Hands On: Disney Animation toys from Bandai America

NOTE: BANDAI PROVIDED PRODUCT FOR USE IN THIS ARTICLE

Bandai released product last year which ties in with two Disney animated properties: Ralph Breaks the Internet and Big Hero 6: the Series. For purposes of this article, I will be talking about the Ralph Breaks the Internet: Power Pac Series Two Blind Box Figures and the Big Hero 6: the Series: Flame Blast Flying Baymax Figure.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is the sequel to the hit animated film Wreck It Ralph. The film again features all of your favorite characters fromt he first movie, and adds a few new ones, most notably the Disney Princesses. To tie into this movie, Bandai has released a line of “blind box” non-articulated vinyl figures called Power Pac. Why do they call it that? Because Bandai’s Parent Company is Bandai Namco, and they are the company behind Pac-Man.

To tie in with this line, they have created a special version of Pac-Man called Pac-Man: Ralph Wrecks the Maze. Each of the figures comes with a code that unlocks that character’s respective board in the app. Each character brings a different effect to their board. on Ralph’s board for example, Ralph walks around the maze breaking down walls, while Fleix follows him and fixes them. This creates new shortcuts for Pac-Man, but also creates the possibility of him being sealed in. It’s a great, fresh new take on a classic game, and the new mazes are a lot of fun. Bandai has released two series of figures so far, and there are a total of 24 figures to collect. They are available now and retail for $8-$10 a piece.

Anyone who has seen Big Hero 6 has likely fallen in love with it’s larger than life star, Baymax. Continuing the story from the movie, Disney has produced Big Hero 6: the Series.

Bandai is tying into this series with a robust toy line. One of the centerpieces of the line is the amazing Flame Blast Flying Baymax. Now, I have to tell you, before I say anything else, this is a fairly large piece of plastic. It’s also got a quite a bit of weight to it. That being said, it’s also a lot of fun to play with. It’s just one of those big fun toys that you don’t want to stop playing with. It’s 10.5″ tall and has a 20″ wingspan. He says 20 phrases and he has a firing fist. He comes with a 4″ Hiro figure that has limited articulation. His knees and elbows do not bend and he really does not stand on his own.

He does, however, serve an important purpose. He has holes on his hands and knees which fit into pegs on Baymax’s back. Pushing in on the knee pegs pop out the “flame blasts” from the bottoms of his feet and activate flying sound effects.

One of the more interesting aspects of this figure, unintentional though it may be, is that there is a lot of increased interest in Big Hero 6 due to the inclusion of the world of the movie in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III video game. Sora will join Baymax, Hiro and the rest of the team in ridding their world of the Heartless invasion. It turns out, again unintentionally, that this Baymax is in perfect scale with the Kingdom Hearts line by Diamond Select, so you can add him to your team and act out that part of the game.

This figure retails for between $30-$40 and is available now. He’s a lot of fun to play with and very well made.