Freebie Friday!

This Freebie Friday I feel like showcasing a couple of freebies! First up is the Justice League Promotional Pin. It was my understanding that these were sent out by Warner Bros. to help promote the show. A salesperson here had a whole bag of these and had given them to our warehouse manager to get rid of. They were originally given out at trade shows and these were the extras. I don't know if the rest ended up on Ebay or what, but I was given one because I'm the office "comic book nerd" (and I say that with pride).

The pin is about an inch to an inch and half wide and as you can see displays the original series logo for Justice League. I would be curious if a Justice League Unlimited one was ever produced.

Second, is the Softy Superman from my employer the Toy Factory. If you remember here I featured a Softy Batman, this is the other one of the duo that was sampled.

I still do not know why for the life of me people (buyers) didn't dig the look of these. I still think that they have a vintage feel to them, I wish we could have done some more "vintage" styles in these, but our license is for the cartoon. Still, could you imagine a Hawkman or Classic Aquaman, maybe a Joker?

Enjoy.

BTAS: Batmobile

This is one of my most favorite of Batmobile designs. It just looks like this heavy, hard hitting tank of a car. You can really see where Bruce Timm and crew took their influences from the 1930's art deco and other Bat properties and rolled them into this monster.

This Batmobile represents the simple, clean style of Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) and was produced by Ertl. About three inches in length and the same basic construction as a standard Hotwheels die cast car, this is one Batmobile to be reckoned with.

What's your favorite Superhero ride? Like Hulk's Copter, the Captain America Vette, or dig Aquaman's Seahorse? Chime in with your favs.

The Secret Mission to Spy Island!

Not too long ago I left a comment on a little blog called Plaid Stallions that was featuring some great records from my childhood. One of these records was the Peter Pan Book and Record set for GI JOE: The Secret Mission to Spy Island. When I was much younger I would sit for hours listening to this record while thumbing through the pages and when I was done I would take my GI Joe on a secret mission to the island.

I don't know where to begin with these sets. Mystery, Intrigue, Exotic Locals! These were packed full of fun and adventure at every turn. Even today I do not think there are many forms of entertainment that would compare to the rich illustrations and soundtrack (that would pause at the tone letting you know it was time to turn the page) of these book and record sets, and still have the sample appeal.

Well a friend of mine, Rob at the Aquaman Shrine (if you need to know anything about Aquaman, this is the place to visit!), saw this comment and happen to have an extra copy of this book and record set, and knew that I would give it a good home. Rob, you have never been so right in your life! It will always hold a place of honor in my collection, Thanks again Rob! and Yo Joe!

Shadow Trooper

Missed the Stormtrooper of the Week yesterday? That's because he was hiding from ya!

This week's Stormtrooper is from the "Expanded Universe" or EU for short. The EU is the term used for anything that falls outside the movies in the Star Wars Universe. So for example a plain white Stormtrooper would be "In Universe" or in movie continuity, but slap on a black paint job and mention him in a few comics and BAM! Expanded Universe fodder.

The Shadow Troopers are also known as Black Hole Troopers, and belong to the organization in the Empire under the same name in charge of gathering intelligence. The Imperial Officer in charge of this unit was supposed to have a Star Destroyer and all it's accompanying ship's compliment at his disposal for secret missions against the Rebellion. He also had all his troop's armor cast in this new stealth black color to help hide their presence. These specially trained Shadow Troopers pop up in later stories under new employ, but still sporting the same spiffy black armor.

The figure itself is really just a repaint of the earlier Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Stormtrooper by Hasbro. Still a cool concept and a real easy repaint. These figures were offered though the online Star Wars Shop and came packaged with the standard issue blaster and a new snazzy chrome display stand.

ONE!

During a trip to China back in 2000 a friend and I were visiting a factory and as we were taking the usual tour of the facilities we saw a prototype of this actual toy. I say prototype because they were still in the process of fitting parts and electronics, and testing some of the features. I made a comment that I loved that show when I was a kid, but we didn't have toys like this when I was a kid. The lead engineer on the project told me they would send me a sample when they went into production and a few months later this bad boy showed up on my doorstep.



So to end Thunderbird Week on a bang and have a Freebie Friday Feature I couldn't think of a better item. This is from Carlton Toys and was released in 2000 - 2001. Standing at about 15", Thunderbird 1 is full of awesome detail for a child's plaything. Besides hosting sound F/X and phrases from the show, Thunderbird 1 has working wings and landing gear, opening canopy and cockpit side hatch, plus an opening equipment storage bay. Included with this "playset" is Thunderbird 1's pilot, Scott Tracey, his hover bike and on location Mission Control Computer (remember laptops were not exactly around at this time).


If you are or were a fan of the show you will appreciate the little detail of the pilot seat that rotates as the craft assumes it's standard flight attitude. Thunderbird 1 takes of like a rocket and once in the air it levels out to fly like a plane. Words can't describe the effort that went into this toy, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.



Could you imagine getting this as a child? Carlton also released a Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 2 playset! How cool is that?!?

TWO!

Now we're talking this is my favorite Thunderbird, Thunderbird 2. This, to me, is the backbone of International Rescue. This is another part of the Carlton toy company, 2000, Electronic Box Set, and the main reason I purchased the set. I loved the Dinky Toy version of this ship, but for some reason I only found blue ones here in the States when I was a kid. For those that don't know, in the show Thunderbird 2 was this big, green machine. So when I saw this set I had to get it to finally get a green Thunderbird 2.

Thunderbird 2 is the "Cargo Plane" of the Thunderbirds. It's main mission is to get equipment where it is needed fast. Once on the location it hovers in for a landing and these giant legs raise the craft so the pod door can drop and the equipment can roll out. Why the pod? Simple, at Thunderbird Headquarters there are a few different pods lined up on a conveyor, so when an emergency comes across the wires for say a fire, all you do is load the firefighting pod and everything is ready to go. Need to rescue miners trapped underground, you load the Mole's pod, a tunneling craft, water calls for the Thunderbird 4 pod, and so forth. Thunderbird 2 is the ultimate in organization.


Along with phrases from the show, this Thunderbird 2 comes with one pod,Thunderbird 4, and the Mole. Working landing gear and pod door finish of a pretty nice toy. This was my first experience with Carlton toys, they do make a pretty solid toy that has good amount of play value, plus it's a cool reminder of my old, long lost Dinky Toys Thunderbird 2.

THREE!

Thunderbird 3 is another of the Carlton toy company electronic boxed set. Again released in 2000, this little rocket is the Thunderbird used for space travel and rescue missions. It is also the vehicle used to supply and change out the personnel on Thunderbird 5.

I was always amazed at how easy it was to jump in Thunderbird 3, blast off without being detected, and make orbit (a secret orbit at that) all in under 5 minutes time. Ah, the miracles of Television. Thunderbird 3 was a cool enough looking craft, but really never was my favorite of the group, maybe because I always liked how Thunderbirds 1, 2, and 4 were always in the thick of things. Thunderbird 3 just seemed to just blast off and sit back at the Thunderbird 5 Space Station the rest of the episode.

Now, I'm not trying to play down anyone's role on the team, I'm well aware that they all have important roles to fill, but when you are trapped under two tons of concrete and steal you don't want to hear that Thunderbird 3 is on the way unless you're on the moon.

FOUR!

Thunderbird 4 is a part of the Carlton toy company electronic boxed set. While this vehicle does not make any sounds itself, the others in the set each play phrases from the show. This line of Thunderbirds toys are somewhat new, being released in 2000.

If you where like me, you where first introduced to the Thunderbirds through Dinky Toys, a die cast toy line that was imported to the U.S. from England. Thunderbird 2 was one of many English properties that made the rounds, and Thunderbird 4 was included with number 2. Now it would be a little while before I would actually see the show (It would air here back in the day about 5:00 AM at first, later it would move to 6:00 AM and then in the evening during a children's cartoon show), but being a kid with a pretty active imagination, I always thought Thunderbird 4 was a shuttle craft , and Thunderbird 2 was the mother ship. I was also kind of confused as to why they were not called Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 2, being they were the only two that were released then.

Well upon seeing the show I learned that thunderbird 4 was actually a submarine used by International Rescue for all it's ocean rescue missions. The craft is one of a number of vehicles carried by Thunderbird 2 into action. I guess it was the most used out of all the little crafts that it actually received the Thunderbird designation and a number.

The Dinky toy version of this craft was far less detailed, so I was happy to find that this Thunderbird 4 actually looked like it's television counterpart.

FIVE!

This is International Rescue calling... we are on our way! Thunderbird Five could be considered the the eyes and ears of International Rescue. An orbiting space station whose mission is to monitor the communications of the entire world, filtering out the most dangerous of situations and dispatching the Thunderbirds to the proper coordinates.

These Illustrations come from the Ravette Books Thunderbirds in Space title published in 1992. The cover artist is Steve Kyte, who not only gives us a cool view of Thunderbird 5, but a beauty shot of Thunderbird 3 as it passes the station. Other artists that worked on this collection of Thunderbirds stories were Fran Bellamy and Graham Bleathman. Which brings me to one of the great centerfold specification pages by Graham Bleathman that are present throughout the book.


This view of Thunderbird 5 gives us a wonderful cutaway shot of the space station complete with an item list and descriptions. Another cool bit of information is that while checking Mr. Bleathman's website out, there is a link to purchase some of his original work for this series of books, as well as some of his other work on some of the other Gerry Anderson properties.

I came upon this book when our local comic shop was clearing out it's back issue bins and had several tables on the sidewalk with all issues marked at 50 cents each. I found this title buried in with some Star Trek and other Sci-Fi titles and picked up mainly for the great illustrations.

Thunderbirds are go!

Who remembers this show? I loved the whole concept of the Thunderbirds! An organization, made up of a family of astronauts, that go around helping people. The equipment that this family amassed was simply amazing, thanks to the wonderful imagination of Gerry Anderson.

I'll be running down from Thunderbird 5, just like the start of the show some of my favorite Thunderbird Toys and Merchandise, so stay tuned for action.

Epic Force Stormtrooper

This week's Stormtrooper (SOTW: Week 15) is the Kenner (now Hasbro) Epic Force Stormtrooper. The Epic Force line could almost be considered the starting point for the Unleashed Series that Hasbro is currently running. The exception is that these figures are not posed in "extreme" action poses, they are more or less in your standard character movie poses. The Stormtrooper here is again represented in that classic shooting stance that you see through out the original trilogy and movie still photos for packaging and advertisement. The iconic Stormtrooper stance.

Standing at about six and a half inches tall this figure is a fairly good representation of the Stormtrooper. Limited in articulation, the head turns and arms are slightly re-position-able, these are mainly for display and not so much for play, which knocks the play value down quit a bit. Another knock for the kids would be that the figure is permanently attached to the base. One cool feature, wether or not it is kept in the package, is that you are able to view the figure in the round. The base includes a little gear driven turntable, by turning the small disk built into the back of the base the figure will rotate giving you a 360 degree view of the sculpt. If you decide to keep it all boxed up this feature is accessible through the packaging.

Released in 1998 and part of the Star Wars: The Power of the Force line of Toys, this trooper is joined by Boba Fett, C-3PO, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia.

Papa and Baby Surfer

I really had other plans for a Father's Day post, but seeing how I'm trying to wrap up Silver Surfer Week, I thought this might work.

The Fantastic Four Cartoon, back around 1994, brought not only a host of tie-ins, but also a number of action figures. At the time I was trying to get most of the series, and actually enjoyed hunting them down, I have since downsized my collection, but I did manage to hang onto my Silver Surfers from the cartoon. He came in the standard 5" - 6" range as well as one that stands about 12" tall.

Besides some differences in the board these are really the same figure. As custom with most toy manufactures a larger model is made to have molds cut from. The factories can then size the figure to the desired height and you have "Baby Surfer". Produce the mold at, or close to, the original models height you have "Papa Surfer".

That was simplifying it a bit. This "Papa" and "Baby" surfer both have the standard issue surf board, though it looks like baby's could have included an attachment to simulate flying on the bottom, and the both sport a pretty neat chrome finish. The articulation on these are a little bit strange, check out the swivel on the right arm, they are still a welcome sight to the ever evolving Silver Surfer action figure.

This brings us to the end of Silver Surfer week, I just tried to hit some of the high points (or low points depending on your point of view), there are many more action figures and even his own cartoon series. The future could hold more surfer in it, you never know.

Surfing With The Alien

1997 saw the release of Surfing With The Alien by electric guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Above is the CD Jacket for the album, that when taken from the case, unfolds into a scene with the Silver Surfer "emerging" from his creators hand.

Mr. Satriani seems to be a pretty big Sci-Fi fan, not to mention a fan of the Surfer of Silver. Many of his songs and albums deal with the subject which is apparent by this albums cover and title track. You know, my ultimate Silver Surfer movie sound track would include this song, here's hoping that it makes it into the movie somewhere, I'll be listening for it.

It also seems that this album is popular enough that it is getting the re-mastered and re-released treatment according to the Satch's official site. Happy Anniversary Surfing With The Alien! Rock on Satch!

Freebie Friday!

This Freebie Friday is a sort of Double Freebie. A buddy of mine at work knows I'm crazy for Super heroes, Star Wars, Batman, and the like, plus being a retired military man he still has access to on base shopping. He was strolling through the Base Exchange and came across some free comics and thought he would pick one up for me!

I really like comics like this, it's obvious that it is one of those special advertising issues, but this one is done for AFFES, the Air Force base exchanges. It is the New Avengers staring Captain America, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, our pal the Silver Surfer, and the brave men and women serving in Iraq.

The story goes that Hydra has taken control of a satellite station that controls a military satellite that happens to have a particle beam on it. Why not, right? That is the least of the problems Hydra has caused, because this satellite also carries the "low-priority communications channel" that allows the soldiers to e-mail their loved ones. Dammit, Captain America is not going to stand for this crap anymore. Hydra has to be stopped!


Turns out it's the Holidays and the Avengers are all off with their families, so Cap puts together a team that really has no ties to family and friends and can work the Holidays! New Avengers Assemble!!! Answering the call is our four heroes above. Ghost Rider goes to take out the Hydra Agents that are surrounding a U.S. relay station and help the soldiers there to get through to the satellite. When their up link fails, Ghost Rider tosses them a USB drive to download their e-mails too and he'll deliver them to another station himself. Those USB drive sure are handy.

Silver Surfer is to intercept these creatures that threaten to destroy the satellite itself. Seems Hydra set up a back up plan. This poses no problem for the Silvery Hero and he stands guard in orbit just in case. Cap and the Punisher rush to the main station to take out the rest of Hydra and re link the satellite. The task is complete just in time for the Ghost Rider to show up and give Cap the USB drive and upload all the troops e-mail. The day is saved and everyone can have a happy holiday.

Okay it's not the best of stories, but during each of the individual hero's mission they are thinking of their long lost families and what they meant to them and this fuels their desire to complete the mission. It's sort of a nice way for each of the characters to relay a brief origins story to the reader. Also it seems that each have no problems taking out the Hydra Agents that have given the Military and FBI trouble in this story, that they have time to let their mind wander.

Comics sure are fun, especially free ones!

Silver Surfer Trading Cards

In 1990 Impel introduced the Marvel Comics Trading Cards. Along with a majority of the Marvel Universe, the Silver Surfer not only had a regular card, but one of five of the bonus Hologram cards that used the same surfer art.

This set of cards was certainly a departure from the days of bubble gum and baseball rookie cards, and while it wasn't new to have cards for non sport properties, it did help create a boom in Super hero collectables.

I remember that we would hit local drug stores that carried case packs and buy a couple just to try and make a set, and even then you were lucky if you would get two or three of the holograms. I ended up with two until a class mate in my production art 101 struck up a conversation about the cards, another class mate said he was selling a set of the holograms for 20 bucks, so we decided to both chip in and split the set.

The next day came and my "buddy" failed to show for class, the seller said he would hold them for a week. The end of the week came and my partner in this venture still failed to show and being how the Spider-man card in this set was going for 20 bucks by itself I plopped down two tens and took them home. The following week the no show came to class and wanted his half of the set that he knew I would let him take home and he would bring cash the next day. I passed on that deal, so I have a full set now.

Silver Surfer NES Game

I could fill this week with all my Silver Surfer action figures, but where would the fun be in that. After a while they would all look like the same naked dude on a surfboard.

So to mix it up a bit I bring you the 1990 Arcadia Silver Surfer Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The story of this game is that Galactus has summoned his herald (The Silver Surfer) to help stop an evil plot. The Surfer must stop the assembly of a device that will rip a hole in the fabric of space and let the evil hordes of Magik come through into our realm. Why Galactus would care is beyond me, maybe he has a thing against Mephisto and the others stealing his thunder. Galactus is the devourer of worlds you know.

This is one of the few video games that I still own (the Star Wars ones are all gone, but that's another story). I have actually never finished this game and as the years went on it was stored with my computer stuff. The game manual itself shares a cover with the dust jacket of the Stan Lee and John Buscema graphic novel, The Silver Surfer - Judgement Day (see below). The manual has very little in the way of describing the levels of the game except for a title of each world you must visit as the Surfer. Reptyl, Mephisto, Skrull Emperor, Possessor, and Firelord. I know these are the actual bosses, yet they are described as the worlds. The back of the manual is a little comic book, that if I remember right is the intro to the game.

I would be interested if anyone has played this game or finished it. I might get a little adventurous one day and find the old NES and see if I still have the Power Cosmic.

Silver Surfer Week Continues!

To help kick things off I'm starting with my all time favorite Surfer figure. The 1990 Marvel Super Heroes Silver Surfer with Action Surfboard. Okay I know what you're thinking, that's the lamest Silver Surfer ever! Wrong it was the start of the Toy Biz Marvel juggernaut, and to get a character like the Silver Surfer in the first series was amazing.

Up until now Toy Biz had made DC Comics Characters, starting with the 1989 Batman Movie and continuing with a whole set of heroes and villains from Hawkman to the Riddler. While not as well executed as the Kenner Superpowers line, these were still DC Heroes and in my opinion worthy of some notice. To this day plenty of people hate these figures because of the chunky style, but this is what gives them their charm, and now looking back an almost vintage feel.

Silver Surfer was the first of the series that I saw at retail and I quickly snapped him up. Other characters in the first series would soon share his fate. The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Punisher, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Captain America, and Dr. Octopus were all part of the first series and at the time you could not ask for a better mix. What really draws me to these figures is the packaging, bright colorful, and well super hero like. Wonderful illustrations dressed the front as well as the collect them all gallery. I nice trick I might add to avoid showing actual product. Some product was featured on the back though. A Training Center as well as rides for Spidey and Cap were being released along with this first batch.

A bonus on the back of the package was a 50% coupon for your choice of a Amazing Spider- Man, Captain America, or Silver Surfer subscription. Needles to say I did take advantage of the Silver Surfer and Captain America subscriptions at the time, for a kid this was a pretty neat ideal, not only did you have the character but you could follow his adventures.

The figure itself is in a pretty stiff pose with a whopping seven points of articulation, coated in a matte silver finish. Almost like Toy Biz went down to the hardware store and bought your standard silver Krylon. The board has what can best be described as a outboard motor "hump" on the back, which hides the pull back and go mechanism, two slots for the Surfer's feet to fit into, and wheels on the bottom.

So while not the most visually pleasing representation of the Silver Surfer, he does have a great "vintage" feel and sort of a fun feature that does make sense. I guess if you really wanted him to fly you could just throw him across the room.

Rise of the Silver Surfer!

In honor of the upcoming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. I'm going to post a few Silver Surfer goodies! It goes without saying that if Batman is my favorite DC Comics character, then Silver Surfer is my top, if not favorite, Marvel character (I mean everyone loves Spider-man, that's a given).

I have been waiting for the Silver Surfer to make a screen appearance since I first saw Terminator 2, I knew right then that the technology existed to bring my favorite Marvel to life. I will admit that I wanted him to star in his own movie, but he did start out in the pages of Fantastic Four so it's only fitting.

Well since I haven't been able to locate any "new" Silver Surfer merch in my neck of the woods, and the budget is tighter, I thought I would feature some old classics. to start things off is a Kubricks Silver Surfer form the Japanese company Medicom. If you remember I have had Kubricks on the blog before, so it should be no surprise that this guy would be making an appearance sooner or later. Maybe it is a surprise, because I haven't really spoken about the Surfer of the Skies before this post. Anyway in true Kubricks form, Silver Surfer here has been shrunk and "cutiefied" along with his trusty board. Kubricks are known mainly as being a "Blind Assortment" toy. This means that in a series of say Marvel characters, you might know who is in the series, but until you open the box, you do not know who you are getting. This can also be called trading figures, the theory being that if you get two Silver Surfers you can trade one off for another character. Kind of makes it fun in my opinion.

One thing that I like about this figure is the foot peg on the board, it really makes "flying" him around the studio easier, keeps him from falling off. Come on I know all three of my readers at one point or the other has pretended his Batman could swing in from the tops of buildings, Aquaman is out swimming a school of barracuda, or even his Marvel Legends are waging battles all over the place. No? Oh well I guess I'm the only one that plays with his toys.

SOTW: Week 14

Here he is, the last of the Unleashed four pack from Hasbro. If you've been following the SOTW (Stormtrooper Of The Week) for the past four weeks you'll be glad to know that all your patience has come to an end with this guy.

This Stormtrooper is probably the best of the bunch. Striking a battle pose, laying down fire, while treading over the helmet of a fallen enemy of the Empire. This is the "Stormtrooper Poster Boy"! This pose is actually similar to most of the Stormtrooper sculpted pieces and probably could be considered the iconic Stormtrooper pose. It really reminds me of one of my favorite shots of the Stormtroopers shooting at Luke and Leia as they prepare to swing out over the chasm in the Death Star.

Along with this final installment of the Unleashed Stormtrooper Battle Pack I'm posting a photo of the full set in the package, which has a rather nice Photo Illustration of a trooper opening fire on the viewer.

Wind-Up Spider-Man

A few weeks prior to the great flood of 2007, I was waiting for my car to get serviced at the dealer and I walked over to a nearby Big Lots. As I usually do, I wandered up and down the toy aisles just looking around. Now I'm not sure how everyone else's Big Lots are organized, but in Texas it's sort of like a big Flea Market, so you have to look down almost every aisle because stuff is jammed in there with no thought of organization.

That trip yielded several little goodies to add to the collection, one being this crazy little Spider-Man wind up. I'm pretty sure I can speak for most of the older collectors out there when I say that it's the off the wall stuff that is really the coolest. I happen to also believe that sometimes it's the simplest of toys that are the best, wind-ups being near the top of the list.

This wind up is no exception to that rule, give him a wind and Spidey "crawls" into action! Look out for big headed, crawling Spider-Man!

Tiny Bat Toys!

Here's a quick little post. Another from the 1989 Batman franchise. These are from the three piece set of Batman Movie toys produced by Ertl for the 1989 Batman movie. Featuring the movie Batplane, Batmobile, and Joker Van. I had picked these up at the same time as my Ertl Batmobile, but what I always thought was cool was the size of all of these. Each could fit on a quarter!

Firestorm, from yesterday's post, has agreed to lend a hand and demonstrate the size by standing in to give scale. Firestorm again is about 3 3/4 inches in height. These could be toys for toys!



These are really inexpensive, even today you can find these for less than a buck, but a buck well spent for a set of fun, pocket sized, Batman goodness!

Kenner's Superpowers Firestorm

I'm not sure what it is about this costume or character that I like, but I always thought this was a cool figure. this represents one of the few Kenner Superpowers figures that I own (The other two being Batman and Robin). I never really considered myself a Superpowers collector, but I truly love this line of toys. I am always on the look out for a decent Joker, Flash, and Aquaman.

Firestorm here, while not one of my most favorite of heroes, does hold a special place in my collection. Not only because of the cool costume but because he was one of the first action figures I purchased open from a comic shop, purchased open from anywhere really at the time. This was way before Ebay was all the rage, maybe even before toy collecting became so big.

I would frequent a group of comic shops one of them being an up and coming shop called Heroes and Fantasies. Heroes and Fantasies is now a chain of shops in the city, and has kind of lost it's way since it's inception in my opinion. Anyway, I had seen this figure on a few of my trips there and after about a month of thinking about it, I purchased him for eight bucks. At the time I thought that was a little pricey, now just a drop in the bucket.

Firestorm is from a time when action figures really meant action. Each of the Superpowers toys had a great built in action feature, Firestorm's is a punching action. Along with the action features, this line also had comic and cartoon tie-ins and featured some of the greatest mix of DC Superheroes and Villains to date. Standing at about 3 3/4 inches tall this is one of the best lines as far as hiding the mechanisms in such a compact and well executed form. To me these figures still stand the test of time as far as look and playability, even compared to all the super articulation of today. This line is by far a shining example of the right amount of articulation, gimmick, character mix, and marketing can produce.

One of the first toy guides to surface on line was created by Jason Geyer and features an amazing look into the different series of figures, playsets, vehicles, and behind the scenes prototypes. I recommend checking this site out if you have the time, as it is one of the few that is the most comprehensive in it's field on the subject of Superpowers.

SOTW: Week 13

"They came this way... two droids, one protocol the other astromech, and a princess with cinnamon bun hair... the trail is still warm"

Doesn't this guy look like a tracker? This is the third Stormtrooper in the Unleashed pack (Not to worry there's only one more left). This guy looks like he's on point and has either dodged a blaster bolt or is following a trail of droid parts. this pose probably would have made more sense in the Sandtrooper pack than a space ship battle scene. You know the trooper I'm talking about, the only one looking at the ground for evidence and then stands up quickly into frame and exclaims "look sir, droids!" holding what looks like a little metal ring.

Even still, you have to have the kneeling soldier in the little green army man pack, The one that could hide behind sandbags and pick off the enemy. That is this Stormtrooper, he knows he can't shoot that well and he's wearing a bright white target so he's crouched down so he may have a better chance to survive another one of Darth Vader's crazy schemes. Now what would have been really cool is if they did the pose of the one holding the pistol waving everyone else into battle. These guys were always the commanders and if you had two of them they were always fighting each other for command. At least in my army they were.

Freebie Friday!

Todays Freebie Friday is another from the Hall of Justice!

This one was a pleasant surprise as I had just finished setting up the companies business cards, everyone was digging them, and apparently my boss was cleaning out his office. This was left in my mail box at work one morning and it was up to me to track down the generous person to thank.

Well I finally found my way to the head cheese's office and he was cleaning out his office and said he found this card holder from a meeting with Warner Bros. and thought I would dig it. He was right I have it proudly displayed on my desk always full of cards, ready for action!

This card holder is from the Justice League cartoon when it was still called "Justice League" and not the revamped title "Justice League Unlimited", you know I don't think I have any of either on DVD yet, I'm falling behind. I did finish the Superman Series, had to get the Green Lantern and Aquaman Stories, Batman Beyond...check, No JL or JLU... huh, I better get busy.

Anyway I always wondered if there was a pen set or stapler that matched this.

Well until next Friday, enjoy.