Swords and Spaceships

I've scored a lot of new swag this week. Firstly, I found the Classics Jetfire at my local Wal-Mart. It was on the top shelf among several Primes and Megatrons and another Jetfire, and I had to ask one of the people working there to get one down. They left the other one up there, clueless that the other one could sell in minutes if they put it with the other Voyager-sized Classics. But, to everyone else, TFs are all the same. I brought him home, and he's the best in the line. I say that even though I don't own Grimlock and Mirage yet. There's just no way they can live up to this dude's awesomeness. And, he's much cheaper and prettier than the G1 Jetfire. All good to me. Then my order from BBTS came in. I ordered the first wave of the rereleased Heroes of Cybertron PVCs. I love these things, and apparently, I'm the only one who does. Some see it as "morally wrong" to own Transformers that don't transform, but really, these guys have a charm all ...

Clicky. I want to think that this is Tomy/Takara's work, and that the Dinobots are finally going to be reissued. But then, if it was official, Grimlock would likely be the first one out of the gate. Or it could be a prototype for the World's Smallest TFs line. But I'm thinking it's one of those high-quality bootlegs that have been coming out of China for the last few years. These boots look exactly like the official product, and the releases have been eclectic, to say the least. They've (whoever the are)offered Optimus Prime, of course, but then they've done Soundwave's cassettes and Seaspray, and others that I'm forgetting. Swoop is the hardest Dinobot to acquire either boxed or loose, so I'd expect this one to be difficult to obtain if it is a bootleg.

Go buy this. Now. Even if you have the Rhino version. Sony has given the treatment that the Transformers always deserved on DVD but never got with this set. I picked it up this week, and loved it. The colors are much brighter and richer this time around, owing to Sony's painstaking restoration. On the first disc, you'll see a side-by-side comparison with the Rhino version, and it's like night and day. My favorite special feature has to be the old toy commercials. Most of them a re from Japan, but they're so deliciously strange to American audiences, so they have to be seen to be believed. There weren't very many American ones, but I assume that those are being saved for Sony's rerelease of the G1 TV series next year. Hopefully that will have as much time and effort put into its restoration as well as some color-correcting. This package is on two discs- the first disc is a widescreen presentation of the film, while the second is fullscreen. I like my movies to be...

I am so buying that little Punisher fella. Only in America can a gun-toting maniac with a kill count equal to Genghis Khan get his visage on something meant for preschoolers. Yep, that'll be the newest "it" thing for hipsters who love irony to own next year.

Linky. Looks like Hasbro's is using the Soundblaster mold after all. Makes me glad I spent the cash for an original G1 Soundwave now. It's still a good purchase, though. I won't worry about getting the TFC Soundblaster now, plus I get a Ravage and Laserbeak in this package, which are about $30 each on ebay. Now if he'd just show up here. I'm glad Hasbro is offering this reissue. He needed to be in a line like Classics, but if he's anything other than a tape player, people complain. Since they wanted to keep close to G1 with this line (Megatron being a gun, Prime being a recognizable semi) this was their only option- a G1 reissue.

I guess he's being reissued after all. I'm asking for one for Christmas. I got my original on Chrsitmas Day 21 years ago, so it would be great to get this then. I'm not sure if it's using the Soundblaster mold as many have figured Hasbro would use for it, but I'm beginning to hope that they didn't. There's no pics on ebay yet that confirm it either way.

A keen article from the Boston Globe about the Transformers- read it before it disappears. It's nice to see the Transformers getting some mainstream press attention. I can't wait to buy a TIME magazine with Optimus Prime on it now.

Yep. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Like "Dungeons & Dragons" only a name I can use legally. (Unless there's a game out there called Swords & Spaceships, in which case, AWWW FUCK.) Updates coming soon, I hope.

I'm really looking forward to this line. Basically, Hasbro's taken classic G1 characters and their alt modes and recreated them, to a great effect. Have a look. There's also a great version of Optimus Prime coming in this line that looks damn close to his original G1 counterpart. Clicky. A lot of fans aren't liking this, for some reason. They're screaming that it's the RobotMasters version, which is a line that only came out in Japan, so most US fans don't own them. Plus, in other TF news, it looks like us US fans are finally getting a crack at a Soundwave reissue. Nooz is here. I can see that TRU's gouging on these continues, since the price listed is $30, but considering what any vintage or reissue Soundwave goes for on ebay, that's quite fair. (I paid $60 for a loose vintage Soundwave last winter. It came with his guns and missiles, but no tapes.) I'll bet Hasbro ends up using that Soundblaster mold for it, which is great, but Soundblaster wa...

I'd do some in-depth commentary, but I had a great run of writing tonight. ZOMGBBQSAUCE!!! Sideshow's take on Jabba the Hutt. It'll cost about $375 to get the complete set, which is completely out of the question for me. It's neat as hell, but where would I put it? I'm glad that Sideshow put this out now, so it will prevent me from becoming a completist with this line. I'd consider just getting Jabba and the creatures (I could get those for about $150), since I could make a dais out of foamcore. But, Sideshow, the devilish bastards, stuck the pipe and bowl in with the dais. So that breaks the deal. Still, it's gnarly to see them take on something so ambtious. I want to see their rendition of an armored Darth Vader and Boba Fett now. :)

which is a good thing. More on SDCC later. I was just happy to see MOTU continuing on this strong.

Out Sept. 19th. Yay!

Since I absolutely loved the newest Pirates flick, Dead Man's Chest, I did what every other overeager toy collector does- bought toys. I had two choices- NECA's 7" scale stuff, which are $13-15 each, or Zizzle's 3.75" toys, which are about $5-6 each and in my favorite scale. I picked up Prison Escape Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, and Pirate Disguised Elizabeth Swann. Great stuff all around. They're a lot like Star Wars toys from around 2001- great body sculpts with accurate costumes, but not quite there on faces. But these are great for the scale, price, and the fact they're from a new player in the game, called Zizzle. Here's the current lineup. If Zizzle goes back and does figures from Curse of the Black Pearl, and also does toys from the next sequel, At World's End, they'll have a hit on their hands. Here's series 2 of Dead Man's Chest. I'm impressed. They're doing playsets in this line, which is awesome. I've heard about the...

I picked up the newest piece from Sideshow's 12" Star Wars line yesterday. I have some gripes. Firstly, the right arm. It probably looked good on paper to do it this way, but the execution wasn't all that. The arm becomes detached above the elbow, and the brown undershirt prevents the peg from getting back in the hole easily. I trimmed the brown undershirt so it would fit around the arm, then I tucked it back and rolled down the black tunic to the guantlet. I wasn't happy about having to do that, but you can't tell by looking at it, and it looks better this way. Secondly, the lips. They look as if Anakin was raiding Padme's lipstick stash. Sideshow has mentioned that they recognize that they are a problem, and should be fixed by the time the SDCC exclusive Darth Vader comes out. (It's just this regular Anakin with yellow Sith eyes, but I put my name on the Wait List for one anyway.) Maybe they'll fix that undershirt problem too. I'll get to the good...

Wow. This will likely be Sideshow's best-selling figure ever, at least until they do Darth Vader in his armor. I like the idea of the Inclusive Edition. It pretty much means I'll have a better chance of acquiring the exclusive version, which is getting to be a sore spot when it comes to this awesome line. It goes up for preorder this Thursday, but since I have a few days in which to order, I can actually wait until I'm ready to order instead of making sure I'm at my computer at 9:59 AM hitting refresh until the preorder comes up and then just getting a Cannot Find Server page instead of cool stuff.

I'm not a big fan of statues and such in my collection, but for this, I might make an exception... It's one of the first images seen of them, so they're not up for preorder anywhere. I expect they'll cost the same as other Koto kits- $90-100. It's an impressive piece, and to locate a series of Hasbro's figures will cost me that much in gas. But I really don't want to start another series of uber-expensive Star Wars collectibles, after starting Sideshow's line last month. Koto's Slave Leia looks pretty groovy too: Kotobukiya has done a huge line of Star Wars vinyl model snap-kits for the last few years. Each kit is imported, which drives the price to about $100. But their work has to be seen to be believed. Their Darth Maul and ROTS Clone Trooper are freaking amazing works of art. And like all good art, it comes at a price. Those who own them dig them, but they aren't my cup of tea. I might break from that trend for R2 and 3PO, though.

Holy crow, I'm actually impressed with a Mattel product. The universe should be collapsing about now. I just received the second wave of these today from BBTS. Buy from them. They're awesome. This wave features all Superman characters- Supergirl, Bizarro, Doomsday, and Superman himself. The point of the DC Superheroes line is to capitalize on the high interest in superheroes right now, plus to get a line of DC characters out that can compete with Marvel Legends. Well, they don't really come close, and yet I find them better in some ways than the great ML line. I own nearly every figure that Toy Biz has made in the Marvel Legends line. I love that line, and it's easily one of the greatest toylines in geek history. But I do find the figures overarticulated, and a lot of the earlier figures had entirely too much paint wash. (This problem is very apparent on series 10's Cyclops.) The DC Superheroes don't have any of those problems. While they aren't nearly as a...

I'd show you a picture, but since this Blogger photo software sucks shit, you'll have to go without. I picked one of these up this weekend (let's hear it for tax returns and the squandering of them...) and, in short, I love it. It's shot right to the top of my single favorite Star Wars collectible. Which is hard, yet simple, to do. Most of my SW collection consists of Hasbro's action figures and other cheap knick-knacks. I decided to cut back on buying figures I didn't want so much, and to bring some higher-end stuff into my collection. I clearly can't afford prop replicas, but when I saw that Sideshow had sublicensed the 12" figure line from Hasbro, I was intrigued. I'd always wanted to collect Hasbro's sixth-scale offerings, and I have a few, but they were really cheap and sometimes, hideous. But Luke here blows everything Hasbro's ever done right out of the water. And he should, since he was three times the price of Hasbro's line. Luk...

I'll update soon, hopefully with a piece about 90s superhero toys. Mostly Batman movie toys and Spawn stuff. It's only been a month since the last update, what's a couple more weeks, right? ;)

I bought about $12 worth of 99 cent Funskool Joes through Smalljoes.com last weekend. I got them today, ad opened the ones I intended to. Buzzer's t-bar (the par that connects the legs with the o-ring) snapped at the hook, rendering the figure useless. Zarana's right arm seperated at the elbow, a common problem with Funskool Joes. I mainly bought this lot for accessories and carded figures, but that stuff just gets annoying. I have better vesions of Buzzer and Zarana from the recent comic packs, so it's not that big of a deal. It's just hard to resist Joes for less than a buck on vintage-ish cards. I did get all of Scrap-Iron's accessories, which kicks ass. I got Flint, Airtight, Zarana, Road Pig, Buzzer, Scrap-Iron, and Barbecue for my carded collection. Sweetness. If you're looking to buy old Joes, avoid Funskool's crap unless you need cheap accessories.