Disney Vinylmation - Marvel 3" - Series 1

Hey, everyone! Mike here, and thank you for checking out this first "In Box with Mike & Jess" entry about a blind box toy product! Today, I am going to be sharing my thoughts about the relatively new Disney Vinylmation Marvel series. If you haven't heard of Vinylmation, it is a line of vinyl figures by Disney. Each figure is shaped like Mickey Mouse and painted to look like a character from the series it belongs to. They are also able to have their heads and arms rotated.

Since Disney bought Marvel Comics, I have been waiting for a Vinylmation series based on its characters. It took a while, but the announcement finally arrived and I was extremely excited. Well, that was until the launch day here in Canada. A friend of mine showed up at the Disney Store near his house before it was open and there was a huge line outside the door. When the store opened, several people at the front of the line were allowed to buy a whole case of the Marvel Vinylmations each, selling them out in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, my friend didn't get a single figure. What's worse is that those people who bought the cases would stand near the Disney Store afterwards and try to sell individual figures to shoppers at a ridiculous premium. That deserves a huge "WTF?!?!?!" Anyway. my pal soon discovered one store that is out of the way that still had some Marvel Vinylmations for sale and drove out there to get some for himself and for me. (THANKS, BUDDY!)

Okay, on to the review. The first thing people will notice about these new Vinylmations is the box. It's the same height and depth as the old boxes, but it's thinner. Personally, I like this new box because it's less wasteful. Plus, for people who like to display their boxes, these take up much less space. The Marvel box has some really nice art on the sides. One side has Iron Man and the other has Captain America. The back of the box has the usual listing of available figures. As can be seen, this series comes with the following characters:

- Iron Man
- Thor
- Captain America
- Hulk
- Black Widow
- Spider-Man
- Vision
- Black Panther
- Doctor Strange
- Spider-Woman
- Nick Fury

The Chaser Figure for this series is (SPOILER) Ultron. There are also a couple of variants. The first one is a bearded Thor and the second is a translucent version of Vision.

So, which Marvel Vinylmation figures was I lucky enough to get? Captain America and Vision! I was thrilled when I opened my first box and Cap's shield fell out. He's one of my faves and getting him made my day. The figure itself is very well designed. I was a little sceptical about the Mickey ears at first since I felt that they should have been painted with the feathers from Captain America's helmet/mask. However, seeing the figure in person, I think the "explosions" work. Vision is also designed quite well. He even has a cape on his back, adding to his really cool look. My brother-in-law drove out a few days after my friend did and got himself the Variant Vision and now I'm envious. It looks a lot cooler than the original. But, hey, getting ANY Marvel Vinylmations is a good thing, so I'm not going to complain about what I got.

As for the rest of the figures, I only question the decisions made on one of them - Spider-Man. Of all the version of his costume Disney's designers could have picked, I think the Future Foundation version was one of the worst. I didn't hate it too much in the comics, but as a Vinylmation, it just looks cheap. Plus, there's no Variant with the Classic costume, making the FF version the only version at this time. It's truly a shame. The least they could have done was given us a Variant with the Iron Spider costume or Spidey's stealth outfit. But, no. Disney went with only one costume. Well, here's hoping we get Classic Spider-Man in Series 2.

I honestly really like the new Disney Vinylmations Marvel series. The designs are fantastic, the selection is great, and the figures are also very well made (unlike series such as Robots 2, which seem to be on the cheaper side). If you actually find some Marvel Vinylmations, I highly recommend you buy a figure or two because, even now, they are selling at insane speeds. Don't miss out on this awesome set, True Believers!

~ Mike

Nerd Block - January, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Mike here! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and had a great time ringing in 2014. I think you'd be happy to hear that my family, friends, and I survived Icepocalypse 2013. If any of you were affected by the ice storm, I hope you weren't without power for too long and that you were able to stay warm. Now it's January and that means I have a brand new Nerd Block to review! In case you didn't know, Nerd Block is a monthly subscription box and each month, people receive all sorts of products from "nerdy" franchises. Here is some information:

NERD BLOCK

- $19.99 USD plus shipping per month

- $30 CAD total per month in Canada

- arrives around mid-month in Canada

January, 2014

Being the first Nerd Block of the new year, I was extremely excited and had high expectations. As a business, although every single Block should be mind-blowingly awesome, I think it makes sense to open a year with a bang. Well, let's see if that happened. The following is a list of what I received in my Nerd Block with approximate Canadian retail prices in brackets next to each item:

- Batman T-Shirt ($15.00)

- Star Wars Luke Skywalker Pop! Figure ($10.00)

- My Little Pony Mystery Mini ($8.00)

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splat Flyer ($6.00)

- Hunger Games Catching Fire Figurine ($2.00)

T-Shirt

I love most things Batman, so this month's T-shirt was right up my alley. The design is also really, really cool. For those of you who are wondering, the Japanese text says "Ninja of Justice", or at least that's what my friends who know Japanese tell me. My biggest concern, however, lies in the fact that Nerd Block has been around for 5 months and this is the third black shirt I've received. The other two shirts are two different shades of blue. So, as of right now, I can rightly say that there is very little variety in the shirt colours. However, I will give Nerd Block points for having different franchises. None have been repeated in the shirts yet. Now, if they can give me a red, green, white, orange, yellow, or anything-but-black-or-blue, I'll be truly happy.

Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) Pop! Figure

Speaking of a lack of variety, subscribers have received yet another Pop! figure. Now, I myself am a huge fan of these cute "Chibi" style toys, but not everyone is. I wouldn't be surprised if some people are getting frustrated with receiving more and more of these things. Nerd Block really needs to branch out a bit more in the non-blind-box figure department. As for this month's figure, it is from the Star Wars collection. I got Luke Skywalker, which is awesome. My buddy Ryan, however, got Jabba the Hutt and is quite disappointed. Which figure did you get?

My Little Pony Mystery Mini

Bronies rejoice! Yes, a My Little Pony product finally made it into Nerd Block. I am not a Brony, but I don't dislike My Little Pony either, which is why I opened my Mystery Mini. I honestly think that the figure I got looks really cool. Some of you may notice, however, that this is the third Mystery Mini Nerd Block has included in their boxes. Thankfully, unlike the shirt colours or the Pop! figures, at least with Mystery Minis, different brands have distinctly different figure types. There is variety! So, I'm good with this.

TMNT Splat Flyer

Right off the bat, I'm going to say that I personally find this product to be stupid. It's Raphael's head made of a material resembling that used on Schticky products. You throw the thing onto the floor or at a wall and it flattens and sticks to the surface. This thing gets dirty really quickly and can be washed clean in warm water. But, seriously, who would pay $6 for it? I certainly wouldn't. And, judging from the lack of sales of this product at stores I frequent, not very many other people will either. I understand that Nerd Block is meant to introduce people to new products, but this is one toy that will be... tossed aside.

Hunger Games Figurine

The most disappointing item I have ever received from Nerd Block is this month's Hunger Games figurine. I've seen this product at the local dollar store being sold for $2 and have been mildly curious. The packaging is quite large, leading one to believe the figure inside is also on the larger side. $2 for a blind box figure sounds pretty good, right? Well, not for this. The figure, as it turns out, is TINY! Just look at the picture! What an absolute waste of packaging! And, what a horrible bit of trickery! I wouldn't pay $2 for this. It's worth $0.25 tops! WTF, Nerd Block?

Overview

Wow. Just... wow... And, not a good wow. This is a really bad wow. If you add things up, the products included in this month's Nerd Block are worth more than the cost of the subscription, but not by a lot. Also, there were only 5 products, 2 of which were ridiculous, 2 of which makes me worry about variety, and 1 of which was pretty cool, but was not for everyone. Overall, I was quite disappointed. Nerd Block should have opened 2014 with a bang, but it just ended up being a splat.