Around The BLOCKhead

By: Erich Arendall

Episode 9: Boy, Oh Cuboyds!

It's February. It's the host month of that celebration of romantic love, traditionally known as St. Patrick's Day. No, wait, scratch that. I get confused because I love beer that much.


We're cu-cu for Cuboyds!
No, it's February, and that means Valentine's day. And, as I've been informed, it's become a symbol of all love. Which is good, because now I can talk about one of my greatest toy loves and it won't come across all creepy and weird. Or, at least, not as much as usual. Yes, today I talk about my love of block figures, as per usual, and I get to extend my love of articulation to the mix!


"What are you doing?"
"Brick dancing!"
For anyone who's been following my articles of the past .75 years, it should come as no surprise that articulation is one of the make-it-or-break it points for me when it comes to toys. A toy could have the best sculpting in the world, but without enough articulation, it's little better than a model. It's why GI Joe beat Star Wars when I was a kid, and it's why Minimates and PALz still are the champions of my block figure world. Great paint, sculpting and enough articulation that one can actually play with the toy.

This month's block figure discussion actually deals with one of the most well-articulated block figures out there, the Cuboyds. Remember back in July when I wrote about Stikfas? Sure you do. Even if you never read that article before. Especially then. Anyway, Cuboyds are the cousins of Stikfas. Born by the same company, but to a more compatible scale and with less assembly difficulties.


Speedyguy, my larger cousin!
Like their elder brethren, the Cuboyds are solid color in nature and can be decorated with stickers. Also, like the larger Stikfas figures, there's more than enough articulation to go around. Cuboyds are more squarish in nature (conforming to their name), but unlike any other block figures of the same scale, Cuboyds have an extremely large range of pose-ability. In fact, Cuboyds have more points of articulation than Minimates or PALz.

OK, so, we all know I love articulation. Why don't I rave as much about Cuboyds? Unfortunately, as well-articulated as they are, they're also a solid mass. The lack of character takes away some of the fun. I don't have the lack of imagination to be able to play with figures without articulation, nor do I have the creativity to transpose any face to the Cuboyds for long. It shouldn't be a shock that Cuboyds share the same negative point as their larger brethren.


"What are you, blind?
Who you callin' yellow?"
At least, this was the story with Series 01 and 02. The recent launch of Series 03 introduces robotic faces and body-paint to the previously dull matte toys. Perhaps that will make all the difference for introducing them to your other block figures, so the Cuboyds won't feel so shunned.

Scale-wise, Cuboyds are slightly larger than a Minimates and equivalent to a PALz figure. In fact, they're almost so completely to scale to a PALz figure, it's a wonder that I've never used them in a webcomic. Must be that lack of character that comes from being completely solid.


Trust me, I'm your PALz. You
should see things in shades of gray.
In price, Cuboyds run from about four to six dollars each, the latter price being the average for the painted Series 03 Robots. One can find Cuboyds for sale from reputable sites like Think Geek and Toy Wiz, as well as the various merchants lurking out there on eBay. If you love articulation as much as I do, then cut out a little cardboard heart and put a Cuboyds on it.

-erich

Do you love block figures yet? Do you love webcomics? Find the marriage of the two with Attercap.Net. It's my webcomic. But you knew that, right?

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Copyright © 2008 Erich Arendall