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Up Cosbabies
Hot Toys
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Jeff Parker checks in with a
look at some more of the Hot Toys Cosbaby vinyl figures - tell us all
about them, Jeff!
Thank you as always to Michael for giving me the chance to let you good
people know my thoughts on the latest collectable to hit my mail box!
UP, It can’t have been the easiest of pitches, I can hear director Pete
Docters words now!
“So, we have this old sad angry guy who’s been widowed by the love of
his life, he’s about to be evicted from the home he shared with said
loving wife, when he’s unexpectedly befriended by a fat boy scout with
‘parent’ issues, then they go off together to South America in a flying
house, meet a bunch talking dogs, a missing explorer and a 9 foot bird…
sowadaya think?”
“ Why thank you Mr Docter… could you please close the door on your way
out”
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Ah, but this wasn’t from ANY movie studio. No! This was from Pixar,
where leftfield ideas are lovingly nurtured rather than frowned upon.
So while other animation studios try to invent ever more convoluted
ways into which ‘street smart’ talking animals have ‘high concept’
adventures, Pixar just set about telling us stories. And whilst they
are often touching, they never veer too close to saccharine.
Michael has already covered the cool vinyl figures of the curmudgeonly Carl and ever chipper
Russell which I hope to do a brief low-down on myself soon (I
have to admit I’ve been putting off the sticker application), so now
I’m looking at their diminutive Cosbaby counterparts, If you’ve been
thinking of getting these, can I help you make ‘UP’ your mind? (I’m
really so, so sorry, that was so very bad).
Packaging
-
***1/2
Traditionally Cosbaby figures come blind boxed in separate little
packages, but then we had the Goemon figures
http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_110909b.htm which came in snazzy little
double packs with a large window so you could have a good butchers at
what lay inside. They also used this style on the recent Disney
Christmas twin pack with Mickey and Donald and they continue the style
here. So we get a nice colourful little box with a brief synopsis on
the back, the die-cut window is nice letting us view Carl and Russell
side by side with an image of Paradise Falls behind them.
So nothing ground breaking, but it’s good and sturdy, and while on the
one hand it’s collector friendly enough for you to get the figures out
and also be able to store them again, it’s also a sweet bit of design
that borrows lots of cute images from the movie, meaning your MIB’ers
will be happy too!
Sculpting
-
***1/2
Ah, I’ve been over this plenty, we should all know by now that your
Cosbaby is not about 100% screen accuracy, far, far from it.
These are just cute representations of your favourite characters from
any given licence and given that inimitable Cosbaby makeover.
So here we get Carl with huge old ‘Rio Carnival’ head and Russell
looking a bit like a Weeble!
Of the two, Carl was instantly my favourite… that grumpy face,
black-rimmed specs and a penchant for dickie-bows instantly spoke to
me. As always they have just taken the source material and Cosbabied it
up to the max, so we get the classic big ‘Anime’ eyes and ‘vinyl’ style
simplified details, taking things like the hair-styles and paring down
to the simplest of forms, but always keeping enough detail to be
instantly recognisable as the chosen character. For Carl I especially
like his stuck on specs and little walking stick complete with tennis
balls, while for Russell it’s his multiple be-badged sash and baseball
hat over his ‘Manga’ fringe. If you tip Russ up you’ll see that under
all that extra girth he is still a Cosbaby at his core as his rotund
frame is all fitted over the classic Cosbaby body. I think they look
great and are two of my favourite Cosbaby figures to date, and even
though the scale isn’t perfect, they’ve managed to make Carl a smidgen
taller than his little buddy, cute.
Paint
-
***1/4
The paint apps on these little figures are always pretty darn good
considering their scale and price point. Hot Toys are famous for making
the best toys around at the moment, but they usually come at a premium
price, where as these are much more in the spontaneous, casual or even
pocket money purchase category. So, all the colours are nice and solid
with nice clean division lines. That said the left eye on my Russell
does have a tiny bit of feathering at the edge of his iris… but you
need to look really closely or use a magnifying glass to see it, I’m
sure it will be evident in my photos when blown up By 400%, and it’s
conspicuous because the rest is so perfectly done. In fact I was amazed
to find the tiny Wilderness Explorers patch on his cap is printed
crisply and accurately directly onto the hat, even the larger (and it
has to be said more expensive) vinyl figure has a sticker that you have
to apply yourself. And even though the badges on his sash aren’t as
accurate in the finer details as the stickers supplied for the vinyl
figure, they are however all printed directly onto the sash.
So it’s more of the same in terms of general quality when compared to
other Cosbaby paint apps, and for me that’s more than good enough.
Articulation
- ***
I pretty much always give Cosbaby figures three stars, so what the
heck, these get three stars as well! It’s the usual set up with pop in
ball joints on the arms, legs and the heads can turn. Russell’s head
can actually only move a few degrees because of his neckerchief, but
it’s not enough to bother his final score. So, long as you are aware
the articulation on these is quite limited, but enough to ‘personalise’
your display, you’ll be happy.
Accessories
- Carl **** Russell N/A
Russell comes with nothing, while Carl has his walking stick complete
with the four little tennis balls attached to its base. That is all he
comes with, so why the full score?
Well, it’s important to the character, it’s in effect all he needs and
although it may be small, it’s done very, very well!
Next.
Value - ****
Sideshow did have these for the RRP of $14.99 but sadly they are sold
out. But when you consider that makes them $7.50 each that makes this a
home run for me in terms of value. There seems to have been an absolute
dearth of merchandise from this movie, so if you loved it (and if you
didn’t you are DEAD inside) go get’em while you can!
Overall
- ***1/2
There’s not really much to say here other than they are small cute
figures, put together well, painted competently and at a good price
point. And as I just said this movie was sorely overlooked in terms of
merchandise, there is a nice little set of plastic play figures that
was a Disney Store exclusive, but for your more adult fans it’s pretty
barren out there apart from the offerings from Hot Toys.
Where
to Buy -
As I said above Sideshow have sold out, but you can still try the waitlist.
Big Bad Toy Store
- $14.99
Or try
eBay where they seem to be in short supply… and getting rarer
by the minute, with prices of between $29.99 to $40.00 for the twin
pack (I know, I know it’s crazy… but it looks like you better act fast
if they are on your ‘to get’ list!).
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This product was provided free for the review by the manufacturer.
Photos and text by Jeff Parker.
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