Jun 21, 2008

TDJ010 - Aang & Appa by Fisher-Price

Okay well I've been out of commission for one reason or another, but I remembered that I had a few pictures ready for a review so I thought I'd post that one now. So the things going against this particular review are: only a few pictures, no camera for new pictures, 3 second video sort of showing the toy's function, limited internet ability and the toy is actually at my office so I don't even have it here to accurately describe. Let's do this.



I bought this for the big guy, Appa. He's some sort of six legged bison, that when you plug in the Aang figure will launch him into the air about 6 feet straight up. When you press the Aang figure down a sound chip is activated and he screams something about saving someone. I'm not familiar with the show that these guys are from, Avatar the Last Airbender, but it sounds pretty important that Aang gets there on the double. Here's a VERY short video of the sound he makes when plugged in.


Aang & Appa from Qeelocke on Vimeo.

I'd had my eye on this figure since it hit shelves about a year and a half to two years ago, but it's large size demanded a very high price tag. So I made note of any sort of price drops any time I saw it at Target or TRU. Eventually one day before a really bad Chinese food buffet experience with Liz and Sean, I spotted it at a Toys R Us on clearance for only ten dollars so I picked it up. I tried to stress to Liz and Sean how much I've wanted this guy by sitting down in the parking lot to open him before they got to the car. They thought that was hilarious I'm sure.

While googling for Aang & Appa I found this really cool image on DeviantArt by Wenzmaster. That has nothing to do with the toy, but I thought I'd share. I really don't care for the Aang figure, but I'm reluctant to toss it out just because of the launching feature. I don't have him displayed with Appa though, the saddle looks much cooler with other random figures in there, or with no figure at all.



Appa was an instant draw when I brought him in to work, everyone liked it's size and the fact that it made noise and shot out the Aang figure was a plus. I believe right now he's on my shelf with a Visionaries at the helm.

The box of course is huge to fit this guy in there. It's got a large window on the front that really helped draw me in when I'd pass it on the store shelf. The back shows how much fun kids will have by plugging Aang in and launching him from Appa. This is exactly 8 funs. And since I got this for 10 bucks on clearance from like 30 or so, I'd say I got the most fun for my buck.

As far as articulation goes, the back of the box boasts that Appa has poseable legs and head. So yes, those things do move, but I'm not sure exactly how "poseable" they actually are. The legs move forward about an 8th of a millimeter and the head can move side to side. So if Appa needs to look to the left just a tad before taking that very tiny step, he's got that covered. In the words of my friend Evan, "I just love it when a toy has articulation that serves no purpose what-so-ever."

There are wheels on the bottom of four of Appa's feet and between his legs is a removable battery cover. Appa takes four AA batteries that I feel are better utilized in Wii remotes since I don't plan on keeping the launching Aang figure displayed with him. But that also means that the random growling noise that Appa makes will also be lost until I'm sick of playing Mario Galaxy.

All in all I'm very pleased with this purchase and super glad that waiting for this to hit clearance finally paid off. I've played that game before and lost quite a few figures that I wish I would have paid full price for instead of missing it and having it disappear from stores, winding up only overpriced at toy shows.

I recommend picking him up if you like huge awesome hunks of plastic.

Find Aang & Appa for sale here and here.

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Liz: (Is sleeping... I'm sure she'll edit this later.)
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Plastic/Material – 5/5
Poseability – 1/5
Packaging – 4/5
Design – 4/5
Playability – 3/5
Price (value) – 5/5 (based on the clearance price I got)
Overall – 4/5