The blog Hey! Look at My Toys! is hosting a contest for Christmas nativity scenes made from toys and action figures. The nine finalists are presented for voting. At first, I wanted to use a picture of the scene featuring a unicorn, then the one with Pee Wee Herman as Joseph, but then I saw this one by Nathan N. See them all at the site. Link -via Unreality magazine

Cracked has put together a great article on these terrible action figures from iconic lines, like the one featured above-April O’Neil’s Boss from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line.

These are the kind of toys that had kids yelling “Awwww man! Not this one!” at their birthday party, and they were always given (in my experience, anyway) by a relative who thought they were being cool by giving you a toy from one of the hottest lines. Thanks anyways Grandma! *forced smile*

Link

These great sculptures by Calvin Ma casts an oddly frumpish light on spandex clad superfolks. They look emo, bored with life and overweight. These are what action figures must look like in the Bizarro world, with catchphrases like “why bother?” and “i’ll get to it later”. And, looking at his website, all of Calvin’s sculpts look like action figures, even the bronzes!

Link –via ComicsAlliance

Olivier Trudeau produced this stop-motion ninja duel on his kitchen table using action figures in his spare time. I love the cinematic sound effects! -via One Large Prawn

Over at the Neatoshop, we have some cool personalized bobbleheads and portraits, but I can’t help but wish that we were able to add Dr. Jesse Weiss’ custom action figures to our shop, but for now we will have to appreciate his collection of action figures based on his colleagues at The University of the Ozarks.

Link Via The Mary Sue

How would you like to have a doll action figure with your own face? Danny Choo goes through the process of becoming a plastic clone at Clone Factory in Japan to show you how it’s done, from the photography to the 3D printing to the finished doll. You can have one made, too, for the low price of 138,000 yen -and a trip to Japan. Link -via Metafilter

Link - Via Dangerous Minds

As advertising becomes an ever-bigger part of our television experience, advertising characters are becoming pop culture icons. Hero Builders is offering a limited edition line of action figures based on characters from commercials. From the left, the Allstate Insurance “Mayhem” Guy, Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World, and the Old Spice Guy. There are two versions of the Old Spice Guy, one for all ages, and an anatomically-correct version for adults only. All of them talk, too! Link -via AOL News

Sillof, the artist who brought us Steampunk Superheroes, World War II Star Wars, and Samurai Wars, has a new collection of sculptures that sets the personalities from Star Wars into a western story! Read a description of each character and how they came about at his website. Only the “good guys” are pictured here. Link

Bonnie Burton made a Christmas wreath out of Star Wars action figures. She used acrylic glitter paint to make them a festive green and attached them to a foil garland wreath.

Link via Wonderland | Photo: StarWars.com

Hiring lots of actors and building elaborate sets (and then blowing them up) is expensive. So the directors of Jackboots on Whitehall used 12-inch action figures to scale down the cost.

Above is the trailer for that movie, which is a comedic alternate history of World War II. After trapping the British Army at Dunkirk, the Germans drill a tunnel under the English Channel and send an invasion force through into the heart of London. “Never,” as the movie’s Churchill says, “in the field of human conflict was so much buggered up by so few.” Naturally, the Scots, led by a farmer voiced by Ewan McGregor, save the day.

via Geek Tyrant

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are best known for directing the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. In 1998, they made this fake commercial for action figures modeled after the Brontë sisters — a trio of 19th Century English authors.

via Centered Librarian

Stéfan’s Photostream at Flickr chronicles the lives of his resident stormtroopers, TK455 and TK479, and their various exploits.  Above is The Alice in Wonderland Syndrome:

TK455: “Didn’t I tell you not to eat it?”
TK479: “Why are you suddenly a giant?”

Update 12/2/2009: Semi re-post here.  Miss Cellania spotted Stéfan’s art a while back.  -Johnny Cat

They’re the bane of many an action figure collector’s existence–repaints. That’s when a manufacturer takes an existing action figure, paints it in all-new colors and tries to pass it off as a new figure, such as “Arctic Batman.” This allows the company to squeeze a little more profit out of the expensive mold they created for the original figure. Collectors hate them, kids are indifferent to them and the figures warm the pegs. But once in a while, a figure is repainted (along with a few minor tweaks) and is passed off not as just a new figure, but a brand-new character. The results are often laughable but, once in a while, kinda cool.

Pictured is TC14, who resembles another robot we all know and love, but couldn’t be the same, because he is silver! Link -Thanks, Keith!