McDonald's Monsters vs. Aliens!

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Until the official movie toys hit our shores, Happy Meals are our soulution to that animated movie toy fix! McDonald's may have lost the Disney license for making American kids fat, but Dreamworks seems to have no qualms with promoting burger guzzling.

The newest Happy Meal set is from the new Dreamworks animated film, Monsters vs. Aliens. Personally I can't wait to see this movie. I love the trailer, and if they seem to have come a long way from Shark's Tale. Kung Fu Panda re-screen anyone?

Hating the fact that I never got a Po the Panda when the last Dreamworks set came out (despite eating Burger Mcdos for a week and collecting all the rest of the figures), I decided to do it in one fell swoop. 8 happy meals in a day. Ugh did I feel sick. But success is mine as I was able to get the entire set. Like all of the previous sets, it's a hit and miss affair. I have my favorites, so I'll save them for last.

the one I badly want to give away is Dr. Cockaroach.




Not only because I hate roaches (really really hate hate hate), but because he's way way out of scale. I figured him for a little figure with some nice gadgets, but he's huge. I'm sure kids will like the little pull toy, but he's kind of boring.

Next up, Gallaxhar's ship




This is just blah. It's gimmick is that if you hit the alien in the middle the other pods shoot off. blah. The mechanism is touchy and they pods pop off constantly. Somehow, it reminds me of those Zentraedi ships in Robotech, you know the ones that looked like green turds? Only it's purple and has three appendages. Unless you want to complte the set, forget it. I'd prefer it if they just gave us a figure of the General to go along with the others.

Next is Gallaxhar:




Pull his rubber legs, and he lights up red. whoopdeedoo. You got to pull HARD too. I thought I'd break him doing it. You really need to yank him to light his fire. He's also shape like something you'd find in an adult toy store. Not one for the win column.

The rest are wins in my book though. First up Gigantica:




The toy captures the cartoon reasonably well. It's a relatively simply toy, just a poseble action figure with bendy legs and cut jonts on the shoulders and waist. I like it cause it's simple.

Bob the Blob:







This is one time where an action feature is really fun. Spin him round and he goes off at random vectors, bumping into things and turning. Really great. Plus he's translucent so looks really cool under light.

Insectosaurus:







Granted he doesn't do much (squeaks), but he does have articulated (cut joints) arms and antennae. And he's bloody kewt!

Robot:







This would have been my favorite if it hadn't been for Missing Link. The robot is kinda like a transformer. Okay, not really. But his arms pop out and feet extend to stomp on innocent civilians. How cool is that? and he's got a lenticular eye that gets all squinty.

The Missing Link is easily my favorite, and my pick for the one who's gonna dissapear first:




When you push down his fin, his arms pop out, like he's doing a silly dance:




And if you wind him up, he vibrates and really does do that silly dance:




Great sculpting, some articulation, and an interesting and unobtrusive action feature. Made of Win!

All in all, it's a thumbs up for kids on this set, but I'd suggest sticking with the good guys.