A few weeks ago when I decided to finally buckle down and start a blog, I went to various craft stores looks for things to make a studio or set for taking pictures. While strolling somewhat aimlessly up and down the aisles on one craft store, I came across the Alien Force line (not to be confused with Ben 10: Alien Force) in a section for discounted items. On one hand they looked like your average dollar store type figures. On the other hand half of the Alien Force line is made up of Dragons. DRAGONS! Now I'm sure it amounts to nothing more than some small company selling a cheap toy line with little-to-no thought behind characters or storyline. I'm sure they just had some dragon molds and added them to the Alien Force line without really thinking about it. But I thought about it, and the idea of freaky alien space dragons just seemed instantly cool to me!
The figures themselves are pretty basic. They're just your standard non-articulated rubbery plastic that is often found in dollar store dragons/animals/dinosaurs. The paint is also as you'd expect. None of that really matters though. These dragons are from space. My imagination is happy. So I'm happy.
I dug through the bin that these guys were in thoroughly enough, and it looks like there are four different dragons to get. One is pretty evil-looking, with sinister yellow eyes, a dark red body and a burst of fire coming from his mouth.
Actually, they all have bursts of fire coming from their mouths.
There's a lighter red two-headed dragon with gold accents, a blue and yellow dragon with a spiky tail (and a square... fin?.. under his head at the base of the neck that for what ever reason makes him feel the most "alien" to me). Lastly, there's a blue and yellow version of the dark red evil-looking dragon I mentioned first. The change in colors between the two versions of this dragon actually make a big difference; I didn't realize until just now that they share the same mold. I guess if there are other repaints there could possibly be another three dragons to be found.
There are also more traditional "alien" toys to be found as well. While the dragons have no gimmicks to them (besides being space dragons - woot) there are at least two alien figures and a flying saucer that grow in water. I passed on the aliens as I'm not big on growing toys, but I had to get the flying saucer. My alien space dragons need a ship. Again, the spaceship is pretty basic in it's design (what with the growing being more important that what it actually looks like) but there is a circular door on the bottom that I think adds a nice touch. It's just one of those little details that counts.
I went to an actual dollar store later on and found these "Fling Shot" aliens under the Alien Force title. I figured since I passed on the growing aliens, I could stand to pick these guys up for a buck fifty. As with everything else in the line, you get what you see - in this case two red aliens and a blue plastic slingshot to fling them. You just pop the aliens into the slingshot by their wrists, stretch them back, and let 'em fly. The aliens are sticky, so expect them to get hairy if they land on the carpet. One of my aliens got hairy. And in case you were wondering, yes, you can get a set of green aliens with a purple slingshot. You're welcome.
I can't decide if I want to have all four dragons fight the aliens, or if the blue dragons are good and the red ones are evil. That's the fun of a lot of this essentially "no-name" (or in this case Ja-Ru Inc.) brand stuff; you can do what ever you want with them. I suppose you can (and should) do what ever you want with any of your toys, but it's always nice to have a blank slate. Plus, these space aliens are dragons. DRAGONS!
Apparently these alien dragons come from a world where that is the left half (and it's mirror image) of North America. How do the alien space dragons decide which Florida to go to for vacation? I also like the mention of "realistic detail!". These toys must look exactly like the real dragons from the world of Northeastamerica!
No comments:
Post a Comment