The InterAction Wall-E toy is a voice activated animatronic toy. This means that Wall-E can "hear" you, and will respond with physical motions - head movements and arms flailing. Read on, for full review, with video.

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Wall-E was a great movie. If you don't agree then your soul is as black as pitch, and you should remain at least 50 yards from children at all times.

Seriously though the movie is really good, as are most pixar movies. Sometimes I think they are the only thing keeping the disney empire alive.

We actually got this toy for my son some time before the movie had come out. He had seen the trailer and then once we were in the toy store he had to have him. But Wall-E didn't get a lot of attention in our house until the movie came out. After I came home from the movie I ran downstairs into the playroom, grabbed Wall-E and stuck him in the photo tent. The movie was something special, and this toy deserved a second look.

The basic premise of Wall-E is that he is a trash robot, left behind on a polluted, abandoned earth for 700 years. There were many Wall-E units at one point, but he appears to be the last one operating. Each day is the same as the next, collecting trash, and creating cubes which are then stacked as high as skyscrapers. Every once in a while, Wall-E comes across a curiosity from the civilization that lived here years ago. Through these items he develops a personality - Wall-E is incredibly curious, and even creates a collection of items that he has come across in his travels.

In the future, a Robot collects toys. Think about that for a minute.

One day, Wall-E's routine is disrupted by a probe ship from outer space. The human race is living on a cruise ship, and it sends out probes to look for vegetation samples, a sign that the earth is ready to be re-populated. One such probe is the little white robot EVE. Wall-E falls in love with EVE, or whatever passes for love with robots, and the story begins there...

The InterAction Wall-E toy is a voice activated animatronic toy. This means that Wall-E can "hear" you, and will respond with physical motions - head movements and arms flailing.

The toy itself is solid and nicely done. The treads are rubber and roll manually - Wall-E cannot move around on his own.

The front panel on Wall-E opens and there is a decal that shows the trash that compacts inside of him.

The body is a weathered yellow cube, but not as dirty as seen in the movie. The bulk of Wall-E is here - there are buttons on the top that can activate the lights and sound, as well as a button on the back. On the bottom there is a three way switch that goes from off/try me/on.

Wall-E's arms are removable and can be repositioned to a spot lower and more forward on the body, however only when they are inserted in the upper holes do they move automatically. Each hand has individual articulated fingers, but not individual finger joints.

The head has a small bit of movement, but the instructions on the back ask you to not move it because of the possibility of damaging the internal mechanism. I'm sure all those little kids who can't read will pay attention to this.

The whole InterAction gimmick is nicely done, and it really makes the toy enjoyable. When Wall-E is in the on mode, he can hear you talk through a small microphone on his chest. You will know when Wall-E hears you because his eyes will light up as it detects sound. A short pause later, Wall-E springs to life. Unfortunately, he doesn't specifically answer you, he just responds to sound in general.

However, should you get the InterAction EVE, the two can babble on and on to each other for hours.

In short, the Thinkway InterActive Wall-E is a lot of fun, for both kids and the adult collector.

The last talker in my collection, the Kamen Rider 1 review has been delayed since I couldn't find it's box...

Kamen Rider 1 (仮面ライダー 1号) was included in both the vintage and modern run of talking vinyl figures produced by Masudaya. I picked this up in Japan at the same time as Mirrorman, at the Nakano Mandarake. I'd have to say that I like this one better than Kamen Rider V3, maybe because the character of V3 seems a little bit done to death.

Kamen Rider 1 stands 15" tall and is articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck. The sculpt and paint is pretty typical of the series, but the red scarf adds a neat touch. The real downside to this one is the quality of the talking feature. It broke right out of the box the first time I pulled the string. Now it may or may not retract in again, but it usually screeches and doesn't always talk right. Granted, the thing just sits on the shelf and adds to the general mosaic of my toys, but if you're gonna pay money for something, you'd sort of like it to work, even for a little while. Fortunately, I only paid about 3,000yen for it, if I remember correctly.

Nothing really else to add, actually. Other than the scarf and being a different character, this toy is the same as the rest in the series. If you're into hero vinyls, talkers are neat because they are a bit bigger and have a gimmick. Just cross your fingers and hope the gimmick actually works. It's been said that vintage talkers are much more reliable, but of course, they'll tend to be much more expensive, too. I guess as a modern collector you'll have to ask yourself what you want. Something that works but costs a lot, or something that just looks neat and is cheap? At this point in my collecting "career", I gotta go with cheap. ;)

"SEVEN! SEVEN! SEVEN!
SEVEN! SEVEN! SEVEN! ..."

Strangely, Ultra Seven is actually the second Ultraman.

The original line of Masudaya talking vinyls contained at least 4 different Ultraman characters, but when the line was resurrected in the late 1990s, only one, Ultra Seven, saw production. Evidently, Ultra Seven is considered the most popular of the Ultramen (at least, according to Wikipedia), so I suppose it would make sense in that context.

This figure is the tallest of the 6 talkers that I have, punching in at about 15.5" tall. This is just a hair too tall to stand on the shelf with the rest of the gang so I've had to have him standing ever so slightly hunched forward. Now that's the only way he'll stand at all. I supposed a little work with the hair dryer would probably fix that, but until I need to, I'm not gonna bother.

I like having this figure because otherwise I actually have surprisingly few Ultraman toys in my collection. Besides the Jumbo Ultraman Leo and the Ultraman Ace that came with M1's Hipporito-seijin, this is my only Japanese Ultraman toy. (I've also got some of those 20" Ultra bootlegs from Thailand, but those are in storage and never really seen.)

Otherwise, it's not that great a toy. The body is cast in red vinyl with white and silver paint application and the head seems to have been cast in silver with gold, blue and black highlights. The head seems too big to me and the arms too small. The talk box is in the back and you pull the string to make him speak.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on it though. I remember when I bought it, I placed the order almost entirely because I wanted to combine shipping with a few other things that were advertised as in stock, but really weren't. I ended up buying it anyway, but felt sort of annoyed.

I tend to think talkers look better in a group. If you like the Ultra characters or talkers and you see this at a great price, by all means grab it. But in and of itself, it's not too amazing.

Another super robot talker that doesn't quite fill me with joy, I think I just realized that the talker format works better for Tokusatsu heroes.

The Getter 1 talker is really the runt of the lineup, checking it at only 12" tall whereas most others in the series are closer to 15". He'd probably be even smaller if his head wasn't so huge. This guy is super deformed before there was such a thing as super deformed. It's a shame too because the sculpt of the head is good and the sculpt of the body is good but the sizes just don't match up. This could have been a really neat toy if the proportions were not so skewed.

Like most of the toys in this line, it's articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck and you pull a string from the back to make it talk. Even if I understood Japanese, I couldn't tell you what it says because the talk box on mine is broken. This has been a pretty common complaint with the re-issues of these toys. Evidently they are very prone to failure. I bought this one cheaply with full knowledge of it's condition, but I have another that I bought brand new in box that failed to work the very first time I pulled the string. I do not own any vintage talkers, but by all accounts, they were much higher quality.

Although it's not the best rendition of the character ever made, it's still a decent pickup for the Getter Robo fan. Unfortunately, Masudaya (nor any other company) ever made talkers of Getter 2 or Getter 3, though.

This might well be my least favorite toy rendition of this character that was produced by a major Japanese toy company.

Make no mistake, from a worldwide standpoint there are some pretty unbelievably horrendous portrayals of Mazinger Z. But within Japan, even the cartoonish looking toys have a charm to them that makes them appeal to the eye. But when I look at this one, I almost feel like someone was making fun of Mazinger Z.

The over-sized cavity in the head looks just too far out of proportion to my tastes, almost like in inverted dunce-cap. And the legs are too skinny where they connect to the pelvis. It looks like he's got a diaper on. Also, the depiction of Koji Kabuto in the cockpit of the Hover Pilder is done by way of a silly looking sticker. The only other toys that I know of that do that are the bootleg Jumbos from Italy and Argentina. Now I admit, I do love those toys for what they are, but it just seems like bad company for a major Japanese toy maker to keep.

With that said, like most toys it looks ok when you add it to a lineup of others from it's series. And I got a good deal on it, so I can't complain too much.

The toy stands about 14.5 inches tall with 5 points of articulation (neck, shoulders, and hips). You pull a string to make it talk, but I have no idea what it says.

The last of the Jumbo dragons, the Ryu Sei Oh is also a child's ride on toy!

Mythical Chi Beast RyuuSeiOh (気伝獣龍星王) is from the Super Sentai series Gosei Sentai Dairanger and was released as an enormous riding toy by Bandai in 1993. It features a small seat on it's back that a child could sit on and a pair of handle bars by which to steer both the head and the front wheels. Though released long after the official line had been canceled, this toy is generally considered a part of the Jumbo Machinder family due to it's large size and heavy use of polyethylene in it's construction. It also has two dragon shaped predecessors in the Jumbo line in the form of the Daiku Maryu and Dol Machinders.

This toy is often overlooked by Jumbo fans. It's sentai stylings as well as it's odd shape are two likely factors contributing to this. The box for this thing is quite silly looking. There's no fancy artwork to admire, but instead just a child riding on the back of the toy wearing a sentai helmet. Some collectors get a kick out of this sort of thing, but it's not likely to attract sales. Also, while the average Jumbo is about 23.5 inches tall, Ryuu Sei Oh checks in at 47 inches long! A drastic change from the norm to be sure and difficult to display as a result. Also it comes in a large box (21.5"x12.5"x17") so shipping on this thing can be prohibitive, even in the event that you find one for sale in the US, which is unlikely.

Still, I thought I should have at least one of the dragon shaped Jumbos and since the cost of Daiku Maryu is quite prohibitive and I never cared much for Dol, I figured I grab one of these when I saw one on Yahoo!Japan a few years back. The toy comes in three pieces and needs to be assembled out of the box. It's a pretty self-explanatory how it's done, but an instruction sheet is included anyway. Interestingly, the sticker placement is indicated right in the midst of the the instruction and make no mistake, you need those stickers for this one! Without them, the toy is very plain looking and it's amazing how much they add to it's overall appearance.

To put the toy together, just snap the back tail into the hole at the end of the main body and slide the neck into the front. Then just tighten that with a screw that's included. Be sure not to over tighten or at best the head becomes difficult to move and you may even crack the plastic here. Even without the screw, the head stays on pretty good, but it's best to have it there so that it doesn't come out when you position the neck, which is jointed in two places.

As I suggested earlier, when you turn the handle bars the whole front of the dragon turns as well as the front wheels. You can also turn the tail but this does not affect the back wheels. The back legs technically can be swiveled down, but they frankly can't go anywhere because they bump against the black chassis. That's kind of lame, but at least you can open and close the jaw of the dragon.

So, pretty decent toy, eh? Certainly a nice looking addition to your collection if you have room for it. But wait, there's more! Yep, if you lift up the seat, there is a secret compartment for storing things.

And guess what else? Your pimp ride also includes the equivalent of a car horn! That's right. Located right in between the handle bars is a small circular button which when pressed emits a roar! This would make the Ryu Sei Oh the first "talking" Jumbo since the roaring Jumbosaurus Godzilla toy from 1978. The whole compartment beneath the button slides right out for easy replacement of the two necessary AA batteries.

This is a pretty cool toy, but it's not for everyone. It's not that rare or expensive, but I don't think any of the other Jumbo collectors I know have bothered to pick one up yet. I can't say I blame them. It's jut not a "must have" Jumbo, but I dig it nonetheless. One last thing I should point out about it on the negative side though is that this guy has lots of little nooks and crannies. I tried to clean him off of dust for the pictures but it's sitting next to me now as I write and I'm ashamed to admit how many spots I missed!

The head may look a little over-sized and the arms under-sized, but I think it adds to it's charm.

Mirrorman is one of the toys that was re-released by Masudaya that I really wanted to get. I like all the entries in the line, but getting characters that I didn't already have, or were never released, in Jumbo Machinder form seemed like the way to go. I'm a big fan of variety in my collection. It doesn't matter much to me if I've seen the TV show or anything like that. If it looks cool and I can add it for a decent price, I will. I grabbed this guy at Mandarake Nakano for about 3,500 yen if memory serves me well.

This one is a little bit bigger than the previously reviewed Kamen Rider V3, standing at just under 15" tall. This is actually one of the things that I do NOT like about this line of toys. There is no consistency to their size. I've only got about 6 of these things and they range in size from 12" to over 15". It's not a huge deal, but I prefer a bit of uniformity to the lineup. [Does that go against my previously stated love of variety?!:)]

Mirrorman is just like the others in the series, jointed at the hips, shoulders and neck with a pull-string on the back to make him talk. The head may look a little over-sized and the arms under-sized, but I think it adds to it's childlike charm. It's an innocent looking toy.

Between admiring and collecting, there is always that "gateway" toy. For talkers, this one was mine.

I never meant to start collecting talkers. I really didn't. Sure, I'd seen some pictures and thought they were pretty cool, but actually buying one? Nah. Not me. I had a friend who was buying them all up when the re-issues started coming out a few years back, often paying about $100 a piece. I just didn't think they were THAT cool. But then one day I was shocked to see one sitting in an aisle of a little shop at an Asian market in Quincy, MA. The shop had a couple of little Ultraman trinkets and a Doraemon doll, but it was by no means a toy store. I figured they'd probably be asking a fortune for it. But on a lark, I picked it up to check, fully prepared to let out a snobbish, "I know better than to pay THAT!" sort of laugh. Then I saw the price-tag. $15!! I couldn't believe it. Sure, the cellophane window was missing from the box, but hey, it HAD the box and the toy was mint. I had my first talker.

The original Masudaya talking soft vinyl toys were released in the 1970s, but this is a re-issue that came out in the late 90s. It's stands about 14" tall with 5 points of articulation (hips, shoulders and neck). There is a talk box embedded in the back, from which you pull a string to make it talk. Naturally, it speaks in Japanese. I'm not sure exactly what it says, but I think it's just simple stuff like "I am Kamen Rider V3", etc.. No philosophizing or anything like that.

As I mentioned earlier, the toy comes in a cardboard box with a clear cellophane window. There is also a thin piece of cardboard that wraps around the bottom of the box for some reason. I guess they just needed more room for promotional stuff.

Talkers are cool. I like the size and style of the sculpts. But they are something of a niche within a niche. To date, I still haven't been able to bring myself to buy any vintage ones. With the re-issues being readily available (and having since come down in price since my friend was getting them), it's too easy to just grab the newer ones when you see a good deal.

Another talking Power Ranger Jumbo, no better or worse really than the others.

I must have been asleep at the switch, so to speak. Somehow a Jumbo Ranger was released and it completely flew under my radar. Actually, not just mine. Nobody I know actually saw this one in stores and I only recently came across it on Ebay. The Jumbo Red Legend Power Ranger comes from the "Mystic Force" show, same as the first Jumbo Ranger. I'm not really a Power Ranger fan so I have no idea why there is more than one Red Ranger in the show. Maybe this is some kind of "power up" version?

Once again, Bandai Creation uses the same generic body like they also did on the Mega Red Power Ranger from "Operation Overdrive". The only differences from the original Jumbo Ranger is that the hands and feet are now white, the head has a sort of "wing" on each side and he wears a removable covering over his upper chest and shoulders. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be some sort of armour in the show, but on the toy, it's a shiny "pleather" with a velcro strip on the back.

The talking feature is back again, this time saying "It's Morphin' Time!" and, *I think*, "Galwit Mysto Ranger!", when you press the button on his belt. You'll need two AAA batteries to make it work though.

I messed up a bit in my previous Ranger reviews by accidentally listing polyethylene in the material section. Force of habit, I suppose. But so far as I can tell, these are made entirely of hard plastic for the torsos and soft vinyl for the head and limbs.

I can't help but include these in the "Jumbo Machinder" category. Sure, they are totally different, but the initial 7 Jumbo Megazords are generally accepted as true Machinders and these toys are clearly an extension of that line. Like it or not.

Overall, if you didn't like the Jumbo Ranger, you won't like the Mega Red Power Ranger.

The latest surprise Jumbo release from Bandai Creation, the Mega Red Power Ranger is from the upcoming show "Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive" which is due to air in the US in February of 2007. There was talk of this toy being released back at the February 2006 Toy Fair, but was conspicuous by it's absence in later press releases. But here it is just in time for the holiday season.

This toy is simply the latest Red Ranger rather than the latest Megazord. When the previous Jumbo Ranger came out, I figured I'd give it a chance and when I heard that the next Jumbo would also be a Ranger, I had hoped that they would at least mix it up with some of the other Rangers. Instead it looks like we'll be getting nothing but Red Rangers. I find this rather disappointing since both toys have the exact same body sculpt, with the only difference being the head and the belt buckle. So if the toys are gonna be exactly the same, can't we at least get some different colors?

Unlike the previous entry, this one has no cape, but it does still have the talking feature. With two AAA batteries inserted into the back, you can press the belt buckle to hear two phrases spoken. One phrase is "MIssion complete!", but I have no idea what the other is. Seriously, I've listened to it over and over and it makes no sense to me. It's either "Vehicle active", "Sphere collected" or "Be epileptic". Or maybe it's not English at all. I don't know.

I will say that I do prefer the design of the head on this one more than on the other. It seems to be a little more classic Sentai to me. And the logo on the chest is somewhat sharp, being sort of reminiscent of the logo of the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. But overall, if you didn't like the Jumbo Ranger, you won't like the Mega Red Power Ranger.

This toy is available at "Toys R Us" for $24.99. It is 21" tall and comes in a 16" x 19.75" box. It should be noted that this is the first in the line to not actually use the word "Jumbo" on the box.