So the randomizer has spoken and the winner of the full DCUC Wave 6 set is Tom K. A.! Tom has 7 days to contact me with his information and I'll send it on out. Because the participation was so good across the board, I've decided to pick a runner-up winner as well. That winner is Gilltron! Gilltron will recieve a loose DCUC Wave 6 Captain Marvel!
Thanks to everybody who participated and hopefully folks will still comment on posts around here. You never know when another giveaway might be done!
Winners can contact me via the contact button up above and send me an email with their information. In the event that neither person contacts me in time, I'll redraw.
Thanks again everyone for their contributions and congratulations to the winners.
Read the rest......
Showing newest 17 of 46 posts from September 2009. Show older posts
Showing newest 17 of 46 posts from September 2009. Show older posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Fall TV Debut Ratings
A bunch of random ratings news for anyone that cares. Dollhouse, the show that Fox decided to back instead of the much better Terminator, bombed pretty big on it's return debut. This season will probably be it's last. Might should have given Terminator another season instead, at least at some point it got high ratings, whereas Dollhouse never has.
Over on NBC the return of Law & Order didn't do very good either. I watched the episode and it was better than I thought it would be, but I wonder if some people didn't tune out because it was so political? The previews made it sound like it was Jack McCoy versus the Bush Administration, but that was more side plot than anything. Hopefully the show can pick up some steam, last season was really good and NBC has tinkered with the idea of canceling Law & order. Which would be a mistake.
Also for those wondering, Leno's ratings are taking a nose dive as well. He's still beating Conan, Dave and everyone else, but he's on an hour earlier too. Meanwhile NBC continues to give Conan worse guests than even Jimmy Fallon gets. Conan's only hope is that Leno's show completely bombs, but I'm not sure Leno's show will ever get lower ratings than Conan's Tonight Show gets, just on timeslot alone. Whatever, Conan FTW!
And finally, CW's highest rated original show, Smallville got shafted to a new Friday timeslot. Everyone said this was a terrible idea as Friday is a bad night for TV in general and CW has nothing to help the show out, so guess what? It was down 45% from last season. I'm sure the CW will either blame this on Smallville or it was part of their plan all along to ax the show. Hopefully people catch on that Smallville now airs Friday. Smallville is just starting to get really interesting. If we can make it to another season, it'll be a full Superman show and I'm all for that. CW did offer Tom Welling a new contract for another year, so it seems odd that they've stuck Smallville on Fridays with virtually no advertising.
I liked the debut episode well enough but it's too early to really know where anything is going. The appearance of former TSCC actor Brian Austin Green already looks promising though. Plus we're getting a lot more Clark/Lois stuff. Hopefully Smallville can rise above it's network's faults. CW, NBC and Fox tend to do really stupid stuff with all of their shows but sadly they always seem to be the only networks willing to get good shows going before canceling them when they aren't immediate hits. Read the rest......
Over on NBC the return of Law & Order didn't do very good either. I watched the episode and it was better than I thought it would be, but I wonder if some people didn't tune out because it was so political? The previews made it sound like it was Jack McCoy versus the Bush Administration, but that was more side plot than anything. Hopefully the show can pick up some steam, last season was really good and NBC has tinkered with the idea of canceling Law & order. Which would be a mistake.
Also for those wondering, Leno's ratings are taking a nose dive as well. He's still beating Conan, Dave and everyone else, but he's on an hour earlier too. Meanwhile NBC continues to give Conan worse guests than even Jimmy Fallon gets. Conan's only hope is that Leno's show completely bombs, but I'm not sure Leno's show will ever get lower ratings than Conan's Tonight Show gets, just on timeslot alone. Whatever, Conan FTW!
And finally, CW's highest rated original show, Smallville got shafted to a new Friday timeslot. Everyone said this was a terrible idea as Friday is a bad night for TV in general and CW has nothing to help the show out, so guess what? It was down 45% from last season. I'm sure the CW will either blame this on Smallville or it was part of their plan all along to ax the show. Hopefully people catch on that Smallville now airs Friday. Smallville is just starting to get really interesting. If we can make it to another season, it'll be a full Superman show and I'm all for that. CW did offer Tom Welling a new contract for another year, so it seems odd that they've stuck Smallville on Fridays with virtually no advertising.
I liked the debut episode well enough but it's too early to really know where anything is going. The appearance of former TSCC actor Brian Austin Green already looks promising though. Plus we're getting a lot more Clark/Lois stuff. Hopefully Smallville can rise above it's network's faults. CW, NBC and Fox tend to do really stupid stuff with all of their shows but sadly they always seem to be the only networks willing to get good shows going before canceling them when they aren't immediate hits. Read the rest......
Monday, September 28, 2009
Mac Tonight Memories
Does anyone else remember Mac Tonight and the McDonalds Happy Meal Mac Tonight toys? I had a bunch of these when I was a kid. I have to give McDonalds credit they were pretty smart there for a while. Create their own characters, make kids love them, then make kids want the toys of them.
Of course they'd done the same thing before with Ronald and all his pals, but Mac Tonight was just different. He was adult. He wasn't aimed at kids, yet they made Happy Meal toys of him. I had a bunch of the Jeep one too. Couldn't get rid of that thing for years. I think I had them all.
Apparently McDonalds brought Mac Tonight back in 2007ish when they were making their nationwide open 24 hour campaign. I never saw new Mac Tonight commercials, but I guess they made them. Not popular enough for new toys though. Read the rest......
Of course they'd done the same thing before with Ronald and all his pals, but Mac Tonight was just different. He was adult. He wasn't aimed at kids, yet they made Happy Meal toys of him. I had a bunch of the Jeep one too. Couldn't get rid of that thing for years. I think I had them all.
Apparently McDonalds brought Mac Tonight back in 2007ish when they were making their nationwide open 24 hour campaign. I never saw new Mac Tonight commercials, but I guess they made them. Not popular enough for new toys though. Read the rest......
Sunday, September 27, 2009
RIP Dick Durock (Swamp Thing)
Swamp Thing actor and star of the two major motion pictures as well as the TV show, Dick Durock passed away this past Thursday. Although most people probably remember Durock's run with Swamp Thing as somewhat campy, he always seemed to really embrace the character well. In fact I thought Dick Durock really got Swamp Thing and brought a lot of emotion to the character despite wearing layers of makeup and rubber.
More here about the life of Durock. He was pretty young all things considered. He did a lot of bit work throughout Hollywood.
I listened to an interview with Dick Durock about a year ago shortly after the release of the first season of Swamp Thing the TV series. I haven't heard anything about the second season being released, but it's a good DVD to pick up for cheap if you want to see some of the better Swamp Thing costumes. The show isn't great, nor were the movies, but Dick Durock did a great job with them. I always wished they'd had the TV show costume for the first movie, it probably would have done better. Read the rest......
More here about the life of Durock. He was pretty young all things considered. He did a lot of bit work throughout Hollywood.
I listened to an interview with Dick Durock about a year ago shortly after the release of the first season of Swamp Thing the TV series. I haven't heard anything about the second season being released, but it's a good DVD to pick up for cheap if you want to see some of the better Swamp Thing costumes. The show isn't great, nor were the movies, but Dick Durock did a great job with them. I always wished they'd had the TV show costume for the first movie, it probably would have done better. Read the rest......
Saturday, September 26, 2009
DCUC Walmart Woes
This past weekend I had tried to go out and get some of the new DC Universe Classics Walmart exclusives. Walmart now is carrying both the new Wave 10 with the Joker as well as the DCUC 5 Pack with Batman and Superman that I've been after. Here's the fruits of my labor:
As you can see, no DCUC 5 packs. Just a big gapping empty hole. Now, you could say to me, that they've sold out. Maybe they did. However, this has been the case EVERY TIME I've went to this and any other Walmart. They never have any. Notice, they have stacks of DCIH packs though... Because nobody buys that crap. Well at least they had some DCUC singles, right?
Nope. Not a single figure. Again, this isn't a one off instance. This is what happens every time I got to these stores. Heck, I even asked a Walmart employee to go back and see if they had them and to my surprise they did go back and actually looked... But nothing. You may notice that near the big empty DCUC holes is rows of DCIH (because it doesn't sell) and rows of Marvel Universe that has been replinished numourous times.
Mattel, I can't buy "Walmart Exclusive" figures if they NEVER have them. Some of my Walmart still don't even carry the 5 packs and the ones that "do" are always stocked with these invisible variants.
I'll defer to Oscar Rogers on this...
FIX IT! Read the rest......
As you can see, no DCUC 5 packs. Just a big gapping empty hole. Now, you could say to me, that they've sold out. Maybe they did. However, this has been the case EVERY TIME I've went to this and any other Walmart. They never have any. Notice, they have stacks of DCIH packs though... Because nobody buys that crap. Well at least they had some DCUC singles, right?
Nope. Not a single figure. Again, this isn't a one off instance. This is what happens every time I got to these stores. Heck, I even asked a Walmart employee to go back and see if they had them and to my surprise they did go back and actually looked... But nothing. You may notice that near the big empty DCUC holes is rows of DCIH (because it doesn't sell) and rows of Marvel Universe that has been replinished numourous times.
Mattel, I can't buy "Walmart Exclusive" figures if they NEVER have them. Some of my Walmart still don't even carry the 5 packs and the ones that "do" are always stocked with these invisible variants.
I'll defer to Oscar Rogers on this...
FIX IT! Read the rest......
Friday, September 25, 2009
Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.
Well I'm sold. Thanks to some pictures via Spideyland over at the Fwoosh, it seems as though the Entertainment Earth exclusive flying Delorean is a real winner. Not only does it look cool, but it definatively fits 3 3/4 figures!
These pictures came from Spideyland and I'm not stealing them. He's just the only guy who has pics of this awesome vehicle up yet. Entertainment Earth has also told me that these are on short supply and that they're selling quick. So if you want one, NOW is the time to get it. I'm seriously placing an order right after I post this. I suggest you do to. Use my handy link! You can only get this at Entertainment Earth.
There is another version coming out in October, but I'm not sure why you would want it. It doesn't fly and otherwise is identical to this. It just costs more and has less. Get this one, GREAT SCOTT!
These pictures came from Spideyland and I'm not stealing them. He's just the only guy who has pics of this awesome vehicle up yet. Entertainment Earth has also told me that these are on short supply and that they're selling quick. So if you want one, NOW is the time to get it. I'm seriously placing an order right after I post this. I suggest you do to. Use my handy link! You can only get this at Entertainment Earth.
There is another version coming out in October, but I'm not sure why you would want it. It doesn't fly and otherwise is identical to this. It just costs more and has less. Get this one, GREAT SCOTT!
Rent a Godzilla Suit
Oh no, there goes
Direct from Toho
I'm not sure exactly what purpose renting these suits is for. It appears to be a Toho spearheaded project and they also rent some equipment. I've heard those suits are pretty cumbersome so I'm guessing these aren't for children's birthday parties. Maybe for advertisers who want to feature Godzilla in commercials? Or student filmakers interested in learning Kaiju?
If it's for commercials, I would hope that I could only make something as awesome as this Gamera commercial:
But alas, there's no information on the site as to how much it costs. It's around a $100 just for insurance so I'm guessing it's probably a couple grand to get your hands on these Godzillas for a day. Plus it's exclusive to Japan... Well there goes my weekend plans. Read the rest......
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Marvel Universe: Electro Figure Review
It would seem as though I'm reviewing a lot of Marvel Universe lately. Mattel, DC, take note because it's not for a lack of trying. I went to Walmart last night to hunt for the new DCUC 5 pack, but my Walmart still isn't carrying the pack. So when I bumbled around the aisle for a few minutes I came across all of Wave 5 for Marvel Universe. Despite whatever complaints I might have about the Marvel Universe line, I give Hasbro a lot of credit for actually, you know... Getting it into stores.
Electro was one of two Marvel Universe figures I picked up out of the way (Why only 2? More on that later...) because I have an affinity for classic Spider-Man villains. You can't get much more vintage than Electro. He came around in 1964, thanks to the mind of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and he's a member of the original Sinister Six. He's one of Spider-man's most classic villains. Of course that also means he's sorta lame, not too powerful and has a goofy costume. That's why Spider-man's classic villains are so cool. Outside of 1964 most of these guys look like goofs and even then they probably didn't look that cool.
That's not a dig at Electro or his brethren. Moreso, it's what attracts me to them. Electro has been updated a few times to look more contemporary and "cool" but screw that, Electro is supposed to look like a goof. Thankfully Hasbro and Marvel Universe faithfully have recreated classic Electro here.
Packaging:
We've went over these Marvel Universe packages enough times that you probably know I like them fairly well by now. They do everything just right and it's only fair that Hasbro has since adopted similar packages for almost all of their 3 3/4 offerings. I hope it was my reviews that swayed them in that favor! On the front we have artwork which I assume is still Frank Cho's and he makes Electro look cooler than he has any right to. Part of me thinks it would have been cool to have some vintage Steve Ditko art on there like seen HERE but it's probably better to go with what's worked.
On the back we've got the rundown of the character as well as a few other characters from the wave. They don't list the Iron Man variant, instead opting to put a Spider-man there. I guess that makes sense though because this is a Spider-man villain after all and we want the kiddies to be able to know he's out there.
Inside we have our top secret envelop. Am I the only one who has trouble opening these things? I end up ripping the little manilla envelop all up to get it open. I'm starting to feel like Carnac the Magnificent when ripping these things open. Inside is a letter to Norman Osborn that has been hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today.
You also get the little trading card/picture thing. It's not made of real card stock, but it's nice to have.
Articulation:
Ol' twinkle toes has quite a bit of articulation and let's see if I can count all the points. He has a ball jointed head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel right below the shoulder, elbow hinges, swivel wrists, a ab ball joint but not enough for a full crunch, t-bar ball legs, double knees hinges and hinged ankles.
Some folks might want more articulation, some might even want a little less! I find that it's a pretty good amount. Especially for a character like Electro. While he does sometimes do some strange crouching poses, he's pretty versatile in this format and I can't think of anything else he needs to be essential.
Sculpt:
For whatever reason, a lot of my opinions of Electro and the Spider-man universe in general were formed because of the old Sega Genesis Spider-man game. It's the best Spider-man game ever (I don't care WHAT you say) and in it, Electro is the first real boss character, right after the Forklift man. That's sort of how I view Electro, mainstream villain but never the main villain. He's the first guy you'd beat up on your way to saving the day.
Grinning fool.
In that respect he's been faithfully recreated. His face has this grin/snarl that's more comical than fierce. He has an almost jester-like appearance with his funny mask and smirk. His body is built off of what I believe to be the same one that Klaw uses but it could be a different one. It's similar regardless.
As a result of his mask he's actually one of the tallest Marvel Universe figures. That doesn't mean he's too tall to fit into the scale though, he just has a big point on his head. It does make Magneto seem a little more undersized though. Damn it, now Hasbro is going to make a bigger Magneto down the line and force me to buy him. CURSE YOU HASBRO!
His sculpt is solid all around with little lightning bolts hanging off of his gloves. It looks pretty cool but it does limit posing in that I constantly feel like those need to be behind him and not in front of him. His face is really the best part though and they nailed that. His eyes do have a bit of slop on mine and I suspect that might be something to watch out for on all of these. They only had one at the store, so I couldn't compare.
Other than that, he's really well painted. Even his costume seems pretty much perfect. No, it's probably not 100% perfect, but it's good enough for a mass market toy. The paint used on his gold almost glows at points, it's not quite metallic, but it's just enough to give it a glimmer. Very well done.
Accessories:
Electro only gets two small accessories in addition to his paper ones, but I found them to be some of the best that Hasbro's produced yet. These might be recycled from Iron Fist, but since I have no interest at all in Iron Fist, I wouldn't know. Regardless, these are little electricity strands that you can put on both hands.
I've said before how I liked these similar deals with Iron Man and I found Electro's to be the best. It's just really well done and it makes for a lot of fun when posing these guys. I had a lot of different stuff I could do with them. I guess it's a lot like that "Force energy" that comes with Star Wars guys.
If you're clever you can even put two on one hand for a different effect.
Additional Notes:
Unfortunately not all is well here... The foot is warped all to hell on mine because of the way Hasbro packages these guys. Please, Hasbro, STOP putting guys hands and feet through those little plastic holes. My Electro has a gimp leg because of it.
He still stands and in time I can fix it, but it's annoying. This isn't a QC problem so much as it is a packaging problem. I don't like twist ties, but if you have to put something in there, use those. I'm not a fan of this "twist him into a pretzel so he fits into the plastic shell holes" deal.
Value:
Thanks to Walmart's "Always low prices" I paid a dollar more for him than anywhere else. Seriously, $9! What purpose does Walmart serve anymore?! It used to be that Walmart charged less for everything, which is why you stomached their horrible service, smelly stores, disorganized aisles and general craptacularness... Now I pay more and still get the same service?
This is why I didn't buy all of Wave 5. Seriously, that extra dollar per figure adds up. If I ever meet one of Sam Walton's children I'm going to punch them in the face. Even if I meet Johnboy Walton, I'm punching him too... Just incase.
Can you find the $9 figure? It's any of these if purchased at Walmart.
Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Electricity blasts, Paper stuff
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10
A little torn here. Part of me wants to kick this down to a 7, 7.5 range because of his wonky leg. I'd just take a guess though that maybe that's an exception and not the rule, so I'm giving him a full 8. Why? Because I think he's a lot of fun. Yeah, I guess I need to start being "tougher" on my figures, but I can't be mean to poor Electro, he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and I just melt.
FRY SPIDER-MAN!
I'm probably skipping the Spider-man varaint, but maybe in a few days I'll cover more of Wave 5. If I ever find that DCUC 5 Pack I might cover it. But I'll have to see if Bigfoot has it... Read the rest......
Electro was one of two Marvel Universe figures I picked up out of the way (Why only 2? More on that later...) because I have an affinity for classic Spider-Man villains. You can't get much more vintage than Electro. He came around in 1964, thanks to the mind of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and he's a member of the original Sinister Six. He's one of Spider-man's most classic villains. Of course that also means he's sorta lame, not too powerful and has a goofy costume. That's why Spider-man's classic villains are so cool. Outside of 1964 most of these guys look like goofs and even then they probably didn't look that cool.
That's not a dig at Electro or his brethren. Moreso, it's what attracts me to them. Electro has been updated a few times to look more contemporary and "cool" but screw that, Electro is supposed to look like a goof. Thankfully Hasbro and Marvel Universe faithfully have recreated classic Electro here.
Packaging:
We've went over these Marvel Universe packages enough times that you probably know I like them fairly well by now. They do everything just right and it's only fair that Hasbro has since adopted similar packages for almost all of their 3 3/4 offerings. I hope it was my reviews that swayed them in that favor! On the front we have artwork which I assume is still Frank Cho's and he makes Electro look cooler than he has any right to. Part of me thinks it would have been cool to have some vintage Steve Ditko art on there like seen HERE but it's probably better to go with what's worked.
On the back we've got the rundown of the character as well as a few other characters from the wave. They don't list the Iron Man variant, instead opting to put a Spider-man there. I guess that makes sense though because this is a Spider-man villain after all and we want the kiddies to be able to know he's out there.
Inside we have our top secret envelop. Am I the only one who has trouble opening these things? I end up ripping the little manilla envelop all up to get it open. I'm starting to feel like Carnac the Magnificent when ripping these things open. Inside is a letter to Norman Osborn that has been hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today.
You also get the little trading card/picture thing. It's not made of real card stock, but it's nice to have.
Articulation:
Ol' twinkle toes has quite a bit of articulation and let's see if I can count all the points. He has a ball jointed head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel right below the shoulder, elbow hinges, swivel wrists, a ab ball joint but not enough for a full crunch, t-bar ball legs, double knees hinges and hinged ankles.
Some folks might want more articulation, some might even want a little less! I find that it's a pretty good amount. Especially for a character like Electro. While he does sometimes do some strange crouching poses, he's pretty versatile in this format and I can't think of anything else he needs to be essential.
Sculpt:
For whatever reason, a lot of my opinions of Electro and the Spider-man universe in general were formed because of the old Sega Genesis Spider-man game. It's the best Spider-man game ever (I don't care WHAT you say) and in it, Electro is the first real boss character, right after the Forklift man. That's sort of how I view Electro, mainstream villain but never the main villain. He's the first guy you'd beat up on your way to saving the day.
Grinning fool.
In that respect he's been faithfully recreated. His face has this grin/snarl that's more comical than fierce. He has an almost jester-like appearance with his funny mask and smirk. His body is built off of what I believe to be the same one that Klaw uses but it could be a different one. It's similar regardless.
As a result of his mask he's actually one of the tallest Marvel Universe figures. That doesn't mean he's too tall to fit into the scale though, he just has a big point on his head. It does make Magneto seem a little more undersized though. Damn it, now Hasbro is going to make a bigger Magneto down the line and force me to buy him. CURSE YOU HASBRO!
His sculpt is solid all around with little lightning bolts hanging off of his gloves. It looks pretty cool but it does limit posing in that I constantly feel like those need to be behind him and not in front of him. His face is really the best part though and they nailed that. His eyes do have a bit of slop on mine and I suspect that might be something to watch out for on all of these. They only had one at the store, so I couldn't compare.
Other than that, he's really well painted. Even his costume seems pretty much perfect. No, it's probably not 100% perfect, but it's good enough for a mass market toy. The paint used on his gold almost glows at points, it's not quite metallic, but it's just enough to give it a glimmer. Very well done.
Accessories:
Electro only gets two small accessories in addition to his paper ones, but I found them to be some of the best that Hasbro's produced yet. These might be recycled from Iron Fist, but since I have no interest at all in Iron Fist, I wouldn't know. Regardless, these are little electricity strands that you can put on both hands.
I've said before how I liked these similar deals with Iron Man and I found Electro's to be the best. It's just really well done and it makes for a lot of fun when posing these guys. I had a lot of different stuff I could do with them. I guess it's a lot like that "Force energy" that comes with Star Wars guys.
If you're clever you can even put two on one hand for a different effect.
Additional Notes:
Unfortunately not all is well here... The foot is warped all to hell on mine because of the way Hasbro packages these guys. Please, Hasbro, STOP putting guys hands and feet through those little plastic holes. My Electro has a gimp leg because of it.
He still stands and in time I can fix it, but it's annoying. This isn't a QC problem so much as it is a packaging problem. I don't like twist ties, but if you have to put something in there, use those. I'm not a fan of this "twist him into a pretzel so he fits into the plastic shell holes" deal.
Value:
Thanks to Walmart's "Always low prices" I paid a dollar more for him than anywhere else. Seriously, $9! What purpose does Walmart serve anymore?! It used to be that Walmart charged less for everything, which is why you stomached their horrible service, smelly stores, disorganized aisles and general craptacularness... Now I pay more and still get the same service?
This is why I didn't buy all of Wave 5. Seriously, that extra dollar per figure adds up. If I ever meet one of Sam Walton's children I'm going to punch them in the face. Even if I meet Johnboy Walton, I'm punching him too... Just incase.
Can you find the $9 figure? It's any of these if purchased at Walmart.
Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Electricity blasts, Paper stuff
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10
A little torn here. Part of me wants to kick this down to a 7, 7.5 range because of his wonky leg. I'd just take a guess though that maybe that's an exception and not the rule, so I'm giving him a full 8. Why? Because I think he's a lot of fun. Yeah, I guess I need to start being "tougher" on my figures, but I can't be mean to poor Electro, he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and I just melt.
FRY SPIDER-MAN!
I'm probably skipping the Spider-man varaint, but maybe in a few days I'll cover more of Wave 5. If I ever find that DCUC 5 Pack I might cover it. But I'll have to see if Bigfoot has it... Read the rest......
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
He-Man and Ghost Rider on the Same Team?!
According to Variety, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is back on. Mattel apparently isn't content to let the property set and really wants to get a movie out. After the deal fell through with Warner Brothers, they are now taking it to Sony and Columbia Pictures. This makes sense when you think about it, because Mattel has good working relations with Sony & COlumbia because they worked out the Ghostbusters deal with them.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe have found a new home at Sony.
The studio is finalizing a deal to produce a bigscreen adaptation of the popular action figure line from toymaker Mattel with Escape Artists shepherding the project.
The property had previously been set up at Warner Bros., where Joel Silver was developing a pic since 2007. Mattel wound up taking back the rights and leaving the lot after Mattel, the studio and Silver couldn’t agree on the creative direction of the film.
Sony and Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch will now start developing the project from scratch for Columbia Pictures, sources close to the negotiations said.
In other Sony/Columbia news, Ghost Rider 2 is apparently back on. According to Variety (yet again!) the studio is ramping up production in hopes of getting a script together soon. It would seem that every company with any attachment to a Marvel property is trying to get sequels or reboots in the works. This seems to stem from a fear that Disney will soon produce all Marvel movies in house.
Columbia Pictures has begun to rev the throttle on a second installment of the Marvel Comics character “Ghost Rider.”
David Goyer is in early talks to create the story and supervise writers for a film expected to once again star Nicolas Cage, who played the highly flammable cyclist in the 2007 original.
Who wants to see a He-Man/Ghost Rider crossover? Anyone? No? Okay then. Read the rest......
Revoltech Gamera
So on the figures I'm really anticipating news, there is supposed to be a Gamera Revoltech figure on the way. This news broke a couple months back, but I haven't heard anything since. Not even a decent picture yet. I really need a good 1995 style Gamera figure. I just recently passed on a good one and now I feel remorse about that. I want this Revoltech one!
Thus far the closest thing to a really poseable 1995 style Gamera is this Microman one. Unfortunately I hear these Microman costume figures aren't very poseable because of the way the rubber suit works. Come on Revoltech, be my savior! Be the savior of children all over!
Plus that Microman one is more 1996 Gamera. I really liked the design on the 1995 Gamera. It seems everything is either 60's Gamera or 1999 Gamera. Why is Gamera 95 so hard to do? Whatever, it looks like this Revoltech one will be the 1995ish Gamera. I have a couple of vinyl Bandai Gameras, but they aren't cutting it. But I'm starting to get impatient.
Which reminds me, why haven't we gotten a new Gamera movie?! Gamera: Little Braves wasn't that bad. Bring on a sequel! I need me some Gamera. Read the rest......
Thus far the closest thing to a really poseable 1995 style Gamera is this Microman one. Unfortunately I hear these Microman costume figures aren't very poseable because of the way the rubber suit works. Come on Revoltech, be my savior! Be the savior of children all over!
Plus that Microman one is more 1996 Gamera. I really liked the design on the 1995 Gamera. It seems everything is either 60's Gamera or 1999 Gamera. Why is Gamera 95 so hard to do? Whatever, it looks like this Revoltech one will be the 1995ish Gamera. I have a couple of vinyl Bandai Gameras, but they aren't cutting it. But I'm starting to get impatient.
Which reminds me, why haven't we gotten a new Gamera movie?! Gamera: Little Braves wasn't that bad. Bring on a sequel! I need me some Gamera. Read the rest......
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tesco Doctor Who Exclusives
Check out these new sets from Tesco's (a grocery store chain in the UK) for Doctor Who! I definitely would like to pick these sets up. Apparently there are a couple of other sets as well. They are all exclusives and at the moment it seems as though we may not be getting these over here in the states.
That's a real bummer because Character Options has retooled their Captain Jack Harkness figure in this box set to be closer to his Torchwood outfit. That would negate me ever having to buy a Torchwood Jack figure. Alas, I have no idea if I'll ever be able to get ahold of these sets.
Here's the kicker, these sets only cost about $16 a piece. Three Doctor Who figures for $16?! Imagine the army building possibilities! This really makes me jealous, especially after paying around $50 for a two pack of Who Classics this past August. Hopefully Underground Toys is able to get this set over to the US for a reasonable price. I could definitely use a few more classic Cybermen as well as the Captain Jack set.
Anyone in the UK want to hook me up? Read the rest......
Sponsored Review: MoviesPlanet.com
Looking for a new way to watch movies online for free? Want to watch movies online? Check out MoviesPlanet.Com! It's a lot like a P2P client, but it's done through a website and allows sharing legally. What surprised me most is how much content they have up on the site. Since it works more in a peer to peer style, it's different than say Hulu or something of that nature. Still, it's a good resource to find some new movies that may be in your interest.
The best part about free movies is that you can watch them as soon as they are up on the site. While I do wonder how they're able to get some of these movies so early, it's definitely a nice place to watch stuff. It shouldn't replace your NetFlix account, but you could use it as a supplement. One of the best features of the site is a rating and movie list, where you are able to see how movies fare in a RottenTomatoes style. Who wouldn't want to watch movies for free?
They even have a wacky commercial:
Did anyone else notice those StarCraft sound effects in that commercial? No? Okay then.
Watch Movies Online
So what exactly is MoviesPlanet? Well it's sort of a central hub for places where movies, TV shows, etc are uploaded. MoviesPlanet doesn't house the stuff themselves, which is how it retains avoiding any issues with the legal departments of movie companies. According to the legal department on the website, everything is on the up and up so don't worry too much about the questionable legality of the operation. Just use your same basic common sense that you would use when generally using any internet service.
Finally you should be vigilante that any movie you are watching is up to you. You aren't downloading the movies. Instead, MoviesPlanet acts as a social network where you can share movies and shows with like minded people. Plus there are forums, polls, everything you could want. It's a very unique idea and one that eventually might come under scrutiny so you should take advantage of this service while you can.
Then go ahead and check out MoviesPlanet.com and see if they have anything you like. What's to lose?
Read the rest......
The best part about free movies is that you can watch them as soon as they are up on the site. While I do wonder how they're able to get some of these movies so early, it's definitely a nice place to watch stuff. It shouldn't replace your NetFlix account, but you could use it as a supplement. One of the best features of the site is a rating and movie list, where you are able to see how movies fare in a RottenTomatoes style. Who wouldn't want to watch movies for free?
They even have a wacky commercial:
Did anyone else notice those StarCraft sound effects in that commercial? No? Okay then.
Watch Movies Online
So what exactly is MoviesPlanet? Well it's sort of a central hub for places where movies, TV shows, etc are uploaded. MoviesPlanet doesn't house the stuff themselves, which is how it retains avoiding any issues with the legal departments of movie companies. According to the legal department on the website, everything is on the up and up so don't worry too much about the questionable legality of the operation. Just use your same basic common sense that you would use when generally using any internet service.
Finally you should be vigilante that any movie you are watching is up to you. You aren't downloading the movies. Instead, MoviesPlanet acts as a social network where you can share movies and shows with like minded people. Plus there are forums, polls, everything you could want. It's a very unique idea and one that eventually might come under scrutiny so you should take advantage of this service while you can.
Then go ahead and check out MoviesPlanet.com and see if they have anything you like. What's to lose?
Read the rest......
Focus On: Thunder Launcher Thing
Several years back I was at a local Meijers and noticed some brand new Fantastic Four action figures. They were similar to Marvel Legends by ToyBiz but had a more cartoonish card and backer. I picked up a Ben Grimm "The Thing" figure and stared at him in amazement for several minutes. This was the most perfect Thing figure I had ever laid eyes on. I carried him around through the store intent to break my stance on buying action figures, but eventually after careful research about the figure's "action feature", I decided to pass and set him down.
That figure was the Fantastic Four line's "Thunder Launcher Thing". I had no idea what I was passing on at the time. In fact the store had nearly every single Fantastic Four figure from that line, at least three whole pegs and I could have easily bought 95% of the toys in one swoop. Most of those figures fetch high prices now on Ebay, cursed 20/20 hindsight.
Because of the low distribution of that wave and ToyBiz's Fantastic Four line in general, a lot of people don't know about Thunder Launcher Thing. Those who do debate whether it's the greatest Ben Grimm figure of all time or a near miss. To me, for this scale, he's the best.
Marvel Select appears to be channeling this figure with their upcoming Thing figure and we'll see if it stacks up when it comes out this next year. For this Thing however, now is the time to gloat. Thing boasts forty two pieces of individual articulation. That's a feat for any figure, much less a Ben Grimm. This is also one time where ToyBiz's love of shoving articulation into a figure doesn't ruin the sculpt as they actually omitted a torso hinge so that the sculpt is more solid.
The Thing is a piece of beauty from head to toe. He has articulated fingers and this really works well on big figures like this. His Hulk cousins almost look like they have too much articulation, but it fits in beautifully with the Thing's sculpt. His paint is just right and if he was wearing his undies instead of shorts, he'd been absolutely stellar.
The problem that originally made me pass on this Ben Grimm figure was his action feature. It's one of those "push a button on his back make his arms throw forward" moves. Despite the clunky applications it allows for some movement of the arms individually. It's actually better integrated than the recent Colossus figure who had a similar movement.
The button itself is pretty ugly though, but don't let that detour you from the figure. The button could be sanded down or cut off. You can leave it as well, because we've certainly had to deal with worse through the years. Scale is the only other area of concern as he is a tad tall for some folks liking. I'm okay with this huge Thing because after years of undersized Ben Grimms a bigger one is a nice change of place, plus he looks good next to several of my Hulks. You may have a differing opinion.
All in all, the Thunder Launcher Thing figure is a forgotten gem and truly one of ToyBiz's highlights. Everything clicked on this figure and every single 6 inch scale Thing since this one has failed to live up to it. I'm not sure why this version of Thing wasn't retooled by Hasbro and had the action feature removed and then re-released as I'd bet it would be a sure fire seller.
If you haven't tracked down this Thing figure and collect Marvel in this scale, I'd definitely recommend him to you.
Read the rest......
Monday, September 21, 2009
Megan Fox Bombs at Box Office
So apparently Megan Fox is not a draw. This past weekend her heavily hyped movie "Jennifer's Body" managed to open 5th at the box office. That might seem like a non news worthy tidbit, but consider this, the weekend was pretty terrible all around with few openings of any substance. A kids movie opened and grabbed #1, but most of the rest of the weekend draws were two or three weeks old. Megan Fox's new film should have grabbed third at the very worst.
The movie pulled in about $7 million which isn't terrible, but considering it cost $16 million to make it's doubtful the film will be terribly profitable. That doesn't mean it won't make money though, probably by the time DVD is factored in I could see it pulling $18-20 million total. I wouldn't expect a sequel though.
I guess this is interesting to me for a couple of reasons: 1. This movie was heavily advertised. I know it was heavily advertised because I saw no less than 12 commercials for it and I never watch commercials but still managed to catch a dozen or so. Conversely I saw about 3 commercials for GI Joe, which goes to show you how heavily saturated this movie's advertising was. 2. The ads actually looked kind of interesting with Megan Fox playing a vampire? Alien? Succubus? That was killing people and having lesbian makeouts. Seemed like it should have drawn a decent crowd (then again Halloween 2 just bombed too so maybe people are tired of horror flicks?) and finally, 3. Megan Fox was being touted as the next "it" girl.
Personally I never got the love for Megan Fox. I believe I wrote about it this past summer, but I never really knew what people saw in her. For a few months there she was being touted as the hottest girl in the universe. Of course this is the internet, so now Megan Fox is despised, because anytime someone gets popular the internet public eventually sours on them and hates them, see also: Rogen, Seth and Tequila, Tila. I don't hate Megan Fox, I feel the same about her as I did then, she doesn't register on my radar one way or the other.
Still I find the failure of the movie to be quite a surprise. The studio probably should have released it in October to try to get some Halloween hype. Then again, why wasn't Halloween 2 also released during October? I have no idea. Anyway Megan Fox apparently is not the big star she and everyone else thought she was. Hopefully her lack of star power won't sink Jonah Hex, because that movie already has a lot working against it.
Tomorrow... More toy stuff! Huzzah. As Craig Kilborn used to say... Actually I have no idea what Craig Kilborn used to say, I hated that guy.
Read the rest......
The movie pulled in about $7 million which isn't terrible, but considering it cost $16 million to make it's doubtful the film will be terribly profitable. That doesn't mean it won't make money though, probably by the time DVD is factored in I could see it pulling $18-20 million total. I wouldn't expect a sequel though.
I guess this is interesting to me for a couple of reasons: 1. This movie was heavily advertised. I know it was heavily advertised because I saw no less than 12 commercials for it and I never watch commercials but still managed to catch a dozen or so. Conversely I saw about 3 commercials for GI Joe, which goes to show you how heavily saturated this movie's advertising was. 2. The ads actually looked kind of interesting with Megan Fox playing a vampire? Alien? Succubus? That was killing people and having lesbian makeouts. Seemed like it should have drawn a decent crowd (then again Halloween 2 just bombed too so maybe people are tired of horror flicks?) and finally, 3. Megan Fox was being touted as the next "it" girl.
Personally I never got the love for Megan Fox. I believe I wrote about it this past summer, but I never really knew what people saw in her. For a few months there she was being touted as the hottest girl in the universe. Of course this is the internet, so now Megan Fox is despised, because anytime someone gets popular the internet public eventually sours on them and hates them, see also: Rogen, Seth and Tequila, Tila. I don't hate Megan Fox, I feel the same about her as I did then, she doesn't register on my radar one way or the other.
Still I find the failure of the movie to be quite a surprise. The studio probably should have released it in October to try to get some Halloween hype. Then again, why wasn't Halloween 2 also released during October? I have no idea. Anyway Megan Fox apparently is not the big star she and everyone else thought she was. Hopefully her lack of star power won't sink Jonah Hex, because that movie already has a lot working against it.
Tomorrow... More toy stuff! Huzzah. As Craig Kilborn used to say... Actually I have no idea what Craig Kilborn used to say, I hated that guy.
Read the rest......
War of the Worlds
I don't need to tell you H.G. Wells birthday is today, Google already has. What I can tell you is a bit about how the night Orsen Welles and H.G. Wells captivated a nation into fear. It wasn't necessarily planned and it changed the way the world, saw their universe. This one night was one that perhaps we'll really experience one day, but this was a drama.
Orsen Welles conducted his Halloween eve radio drama anthology series "Mercury Theatre on the Air". The show had an introduction and if you listen to the introduction, you're aware that you're listening to a drama program. However, after a brief introduction the show starts as follows: It's a radio broadcast of some music program, with a brief news interruption about gases on Mars being spotted and that later they'll talk to a astronomers.
A few minutes later they tune back in with the astronomer and ask him a bit about it, but it's seemingly typical. Then they cut in with a news of a meteor crash. More music, then they cut back to the scene where this meteor crash. Soon these news casts are describing a full scale alien invasion. A nation soon was gripped in fear. As many as 6 million people listened in with several million believing the entire thing. This was not because people in the 1930s were stupid or naive, rather it was done so well that people were accustom to these types of news breaks, especially prior to World War II.
The entire thing is done without pause, the show was a "sustaining" show which means it didn't have commercial interruptions. At the time NBC's show that came on at the same time was more popular, so often times people would tune into CBS a few minutes in, much like channel surfing of today to see what was on. When they tuned in, they could hear this "news broadcast" and think that the show had been interrupted with news of an alien invasion.
Pure pandemonium is what ensued next. For years what all happened has been debated. Some spoke of full panic that had people committing suicide. Other have said it just resulted in a general public panic and that some people went and got their guns... Some even reportedly took to shooting local water towers (thinking it was aliens) and without a doubt at least, a large portion of the nation was gripped in fear. If you tuned in more than 5 minutes late, you were petrified.
What makes this adaptation so superior to any other medium before or after is the realism. The news networks speak with scientists who deny this can be happening... Then they're stunned and speechless. The eye witness reports go from whimsical to suddenly panic stricken. The show keeps cutting out and going back to the piano concert, for dramatic effect. It's as if this is a continuing series of news breaks.
Of course the effect was super amplified at the time by the fact that so many of the country would be listening to this. There was no TV to counteract the fear. No other news channel to not be reporting it. There was no one to call. If you called the local Police and said, "Hey what's this going on the radio about Martians?" They would either tell you it was just a radio show (which you wouldn't believe) or they'd listen in themselves and suddenly be caught up in the fear too. There was another announcement some 40 minutes in that this was fiction, but because of how it was done it was easily misread as just more radio show before another news cut in.
Initially Grover's Mill (where the story was supposed to be happening) was deserted, but crowds developed. Eventually police were sent to control the crowds. To people arriving later in the evening, the scene really did look like the events being narrated, with panicked crowds and flashing police lights streaming across the masses. Further adding to the chaos of the evening.
Hilariously or frighteningly, depending on how you look at it, one area of the country and something like 1,000 homes lost power about halfway through the broadcast. While pure coincidence, it added to the fear of those people that this event was really happening.
Lack of mass communication changed the game and played on people's most basic fears. It was brilliant and although it's H.G. Wells story that inspired this, it was truly Orsen Welles genius that created this. Perhaps no finer contribution has ever been made to science fiction.
You can listen or download the entire thing here on MP3 War of the Worlds Read the rest......
Orsen Welles conducted his Halloween eve radio drama anthology series "Mercury Theatre on the Air". The show had an introduction and if you listen to the introduction, you're aware that you're listening to a drama program. However, after a brief introduction the show starts as follows: It's a radio broadcast of some music program, with a brief news interruption about gases on Mars being spotted and that later they'll talk to a astronomers.
A few minutes later they tune back in with the astronomer and ask him a bit about it, but it's seemingly typical. Then they cut in with a news of a meteor crash. More music, then they cut back to the scene where this meteor crash. Soon these news casts are describing a full scale alien invasion. A nation soon was gripped in fear. As many as 6 million people listened in with several million believing the entire thing. This was not because people in the 1930s were stupid or naive, rather it was done so well that people were accustom to these types of news breaks, especially prior to World War II.
The entire thing is done without pause, the show was a "sustaining" show which means it didn't have commercial interruptions. At the time NBC's show that came on at the same time was more popular, so often times people would tune into CBS a few minutes in, much like channel surfing of today to see what was on. When they tuned in, they could hear this "news broadcast" and think that the show had been interrupted with news of an alien invasion.
Pure pandemonium is what ensued next. For years what all happened has been debated. Some spoke of full panic that had people committing suicide. Other have said it just resulted in a general public panic and that some people went and got their guns... Some even reportedly took to shooting local water towers (thinking it was aliens) and without a doubt at least, a large portion of the nation was gripped in fear. If you tuned in more than 5 minutes late, you were petrified.
What makes this adaptation so superior to any other medium before or after is the realism. The news networks speak with scientists who deny this can be happening... Then they're stunned and speechless. The eye witness reports go from whimsical to suddenly panic stricken. The show keeps cutting out and going back to the piano concert, for dramatic effect. It's as if this is a continuing series of news breaks.
Of course the effect was super amplified at the time by the fact that so many of the country would be listening to this. There was no TV to counteract the fear. No other news channel to not be reporting it. There was no one to call. If you called the local Police and said, "Hey what's this going on the radio about Martians?" They would either tell you it was just a radio show (which you wouldn't believe) or they'd listen in themselves and suddenly be caught up in the fear too. There was another announcement some 40 minutes in that this was fiction, but because of how it was done it was easily misread as just more radio show before another news cut in.
Initially Grover's Mill (where the story was supposed to be happening) was deserted, but crowds developed. Eventually police were sent to control the crowds. To people arriving later in the evening, the scene really did look like the events being narrated, with panicked crowds and flashing police lights streaming across the masses. Further adding to the chaos of the evening.
Hilariously or frighteningly, depending on how you look at it, one area of the country and something like 1,000 homes lost power about halfway through the broadcast. While pure coincidence, it added to the fear of those people that this event was really happening.
Lack of mass communication changed the game and played on people's most basic fears. It was brilliant and although it's H.G. Wells story that inspired this, it was truly Orsen Welles genius that created this. Perhaps no finer contribution has ever been made to science fiction.
You can listen or download the entire thing here on MP3 War of the Worlds Read the rest......
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Fake Classic Indiana Jones Trailer
I love classic movies and old serials. I also love the old pulp comic heroes. All of these things were clearly an influence on George Lucas and Steven Spielberg when they created their infamous Indiana Jones movies in the early 80's. Their love of the classic serials led them to create Indiana Jones...
But what if Indiana Jones had been a big budget serial in the style of old Hollywood days? Well someone on YouTube had the creative ability to put together this fake trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark, staring Charlton Heston, Peter Lorre and Gregory Peck. As it would have been done in 1951.
You can't tell me that's not impressive. Kudos to the guy who put this together. That obviously took a lot of work, but credit given where it's due, it definitely looks like something from the vault. Even the fades and wipes are the old school kind. Read the rest......
But what if Indiana Jones had been a big budget serial in the style of old Hollywood days? Well someone on YouTube had the creative ability to put together this fake trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark, staring Charlton Heston, Peter Lorre and Gregory Peck. As it would have been done in 1951.
You can't tell me that's not impressive. Kudos to the guy who put this together. That obviously took a lot of work, but credit given where it's due, it definitely looks like something from the vault. Even the fades and wipes are the old school kind. Read the rest......
Friday, September 18, 2009
Marvel Universe Secret Wars: Magneto & Spider-man
Earlier this week I reviewed the first of the Wave 2 Secret Wars comic packs, Hulk & Cyclops and tonight I'm taking a look at the other Wave 2 Comic Pack that I picked up, Magneto and Black Suit Spider-man. The black Symbiote suit was discovered during the Secret Wars comic run and perhaps is the longest living tribute to the modern Marvel Universe that Secret Wars gave us. Without Secret Wars, we'd have no Venom, Carnage or Tobey McGuire doing an Emo dance scene... So really, Secret Wars was very important for that alone.
Magneto of course is the most famous villain of the X-Men. He's their arch rival and although Magneto is often looked at as a sympathetic figure, he's more often considered a villain. For much of Secret Wars though, he's a hero. So how does the Hasbro miniature versions of these characters stack up?
Packaging:
These Marvel Universe Comic Packs have the nearly resealable packages that all the formula Hasbro comic packs of other properties such as GI Joe, Star Wars, etc have. If you've bought any of these comic packs before then you'll know what you're in for.
The back of the package shows the characters again as well as the other ones featured in the wave. The prototypes on the back don't look as drastically different as the Hulk pack's did, so that's a plus. You can see the first issue where black suit Spider-man appeared in the background, as it's included with this comic.
Articulation:
Marvel Universe figures have a fair amount of articulation. There is some debate if they should have more, different kinds, etc, but I'm pretty content with what we have here. Spider-man is quite poseable, but not near as posable as some of his previous versions. I do like the poseablility but your mileage may vary.
The complete run down of articulation includes a ball joint head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel arm, elbow hinges, mid torso ball joint, t-bar crotch ball joint legs, double hinge knees and hinge ankles. Give or take depending on the figures sometimes.
It's not as articulated as the Marvel Showdown figures were, but for most figures that's an improvement. Spider-Man you could make the case that he needs more articulation, but at this scale adding too much more articulation really makes the figures fragile.
Sculpt:
Finally a black suit Spider-man without highlights! I absolutely hate the silly blue highlights that are all over the last series of Marvel Legends Spider-mans as well as the first Marvel Universe version of this sculpt. I just didn't care for it at all, so the flat black that's at work here just looks great to me.
Click me to see the full size.
Other than that, Spider-man is exactly the same as his previous release. He's just painted different. The odd thing about that is, the black suit Spider-man's uses what I thoguht was Silver Surfer's body but it's not. It's a different body although very similar, whereas the regular Spider-man does not use either of those bodies, he uses a completelt different body. This creates a odd height difference between the two Spideys.
Magneto is the first we've seen of this character in this scale and the first new Magneto figure in any scale in some time. The sculpt uses the smaller body, which originated with Daredevil. That's not necessarily a good thing because Magneto does look a bit small.
However I must confess that the rest of the sculpt is very solid. It feels like vintage Magneto and the head sculpt is really impressive. I have heard complaints that his head is too small with the helmet and if you took the helmet off he'd have a tiny head... But I honestly just don't obsess that much about the realism of a toy. His head sculpt looks good and that's all I care about. It's not like you can remove the helmet anyway, so it seems a moot point. This isn't a Wild Bill head.
My big problem with Magneto is his cape. When I first opened this figure I assumed his cape was just accidentally folded in the package. When I pulled him out, I was certain I had a botched Magneto with a bad cape... But upon further investigation the one on the back shows the same thing. Who thought it was a good idea to mold half the cape together? It doesn't even look wind blown, it just looks silly. Furthermore, it makes the back of the figure heavy and Magneto tends to fall over as a result.
Who designed this cape?!
Magneto otherwise is very solid. If you can get past him being a tad short and his cape being stupid, you've got a real winner here. He has a tad bit of slop around the arms, but most of that is an optical illusion. You see he also has drybrush highlights in a dark color in all the muscles on his arms and it tends to look like bleed, when it really isn't.
Accessories:
Nothing. You get a issue of the Secret Wars comic and that's it. It is what it is.
I like the comic included and it does focus in on Spider-man, so at least it's relevant.
Additional Notes:
I am enjoying these figures. I have heard a ton of QC complaints, but I still think these are better than Wave 1. This pack especially seems pretty good. The only thing I would watch out for is Magneto who tends to have a bit of slop. My black suit Spider-man is PERFECT though.
But obviously it's something to watch out for. Reports haven't been as kind as my experiences so far.
Value:
$12.99-$14 is about what you'll pay for these packs. It's a good value when you figure that most MU figures cost close to $8 and this comes with a comic. However it's probably a comic you already have and you know, it's not cheap. Still for nostalgia it's good fun.
Secret Wars Heroes.
Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - SW Comic
Value - 8
Overall - 7 out of 10
I had less QC issues with this one, but not enough to push it to a full 8. The short Magneto is just a real issue. I'm sure if you already have the black suit Spider-Man, you'll be even less interested. I don't like all the design choices with Magneto, but at least they're design issues and not QC issues. I wish we could get rid of that Daredevil body altogether, but I guess we're stuck with it.
Secret Wars Villains.
I'm probably skipping the third Wave 2 pack, but we'll see in the weeks ahead if I can hold out. I still haven't picked up all of Wave 1 either. Such is life. Marvel Universe can pound your pocketbook, so I advise being successful in choosing of what you really want. Read the rest......
Magneto of course is the most famous villain of the X-Men. He's their arch rival and although Magneto is often looked at as a sympathetic figure, he's more often considered a villain. For much of Secret Wars though, he's a hero. So how does the Hasbro miniature versions of these characters stack up?
Packaging:
These Marvel Universe Comic Packs have the nearly resealable packages that all the formula Hasbro comic packs of other properties such as GI Joe, Star Wars, etc have. If you've bought any of these comic packs before then you'll know what you're in for.
The back of the package shows the characters again as well as the other ones featured in the wave. The prototypes on the back don't look as drastically different as the Hulk pack's did, so that's a plus. You can see the first issue where black suit Spider-man appeared in the background, as it's included with this comic.
Articulation:
Marvel Universe figures have a fair amount of articulation. There is some debate if they should have more, different kinds, etc, but I'm pretty content with what we have here. Spider-man is quite poseable, but not near as posable as some of his previous versions. I do like the poseablility but your mileage may vary.
The complete run down of articulation includes a ball joint head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel arm, elbow hinges, mid torso ball joint, t-bar crotch ball joint legs, double hinge knees and hinge ankles. Give or take depending on the figures sometimes.
It's not as articulated as the Marvel Showdown figures were, but for most figures that's an improvement. Spider-Man you could make the case that he needs more articulation, but at this scale adding too much more articulation really makes the figures fragile.
Sculpt:
Finally a black suit Spider-man without highlights! I absolutely hate the silly blue highlights that are all over the last series of Marvel Legends Spider-mans as well as the first Marvel Universe version of this sculpt. I just didn't care for it at all, so the flat black that's at work here just looks great to me.
Click me to see the full size.
Other than that, Spider-man is exactly the same as his previous release. He's just painted different. The odd thing about that is, the black suit Spider-man's uses what I thoguht was Silver Surfer's body but it's not. It's a different body although very similar, whereas the regular Spider-man does not use either of those bodies, he uses a completelt different body. This creates a odd height difference between the two Spideys.
Magneto is the first we've seen of this character in this scale and the first new Magneto figure in any scale in some time. The sculpt uses the smaller body, which originated with Daredevil. That's not necessarily a good thing because Magneto does look a bit small.
However I must confess that the rest of the sculpt is very solid. It feels like vintage Magneto and the head sculpt is really impressive. I have heard complaints that his head is too small with the helmet and if you took the helmet off he'd have a tiny head... But I honestly just don't obsess that much about the realism of a toy. His head sculpt looks good and that's all I care about. It's not like you can remove the helmet anyway, so it seems a moot point. This isn't a Wild Bill head.
My big problem with Magneto is his cape. When I first opened this figure I assumed his cape was just accidentally folded in the package. When I pulled him out, I was certain I had a botched Magneto with a bad cape... But upon further investigation the one on the back shows the same thing. Who thought it was a good idea to mold half the cape together? It doesn't even look wind blown, it just looks silly. Furthermore, it makes the back of the figure heavy and Magneto tends to fall over as a result.
Who designed this cape?!
Magneto otherwise is very solid. If you can get past him being a tad short and his cape being stupid, you've got a real winner here. He has a tad bit of slop around the arms, but most of that is an optical illusion. You see he also has drybrush highlights in a dark color in all the muscles on his arms and it tends to look like bleed, when it really isn't.
Accessories:
Nothing. You get a issue of the Secret Wars comic and that's it. It is what it is.
I like the comic included and it does focus in on Spider-man, so at least it's relevant.
Additional Notes:
I am enjoying these figures. I have heard a ton of QC complaints, but I still think these are better than Wave 1. This pack especially seems pretty good. The only thing I would watch out for is Magneto who tends to have a bit of slop. My black suit Spider-man is PERFECT though.
But obviously it's something to watch out for. Reports haven't been as kind as my experiences so far.
Value:
$12.99-$14 is about what you'll pay for these packs. It's a good value when you figure that most MU figures cost close to $8 and this comes with a comic. However it's probably a comic you already have and you know, it's not cheap. Still for nostalgia it's good fun.
Secret Wars Heroes.
Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - SW Comic
Value - 8
Overall - 7 out of 10
I had less QC issues with this one, but not enough to push it to a full 8. The short Magneto is just a real issue. I'm sure if you already have the black suit Spider-Man, you'll be even less interested. I don't like all the design choices with Magneto, but at least they're design issues and not QC issues. I wish we could get rid of that Daredevil body altogether, but I guess we're stuck with it.
Secret Wars Villains.
I'm probably skipping the third Wave 2 pack, but we'll see in the weeks ahead if I can hold out. I still haven't picked up all of Wave 1 either. Such is life. Marvel Universe can pound your pocketbook, so I advise being successful in choosing of what you really want. Read the rest......
