Memories of a Toyaholic

Well, after much struggling, the inevitable had to happen:


"Not pictured: My wallet crying"

Since I finished MOTU 200X (that would be a week and a half ago...) I had a hole in my collector life that needed to be filled. Enter MOTU Classics. A toy line I said several times in the past I was not going to get sucked in... OK, guess what? I'm in (also, I'm a sucker).

Since I acknowledge the fact that I am an addict, I can show you the stages of this non terminal but wallet draining disease.

Stage 1:
Denial. "Nah, I won't buy this line, the sculpts are great, but the concept is... Wow, that Mer-man looks amazing, I could just buy him, but no, no... What's the point? I'm definitely out. Forget it Mattel! I'm too strong for you!"

Stage 2:
The Hunger. "Well, Man-at-arms looks incredible, and Webstor too. Man, Tri-Klops has sculpted eyes under the visor! I would like to see that... And they are releasing Moss Man, MOSS MAN! What? Partial flocking? Well, I guess it's OK... It's a great Moss Man."

Stage 3:
Temptation. "Stop waving that Mer-man in front of me, it doesn't matter if he was my favorite bad guy as a kid, I'm not interested! How much? Oh, I just have that amount on me right now... No, no... Plastic bag is fine."

Stage 4:
Realizing what you did. "What the fuck did I just do?"

Stage 5:
Compromise. "OK, so I'll only buy figures of characters that I really really really liked, Mer-man, Stratos, Tri-Klops, perhaps Webstor, and Moss man until Trap Jaw. Yeah, just those..."

Stage 6:
Expanding your compromise. "OK, OK... I know, I'll just buy the figures I have in the 80s version AND in the 200X version. That way I can, like, totally show the evolution of action figures. That's cool, like my own chronological museum. That's more geeky than cool, actually. Buy anyway, yeah, just those."

Stage 7:
Accepting your illness. "You know what? Screw this, I'll get them all. Who do you have? Stratos and Man-at-arms? Great, let's go."


"Yes, that's the cover of the first album of my progressive rock band: Mer-man and the winged arms. We sold almost two copies"

You creep me the flock out! (and other figures)

As you may guess from the title of the post, I just got the History of DC Universe Creeper (from Wave 2). I also got the Blue Devil from wave 1.



The sculpts are great, although Creeper's yellow is too bright and plain, when the preview images showed him a bit darker. Same thing happens to Blue Devil's blue... But that actually doesn't bother me as much.


"Yeah, flocked boas... They never go out of fashion"

I didn't liked the lack of certain articulation (and keep in mind that I don't like the over articulation of DCUC, it's growing on me, but I still hate the chest cut). It makes hard to pose the figures or even to get them to stand up straight. Like Andy from AFB said, the lack of ankle articulation is just ridiculous.


"Man, how did you knew I was smoking weed?"

The other figures I bought (really old ones) are also from DCD, but when it was starting and things like knee joints were a foreign concept to them:



This are the Big Barda and Oberon from Mr. Miracle Box Set (2000).

I had DCUC Big Barda (with the helmet) but she wasn't big enough for Mr. Miracle and the New Gods one looks just so different in a non Kirby display that I couldn't use it, so, when I found out that the fugly helmet on this one was removable, I decided to check how they looked together.


"- When we get home I expect dinner on the table in half an hour. Got it?
- Yes, dear"

It's true that she looks a little bit like Apache Chief. But I never thought Big Barda to be a bombshell, just a bomb, a big scary bomb. Y'know, the kind of woman you would never dare to say she looks like Apache Chief.


"What are you looking at tiny?"

Oberon is just a must have for a JLI display, and since I'm not sure If he'll be part of the elusive and much rumored JLI wave 3 from DCD, I'll have to stick to the pink shirt, red leotard, pink boots ensemble.

Apparently Jack Kirby hated the little people.

Complete collection. Part II.

OK, so this post took longer than I thought, true. So sue me (actually don't, I don't have much more than this blog and my toys, and I really like my toys... I guess you can get the blog if you want to).

The reason of the title of this post is that I've completed the MOTU 200X collection (just the figures, with no He-Man or Skeletor variants and with only one repaint of the same character), first I got two figures I never really gave much thought:



The Bone warrior from the Slime Pit Play Set wasn't actually a figure (almost an accessory), and the Snake Teela (exclusive from Toyfare in 2003) was a variant I didn't want. But the fact that I got them both loose and with not a lot of effort made them worthwhile.

The Snake Teela is nicely done, the paint details are good, although I would rather have her with a new head sculpt, with, for example, sculpted fangs or scales, but she was a quick repaint to get an exclusive, so I'm OK with the result.


"I wonder if the scales go all the way up to her... OK, OK... Backing up now"

The Bone warrior (one of Tri-Klops' minions) has the saddest action feature ever: without the safety and when touched on the chest plate, his torso explodes and his entrails cover the floor like it's a Robert Rodriguez film.

Really fun, if you're a kid (or a guy like me), to see He-Man do some real damage at last (that time he ripped off my cousin's toy Beast Man's head off in the 80s was totally an accident). But it's actually quite complicated for a collector to retrieve all the little pieces while keeping your dog away from a tasty plastic lung. Trust me.

Still, is kinda sad that the only purpose you have in life is to die every time someone punches you.


"AAIIIEEEEE! DAMN YOU 4 HORSEMEN! DAMN YOU TO HELL!"

And last but not least I finally got this sucker.



At first I thought this was just another variant, I don't know, "Hypothermia He-Man" or something.



But of course he's the also Toyfare Exclusive Faker. Not much to say about him, he's a repaint just as the original was, he's blue and thus unable to fool anyone into thinking that he's the real He-Man, unless it's really dark, plus, he has an 8-track player on his chest. One way or the other I'm so glad I finally got him.


"BIZARRO!... ehm... I mean... FAKER!"

Complete Collection. Part I.

I don't think a lot of people liked the Wildc.a.t.s. series Playmates did in the mid 90s. But I like 'em. They may not be very articulated (they don't even have knee joints) but they all can stand and pose in a pretty impressive way. The figures are very detailed, they have a ton of accesories, each of them with it's own name in the back of the card (they actually look a lot like Ninja Turtles cards, same company and all). The paint is accurate, and carefully done if you remember they were made over ten years ago. And since not a lot of people collect them, they are a cheap not easy to get (but not impossible either) option for a guy who really enjoyed the comic book (like me).

I had ten characters and, without the variants I don't usually get, only needed three to complete the set. Well, guess what?



Helspont, the leader of the Daemonites is posed on the blister, and he's so cool that after correcting the legs to made him stand I actually left him in that pose.


"What? This thing with my hand? I learned it in Dr Doom's School for evil villains. Don't you think I'm over doing it? No? Cool."

I displayed Zealot with one of her swords, 'cause she would look naked without them. Well, she's not wearing much in the first place.


"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! I hate the upskirt paparazzi creeps!"

And Black Razor is just the guy that's here to complete the set since I don't really know much about him. Just that he's Grifter's brother and that he looks kinda dangerous and not too bright.


"Oh, yeah, the stars, I was gonna paint them y'know? But then I said to myself, who's gonna look, right? Besides, How many were there? 45? 53? 82?"

Anyway, now I got this Willy cats just where i want them: All together, in my shelve.



So, COMPLETE COLLECTION.

But why part I?

Come again and find out next time.

Same Wildt.i.m.e.

Same Wildc.h.a.n.n.e.l.

Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey

As I commented in the AFB forums (cool place you should look it up) I got My very exclusive, very evasive, very much wanted, very nostalgic y surely overpriced Blue Space Money from Exor, the one and only Gleek.

Still in a bag.



Free from the bag of space slaver apparently called "Adult Collector".
(He also makes bags for McDonald's Happy Meals)



We have, of course, Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins. Two superheroes that didn't even had superhero names (Fortunately the creative team behind Justice League Animated changed that, when they called them Shifter and Downpour).



The packaging is amazing, with flashing lights and phrases from the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Phrases that raise so many questions, why would you transform into a bucket of water if you could turn into an Ice Jet? What happens if Jayna gets suddenly thirsty while she's a gorilla during a mission? Do most of Exor's men die that way? Where do you get the bucket? Do you carry it all day in case some kids fall on a well or something?

Sorry... Got carried away there, here are more pics...



And here are some more questions: How do you train a blue monkey? Is he their pet or is it the other way around? What happens if the monkey gets suddenly thirsty during a mission?



Conclusion: The world's not a very safe place if you are the guy inside the bucket.

Sorting everything out

As I promised, I sorted last time haul in the toys that will go in each display. They are:



The Justice League display, for a DC fan it took quite a while, but this is my first Aquaman figure. Oh, the shame if some of my Aqua-fan-friends knew...
The Orion/Lightray two pack is great (but I think Orion should be much more massive)
And the Phantom Stranger is just spot on. Plus the DCUC Mini Atom that came with Gentleman Ghost, I'm currently looking for the Atom of Infinite Heroes, since I think he'll blend in with the 6' figures and will be more noticeable in the display.



I'm just thrilled about this collection. Can't wait to get Amy from wave 6. And Cloberella too, I won't display her, but I want that Robot Santa!



More Batman Rogues: Gentleman Ghost is perhaps the most excuse needing villain (since he was a Hawkman villain at first) But he appears all the time in Batman, the Brave and the Bold. Plus Wikipedia says so.
Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday AND on Gotham swamp. So, he's a Batman villain, no questions asked.
And of course, Catwoman. It took me quite a while to find a Catwoman I actually liked. DCSH is very close to what I had in mind.



This Legendary Comic Book Heroes are the first Marvel Legends figures I've got. I really don't like the ball-jointed legs. I think that while it improves the poseability it really hurts the figure's looks. So, yeah, I guess I'm a form over substance kinda guy. Anyway, in this four figures, the balled legs are not as noticeable as, I don't know, Mad man's? So, I couldn't pass the chance to get Judges Dredd and Death and Clown Face with Panda (used to read Body Bags, a lot).

Plus, a bonus. I also got these:



Hanna Barbera Super-heroes. I had Space Ghost and (Harvey) Birdman. But last week I got Blue Falcon too, finishing the triad of really lame (but adorable) cartoon heroes that got easily spoofed on cable TV.

What? Too specific for a display?

Nonsense...