MONSTER IN MY POCKET

Maybe is no surprise, but i actually have in high opinion the toys of my childhood, specially those from Kenner and Galob, they are silly by now day standar, nothing compared to Hot Toys of Figma, but they were more than satisfiying for me back then they they still are a lot of fun.

And one of my fondest and favorite memories from my childhood is a small and weird series called Monster in my Pocket. I am not sure wath collectible of the series came first, but for me, the item that made me aware of the name was the NES game from Konami.

Not only it had a kick ass cover art, but i loved the idea of having soo many monsters from myths and literature together in a single game. The game was basically a plataformer like Magemana but much more easyer and fun and the scenarios where everyday places from a home, like the kitchen, the bedroom, the countyard, with an invasion of tiny monsters of all kind: mummys, witches, chimeras, wendigos.....

The game let you chose between the vampire and the monster and can be played with a second controller as well. I used to play it a lot with my uncle, but all by myself this was the very first videogame i ever finished and i played the hell out of it when i was six or seven.

One cool detail is that it came with a monster figure, all in orange plastic, this Blemiyae creature was supposed to be in scale with the monsters of the game, wich made me fantasy a lot how would it be to have all this monsters in this size, inside my pocket.

It was a blast when i later discovered the Monster in my Pocket trading cards. They all have this weird art of the monsters on it, mixing realistic style with cartoon anatomy and the look of an old painting. It was a blast to see the characters of the videogame with great and realistic detail and the back of the card had the story and stats of each monster. Of course, back then i didnt knew english at all soo i skiped all that info. The cards also came with a puzzle stcker that lets you build a giant monster island.

But the best was around the corner since a little bit of time later, the candy company Sonrics decided to bring the Monster in my Pocket to Mexico at grand scale and in superior quality than the original USA release. Of course then i learned this i was shocked.

Everyday school was over i ran to the nearest store before going to home and use my left oer money to buy a "SonricsLand Box", a little carboard box with Monster in my Pocket artwork and lots of candys inside. Of course, i didnt care too much for the candys, but my inetrest was focused on the extra prize inside: a set of five cards and a surprise item.

The mexican version of the cards were bizarrely superior to the USA original version, not only it had all the text traslated to spanish and i was able to read every single card at last, but the print colors was more intense and vibrant and the cards also had glow in the dark painting that shine beautifully in the darknes, you could see the silhouette of each monster or the moon or his eyes glowing.

They also included a set of special cards made with transluscent plastic. This set was beautifull looking and the most rare cards to find to the poin until a year ago i was still missing 3. Like if that wasnt enough, they also released the second series that contain monsters i never before seen. I was a very happy kid back then.

The "surprise" item was one of 3 collectibles: the first one being a pin with art of the cards on it. This pin were the rearest and i only got eleven of them and now day they are very expensive.

The second surprise woul be a comic book. the first eleven numbers were activitys for kids and the last nine had the story of the Monster in my Pocket. This last were the best only for the good loocking art tough since the atoryline was very....dumb and campy, even for a kid in 1993.

The thirs option for the susprise was the best of them all and the main center of the collection: a little figure of a random monster in one of 15 colors (in USA they nly had 4). I was soo obssesed with this little guys since now i could recreate the entre game with the monsters in the rigth scale, but i also saw my child dream come true, of having the monsters in my pocket. Seen this characters in 3D and see all the details on theyr back was something else.

Gete half of the collection and you coudl take them to the Sonrices factory and they would give you a big collector with the shape of a volcano. It was soo rad to have the black volcano hanging on the wall with all the monsters on display, life was perfect once you fill each section with the creatures.

Sadly, while i still have the collection complete, my volcano died thanks to the dust, the sun light and weather, the cheap plastic crumbled like glass and i surelly didnt expect that 30 years later this volcano were soo expensive as it is now...

And talking about modern times, i learenda  few years ago that there is actually a series 2 and 3 of figures released by Matchbox in USA but Sonrics didnt bring them to Mexico. I am not mad at Sonrics since they did more than enough to bring this characters to Mexico in a great way, but in the last two years i been hunting and collecting this series two monster and now i am missing just one!!

Adn the series 3....it was too expensive for such small figurines with no paint, soo i dont think i will be able to get those, tough i got one of them. Blemiyae, the little guy on the videogame is a monster from the third series and an exptremelly expensive one.

When i was a kid i collected a lot of items that came on the chips bags or promotional stuff from Coca or fast food chains, but the nly collection i care 25 years later is the Monster in my Pocket. I dunno wath it is....i love the idea to have soo many monster reunited in s single collection and how some of them are soo obscure i could never meet them any other way without this series (like Windigo, Cokatrice, Jotun Troll, Nuckelabe, Bloddy Bones...), and there is something both funy and grotesque on the character design too, something that makes each monster silhouette easy to recognize that i find attractive.

Wathever is the reason, they sure knew how to make cool and memorable collectible back in 1990.

BROLY

Dragon Ball Super has been soo far pretty lackluster for me, not for the badly drawn animation but mustly because Toriyama now wants to change the canon Toei created back in the 90s, the canon of my childhood, and that makes me lost interest (plus DB excitment was totally squeezed last century, i cant see any new and exciting thing Super can do now). Tough there is some exceptions like the last chapter of the series and the last movie with the lame title Broly.

I liked the movie actually. I hated the chesy and boring childhood story of Goku compared to the kickass OVA of Bardock last battle (its pathetic how Toriyama must copy Superman to the last bit no matter wath), but once the title character appeare the movie is really fantastic, with great character development and amazing action, juts like the DBZ movies i used to love when i was a kid.

Back then i was in love of both Vegeta and Broly and now, this new Broly dosnt dissapoint me and turns out to be the sexyest version of the chaarcter, soo i was expecting a big wave of figures of him and i cant complaing about it. Tough a couple of years ago i got a statue of Goku and Vageta that i could not resist to get (Vegeta is sooooooo hawt and erotic looking!!! Even with a bulgue), with a great price, big size and amazing sculpt and painting soo i hoped Banpresto could make a Broly from the same series.

Not the same series tough, i ended getting the King Clustar Broly from Bandai because i think he is the biggest Broly figure to date and he surelly fits perfectly with my Goku and Vegeta. and i am not dissapointed with him.

He comes in a masive box with its own handle and he is heavy VERY HEAVY. The figure dosnt need any kind of asembly since he is just a big hunk of plastic and can stand perfectly on his own, tough he comes with a grey piece of plastic that fits on his leg and helps him stand just in case because of this guy falls on your head he could kill you.

The culpt is sharp and really good looking, specially on his face, with the small nose and the tiny scar and teeth and tongue sculpted perfectly, the wrinkles on his finger, the fur of the beast ear on his waist and the different textures on his boots, legs and wrists bands. He also have a very nice skin texture on his muscles. Is very soft and not very evident but is nice to the touch, almost like a peach (perv...)

The paint is also pretty detailed on his face and perfect on every wrink and his muscles have great shadows effect that gives him more volume (if thats possible) in both his torso and legs. The rest of the parts have a much more simplistic painting but is OK i guess since the colors are pretty fantastic as they are: neon purple, neon yellow, neon green, this is a really colorfull fellow that shines great under and kind of light and that gives him a very cartoony look. Perfect for Dragon Ball.

Compared to my Goku and Vegeta, maybe, just maaayybbeeee he should be a little bit taller, but overall i am very happy to see how he towers over those two and in the end, he is already huge!! He is bigger than the Play Arts Kai or the Gecco statue and Hot Toys, soo i dont think a bigger figure could fit on my room (or anyones room), soo the scale is perfect.

I like much more the black haired Broly really, but i am very happy with this guy, he is just such a sexy beats is imposible to not like him.

KAZUYA MISHIMA

Whem i learn Storm Collectibles was doing Tekken 7 figures i was really hyped about it. Not only theyr figures are fantastic, but it would be the first action figure line since the 90s based on this characters (not counting the failed line of Play Arts Kai) and when i saw the ptotorypes of Heihach and Kazuya i was specially interested on Kazuya of course.

Kazuya was my very first Tekken Husbando since Tekken 2 and he has been constantlly interesting for me, unlike his son Jin, the older he got, the more evil he turns and that makes him incrediblly sexy.

I actually picked Heihachi only to pair him with Kazuya and that was....a year ago, when Tekken 7 was already a year old. My hype for Tekken has come and go and my hype for this figures has come and go many times as well, having an entire year in between releases is trully dissapointing.

And many people wasnt veyr happy with Kazuya either but i can say he is really awesome beside a couple of details. He is taller than Heihachi if only by an inch, and he is bulkyer as well. I tough Heihachi was muscly but Kazuya have a hunkyer shape.

I love the texture on his skin, is really soft and almost velvethish and his pecs and neck are soft an squishy, wich makes him extra realistic and a pleasure to the touch (yes i am drooling over plastic pecs). Of course this is soo the chest piece dosnt stop his arm rotation.

His pants have a heavy fabric texture and are totally clean of shadows and washes and his belt is an independent sculpt, made with soft plastic. This is a great contrast over the crimson red gloves that shine like made with rubber. Is interesting to see how there is no painting highlighting shadows on his outfit or skin, wich makes him looks much more natural than the Play Arts Kai.

This guy actually puts the Play Arts Kai to shame since it have a much better sculpt, more natural textures and better aritculation (tough he is as expensive as the PAK).

His skin tone is darker than Heihachi or Hot Ryu, wich seems to be the problem for the people who dosnt like him. Maybe a lighter tone would do the tryck? Tough this dosnt mean the paint is bad, quiet the oposite, is really good on the many scars on his chest and arms and even the scar on his face and lips have the perfect tone to make them stand out without being awkard.

The shape of his head is pefectly sculpted and he does actually have one red pupil but is very difficult to see it unlike he have direct light. Maybe a little led light would be usefull here but sich device would make him more delicate and more expensive as well.

He is articulated on the head, neck, chest, waist, shoulders, biceps, elbows, double articulation on the wrists, legs, knes, ankles and the midle of the feet. All articulations works really good exept the ones on the ankles, togh they have the limits of the muscles and they feel a little bit delicate....like the double jointed wrists and the neck structure since its a rood coming out under the neck/chest soft piece, i have the feeling a direct hit could break this rod soo he needs to be handled with care.

And the only technical problem this guy have are his ankles, he can barelly move them thanks to his long pants. This could be easy fixed if only his pants where made with soft plastic but they are not, they use hard plastic for them i dont know why. Soo in the end is very difficult to make Kazuya stand on his own thanks to his inability to move his ankles.

Again, this could have been easy fixed WITH A DAMN BASE!!!! Not only it took them an entire year to release him, BUT THEY DIDNT GIVE HIM A BASE!! This is unforgibable for a character like this, a figther who is supposed to be posed kicking and jumping but Storm decided not to give him a base because.... he is not a Street Fighter character.

His accesoryes consist on a bunch of hands, a pair in claw position, a pair fully open and a pair for "two fingers". This last pair is the most interestinf for me since it reminds me Leo Chaolan ending in Tekken 5 and i dont remember Kazuya ever do this "two fingers" sign before. My dirty mind builds a lot of raunchy scenarios for this hands and i like it.

The hands are a little tricky to change tough since the wrists have double articulation and move a lot and the soft lower piece of the gloves dosnt help but being extra carefull with him is a must. Same for his extra heads, they fit into the rod under his neck soo a hard push could breake it.

The hends are a great detail since giving him extra face plates would ruin the sculpt, i am glad Storm opted for the entire head exchange just like with Heihachi. One of the heads and my favorite have a sexy half smile, more than perfect for him. The second head have a full grin showing his teeth. Now then i dont remember Kazuya ever smiling like this before, soo the result is a little odd. I really wish they give him a fierce roaring expression instead of this one.

His other accesory is a special effect made with blue transluscent plastic, a thunder that fit on his fist and moves backwards for the lenght of his body. Tough is difficult to make him stand with this thunder thingy, is really worth the effort since it looks damn good.

Finally, he comes with a background scenario of the final battle on the game, the volcano scenario. This image is a little to dark tough and i like much more the Heihachi scenario but is a great touch from Storm to give them this backgrounds considering they are not Street Fighters.

Overall, aside of the lack of base i am extremelly happy with Kazuya, this is probablly the best Kazuya action figure ever made and is a lot of fun and really really sexy. Sadlly, it open to the worst case scenario: It seems this will be the last Tekken figure from Storm Collectibles, if this rumor is rigth it means this line will aslo be a failed incomplete afair just like Play Arts Kai.