Review: Plastic Imagination Rise of the Beasts Rhinoceros - Silver Mail-Away Redemption

O nameless beast, from you we can know the great secret of the universe! Maybe not - but I will say that the Rhinoceros - Silver Mail-Away Redemption is a low-run mail-in freebie cast in metallic black PVC and painted exceptionally well. He has no name of his own, and the figure itself is basically the grey painted one with silver swapped out - and man, is it pretty. I work mostly in a basement so it's darker down here and the silver positively glows. The reflective paint looks sharp.
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Meet the Ghoatbusters Combat Creatures

Who ya gonna call?  These guys!  Combat Creatures continues the 80s parody creature figures with a new entry over on Shapeways.  You're going to dig the Ghoatbusters - a four-pack with Bray, Bleater, Angon, and Winshorn.

The four-pack is surprisingly cheap - only $50 for the set. 

Green Rise of the Beasts Figures Coming

Via Kickstarter -  Army Green Color Samples and new characters in the works! 

The Rise of the Beasts line actually came out this year, and not a moment too soon. The figures are quite good, and two of them have taken up semi-permanent residence on my desk. And apparently they're going to go green shortly.  The posting also makes reference to 4 new characters, which I am certainly looking forward to seeing.

Review: Plastic Imagination Rise of the Beasts Scorpion - Flesh

It's Christmas, so let's look at something that I didn't necessarily originally want. The 60mm Scorpion - Flesh is one of three unpainted figures from the initial runs of these molds, and dagnabbit, it's pretty good. Creator Jon Karis runs LittleRubberGuys.com, which covers the male action toy figures that are too small to be deemed "action figures" by the serious (read: boring) adult collector. It's a wonderful site and a great resource, mostly because this is where you're going to see Japanese capsule figures or American Garbage Pail Kids figures early - it's not wildly active, but it's one of those sites that I personally find informative and useful. The biggest success in that little rubber figure space is, in the eyes of many American fans, Mattel's M.U.S.C.L.E. - and this figure (as well as his Rhino companion) are a tribute to that classic line of toy figures.
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Review: Four Horsemen Gothitropolis Cardinus Action Figure

Generally speaking most Kickstarter toys have one exclusive-to-early-backer figure, but not Gothitropolis. The Four Horsemen took about eight extra months to deliver Cardinus and his friends, and during this time those who neglected to support the line on Kickstarter could pre-order figures at a slightly higher price. All of these save for one pre-sold out, so at this point it looks like if you want these figures and didn't pre-order them, you're out of luck. Given how long some of the Horsemen Glyos-compatible figures stuck around this is probably a wise move, but seeing how wonderful these figures are I'm sure more than a few of you are going to read this review with some anger and hope of schadenfreude. Despite delays, high costs, more delays, and the Horsemen flat-out saying figures may have problematic joints I experienced no problems with Cardinus (and as of my writing this, I'm still opening the other figures) save for the spare feet. The alternate claws had a stuck joint, but this was easily remedied by my favorite Boiling Water Trick.
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Rise of the Beasts Prototypes on eBay

Two Rise of the Beasts prototypes are on eBay now - they're getting expensive, but they're pretty slick (and I hope they might be the basis of a future mass-produced run someday).   Click here for the Scorpion, and click here for the Rhino.

Unlikeable Unicorn, Chaotic Ceratopsian, and Feckless Fruitfly Join Combat Creatures

Trent added more stuff to Shapeways! The newest Combat Creature is Unlikeable Unicorn, who looks like a lot of things we won't mention here for various reasons.  Joining her are Chaotic Ceratopsian and Feckless Fruitfly, each of which is around $16.50-$19.  Or 20% off, if you order in the next 50 minutes.