Blue Falcon!

Another Saturday Morning staple for me, Blue Falcon and Dynomutt! This show, corny as it was, had a Batman like hero, a cool ride (sort of reminded me of a landspeeder with a beak), and a side kick that wasn't some awkward teenager. I always wondered why this show didn't get released as a DVD set, maybe it has and I'm just not aware. The star of this show to me was this guy.



I thought Dynomutt was pretty cool. Okay he wasn't all that bright, but he was prepared for almost any situation. Plus he was a robot. I have a thing for robots apparently. A few years back there was an episode of Dextor's Lab that featured a re-imagined Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and Dynomutt 2.0. That would have been a perfect spring board to launch a new cartoon.



Toynami produced these figures in a box set, along with other classics Birdman, Herculoids, and Thundar, plus several anime licenses. These figures are really solid and fairly sturdy, along the lines of the Playmates Toys figures. They can still be found at online retailers trying to clear out old stock and E-bay of course. Blue Falcon seems to be the same scale as Toycom's Space Ghost figure, and the molds are really similar. I always thought about going back for Birdman, but alas I am not that big of a Birdman fan, plus the new cartoon doesn't help much, what were those people thinking?

Just a Test

Beamed up from my phone! A little blurry, needs some work. But nice to know I can snap a shot and get it on the web immediately!

Look out world!

Mini Cylon, By Your Command!

Isn't that first image great, if I do say so myself! I got to playing with the Macro feature on the camera we have at the office. I thought this would be a cool test. So here we have the latest in Ebay conquests, okay I know what I said about limiting the purchases for the collection, but in my defense I've had my eye on one of these for a long time, and it's a great mini figure.



It's a Minimate from the folks at Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum, and I think it's one of the most successful Minimates around. What makes it so successful? The detail in the head. Instead of the standard cylinder head with sculpted hair, this guy gets a sculpted head. I say head because were the original Cylons not robots? I mean I knew as a kid that they were people in suits, playing robots, unlike that golden guy on Star Wars... which late I found out was not a real robot and was an actor... then to find out that the small one was both a remote control and a little person actor, damn was my dream crushed. If you asked me then I thought by now I would have a pair of those droids. But back to the Cylon here. This guy is tiny, and I've placed him next to a ruler so you get an idea. Now this guy was produced in 2006-2007 as a limited edition run of classic Battlestar Galactica Minimates to celebrate the new show. They have newer characters now, plus the classic will make an appearance in a box set later this year with some other of shows baddies.





This preview set came sort of blind boxed, but with a window so you could see who you were getting, sort of spoils the fun, but good for me so I didn't have to go through an army to get the one I wanted. See, I never was much of a fan of the commander cylons, the gold didn't do it for me. and the ones with the blast marks look silly to me. The stealth one though looks pretty cool, but the show didn't have stealth Cylons, please. Basic silver is the ones I thought were cool. I do think they made a limited number of these in chrome, but I haven't found one, could be a myth.



When I got this guy the other day I thought, sitting there holding the little Cylon in the palm of my hand, this is what the figure in the ship I had as a kid should have looked like. That would have been sweet. At one time these classic Battlestar Minimates were to have little SD versions of their ships, kind of a cross between the Lego knock offs that Art Asylum did and the Minimate Speed Racer Cars of not too long ago. I'm just happy with this guy though. It will be interesting to see the good guys and bad guys box sets that come out, maybe a chance to have a Daggit again!

One other thing I thought of was I remember back in the day when Battlestar Galactica first aired, everyone talked about how George Lucas had a law suit against the producers for copying the Stormtroopers. I never was sure if this was true or not, I was too young and didn't care. But if you think about it now, robots that say "By your command" and robots that say "Roger, Roger" seems awful similar. I wonder where he got the idea?

Trek Train keeps rollin'!

That's what I'm calling these new, reproduction action figures from EMCE, my Trek Train. I'm really digging these figures more and more since I started collecting them. Of course they are reproductions of the classic Mego's, but now I'm not afraid to touch them. Not that I've had any problems with my few classic, but man oh man would I hate to break them.



So I'm a little out of order, seeing how series one was Kirk vs. Klingon and series two was Spock vs. the Andorian, so I'm jumping ahead to McCoy vs. the Romulan. Not much of a fight though, this Romulan figure is awesome, simply awesome I tells you! When I was a kid I had a few Trek figures from Mego, and was more than likely unaware, or simply wasn't interested in the bad guys to get the Romulan. When I got older and learned a little more about the Megos of my youth, I sought out the aliens of the line. The Klingon always seemed more obtainable than the rest, I never even thought about owning a Romulan. Then that little company that could, EMCE, came along and I'm popping open a fresh, brand spanking new Romulan out of a package. Also as a bonus, A RED TRICORDER! A big deal because these didn't come with the originals, or were even made in that color as far as I know. My son took one look at this figure and said how lame it was that they recycled the starfleet weapons from the other figures, I had to snatch the Romulan away and said that's how we rolled back in the day, Blue meant good, red was evil dammit! That's how we liked it. Okay maybe not how we liked it, but looking back today I think it was awesome to color them different, those magnificently cheap bastards of the toy industry ( I say this in jest, being a member)! I remember a friend having the Klingon, or having seen one, and we would have discussion after discussion about the red versus blue phasers. Today, I enjoy when they paint the weapons in the proper colors, but when ever I see a blue phaser it takes me back.



The likeness is somewhat reminiscent of Mark Lenard the actor who portrayed the Romulan Commander in the Original Series episode Balance of Terror, as well as Spock's father Sarek in several of the original episodes and movies. Lenard also seemed to play a Klingon in the Motion Picture according to the Startrek.com article. Though the Romulan Commander didn't wear the head gear, I think Lenard having portrayed TV's first appearance of a Romulan, would be a logical choice. If I'm not mistaken the Sub Commander in that episode also played a Vulcan that was to challenge Spock in the episode Amok Time for the hand of T'Pring. Also the helmets were recycled in that episode, painted silver with some extra stuff, but they are the same style. Not a surprise as the Vulcans and Romulans are related as everyone knows. I know, I know, Geek Alert! Geek Alert!



So now I'll need to shoot pics of the others in the series, the Andorian is pretty cool as well, but I had to get the Romulan up on the ole' blog first, plus it was fun shooting the pictures on this one, so much shinny stuff! EMCE has Scotty and the Keeper up next, followed by Uhura and the Magato, and the newbies Khan, Chekov, Cheron, Sulu, and a series accurate Gorn (though I would have dug the Mego version as well). There's even a rumor that a bridge playset might be made. It's going to be a great year for Trek!

Bounty Hunter: Burger King Squirting Boba Fett!

What else can I say about this? Rendered in the super deformed style popular in Japan, just fill this Boba Fett with liquid (of your choice) and get to squirting. Originally released back in 2005 as a kids meal premium, it wasn't till my bud, Bill found him and Yoda at a garage sale that I came across this figure. I gotta say this is the type of stuff I really like, it's goofy, has an action feature, and it was free!

You know when you collect certain characters, your bound to accumulate a lot of similar stuff, like action figures, so coming across stuff like this keeps it interesting.

Codename: Snow Job

I picked this GI JOE up a few weeks ago, mainly because he looked cool, kind of reminded me of a 3 3/4" version of the old Adventure Team Joes, but also because he has a lot of cool equipment. I never did get Snow Job when I was younger, okay when I was collecting 3 3/4" Joes back in college. Not that I didn't like the character, just never ran across him at retail. I saw this guy hanging in the Magic Grocery Store toy aisle, so I thought what the hell.

This guy really does remind me of the old bearded Adventure Team, so much that I think it would be pretty cool if they did a smaller version in this scale of said team. Could you imagine Adventure Team Head quarters and all the cool vehicles. Oh man, the Sea Wolf would be awesome! Or the bright yellow six wheeler, always wanted one of those. That was just the coolest vehicle. So Hasbro if you are listening, gets to making some 3 3/4" Adventure Team goodness, plus drop in some Kung Fu grip for good measure!



One little side note, when you take the Hood and Ski mask off, not so much Adventure Team, more Will Ferrel. More cow bell!



G.I. JOE: 3
COBRA: 2

DC Universe Classics: Orion

Some more pre holiday swag! Orion from Mattel's DC Universe Classics line. I was looking for the Batman from this line of figures, as well as this one, when I stumbled upon Orion and the Demon in a Target. It was a few days before Christmas and we were finishing up some shopping, the toy aisle was bare and the two figures were laying on the shelf. I picked up just Orion on this trip, but I will say the the Demon looked great too. I think this line has a lot of great looking figures, plus it's the first build a figure from Mattel, similar to what Marvel Legends have done in the past (both Toy Biz and Hasbro), but man what a build a figure to start with, the Element Man! It is the one time I really wanted to complete a set to build this figure.

So to break down the other figures are Batman ( a really cool looking Neal Adams version), the Demon, Orion, Red Tornado, and the Penguin. All the figures come with a build a figure piece to complete Rex Mason the Element Man. Raving Toy Maniac (RTM) has done a really neat article detailing all the figures in this first series, check it out here! Series two is to include Aquaman, Black Manta, and the the build a figure is Grodd!

This is one line I might make an exception for on my resolution, maybe just to get a few of my favorite characters...

Something Interesting I heard

I heard a bit on NPR this morning during my drive to work and immediately caught myself thinking this can't possibly be, but the more I thought about it...

Seems that back during the airing of the first Mickey Mouse Club show, Mattel had aired a first in toy commercials (the burb gun, I believe) by airing a commercial for a toy during a non standard time. Imagine toy commercials during children's programming and not Christmas time, why the nerve. Anyway the first thing that popped into my mind was " I thought the first commercial was for Barbie or Mr. Potato Head???" Well they were talking about the commercial being aired during the show. This event was said to herald the time of defining children's play. From this time on children would use less and less of their imagination as toy company's defined play time and play patterns.

Okay I'm in traffic thinking that can't be I remember taking Mego Spock on many unscripted adventures, or putting on the Batbelt to fight all sorts of imagined crime in Gotham City, and... Holy Crap! They were right! I can't remember a moment that I wasn't given some sort of "prop" to act out my adventures! Granted I played with sticks and rocks when I was a kid, but a majority of my play centered around toys, which I'm betting many others of you had the same. The only thing that I could find comforting was that today's kids were threatened by this even more so. Bonus for us, not so good for them.

This news report has peeked my curiosity to look more into this.

The Batman: Green Lantern

You know I read several forums on toy collecting, and I've noticed several things on the various boards that I find sort of disturbing about the hobby. One is the level of complaints about detail in certain lines. I'm not sure if most of you remember, but the toys I played with when I was a child would be laughed at by today's standards. I mean really do you think the public would buy the vintage Star Wars figures compared to the hyper detail you get today. Still people complain about things like re use of a standard sculpt, or number of paint applications, level of articulation, etc. Have we lost sight that these are toys? I'm all for more detail, but I also realize that the companies that make these things are trying to make money, that's why they are in business. So who cares if they use the Batman body and changed some items to make the Flash or the Green Lantern pictured here! Isn't it cool enough that the made a Green Lantern in this line?

With all that said, here's the Green Lantern from the latest Batman cartoon, the Batman. I think this is a pretty solid line of toys that could stand up to some play or display. Sure the figures are not always in scale, or are re cycled with new paint, but I think they do a fairly good job at capturing the style of the show. Besides it's Hal Jordan, so I won't ever get the special Holiday version from the JLU line, but I did get this one and that's good enough for me.

Bounty Hunter: Titanium Series Die Cast Boba Fett

One of these days I'm going to open this bad boy up just to see what Boba Fett looks like! Okay, okay I already know what he looks like, a freaking clone! So what's the big deal. Well for a while (a while being 2007) this was the first version of Boba Fett that you could take off his helmet and see the little visage of the bad boy clone himself. You would think that with all the clones with removable helmets that this would have been a no brainer action figure back in 2006. Why did it take Hasbro so long to release a figure of Boba Fett with a removable helmet? Some one there must have gotten the clue because joining this little hatless wonder will be an evolutions set with a little Boba Fett that can take a breather from that awesome little helmet. For those not in the know, and evolutions set is a set of three or so figures following the evolution of a character or theme in the Star Wars universe. An example would be Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. So you would get a set with good Ani, bad Ani, and finally burned Ani (Darth Vader).

The Fett Set (I like how that sounds) will have a Mandalorian, Jango, and baby Boba. I've gone on record before as to my distaste for little clones that you can remove the helmets to see the same little dude staring back at you, but I've moved beyond and embraced the notion of yet another version of Boba floating around for all those Fett Fanatics (I like the sound of that as well), including myself.

Back to this Fett, this guy comes in two versions a painted version with all the official colors of the Fett man, plus this version billed as the "vintage die cast look" or as I like to call it "I bet we can sell these things without paint and still make money look!". Well it worked because I ended up with one in my collection. Now I didn't set out to get this guy right away, matter of fact I ended up getting this one as a gift so I didn't have to buy it. I've always been of the school of thought if your doll is going to be called an action figure it should at least be possible and not glued to a stand. So I waited and waited, continually putting off a purchase from this line until one day they had dried up or had been moved to the discount bins. Ever the procrastinator I still put off buying him pending the decision to get painted or plain. I was leaning toward plain, when this guy crossed my desk, so it was a win, win.

As I said at the beginning, I'm interested in popping this guy out of the package to see how heavy he is, check out the level of detail, and take a peek under the helmet... it's just that the package is pretty cool as it is and I'm not sure I want to ruin it by breaking it open, so here I am again with this one.

It's all fun till the talking ape shows up!

Before the 2007 Holidays I resolved to cut back on toy purchases, with the exception of JLU, EMCE Star Trek, and select GI JOE or Star Wars. I can say that I've actually done pretty well. One reason would be that there is hardly any new JLU in stores, EMCE Star Trek only comes out every few months (and even then it's pre order) and GI JOE and Star Wars figures get snapped up here faster than a twenty dollar bill sitting on a sidewalk. Even having looked over the reports of upcoming toys from Toy Fair 08 I can say I'm fairly safe.

Some items that have peaked my interest from recent reports are some of the Indiana Jones Figures, some new Batman stuff including various versions of the the Dark Knight, Joker, and company, plus the news that Playmates Toys is gearing up for the upcoming Star Trek flick in 09! Besides those the original list is pretty much intact.

So before the Holidays when I was making this resolution I came across one of the last JLU purchases of the year! The Gorilla Grodd six pack! Grodd has been one of the figures I've wanted most from the JLU line. Why? He's an ape, and he's an evil ape at that! The six pack comes packed with three regulars, Superman, Batman, and the Flash, plus Lex Luthor, a Red Hood version of the Joker, and the main ape himself! My favorite things about this Gorilla is his size and the look on his face. Articulation is a whopping seven points which is average for most JLU, but who cares when you get a massive hunk of plastic like Grodd! Things that bum me out about this set, besides the repacks. One, I've only found one to date (sorry Rob) so the distribution isn't good, two the paint can be sloppy at times, and Grodd scratches easily, and that's pretty much it.

I've also heard that JLU is going to be limited to Targets only going forward, that explains why the Grocery Store has dried up on these guys, meaning A) these will be really easy to find, because Target will order a whole bunch of JLU stuff, or B) the line is getting ready to tank, and whatever you find out there will be lucky at best. Oh well I have to go help the Flash since Sups and Bats are busy with their own villains.

That's a wrap!

What better way to wrap up a week of Aquaman posts than with one of my most favorite incarnations of the character! That's right, straight from Saturday Mornings of years past the Super Friends!

DC Direct put out this awesome set of Aquaman and his nemesis Black Manta a few years back, along with Batman vs. Scarecrow, Robin vs. Riddler, Superman vs. Lex Luthor, Green Lantern vs. Sinestro, and Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah! Man what a concept, a hero and a villain to fight. I was given the Robin set for Christmas a while back and I had to have Batman, but then on sale at the same time was Aquaman. It was like getting two for one. I've never seen the others at a decent price or I would have had the whole Saturday morning line up on my self!

Watching these cartoons today, they seem really bad, and not bad meaning good. But, thinking back to Saturday morning, with a bowl of lucky charms and my favorite blanket, these cartoons are golden. Why don't they have Saturday morning cartoons anymore, they seemed more special when you had to wait, now it's 24/7. I'm not complaining though.



Looking at this figure I think of all the times Aquaman was underused on that show, I was always excited to see him get to do more than agree with Superman. Plus I think of the sound his telepathic power made when he used it to command the sea life! Nanananananan Nananananana, how many times did you try that when you were a kid while you were swimming? Even though it always ended up with water being suddenly shot up my nose I kept trying to see if I could make a sea horse swim my way for a ride.

Well that's it for my Aquaman tribute and my first year! The collection is rather small, but priceless non the less. Besides, I have my eye on those Minimates, and eventually the right Mego or Superpowers Aquaman will pop up. So the collection could grow, nothing for Rob to worry about. Aqain thanks to the Shrine and it's keeper for not being to harsh on my knowledge of Aquaman, here's to another year and more found memories!

DC Super Giant Aquaman!

I'm not one for writing reviews, so instead I would like to talk about the cover and how I came by this comic.

A past coworker was in the process of dumping a long time boyfriend, so one day she came to work with two large paper grocery bags full of comics and said that they were up for grabs. She came to my cubical first and told me I was welcome to take them all, but wanting to be fair I decided it would be fun to diby them up among everyone that wanted them. So we met right before our lunch break in the art department common area and started going though the bags. I laid claim to some Batman, the first appearance of punisher, some kung fu titles, a few Star Wars, and this Aquaman. I also got some of the other "older" looking comics, because no one cared for them. All said and done I ended up with about half a bag full of comics, not bad.

It came up several times that many of us were feeling bad because these books had obviously been something someone had loved, but it was pointed out that the guy was a jerk and had mistreated our friend. I actually met him and he was really obnoxious. So that alone took the sting off a bit. I ended up later giving most of the comics away to kids in the neighbor hood, keeping a few including this Aquaman.

The back story out of the way, I remember what it was about this cover that "spoke to me" besides looking vintage, it was a great representation of all that I loved about older comics with the "thrills and chills" intros to each of the stories, the way layouts were done back in the day, and of course the colors. It's obvious that this is a reprint collection of past comics, and I'll leave the who's and wheres to Rob, but man I considered this a great find among the stack of comics. Not only is it filled with some great period adventures, but the origin of Aquaman, a world without water, and the appearance of Aquagirl! Another thing I love about this comic is that it includes an illustrated table of contents with a short intro to each story.

I was actually worried that when this one came up in the stack that I would not get it because it wasn't my turn at bat. I watched as we went around the table and everyone said pass on this title, the main reason was because it was Aquaman and it looked old! What? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, oh well their loss! As soon as it hit my turn I just grabbed it, without a word. I couldn't pass this one up, it's hard to believe that when this came out, you got that much story for only 25 cents and these people were passing it up for free!

Awh, wook at wittle Aquaman!

DC Super Friends Aquaman is a welcome site, especially after ole' Hook Hand! These were just released in 2007 by Mattel, in what I think are a response to Marvel's Spider-Man and Friends and breaking into a more kid friendly market for DC Comics. I'm not sure how well this line will do, but I'm hoping it will go on for quite some time. At least long enough to get the Aqua Sub. Which now that I think about it, why does Aquaman need a Sub?

I have two reasons for getting a set of these, one I'm a fan of the cutie or super deformed style and two, one day I will have grand children (hopefully not any time soon) and what better way to get them started in the right direction than kid sized super heroes. Well till that day I'm keeping them on my drawing desk and breaking them out when my nephew comes over.

Besides, just looking at little smiling Arthur, Bruce, John, and Kal on the desk just brightens my day. Now get with it Mattel, where's Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, and Atom!

I originally posted about a set of these guys here!

Hook Hand Aquaman!

"Aye there mattes, tis' I, Pirate Aquaman!" This first figure is the perfect example of collect what you like and not what everyone else likes. Going back now, I liked the Total Justice line, at least two of the figures Green Lantern and the Flash. I thought these two were great, but I pushed on because I fell into that peer pressure thing where your buddy says something like "Get Aquaman! That's the rare one!" I kept this guy packaged for I don't know how long until I finally said screw it! I'm open em' maybe it's a better figure than what it looks like packaged. WRONG! I've never liked this look (except for the Timm verse version) I don't care for this guy at all! So that said this is one that may find itself in the garage sale bin this spring! So I should have stopped at two.

Now below, still the pirate version, but as I said it's the Timm verse style (meaning Bruce Timm's concept of the character) I'll keep this one. Hypocrite maybe, but I can't find myself parting with such a cool member of the Justice League Unlimited, especially since I'm trying to build a set!


I really wish that Timm had used the classic style like he did in the Superman Animated series, but I realize it's not always up to the creator, so ole' hook hand, mullet head, fish guy it is! A side note the first image is from when Hasbro had the line, the second is Mattel. I've seen some pre-release images of the new stuff from Mattel and classic Aquaman, plus I've heard a few things about the King of the Sea that are coming on the horizon, that's all I'm going to say for now, but fans should be happy.

Hasbro DC Super Heroes

As Toy Biz lost the license, Hasbro swooped and freshened up the Batman Movie license as well as the other DC Super Heroes. This line was a complete surprise, around that time the internet was not your main source for toy news (I know hard to believe) but you would have to wait the month for Lee's Toy Review, Tomarts, and Toy Fare to see what was coming out. Well it must have been between issues, because this line came as a total surprise to me. I was walking down the figure aisle at TRU (that's Toys R Us for the ones not in the know) checking out the usual, Star Wars, Batman, any Star Trek, etc. After I finished I would break left and head for the car aisle, not because I liked cars, but I dug the micro machine space line (that's for another time or blog perhaps). I would zig zag my way up and down aisles till I got to the car aisle, so the next aisle after action figures was models and role play.

About mid way down the model aisle, and on the role play side were a set of the 9" DC Super Heroes. A set at that time was Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. It wasn't unusual to find figures here, because this space would be reserved for closeouts and dead lines. It was weird because these were here, I figured it was because they were going to reset the action figure aisle and needed a temporary spot for them to collect dust. Much later they would be moved next to the Batman stuff on the action figure aisle, but that was later, much later.

Having been pretty close to my budget on Star Wars figures, I grabbed just the Aquaman, knowing full well that the rest would be there the next time. It was weird back then, because you could walk into a store and pretty much find anything that wasn't Star Wars or Ninja Turtles. I actually spread the set of three over several trips to the store. I had planned it pretty well. First Aquaman, the Green Lantern, and finally Green Arrow. By time I made it to Green Arrow they had finally been moved, which by now had been about three months.

So why Aquaman first? These figures immediately reminded me of the Megos when I was much younger. I had a few Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Spider-Man, and Captain America. I considered my self very lucky. A few that I had wanted Iron Man, Batman, Robin, and Aquaman had eluded me. To this day I have managed to get a fresh Mego Kirk, a Batman I refurbished a bit with the help of Dr. Mego (awesome reproduction stuff), and a couple of Jokers, oh and I still have my original Spock (another story for later). Anyway Mego Aquaman and others still no luck, not that I haven't bid on them only to be out bid, but I see that as an issue of funds. Hasbro Aquaman, was to be my answer to not getting that Mego Aquaman, the bonus a Green Lantern and Green Arrow.

This Aquaman also reminded me of the last day I saw Mego Super Heroes in a store. It was at or right before the Star Wars figures started to hit in 1979. Another warehouse type toy store called Toy City, actually this was my favorite toy store. I remember turning a corner looking for Star Wars stuff and seeing a display of Spider-man and Hulk, and even then being struck with nostalgia at that age (kind of funny a nine year old waxing nostalgia) before I broke off the hunt to head to that "new" toy store Toys R Us across the street. My parents liked Toys R Us better for some reason, I always considered it the enemy of Toy City, even as an adult I felt like I was betraying a friend going in there. So even though I was now buying Aquaman I was also a little sad because it was taking place at Toys R Us and not Toy City, which had long been closed.

1989-1990 Toy Biz Aquaman

There are so many reasons this figure is wrong so I'll just start with the positive! It's Aquaman in his classic outfit! I'm really not sure if Pirate Aquaman had made an appearance yet, so maybe that's the reason we got a classic version from Toy Biz. Few people remember that before Toy Biz became the house of Marvel action figures, they held the DC Comics license for a very short period. It all started with the 1989 Batman film when Toy Biz cranked out three barrel chested figures, Batman (which had three face variations), The Joker, and Bob the Goon (probably one of the craziest choices for a figure, but made sense at the time). So where was Toy Biz to go from there? The other villains and heroes of the DC Universe. Okay, I remember the day I found the Superman figure. There was a whole aisle jam packed full of kids and their parents, just looking for Batman to put under the Christmas tree, I already secured a set for my son, and was now looking to complete my set when right under a Bob the Goon was Superman, the only one in the store. So knowing at the time that this was something new I grabbed him so my son could have the man of steel on Christmas morning. I know, I know we're not here to talk about Superman.


It was a few months after Christmas when my son and I were making our regular trip to Toys R Us that we found Aquaman. They had just restocked after the Christmas holiday and there on the pegs was the largest selection of DC goodness I had seen in a long time. Aquaman was the first character I saw, and was actually happy to see. I had been around long enough to know that Bats and Sups usually got all the toys, so I grabbed a few of the Sea King and some of his other friends from the Hall of Justice and made like a bandit to the register. Thinking the whole time "my boy is going to have Aquaman!" Who wouldn't want their son or daughter to have a mini version of the Sea King? He's got that snappy bright costume and that trident to poke villain with. I can tell you He's pretty much the only hero he took in the bath and who regularly kicked Robin out of the Batmobile. So seeing this figure really brings back those memories of playing super heroes for hours on Saturdays, on the floor with my son.


That wasn't the end for the Toy Biz Aquaman. When my son "grew" out of his super hero stage, he cleaned house and decided to get rid of some of his toys, with his mother's help. I stopped by the room and saw Aquaman's head on the chopping block and offered to give him a home. Okay yes I had one, and probably one in the package, so I was thinking this guy would occupy my desk space at work. Aquaman went from job to job with me for many years, and it was one of my latest that caught me the most flack. Not because of it being Aquaman, but because he was a toy and he had rusted parts. that's right, from all those bath time adventures years ago. No matter how many times I tried to explain it was my sons, I got the "Sure, taking your toys in the bath again" line. It was all in good fun, and I started to see more people put toys on their desk.


This Aquaman may be chunky, have one of the strangest faces I've seen on an action figure, and a sea horse that he can't possible ride without crushing, but he does hold a lot of memories and is one of my favorite figures of the character. Talking strictly about the figure. His articulation is limited, but as always Toy Biz tried to pack in an action feature with the lever on his back that makes his legs kick for authentic swimming action and he can hold his trident rather securely. I always believed that Toy Biz got a hold of the old Kenner Super powers figures and just made a mold off parts of an actual toy, but never really was sure. Having missed the Super powers line I'll have to pick one up on E-bay sometime to compare.

The thing that is really hard to believe is that this figure is closing in on being twenty years old. I know in terms of say a Mego figure, it's still a young buck, but twenty years and still holding up. I have items I've purchased two years ago and are starting to break down, so I don't know what Toy Biz did at the time, but these figures were really made with a child in mind and made to last.

Khaaaaaaaaaan!

Okay I know, everybody is titling their article this, but really, what the hell is going on?! Man what an exciting thing to see first thing this morning!

I'm really happy to see something new in the Trek license, this is simply just amazing. How many doors will this open for other "retro cloth" figures? I never did dig that name for these EMCE's. Anyway, I'm also kinda bummed out about this seeing how I don't have a Hastings or Planet X in my area.

Click the image above to find out more info, and watch out Khan is a dangerous one!

Nerd Alert!

I cannot be the only person that thinks this...

Plus this...

Equals good idea.

I had one of these Trek bridge models as a kid, and if I remember correctly it should be about the same scale as the Minimates (maybe a little smaller). Ditch the model figures included in the set, sprinkle in a dash of Star Trek Minimates Series One and Two (for a complete bridge crew) and whoa-la! Star Trek Minimates Play-set!

As geeky as all this sounds, I'm seriously thinking about trying this, I just need to find this model on the cheap!

Photo Credit: Minimates: Diamond Select Toys, Model shot: E-bay (the one I'm watching so far)

This is what happens while I'm at work!

Nothing, absolutely nothing but lounging! Here I thought that hound dog was keeping the house safe or something!

Announcing Bounty Hunter!

Well 2007 saw the Stormtrooper of the Week feature, which I really enjoyed, so I thought what other Star Wars character(s) do I enjoy?! The answer to that is the bounty hunters, more specifically Boba Fett, not to say I won't drop some of the others up from time to time. So the name of the new feature is called just that, Bounty Hunter! Now I'm not sure if this should be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. But from time to time I'll drop a cool pic of something related either toy-wise, comic-wise, or collectable-wise on Eclectorama featuring the scum and villainy of the Star Wars Universe. Heck I might even through a hero up there every once in a while!

Now I know what some of you are thinking, Boba Fett, he's lame! To that I respond, recently yes, yes he is. Nothing hurt me more than Boba Fett appearing in the prequels as an annoying little brat, I really wasn't impressed with Jango Fett either. The key word is recently, while I'll show pics of new Fetts, it's the ideal of the ol' Boba Fett that appeals to me. See, I was a kid when the "Sneak Preview" figure was announced for Empire Strikes back. I immediately sent in my proofs of purchase and this mysterious helmeted figure arrived declaring he was a new Bounty Hunter from the upcoming Star Wars flick. I didn't even know what a bounty hunter was exactly until the Empire Strikes Back came out. I remember eagerly awaiting to see the new character on the big screen and with his gravely voice agreeing not to vaporize Han Solo upon capture I was hooked. I knew right then and there this was a bad ass. It wasn't until Jedi and the scream when he was rocketed into the Sarlaac pit that I came to the realization that he might not be the bad ass I thought he was. But, it was this initial encounter that got cemented in my brain that Boba Fett was the end all, be all bad boy of Star Wars, and that's what this feature will celebrate!

So to start off here's my very first encounter with Mr. Boba Fett, the 1978 Preview figure from my childhood, easily my most treasured toy, the one I would save in case of natural disaster, the one that I would pass down to a grand child upon my death bed, the one that if said grand child never arrived I would be buried with!





This is the one figure that looks better when he's all scratched up! Though mine is in pretty decent shape, even though he has a few paint chips here and there! I wonder if they had lead in them?

This is the one that came in the mail, I never had to go and purchase one on the card (though now I wish I had, and kept it on the card). The day he arrived he became my favorite figure. Let's face it he was crazy looking, the costume was like nothing I had seen in the film, he was an agent of the Empire and his costume was way cooler than Darth Vader. More importantly he had no back history, I could make it up as I went along. I do remember that he was supposed to have a firing back pack, but I wasn't disappointed that it didn't fire. If I remember right there was note in the package explaining the safety issue or something. That got immediately tossed out, who cares about safety when you're holding one of the Galaxies most notorious bounty hunters in your hands. This little guy stole Rebel X-wings, hunted down Chewy, and on occasion would give Vader a bitch slap with his slapping hand. There was nothing that this dude couldn't do, until Jedi that is.

Back in Action!

That's right baby! Playmates Toys is going to make Star Trek figures again! A least for the next movie! Here's a quote from an article at action-figure.com.

"Well I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Playmates does indeed have the license."

The writer goes on to mention the uniforms and scales of the lines, that's right lines that Playmates has coming for the new movie. Plus an interesting little bit about a bridge and transporter play-set. I know it's based on the movie, but this might be the closest classic Trek bridge play set we'll see since the Mego one of the 70's!

This coupled with the news that Diamond Select Toys and that ever awesome little upstart EMCE toys can still keep churning out their fine product based on all the previous Trek series means I might get to see some more of those Mego Reproduction figures in the future, which I'm going to start off right now by calling them EMCE Trek!

Lastly this little jewel that I saw over at Raving Toy Maniac about Corgi extending their Trek license, man can I hope that Ertl (or whoever owns AMT now) starts to reissue this model kit from my childhood...



Dare I dream!


P.S. Sorry for the delay in posts, they might be a little choppy for a few weeks, but I'm still out there! So to my few readers again I apologize for my absence.