A Blast from the Past - Made in the Present

I have a few vivid memories of childhood disappointments. There was being cut from the Little League team and dropped back down to Pee Wees, which pretty much ended my baseball career, there was being sold into a forced marriage in the school playground at the tender age of 8 (a long story), and then there was repeatedly begging for and being denied Mego Super Heroes. I was obsessed with super heroes of all kinds, and spent many an hour lusting over Megos of various descriptions in the toy aisles of various K-Marts throughout my youth, but I think my parents just saw them as dolls and therefore not fitting toys for their little boy. It’s a loss I’ve long bemoaned, especially whenever I look at the price of a genuine MOC Mego Aquaman on eBay. *sob!*

Mattel is bringing the sexy back in their Retro Action DC Superheroes line, which started with the Mattycollector.com exclusive Green Arrow. I was only too keen to order this and very happy when it arrived on the slow boat a few days ago. Green Arrow looks like great fun. The headsculpt is very well done – a modernised version of what would have been once upon a time. As for the body, I like the fact that it isn’t overly updated. The gloves and boots retain that chunky original feel, and the overall proportions don’t seem to have altered at all.

The magic for me in this line is in the reproduction packaging, which comes complete with a bit of “fading” to give it that genuine feel. Thus at this stage I don’t see myself unpacking these – although Green Arrow is very tempting because he comes with some great accessories I could play with, and it does bug me that his archer’s cap is rolling around in the bottom of the plastic bubble. Nevertheless, I’d hate to lose the retro feel of the packaging, and I doubt I’d hold the same affection for these if they were displayed loose, so I’ll hold off at least for now.

I don’t see myself collecting the whole line, but favourite characters Aquaman and Green Lantern are a nostalgic must. Everything else will be on a case by case basis. I’d sure love the Teen Titans in their original Mego glory!

In my view the only way this could have been improved upon would be to have some sort of resealable packaging so that the figure could be inspected or displayed but then repackaged to retain the retro feel. I guess it wouldn’t really be retro if it didn’t have the good ‘ol rip-off bubble!

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the AFB February Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

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Bowen Busts Galore!

After a long wait, Bowen Designs has released two new mini-busts which I’m excited to add to my collection. Bowen does a great job of giving us not just the A list of Marvel characters, but the odd surprise as well, and this latest pair delivers both.

As a big fan of SQUADRON SUPREME, I was delighted to see the Hyperion Mini-Bust solicited, and this doesn’t disappoint. Paintwork here is perfectly done, and I love the flow of his cape. The only quibble I might have here is that his mouth seems a wee bit small, but hey, some folks have small mouths I guess. Nothing could take away the excitement of having one of the lead characters from one of my all-time favourite stories. I own the classic Nighthawk, but I am probably going to have to pick up the Squadron version that’s been gathering dust at my LCS sooner or later to go along with this great piece.

Cable isn’t a favourite character of mine, but as I am trying to focus my Bowen collection around the X-Men / Avengers / Defenders (bring on Valkyrie please!), he’s a needed element. Having said that, this bust is great looking and I was surprised by how much I liked it. There is fantastic detail here in his costume and weapons.

Cyclops isn’t a new bust, but it’s one I’ve been eyeing for some time, and I finally managed to snag it on sale while on holiday in Brisbane. This is probably Cyclops’ most iconic Modern Age look, and worth having even if there aren’t many other busts from this era. There is a bit of rough texture on the body that makes the paintwork not look as smooth as it could – quite unusual for a Bowen Bust. The pose and facial expression really works, however, and makes this a very welcome addition to the collection.

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the February AFB Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

AFB Comment of the Month Contest – February 2010

First off, thanks to everyone who commented on last month’s blog posts. Congratulations to “demoncat” for being our winner! Demoncat – as you don’t have a Blogger profile I can’t email you – please get in touch with me – probably easiest to do so through the AFB Forum – just log in and message me (“Andy”). Once we hear from demoncat his / her choice of prize will be on the way from Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff.

Now to February’s Contest: on offer are two great prizes, either the DC Universe Classics Wave 12 Iron or the Thor / Enchantress Two-Pack from Marvel Universe Secret Wars series.

A few bits and pieces:

• every genuine comment on a post from the calendar month will be eligible for receiving the prize. I’m going to stick to my own time zone and call it at 23:59:59 Australian Eastern Standard Time – best to comment often and comment early!
• if my super scientific randomizer comment selector system chooses an Anonymous comment, I’ll skip it and go again – you need to leave a name, a link, your AFB Forum username or email addy so that I can contact you if you are the winner. Blogger comments allows you to do this, as long as your profile is not set to private – check your settings.
• you will be given a choice of one of the two figures on offer from the month’s contest – figures will be in their original packaging.
• figures will be sent by first class mail within the US (Mike is sending them, remember) and first class international to any overseas winner. An overseas winner can elect to chip in for Priority Mail or Insurance, but otherwise we can’t take any responsibility for a parcel that doesn’t arrive – after all this is coming out of AFB’s  not dreadfully deep pockets!

Once again, thanks to Mike for making this all possible for us, and here’s to another happy month of commenting!

Until next time!

MOTUC Catch-up: He-Man, Scareglow and King Randor

With Mattycollector.com’s international shipping taking ever so long to reach the sandy shores of Oz (for some reason it always seems to come via New Zealand??) my Masters of the Universe Classics are hardly breaking news by the time I get to open them, but I still thought I’d post a few pics and thoughts about the most recent arrivals.

He-Man and Scareglow took an extra long time to be mine due to a combination of an extended shipping time which I assume was due to Christmas and then my own holiday absence. Randor took a full month to arrive despite the Christmas rush dying down.

Scareglow is not a character I owned in the MOTUC days of my youth, but he’s great fun. I’m not really wild about glow-in-the-dark bizzo, but his zany aesthetic is easy to appreciate. The skeleton design works fairly well across the figure, although the legs look a little to zebra striped. His funky purple cape has a ragged edge at the bottom, and his accessories fit easily and work well. Probably not going to end up in my Top 10 for the line, but fun all the same.

I didn’t pick up He-Man when he first came out, so once I started collecting the line, my hopes were firmly pinned on picking up the re-issue. Sculpt and paint are excellent. The red-eyed appearance of the original has been corrected here, and the only concern I have with the figure is that the ankles, like a few of the figures in this line, are a tad loose, which matters when they have to support a figure of this bulk. Great range of accessories, although I don’t quite get the one-sided sword that comes as an extra. Overall – great to finally have the centre of the collection filled!

The Burger King joke about poor old King Randor has well and truly been played out, so I won’t repeat it, especially since it doesn’t apply here in Oz – we have “Hungry Jack’s”, not BK. This is a serviceable rendition of a necessary, if not terribly interesting, character. A couple of customised bits cover up an otherwise fairly cheap re-use of the basic buck. He’s also very colourful, and he kinda looks like Jesus. Did I manage to stretch that out to a paragraph? Phew.

That’s the MOTUC Wrap for the moment. I have the 2010 Subscription, but I’ll be looking to grab Beast-Man and (ulp) Battle Cat next month. Wish me luck….

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Enter the Mini-Statues: DC Direct Shrinks Flash vs. Gorilla Grodd

In a new trend that is sure to be kind to wallets and shelf space, DC Direct is revisiting some of it’s popular statues and reproducing them as Mini-Statues. First up is Flash Vs. Gorilla Grodd, which I picked up a couple of weeks ago.

“Mini” really means mini with this piece. This is 1:2 Scale to the original which was 12” in height. Check out the Facebook photo album for a scale comparison – Flash and Grodd in total come up to about the same height as a DCUC 6” figure. While the size is much smaller, there doesn’t seem to be any skimping on detail – photos of the original and the mini side by side are hard to tell apart.

Flash and Grodd come packaged separately and Flash inserts into Grodd via steel pegs in his feet. Unlike most statues assembled by this method, this one felt the tiniest bit wobbly when I picked it up to display it. It’s not in danger of falling out in any way but it’s definitely less firmly stuck than others I’ve had.

This is a Michael Turner-inspired sculpt, and if you didn’t like Turner’s unique take on anatomy you won’t like this. The waist is impossibly thin, the arms a tad too long and the hands a bit too big. I was never a great fan of the late Turner’s art, but Flash is one character he drew I never minded so much (and the only IDENTITY CRISIS figure I could tolerate), so I can look past this here. The paint apps are very solid, and the pose is quite dynamic front on, although I’d have to say Flash’s stance doesn’t hold up well from all angles. Best of all, it joins my collection without taking up half a shelf.

I’m all for the idea of these Mini-Statues as less expensive way of picking up some of the larger statues I’ve missed along the way. The upcoming Alex Ross Superman and Batman mini-statues will be welcome additions to my shelf, but I’d really love to see them reproduce some more two-character statues such as Green Lantern Vs. Sinestro whose initial release prices were just too cost-prohibitive. I also wonder if the mini-statue idea is something Bowen or Sideshow would consider to make their products more accessible.

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the January AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Dude, Where’s My Face?? - Aquaman Blammoid

A “Blammoid” sounds like something that is going to hurt. As of today, I can tell you, it does.

I thought the upcoming Black Lantern Aquaman was going to push my love of all things Aquaman to the limit, but that was before I saw the new DC Direct Blammoids! in person. I visited the “other” comic shop in town today (they had a sale, okay??) and along with a trade I’ve been looking for, I picked up the Aquaman Blammoid! (The exclamation mark is part of the title and does not indicate any excitement on my part.)

These little buggers are about 4” tall and quite wide and deep. it’s lighter than I expected, and not as steady on it’s funny little feet as I might have thought – not that it topples over or anything, but it isn’t quite as sturdy as I might have thought. There are just three points of articulation here – the two arms and the neck, so that Aquaman can get a good look at his surrounds with his non-existent eyes.

The long and the short of it – these ain’t my thang. I would have much preferred to see DCD work on a wider range of Minimates than start down this road. There’s something quirky about these little blobs of plastic that I am sure some people are going to find appealing. I can see people buying their favourite character either out of loyalty for for the novelty factor, but the hefty price tag would keep all but the most dedicated of fans from collecting the lot.

You can see more pics (including packaging and scale comparison) at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the AFB January Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Let the Sideshow Begin!

Seeing as my 6” and below collecting is looking slim this year (I’m finished with JLU and Infinite Heroes, DC Direct has little of interest this year) I’m planning ahead in terms of some statue purchases. One thing I’ve been keeping my eye on is the Sideshow X-Force Diorama. After nearly doing the deed, I finally went ahead and pre-ordered it.

Featuring the original New X-Force line-up of Wolverine, X-23, Wolfsbane and Warpath, this is a beautiful piece I can’t stop looking at. Coming in at a whopping 14” x 8” x 10’, this is going to be by far and away the biggest piece in my collection to this point. It’s also probably going to be the most expensive thing I’ve ever had shipped to Oz, but as it’s expected in 3rd Quarter 2010 it’s going to part of my birthday present, and this one is a big one (it has an “0” in it…) so I decided I could spring for it.

Anyway, I’ll save the review for a time when I’m looking at the real thing, but I wanted to mark to occasion of my first Sideshow Pre-Order with a post. Now I just need to stop looking at all the other beautiful things on the Sideshow website……….

Until next time!