Toy Bender

We have a VERY special This Month In ToyFare for a particular reason, but I’m not giving up just what it is right now. You’ll have to read the rest of this post. Sadly though, the issue marks Justin “Willy Wampa” Aclin’s last issue as the editor we’ve all come to know and love. He’s moved on to other things, but he’ll still be missed from the magazine.

Page 4 - Inside the Monkeyhouse: Sigh, I’ll miss seeing Justin’s happy bearded face in Inside the Monkeyhouse, but this last one was great.

Page 6 through 8 - FanFare: I thought Bill had ToyFare nailed on the web shooters, but Zach comes in and makes a lot of sense. Nice. And who is this guy to say crap about He-Man? He-Man’s sword is fricken sweet.

I don’t think you should be told as to whether to keep your figures in the package or open them. That should be up to you, really.

Page 10 - wish/list: This is awesome!

Pages 16 and 17 - Incoming: Wow, these new Transformers are kick ass. Prowl looks awesome and Powerglide rocks if you like the character. I almost don’t hate him anymore. If you’ve ever watched the G1 cartoon you’ll know what I’m talking about. POW!!! ZOWIE!!

Pages 18 and 19: Indiana Jone’s face sure looks… off on page 18. He looks much better on 19, though so at least there’s some hope that they won’t all look like butt.

Pages 24 and 25: I still can’t believe that disgusting beast thing is being made into an action figure. This truly is a sign of the apocalypse. “Party till I’m cute” also wins this month’s Speech Bubble Based Joke of the issue with Darth Vader’s speech bubble following a close second.

Page 26: Yet another great speech bubble joke from Khan.

Page 27: Wow! Now that’s how you do a female character in a highly articulated six inch line. Wonder Woman looks sooooo much better than figures I wanted to get in the Marvel Legends line that ended up looking like many jointed freaks.

Page 30: Ha ha, water balloons.

Page 37: How can I say this a nice way… um okay… the modern Action Man looks unbelievably gay.

Page 40 - Comic Genius: I vote Secret Wars!

Pages 42 though 47 -The Many Armors of Iron Man: This is a neat article, but would be a little more helpful if there was a mention if a figure was made of that Iron Man and just where the figure came from. For #1 it could say, “Classic Armor Iron man saw figure form in the Secret Wars line…”

Pages 52 through 57 - Clothes Make the Batman: I’ll admit it. The Tonner Dolls are freaking awesome. If I was a rich woman I’d totally collect these when I wasn’t looking at my boobs in a mirror.

Pages 59 through 67 - Pulp Vixens: Unlike some people, I don’t really mind some of these longer pop culture type articles. I do wish the article connected the females featured to toys a little bit more though. And Miss Piggy at 30? Please, I don’t even know how she got on the damn list. I also don’t really agree with the Ladies in Waiting Sidebar. Not every female in fiction should have a kick ass attitude, just like every guy in fiction shouldn’t either.

Pages 68 through 74 - Twisted ToyFare Theater: This wasn’t too bad, but I think the “smurf” every other word was worn out about two panels in. I loved the ending though. Hah! Jokey Smurf, I knew your pranks would one day end up in death.

Pages 76 through 77 - top 10 Hottest action figures: Yeah!! It warms my heart when I see so many G.I. Joes on the list.

Page 82 - Con Countdown: Well look it here…. an article by me!!! Flipping sweet. I was going to scan this to show you all, but then I got really lazy. Maybe I’ll share it later. For now buy your own copy of ToyFare! Seriously though, this is a dream come true. I really hope I can contribute again, because this was awesome pants.

And on that note, that’s it for This Month in ToyFare! Thanks for reading and while it’s sad to see Mr. Wampa go, I’m super glad that I was able to have my first real article published in the mag… and in his last issue no less!