Monsters vs Zombies Graveyard

I've been a fan of the LEGO-like Character Building toy line called Monsters vs Zombies for awhile now. But as they're a UK company, it makes getting these toys a little more difficult than going to the local shop. And even then, it's going to bit more on the pricey side.

Thanks to a recent clearance sale at Think Geek, I was able to snag the Graveyard playset for a good price. I've been holding on to it to do an October review.

Wot's all this then?

I thought the box was a bit big for a 140 piece building set and there was some empty space when I peeked inside. The set does have some interesting terrain pieces that I don't think you'd find in a similar LEGO set.

The tan ground pieces are pretty neat, giving you some bumpy terrain and character. The top of the front left headstone looks odd because those pieces are glow in the dark. The stone in the back looks broken but that's only because I was missing the piece that is supposed to complete it! You also get plenty of plants and a couple of little rocks.

One of my favorite little details are the corners of the tomb. They could have just used regular blocks but did detailed mini-pillars instead. There's a special place in the back to stick the shovel "in the ground." The top of the tomb is cracked in a couple of places. Could something be trying to get out...



Aahhhhh! It's a skeleton with a scythe! He's also done in glow plastic but I have to say, it's nowhere near as effective as LEGO glow pieces. Articulation on the Character Building figures is different from LEGO minifigs in that they can rotate at the waist. There is one more glow piece which is a coffin with opening lid, pictured below.



While this isn't a large set, it's a cool place for my little LEGO monsters to hang out when it's party time. I do need to somehow pick up more of their minifigs though! The zombie in the back is from a blind bag series I found in Target but he's the only monster in the series.

I'm kinda meh on most of their zombie figs but I do like the more traditional monsters and Invisible Man ones.

Check out all the cool kids at Countdown to Halloween and Blog-O-Ween!

Trick 'R Treat Sam 13" plush

It's not too often that you see a grown man squee like a little girl but if you'd been with me at Toys r Us yesterday, you could have witnessed it first hand.

As I was one my way out the door after having snagged a few of the new Monster 500 cars, I saw this in the claw machine...

The photo doesn't do him justice. He. Is. Adorable!
I never play these games because I know how ridiculously hard it is to get anything out of them, much less the thing you really, really, really want.

I gave it a couple tries but no luck.

I did see a few eBay auctions so I have hope that I'll be able to get one for less than it would cost to try and finagle one out of that claw machine. There's also a listing on Amazon from a 3rd party seller but they're out of stock right now.

Be sure to get more Halloween goodness at Countdown to Halloween and Blog-O-Ween!

Star Wars Halloween Play Pack: Shadows of the Jedi

Today brings the final Star Wars Halloween Play Pack:

Shadows of the Jedi!

Although the packaging uses some fairly standard clip art for the droids, it's everything else that really makes it work for me. I'm not sure why Yoda would need his lightsaber out while Trick or Treating though. Maybe someone's trying to steal his candy.

This pack has the same orange sticker sheet as Trick or Treat Troopers.

Here's the covers of the coloring book. If you remove the bats and tree from the front cover, you've got a decent book cover.

 

And a couple of the very cute coloring pages

As I've said previously, the coloring books pretty much have all the same pages in them. This one's the most different as it has a page of old Ben Kenobi and a couple pages of Luke and Yoda training on Dagobah. It did surprise me a bit to find a few pages from the original movies in here.

Be sure to get more Halloween goodness at Countdown to Halloween and Blog-O-Ween!