Reproduction Adventurer

While we are talking about Joes. I thought I would drop a shot of a Hot Topic Reproduction GI JOE, Land Adventurer up on the blog! These were released a few years back (and re released a year back at Walmart) and when I found out I made a special trip to the land of emo and goth to score this GI JOE.



Okay I don't know all the little things that make this guy different from the original, but I can tell you his Kung Fu grip has thinner fingers than I remember, he seems lighter, meaning the plastic is not as heavy, and his hair seems a little fuzzier! Other than that he seems like the same old Joe of day long ago. Oh I forgot didn't the Land Adventurer come with a rifle? Or was that the Air Adventurer? Oh well, who's keeping track.



Still I think he's a great looking figure and he was only about 10 bucks (more than the Joes back in the day, but still not that expensive). He reminds me of when I went with my dad to the auto parts store, I think the store was called Whites Auto Parts, and in their small toy department they had a knock off jeep that was scaled for the 12" Joes, needless to say it came home. Man I loved that jeep, so much that it went on every adventure till it couldn't go no more. The thing was actually in scale better than some of the official vehicles. Good times, well I dug this Reproduction Joe so much I made a trip or two to Walmart (yeck!) to pick up a few buddies for him. I'm hoping once we get everything settled to be able to put together an "Eclectorama" display in the studio / office again. So expect to see some pics!

Cobra Reinforcements!

I picked up a few Cobras to help fight the growing ranks of Joes, thing is one came in a two pack with a Joe, so that kinda negates that Cobra's presence.



So first off I thought I would finally bite the bullet and pick up that peg warmer Dreadnok Buzzer. What the hell I needed him for the collection, and I was reducing the surplus by one. I have to say, he looks a lot better in the package than out. The figure I purchased seems a little more softer than the other figures from the line. He keeps losing his hands and the back pack doesn't seem to stay put, the hole on the back is too large or the peg on the pack is too small, you decide. The one cool thing though is he has a pretty kick ass chainsaw! Choppy, choppy Joe!




Next up is "Little Red Riding Hood" Stormshadow. My what a big compound bow with laser sites and eavesdropping equipment you have. All the better to shoot at Joes my dear! Really this Storm shadow is based on the previous release, except instead of a traditional bow, he sports this super duper spy bow. Stormy comes packed with a Snake eyes (like always), this version is battle damaged, and I have to say is becoming one of my favorite versions of the character. One thing I do not get is Snake eyes has a pouch that carries the Cobra insignia on it. I figured the comic book included would shed some light on the accessory, but no such luck. I know Snakes and Stormy are from the same ninja clan, was Snake eyes a Cobra at one time? I always thought he was a Joe. Or maybe it's some secret Cobra intel that he has taken. I'm sure it's explained somewhere, if you know, drop me a comment. Cause you know what they say about knowing...




Until then Yo Joe!

G.I. JOE: 7
COBRA: 5

Attack of the Mugatu!

Okay I'm watching a rerun of that classic Star Trek episode, A Private Little War, and I thought "huh, the Mugatu is a lot cooler than I remember him to be, I wonder if I can find one?" Well no sooner than the episode is over I did a search on the Bay and it's full of Mugatus! Big surprise, no one seems to be collecting the Star Trek toys anymore. I found one that was rather inexpensive and had cheap shipping and placed a bid. A few days latter this little magnificent bastard shows up on my door ready for all sorts of adventures! What else can I say it's a freaking space ape, with a giant horn for a head. The deal breaker for me was that he had the spines and tail on his back, I always thought the figure was flatter than it really was.



Well I set him free to roam the collection, you just have to remember to stay away from his poisonous fangs. I think the thing that cracks me up is that Playmates Toys always tried to pack some accessories with their figures, and this creature who didn't even use props in the show, came with all sorts of stuff. He has a little base that doesn't really hold him, a flint lock riffle, a drum used by the hill people, the root that can be used to remedy the poison from his bite (might be useful), and a type two phaser that is totally out of scale with any of the figures. He can hold it though, and that makes him much more dangerous Poisonous and armed!

HULK GET MAD!!!

Ha, like this wittle guy could possibly get that angry. I said it before, but it bears repeating, Hulk has not always been my favorite Marvel Hero, but I just love the expression on this Hulk's face!

This little, raging fiend is from Hasbro's Mighty Muggs, Marvel line. Series one to be exact. Mighty Muggs is Hasbro's attempt at mass producing artist designer toys. Though these guys are not vinyl, more of a hard injection molded plastic, they do have that designer toy look. Standard Body shapes with different paint applications, cool packaging, and a collect them all sort of vibe all add to the designer feel. The thing about the mass produced designer toy is the price is much lower than the artist produced ones, makes sense. So at about 10 bucks you can have the look and somewhat the feel of a funky designer type toy. hasbro started making these with Star Wars, I'm hit or miss on these. Some look really cool, some look horrible. It's weird the characters I like the least, to me, have the greatest expressions on their faces. That is what makes the toy in my opinion, since they lack much articulation and playability.



Hulk here is not one of the hardest ones to find, that honor goes to Iron Man for some reason. I've seen one Iron Man, but the price was marked up double what it goes for in other stores, so I passed. This might have been a mistake, but I didn't feel like paying that much for a Mugg at the time. Besides Hulk a few I've been considering from the Marvel line is Iron Man, Captain America (his chin kills me on the Mugg), the Thing (Ben Grimm in the Hizouse!), and Thor, who looks kinda cool as a Mugg. Spidey also makes an interesting Mugg as well, he might find his way into the collection, thought I'm not sure if I should go classic red and blue or wait for the black costume. Hasbro has pretty much taken the Star Wars Muggs into all sorts of directions already, plus they are launching and Indiana Jones line later this year, but I have to tell you I was more excited to see these Marvel characters pop up all of a suden. SDCC will also be bringing some exclusives from each of the Mighty Muggs lines (nothing I can't live without, but cool non the less), and I'm betting Transformers and GI JOE are not far behind.

A side note, the package says these things are made from 100% recycled awesome! Does that mean it's made from recycled toys of the past that were so cool that they didn't sell so they had to grind them down and make Mighty Muggs?

Charles and Ray Eames Stamps

So I come home last Friday and my wife surprises me with a set of stamps, but not just any set, a set of Charles and Ray Eames! I didn't even know they were getting a stamp set, super sweet!

I would have considered Charles and Ray Eames an industrial design team, but they also did paintings, sculpture, film, furniture, architecture, and graphic design. Some really amazing stuff. You know what I dig about these commemorative stamp sets is on the back there are little blurbs about the image on the front, not that you couldn't learn about this stuff in a book about the Eames, but it gives the masses a little history about design!

My wife has listened to me talk over and over about wanting to get an Eames Lounge and Ottoman, so she spied these at work and purchased me a sheet for the office. Thing is she new these were coming out for months and kept quite, she knew if I found out these were coming she would have to hear me go on an on about the stamps as well.

So cool, she does listen to all the stupid stuff I talk about, well the non toy stuff anyway...

The Animated Vulture

A few more pages from the Spider-Man Animated Series Style Guide. I have yet to watch an episode of the new Spectacular Spider-Man, but back in the 90's I tried to catch all the Spider-Man Animated Series. One of the villains that I thought had a cool character design was the revision of the Vulture. I thought the much younger looked worked for the cartoon, plus the addition of the higher tech costume.



These type of pages always appealed to me, not only because the gave all the color references, but some pretty cool action shots and situations so you could get a feel for the character.



I remember being pretty excited that the toy line was coming out, I had an image of the prototypes burned into my head thanks to Toy Fare, Tomart's, and Lee's magazines. I had planned on getting the series, but as usual budgets and lack luster actual production, plus the fact that I was trying to collect other lines at the time always squashed those plans.

Still, I find the Vulture figure from the line pretty cool (peeped here at Marveltoys.net, one of the best resources around for older Marvel toys) and since I missed it the first time around I could make a trip to the bay to see what bargains are to be found! Who needs a nice cushy retirement right? Hell I could do as the Vulture when I get old and fly around busting up superheroes!

Shout Out to Dusty Abell

This past weekend I got a little surprise, a new reader! When I started this blog it was mainly so I could play around taking pictures and try to put some thoughts down. I really never thought anyone would read it. More just for fun, but it's cool that I have started to see more and more comments, really cool to find out that illustrators and designers share the same passion for toys, Saturday morning cartoons, B movies, and I could go on and on. Plus make some friends!

So I thought it was pretty sweet that an illustrator that I have seen before and am a fan of his stuff, dropped me a nice note in the comments of a recent post with some links to his work that he thought I would enjoy. Too late I've seen your stuff Dusty, it's great! I thought I was the only one that remembered Ark II!

So click here or the pic of Joe at the top of this post to check out his work! Oh and don't forget to check out Bounty Hunter below!

Bounty Hunter: SD Boba Fett

Here we have the Medicom Toys Super Deformed (SD) Empire Strikes Back Boba Fett. Besides liking Boba Fett, I picked this up because it reminds me of a drawing I did years before for Star Wars Kids Magazine of Fett for a feature called Boba Fett's Bounty Hunt.



It was actually a drawing in my portfolio of the Fett-Man that got me the gig at Star Wars Kids back in 1999, that all the following Boba Fett Drawings I did were based on. Everyone that has seen the magazine and then visits the studio says the same thing. "Did you design that toy?" Nope, but I have to believe somewhere, someone had seen the drawings I did and it gave them the inspiration. Or it could be a coincidence, who knows? Still it's a fun little toy to have around. Medicom actually did the Return of the Jedi version as well, but that's the one that screams like a baby as he falls into the Sarlaac Pit and I'll have no part of that.

Well while I dig up the original files, here's a couple of shots of some framed issues I have hanging in my office to compare (camera phone, guerilla style!).

LEGO my Batman!

Okay so my boss went to the licensing show last week and to rub it in he sends me this from his mobile phone.

They say next year it's my turn, I hope there's some cool Superhero stuff when I get to go. Not to sound bitter though, but I've seen these LEGO things before, so that's all I'm saying...

DOOOOOOM!

For no other reason than a "Where are they now?" post and an opportunity to shoot a macro of this guys mug. The Hasbro Marvel Legends Dr. Doom. This has to be one of the best likenesses of the character I have seen in a long time. I, unlike most, really like that Hasbro didn't do a lot of black paint washes on these figures, kinda keeps them clean and comic book like in my opinion. By the way Doom and Cobra Commander can make the best fist shaking/evil gesture going for a toy. Go Hasbro!



Doom and the Invisible Woman were originally purchased when the line first came out, with hopes that I would get around to picking up the whole line. this has to be the first time I started by picking up a villain and the Invisible Woman, and not starting with the Thing. Well to date these are the only two I had picked up. For some reason Namor is not available any were, and I will be left to HasbroToyShop.com or Ebay to complete the team. I'm just waiting for them to go on sale at Hasbro...

Well, I guess Doom can wreck havoc with some other Super Heroes till that time... Look out Wonder Woman!

Spock Casa!

I really dig these old G4 commercials, sorta a Robot Chicken feel to them. They look like they were put together with parts from the old Playmates Toys 9 inch figures. If only the Playmates versions had that amount of articulation in the arms.

Anyway I was feelin' sorta Trekkie this afternoon so I thought I would through these up. Besides Spock supports the arts baby!

enjoy...

BTAS Batmobile 2008

I've been following various forums and blogs that have been featuring the new Hotwheels Batman 1/64th scale line for a few weeks. I have personally seen most of the vehicles in the line at the store, save the Tumbler (the movie Batmobile) and the Comic Version of the Dark Knight's car. I have to date only picked up the 1960's Television Show's Batcycle and this one. Probably the one I was most excited to see since Batman the Animated Series (BTAS) hasn't really had product since the cartoon aired in the 90's.



I for one am glad to see the Animated Series represented. A lot of people think this car is a brick, but I really appreciate the design on this one. It's a sort of hybrid of the older movie designs and the "retro future" design of the Animated Series.

Here's the Batmobile in the title sequence of Batman the Animated Series, the best cartoon opening ever in my opinion!

Codename: Cobra Commander

What the? Another Cobra Commander? He's the same guy, just the more recognizable Helmeted version. I picked this one up a weekend or so back, cool thing is his package didn't fly the same colors as the 25th Anniversary packaging, instead it was trimmed in white and had a bubble about "as seen in the GI Joe cartoon" on it.

Still he is the Anniversary style figure, so this may just be a packaging change or a different direction for the line. A few other things that I think are cool is this version came with a little canister with pink crystals in it (not photographed, man I hope I didn't loose it already), if I remember right it has some thing to either do with the Weather Dominator or the DNA to make Serpentor. Still cool item.

Also, since the only Cobra Commander I had from the classic line was the armored one (which is buried in a sand box) I wasn't sure if this was a carry over feature from the classic line or not, but his little laser pistol plugs into his back for storage. Kinda cool, but funny at the same time. I mean wouldn't a holster be more practical?



While I'm at it, lets make this an extra large photo post for GI Joe, I picked up the Joe comic pack featuring the reprint of the first comic. I will go on record that is I ever have to get a kid a present for a birthday or holiday, these comic packs are the way to go. You get something to read plus a few figures from the comic. I liked this idea when Marvel Legends came packed with comics, when Mattel started packing comics with some of the Batman figures, and Hasbro has been doing with Star Wars and now GI Joe. Got to hand it to Hasbro, when something works they use that formula over and over. I can appreciate it, because it lets me catch up on some key issues from the Joe series and add to the collection, and for ten bucks it seems like a deal.



So sneaking up behind Cobra Commander is none other than Agent Scarlet and General Hawk (though his stand reads GI Joe Hawk). I thought it would be cool to layout the contents of the comic pack and show it that way. Apparently there is an order form for the GI Joe Medic and I'm a sucker for order forms, so I'm going to try and make the August deadline so I can get one for the collection, got to have a field surgeon you know M*A*S*H proved that. Side note, Rob I saw that you have a M*A*S*H blog coming soon, I can't wait.



Scarlet comes with her cross bow and a pistol, Hawk as you can see has a side arm, riffle, helmet with visor, and a combat knife. Don't know why he gets more equipment, my guess is Scarlet is such a welled trained fighter that she only needs a side arm and cross bow. Things of interest, like most Joes, Hawk uses a repainted body and new head sculpt, Scarlet is a re paint from the 25th Anniversary box set. This time she sports brighter, comic colors. I kinda dig the brighter colors myself.




So lets see the blog score so far is...

G.I. JOE: 6
COBRA: 3

Not to worry Cobra fans, I have some snake reinforcements on the way! Till then YO JOE!

Knock the horns off, I'll take that one...

So while I get pics of the Great Father's Day Transformer I received, I thought I would throw some pics of this steak house we found ourselves at this past Sunday.

As with every holiday we try to split time between the families, since they are both local. My wife's parent like to try new restaurants, and found this steak house called Cow Catchers Steak House out in the beautiful hill country of south, central Texas. Okay for starters I will go on record as saying for the most part, all those T.V. shows you see about Texas and their steak are pretty much true, King of the Hill is a pretty dead on likeness of the surrounding area and it's inhabitants, I think that's why it's so funny to me. I would say the only one that was a bit exaggerated was the Simpsons where Mr. Burns picked his cow out before he ate, though I will note the inside of the steak house was eerily similar to a steak house not far from where I work. So yeah pretty much all you see on T.V. about Texas steak houses is spot on.

Now having said that, I was born and raised in Texas, so you can't really surprise me too much when it comes to a steak house. We have steak house like most towns have 7-11's. They are all pretty much large rooms with antiques nailed to the wall, with the exception of those "fancy pants" places downtown, every surface in the place is wood and has something branded (I'm talking about a cattle brand, not marketing) and pretty much the only thing on the menu is meat.



So now we pull into the gravel "parking lot" and I see the name of the place for the first time, I immediately thought we maybe picking out our own cows at this one, I was surprised to say the least. Well we didn't pick out the cow, but I will say it was a neat setup. You trekked across a small field past what I would term a dance hall, connecting to a long house, and finally connecting to the main dinning hall it's self. All the buildings have a porch system if you would rather wind around each of them to get to the food. You enter a little foyer that leads right into a large, and I mean large dinning hall. A 1900's Chuck Wagon is suspended above the main dining area and the hall has windows everywhere looking out at the hill country.



I didn't think to shoot the steak I ordered, but it was quite large, much larger than what I expected. Cooked it was about 3 inches thick and the size of my whole hand. Needless to say I couldn't finish it. They had a motto that was pretty much taken from a saying I have heard several time growing up, "if you leave hungry it's you're own fault". Now you know why San Antonio is the fattest city in Texas, and I think the U.S. The steak was good, but the cool thing about this place was that you could go out an pet some horses and feed the long horns that are in the coral to the right of the place. That was a first for me as far as steak houses go. I imagine that if we had been there on a Friday or Saturday night that they would have had a band playing in the dance hall as well.



So a pretty enjoyable afternoon, we decided it wasn't the everyday sort of steak house (yeah we have those too, hell we even have a drive through "Steaks to Go") but a cool place to take the out of town relatives when they visit. You know I'm going to have to start documenting Steak Houses around the area, I guess I better start carrying my camera with me more often, the mobile phone just doesn't cut it for photos.

Animated Transformers: Bumblebee

Well you can add one more Transformer to the list of transforming toys that I have own / owned. I broke down and picked up a Bumble bee from the new Animated Series line. Not that I'm a fan of Bumble bee, but I really dig his new character design for the show, plus I thought Hasbro did a bang up job making the toy look like it. Also when he transforms he's pretty articulated and can pose in several different ways.




Before this you might remember the only other "new" transformer I have is the Star Wars Transformers crossover figure of Boba Fett. That one reminds me of the old school Transformers, pretty stiff when transformed. I think the new stuff is far better and more accurate than the one I had when I was younger. I do miss my original Wheeljack though, maybe I can find one somewhere, or maybe he'll make it into the new cartoon.

I will say I pretty much dig all the Animated stuff because of the over stylized caricatures, but I will limit future purchases and add maybe one or two more. Bulkhead I have my eye on you, buddy!

UPDATE!
Father's Day yielded another Transformer from the Animated Series, the afore mentioned Bulkhead was received and photos will be arriving soon!

Early Father's Day!

When I was 9 years old, a little movie called Star Wars made it's debut and, to steal a phrase, it was a time when Star Wars ruled the world. I like many my age immediately fell in love with this movie , it's characters, and all the strange adventures that unfolded on the big screen. The one character that stood out, at least to me, was Darth Vader. So what does Star Wars and Darth Vader have to do with Father's Day?

It seems that at a local mall that is long gone now, J.C. Penny's was having a special visitor one Saturday. Now being 9 years old and knowing so much about the world and Star Wars in particular, you would think I would be begging my parents to take me to see this dignitary from a different world. Fact is I didn't even know this event was going down. My dad however, always the wiser to the schemes of the Empire, not only knew about, he had made plans to confront the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.

I remember loading into the Vega that warm Saturday morning to make the trip to the mall. The Vega was my dad's work transportation at the time, it had his usual mess of carbon copy gas receipts and spilt coffee in the drink holder, I still can remember the smell. A hatch back, that thing was a tank, I used to climb all over that car when it was parked in the drive way. We made our way through the back roads to Walzem Road, home of Windsor Park Mall, for what seemed like hours upon hours. The trip actually takes about 30 minutes the back way, 15 by highway. By this time I was let in on the plan of the assault. That's right we were going to see Darth Vader! My dad calls him Dark Vader and often confuses Star Wars with Star Trek, I think just to get me going.

I was beyond excited as we pulled up into the parking lot, we had to park on the lower end of the mall, by the J.C. Penny's entrance, which happens to be a straight shot to the center of the store, where the Empire had deposited it's Dark Lord. Now I'm thinking walk in, have a few choice words with Mr. Vader, maybe a photo op or two, get him to sign an autograph, maybe even get away with his or a Stormtrooper's helmet. that was far from the case, the store had set up a little stage, Darth Vader was about 2 feet off the ground with two store employees helping him line up his marker with a black and white glossy that he would pass out, or rather hold out for the mob to grab at. This was truly the first and only time I have ever been in a Beetles type mob, with people pushing and shoving to get an autograph.

Being nine I was also a lot smaller than most of the teenagers and parents that were there, so I made my way as fast as I could to the front, my dad trying to keep up. I am not exaggerating when I say it was a mob. I stood right under the imposing figure of Darth Vader as he whipped out an autograph and practically handed me the photo. I reached for a corner, I didn't know if it was trap or not, that dude was big, and before I could pull back with my prize a man grabbed the photo and tore it. Not wanting a torn photo the man discarded the little corner he ended up with on the floor and went for another photo. I didn't know what to do, by this time my dad had seen what happened and dove down into the crowd, risking life and limb, to get the rest of the picture. He secured the missing piece and we made our way out of the fray.

We talked all the way home about how cool it was to see Darth Vader and the crowd. The thrill of getting a piece of history and the such. I think my dad just humored me while I spoke of these things.

Upon returning home the two pieces were joined back together, like two pieces of a treasure map, with a piece of tape. All the care in the world was taken to make sure all lined up just right. To this day this photo hangs in my studio at home, same piece of tape, not only my most cherished of Star Wars collectables, but memories. I think back on that moment in my life when my dad went out of his way to make his son happy, over a movie and a piece of paper, and know that, that is what it means to be a dad. I have tried to model my father hood on that idea and keep the Vader as a reminder... okay that and it's a cool autographed photo of Darth Vader.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Smile Batman!

Back in 2000 (like it was that long ago) Hasbro was beta testing their Toy Shop sight. At the time it was more of a collectors sort of thing, with special GI JOES, Transformers, and this Batman and Robin two pack. This was the only place to score this figure set that uses the Signature Series / DC Super Heroes body type. Well Batman anyway, they needed a smaller body for Robin, so legend has it that the Star Wars Phantom Menace 12" Anakin Skywalker donated his body for the cause.

So Robin, while still a sweet looking figure, has a few different points of articulation and does not have the closing hands. The figures are also based on the Dick Sprang look of Batman and Robin, and if I remember right the set only ran about 15 to 20 bucks. Not bad for two specialty figures.

Gojira!

This is sort of a two fold post. First I'm testing out a new hosting service, seems to be working okay so far, and two while perusing the musings of a fellow toy connoisseur, a post that got me to thinking about a piece of my collection that has been with me since around 1985, quite possibly the first toy of the Eclectorama collection.

So, over at Toyriffic (another fun toy blog by the way, hope Eric doesn't mind the shout out) I got a chuckle reading a post where Eric had stopped to pick up a discarded dinosaur toy on the road. I immediately had visions of a busy highway and cars zooming by, as he risks life and limb to save the majestic beast. Also I thought I'm not the only one that does crazy things in the name of toys. Anyway the post got me thinking about Godzilla here, so a few moments latter, and closer inspection, my questions about who was the manufacturer were answered.



It was indeed an Imperial Toy like Eric's Dino, cool! It was stamped right on the foot along with "Made in China", surprise, surprise. I remember picking him up at Toys R Us back in 85', he was in a dump box with other creatures, mostly dinosaurs. Pretty much how most Imperial Toys are distributed today. I always thought he was a knock of though. Turns out he;s the real deal, at least officially licensed anyway. Righter on the bottom of his left foot is the TOHO trade mark, with year and copyright. Those that don't know TOHO is the studio responsible for all those great Godzilla movies.

Not a very good likeness, but a keeper none the less. Now if I can only find the little clip on Godzilla I used to have hanging in my VW back in college...

When Captain America throws his mighty shield!

Have I started a post with that before??? Here's a Toy Biz Captain America from Series One. When these started hitting you could go to a store and see the whole set, buy one, and return the next payday to pick up another. Man, how times have changed. I remember it took me like half a year to buy the four Ninja Turtles, now you don't pick up that toy you've been looking for you won't see it again, unless you shop online. Even then you could miss out!



This is on my list of favorite renditions of this character, he came with a sweet base with a tore up enemy tank and an American flag to plant on it, go Captain America! You know the articulation on this figure is insane, like many of the Marvel Legends, but all those crazy joints kinda take away from the lines a bit. Not that I'm complaining, especially after the original Toy Biz version of this guy (another fav, but man that one was sucktacular!).

Anyway I leave you with the Captain America theme song, I can start signing this in my house and who ever happens to be in ear shot, nine times out of ten, will finish it. Enjoy. Klang!!!

Codename: Okay I admit...

... I'm a GI JOE collector, but not go to the conventions, have all the old ones from when I was younger, all the original Adventure Team collector. More of a trying to get as many of the 25th Anniversary, have a few Adventure Team reproductions, still have a handful of my original small JOEs collector. Though I always kinda wanted to check out a GI JOE convention, they had one in town years ago, I should have went, anyone from the GI JOE convention reading? How about giving the Alamo City another go?

I'll also go on record that I'm curious about the live action movie coming out, you know Darth Maul being Snakes Eyes and all. So with that here's the third version of Snake Eyes that I have picked up, I believe he might be the fourth or fifth release of the character. Now I'm no small weapons expert like ole' Snake Eyes here, but I would think keeping two big combat knives strapped to your chest, with the points towards your neck couldn't be too safe, but hey like I said I'm no expert.

This version of Snake Eyes (what a great name by the way) is loaded to kick some Cobra butt, two detachable combat knives, a three section staff, the obligatory ninja sword, a sub machine gun, and a compact combat pack (yeah I made that up, CCP for short). Oh and I almost forgot the movable night vision googles, the main reason I bought this guy, so he could patrol the house at night and keep us safe from terrorists that fashion themselves after snakes.

Yo Joe!

Note to readers: the little score card at the bottom of this post is the official blog count for each team, not the official collection count... stay tuned.

Note to family that might be reading: The 25th Anniversary GI JOEs make an excellent gift in a pinch!

G.I. JOE: 4
COBRA: 2

Jim Kirk you fool!

Yeah I fooled the pride of the Federation with a puppet! That's right! Take that Kirk!

I will give it to lil' Clint Howard (palying Balok) he did have a big ass space ship, with low ceilings! These two came in a three pack back in the 90's when Playmates Toys ruled the Star Trek Galaxy. I new when I saw this on the bay, that them there puppet and little person would be finding a home at Eclectorama. Doesn't Balok look like Bobby Hill, from King of the Hill?



The episode ranks up there with a few as being my favorites, just to see that little, bald maniac laugh. Now pour some Tranya and take a stroll around the Fesarius!

Signature Series: Wolverine

I can't say this is my favorite Wolverine costume, but I do like this figure. Part of the Hasbro Signature Series, listed out here, Wolverine was released along with Captain America, Dare Devil, and Iron Spider-Man in the second series of the line.

I picked up the whole second series from our local grocery store before I even saw them at any of the other regular retailers. Wolverine here uses pretty much the same body that all of the Signature Series uses, with the exception of the added claws and of course the head. The costume does sport plastic shoulder pads, that are much more to my liking than the usual 80's to big for King Kong shoulder pads, as well as new sculpts for the boot tops. The belt is reminiscent of something you find on a Mego from back in the 70's.

The only thing I would have done different on this figure, besides changing the costume to the yellow/brown version, would be to maybe add more of an expression to his face. This would be a case for the Toy Biz screaming head, come on Wolverine is a crazy mo fo!

This is also a first for Wolverine on Eclectorama, I really thought I had posted another Wolvie before this, but guess not!

Bounty Hunter: Transforming Fett!

I said Fett, not Vette... This is a crazy gift my buddy Bill gave me around my birthday (It's been a while I know Bill, I'm slow to post these things). This is crazy because it comes with a tiny, tiny Boba Fett, that fits into his space ship, the Slave I, that in turn transforms into a 7" Boba Fett, that you can also stick the little Fett into. I'm lost.



The vehicle mode is a pretty good representation of the Slave I. The ship mode alone is a pretty cool little toy, pop off the blasters, take tiny Fett out of the cockpit, and a few twists later you have the robot mode. The blasters go into the hands and tiny Fett can go back in for some robot riding goodness. Oh, the rocket pack fires pretty far for a modern toy. Back in my day we had toys that could fire missiles that could break the skin, before that kid swallowed the one from the Battlestar Galactic viper toy. Toys would never be the same. Kind of weird, that very incident caused the removal of the missile firing action from the original Fett figure, and here we are years later with a Fett toy that fires a pretty decent missile.



I really dig the package on this set, it has a little disk on the front in case you are not familiar with Transformers, that you can spin to see the ship mode and the transformed mode. If I hadn't wanted to check out the toy so bad it might have stayed in the package just for the little spinning disk alone. Good thing for digital cameras and blogs!




I have personally owned maybe three transformers (including this one) in my life, and one of those was a go bot, so I think this is pretty cool. My son, who has owned probably up into the hundreds of transforming toys (80% being Transformers), says this is rather basic for a Transformer. Either way it's still a freaking Boba Fett, if these would have been around when I was a child I would have been terrorizing the space lanes and neighbor planets with my Han Solo stomping robot of doom!