Swords and Spaceships

I just bought a toy of an overweight, six-breasted alien prostitute. It's a good thing I have a sense of humor about myself. This is one of those figures that fans have been requesting for years while I just sat back and asked 'why?' I know, like every other fan these days, that Kenner had planned to issue a figure of this character in the vintage line in either 1984 or 1985, but that isn't really a good enough reason for it now, I thought. Kenner thought better of it, but in the modern line, we've gotten two different Slave Leia figures (plus one in the Galactic Heroes line) and the lady who gave us the only naked breast in the Star Wars saga, Oola, who was a green, chained-up alien prostitute, so times clearly aren't as chaste these days. For your seven bucks, you get a good sculpt of Yarna here, all the way down to the warts on her face and the fat on her back. The accessories include a knife and a drink cup. I imagine you'd need a strong, vengeful libati...

Yay, new Star Wars toys. Nay for shitty packaging. So I spent a shit-ton of money on these things this weekend, especially wave 2 of the Legacy collection, which this guy comes from. I really, really liked these guys when I saw them in the Clone Wars cartoon all the way back in 2003, and it's taken this long for Hasbro to do proper figures from that cartoon. I was all jazzed to own this guy, until I opened it up and saw the dicked-up way Hasbro has decided to package this figure. Not only is the left leg bent, the peg that connects to the hip is bent because of that, and now it won't stay in. So I have a $7 figure that won't stand up. Normally, I'd just buy another one and try to trade this to a customizer, but these are just too expensive to keep doing that. Hasbro, seriously, what's your deal with being completely unable to package droids properly? Not only did you decide to make the toy out of gummy plastic, you put it in the blister in such a way that the toy is...

Well, two of them, anyway. Aren't they just fab? As much as I loved these 200x line, these just blow those away in pretty much every way possible. I hope Mattel shows more of them at SDCC, and I'm sure they will after tomorrow's panel, since they have a huge, huge display there in San Diego. Apparently, the line kicks off with He-Man in October, and they're sold one every month on Mattel's website. Which is an idea I like, since I won't have to go to shitty stores like Gordmans or Aldi to find my MOTU toys. Edit- after trying to budget for this line, there's just no way. Even if it is $20 a month, it will take more than a year to get any kind of interesting collection going. I was hoping for a line that would be at retail, therefore making it a little cheaper, but that's not the plan right now. I guess the retailers remember how badly they got burned five years ago, and wouldn't dare give He-Man and his crew a chance again. And I can't blame them...

I picked this guy up recently, as a consolation prize for again missing the Elsa and Hnery Jones Sr. figures (I got Hasbro'd). It had decent paint, and it was an Indy with the tie, man. But those were the only good things about it. Since Hasbro insists on packaging these figures with their weapons in their hands, it requires those cursed clear rubber bands, and they, of course, warp the hands. I've had it loose for a week, and only now can I fit the submachine gun in his hands. But barely. It takes both hands, and even then, if I look at it wrong, it falls out. This Indy is a better effort than the Raiders or Crystal Skull versions. The Raiders version has no neck, so it looks funny. The Crystal Skull version has the removable hat, which is neat, but the hat is a little big. This seems to split the difference, giving us an Indy with a neck and a nonremovable hat. Oh yeah, and a tie. Can't forget the tie. It has good parts, and it has faults, and at $7-8 at retail, you can p...

Sunstreaker is one of those G1 guys that has stayed very expensive. Firstly, the toy has never been reissued, so the ones that are out there are it. Secondly, he's based on a Lamborghini, and everybody thought those were really cool in 1984, so this new version has a lot of pent-up interest. The car mode looks like a modern Lambo. Hell, those things are so out of my price range, I don't even bother looking at what they make anymore. (Personally, if I had the jack, I'd get a Ferrari.((Or more Transformers. Who am I kidding?))) As with most US Transformers, the vehicle mode would have a lot more zazz if Hasbro painted the plastic instead of molding it in the desired color, but they have to keep these things at $10 somehow. After spending five minutes transforming this guy, I'm amazed it only cost $10. This is an Alternator/Binaltech level transformation here, folks. At least in my opinion. Sunstreaker shirks the hood-as-chest transformation featured on damn near every 19...

Sweet. I didn't pick this guy up back in 2002/03, so getting another chance now is pretty sweet. I wonder if it will be an exclusive, but there are no details yet.

I wasn't sure about buying the rest of this wave. When I first found them a month ago, I passed on them. I didn't think they were worth my $7 each, and for the most part, I was right. First up, we have the Python Patrol, uh, Python Officer. I never had any love or contempt for Python Patrol back in the 1980s. I simply didn't acknowledge them, preferring instead the brand-new figures that were out. Even then, they were silly and borderline ugly, and not much has changed. It's a decent tribute to the 1980s and another for Hasbro to use the Cobra Soldier mold, but I doubt anyone is going to army build with this guy. Hell, I didn't even buy a sample to keep MOC. Secondly, we have what I assume is a comic version of the Baroness. I ended up buying two of these, one because I wanted a MOC Baroness for my collection and the second so I could make a not-sucky custom Baroness. I took the head off my 5-pack Baroness, took the head off this new one a placed it on that body, an...

Someday, I'm going to get a camera and a place to take pictures. Until that day, stock photos will have to do. I found the first wave of the new Transformers Universe Classics tonight (4th of July!). I ask you, fair readers: what's more American than sports cars and guns? I couldn't really think of anything, but then I realized that I was putting them on my VISA, and that, dear readers, makes it overly American, even if these were probably designed in Japan based on imported sports cars and made in China. Prowl is based on the new Nissan Z, as far as I can tell. Unlike the movie toys, these are just far enough away from real cars to avoid TakaraTomy or Hasbro getting sued, not being licensed like GM and Lockheed Martin did for the movie toys. The car mode, as usual, looks great, even with the breaks in the body. It kind of falls apart in 'bot mode. I bought Prowl and Sunstreaker this time, and I opened Prowl first, expecting him to be the better of the two. The pictures...