Tag Archives: toybox

Nov 21 2017

Star Wars Toybox: Rey by Disney

In case you missed it, Disney has introduced a new line of articulated action figures based on the character designs from the now defunct Disney Infinity video game. I loved Infinity, and holy crap, did I blow a lot of time and money on it! Even with the online features shut off, I’m still afraid to fire it up again, or I’ll lose myself in that damn Toybox creating levels or just wandering around as any one of those dozens of damn figures I bought. Well, last week I looked at Thor from the Marvel Toybox and today I’m checking out Rey from Star Wars.

As you can no doubt tell, the packaging goes for utility over flash. The only real artwork is the character portrait on the side panel insert. Otherwise, it’s just a big bubble on a boring card that lets you see the figure you’re buying. Rey is #2. in the Star Wars Toybox series, I think #1 is Kylo Ren, but don’t worry, even though I’m doing them out of order, I’ll get to them all eventually. The packaging is not at all collector friendly, but there’s really no reason I’d want to keep it anyway, so let me shred this thing to pieces and we’ll have a look at Rey.

Like her Infinity counterpart, this figure features Rey in her Jakku outfit from The Force Awakens. I think they did a wonderful job capturing the Infinity style, while also embellishing it a bit for the larger scale and incorporating the articulation. To keep with the animated style, the sculpted detail is kept to a minimum, while still producing a great looking figure. The belt and outer layer of the robes are cast in a separate piece of softer plastic and worn over the figure, which gives her outfit some extra depth. Other sculpted detail includes the arm wraps, the pouch worn on the back of her hip and some simple boots. The coloring is mostly found in the plastic, although there is some paintwork as well. For the most part the paint application is neatly done, although there’s a little bit of slop between the flesh tones of her legs and the brown of her boots.

The head sculpt is also pretty damn close to her Infinity counterpart, a lot closer in this case than Thor was to his. Her hair includes the sculpted triple-buns and the paint applications for her eyes, eyebrows, and lips are all sharp and precise. She looks both adorable and fierce at the same time.

The articulation includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. She has ball jointed hips and hinges in the ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. While the points are all the same, the range of motion feels a little bit better here than on Thor, because the sculpt here isn’t as much of a hindrance. Although, the loop that her robes make under the belt on her left hip does get in the way of that leg a bit. Even with some restrictions, she’s a hell of a lot of fun to play with.

Rey comes with Luke’s lightsaber with the blade permanently ignited. Her right hand is designed to hold it, while her left hand is sculpted for Force casting. I like the lightsaber a lot, but I’ll confess to being a bit disappointed that she didn’t come with her staff as well. It doesn’t seem like it would have been that big a deal to sculpt one for her, and since she uses a lot less plastic than Thor, it probably should have costed out at this price point. But then what the hell do i know?

As with Thor, Rey sells for $12.99 and appears to be exclusive to the Disney Store and their website. Thor sold me on the Marvel Toybox line instantly, and now Rey has done the same for this Star Wars Toybox series. I just wish they had more figures to show. The only other figures for the Star Wars Toybox right now are Kylo Ren and a First Order Stormtrooper. It feels like we needed Finn in there to even things out. Nonetheless, I’ll be grabbing more of these, so they’ll all be turning up here eventually.

Nov 16 2017

Marvel Toybox: Thor by Disney

It’s Day Four of Marvel Week, and I got rather long winded yesterday, so I’m going to tone things down today with a simpler (and mercifully shorter!) review, but one that I’ve been rather excited to get to. You may remember a little thing called Disney Infinity. It was one of those Toys-To-Life things, which allowed you to collect figures and use them in a video game world. I freaking loved Disney Infinity! Seriously… just look at this shit!

This doesn’t even include the ones I bought at the end that I haven’t even opened yet. I collected a ton of the figures, I’ve spent time playing them all, and I’ve lost countless hours in the Toybox designing bullshit levels, and maybe a couple of good ones. Infinity had a good run with three different releases spanning dozens of figures and incorporating both Marvel and Star Wars before Disney finally pulled the plug. And now in a move that I never in a million years could have seen coming, Disney has introduced a series of articulated action figures based on those Infinity designs. HOLY SHIT, I AM SO ON BOARD FOR THIS!!!! Let’s check out the first figure in the Marvel Toybox lone… The Mighty Thor!

The packaging is about as basic as you can get. The figure comes in a large bubble on an unassuming card. It gives you a great look at what you’re getting, but there isn’t much else in the way of artwork of flashy presentation to tempt you. Seriously, Disney, for a company that is basically based on artwork, you kind of dropped the ball on this package design. But that’s OK. It just makes me not feel guilty about shredding it to get to my figure. The back of the package shows off four other figures in the Marvel Toybox series, including Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. And yes, there’s also a Star Wars Toybox Series, and I’ll be checking one of those figures out next week!

If you compare Toybox Thor to the original Infinity figure, you can see that Hasbro made some tweaks to Thor’s design, but this is still undoubtedly the same style. He’s lost a helmet, gained a beard, and the piping on his armor has changed from yellow to blue. With all that being said, I love what they did with the design and it’s hard to believe that I’m actually holding an articulated Infinity figure. The sculpted detail is kept to a minimum to preserve the simple animated look, but all the important stuff is still there, like the discs on his armor, the wraps on his boots, and all that chiseled Asgardian muscle. I also really dig the head sculpt. The coif of hair is cast in a separate piece of plastic, crowning his rather perturbed expression. He looks like someone just nicked his tankard of ale. The paint applications on the face are pretty clean too!

The rest of the coloring on the figure appears to be achieved mostly through colored plastic, but there are some paint applications as well. Overall, the paint is clean, but I should note that my figure had two rather unsightly paint drips on the right boot, but I was eventually able to get these off with some water and a Qtip. The cape is made of a fairly soft and pliable plastic and lifts easily away from the figure to allow for those wide stances.

Thor comes with one accessory, and yes it is Mjolnir. The mighty hammer is a solid chunk of plastic with a sculpted wrap grip, which can fit securely in The Thunder God’s right hand.

The articulation here is pretty good, but the stylized sculpt does restrict the range of motion on some of the points. Thor features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. The hips are ball jointed, the ankles are hinged, there’s a swivel in the waist, and the neck is ball jointed. The elbow and knees are somewhat limited, which can be a little frustrating. Also, the sculpted hair makes it so the head can only turn side to side a bit. Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had here. He’s just so solid and chunky and fun to play around with!

 

Wow, was this a pleasant surprise! These Toybox figures seemed to come out of nowhere, and I just recently discovered them because someone sent me a link. They appear to be Disney Store Exclusives, at least that’s where I found and ordered mine. They run $12.99 each, which feels about right for what you’re getting. I have no frame of reference for how well Disney’s exclusive toys sell, but I can promise you that I’ll be doing everything I can to support this line and keep it going. And as for now, I can see Thor will probably be residing on my desk for a little while, because I’m having a hard time putting him down.