Video Unboxing Update: Ratatouille Funko "POP!"

Today's blog post is a video update to my original Ratatouille Funko "POP!" post from a couple days ago! Visit the post HERE or watch the embedded video above. Be sure to like, subscribe, share and ring that bell on my channel so you don't miss out on any of my future unboxing videos!

Disney·Pixar Cars 3 Movie Theater Display

Today was a long day full of jury duty (bla) and some other hard hitting "life things" that just made the day more difficult. This evening I spontaneously decided that it would be fun to escape reality a little bit and head to the movies—something I haven't done for a couple months! While I was at the theater, I spotted the ever so awesome (and massive) Cars 3 display that I've seen all over social media over the past couple weeks...but boy is it cooler in person! I had to document it here.

The display, of course, features Lightning McQueen as well as newcomers Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramierz. It's very sleek looking and I love the vibrant red, blue and yellow color scheme. I believe the marketing for this film has been extremely well done and I feel this simple (yet effective) display will pump a lot of people up for its release. Seeing it definitely brightened my day up a bit.

What's even cooler is that it's two sided, so the back of the display shows the back view of each car. Nice touch! Both the logo and June 16th release date are printed on the side. 

I'm so excited for Cars 3!! It can't get here soon enough. Oh and in case you were wondering...we're just 78 days away at this point. But who's counting?

Shout out your thoughts in the comments below!

Cars: Johnny Blamer (Faux Wheel Drive)

From Disney·Pixar Cars, here is the newly re-released Mattel 1:55 scale diecast of Johnny Blamer, better known by his sponsor Faux Wheel Drive (No. 54)! This character has only been released as a single once in 2010, and that release was part of the Kmart exclusive line of race cars featuring rubber tires. This particular single pack release is from this year's 2017 "Piston Cup" sub series (#5/11) and is the first ever single release of Johnny with plastic, non-rubber tires. I've been waiting for this one to come back for a long time (since I missed him originally), so I'm very happy he's finally hitting store shelves once again. I'm that much closer to finally having all the Piston Cup racers.

As shown in the screenshot above, Faux Wheel Drive is briefly seen speeding by the camera in the film's opening Motor Speedway of the South (Dinoco 400) race. He is one of the 36 race cars competing for the Piston Cup. He literally goes by in a blur- so don't blink or you'll miss him.

Here's a look at Faux Wheel Drive fresh out of the package...

Such a cool design with amazing colors and detailing! Love the muddy tire tread marks on the roof.

You can find this one in stores now (I just found him at Target a couple days ago, but he's been hitting stores consistently for the past month or so), or be sure to snag him online by visiting eBay HERE or Amazon using the link below. Best of luck on the hunt!

Ratatouille: Funko "POP!" Review

Well guys, they're officially here! Ratatouille Funko "POP!" characters have finally hit shelves. Before the announcement of these a few months back, I had been waiting and hoping that Ratatouille would get the Funko "POP!" vinyl treatment eventually; so of course I was super pumped to find out these were finally on their way and even more psyched today when I found them.

The three characters included in this brand new trio are Remy, Emile and Alfredo Linguini. I found these at my local Hot Topic today for $10 each (that current "3 for $30" deal works out great in this instance) and each one looks fantastic! These are part of the Disney Funko "POP!" Series 10 and are numbers 270, 271 and 272.

Let's take detailed look at them in and out of the boxes...

REMY (#270)
4" tall 

First of all, Remy is totally adorable. His chef's hat is a great addition to the sculpt and his "OK" pose with his hand is a perfect little detail (it also looks like he could be sprinkling seasonings— what do you think?). 

It should also be noted that a different Remy was released as a Funko "POP!" Mini in a D23 2013 exclusive 4-pack (seen HERE). I always wanted that one, but only 200 were made and it sells on eBay for an arm and a leg! To be honest though, I like this new design a lot better anyway.
 

EMILE (#271)
3" tall

Emile here is just amazing. They captured his character perfectly and with so much Funko charm. I love the addition of the cheese piece he's holding (not to mention the "bite" out of it), his full cheeks and his chewing expression. Emile in the film was constantly eating, so it only makes sense!
 

ALFREDO LINGUINI (#272)
5 1/2" tall

Linguini was an awesome choice for the third character in this set. It's fun to get one of the human characters! This sculpt is as good as anything I've seen lately from Funko— so, so cute. I especially love his frying pan, freckles and tennis shoes. And did you spot his little patch of facial "scruff" under his chin? Nicely done. 
 

Here's a look at the back of Emile's box which is virtually the same for each figure (the only real difference is the highlighted character on the left gets switched out).

My only complaint here? I just wish there were a few more characters! It would have been fun to get others like Django, Chef Gusteau, Collette, Skinner or Anton Ego. If others ever do come out way down the road, who would you like to see?

Ultimately I really couldn't be happier with this set. It's such a rare treat to get anything Ratatouille these days! With the film's 10th anniversary around the corner though, I guess there couldn't have been a better time. You can buy these now at your local Hot Topic or online HERE (for Remy), HERE (for Emile) and HERE for Linguini. They are also scheduled to hit Amazon on, as of now, April 14th (I'll include those links below).

Finally, be on the lookout for the rare "flocked" (fuzzy) CHASE edition Remy as well...I'm not sure if I'm going for him yet personally (since I don't usually collect the flocked variants), but let me know if you're on the hunt for him.

UPDATE: My video unboxing has been added below. Be sure to like, share, subscribe and ring that bell on my channel so you don't miss any of my future videos!

A Bug's Life: "Golden Go Pack" Boxed Set of Four Books

Back in 1998, Golden Books company released this value pack of four awesome A Bug's Life themed books— including a bonus "bug collector journal" and magnifying glass! I spotted this on eBay recently for a steal of a deal (mint in package) and thought it was a really fun throwback item. I couldn't resit! Though I didn't have this whole boxed set growing up, I did have at least one of the coloring books back in the day and have fond memories coloring in it (more on that below). 

Let's open this up and check out everything included!

A Bug's Life Journal: Exploring the Life of a Bug

The first thing I want to take a look at is the aforementioned journal and magnifying glass. These two items are exclusive to this set and were never released individually. Kids can have fun studying bugs up close and personal with the magnifying glass and then report on their findings in the journal! Each page has a section for the name of the bug found, where the bug was found and a space for drawing said bug. 

Fun AND educational! This would have been perfect for my "bug club" back in the day. ;)

Note- the rest of the books below were all released individually outside of this set as well.

A Bug's Life " a Golden Look-Look Book"  

If you've been a follower of mine for a while now, you might know that I'm a collector (and fan) of all the Pixar related "Little Golden Books." I've mentioned numerous times that A Bug's Life is one of the only Pixar films that never got a proper "Little Golden Book" treatment (along with The Incredibles). This is still true, however, it does come close with this one below. While this is not officially designated a "Little Golden Book", it is both little AND a Golden Book. Its official classification is a "Golden Look-Look Book".

This is a soft cover 23 page storybook that covers the film's basic storyline with short paragraphs and loads of fantastic illustrations. A great one to have! 

  

The next three coloring/activity books included here are all part of a six piece series! Each book below is filled with fun pages and features two bonus cut-out collector's cards on the back (which is my favorite part). Collect all six books for a total of 12 collector's cards!

A Bug's Life "Ant Power" Trace & Color Book 

This one is a pretty straight forward "trace and color" book. Inside, each basic coloring page is layered with a sheet of tracing paper so that kids have the option of sketching out the outlines themselves! Great practice for little artists. 

Also included for tracing are small A Bug's Life inspired punch out shapes.

 

A Bug's Life "King of the Anthill" Special Edition Coloring Book

This is the one I had growing up; so naturally having it again brings back so many memories! You can even see some of the pages I colored when I was a kid in my "childhood throwback" post HERE. It's fun to have a fresh new copy of this that I can now save for my future kids. 

This book is filled with basic coloring pages featuring all your favorite A Bug's Life characters and many iconic scenes from the film. Some mazes, word scrambles and other activities are scattered throughout as well. 

A Bug's Life "Against All Odds" Paint Box Book

Last but not least, here we have the "Against All Odds" paint box book with included paint palette and brush! This is a classic style paint/coloring book with double layer pages to help the water from bleeding through. Again, many characters and favorite scenes are featured here!
 

You'll notice that on the back of each activity book is a checklist for the six books in this series. The last three books that are NOT included with this set are "Bring on the Bugs!" (sticker book), "Really Stinky Bugs!" (scented sticker book) and "Small and Mighty" (coloring book). Knowing me, the chances are pretty high that I'm going to try and track down these so I can complete this collection. Plus I need all 12 of those collector's cards, am I right? Having half of them now just won't cut it. ;)

If you have a little one at home who enjoys A Bug's Life, this set/these coloring books might be a fun option to consider buying. Be sure to check out eBay HERE for current listings or Amazon using the link below.

Let me know your thoughts!

Cars: Mater and the Easter Buggy Diecast Collection from Mattel

Back in early 2012, Disney Press released an adorable hardcover Cars inspired book entitled Mater and the Easter Buggy (for my full write-up, check out my post HERE). It has been a hit in young Cars fans' Easter baskets since then and continues to be a holiday favorite year after year.

Well, Mattel has finally jumped on the bandwagon and has released 1:55 scale diecasts of four characters seen in the book: Easter Mater, Easter Lightning McQueen, Easter Ramone and the Easter Buggy himself! It's about time right? Each vehicle includes a unique "Easter tire basket" accessory and comes packaged on a festive egg shaped cardback (featuring Easter-esque designs and pastel colors). SO awesome!

I found these at Toys R Us mid last month after searching around for some time. I was super excited to finally see them hanging there on the pegs. I was going to wait until Easter to post on these, but it made more sense to share them with you now so you can have enough time to track them down before the holiday (part of my job here is to inform you after all!). I know us Cars fans are very aware of these, but many of my readers may not have even known these were out or even existed.

So here's what I decided to do... Ultimately I'm kind of doing this post in two parts. Today I'm giving you a brief look at the characters' appearance in the book and some packaged shots of the diecasts themselves. It should be enough to get you interested! Then ON EASTER, I'll update this post with my detailed thoughts and loose pics! That way you at least know about these now, but I also get to post more on Easter like I originally intended. UPDATE 4/17/17: I decided to post my update in an entirely new post since I had lots to say. You can check out the new post with detailed loose pics HERE!

Let's take a look!

EASTER MATER

EASTER LIGHTNING MCQUEEN

 EASTER RAMONE

EASTER BUGGY

Each character retails for Mattel's deluxe sized diecast price of $7.99. If you're having trouble finding them in stores, you still have time to check current eBay listinings HERE or Amazon using the direct links below. 

Again, be sure to come back here on Easter for all my additional thoughts and photos (NOW POSTED)! Until then, definitely leave your thoughts in the comments below and/or send me any questions you might have. My questions for you: Which one is your favorite of the four? Who else from the book do you wish got released? For me, the Easter Buggy is without a doubt my fave and I would have loved to see a second McQueen with the bunny ears. Those are my two cents. :)

Best of luck on the hunt!