Mighty Morphin' Not Quite To Their Potential Rangers

A while back news broke of the decision to bring back the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers show. Basically the show is being repacked as "new" and there's a new line of toys and everything to go with it. No one knew exactly what that meant as Bandai has kinda cheapened out on MMPR toys through the years. Well now some of the toys are showing up online and apparently they're taking this thing to a pretty cool level.


In addition to more accurate Ranger figures, Goldar, Alpha 5 (WITH ZORDON) and Putties are already in Series 1. Very cool. I could have seen myself picking up a collection of these, even though I've only ever bought Zedd figures in the past. Scale looks quite a bit off on the final product though. The female figures actually look really good, but the rest, meh, not so much. Shame too because this has a lot of potential. I think if they could make the heads to scale and up the articulation on Goldar and Alpha 5, we might be on to something. Maybe next time?


Check out this cool commercial that combines the new MMPR toys with whatever Rangers are the current Rangers. I'm also pretty sure this commercial is against some sort of laws since it shows the toys doing things that they actually can't do.



LinearRanger.com has a full review and that's where these pics come from. All credit to them.
Read the rest......

iLASIK Video Contest

You know what's sad? I need to have better vision. For years I've put off getting glasses or contacts because I didn't feel like it. Last night as I was watching Slumdog Millionare I realized I couldn't read the subtitles on the screen. Lame. I've thought about Lasik, but I'll probably start out with glasses to begin with. Probably come the new year I'll look into ways to improve my sight.

That said Abbott Medical Optics Inc. (AMO) is running a cool contest where people can tell about how Lasik has improved or could improve their lives. Lord knows it'd be nice if I could actually SEE the preview guide on my TV instead of having to squint. The nice part is they're giving away cash and prizes to people who enter. The grand prize is $5,000 which could probably afford you some Lasik if you haven't had it yet. Three third prize winners get an HDTV and another three winners will get an HD Camcorder. All pretty cool and definitely easy considering all you have to do is make a little video about how Lasik could improve or has improved your vision.

The basic premise is as follows: Users make and submit a video in one of the following categories:
• “My contacts are getting in the way of my good time”
• “My favorite sport or activity would be so much cooler with better vision”
• “You should see life after the iLASIK® Procedure”



Then it's just a matter of voting. Users can submit videos, view and vote on all of their entries at www.GottaSeeThisNow.com

Since I'm advertising this, I probably can't enter. Maybe you could make a video about how this site would probably be better if I could see the TV. No? Okay then!

Check out more with the full contest rules, regulations and details at: iLASIK Video Contest

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Ghostbusters Slimer Figure Review

Through the years there have been many Slimer figures or toys of the "green ghost" from Ghostbusters, however none have ever truly managed to catch the creature in a particularly great likeness. Those that did manage to make Slimer look as he was supposed to, failed to give him proper articulation or made him needlessly out of scale with the toylines he was supposed to be compatible with.


Perhaps the best Slimer figure ever released to scale was the Extreme Ghostbusters Slimer, which is the small unarticulated Slimer in the photo. It looked like Slimer from that cartoon and retained the proper size for the character. NECA managed to make what many thought was the most movie authentic Slimer, but at a large scale and a sculpt that just seemed slightly off he never quite managed to achieve the greatness that I hoped a Slimer figure would one day reach.


Several years later enter Mattel with their new Ghostbusters line. As it turned out Slimer was part of their very first release, technically a pre-release. Slimer came packed with a special SDCC Slimed Egon to warm fans up to the line. This version of Slimer is translucent with a regular painted Slimer presumed to be in the works. I refuse to pay $50+ for Egon off of the secondary market, but I managed to pony up over $20 for Slimer to fulfill my quest of the perfect Slimer, which I've been on the hunt for the last 20 years. Did Mattel help me accomplish my mission?

Packaging:
Obviously the real Slimer came in a package with Egon, but I don't have that. Since I knew Egon would be released unslimed and he's my least favorite character the idea of having two Egons seemed wasteful to me. Still if he had a box, give him whatever I gave the package when I reviewed Ray.

Articulation:
Surprisingly Slimer has the most articulation he's ever had. When Kenner made their first Slimer figure he had a ton of articulation for the time and given the character restraints. Unfortunately he was 3X the size of the rest of the figure line. When Trendmasters made a Slimer a decade later, they made the same mistake, but did up the ante by making a to scale unarticulated Slimer. NECA never made the Ghostbusters, but their line from the movie seemed a bit out of scale even with it's own line as well. Finally Mattel has made a Slimer of decent scale and articulation.



Although Slimer really only has a few points of articulation it's perfect for this character. I can't imagine Slimer needing anything else. Biceps swivels, maybe ball jointed hands, but what we have here is plenty. Slimer mostly needs to be able to move his arms and everything else is just icing on the cake.

Sculpt:
A lot has been said about this particular sculpt of Slimer. Is it a cartoon Slimer or a movie Slimer? Is the NECA Slimer more accurate? The answer to those questions depends on your interpretation of the character, but in my personal opinion this is the Slimerest Slimer yet.


A Slimer for all lines?
There is some reasonable debate that the NECA Slimer has some movie advantages, but it's mostly the shape of his mouth that the NECA Slimer is superior on. When it comes to head shape and body size, the Mattel one is superior. When you turn the Slimers to their side, it's a no contest, the Mattel Slimer is far and away more accurate.




Yet somehow Mattel has managed to bottle a lot of the animated Slimer into this sculpt as well. It's a bit of an amalgamation. What's for certain is that this is sculpt that pops. Slimer has a perfect little "spud" shape.



The translucent plastic works quite well too and I'm glad we got this version. Of course I fully think a painted version will be even better, but it's nice to have this style. I think it works really well, although you can see through it a bit and see some molding stuff but it seems reasonable enough in execution.



I'm actually glad they resisted the urge to paint little food items in his stomach. As cool as that would have been it would have taken away from the sculpt. I do think in one of his many re-releases they do something like that though. The rest of his paint, especially the teeth and mouth work are some of the finest I've ever seen from Mattel. No fooling, that paint work on the mouth is excellent.

Accessories:
Slimer actually IS the accessory, but I bought him separate. Once you have Slimer in hand, you can definitely feel that he's a cut above the average accessory. He puts the poor logo ghost to shame and I actually liked that pack-in more than most.


He does technically have his stand as an accessory though, so that is a perk. I wish it was a bit smaller though. These stands are bulky and large and a thinner straight stick stand would have held him just as well.

Additional Notes:
Slimer is almost more famous for his delicious Ecto-Cooler than he is for being part of the Ghostbusters. His Hi-C drink is the stuff of legend. It's actually still available now, but with a different name and color. We still know it's made from his loins though, you can't fool us Hi-C people.

Value:
As a pack-in this guy is priceless and a great value. If you paid over $20 for this guy, you must be some sucker who's waited his whole life for a cool Slimer figure. Seeing as how I paid this much I'm willing to say he's "worth" quite a bit. I wouldn't have bought him though if it weren't for sentimental value and he's a total waste at this price point but it's not a fair way to judge him so I won't.

Score Recap:
Packaging - N/A
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Stand
Value - N/A
Overall - 8 out of 10

I really like Slimer. He fits in with the line perfectly, he could almost be grandfathered into the Kenner and Trendmaster lines and he's a great sculpt. I look forward to the painted version that I suspect will come with non-slimed Peter.


Ghostbusters Collection so far...
I'm really glad I got this Slimer even if my pocketbook got slimed in the process. You probably don't need to get a translucent Slimer, but if this ends up being the only Slimer released in this line he's a must have. At any rate he's the best Slimer made thus far in ANY line and he's worth getting on that merit alone. Read the rest......

Where are all the DC Universe Classics?

So here's a list of DC Universe Classics figures I've never seen. This does not include figures I've seen once or twice but passed on because they had bad paint aps/were broken in the package. Some of those include Booster Gold whom I saw once, but had random paint splotches all over him and looked as though his leg was severely warped and Flash who apparently sped off like his namesake never to adorn shelves near me again.

Wave 5:
Riddler
Black Lightning
Amazo
Atom
Eradicator

Wave 8:
Mr. Terrific
Hawkgirl
Gentleman Ghost
Parademon A or B
Commander Steel
Vigilante
Dr. Fate (Variant)

Wave 9:
Wildcat A or B
Black Canary
Mantis A or B

Wave 10:
Joker
Batman
Beast Boy
Forager
Joker
Man-Bat
Power Girl
Robotman

That's a lot of figures that I've never seen. Again, it's not so much even that I haven't seen all of these guys but it's the rarity of which I've seen the other figures. I saw Blue Beetle once. So yes, it's very annoying. Never having seen guys like Gentleman Ghost or even Vigilante at retail is frustrating. It was shortly after Christmas last year that I saw Wave 7 at retail... It's approaching Christmas the next year and I still haven't seen Wave 8 at retail. That's mind numbingly strange to me.

Obviously some of these figures can be found online at reasonable prices, but with DCUC I prefer to look at them in store. With any toyline you should at least see the figures at retail from time to time. One or two ultra rare figures is one thing, but DCUC is unique in having whole WAVES never show up. It's baffling. Read the rest......

Dan Aykroyd is Yogi Bear?

Prepare to have your mind blown, according to Variety, Dan Aykroyd has reportedly signed on to play Yogi Bear in the upcoming live action CGI film. Now really prepare to have your mind blown... Justin Timberblake is reportedly in talks to play Boo Boo Bear.


I was mildly interested in seeing the Yogi Bear movie, because I love a lot of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I even reported on how Yogi was poised to make a lot of money in one of the most crowded Opening Day weekends in recent memory, but I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Maybe Dan does a great Yogi and Justin a great Boo Boo, but shouldn't they have hired people who actually sound like Yogi and Boo Boo? I mean, really... Wouldn't that make more sense? It was like when they hired Bill Murray to voice Garfield. I think they should find someone who sounds like Daws Butler and if that's Aykroyd so be it. But if they're just hiring to hire names, SHAME ON YOU!

Smarrrrter than the average bear, indeed! Well played Mr. Ghostbuster, go get you some picnic baskets. Read the rest......

Torchwood: Blowfish Figure Review

Let me preface this review by saying, I hate my camera. I plan on getting a new camera in the next month or so because this one is just terrible and it consistently brings down the quality of this site. If you have a good camera you can recommend please let me know below. With that bellyaching out of the way, we're on to another review, this time of my first ever Torchwood figure! Huzzah! Today we're taking a look at the deadly Blowfish!


The Blowfish isn't really one of Torchwood's top foes, he barely appears in the series although he does show up twice. This version only shows up in one episode so a lot of people have questioned why SciFiCollector decided to include him into their toy range, especially when more important characters like Owen and Rhys haven't been made. Regardless of that face, he's a man in a suit (easy to make) and he's got a friggin' blowfish for a head! Plus he had this awesome opening scene:



With any toyline, but especially one like this you have to walk a careful balance between making core characters and making neat characters. The Torchwood line barely has any monsters so the Blowfish seems like a good place to inject a little fun into the line. These figures are not made by Character Options, who make the excellent Doctor Who toys, but this line is supposed to be compatible. How does it hold up?

Packaging:
The package here is pretty good with a collector friendly clamshell. I would agree with my old pal Wes Crayon that clamshells are sort of only collector friendly if you're a MOC collector. You can never reseal a traditional clamshell.


The front has all the normal stuff you'd expect and they keep it pretty snazzy. I've seen better and I've seen worse. On the flip side they show off the other figures in the series as well as showing the first series. That's a good idea. It seems like such a simple thing, but plenty of other toy companies forget that important part of the cross sell. It even tells you to be on the lookout for special edition variants!


Another neat part about the package is these little "burn" marks. When I first noticed it, I thought my package was flawed. Instead the inner card has several little burn bites on it. I assume this is to simulate the idea that this package has been through a battle... Or that it's a top secret file that someone has tried to destroy.


It's a pretty good package overall but you'll have to pretty much destroy it to get him out so I guess it's a moot point.

Articulation:
Character Options is constantly tweaking their level of articulation in Doctor Who, but they almost have it down to a science. The first wave of SciFiCollector's Torchwood figures didn't quite have the same level of articulation and it hurt some of the capability element.


This second series of Torchwood figures has amped up the articulation and in some ways improved upon what the CO range of Who figures offers. Overall though I think this falls just a bit short of it's complete potential. The one area that's probably an improvement is the ball jointed head. That gives this guy a lot of character.


Although the head is improved, the level of movement in the legs is hindered by the sculpt. Maybe you can make yours move more than mine but he can barely lift his leg on mine. The knees and elbows are Hasbro style ball joints or "Hasbrows" as they are sometimes called. This does allow you a more seamless swivel than the Character Options figures but it also doesn't quite give you the range of movement.


You may notice some water on the figure in a couple of these pictures. No, that's not sculpted on there. His joints were tight... So tight in fact that I had to dunk his whole body and do a "boil and pop" to the whole thing. The worst part was the head. I recommend doing a few boil and pops and working the head very closely. I've seen some reviews of this figure swear that his head doesn't move, it does and it's got a full ball joint but it's so tight that you absolutely can not move it without some work. I believe the Blowfish head is made of a softer plastic and it stuck in the molding process, but once you do get the head loose, trust me you'll be thankful for it.

Sculpt:
This figure originally looked pretty lame, but it turned out quite nice. As I said in the intro, I think SciFiCollector probably chose this guy because he's an easy design but he's also a "monster". The suit is very plain with little detail or paint application. That's true to the design of the show and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention he even has his trademark driving gloves on.


I'm a maniac, maniac on the floor...
The Blowfish head is really where all the detail shines through. It has a lot of little details in it and the paint job is really well done. Of course it doesn't look as good as it did on the show, but it definitely looks good. I'd say this Blowfish head is the best sculpt that SciFiCollector has done. It can definitely stand toe to toe with the sculpting work of Character Options.


The fact that this head sculpt is made out of a slightly more rubbery material just adds to the realism in my view. It's a really neat sculpt and while it's not exactly chocked full of detail it definitely fits the bill for this character. I couldn't ask for too much more than that.


As I said, the rest of the costume is pretty plain. You either like it or you don't. I thought the idea of the Blowfish in a purple suit was pretty cool. When I originally saw the design I was hoping he was going to be a gangster of some sort. Sadly that wasn't really the case, but in my Torchwood/Doctor Who world, he's totally a mobster boss.


Scale wise he fits in perfectly with your Character Options Doctor Who line. He's just about as tall as Jack Harkness. Since he's an alien that also gives you a little more leeway whereas a oversized Gwen might look funny. I think he's a pretty perfect match.

Accessories:
You may notice this awesome sword he's carrying... He doesn't come with that. That's a sword from Snake Eyes, but since I have a ton of them and I thought he'd look cool with a sword I gave it to him. If you have one of these Snake-Eyes swords, I totally recommend giving it to him.


All he actually comes with is a hexagon stand with the Torchwood logo on it. The stand is decent but my camera screwed up the picture so it's all blurry. I'd take another picture but my camera's battery is recharging and even from this blurry picture, you get the point.


The stand is actually handy not only as a stand, but it makes a good piece of background if you're making any Torchwood dioramas. If you watch Torchwood you know that they love to plaster their logo all over everything. So it can be used in a few ways.

I'd have loved to seen him come with oh, I dunno... A SWORD! But since he barely did anything in the show I assume it's okay that he didn't get a weapon. Although he did use a gun in the show, so that would have made sense. Accessories are always nice.

Value:
I don't remember exactly what I paid but he runs for about $12.99 here in the states. If you look around you can definitely find him a few bucks cheaper. As always that's not a great value, but it is a decent one. The Doctor Who and Torchwood toys are always a better value than DC or Marvel toys even at their higher price points because these figures are IMPORTS. When you're getting imported toys for only a few bucks more than retail toys here, it's a added bonus. Plus the toys are typically pretty good.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Stand
Value - 7
Overall - 7 out of 10

I could probably go an 8 on this figure but I'll stick with a 7. That doesn't mean this is a bad figure. According to my scale a 7 is right at average or so but this guy is definitely a little better. He's a lot of fun and as a character he's largely a blank slate so you can fill in the backstory yourself. You could make him like a mob hitman who wields a samurai sword... Just saying, you could do that if you wanted.


"Harkness, you dirty rat... You killed my brother! NOW YOU DIE!"
I'll probably pick up some more Torchwood figures down the line but I don't know if I'll end up getting the whole crew or not. I could definitely get an Owen though. These are good toys, especially if you are a fan of the show but they aren't quite as awesome as the Character Options Doctor Who toys, but really, what is? Ciao. Read the rest......

Randomness.

It's been a while since I did a randomness, but since I'm sitting on a couple of reviews that I don't have time to write today, now is as good of time as ever.

- Watching Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair cut promos on each other in the old school way makes me for once wish I lived in Australia. See, Hulk is putting together a tour there, headlined by him and Flair fighting a few times. It's old school awesomeness. I hope if those two get together in TNA they fight at least once.

- Edward Norton is a weird dude. I think he's a brilliant actor and he even pulled off a cool Hulk movie, but I saw him on Jimmy Fallon the other night and he seemed strange. I've heard he's a bit of a douchebag too, but most great actors are. He spoke with Aint It Cool News and talked to them about doing the Avengers where he said:

"I'm not even sure deep inside the minds of Marvel how they are planning to string that stuff out, but I don't think any of if is imminent, I don't know. Things like that to me are always completely dependent on what they make of it. It's like anything can be the crappy version of itself or the great version of itself and if it's the great version of itself, then that's one thing. If they don't get it right, then I don't know, then I think… A lot of it depends on what they come up with."

- The Avengers is set for a May 2012 release date, and as of now, there are no official plans for a sequel to The Incredible Hulk.

- Am I the only one watching Eastwick? It's basically Desperate Housewives with witches. It started out pretty slow but it actually managed to get kinda interesting a few episodes in. It's mostly a fluff show and it's clearly aimed towards women, but it's one of the few shows I've picked up so far this season. With so many shows in their final seasons, I have to start watching new stuff.

- Chuck is getting some extra episodes. Chuck is one of the best shows on TV and NBC will be bringing it back a bit earlier this year and adding some more episodes. That's a great thing because NBC almost canceled Chuck last year. Apparently NBC is now so far in the toilet that they're willing to make Chuck one of their cornerstones. Bravo NBC, I'm more likely to watch something if you're not always threatening to cancel it.

- I stumbled across this picture today. That's Freddy and Jason, or more specifically Kane Hodder and Robert Englund. I had no idea Kane Hodder's head looked like a melon. Apparently he needed no makeup as Jason. I'm a bit confused as to why Robert Englund has been replaced as Freddy Kruger though... Why? Because he actually looks YOUNGER here than Jackie Earl Haley does.

Read the rest......

Hollywood Box Office Updates

It's time to take a look at some of the Box Office for the past few weeks to see where things are, who's making money and who's hoping for a good DVD release.

Astro Boy opened last weekend at #6 and slid to #7 this week making only $11 Million of it's $65 Million budget back. I've heard mixed reviews on Astro Boy. Hardcore Astro Boy fans seem to think it's not quite dark enough to be true to the material and the casual reviewer seems to think it's too dark for a children's movie. I think the real problem with Astro Boy is that it hasn't tapped into the "collector" market. Nerds like me and the people who read this site have only a very mild knowledge of Astro Boy so we aren't supporting it. I might would see it on DVD though... And I'm steadily picking up the toys.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant opened last week at #7 and has already dropped to #9. Apparently this is based off of a bunch of books like Harry Potter but I've never heard of it. The previews looked horrible, the reviews say it's even worse and they cast that one guy who's Will Ferrell's tag along as the star which pretty much guaranteed it was going to suck. So far it's made 10 of it's $40 million back but I would expect it to finish under half of what it cost to make it. So don't expect any sequels anytime soon.

Saw VI slipped from #2 to #6 pretty much guaranteeing that this franchise is dead and buried. Thank goodness. I really liked the original Saw, but it didn't need one sequel, must less two dozen. The original sequel was alright but that was more than enough. As it turns out Saw sequels just kept making more and more money, but not anymore. This Saw essentially bombed by Saw standards... Of course it also made twice it's budget already so maybe we will see more of these movies.

Where the Wild Things Are dropped to #5 from #3 last week but it's close to making it's $100 Million budget back with $65 Million already banked. At first I wanted to see this, but now I'm hearing it's dreadfully boring. It's been a long time since I read the book but now I'm hearing the book is only 10 pages, so maybe that's why I forgot it?

Halloween II had a little boost from the Halloween holiday and raised itself back from #60 to #16 which is a pretty great jump. It's about doubled it's budget and with Rob Zombie supposedly supping up the DVD release, I'd expect a third Halloween movie to happen. Although it will be without Zombie, which I think many fans are thankful of.

Boondock Saints II opened up in a paltry 68 theatres but that was enough to beat Halloween II despite the latter playing in over 1,000 theatres. That's pretty good but Boondock Saints II only made it to #14 and didn't even make $1 Million dollars yet. Of course I suspect it'll make more if it gets to a wider release. The film only cost $8 Million to make, so I'm sure it'll do decent business. The original Boondock Saints made like $20 at the theatres and it wasn't until it hit DVD that it started to rake in millions. There's been next to no publicity for this movie though and if I didn't bring it up I bet half of you wouldn't even know Boondock Saints had a sequel.

The lowest ranked movie this weekend was a film called Under Our Skin, it made a total of $80! That's pretty sad, but it was only in one theatre in the whole country, so I guess it's understandable.

Toy Story/Toy Story 2 banked another $260,000 leading to an impressive $30 Million for two films that have been out on DVD for more than a decade. That has to bode well for Toy Story 3 which will come out next summer I believe.

Two ghost stories were the #1 and #2 at the box office, with Michael Jackson's This Is It milking his dead status to $23 Million dollars at the weekend take and Paramount's Paranormal Activity lurking it's way to $16 Million as well. I'd expect Paranormal Activity to sink into obscurity pretty soon as the movie only got popular off of people thinking they were being counter culture by buying into Paramount's preplanned publicity campaign where you'd fight for this movie to get publicity. Paramount deserves a lot of credit for conning a good portion of the country into thinking they were part of a movement. The movie made a ton of cash since it was recorded on what essentially was a VHS tape so expect every other studio to follow suit soon with a bunch of equally as terrible movies with no budget.

I should note that Christian Bale tanked the Terminator franchise so much that it's now actually up for sale. You suck Bale. Read the rest......