Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Pirate Hats and accessories (for action figures) DIY Tutorial

It's Halloween time and everybody, including your action figures, wants to be a pirate! Arrr matey! If only pirate stuff were easily and cheaply available for any figure!

My collection of toy skeletons spend a lot of time wishing they were in Disneyland (like I do), so while I was making my Pirate Bar dollhouse, I also needed to come up with some pirate hats. An online discussion mentioned Assassin's Creed figures and accessories, and of course, there's the authorized "Pirates of the Caribbean" action figures based on the movies, but I am a cheapskate at heart, unwilling to buy figures just for the sake of stripping off their accessories, plus I have customizing skills aplenty. I wanted to try making my own pirate hats.

I tried cloth and leather, with disappointing results, so I tried Sculpey polymer clay. It was shockingly quick and easy and I really liked the results, so Sculpey was definitely a winner!
Proof of concept- making pirate hats

PIRATE HAT SCULPEY TUTORIAL

 

Step 1: Buy a package of Sculpey. You can also buy a multi-color pack at Michaels and download their 40% off coupon.  Put a sheet of wax paper on your work area, and cut off a slice or two of Sculpey.
Step 1: Buy Sculpey. Slice.
Step 2: Roll the Sculpey slices into a ball, making sure that all of the bits and pieces mold together. Flatten the ball into a pancake. Use a rolling pin or a nearby can of WD-40 and roll the pancake to 1mm in thickness. 1/16" is acceptable for larger action figure heads.
Step 2: Roll into a ball and flatten it
Step 3: Making a hat form speeds up production considerably. This is a wooden bead that happens to be the right size, mounted on a bamboo stick.
Step 3: Make a hat form
Step 4: Put the flat, round Sculpey on the hat form. Press down slightly, and the hat crown will gradually form.
Step 4: Put Sculpey on form
Step 5: Refine the hat shape with additional pinching. Straighten out and trim the brim.
Step 5: Refine the hat shape
Step 6: Fold up 3 sides of the brim. It's surprisingly easy to make that perfect colonial-era tricorn hat!
Step 6: Fold up the brim
Step 7: Gently remove the hat from the hat form, and put it on a piece of foil. Place in the oven at low heat (about 200 degrees) for about 5 minutes. Babysit it so it doesn't burn.
Step 7: Bake!
Step 8: When it's fresh out of the oven, the hat will be hot! Put it on your action figure, and it will mold itself to the figure's head shape as it cools. Try not to burn your fingers doing this step.  If the hat cracks, just make another one. Once the hat cools, you might want to paint on some matte acrylic clearcoat to provide a barrier, in case you're worried about a chemical reaction between the Sculpey and your action figure.
Step 8: Mold to exact figure's head
Step 9: Make a lot more! It takes about 5 or 10 minutes to make each hat. This method is really inexpensive, and you can custom make each hat for a specific head, without waiting for toy companies to manufacture them.
Disneyland, here we come! Arrrr!

PIRATE CUTLASS TUTORIAL


For a minimal investment, or just digging around in the tools and parts drawer, it's quick and easy to manufacture your own Pirate Cutlasses.

Step 1: Buy a package of plastic sword cocktail picks. You can get them at any party supply store, or even the dollar store. Then locate a cheap or free source of ABS plastic. I used an old Macbook tray. The plastic should be thin enough to trim with heavy duty kitchen shears.
Step 1: Buy sword shaped cocktail picks and find some ABS
Step 2: Use a pair of wire cutters to cut off the plastic sword blade. Then cut your piece of ABS to the shape of a cutlass blade. Use sandpaper to finish the edges. If you need a thicker blade, cut out 2 identical cutlass pieces from the sheet, and glue them together. Carve a peg at the bottom of the cutlass blade.
Step 2: cut off sword blade and shape replacement cutlass blade
Step 3: Use a power drill and drill a small hole in the party pick's sword hilt.
Step 3: Drill hole in hilt
Step 4: Use 5 minute epoxy to glue the new blade into the sword hilt. The peg-in-hole will give you a much stronger joint than simply gluing the 2 pieces together without any reinforcement.
Step 4: Glue new blade into hilt
Step 5: Paint the cutlass with your favorite primer. This step is optional.
Step 5: Paint with primer
Step 6: Paint the cutlass with its final color and allow it to dry. The use a matte clearcoat.
Step 6: Paint with final colors and clearcoat


RELATED PAGES: 


"Captain Bar" DIY Dollhouse becomes Pirate Bar
Miniature DIY Pirate Gachapon Machine
Polymer clay miniature coins for dioramas
Greek Mythology Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. action figures
The Search for Dokuroman
October Toys Skeleton Warriors
A Collection of Toy Skeletons

Monday, October 17, 2016

"Captain Bar" DIY Dollhouse becomes Pirate Bar


It's been about a year since my last dollhouse project (Jazz and Blues Club) so I've been itching to do another building. Some of the more recent DIY offerings were "Fried Chicken and Beer", "Free Time Coffee" and "Sakura Sushi Bar", all available on Ali Express and Ebay. What eventually won out was "Captain Bar" (missing the possessive "'s"),  a tiny shack that could be modified into a "Pirates of the Caribbean"- inspired skeleton pirate bar!

I ordered it from ebay for about $20, with shipping from China included. It took a bit less than 2 weeks to arrive. The box got banged-up a little, but the contents were fine.

"Captain Bar" DIY dollhouse box
One thing to note: There is no "brand name" anywhere on the box, or on the instruction manual. The box side panel mentions "Guangzhou Hongda Craft Co.", and it's likely that it's from the same company that makes "DIY Cuteroom" and "Know Me" dollhouse shops. The kit is not of Pakitoy quality, but is a definite step up from their original 2009-era European Miniatures Shop series. I would say that it's worth the $20.

Here's a look at the parts. The kit includes 3 LED lights, all connected to a small circuit board with 3 button batteries. The parts quality is generally OK, although the side walls were slightly warped. A clothes iron and a brick solved that problem. It comes with a bottle of white glue, but since the quality of the glue is unknown, I stayed with my tried-and-true favorite glues: Elmer's Wood Glue, Aileen's Tacky Glue, Loctite's 5 minute 2-part Epoxy, and E-6000. Different glues for different purposes.

"Captain Bar" DIY dollhouse box contents
I knew from the beginning that the building height of 6" was too short, so I planned on increasing the height of the building by 3/4", which would make it look less claustrophobic and also bring it to 1:18 scale.

It took a while for me to get started. I got sidetracked by other projects, writing other blog pages, absorbing new toy skeletons and new gachapon for my collection and playing pirate video games like Tropico 2 and Sid Meier's Pirates.
  
Here are some photos of the mid-point completion of the Captain Bar. I placed in some 1:18-ish skeletons to check for fit, and they ended up looking like they were having a lot of fun checking out their new place of business prior to opening.

Rement Pose and Boss Fight Vitruvian Hacks skeletons
Dokuroman is shocked at the size of the gachapon treasure chest.
Other mods:
  • Replaced the printed paper "wood" wallpaper with actual wood paneling.
  • Replaced the printed paper "stone" floors with stones cut from an egg carton, painted, varnished and grouted with spackling paste. This is a common dollhouse-making technique for exterior bricks and paving stones.
  • Replaced the beer mugs with pieces cut from a Bic pen, instead of using the included aquarium tubing.
  • Replaced the solid block treasure chest with a handmade wooden one that opens and closes and contains a pile of pieces o' eight.
  • Increased the height of the furniture by cutting new panels in plywood. Also re-did the barstools with a larger seat and made them higher to match the new furniture height.
  • Added 2 additional bottle racks and made more bottles.
  • Used a wood chisel to taper the wood barrels. The original instructions were to simply glue a stack of concentric discs together and I thought that looked awful.
  • Made a bunch of pirate cutlasses by cutting up a Macbook plastic tray, shaping them into a cutlass shape and gluing them to the hilts of cocktail party swords.
  • Pirate skull wall decor was made from a skull from a Halloween bracelet cut in half. Crossbones carved from basswood and painted.
Here are some photos of the Captain Bar (being renamed to "The Rusty Cutlass") at a later stage of completion. The photo taken at night looks pretty dramatic with a transparent Jade green October Toys skeleton.

"The Rusty Cutlass" Pirate bar at night
The instructions were vague about what to do with the wiring, circuit board and battery, so I built a "stone" chimney on the outside to hide all that stuff.


For some reason, a lot of the newer, inexpensive made-in-China DIY dollhouses do not have fronts, and a storefront is at least 50% of the charm of a dollhouse-sized shop. So, I cut up an MDF clipboard to provide a storefront. The same clipboard also provided the sides for the storefront piece as well as the 3/4" building height booster.


The larger pirate skull was a ceramic bead from the hobby store, and the smaller skull was cut from a Halloween skull bracelet.

The original store signage was simply a piece of printed paper to be pasted on wood. That wouldn't do, so I took a lot of influence from Disneyland's 3-dimensional attraction signs like "Peter Pan's Flight" and "Splash Mountain". I briefly considered making the scroll of heavy paper, or wood putty, but in the end, I used Sculpey polymer clay for its predictability, quick setting time and ease of use.




Outside, I placed my 2 pirate gachapon machines. I finally found a proper context in which to display them!


On the inside, I made use of a samurai sword gachapon. Since it did not have a removable blade, I made a small plaque and mounted it, to make it look like the pirates picked it up as a souvenir on a sailing trip to Japan. The posters were scanned from one of my books, "Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies".




RELATED PAGES: 

Pirate Hats (for action figures) DIY Tutorial
Miniature DIY Pirate Gachapon Machine
Polymer clay miniature coins for dioramas
Greek Mythology Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. action figures
The Search for Dokuroman
October Toys Skeleton Warriors
More Gacha-Love, shipped from Japan!
A Collection of Toy Skeletons





Saturday, July 16, 2016

More Gacha-Love, shipped from Japan!


My next trip to Japan won't be 'til next year, so I won't be able to peruse and pump money into gachapon machines in Tokyo for quite a while. But, there are ways of feeding my new gachapon addiction!

Gachapon machines have been hiding in plain sight in San Francisco for a long time. Some Asian-owned small businesses such as comic book stores, supermarkets, grocery stores or tapioca bubble tea shops may have a few machines. They're always the yellow and red Tomy capsule machines, and all of them dispense little toys for $1.00, mostly Domo, Hello Kitty, balls or superheroes. Oftentimes, there's some actual sample toys underneath the clear top so you can see what you can get before feeding quarters into them. Unfortunately, the San Francisco machines didn't carry the gachapons that I wanted, like the ones I saw in Tokyo.

Gachapon in San Francisco
Thanks to the Internet, I heard about Toysanta at Rakuten Global Market. It's like hitting the mother lode of gachapon! They have the latest releases, as well as some of the stuff I'd seen in person in Tokyo back in April! I had some time to research them after-the-fact (mostly to check size and scale), and had a few regrets about not buying several more while I was standing right in front of them at Tokyo's Akihabara Gachapon Hall.

Now with Toysanta, shopping is right at my fingertips. The prices are very fair, usually each gachapon is only about a dollar over retail, and the small packet shipping cost isn't too bad. Less than $8.00 for about $50 worth of merchandise, straight from Japan! Great way of using my vacation leftover Yen and Hong Kong dollars (long converted back to US dollars)! I can't believe that I went through over 3600 items before making up my shopping list.

It only took a week for my package to arrive! So here's a look at the new haul:


First up is a "Meitou Retsuden Keychain". It's basically a tiny samurai sword on a chain with a small plastic tag and a round, coin-like object. The sword is cute, but it is not removable from the scabbard. That kind of makes sense for a keychain, after all, you don't want to cut your fingers on a little sword blade while getting your keys, right? These are nice little souvenirs to bring back and hand out at the office, but, unfortunately, aren't suitable weaponry for action figures.

Odd, but I could have sworn that the little sword gachapon sold in small plastic bags on pegs that I saw at Volks Akihabara had actual blades.

Aoshima samurai sword keychains

SAMURAI SWORD KEYCHAIN
ManufacturerAoshima
Scale1:18-ish to 1:15-ish
Retail Price300 yen


Next up is a few more Epoch Robots. I came home with one of these, and I found out that these robots sell for a markup and sell out quickly. So when they became available again on Toysanta in new colors along with poolside lounge chairs, I ordered two more so my first robot can have some new buddies to kick back with. The new gold-colored Revoltech-like joints on the black body are very striking.

Epoch robot in new colors

EPOCH ARTICULATED ROBOTS
ManufacturerEpoch
Scale1:18
Retail Price300 yen


Next, an actual mini gacha machine. I just had to order that one! It arrived in a fairly large capsule, and it was heavy... completely packed with stuff. The mini gacha machine cost me about $5.00, but looking at a few Youtube videos, the normal retail price in Japan is 200 yen. I just don't see how it's possible to sell these at 200 yen apiece- it's a very good quality little machine with very complex parts. Personally, I think it's worth every cent of the 5 bucks I paid. It comes with 5 tiny capsules with removable lids, and the knob and cylinder has a brilliantly-designed little ratchet mechanism to ensure that the knob only turns clockwise. Man, if this stuff was in front of me at 200 yen apiece, I'd keep feeding the machine until it's empty. Then I could make my own miniature Akihabara Gachapon Hall!

Takara Tomy Arts Pokemon mini gacha machine
On a side note, the size is about the same as the rustic pirate gachapon machines that I made. They all look good together, the antique style and the modern. Scale is about 1:12. The Pokemon XYZ machine was modified a bit to match the the theme of my other mini gacha machines, shown below.

DIY gacha machines and official Takara/Tomy gacha together

POKEMON XY&Z MINI GACHA MACHINE
ManufacturerTakara Tomy Arts
Scale1:12
Retail Price200 yen


Next are the folding chairs by Epoch, part of their "Interrogation Room" set . I remember seeing them at Akihabara Gachapon Hall, but the header card had no indication of the size, so I passed on them. Later, I found several articles about them on the Internet. They are extremely popular, and they fit 4" figures, such as Pose skeleton, Dokuroman and Epoch robots. Some people tried to seat their Figmas on the chairs, but they didn't fit very well . Since I was gonna order at Toysanta anyway, I snagged the last 2 Epoch folding chairs. They're useful, and kinda neat, but I can't really say they're a great value- at 200 yen apiece (retail), the chairs can't compare against the mini gacha machines, obviously.

Epoch folding chairs from "Interrogation Room" series
In the US, we can get some decent miniature folding chairs for $1.00 at The Dollar Tree, packaged with some crappy wrestling figures. I'd buy the packages, keep the chairs and donate the wrestlers to the Goodwill and still come out ahead. The Dollar Tree chairs are better for Figmas and October Toys skeletons.

Size comparison between Epoch gacha chairs and Dollar Tree wrestling chairs

INTERROGATION ROOM
FOLDING CHAIR
ManufacturerEpoch
Scale1:18
Retail Price200 yen


Last, but not least is Kaiyodo's long-awaited re-release of Dokuroman! I got in on the re-release and ordered a set of 5. I really didn't need the tan one that badly, and it wasn't worth it to me to pay over $20 more just to get the tan one in the complete set of 6. This time, Kaiyodo seems to have manufactured and distributed enough Dokuroman to meet the demand. Kaiyodo's Hobby Lobby (in Tokyo) Twitter page shows 20 cases in the store, and let's say that lots of skeletons can fit in each case. More importantly, Dokuroman is available through mail order for reasonable prices for the first time. With its increased availability for international buyers, I hope to see more English language buzz and commentary about them.

Re-release of Kaiyodo's Dokuroman

DOKUROMAN ARMORED ACTION SKULL!
ManufacturerKaiyodo
Scale1:18
Retail Price400 yen




RELATED PAGES: 

The Search for Dokuroman
Miniature DIY Pirate Gachapon Machine
A Collection of Toy Skeletons
Toy Shopping in Tokyo's Akihabara and Hong Kong's Mong Kok district  
Tokyo's Akihabara Again and Gacha-Love, 2017



Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Greek Mythology Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. action figures


They're here! Boss Fight Studio, an independent toy company, has created Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S (Highly Articulated Character Kit System) action figures. They were funded via an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign back in June of 2014. After some major factory manufacturing delays (not their fault), the figures finally shipped in Spring of 2016.

The current series (available now) is Greek Mythology. You might have seen some nicely sculpted and painted PVC figures of knights, dragons, skeletons or mythological creatures before by Papo, Schleich or Safari Limited in hobby shops or places like Michael's or Target. Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. takes this to a whole new level, because they're fully articulated, and not just static PVC figurines.
Mythological creatures from Papo catalog
I missed out on the Kickstarter back in 2014 (wasn't looking for anything like that) but it's just as well... I normally don't buy 4" action figures, and the original "price of admission" to obtain a few skeletons was too high. Once they opened their Boss Fight Studio Web Store for pre-orders without any additional purchasing requirements to obtain skeletons, I placed my order.

They've arrived, so here's my review:

MYRMIDON WARRIOR

Packaging: Most of the human and Gorgon figures come in clear plastic, collector-friendly packaging, which can be opened and resealed. This is useful if one wants to open them, display the figures and then sell them on ebay after a few years. It comes with a full-color cardboard backing card.
V-Hacks Myrmidon Warrior packaging
Accessories: The accessories vary depending on which figure is ordered. Figures can come with as many as 6 weapons, some with as few as 2. The human figures come with helmets, armor and shields, all beautifully painted and detachable! In particular, the helmet is very well sculpted, and the figure looks good with or without it. The Myrmidon Warrior figure has two swords and a shoulder belt with functional sword scabbard. Personally, I find the PVC belt to be stiff and I prefer real leather belts, but it's understandable why a toy company has to use PVC. A pair of extra hands and a base are also included in the package.
Contents of V-Hacks package
Figure: Just absolutely incredible. The best thing about them: they look like normal human beings, and they're proportioned like normal human beings. That's one of my pet peeves about 4" action figures in general (*ahem* Marvel Legends, modern Gi Joes, etc.)... toy designers attempting to maintain the "heroic proportions" of superheroes/Joes in a 4" size by making the head smaller and smaller, with ridiculously long legs. I hate those with a passion.

So, getting back to V-Hacks. The head is 14cm and the overall male body length is 104cm (I'm using metric because the math is easier). So the head/body proportion is 7.5 heads tall, the generally-accepted "normal" ratio, which is why these look so damn good.

Boss Fight Studio had smartly designed the Greek Mythology series around a base human body, wearing only trunks. Variety within the line is achieved by different body colors, different heads, different armor, and unique paint jobs on the armor and shields. By doing this, they have leveraged the cost of the molding and manufacturing in the most efficient way possible. BTW, the Boss Fight Store sells the basic body (with swappable heads/hands) without armor or accessories for those who want to make customs.
V-Hacks male body
The bodies have 25 points of articulation- a lot in a small package. The only thing that makes these figures short of perfection is the ankles and feet. They only have a 360 degree swivel joint, with no up/down or side tilt movement. Since the V-Hacks skeletons do have the additional foot articulation, it is unfortunate that the human figures do not.

V-HACKS SKELETONS

Packaging: The skeletons are packaged in a simple resealable plastic bag with a header card. They are unpainted, and do not come with accessories, although add-on packages of weaponry and armor are available. It comes with a base, and several mysterious clear plastic objects. These objects are spacers to enable them to fit the armor made for human figures, and foot adaptors to get their feet to fit on the base.
V-Hacks skeleton in packaging
My full review of the skeletons was folded into the article, "A Collection of Toy Skeletons".

It may seem a no-brainer, but the skeletons look way better with the application of a paint wash. This is with Testor's CreateFX acrylic paint wash.
V-Hacks skeleton with paint wash

CONCLUSIONS

I'd highly recommend buying these figures! First, it's supporting an independent toy company. They're out-doing the big corporations in design and quality. Boss Fight Studio doesn't have deep pockets like Hasbro, which is why they had to be funded by Kickstarter. Second, the price is reasonable for what you get. Third, the Greek Mythology line won't be available forever. Supporting them now would ensure the continuation of the planned new themes in the future. Fourth, these are very well made and a lot of fun. Channel your inner Harryhausen!
More skeleton goodness!
How to make your own "Jason and the Argonauts" mini-movie
Extra dose of skeleton goodness!
Note: Since the Myrmidon Warrior and the skeleton did not come with any spears, I created a custom one. It took about half an hour. I shaved down a bamboo skewer, painted it, made the spear head and spear butt from InstaMorph moldable plastic and wrapped some thin leather around the spear shaft. Sealed it with matte acrylic clear coat, and it's good to go!

Dioramas using these figures can be augmented with the static mythological figurines by Safari Limited, particularly the Minotaur, the Centaur, the Cyclops and Cerebrus.


RELATED PAGES:
A Collection of Toy Skeletons
Vitruvian HACKs Warrior Skeleton by Boss Fight Studio

Sunday, June 19, 2016

A Collection of Toy Skeletons

Updated: 07/03/16: Dokuroman skeleton rating raised, due to fix available for mid-spine joint problem.
Updated: 08/05/16: New "Bag of Skeletons" available at Michael's.
Updated: 09/10/16: Added review of LEGO skeletons. 
Updated: 10/19/16: Added review of Dokuroman Pumpkin nightmare skeleton.
Updated: 08/15/17: Added review of Bag O' Bones by Boss Fight Studio. 
Updated: 08/15/18: Added review of Big Lots Jumbo Pose Skeleton bootleg

I like skeleton toys, a lot. They remind me of my favorite Disneyland rides, "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Haunted Mansion". When they're done well, they can fit into many different themes. And, since skeletons are generic, toy companies don't have to pay for expensive licenses, or do stupid things like mold character-specific clothing on them, therefore locking them into only one franchise.

Skeletons (especially quality ones) have better articulation than humanoid characters, and can be endlessly customized. They can represent tattered medieval knights, armies of the dead, zombies, pirates, dead soldiers, space marines, etc. They can also be humorously and ironically placed into scenes of normal, everyday living, as shown on Flickr groups like "Skeleton Toy Figures".

I mainly buy skeletons in the 3"-6" range. I bought the skeletons listed below to increase the population in my 3/4 scale (1:15) world, some more successful than others. Below are my reviews of the different skeletons that I have.

FLAT HALLOWEEN SKELETON

Flat Halloween skeleton
Pros: Extremely cheap.
Cons: Everything.

No "bones" about it- this skeleton is crap. It's flat, 2D and the sculpting (especially the head) is terrible. I'm not sure if it's facing front or back. Not an action figure. Not a jiggler. It doesn't have a lot of play potential. This design has been around for a long time (since the 1960's) and was originally a 9" skeleton manufactured in Hong Kong. These can be found cheaply, in a bag with other plastic creatures like bugs, spiders, bats and rats. Creative crafters have found uses for this- as a template to make rubber stamps!

FLAT SKELETON
ManufacturerUnknownPrice$0.10
Year2010Location boughtHalloween store
Size5.5inPOA0
Scale1:13Rating (1-10)1


STRETCHY SKELETON

Stretchy skeleton
Pros: Fun to play with (when new), low price, good sculpt, comes in different colors.
Cons: Too soft and floppy. Cannot stand on its own. Does not last.

Well, at least this is a 3D skeleton and has a decent sculpt. But, it's too floppy and has the texture of a jellyfish. Even gummi-bears are firmer. Not an action figure. Not a jiggler. The toy is not made to last as the material seriously degrades within a few years. The outer layer becomes "crusty" and then stretching it would probably rip it apart completely. If only this mold were used to make a PVC skeleton! Now that would be a great toy!  Comes in 2 sizes: about 3" and about 6".

STRETCHY SKELETON
ManufacturerUnknownPrice$0.50
Year2010Location boughtgrocery store gumball machine
Size3.25 in & 5.5inPOAinfinite
Scale1:24 & 1:13Rating (1-10)2


SKELETON GARLAND

Skeleton garland
Pros: Durable, inexpensive. Good size and compatible with standard 1:12 scale dollhouses, or popular 6" action figure lines.
Cons: Poor (2 points) articulation, skull and collarbone not anatomically accurate, skull weirdly shaped. Not fun to play with.

Things are beginning to improve. This skeleton is 3D and can last decades. Or centuries. These are normally sold in packs of 4 around Halloween. The same body (but poorly painted) is sold at The Dollar Tree in a 4-pack for $1.00. Also sold at Walgreens. Only the legs move at the hip. That's it. Despite these limitations, crafters have been able to pose them for static Halloween displays by breaking/sawing the joints and regluing them in different positions. These have still-life diorama potential but are not action figures.

SKELETON GARLAND
ManufacturerUnknownPrice$1.25
Year2010Location boughtMichael's art/craft supply
Size5.75inPOA2
Scale1:12Rating (1-10)4


BAG OF SKELETONS

Bag of Skeletons from Michael's
Pros: Durable, inexpensive. Good size and compatible with standard 1:12 scale dollhouses, or popular 6" action figure lines, sculpt is an improvement over similarly-sized skeleton garland.
Cons: No articulation, not fun to play with.

This early in the season (first week of August), Michael's is already stocking Halloween items! I saw a new item, the "bag of skeletons" and expected them to be the same figures as their "skeleton garland", just repackaged. Upon closer examination, the skeletons are slightly and subtly different. Particularly the skull, which is more human-shaped and not shaped like a monkey skull. The grossly-deformed collarbone has been eliminated, and the backbone is not a separate piece anymore. The measly 2 points of articulation were also removed, but that's no great loss. The original design only allowed the garland skeletons to goose-step anyway. It's a given that any serious crafter or modeller is going to cut apart the joints, and re-glue them in different poses. The paint job is hit-and-miss. Each individual skeleton has a different paint job, indicating that these were hand painted at the factory, and not very well.

Comparison of new (left) and old (right) Michael's H'ween skeletons
So, why do I buy this crap? Well, since Michael's always has 40 to 50%-off coupons, this stuff comes cheap and buying 3 bags of these (18 skeletons total) costs as much as *ONE* Vitruvian HACKs skeleton. They have some uses as background characters, and it's possible to create some scary furniture with them, like a bone throne. I might even figure out how to add moveable joints to them someday.

BAG OF SKELETONS



ManufacturerMSPCI (Michael's)
Price$1.33 ($0.80 w/ coupon)
Year2016
Location boughtMichael's art/craft supply
Size5.75in
POA0
Scale1:12
Rating (1-10)5


BENDY SKELETON

Bendy skeleton
Pros: Cheap, durable, can stand on its own, can be posed, comes in different colors, fun to play with.
Cons: Overall sculpt not very anatomically accurate.

This is a wire bendy skeleton, with a PVC body and wires inside. It's a good desk toy, can hold a pose, and in a pinch, can (barely) work as an action figure. However, it's not very anatomically accurate, as the feet are huge, the arms are short and the torso is too thin. These are very inexpensive (I bought these in a 12 pack), and can make excellent party favors or Halloween Trick or Treat bag handouts.

BENDY SKELETON
ManufacturerUS Toy CompanyPrice$0.42
Year2013Location boughtUSToy.com
Size5 in POAinfinite
Scale1:15Rating (1-10)6


MODERN JIGGLER SKELETON

Modern jiggler skeleton
Pros: Inexpensive, flexible but not floppy, customizable.
Cons: Only pseudo-3D, overall sculpt not very anatomically accurate, most of the body is in a flat pose.

For a while, these were my only source for quasi-3D, flexible jigglers that looked OK next to Spooky Kookys and looked like they somewhat all belonged together. I found them in a novelty shop. Only the skull and ribcage are 3D, the rest of the body is pretty flat. Since they're made of PVC, they were customizable with a hot knife to shorten them and put them into better, more dynamic poses. They also look better when they wear clothing. Later, when October Toys released their superior new Skeleton Warriors figures, I no longer needed to hunt for any more of these jigglers.

MODERN JIGGLER SKELETON
ManufacturerUnknownPrice$1.29
Year2010Location boughtnovelty shop
Size5.5inPOAinfinite
Scale1:13Rating (1-10)6


TINY 1:35 MINI SKELETON

Tiny 1:35 skeleton
Pros: Good sculpt, well made, many uses for 1:35 model kit diorama builders
Cons: Zero points of articulation

Wow, a blast from my past! I found this in my old "hobby box" in the garage! I can recall the date, because I remember having this when I was making a Gene Simmons figurine in 1:32 scale as a teen. I'm pretty sure it came out of a gumball machine. It's about 1:35 scale (2 inches tall), made of styrene, and has a good, 3D sculpt. Some uses could be: small-scale Halloween graveyard dioramas, battlefield scene dioramas, D & D wargaming, cupcake toppers. I doubt that this sort of figurine could be sold to children anymore these days... people are more cognizant of the risk of it being swallowed by children or pets. Just to think... there was a time when this was considered a toy and was mass-produced and sold very cheaply.

It deserves a "6" rating, even though it's more akin to a static model.

Update: Just on a whim, I decided to put on a layer of Testor's black paint wash on it. Take a look at the result! Whoa, baby! What a difference! Gawk at all of the hidden details that the wash brought out, revealing just how good the sculpt is! I'm just speechless. This isn't a pricey 1:35 scale precision model kit or anything. It was a 70's-era gumball machine toy!
Tiny 1:35 gumball machine skeleton with paintwash

TINY 1:35 MINI SKELETON





ManufacturerUnknown
Price$0.10 or $0.25? (in 1978)
Year1978
Location boughtgrocery store gumball machine
Size1.875 in
POA0
Scale1:35
Rating (1-10)6


LEGO SKELETON

LEGO skeleton
Pros: LEGO brand is well-known, widespread availability at retail stores, has impressive array of accessories, vehicles and buildings, has articulated joints, fun to play with, appeals to kids and adults.
Cons: Extremely stylized, very toy-like, not realistic, unable to fit into any other universe besides LEGO, cannot buy skeletons by themselves.

I've had LEGO skeletons for a long time, since 1997. LEGO is a universe all unto itself, as "scale", in its most conventional sense, is not relevant in a LEGO world. The LEGO minifigures, including the skeleton, are all 1.5" tall, but they are not 1:48 scale, since their heads, torsos and limbs do not follow normal body proportions in any way.

The LEGO skeleton has 5 points of articulation (head, ball-jointed arms, legs). They can fit into many LEGO themes, although my personal favorite involves mummy tombs. Unfortunately, one cannot buy the skeletons separately (to build an army), as they are sold packaged in boxes with other figures and LEGO bricks in themed sets. They can be found in multiples on ebay, averaging about $2.00 per skeleton. Another option is buying bootleg LEGO knockoffs. I found this little pirate set, by "Enlighten" at a Chinese housewares store for $1.79. It's actually pretty decent, and provides a lot of bang for the buck.

"Enlighten" bootleg LEGO set

LEGO SKELETON
ManufacturerLEGOPrice$8.00 (Oasis Ambush set)
Year1998Location boughtToys R' Us
Size1.5 inPOA5
Scalenon-scaleRating (1-10)6.5


DOKUROMAN ARMORED ACTION SKULL!

Dokuroman Armored Action Skull
Pros: Beautifully sculpted, anatomically correct, moveable jawbone, compatible with popular 1:18 action figure lines.
Cons: Difficult to buy, delicate, spine ball joint pops out.

Boy, am I torn on this one! I really wanted to love these, and it was difficult to get them, but there is a critical design flaw: the ball joint where the lower spine meets the ribcage/upper spine constantly pops out. Kaiyodo really needs to re-engineer this particular joint. Otherwise, with 19 POAs, tons of tiny ball joints, and a low, low retail price, they are a marvel in this scale. They are actually gachapon (capsule) toys sold in vending machines in Japan. Currently marketed with a weapons/hands/base accessory pack. They could have been rated more highly, but I docked them by 1 or 2 points due to the problematic spine joint.

Update: After prowling around on some message boards, I had heard that  "Pledge Floor Care Finish" could help with the loose joints. After trying it, I will say that it actually works. I was able to fix problem joint in the middle of the skeleton, and now I can appreciate the toy a heck of a lot more, since it stopped falling apart. Rating has been bumped up from a 6 to a 7. Can't go higher because the ball joints simply do not have the range of motion or reliability that the combined hinge/swivel joints on other skeletons have.

DOKUROMAN ARMORED ACTION SKULL!
ManufacturerKaiyodoPrice$4.00 (retail), $7.50 (scalper price)
Year2016Location boughttoy store in Tokyo, Japan
Size4.25 inPOA19
Scale1:18Rating (1-10)6 7


SPOOKY KOOKY SKELETON

Spooky Kooky skeleton
Pros: Whimsical sculpt. Lasts for decades, good play value.
Cons: Body proportions not anatomically accurate.

What can I say? I LOVE Spooky Kooky jigglers! I'd always wanted this particular one as a child. It was never meant to be an accurate representation of a skeleton. In particular, the head is extremely large. But, it was meant to be a part of a line of creepy dungeon dwellers, and none of them (even the humanoid ones) are normally proportioned. It's a good play figure and rear-view mirror dangler. The plasticized rubber is so good that it can last for 4 decades (and counting).

Fans of classic Aurora monster model kits will recognize the influence of "The Forgotten Prisoner of Castel-Mare" on this little skeleton jiggler.

SPOOKY KOOKY SKELETON
ManufacturerImperial ToysPrice$0.49 (price in 1971), $5.00-$20.00 (current ebay price)
Year1971Location boughtebay
Size4.25 inPOAinfinite
Scale1:15Rating (1-10)7


DOKUROMAN PUMPKIN NIGHTMARE

Kaiyodo Dokuroman Pumpkin Nightmare
Pros: Beautifully sculpted, anatomically correct, moveable jawbone, compatible with popular 1:18 action figure lines, includes extra hands and a large amount of bonus Halloween accessories
Cons: More delicate than other articulated skeletons. Ball joints do not have full range of motion.

Just in time for Halloween, Kaiyodo has produced a new series of their Dokuroman skeletons: Pumpkin Nightmare. Initially, it was not clear whether the Halloween accessories were just an add-on pack, but the newest ad copy showed that an entire skeleton, along with the Halloween-themed goodies came packaged together, all for only 400 yen each! Additionally, Kaiyodo had addressed their supply and distribution issues, and plenty of these became available, even to international buyers.

Once they arrived, I cracked open a pack immediately. Kaiyodo has made improvements to the problem spine joint and neckbone, and now they fit more deeply into the re-engineered sockets on the ribcage piece. Kudos to Kaiyodo for fixing these!

The pumpkin head is fairy large, and is designed to fit completely over Dokuroman's skull. They can also fit a Rement Pose skeleton as a turban! You get A LOT of pieces: 32,  including the new Halloween stuff (tree, cat, pumpkin head) and the improved base (now ABS, and not PVC) and TWO sets of hands, the clenched fist and the open spellcasting hands. I'm rating this a 7.5 for the improved joints and sockets as well as the added value of the accessories, all done without raising the retail price.

parts inventory for Dokuroman Pumpkin Nightmare

DOKUROMAN PUMPKIN NIGHTMARE
ManufacturerKaiyodoPrice$4.00
Year2016Location boughtToysanta (mail order)
Size4.25 inPOA19
Scale1:18Rating (1-10)7.5


RE-MENT POSE SKELETON


Pros: Whimsical sculpt. Excellent Revoltech-like joints, moveable jawbone, paint wash nicely applied, includes extra hands, lots of accessories available, appeals to all genders, whole family of skeletons available, fun to play with.
Cons: Mid-body spine joint is a bit floppy, odd scale, adult body proportions not accurate.

We're approaching the upper-end of quality now. The Re-Ment Pose skeleton from Japan is absolutely fantastic! The majority of the joints are tiny Revoltech-like ones that combine both a hinge joint and a 360 degree swivel joint. It's pretty durable, and can take a shelf dive without falling apart. The sculpt is intentionally "kawaii" cute (the adult skeletons look like children- large head, short limbs, small torso). The Pose Skeleton and all its non-military, non-superhero accessories has a very large female following, which is unusual for skeleton action figures. An entire family is available: Mom, Dad, child and doggy and (soon) kitty!

The only slight disadvantage is the odd scale- 1:20, which makes Pose Skeleton and its accessories slightly small for standard 1:18 figures.

REMENT POSE SKELETON
ManufacturerRe-MentPrice$8.00
Year2015Location boughtAmazon.com
Size3.5 inPOA24
Scale1:20Rating (1-10)8


BIG LOTS 7" JUMBO POSE SKELETON BOOTLEG


Pros: Amazingly inexpensive, good articulation, sturdy, MEGO-compatible.
Cons: Some mold flashing, cartoon-y proportions, legs incorrectly assembled at factory, overly-large joints.

For Halloween 2018, a new set of toy skeletons had just appeared at discount-big-box-store, Big Lots. These are basically bootlegs of Rement Pose skeletons, but much BIGGER! This bad bootleg boy is just a hair less than 7" (using calipers to measure). It's heavier than I expected, has a short torso, and very thick, stocky arm and leg bones. It's not anatomically correct, but is still clearly recognizable as a human skeleton. And... it's only 5 dollars!!!

Most of the joints are a large-ish combo swivel/hinge joint. The joint attaching the skull to the neck is a really tight fit and affects the ability of the jaw to open and close. Elbow (hinge joint only) and hands (swivel joint only) are exactly like the Rement Pose skeleton, but the bootleg is, of course, lacking the additional interchangeable hands. As-is, the knees cannot be bent in the correct direction, so it's necessary to pull out the legs and swap left for right, as well as the feet. Once this is done, the knee bends almost 90 degrees. It is able to stand by itself.

All in all, this is an amazing skeleton toy for the price! 24 POA! Sturdy and burly, it can be given to kids (unlike the original, delicate Pose skeleton). It's compatible with 8" MEGO figures and accessories, and some MEGO clothing. So versatile! And so cheap!

Big Lots 7" Jumbo Pose skeleton

ManufacturerUnknownPrice$5.00
Year2018Location boughtBig Lots
Size7 inPOA24
Scale1:10Rating (1-10)8


SKELETON WARRIORS TITAN SKELETON  

Skeleton Warriors Titan skeleton
Pros: Very sturdy, durable joints, reasonable price, comes in different colors, very good/excellent overall articulation, Glyos compatible, fun to play with.
Cons: Odd scale, stylized sculpt that some people find "cartoony", no back articulation.

These guys are a personal favorite of mine. I don't consider the Titan skeletons to be 1:18... I consider them to be 1:15, and they fit in very nicely with my 1:15 jigglers in a 1:15 world. The joints are durable, and so is the skeleton- it can easily take a drop to the floor without falling apart. They make heavy use of "Glybrid" joints, which combine a hinge joint and a 360 degree swivel Glyos joint, which makes many parts interchangeable with figures from multiple companies that do Glyos. Articulation is very good... they can do most poses, but cannot bend their elbows or knees as deeply as some other skeleton figures can. They're large enough to wear soft goods- real tailored fabric clothing. And they're cheap enough to army-build, and you won't feel bad carving them up and applying body modifications to them at $10 a pop.

Some room for minor improvement: a hinged jaw, the addition of a wrist hinge, and some backbone articulation would be nice.

SKELETON WARRIORS TITAN SKELETON
ManufacturerOctober ToysPrice$10.00
Year2015Location boughtOctobertoys.com
Size4.75 inPOA26
Scale1:15Rating (1-10)8


BAG O' BONES BY BOSS FIGHT STUDIO


Pros: Unusually inexpensive for a Boss Fight Studios product. Lots of spare bone parts for dioramas, random weapons included, possible to assemble complete skeletons at 15% of retail price.
Cons: Bag is not guaranteed to contain a complete skeleton. Leg bones are often warped and incorrectly assembled.

Surprisingly, Boss Fight Studio offered blind bags of skeleton parts, called Bag O' Bones in late June/early July of 2017. Priced at only $3.99, each bag contained about 3 oz. of parts. Judging by their photos on Facebook, it looked like a complete skeleton was in the bag, so I took a chance and ordered 2 bags. Total cost: about $8.00, which is less than the price of a single standard factory-bagged skeleton.

When I opened my first bag, I evaluated the pile, and found a complete black skeleton in there- but it had to be assembled. I was pleased with my haul- I was already ahead. After waiting a few weeks, I cracked open the second bag. Combining the contents of 2 bags increases the chances of building complete skeletons exponentially. After separating the parts by color, I was able to build a total of 5 skeletons. The only downside is that some the parts are factory seconds/rejects- particularly the pre-assembled leg bones. Many were warped, and the knee joint was incorrectly put together at the factory. It's not a very easy process to remove the pins and reverse the joint, but with persistence, a dish of boiling water, a nail setter and flat-nosed jewelers pliers, I was successful. Overall, I am very happy with what I got. Genuine Boss Fight Studio skeletons at less than $2.00 each! And, there were enough fishbone daggers in the bags to supply each one of them with a weapon!

BAG O' BONES
ManufacturerBoss Fight StudioPrice$3.99 per bag
Year2017Location boughtbossfightshop.com
Size3.875 inPOA28
Scale1:18Rating (1-10)8.5


VITRUVIAN H.A.C.K.S SKELETON

Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. skeleton
Pros: Amazing articulation in a small scale, moveable jawbone, comes in different colors, lots of armor/weaponry available, perfectly compatible with 1:18 scale figures by other companies, anatomically accurate sculpt (with one exception).
Cons: Joints are stiff out of the bag, unusually flat ribcage, cannot cross legs, hand and foot occasionally pop off.

Although seemingly expensive for a 4" unaccessorized and unpainted figure, once you have one of these in hand, you can't help but gasp in awe over the amazingly-engineered joints! I would have NEVER thought that a wrist hinge & swivel joint, or double-jointed knees, or rocker ankles could be made in this size, but somehow Boss Fight Studio did it! It stands at 4" and with true adult body proportions, and is compatible with the many 3.75" and 4" action figure lines (GiJoe, Star Wars, Marvel, etc.). The double-jointed knees enable the skeleton to do deep knee bends but it comes at a cost: it lacks a knee rotation joint or the necessary range of hip joint movement to, say, sit on a folding chair and cross its legs. The Yoga lotus position is out.

The current VITRUVIAN H.A.C.K.S. wave is Greek mythology, so Iron Age accessories are available for these skeletons.

VITRUVIAN H.A.C.K.S. SKELETON
ManufacturerBoss Fight StudioPrice$12.99
Year2016Location boughtbossfightshop.com
Size3.875 inPOA28
Scale1:18Rating (1-10)9


KAIYODO REVOLTECH "JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS" SCI-FI SKLELETON

Kaiyodo Revoltech skeleton
Pros: Beautifully sculpted, anatomically accurate, moveable jawbone, great packaged accessories and base, excellent Revoltech joints, can effortlessly duplicate the full range of human motion.
Cons: Too expensive to army-build or customize.

The Rolls Royce of toy skeletons! Designed and manufactured by Kaiyodo, this is on the high-end of the scale and really shows the incredible quality of Japanese toys. It currently sells for $65-$70, but I was able to get a pre-owned one in Hong Kong for about $30. The sculpt is so good that it can be used as an artist's model. Fans of Ray Harryhausen may want to use this for stop-motion, but need to stiffen the joints first with (believe it or not) acrylic floor polish. The joints are true Revoltech, and all of them combine a hinge joint and a 360 degree swivel joint, giving the skeleton a full range of motion without any joints popping out. This skeleton has all of the advantages of Dokuroman, Pose Skeleton and Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. skeletons, and none of the disadvantages.

But, the main issue is that these skeletons are expensive. Too expensive to buy in multiples or to customize. The scale is a little odd, too. At 5.5 inches, it looks puny compared to popular 6" action figures. The skeleton comes with extra hands, an extra sword & shield and a beautiful storage base.

KAIYODO REVOLTECH SKELETON
ManufacturerKaiyodoPrice$30.00
Year2010Location boughttoy store in Hong Kong
Size5.5 inPOA33
Scale1:13Rating (1-10)10



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