Around The BLOCKhead

Note: Due to webcam issues, this episode contains no photos. However, ThinkGeek has some great "action shots" that are each worth at least 2,000 words!

It was late 2004 and the brave new world of block figures was flourishing. Art Asylum had recently changed their base Minimates mold from a 3" giant to a 2" pocketable toy, Kubricks could be easily found in brick & mortar comic shops and the 2½" PALz Buffy: The Vampire Slayer line had launched. Novelty toy manufacturer Accoutrements (makers of Devil Duckies, the Jesus Action Figure and more) decided to enter the game with their own unique (and royalty-free) style, presenting the world with something many adults were all too familiar with: The Cubes.

Standing at 2¾" tall, The Cubes were my introduction to the world of modern block figures. When I discovered the sets I was aware of Minimates and PALz, but had never seriously thought about expanding my toy collection to the small figure scale until I came across this office space line in my friendly local comic shop. At the time, however, I was busy spending money on the current Palisades line of toys based on The Muppets and other figures of similar scale for my webcomic of the time, Pork Factor 9. So, despite my instant attraction to the line, I passed on purchasing and simply eyed it from afar, watching as the line grew and thinking to myself, "someday."

In late 2006 my "someday" came and I purchased a number of the various playsets of The Cubes to display in my workplace. At the time, I also worked in a cubicle farm, so the toy was quite appropriate. It didn't take long before I decided I wanted to develop an idea I'd had since I first saw the toys: a new webcomic. Using the sets and many props from The Cubes and figures from the PALz lines (for reasons stated further in this article), Attercap.Net was born, and I've been getting deeper and deeper into the world of block figures since.

Enough personal history and encouragement to read my webcomic. Let's talk toys.

Measuring a quarter-inch taller than a PALz figure and thrice that amount for a modern (standard) Minimate, inhabitants of The Cubes world are the basketball players in the block figures universe. Unlike most block figures, instead of having a rounded head, a Cubes figure has head that is, well, a cube. With squarish features and minimalistic paint, there's really not a lot of detail that goes into the each Cube individual, but the plainness of their features works well for what they're supposed to be.

Figures of The Cubes have better articulation than your standard LEGO or Playmobil fig, but after being spoiled by the massive pose/play-ability of Minimates and PALz, I suppose I've become a bit greedy with the number of joints I want to see. The Cubes people have pivot-joint necks, waists, hands and feet; limited ball-and-socket shoulders and hips; and hinge-joint knees. So, basically, they've got good enough joints to sit in their desks and get to work, but lack the desired elbow joints to perform many tasks a worker would be expected to perform. The type of joint used on their knees also allows their knees to bend either way, allowing for some very cringe-inducing poses. But I'm mostly disappointed by the lack of elbow joints.

It's the playsets themselves that make The Cubes shine--in sort of a florescent, hasn't-seen-the-light-of-day-for-years, shine. Packaged with textured cube walls (in both "full" and "half" widths) and a variety of snap on/off hinge joints, it's pretty easy to create a labyrinth of cubicle walls, to be populated by block figs. Each playset also comes equipped with furniture and a host of stickers. Said stickers drip with caustic cubicle wit, such as the "More More More Productivity!" poster and "The Onion" computer screen. Even the company name itself can bring a sardonic smirk: "GigantaMegaCorp: Paving The Way For Robots."

Just as a note, because of the texture of the walls, stickers tend to only stay on for a few weeks before needing to be re-applied. This is both a positive and a negative. On one hand, I'm grateful that I can constantly re-arrange cubicles, but sometimes the stickers do fall off at inopportune moments. However it's pretty easy (and fun) to grab some black sticker sheets and print out posters from other websites or make completely new posters and props to share amongst the cubicles.

Sets 1-4 of The Cubes are generic office cubicles, each with a unique figure and sticker sheet and a common set of walls, desk, chair and computer. Sets 5-7 are specialized cubes of break room, copy center and IT department which have the typical set of cubicle walls, as well as a unique figure, sticker sheet and furniture specific to the room. I especially like the Kirk-esche command chair that comes with the IT department. There are also additional figure sets like The Motivational Speaker, Corporate Protester and Corporate Zombies, but I've refrained from picking most of them up because... well, I really do like elbows.

While I wouldn't purchase The Cubes as a gift for a kid, they do make for fun adult toys. And when I say "adult," I mean "Where's my W2 form?" adult and not the other kind. Each playset sells for about $15 and supplementary figures for $5. Archie McPhee sells a lot of different products by Accoutrements; and that includes The Cubes. Are The Cubes right for you? Well, only you can answer that. But if you like block figures, TV shows like The Office and/or movies like Office Space then these toys might be right up your alley.

-erich

You already know that Erich Arendall relies heavily on The Cubes props in his webcomic Attercap.Net, but did you know that like The Cubes he has no elbows and his knees bend both ways? No? That's because it's not true.