Dec 31, 2010

2010 is over... Let's recap!

Well another year goes away by the stroke of midnight...

Well, let's look back at some of the stuff I love (or love to hate) in 2010:

Masters Of The Universe:
Overall, the year was great for MotU. Logistics stopped me from getting Roboto and Carnivus. (My Logistics, not Mattel's) While it sucks missing out on Roboto, the pair of flaws and Mattel's no 200X head Dogma (that I'm starting to believe that it's the bean-counters idea to ban 200X heads for Mattel to release later down the line a 200X version of the characters... double-dipping?) Everything else has gone great with the line... Just don't Mention Castle Grayskull and the insane tentative cost of $300... Ah Lt. Spector WILL BE the butt of many MOTUC jokes in 2011... No news on the Movie.
Twilight:
Eclipse came to theaters. Mattel released Alice and Victoria dolls... No they won't come from the Toy Chest until they're on clearance.
GI Joe:
Well The Joes got a new show. GI Joe Renegades... Basically GI Joe's take on The A-Team. I really hate the art style of the show. Looks like a bad imitation of the Jackie Chan Adventures mixed with a bit of The Spectacular Spider-Man.
Transformers:
They got the Awesome Transformers War for Cybertron game, The Animated Series Transformers Prime (an amalgam of Bayformers and TF WFC) and the announcement of Bayformers 3 The Dark Side of the moon. On the good side there is no Megan Fox here.
Justin Bieber:
Still alive... So much for him being the "Kurt Cobain of his Generation" Never Say Never is still coming to Theaters in 2011.
Hannah Montana:
Today, Disney will air the Last Episode of Hannah Montana: Forever... Will she live on in reruns for a few years or will she be forgotten... We'll find out in the Future...
Miley Cyrus: Now that she's Hannah free she's going to tackle more mature projects... She's still trying too hard to get rid of her Hannah past... I've said it countless of times this will bite her in the ass...
Thundercats:
The show is coming in 2011 and Bandai America is making the toys... Crap.
Back to the Future:
There's a BTTF game coming and the guy voicing Marty sounds like a 1985 Michael J Fox... It's not Michael J. Fox... Christopher Lloyd is voicing Old Doc Brown... There's a rumor about a Young Doc Brown voiced by James Arnold Taylor (Harry Osborn in The Spectacular Spider-Man, Tidus in Final Fantasy X)
I'll leave you with the "Modern Kurt Cobain" struggling with glass doors... is he Half bird or something?

Dec 26, 2010

It came from the Toy Chest: Super Secret Surprise Review

Unrelated pic tricked y'all...
Sorry, but I couldn't reveal my review just yet.
It's the Toy Story 3 Buddy Pack Buzz Lightyear and Lots O' Huggin' Bear.
There is not much to talk about these guys. They seem to be partially Deformed (almost Super Deformed.) to look more cute. Similar to the Superhero Squad toys from Hasbro.
Buzz Lightyear has 3 Points of Articulation. Shoulders and waist. Lotso on the other hand has his POA on the neck and shoulders. He also has 3 Points of Articulation. That's 3 more than I expected.
On the paint department, this is Mattel we're speaking of, so there isn't that much. The paint on Buzz is pretty much flawless, except the green on his boots. On Lots O' The paint is flawless... I have nothing to complain there.

There are no accessories here... Probably because these are toys for young children and these guys are rather small. Small accessories on small toys for young children means that they're choking hazards.
As you can see The figures are very small compared to the MOTUC toys. Although not Photographed. I noticed that Lotso has some sort of 200X Technology vestige. On his right foot he seems to have an Action chip... (in the TS3 line it's called Action Links) Probably the playsets react to the characters... Kinda like 200X... Hmm... Oh yeah! Lotso does NOT smell of Strawberries!

Now for the Score part of the Reviews. As alwasy 1 = crap just like the toy remnants from Sid's playtime and 5 = Awesome Toys loved by Andy until the end of time.

Articulation:
I expected these toys to have ZERO articulation. The 3 points of Articulation don't give Buzz much to do... Mostly because of his pose, but on Lots O' they give the teddy bear a decent range of motion.
4.0

Paint and Sculpt:
On the paint department there isn't much to see here. With the exception of Buzz's boots it's flawless. The sculpt it's cutesy and simple. Lotso has a stylized furry coat while Buzz has sculpted joints simulating additional PoA that the movie toy has.
4.0
Accessories:
Normally I'd ramble about the Lack of accessories like Lots O's cane (Must make a custom cane.)
but these guys, as I've said they're small toys for young kids. The alternative would've been a cane sculpted to his right arm and that would've limited his poses.

Overall: 4.0
While I'm not exactly super fond of Buzz... (Probably I will hide him in My TMNT Display as one of Michelangelo's toys) Lots O' on the other hand he will get more playtime... or be displayed with other characters...





Dec 25, 2010

It Came From the Toy chest: Wonder Woman hating edition

Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) is here!
I bought her mostly because she was on the Super Friends... Also I'm a bit lacking on the Supervillain department. Let's begin!
First thing I need to get off my congested chest... I think I caught a cold... not cool! Good thing I don't do video reviews. That's not what I was talking about...
It's the whole "Adult Collector"/ "Kids toys" issue.

Scott "Toyguru" Neitlich said this regards the lack of characters like Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Commissioner Gordon or Alfred:

The DCUC retail line needs to appeal to moms and kids as well as collectors and kids just are not interested in these type of characters. The online packs would have been the channel to release these type of characters but based on the sales of all 5 online packs we put out on Mattycollector, collectors were not interested in buying their DCUC figures this way, so we had to revert back to a retail line for new DCUC figs.

If there had been enough interest in the online packs we would likely have gotten to some of these figures in time. But as said above, fans were just not interested in this avenue to purchase DCUC figures so we had to stop the online packs after the Animal Instinct pack.
Oh come on! Most of these 2 packs were overpriced or they lacked stuff that made it interesting to collectors (like too obscure characters... as in non mainstream characters that casual fans might not know, or lacking KEY characters/Accessories).
-I'll begin with the Wonder Twins: No Monkey, no Money! Lacking Gleek was the main reason WHY I SKIPPED IT!
-Adam Strange/Starfire: I bought it on Cyber Monday. I knew how much Koriand'r sucked, yet I bought it.
-Color of fear 2 pack: I'm not a fan of the Corps, but this pack seems good enough.
-Justice in the Jungle: I'm not a huge fan of DC so I don't know this guys that well. No real interest on them.
- Alexander Luthor and Ultraman: Alternate Earth Superman and Luthor? Not interested in YET ANOTHER SUPERMAN/LUTHOR...

I'm certain that Alfred, Lois Lane, Commissioner Gordon CAN sell. Those are characters that even Casual fans KNOW.Tossing them in a Multi pack, or a Deluxe Mini Diorama/Multi pack would be cool.
Just Picture a Small Diorama of the Bat Computer (Could be made by Mattel's In-House Team) and having an Unmasked Batman and Alfred figures. Or a Commissioner Gordon with a Bat-Signal small Diorama. A Frigging Bat Signal IS most likely to sell... With a "free" Commissioner Gordon to boot!

Civilians don't sell? Then why Toybiz Released J.Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker, Norman Osborn, Mary Jane Watson on their Spider-Man Line? Hell a new MJ was released for the Spider-Man 3 Line...
April O'Neil gets released with Every Turtle Line.
They might be a bit slow to sell, but all that is needed is something to make it more desirable.
Tossing in the same Superman or Batman ALL the time won't sell the product!
I don't know about you, but I'd buy a Lois Lane/Superman two pack If it included a Superman that can hold Lois Lane's arm and included two flight stands. (Hopefully a new headsculpt for Supes...)

Sorry for the small tangent, but it still is on topic. Mattel has no idea to who they're catering this line. I've yet to see a kid asking for DCUC figs. Pretty much all I see is collectors ruffling through the DCUC pegs... (Usually complaining about the awful QC especially with Martian Manhunter.)


Now unto the figure itself. Cheetah comes with a Leg of Trigon and the pin.
Her articulation is similar to a standard DCUC female, but the tail has an additional PoA.
She looks like somebody used some Mace on her... Just like First Release He-Man, or my Adam's Constipated He-Man head. Other than that the figure looks really good.

Now I'm going to go in depth into the review. As always 1= Crap... Disappointment of Starfire levels and 5= Battlecat being Ridden by The Old Spice dude while The World's Most Interesting Man, Neil Patrick Harris, Dolph Ludgren AND David Hasselhoff carrying Battlecat to battle.

Articulation:
3.5
My biggest gripe with the articulation is: WHY IN THE HELL does Mattel keep using soft plastic for the piece that holds the legs to the crotch. That soft plastic has my WW's Right Leg frozen in place. (Can't move it for fear of breakage.) The same thing applies to Cheetah. While she doesn't have any joints frozen, I'm afraid of moving her legs much, due to the soft plastic in there.
Paint and Sculpt:
4.0
Aside from the Reddish area around the eyes, I don't see any paint flaws on Cheetah. The sculpt is pretty much standard fare for the 4H The crotch is probably new to accommodate the tail.
Accessories:
3.0
Well She comes with Nothing for herself, but the C&C Piece and the pin are her "accessories".
I'm not into assembling Trigon, but I want 2 more figs from the Wave (Wonder Girl and Superboy)

Overall:
3.5
The soft disc joints on the Crotch/Hips ruin the figure for me. I really bought Cheetah to boost my Villain ranks. She does that, but I can't say much about her.

There are rumors that DCUC wave 18 is Superfriends themed... I hope that Apache Chief makes it to the line... "Inyuk-Chuk!"

Dec 24, 2010

Raiding Lara

Last time I spoke about change I touched the subject of videogames. There's a character who HAS changed a lot in the last 15 years: Lara Croft. I played TR, owned TR2, played 3 and 4, owned Chronicles, played Legend and skipped pretty much everything else.
Somewhere somehow, Lara Croft didn't click with me...

Lara, like Miley Cyrus (You know I had to sneak that one in...) has tried TOO hard to change their image. While Miley is trying to get rid of the child-friendly Hannah image' Lara is trying to get rid of her shallow "Sex-appeal" superficial look.
Now I give you the New Lara Croft!

You can read a whole article from Game informer if you click on Lara's name. Way up there!
The GI Magazine talks about how this new game is more survival story than "classic Tomb Raider" blah blah blah! I'll believe it when I see it. TR has tried too hard to reinvent itself, yet it remains too close to the original (or is incredibly buggy that its nearly unplayable).

Problem is that Lara has cried "change!" too many times and I've been so far unimpressed. Until now. The first thing I noticed on the new Lara is the lack of "Hyper Sex-appeal" from past Laras.
For the first time ever I've been mesmerized by Lara's eyes. Then again, pretty eyes a decent game do not make. It's highly unlikely that I'll play this game. Even if it seems to take some steps in the right direction, I'm not interested in Tomb Raider. Right now Crystal Dynamics NEEDS to wow me more to TRULY gain my interest.

Dec 20, 2010

The High Mile(y) club

♪I'm so high! I could hear heaven!
I'm so high! I could hear heaven!
Oh! But Heaven, no heaven don't hear meeeee!♫

You heard the one about Miley Cyrus getting high?


George Lopez and Mila Kunis take a potshot at Miley... pot shot... I crack myself up some times...
Thank you Peter.

Now I can start my rant...

Miley allegedly was using Salvia not weed. Salvia is legal, weed is not. Now Billy Ray's Achy Breaky heart seems to be broken once more... I find it kinda awkward that Miley suddenly got so high before she finished taking a hit. Part of me thinks that she's overacting and trying to play into her "Ooh look at me I'm a bad girl! Not the innocent Disney pwincess that Hannah Montana was!" act. If it was salvia (which is legal) I still think that Miley shouldn't have taken a hit, much less with someone recording her. This was one big mistake that might come and bite her in the ass eventually. Then again, Nobody's Perfect... (I had to put that one in... It's Miley we're talking about... Yes I know the song is Hannah's but Hannah is Miley... SHUT UP!)

I've said it before. The whole Killing Hannah in the least subtle ways will be the end for Miley.
Only time will tell.

I was expecting her trip to be something more like this...

Dec 17, 2010

It came from the Toy Chest League of America

This It came from the Toy Chest is a very special one... but not like those very special episodes of Blossom...

Of all the images Youtube HAD to use for the preview... I hope Apache Chief wears underwear...

It's a DCUC extravaganza!

Remember to click on the pic to see a slightly larger version!


Here they are: Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, Adam Strange, and Superman (pronounced: SYOUPERMAN! like the Announcer from the Superfriends!)

First up is Power Girl from the All Star Wave (Reissues of Popular characters... My Flash, GL Nightwing and Batman are from the All Star Wave...)
Power Girl is the Supergirl of Earth-2 (In the DC Universe there are multiple Universes... or were. I'm not too much of a DC fan so I'm not that up-to date with the DCU.) Long Story short Power Girl is the same thing as Supergirl but with bigger boobs and shorter hair.
She's got a nice sculpt... 4Horsemen made her and all that... Her insignia is rather distracting. She's got the same articulation as any male DCUC Character... More than the spiritual ancestor line DCSH (Where Super Girl is from)
Since this is a DCUC toy, accessories are non-existant (Unless you're Batman, or Cyborg... Vic Stone, not the Cyborg Superman)
All the scores will be at the end of the article...
Second on this review is Martian Manhunter. J'onn J'onzz is like a Martian, form Mars and he's basically a Poor man's Syouperman!
His sculpt is really good! 4Horsemen and all that. I believe he's got a few new parts... Still he's not saved from errors.
His right Bicep is a lot bigger than his left Bicep... I want to avoid many masturbation jokes about MM and this common error. He comes with two pieces for the Validus Connect and Collect. The head and the crotch. My Validus head has a loose brain cover clear thingie. Martian Manhunter is part of the KMart Exclusive Validus Wave.
Next one up is Syouperman! Before reviewing him I must admit that I'm not a fan of Superman. He's too Powerful and I can't see him as a man who struggles against great odds and succeeds... Then again I'm a huge fan of He-Man and She-Ra... Maybe its the whole Clark Kent is the disguise thing that makes him unrelateable to me. I may not like him, but He's THE MOST ICONIC COMIC BOOK CHARACTER. Period... Not Batman, Not Spider-Man, Not Ironman or Green Lantern. Superman IS THE Superhero. Also any self respecting DC collection MUST have a Superman.
His paintjob is really clean. No smudges or anything. Sculpt-wise He's pretty much the same as most of the males. (IIRC the Male body "Type 1" is based off Superman's body.) The Four Horsemen are awesome at their job and with a few tweaks here and there can make a bunch of figs that share the same sculpt look different enough. Supes comes with a stand... Then again DCUC figs are always lacking in the Accessory department

The last two items are Starfire and Adam Strange from the Mattycollector.com Exclusive... Now Sold Out (Possibly gone for good!) Now IF Mattel was kind enough to reissue the Wonder Twins WITH GLEEK! I'd buy it...

Hoo boy! Where do we Start... This pack is a mix of success and failure.
Adam Strange was NOT the reason I bought this pack, yet I like him a lot!
He has a gun! and an unremovable Jetpack! He probably uses the standard male body, but the attached armor with Jetpack, the gun holster and the intricate designs tampographed on him make him stand out. There's a small bit of blurrysplotch of paint on his leg where the tampograph wasn't perfect, but it's only noticeable upon close inspection.

Starfire on the other hand...
was not so lucky. Aside from being called Coriander... I mean Koriand'r, being a sex slave, the toy SUCKS! She came with a super warped Right Leg paint globs on her arms and right hand. The base body used for her does not suit her. It looks like she's wearing an orange and purple full body leotard. Her body is very soft and she keeps falling ALL The Time! She should be called Failfire! I wonder how many years it would take Mattel to fix her... (Maybe tossing a fixed Starfire with a repaint of Cyborg and the Bane Wave Robin while reissuing Beastboy, and Raven in a Teen Titans 5 pack...

Now for the Scores:
as always The range is 1-5 with one being maximum suckage and 5 being super-mega-awesome!

Power Girl:
Articulation: 4.5
Paint and sculpt: 4.0
Accessories: 2.5
Overall:3.66
Again, The lack of accessories hurt the DCUC PG is an amazing toy. Well sculpted, her boobs are not ridiculously big. has a decent range of motion... Better than Supergirl's!

Martian Manhunter:
Articulation: 4.5
Paint and sculpt: 3.5
Accessories: 3.5
Overall: 3.83
I shouldn't be too hard on J'onn, but The commonplace QC accidents with MM not having the correct biceps is not cool. He got a nice boost on the accessories area for including 2 connect and collect pieces...

Superman:
Articulation: 4.5
Paint and sculpt: 4.0
Accessories:2.0
Overall: 3.5
The lack of accessories hurt Superman a lot more than not being a fan of the character. I must admit that I'm liking the figure a lot... Shame that we couldn't get a sculpted S shield on him... (either by actually engraving it to the chest or gluing an extra sculpted piece) This is one of those instances that I despise Mattel's EXTREME PARTS REUSE POLICY.

Adam Strange:
Articulation: 4.5
Paint and Sculpt: 4.5
Accessories: 4.0
Overall: 4.33
I am Pleasantly surprised with Adam Strange. My knowledge of him was limited to the episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold where Aquaman was all sad and borderline emo.

Starfire:
Articulation:4.0
Paint and sculpt:1.0
Accessories: 0.0
Overall:1.67
As I said, Failfire is disappointing. Gummy legs that can't support her light weight. The awful top of her torso, the abysmal paintjob. and total lack of accessories hurt her a lot.

2 pack overall: 2.0 Starfire REALLY dragged down Adam Strange.
Someone described her to me as the WORST DCUC EVER. I'm really starting to believe it.

The MOTUC figure that I bought for Cyber Monday was He-Man... To turn into a custom Wun-Dar. I may post pics on another MOTUC ICFTC which will probably be Buzz-Off!
In the mean time I'll leave you with a less crappy Starfire.

Dec 12, 2010

Motion gaming... The rant.

Gaming has evolved. Now games can be controlled with your movements instead of just pushing buttons, We have come a long way from this:

To This:

Apparently motion gaming is here to stay. Is this the great, great, great (add a couple of more great) grandfather of Holodeck/Danger room total immersion gaming? It sounds awesome but the reality is that it isn't all that awesome... Once the "Look at me I'm controlling the action with my movements" rush wears out. I'll admit that it's fun, but it's not for every genre.

Also a HUGE problem with motion gaming is that it seems mostly catering to the casual gamer.
Many of these motion games seem like a collection of minigames. Oh yeah! let me choose between random mini game compilation A or B? Some of the "true games" that apply motion gaming elements have two huge issues:

-The motion elements are nice nearly useless easter eggs (Like MGS 4 and the six axis related stuff.)
-The flow of the game is a bit awkward due to Motion Gaming (Plenty of Wii games.) combined with old school gaming.

Now with the whole Kinect and PS Move wanting some of the Motion Gaming action; we're gonna see some crazy crap!

Just picture a GTA Game using Kinect... Jog in place to run, jump to jump... Hopefully they'll implement the OLD PS2 GTA cheat input system... Picture yourself flailing around like a moron to input a cheat.
I'm pretty sure I'd be tired and bored of the game after 30 minutes.

It's a cool idea to play some sports games like that, but sports games have evolved so much that motion gaming would be a step back. (Other motion gaming detractors would say: So you want to feel like you're swinging a bat at a ball? How about this crazy idea, GO OUTSIDE AND DO IT!)

Then again I'm sucker for games like this:

How come there isn't a Wii port of Mazan: Flash of the Blade?
Probably cause the game is old, but I digress.
Motion gaming will be stuck in mini-game mode for a long while until a way to play true games doesn't become too tedious.

Right now there are a few issues with motion gaming:
-Needs a lot of space. This one is quite obvious, but it needs to be reminded. Try playing multiplayer motion games in a small room. Either fights or rushing someone to the hospital will break up gaming night.
-Those systems that use controllers (Wii, PS3 Move) may cause damage to the TV if used improperly.

-It may require a dark room to play...(PS3 MOVE)


There are a lot of hiccups right now, but we have evolved a lot from the Power Glove or the Power Pad. I am glad that we've gone so far with it but there's something that is bugging me.
Will the Motion Gaming craze bring forth Erotic Motion Games?
Just picture a... You know what? Don't picture it! just watch this Robot Chicken Sketch!


If something like this gets made, I'm going to laugh. Not because it is funny, but cause my faith in humanity will be forever destroyed... I will probably play it out of morbid curiosity... The same type of curiosity that makes you look whenever there's a traffic accident. You know it's bad, but you can't help it.

For the moment I'm sticking to Traditional gaming... and still kick your ass in Mario Kart Wii with the Traditional controller...


Dec 8, 2010

It came from the Toy Chest: Extra furry Hordesman

Grizzlor is the Last Item from Mattel that I'll review until the Cyber Monday stuff arrives. No MOTU stuff I promise.
The Ferocious Figure with Fur! Try saying that 5 times fast.
Well he's here. He has fur "Just like I remember!" I'm not a fan of "realistic" hair and flocking on action figures due to bad experiences as a child with Grizzlor. One of them involved the Slime Pit... but I'm rambling. Yes Grizzlor is furry. His arms and legs are Beastman's (The lower leg is form Chief Carnivus) The boots are shared with Hordak's. The hands, and head are new. (There was something about interchangeable faces, but Mattel axed that.) The 200X Loincloth is NOT the 4Horsemen Logo. He's got a Horde Crossbow, a sword and a Machete. He also has the Horde Armband... "You're Nexus or against us!" thing going on here...


Now for the Review: As always 1= crap and 5 = awesome!

Articulation: Standard MOTUC Articulation. Ab crunch and waist articulation are hindered a bit because of his fur. Nothing to write home about.
3.5

Paint and sculpt: As I said, I'm not a fan of fur on toys, but somehow I'm enjoying it on Grizzlor! It might be part due to nostalgia, or who knows what, but it feels... right.
on the sculpt; he's pretty much Beastman. I've said that already. That works perfectly with him.
Incredibly enough Grizzlor's torso is nor the Beastman Torso. He's like a Reverse Zodac.
The new pieces look awesome, like the brand new hands. The head is an updated look of the vintage head. There was a 200X head sculpted, but Mattel didn't use it. (Logistics and all that.)
Incredibly enough I don't need the 200X head for Grizzlor. It's amazing what a few little parts can do in combination with the reused parts. (There should be more new parts, but that's a rant for another time.)
On paints, well Mattel takes a minimalist approach... (Logistics.) It works with Grizzlor. The fur creates a lot of the contrast on his body.
4.5
Accessories: He comes with the harness that works as a holster for his weapons. The 200X Loincloth looks cool, The weapons are awesome. (I wonder if they'll reuse the ax for Ram Man.)
4 Weapons and a place to hold them... Grizzlor is starting to look like the MAA of the Evil Horde.
5.0

Overall 4.33
I'm having a lot more fun with Grizzlor than I expected. The fur is better than I expected, the Horde is twice as big now. I must remember that Slime Pit + Grizzlor = $30.00 down the toilet! DO NOT PUT GRIZZLOR ON THE SLIME PIT!


Yes that is ME styling my Grizzlor and singing the theme song of she-who-musn't-be-named. This was made for the The Great Rebellion Club. A nice place for MotU/PoP fans on the chaos that is Facebook.

Dec 5, 2010

Hey What the!? The Puertorrican Gargoyle


I kinda HAD to use that video. It was the first thing I thought of when I heard about "The Gargoyle" since the name was inspired by Disney's Gargoyles. A REAL Gargoyle is:
a : a spout in the form of a grotesque human or animal figure projecting from a roof gutter to throw rainwater clear of a buildingb : a grotesquely carved figure
2
: a person with an ugly face

Well, none of those descriptions match the so called creature. In fact it would be more like a winged Chuppakabura!

Well now that we got that out of the way, Let me begin with this rant. Not only the Chupacabras made it to Japan, now we have a WINGED VERSION!?

Oh great! He's going in "Chemojones" mode. He's going to hunt the "Gargoyle" He gonna find him. The Garygloyle's really dumb for real. Long story short: He will go, fail at it and waste everyone's time. If We're lucky, Puerto Rico, once again will be on the spotlight with ridculous stories about the Hunt for X "cryptid"... on the History Channel or Discovery.

The sketches of this Gargoyle look like a winged Grizzlor... whose review is coming up soon...
Tis the season to be jolly and stuff!

Nov 28, 2010

We interrupt this It Came from the Toy Chest Combo

The tags kinda spoil why we interrupt the Grizzlor Review.
The video kinda gives a hint as who kicked the bucket.
If you still haven't figured it out, Leslie Nielsen died of pneumonia.
If I recall correctly he was kind of a regular in the last season of Golden Girls...
Thanks a lot for entertaining me throughout my lifetime, Mr. Nielsen. Rest in Peace.
I know the Article is a bit short, but come on! Frank Drebin is no longer with us.

It came from the Toy Chest: More stuff from Mattel.

Weapons Pack Numero Dos is here! Remember to click on the pics to read the comic.
This is what we have:
Merman Armor, "Corn Sword" and Trident in what Mattel calls "200X" Colors. (3)
200X Colors would've been if it was in copper instead of that dull gold.
They kinda look OK... Except the Armor... It looks off.
We also have Whiplash's weapons in Gold (2). The Spear perfect for Randor and the 200X Spork of Doom... Well let's just say that wasted plastic does not even scratch the surface on my thoughts regarding that item.
We also get He-Man Shield and Axe in Faker Colors (2) These should have come with Faker in the first place.
Sword of Protection in Two tones like He-Man's Power Sword (1). Great Idea! ruined by the "China" tampograph...
Optikk Shield and Gun (2). Probably to use on Kronis
Evil Lyn Weapons: Dagger, Short Staff, Long staff, swappable crystal ball headpiece (4). Not Quite 200X as Mattel wants us to believe. I've no use for them at the moment.
Zoar Perch and Stand to match Screeech! (2)
Roboto's Attachments in Trap Jaw Colors (3)
19 items in total...



While this set is slightly LESS random than WP#1 This one is too specific on the planned owners of said items. Some of the colors seem a bit more thought out, yet they fail miserably. (Merman armor and Evil Lyn weapons come to mind.)
Others are ruined by Mattel's "China" tampographs being too noticeable.

As always the score is based on a scale 1-5. 1= Wasted plastic that coudl've been put to better use... (Justin Bieber Doll I'm looking at you.) 5= Super mega awesomest Toy thing ever!! (a really awesome MOTUC scale Castle Grayskull type of thing.)
The Sculpt is awesome... Hats off to the 4H. Paint... as with the WP #1 Captain Paintbrush will have to go through a lot of them before being useful to me. 2.0

Merman's Armor already got a repaint in order for me to use it. Optikk's shield is on its way also the Roboto Attachments and She-Ra's sword. So far the Faker Weapons, King Randor's Spear, Zoar's perch and armor are the only items that will NOT be repainted...

The set itself is not bad. It does have some sweet items. The China tampograph and some color choices knocked a few points off.

Nov 27, 2010

It came from the Toy Chest: Convoluted past history of He-man edition.

I'm back with a brand new It Came from the Toy Chest. The toy is a bit Christmas-y looking, but HE HAS THE POWER!!
It's King Grayskull, He-Man's Ancestor or the guy whose Power Adam calls for.
OK, now that we got the nice video out of the way let's move on with the review.
Who Is King Grayskull? I said that he's He-Man's Ancestor, but he's not the ORIGINAL Ancestor of He-Man. That would be He-Ro: The most Powerful Wizard in the Universe.

In the late 80s Mattel was trying to make an expansion to the He-Man line. This sub-line was going to be called: The Power of Grayskull. They were planning to tell us the origin of He-Man's Power. The answer was He-Ro, Whose name was rumored to be Gray of the Skull Tribe. Fast forward to the early 2000s. The Four Horsemen were trying to get the ball rolling with redesigning MOTU for a new line. One of the new concepts for He-Man looked like the man we know as King Grayskull. The MYP staff liked that design so much that they used it as an ancestor to He-Man. Unknown to them that ancestor already existed as He-Ro. The video above was made (by someone else) using clips from the MYP episode: The Power of Grayskull.

For the MOTUC line Mattel combined BOTH of He-Man's origins. He-Ro (Whose Real name is Ro) came from Space... He was carrying the Trollan Sword of He... (As in Orko's people... He means Power in Trollan. That means that He-Ro is Power Ro, He-Man is Power-Man, etc... BTW The Sword Sparkles like Edward...)
He-Ro fought evil on Eternia with the help of King D'Vann Grayskull. He-Ro died fighting someone and gave the Sword of He to King Grayskull. When King Grayskull died fighting Hordak, he made the sword respond only to his heir. Then the sword split in 2 and an orb of energy took Castle Grayskull as its home.

Now unto the figure itself.
As always the scale for the reviews is 1 to 5. One being sucky toy that made me waste money on it and 5 being most awesomest toy in the history of toys?

Articulation: KG has the standard MOTUC Articulation. He's basically He-Man with a longer loincloth, different Harness, Taller boots and a cape. MOTUC He-Man is basically a reuse of the KG mold. 4.0

Paint/Sculpt: The 4 Horsemen outdid themselves here. They've made a modern toy looking like a vintage KG. The paint is minimal (since Mattel is very stingy on paint apps.) but it works.
3.5. He lost a bit since the cape loses some detail by the flocking... More on the flocking later. I may dislike the Santa color scheme but that big glob of white paint near the bottom of the cape is unacceptable. *UPDATE!* The color Scheme was Mattel's inside job. The 4H had nothing to do with it. The Flocking was Toyguru's Idea... (Mattel's brand manager) It still does not change my opinion on the color scheme.

Accessories: Here we have his armor (which is removeable for the first time ever) His flocked cape, a new partially sparkly full sword a Blue Plasitc Marble with nowhere to put it and two half swords...

He gets a 4.0 The Halfswords work a LOT better than expected, the full sword is cool... kinda reminds me of the Master Sword of The Legend of Zelda games. Perfect for Adam's Transformation.
Overall KG gets a: 3.83 He lost a bit because of the sheer randomness of the orb of Power and the flocking flock. The worst part of it is that it's white, so it'll get real dirty, really fast. I deflocked the cape (It was easy I just dunked the sucker in warm water and a bit of brushing... Voila!)




King Grayskull kinda reminds me of Dolph Lundgren's He-Man.
*update! #2!* This KG allows for an easy "200X" He-Man (as seen on the Weapons pack #2 It came from the toy chest)

Nov 24, 2010

American show turned into Anime.

Normally I'm against turning American shows into Japanese Shows, but we've bastardized enough of their shows stateside... That is until I saw THIS:

The Powerpuff Girls turned into an anime.
I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Powerpuff Girls Z... What's the deal with Japan and the Letter Z?
There's Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, now there's Powerpuff Girls and Powerpuff Girls Z!?
*scratches head* weird.
Because it's Japanese it gets a few changes from their American counterpart.
It sticks to the "Magical Girl" conventions...
Yes, that is a Transformation sequence... Then again my favorite show involves a Transformation sequence... By the Power of Gray...
Ok I won't place a He-Man clip... or She-Ra...
I'll admit I like the art better on PPGZ
Video is a comparison between PPG and PPGZ
Not saying that PPGZ is flawless, from what I've seen there's a few things I dislike:
-Ken Utonium, the Professor's son. I dislike why shows anywhere add needless kid characters.
-Poochie, the robot dog... Talking animal sidekicks... Don't like them either.
-Him looks a lot less disturbing in PPGZ

Other than that the show seems OK... A tad too Japanese for some people, but since I'm used to Anime I find it quite enjoyable. A lot more than CN's current shows.
I tip my hat off to Japan, now make me a He-Man Anime!!

Nov 23, 2010

Odds and Ends: Miley's 18 now.

So I put my hands up they're playing my song The Butterflies fly away
So I put my hands up they're playing my song I know I'm gonna be OK
YEEEEEAAAAHHH! It's a party in the USA!♫
Guess who's having a party right now... I'll give you a hint. Read this Article's title.
Miley's finally 18. Looks like the so called beach Holiday with her family ain't happening. Not only Miley's 18, but she's partying with Demi Moore... and Miley's mom is tagging along.
Enough About Miley. Let's move on to someone more annoying.

Man! This guy is awesome! I want to shake his hand. The dude shot his TV enraged cause Bristol Palin is still on Dancing with the Stars. I don't blame him. I mean, I'm an awful dancer, but she's there because of her Mother. She dances almost as bad as I do... OK she's slightly better than me, but she's not that good.
She's been in the competition for so long because she's Sarah Palin's daughter. If she had been say, Justin Bieber's mom or something like that she would've been kicked out.
Go Jennifer Grey! Heck! I'll take Kyle Massey over Sarah Palin's daughter.

First Miley, now Kyle Massey... There seems to be a Disney theme going on here...
What's next, Disney's going to stop making movies based on fairytales in order to attract more boys? First of all That would be a stupid move on Disney's part. Most of their best movies have been fairytale based. While I agree that they should cater more to young boys, they should not back down from what separates them from Dreamworks and other companies that make animated features for children. There's a reason I pick Disney over Dreamworks. Tsk tsk...
Second, The Disney animated movies are more wholesome than Dreamworks' let's sneak a lot of adult references that kids won't understand so we can be cool.

Nov 20, 2010

It Came out of the Lead Toy Chest: Loaded with Kryptonite Edition.

Hmmm... Kryptonite... Am I doing a Superman toy Review?
I'm doing a Lex Luthor Review... He comes with Supergirl in the DCUC 2 Pack: KRyptonite Chaos.
First I'll start with the obvious: This is a Mattel DCUC 2 pack.BUT the toys are not DCUC figs. They're from the previous DC line DCSH... (Basically the Mattel/DC counterpart to ToyBiz's Spider-Man Classics. This was before Mattel decided to allow the 4H to have more articulation.)
While my pics start with Super Girl I'm going to start with Luthor.
He's a rerelease of the DCSH Luthor.

Articulation:
He's got about 23 -25 PoA, BUT His skirt restricts the leg articulation and his Torso Armor restricts most of the upper Arm Articulation... On the Other hand his ankle has an abnormally weird range. 2.0
Paint and sculpt:
There seems to be no sloppy paints on Luthor and the sculpt is very detailed. Even the PoA are masked by rivets and other cybernetic details on the armor. 4.5
Accessories:
Luthor comes loaded with Kryptonite. Unlike his DCSH counterpart he does not have the Kryptonite gun. 2.5

Overall: 3.0 He could've been better if he had the Kryptonite gun, but the Logistics monster reared its ugly head once more and eliminated a key accessory for a character rerelease... Another chance for Mattel to redeem themselves was with the Skeletor vs. Lex Luthor 2 pack... Once again Lex and Kryptonite, but no gun.

Now to Supergirl.
Funny Story, my first DCSH toy was a Supergirl, but used as custom fodder for making a Gwen Stacy.
This is another DCSH rerelease... If they just rerelease Batgirl I'd be happy... Now unto the review of the girl who fight for, Truth, Justice and Panty shots everywhere.
Articulation:
About 22 POA. but the skirt restricts the leg articulation. The cape only restricts her right arm's backwards movement AND she has loose knees and ankles... something common on most toys... From Mattel! 4.0
Paint and Sculpt:
There's some slight paint bleed on some of the yellow trim areas. Sculptwise the only thing I don't like much is the Windblown hair that only looks good on a classic Super___ flying pose. (Which can't be achieved due to the lack of range of certain articulation points or interference from a rigid skrt.)3.5
Accessories: Zilch! Nada! 0.0

Overall: 2.5 She lost a lot of points due to the lack of poseability with her skirt. The weird thing is that her cape is very soft, but her skirt is super hard...

2 pack's overall score: 2.75 It's an awesome 2 pack, but the rigid skirts and lack of certain important accessories hurt it in the long run. At least its not one of the millions of 2 packs with Hal Jordan or Batman on it...

Nov 16, 2010

Dammit! Bret Michaels! You're forcing me into Miley ban part 2!

Ok this one is not entirely Miley-centric... It's more Miley's Mom Centric. Bret Michaels denies rumors about him and Miley's mom having an affair that lead into Billy Ray's Achy Breaky Heart... and I'm not talking about the song here.


Ok... That settles it, Bret says he did not have sex with Miley's mom so I believe him...
Well at least the rumors aren't about Miley and Bret having sex... Please don't bring the controversial lyrics from the song I posted. But Miley's safe... She's got Chris Crocker backing her up.

Ok now I'm creeped out... Need to stop doing filler posts until something comes out of the Toy Chest... From Mattel. Miley's Birthday is in Seven days...

Nov 12, 2010

Apparently Hannah Montana is NOT over!

Saw the one Hour "Looks like a series finale" Hannah Montana Special after I missed it on Disney Channel. Thanks internet! Kinda wished I could've seen it on TV though. I checked on the Internet Movie Database and apparently there are 4 more Episodes of Hannah Montana left. I feel ripped off!

Let's move on, shall we?

This is another 1 hour special like "He Could Be The One" with musical intermissions by the chorus. (Jackson and Rico... This time they added Sienna, Jackson's girlfriend who happens to be a...)
To quote Jackson Rod Stewart, due to a lack of Youtube video of him saying it:
"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bikini model.
Kinda makes it worse, since Sienna is THE MOST UNLIKABLE HM character EVER.
I think this is the ONLY good Sienna scene from Hannah Montana Forever and it's non-canon. This is one of the musical intermissions I spoke about.

Ok, The Episode starts with Miley trying to figure out how she's gonna tell Jesse (her current beau, also the other guy from "He Could Be The One") Long Story short Jesse had figured it out on his own. (due to the Special, "Salute the troops" episode) Once again the Hannah Secret screws Miley's life. Jesse and Miley fight. Now Miley ponders if revealing herself to the world is worth it...

But wasn't that the plot of The Movie?

It was a similar plot, thus making the episode feel redundant. The Miley is going to college
subplot helped the episode to feel a tad different from The Movie.








Obvious Spoiler alert! Obvious Spoiler Alert!
Miley reveals the secret nationwide.
Obvious Spoiler alert! Obvious Spoiler Alert!




If you're reading this you already know the spoiler. Which is pretty obvious....





This reveal lost it's effect since Miley has already revealed her secret one too many times...
Especially to her WHOLE HOMETOWN (There have been a couple episodes in HM Season 3 and HM Forever that have made reference to this.)

The Episode did make an emphasis on how much EVERYONE sacrifices everything for Miley, no matter how bitchy she is with them.

Now that I think about it, by Killing Hannah, Miley also killed Lola Luftnagle... Lilly's alterego that according to Miley/Hannah NO ONE cares about... I wonder how the next episodes will deal with the aftermath of The Assassination of Hannah Montana (and Lola Luftnagle... See Miley, I care about Lola... Oh yeah! In the HM universe I'm non-existent...)

I did find a couple of things that bothered me:
-Jackson not a part of the story: Jackson, Miley's brother, who practically gives EVERYTHING to protect the Secret... (Except with Sienna) Jackson WAS linked as one of Hannah's love interests in a similar manner to what happened with Jesse. I promise I won't make any incest jokes about Jacksannah)
- Lack of Oliver: I know this was mostly because Mitchell Musso was busy filming his new series Pair of Kings and possibly doing some Phineas and Ferb voice work. Still he was one of the few who KNEW Hannah's Secret.
-The reveal itself... Had the movie never existed this would've been shocking; but then again Miley has a LONG list of people who know the secret:
Lilly, Oliver,(Probably his parents know), Roxy, Fermine (Her costume designer from Season 1), Heather (Lilly's Mom), The Rock, Jake, Sienna, Jesse, Miley's family (Jackson, Robbie Ray, Both of Miley's grandmothers, her evil cousin Luanne, Uncle Earl), Dolly Parton, Officer Diaria (The Officer who arrested Miley for driving without a license),Officer Diaria's daughter, and the entire Town of Crowley Corners.
Still that's a lot of people knowing THE SECRET!!
-Most of the intermissions were meh...
-Lack of reactions from People who KNEW Miley, yet never suspected that she WAS Hannah.

Now I'll have to wait for the other episodes to see how this ends... IF the episodes are real.

On an partially unrelated note The dorky guy with the Glasses... Jason Earles.
Photo of Tad Hilgenbrinck from American Pie: Band Camp (2005) with Jason Earles, Jun Hee Lee, Omar Benson Miller
Hopefully He'll be able to shake off the Hannah Montana's Brother thing as good as he shook off the dorky image from American Pie Presents: Band Camp

Nov 8, 2010

Miley Cyrus: Action Movie Star?

Sweet niblets! Miley Cyrus starring in an action movie... Just try to picture Hannah Montana in an action movie... Imagining Miley as Tony Montana in Scarface's final scenes does not count...
That's almost like having Betty White cursing.
Wait a minute, did I just hear Betty White right? OK if Betty White can swear and be evil Why can't Miley be an action Movie Star? Two words: Hannah Montana.
It'll be a long time until Miley can get rid of Hannah. It doesn't help that she's been going at it the wrong way. THIS should've been the starting point of OPERATION KILL HANNAH.
It's an action comedy. Miley will be playing a Private Eye and the FBI hires her to be their undercover agent in a Sorority. So the plot kinda reminds me of Miss Congeniality, but with a college sorority instead of a beauty pageant. I smell a "Fish out of Water" type of movie. It seems that Miley's mom is one of the producers of this film... No Billy Ray involved?

Only time will tell if this is a great move for Miley or not. As long as she doesn't go Britney she might be OK.

I still would like to see a Scarface parody with Miley.


Nov 4, 2010

Odds and ends Snarf! Snarf! Nov.4-Nov. 7 2010

Snarf! Snarf! That's all you'll be hearing Snarf say in the new Thundercats cartoon!

Basically Snarf has been reduced from Lion-O's nanny to a frigging Pikachu!
That's just Snarfing Petarded! I know Snarf is annoying, but come on! Snarf is now a pet. Might as well not have added Snarf if they were going to take everything that makes Snarf... well Snarf!

Holy Ironman rip-off, Batman! Bats is playing the Ironman card. "I've been funding Batman for years!" Brucie, old chum, you ain't fooling anyone. The whole I'm not Batman but he's in my payroll schtick sucks. Now Batman is going Global! How long until Bruce has to return as Batman in order to stop a renegade Batman? Didn't Grant Morrison (The writer for this story) try that with X-Men already?

Awww! that's so cute! Widdle Miwey Cywus wants to have her famiwy together for her 18th birthday! Former Wig Wearing Secret Popstar that is now a beast that can't be tamed SAY WHAT!?

Straight from the Miley's mouth. I just have one question: What's with the dot thingie on her forehead!? Is she like from India? Cause I thought she was from Tennessee.

Enough Miley time... I missed Hannah Montana Forever's ending. (Plot seemed Similar to Hannah Montana: The movie. If I find a way to see it I might review it.)

Speaking of things that come to an end: Spectacular Spider-man is done... canned... Stupid Disney! Instead they'll be doing a show based on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN!!
Ok so let me get this straight. They cancel a show with a High-Schooler Peter Parker to have ANOTHER SHOW with a High-Schooler Peter Parker!?
Not exactly... While it might have a Teenaged Spidey. The show seems to be a Marvel Team-Up animated... They're in NO WAY ripping off certain DC Animated Show...

Farewell Spectacular Spider-Man! You will be missed. Hopefully Spidey the Brave and the Bold will not suck... or have Spidey voiced by Will Friedle... (Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World... The idiot who makes the Feeny call... Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, or Blue Beetle in Batman The Brave and the Bold.)

Nov 2, 2010

Odds and ends Nov. 2 Edition

I needed to clear my thoughts from Twilight, Candies and other stuff so enjoy some things from the web.

She-Ra's theme has always been better than He-Man.

Turtely Awesome! Come on, don't tell me that an actual KRANG in his android body costume with a WORKING KRANG THAT MOVES AND TALKS isn't awesome...


Speaking of Aaaawwwweeesssoooommmeee! The Miz vs. Pee-Wee Herman... (knowing about Pee-Wee's famous wrist; it's a bit weird seeing people shaking hands with him...) Come on! It's The Miz vs. Pee-Wee freaking Herman!! what's NOT to love!?
3:01 part of the video is either extremely awesome or weird product placement.

Hookay! Now Dentists are buying Post-Halloween Candy to support our troops!? They want to save the kids from cavities, by rotting the teeth of the soldiers in the middle of the battlefield!?
Yeah! That's real smart... But at least the kids can make some money!

You thought that was weird... Wait till you read this: Read it?
Now what do you think?
I can understand suing the kid's parents, but SUING THE KID!? Now that's ruthless.
Funny that there is no mention of the COD of the old lady. Was it due to the kid hitting her a couple of years ago? Was it due to something else? Idiocy at it's best.


Stop! Candy TIME!!!

Finally the Candy rant/list is here. I went Trick-or-Treating as Edward Cullen...
Why? Simple: I'm already Vampire-ish pale. I had clothes that resemble the Eddiekins doll. A bit of Make up to enhance the bags under my eyes and a lot of Glitter gel and voila! I'm a Poison Fairy. I had A Classic Vampire Cape and Fangs so I could be Edward Pretending to be a Vampire. (My own little joke like the Vegetarian Vampire joke from Twilight.)
Had to deal with Twilight haters. Twihards (I was a bit of a dick to them, but that's how Sir Saparks-a-Lot rolls)

Enough About the Cullens and their lack of Vampiness. It's all about CANDY!
(Insert I want Candy Song here...)





















Ok Where's the Song? Not gonna use it!
Now for the top picks on this halloween:
Worst offenders:
Halls Lozenges:
Hello! These ain't Candy!
Lozenge: a small usually sweetened and flavored medicated material that is designed to be held in the mouth for slow dissolution;especially : one that contains a demulcent lozenges>
Candy: a confection made with sugar and often flavoring and filling.
Lozenges are medication... you jerk!

Now our next offender is:
Candy Corn
I know it's a halloween classic, but it's rare to find small fun-sized packs of candy corn. So people just dump candy corn in your jack-o-lanterns. (usually after the jerk that dumps 30 cents in pennies) Mmm! coin flavored candy...

Any gummy stuff that ain't gummy bears... is our next offender. For some reason the only great tasting gummy stuff is bear shaped. (Worm shaped is good too to an extent.) The moment other shapes start showing up the gumminess is lost and sometimes the candy is either rigid or crappy tasting.

On the other hand there are more awesome candies:
First on the list:
Classic Gum Yum! It's a bit harder to find these days, but when I do I try to chew as much as I can...

3 Musketeers:
It's so light and fluffy. That's what I love about it... Especially when received on Halloween.


My Favorite candy:
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups... If I got some, I ain't sharing... Don't care if you're Bella Swan, He-Man, The Pope, or Miley Cyrus These are MY REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS! you can have the coin flavored candy corn...

Well that about cover Halloween 2010's candy run... Remember. Don't over eat it otherwise Mo-Larr will come for you.