Toy OTD: Toynami Futurama Figure: Robot Santa (SDCC 2008 Exclusive)

Happy Holidays! Nothing says Christmas like a murderous robot Santa Claus, I always say. I'll bet Futurama fans have been waiting quite a while for this one. Toynami knows what makes a nerd's heart beat faster, so once they got the license, this year's Comic-Con turned into Christmas in July!

This is another toy that's more for display than posing. It's nicely sculpted, but not very articulated - I think the head turns a little, and there's rotation in the shoulders... maybe in the waist, wrists and boots, I'm not sure. The paint work is quite clean, which helps make it feel even more artificial and manufactured (great for a robot). The color work is simple, but on-model and effective. There's a nice pink tint to the 'cheeks' that's pleasingly subtle. The toy balances decently on its own, but a display stand would've been nice, especially considering the $50 price tag!

The Santa-bot also comes with a "Santa-Bender" figure. It's also nicely made, but it's basically a repaint of the standard Bender with an extra hat prop. Bonus points for the fabric hat, but personally I'd rather have a cheaper, original exclusive figure than to get stuck with yet another costume variant. I guess I have to resist buying these sets if I want to send a message that I don't want the repaint figures!

Like I said earlier, the set originally sold for $50 last summer, and it's selling for $45.00 + shipping now on eBay (though it may be cheaper after the holidays, being Christmas-themed and all). It also looks like you may be able to build Robot Santa if you buy all six of the collection two Futurama figures (each one comes with an extra Robot Santa part), but I'm not sure which characters that entails. You can also get a loose figure right now (no Santa Bender!) for $29.69 + shipping on eBay. Enjoy the hunt, and have a happy holiday season!

Inevitable Toy Department, Part 1

Coming this May from Toynami: A new Futurama action figure set! Oddly, they're only doing two figures: Fry and Dr. Zoidberg - no Leela or Bender in sight. These do look a little better than the Moore Action Collectibles line, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how they sell.

You can pre-order them from Entertainment Earth for $27.99 + shipping.