Two years ago I walked into that Dollar Tree on a cold November day and discovered a new toy line called Final Faction. Like other early adopters of the line, I was blown away by this really cool set of figures reminiscent of 80's and 90's action figures available exclusively at the Dollar Tree of all places. Final Faction has since grown to be something special in the toy world. I'm glad I discovered it organically just walking into the store.
It's neat to be on something from the ground floor and I'd never had thought something like a discount store toy line would ever be cool. But here we are, and here it is. I'm mentally drawing comparisons to other discount likes like Dragon Riders of the Styx and The Other World. Even with the thematic differences, it's great to see something similar happening again. Most discount lines these days are discount versions of mainline brands so seeing an original creation like this is refreshing. In 2003 the line will have the new Venom and Elite series. I'm pretty excited to see it continue.
It's a little late, but it's also the start of a new week here on Planet Zone! The weekend went by faster than I'd have liked, but I still had some fun! I enjoyed some early Halloween stock at various stores and took the Mrs hunting various Krogers for Squishmallows. During the outing I picked up Scourge, Clamp Down, and Road Rocket from the Velocitron Speedia 500 collection at a Walmart. Also picked up Authentics Arcee and a Bakugan Cubbo at Five Below during their Squishmallows event this weekend. A trip to the Dollar Tree resulted in several Final Faction accessory packs I've been needing. Not a bad weekend for toys!
I intended to work on some models, but an impromptu lunch with family killed some of that time. Oh well. I was planning to record this months episode of Transform Squadron today, but things happened. Don't worry, it's still coming! Just sometime soon instead of just coming soon. I almost forgot to mention. The Mrs suprised me Friday morning with a Red Cog and some snacks. I wasn't aware they made jumbo Red Vines. They do! They're just like regular Red Vines... BUT JUMBO! I've got a fun week in store for you all. Hope you like Gameboy games! Thanks for reading Zone Base, I really appreciate it. If you life what I'm doing, please share with your friends. It's all I ask!
I was pleasantly surprised when the news of Transformers Squeezelings were announced. As readers know, I'm a big fan of blind bag toys and keshi in general. A Transformers line of that? No problem! So far the toys have only been spotted as Dollar Tree stores for $3 each. I'm not sure if they'll pop up at any other stores, but wouldn't be surprised. I stopped by and picked up 4 packages at my local stores. At the time there's no discernible code system, so it's a complete shot in the dark when buying them. I ended up with only one double, Starscream, so I can't complain too much. The figures themselves are a larger keshi figure that are pleasantly rubbery and fully colored (for the most part).
The first series contains Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, and Optimus Prime. As of this writing, all I need is Optimus Prime to complete the set. Like I said above, I've only gotten one double in 4 packs. Hopefully Optimus won't be a challenge to get. The figures are in plastic bubbles inside the package, so feeling the bags won't help. The toys are located in the new 'more than $1' section of Dollar Tree. At $3 each, they're not expensive, but the price increase is still new enough to sting a little. The figures are mostly fully painted. I say mostly, because Starscream could use a little more. Speaking of the paint, it's a little sloppy. My Bumblebee has a messed up Autobot Symbol and some sloppy details. One Starscream has random paint on his face. Megatron's face paint is a little sloppy.
The paint issues aren't too bad. With the new higher prices, it does becomes more of a sticking point. That's really my only complaint. The figures are well sculpted, non-Transforming obviously (there's always that one guy), but full of character. They're in the 'Evergreen' style of Transformers. That's really a fancy way of saying traditional Transformers characters and looks, just slightly updated. This is more for those products that will likely be on shelves longer than the current line. So when you run across a box of these and the new movie is out, they don't look like last years toys. It's a pretty good idea for a line that changes up every year or so.
I'd like to think Squeezelings will eventually have more than just Transformers or more Transformers series. Time will tell of course, but I wouldn't mind other characters in the form factor. Hopefully a code system is adopted. I don't know exactly the details that go into implementing one and with the internal bubble, if one would be possible. It's not a big deal, but super convenient when avoiding doubles. Regardless, this is a fun new little line that so far I'm pretty happy with. I look forward to getting more.
It's a new week here on Planet Zone and one week closer to Christmas! I don't know about you guy's, but Christmas time is a strange flavor of chaotic for me. Between the shopping and holiday gatherings while still working and living my normal life, it's a stressful yet fun time of the year. Though on Christmas Eve, there's a peaceful calm that's never replicated any other time of the year. I spent most of this weekend shopping for gifts as well as another Sunday Squishmallow event at Five Below for the wife (they're practically having one every weekend lately) before having Mom over for dinner that night. Sunday was my Mom's birthday and she turned 70!
We had a wonderful pot roast the Mrs cooked in the crock pot and some cake while watching various Muppets Christmas specials. Mom brought me a Mega Construx MOTU Skeletor head she had grabbed while out. It's the Fisto set, I already have it, but welcome the extra parts. Whenever Mom finds them in the clearance aisle she grabs them for me. I've got a couple extra figures by her doing that which provides excellent extra parts for future use.
While out I did manage to find some if the new Final Faction toys. I got all the new figures, just need the Arrow ATV and new accessorie sets to be caught up. I never thought something like a cheap dollar store toy line would be as popular as it is. Pretty cool to discover something like that on launch as well. Neat. Fun fact, the guy who designed the figures works for Super 7 now. I happen to think very highly of them and happy to see that merging of things I like. This year I missed out on the Lego Star Wars Advent calendar.
Bummer, but in it's place the Mrs gave me a different kind of toy calendar. The Microbots Advent! These are small block kit robots that are a merge team. There's various sets available, mine is a dinosaur team vs a car team. It's a 12 day Advent Calendar, so I'm just now starting to feature it on my social media. That Instagram of mine is going to be a pretty neat place for a while! Well, I've got some household chores to do in between a little toy pics for this week on the site. Better get to work! Thanks each and every one of you for continuing to support Zone Base. It means so much to me that you continue to enjoy my madness. Put on a sweater (it's cold out there) and please share with your friends!
I'd been looking for these Micro Collection MOTU figures for what felt like an eternity. Fortunately on a random swing by the Dollar Tree, the wife saw picked them up for me. In the grand tradition of producing discount versions of mainline toys for dollar chains, Mattel released these figures at stores like the Dollar Tree and 99 Cent store. They're mini figures of some of the base characters in action poses. You know I love them.
Each figure is on a rocky base with the MOTU logo proudly displayed. You could easily display them with a Castle Grayskull and they'd blend in... of course the castle may look huge in comparison, but shouldn't it? They're a soft plastic with pretty good sculpting and decent paint. For a dollar each they look pretty good. My favorite is Orko, who came out perfect. Man At Arms unfortunately is the worst. His sculpt is ok, but there's just something off about him. He's not terrible, just could have used a little extra work overall.
I'm super happy to have these and hope there's another series. Even if it's just repaints, I'd be down. I love little oddball things like this. For the price they're hard to beat and fun to collect. I could see if there's ever a time that I slowed down on my toy collecting, things like this would likely be my outlet for toys. I'd be happy with mini figures and keshi. Especially when the quality is as good as it is here. This is a great little set of figures for a total of $5. They totally have the power. I'm not apologizing for that, you saw what you saw.
Another week on Planet Zone rears it's head, and with it... I don't know. Cheese? We're firmly into the Halloween season with August almost over already. Soon there'll be more than just the early birds like me pouring the pumpkin spice mayhem all over. Speaking of Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem, I've spread myself a bit thin over the recent weeks. As much as I've liked making Not as Brightly Lit over the past few months, I have to put it on hiatus. Just for now.
It's a bummer since we're actually now in the Halloween season, but I didn't foresee having health problems when I started it. Between doctors visits and various other things, I have less free time than I did a few months ago. Instead of phoning it in every week (which I've admittedly been doing), I felt it best just to put it on hold until some times frees up. Of course it'll still be Halloween Hootenanny here. Actually nothing's really going to change here, just had to streamline other things a little. I do want to make this a better site. Like, do a better job. Be a better blogger. Write dammit more often. Dammit.
I'm getting better, just it's one step at a time. Which can be frustrating because I feel great. But, every once and awhile I get a reminded that I'm not there yet. I get tired really easy. Even though I'm getting more and more endurance, sometimes I'm really struggling. Ranger Stop is next weekend and I really wanted to go, but between the Covid numbers rising and all this, I decided to stay home this year. Bummer, but realistically I'd be worn out by the time I got out of the parking deck.
It's Friday evening as I'm writing this. What if I updated more a little later and told you all what happened over the weekend? Dammit.
It's Sunday morning now. Like 5am and I've woken up. Thinking about eating some fruit. Dammit. Yesterday the wife and I did some shopping. Target had Revelations Eternia Minis, got the entire series except Beastman. So I'm currently hunting Stratos from the last series and Beastman from this series. Fortunately they're not blind bagged anymore. I also grabbed one of those Buzzworthy Bumblebee Crash Combiner sets. The Bumblebee/Grimlock one.
I got a new pair of Nike and a visit to At Home not only nabbed a dollar skeleton (yearly tradition), but this awesome skeleton monster. I have no clue what it's supposed to be, but it's awesome and I'm convinced they shadow released a He-Man villain as a Halloween decoration. We've went full circle, just check the animal skeletons in the Halloween decorations and you'll see. Got one of those bony octopuses working for Merman currently. The Dollar Tree had started putting up their Halloween wares resulting in a most excellent discovery.
Each year there's some great keshigomu/erasers put out with treat bag stuff likes spooky pencils and stuff. Well, instead of generic packaging, they have a set in one of four carded packages! It's the same set of freaks on each card, but the individual art really makes them special. I got the black card with trick or treating ghost. They really come off much neater than a dollar store eraser set should. Hoping Target and Party City also have some cool offerings in the gift bag themed erasers. Party City is the only place local that'll have Boo Hollow, so we'll be there often already. We stopped by the newly opened Spirit, that was fun. It's in a new location this year which looks like a castle.
I think that's enough for now. I'll post pics of new stuff to my Instagram a little later. This will post Monday morning, which isn't right now. I like pretending there's a format to this site. There's not really. There's no ads either, so look at that. Thanks for reading Zone Base, please share with your friends!
I thought it I didn't need to haunt the Dollar Tree for a little while, until I saw these He-Man mini figures. These small pvc figurines of classic MOTU characters will be impossible to resist like those Nacho Trays. They look decently sculpted for such small figures and have little bases to stand on. I kinda hope they make more, which to be fair I always want more characters as mini figures. For additional fun, pair these little guys up with the spooky trees and such that will be out for Halloween soon. You could recreate all those classic MOTU posters for just a few dollars! And while you're there, grab one of those Nacho Trays. It's quite the tasty treat, which you'll need building your little scene from Dollar Tree Halloween decorations and MOTU figures. Did I mention they sell slime?
On my birthday last month, the Mrs. ended my quest for the new Dollar Tree GIJOE figures I had talked about before. Taped to each present was one of the much searched for figures (and some Tiny Turbo Changers, but we'll discuss those later) and I was overjoyed. Today seemed like a good day to talk about them. I hardly ever plan anything on this site ahead of time. It's complete anarchy. Just chaos.
These are mini figures of GIJOE characters sold at Dollar Tree and other similar stores for $1 each. They're small, about the size of a M.A.S.K figure without any articulation. The sculpts are pretty nice and so is the paint. Destro probably got the worst paint job, with his exposed skin being the same shade of grey as the trademark mask. It's not terrible though, just a little better paint detail would go a long way.
I think my favorite is the Cobra Red Ninja followed closely by Snake Eyes. They just came out the best in my non- snaked eyes. I really like this type of mini figures sold at Dollar Tree and other similar stores. Basic inexpensive figurines of characters I like. They've got a particular charm about them and there's a thrill of buying a handful of them for $1 each. I hope to see more figures released. I'd love wacky colored repaints.
With Shift we're coming to an end of our weekly look at Final Faction toys until some new stuff comes out. Allegedly the vehicles are due sometime in the summer with the next batch of figures by fall. So you can be sure that I'll be talking about them when the time comes. For now, let's look at Shift, the ninja of Alpha Team 1.
Shift comes with a set of swords that she can technically hold, but are molded together to mount on her back. I have seen folks trim them away to function as handheld swords. However if you've got the Covert Ops accessory set, there's plenty of appropriate to her character weaponry so that you can keep those swords as a backpack. Shift fills the role of ninja type warrior while adding a little variety to Alpha Team 1.
The coolest member of Alpha Team 1 is the A.C.R.M. Piloted by a disabled 15 year old kid named Boyd via virtual reality, the mech unit is a heavy hitter. The Air Assault weapons pack completes the figure adding wings, boosters, and gun pods. It's pretty hard not to look at this figure and be impressed. Especially as it only costs $1. A.C.R.M has been a pretty popular toy for customizers as well. I've seen everything from alternate colors to takes on other characters with the figure as the base.
Like all of Final Faction, this is a 3 3/4 figure with 5 points of articulation. Similar to the Synthoid, it's a much more chunky toy and looks bigger in pictures. Also like the Synthoid, it's one of the more impressive figures in the line. At Toylanta, I was showing Buddy the figures and the two definitely blew him away. I don't want to oversell the toy, but it really does feel like a much more expensive than it is.
The Kharn Drone Class is a basic grunt used for combat and labor
operations. Not highly intelligent, but able to accomplish mission
tasks.
As their name would imply, the Drone is the basic soldier of the Kharn army. I do like how so far all the Kharn is army builders. Just droves of attacking aliens that can be equipped differently with various accessory sets. The design of these guys is a cross between a Xenomorph and something out of Quake. That mixture of 80's and 90's aesthetics in Final Faction is a big part of what makes it such a fun little line. Like the other Kharn soldiers, I wish the Drone was available in a variety of colors. I could see a 'fire' or 'ice' version of this figure with corresponding included weapons.
Continuing our weekly exploration of Dollar Tree's Final Faction toys brings us to SGT. Steel. Steel is a pretty cool dude as his sunglasses would imply. If the big wings on his back didn't clue you in, he's the jet pack flyer guy of Alpha Team 1. So far the members I've shown you have been heavy duty ground soldiers, so the variety is much appreciated.
He's pretty much the Final Faction version of Red Falcon and that's pretty great. If you want to deck him out with accessories, I'd say the Air Assault and Covert Arms packs would suit him fine. Unfortunately Steel is the only Final Faction toy I've gotten that's had any QC issues. Mine wasn't screwed together well leading to a loose head. Fortunately all it takes to fix this is one of those tiny screw drivers they also sell at the Dollar Tree.
The Kharn Brute Class specializes in power and destruction. They have
very low intelligence and are controlled by a commander. Their skin is
nearly impenetrable and it’s hard to take them down.
The Brute is a Kharn troop that resembles a demon straight from hell. These are the big bruisers that are usually carrying some heavy firepower into the battle and are twice as hard to kill the regular soldier. You know the type.
The figure comes with a big alien gun that looks like it would be more than enough in a fight. However the Quake Arms and Shock Arms accessory packs provide extra firepower to do some serious damage. It's really surprising to get such a cool figure for just a dollar. Let alone a completely cool line for a dollar each.
Ruck is the ground artillery guy in Alpha Team 1. Like Steadfast, he's also a cyborg . Ruck has robotic legs and his covered in cool sci fi armor that you can plug various guns into for more firepower. He's pretty much a walking tank in these regards. Ruck comes with a backpack mounted gun that can fold over his shoulder. It matches up with the sculpted on headset that likely gives him a heads up display for use with his various attached weapons.
I see that armor and think Alien Syndrome. A major part of why these Final Faction toys are so cool is that old school flavor in the designs. Ruck is a great example of that. Like I said above, you can attach various attachments to him via accessory sets. The gun pods from the Air Assault set would be a natural fit though I think he's general enough for most things from the sets to match up pretty well. This figure with a helmeted head would make for a good army builder figure. He's a solid action figure from a line with a lot going on for it. I just can't say enough good things about these toys. It's a amazing they're exclusive to the Dollar Tree. There's more heart in these than much more expensive figures.
"Synthoids are used in all Kharn operations and are not to be
underestimated. They have very advanced technology, a synthetic
biology, and are highly intelligent"
Today we're looking at the Synthoid. These guys look like a cross between a shark and a space ship with some insect thrown in for good measure. The figure comes as you see here out of the package, but can be decked out with the Synthoid Pack accessory set. This gives you an alternate set of arms and back mounted gun pods for extra fire power. It's a pretty cool extra option.
I appreciate the far out sci fi look of Synthoids. The other two Kharn figures look like extras from Doom while these guys are classic B movie aliens. The colors are great, but like others in the Final Faction group... I want to see these guys in translucent colors. The Synthoid specifically would look great in random florescent transparent plastic. I could really see myself driving to a bunch of different Dollar Tree's and stocking up on all the different ones I could find. Maybe stop by McDonald's for lunch. Get a McDouble or two.
I've talked about Final Faction here before, but not enough. This wonderful little line has become quite popular since launching around Christmas. It's a nice throwback to action figures of old and extremely inexpensive. Being exclusive to the Dollar Tree, each figure/accessory set is only $1 each. That's super hard to beat. The figures are 1:18 scale and have five points of articulation.
This is MSGT. Steadfast, the leader of Alpha Team.1 (the good guys). Steadfast has seen some action as his cybernetic arm would imply. He's decked out out in olive green riot gear and a removable helmet. The helmet offers a full face shield with goggles and respirator so he doesn't catch covid-19.
Also included with Steadfast is a big gun. You can't deal with an alien invasion by talking. With a gun like that, Steadfast isn't mincing words. I'd recommend the Heavy Arms accessory set to fully outfit this soldier with a ton of firepower. He's the kind of toy you want to just pile a million guns on. Just a kick ass type of guy. Steadfast is the perfect figure to start with in Final Faction. Not only is he the leader of the good guys, but an awesome action figure.
The Dollar Tree is one of my favorite stores to pop into. Between low priced household goods (the excuse for a visit) and random surprises (the reason for a visit) you can find a lot of neat things for not a lot of money.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Dollar Tree dropped their new exclusive sci fi
toy line called 'Final Faction' sometime in November. It's pretty great
and at a dollar each, it's easy to complete them all.
Alpha Team 1 (the good guys) vs the Kharn (the bad guys with the fate of the Earth left in the balance. The figures are 1:18 scale with five points of articulation (generally) which is a sweet spot for me.
The highlight of the line so far is the additional accessories sold separately in themed packs. Extra guns, weapon pods, and even flight packs can be attached to the figures for a level of customization I didn't expect.
There's more figures on the way and even a vehicle! The sculpting and paint isn't too bad either. I do anticipate some sweet custom work done on these. There's even an animated series on the Dollar Tree's YouTube channel. I've only gave it a quick glance, so I don't have much of an opinion yet. It does appear to be pretty kid friendly, which is what I'd expect.
It's hard not to like such a fun line with so much variety. Even harder not to like it at the super low price. I really like the colorful packaging and presentation of everything. The figures look familiar while being something new. 2020 has been a crazy year. Who'd ever think a Dollar Tree exclusive toy line would end it with such a mic drop?
It’s Christmas at Zone Base! The lights are hung on the porch and now there’s just a tree in the living room. Rob talks about the way cool new
Final Faction toy line before talking about his Lego Star Wars Advent
Calendar. Then it’s random memories of Christmas music he hates and
loves before spiraling into madness about a Burger King commercial.
Merry Christmas!
This weekend was a pretty laid back weekend. Not a super lot to report on, but felt like a lot was accomplished. One big thing on our to do list after moving in was to get an air conditioner for upstairs. A month and a half after moving in, we finally crossed that off. After I came in from work Saturday morning we headed out and got one after a little shopping around. Thankfully our upstairs now is a lot cooler than it has been. We live in a pretty hot state and there's about two more months of heat until things cool down.
Walmart came up empty handed on toys I was hoping to find. I need Winston and Stanz to complete my Real Ghostbusters vintage line and despite having them plentifully in stock for the past few weeks, not so much when I came calling. They had plenty of the Plasma series which I plan to complete once I finish the vintage line. Which if they don't restock anymore soon, might be sooner than I planned.
They were sold out of G.I.JOE, which I was happy to see. I still haven't gotten any, but I will. No Master of the Universe in sight. Neither Origins or WWE. Origins is new, so I understand, but the WWE line is frustrating. I've only seen the first wave ever and the rest just never show up and sell out instantly online. I'd be more patient if I didn't see folks posting their hauls of everything the store had posts in MOTU groups.
There was plenty of Siege Transformers. I still need to get Megatron and Sideswipe, but considering the mountain... I'm going to play clearance lottery. The Ultra Magnus magically went to clearance after I bought one, so I'm gonna play the odds here. They did have candy corn though! Got a bag of mellowcreme pumpkins to eventually eat. Also some Super Mario figurines I haven't seen yet were grabbed. After some Culver's and sleep I stayed up all night assembling my wife's new vanity which got Fed Ex'd during the week. I watched Headless Horseman, Mr. Boogedy, and Bride of Mr. Boogedy during the course of this. Disney Plus rules.
Sunday after waking from my all night furniture jam coma, I took the wife's jewelry to the jewelers for their warranty inspection. We stopped by Dollar Tree and Target on the way home. Dollar Tree had begun putting out there Halloween stuff! Not a ton, but a pretty good bit for late July. Target usually has a great Halloween selection, but it's still a little early for them.
They did however have that Repugnus Cyberverse set I spoke of last week and a few Tiny Turbo Changers. I was able to pick out Jazz and Sideswipe from the repeats of wave 1. They also had the new Star Wars Mission Fleet figures. I literally just learned about these the night before while checking Instagram and was surprised to find them already. I'll post about them here later this week but grabbed Boba Fett while there. I plan to get them all, but after buying an air conditioner the day before... I kinda didn't feel like spending much more. This is where I'd type lol in a text.
For those not in the know, Mission Fleet is a new Star Wars line with mini figures of characters which attachable back packs based on their related vehicles. Boba Fett, for example, has a jet pack based on the Slave-1. The figures are a bit stylized which adds to their charm. They have accesories and give me strong Microman/Micronaut vibes. Dig it.
The rest of Sunday was spent doing some room organizing and eating a BBQ dinner that we smelt all day cooking in the crock pot. Another weekend or two and my room might finally be serviceable for my purposes and not just some boxes that I took out of the garage. I normally don't mention Mondays here on these posts, but our order from a decor distributor came with some Halloween blow molds we missed last year. In it was a combiner number robots set the wife added in with the order and I already love them. I look forward to building the somewhat amazing looking combiner with them soon!
Hey, know how I was at the Dollar Tree the other day? Well, I also got some more Wall Walkers. I had been getting the Transformers variety and if I liked current WWE performers (I don't) I'd probably grab some of those. They're a silly fun blind bag toy for a buck each. I didn't expect to see Beast Morphers in the selection and the surprise of it made me shit my pants. Not literally, I'm joking. You gave to spell things out for people sometimes.
I grabbed four packs. These aren't the kind of blind bag I go crazy over and try to complete the set. These are the kind I'll grab a couple of and hope I don't get too many doubles. Speaking off, I'm like 4 ghosts away from completing the Scooby-Doo Playmobil series and each new shelf box has new codes... it's pretty frustrating. Dammit. Just like the others in the Wall Walker toys at Dollar Tree, the Beast Morpher versions are colored plastic with decals to distinguish each character. The body shape of the walker doesn't look too silly on the Power Rangers as they're people in spandex normally. In fact they make for pretty good representations.
I got two Blaze's, one Roxy, and one Blue Ranger. Not bad. If I were to get two of a Beast Morpher, I'd rather it be Blaze. I like him the most out of the characters. His bat armor looks cool. Just like the Transformers versions, I'll be grabbing a few of these on trips in the Dollar Tree. I've really liked Beast Morphers, it's in it's mid-season break of it's last season. I'm sure I'll enjoy Dino Fury next year, but currently I'm just not as excited for it as I've been for Beast Morphers. Guess I'll just have to throw it to the wall and see if it sticks.
