D&D BAKUGAN??
D&D DICELINGS JUST BAKUGAN??
Bakugan queers are thriving right now with the dicelings announcement… *Laughs*
HI I’m Jett Kuso! I like to nostalgically analyze
toy-lines new and old and TODAY it’s a review of the WORST DICE EVER MADE……..
FIREBALL!!!
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The Dungeons and Dragons Dicelings are oversized plastic 20-sided dice that transform—
GGKKK, Sorry! Sorry, uh…
They’re oversized plastic 20-sided dice
that CONVERT into a few different creatures from Dungeons and Dragons.
The transformat— SORRY, the CONVERSIONS are completely manual, utilizing both
hinged-flaps, rotating pivot points, and ball-jointed limbs to change forms.
Each diceling is sold individually, packaged mostly WITHOUT plastic
packaging, which gives them the “Vaguely environmentally friendly” stamp of approval.
It’s certainly a creative product, but whether or
not they’re actually well-designed, fun to play with, or worth buying…
Well we’ll get to that in a second because D&D Dicelings are only a small element of the of
the wide-spanning merch launch for the new Dungeons and Dragons movie,
and this isn’t the FIRST time D&D has been a toy-line.
The first D&D toy-line began in 1982 as one of the first d&d THINGS to be produced
aside from gameplay-focused products like Miniatures. Those existed well before D&D,
but mostly for war games and mostly made of LEAD.
Lead poisoning~
The 80’s D&D Cartoon, which a ton of you definitely know about, started a
year AFTER the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons toy-line, produced by LJN; most famous today
for their bad licensed video games and being a reoccurring villain to the Angry Video Game Nerd.
It’s a somewhat unremarkable toy-line, featuring a cast of completely original characters,
like STRONGHEART the Paladin, WARDUKE the fighter, SHORTSWORD the Dwarf, and MELF.
I made up one of those names, and it wasn’t Melf.
The stuff is colorful and creative, but mostly only the monsters bear any of D&D’s intellectual
property. Ough…Tiamat…Famous for her Claw-Grabber Legs.
The new D&D movie, and as-such the new D&D toy-line, isn’t much different. As far as
my research will show, this is the first major D&D toy-line launch SINCE the 80’s LJN figures,
and similarly it features a new cast of adventurers (from the movie this time),
and a whole bunch of familiar creatures.
There are WAY more toys than just the Dicelings, but they’re like… They’re just action-figures,
I dunno, I’m not gonna sit here and review the quality of the eye paint on New Melf here, or talk
about the poseability of the Gelatinous Cube.
And as much as I would enjoy a geometric Chris Pine that folds into a d20, the DICELINGS line
only features funky lil critters directly from Gary Gaigax’s sadistic little brain.
We’ve got the Buuugbear, the Green Acid Dragon,
Smaaaug, and the dastardly many-eyed Spooker.
Hasbro sent me these because I emailed them ten times asking for free stuff.
This is what you get, Hasbro, hope you’re enjoying the content.
To be a little more serious for a second and a little more honest,
I think these are kind of great???
I wanted them because I wanted to make a video about them,
but I only wanted to make a video because they looked kinda fun.
Normal action figures usually kind of bore me, which is why I’ve always been drawn to
toys that have some kind of a fidget feature. Like Transformers, Bionicles, and of course
Bakugan. Even when I was deep into G.I. Joes as a kid, it was only the 12-inch vintage-style
Joes that I could dress and customize. It’s all too easy to get bored of posing
an action figure, and inevitably they end up on a shelf or in a bin. But for an adult, Transformers
and Bakugan make for a great desk toy that can be picked up and idly messed with, transformed
casually back and forth. Especially when there’s something else you’re supposed to be doing.
The most complex transformation is the Owlbear, which has so many flaps and panels that it’s
sort of hard to tell when it’s actually in it’s intended final form. The simplest is the Beholder,
which bears a STUNNINGLY detailed rubber face with moveable jaw. And the two dragons,
Rakor and Themberchaud, sit firmly in the middle
with perfectly evocative draconic forms. As action figures, all four are perfectly
serviceable in terms of having just enough poseability to be played with, but the
transforming element does create some limitations………
The owlbear’s arms are massive and the dragon wings are super segmented,
but yadda yadda, I don’t care.
All I care about is that THEMBERCHAUD, isn’t THICK.
I only know him from what I’ve seen in the movie,
but I love him with all my heart. I know they HAD to slim him down to fit inside a d20, sure,
I get that, I accept it, but I don’t have to like it! I like em big! I like em chunky!
I need to stop
I’m ad-libbing
The skinny slimmed-down- *Laughs*
The skinny slimmed-down geometric elephant in the room is, of course,
the comparisons to Bakugan that FLEW around when these were announced.
And this isn’t the first time Hasbro has seemingly tried to rip-off Bakugan,
considering the short-lived BOT-SHOTS line of glorified rock-paper-scissors toys.
Those deserve a video of their own sooner or later.
I think when the announcement hit, people assumed these were going to be a lot smaller? It’s an easy
assumption to make given the USUAL size of a d20. And since they all transform into the SAME shape
rather than a variety of shapes like Transformers, I think it’s actually a pretty fair comparison…
Even though they’re HUGE, and not magnetized, and not attached to any sort of toy game.
And thank goodness, because Hasbro doesn’t have a good
track-record with shoving half-baked toy-based card games into other lines.
Then again… D&D IS already a game, and d20’s ARE an integral game piece……….
My god.
I wouldn’t say I’ve done extensive testing to see what the statistical skew is on which numbers each
Diceling is most prone to landing on, but there DEFINITELY is a skew. None of these are balanced
like actual dice, and it’s a preeetty integral part of Dungeons & Dragons that each roll is a
perfect 1/20 chance. The Beholder lands on 20 just a little too often to call it a fluke.
Bah, whatever…
I think if I was a kid I’d be a bit confused on what I’m supposed to do with these toys
while they’re dice shaped; a problem that Bakugan and Transformers don’t have. I get
the impression that these are aimed MORE at adult collectors, but since all the D&D movie
toys have the same dark and elegant packaging, it’s pretty hard to tell. But either way I think
they accomplish what they’re trying to be: A charming, attention-grabbing fidget toy for
people that may want a bit more quirk than just a basic action figure. And personally I’d love to
see the line expand! There’s another wave on the way with a white dragon recolor of themberchaud,
a blue Beholder and a frickin DISPLACER BEAST, hELL YEAH. I’d love it if the line would continue
to expand into other creatures like a Mimic, a Mind Flayer, or perhaps an ACTUAL Tiamat toy.
Post in the comments what D&D monsters you’d want a diceling of, click like,
and check out my Patreon to see an unboxing of the Displacer Beast toy from Wave 2!
Thanks for watching, this is Jett Kuso, and I’ll see you next time!