June Toy and Collector Round Up

Hello peeps!! I had a lot of mix mash of stuff arrive in June and most of them didn't seem to warrant a whole post for themselves. Annnnnd y'all seem to enjoy the round-ups for the Transformers so why not do one for all the goodies I got in June?! No worries though, we will still do a dedicated Transformers June Post so be on the lookout for that in the next few days 🤠 So here we go!

TAMASHII NATIONS Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 4: Beyond ver.) Chogokin Figure

This thing is heavy. Like, you pick it up and it immediately communicates that you spent real money (which, trust me, if you bought this thing you definity did oof). Die-cast metal parts give the figure a dense, premium feel that plastic just can't replicate, which translates gorgeously in this figure. The articulation is genuinely impressive! You can get her into basically any pose you can think of. Arm cannon aimed? Yup. Crouching? Yup. Running? Yup. Shrunken into a ball? Uhhh, okay maybe not all but definitely close! The hand parts for the psychic ability scenes from Prime 4 are a nice touch. Standing at 8.3 inches with LEDs in both the arm cannon and chest, she for sure makes a strong argument for the cost. The face sculpt through the visor is also really well done, which I was a little unsure if they were even going to do. Though this does lend to my main gripe, the lack of a removable helmet. Getting an unmasked Samus head would have pushed this from great to exceptional. The other gripe is less about the figure and more about the wallet: international shipping on this was absurd. The figure itself is expensive to begin with, and then you add shipping on top of that is insult to injury. The figure is worth the cost for sure, but when you add shipping it makes you second guess the whole thing.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (Video Game)

I'm Batman!!

I did not expect to like this as much as I do. I've bounced off LEGO games before because they tend to feel kind of same-y after a while, but this one actually did something different. The graphics are legitimately stunning; Gotham looks incredible, and there's this wild mix of plasticky LEGO textures and hyper-realistic lighting where rain droplets actually roll down the cowl and reflect off wet streets. It is so incredibly different and I really enjoyed it! The Batman references are absolutely everywhere and clearly written by people who actually love the source material; you'll recognize scenes and dialogue beats but they're remixed in ways that make it more than just a recreation of the movies. The character customization and upgrade system gives everyone their own distinct toolkit, which makes switching between Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and the others actually feel meaningful instead of just cosmetic. That said, it's not without issues. The stealth sections are pretty bad; the enemy AI has all the awareness of a potted plant -_-

But it's probably the best LEGO game and genuinely one of the better Batman games we've gotten in a long time. If you are even thinking of picking it up then doooooo itt!

Fast and Furious 25th Anniversary Brian's Toyota Supra (Brushed Orange Finish) by Jada 1:24

Jada has always been great with their replicas and I was looking forward to see what Brian O'Conner's iconic Supra would look like with the brushed orange finish. It's supposed to replicate the movie's color with a metallic brush effect rather than a straight gloss, which I think it definitley does despite some people online being picky 🙄

The level of detail for the price point is solid: real rubber tires, opening hood, doors and trunk, detailed interior. For a licensed 1:24 collector piece it checks the boxes for me!

Ravensburger Animal Crossing Puzzle (1000 Pieces)

As you may have guessed from previous items, I'm a puzzler (btw this fit beautifully on the Aldi puzzle table 👌check out my review here: https://www.torisrar.com/post/aldi-finds-review)

Animal Crossing naturally has this mostly-green grass and leaf palette, so I can't blame the designers for making it on a green background but it impacts the ability display it for me as I'm not a huge green fan. I love me a Ravensburger puzzle so I'm glad they paired with Animal Crossing to do this puzzle because if it were a lesser known company I might have passed due to the crap shoot puzzle quality can be.

But the price feels a little steep for what it is. Licensed puzzles always carry a markup and Ravensburger is a premium brand to begin with, so you're paying for both at once. If Animal Crossing is your thing and you're a puzzle person, you'll have fun with it on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

MG MBF-P02KAI Gundam Astray Red Frame Kai

Switching gears for a second because I know I mostly talk Transformers but I've been slowly getting into Gundam kits this year and this one has been a genuine joy to build. The frame engineering on MG kits continues to impress me, the range of motion you get without needing to add a single aftermarket part is honestly kind of wild coming from the Transformers side of my hobby where articulation is often a compromise.

The decal sheet on this kit is a bit much if I'm honest, there's a lot of small foil stickers that require a steady hand and good lighting, and I definitely botched a couple of the smaller ones on my first attempt. Worth it for the finished look but budget extra time if you're newer to kit building like I am.

Konami BEMANI Pocket Pop'n Music Handheld

This is one of those items where the second I saw it I knew I had to have it, and I also knew it was going to cost me more than it should because of course it's Japan only. The BEMANI Pocket line goes back to 1998 and is basically Konami's attempt to shrink their arcade rhythm games down into little LCD handhelds, and the Pop'n Music version is exactly as cute as you'd expect. Pop'n Music itself uses a nine-button colorful controller that doesn't try to simulate any real instrument, it just maps colored buttons to musical sounds in a pre-recorded track, and somehow that chaotic concept works beautifully. The pocket version keeps that energy in a tiny package. It's a novelty more than a serious gaming device, and the LCD format means it's nowhere near the full arcade experience, but as a collector piece for anyone who loves BEMANI or rhythm games in general, it's genuinely charming. Here's my issue though: why is this stuff only in Japan? The rhythm game market in the US has been coasting on DDR nostalgia for years and nobody seems interested in actually doing something about it. Konami keeps putting out fun, interesting BEMANI merch and hardware that never makes it stateside, and in the meantime the US rhythm game scene is just... waiting. Games like SOUND VOLTEX and pop'n music have dedicated fan bases here, the demand is real, and yet we're still importing everything at marked-up prices because domestic distribution is basically nonexistent. It's frustrating. The US market needs to seriously step up when it comes to rhythm games, and publishers need to start treating it like the viable niche it clearly is. Anyway. The handheld is adorable, I love it, and I resent that I had to work to get it. 🎵

Okkie doke, there are my thoughts about all this random stuff from June!