Toy OTD: Jada Toys Chub City Figures: Chub C. & Al

Here's another nice example of the designer toy aesthetic influencing the mainstream. This line of figures and vehicles began in 2005, when the art toy movement was already well underway. I suppose it's possible that the concept had been in the works for years, potentially predating urban vinyl, or that both were independently inspired by graffiti art and hip-hop culture. Regardless, it's an appealing solution, if you're okay with that culture being commodified at Wal-Mart.

Dub City focuses exclusively on customized vehicles, so I'm not sure why Chub City - which is targeted at a younger audience - added character figures into the mix. I'm assuming it's the Galactic Heroes or Super Hero Squad demographic, since they have a similar super-deformed design. I don't know if the character designer has roots in comics, graffiti art, or both, but I think these mini-figures are an improvement over their Hasbro counterparts!

These characters have nice source designs, and have been adapted into 3-D really well. Their sculpts have some good graphic forms, and occasionally a figure is put into a fun, lively pose. The paint apps are tight for the scale (particularly the clothing graphics) and the color choices are striking, adding another level of complexity to the line.

Since they're so flat-footed, balance isn't a problem, and there's rarely an accessory, apart from the odd microphone or boom box. Packaging consists of the usual hanging back card/blister pack - the graphics are okay, and there's some decent relief molding of the logo, but it's nothing unusual. The figures are packed by themselves, and can also be found packed with a small diecast vehicle. They aren't always to scale with each other, which is good for the price point but kind of a drag as far as play value goes.

I'm not sure that the Chub C. and Al figure/vehicle two-packs are still for sale in stores, but you can get Al and his Scion on eBay for $9.00 + $6.95 shipping, and Chub C. with his Chrysler 300C are starting at $0.99 + $7.00 shipping. Go for it!

Toy OTD: Medicom Star Wars Kubrick Figures: Max Rebo

In general, I much prefer Kubricks to the many other mini-figures that are now flooding the market. They were one of the first out of the gate, they're well designed and constructed - and you don't have to buy expensive construction sets to get them (like Lego mini-figs).

This is a nice example of what makes Kubrick figures so neat - it's just a great distillation of the character (though some are even more boiled down to their essence)! I really like breaking a design down to the fewest elements and seeing how far you can go and still get the jist of it across. Plus... well, they're just cute!

Max here was part of a larger Star Wars set that included few of the other band members. Unfortunately, it's been out for a while, so it'll cost you $275 big ones to get it from eBay complete and mint in the box (MIB)! Other sites go as high as $300 (before they sold out), so this set will take some serious cash or patience. Happy hunting!

Toy OTD: Electric Tiki World Of Harvey Jackie Jokers (Teeny Weeny) Mini-Maquette

Now, I know what you're thinking - Who in the hell is Jackie Jokers?

Every Harvey Comics character was more or less divvied up into two camps - crossovers notwithstanding, you were either Richie Rich's friend, or Casper's. In the early '70s, Harvey introduced a new character into its kiddie pantheon - Jackie Jokers, stand-up comedian, movie actor & television personality. Jackie, ill-suited for enchanted forests, was firmly in the Richie-verse. It never occurred to me before, but Jackie does resemble a young Johnny Carson in Dick Cavett's clothing.

Remember that post where I mentioned liking toys of really, really obscure characters? I wasn't kidding.

Anyway, this is a terrific maquette! The sculpt is awesome, the pose is strong, and it's bang on-model. The paint work is nice, and its base is built-in, so there's no balance issues. The box design is cool, too, evoking the cover designs of old JJ comics.

Originally, I think these sold for thirty dollars, but you can get one now at collectorsgateway.com for 19.99 + shipping.

Toy OTD: Tomy Magical Collection Figures: 'Runaway Brain' Mickey, Pablo The Cold-Blooded Penguin, Bullseye

I'm generally not a big fan of small PVC figures, but this line is so well sculpted, a lot of them are too good to resist! Here's a few stellar examples.

The sculpts are typically very strong, with good posing and a nice sense of the character's personality. The paint work is also pretty tight, especially considering the size of the figures. If the character needs it, it'll be packaged with a small stand.

Some mini-figures get a little carried away in an attempt to create a background, the result becoming cluttered and busy. For the most part, though, the Magical Collection line ignores backdrops completely, keeping things nice and simple.

The best thing about this series is that it has no focus - any character from any Disney film (feature or short) could be made into a figure. While there's not a lot of really obscure characters, there are plenty of unintuitive ones.

These have all been out for a little while, so you'll have to do some digging to find them. Runaway Brain Mickey is for sale on eBay for $26.99 + $7.99 shipping - yikes! There's a monochrome version of Bullseye available at Toyzz.com for $11.99 + shipping, but I can't find the regular version. I can't find Pablo anywhere, so warm up those eBay Favorite Searches!

Toy OTD: Doma, Kid Robot's Acid Sweetie Figures: Bomb Eater, Don Gelatto, Mr. Earth

Kid Robot released another series of blind-boxed mini-figures this past spring - Acid Sweeties, created by the Australian street art collective Doma. I love the design work, but wasn't quite driven to get the entire set. My toy collection's big enough these days that I have to prioritize, so I stopped blind buying and found a website that was selling opened figures. I gave away the others I'd accumulated to a friend. These, then, are my three favorites!

Happily, the characters with smaller legs are assembled, not molded as a solid piece. That means you can rotate the legs at the hip to adjust the feet, if any casting variations have thrown the figure off balance. The sculpts and paint work are very nice, too, appropriate for the tight design style.

You can still get these three figures separately if you want, though it'll cost you more than the original $8.00 price - kawaii-uk.com has them for £5.99 and £4.69 (about $12 and $10 USD) + shipping each. Still, you can go through a lot of cash just hunting, and Kid Robot doesn't even have them for sale on their site any longer - I guess they sold pretty well!

Toy OTD: UNKL Tinpo Figure: Sync 5

Here's another great Tinpo design from the UNKL brand of mini-figures! I can't remember if these were blind-boxed originally or not (I think so). Each figure came with a capsule and an extra part - if you got all of the series 1 figures, the extra parts could be assembled to form a pet!

These toys first sold for $8.00 each, but series 1 figures like this one are long sold out - more than likely, your only hope is the dreaded secondary market. eBay favorite searches are your friend in this case!

Toy OTD: Strangeco, Super 7's Neo-Kaiju Figures: Seonna Hong's Kara Kara Tako Girl (2004)

Today I'm featuring another figure from this great, artist-filled toy line! All ten characters are great, but this is one of my particular favorites. Super-cute, but with a nice, offbeat quality to it. Nice sculpt and paint apps for a capsule toy - each came in its own beautifully labeled egg.

These have been out for a few years now, so they may be tough to find. They do show up on eBay, priced between $8.00 - $20.00 each. You can get this figure right now at designertoystore.co.uk for £7.99 (about $16 USD) + shipping.