Tags Matching: toys

‘Nuff Said.

By admin | Published May 17, 2010

A few years back, Marvel had a pretty ingenious idea of publishing a whole month of books with no (or very little) text. No dialogue, no thought balloons, no narration.

What with comic books being a visual story telling medium, it worked relatively well. Some really good stories, and I’d highly recommend checking them out.

That said, with some items, there’s very little that needs to said. Sometimes, an item says everything it needs to in the image itself. Hence…

“Hey, I can really talk!”

“Evil Venom Hisss!”
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When toys go wrong.

By admin | Published May 10, 2010

I’ve been working mentally on a Gambit post, both in support and against the character who set the 90′s on fire.

He was arguably the last significant addition to the X-Men from Claremont’s epic run. Was it an incredible going away present, or was it a kiss-off stab?

I’ll say this – the post was much easier until I saw this failed ToyBiz prototype.

GAMBIT CYCLE. OOOOOOF.

Thankfully this never made it further than these prototypes. I’m not sure which direction this fork floats the story, but the sign reads “Shits Creek.”
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Spider-Man is Into Italian Motorsports

By pkindlon | Published April 26, 2010

Here’s one more for the kids. If you always imagined that Peter Parker would eventually leave his job at the Bugle for a more lucrative career as a MotoGP driver, well, here’s your toy. I guess. I don’t know what’s up with Spider-Man’s pants in this dynamic and entirely not-depressing version of his character. He does look like quite a playboy in that jacket though. Totally doesn’t suck. And the yellow kneepads are a simple, yet effective, accessory that feels appropriate for the outfit. Altogether, a well-designed figure I could see myself adding to my collection.

My Friend Peter.

By morgado | Published April 21, 2010

As a comic book nerd on a budget, I often rely on the kindness of strangers to keep my reading up to date.

And by strangers, I mean my friend Peter, without whom I never would have read so many of the many Blackest Night tie ins.

I also rely on him to provide me with a living room in which I may sit and play video games and watch Lost in captivating HDtv. He’s a good dude. He also has a toy collection that could fill multiple rooms.

As is often the case, Peter is now out of room (and married), and is selling a large selection of his collection to help finance his move to a larger home. Everything from He-man to Spawn.

Minimates? Modern Megos? He’s got those on lock.

Still into Mighty Muggs? He’s got those too.

Or maybe what you really need in life is an Iron Man t-shirt to wear on May 7.

Or perhaps a translucent purple limited edition MAXX action figure.

Whatever it is, I’m sure Peter’s got you covered. So go check his auctions out and help me get a nicer place to hang out in… err, help my friend get a nicer place a live in.
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Let’s Get Dangerous…

By morgado | Published March 15, 2010

Coming out of Emerald City Comic Con last week was the news that every kid’s favorite 1990s Disney Afternoon super hero parody Darkwing Duck will be getting brought back by BOOM comics for a 4 issue comic book mini-series. However, this is not the first time the Masked Mallard appeared in comic book form.

Unfortunately, this (also 4 issue mini) series simply adapted the first episode of the cartoon, rather than telling an original tale. As a result, it didn’t focus on the best part of the cartoon: Darkwing’s rogues gallery.

You had Bushroot, your basic Plant Man/Floronic Man character.

Steelbeak, kind of a cross between James Bond villains Jaws and Blofeld.

Megavolt, the Electro of the group.

And then there was Negaduck, the evil Darkwing from another dimension. And Quackerjack, the Joker to Darkwing’s Batman. And so on. The Darkwing rogue’s line up drew from the very best galleries around, making for a line up that was equal parts Batman, James Bond, Spider Man, and the Flash. There was the occasional clunker to be sure (Ammonia Pine, the evil cleaning lady terrorist anyone?), but even the aforementioned all time great galleries of villainy had those. Even the 1992 Nintendo game made sure that the focus of the game was battling the rogues, Mega Man style.

So it’s nice to see that this new comic mini series promises to showcase as many of the Darkwing Duck rogues as possible. Now all we need is for Disney to actually put out the third dvd collection that they’ve been sitting on for three years…

Secret Wars

By admin | Published March 3, 2010

As a kid one of my favorite comic series was Secret Wars.

A mega-Marvel crossover that pitted the biggest heroes vs. the biggest villains for the whole shebang.

It didn’t really make much sense… but that’s because it was primarily a toy-selling vehicle.

Which makes sense, because the toys were AWESOME.

My favorite of all the secret wars figures, and my favorite Cap action figure ever. Please note the attention to detail, including the wings on the head. Perfect. USA. This one is apparently affordable compared to this other recently posted figure.

Two separate sets posted above, the first being more impressive than the second. Zemo, Hobgoblin, and Falcon trump the very cool and rare appearance of the Constrictor figure. Note how the top set has Kang with his… utility belt- I don’t know what to call it… that damn thing ALWAYS went missing. I had at least two Kang figures (why? who knows.) and neither had that accessory within weeks of owning it.

Nothing says Doctor Doom like a DOOM ROLLER. This is where you start to realize you are not a 5-10 year old and this doesn’t make sense. However…

I can’t think of Captain America without picturing him sitting behind some sort of pivoting satellite dish. And obviously this has Spider-Man in his classic “behind a laser gun” stance. Iconic right here.

And here we have a more recent twist on the marketing gem of Secret Wars. I think this basically separates comic fans into two groups – those who will wear an all-over print comic themed sweatshirt and those who will not.

[ ] will

[x] will not

Super… Dog?

By admin | Published February 25, 2010

Ironically, a sign of true “brand” greatness is the expansion into weird secondary content and characters.

How else can you explain this fellow?

Somewhere along the lines of making this toy, KRYPTO the SuperDog hit some heat and started to look more and more like Scooby-Doo. I can’t even start on BatDog. Honestly, the only thing Krypto brings is a kryptonite to Superman credibility.

For example, can anyone explain what this toy does? It honestly makes me think “annoyometer.” It’s bizarre, buy it maybe, but don’t look at it for too long, it’s like looking at the sun.

And though this is small redemption, here is a classic Superman cover that also happens to be Krypto’s second appearance. I love this era, where frequently Superman stories were just bizarre. I feel as though any notable modern Superman writer nods at this, certainly both John Byrne and Grant Morrison did.

“The police are treating me like an outlaw! WHY?”

Classic.

Super Powers model sheets.

By morgado | Published January 6, 2010

This is some pretty cool stuff right here. These are model sheets from the classic Super Powers toy line (model sheets are reference material to show what characters look like in different poses and from different angles). I chose to highlight the two that I think would be most suitable for framing, but this seller has over 40 of them up for auction.

If you don’t think that last one is completely awesome, you need to get your pinko commie butt back to Russia buddy.

1970′s Spider-Van

By admin | Published January 1, 2010

Did the word Kitsch really have significant value to the world before the 1970′s?

I don’t think so (though according to a quick google search I was alerted to it’s German origins in the 1860′s.)

So this toy embodies many of those kitsch qualities – ugly colors, self applied stickers, and, like most early 70′s econoline vans I’ve seen in my lifetime…

“ Van is in good structural shape but missing the bumpers and is dusty.”

Might want to check the carfax on this one. Regardless, this Spiderman Mobile Crime Lab Vehicle is a MEGO classic, and should be heralded as such. Any cool toy made in the 70′s was probably made by Mego, but I’m not exactly a connoisseur, so tell us if you know otherwise. A cool item that in better condition would probably fetch a nice price.