Of all the toy projects I’ve come into contact with this past year, OMFG! (Outlandish Mini Figure Guys) has to be one of the coolest. Not only is it independent and artist driven, but riffs on some of the cool toy lines from the 80s like M.U.S.C.L.E.s, Battle Beasts, and Monster in my Pocket. I’ve written about series one before, but I wanted to make a note that voting has just begun for the second series. You can participate by hopping over to the October Toys forums, registering and voting for 5 of the 461 new designs for series 2.
I’m pretty excited to see this project moving forward, so much so that I’ve thrown a couple of my own designs in the ring, Boombox (#55) and Killscreen (#57). Just saying, my wife would kill for a Boombox figure. Regardless if you dig my designs, if you have a moment, head on over and check out the other entries. There’s a whole range of stuff, and there is some really killer ones in there. I know I’m partial to the Puke Knight (#357), Thatman (#429), and Deadbeet (#144)…
Also, to tide us minifig collectors over until the 2nd series of the OMFG! get picked and hopefully produced, Jakks Pacific has just released a line of really neat collectable Zombie Minifigs called S.L.U.G.s (Scary Little Ugly Guys)…
Series one has just been released and so far there are 16 different little zombie figures available (though I’ve heard that there are 99 in the series.) They come in packs of 3 (where you can see the figures you’re getting), as well as a larger 12-pack that comes in a really cool looking coffin…
In order to get all 16 you’ll either have to buy all four different 3 packs and the 12 pack coffin (there are 4 figures only in the 3-packs, and 4 exclusive to the coffin set), or hope you can find someone willing to trade their doubles. The 3-packs are $4, and the 12-Pack coffin was $10. As far as the quality of the concepts and sculpts, this set is pretty good. There are a few duds in the set that either don’t really read as zombies (the boxer), don’t stand well (King Tut) or are kind of boring (again, boxer), but most of the figures are pretty darn fun. My favorites have to be Rigamortis Lourdes, the cheerleading zombie (with severed head pom poms), Neil Armgone, the zombie astronaut, and the clever homage to Daniel from the Karate Kid, The Corroding Kid (who has had his leg swept but good.)
I’m sure these will pop up in a few stores, but right now I’ve only seen them at my local Toys R Us. Unlike the Trash Pack, all these new minifigs are really doing a great job of riffing on the whole M.U.S.C.L.E. and Monster in my Pocket toy lines. What a great time to be collecting toys again!