Toy OTD: Tyco Talking Looney Tunes Figure: Marvin The Martian (1993)

There's some minor curse hanging over Warner Brothers cartoon merchandise. Most of it (including the vintage stuff) just isn't all that great - not even in that wonky, Hanna-Barbera-toy way. So it's always nice to find a good specimen!

I'm not sure what motivated this toy line, since Space Jam was three years away. There were just three characters made in this format: Bugs Bunny, The Tazmanian Devil, and Marvin (above). I must not have like the other two figures very much at all, since they were released when I was much more of a completist than I am now!

This version of Marvin isn't perfect - his head's rather small when you compare it to the original design, and his body is heftier - but it's a good compromise with balance and safety issues. The early Marvin (left) has a radically different color scheme, but the toy is on-model with the current colors.

There isn't a lot of articulation - neck, shoulders and hips. Still, it's reasonably posable when you consider how few joints it has. the helmet's visor (of all things) is movable, so you can mimic how it drops down when Marvin gets "very angry indeed"!

The talking feature is good, with reasonable volume and clarity. I don't remember the voice all that well, but since there was no sound effects or music mixed in with the sound bites, I have to assume they were re-performed (and fairly well) by a sound-alike. Marvin says, "Ooh, that makes me so angry", "Prepare to be vaporized", and "Where's my space modulator?" There's also a disintegration pistol included as an accessory - it's very appropriate for the character, big enough that it won't get lost easily, and fits well in Marvin's hand.

The sculpt is nice and simple, and the figure is built with just a few colors of plastic. That keeps the paint to a minimum (only two or three colors), which is especially good in this case - the paint work is kind of shaky. Overall, though, it doesn't really detract too much.

The packaging consisted of a basic cardboard box with a cellophane window, decorated with the most perfunctory of style guide art. The box gets a small bonus for including a "try me" window in the back (so you can make sure the toy works before purchasing it), but other than that, it's pretty lackluster. At least you won't have much guilt over ripping it open and tossing it in the trash!

I don't see this figure for sale all that often, but you can bid on one right now through eBay. It's only up to $6.00 + shipping so far, with three days left to go. Get to it!

Toy OTD: Tyco RC Cars Toy: Sally

Here's another great line of Cars toys - Tyco's 1:32 scale, radio-controlled (27 MHZ) vehicles! On the plus side, you can zip one around with the controller (it's simple enough for little kids to use), and the characters are nicely on model - they don't have the clear plastic "eye stalks" like the Disney Store toys. The minuses are that they're made entirely of plastic, Tyco hasn't made as many of the characters, they cost more, and they'll take up a lot more shelf space. Still, they're very well done!

You can get Sally for $19.99 + shipping at idcow.com.