Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Review - Daft Punk Discovery Helmets Ornament Set

What better time to review a couple of Christmas decorations than January?

Isn't it wild that Daft Punk's been dead for three-ish years, now? Well, kinda. For a group that's officially called it quits, Daft sure keeps chugging along. They just released a drumless edition of 2013's Random Access Memories... for some reason... as well as an extended version featuring all kinds of wicked unheard demos and alternate cuts, such as the grand finale single, Infinity Repeating. The band's "over", sure, but one cant help but feel it's yet to truly end when there's still so much new content to be enjoyed - even if it happens to be... drumless? I can't complain.

Call it cool, call it sell-out behavior - all I know is, naturally, the temporarily dormant Daft Punk merch machine is back up and running, and I love me some funny French robots. Most of the new offerings are your run of the mill sweatshop classics - printed tees, a bag or two, we've seen it all before. One band's merch page is every band's merch page. However, there's at least one item that'll definitely catch any collector's eye - the Discovery helmet ornaments set. 

Daft's made three varieties of these ornaments over the years, based on their various helmet designs; 2014's classic RAM set, 2016's white and gold Grammy performance set, and 2017's neon Discovery set, which was reissued for this holiday season. 

Daft's Discovery getup was revolutionary for the band, introducing the silver and gold cybernetic personas we immediately associate with the band today. Though Discovery's costume designs have been phased out in favor of the more iconic, basic look introduced with the following album Human After All, the Discovery look is definitely my favorite of the bunch - and certainly the most complicated; both helmets lined with dozens of flashing neon lights, pixellated screens and psychedelic rainbows. They're seen all throughout Discovery's related media, from single covers to action figures, and totally represent the hyper-futurefunk album. I think they're put to their best use in the haunting alternative music video to Something About Us

The ornaments come packaged in a slick black box, the Daft Punk logo in white across it's face with their seal of quality and further legal crap hidden on it's back. It's nothing flashy, but matches the usual Daft aesthetic and looks co next to the robots themselves. Collector friendly, too! Both Punks are secured by thick Styrofoam and tissue paper, and can be easily stored back inside after opening. You love to see it.

Getting on to it, these guys are, simply, sick. Each and every little detail matches the real duo, right down to Thomas' groovy smile and Guy-Man's rows on rows of LEDs. A small bump on the top of their heads loosely secures a thin decorated metal base to their strings, which are color coded to silver and gold respectively. Cool little detail. While this does mean their strings are easily removable, they don't look so hot with hollow little spouts poking out of their skulls. I'd leave them in ornament mode.

Their paint decos are clean, with no slop whatsoever. Both ornaments are mirror reflective, with a matte, but still shiny finish to their visor screens and a touch of glitter over their holly-jolly red text. Just as sleek as the real helmets.

At about four inches tall, these guys may not immediately look very big onscreen, but they're just over the size of your average ornament - not too huge, but still perfectly eye catching. They're not as heavy as I expected, being hollow, but aren't fragile at all. 

At about $50 retail as of 2023, they're a bit expensive; though, in past years, they've gone up to the hundreds on eBay. I think their current price is more or less fair, only $5 more than their original 2018 price, though it's definitely still a little inflated for exclusivity's sake. For fifty bucks, it would've been nice if they were fitted with actual miniature light effects. 

Nevertheless, I think they're simple, effective, and most importantly, unique - what can I say, I got a thing for weird holiday stuff. They're an eye catching addition to my Daft Punk collection and I'd love to see more takes on the concept; how about the neon red Alive 2007 helmets, or the chrome TRON: Legacy look? 

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Review - KidRobot Gorillaz Phase Two 2-D (CMYK Edition)

KidRobot's Gorillaz figures are some of the best the band's ever made, particularly the sets based on the Demon Days/"Phase Two" artwork. The group's used them more than once in official music videos, just about every rabid fan owns one, and the scalpers have gone wild. The true mark of a quality toy.

As I mentioned in my Murdoc review, each figure came in a really well designed (and collector friendly!) box featuring all sorts of character specific art. The figure's great, sure, but I think he's really only half the package - pun somewhat intended. The box is just as much of a display piece itself, to the point where you might even want to leave 2-D sealed. But where's the fun in that?

Taking after the illustration on the figure's box, 2-D's sculpt is pretty much perfect; using many elements of the earlier Phase One figure, with a harsher, blockier spin that really reflects Gorillaz' evolving art style. In some small ways this throws off the likeness, but it's nevertheless an awesome take, and in my opinion, the face's angular depth is a very striking translation of 2-D's then simplistic design. I love the bulging black eyes, his thin, noodly body, clown-size shoes, hunched back, jagged hair, busted overbite - he's the spitting image of the drugged out, half-gothic 2-D of 2005. I also dig his appropriately vacant expression; it's an intense glare, or a cool toothless grin. The hair's flat, bulky shape and sculpted detail really capture the original illustrations, as well as those massive Hewlett hands. Love 'em. It's awesome in every way.

2-D's caught mid-performance, complete with a standing microphone accessory. It comes in three separate pieces - top microphone half, middle metal bar, and the base. Sadly, it barely stays together, slipping apart at the slightest touch. Nine out of ten times you see this guy on the second market, you're only getting that top half. 2-D's right hand grips the microphone while the other hangs open, so besides the accesory's flimsy construction, you shouldn't have any problem losing pieces on display. Just breathe carefully. 

Standing at about 8"s, he's right in scale with the rest of the crew, but notably smaller than the preceeding KidRobots and later SuperPlastic series. Though Gorillaz certainly has a thing for scaling up the crew, I think this scale strikes somewhere perfectly in the middle. It's catchy, y'know? 2-D is a towering zombie of a man, so having him slouch just above the your average action figure works really well; and furthermore, he's just easier to display and move around at this size. Speaking of... 

Also unlike the majority of Gorillaz figures, 2-D has a couple points of articulation; specifically, both shoulders. It's limited, but you can manage some cool poses with and without the mic stand. Also worth noting is the storied secret third point of articulation; as with Murdoc, 2-D has a tendency to lose his head - literally - so, assuming your figure's shambled apart the way mine have, you can manage some limited swivel movement out of 2-D's neck. Nothing much, but it's cool for photos.

That said, these figure's build quality is somewhere between expectedly high end, and strangely flimsy. There's often a pretty big crossover between the two in the world of "art toys". He's mostly very sturdy, but pieces tend to be very loosely assembled, and while he's not exactly "breakable" or fragile, the figure's a bit touchy. It's probably something to do with Hewlett's already abstract designs, the figures somewhat limited production, and, of course, their age. As already mentioned, the microphone is pretty jank, 2-D's head topples off very easily, and I've seen some with disconnected torsos entirely. Time does not work wonders on glue. These build issues are very fixable, as these parts typically pop right back in, but it is what it is.

The paint work is excellent, with virtually no slop or missed lines. He looks fantastic - almost like a digital model, in the right lighting. I really love the dark blue spray giving some depth to his polygonal hair. It's only real issue are the seemingly misplaced eyebrow decos; as you can see in the photos, the sculpted detials seem to suggest they should be painted right along his massive honkin' caveman brow, but, for some strange reason, they were placed at an angle just slightly above. I've never seen a 2-D without this issue, which leads me to think it must've been some odd creative choice - hell, even the Phase One figure sort of has this problem. It doesn't break the deal, but it can look a bit weird. Nevertheless, while it's not a terribly complex paint job, it's cleanness and eye catching simplitity makes for a proper artistic figure. 

The CMYK 2-D is one of Gorillaz' best collectibles, and a total must-have - provided, you're either very lucky, or willing to fork out what eBay's asking. In my opinion, even those inflated prices are more or less worth it, especially if you're a big fan; though he's comparatively small, and has some QC issues, it's still a real stunning and cool take on good old Mr. Pot. 

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Looking at... Cancelled Futurama Toys

Futurama's one of my favorite shows, and it's just come back (baby) for a... somewhat mixed new semi-season - but hey, we'll see where this "Hulurama" goes. I'm there - I've caught every new episode and I'm pretty excited for the rest. Even if that new episode "The Prince and The Product" was the actual worst thing I've ever seen. Also the Covid episode. Also the western episode.

Back around Futurama's third revival on Comedy Central, manufacturer Toynami took over as the go-to guys running the Futurama junk machine. By the end of the reboot's two seasons, Toynami had released not only the entire Planet Express crew, but loads of cool, unique side characters and variants really made for fans. My favorites are the very rare Dr. Zoidberg, the 8" talking golden Bender, and the huge rotocast monster robot maniac, Destructor. As the TV series was quickly coming to a close, however, a few planned figures were left unreleased - and unfortunately, they're definitely some of the coolest we could've had. 

First revealed around 2011, waves 10 and 11 would've consisted of Clamps, Joey Mousepad, the Donbot, and evil Bender lookalike Flexo, with deluxe vinyl figures Lrrr and Morbo listed separately. All of these sculpts are among the series' best - Toynami's sculpts often fell into that static rigor mortis pose a lot of Matt Groening merchandise ends up taking, but here, the already unique designs of each character really help make them stand out on the shelf - in spite of, or even, adding some charm to their basic poses. Even, y'know, bearded Bender. 

Morbo had originally been planned as the build a figure spanning a previous wave, before being upgraded and reworked as a vinyl. Fans on Futurama forum Planet Express Employee Lounge (PEEL) took a particular liking to the figure, and even suggested to a Toynami company representative the idea of crowdfunding towards its release. Soon later, an advertisement at the 2013 Comic Con advertised a Kickstarter campaign for Morbo; though, for one reason or another - most likely the liscencing itself running out - it never came to be.

Lrrr, Ruler of Planet Omicron Persei 8... the other deluxe figure, had previously been planned for a main series release before being replaced by Amy, and, as with Morbo, was later reimagined as a vinyl. It was speculated that had the Morbo Kickstarter gone through, Lrrr could've gotten a chance next - a man can dream, though.

Ever since first binging through the series on some virus-filled bootleg website, The Robot Devil's always been one of my favorite characters - he's a wicked parody of old-school swinger demons, Forbidden Zone stuff, complete with catchy jazz numbers, dark humor and flamboyant rage. Sort of my thing. Naturally, the lost figure I wanted the most, was the 8" talking Robot Devil; revealed around the same time as a prototype closely resembling the original Robot Devil build-a-figure. In my opinion, it and the original figure's sculpt is... rough - still cool, but not very good. The set-in eyes do it no favors. Imperfect sculpts are especially apparent with the series' robotic characters, who themselves already look very well defined and three dimensional onscreen. 

The Build-A-Bot and Talking Robot Devils

Later, an excellent resculpted take on Beelzebot was unveiled posing atop a wicked unique Robot Hell base housing the speaker. I assume it was for tooling/display purposes only, but man, it really made for an awesome looking piece. This second version picked up the ball and looked just perfect - as if the Devil himself demonically lept through the TV screen, yodeling showtunes and sardonic one-liners. Following in the footsteps of the aforementioned talking Bender, the Devil would've been a large scale, partially bendable figure with a built-in voice feature, as well as his cool little future pitchfork thingie. Sadly, the hellish base was, of course, nowhere to be seen for it's final release... which, of course, went unreleased.

I think, if they had been given the time and opportunity, Toynami should've gone forward with more large scale figures - especially if it meant new, improved sculpts such as the Devil's; I'd love an 8" Fry, Roberto or Zoidberg. The talking Bender is very well made, and it's too bad it and it's golden variant were the only large scale figures to actually release; among the last, and best, of Toynami's Futurama products. 

Friday, September 1, 2023

The Idalia Chronicles - Captain Gonzo's Furball

It's 6:43 AM; another night at the ole Motel 6, and it's storming hard. Gusting 20 mile per hour winds, apparently a "category four" - not that I, y'know, have any idea what that means. I've lived, or, more accurately, slept, through plenty of Hurricanes in my Interment here in the sunny Purgatory of Florida; but I must admit, it's different when you're holed up on floor two of a ghetto joint built in the tourist boom of the '60s. This ain't no Hilton. The scenic palm tree towering across the way is looking scarier than usual, wobbling like a limp wiener gone skydiving. Ah, well - least I got Cartoon Network and the magic of social media to distract me. I don't get scared often, but the automated robotic storm alerts that keep incessantly cutting through my beloved cartoons shakes me to the core just about every time. I think its some oddly specific, but potent trauma from being woken up in the middle of the night by that terrible muffled alarm tone as a child. Even bank phone calls or text-to-speech tools give me the jitters. Is there a word for the abnormal fear of lo-fi mechanical voices? 

How about... Robophobe. Sure. 

So far tonight, I've called friends, drawn, and sat by the shower listening to one YouTube documentary or another. Mostly Red Cow Arcade and Joon the King. I may have a strange aversion to monotonous, disembodied, automated messages, but I really enjoy the brown noise of long-form video essays. The difference? That's for you to decide. 

Just like writing, something about hotels really revitalizes my soul - I'd stay here all the time if it were financially realistic. I guess that goes to show the state of things. Hell, even at home I tend to leave on a ten-hour loop of that lovely motel AC rumble. Then again, I'm not sure how I'd feel getting robbed on the daily - can't underestimate the trash ways of southern folk. Myself included. I am a cook, after all. 

MidLife's going well, if not a little slower than I'd prefer. I just started working with a new voice actor who seems great so far, and I've been doodling loads of zombie extras and funky advertisements to decorate the dingy world of death. Music wise, I've been pretty narrowly focused on a track called "Isotope Sister", a sort of reversed song-within-a-song reggae experiment that I hope opens some minds to the insanity that is sound. Not every track is a unique musical idea, statement or effort, but I hope most have a standout gimmick of sorts that lets listeners introspect on perception. That's where my head's at. 


Ah, well... three days later, the storm's dead and gone. Just like my grandson. It's a warm, sickly summer night, I gotta get up early, and I'm wasting time on my nightmare blog... this is the life.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Review - ReAction Figures MF DOOM

 

Super7's Reaction Figures just released their Kenner-ized take on your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, MF DOOM; his first official action figure since KidRobot's 2007 Madvillain vinyl, which, like all DOOM merch, has become a bit ridiculously overpriced as the years go on. So it goes.

I've been a massive DOOM fan for years, as well as toy collector, so you know I jumped all over the chance to finally own the supervillain in poseable, playable, toxic plastic form; needless to say, it immediately sold out, but I was one of the lucky few to swoop in before the scalpers. 

Reaction is known for their basically endless re-releases, redecos and repackagings, so don't feel left out if you weren't quick to the draw; as suggested by the packaging design and flavor text, this particular DOOM is themed around his wicked debut album, Doomsday - all but guaranteeing variants based on cuts like Madvillain, Mm... Food and his further discography. They've already got a head start on King Geedora.

DOOM's in his iconic green hoodie, ten and a half Timbs, and metal-face mask; its actually his more recognizable Roman-esque mask which debuted following the release of Doomsday, rather than the spray painted Kane mask seen in the album's promotional materials. They obviously made the right choice, but I do hope they try their hand at its original design someday. Could be a neat exclusive. The mask is a real shiny silver, which stands out nicely against the otherwise matte, but bold palette. I also really like his gruff beard, painted on in small dark patches - looks great. 

His sculpt is a solid mix of accuracy and style, keeping within the concept of retro Kenner while still appropriately capturing DOOM's likeness. As one might expect, he's got five points of articulation - more or less universal to the ReAction series, per Kenner tradition. Very "toyetic", but not so much as to make it cheap, or any less of an art piece - in fact, I think that just makes it all the more visually interesting. 

Destro comes with a tiny little mic, which I immediately feared would get lost fast; but, thankfully, his right hand is sculpted in a very solid gripping pose, so chances are it at least won't fall out while on display. That's all she wrote, as far as accessories go, and I can't say I expected more - but, I would've liked to see a big ol' bottle of brew, or maybe some MF-Os

DOOM is just the eye catching, hip-hop twist on Marvel's classic baddie you're promised, and in every way looks awesome. A vintage inspired action figure is truly the perfect match for DOOM's old school nerdball persona - I just wish he were still here with us to pit this little dude against Vader and the crew. Here's to the future of these wicked mini DOOMbots - assuming we obsessive collectors didn't hit a lucky strike grabbing this one.

Friday, April 28, 2023

Looking At... Handsome Boy Modeling School - Free Introductory Course

I recently got this sick Handsome Boy Modeling School album sampler; "Free Introductory Course!", it reads - a promo-only mini-mix of So... How's Your Girl? album tracks;

Look at this Face
Rock n' Roll
Metaphysical
The Truth
Holy Calamity
The Projects
Modeling Sucks
Father Speaks

It's a totally unique, and for that matter, pretty cool little set; with a couple clever transitions and great forward momentum. For only eight minutes, it's hard to understate just how multifaceted the sampler's sole track is; from jazzy lounge, to experimental, free-form rap, to cut-and-paste turntable jams - the Handsome Boys have proudly put their best foot forward. It's too bad they omitted a couple of my favorites, such as Magnetizing, Once Again, or Waterworld, but the CD nevertheless certainly gives a bold and representative taste of the album's impressive range of sounds. Hell, you even got Guido Sarducci. What more could you ask for?

I think my favorite part is the packaging itself; a nice little cardboard slipcase, as simple - yet attractive- as you'd expect. I'll take it over the standard garbage plastic tray these sort of obscure items usually come jangling around in. The sleek, posh-meets-punk front and back covers matches the School's sense of high style perfectly; the dense wall of collaborators, taglines and text giving that touch of designer class to perfect a snarky duality between the urban and the idyllic as an adorably young Nathaniel Merriweather (Dan the Automator) and Chest Rockwell (Prince Paul) peruse the monochromatic streets. Parody this entire concept may be, these guys sure have an eye for looks. 

I've uploaded the track onto my archival YouTube, Bubblebabybumblebee, where you can also find some other cool Automator rarities such as Time Keeps On Slipping live, Lovage's Fireplace mix, and the making of Book of the Month. I think I'm the first to post it online (at least in recent, findable history) - do I get an honorary Handsome Boy diploma? 

Modeling just sucks. 

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Review - SuperPlastic Mini Series Gorillaz Phase Four Murdoc

 

Just as Gorillaz are dropping (yet) another album - the standout track being "Captain Chicken", on which the amazing Del the Funky Homosapien raps for the first time with the band since 2001 - I figured I ought to go back to the SuperPlastic mini series I've covered a few times before and look over another blind-box; if only as an excuse to take some fun photos of a few literal shelf-warmers. Yikes. Take this as a lesson, kids - no matter how rare the other, older merchandise may be, you can't scalp 'em all.

Who else to shove to the showcase, of course, but Murdoc Niccals - The creepy, soulless, and worst of all, visibly British bassist of Mr. Albarn's magical mystery tour. I recently went over KidRobot's 2006 figure, sporting a villainous urban look quite unlike Murdoc's green goblin design of today, as well as the Plastic Beach 2-D, Noodle and Cyborg Noodle figures from Superplastic's same mini figure set. Perhaps in my sorrow, yearning for a Plastic Beach Murdoc figure to round out the crew - and a Russel, too, if they'd be so kind - I've decided it's time to zero-in and talk about this mixed bag of a toy; horrible grubface, Happy Meal aesthetics, $22~ price tag, and all. You've seen me praise the cool sculpts of the Plastic Beach characters, so let's take a lot at a figure I'm not so immediately fond of.

For those who don't know, Phase Four served as Gorillaz' 2016-2018 comeback era, centered around the album Humanz and it's various singles and spin-offs. Phase Four's Murdoc sported a unique, surreal take on the character, having been the characters first appearance in about 5 years at that point; lanky, yet humanoid porportions, tinier, yet more exaggurated features, a vibrant green complexion, a looser, freeform flow to his poses, and - by far, most notably - a honkin' jaw not unlike Leno's ever-growing Crimson Chin.

Superplastic has sort of rounded out that modern look, going for something perhaps more obviously akin to Murdoc's illustrations during The Now Now's era. As with the Tranz and Song Machine 2-D figures, Murdoc's base model seems to be reused from the previously released Song Machine figure - which I've praised before as a pretty cool looking take that captures a lot of the "Murdoc" traits I like - and while the sculpt certainly works there, I'm not so sure it translates over into this figure.

Well, cut to the chase - it doesn't. 

Should that be the case, its obvious why the figure doesnt quite click as well as, say, the Plastic Beach Noodle twins; those recreated their source material from the ground up, while this retrofits an existing sculpt and does its best to adapt it into the gist of a totally separate look. While I don't necessarily expect these to be a one-to-one recreation of the art - hell, even Plastic Beach's 2-D was a bit of a departure - the differences, while small, totally throw off the look. His face, in general, is the heart of the issue - It certainly captures the wonky, formless jaw and high grin of Humanz era's Murdoc, and I think the look works alright from the correct angle... but, beyond that, just ends up looking warped and wack from most perspectives. The worst offender of the bunch is the most obvious - what's with the gigantic bushy eyebrows? Even his eyes themselves aren't the right shape, though I'd be able to overlook something like that if it weren't for how strange they look pushed so far below his bangs. The tight smile, the big lopsided cheeks, the Dumbo ears - he's meant to be an ugly old mug, sure, so I suppose your mileage may vary, but I don't think this was quite what the art was going for. 

Now, being fair, the sculpt's got some nice little details - I like how they've done the clothing, which, along with the pose itself, is sort of the real centerpiece of the figure. Above all else, the figure's got character - even with the smudged-up, weirdo pug face, the pose and overall look of the figure just screams Murdoc - perhaps, less so than the awesomely evil aforementioned Phase Two figure, but nevertheless, he's got that snarling punk energy I like to see from the rotten demon rocker. 

His proportions, while not really representative of the wobbly half-humanoid Murdoc seen in the illustration, look appropriately surreal; at just about 4 inches tall, he scales more-or-less well next to his bandmates, such as fellow Phase 4 rep Russel, who's rocking his funky Saturnz Barz video outfit.

The paint work is where things sort of fall apart - er, even more, that is. I'm not a fan of the blinding highligher green they've chosen for Murdoc's decaying corpse complexion; it's definitely not accurate, and besides that, is a bit too light to look very quality. Something about the pallette just screams "cheap" to me - as said in previous Gorillaz Mini reviews, a paint wash here, some finer details there, and a lot more quality control could've done these guys leagues in upping the ante. 

That said, the small decals are mostly well done, and where present, bring out a nice amount of detail to such a little figure. I love the striped handkerchief hanging out of his back pocket, or the bit of skin showing between his boots and pants. Even his little cigarette and match are properly painted, unlike his full scale Song Machine predecessor. Go figure. Again, it all comes back to the face - the eyes are really faint, and clearly off. The whites of his eyes are off-center and, because of this, slightly oversprayed, fading back to neon astroturf before filling in the entire sculpted area. Where exactly is his gaze? They just have a weird aimless stare that doesn't work. I think having him glare forward from under his bangs would've worked out best - the shifty side-eye just wound up, how you say, "totes derp". 

As with a handful of other figures of the set, he also received a black-and-white variant - though I'm not sure I'd describe it as "chase" per se. I'm not sure what they were going for with the monochromatic colors - maybe pencil art? - but, while it is a bit random, it looks solid enough. As I mentioned in a previous review, the finer details on each chase figure seem to be cleaner and bolder than on the fully painted counterparts, probably thanks to the simplified designs. 

Phase Four, as it were, was a bit of a disappointment to many fans; low on music videos, low on direction... hell, you could even argue it was low on Gorillaz. But at the end of the day, I have a lot of nostalgia and positive feelings for the brief, but special little era; with two-ish years of buildup between teasers, interviews and the teensiest of leaks, its the most excited I've ever been for an upcoming content - even if the album itself didn't exactly pay off, I can definitely say I've got a soft spot for it's art and related concepts, and I love to see the designs I ogled over so long ago on instagram translated into the world of plastic. 

Overall, I think the figure is flawed enough to not actively seek out, but still a fun prize to find in a blind box. You can't always expect top-tier quality with these kinds of figures, even with the most astronomical - or, yknow, dumb - of price tags, but that's not to completely downplay the guy; it's a cool and memorable little figure of Muds, especially if you happen to not have any other. There's certainly much better - and, arguably, worse - Murdoc figures out there, and I wouldnt say this is anywhere near a favorite or even particularly "good" figure in my light, but it's still a nice, ho-hum, right in the middle kinda toy, and most importantly a fun enough representation of the character at that. 

Hey - as a guy who likes dinky desk figurines, things to fidget with, and look at - sometimes, that's okay. That's all you need.

Or, at least... good enough? 

Eh? Meh? Enough to fill a review? 

Whatever.