Welcome to Bug Base!

This is our entry for the RocketTubes.Net "New Micro-toys for a New Year" Contest, the Bug Base!

What is the Bug Base?  Its a new Micronaut city set designed for the aliens!

The plates use a pair of 5mm holes for connectors, just like the classic Micronauts city pieces.  The Bug Base plates are exactly the same size as the classic city pieces and can be used interchangeably.  The idea behind the Bug Base was to be a dual or opposite of the Micronauts city:

• Where the city pieces are white for the good guys, the Bug Base pieces are black for the evil aliens. 
• Where the city pieces are square and closed the Bug Base pieces are curvy and open. 
• Where the city looks industrial the Bug Base looks organic.
• Where the city has domes to shield, the Bug Base has tubes to connect.

It seems to fit in with the Mego obvious dual of good and evil, typified by Force Commander and Baron Karza, but shared by Biotron and Phobos or Microtron and Nemesis.

The pieces can fit together using the classic city connectors to make organic looking shapes.  Here is an example that looks like a mound or hive.

Here is another shape having both convex and concave sections.  The connectors fit great and give it a very solid feeling.

 

The two shapes can be connected using the clear tube, to make an almost flower looking arrangement.

Alternatively, the bottom can be a base and using the tube, the top can become a tower.

The tower looks great with the classic (and re-issued) aliens and really fits in.  Looks like poor Pharoid is trapped with aliens swarming all over!

The openness of the pieces give plenty of hand-holds (or claw-holds).

The tubes are fun as they can be used as a transporter, stasis chamber, or as shown here, a jail cell!

By including standard 5mm holes, classic pieces like this Galatic Cruiser gun can be attached.

Thanks for looking!

This kit was first revealed at the 2011 Toy Fair last February and was well received.

The box is a flapped window-box, so you can see all the stuff your getting.  Unfortunately, mine had become all scambled in shipping, but you could still see everything and where it was suppose to be.

The kit contains 3 reproduction Doc Mego bodies, 5 heads, 2 pairs of zombie hands, 2 pairs of zombie arms, 2 pairs of zombie legs, 1 chest prosthetic, 1 medical suit, 1 business suit, and one pair of shoes.  The box says 2 pair of shoes, but mine only came with one and there only appears to be a place for 1 pair.

All of the zombie parts are make of PVC plastic and look great with sharp details.  

 

The neck plus on the heads are smaller than the normal vinyl heads, like most resin custom heads, so they can fit into the bodies without much force.  I did find the skeleton (most zombiefied) head to be a bit loose when I put it on a body, but the other heads I tried were a nice tight fit.

The clothes are very nice with good details, like the small buttons on the shirt.  I bet some people, like myself, will have trouble taking a scissors to such nice clothes.  I did find the scrub shirt and suit jacket a little small and difficult to put on the bodies.  However, since they are meant to be ripped up, this isn't a big issue and I'm sure they can be used as-is with a little perseverance.

The video instructions included are very nice.  The voice over and video quality is great.  Its very engaging and informative and really makes you want to jump in and start customizing.  It would be great video to have on a loop in a hobby store.

I threw together some of the piece to give an idea of what they might look like, but I need to use more of the zombie body parts and paint the pieces.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the set and hope it brings more people into customizing Mego figures.  My only complaint is that I wished it came with a few more pieces.  I would gladly give up one of the heads for another pair of pants and shoes.  I would also suggest putting the video up on Youtube, as it would be great advertising.

I will try to make some zombies and update this post with the results.

 

This will allow us to have an actual conversation with our customers and followers, since our current website doesn't allow comments.

Please take a look and let us know what you think!

The figures come packed in a collector's tin that looks like, and could be used for, a classic lunch box.  The art on both the front and back is very cool.

Inside the tin is a very collector friendly tray that hold the two figures and accessories.

The figures are great and feel very solid.  The skin tone of the heads match up with the bodies.  And the heads, although squishy, feel solid and not the thin plastic of the first series.  Although Jonas has solid shoe-feet, Rusty has what appears to be removable shoes over painted black socks.

The accessories are great and looked to be very show accurate.  The goggles fit well and can either cover Jonas' eyes or rest on the top of his head.

Overall, these figures are a great addition to the Venture Bros. action figure line up.  Bif Bang Pow seems to keep getter better at making quality figures. 

I need to make the chest piece a little narrower and paint it, make the arm cuffs, and refine the shoes.  But I can see where this is going!

The packaging looks similar to the other figures from the series.  There don't have a build-a-drinking-straw-helper cutout like before, but it isn't a big loss.

The card back shows all the figures that have been been shown so far.  They have started numbering the figures.  Apparently mine is 303 out of 3000.

The figure looks great.  The clear body has a nice weight to it and feels well constructed.  The head is well proportioned and doesn't feel too thin like the first wave.  The head sculpt looks great and is true to the character with a bit of a scowl of contempt .  The skin tone of the face is also much better than the yellowish heads from the first wave.  The outfit is great and has a nice tight fit with gold accents that really pop.  The collar blends into the head making a continuos look.

The big draw to this figure was the use of the transparent body.  It makes perfect sense for the character and makes it really stand out from all the other re-Mego figures out there.

I'm happy to see that the entire body is tranparent.  They could have used an existing flesh colored torso since it doesn't show up with the suit on, but I'm really glad they took the extra step to give us a transparent body.

The solid arms and legs are a bit more transparent than the hollow body which is a little more cloudy.  The elastic bands holding the body together are white and are very unobtrusive to the transparent effect.  The body seems to be very high quality -- I couldn't see any air bubbles anywhere, which are very noticeable in transparent plastic.

12 vintage Mego Action Jackson set from Cast-a-Way Toys!  The best part was they mailed it in an original Mego shipping box.

Update!

I noticed my 2 Aussie Marines have different colored hats!  One is green and one is brown.

The brown one is made of thin plastic and the color is a little blotchy.

I cut out the panel pieces a bit larger so they would fill the chest better,

The Super Collector from the Mego Museum and Brick Mantooth from Plaid Stallions.  Unfortunately, mine came with a gimpy body, but I had a few spares around to fix him up.

Hopefully we will have some more news about Brick next week!

UPDATE:  Here is a sneak peak at the Brick playset LaserMego will be helping with!