Zombie Zity

Zombie Zity is a 2013 toyline by Dracco.  According to their website, while based out of Hong Kong, Dracco sells its toys in over 60 countries. And while Zombie Zity has not appeared in US markets, Dracco does apparently have a US office in St Charles, IL. This suggests the possibility that the toyline could arrive here at some point.  Until then, you can find Zombie Zity products for purchase online, available in both German and Spanish packaging.

To date, there have been two Zombie Zity lines of toys and an additional trading card line.  One version of the toy comprises a collection of 48 small figures called Bouncerz.  They are marketed similarly to the Trash Pack and Gogo's Crazy Bones.  The material of choice here is a soft, bouncy rubber. They meet all the trendy gimmicks for toys of this size, namely: An intense "collect them all" goal, blind packs ensuring lots of duplicates, rare chase versions (monochromatic green, metallic silver and gold), and lots of "games" you can play with them which undoubtedly involve throwing or rolling or bouncing.

The other Zombie Zity toyline is called Zwobblerz.  These are 2.25-inch figures that comprise a much more manageable set of 12.  They come in single window-box packs; so you can see the figures you are getting (as opposed to blind packs wherein you cannot). They are described as being similar to bobbleheads even though they lack springs for necks. Instead, they are joined at their necks by ball-joints.  So, they don't really wobble or bobble at all, but they can be positioned in a variety of poses. Any articulation is a good thing.  Plus, since the head and arms are removable, this allows Dracco to market the gimmicks of "swappable parts" and "create your own."

The Zwobblerz are chock-full of other tried-and-true toy gimmicks.  In case cool sculpts are not enough encouragement to "collect them all," we also get the possibility of battle-play and electronic-play.  Each figure comes with a hard plastic disk which can be used to fling or sling at the zombies in faction-based battle scenarios.  Also, each figure comes with a small character card with a "secret code" that allows for exclusive content to be accessed in either an App game or an online game.  Finally, we have the "sold separately" gimmick. The Zombies have playsets and accessories available to expand their Zity.

Now, don't let the fact that I point out their gimmicks (or call them what they are) lead you to believe that I don't like them.  For the record, I do like them.  Zombie Zity is pretty cool and I hope they come to the US. I am simply noting a fairly thorough marketing effort.  A gimmick is just a special feature for its own sake.  It's not a necessity, but it can certainly help a toyline stand out.  Since toys are non-essential (novelty) purchases anyway, a gimmick or a series of gimmicks can really determine a toyline's success.  Toys are marketed to fickle kids and more importantly their skeptical, cash-strapped parents asking, "I know you want it, but what does it DO?" To be eye-catching is one thing, but added novelty can help create the illusion of reason as to why you just have to have it (...and another ...and another ...and another). In general, gimmicks are good.

That said, as an adult collector, I like Zombie Zity not because of, but in spite of, their gimmicks.  They look cool.  That's it.  There is similarity within the collection of figures, yet enough uniqueness among them individually. Originality plus variety plus consistency.  Of course there are plenty of toylines that I like better than Zombie Zity, but I like those toys for the same basic reasons.  They look interesting.  Some thought went into their design, their naming, their sculpting, and their production. Each figure is unique and the overall collection is consistent.

Before we look at the figures, I'd like to explore one last gimmick: The backstory.

This one is relatively easy to incorporate, yet often overlooked.  I'd also say that it's pretty important especially when your toyline isn't already tied to an established storyline most likely provided by a TV, movie, or comic franchise.  Even in those cases, it certainly does not hurt to put a backstory or a bio on your toy's packaging.

The Zombie Zity backstory is a weird one. The mayor (himself a zombie) has somehow, for some reason, turned the "zitizens" of Zombie Zity into zombies. It is unclear why the city was called Zombie Zity before his administration. Presumably it could have had a different name, as the characters could have had too, though this is not explained at all. Nevertheless, now there are good zombies and bad zombies. The bad zombies are minions of the mayor and the good zombies are aligned with the doctor who is trying to find a cure for the "zombie syndrome."  So, all are infected but some don't want to be. It's slightly different than People vs Zombies or even Plants vs Zombies, but still an A vs B story-arc (itself a popular gimmick).

The most unfortunate thing is that there seems to be no women in Zombie Zity.  In the Zwobblerz collection of 12, there are none at all. In the Bouncerz collection of 48, I have confirmed that there is at least one female.  I consider this a noticeable flaw as it is not representative of our society, and likely limits potential buyers of the toys.  Even the toyline Zombiezz made 2/20 females.

Enough talk, let's look at the toys.  I do not have any of the small Bouncerz.  Here are 7 of 12 Zwobblerz. (All that I have currently.)

2. Phillippe Snotti -- Waiter

3. Skid Smellsome -- Garbage Man

4. Ernie Snotti -- Pizza Delivery Boy

5. Stanley Dripps -- Sewer Worker

9. Prof. M. Usty -- Professor

10. Rocky Snips -- Barber

11. Mr. Monie Baggs -- Banker

Not pictured: Billie Fry (Fireman), Reeky Tarts (Baker), Dr. D. Kay (Doctor), Diesel Dan (Mechanic), Mayor Miserly

Zombie Parts

Black Friday!

Best of luck with all your Black Friday deal hunting!

PvZ zombies by K'nex.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the Tree Warrior in the True Legends action figure line at Toys R Us. Above he is eating a turkey. The turkey is a solar dancer from Dollar Tree. Below he is eating Rocket Raccoon.  The lesson here is that not all sentient trees are as friendly as Groot. The Rocket figure is a Mystery Mini by Funko.

Zombeez

These little zombies are called Zombeez. That's two Z's, two E's. Despite the unique spelling, the internet has nothing to say about them.  Luckily, I bought them new (at Spencer's Gifts) sometime in 2012, so here's what I can tell you about these boldly painted resin figures....

The first twelve figures are 1.25 inches tall.  They came packaged as the pairs that I have pictured. They initially had very short loops of string screwed into their heads potentially making them charms, zipper pulls, or cell phone danglers.  However, the strings were too short to loop the figures through, so the best you could have done was hang them on a hook or something similar. Also, as resin figures, they're rather heavy for their size and also prone to breaking easily if you were to, say, drop on the sidewalk.  While resin takes a nice hard paint job, it is not an ideal material to make something that is designed for use. Needless to say, I took off the silly strings pretty much as soon as I got them out of the packages.

The last two zombies are 1.75 inches tall and were not packaged in any way.  They began as resin keychains. Though there may have been more of the keychain-sized figures made in this line, I know that the smaller figures make a complete set of twelve. This is confirmed by the "collect them all" checklist on the original packaging.  Speaking of which -- I have the cardbacks around here somewhere and will add an image whenever I find them.   Meanwhile, here's the ZOMBEEZ!

Ma and Pa

Grandpa and Grandma

Brother and Sister

Brother and... oh, brother!

BF and GF

Cat and Dog 

Doctor and Patient

Mini Pocket Switchers

Mini Pocket Switchers are two inch rubber figures whose bodies can be pushed inside their heads to become one inch rubber balls.  Hence, the switch.  They come in packs of two with one displayed as a figure and one displayed as a ball.  There are four distinct pairs available for a total of eight.

At first glance they seem a lot like a toyline that I had always hoped would come to the US -- Morbs (Battle Morphing Orbs) by Toy Quest.  This was a large line of collectible toys with the body-hides-in-the-head gimmick available in the UK (and perhaps other places) in 2012.  Morbs were made of hard plastic and had a spring mechanism to load the figure's body into the hinged two-part head.  They came in many cool and colorful varieties.  Mini Pocket Switchers, on the other hand, are made of soft rubber and use two internal rubber bands to keep their heads from detaching from their bodies. Making the switch just takes a firm push or pull.  Presumably you could do this in your pocket... so I guess that's how they came up with the name.

I presume we'll never see a second series.  I mean, they're pretty boring.  Also, the website given on the packaging seems to have never even been developed whatsoever.  I'd never have even picked them up at all if it wasn't for the toothy zombie and mouthless alien.

Living Dead Zombies

These are rubber finger-puppets available for $1 each at Dollar Tree. There are three sculpts in three colors. They use the same molds as some $2 wind-up zombies that made the rounds during Halloween at stores like Target and Walgreens.  The finger puppets are a firmer rubber than the jiggly rubber of the wind-ups. Also, the grayish blue version of the wind-ups has been replaced by more of a lavender with the finger-puppets. The green and the pink figures are similar in color. The paint applications are also distinct between the two types of toys, with the finger puppets being much bloodier. 

This guy. 

That guy.

The other guy. 

This guy, again. 

That guy, again. 

The other guy, again. 

Zombie Burbz

"Zombies are tired of being misunderstood by their neighbors.  They're just your average slowly decomposing suburbanites who want to keep up with the Joneses, not eat them."

Zombie Burbz were 16 figures made by WowWee in 2011 and widely available in 2012. They came in four distinct packs of four figures as part of their AppGear line.  Each pack corresponded to the four versions of their platform game: High, Services, Diner, and Avenue.

The figures themselves are 1 to 1.75 inches in height.  Though small, they came in oddly oversized packages with three visible figures and one obscured figure. The excessive packaging suggested something more might be inside. More figures? Maybe some kind of display, portal, or software? But nothing else was inside except some papers instructing you on how to download the game. The original price was $10 per pack of four.  Judging by the amount of Zombie Burbz that I saw go to deep clearance, I don't think the venture was very successful.  Regardless, I find the figures mildly amusing and had always hoped the toyline would continue.

Zombie Burbz: High
Underage drinking quarterback, hipster chick, quarterback's fanboy, sk8ter

Zombie Burbz: Services
Nurse with oxygen tank, fat sanitation worker, librarian (maybe), firefighter

Zombie Burbz: Diner
Curvy Jersey zombie, lecherous guy, fry cook teen, homeless zombie

Zombie Burb: Avenue
Worked to death, Fido, mail carrier, nagging housewife

Doodle Jump Minidoodles

In line with Angry Birds, Minecraft, and Cut-the-Rope, here's some more minifigures based on a popular platforming game.  The game is called Doodle Jump and the toys are called Minidoodles. They are 1.25 to 1.5 inch figures based on "The Doodler" in various incarnations.  These are distributed by the Australian marketing group called Goldie.  Forgoing the ever-annoying blind-bag method of introduction, this set of 18 figures can be obtained by combining one 6-Pack of figures with six different 2-packs. There are no forced-duplicates among the two package types. One figure in each pack is obscured and designated a "mystery" figure, but the packs are consistent for an easily obtainable 18-figure set. Also, there are no variant figures except for the two versions of the zombie.

Hopefully more figures will arrive soon, especially since licensing partnerships have been made with several toy/game platforms.  In fact, photos from toy fairs have circulated showing four additional figures which consist of Doodler Batman, Doodler Spongebob, Doodler Spock (Star Trek), and Doodler Sonic the Hedgehog.  Regardless of whether or not those crossovers will ever be made available, here's a look at the first 18 Minidoodlers out now:

Urban Zombies

These resin zombie figures are 2.25 inches tall.  They were once keychains attached to cards that called them "Urban Zombies."  They kind of remind me of the toyline Homies although they are the wrong size and wrong material.  Still kinda cool looking zombie sculpts though.

Zombiezz

Zombiezz are a collection of 20 zombie figures produced by Entertoyment based out of Spain. They are distributed in the US by Global Holdings and are currently available at Wal-Mart stores, where you can find them in single, carded packs.

The figures are three inches high. Most of them are made out of a firm green plastic with bold paint applications.  I especially like the black borders around the white eyes. They have four fingers per hand.  Each figure has its own little gimmick.

"Every figure hides a gruesome feature, collect them all to find out what they are!"

Spoiler alert: Along with my photos, I reveal each of their "gruesome" features.  In fact, I have grouped the Zombiezz together based on these features. Let's have a look...

Nurse Moulder, Dead Weight, and Chuckles the Clown. The gimmick with these three is that part of their heads come off to reveal attached (glued in) erasers.  Nurse Moulder is one of only two female Zombiezz. I like the way her legs are sculpted all akimbo.  She's apparently ripped off her left arm and seems to be eating it.  Meanwhile, Dead Weight  has ripped off someone else's left arm. Chuckles stares blankly as he tries to remember what he's supposed to do with that dirty cream pie.

Captain Maggot, Gnarly Dude, and Zombieman.  The "secret" feature here is that the hat or hair comes off to reveal a removable brain-ball.  The brain is pretty much spherical and made of the same pink rubber as the eraserheads.  Captain Maggot is a pretty cool sculpt.  He's got a huge maggot coming out of his eye socket. Gnarly Dude has shoved his skeletal right arm through the head of a fish which has amazingly come right out its mouth.  More amazingly the fish is exactly the same color as his board-shorts.  Zombieman is a superhero who rescues zombies in distress from zombie hunters, I assume.

Ucki Gutsuki, Grandead, and Zombie Rotten.  These guys have magnets on their feet. The magnets are strong enough to hold them upside-down. Here, I've positioned them each on the tip of a pair of scissors. A ninja, an old guy, and a punk rocker with no instrument.  Meh, could have done better.

Sergeant Rot and Tutan-Entombed.  With these two guys, you pop off the tops of their heads and you find ink stamps.  The stamps are brain-shaped circles.  Red ink.  The cop's is one inch across and the mummy's is one-half inch.  I guess his brain is old and shriveled.  Not much else to say.

The Necromancer and Victus Mortuus.  With these two figures, you remove their entire heads to find red-ink markers.  The Necromancer is one of the better sculpts and seems to be a default mascot for the series, as he is the only one pictured on the front of the packaging.  Victus Mortuus is a Roman soldier with a bad back and two Us in his last name.

MC Brains and Slashed. Definitely the coolest gimmick, these two have LED lights inside their translucent heads that light up when you press the buttons on top of their heads. I wonder if Entertoyment knows that there is an actual rapper who goes by MC Brains.  I wonder if MC Brains knows there is a Zombiezz toy with his namesake.  Probably not, either way.  Slashed is clearly named in reference to Slash of GnR though he looks more like Jimmy Hendrix.  I like to think these two are in a rap-metal band called House of Brains.

Chuck Brainguzzler and Magnus Zombiesson. These two are hollow and made of soft rubber. When you squeeze them, their eyes pop out (a little).  Though this is not necessarily the worst gimmick imaginable, they probably end up the worst figures in the series due to the cheap rubber and lack of detail.  I know these toys are cheap, but these two are way crappy cheap.  They are essentially doggy chew toys.

Face Plant and Bill Guts.  Okay, these two have the worst "gruesome feature."  If you had one of them in your hand, you'd try to pull it apart looking for a pen, or an ink stamp, or a ball, or an eraser. You'd check their feet for magnets.  You'd try to squeeze them, and twist them, and bend them. Nothing.  Here's the deal:  While they are made from the exact same plastic as most of the others, they are ever-so-lightly coated with glow-in-the-dark paint.  No, they are not made from GID plastic, they just have a light coating that lets them kinda-sorta slightly glow (just a little).  That's it. That's the secret feature.  What a waste.  Especially with Face Plant.  He's a skater. Hello?  Give him some freakin' wheels, man!

Cindy Innards. In a cheer squad all by herself, he're the final figure. Cindy Innards splits in half head-to-toe, arm-to-arm to reveal her fantastically white skeleton, a weird little heart, and a couple worms. As she was splitting down the middle, she was heard saying, "...Gimmie an I! Gimmie and E! Gimmie a S! No? Uh, well, gimme a Z!  Go ahead and give me another Z!  What's that spell? ZOMBIEZZ!"