From time to time we find that the oddest combinations of things seem to work. Take an ice cream float for example, simple ingredients consisting of soda (usually a cola) and vanilla ice cream, that’s it. Most of us have drunk some soda and know its mildly acidic quality with a little bit of a bite to it from the carbonation. Then we have its polar opposite in the form of ice cream, silky smooth, creamy deliciousness. On paper they just don’t seem like thay could be successfully paired… of course that is not true and they make for quite a yummy treat.
How about salty pretzels and chocolate? Bananas and peanut butter? Salt and vinegar peanuts? Or even Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett… OK perhaps the last one ended up showing that they didn’t go together, but the others certainly do.
Today’s offering is an odd pairing for sure, and even though they don’t combine to make the greatest concept ever they do make an interesting end product with quite a bit of appeal.
Holy smokes, it’s Captain America… kind of. Superheroes and teddy bears… um OK… why not?
Made Piranha Studios, these were designed to cash in on the whole designer toy craze that has been going on over the past few years. However, instead of coming up with completely new designs they decided to try and put a new spin on two well explored product categories. Each of these Bearz stands about 5″ tall and is made from a soft vinyl type material. With simple five point articulation I think they do just about enough for their target audience, i.e. nerds who work in offices and are allowed to put tchotchkes around their computers to, “brighten the place up a bit”.
From the X-Men we have Colossus and Cyclops
… as well as Wolverine in his classic yellow/blue/black outfit and Beast is in his I’m-a-total-dork costume.
Yet another classic pairing in the form of Spider-Man and his evil nemesis Venom… boooooo! Here we find something a little different, Spidey’s web pattern on his costume is actually scored into the body and not just printed on.
Next up we have Carnage and also Bullseye. Most of these figures were priced to move and could originally be had for about $10 each. An absolute must have for a hardcore fan of any of these characters.
Plucked from the pages of the Fantastic Four come Galactus and Mr. Fantastic. Let’s just say that Galactus isn’t big enough and looks odd at the same height as Spider-Man. Also, Reed Richards is just so stiff and would have been a lot cooler if he was more floppy.
Finally we have the Hulk as well as Mr. Vengeance himself, the Punisher. I particularly love the juxtaposition of the rounded curvy bear bodies with the super-ripped abs painted on the Hulk’s torso, notice how they are just a bit too high up. I also love the Punisher’s Homer Simpson/Fred Flinstone inspired 5 o’clock shadow. Sweet.
A couple of things about this line are totally lame though, the first is the company’s heavy handed gimic to make the figures seem more collectible than they really are.
In the back of the head of each of these Bearz we find this metallic-looking button. These were concealed when the figure was in its package. Anyway, the color indicates how many of these there are. The breakdown is as follows: Black - only 500 pieces worldwide, Red - 1000 pieces, Blue - 2500 pieces, Purple - 2500 pieces, Silver - 5000 pieces, and Gold - at over 10000 pieces. I personally don’t really care what color the button is, nor do most collectors, as the figure was otherwise identical. They made 11,500 of each figure total, big whoop-dee do!
The other lame feature is the packaging itself. Each bear comes housed in its flimsy clear plastic barrel, but hey whatev, just a small nit picky detail.
This set was originally slated to be a 12 pice series, but somehow we unded with 13 different characters. Looking at the original promo material it appears that Galactus was the after thought. In fact, one of the odd things about this set of figures the actual choices for character. So they have some big names like Spidey, the Punisher, Wolverine and the Hulk, but then they have Bullseye and Colussus. Just strange that’s all.
I have seen reference to some more Bearz though I have yet to actually see them for sale.
How cool are some of those? I particularly like the Thing and Iron Man. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Expect to pay just a few bucks for these, like I said originally, these are not the coolest toys ever but they are lots of fun. The ones I have set me back about $4 each, and they are certainly worth that just for the laugh I can have at their expense.
Flickr = 28,134
There are currently 54 items listed on the ToyNerd Exchange check it out
Get your official ToyNerd merchandise here
Something about a five inch tall Galactus with a smirk on his face entertains me. Where do I get me one?
They are different looking. If they came out with DC versions I would probably buy a few.
Well, Gary, I think the manufacturer would like to sell a few so they opted to pass on DC characters because Marvel moves baby!!
They kind of look like knock-offs. They aren’t horrible, but they could have tried harder.
Oh Michael. You and your plebian mind. You’re such a bombastic simpleton.
If I may, I’d like to just refer Gary and Michael to this: http://www.toynerd.com/?p=2780