Toy Story Cosbaby (M) by Hot Toys

During my Hong Kong trip about a month ago, I visited Hot Toys’ distributor Toy Hunters. My jaw dropped when I saaw the merchandise that they were offering. There were several 1/6^th scales of Iron Man Mark VI, War Machine, Black Widow, Terminator, etc. On the other end of the shop a huge statue of Iron man and some busts were on display.

What caught my eye (aside from War Machine and Black Widows) were some of the items on their window display. They had a complete set of Toy Story Cosbaby with a backdrop. There were 8 mini Cosbaby and three 6 inch ones (Buzz, Woody & Alien) that are so cute. I did not bother to ask if they were selling those 6-inch versions and instead bought a couple of the minis.

When my friend Jon bought Buzz, Woody & Alien (6-inch/S versions), I asked if I could borrow them for a photo shoot. It was a mistake because if you think the mini versions are nice wait till you get your hands on the big ones.

Each Cosbaby come with its own themed box design – white and green for Buzz Lightyear, Cowboy themed for Woody and blue and green for Alien. What’s also nice is the inclusion of a themed backdrop of each character in their respective packaging.

Jon bought them locally for P 2,000.00 (Woody & Alien) and P 2,200.00 (Buzz Lightyear). If you check online there are some selling on eBay.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

The fact that these guys are cute makes them photogenic! I would love to shoot them with a plain background and digitally add a Toy Story themed background to bring them to life.  You can also use their themed backdrop as a background.

Issue:

It would have been nice if Jessie and Bullseye were included in the lineup.


For more picture of Toy Story (M) kindly check my flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpee/sets/72157624535881283/with/4928886958/

Toy Story Mini Cosbaby (S) Series by Hot Toys

During a recent trip to Hong Kong my brother (who went there ahead of me) bought me a 1 box of Toy Story Cosbaby. I was intrigued because I have never seen one and excitedly opened it and got one of the Alien characters. Being a fan of Buzz Lightyear of which I saw is one of the characters being offered by HT I told my brother that I wanted to buy some more.

One measly box became a journey for us during our HK trip and at the end of the trip it proved fruitful. We kept on going back to a particular HMV store, buy 1 or 2, open them and kept going back for more. Even the sales people there were curious as to how we choose which box to get. And because we kept on going back I am now able to tell which box contains Buzz Lightyear and the secret version by simply feeling them (these are sealed blind boxes). The hardest to get was Woody and it took us on our last day of the trip (and my last box purchase at HMV Elements mall) to finally complete the set.

Package Contents:

Each box is sealed and contains one of 7 characters including Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Emperor Zurg, Army man (rifle accessory) and 2 Aliens (ooh and smiley version). The secret version is Army man with a binocular accessory. For more information you can check http://www.hottoys.com.hk/index.php?target=products&product_id=521.

Collector's Perspective:

Disney Pixar fans should definitely get these Toy Story figures. Hot Toys did a fine job creating what they call Cosbaby, mini cute figures of movie-based characters. I am practically hooked with Cosbaby because they are so cute. You can either buy the whole case that according to HMV gives you the complete set (secret version included) or buy a couple of boxes and try your luck. I find the latter to be more fun and thrilling because you never know which character you are going to get.

I mentioned that I am able to distinguish which is Buzz Lightyear and the secret version just by feeling the boxes. Here is how to do it:

1.) Buzz Lightyear is the heaviest amongst the characters so feel the weight. The difference in weight is substantial so you can immediately tell the box contains Buzz.

2.) The plastic package (inside the box) of Army man with rifle and Army man with binocular are the same. Shake the box and if you here a loose piece inside then that's the secret version. The plastic mould was designed for the rifle and since the binocular is smaller it wiggles inside the mould.

Good luck!

The items are not yet available here in the Philippines and I am happy to be the first one here (as far as I know) to have the whole set. It retails for about 68 HKD (Hong Kong Dollars) per box and 544 HKD for the case (8 boxes). I bought it at Toy Hunters, a Hot Toys dealer in Mongkok.

PhoTOYgrapher's Perspective:

As with all Cosbaby, cute is definitely a plus when it comes to PhoTOYgraphy. Because of what happened to me with the UP! incident (Carl's broken neck) I was careful to check each character's head piece if they can turn sideways. Given the time and resources I would probably do a table top shot creating a scene similar to the movie or get a good backdrop. The details are quite good so you can go macro or get a 50mm and use an extension tube to make these figures come to life. 

Some Issues:

1.) Since I had doubles of Army man, I was able to see some quality flaws. One Army man's hand is loose and can be pulled easily. This is not good since the hand is so small it can be misplaced. A remedy would be to put a little amount of blu tac in between to make it more secure. 

2.) The paint job is not consistent. We had doubles of Buzz, Jessie, Alien, Zurg and Army man and there are some inconsistencies with the paint job. However they are very minute and tolerable.

3.) I was wondering why Rex, Potato Head, Slinky and some of the others were not included in the series.

PowerPee's PhoTOYgraphy rating of Toy Story:

3.5 of 5

Gears used:

Canon DSLR

Canon 100mm f2.8 Lens

Benro A300 Tripod

3 pcs. Jinbei 180 watts (each), Softbox and Grid

Morris IR Trigger

Falcon Eyes Product Table

Toy Story & Beyond by Takara Tomy

All or most kids (boys) loved to play with die cast cars including yours truly. My 3 ½ year old son loves it when he gets a toy car as a gift or when we sometimes go toy shopping. I myself am a fan and have acquired a small collection (which are still sealed) through the years. With so many brands and variants to choose from it is impossible to collect all of them (unless you are very resourceful and wealthy) so I just buy what I want.

A friend of mine who collects almost anything recently bought these die cast cars by Takara under the Tomy line. Takara is a well-established Japanese company that manufactures good quality toys and these cars are examples of good craftsmanship. I’ve known the name Tomy more than 15 years before when I had my first Zoid. You can read more of the company at http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/company/english/.

Recently, Disney Pixar released Toy Story 3 and Takara Tomy jumped in on the merchandise as well (http://jp.newses.net/news/article/id/3a03cca8043c33a45669e4d3e08adbe0/). 


Package Contents:

I was loaned 3 boxes of Toy Story themed die cast cars with Japanese inscriptions on them. Aside from the picture of the car each box is labeled with a code number (example Woody is DM-14, Buzz is DM-13 and the Aliens is DM-15).


Collector's Perspective:
There is a saying once a collector always a collector. These Toy Story cars are collectibles in my book and though they are not that expensive compared to a lot of other toys out there I would rather have these on display than to play with it. Or maybe I can buy 2 sets of each and have a set for my son to play with and the other at my display cabinet.

My friend bought these locally for P 329.75 each.I have been scouting the internet where these can be purchase and so far I found a couple of Japanese sites and one in ebay. You can also check their website (http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/) for details.

PhoTOYgrapher's Perspective:
A die cast car dressed in Toy Story character? I love it. As usual I would suggest the outdoor shoot treatment for these cars. Table top shots are nice if you can incorporate a background for them so as not to make the photos too simple (like mine). There are no moving parts so there is not much you can do aside from shooting from different perspectives.

Gears used:

Canon DSLR
Canon 100mm f2.8 Lens
3 pcs. Jinbei 180 watts (each), Softbox and Grid
Benro A300 Tripod
Falcon Eyes Product Table