Stikfas: Octopus and Diver
by Mr. Stinkhead

Stikfas just sent us their Diver and Octopus Deluxe building set to try out. They liked what we had to say about their Super Hero and Villian and wanted to see if we'd branch from our "robots and super heroes only" club for a bit and look at something new. I must say I'm impressed. I love the "Stikfas-ized Octopus." It's clearly an octopus, and clearly the Stikfas style, in equally balanced amounts. I also dig how there are two extra tentacles and a pointy head for making your octopus into a squid. Usually you have to go through years of therapy and weeks in the hospital to add two tentacles. (I'll stop there. It could get much worse.)

The diver itself is nice. He's your standard Stikfas male, in a deep blue with loads of articulation, but man-oh-man do they load you up with accessories. There's all kinds of vests, a breathing tank, a snorkel, goggles, weighted boots, flippers, tools, a camera, a trident, a harpoon gun, and even a treasure chest, to really let your imagination fly (or is that swim?) The only thing missing is booty—er treasure—for the treasure chest. Speaking of the treasure chest, I like how it's put together. It opens and closes nicely, and it fits together firmly.

It's true my reviews are slanted towards monsters, mutants, robots, devils, the occasional Japanese oddity, and costumed super heroes. I wouldn't normally pick up an action figure of a diver, but I love this octopus. I think having the two together was a great idea, and this set is something—knowing what I know now—that I would pick up on my own. I love how Stikfas goes above and beyond by giving you a full set up for snorkeling, or for deep-sea diving. Oooh, in the future we need one of those roving submarine robots or something! When are the Stifkas vehicles? (think... seat, steering wheel, pop-off tires or wings or... I'm getting ahead of myself.)

In my last Stikfas review I mentioned that the nubs where the pieces are broken off of the plastic tree "hurt" a bit. Yeah, I'm an octopussy, but this time I was a bit more careful, and I didn't get hurt. I would like to point out though that I came pretty close to snapping the head off of the spear when liberating from the tree. But being careful, the toys should last you a while.

It was also very easy to put together. The fingers on the Mechana, while being the best action figure fingers I've ever seen, took a bit of patience to put together. The octopus went together very intuitively.

I am getting pretty excited about the speed in which Stikfas is moving along and evolving the line. I never predicted we'd see a Stikfas octopus before checking out Stikfas at Toy Fair. You should check out Stikfas.com to see what's around the corner, and if you want to talk to other Stifanatics, check out The Stikfanatics Asylum.

I'm feeling generous so here are some plugs for our sponsors who carry Stikfas. YouBuyNow.com and KravensToys.com and BigBadToyStore.com carry Stikfas.

Oooh! You guys need to get an Octodog, that turns your hot dogs into octopusses!

Article and all images ©2005 MillionairePlayboy.com