Robot Chicken (Jazwares)

Robot Chicken
Jazwares
2009 - 2010

Robot Chicken is kind of like Saturday Night Live. Some skits can be incredibly funny, while others are so dull you just wish they would hurry up and end. Though it is skit based, many characters are used in reoccurring roles, and sometimes even cross over to other skits to make appearances.

The biggest draw for many to the show is its use of vintage action figures and stop motion animation to create comedic scenarios that are often times over the top to the point of parodying the source material - Think Twisted ToyFare Theater, but on television as opposed to in printed pages - P.S. Twisted ToyFare Theater is better.

Jazwares is a company that is known for producing toys based on animated series, and that's rightly so - They do it well. Their entry into the Robot Chicken universe is nothing short of spot on to their television counterparts, and even include iconic accessories as seen in the show.

Because a lot of the characters in the show aren't owned by the developers, this would explain why the series is so limited in terms of what it's offering. You'll only find characters that were created specifically for the series that don't infringe on the copyrights of other toy companies - Not that we really need a Cobra Commander from Robot Chicken anyway as it's nothing short of the vintage Hasbro version.

The end result was only a handful of figures, one of which was limited to a San Diego Comic Con release. The series includes; Mad Scientist and Robot Chicken, Robot and Washing Machine,Candy Bear and Convention Exclusive Nerd.

The last piece developed for the series was the large lights and sounds Robot Chicken. By far this is the hardest item to come by if you're collecting the toys. Not only is it difficult to find, but it's challenging to find one in good condition boxes. The packaging is prone to crushing and bulging - Most likely caused by poor storage from the owners.

Overall this isn't a bad series - Especially if you're a fan of the show. The look in the sculpting is definitely there, leaving no question as to which characters they represent. 

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The Venture Bros. (Bif Bang Pow)

The Venture Bros.
Bif Bang Pow
2010

Go team Venture!

As of 2016, The Venture Bros. is the longest running animated show aired on Adult Swim, and there's good reasons for that. For starters, it can be pretty funny at times. It has villains such as The Monarch that you can't help but feel sorry for, and wish he would just catch a break and win. Then of course there's the over the top violence of Brock Samson as he goes on a rampant rage of destruction in any way possible. Now that we start listing this out, really every character has a unique life of their own which comes with funny quirks. We could honestly list something about everyone.

As we've seen with prior Adult Swim related action figures, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a strong foothold in the market even when you have such a popular source material as your canvas. Bif Bang Pow started off with a hug bang (no pun intended), hitting the market with seven unique figures, and a handful of variants.

Bif Bang Pow produced both a 3 3/4 inch line as well as an 8 inch line. Today we're going to take a look at the 3 3/4 inch line.

Brock Samson* Brock Samson (Bloody / Naked Entertainment Earth Exclusive)*Brock Samson (Bloody SDCC / Entertainment Earth Exclusive)

The series launched with pretty much everyone in the main cast being present - Brock Samson, Hank and Dean Venture, Doctor Venture, Phantom Limb and of course Mr. and Mrs. The Monarch. The series also included numerous exclusives variant - Most of which were based on Brock Samson.

Dean Venture*Hank Venture*Dr. Venture

The Monarch*Dr. Mrs. Monarch*Phantom Limb

In this day and age, toy developers love giving fans something to chase after. Bif Bang Pows answer to this was the yellow unpainted test version of The Monarch. The figure was limited to just 500 pieces, and released in retail cases as a chase variant.

The Monarche Unpainted Test

The final items released to date in the 3 3/4 inch line were the G.I. Joe / retro style cards of Brock Samson variants. The black shirt version was released as a convention exclusive for Entertainment Earth, while the white shirt version was released in retail.

Brock Samson (Bloody Black Shirt Entertainment Earth)*Brock Samson (White Shirt)

The beauty of these figures is that they're all relatively cheap to obtain. If you're buying individually, you can expect to pay $15.00 to $20.00 each. However, when buying multiple figures at a time, the price can equal out to as little as $5.00 per figure when dividing the total price by how many figures you're getting. If these are figures you've been interested in getting, now is definitely a good time to jump on them.

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Afro Samurai (DC Direct)

Afro Samurai
DC Direct
2008

Afro Samurai was a dream project come true for creator Takashi Okazaki. He first started doodling black samurai characters in his teenage years, and later developed the character Afro Samurai. It was after a friend of his decided to create a small batch of action figures based on the character that a Japanese producer for the company Gonzo would propose adapting it into an anime. While in the works, Gonzo developed a trailer which landed in the hands of Samuel L. Jackson who took a great interest in the project. The rest as they say, is history.

The story of Afro Samurai revolves around the wearers of the number one and number two headbands. The lore of the headbands is that whoever wears the number one headband will be granted God like powers. Only the wearer of the number two headband can challenge the wearer of the first, and anyone can challenge the wearer of the second. Thus life for the wearer of the second headband is a constant struggle for survival.

It's in this vicious rules above that it would come to be that Justice, the wearer of the second headband would defeat and behead Rokutaro to claim the first headband. The head rolls towards his son Afro, who is told by Justice to seek him out when he wants to challenge a God for his revenge. Thus the stage is set for the series.

The anime was a huge success both in Japan and United States, and quickly found a spot on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. Since then, it has only grown in more popularity for both its appealing charm to young American otakus, and because of Samuel L. Jackson's voice over work.

With so much popularity surrounding it, DC Direct procured the license to develop a small series of figures based on the anime. Four figures in total were produced for the basic line, as well as a relatively unknown exclusive two pack. It was a fairly small, yet fairly solid line that seemed to cover most of its bases.

 Afro Samurai

 Justice

 Kuma

 Ninja Ninja

Many collectors of the Afro Samurai line don't seem to be aware that fye/Suncoast received an exclusive two pack. Granted the figures were no different from the basic line beyond blood splatter covering them. The set is not easy to find, and as such we don't have a benchmark for what it would cost if you tracked one down. The last one we saw was for an opened / loose Afro Samurai (didn't include Kuma), and that sold for $45.00.

Afro Samurai and Kuma (Bloody) - fye/Suncoast Exclusive

As far as the basic line of figures, they sell for roughly $30.00 to $60.00 each (mint in package) depending on the character. Afro appears to be the rarest of all of them to find, so he typically sells closer towards the sixty dollar range.

Join us next time when we take a look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

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Adult Swim (Palisades)

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Sealab 2021, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Brak Show, Frisky Dingo, Venture Bros., the list goes on and on. I'm of course talking about Cartoon Networks highly popular, and vastly expansive Adult Swim line up, or [adult swim] for those correct people out there.

When the Swim shows launched in 2001, they were lead by a small pack of risqué shows. Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the first to spark major popularity and interest in the general viewers, and eventually the developers, Ghost Planet who would later become William Street Studios would go on to produce several ground breaking series for the network such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force (my personal favorite).



In 2005, Palisade began marketing toys based on some of the more popular shows. Rather than your traditional packaged figure, the Adult Swim figures were packaged two per pack. This was a brilliant strategy as it allowed Palisade to get more figures onto the market in a lot shorter period.

Keeping in theme with Adult Swim's logo being simply a black background with white text, Palisades made sure to design their packages around this. While it is somewhat bland, you can at least rest easy knowing that it keeps with the overall scheme of the original logo's design. In other words, it wasn't done to cut costs, but rather to resemble its origins.

Four two packs were made available in series 1, as well as a "Mega" Meatwad which "stood" over five inches high. The figures themselves were packed in with several unique and colorful accessories and background pieces - such as urinals and The Broodwich sandwich. The figures were;

Brak's Mom and Brak's Dad
Master Shake and Mothmonsterman
Debbie Dupree and Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn
Phil Ken Sebben and Bear



Palisades went directly to the route of exclusives, and offered four different ones in one year. Though to be honest, the Debbie and Quinn pack is just a simple repaint and name change, while the Master Shake and Mothmonsterman change up the accessories, and Mothmonsterman now glows in the dark.

The exclusives offered were as follows;

Bizzaro Debbie and Bizarro Quinn - Palisades Direct
Master Shake - Toy Fair
Signal Shake and Glow in the Dark Mothmonsterman - Sam Goody
Meatwad, Master Shake, Frylock and Quadlaser (Ignignokt and Ir) - SDCC

(SDCC - San Diego Comic Con)



Sadly, before a second series could be produced, Palisades went bankrupt, and closed their doors. There are known prototypes for what would have become five new two packs (ten figures), which you can see in the photo above.

It's a real shame these toys will never see the light of day. The sculpting on both the first series and these later prototypes for series 2 are amazing. The likeness to the characters and the attention to detail is outstanding.

But, unfortunately this is another tale of yet another company that came out of nowhere, and while they had a great product to offer, they either couldn't keep up with the supply and demand, OR they didn't have the financial backing to invest enough into marketing the product so that people knew it was even available.

As a completest I find it difficult to collect this series because I know that it will never be complete. At least thanks to the San Diego Comic Con exclusive set, I can collect all the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Figures...Well, with the exception of Carl, anyway. I really hope that another toy producer out there picks up this series and runs with it in the near future. There are so many toys that could be produced based on the Adult Swim line up.

Join us next Monday for our look at The Legend of the Lone Ranger!

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