Near the end of summer Liz decided that she wanted to film a commercial and she wanted to do so in Prague. I had nothing better to do so I decided to tag along. And by "tag along" I mean I went a day early and shopped my butt off.
I was excited to see what all the Czech Republic had to offer so as soon as I was situated I found a nearby shopping plaza and looked through the various toy shops that were in the area.
It was very surprising to find out that these stores all carried a large quantity of Gormiti figures including loads of stuff that never saw release here in the states. The figures that caught my eye right away were the 5.5" figures. The only Gormiti figures that were released here were the mini 2" figures that resembled Battle Beasts. If you remember, we did a "month" of these figures on the previous blog. You can find those entries here.
I know that Gormiti had never made it too big here in the States so it's no wonder that most of what I was seeing was new to me, which is a weird feeling now-a-days with the internet showing you most everything months before it's released. Most of the stores had items that can be found at any Target or Toys R Us here, with a few random European items here and there. My purchases were just a few of the new Lego Minifigures blind bags that hadn't been released here in the states yet and three of the 5.5" Gormiti figures. I didn't want to take a chance at losing any pieces so they all stayed in their packages until we got back home. (Instead of sitting in the hotel room playing with our new toys we went and checked out one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I ate a chipotle brownie.) I got the first two figures in the first shop I spotted them in after a very confusing broken English conversation. And as frustrating as that always is, I have to remember that they're the ones that learned a second language and I'm the idiot in their country trying to figure out how to communicate.
When we got back, I decided to send a picture to my #1 5.5" toy identifier to see if he'd heard about them or had ever seen them before. I assumed, like most folks here in the US that he hadn't...
I was excited to see what all the Czech Republic had to offer so as soon as I was situated I found a nearby shopping plaza and looked through the various toy shops that were in the area.
It was very surprising to find out that these stores all carried a large quantity of Gormiti figures including loads of stuff that never saw release here in the states. The figures that caught my eye right away were the 5.5" figures. The only Gormiti figures that were released here were the mini 2" figures that resembled Battle Beasts. If you remember, we did a "month" of these figures on the previous blog. You can find those entries here.
I know that Gormiti had never made it too big here in the States so it's no wonder that most of what I was seeing was new to me, which is a weird feeling now-a-days with the internet showing you most everything months before it's released. Most of the stores had items that can be found at any Target or Toys R Us here, with a few random European items here and there. My purchases were just a few of the new Lego Minifigures blind bags that hadn't been released here in the states yet and three of the 5.5" Gormiti figures. I didn't want to take a chance at losing any pieces so they all stayed in their packages until we got back home. (Instead of sitting in the hotel room playing with our new toys we went and checked out one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I ate a chipotle brownie.) I got the first two figures in the first shop I spotted them in after a very confusing broken English conversation. And as frustrating as that always is, I have to remember that they're the ones that learned a second language and I'm the idiot in their country trying to figure out how to communicate.
When we got back, I decided to send a picture to my #1 5.5" toy identifier to see if he'd heard about them or had ever seen them before. I assumed, like most folks here in the US that he hadn't...
He has still not paid. Which is fine, I'm okay with keeping these figures. I don't know if it's obvious through the pictures but the bird figure is my favorite. There's just something about the color scheme that I really dig. And wings, he has wings.
Each figure has something either that they're holding or part of their hand/fist that is spring loaded in their arms that can fire off through a button on or around their elbow. These things have a hair trigger, but luckily aren't too powerful (I'm looking at you, Madballs Head Poppers). The packaging is serious and required a pair of scissors, much like packages that contain small electronics. So let's see, they're 5.5", not released in the states, and have projectiles built in. I feel like I'm forgetting something.
Each figure has something either that they're holding or part of their hand/fist that is spring loaded in their arms that can fire off through a button on or around their elbow. These things have a hair trigger, but luckily aren't too powerful (I'm looking at you, Madballs Head Poppers). The packaging is serious and required a pair of scissors, much like packages that contain small electronics. So let's see, they're 5.5", not released in the states, and have projectiles built in. I feel like I'm forgetting something.
OH YEAH! They have magnetic articulation! I don't know if any other major toy company is manufacturing action figures with this sort of articulation, but it's so smart and lets you interchange parts from figure to figure, it just makes so much sense. I know it does limit the figure in some instances, but for me, I'm all about it for 5.5" figures.
I had only recently seen indie toy casters using this technique and my first figure that I owned with this articulation came from Man or Monster? Studios. So of course he came out to play with these guys eventually. (Side mini-review of that figure! We got a purple and green variation of the B.A.R.F. figure and he's one of our favorites to have on the coffee table to look at. Such a pretty piece, Brandon really knows what he's doing both from a creative standpoint and a craftsman. We recommend watching his Instagram, FB, website or whatever you can to try and get yourself one of his figures.)
Though now looking at photos of the Gormiti packaging I can tell that they boast about this, but again if it ain't written in 'Merican, apparently I can't read it. So it was a surprise to me when I opened the first figure and the head fell right off. It was a good surprise. And immediately I opened the other figures to start swapping out parts.
Overall I think the figures were really well done. Though a bit pricey, but everything we came across in Prague seemed a bit more expensive than here in the states. And living in Chicago that's a bit shocking as we thought WE had one of the most expensive cities for tangible goods. But it's okay cause I could only spend so much money in a weekend. Besides, we didn't have enough luggage to bring back a ton of toys. Just now realizing I could have bought more luggage while there.
Well Prague was awesome, it was a super weird experience and we're glad we got to go. If you want to see the commercial that got us over there just watch Agent Carter or a Lifetime movie - you're bound to see Liz peddling some Lyrica.
After the toy photos I'm gonna post ALL the photos I took while there, feel free to force yourself to a slideshow of our trip.
Liz: Everyone should go to Prague.
I sound like a real asshole.
Though now looking at photos of the Gormiti packaging I can tell that they boast about this, but again if it ain't written in 'Merican, apparently I can't read it. So it was a surprise to me when I opened the first figure and the head fell right off. It was a good surprise. And immediately I opened the other figures to start swapping out parts.
Overall I think the figures were really well done. Though a bit pricey, but everything we came across in Prague seemed a bit more expensive than here in the states. And living in Chicago that's a bit shocking as we thought WE had one of the most expensive cities for tangible goods. But it's okay cause I could only spend so much money in a weekend. Besides, we didn't have enough luggage to bring back a ton of toys. Just now realizing I could have bought more luggage while there.
Well Prague was awesome, it was a super weird experience and we're glad we got to go. If you want to see the commercial that got us over there just watch Agent Carter or a Lifetime movie - you're bound to see Liz peddling some Lyrica.
After the toy photos I'm gonna post ALL the photos I took while there, feel free to force yourself to a slideshow of our trip.
Liz: Everyone should go to Prague.
I sound like a real asshole.
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