First Toy of the Year (2015)

Wow, 2015!  It sounds so futuristic!

My hunt for the first toy of the year started much like my hunt for 2014's last toy of the year: with disappointment.  Yesterday the stores I went to were pretty picked clean.  Today I went to Toys R Us and found it closed.  Do places still take New Years Day off?  Well, good for them I guess.  Anyway, I hit up Walmart instead.  It was also picked clean, though I did come across a Skylanders trap I didn't have - the Oak Eagle of life.

Look at it!  It's so pretty!  Here's my dilemma though.  I've been calling these first and last toy of the year posts "First/Last TOY of the Year".  That way if I were to get a Hot Wheel or something it would still count.  But I also keep track of my first and last movies, TV shows, video games and food of the year.  For fun, I suppose.  Yeah, it's fun!  And on that list I call it my "first/last FIGURE of the year."  Technically this trap would count as a toy, but it's not a figure.  In my mind it comes close to being a figure once there's a villain trapped in there, but right now it's empty.  That's in my mind though.  Don't you worry about my mind.

So to keep things simple (for me more than anything), even though the Oak Eagle trap was the first TECHNICAL toy I bought this year, its lack of being a true FIGURE cancels it out.  But a Hot Wheel would have counted.  I didn't buy a Hot Wheel though.

I ended up having to go to a second Walmart, and I bought this guy.  HUZZAH!  I mentioned in my last post that I was hoping to get either a Pokemon or Ninja Turtle figure for my last of the year.  I ended up getting a Skylander instead.  Well, I was able to start the year off right by getting one of the cooler looking characters to come out of the current TMNT line: TIGER CLAW.

Right off the bat, I can tell you that Tiger Claw has kind of a lame name.  That's the best they could come up with?  I can't think of anything better off the top of my head, but that's besides the point.  Calling a tiger man Tiger Claw is like calling a regular man... Man Hand.  Man Fingernail?  Not a good name.  That's my only real complaint though!

First thing's first, you can already see that his eyepatch strap isn't painted all that well.  That's going to have to be touched up.

At this point I've only seen the first season of the new Ninja Turtles cartoon (which is AWESOME!), so I don't know anything about Tiger Claw besides what's on his bio card and the fact that he looks supercool.  But I'm already curious as to why the bio card shows him without an eyepatch, while the figure has very much an eyepatch.  Very much indeed.  What's up with that?  I have to wait and see!

The line's starting to build up!  One of my favorite things in the vintage line was the cardbacks with the huge selection of figures on 'em.  I wouldn't call this a huge selection, but it's getting there.  It's getting big enough that it makes me nostalgic for the old days.  Also, Shredder's name is Spanish is "Destructor".  How badass is that!?

When I saw the first pics of Tiger Claw online, I knew I liked him.  I didn't even care who he was or what he did, I knew this was a figure I wanted.  He looked right at home in the TMNT universe, but I'm all about cross-line potential and this guy's got a ton of it!  Sure, he's a tiger.  He won't work in absolutely EVERYTHING, but you could probably find a role for him in most of your imaginings.

I touched up that faded eyepatch strap of his.  I just used a fine-point black pen, but it does the job well enough.

More questions!  What happened to Tiger Claw's tail?  Somehow he loses an eye and a tail?  Are the reasons revealed in the show?  They better be!  And I'm assuming that's a rocket pack on his back.  Even if it isn't, it is now.

The entire back half of Tiger Claw's eyepatch strap was left unpainted, because I guess all the focus is supposed to be on the front?  While I had my pen out to touch him up, I went all out and colored the back as well.  It's not perfect, but it's way better than it was.  It shines a little more than the front, but at least it's all the same color now.

With a name like Tiger Claw, you already know what his weapons of choice are going to be.  Yep, guns!  His hands aren't really in a gun holding position, but he can hold them well enough.  They could look better in those paws of his, but I've seen worse out there too.  At least he doesn't have accessories with completely opened or closed hands.

There's his guns.  They're both futuristic and modern looking, which is cool.  I still think I prefer Tiger Claw using his claws most though.  I like when I get what's advertised.

Anyway, I kinda felt like I had to settle on my last figure of 2014.  I like Ka-Boom, but I had PLANS man!  I feel much more satisfied with my first figure of 2015 (sorry Oak Eagle trap).  I don't really believe in signs, but if I did, I'd hope this was a good sign for my year of collecting to come.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!