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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Monsters University: Who's Behind The Door? Game


This is a great game featuring characters from Pixar's brand new film Monsters University. The game play is almost exactly like "Guess Who?" and it was fun to play with my nieces and nephews. The kids' favorite part was when they got to press the button at the end which makes the door spin to reveal the monsters!

If you're a fan of the film, you can pick this fun game up on Amazon using the direct link below. 


Monsters University: Poster


Got this fantastic and colorful MU poster for free using Disney Movie Rewards! 

Monsters University: OK Shirt


Here's me at the College Advanced screening of MU in Salt Lake City! The Oozma Kappa shirt was my first piece of Monsters University merch. It was released just in time and I was able to stop at the Disney Store right before heading to the screening...it was perfect! You can find these currently at the Disney Store.

UPDATE: I now have a mini toddler size version of this same shirt, see post HERE. It's be fun to match with my little boy someday! 

Monsters University: Scare Pairs (Fearsome Friends)


These are the Monsters University "buddy pack" style/size figures. I love these! They come in either the "Scare Pairs" 2-packs or individually as "Fearsome Friends." These are about 2-2 1/2 inches tall and are made of durable plastic. They are not easy to find as they seem to just mostly show up at random stores such as Walgreens, CVS, Barnes and Noble, Fred Myer and other grocery store/pharmacy toy sections.

 As seen in the picture above, the 15 initial characters released included: (from Monsters Inc.) Sulley in work gear, Sulley with Boo, Mike Wazowski and (from Monsters University) Art, Sulley, OK Shirt Sulley, Carrie Williams, Johnny Worthington, Terry and Terri, George Sanderson, Randy Boggs, Mike Wazowski, MU Hat & Backpack Mike Wazowski and Squishy. As seen in the update below, Dean Hardscrabble was also released later in 2013 for a total of 16 "Fearsome Friends."

Also, this fun "Scare Simulator Playset" with exclusive scaring Sulley is available to use with these figures to recreate the awesome scare games finale from MU. I hope they make more of these types of playsets! 
 

UPDATE- 11/26/13:
A few days ago I found the "Scare Pairs" Dean Hardscrabble at Fred Meyer! She came in a 2-pack with Sulley but it was on sale for only $4 so I snagged it even though I already have Sulley. Hardscrabble is also available as a single "Fearsome Friend" but I have not been able to find that. Since this was on sale for the price of a single "Fearsome Friend" I decided to just go for it! 


 On the back of the package she came in, there are pictures of a few more coming out this year (or soon) including Carla, Don, Archie and Sheri Squibble... and hopefully there will be many more to come! 

UPDATE: According to Spin Master, Carla, Don, Archie and Sheri have now been canceled and will unfortunately not be released. You can see an images of them on the back of the package below (these are screen shots from my Vine video, hence the bad quality, but they're the only images I have).
 

Luxo Jr. : Up Blu Ray Plus Luxo Jr. Working Lamp and Blu Ray Display Stand!


 This is a great item I got as a surprise for my birthday this year! I consider it one of my most prized pieces in my collection. It's a working lamp direct from the classic Pixar short film "Luxo Jr." On the base, it has an area to display your Pixar Blu Ray collection which is a great touch! This is a must have for any Pixar fan for sure. It's from 2009 and now has become very hard to find, but keep checking eBay and Amazon to see if you can nail it for a decent price. Also included is a copy of Up on Blu Ray certificate of authenticity.

Also, check out my Vine account to see me turn on the lamp if you're curious to see it in action. 
 

Monsters University: Art of, Fearbook and The Essential Guide Books


Here are a few books that were released near the movie! The Yearb---I mean the Fearbook is great, super detailed and fun for any fan. I also LOVE "The Essential Guide" and the "Art of" book as well! They have some great insight into the characters, details you may have missed in the movie and some of the making of MU. I would definitely recommend picking these up!


Monsters University: Scare Majors


These are the "Scare Major" figures. They're a little bigger than the "Scare Students" figures and are also from Spin Master. 

These ones, rather than just being posable, have scaring action when you squeeze their legs! In addition to these two, there was a Mike Wazowski "Scare Major" as well, but didn't feel the need to get him because of his design. Those are the three out right now and I'm sure more to come! '

UPDATE: There will be no more figures from this collection released.



Monsters University: Scare Students


These are the four-six inch figures from Spin Master called "Scare Students!" Terry and Terri, Don Carlton, Art, Oozma hat Mike, OK shirt Sulley and Squishy all came in a Target exclusive Oozma Kappa 6-pack ($59.99). The Don Carlton and Oozma hat Mike Scare Student figures are only available as exclusives in this Target gift pack, but all of the other "students" in the gift set were released in single packs as well.

Interesting though is that the OK shirt Sulley in this Target 6-pack is much larger than the single pack "Scare Student" OK shirt Sulley.

And then of course Johnny Wothington, MU hat Mike and Randy Boggs were all only available as single releases.



UPDATE 11/17/13-Scare Students Randy:
 Man, I've been waiting to get Randy since these Scare Students came out and I have to say this figure did not disappoint! I don't know if it's because I've been so excited to find him for over six months or what, but this may be my favorite of the Scare Students.
 
 
Randy completes my Scare Student collection and I'm hoping for more next year! What other students would you like to see in this collection? 
 

 Randy has such a great design and stands up perfectly too! I was afraid he would be a bit top heavy (Like Johnny) and fall over often.
 

I love the detail of his half invisible tail. Nice touch! 
 

And of course we have the long talked about glasses that lift up to reveal his squinty, more sinister eyes. That was a fantastic idea! Whoever thought of that over at Spinmaster gets props.  
 

And here they are...finally all nine together! Looks so awesome.
 

Monsters University: PEZ Collection

monsters university pez

Here we have my complete assortment of Monsters University PEZ! The four characters released were Squishy, Randy, Mike and Sulley. A great addition to your Pixar/PEZ collection!

Monsters University: Walmart Exclusive "Monster Minis"


These three sets each include four mini Monsters University characters and are sold exclusively at WalMart...They are just a little bigger then "Squinkies"and made of hard plastic. Unlike the similar "Scare Pairs" / "Fearsome Friends" figures, these do not have any movable features or articulation. These sets sell for $4.99 each.

These sets include four monsters each for a total of 12 figures: Don, Mrs. Squibbles, Mike, George Sanderson, Art, Terry and Terri, Squishy, Sulley, Rosie, Randy, Carla and Johnny.
 


UPDATE: 11/23/13
Today I got the brand new "Monster Minis" 20 pack with 10 new mini characters never before released!
 

So what I did was, since I already had most of the minis that came with this pack, I sold the ones seen in the original post above to pay for this. The only characters from the original sets of four that don't come with this new 20 piece set are regular Randy and Rosie-so I didn't sell those.
 

  Below is each new character:
Chet and Archie

Big Red and Dean Hardscrabble

Brock and Clair

Brynn and Carrie

Invisible Randy and Omar

For some reason, despite having 10 exclusive figures to this set, they only advertise "Invisible Randy" as being "exclusive" on the package. Here he is in detail:
 

Such a fun group of figures! I definitely recommend this set. It's a little hard to find (it's only at one of my three Walmarts near me) so I would snag it when you see it. This 20 figure set sells for $19.99.

Monsters University: Roll a Scare Monsters Collection and Toxic Race Playset


I'm gonna start things off with some of my newest items since most of my collection is back in CT. I had an amazing Monsters University birthday party in May and it was a great start to my MU collection! Here are one of my favorite lines...the "Roll a Scare" monsters.

The initial characters released in May 2013 (seen above) were: Mike Wazowski, Johnny Worthington, Terry and Terri, Randy Boggs, Sulley, Art, Squishy, George Sanderson and Boo (a Toys R Us exclusive). You may notice a second Mike and a second Sulley in the picture above; the Mike with MU hat came with the "Roll a Scare Bus" (seen HERE) and the Sulley came with the "Roll a Scare Toxic Race Playset" (seen below).

Later on in the year (updates below), Dean Hardscrabble, Archie the Scare Pig, Carrie Williams and Don Carlton were also released.
 

HOW DO THEY WORK?

It's simple. The characters start off as a little ball...

...Then pop open when placed on one of the magnetic student ID cards (seen above) that each monster comes with (Boo comes with her door as the magnet).
 


  Check them out in action on my Vine HERE and HERE! Just click the video screen to play. 



TOXIC RACE PLAYSET


Also available as part of this collection is this "Toxic Race" Playset! You can race the characters down the ramp, over the "stinging glow urchins" and see who wins... A magnet at the finish line will make the winning character spring open! Check my brief video (also on Vine) to see how this playset works HERE. This play set comes with an exclusive roll a scare Sulley as mentioned.
 

Again, in addition to the "Toxic Race" playset, there is also the MU bus as part of this line, seen here.


UPDATE- 2/05/14:
A few weeks ago near Christmas time, I was finally luckily able to find this Dean Hardscrabble Roll a Scare after searching for it for a pretty long time! I got my original ones in May for my birthday and I was anxiously awaiting when the new wave would be released. This one has got to be one of my favorites!
 

Below is just about all of main line singles available (besides Boo, seen above in my original post, who was a Toys R Us exclusive) seen on the side of the package. The only left that I don't have and that I'm desperately searching for is Don, which has proven to be the most difficult to find (I know he has been released because I've seen hm on eBay quite a bit selling for $20-$30).

It's also interesting to note also that "Taylor" (almost identical to the Carrie character) is shown. I have heard/seen nothing about her release. There were only supposed to be 12 released initially so it's interesting that she showed up out of nowhere as part of the line.
 

Note: Dean Hardscrabble's first name in the film is Abigail, hence the first letter initial of "A." on her student I.D. card.
 

 Check her out in action on my Vine account HERE!


UPDATE- 2/17/14:
Back in December while I was visiting my in-laws in MD for Christmas, I did my usual trip to the local Target for a toy hunt. I was so happy to find Archie the scare pig (MU's mascot) along with the Dean Hardscrabble seen in the previous update.

These are not easy to come by as most of the MU merch has fizzled out at this point. I'm really surprised there wasn't more products released for Monsters University at retail (I feel like there was more planned for the future but maybe, because they didn't sell as well as Spin Master hoped, future released were cancelled).

Most of the Roll a Scares and other MU merch you'll find at the store (if any) will be the same initial released ones from last May. Most stores aren't even carrying them at this point. So anyway, I'm really happy to have found this!


I really love this line and really hoped it continued into this year with even more monsters. Unfortunately I think it has come to an end. Are you a fan of the Roll a Scare Monsters? If so, which characters would you have liked to see? If I had to choose five more it would be: Chet, Mrs. Squibbles, Brock, one of the HSS girls and one of the EEK girls. Sound off your thoughts in the comments below!

If you would like to buy this Archie on Amazon, click here. Or visit eBay and try to win him below:


UPDATE- 3/05/14:
Back in December, I was lucky enough to run into this pretty rare and limited release roll a scare at my local Target, Carrie Williams from the Monsters University PNK sorority! She is not an easy one to find and have only run into her maybe once again after. As usual with these roll a scare monsters, I love the design and how they're able to make all of the "pop out" parts fit in such a little ball.


As mentioned earlier in this post (see the update with Dean Hardscrabble for a picture), the updated packaging to the roll a scare figures also shows an upcoming release of another PNK girl, Taylor, who is almost identical to Carrie here. I haven't seen or heard anything else about her, so that character may or may not have been cancelled. Of course, as soon as I know, you'll know!

 See Carrie and Archie in action on my Vine account here.

If you can't find Carrie in the stores, you can get her on Amazon here (for about $15) or eBay by using the link below:


UPDATE- 4/12/14:
Here it is! The last piece I needed for my Monsters University Roll a Scare collection to be complete...Don Carlton! This character has been the absolute hardest to find out of them all. It is not on eBay or Amazon or anywhere online to buy (that I could see). If it wasn't for my very good friend, I wouldn't have ever been able to find this. He happened to find it randomly at his local Walmart and contacted me right away about it. I was thrilled and could not believe he actually found it. A huge thanks to him for sending this over!

 
This Don Roll a Scare is a lot of fun. The design and "pop open" feature is as clever as the rest of the collection. These have been a blast to collect and I'm really happy to have these little guys.


Follow me on Instagram or Vine to see a video of Don in action! I'll be posting one soon. UPDATE: Here is the video of all them in action:



FINAL UPDATE: It seems as though Don Carlton is in fact the very last of the "Roll a Scare" monsters that Spinmaster released. I mentioned a potential release of Taylor (from the PNK sorority) a few times throughout this post, but it has been confirmed that she was indeed planned but ultimately cancelled. A big thanks to TJ over at the Pixar Post for contacting Spinmaster directly and solving the mystery. The bad news is one less character to collect, the great news is I can now say my collection of these are complete! 

I also wanted to give a shout out/honorable mention to a couple of other "Roll a Scare" products that were released in the line that I didn't get (mostly just because of lack of interest): The three "Roll a Scare Ridez" (seen HERE) and the Oozma Kappa Toys R Us exclusive "Frat Pack" (seen HERE).