Friday, December 5, 2014

2014 Holiday Buying Guide: A Little Baymax In Your Life

We are about to spiral headlong into a series of articles outlining some holiday buying suggestions to guarantee the mega geek in your life is grinning ear to ear when the wrapping paper flies on that faithful day. To kick things off, we'll take a look at a little robot who made a lot of noise on the big screen as of late, melting hearts and pounding enemies all at once. He's Baymax from Big Hero 6. Bandai nabbed the license, creating a full line of action figures and fun collectibles along side the expected wave of Disney Store exclusives which seemed to be almost exactly like Bandai's line! Odd stuff. Today we pour over Deluxe Flying Baymax, our pick for the Baymax with the most bang for your buck, packing in decent articulation, excellent paints, a perfect sculpt and little bells and whistles you will love.

"Large and in-charge, this massive Baymax is ready to fly into battle using all his great weapons and features to save the day, just like in Disney's movie, Big Hero 6. Baymax is huge at 11 Inch tall with a wingspan that extends to 18 Inch. Activate the lights and sounds or save San Fransokyo using Baymax's launching rocket fist. Baymax comes with a 4.5-inch Hiro Hamada figure, which when attached to Baymax's back unlocks additional flying sounds that vary from descending rocket sounds to ascending rocket sounds depending on whether Baymax is pointed up or down. This great innovation brings the product to life and Disney's Big Hero 6 to your home." - The Official Bandai Description


 

Bandai embraces a golden opportunity to immortalize what is sure to be a super lovable character in plastics and, as expected, goes that extra mile to pack in little extras where other companies would have cut costs to up their profit margin. Mind you, it is still a little evident the crew played it safe, as not one of the Baymax deluxe toys stands out as the "be all/end all/ must have" Baymax for all time, which is sad, but largely expected from mass retail lines. While the Deluxe Flying Baymax doesn't over-achieve, it still succeeds across the board and presents a ridiculously fun toy that will keep kids entertained as they recreate their favorite scenes while allowing collectors to appreciate the expressive nuances as they pose the bot for photography or simply to give him his rightful place on a shelf full of impactful favorites. Here's the rundown...

- For a mass retail toy, Baymax packs a generous amount of articulation, allowing for a polite array of posing options. You'll find the additions like swing out arms and elbows work wonders for flight and battle poses while the simple act of being able to look up (which we'll note is generally a challenge in action figure making) adds miles of personality. It's a shame he can't look down as well! While all these extra points are well and good, the super posable loving fiend that I am wishes Baymax could strike the "landing Iron Man" pose...but this is not to be...nor are many other fan favorite positions. Baymax won't be hysterically imitating yoga poses any time soon.

 
 


- Action features are often the bane of a toy collector's existence, as the swinging arms and/or quick draw action comes at the cost of further articulation. Fortunately, Baymax's pop up features are self contained. Push in on his chest compartment and out pops his data storage ports. With the push of a button, his wings swing out and you are ready for flight action. He's also got rocket fist firing action, which will probably make this the must have Baymax for most collectors! We are suckers for rocket fists. We will also add "can stand for hours without falling over" as an action feature...which is an amazing thing these days. Great design!

 

- A button in his torso activates the lights in Baymax's visor and sound effects, all robot related, naturally. Attach the accompanying Hiro to his back via magnets and knee pegs and Baymax will speak actual phrases from the movie with Hiro shouting commands (the Hiro figure does not talk..it all comes from Baymax). The most fun bit for kids will be when you attach Hiro and pick the toy up, automatically activating the flight sound effects which shift with the up, down or side to side motions you make. As I played with this feature, I noted the only way to make the flight sounds stop was to yank Hiro off his back.

 


- The Hiro figure is very basic. While there are a basic 5 points of articulation, again, super posable loving me wishes there were more so he could stand along Baymax when not mounted to his back. The toys even encourage a standing position as you'll find Hiro has foot holes to peg into Baymax's back to ride along an alternate way. Without additional articulation, Hiro is left in that odd crouching pose for all eternity. Poor kid.

 

Super collector gripes aside, until some insane Japanese company creates the ultimate, super posable armored and unarmored (and dare I dream of a drunk mode, half deflated) Baymax, this is the best there is on the shelves. Deluxe Flying Baymax has all the attitude and innocence you loved in the film along with a memorable quote to seal the deal and is absolutely packed with action features to keep your kid entranced for a whole 30 minutes....perhaps longer if your kid is over 20.

Thanks to Bandai for sending over Baymax for our review! Hit our Flickr Gallery for additional images.
Click HERE to order Deluxe Flying Baymax today!

 



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