriders, and folds up again for a more aerodynamic look. It has a pair of stud-shooters, those tricky little lever-and-socket pieces that fire a little piece of plastic at high velocity, and so come with a warning graphic to tell little hellions not to shoot each other in the face with them. I'm not sure how useful this is, but does nothing for the equally vexing but less litigation-worthy problem of the studs getting pinged across the room and never seen again.

There's a reason sets with stud-shooters have plenty of spare studs.

The dropship has five stickers. Four are used to give the twisty teal markings clearly visible on the box art. The fifth is semi-concealed within the ship:

A very nice little control panel. The Lego Group has fairly frequently done control panels as printed pieces, but they also use stickers for them quite a bit. The piece the sticker is applied to is a four-by-one with studs at either end and smooth in the middle, so perhaps it would have been a little too tricky to print to be worth it? Regardless, the panel looks very good, even if I did apply the sticker off-centre.

The other Outrider has his own hidden surprise:

Whoops, he's got the Stone! As I said earlier, there are four stones and two mounts. The stones are actually made of a softer plastic, and come as a ring with all four still attached. They're fairly easy to twist off, and there's no really stub left over. Might be a little challenging for the younger builder, but the stones themselves look very neat. TLG could have used the old diamond design, but this new design better captures the oval shape of the Stones, and gives a thinner stalk to insert into the golden mounts. I think it looks less flashy and more mystic, which would be exactly the right image.

Finally, we have the four figures:

The Outriders have a very effective gold-on-black print, and have a neck bracket to attach four extra arms each. This gives them a very chunky feel, and make them a little difficult to fit into the dropship. Cap has two small shields gifted to him by T'Challa, aka Black Panther, as his iconic circle shield was lost in Civil War. Black Widow has also changed her appearance drastically as a result of that film, now featuring blonde hair and a largely green outfit. To my mind, this makes her nigh unrecognisable when rendered in Lego, but that would be the fault of the film producers rather than TLG.

For a small set, four figures is generous. As with the Stones, the main characters are nicely scattered through the six sets, so adding two little troopers is good to see.

Overall, this is a very good little set. I'm very happy with it, and enjoyed building it.

Welcome!

Hi.

I'm something of a collector.

I'm focusing on four main themes:
Star Wars
Star Trek
DC Superheroes
Marvel Superheroes

Within these, I collect four main product lines:
Lego
3.75" Action Figures
Micro Machines
Itty Bitty soft toys (from Hallmark)

I've decided to start a blog to share my new-found treasures, and also to critique and review them, and maybe speculate a little on what I'd have done differently, or would like to see made.

Hope you enjoy!