Toy Bender

Apparently the toy collecting world has had some sort of kerfuffle that I was not aware of. Julius Marx of the rather huge toy website Action Figure Insider managed to win the gigantic (and super rare) Anti-Monitor figure that was available at the ‘09 San Diego Comic Con. He posted his victory picture with the title “Lucky Bastard” on Action Figure Insider:

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This post is actually a post in two parts. This post deals with the story behind a particular figure and the second part can be found at Poe Ghostal’s blog and you must click over there in order to “collect them all.”

Okay, today I bring you this Batman figure:

I’m putting him for a very good reason. In the year 1989 the Tim Burton Batman movie came out that I became absolutely Bat shit insane for Batman. Everything had to be Batman, from my cereal to my clothing. One of the things that I got before the film even came out was a promotional magazine that was all about the film. I seriously spent hours pouring over every picture. One of the advertisements really intrigued me, because it was an ad for Batman action figures that would be coming out and in the picture it featured one kick ass Batman that I wanted with a want to end all wants:

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Marvel Universe wave five info is out and it’s a bit underwhelming overall. Fans of Marvel Comics super heroes will be able to finally get their hands on another villain in the classic looking Electro. I realize there’s a lot of heroes that people want, but why the huge lack of villains? More villains please!

Out of all the figures int his wave I would like to get my hands on a Guardian. I know nothing about him, but I always really dug the Canadian costumes that about four heroes have variations of. Other than that, I really don’t need a modern Sub-Mariner, a refill of Spider-Man, or a repaint of Iron Man. In fact, the repaint bothers me because when I saw that there was going to be a Silver Centurion Iron Man I didn’t think he was going to be a lazy repaint. I want the Silver Centurion Iron Man, not that horrid looking current armor in any form.

Thanks to: Marvelous News

The Marvel Universe figures all come with info from Marvel’s infamous character Nick Fury. But where is Nick Fury himself? Well, he’s the Mail-away figure for the line and Marvelous News got the scoop on how to get him. Instead of having to collect some sort of token like with G.I. Joe or Star Wars, there’s a special method if you want to get your hands on Mr. Fury. It looks like you’ll have to sign up for Marvel’s Digital Comic book service in order to get him. The service comes in two forms, $24.99 ($8.33 a month) for a 3 month subscription or $59.88 ($4.99 a month) for an annual subscription.

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When my readers are in trouble what do I do? I slap on my mask, mount my trusty steed, and ride into town and shoot every hobo I see. I also go out of my way to a store in order to see if they have a figure that that reader is looking for.* In this case, it was Last Best Angry Man who did me a good turn when I had been unemployed (the first time). You see, he’d gotten me a figure that I needed desperately at that time. In a previous post he said he was looking for both Ms. Marvels. I had seen them at a Target the other day so I thought I’d make sure they were there or if they’d been purchased. Well they were still there and I felt like a hero when I bought them… until I came home and saw his comment saying he found them on the exact same day I picked them up. Oh well. Maybe I’ll have better luck for Double Dumb Ass.

Anyway, this whole thing made me reflect on how cool the internet could be. Before the internet, I wouldn’t know LBAM and I wouldn’t know he wanted a figure and I certainly wouldn’t have bought them for him. We’d all be isolated in our own little worlds, looking at newspaper classifieds instead of eBay, perusing catalogs instead of online toy stores, and reading ‘zines for all our toy collecting news. *shudder* How barbaric! You’re much better off with the internet and me. If not for the advantages of collecting toys, then for all the porn.

*Okay, I don’t do it for everyone, just you special guys/gals.

Fans of the Marvel Universe line (me) may look forward to seeing or most likely not seeing Wave 4 revision one at their local toy shoppe. Not only does it offer some of the more popular characters in the line that you may have missed before, but there’s some nice newer ones as well. May I direct you toward the awesomeness that is Moon Knight? Sweet chickens in heat, I’m going to need to get my hands on him. I’ve always been a fan of Moon Knight, but not really a dedicated reader of his comics until a few years ago. Even if you don’t like the character or what they’ve done with him, you’ve got to love that sweet ass costume.

Other figures I am on the look out for include black Spider-Man as well as the Hand Ninja, both of which I’ve passed on already. Seriously, the combination of not having steady income and these things being around eight dollars makes these purchasing decisions a lot harder. I know I’m a repeating parrot on this issue, but seriously eight dollars is too damned much for a three inch piece of plastic. I’m guessing that army building is a bit on the decline these days due to price and the economy. Anyway, I’m glad that I still have a little time before good old Captain America classic version is available.

If there’s one thing you can’t do is take the toy collecting out of me apparently. In the final days of packing up everything I own in this world that’s not in storage at my dad’s house (mostly the bulk of my toy collection), I just had to stop over at Target to see what was in stock. To my surprise I found Marvel Universe 3 3/4ths scale Iron Man… classic style! Hells yeah, I’ll take a classic Iron Man over the horrid pile of triangles of the current suit.

Now there were a few other figures that I wanted there as well, most notably the Hulk and the Hand Ninja, but I was good and stuck to the one figure. The 7.99 price point also helped my decision. Seriously, lower the prices on these damn figures and you’ll make up the money, Hasbro.

Anyway, I’m really pleased with my classic Iron Man. I particularly like that he’s been painted in an actual gold color and not yellow. Still, being the idiot that I am I can’t say that I wouldn’t get a repainted version to more accurately reflect the comic. Anyway, Iron Man pretty kick ass. The only downside is that his open palmed wrist can’t be bent upwards to make a great shooting his repulsor pose. I’m also not a fan of the energy blast accessory. I’m not a fan of the oddly shaped energy cyclone, I’d prefer more of a straight on blast, thank you very much.

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I know I almost never cover DC Universe Classics figures, but it’s mainly because I can’t keep up with it and I know bloggers who do it much better than I could. Still, I couldn’t help having some thoughts about Wave 9 that I’d like to share.

As much as I don’t want to like him because he’s such a J-hole, I dig Black Adam. I just want to root for him the times he’s not being a total jerk, which seems to change on the whims of the writers.

You know, black Adam is one of the few times a hero or villain in comics has had “black” in his or her name and they aren’t, you know, black race wise. I’m just saying.

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The winner of the fans choice figures top five is out and I have to say that I’m really disappointed in everyone who voted, but first here’s the list:

#1 – Archangel

#2 – Winter Soldier

#3 – Havok

#4 – Mystique

#5 – Mary Jane Watson

First of all, they were going to make Mystique, Archangel, and Winter Soldier anyway. The point behind these things is that it’s a chance to get figures they wouldn’t otherwise make. Secondly, Mary Jane Watson? Who wants a figure of the completely worthless Mary Jane Watson? I think the only purpose she could serve is if I swapped her head with another figure to make her into a generic civilian. Here is where I say the unthinkable, so prepare yourselves: I’m glad they retconned the Mary Jane Watson marriage out of Spider-Man comics.

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And… just when I was beginning to thing I had nothing toy related to write about today, in comes this fantastic custom set of Lego mini-figures made to look exactly like the crew from Watchmen. The weakest link here is Rorschach who could have used a custom painted head, but I believe the point of this set was to try do make the figures as close to the characters without doing a lot of custom work.

I can’t think of that many Lego sets you could make using Watchmen figures aside from Nite Owl’s ship and his lair. I suppose you could do the Ozymandias winter getaway.

Anyway, some of you might be wondering why I haven’t posted my Watchmen thoughts yet. I haven’t done so for a couple of reasons. The first is that everyone else did already and so I didn’t see a point. Another is that nobody asked, but in case you are wondering I did like it. I liked it a lot. There? You happy now?!

Side Note: You want to get your blood boiling? You really need to read this review, which pretty much misses the entire point of the film (and consequently the book if the reviewer had read it). Here’s my favorite quote:

And Ronald Reagan is thinking of running for President in 1988. Wow, isn’t that cool that they got it wrong on purpose? I’m so amazed at this “high-brow art” of deliberately getting dates and timelines wrong, you know, just to be “artistic,” and get the drooling of the critics. That is sooooo genius. Like way totally cool.

Oh wait, this one is better:

If you see it yourself, you’re also probably a moron and a vapid, indecent human being.

Even if you didn’t like the movie, the idiocy here should really piss you off.

Side, Side Note: Sometimes when I hear Rorschach’s name I think of Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter. Man, that book and movie would have been a hell of a lot different if you swapped those two out.

Thanks to: Brothers Brick

This post is a little old, but since it was mostly written and laying unused and unloved I thought I’d give it a new lease on life. Anyway, here goes:

The other day when I got good news in regards to being employed I decided to go on my first Toy Hunt in a long time. It was a good old fashioned hunt, one where I went to five stores in the hopes of finding some sweet toy action.

The only place I found anything good was at Toys R Us. Apparently, they had just gotten in a shipment of DC Universe Classics figures. It’s the only explanation for there being so many of them on the shelves, unless all the legion of scalpers in the area were having a board meeting or something. I was ultra excited that I could pick up a Flash figure for a friend who had wanted him awful bad.

The only thing I found for myself was the G.I. Joe comic two pack featuring “Shockblast”, or rather Shockwave, and Pilot Destro. Shockwave is great, but he seriously needs more weapons. The original came with a cool backpack that had a removable knife, while this one gets a couple of pistols. It would have been nice if he came with a shotgun and (in my dreams) a riot shield. “Shockblast” does get is a great assortment of hats, though. You get his cool looking baseball hat, a tactical helmet, and a wicked as hell gas mask.

The lack of weapons could easily be solved by purchasing extra guns from a place like Marauder “Gun-Runners.” In fact, Shockblast is the character most likely out of all my toys to get some of the more realistic weapons,since he’s the closest thing to an actual military or police figure that I own.

The Pilot Destro is certainly interesting. He’s got some cool chest armor, but what’s with his backpack with the tubes that run to his arm or the friggen steel boot claws? This is certainly the type of figure that makes it into my sell or giveaway pile. Anyone want him?

Millionaire Playboy recently posted an article about a few of Mattel’s offerings in the Infinite Crisis series of it’s 3 3/4ths scale figures. There’s not a whole lot of new info, except that the three pack that used to consist of Wondergirl, Supergirl, and Superman will now switch out Superman for Bizarro.

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It’s funny how things work out. After seeing the Marvel Universe and Wolverine Origins figures going for at least 12 bucks a pop at Wondercon (with Deadpool selling for $30), I wrote about it on this here blog. Last Best Angry Man said to just go to the store and pick them up. To show him up, I decided to go to the store to report back to say that there weren’t any. Low and behold, I walk down an aisle in Toys R Us and see associates filling up part of an endcap with the figures. A sort of mania overcame me then and it was all I could do to not buy all of them. I couldn’t escape without grabbing a few of them, so I’ve decided to share my thoughts now that I’ve had a chance to check them out. Remember, I don’t really do toy “reviews” so you’ll have to look else where for those (like here, here, here, and yes here).

Deadpool - Comic Book

Yeah, I have Deadpool. I understand if you’re jealous. Deadpool is hands down the best figure in these lines. He looks great and comes with the most accessories that I’ve gotten with any of these figures. The only minor complaint I have is with the sai. It’s almost as big as him. As an added bonus, he’s sure to make a swell G.I. Joe ninja.

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Here we are again with the rest of the Wondercon 2009 coverage!

Wondercon Pictures:

Since I’m both lazy and I have a crappy computer, I don’t have many interesting pictures to share. However, Savage of Old Man Musings was a picture taking maniac. You can check out his photos on Flickr here. Great White Snark is also showing off his pics and you can see some of them here with more to come in the future.

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It’s been awhile since I did a Toy Hunt and for good reason. Heading quickly into Unemploymentville, which is certainly not as fun as Margaritaville, and not ever being able to find anything worth a damn at retail are huge factors in the loss of this feature. However, I did have an exciting find if I were able to buy toys.

When the wife and I stopped at Wal-Mart to get milk, I made my usual toy run just to see what was there. The first thing that met my hunter’s gaze was a beautiful row of pegs that held DC Universe figures. Right next to it were pegs full of DC Infinite Heroes that I hadn’t seen before. This was a big first for me, because I have never seen a single DC figure on the shelves of my local Wal-Marts. They never even had pegs for them. That’s three Wal-Marts in a highly populated area of the country with no DC Universe pegs; talk about pathetic.

Anyway, I did pick up a Captain Marvel figure and walk around with him in my hands. It felt good. I felt like a real person with money that could by things, but better common sense prevailed and I put him back on the peg. That was the first true temptation and I’m proud to say that I have passed.

Now if they would of had new G.I. Joes there, this might have been a different story.