REVIEW: Crashlings Alien Chew F O

Crashlings

Crashlings are a new line of blind-box (or more accurately, ''blind-ball'') collectible figures from Wicked Cool Toys.

Available in a variety of figure packs - from singles (which retail at the awesome price of just $1) to 10-ball sets - the Crashlings are divided into five different ''classes'' - Dinos, Insects, Aliens, Monsters and Sea Life. Factoring in colorway/model variations (which range from Common to Ultra-Rare) the line-up sports over 150 figures to collect.

Today we're looking at Chew F O, a purple (Common) figure from the Aliens line-up.

Packaging

Our Reviews generally don't include comments on a product's packaging (at least, they haven't for a while) but I wanted to draw special attention to the Crashling packaging, as there are a couple of important features to point out here.

As you can see, the Crashlings come in spherical cases - referred to as ''Meteors'' - which pop-open to reveal the contents. One thing I really appreciate is the fact that the Meteors are color-coded to indicate which kind of Crashling is inside. So if you're buying singles and you want to concentrate on Aliens, pick out the green ones. Dinos? Grab the grey Meteors, Monsters, meanwhile, are black, Sea Life are blue and Insects are red.

Considering how many figures there are in the line, it's great that Wicked Cool Toys chose to give us a way to narrow-down our selections. (I should also point out that the multi-pack sets are also divided by type and feature at least two ''open'' spheres, again allowing you to make a more informed choice.)

The other thing about the packaging is that, whilst one side of the Meteor is made from a solid plastic, the other half is a squishy rubber-like substance. By pushing the half-sphere ''through'' itself you can create a springing effect, which can then be used in a variety of games, as illustrated in the Crashlings commercial:

I find it odd that a lot of minifigures now come with some kind of ''game'' element (I suspect it's all down to the origins of Gogo's Crazy Bones) rather than simply being happy to just be collectible figures, but I suppose it adds an extra dimension for kids and allows them to ''battle'' for figures rather than just trade with their friends...

But what do I know...?

Chew F O

I purchased a single Crashling Alien (and then, after the nice lady on the Target register asked if I wanted to keep it in my pocket so as to avoid losing it in a bag, promptly lost it under my car seat for a day...), which - as mentioned above - retail at the $1 mark. So what do you get for your cash?

Each pack contains a single figure, a collector sheet (detailing each of the figures in that specific sub-line and suggesting a few games you can also play with your Crashling), plus - obviously - the aforementioned Meteor packaging.

Chew F O is, from what I can gather, a good indication of the line. He stands around 1/2'' tall, is cast from a single color plastic and, as this is the Common version of the character, he features a minor amount of paint detail (Rare and Ultra-Rare figures are cast in solid, metallic colors and don't include a detail app.)

As you can see, the paint app is a little loose around his mouth but considering the scale of these things, I'm really not that upset. I'm not sure if he has horns or some kind of ears (or even tentacles) protruding from his head but if they are the former, it would have been neat to see them have some paint applied. Again though, this is a very minor point.

Design-wise, Chew F O is a great little alien figure. It's always a tricky line to walk when designing an alien creature: too ''everyday'' and it comes off as mundane or even boring, yet at the other end of the scale, if the design is too weird, it becomes difficult to understand or relate to. Here though the designers managed to hit a good balance, with Chew F O being clearly a fantasy creature yet not so alien as to be confusing or off-putting.

As you can probably tell, the figures are not in any way articulated. Which isn't a negative or point of criticism. 

And that's pretty much it...!

Final Thoughts

Excuse the brevity of this Review but the Crashlings are fairly simple toys and - outside of the pop-through launching Meteor feature - there's very little else to really say about Chew F O or the line as a whole.

That's not to say they're not fun. Indeed, they're a great line of little toys and I'm looking forward to building my collection. I'd even go as far as to say they're some of the best blind-bag minifigures I've seen in a long while. The paint apps - although a little variable - do their job, the Meteor pop thing is an interesting idea (and the crater-laden sculpt is a nice touch, ditto with the theme color-coding) and the creature designs are great - certainly way more appealing and fun than something like the Trash Pack Trashies or other similar mini-monsters. I'm reminded of the awesome Freaky Geek capsule toys, which is a good thing, as they too were awesome and they play very nicely along with the Crashlings.

As for Chew F O, he's a good representation of the Alien line-up. The design is fun and I like that there's some character to his sculpt. He's got a great alien-ness about him without losing any of his charm or just being unreadable and the fact that there's some genuine character to his sculpt is great. I love how he looks both hungry and mischievous, which is a superb achievement on the part of the sculptors.

Great sculpts, fun characters and superb value-for-money. Go grab yourself some Crashlings now. You won't be disappointed.

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