Freak Studios

ThunderCrap

2012-01-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

I will, eventually, get better at this... I promise.

Everybody else is doing it, why not me?

2012-01-03T02:14:00.001-08:00

It's a new year for toys and a new year for me too!

And it's also time to change things up a little bit.

If DC can reboot an entire universe, I can reboot my blog.

I think is time for my first videoblog.

Boba Fett: Booty Hunter (SDCC Haul II)

2011-08-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hi boys and girls, it's me, Uncle Freak after almost two weeks of shooting a TV series I finally return to the blogosphere to talk about toys and to talk about what I got in San Diego. It's a good thing that I never claimed to reveal or even keep a posting schedule, but I'll never leave you my friends.

I'll stay with you like Boba Fett on Han Solo's trail, even if the world becomes a prequel of itself I'll still be with you. Only that it's not going to be me, it's probably going to be the guy they cloned to get me. Or something.

Why are you still listening to me? We need to talk about toys.

One of the weirdest things I got in the con was a limited vinyl figure of Boba Fett holding a BoomBox. It really doesn't have a name: This is the card that came with the figure.

But screw this, I like my figures to have names, so I named him Roger. But then on a whim I changed his name to Boombox Fett. I think it suits him better.

It was done by an artist called Motorbot for a T-Shirt company, I'm pretty sure about it. But that's one of the greatest things about Comic Con, I just saw this one day and bought it, mainly because it looks cool, maybe because it's silly, might be because I have a soft spot for John Cusack (or was it Joan Cusack?) but mostly because it's Boba Fett holding a Boombox.

Boombox Fett was limited to 20 pieces, if you want to see some of the amazing toys Motorbot has done, check his Flickr.

I won't have to take unexpected trips for a while, so I think I'll be able to keep posting regularly. But if you ever miss me, just remember that moment in Say Anything when Boba Fett holds the Boombox up and the Imperial march starts playing. It always makes me smile.

Stay tuned!

What's up, Duke? (SDCC Haul I)

2011-08-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

And now some trivia you may not know about me: I am a David Bowie fan, I have all his albums, I've seen Labyrinth a couple million times and I even own a copy of The man who fell to Earth, the movie that started one of Bowie's many eras, the one where he was called the Thin White Duke.

(So, if you were wondering, the Duke in the title is Bowie and not John Wayne or Jo, or Luke and certainly not Daisy)

What does this have to do with San Diego Comic Con? Well, what if you could have a way to unite your obsession with toys, your enthusiasm for cuddly animals and your passion for the one and only Ziggy Stardust? Now, that would be cool, right?

Artist Jermaine Rogers gave me that when he did a print called Aleppin Sane that was later turned into a toy by a company called Plastic City.

The result was this awesome, huge (and incredibly light) vinyl piece:

For references regarding the size of this bust, you can check last post, for accuracy regarding the cover of David Bowie's album Aladdin Sane you can check this pic:

The bust is of course not articulated, the sculpt and colors are incredible simple and very effective. The fur is very nicely done. As I said before, since it's a piece of hollow vinyl the bust is super light despite it's massive size.

It now has a place of honor in one of my DVD shelves in my living room.

And the best part? One in ten boxes had a very limited signed and numbered print in it. And guess who got one?

"Me", the right answer was "Me" (no, not you). Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries before I could snap a pic of the print. But it is there, I'll post a pic when I show you more stuff I got in the Con.

There's more to come.

Stay tuned!

Back from SDCC!

2011-07-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, boys and girls, I'm back from the happiest (weirdest, awesomest, geekiest, busiest) place on Earth. San Diego Comic Con (or as they call it now Comic Con International, or something like that).

I've met some great friends (like Reis from Hey! Look at my Toys!, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifFishMilkSakehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif from the AFB Forum and George from Toybreak), saw some incredible cosplays, bought some pretty cool comics, found outstanding artists and got angry at Mattel (like I always do) because they messed up (like they always do).

And I'll try to cover all of that in my blog, but we all know what you want to see. Actually, I don't know what you want to see, but I certainly do know what I want to show you: The toys I got!

Part I

From left to right: SCUD the disposable Assassin (Shocker Toys), Superboy in the cloning pod (Young Justice - Mattel), Glo-Mancer (Bootleg by the Super Sucklord), Ty-po custom dunny (by Ryan the wheelbarrow), Bat-Baby Sharky (ToyQube exclusive), Bearbrick Green Lantern's Lantern (for a friend), Outer Space Men Waves 1 & 2 (by the Four Horsemen), Super deformed Bender (Toynami), Blazing Sword Voltron (Mattel), Glyos (from Onell design, met Matt Doughty too, awesome guy!), Angle Man, Killer Frost, Amazo, Vixen (the one I have doesn't stand at all and doesn't have a peg hole in her foot) and Goldface (JLU - Mattel), Skull-Pumpking-Octopus (or "Zeke" sculpted by George Gaspar) and an Isz (came with SCUD - Shocker Toys).

Part II

Boba Fett with a Boombox (maybe, I made the name up, by Motorbot), Heatwave (JLU - Mattel), two Z.O.M.B.I.E.S. (October Toys), Allepin Sane (by Jermaine Rogers - I also got the signed print that came in one out of ten boxes, score!), Robot Smorking Labbit (signed by Frank Kozik), Killer Star (JLU - Mattel), Those tiny ones in the front are B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. by Triclops Studios, another Labbit, Swamp thing (Mattel), Lion-O Spiki (Rotobox, the chase was Tygra, I didn't get it but I want it so baaaad), Ninja Agent P (blind box series from Phineas & Ferb), one of the Popaganda mini figures by Ron English, The Unmen (came with Swamp Thing - Mattel), Plastic Man (lead figurine by Eaglemoss), Daredevil (Super Hero Squad - Hasbro), Lucha Libre Agent P (same as before) and Professor Zoom (DC Direct exclusive - for a friend).

Part III

Mattel free wrestler guy (it was free, they gave one to my wife, I don't really know anything about it... Help?), Skin Deep Dunny by MAD (Kidrobot from the 2010 series), Black and white Mickey (Funko), Green Lantern Kilowog (deluxe lead figurine by Eaglemoss), Tuxedo Agent P and Boxers Agent P (Same as the same as before), Record Store Day Blind boxed guy from Frank Kozik (it was my least favorite design from the four guys, but Frank signed it and it's still kinda funny).

Well, mates that is all, my first SDCC, I saw a million things and I have missed two million more. My feet are killing me (and after the very long flight back home, my ass too), I spent a lot of money and I think I gained a couple of pounds because of all the junk food...

And all I can say about it is:

I can't wait to go back!

This is goodbye, for a few days

2011-07-16T07:46:00.001-07:00

Well guys I'm off to San Diego. I'll try to post some pics of the things I see and the people I meet. I'm still not sure what Internet access will I have so, I don't know how much will I be able to post.

I'll also try to upload stuff on twitter, you can check it out @studiofreak

Take care and, as Colin would say it, play with toys and have fun.

Stay tuned!

I'm telegraphing today's post...

2011-07-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

Why - QUESTION MARK -

Because it's about nostalgia - STOP - Because it brings me back memories from a distant past - STOP - Because it's about a figure I should have posted a long time ago - STOP - And basically because I have little time today - STOP

Today's figure - STOP STOP STOP (those are suspension points, I have no idea how to make those in Morse code, sorry) - She-Ra from the Masters of the Universe Classics line - STOP

And she's many figures in one - STOP

Let's look at several possible She-Ras -STOP / STOP (that's a colon, again, sorry)

With this head - STOP - Is the best toy representation of the character - STOP - Ever - STOP - The first She-Ra was quite ugly and the 200X was completely different from the rest of the line - STOP - I mean, she had hair - STOP - HAIR - EXCLAMATION MARK - The rest of the characters didn't - STOP -

I don't like doll hair on my toys - STOP - Makes them feel all girlie an stuff - STOP - Oh, I'll comb it, sure - STOP - But I won't be happy about it - STOP

With this head - STOP - The figure just looks stupid - STOP - With the shinny tiara - SLASH - mask she looks odd with the rest of the line - STOP - Other than that, is the same figure - STOP - Without the tiara comes the horror - DUN DUN DUN (that's for the dramatic effect, and no, it doesn't work in a non telegraphic post either...)

That's a fucking hole in her head - EXCLAMATION MARK - At least I could finally reenact South Park with MOTUC figures - STOP

Ass you may have guessed, the hole head goes right to the accessories box - STOP - Until the day I want to customize a zombie She-Ra - STOP - Hey, that may not be such a bad idea - STOP - Right - QUESTION MARK

By the way, in case you didn't noticed, I cheated, I used commas - STOP

And

... - .- -.-- / - ..- -. . -..

(That should say "Stay tuned" in Morse code, man, I hope that online translator was telling the truth)

When you are a collector, you can never dodge THAT bullet

2011-07-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw the Pop Heroes line from Funko was on a pic on a screen and I thought that they were cute, but not cute enough to be an instant addition to the Compulsive Collector Shop List, you probably have one too.

Mine is color coded and I have it online, you can arrange it by price, size, company, line, availability, fun factor and type of material used to make the figure. I mean, just like yours, right?

Ahem...

The fact is, Funko's line didn't grab my attention in online pictures. And I thought to myself "Wow! I dodged that bullet".

But seeing them in person is different, a couple of days ago I was visiting my local scalper...

(That's right, we don't have Toys R' Us in Argentina, we have friends who buy toys to sell and bring them to the country in very large boxes, usually to pay for their own toys and not to make a profit, maybe I should write a book called "My Scalper and me", what do you think?)

Anyway, I went to his place to get some stuff he had for me and then I saw a couple of Pop Heroes on his shelf... And by a couple, I mean the whole damn line! My Scalper has problems too.

And no, I tried, but as a collector, you can never dodge that bullet.

I got Batman and Joker, I still don't know if I'm going to get them all, but there are some characters I just need to have. The Flash and Riddler, for example. We'll see about the rest, for now, let's talk about these.

These figures are simple, silly and rely on the belief that a cute sculpt can overcome the fact that they are squatting and in an awkward position. They have almost no articulation, except for the head, and they'd kick Blammoids' sorry square asses in a heartbeat.

The paint apps were OK, and the weight and feel of the figure is pretty decent.

Of all the figures, Joker is my favorite so far (they only released two waves: Batman Family characters and Main DC Universe Heroes) I just love the sculpt of the head and the decision to make him with those crazy spirally eyes.

Fun Fact: Spirally eyes are a symbol of craziness or mental instability in kindergartens almost everywhere in the world. It is also used to depict a drunken person, at least that's the way I used to draw my uncle... Oh... Repressed memory flashback. That wasn't apple juice...

Anyway, my mind is not blown away by these little guys, but they certainly cheer me up when I see them. Nicely done Funko, nicely done.

More to come. Stay tuned!

Too good to be true

2011-07-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

If you think that the title of this post is talking about the fact that I'm making two posts in a row, well Ha Ha! Mr. Funny guy, but it's not. Also, screw you! How dare you make fun of me that way...

OK, OK, forgive me, some pre-trip tensions... Good news in the toy world today, thanks to the very opportune advice from my friend Ben aka Fishmilkshake, I was able to buy some Mattel exclusives online today, and I'm pleased to say that everything worked out great, no screens of death, no refresh nightmares, and the voucher arrived and everything. Incredible.

If you think that the title of this post is about the fact that Mattel didn't screw up in an online sale. Well, it certainly might be, but it's not.

Today I'm talking about the awesome art of one Jared Cain also and perhaps better known as Nikejerk. I saw Jared's work online and he was one of those artists that stand out so much I just had to send him a message congratulating him on a custom set of ninja turtles using Dunnys as the base.

I was so amazed by those that I asked him if he could do a set for me. But he said he was sorry, that he never repeated commission customs. That way he ensured the uniqueness of the piece for the collector.

I can't really argue with that logic, so I thought about something else I wanted and I ended asking him for two of my favorite comic book characters made in Dunny form.

And he even made custom boxes for these!

After all this introduction, maybe you are a bit anxious to see them...

So here they are:

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold in all their Dunny goodness.

I just love Nikejerk's style, the bold black lines, the sculpted bits and the colors just seem to fit, even when using a platform that forced him to work around a couple of big, annoying bunny ears.

Booster Gold is great, the goggles and the hair are sculpted and the face (Jared told he worked on several facial expressions until deciding to go with this one) is just great. I love this character, ever since I started reading superhero comic books, he will always be one of the greatest for me, and I love all the attention he's getting recently.

Blue Beetle is also a great representation of the character, and this version of him does work better with the base, since Dunnys are chubby creatures and BB had a few extra pounds in those days.

And if you were wondering what he's holding.

Jared went all the way and made a removable BB Gun. In a word? Awesome!

If you like to see more of Nikejerk's work, you can see it here.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
And if you want to ask him for a commission, tell him Tom sent you, but you can't have another Booster and Beetle Dunnys, 'cause those are all mine!

Just kiddin'.

But seriously... Mine!

Another post tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

The inevitable return of the Great White Dope!

2011-07-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and girls, It's been a while, this last month I spent away from this blog was really crazy with work, and incredible with some pretty cool news, for example, on July 30 I'll do a reading to present my book that was printed some time ago. But before that I'll be going for the very first time to San Diego Comic Con, a tradition that perhaps will remain in the future if my wife doesn't kill me first.

But why should she? Going to SDCC was actually her idea, oh yes, all hers. To honor that incredible fact I'm going to talk about relationships instead of toys in this post (and of course it will be very toy related at some point, 'cause our partners must endure our collecting habits in order to be a fully happy functional couple, right? Right?).

As an example of this, here's a little story: I had several girlfriends in the past, serious relationships that may have ended in serious commitments, but none of them were THE one. How did I know this? Easy, because of the Conan test. Let me clarify, with each of my girlfriends, eventually, the question "Is Conan a classic film in the history of movies?" was asked. And all of them but one (the last one) replied "no".

My actual (and future) Freaky wife just gave me a blank stare and said "well, duh! Of course it is". And then we watched Conan the Barbarian AND Conan the Destroyer on DVD.

Things like that, the idea of going to SDCC and a super awesome incredible birthday present I got from her on june tells me everyday I was ever so right to apply the Conan test.

When will this post start to be toy related you may ask, well, here, 'cause she gave me these kick-ass new stands for my toy shelves:

Isn't that amazing?

Since I've been such a lazy ass in the past month I'll try to make a post everyday before going to San Diego (next saturday).

Stay Tuned!

All hail our (Victorian) Robot Overlords!

2011-05-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, So, I can't really pick up a theme after almost three weeks of not posting shit. But, hey, the Internet is a free country, of some sorts.

Anyway, I feel I have to explain my sudden absence, I have been really swamped with work lately, so much I couldn't even finish a custom piece for the awesome AFB custom challenge. So incredibly swamped that I couldn't even think stupid jokes to go with my toy posts. I'm sorry, but now I'm back.

And I'll pick up where I left and do a last post about robotic toys (I have more, but let's stop here for a while). With something a little bit different.

I've talked about Doktor A before, this awesome British artist that does Mechtorians (AKA Victorian robots), and this post is exactly about that: Mechtorians - mini figures - series 1 (and so far, the only one) from Mindstyle.

A total of six characters done in vinyl with the great detail and design you can expect from this artist. Of course, you can't just walk into a grocery store in Argentina and ask for some Mechtorians (or any other vinyl toys for that matter, actually I think there are a couple of sex shops that work with some vinyl stuff... But I don't really want to go down that path), I was able to get these toys thanks to the help of my awesome friend Connor (You should totally check his blog, here).

Since Doktor A has a great imagination and an awesome sense of humor, I'll let him describe each character. Also, I'm a lazy bastard and I'm all for copy/paste.

Sir Shilling Copperpenny
Manager at the Bank of Retropolis. He has deep pockets and short arms. Although his heart is large (some would say just old fashioned) he loves his coin collection above all else... he has even toyed with the idea of having his beloved coins fashioned into a spouse.

I love this guy, reminds me of the bankers in Mary Poppins, kinda. The little legs and arms and the drawers in his chest make him look like something Salvador Dali would have painted. Amazing.

Stephan LePodd
In 1890 the French explorer Stephan LePodd lost his arms, legs and one lung in an unfortunate miscalculation whilst on a trip mapping new Volcanoes in the south Pacific. Luckily, due to his huge family wealth and favorable connections within The Ministry's department for cyber-steam development, he was able to attain the use of a prototype Self Ambulatory Environment Protection Suit initially intended for deep-sea divers. After a trip to his tailor to make the thing "Look respectable at dinner parties and the theatre" he successfully re-entered polite society. Stephan is one of the few part biological members of Retropolis's society. He made the move as he felt his new found longevity would seem improper around anyone but that peculiar Dorian fellow.

So, Retropolis is a place that exists at the same time as human cities. Very interesting. Also is the mention of Dorian Gray. These figures are small (as I said, they are mini figures), but there's also a 6" Stephan Lepodd that I will eventually own. Mark my words!

Scuttler the Butler
One of the very first mechanical servants built by professor Whistlecraft. More of an ambulatory tea tray than a real butler. He has trouble opening doors or moving objects due to his lack of arms or indeed lack of a prehensile moustache, a feature found in later models of Mechtorians. He also has a terrible memory and bad sense of direction, resulting in him often getting lost in large houses and arriving after such a delay that the teapot has grown cold. He valiantly attempts to fulfill his role in life. But is mostly kept around for sentimental reasons.

What a useless piece of awesome crap this robot is. He can bring tea, but not pour it, he gets lost and can't open doors. I love this bio, for two reasons, first, the concept of a prehensile mustache, I want, no... I NEED ONE so badly! Second, the mention of professor Whistlecraft, a hint on Doktor A's true identity. Also the tea cups and pot are removable.

Sentry Wheel
One of the city gate guards. Though independent in motion their bodies, when in place, form part of the mechanism required to open the main access way to Retropolis. If they decide you are not coming in then there is little you or anyone else can do about it.

A guard that is also the only way to open the door. Love the idea, now I really want a Retropolis movie.

D.J. Gramo
Entertainer and celebrity. Dermot Joshua Gramo spins the tunes in the most popular of night spots. His personal collection of 78's is legendary, the largest in the world they say. It has to be noted that his rise in popularity has put pay to the careers of a great deal of the city's wax cylinder hawkers and peddlers. Everyone wants the new flat disk records these days. It's what's hip don't you know.

I like his story, not so much the figure. Is the most simple and less "robotic" one, looking more like an object, but hey, not all can be winners. I do love this last though...

Mr. Head
Philosopher and thinker extraordinare. Responsible for the big ideas in Retropolis. Advisor to royalty, big business and the lay-mech alike. His thoughts are wonderful, colourful and huge in scope. Though he is a tad forgetful and so makes endless reams of unintelligible notes on napkins and envelopes. Not a great dinner guest as he tends to mutter to himself constantly.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

A bunch of eyes, a huge head, legs and a massive mustache, what else is there in life I ask you.

For what I know there's a second series of mini figures since these are from 2009 I'm not sure if they are still coming or not, I sure hope they are since the designs for the second series are even better than these. You can check out more mechtorians and other stuff in Doktor A's site.

C'mon Dok, make it happen!

Until next time.

All hail our new Robot Overlords - Part II

2011-04-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, so apparently nothing happened in the date the movies gave and Skynet is not the ruler of the world... But hey, I'm didn't get to be the self proclaimed minister of Human/Robot relations by jumping to conclusions to fast. Not at all.

So I'll play it safe and keep saying that robots are awesome for some time, before shamelessly switching sides.

This time is the turn of the very cool MOTU Classics Roboto!

Since Roboto's pretty old and everybody did a review of already I'll just go through some basics:

1) Roboto is super cool.
2) His shoulders are reversed, I don't really care.
3) He's wearing purple underwear.
4) The gears on his chest rotate when you move his waist, his mouth doesn't open.
5) He comes with four hand attachments, a gun, a claw, an axe and a regular hand.
6) Purple underwear!
7) You can't store the attachments in his body. Lame.
8) He's got a heart-shaped chip in his chest to reflect his He-Man mini comic appearance.
9) Some parts are reused but there's enough new tooling to keep me quiet.
10) He's got purple underwear! Why are you ignoring this? This cannot be ignored! The robot is wearing PURPLE UNDERWEAR!!!
12) The paint apps were pretty precise with some minor bleeding hre and there, nothing important.
11) He looks great despite the choice color of some of his parts.
12) They are purple.

And that's about it. But let me explain why I love Roboto. As a little Freak, and a MOTU enthusiast, Roboto was the one that got away. I never owned one, but a friend of mine did. And I hated that bastard! At that point I wasn't that much into magic anymore, but was getting really into Science fiction, the literary genre my dad loved the most and the one he taught me to love.

Roboto was the perfect combination of my past and my present at that time and I really wanted Roboto. He was sooooo awesome. But I didn't have one. So I grew up bitter and twisted and never played with toys again.

Not really.

Actually I grew up as a toy loving geek and made sure to get every version of Roboto ever! Ha! Take that Universe!

That's a life lesson right there...

And sepaking of Robot parts, Stephen, the winner of our Bionic contest got his prize (a Bionic Bjoern from Hauke Scheer) already and he's showing off too! Hate him here.

Until next time.

All hail our new Robot Overlords

2011-04-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

According to my calculations (based on solid empirical facts) Skynet gained consciousness a couple of days ago and yesterday launched a devastating nuclear attack...

So for you poor helpless survivors I'll start a series of posts so you can recognize and praise our new Robot Overlords.

Like this one:

This is Mecha Sad Bear by artist Luke Chueh, done for the series called Kaiju for Grown Ups. That series, started by the Japan based company called Wonderwall, got several artists to create (or recreate) Kaiju monsters.

My good friend Reis actually owns the Woodlands Monster and the Mothman reimagined by David Horvath, creator of Uglydolls.

Luke Chueh is one of the most interesting artists out there. His take on a terrible reality using mostly bears and bunnies is incredibly disturbing and at the same time quite funny.

This is one of my favorite pieces done by Luke:

It's called "Soundtrack to my life". I just love it. I'd love to have several of his prints to frame on my house.

Anyway, Mecha Sad Bear was released in 2008. Is 6" and has five points of (very limited) articulation. There are six colorways, the silver version that I have (because is the one that makes more sense to me) was limited to 200 pieces. But you can also find it in gold, black, clear, glow in the dark and, if I'm not mistaken, orange.

I'm starting to build a small collection of toys by Luke Chueh and Mecha Sad Bear is one of my favorites so far.

He also gave me an idea, a stop motion animation show like celebrity death match but with all the giant monsters from popular culture...

It's genius! Don't you think Skynet?

What?

OK, OK, I'll shut up now.

Until next time.

Now I know my ADD... No, wait... ABC, I know my ABC

2011-04-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Several toy bloggers decided to make a challenge in April called the A to Z challenge, meaning one toy for every letter in the alphabet before the month ends. I really don't know who started it, but I think it's quite cool.

I decided to enter too, but unlike some of my fellow bloggers (like Adrian from Little Plastic Man, Alex from Toy Heaven, or Leon from Open the Toy) who are making a terrific job covering one toy and one letter at a time with reviews and posts, I decided to go for the whole alphabet in just one sitting.

Trying to pay a little homage to the work of Edward Gorey, this is Freak Studios' Toy Alphabet.

Until next time.

It's a miracle, fool!

2011-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

One of the most interesting Mini Blind Box series of last year is Matt Jones' Lunartik in a cup of tea. For some reason the design of these little dudes is incredibly appealing to me.

I just love these tiny little things, and I really can't explain why. Maybe is the little cup, maybe is because they don't look like anything even remotely human, maybe is because they are so damn cute. I don't know, and I don't care.

As a line based purely on looks I don't need to have them all, just a couple is OK. Or so I thought, until I saw the "special" chase figures:

Yes! That one there is called "Mr. Tea" and it's a tiny Mr. T in a tiny cup of tea with the colors of the A-team van...

(I can't breath...)

(Wait for it...)

THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!!!

I also have a strong love/hate relationship with this line. The love part is easy to understand, the hate part is easy too. These things are absolutely impossible to get in Argentina. I even tried to order a case, just to get that Mr. Tea.

Only one problem:

Did you see it yet? Let me help you a little bit...

Yeah, the ratio of Mr. Tea is 2 in 160 blind boxes! That meant I had to order a minimum of 80 boxes if I wanted to get one, and not even then was a sure thing.

I might have cried a little...

BY the title of the post you might have guessed by now, my sister went to London and bought me 2 (two!!!) boxes. And guess what was in one of them...

Oh yeah!!! Mr. Tea, "Strong and black" as the label says. And he is all mine.

He's just as cute and awesome as I wanted him to be. But he's always feeling pity for me and doesn't trust me if I put milk in his tea... I might need to get some other minis to customize into the rest of the A-Team... Hmmm... That's an idea.

And the freaky thing is that the other box had this:

That's the Lunar tea, another one of the specials 1 in 40. The Lunar Tea might look simple, but glows in the dark. I'm not crazy about GITD like my friend Charles, but I sure do like 'em a lot.

Next time I'm going to buy some blind boxes I'm definitely taking my sister with me!

Until next time.

Silly rabbit, tricks are for geeks!

2011-04-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Apparently, The Trickster, a (not-so) notorious villain from DC Comics has taken over Stephen's blog. In order to release the hostages without any incidents he's demanding that you answer five (evil) questions.

If you do so, he might even give you something for your trouble. He'll probably make Stephen pay for it but there's really nothing to do about it, bad guys are bad guys, right?

So, enter the contest and watch how The Trickster makes Stephen pay for your stuff!

Oh, here's the bad dude himself...

(This image might give you a hint to answer one of the questions... What?... Trickster... You never told me I couldn't give hints... C'mon... It was a joke... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...)

The three "Rs" of toy marketing: (R)eboot, (R)efresh, (R)elease characters nobody wants...

2011-03-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

Reboot.

I'm not just talking about movies, "reboot" seems to be a magical word that can be applied to anything these days. And it is a welcome word in some cases and it's a most feared concept the rest of the time.

Don't get me wrong, change is a good thing. It's a great thing, but only if timming is good. When Mattel announced that they were going to turn the Batman the Brave and the Bold - Action League line into DC Universe Action League I celebrated the idea. That meant more characters and less Batman variants.

But remember what I said about timming? In this case, Mattel, like happens to a lot of people in bed, started too slow and finished too early... Or so I've heard it happens... I mean, it never happened to me... Ehm... Moving on...

What I'm trying to say is that they never released the last wave of Brave and the Bold. And it was a good wave, thanks to the stolen factory samples we all know and love, we know we missed Robin, Solomon Grundy, Green Lantern Sinestro, Bronze Tiger, Deadman, Alloy and Ted Kord Blue Beetle. That sounds good to you too, huh?

Let's see what we got instead:

It's a pretty cool first wave anyway. Two very interesting two-packs and two semi-lame ones. That's six cool figures out of a total of eight. Not bad. Not bad at all.

(But don't worry Mattel haters, these numbers will surely change in the next, already announced, waves)

The Flash and Captain Boomerang was probably my favorite. I love both characters, and although I would have liked a classic Digger, I'm not against this brightest day redesign.

Flash (like Superman) came with a base to help the running/flying look. The base is small, stable and it fits perfectly on the peg. Flash's supposed to have his fist forward like he's punching something, but there's a lot of figures that have that pose. So I'll pose it like this.

Boomerang is the less stable of the wave, he doesn't fall but he's much more sensitive to strong vibrations than the others.

The Superman/Bizarro pack was the other great one we got in this wave.

Bizarro is very well done, looks a little bit like Quasimodo in this design, I like the fact that he's not just a copy of Superman but has so many distinctive features, like the longer arms and open hands.He also has the strange honor of being the second figure in the line with an accessory (I can't remember if any of the Batmen from TB&TB had any, so I'm just counting Gorilla Grodd and his removable helmet). A really big chunk of Kryptonite, he's supposed to hold it over his head, but if you have patience and a little bit of balancing skill you can find other ways to display the character.

I'm not a Superfan, but this line was deffinitely lacking in Kryptonians, so he's welcome and he looks good too.

Refresh.

What changed in this line from the previous TB&TB? The hands in the new ones are bigger and they have a little bit more detailed sculpt (now they have abs and ribs, for example).

Batman & Superman - Until Mattel releases a new Batman (and probably other Superman).

This is one of the Semi-lame packs, Firestorm is great, again, I like the character, the figure looks great and it is super fun. With that color scheme he really pops up on the shelf.

Black Lantern Firestorm or Deathstorm on the other hand, is pretty much "meh". I know he's now his own character, but I would have liked other characters more, like Killer Frost, or Plastique or Multiplex... Hell, I would even have accepted Doctor Double X, he was in the cartoon, in the episode that Firestorm was created and I'm sure he has more appearances than Deathstorm.

Finally my least favorite pack. And not because of Green Lantern, he's really cool looking (although he had a few paint marks on the chin). This is the year of the Lantern and I get that, but still this line is getting to be a bit too Lantern-Centric for my taste. Kilowog, John Stewart, Tomar Re, Low from the Sinestro Corps, Atrocitus from the Red Lantern Corps and some weird ball guy from the Red Lanterns have been announced. It's too much.

The third "R" takes us to White Lantern Sinestro. I really don't like this dude. I mean, I have nothing against him, as a Con exclusive, for example (I own one of the DCD exclusives). But a White Lantern Sinestro here is not the same, this one is taking the spot of other more deserving characters and even is taking the spot of even more deserving incarnations of himself. I would have taken Green Lantern Sinestro, Sinestro corps Sinestro and even blue/black Sinestro costume before this one.

Well, at least this line still made justice for one guy...

Until next time.

How do you call the love child of Grizzlor and Buzz-Off?

2011-03-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

Fur-Bee!

OK, OK... Sorry.

I'm trying to pick up the pace in my MOTU Classics reviews, so I tried mixing to very different figures under one title.

But there are other thing that these characters have in common, for starters the Bio writers tried to be funny with their real names: Buzz-Off is "Tzzzzt zz zzTTTzz" and Grizzlor is "Gur'rull Gu'rrooowarrrk"... Really, Bio writers? Really? OK, nice try... But you should leave the funny part to guys like me. Why? Because the stupid joke I opened the post with will only last a post... And it will not be printed in every fucking package the figure is in... That's why!

Anyway, I'll start with Grizzlor.

I owned (a never truly liked) Grizzlor when I was a kid. He was like a fur ball with arms and legs and therefore, not very threatening. The lack of shape of the body was a turn down for me, because, let's face it, he didn't even look like a bear... He was more like the Pink Panther after coming out of the washing machine...

The 200X MOTU staction of Grizzlor improved greatly on the original design by adding shape and a shit load of weapons. The new one, sadly, didn't evolve as much.

(But he did rocked some serious Son-Goku hair)

There's not much to say about Grizzlor other than "he's the furry dude". The face sculpt is great and I like the added loincloth, a detail absent from the vintage and present in the staction that gives him some definition to his body.

But Grizzlor really kicks some serious ass in the weapons department, his got axes, machetes, knives and a Horde cross-bow! The best part is that everything can be stored in his back-pack. Each weapon is sculpted very well and looks great on him. I will display it with the little axe, because is different than the other weapons on the line.

At home, the one that got really excited with Grizzlor was my wife, because only she, with years and years of Barbie experience, was able to comb Grizzlor's fur into this stylish new hairdo...

Buzz-Off is a different story, I really liked this figure when I was a kid. He wasn't my favorite, not by a long shot, but I always had a soft spot for him.

The sculpt is great, I'm OK with the reused parts from Whiplash, the paint really gives him a new personality with no need for more extra tooling than what he has. He comes with his helmet and two weapons, but I'll display him without them.

I don't like the helmet for nostalgic reasons, I didn't really liked how the vintage helmet looked in the figure. Plus, the color of the eyes makes him pop on the shelf. I won't display him with weapons (he comes with two of them), because why would you need a tiny axe having razor sharp claws?

The sad part is that paint wise my Buzz-Off had some QC issues. The paint in the eyes, for example, wasn't very good.

The best parts of Buzz-Off (vintage and classic) are his wings. Casted in clear plastic and using ball joints in tha back, I just love how they look. And all the cool display options you have with them. He can stand easily even with his wings open, and that's great.

I said it before, and I'll say it again, I loved Buzz-Off as a kid because he was one of the very few monsters the heroic warriors had on their side on the first three waves of MOTU. In Argentina those were the biggest waves, the fourth with Sy-Klone, Roboto and Moss-man wasn't as popular as the others, and some characters were harder to find.

But I say this so often is time to prove my point, so here it is, a list of all heroic warrior from the first three waves:

He-Man - Magically altered human.
Man-at-arms - Mustache wielding human.
Stratos - Some sort of flying almost human creature? Flying ape? He looked human.
Teela - Hot human.
Man-E-Faces - Altered schizophrenic human.
Ram-man - Mutated and mentally challenged human.
Fisto - Altered human. Possibly chronic masturbator.
Mekaneck - Altered human with useless power.
Prince Adam - Sissy human.
Orko - Non-human. Annoying and useless in battle.
Buzz-Off - Honest to God monster.

Now I'll just have to think something else these characters have in common so I can close the review... Oh, yeah, this:

Until next time.

Dunny by artist: Clark R.

2011-03-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you come across a custom so good you just need to have it. Most of the custom dunnys I have were made by friends or other people I know. In this case, I didn't knew the artist, I just saw a post about him on Spanky Stokes' blog and I immediately contacted this so called "Clark R."

The name of the custom was Day Dreamer Dunny.

Clark was super cool and told me he was going to do a run of 20 of the DDD (Day Dreamer Dunny) but that they were not ready yet. I liked the box the dunny came in, but I liked this even more:

I like that he took the time to write something in the box for me. I try to do it when I mail something too (not always, I'm afraid, but I try to do it as much as possible), because what we are doing here is not only buying or selling or trading is also getting to know people that share your passion, and I dig that.

But let's get to the toy, what caught my attention that badly?

Here it is:

This is a 3" dunny. Is painted white (is very shinny too), and inside his clear head there's some incredible micro-sculpting. I tried to take better pics of it, but it was really difficult 'cause they turned either too dark or the light was reflected on the plastic. Here's the best one.

You can still tell how awesome it is. The details and colors on the little landscape are great. Is one of those pieces that just makes you smile when you are working sixteen hours a day with just two thoughts: "I really want to be outside right now" and "man, that shotgun wasn't THAT expensive".

On those days, this dunny makes you forget that shotgun. That's how good it is.

Until next time.

That's one angry pussy...

2011-03-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

So I reached THAT level, y'know? I'm in THAT deep that I can even post about it without feeling shame (well, just a little bit of shame, but not enough! Not enough, I tell you! Not enough!).

I bought a toy just to get the accessory! And the accessory is a Red Lantern (the color of fury) and it is also a cat. What? What were you thinking? Pervs...

Last week I got this:

That's DC Direct's Red Lantern Mera from Blackest Night Wave 7. Man! Seven waves already? Yeah, seven waves and they are not even done yet! When I read it, I though Blackest Night was OK, and the toys are pretty cool (I'm still looking for that damned Larfleeze).

Like some of my friends I was annoyed that the first Mera figure ever was a two-page gimmick like this one. Don't get me wrong, the figure is great, lacks articulation (like most figures from DCD), but it has great detail and sculpt. Luckily a regular Mera will come out as part of the Brightest day line (also from DCD).

It's really weird, but now that DCD is kinda trying to do never released characters (they are releasing Mera, Hawk, Dove, the new Aqualad, Jade, etc.) Mattel decided to do an entire wave of substitute lanterns. It's like the world has gone mad! Mad, I tell you! Mad! (I really should cut that out).

But why did I get Mera if I didn't really want her? For this:

That's Dex-Starr a Red Lantern that used to be a cat and now is a little feline killing machine. Apparently he was drawn as a joke and he was weird and so out of place, that they decided to leave him. And, for what I've heard he became a fan favorite.

His back story is actually great, probably one of the best things Geoff Johns ever wrote. But maybe to sad for you, so I probably shouldn't post it... I'm just kidding, here it is!

The sculpt on Dex-Starr is great, but when I got it out of the blister I couldn't get him to stand. I thought it was a solid chunk of plastic that didn't stand on it's own and I was getting really pissed, at me, at DCD, at the Guardians of the Universe, at God, whatever, I was just angry enough to vomit acid blood.

So I turned to the Internet, source of all reason and justice... But the online reviews didn't give me any hope, just a bunch of people complaining about how Dex-Starr wouldn't stand. But they did give a crucial piece of information, the tail was articulated.

Then I realized, it's not that he can't stand, it's just that the tail is packed on the wrong side of the body. Force it a bit to the other side, no hair driers or hot water required and...

Wait for it...

He can stand! It's a miracle I tell you! A miracle!

Sorry, I had to do it one last time.

Until next time.

Dreams can come true...

2011-03-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

If you have access to the Internet and a credit card.

In my trip to San Francisco last year I found a very cool tiny figure called Mini Gobi, the company that made him is Muttpop, and I said at that time that I wanted the figures from the Lucha Libre line Muttpop was doing.

But, at that time, I was one of two possible kinds of bastards:

1) A lazy bastard. Too comfortable to track this figures down.
2) A cheap bastard. Too greedy to buy the figures I wanted.

Well, I don't really like to call this personal growth, but Hell, I'm no longer cheap nor lazy since I tracked down those toys and I bought them like there was no tomorrow!

Yay me! (I think...)

Some of them got to me with the help of a dear friend of mine (more on him when I get to those toys).

Let's start with these.

I got this from an online toy store. First of all I got one of my Holy Grails Dr. Destruction.

According to his bio, Dr. Destruction is French, that explains his French mustache and the cigarette, because unless you are The Penguin you have to be French to smoke like that, right? Actually no, but hey, whatever, the figure is cool.

I really like the almost animé features of his smile. I can really see the artwork that lead to this figure. The cape, cane and cigarette are separate pieces, and you can display Dr. Destruction without them, but I don't know why would you want to do that. He looks so incredibly awesome.

There's almost no articulation but these are more like vinyl statues and not action figures, a shame since you can't really play with them and they look like awesome toys to play with.

Tequila is one of the big guys of the line. His bio says that he was raised by cacti, probably agave since his name is Tequila and that's the plant tequila is made of. I always thought tequila was distilled from drunken worms and broken dreams, a guy can be wrong y'know?

Tequila is great, the sculpt looks amazing and his poncho is removable. He was the first figure released by Muttpop, I couldn't get the original release of Tequila, but I didn't want to get one of the repaints (although there's a very very cool Incredible Hulk one...). Apparently the guys at Muttpop had us covered because they did Tequila 2.0

2.0 is Basically the same paint with a bloody fist and a blood splatter in his clothes. Fits perfectly for a guy that looks like this if you ask me.

These toys are great, and big, and for me are some of those things that you just know you need when you see them. Keep them coming Muttpop, and I'll keep buying them.

Did I mention they were big?

Until next time.

Thundercats of the Universe Classics

2011-03-05T02:55:00.000-08:00

Like my friend Scott, I'm way behind in my MOTUC posts, so this month I'll try to pick up the pace. I still don't have Bow, and he should be here any day now, but I have several characters to get to before that. I'll try to do one MOTU post a week to make up for lost time. I decided to start with him:

I think I was one of the few people that was really excited about getting a Chief Carnivus, I liked the 200X cartoon, and I love the 200X toy line so having him and Count Marzo just improves my chances of ever getting a King Dactys figure...

That's a freaky toy collector dream, I tell you...

But Carnivus is a great character on his own right. Many said that Mattel released Carnivus as a way to show collectors what they were missing when Bandai got the Thundercats license, I don't know if that's right (probably not), but those Classic 8" Lion-O and Tygra Bandai showed look awesome anyway.

Carnivus' sculpt is incredible, some reuse from Beastman and a lot of new tooling, and I really like the new parts: the head, paws, sword, shield, armor and cape. He looks like a lion king (ha!) and If I had a Chief Carnivus in the vintage line when I was a kid he could have totally been Lion-O's father. Tell me that doesn't have a huge amount of play value.

The sculpt in the shield is particularly impressive, proving once again just how talented the 4 Horsemen truly are.

I'm trying to follow Eternian history through the bios, but it's really complicated, I think, most of the time, Eternian warriors weren't sure who the fuck they were fighting. They'd charge into battle, kill a few enemies and then go "You'll never get away with this, Skeletor... Oh, we are fighting the Snake-Men today... My bad... OK... You'll never get away with this, King Hsss!".

Maybe Mattel could add a non character specific Eternian time line with each figure starting, I don't know, with the Faceless One or something. That way, if you collect all figures for the next year or so you can have a complete time line that will maybe (just barely maybe) help you understand that world.

Another plus of Chief Carnivus is that he adds non-human characters to the good guys. That, I've said it already, was something I always felt they were lacking. you have a lot of altered humans fighting with He-Man (and a giant bee), but the monsters were mostly in Skeletor's side. That's why he usually won when I was a kid. I like monsters. Maybe with guys like Carnivus and Dactys on the team those battles would have been a little less one-sided.

Until next time.

StupiDoodles

2011-03-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Since my idiotic drawings were, mostly, accepted the other day, I'll upload now and then some stupid (badly) drawn doodles. Here's the first.

A chronic masturbator turned into a zombie becomes...

We'll be back with our usual toy posts.

Silly Toys: It's evolution, baby!

2011-02-26T19:26:00.001-08:00

The results are in!!!

2011-02-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

OK, Hauke wrote to me and send me the results, I'll let him do the talk from now on. I decided to illustrate the winning comments, but since it is the end of the month and I'm kinda broke I couldn't hire any actual artists and had to do it myself. You'll (probably) forgive me.

Winner: Stephen

His entry:
Being a toy collector, I'd replace my rectum with a cash machine so that I could literally poop money on demand, to either A.) support my habit or B.) go cold turkey when no one will accept the money.

Hauke said:
This one made me laugh the most. A money pooping cyborg sounds like something that could actually fit in with some of my own work. :-)

(Bad) artist's depiction:

Second place: Fishmilkshake

His entry:
What is the forehead good for? Absolutely nothing. I'd make better use of the space and have a frickin' laser beam implanted. First order of business...bad service at retail stores.

Hauke said:
This is another answer where I immediately saw some weird character in my mind blasting away aliens with a huge ridiculous forehead laser.

I doodled:

Last comment from Hauke:
It was really hard to choose the two winners. Honorary mentions go to krakit, 3B, brobles and Bubbashelby. You guys almost made it.

So STEPHEN is the winner and he'll get an awesome Bionic Bjoern from Hauke Scheer. And what is the surprise bionic prize for the runner up?

This:

A carded Fuerza T Tekno. Only the finest Argentinean copyright infringement Masters of the Universe rip-off line.

Both the winner and the runner up must send me their info to funforfreak@gmail.com

There will be more contests in the near future, I'm cooking some great prizes for you. Thanks for entering and for all the incredible comments. I wouldn't have been able to pick a winner myself.

Until next time.

It's over!

2011-02-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

The win a Bionic Bjoern contest is now closed. When guest judge Hauke Scheer has a veredict, I'll post the winner of this awesome of figure and the runner up who will get a surprise bionic toy.

In the mean time, here's the second Bionic Bjoern animation:

Good luck!

Ah, Toynami, I wish I could quit you...

2011-02-18T19:33:00.002-08:00

No, seriously, after this wave, I kinda wish I could quit the Futurama line. But the problem is I really like Futurama, and the figures presented in Toy Fair were so cool that I will give them another shot. But I'm sure hoping they step up their game a bit.

Instead of looking so far ahead, let's check Futurama Wave 9. This was a wave of two characters, since one is a version of Bender (again), I was only expecting one of them.

URL, the robot police officer. First of all he looks and feels a bit cheap, the sculpt is super simple, but it matches the character. And the articulation is just plain weird, the legs turn but why would you want to turn them to the side, both his wrists turn too, but one needs to be straight to hold his laser baton and the other consist of just three fingers so it doesn't really matter how you move it, it will always look the same.

He has a swivel neck but the helmet is not removable and the right arm could have had an elbow joint, but it doesn't so it looks weird without the accessory. Also I think it's pretty lame to have a character that's part of a duo and know that we're probably never gonna get the other part. If this line has waves of two characters why not URL and Smitty.

I know URL is part of the League of Robots, but unless you're willing to give me a Hedonismbot I won't buy your character selection.

The other figure in the wave is Wooden Bender. I guess you need a Bender or a main character to improve sales. But in a line with very few waves a year and only two characters per wave we are getting way to many duplicate characters. I mean, this is the fourth Bender we have out of eighteen figures (not counting the three Build-a-Robots), that's a more than a 22% of the entire line. I think that's a bit high, considering we also got one duplicate Fry and one duplicate Leela.

Another thing that pisses me off is that I preordered this wave knowing that I was getting a Wooden Bender, but assuming there was going to be Build-a-Robot parts included. If I had known that there were no parts I would have skipped that figure entirely.

So, I get it if this is like a transition wave after finishing the main team and starting with the Robot Mafia, I really hope things will start to look up after wave 10, because I used to really like this line. But I already know that one of the figures will be Flexo, and yes, he is another character, but I'm still counting him as a Bender variant. Why? Because you made me mad, that's why.

Well, at least I can use this figure to laugh at the Police... Nah, I would never do that...

Until next time.

Aesthetics vs. Backstory, my two cents - Part III (last one until the reboot)

2011-02-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

OK, It's time for the last part of this nonsense, and like Spiderman 3, let's end with a bang. Let's talk about toys that look like crap and don't make sense.

Hey, it's just like Spiderman 3

This looks bad and doesn't make any sense.

Well, I don't have a lot of toys like that. Basically because I am with toys the same way Anton Ego (the food critic from Ratatouille) is with food. He said "I don't like food, I love it, and if I don't love it, I don't swallow". Basically the same, but without the voice of Peter O'Toole. A toy must have at least something I like, otherwise, I don't buy it.

For example, this would be such a toy, the Dora the Explorer Aquapet...

Not the best designed toy ever, right? And as Anton said, "if I don't love it I don't swa...". Hmm maybe I shouldn't use that quote with this toy...

Anyway, I searched my collection in order to find a toy that fitted that description and I found this:

That, forgive me for showing it, is a Neytiri from a McDonald's Happy Meal. And man, it's awful. It has four point of articulation, hands and legs, a horrible sculpt and horrible paint apps.

I know you really can't expect much from Happy Meal toys, but they are usually better than this. I only bought this for a Silly Toys strip I did a while ago and, quite frankly, I'm amazed I didn't throw it away right then and there.

OK, but that is all about the figure's looks, why doesn't it make sense. Well, if you pull Neytiri's tail up a little LED light inside her glows. Isn't that pretty?

I didn't really liked Avatar, I was expecting much more (in terms of telling a story) from the guy that did Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss. One of the thing I didn't like is that everything in Pandora was bioluminescent, everything had a LED light inside, even the fucking grass... The only thing that didn't glow in the whole damn planet (or moon, whatever) was the blue cat people. That's why this toy doesn't make any sense.

If you ever find a toy with these characteristics. DON'T BUY IT!

Remember you still have three days to enter the contest and win an amazingly cool Bionic Bjoern. Here.

Until next time.

Aesthetics vs. Backstory, my two cents - Part II

2011-02-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

OK, so I made the mistake of saying on my last post that it was part I. That forces me to do a part II and probably a third part if parts I and II are successful... That much I've learned from the Spider Man movies.

Yesterday I talked about a figure that was cool looking but didn't have a story behind it. I also mentioned toys from cartoons, movies, comics, etc. That have a story outside the figures themselves. But how about those toys that doesn't exist in other form but come with a background tale anyway.

I love those toys, because they are harder to sell, first it has to look great, because it needs to catch your attention, and then it has to sell you that story he's part of. And that's not easy, but if the figure succeeds in doing so, then my hat is off (and probably my credit card too)...

This is Humphrey Mooncalf, the artist is Doktor A. If you are not familiar with Dok A's work he does (mostly) Mechtorians (from the made up Latin word meaning "Victorian Robot"). He's art is amazing, you can find it here.

Most of the Mechtorians he makes are part of a world he created. Every figure has a backstory and a part they play in Retropolis.

This is an 8" vinyl piece with two points of articulation (actually one on the neck, but the key on his back is removable and turns so I'll say two). This is the Verdegris edition, the first of several colorways to come. It's made by a company called Pobber and it is a beauty.

I love Doktor A's designs. The figure it's very well done, the paint apps and the rust effect are perfect, giving the figure a very noble look but at the same time a sense of sadness (after all, what's more sad than a rusting robot?). Humphrey is nice to handle, very light and it looks awesome on a shelf (I have to get my hands in that Mechtorian garden G.N.O.M.E. the Doktor did last year...)

But that's all about how the figure looks. Let's talk about his backstory. It says in the box:

"Humphrey Mooncalf had an annoying problem with his Travithick No. 4 Nano-clockwork brain. Repeated trips to the watch-smith eventually proved a great success. The pain held at bay by simply loosening his cranial retaining rivets. This however means that he can no longer look up. Such a shame, as he does so love the Moon."

Man, that completely explains the sadness I mentioned earlier, and it also explains this other strange feature the figure has:

The back of his skull is removable and the Nano-clockwork brain is also a separate piece. The story is great and it works both with the figure and, for me, with the colorway too.

Another thing I love about a figure that tells a story on it's own is that it can only take you half of the way. The only information is the one the gave you in a paragraph or so and you have to fill the blanks.

You know how I feel about colorways, namely, I don't like them. I rather spend my money in different pieces than in the same piece with different colors. So why did I choose to buy the Verdegris Humphrey? As I said, because, in my head, it makes sense.

Humphrey went to the Watch-smith, he told him never to look up again. But (excuse me if I get a little Biblical here) like Lot with his Wife, Charlie Sheen with a cocaine covered hooker or me with a cheap toy on sale, he couldn't help himself. And when he did finally looked up, his brain fell of and he rusted away, forgotten. That's why this colorway works so well for me.

Did we get anywhere with this? Probably not, but I just want to say that if a great looking toy has a great story behind it, there's not a lot you can add to it to make it perfect.

Except probably a cocaine covered hooker. But I digress. Tomorrow, if I can, I'll post part three.

Until next time.

Aesthetics vs. Backstory, my two cents - Part I

2011-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

Lately in several blogs, forums and online shows (such as Toybreak) popped the question about the preference of getting a toy with a story behind it or just getting a toy that looks cool. It is a very interesting question and I thought I'd chip in for the debate. With some toy examples.

I buy toys for three main reasons:

1) The Geek Factor. The toys are 3D representations of characters I love from comics or cartoons or movies. With these toys I mix my love for toys and my love for pop culture in one single item.

2) The Nostalgia Factor. I also buy vintage or homages to vintage toy lines (such as Masters of the Universe Classics) because they were the toys I had or wanted when I was a kid.

3) The Art Factor. As I grew older as a collector and started to get into the art toy world, I discovered that there are some amazing artists and designers that create new things that I enjoy.

As a critic (if you didn't know this, I am a film critic) is really hard for me to say that I like something just because I like it. There are some figures I find appealing based only on how they look.

For example:

This is the Barkin' Gun (Mono edition) from my friend and great designer Abell (who also was kind enough to design a new header for this blog!). The Barkin' Gun is, as you can see, a dog/gun hybrid molded in resin with no articulation.

Why do I like it? First of all it's got a rather cartoony look, the rounded shape of the "head" and the lines of the design are incredibly well done. I am attracted to most things that are done with that cartoony aesthetic (especially Jessica Rabbit, if you know what I mean).

This figure is super limited (only two exist in this colorway) and even if that's not the reason I wanted the Barkin' Gun, knowing it's that special makes it better every time I see it.

The figure is really heavy and it's design is very simple. Still, as I said before, you don't need to do something complicated as log as it is original and a Dog/Gun figure is something I would have never imagined.

Plus it came with a bunch of extra goodies, and that is awesome...

Stickers, buttons and an authenticity card (in case you are trying to sell a bootleg Dog/Gun resin figure, you can tell this is the real deal). I guess I could make up a story for this, after all, we kids of the 80s got our fair share of weird toys (and I'm counting He-man and Ninja Turtles alone), but the point is I got this not because of what I knew about it, but because of what it looks like.

And although I'm always gonna prefer toys that have a story behind them, I like this.

Why? Because of all the things I said before... And just because I like it, too.

Until next time.

Some collections you are just meant to finish

2011-02-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

Many years ago, before I started collecting toys in a more serious (and by serious I mean obsessive compulsive and almost self destructive) way, I saw in a Park sale a bunch of very tiny (2"), non-articulated PVC figurines from one of my all time favorite series. They were a little banged up but nothing terrible, they were also very cheap. And I got them.

The collection was, of course, incomplete, but at that time I wasn't that interested in spending money to have all the characters. They stood on a shelf until I moved, but when I unpacked they were left behind.

A month or so I was cleaning some things and I found that box with the figures and by my standards, half of a collection is hardly a collection at all. So I jumped on ebay and quickly found the rest.

Now, like the proverbial Pokemon, I caught them all.

This are, of course, the 2" PVC figurines from The Tick cartoon Bandai released in 1994. They are super tiny and if you look closely you'll notice that the paint is all over the place, which is sad but understandable at this scale, from that time and intended for kids. But still is no excuse for a poor paint job.

Don't get me wrong, I really like having these little guys, they are fun and cute, but more for the memories of the series they bring than for the toys themselves.

Arthur was one of the originals I got in that Park sale, the wings are a bit bent but overall he's in great condition. I used to have a Tick from another line (that was almost in scale), but this new Tick and American Maid are from the new ebay loot.

All these are from the Park sale too. I love the fact that for this line (and the 5" line too) Bandai used some really obscure characters, because, it's true that Crusading Chameleon and Sewer Urchin were regulars, but the Human Bullet only showed up a couple of times. If you can name the Human Bullet's side-kick (one of the best side-kicks names ever), you'll win a virtual hug from me.

These completes the heroes, and that's a shame, because my favorite one is Die Fledermaus, and he didn't make the cut for this line. As much as I like the inclusion of the Human Bullet, that spot should totally belong to Die Fledermaus (you may know him as BatManuel...)

The bad guys are outnumbered six to five. El Seed and Dyna-mole are from that original purchase and Chairface Chipendale is new. Again, Dyna-mole is a character that didn't have the importance of the other two in the series, if I recall correctly he was used just for background.

Last, but not least, Dean and Dinosaur Neil are the biggest figures in the line. That's not a lot in such a small line, but you work with what you have. Dinosaur Neil was the hardest one to get, since, if I understand it correctly, was never officially released in the USA. There were only two releases, one in Canada with an English/French card and one in Australia. I obviously had the Australian one since the card was only in English.

If you are a collector you know that finishing a collection (even one you didn't know you had) it's full of mixed feelings. It's cool to have them all, but there's also the void that must be replaced by another line. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find something else to collect...

In the mean time, you still have a week to enter the "WIN A BIONIC BJOERN FIGURE" contest and you can also follow me on Twitter to know when I post something on the blog.

Until next time.

FREE TOY! (OK, now that I have your attention...)

2011-02-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well, let's cut the crap, I love toys, and if you are reading this, then you probably love toys too.

If you were paying any attention to the last few posts of this blog you'll know sometimes I get stuff for free, and that is awesome. I also say that I believe in Toy Karma all the time. OK, it's time to put my posts where my mouth is.

I have a free toy for one of you. And not just any toy, my friends, I have a very limited and very awesome toy for you. Check this out:

What? A brand new Bionic Bjoern from Scheer-Imagination can be yours at the mere price of just a little brain juice. But more on that in a sec. If you don't know who Bionic Bjoern is you can check the last post or this awesome video:

Did you see that guy's head explode? Cool, right?

Anyway, Hauke Scheer, the man behind the cyborg sent me two Bjoerns, I was gonna keep 'em both, of course, but what would that make me? (Don't answer that if you want to win).

OK, so this is how you do it, it's super easy.

In the comments section of this post you should answer this simple question: "What part of your body would you replace with a machine and why?".

(Just to salvage what's left of your dignity I won't accept the answer "I would replace my dick with a Jackhammer". Mostly because I already created that character when I was 16, his name was Dick Machine, he was a war veteran, a flasher AND a superhero, I know, I'm talking to Mattel right now to kickstart the toy line).

To sum up, leave a comment answering the question "What part of your body would you replace with a machine and why?".

The best answer will be chosen by mister Hauke Scheer himself and I'll ship this awesome toy anywhere in the world. You can leave a maximum of three (3) answers.

And to make this deal even sweeter I will give a runner up (also picked by Hauke) a cyborg character toy too.

If you have a toy blog feel free (and by free I mean feel obliged) to share this with your readers.

In two weeks we'll have a winner. Make me proud!

Until next time.

The sum of his parts

2011-02-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog often...

(And you should totally do, since it's been said that reading this blog improves your general health, lowers the price of gas, makes food taste better and increases your chances to get lucky with a stranger in a bar *results may vary from reader to reader*).

As I was saying, if you read this blog often you'll remember some awesome resin figures designed by the German multimedia artist Hauke Scheer. The mind of Hauke, a very scary place I'm sure, was able to create a Urinal personal hygiene robot, a hairless genetically altered werewolf from another dimension with grenades in his nipples and a Squid warrior from the depths of the ocean. And guess what, he's just warming up.

Hauke sent me his latest work a little guy I like to call (actually... He likes to call) Bionic Bjoern:

A little background on the character from Hauke himself: "In 2065 a weapons company started to create cyborg soldier clones based on the DNA of an ancient Viking berserker warrior. Called "Bionic Bjoerns" by the public these warrior soon became the military product of its time".

Man, and you thought "Hairless genetically altered werewolf from another dimension" was a complicated origin story... This little piece of information makes the figure more appealing, it gives a certain sense of, you'll excuse the word, realism.

OK, so the story is awesome, but let's talk about the figure itself.

Two things that come to mind when you first see Bionic Bjoern.

First, the figure is 7 inches and it's not articulated (most resin pieces aren't) so this may be more like a statue or a (dare I say it?) staction.

The second thing that strikes you is the incredible level of detail the sculpt had. There's not a part of this figure that doesn't have a little mechanical detail, except the flesh, but even there you have scars and probably the creepiest thing about Bjoern, a tube coming out of his belly button... The writer in me (and by that I mean the guy I pay to write clever stuff for me in order to look like an intellectual) suggests that the tube can be a genetic design, a way to keep feeding or fueling Bjoern like an unborn baby through the belly button so he doesn't need to drink or eat. That would make him a very efficient warrior. Also, it's Gross.

The figure comes in three parts: The main body, the Gatling gun arm as a separate piece you have to attach and a really heavy base that doesn't really need 'cause like of the rest of Hauke's figures, he stands perfectly on his own.

The paint apps are very good, since this run is limited to 50 pieces, I guess the QC was pretty strict. One thing to note is that some parts, especially the arm you have to attach have very thin parts that you may break. Hauke told me this and I was sweating like a pig when I put it together. Luckily, since I'm a fairly clumsy guy, the figure is sturdy, but I would recommend being careful.

This is the first "human" figure we get from Hauke and the face is an interesting point to debate. For starters I thought a cloned berserker warrior would have been more angry. But Bjoern looks calm, with an almost dead expression (even a little sad). I think that works well for the "mass produced soldier without feelings" aspect of his story.

That reminded me of the movie Soldier with Kurt Russell:

OK, OK, so the movie is pretty bad, but the concept is cool. Plus, in that movie Argentina had Moons. MOONS! And that makes it OK in my book.

The only thing I would say to Hauke is that he gave us four awesome figures from four different lines and stories. I think he can't stop his mind and is always chasing after the next project, the next idea, the next figure. I'd love to see more characters from these series before going into the next. And I'm only saying this, because I know he designed a toilet robot to go with the urinal robot and if he doesn't make that one I'm gonna go to Germany and force him to do it.

And since I don't want this post to sound like a threat (but it totally is), here's a comic starring Bjoern:

Until next time.

Cool presents of 2010: The last green present

2011-02-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

As you can see, all of the presents I got from my fellow collectors/friends are super awesome. Presents usually are (except those damn socks I keep getting from my uncle every X-Mas...). But this last present is one I am especially fond of.

Why? Because it proves that a present doesn't have to be big or expensive if it comes with true feeling. And since I got it while trying to get a toy for someone else I double appreciate it, since I believe in pure Toy Karma. If you are good and generous with your toys, people will be good and generous with you. Of course there are a lot of assholes in the world, but the Internet is great for exposing said assholes. In the long run, if you pay enough attention, you can find yourself surrounded only by the best people.

But let me get to the toy already: Some time ago a friend from Brazil called Ana posted a pic of some happy meal toys she got in a place named Bob's in, you guessed it, Brazil. But this were no ordinary toys, this were DC character Cosbabies, like the ones Hot Toys make.

"But, wait a minute" I thought... I've only seen Batman Family Cosbabies, I've never seen anything like these guys, specially that bearded Aquaman with the hook hand. I thought it was so weird that I shared those pics with some Internet friends (one of them is the biggest Aquafan I know, no I don't get why either, but I respect it). He asked me to see if I could get that Aquaman cosbaby for him. So I asked my Brazilian friend Ana. She said yes.

And not only "yes", she refused to charge me anything for the toy or the shipping. And when I finally got the package it wasn't just the Aquaman I found:

("Para Voce" means "for you" in Portuguese. And yes, the card says "Freak X-Mas". Awesome!)

As I was saying, I got more than an Aquaman Cosbaby, I got another little bag from Bob's too:

And who was in it? Non other than little Johnny Stewart, tiny green lantern.

I love this little guy, I'm not crazy about Cosbabies, but he's very cute and pretty well done. Where did these cosbabies came from? Why are they a happy meal toy in Brazil? Who made the molds? Does Hot Toys know about this? I have no idea, and I don't really care. I have a baby GL and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

Thanks so much Ana, for you awesome generosity. This toy is the last of the cool presents I got last year.

And in case you are an Aquafan, a cosbaby Aquaman might be going your way.

Until next time.

Cool presents of 2010: My chemical romance

2011-02-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

This presents thing is running a bit longer than I thought but what can I say? People seem to love me for some strange reason.

Some time ago I received a box in the mail, the box was from my good friend (and former high priest of geek) Reis. First of all I have something to tell you Reis, you can't retire from the Church of Geek, the Church of Geek retires you. Anyway, he didn't quit the game, he just got another (secret) blog to show of his toys. I can't tell you the name of the blog or add a link to this post, but HEY (that's a clue, check the links, wink wink), that's not my problem.

All I wanted from Reis was some help to get the only missing piece in my Batman: The Brave and the Bold Action League collection. The super elusive Chemo deluxe set. Well, he got it like it was nothing (thanks to his "enhanced toy senses" I was told) and sent it to me. The awesome thing about Reis is that when he sends you a toy, he doesn't just send you a toy. Check what I found when I opened the box:

But maybe I'm not being clear... Let me show that again, this time in slow motion and without the box:

(What were you expecting? A video? It's a still picture, there's nothing slower than that...)

But check that out! I got all kinds of goodies, including my very first Minimate, a wind-up ET, Vintage Ram-Man, a super articulated tiny Batgirl and Boba Fett! I was in Toy Heaven. And when I saw the main course I was in... Ehm... What's better than Heaven? New Genesis? Well OK... I was in New Genesis!

I mean, look at that awesome piece of plastic! He's not as articulated as Grodd who had ball joints in the shoulders and a removable helmet, but the detail, the expression, the tiny bubbles, Oh my Highfather, the bubbles!

I just love this toy!

And he loves me back... Or wants to kill me, whatever. This finishes the BBATB Action League line, Mattel decided to change it to DC Universe Action League, I'm waiting for the first wave of those, but they already did a White Lantern Sinestro and a Black Lantern Firestorm, that I'm not so happy about. I mean, I know Blackest Night was huge like, twenty minutes ago, but c'mon. a White Sinestro before a Green or a Yellow? That's lame Matty, super lame.

But don't worry, I'll still get them, but you can be damn sure that I'll complain about it. Because that, my friends... That's what makes me a true geek!

That, and the lack of personal Hygiene...

Until next time!

Cool presents of 2010: The floating exclusive

2011-01-21T02:04:00.000-08:00

2010 was a year with a lot of different toy winning contests, I didn't win most of them but I did won a couple of very cool ones. Of those, the obvious winner was the Ode to Orko contest that the Action Figure Blues Forum did.

This was my entry.

And when my fellow members of the forum voted, my stupid poem was victorious. Who knew? Anyway, all the way from Australia, I got this:

Yes, this toy went from the US to Australia and then to Argentina, if I could only cash in this toy's frequent flyer miles I could probably travel the world for free.

Orko is tiny and very nicely done. Probably my favorite version of Orko, the hat is not removable like the vintage version but that's OK, I always thought it was kinda silly, since the Orko from the series kept his hat on all the time... If I recall correctly he had an issue with showing his true face or something like that... I'll have to check the archives. Anyway this figure is, a couple sloppy paint apps aside, probably the Orko I wanted when I was just a little freak, so I'm very happy with him.

Orko also came with the best accessory of the year!

Awesome! And even the accessory had accessories:

Adam came with an alternate (angry He-Man) face and two purple power swords, a complete one and half one. I will, of course, display Adam with the innocent looking face. The original Adam being an exact repaint of He-Man always seemed odd to me.

Actually I loved this "accessory", since I always have a debate with myself every time I have to get a Prince Adam or a Keldor or a character like that. Since they have two identities and the other one is being displayed I really don't like to have them on the same shelf. I wouldn't display a Bruce Wayne and a Batman together. That's my rule (And I broke it several times in the past, so I think is more like a guideline). So, since Prince Adam came with a character I needed, that avoided any internal quarrels with my other more... compulsive... sides. Good for you Mattel!

Since this is a MOTUC figure they kept the rather... delicate... choice of wardrobe that the original Prince Adam had... But don't worry I won't make a joke about it.

Who am I kidding?

Thanks to the AFB Forum for this awesome present! You should join that great forum now! When they are not giving stuff away, they are still some of the funniest dudes on the web...

Until next time.

Cool presents of 2010: JLU's Holy Grail

2011-01-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

Is that what I think it is?

I mean, it looks like it...

But, can it be?

Because, I guess it looks like a JLU Green Lantern Hal Jordan, only 100 or so were made by Mattel for their employees as a X-Mas present and it is almost impossible to get...

So, is that what I think it is?

Of course not, silly, it's not. But it sure looks like it.

Actually what you see here is a custom Hal Jordan specially commissioned by a friend of mine. And now he's a proud part of my collection. Aside from a few inconsistencies in the paint (and the fact that the head is glued to the body), this Hal Jordan looks perfect, shinny and fits perfectly with the rest of the JLU Corps.

What a better way to start my "Cool presents of 2010" week?

And if you are thinking that this Hal Jordan looks way better than the one Mattel gave us as a way to keep us quiet. You would be right my friend, you would be so right.

Until next time.

I told you they were coming, dammit, I told you!

2011-01-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

But did you listen? No! You just stood there with your Internet porn and your pop corn and your Porky's soundtrack and now it's too late!

Too late I tell you!

Because Kawaiiju wave 2 (Sneak Attack wave) are now gone. They were limited to 10 unique sculpts and designs by Charles "Monsterforge" Marsh (I've talked about him before, and I'll talk about him soon too). This wave was so limited that a strict policy of only one figure per person was applied. I was one of the very lucky ten. The figures came with an original Art Card and were placed inside a blind bag, so what did I get you may ask... Well, see and find out, just like I did!

First the art card... then the toy. His name is Skwachu, and he attacks with Tornado Fist Smash. That's how much I know...

And here's the man... ehm... Monster himself. I really like Skwachu, but he was not my favorite of the set (I'm telling you this, to avoid sounding too sweet, after all, I have a rep to keep). And that's the thing with blind bags, you can control what you get, and I get that idea, it hits me with the same nostalgia as MOTU stuff. I always loved to collect cards as a kid, so this is kinda like that.

Of course I like Skwachu, because every monster Charles manages to pull out of his... Ehm... His imagination is amazing. Plus, I already have two animal/reptile Kawaiiju and a robot Kawaiiju and a giant Kawaiiju so, getting a more mineral/elemental Kawaiiju (he looks like a living mountain in the art card) is awesome.

Here's a pic of the happy family (and a few guys that were just hanging there...)

This great little thing is also the first toy I got this year, and that's how you can tell is going to be a good one.

I know I don't update this blog as much as I should, but the end of the year was pretty chaotic. But I will start this new year of Freak Studios showing some of the best presents I got in 2010, I hope you enjoy, there's still plenty of toys out there.

Hope you started great too!

Until next time.

Counting... Ehm... Drinking Crows

2010-12-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

1)
I have reasons to buy most of my toys, I'm freaky like that. And also over-analytical, my wife tells me that all the time. I usually don't rely on impulse and use logic to take most of my decissions. I just add my desires to my reasons and 2 plus 2 is 4.

2)
Also, I have that kind of twisted mind that can find a logical explanation to the irrational, so I'll convince myself (and quite surprisingly other people too) that those toys need to be bought, by me. In other words, 2 plus 2 is 4 because I want it to be.

But 3)
Sometimes 2 plus 2 is 5. Sometimes I jusy have to say "fuck it" and buy a toy just because.

This is the 6" Drinky Crow figure by Tony Millionaire.

I wasn't very familiar with the weird and awesome art of Tony Millionaire when I saw this figure, but, for some reason (that I still can't point out, dammit!) I really wanted this figure.

But hey, I have this video that will give you some background of the character:

After seeng that I would have gotten the figure for sure, but I didn't need to since I had it already on a package coming my way.

The figure is really accurate and funny. It comes with interchangeable eyes, and a bottle of booze (with removable cork, tell me that's not awesome!). The only down side is that the package had a twistie that cut through the paint in the bottle. You can see it in this pic.

But I'm still displaying that way because, let's face it, what's a Drinky Crow without his drink?

Until next time.

Super Stylized Post

2010-12-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

In a futile attempt to catch up with my MOTU Classics posts, I'll talk about two figures at once, if I do a couple of this, I may be able to catch up by the time we get the Snout Spout, probably, in 2016.

But I'll try not to cheat too much and both figures will have something in common. Let's start with Count Marzo:

Marzo is an original character created for the 200X TV series. He was a third sorcerer, a little less powerful than Skeletor, but with more power than Evil-Lyn. Plus, a weird accent from eastern Europe and an inclination for evil goatees (see here).

Marzo is a great figure, and, as a fan of the 200X toy line, I was more than happy to get him. Mattel said he was rushed in the production stage and that's the reason for the "Super Stylized" hair. There will be no more of this non-sense from now on, they said. Well, I, for one, like it a lot.

Some cool things, like his new hand created to hold the mystical gem that gives Marzo his powers, or the amazingly cool looking sword really seal the deal.

Next figure is even more controversial:

You thought I was going to talk about Chief Carnivus, didn't you? Well no, I'll write about him sooner or later, but the debacle of the 200X peaked with Whiplash, so I'll talk about him.

You see, Whiplash came with an extra head, a 200X inspired extra head.

After the release of the figure Mattel officially "retired" the 200X aesthetic for good. Why? I don't know, tooling costs? To screw with the fans? I really don't know anymore, feels like I don't know who you are anymore, Mattel!

Probably, somebody got pissed, 'cause some money on extra tooling was spent only to get a look that's not classic at all.

But I really don't care. If the Four Horsemen, the creative team behind the redesign of the character, changes it completely in the revamp, and gives you an extra head to avoid the classic one in the "Classic" line. Well, they are trying to tell you something. And I think is this: "The original head looks dumb! So very very very dumb! Oh God is it dumb!" (I may be paraphrasing there a bit).

This figure was never one of my favorites and I think it wasn't because of the stupid looking head the vintage toy had. But the new head was created for a more massive body and doesn't look entirely right in these buck either. At first I thought it was a different shade of green, then I realized that the head was just a tiny bit too big, and the proportions were off because of that.

I still think that 200X face looks cooler, so I'm sticking with that one.

The head swap was a real pleasure, the head popped out immediately and was replaced just as fast. But the tail was a different story, I had to make it fit the two holes in the back and, man, was it hard. Once I got them right I found myself staring at a great looking figure, just not the best in the MOTUC line.

Until next time.

Garbage covered awesomeness

2010-12-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

When my good friend (and super awesome artist Charles aka Monsterforge) had to send me some King Kens for a custom. He also told me "I made something for you", when I read that, I'm not proud to admit it, I jumped up and down clapping like a little girl. And although I know his customizing skills are incredible, I'm also a child-like idiot that would shriek everytime someone gives him a toy.

But I wasn't prepared for this:

That, my friends, is Muck Man from the vintage TMNT Playmates line, and he never looked better.

You see, the old turtles line had some amazing sculptors and the detail this figures have is amazing, but the paint apps weren't really all that. Usually, the sculpted details were painted the same color as the rest of the figure, because it was cheaper that way.

But Charles was able to bring all those details to life, and man, Muck Man is (literally) covered in them.

Also, Charles struck a nerve with this one, because he knows I'm a sucker for Ninja Turtles Toys! So, this figure is going to my Awesome Toys Display (yes, I have one of those).

And Charles, I can't thank you enough for this. You are an awesome guy and a great artist... But now I hate you a little bit, 'cause I really want to comission all the TMNT vintage figures in this style, and even if you are up for it (there's only like 130 of them), I can't pay the estimated 750.000 billion dollars it would cost (the money was calculated according to the awesomeness of the final product), you bastard!

And because I'm pretty angry right now, I'm going to post this picture of you!

Ha! Revenge is a bitch, no?

(I love you, man!)

You are the wind beneath my nightwings

2010-11-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Quick superhero toy update: For quite some time now I wanted a new Nightwing figure for my Batman display. The one I had was the Superman/Batman DC Direct figure based on the art of Ed McGuinness.

And he looked like this:

As I said before, I like Ed McGuinness style for some characters, but I don't think it particularly works for everybody. The second after I bought this figure I regretted it, 'cause Nightwing (in my geeky mind) is not a super muscular guy, he's more like an acrobat. Plus, I didn't buy (and never will) an Ed McGuinness Batman figure, so Nightwing was actually bigger than Batman and that makes no sense. NO SENSE I TELL YOU!!!

My wife tries to tell me these are not real people, so I shouldn't care that much... I know, she's crazy, right?

The Nightwing I really wanted was the one that came with the Hush series 2 in 2004, but that figure was so good that sold out quickly and I couldn't find it anywhere in Argentina. The only time I saw it on sale was incredibly expensive. So I had to pass. And wait.

This year, DC Direct decided to reissue that figure (along with the First Appearance Nightwing from 2005) for a series of two-packs called DC Origins. And buying those two figures was actually cheaper than getting the original 2004 Hush NIghtwing. The rest, as they say, is math...

Both figures were repainted with the metallic colors DC Direct discovered recently (they think that by using those color we forget that these are actually used sculpts, no DC Direct, we don't forget). But in a character like Nightwing, I think the shinny paint is kinda cool.

This is the Nightwing I won't be using for the Batman display. He's wearing the original costume, and for a while, in the 90s I thought that costume was cool. Why? Basically, because it wasn't his old Robin costume with the pixie boots and green speedos. So, a bag of potatoes would have been a cooler costume than that (for a guy in his mid-20s or so).

Still, I like this figure, because it's silly, and it's smiling and has an almost innocent feel to it. Not a bunch of articulation, but stands well on it's own and that's all I really care. No issues with the paint either.

Now, this is the figure I wanted. I really like this costume and Tim Gunn approved it too, so, hey, if Tim Gunn says it's OK, then who am I to argue? The figure is basically one color except for the face and the light blue stripe. The sculpt is great, but now he's a serious, serious guy. The paint is quite accurate, but not perfect, and that's a shame. But he still looks great.

Dc Direct is not announcing a lot of things that interest me, so I'll continue to cherry pick their lines as I cherry pick most of my toys... Hmm now I want cherries... Cherries were not my favorite fruit when I was a kid... But well, time changes us... And speaking of that:

Until next time.

Dunny by artist: Zukaty

2010-11-18T03:52:00.000-08:00

Bad news everyone: I caved in and started to buy another line. Like Action League before this and MOTUC before that and Super Hero Squad before that and Futurama before that and JLU before that and TMNT before I even knew I was collecting toys. OK, OK, considering my personal history, I can't really say this is "news", but it certainly is "bad"...

I just got sucked in another money-wasting-nerve-wrecking-blind-boxed toy line: Dunnys

It all started with George Gaspar's Skull Dunny and continued with other random figures until I decided to start getting them in a more build-a-collection way. I don't pretend to be a completist, that is impossible, there are millions and millions of Dunnys out there. What I'll do is try to get Dunnys done by specific artists (both official and custom). I'll try to be a completist with the regular ones: I.E. every dunny by Doktor A or Frank Kozik.

But today I'll show an awesome custom created by UK based artist Paulo a.k.a. Zukaty. Some time ago, he decided to recreate the (almost) complete Dunny 2010 series. Here's the result:

All of these are great, but since the beginning of his quest (posted in the October Toys Forum), the one I really wanted was the Poison Dunny. And guess what?

After sending him a mail, I got what I wanted!

It looks great, and it is just a fun concept. The sculpted parts look good and he was able to be very accurate with the paint in a very small scale. It's a simple design but incredibly effective, proof that you don't need to be over complicated as long as you can create something truly original. Zukaty did.

When I saw it, the "Final Condiment" line made me laugh out loud, that's because the original Dunny used to create this one is the Ketchup (or Sket-chup) Dunny by Sket-One.

There's also a Sweet Relish Dunny, a Mustard Dunny and a Mayo Dunny (And no, I'm not joking here people). But it doesn't end here, you see, Paulo didn't just send me the Dunny, he went the distance and included a mini canvas original painting.

Why did he do this if I only wanted the Dunny? Because he's an awesome guy, that's why.

Zukaty is selling the rest of his creations here. Check them out before they are gone!

I'll start posting more Dunnys soon, but first I have some superhero toys, more customs and a ton of MOTUC posts to go. Busy busy busy.

Until next time.

The adventures of Tiger Batman around the World - Part II

2010-11-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I'm back from my honeymoon, and do you know what that means?

Yes, more Tiger Batman around the World pics for you!

This time I went to my neighbor country of Uruguay and two cities: Montevideo (the Capital) and Punta del Este (roughly translated as Eastern Point, a coast city). I love this country very much as I spent several summers with my family there.

There's not a lot of pics because, well, it was my honeymoon dammit!

Tiger Batman and the four meat mistery dish in the Hotel Buffet with Montevideo in the background. Holly Cholesterol Batman!

Tiger Batman in the Punta del Este pier, the high season is yet to begin so, not a lot happening right now, but imagine this filled with luxury yatchs I'll never be able to afford.

Tiger Batman and the pool of our Hotel, not too shabby I must say...

And finally, Tiger Batman and the Drowning Man's hand in Punta del Este. You can't save everybody Batman!

There was also a pic of Tiger Batman and the Casino Slot Machine that was avoided by Casino Security. My hysterical screams that he was the Goddam Batman, therefore, not a threat to the Casino didn't impress them at all. I still won a shit load of money, just to show them.

I'll resume regular posting on the blog now that the wedding is done.

Until next time.

Spooky Halloween post is not spooky and late

2010-11-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hello guys and girls. First of all I want to apologize for not posting anything in the last month. The fact is (here's where I open my life to you oh anonymous Internet crowd), I'm getting married tomorrow. And planning the party (that's happening this friday, baby) was terrible. I had to order a whole crate of Soylent green and also had to buy some plutonium from some Lybian terrorist (we can't get plutonium in any corner drugstore like in 1985, y'know?) and also bringing that Goddamn Bruce Wayne back to the present so he can attend. It's really hard work, let me tell you.

But after this, everything will be good and back to (almost) normal.

I wanted to make a Halloween post so, today I'll be reviewing The Mummy from the Universal Monsters line...

Hey. Wait a minute... That's not the Mummy... Wait here, I have to go slap an intern.

...

(Slap!)

OK, I'm back. So, like I said, today I'll be reviewing Negative Man from DC Universe Classics wave 13.

This figure is simple, the base buck with a few minor alterations and new head and hands. Negative man had to use the bandages because he was radioactive (like that plutonium I mentioned, and you thought I was rambling). I love the Doom Patrol, being kinda freaky myself I just love the idea of weird and strange looking heroes defending a world that fears them while taking orders from a guy in a wheelchair... Yep that doesn't sound familiar at all.

Jokes aside, I love this group (and yes, they were created before the X-Men), I thank Mattel for the chance to get them in figure form for the first time. Now all I need is a C&C Elasti-girl and a Chief in wheelchair. And I'd like to point out that if I don't get them I'll be pretty pissed off.

I hope that the inclusion of the Doom Patrol in Batman: The Brave and the Bold boosts the chances of a complete Doom Patrol soon.

By the way, if you're not watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold, do it. It's awesome!

In conclusion, Negative Man is a nice figure, simple and to the point. On his own is not mind blowing, but as a potential part of the Doom Patrol he's great!

Oh, and for those of you who asked (nobody really asked), here's a Halloween joke with an obscure reference for you!

Until next time.

You were always on my mind

2010-10-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of good reasons why I got this toy:

Number 1 (The altruistic reason):
This toy is the first release of Raje Toys, and I try to support, as much as my wallet can, the new people that release new ideas and awesome looking toys. I followed the creation of Dr. Brain (He's insane in the membrane - Hey, that's what the box says...), he started as a custom and was so praised that they decided to make it into a toy in its own right. And boy, did they succeed.

Number 2 (The look reason):
Since the first time I saw the teaser pictures I knew I was going to get this toy because it just looks so damn good. The sculpt of the body is really simple, very smooth and with almost no sculpted detail. The "head" and brain are a different story, the liquid in the jar is painted, which is a good choice, the brain is great, and back tanks are a nice addition to the figure as a whole. It doesn't have a lot going for articulation, but I don't really need it, just want it to stay there and look cool. And it does. There's a chase variant painted grey and red, but I really like this one better.

And finally...

Number 3 (The real reason):
It's a toy about a Brain in a jar. And I-JUST-FUCKING-LOVE-TOYS-WITH-BRAINS-IN-JARS!!!

Until next time.

A little bit of He-Story

2010-09-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Actually this story is quite simple...

It's a story as old as time itself. Boy meets Alien-Girl and falls in love. Boy is also heir to the throne. Prince-Boy and Alien-Girl got married. Prince-Boy is also Captain of the guard. Captain-Prince-Boy has a Brother. Brother is also Blue, making him Blue-Brother. Blue-Brother is jealous of Captain-Prince-Boy so he plots to seize control. Traitor-Blue-Brother gets an army and attacks Powerful-Castle-Filled-With-Powerful-Old-People. Traitor-Blue-Brother brings acid with him. Big Mistake. Captain-Prince-Boy defeats Traitor-Blue-Brother, burns his face and becomes King-Boy. Burnt-Traitor-Blue-Brother asks Powerful-Magic-Evil-Being to save his life. He transforms into Skeleton-Blue-Sorcerer. King-Boy and Alien-Girl have twins, but Princess-Girl is stolen by previously mentioned Powerful-Magic-Evil-Being. King-Boy decides to give half of his world to his brother, but he's kind of a douchebag and he gives him the dark creepy half, and keeps the best half with the beautiful beaches, lots of sun light and cat people to himself. Finally Skeleton-Blue-Sorcerer decides to come back and take over and Douchebag-King-Boy has to rely on his son's (Prince-Fancy-Pants) split personality to save the day.

I mean, anyone can see it coming. Right?

Well, I got one of the main players in that story sometime ago and it's time to talk about him:

This is Traitor-Blue-Brother

Keldor, brother of Randor, that is. The figure is a great piece but I'm not loving it completely. I mean, it was a cool idea to give Skeletor a human background, and to make it a treacherous brother is actually pretty poetic. The figure looks great too, but there's something that just doesn't do it for me. First, there's just no explanation to why he's blue and Randor is not. Did Randor's father had more than one spouse? Was that legal in Preternia? Is Keldor a bastard? I don't know, sometimes I wish to know... Sometimes I just want to imagine a really big bed with King Miro (or whatever Randor's father name is) in the middle and a lot of girls from all the colors of the rainbow. That sounds more like Conan than He-Man, but wouldn't it be great?

Anyway, Randor is the good guy and Keldor is the bad guy, and you know this by their choice of facial hair. If you don't know it by now, you should always remember:

Keldor was not part of the subscription so he could be easily avoided, but I battled with myself when I decided to buy the 200X Keldor, and since I lost that battle and got that figure in all his burning glory, why go through that again?

Keldor comes with two half boring Power Swords, as I said before, I'm getting sick and tired of Power Swords by now. But he also comes with the one thing the character needs. Since you will only want this character to replay that scene when his face is melted like ice cream on a pan. Hmmm, Ice cream on a pan... Wait a minute...

OK I'm back... Ice cream on a pan sucks, it's a terrible idea, don't try it at home. Where was I? Oh yeah, Keldor comes with the only accessory he needs: a vial of acid to utterly destroy his face. Ah, good Eternian times!

Fictional characters should know better by now...

Until next time.

(I was going to talk about She-Ra too, but this post got too long already and I have to work, I'll catch up to MOTUC before I review Carnivus. Guy-Pretending-To-Be-A-Scout's honor!)

Montreal Haul!

2010-09-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

No, I did not go to Montreal, although, that would have been a good excuse to explain my lack of posting lately. sadly, there's no excuse, just a lot of work and a Freak Studio too tired to sit down and write jokes about toys.

But the amount of toys and toy pics I have now, annoys me, and since I usually put the toys in their displays after I've posted about them, I'll better start posting again before I die in toy-valanche.

To explain the title: My dad had to go to Montreal, my dad is a doctor, but he also loves art and is a quite talented artist himself. He didn't really get toy collecting, but he did understand me and I finally convinced him that art toys are a true art form that has to be aknowledge (I also gave him an Andy Warhol figurine that changed his mind a little bit).

Now we usually talk about toys and artist, so, when he went to Montreal and found a designer toy shop there, he asked for a guy I mentioned like a thousand million times: Joe Ledbetter, and he got me these:

The haul consist in two incredibly different pieces of Ledbetter's unique art. Slander snake and Toxic Swamp Dog.

The orange Toxic Swamp Dog (and the only one I'm going to have, I'm not a fan of colorways, so I just get the design in the color I like the most, since this was a present I'm keeping orange as my favorite) is made in one of Toy2r platforms and I have to admit is quite massive.

And when I say massive, I mean it:

I think this is a fun piece, but I have a bit of a problem with Joe Ledbetter doing platforms: His art is so different that he really needs a special sculpt in order to show his designs.

Toxic Swamp Dog is cute, but I don't really like it as much as the other toy my dad got me: Slander Snake.

Here you can see why Ledbetter is so special: he makes his 3D designs look like 2D. And I love that about him, first, because I think it looks great, second, because nobody does nothing quite like it.

Something similar to what happened with Toxic Swamp Dog happened here: My dad got the purple Slander, so Slanders, for me, are now officially purple.

Another great thing about this sculpt is that you can open it to reveal...

The snake's dinner. Gross... But kinda cute (my mom actually thought it was an egg...)

I'll try to get my hands into more Joe Ledbetter toys. But I'll try to find the ones with the specific sculpt before I get the others that are just painted platforms.

Until next time.

(After I explained my mom what that little ball in the snake's stomach was, she decided the figure wasn't cute anymore)

In brightest day, in exclusives cash...

2010-08-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

There's an awesome customizer online that goes by the (also awesome) name of The God Beast. I met him through a forum. But I won't talk about his amazing work (although you should totally check it out here), I just want to thank him for hooking me up with some DC Direct exclusive figures.

Black Lantern Hal Jordan and White Lantern Sinestro (from C2E2).

I don't usually talk about packaging, since I'm an opener, unless packaging is way cool or fun (like the Wonder Twins or the new exclusive Plastic Man from Mattel) I'm not interested in it. In this case I just thought the box was clever and very well designed, with only one flaw: An exclusive toy is something you are lucky to get. You either went to the event where it was sold or found it on ebay and pay like the unworthy idiot you are or you find someone to get it for you...

My point is that if you know you are making that kind of toy, and you're going to make a nice looking book-like packaging...

MAKE IT RESEALABLE!!!!

OK, rant over. Let's go to the figures.

Hal Jordan as a Black Lantern is just a repaint from last years SDCC Hal-Jordan-in-every-color-we-can-think-of exclusives. So in the sculpting department there's not much to say. Since I don't own any of those, I'm happy with this well sculpted figure and I wanted to have one for the Black Lantern/Justice Zombies display I'm putting together. Although, next to the more detailed dead lanterns it may turn out to be a little bland.

Hal came with a Black Lantern ring, similar to the one you got with the comics. Except this one has a code the other one doesn't.

Sinestro, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. his crooked smile and Vincent Price mustache are great. At first I thought he was just another repaint too. But he doesn't look like Justice or Yellow Lantern Sinestro (I don't actually own these, so I may be wrong). But I guess it's a new sculpted head in a repainted body.

I like the color of the head. DCD seems to have troubles deciding if Sinestro should be pink or purple, but I think this is just fine.

Also, he's the only white lantern you are going to get (in full white lantern outfit, at least) until Geoff Johns decides he needs another car and a better TV set and writes another giant Crisis-like arc.

Until next time.

(Hey wait a second... Isn't Geoff Johns writing Brightest day? That sneaky bastard... Next you are going to tell me we are getting a Mera figure too...)

Dunny by Artist: George Gaspar

2010-08-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

There are a few problems for Argentinean collectors that want to get in the world of art/designer toys:

1) There are very few places that carry designer lines from, lets say, Kid Robot, I can only think of one or two places and even they have very limited (and usually very old) options.
2) The blind boxes, one of the usual ways to get these toys, are not blind at all, in fact, all the stores will open the boxes and charge according to the rarity of the piece. Yeap, that sucks!
3) Since designer toys are rare, they are expensive, consider I can pay for a smorking labbit what someone in the U.S. would pay for a Masters of the Universe Classics figure (you don't even want to know what a MOTUC costs!).
4) Most stores will only get one case of figures so the possibilities of completing a set are very close to a negative number (oh, I also should warn you that I really suck at math...)

So, for these and some other reasons I never, until some time ago, owned a Dunny. But that changed when George Gaspar (of Toybreak fame) asked me if I would be interested in one of his awesome custom Skull Dunny(s) in exchange for some bootleg crap I had.

Lets see... Awesome custom in one hand... Bootleg crap in the other... I may suck at math, but even I knew the obvious answer... I said yes!

So basically, George took the Rainy London Dunny from the Ye Olde English Dunny line (designed by Triclops) and erased the rain drops, popped the head open, inserted the skull he sculpted and that's about it. It may sound simple, but with only those changes he turned this:

Into this:

Of course, the true skill of George can be seen in the skull, the sculpt is incredible, very detailed and fitting perfectly in the clear head. George is also a cool guy that left Triclops' name under the skull Dunny's foot. I agree with that, you should give credit when credit is due. But, the only mistake George made was not signing his own name in the other foot. After all, two very creative people were needed in order to help this little monster come to life.

I'm extremely happy with my first Dunny, because is freaky, and cool and I know is special. For now, until things change, If I want a Dunny I'll stick to trade or buy the great customs of the awesome people I meet online every day.

Until next time.

(Or... If I see a really cool one somewhere and I can't control myself. Along with math I was also never very good at controlling myself...)

Earth Mightiest... Bunny?

2010-08-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

In Argentina, we call our Swap Meets, Park Sales, they are usually found on Sundays and, as the name says it, on parks. I don't go to Park Sales often because there's usually always the same stuff over and over. But sometimes you can get fun things.

Things like:

This is Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, he was Captain Marvel's pet during the make-no-sense era or something. He was released by Dc Direct in 2007 as part of the Shazam! line and is a figure I always thought to be fun, but not enough to actively search for it. But there it was, right in front of me in some guys table.

The seller also had Billy Batson (for me, he's like the accessory of this two-pack) but the paint was pretty damaged, Hoppy, on the other hand was perfect.

Image from Joe acevedo's site

The sculpt is really weird, he looks very cartoony, almost like a strange custom with a superhero type body and a Bugs Bunny head. Just another fun but not World changing figure from DCD homage to the silver age of comics and another cool addition to the Legion of Super Pets Squad! (yes, I just made that up)

Until next time.

(At least we didn't get an Uncle Marvel in the series).

The last Crusade

2010-08-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys, do you remember this post?

What? You don't?

OK, it's all good... Go read it, I'll just wait here...

...

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, that's all I want to say...

Still reading? Man you're kinda slow... OK, I'll keep waiting...

... to you, De Do Do Do, Dee Da...

Oh, finally. OK, so you've read till the end when I mentioned Major Disaster from Toxic Crusaders right? Great, well, guess who can't control himself and it's not Bill Clinton? I'll give you three guesses.

"ME", the right answer was "ME".

You know those slow days when you start to wander on ebay just because? Well, I found this pretty nice auction for all the remaining figures I needed of the Toxic Crusaders line. Eight figures total some are awesome, some are good, all of them are really freaky.

These are the good guys:

(Yes, those are the good guys)

By now, you know Major Disaster, an eco friendly hero so much cooler than Captain Planet, and if you are among the select few that consider Toxic Avenger a work of cinematic art, then you are probably familiar with Toxie too. Lets get something out there from the beginning, you may notice that all of the figures have very noticeable paint stains, well those are not stains, it is, in fact glow in the dark paint sprayed on each figure, since this didn't follow a pattern, you can say that each figure is somewhat unique. I like that, plus it makes the figures look kinda campy, just like the movie was.

It's great to have a Toxie toy, although a bit of a caricature I just wanted one since I saw the movie for the first time (side geeky note: Marisa Tomei started her career in Toxic Avenger as one of the girls from the health club pool, true story that nobody wants to hear). Toxie's friend, and God's gift to women (check out that tongue!), is called Junkyard, it's your average mutated dog fused with a hobo thanks to the power of radioactive waste... y'know, the story of my life. Both sculpts are fun but I'd be happier if Junkyards tongue was retractable, you can store it in his mouth but the figure looks odd that way.

Since we are talking about 1990s Playmates here, all the figures came with a ton of accessories even with one that was in a plastic bag and said "SECRET GLO-IN-THE-DARK WEAPON: So radioactive, we've put it under wraps!", yes, that meant that every figure came with a GITD accessory and it was secret. I would have loved this as a kid, damn, I even love it now!

Junkyard GITD weapon was a rolled up newspaper with spikes (awesome), and Toxie's was this:

His own pet ghost, Blobbie.

The other two good guys are Nozone and Headbanger. Nozone is like one of those gimmicky characters that you might enjoy for some time, but then it gets kinda boring. Yes, he has a huge nose, and you can take his hat off and pour some slime so it will look like mucus. Funny... for, like, a minute. But the character design has some cool things, the wheel instead of his right foot is a great detail. Headbanger is the one I'm not thrilled about, he looks a bit out of scale and the sculpt in both the surfer dude and scientist is not Playmates best work. One cool thing is that one is called Fender and the other Bender... I laughed at that...

On to the villains, one thing I liked about this series is that both bad guys and good guys were monsters. And I liked monsters for as long as I can remember (that's why the Evil Warriors of Skeletor always defeated the normal He-Man and his normal boring Human Friends).

The main villain of the series was Dr. Killemoff, and I must say I respect a guy that can make the four arm / purple suit / gas mask combo work and, boy, does the good Doctor succeed. The figure came with plastic tubes to attach to the mask, but I think it looks better without them. The other figure is Radiation Ranger, this one really needed the tubes. He's the army builder of the series, the Rangers are like Killemoff Stormtroopers.

The other two are called Bonehead (lame name, cool figure) and Psycho (cool name, not so crazy about the figure). Bonehead is a punk biker that enjoys acid rain and polluting the Earth (all the line had a message about ecology that was a bit ahead of its time in 1991 but it would be really in right now... Toxic Crusaders remake anyone?). Another thing about cool about him is that all of his accessories are GITD. The sculpt is simple but effective. Psycho has something that I don't really like, but I can't put my finger on. Since the figure has great detail, as all the others, and has some cool design ideas, like the way his bionic leg continues from his knee, I'll say that what I don't like is the expression of his face.

Overall, a fun line to have and an easy one to complete (that's also fun). There they are, between Toynami's Futurama and Playmates WildC.A.T.S. on my display.

Until next time.

(Don't pollute and stay in school!)

Oh, you know I couldn't resist!

2010-08-12T20:31:00.001-07:00

(If you don't get this, check the last post)

A thought about art & toys

2010-08-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Let me start with a little digression:

Lets say you are a guy with some interest in art, lets say is the 1920s and lets assume the Internet exists. You, as a Man from the World start to check out those new forums about the things you are interested in and stumble across one called Surrealists.net, it was created buy a guy called Mr_Bretontastic001 when he wrote the first post and forum manifesto. You decide to check out the forum, the members are one crazy bunch but they are cool and funny so you register, choose a nick that you thought was incredibly witty and edgy and you start posting too... Mostly pics of melting kittens with misspelled words as captions, you are so clever, you!

But then you check out the "Sell 'em, Trade 'em Rainbow Monkey Fish" board (hey, they were surrealists), and there you find the work of a pretty cool dude from Spain that calls himself Salvador_Dalicious. He's working on some lithographs, a very limited run, no more than 50 pieces and he's selling them. You like them so you buy a couple. After that Mr_Bretontastic001 bans Salvador_Dalicious for trolling, and somebody signs a urinal and everything goes to Hell.

But you get the art pieces, and they are great, and you know that maybe the World doesn't know it yet, but that is nothing but great art.

Well, I felt that way today, when I went to the Post Office and picked up a huge box that contained these:

These are the first three figures designed by the German artist Hauke Scheer (his site here), Hauke is a multi talented artist that not only created these characters but also did some animation and gave them a mythos of their own. These are also limited to 50 pieces.

U.R.I.NAL 9000 was the first figure that caught my eye, and the first I decided to get. Because it's a robot, it's a urinal, and it's just so insane that it can't not be great. Not a lot of backstory here, U.R.I.NAL 9000 is a machine built to fulfill mankind needs to relieve themselves in civilized way. And clean your hands afterwards, check the top of the head:

The sculpt is great, incredibly original. The black paint apps have some minor issues but it doesn't affect the figure as a whole. A thing that caught me completely by surprise is the weight of the figure and the quality of the materials. It's incredibly solid.

This guy's name is Dick Satisfaction. Yep, now I can say I ordered some Dick Satisfaction and paid with Paypal... I'd feel a bit ashamed if this figure didn't pack so much awesome. He's a hairless genetically altered wolfman bounty hunter from another dimension. If that didn't get you going, you really need some Dick Satisfaction.

He comes with a base that doesn't need, since he stands perfectly on his own, and with a disembodied victim head. Again the sculpt is amazing as is the attention to detail. Oh, did I mention the grenades attached to his nipples? I must have mentioned the nipple grenades...

And last but certainly not least is Callamorr:

I wasn't sure if I was going to get this figure. And I would be kicking myself in the crotch if I didn't because is my favorite of the bunch. The sculpt here is absolutely incredible, the paint is sharp and the concept is great. Go to Sheer's page to see the other characters that are coming.

Until next time.

(You may notice the lack of the silly toys comic in this post. I decided that since all I can think is nipple grenade jokes, I better stay out of this one).

Silver age goodness

2010-08-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

As a teenager of the 90s I grew up with the gritty look of comics, people died, Batman was as crazy as the villains he fought and Superman's cape was shredded in every battle he had. Did I mentioned Superman had a mullet, Batman never shaved, the second Robin was dead and Rob Liefeld had established that lots of pouches and no feet were the way to go if you were an X-Men.

During that time I wanted my comics like my coffee, dark and with just a little pinch of vanilla. In that time I decided that the Adam West' Batman I loved during my childhood was stupid and that old comics with silly stories were impossible to enjoy. I guess I was trying to prove I was a man.

Later, I realized how incredibly idiotic this was (I don't even like pouches that much anymore) and in the moment I realized that, I became a better man and just a little bit happier. Why? Because what makes a person better is to experiment and investigate and try new things and acknowledge that not everything that is different is bad. It's called experience.

So I went out, and got this:

Pictured: Experience.

This is DC Direct Silver Age classic set of Batwoman, Batgirl, Bat-mite and Ace the Bat-hound. Characters so silly (most of them anyway) that I wouldn't have paid any attention to them in my gritty pouched years.

Batgirl and Batwoman are nice enough I still believe is not the brightest idea to go and fight crime in the night wearing yellow, green and red outfits. But hey, who am I to judge? They also have their utility purses... I guess that was a little silly, but as I said to that online test about sexual preferences: "the more bat-people, the merrier".

The sculpts are pretty good, it was 2004, quite a good year for DC Direct, they both stand on their own, and they are both graced with a happy silver age smile. And there's so much frowning toys in my Batman display that I'll keep these two around to even the odds.

Bat-Mite is a figure of a character I understand but, like the great Gazoo, never fully liked. It was also the one I less needed, since he was re-released in a Bat-characters box in June this year with a slightly different paint. Oh DCD, I know you too well already...

Still Bati-Duende (Bat-Goblin, as he was called in Spanish) is a nice addition to the bat-shelf.

But the real reason I couldn't let this great box go was this:

Ace, the Bat-hound. My all time favorite Super Pet. Why? Because he's Batman's dog! Because he wears a mask and a collar with the bat symbol! Because he can easily defeat Catwoman and even Catman! Because with enough time to prepare he can beat Krypto too!

The Ace figure was considered more like an accessory, so he has almost no articulation, but he stands perfectly and was placed with the due respect right in front Batman in the shelf. Because if I'm going to be in a display case for the rest of my toy existence I'd like to have my dog there with me. It's just the humane thing to do.

Until next time.

(Damn, all this talk about the 90s... I think I'll have that nightmare with the pouches again...)

Ode to Orko

2010-08-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

The AFB Forum is having a sweet contest that may allow you to win a Matty Exclusive Orko (Non SDCC) or a PLastic Man (Without suitcase). Since both items sold out from their webpage (how weird is that?), this might be one of the only ways to get them without e-paying your ass off.

What do you have to do to win? Just be a little creative, and try to come up with something funny to say: write and Ode to Orko or a Plea for Plastic Man, whatever dudes, you are creative and I know it.

I wrote a poem in the style of my favorite rapper: Dr. Seuss (East Side represent!).

And here it is:

"Ode to Orko" a poem with toys by Freak Studio

With Bwana Beast in the role of Freak Studio
And narrated (in your imagination) by Sir Ian McKellen

Flying high (Toy Score part II)

2010-07-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

As DonaldHelloStudio (who, by the way, is a great artist and has great art in his blog) correctly guessed a long time ago (remember that time when I talked about my uncle and the X-Men toys I found in his house?). The other thing I found was a complete set of Toy Biz Alpha Flight figures.

Yes, the one and only Canadian Justice League from the Marvel Universe. If you don't know who they are with that explanation, I really can't help you.

The set consist in three two-packs. The first one is Aurora and Northstar the two brothers that can fly and go really really fast and that also found out that when they touched each other (on the HAND!), they were able to shine like those vampires from Twilight, incestuous? Maybe. Cooler than sissy vampires? Definitely!

The sculpt is simple and pretty well executed. Their hands can twist at the wrist so they can touch. But, sadly, no sparkle action feature. This characters are kinda lame, but they do remind me of someone... I'm not sure who...

The second two-pack is Snowbird and Puck. Snowbird is a goddess of the northern nature. Strangely, I think she's dead now. How do you do that? The other half of the two-pack is one of my favorite Canadian heroes of all time: Puck. He has a cartwheel Action feature, that's cool, but he has no arm movement because of that, uncool. He still looks very good.

Snowbird's power is to transform into animals. So, they packed her with two, an owl and a wolverine.

The sculpt of these non articulated animals is very nice, and the playability of the idea is awesome. As a child (or an adult collector that plays with toys) when you get a shape shifter, you want the other shapes dammit! Plus, both animals are quite detailed and just a little bit smaller than Puck himself.

The last two-pack brings you Sasquatch and Vindicator. The leader of the team and the big strong... uh... guy.

Sasquatch is great considering the time when it was made, he's well articulated, but not in a way that annoys the sculpt. And the sculpt itself is very good. And he's big, just consider that for the "hot sister" comic up there I had to place Northstar in a little box, this figures are kinda little, but Sasquatch really towers over the rest.

Vindicator has an issue that strikes me in a personal level: I don't like toys with hair... Or cloth... But in this case, hair.

I just rather have sculpted plastic hair any day of the week. But since beggars can't be choosers. And these toys were free... Let me say that again... FREE!!!!! I can't really complain, now, can I?

Until next time.

(What? You want another comic? Oh, OK...)

In the last place you look

2010-07-24T21:32:00.001-07:00

OK, first of all, sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a little over-worked lately and I just couldn't find the time to write about toys, and I love to do that.

Second, I'll explain the title: You know I love Mattel's Action League line... And of the released figures I only needed a Two-pack to complete the set (more about this later), that set was Guy Gardner Green Lantern and Dr. Polaris.

But even in the US they are kinda hard to find, so I asked every friend I have in the Toy World to help me find them. I'm not kidding, I had an army of people looking for these. I had some South American toy snipers, they are great at finding rare stuff that pops out in their countries. I had several American toy troopers, they are in the middle of the mess looking for stuff where the shit hits the fan (usually Walmart). And I even ask some Australian toy commandos to keep an eye out in the other side of the world... And nothing.

"So, how did you get them?" you may ask.

As always this were in the last place you look. At a comic store in Buenos Aires, famous for having almost no toys whatsoever because "they only work with comics" (I know, stupid, right?), and I almost never go there, but this time I walked in with a friend, because he wanted to sell some old comics...

And there they were.

The sculpt is amazing, as always, but you have to like this line and this style to appreciate it. They are little, and silly, and fun. I was afraid this line was going to die, since the releases were kinda slow, but now thanks to Comic Con I know that the line is not only not dead, but is expanding to all the DC Universe.

This is the new official poster with some new releases I highlighted (I also totally stole this from TNI). There's also lots of characters not included in this poster.

Awesome!

Now I just need the new Deluxe Chemo & Batman set that's showing up in toy stores. This time I'll make sure to check everywhere, even those places that usually don't have Brave and the Bold toys...

Until next time.

(Next stop, the liquor store and a sex shop! Hey, I said "look everywhere", right?)

Planet Birthday

2010-07-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my birthday was the day before father's day. And it was quite an occasion in my life, a very important birthday, since I turned 30. I was so moved by this that my girlfriend got me a stripper.

What?

She did.

See?

This is, of course, Cherry Darling from NECA. Cherry was the main character in Robert Rodriguez' masterpiece (yes, there, I said it) Planet Terror. Cherry was portrayed by Rose McGowan and the figure, while is not nearly as perfect as it could have been, does have a pretty good resemblance to her.

The sculpt is great as you already expected from the good people at NECA but this again suffers from the non-articulation syndrome. This figure is so non-articulated that I'm a little uncomfortable calling it an action figure. Staction would be, perhaps, a little better. I know the word is horrible, but is better than "actatue" or "stagure"...

Cherry does come with a base, lucky us 'cause is the only way to get her to stand, and an interchangeable leg. Here's the leg with a couple of Justice Plastic Man legs for comparison (this also made me write the weirdest comic I've ever come up with...)

As I mentioned before in this blog, I have an arrangement with my girlfriend, since it's really hard for her to keep track of what Action Figure I'm looking for at any given moment, I promised not to buy movie related toys so she can get me those as presents. So far, this worked perfectly.

I loved Planet Terror and I love the idea behind Cherry Darling, a regular person that lost a limb to Evil and replaced it with... Wait a second! I've heard that story before in B class movies... She's not the first is she? I wonder if they have anonymous meetings to support each other...

Until next time.

(I got a stripper for my birthday, what did YOU get?)

Toy Score!

2010-06-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

The other day was fathers day. At home, fathers day usually implies a family Sunday lunch. No, I didn't get any presents, I don't have kids therefore I'm not a father. I did get some toys the day before fathers day because it was my birthday, but I'll leave that for another day.

So, it was fathers day and my family got together for a Sunday lunch and after the meal my uncle, sitting on the couch says to me "So, you like them toys don't ya?" (By the way, that's the worst impersonation of my uncle ever, for starters, my uncle doesn't talk to me in English). But he basically said that, so I rolled my eyes, 'cause my uncle is from the side of the family that thinks that toys are for kids (the other side of the family thought that cartoons were for kinds until I started to get paid for watching them).

But after I finished rolling (it usually takes 3-7 minutes, I'm kind of an expert), my uncle says "Why don't you come over and watch our old boxes, we have tons of toys that belonged to your cousin". I open my eyes and ask: "so, what do you have in there?". He stares at me for a few seconds and goes: "I don't know, some of them Ninja Turtles I guess".

Now my eyes were open all the way, all I could say is I'll be there as soon as aI can. And I went. My cousin is a little younger than me and caught the TMNT wave with full force, plus, my aunt and uncle always got him really cool stuff, so I wanted to know if there was perhaps a little hidden jewel in there.

False alarm with the turtles. They were some but were completely destroyed. But then I opened one last box, my cousin was never (ever) into superheroes, no matter how hard I tried, but for some reason my uncle didn't know this. And I got several, never played with, old Toy Biz X-Men!

I know it may not seem like much to some of you, but when these figures came out, I wasn't really into toys, just X-Men comics and the 90s X-Men cartoons, so finding these was extremely cool for me, and a bunch of fond memories showed up. SO much that I forced my girlfriend to watch a 90s X-Men marathon that night.

I never really got involved in Marvel Legends, the over articulation and the hideous (yeah, you heard me) ball jointed legs were a pain to look at. Yes these are not nearly as nice sculpted, or painted or whatever, but I like the fact that they are clearly toys. Cool toys.

Morph, for example, was in perfect shape, and all of his three different heads were there. I like characters that are created just to die, so I like Morph quite a bit. I chose the bad Morph head for the display (oh yes, I'm displaying these!).

Cyclops is quite cool, doesn't have neck articulation because his eyes light up. And the light still works! Nightcrawler is also a light up toy, but only his sword lights up, his sword looks kinda silly, so no light for you! But I think he looks great, he has the smile that the ML one missed, he was too darn serious. And Wolverine is just Wolverine being Wolverine.

I couldn't believe when I saw inside that box, because up to that moment most of the toys, TMNT, He-Man, Mazinger Z, two Ghostbusters and several Transformers were beaten up beyond repair. And made me real sad, but these guys were perfect!

Archangel's wings look very good, I even like this version of the character with the halo in the chest and the blue skin. I remember that episode when he wanted to destroy Apocalypse so bad that he became obsessed with it. That was a great superhero show. There was also a Gambit figure, I actually did like Gambit a lot during that era, now I'm not so fond of him, but this figure is better than the other version with a cloth coat, I like the rubber one better. Then there's Sunspot, from X-Force sub-series. He looks cool I guess. And then there's Random, a character I never knew a lot of, he was like a bounty hunter and never an official member of the X-Men, I think. So was like in the line of good and bad all the time. Also he was not a born mutant, but mutated afterwards, like Deadpool. If I'm not right with this information, Marvel geeks, correct me! He does look super bulky and cool, has pretty rad tats too!

It was really great to find these toys in an old box in my uncle's house. As I said I'm going to display them proudly and, since X-Men from Toy Biz are relatively cheap, I'm going to see if I can find other characters. After all, Marvel Super Hero Squad is killing me, nobody works that line in Argentina. And I always liked the X-Men.

Until next time.

I also got more toys there, see if you can guess which ones with these clues:

1) Same company
2) Not a US based group
3) Complete set with just six figures.

First one to guess wins... I don't know... My respect or something. Start guessing!

The end of my First Freaky Contest (and a lesson on how Karma works)

2010-06-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

One of the few things I asked when I established the rules for my Win a Fuerza T contest was that the winner was supposed to take some pics of it with his collection.

Monsterforge won, and he took the pics:

Here's Pantano with the 200X beastman and Brawlor, the figure that made his journey possible.

And here he is in the final place he'll (hopefully) ever be, as part of the amazing collection of a really cool guy. Check Monsterforge's blog for more pics of Pantano and his amazing collection.

But here's how Karma works: Do you remember the Kawaiiju figures I bought from MF? You should. As I was anouncing the winner of my contest, MF had a contest of his own planned. He hid a "Golden Ticket" inside one of the blind bags. He shuffled the bags and sent them. And the golden ticket traveled quite a distance and ended up in Argentina.

In other words: I WON!

What was my prize?

This awesome thing!

"What's that awesome thing?" You may ask. That's the biggest Kawaiiju of them all! Big Daddy... I'll let Monsterforge explain it.

This guy is all kinds of cool but, like the other, smaller Kawaiijus you shouldn't feed it to a baby. Bummer.

The sculpt is great, it's also unique as the rest of the series. And all the eyes, the arms and the legs of this masterpiece just makes me want to do a little jump of joy. As I said, MF is working, or will start soon, on Kawaiiju series 2. I truly recommend you to get some (if I don't buy them all first, that is).

Oh, by the way, this is how Big Daddy will look from your point of view when he destroys your city:

Another plus to this figure is that now I won't necessarily think in Nicholas Cage when somebody says "Big Daddy". And that's always a good thing.

The name though, is the one thing that intrigues me...

I guess it's not just me.

Until next time.

(Surprisingly, Big Daddy is not the only thing I won, stay tuned for more posts about good luck coming my way. Well, maybe I'm not THAT lucky, I'll show you why soon).

Action League now!

2010-06-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that animated segment from Nickelodeon's show Kablam!?

It was silly, and pretty amusing and the stars were toys. What's not to love. You should really try looking for it on youtube if you don't know what I'm talking about. But I'm not here to talk about them.

In an unexpected turn of events, Mattel captured and (probably) stole the name Action League... Maybe they didn't steal it, but they owned it, and that's why the show was called Action League Now! I don't know, what do you expect from me? C'mon!

Oh, anyway, Action League is the best thing Mattel has in stores right now, as I've said before. And in my (not so) recent trip to San Francisco I was able to secure (almost) all the figures I was missing, namely these:

FOUR figures from THREE TWO-packs of the ONE line that just keeps getting better. You can't ignore the math here).

First Kanjar Ro, he's not one of my favorite bad guys, but he was important in the show, and was the only one I was missing from Wave 1. He looks evil and alien and angry, so there's really not much more I can ask from him.

Scarecrow is the second inclusion of someone from Batman main villain gallery. First one was Joker. I'm expecting a Two-Face that can really kick some ass done in this style. Scarecrow is my favorite of the bunch, he looks amazing.

The last adittion was the Wildcat/Black Lightning two-pack and is a great example of what the line really needs. I love Batman because he's... Well... The Goddamn Batman! of course. But, I could skip some Bat-love and exchange it for some more characters. This wave had two packs without Batman (great!). This was one of them.

Black Lightning has his reimagined look from the show with the hoodie and the jeans, I like this look for a teenage superhero.

Wildcat looks pretty cartoonish (I don't mind that), pretty old (that either) and pretty badass (I especially don't mind that). I like that he wears bandages over his gloves and not over his bare hands. I always thought that was kinda stupid, but it's classic and I like that they kept it for the redesign.

I know Deadman, Bronze Tiger, The Metal Men (as alloy), Sinestro, Chemo and Earth II Robin are coming. I can't wait people. Lets start releasing these bad boys faster, pretty please?

Until next time.

(Oh, the one pack I couldn't get was the one with Guy Gardner and Dr. Polaris, so if you find it, let me know! Pretty please?)

Kilowog? More like KiloWOW!

2010-06-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, is the lamest title ever, but just look at this:

This is just so great, so amazing, so massive, that the only word I can use is "epic"... But I can't really say that because I'm actually speechless.

...

...

So... Crazy weather huh?

OK, breathe, breathe... This is, of course, DC Universe Classics Wave 11 Collect and Connect Figure Green Lantern Kilowog. Since I didn't get the entire wave 11 I had to find other ways to get Kilowog. Luckily these ways didn't involve mud wrestling, garbage eating or killing a bunch of people in a car the other night around 11:30 and 12 a.m. (wait, better forget you've read that)...

I said "luckily" because I would have done those things and much more for this figure. He's incredible, and did I mention "massive"?

The sculpt of the head and neck is amazing the 4 Horsemen did an awesome job this time. The body was reused for Brimstone, but since I only want one figure of the Public Enemies line, Major Force (and I can't even get him) I don't think I'll have Brimstone any time soon. So, I don't mind the reuse.

Kilowog, doesn't have any accessories but has a cool ring sculpted in his huge hand. Also he thinks accessories are for pussies and he doesn't want any. Hey, that's what he told me.

I have said before that I have a love/hate relationship with the concept of the C&C... Well, now, like that time, the delicate balance of feelings is pointing towards love!

Also, some people asked me to show more pics of my collection and not only of the new figures. So I'll try to take a pic of the place they'll take in the display. In this case my extended Justice League International display:

Of course, when Kilowog was in the JLI he didn't have his power ring, was dressed in civilian clothes and was more like a handy man than a hero. But that doesn't matter because Kilowog was incredibly Badass then... Hell, I'm sure Kilowog was incredibly Badass even in HIgh School...

I wonder...

Until next time.

"... ..." (that's me being speechless, by the way)

Turtle (girl) power

2010-06-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know this, but the first run of Playmates TMNT was very diverse in terms of animal species but didn't have a lot of gender diversity, for some reason the mutated guys were always... well, guys.

Probably if I ask you to name a girl from the Ninja Turtles world you will instantly think of April. That's because it turns out it was all in her head...

(I got that image from Cal's blog... And yes... I did it because of the cleavage)

Other girls from the top of your head may include Irma (if you used to watch the cartoon) and Venus de Milo if you're young enough to have seen the horrible live action show, and old enough to remember it.

But the original toy line had a grand total of... five female characters. Man, talk about the Smurfette syndrome!

These are two of those five. Kala, the Neutrino (or is it Neutrina) and She-Dragon.

You may (not) remember a post a did sometime ago about Zak the Neutrino, there, I called him and an angry elf rocker from space. Well, Kala is his friend from Dimension X. She was released in 1992 and does look a little different than the rest, because she's part of the sub-line called Toon Turtles that were directly inspired in the cartoon (Irma and other characters are from this line). I wasn't planning on getting any toon figures until I noticed that the Zak they used was the same as in the regular line. So, I decided to get the other two neutrinos.

Some of you may recognize She-Dragon as a character in Eric Larsen's Image comic The Savage Dragon. Those of you may think I finally snapped and that I'm linking two figures that have nothing to do with each other. But the truth is that in 1995 Playmates released a series of turtles re-imagined by Jim Lee. Then they made a crossover of these turtles and three Savage Dragon characters why? you can ask, I don't know... Maybe because Savage Dragon was green? These figures were packed with a divided mini comic, this is the one that came with She-Dragon:

As you may notice she has long blond beautiful hair in the comic, and also a mohawk. Two variation of the figure were released. Why did I choose the one with the mohawk. Two things: 1) These are figures from the 90s and in the 90s the mohawks were hot! 2) In the comic she gets her haircut when she pisses off Leonardo, so he cuts it... With his katanas! Can you say "awesome"? I know you can.

Back to Kala for a second. In the blister and, as the rest of this sub-line, it said that she has "real toon texture feel" this just means she's made of a more rubbery plastic than the rest. I wanted to point it out, because it's extremely silly.

(And also because if I didn't this comic doesn't make any sense)

I also got these:

I got them from a friend and TMNT collector from Argentina. He's a real hardcore collector that owns not only the figures but a ton of merchandise. His collection is a real pleasure to see. And I'm lucky enough that when he gets extra figures, I can call dibs on them.

Our last turtle lady of the day is Mona Lisa. Also released in 1992. I was really surprised with this figure, especially because of her name. TMNT names are usually as punny and lame as MOTU names. But Mona Lisa's name is actually pretty good and kinda subtle. She's a girl lizard of course, so I was expecting Mona Lizard... or at least Mona Liza... But no, nothing like that. The figure is pretty simple, but she's the only mutant girl in the whole damn line. So you better like her!

This is Dask, the last neutrino, I know this was a post about girls in the TMNT line, but I also got him in this haul and he was always kinda of a sissy character so, I'll talk about him too. He was also released in 1992, also in the toon line and also with "toon texture" I like his design way better than Kala's. she's actually pretty weak and not very well painted. Dask, on the other hand, looks sharp. If you can forget about the cartoony look for a second he does have something going on, with the hair, and the pants and the shoes... I just can't put my finger on...

(What's that you say? Brain Setzer? No, I don't know who that is...)

Still, I think they are going to get along nicely with regular-line-Zak...

I think...

But wait, there's more. I mentioned my friend for a reason, after I sent the money for the turtles he had some troubles with his local post office so the figures came and go for more than a month! After all of that he was so ashamed that he sent me a present:

This guy is Major Disaster from the Toxic Crusaders line, also from Playmates, released in 1991. Look at how awesome this guy is! he has ton of sculpted details like little vines and bark and spikes (he's supposed to be a nature based mutated, like Swamp Thing) and his arms have cool and unique textures. I just love this guy and the people of Playmates for doing this!

Actually I've been checking out the Toxic Crusaders line for quite some time. They are also made by Playmates and there were only nine figures produced so it's a cool line to start now that I'm finishing up with the classic TMNT (only three figures left)... But no, no I mustn't, not another line!

Until next time.

(Evil voice in my head) "But hey, guy, now you have one, so you just need eight". (Don't worry, I have a great answer to that evil statement)"... Uhm, yeah... I only need eight, right?"

Oh, damn!

Turn on, Tune in and Corpse Out

2010-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

During my trip to San Francisco I was able convince my girlfriend (mostly by lying to her about interesting places to see) to do a little tour of Toy ad Comic stores. There, I managed to get three more figures for my Black Lantern Corpse display of JLZombies.

First, from DC Direct Blackest Night - Wave 2. Martian Manhunter.

I just find the sculpts of this line appealing. I think they are doing a great job showing some gruesome decay in the bodies of the fallen heroes. I've read the Blackest Night event, wasn't really moved by it but still thought it was kinda cool. Since I wasn't really following but read most of it in one sitting I didn't get tired of it like some people did.

The figure just comes with the base and the soft rubber cape, competes with Superman for most display space taken. I like the way he looks and he stands fine, I'm OK treating this as plastic DCD sculptures, for articulation I already got Mattel.

I think Aquaman from Wave 3 is the scariest of the lot. The face sculpt is horrifying and also I think he can telepathically control sushi. I like sushi, but you have to agree is one scary food. I think one of the reasons he's so spooky is because of the orange top. All the other Black Lanterns wear black/silver/grey outfits, this one stands out from the crowd.

A note in zombie fashion. As a zombie you usually move in large groups, so you will want to stand out in some way. Take a look at this picture:

See how your eyes tend to see the guy in the yellow coat? That's because he knew what he was doing. If you're bitten by a zombie, make sure to be wearing an outfit that makes a statement.

Take Firestorm from Wave 4, for example:

He doesn't have a lot going in the costume department, but he compensates with blue flames coming out of his head, eyes, mouth and insignia. a bit of a show off for my taste, but the sculpt in this case is also excellent.

The plastic used by DCD for the package is quite sturdy and some warpage may occur. A little balance exercise may be needed to stand these figures at first, but one you have that down, they won't fall... for a couple of days...

Also, when I returned I was able to get Dead Wonder Woman (also from Wave 4):

She doesn't have as much love as the others in the sculpting department, I think she's mostly a repaint. But if you've read the comic it kinda makes sense. Still, I don't think a lot of people would want to buy a rotting Wonder Woman, no sir, we want our zombie girls hot...

And in that note...

Until next time.

(Remember, wear your brightest colors even during the Blackest Night, 'cause you may be a zombie, but are still an individual... Right?)

AmeriCat Woman

2010-06-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

In the World of Toys (hmm, that's not good enough, it kinda needs and adjective... The Wonderful World of Toys? Still not good enough, The Wonderful Wide World of Toys? Nah... The Wonderful Wide World of Wicked Toys? I'll keep trying)...

In the something something something World of Toys, if you are a collector there are two kinds of toys, those toys you need and those toys you want. For example Some time ago, I decided that I wanted to get in the Futurama boat. But they were in wave 4 or 5 at the moment and getting the two figures of wave one was really hard. So I found a guy that was selling all the waves, arranged a price for all of them, dusted one of my piggy banks filed with Krugerrands, smashed it with a hammer, shed a tear and jumped in the line with full force, my eyes closed and the hope that I didn't kill myself when I reached the ground.

Those were toys I needed.

For the toys you want, you can wait. Well, I waited and it finally paid off:

In Argentina is almost as hard to get a Catwoman from the Hush line as it is to get Nightwing. But I had a stroke of luck and found a guy that was trying to sell his Hush collection. The catch was that he didn't want to split it 'cause he thought he'll end up with figures he wasn't going to be able to sell. I offered him a deal: If I could locate buyers for the other figures I could keep Catwoman. One good thing? Collectors love Hush figures. A couple of phone calls later, my friends got a great deal on some toys, the guy sold all of his and I could buy Catwoman. I felt like The Kingpin (of course I could never fill a white suit like he does, but still, it felt good).

Catwoman, like all female figures from Hush has a gorgeous sculpt and, unlike the other females from Hush, she can stand perfectly on her own. She also has the Goggles sculpted as a separated piece so you can see her eyes through them.

Surprisingly there are not a lot of Catwoman figures, and they are really hard to find (or are sadly out of scale). This is the modern look of Catwoman, but I like the simplicity of it. SO, I'm OK with it.

Before this one I had the Catwoman from Mattel's line DC Super Heroes. Like the line that came after that (DCUC) the women are puny little things, see for yourself:

As you can see, the details and the design are almost the same, but DC Direct comes out as the winner of this challenge. The only two things that the Mattel one has that are cooler are:

1) The sculpted Backpack. The DCD one doesn't have it.
2) She comes with her cat.

Well, I think I can do something about that last one...

I'm glad to finally have this toy in my collection. I waited for it some time, and that just made it sweeter when I found it. Some times, the toys you want are way better than the toys you need.

Until next time.

(Maybe if I eat at McDonald's for like three years and order a white suit I can... No, that's OK... I'll pick a better role model from comics... Hmm, maybe if a shave my head and my beard I can be a good Lex Luthor...)

Kawaiiju attack!

2010-06-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

The next figures I'm going to talk about are something that I, some time ago, might have said, were not my "cup of tea". Well, life taught me that usually when say stuff like that, you should really shut the Hell up and drink the damn tea, because it's actually delicious.

Yesterday I announced that Monsterforge was the winner of the Fuerza T contest. I also said I knew he was a great sculptor. That's because he released a series of little figures called Kawaiiju, these are not really toys, but wander dangerously into the territory of what I like to call art.

These pieces are really limited, he only made 30 unique hand made not casted designs and sold them on his blog.

Sometime ago I might have said "those look great but I'm not interested in blah, blah, blah", actually what I said in this case was "those are amazing, I'll take three if you didn't sell them all already". I was lucky.

After several days of waiting and nail biting, the box with my Kawaiiju arrived. The cool thing about this series is that MF packed them in blind bags so nobody knew what figures they had...

Also, he included a hand made "thank you" card. Awesome. Lets see which ones I got:

Grumblor. The art included the name, a description and an attack the little monster uses. It also says "This is a special action toy for the serious collector. Do not feed to babies!".

Each character had a hand made card too!

At first, when I saw the 30 characters, Lavarah wasn't in my top picks. But the pic taken by MF just didn't do him justice, he's very cool, his teeth are sculpted and very detailed.

And Zirrion is the dream of every Sci-fi geek (like me). A cute space robot. I loved him right away.

When I was trying to decide what I was going to do with the silly comic in this review my girlfriend suggested I should do something artistic. But I can't do that... So I wrote a silly poem... Using toys... I think I invented a genre. Here it is:

I think (hope) Monsterforge is working on Kawaiiju wave 2, but I strongly suggest you not to buy them... Is it because they are not going to be great? No... It's because I want them to myself! They will be mine!

Until next time.

(Mine I tell you! MINE!)

You too can be a WINNER

2010-06-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

In the mind of every kid of the 80s there's at least one MOTU character that never saw the light of day, because of costs, because Mattel didn't have the balls to do it, or because nobody thought of it. Some place in Toy Heaven there's this character, it's real, it's yours and it's waiting for you to play with it along with all the toys you had as a kid... Man I sense the beginning of a New Religion. Toyism?

But I digress (send your donations to the Toyist church to Freak Studio P.O. Box 63517, Argentina)...

Ahem, In the case of our two finalists, that toy is not waiting for them there. Because they made it themselves!

I'm sure they were going to make them anyway, but the fact that I, with this contest, encouraged them at least a tiny bit, the thought that I helped just a little makes me incredibly happy. These are three works of art.

Let's start with a double entry by usual comentator AAAGGGHHH!!!

Lets find out more about him with the bio AAAGGGHHH!!! sent:

Shitor : Shitite Warrior

It is said that from the primordial ooze of feces and waste beneath Eternia evolved a race of dark sewer dwellers known as the Shitites. Only fabled to exist, people who claim to have seen them are often dismissed as crazy, some of these people strangely disappear soon after speaking of what they had seen. Stories of stench ridden mud men lurking in the dark are often told to the youth to scare them from playing near the sewer gates, but like all legends, there just may be some truth to these fables. Speak not of what I have just told you!

Shitor is an incredibly fun character that strikes us in the very core of a South Park Potty Humor Loving Souls. I liked him, but not as mush as his second entry:

Matango : Mushroom Ninja

Beneath Avion city, where dung and garbage have been collecting for centuries there is a thriving nocturnal society. Little is known of these fungus creatures, in fact one the only things known of them is that they don't want to be known. In secret, they have a pact with the Avions- "Speak not of us, and we will not bother you. Do not enter our domain, and we will not enter into yours". People who have studied them from a distance say that they lie dormant during the day, and when the sun goes down, these silent mushroom people start to awaken and move about. They appear to be a highly developed race with focus on discipline and fast paced fighting skills, which come in handy given the horrible monsters that are also said to thrive beneath Avion. I have said too much.

Man! This one is just so awesome. The work and love that went out in this toy is surreal. I just wish I had a Matango when I was a kid. Even the name is great! And did I mentioned he's a FUCKING MUSHROOM NINJA? Congratulations to AAAGGGHHH!!! My friend, you are a true artist. Don't forget to check his site for really crazy toy finds

Now lets see our second finalist, another regular comentator: Monsterforge.

I knew Monsterforge was a great sculptor, he just released a series of little figures called Kawaiiju that are incredible. I'll talk about them in the near future. But when I received this I was blown out of the water:

BRAWLOR: Four Armed Master of Combat

Brawlor was an enslaved gladiator on the Dark Side of Eternia until He-Man broke him free from the gladiatorum and gave him the choice to join the evil forces of Skeletor or to become a heroic defender of Grayskull. Brawlor chose to join He-Man and has become one of the most loyal allies that He-Man has ever known. He is a master of armed and unarmed combat. His four arms allow him to break any hold and take down any foe!

Are you guys watching this? Tell me this isn't amazing! Tell me, I dare you! You can't, right? I love this figure in so many levels I just can't express it. He's a heroic warrior, but he looks like a four-armed monster. He-Man buddies (with some exceptions) were always almost "normal" guys, but I really liked the monsters better. The inclusion of this character would have made the difference in my MOTU battles as a kid. Also, check his awesome toy blog.

OK, so now I have to pick a winner. And I really don't want to... The fight is between Brawlor and Matango, and they are both great.

But the Fuerza T Pantano goes to...

MONSTERFORGE

MF, send me your address in a mail so I can mail you your Fuerza T character. And AAAGGGHHH!!! thanks a lot for everything and I make a promise right here, right now, if I ever get my hands in another repeat Fuerza T is yours man, you deserve it!

OK, so, now the winner has to send me the winning custom figure... What? It was in the rules... Check it out... Nah, I'm joking! (But seriously, I want it). Hahaha, joking again... Or am I?

Congratulations Monsterforge, and thanks to everybody that halped this contest to be a success!

Until next time.

(But mooooooom I want a Brawlor and a Matango! I don't care if it's not my birthday! I WANNA!)

Can't take my eye off of you...

2010-06-04T17:32:00.001-07:00

OK, so you know I'm going to talk about Optikk, and by the title you may deduce that he's just too good to be true. Well, he's not. But don't get me wrong, he's good. He's very good even. But I don't like to exaggerate, he's good enough to be true.

Now, I don't want this blog to become too MOTUCentric (see what I did there?), but since a MOTUContest ended yesterday and I'll be announcing the winner among the MOTUContestants... (What? Too much? OK) I thought it would be correct to post something He-Man-y in the middle.

Optikk is from the New Adventures of He-Man, a series so bad that never premiered in Argentina (that I know of... And I usually know this stuff). But when I finally saw a couple of episodes of that stupid stupid show, and looked for the action figures, of course, Optikk was the only one I said "hey, this guy is pretty cool". And guess what? He is.

I'm glad we got Optikk in the Classics line, I'm not so sure about the other characters.

This Optikk looks great, the amount of detail in the armor makes me forget it's Trap-Jaw's body. And I like the accessories, the ray gun (or... Photon neutralizer? Really?) and even the shield. I think the shield was actually designed for some other character, or to be reused, so the 4 Horsemen had to do it kinda generic. But I thin it fits the figure.

Many people complained about the eye being just a white ball. I agree, but then again, most of those people asked for veins in the eye as details. I think that would have ruined the figure a bit. I think something like circuits would have been awesome.

Like many other s before him, Optikk comes with an extra head an angry (orange) eye. An eye that, for some reason was covered in a horrible oily residue when I opened the box. I had to clean it up with a tissue... Gross!

Anyway, I like the green eye better, so I guess Orangy is going to an extended vacation on Extra Head Island... Wait, I feel an idea coming... No, it's just indigestion... NO! WAIT! IT IS AN IDEA!

I bring you:

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MOTUC EXTRA HEADS! (Episode I)

And now, we get to the same part as always with this new MOTUCharacters (oh, had to do it just one more time...) his "real" name. And Mattel decided to make a funny with this one. Real name: "Pronounced through a series of blinks".
Haha, Mattel, we got it, he has a giant eye for a head. Well, you know what he doesn't have... A FUCKING EYELID, THAT'S WHAT!!!

So, Mattel, how can he blink?

Until next time.

(The ball is on your court Mattel, I'm expecting an answer in 24 hours... Or Some time next week).

Freaky Contest now over!

2010-06-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

I said over, you, put the mouse down. Your time is up, It's done, you can't enter this contest anymore. I'm warning you... I'm gonna have to call your parents.

Anyway, the contest for the extra cool/weird Fuerza T action figure is now over. The winner will be announced in a couple of days, so stay tuned.

It's gonna be super hard to decide, but I'll have to do it, basically because I'm an idiot that thought the idea of a contest would be cool... Now, I have to think... Actually THINK about my decision.

You are to blame, people!

I'll try to do one more post tomorrow, before the big announcement, and then I'll let you know.

Until next time...

Oh, you want something funny? I can't help you with that... But I can share my next review's Silly Comic...

There... Happy? Now you know I'm gonna talk about Optikk... And now I don't have a comic for tomorrow... Damn!

Until next time.

(Thinking, thinking, thinking hard, who the Hell is going to win this stupid thing?)

Apparently, size does matter...

2010-05-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

One of the main reasons (excuses) I had to buy Gentleman Ghost in Wave 8 of DC Universe Classics was that he came with a Mini Atom figure, and I wanted one for my JL display.

After I saw him I decided that this Atom was a bit too small (that's just stupid, Atom is supposed to be small) to look good on the display. Even in the front of the display the teeny tiny Atom wasn't noticeable enough.

I checked the other Atoms in the market and started a very long quest to find this:

DC Infinite Heroes Atom from Mattel.

Little did I know that Mattel's bizarre distribution system and a line that never really took off were going to be the greatest obstacles in my way.

I asked several friends that live in other countries (covering Australia, the US and several Latin American countries) to locate and send the little bastard. But nobody was able to find it (special mention to FishMilkShake that actually got me the Ryan Choi Atom, a figure I also wanted).

Finally in my trip to San Francisco I was able to find not one but two Atom figures (the DCIH one and the gorgeous Eaglemoss figurine, I'll talk about that one some other time).

The little figure looks better in person than in pictures, the Playmobil hands are so small that are not a big problem in the overall look. That said, I'll say this: I don't like this line, and I wouldn't buy any of the other characters. But I think the sculpt looks good enough to mix with DCD and DCUC figures making Atom, one of my all time favorite characters, more noticeable in the display.

I'll keep the little one somewhere though, he's just too cute.

Until next time.

(Remember that the Freak Studios First Freaky Contest ends in a couple of days! Hurry up!)

Core of evil

2010-05-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

I said in Moss Man's post that I had several MOTU Classic figures to talk about, well I already got Optikk now, but if I keep skipping these, I have the feeling I'll never be able to talk about them. And believe me, they are so much more important than a freaky one eyed space mutant.

In fact, these are three figures that establish the core of evil in Eternia:

First of all I was able to get the re-releases of Skeletor and Beast Man. And I'm really happy about that. I call them (and the third figure, you may know who she is) the Core of Evil, because they are by far the most relevant bad guys in Eternia, I would add Trap Jaw, Mer-Man and even Tri-Klops to that list, but of the six great villains, only three were part of a motion picture starred by the one and only Ivan Drago and that chic from Friends.

As I said before, I always liked the bad guys better than the good guys when I was a kid. And Skeletor is one of the reasons why that is. Well, I'm not going to get in that online fight to determine if Skeletor was more of a badass than Hordak or if it was the other way around.

It was always clear to me, that Hordak was designed to be like the... Like the Super Saiyan version of Skeletor if you allow me to use that expression, he had like the same concept of a skull in a muscular body, only instead of a human skull was a monster skull. He was also a shape shifter and that's kinda badass.

That being said, I always liked Skeletor better. Why? Because most of the time the original is always better, even than the mega hardcore copy. (Wally West being an exception of this, there, I said it!)

MOTUC Skeletor is great, he's a simple design with lots of details. Thank you 4 Horsemen! And I'm displaying him with the staff, because I'm tired of all the Power Swords and half Power Swords, and also, because when I was a kid, Skeletor weapon was, without exception, the staff.

I like this figure, the sculpted fur is a nice touch also the feet are great, and stand out from the rest of the line. The face is frozen in an eternal growl and the colors remind me of a baboon's face. Until this moment, I've never pictured Beast Man like a Monkey Man, I always thought he was more like a lion/wolf man when I was a kid. But I think it works, he's supposed to be every animal, right?

Also, nobody says "Mumbling henchmen" like Beast Man. He was so of much a must-have for this line, that he was released before Skeletor. Because you know that if you're releasing the evil master, the evil minion has to be there early to get Snake Mountain ready for him. He's with Skeletor almost 24/7, so he must have an anecdote or two...

I'm not even going to start with his name being "Raquel", because if we are going to talk silly names, we might as well talk about the queen:

Evil-Lyn real name (according to her bio) is Evelyn.

Wait, what?

I'll say it again: Evil-Lyn's real name is actually Evelyn. In a world filled with Stupid names like Squidish Rex, Trydor Esooniux Scope, Araneus, Hec-Tor Kur and Raqquill Rqazz (I couldn't resist mentioning it, man, Eternian parents are the biggest assholes in the World when it comes to naming their children), Evil-Lyn's code name is the worst, why? Because her REAL name is EVELYN MORGAN POWERS.

That's like the best name ever, especially if you are an evil sorceress. I don't know if this is an actual original He-Man bible name or just part of the new rebooted MOTU Universe Mattel is going for. But this is too much, you just turned a pun into a disgrace.

OK, so... Other names for Evil-Lyn... and... GO!

The figure itself is very nice. It's basically a Teela repaint, so, if you liked Teela, you are going to like this one too. I liked that they used the original blue and yellow of the old toy instead of the pale skin and gray suit of the 200X series. I don't mind. And when Mattel finally makes a new release with the revamped colors, that's another figure I can avoid. Thanks Mattel for saving me money.

Evil-Lyn comes with Screeech, her version of Zoar (it's the fourth time we see this eagle Mattel, aren't you spreading the eagle thing a little bit too thin?). Well, at least this time the eagle has an actual perch to stand, and a kick-ass rocket launcher so, yeah, he's going on display, unlike the others.

Until next time.

(But, I mean, really? How can you mess up a name like EVELYN MORGAN POWERS!!!)

Mucha Lucha

2010-05-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

I like lucha libre as much as the next guy (unless that guy is Reis, in that case he enjoys it quite a bit more). Lucha libre or "Catch" as we called it here, was very big in Argentina during the 70s and 80s, the influence of masked Mexican wrestling was significant enough for us to have our own mythical wrestling show called Titanes en el ring (Titans on the ring).

Awesome. Also, disturbing. Also, awesome.

Then things started to get silly and when kids weren't interested enough in the original characters of the show, they used characters that were popular at the time, like... I shit you not... Voltron!

You know you have taken a wrong turn in life when a guy in a Voltron suit is kicking your sorry ass...

So, as a kid that grew up with that, you can assume two things:
1) I love Voltron!
2) I love masked wrestler action figures.

Sadly I never started a collection of this. I was always tempted, but the crappy toys we used to have are still way to crappy to track them down. I've seen several great toys in Mexico, but I'm not that familiar with those luchadores. So, I'll just pass on them.

Some time ago, I found one site in the Interwebz with some kick-ass toys and I promised I would buy them on sight. The site is called muttpop and the series I loved so much is just called Lucha Libre.

There are not a lot of figures on the line, they are a lot of repaints. And I would have killed for one of this:

Dr. Destruction!

Or even this one:

El Panda.

Look at those guys, they are great!

The only problem with them is that they are not that easy to find (almost impossible in Argentina), and they are quite pricey. But I was just lucky enough to find one the minis (at an affordable price) in my recent trip to San Francisco. And, as I said, I wasn't going to let this one escape.

The Mini Gobi is an amazing vinyl toy. The expression with the white eyes and the grin. I just love everything about this figure. It's like a little sleazy luchador. And his luchador name should be The Weasel or something like that. As I said he comes in a variety of different colors and designs:

But I like the original better. I was really happy with it. My only problem is that he has some problems standing up and he tends to fall down, but, if placed against the back of the shelve he just looks good enough to make me forget that.

The thing that really gets me about this figure are the two cigarettes he's holding at the same time. That just cracks me up... I sense a demotivational toy poster coming...

Until next time.

Muuuuuuucha Luuuuuuuuuucha (I miss that show).

Contest reminder

2010-05-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Don't forget, you have two weeks to come up with an original MOTU character using existing parts of MOTU characters (some minor alterations are allowed), give him a name and a bio and send it to me (funforfreak@gmail.com).

A better explanation of the bases to enter here.

Don't miss on this opportunity to win a very rare, very geographically exclusive Fuerza T Pantano.

You too can have an original character and flip a metaphorical bird to Mattel's copyright!

What he said!

Until next time.

(Let your imagination fly as high as Stratos, with half the Scottish accent).

Don't worry, be Harley

2010-05-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

The greatest thing about everyone knowing I'm a toy collector is that occasionally people give me free toys.

I had this conversation with a friend (he reads the blog, I didn't even knew he knew I had a blog, and wishes to remain anonymous, so we'll just call him "Friend", man I feel like Ludo from Labyrinth... "Ludo Friend")... Where was I? Oh, right, the conversation I had a couple of days ago:

Friend: So... I have a toy I don't want and I think you would like...
Freak Studio: Great, I want it!
F: But I still haven't tell you what it is...
FS: It's OK... I'll take it...
F: OK, but I'll just give you this toy if you don't have the character already...
FS: ... O... K
F: It's Harley Quinn, from the DCD Mad Love pack...
FS: ...
F: So, do you have one?
FS: ...
F: ...
FS: ... No.
F: Liar, you do have one!
FS: I don't! I can't believe you would accuse me of...
F: I saw it last week at your house...
FS: ...
F: ...
FS: Oh, THAT Harley Quinn... But that one is impossible to stand and has a broken arm (this is actually true).
F: OK, but you can't have it.
FS: But I really want it!
F: No.
FS: But I really really want it!
F: No.
FS: But I really really really want it!
F: NO!

This went on for like seven or eight "really really really" more, finally my friend gave up and handed me this:

Booyah! Thanks to The Simpsons that taught me that being incredibly annoying is a sure way to get things! The complete story behind this is that my friend ordered the Mad Love two pack because he wanted the Joker (it's Alex Ross' Joker but painted in the metallic colors DCD is apparently really enjoying these days). He's a huge Joker fan but not a toy collector, so he gave me Harley. The bad thing is that the Joker's cane was broken in two. So, to show I'm not completely heartless I ask that if any of you readers have an extra Joker cane (I don't really know why would you have one, but I'll ask anyway), please contact me (funforfreak@gmail.com). Thanks!

The Harley I owned was the Hush version that's almost the exactly same sculpt as this one. It is a gorgeous sculpt to begin with, way better than Mattel's one in my opinion. So, if this is just a metallic red repaint, you may ask, why did I wanted it so bad?

Because of this:

The Harley from Hush has pre-posed feet. making her completely impossible to stand without the help of the base, the base from Hush is quite big and it uses way too much display space. For this re-release, DCD sculpted flat feet, allowing Harley to stand perfectly on her own.

Also what I told my friend is true, Harley's arm was a little bit fragile, it didn't fall off, but you couldn't move or pose if you wanted it to stay in place.

The only thing in which DCD dropped the ball here, is that they forgot to paint one of her boots. One is supposed to be red, but they are both black. Just a minor problem of an excellent figure. So, I'm happy...

... You might even say crazy happy about this couple.

Until next time.

(I'll really really really really really really really really miss you!)