Friday, September 22, 2023
FIG PHOTOS: Wolverine Meme
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
DREAM GUEST: Alf on Hey! (EW)
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
PRE-OUT-OF-ORDER ACQUIRED: MMPR REmstered Red Ranger
Why did the worst Remastered figure shop three months early, and before the Black Ranger, which was supposed to be out in August? Do not question Hasbro or their ways.
Monday, September 18, 2023
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Saturday, September 16, 2023
FIG PHOTO: Spider-Verse vs. The Sinister… 11?
The genesis of this photo is very, very basic. “Man, I’ve been getting a lot of Spidey villains lately.” And I have!
So I went through and grabbed every one I could find except Michael Keaton Vulture because one, I’m excluding MCU from this (I have VERY few MCU Spidey figures overall) and two, he’s an utter pain in the ass to photograph. So, ten villains.
So then it was “How many Spider-People do I have, not counting the three different “red-and-blue-costume” Spideys. Hey, that also makes 10.
I had originally thought about trying to pose each side as single pictures, or possibly two groups per side, but I did the math on the stands I have, the space I had available, and the verticality I wanted and quickly gave up on that plan.
So I posed and shot all 20 figures individually, composited them, layered them, rearranged them, found a few spots where I wanted a lower layer to overlap a higher layer (a lot with Doc Ock’s tentacles) and erased bits accordingly.
Then my Smythe/Peter Parker two pack charged to my card a couple months early so I realized I needed to wait a bit.
When it arrived, I added Smythe to what is now the Sinister 11, and Peter Parker to where he needed to be.
So then it was just doing some adjustments so that the lighting mismatches didn’t stand out too too much, and boom, done. The full list:
SPIDERVERSE: Marvel Legends Spidey (Amazing Friends 3-Pack); Spider-Verse 1 Miles, Gwen, Peter B. Parker, Noir, and Ham; Spider-Verse 2 Punk and Woman; Toy Biz Marvel Legends Symbiote Spider-Man, comics 2099. Animated Series Peter Parker.
SINISTER 11: Retro-card Tarantula, Lizard, Scorpion and Rhino; Animated 2-Pack Goblin, Doc Ock and Smythe; Into The Spider-Verse Wave Fog-Man, Prowler, and Stilt-Man BAF; Venom (Venom/Knull 2-Pack, wings off).
Friday, September 15, 2023
Mortal Kombat 1 (The Toy, Not THe Game)
Arcade games are one of my favorite figure props. There have been a few lately as working toys that I’ve used, but none of the working miniature machines in the standard arcade game style are right. For various reasons, their proportions are off.
So when I was poking around for various 1/12-scale game-related items, I stumbled across this on Etsy. It’s a basic plastic cast arcade game mold and printed, applied stickers for a wide variety of games for 20 bucks plus shipping. It’s the right proportions, and a wide variety of sticker applications are available.
I went with the original Mortal Kombat, because, well, it’s absolutely classic. I would have gotten the original vector Star Wars game, but they don’t have unique molds for games with unique controllers or cabinets. I might have gotten like three if the Star Wars and/or the Tron had accurate controllers, but I understand why they don’t.
Anyway, it arrived quickly and looks good. But how well does it work with my figures?
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Player 1 AND Player 2! |
Not… bad. It’s a little small, because it’s strict 6” scale and most of my ostensibly 6” scale figures run larger than that to various degrees. Marvel Legends looks good, but my Jazwares Hnagman Adam Page looked huge next to it. One of the problems is that a lot of figures have longer than normally-proportioned legs, so while on a normal arcade machine, your waist would line up pretty good with where the controllers live, here they ride higher, so you have to do knee bends to get their hands anywhere near the controls. But it can be worked with, and it’s not like there are even better alternatives out there to choose from.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Sea Of Starsfield
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but if you look at the games I’ve spent time with, enjoyed, or beaten over the past few years, the one thing they have in common is that they’re easy to play.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Hulk And His Friends Are Quite The Crew
Friday, September 8, 2023
Twisted Metal, Foundation, and Invasion
Sunday, August 13, 2023
NEW TOYS: Preorder Party!
August is a moderate-to-large month for preorders, and the last week or so saw about half of them drop.
Saturday, August 12, 2023
BEATEN/PLATINUMED: Synapse (PSVR2)
It took me about two weeks to beat Synapse on the first two difficulty levels, and another three weeks to beat the third and final difficulty level.
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
OFF THE SHELF: The Marvels
It is the most microscopic of tiniest of problems, but this entire year has been very confusing when it comes to how, when, where, and for how long Target gets, stocks, and clearances any given Marvel Legends wave.
Saturday, July 29, 2023
FIG PHOTO: The Egghead Club
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The egg cups on the table were Cathy’s idea, and boy is Google’s algorithm gonna have a fun time making head or tails of THAT search.
But this image was just the setup. The beginning of the story. Exposition, if you will. I had a more intricate narrative in mind, a deeper story to tel, and for that, I had to look to the Marvel Legends Fantastic Four wave:
Friday, July 28, 2023
SLOW MONTH: Marvel’s Egghead
The last two weeks have been very calm before the storm, while I wait for the slate of August preorders (currently at 8 figs assuming nothing else ships early) and try to beat Synapse.
This was an online impulse buy that ended up taking forever to get to ,e because when I got around to pulling the trigger once I had enough preorders for free shipping, it was backordered. It’s Egghead, from the Marvel Legends Quantumania wave.
Egghead is a weird deep cut Marvel villain that I mostly know from Avengers cartoon, and I mostly got him because he’s a weird deep cut and for another reason I’m working on. I didn’t care about the rest of the wave because I already have perfectly fine Ant Man and Wasp figures, and MCU Kang is now… problematic.
He came with the big torso of the Giant Cassie Lang build a figure, which means he came with nothing but his gun, but otherwise he’s a solid, very middle of the road Legends figure.
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Monday, July 3, 2023
Saturday, July 1, 2023
NEW TOYS: The Day Of Tiny, Tiny Shit
Friday, June 30, 2023
FIG PHOTO: Oops! More Tommies!
It’s been about eleven months since I completed my collection of Lightning Collection Tommies and completed my plans for the Oops! All Tommies picture. A lot has happened since then, on all kinds of levels, but the second-most relevant* thing to this picture that’s happened was the release of another Tommy, requiring an update to the picture.
I figured Dino Thunder Tommy was older, wiser, had gotten his doctorate in something other than martial arts, somehow, and thus would be imperturbed by being dunked in a giant bowl of cereal, so I made him casually hang out over the bottom of the bowl.
* Technically, the death of Jason David Frank is more relevant to this picture, but I ain’t making tribute art here. Still, it seemed weird not to mention it.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
MORE PLASTIC: Playing The Ringside Games
Buying wrestling figures, especially AEW figures, from Ringside Collectibles requires playing two games.
Monday, June 26, 2023
Sunday, June 25, 2023
JUNE TOYS: The Pre-Orders, AKA Mostly Power Rangers Stuff
June’s pre-orders included a lot of multipacks, so while it felt like a light month for purchases, it ended up being a lot of figures.
Friday, June 23, 2023
FIG PHOTOS: Fun With Cap
So I have this new Captain America Marvel Legends figure, and the modernish Ultimates look is, to me, reminiscent of one of the most infamous Captain America drawings of all time, Rob Leifeld’s insane bodybuilder-tits pose. So, for fun, I thought I’d shoot Ultimates Cap posed the same way and see how he, if you’ll pardon the expression, stacks up.
Above, you see what they look like when you match the sizes of the shields. Is it a fair comparison? I don’t know. But it’s a funny one. But in the interests of covering all the bases, I also did one where I matched the sizes of the heads:
Once again, the action figure proves, in some ways, woefully inadequate, although nobody’s body-shaming anyone here.
FULL DISCLOSURE: If they made a Heroes Reborn Captain America action figure with the look and proportions of this Leifeld Cap, I would absolutely buy it in ian instant, because that would be hilarious.t
Thursday, June 22, 2023
JUNE TOYS: The Impulse Buys
June was split about 70/30 between pre-orders and impulse buys, although there’s still a week left to bring that impulse buy percentage up. Unlikely, but after seeing Guardians 3, the appeal of the entire Guardians 3 wave which I decided against because everyone was in the blue uniforms rose sharply now that I have context for the blue uniforms. Anyway.
Monday, June 19, 2023
THE FIGS OF SPRING FINALE: Spider-Verse!
And so we wrap up May’s toys with two of the Marvel Legends Across The Spider-Verse toys - Spider-Woman and Spider-Punk.
I didn’t need a Miles, Gwen, or Spider-Man 2099 because I have the first two from the first movie, and the comics version of the latter. I passed on The Spot because of his weird proportions but I’m not averse to getting him on clearance. But these I had to have.
This wave is weird because it’s packaged oddly, and everyone’s got even more movie-accurate proportions, compared to the original movie’s more “these designs as a Marvel Legends figure” My preference varies from figure to figure, but tese two work.
Biggest flaw, and I don’t know if it was intended to avoid character spoilers or not, but I really would have liked an unmasked Spider-Punk head after seeing the movie. Otherwise, they’re solid Marvel Legends figures, and more sturdy thank you’d think given their skinny limbs. Not much else to say.
Time to start on June! Only… 17 figs and an accessory set so far this month!
Sunday, June 18, 2023
THE FIGS OF SPRING: Wrestling Shit!
Ha ha this was supposed to autopost fourvdays ago
May was a light month for wrestling toys, but what it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality.
The “New” B5 Trailer And The Dangers Of Nostalgia
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
THE TOYS OF SPRING: Rebuying Power Rangers Edition
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One of the things I’m trying to avoid in my latest (2020-2023) round of action figure collecting is the impulse to buy Slightly Better Versions. Figures of characters I already have a serviceable version of, but that have come out from a new company, or from the same company with tweaks or updates or deluxe accessories. This post is about utter failure in that regard.
Friday, June 9, 2023
Bold Moves+ (Apple Arcade)
DISCLAIMER: Rage-playing games is a bad habit. There are a bajillion good games out there that you could be spending time on. That said, if you have Apple Arcade and are of a rage-playing mindset, great news! Bold Moves+ just came out!
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
THE TOYS OF APRING: Indiana Jonws Wave 1
The biggest of the April drops, or late April/early May by the time the last one finally got to me, is a brand new toy line from Hasbro. Specifically, their very Black Series-esque line of six inch Indiana Jones figures, the Adventure Series.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
The New Password Makes Me Feel Old, Tired, And Cranky
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More mugging than central Park in the 70’s. |
It doesn’t come out much on the Internet, if at all, but I love a good game show. I even love a pretty good game show. I grew up during Peak Game Show in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and I’ve watched over the decades as game shows have come in and out of fashion, but very few new true greats emerged.
Monday, June 5, 2023
Sunday, June 4, 2023
THE TOYS OF SPRING: Batman ‘66 Haul
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Stately as fuuuuuck! |
Sunday, April 16, 2023
FIG PHOTO: Animal Friends?
Saturday, April 15, 2023
March Acquisitions Part 4: Dungeons, Dragons, and Opportunistic Snakes
Back in... January? January, when Hasbro released the Target-exclusive figures based on the old, tacky Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, I was intrigued. Then I saw reviews, and decided that these were not full price purchases. Weird articulation and just a general "you're charging $25 a pop for WHAT now?" vibe.
March Acquisitions Part 2: DISCOUNT RAMPAGE
March was supposed to be the slow month. The calm before the April preorder storm. And those fuckers knew it. Especially the fuckers at Hasbro Pulse, who threw a warehouse sale with 30% off a whole pile of stuff.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
MARCH ACQUISITIONS PART 1: MORE GIFTINGS
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Kim-Ra, The Ever-Gromping! |
OK. The last month has been, to put it mildly, a bit bizonkers, and April's not faring much better. April is Las a HUGE month for my pre-orders to start coming due, and since stuff is already wending its way to me, including at least one thing that wasn't supposed to be out until May, I need to clear the decks on March photographing and posting. You don't have to read all this, but like a recipe on the Internet, if you scroll to the end you'll find something fun.
BEST GIFT: Custom Orange Cassidy and Danhausen
Cathy had been wanting to give me my birthday present early for a couple of weeks. And two Wednesdays before the actual day, I got distracted from feeding the cats dinner (shared household task) because I was watching Orange Cassidy and Danhausen win a Tag Team casino Battle Royale to qualify for the four-way at the Revolution pay per view.
Saturday, April 8, 2023
FIG PHOTO SERIES: My Magnum Opus Is Complete
Over four months.
The first picture in this series was completed on Jan 2, 2023. The last one was completed on April 6, motivated in part by the desire to finish before the Mighty Morphin’ 30th anniversary special dropped.