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Toy Story Collection - CHUNK and TWITCH
Thinkway takes on two new Sunnyside residents...
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If you can't get enough full-scaled Toy Story toys in your collection, Thinkway Toys has produced a small sampling of toys that work perfectly with their high-end TOY STORY COLLECTION. With Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear being the only TSC item released so far, it would only be proper to find him some friends to hang out with. Three characters from Sunnyside Daycare are in the $24.99-29.99 price range and without all the bells and whistles: Twitch, Chunk, and Sparks. I was very unimpressed overall with the representation of the robot Sparks so this review will cover Chunk and Twitch only.
Chunk is a massive rock creature with oversized limbs, shoulder spikes, and a changing face feature that goes from friendly to fierce. One secret shoulder spike on his left shoulder/head changes the face.
Twitch is a man/ insect warrior from the imaginary toy line called INSECTALOIDS and harkens back to the classic Masters of the Universe style action figure. Although Disney's description of Twitch states that he's over 5 inches tall, the Twitch in the movie is at least 12 inches. Fortunately, the toy here appears to be in proper scale.
PACKAGING: The packaging for these two characters (and Sparks) is not what I consider great packaging. The toy is fully exposed, strapped into a carton making these the polar opposite of collector friendly. It's also not a comforting thought to imagine what dirty hands have touched and played with the toy prior to you. The good thing is that you can inspect your toy thoroughly before purchasing, checking the paint, and the condition of the toy itself. The carton at least displays colorful graphics unique to the character and details the action gimmicks involved.
SCULPT: The sculpt for both Chunk and Twitch is really well done. Though we are uncertain if Pixar data was actually used to create these toys, they do look very on-model in both scale and design. Twitch does have a few inaccuracies in the toy mode that are a bit distracting but can be ignored if so desired. For starters, Twitch is supposed to have removable body armor much like Masters of the Universe toys, but is sculpted on instead.
A second thing relates to his overall likeness which is just slightly off in its proportions. Our toy version seems to have a slimmer design that the film, which has a more squatty "Masters of the Universe" quality to the character.
Twitch's skin has a scaly texture to them which could have been a bit more exaggerated but looks good overall. His wings are of clear plastic and very sturdy which I appreciate. The wings are part of an action gimmick on his stomach that doesn’t help the overall look of the toy, as the button wasn’t a part of the movie Twitch’s design. Another action gimmick is the ability to make use of his ferocious chomping mandibles by pushing down on his head. It's a great feature since he does use his mouth in the film; it's not every day you can simulate your toy talking.
Twitch was the new character I looked forward to most before seeing the film but Chunk has become a new favorite toy between the two because of the former's inaccuracies. Chunk doesn't look all that impressive on the store shelf but is far better once released from the package. Standing at about 8 inches, Chunk is about in the right scale. One thing to get used to is a few rolling rocks inside of Chunk's face; it rattles and rolls around when you change it. Not the most pleasant sound in the world but maybe kids like it.
Since Chunk's action feature is already part of his design, it's a great translation from screen to toy and it works great. The sculpt of his facial features capture the character quite well. What would make Chunk perfect I will detail below.
PAINT: Since owning these toys is very much like owning a real life movie actor in the flesh, it's important that the toy makers make the toy as precisely as possible. Paint on both Twitch and Chunk are clean for the most part, but I have noticed some spills and splotches on Chunk's face and also around Twitch's body armor. The ones I found were the cleanest of the bunch and that’s basically the best compliment I can give because these toys could have looked even better than they do now.
Twitch is pretty good as there's nothing flashy about the toy to begin with so having typical toy paint application is pretty accurate. Chunk on the other hand... I'm not certain what kind of toy he's supposed to be or of what materials and how he's painted. In the film, he definitely has a more polished, textured, look to him and that could easily be taken care of with more paint. Thinkway presents Chunk to us using orange plastic with splotches and scratches here and there. Your Chunk may vary on the splotches and scratches but the overall look could have been improved with a light wash of some kind.
ARTICULATION: Both toys actually impressed me with the amount of articulation they really had, but after playing with them for awhile I started to wish there was a lot more.
Chunk has eleven points of articulation; twelve if you count his face changing feature. He's got regular cut shoulder, bicep, thigh, and waist joints. Standard swivel elbow and knee joints add onto that mix. It's a shame the knee and shoulder joints were more complex as it would be nice to get some variety in his poses but overall, he's very passable and still a lot of fun.
Twitch is also poseable in areas you wouldn't expect, but also wish the joints were more complicated. He's articulated in exactly the right places but they're just really basic joints. He has at least 17 joints which is accurate to the description provided by Pixar. He has decent neck articulation but cannot look up or down, pretty good shoulder range, single elbow joint, wrists, waist, ball jointed thighs, single knee and heel joints. All of these joints would be amazing if Hasbro’s method of articulation was applied. But still pretty decent.
I would have loved if his antennae were articulated and perhaps they are but mine don't move and I haven’t tried that hard in fear of breaking them.
ACCESSORIES: Absolutely no accessories. Chunk is understandable as he doesn't need anything but Twitch... he's the one that SHOULD come with his signature magical battle staff and removable chest armor but doesn't come with either. His wings do have the ability to be popped off so I suppose that could count as an accessory but let’s not kid ourselves.
ACTION FEATURES: As mentioned above, each of these toys have their own play gimmicks, all work great and are fun but only some are necessary. Let's start with Chunk since he only has the one face changing feature. This feature is featured in the film at least so this is one that is expected. Push a head spike and his face changes from friendly to fierce. Works great, looks great! The rattling rock sounds are probably added to the toy and not necessary.
Twitch has two action features. A push on the stomach fires out his powerful wings and pushing down on his head gives him munching action. I love the munching action but the wings are iffy for me because of the stomach button that takes away from the overall look. It is a fun feature but mine are somewhat defective as the left wing doesn’t ever shoot up all the way by itself. I may need to pull this wing off and reattach it.
VALUE: I purchased these toys at Toys"R"Us priced at $24.99. Some stores are a bit higher at $29.99 so definitely get these for lower if you can! I actually think these are more like $20 toys but due to their size they're probably marked higher. Essentially they're giant action figures but without the proper packaging.
OVERALL: If you're a fan of the Toy Story Collection toys and want more characters from the third film, these are currently your best bet. While they're not the most accurate representations, they ARE the closest you can buy right now. Whether or not Thinkway gives these guys the proper expensive treatment is uncertain and probably not likely at this point in time, you never know what they may do if the line keeps going.
Chunk, aside from paint is really close. An extra shoulder articulation joint would have been perfect but he's okay without. Twitch has a few more quirks: lack of removable chest armor and magic staff as well as the addition of stomach button, but overall, a great toy that fits in well with the rest of the Toy Story toys. If having all of these issues fixed would have meant paying $50 each, getting both at $50 isn't a bad trade-off.
Review and Photography by David Yeh
