Rustin's Spoils of the Week #6

I travel quite frequently for work. Sometime it takes me to tedious and uninteresting locales, but other times I get bursts of exotic romanticism. Much is the case with my current predicament which found me in London for a week, followed by a week in Prague. As a result I was not able to make my standard toy runs nor did I have access to my backlog of unopened toys. Fortunately though, the cities offered a solid bounty for my materialism, which I now share with you.

Playmobil - Singles: Conquistador

Located in a toyshop in the Munich airport, I spied a wall of blue boxes indicating a wealth of Playmobil as I rushed between flights. Dominated by Playmo-lust I took the risk and explored, with much success. I've become increasingly obsessed with Conquistadors ever sense the revelatory film The Fountain so this guy was a must-have. Singles have become pretty hard to find, so this was quite a score for me. It's the standard Playmo-body, but with all the fun accessories pictured. I really like the removable pauldrons but wish he had come with the more "scoop"-brimmed helmet seen in some of the recent Pirates sets.

Playmobil - Singles: Hooded Ghost

They had one of this guy and I nearly flipped my lid when I found him - how awesome is this guy!? He will stalk and slaughter so many of my castle denizens! Really like the use of the black hood, but would have preferred a more "natural" color for belt and boots than bright red, but it looks fine aesthetically. I'm not sure if the axe is all-new or not, but that's the standard Playmo-Skull, just cast in silver. the clips on the top - too, too cool! These guys only cost $3.29 USD, which is not only reasonable, that's SRP!!! Had I realized that at the time I definitely would have bought more.

Tomy - Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 1: Hagrid

I love action figures. I love Harry Potter. So ever since finding out about Popco/Cards Inc.'s amazing toyline for the films I've been dying to score some. So, and I mean this in absolute honesty, when I found out I was going to London my number one priority became getting to Forbidden Planet to buy them. However, Popco/Cards Inc. no longer has the license, so these figures come from Tomy. With the film having been released several months ago there weren't maybe figures yet about, but I snagged one of all they had - for instance, this deluxe Hagrid. He's about 7" tall with 14 points of articulation, most of it Hasbro style ball-and-socket joints, so the range of motion is pretty darn decent.

Tomy - Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 1: Harry & Voldemort

I'm really not crazy about the Harry, his sweater just looks really awkward. It's a soft PVC sleeve over the torso so that they could probably reuse the figure elsewhere. The likeness is really good, and the glasses are pretty great, especially at this scale (about 5"). Both figures have the same 14 points of articulation as Hagrid and the same high level of poseability. Voldemort's robes are greenish hues, which I don't care for but the likness is amazing! The best of all Voldemorts I've seen so far! Both of these figures were apparently released on single cards, but all I saw/found was this two-pack.

Tomy - Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 1: Hermione

Another great likeness, but its kind of muddied in the paint. Same articulation as before, but she comes with accessories (beyond the wand) too! Also included are her magic bag and Book of Exposition.


Tomy - Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 1: Ron

Same as before, except I can't get his waist to turn, so basically 13 points of articulation. Everyone has swivel joints at the ankles, which is really the only downer: balljoints would be much preferred. Ron also comes with Dumbledore's "light catcher" thingy and the Horcrux locket. I should also point out that to the best of my knowledge these are exclusive to the UK, or at least not available in the US... thanks Randy/NECA.

Various - Golems (of Prague)

Okay, so Prague is a beautiful and famous city, but what really matters to us? Hellboy was filmed there and more importantly it's home to the Golem! You better believe I was on a mad hunt for my own clay Golems, and surprisingly, they were pretty hard to come by! The shorter figure I scored at the Old Clock Tower (not of Hill Valley fame) and the larger comes from the little street market next to the Old New Synagogue, the resting place of the Golem for hundreds of years (he was locked in the attic and the stairs removed, but when reentered in the 19th century, no trace of him was to be found... did he turn to dust? Is Kavalier and Clay non-fiction? We may never know...). Both are handmade from clay and are hollow. The smaller, about 3½" tall, is made of a more traditional pottery clay with a black wash for effect, while the larger is made of a more ceramic-y clay with a brown wash or rub. The latter also has some nice cut outs in the chest, eyes, and back so a little votive candle or colored light will illuminate him delightfully.

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7 Responses to Rustin's Spoils of the Week #6

  1. yo go re says:

    Oh man, that little golem is awesome! And great story about getting him, too!

  2. Rich says:

    This daily blog is the most fun I have reading about toys. That Playmobil hooded ghost is outstanding! I hope I can find one stateside to get in cahoots with our Playmobil GID Ghost Pirates.

  3. Rustin Parr says:

    Yeah, the Hooded Ghost is by far one of the best Singles they've done in the past several years - too, too cool. I found him behind about 4 "women with strollers," and was actually going to pass on getting anything due to time and lack of knowing the exchange rate, but when I saw him there was no way I was leaving with out him.

    Should I also confess that they had 2011 German Playmobil Catalog on hand too! Some really cool stuff is on its way for you Playmo-Fans!

  4. Victor Von Doombot says:

    Very nice Golem. Love the K&C too.

  5. LotN says:

    I like the li'l Golem, too. Jealous of the HP.

  6. PrfktTear says:

    I officially have Golem envy...

  7. Wolf says:

    Love the golems!

    Also, with the Hooded Ghost -- an independent toy store near my parent's place was doing a clearout of all its Playmobil stuff last year and I managed to get 4 or 5 of them. Also, the bone paint apps glow in the dark! Incredible.

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