These Tiny Little Metal Dudes Make-A Me So Happy!

One great thing Hasbro has been doing with its Marvel Movie tie-ins in the throwing the collectors a bone or two in the form of a comic-based line that goes alongside the movie time. This worked very well with the Wolverine: Origins product, and thankfully has been carried on with the toys for the upcoming Iron Man 2 film. There are Movie, Comic and Concept Series in the 3 3/4" figure line, and they have now hit retail in Australia. I was killing some time while waiting for the youngest AFB-ette to get fully hyped up on sugar and slippery dips at a birthday party at one of those shopping centre play-gyms / parent torture centres last weekend and came across them at a Toys R Us adjacent to the centre, so I had to pick up a few.

The big surprise of the whole gang is the greatly improved Classic Iron Man himself. I hadn't planned on buying this one, seeing as I already own the Marvel Universe and Secret Wars versions, but this one is a stand-out. The colours are more vibrant, the articulation more sturdy, and he "works" in a way that previous versions haven't. He comes with a power blast attachment which works very well, and a stand which is meant to be the blast from his feet, which has problems. He's pictured standing on this on the package with his feet right together, which is actually impossible, since there is only one peg and it's in the middle. He can only stand on this with one foot on the peg and one hanging off. Still works, but it's a but wonky. This doesn't take away from the fantastic figure. He may be a re-issue, but he's also a must have.

Despite the greatly improved Classic Shellhead, Crimson Dynamo steals the series for me, and not just because it's the Soviet Super-Soldier's plastic premiere. He's not just a first-timer - he's extremely well done. In addition to being the perfect shade of... well, crimson, his armor is so well sculpted. He comes with an optic blast attachment that rests on his head a bit like a wreath, or a crown of purple plastic thorns. The only niggle here is that his feet are a bit oddly articulated which made him a bit hard to pose, but we got there in the end. Very happy to own this one!

Comic Series War Machine is a fine piece with some interesting inclusions. A great feature here is his shoulder-mounted gun / blasty things, which have 360 degree rotation. The included plastic attachments show is that one is for zapping things, and the other is for.... popping popcorn? The only other drawback to War Machine's design is that his shoulder pads limit his arm movement somewhat. And did I mention his right hand blasty thing looks like popcorn? Pop!

There's meant to be an Iron Monger in the Comic Series, but I picked up the Movie Series version while I was at it, because he looked cool. If the Comic Series version does appear, this one will get the boot, but he's a fun stand-in for the moment.

Interestingly, Hasbro also appears to be doing a 6" line for this movie which will be exclusive to Wal-Mart. In light of the great job done with Crimson Dynamo in the smaller scale, I'd love to see a 6" version to go alongside that some of my other figures from that lil' ol Marvel toy line Hasbro seems to be slowly driving into the ground.... oh, what was it called?? Well, a guy can dream...

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Crossing a Collecting Boundary: via Cable

I had a long hiatus from comics, from the time I left home in 1988 to around 2004, during which time I kept a sporadic eye on my first love, the Legion, but wasn't aware of anything else happening in the comicverse. When I "came back", I had a lot of catching up to do: not only did I miss out on an extreme number of shoulder pads, costumes with pouches and foil embossed variant covers, but the introduction of a lot of new key players, particularly in the X-Verse. Some I came to quickly love, some I came to quickly detest and some I just couldn't relate to. I'd put Cable in that third category. He'd been rescued from Liefeld-esque hideousness by the time I met him, but having missed his introduction I'd always struggled to understand his place in the X-Men World until the recent Messiah War storyline.

It was a big surprise, then, when I happened upon the full-sized Cable (Modern) Statue from Bowen Designs, that I liked it so much that I just couldn't get it out of my mind. I passed it on two separate occasions, but on a third viewing I found myself taking it home. I love Bowen Mini-Busts but have stayed away from the Statues to try and avoid that particular slippery slope, but had recently decided that the Modern Emma Frost Statue would be my first. Much to my surprise, Cable has beaten her to the punch!

Plainly put, this is just an extremely impressive looking statue. I really like Cable's stance, the colours used, and his very cool guns. This is a beautifully designed and painted piece. His techno-virused left arm is well done - nice and shiny, which is set off nicely by the use of mostly matte paints on the rest of his costume. It's a tall statue - 16" to the top of his raised gun.

There is some assembly required. Cable's guns are separate pieces which include his hands, which slot in at the wrists and are cleverly held in place with the use of magnets. The guns are impressive looking pieces with a bit of a worn look - they've clearly seen some action! The base is also a separate piece, with just one attachment, a long peg from the left leg which goes into the base, while the right foot rests atop the raised section of the base. A peg in the right foot wouldn't have gone astray - I was surprised to find the statue is a tad wobbly. Nothing drastic, but surprising for the price point.

So, my personal ban on FS Bowen Statues has been broken early than I planned. Sadly I've had to re-box Cable momentarily as he's too tall to fit on any of my shelves in their current configuration. Ah well, it was time for a refit anyway!

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Until next time!

Battle Cat Blasts In!

I have a distinct memory from early teenagerhood of being in a toy shop and having a choice between the original Masters of the Universe Battle Cat and something superhero-y which has long passed my memory. I never had a huge MOTUC collection, and superheroes always would have won out, but I have often looked back and regretted not grabbing poor old Cringer's more amazing alter ego, not that I managed to hold on to any of my now-vintage MOTUC toys. All up, however, it made an enough of an impression that when the chance to own Battle Cat again came around, I was very keen to have it, and in fact did the very silly middle aged collector thing (detailed here) to procure it.

Once I'd sailed my bizarre journey on the Digital River, I then had a postage and shipping drama to endure, which I won't bore you with. The happy end to the tale is that a pair of Battle Cats - one for me, one for a friend, arrived safely in the end. Good thing too - this is an extremely fun creature!

On one level this fella doesn't look that different from the vintage toy that I held in my hand as a young(ish) tacker, at least my memory of it, but the thought that's been put into the redesign of this piece is amazing. As an owner of many cats over the years, it really struck me how much the articulation of this modern Battle Cat makes his movement like an actual cat. He's so articulated that it took some time to find poses that work and keep He-Man balanced. Plenty of options here for different poses and display choices.

The harness and saddle are very nicely detailed, although He-Man doesn't really sit on it much better than what I remember of the original (I did get to play with my friend's Battle Cat, even though I never scored my own). The only niggle is that either his neck is a bit loose, or his headdress is a bit too heavy for his head, because his head droops slightly. Not enough to take any of the shine off of such a fun piece!

Now that I have Battle Cat, it's definitely time that my Masters of the Universe figures get their own shelf in my display, instead of hanging out on top of the shelves. Would've loved to have grabbed some of those surprisingly elusive display stands to add to the display, but I missed out on those. Better that than having missed out on Battle Cat!

I don't think I have the energy to deal with the tension of many more Mattycollector sales, so I personally would be happy to sign up for an all-in subscription that includes the quarterly figures as well. I'd rather have the problem of selling off ones I mightn't want than having to get up in the middle of the night and scramble for the ones I do. Let's hope Mattel makes that happen for the 2011 sub!

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DCUC Wave 5 is Coming Back on May 17th!

Mattycollector.com has some great news for fans of DC Universe Classics who missed out on the Wal-Mart Exclusive Wave 5 - it's being reissued as a boxed set of 5 individually carded figures which include the Metallo Collect & Connect Pieces.

Here's the news as reported by "Matty" himself:

"Back in 2008, we released Wave 5, which was an instant success and subsequently pretty hard to find. If you missed your chance, mark May 17th on your calendar, because Wave 5 is coming back!

This release is identical to the one in 2008 − same package, same decos, not a single change to the figures. Like all our boxed sets, these are individually carded figures packed into a single box. The set has the five figures you need to build a 9” Collect and Connect™ Metallo figure. Take a look inside and you’ll find these classic characters ready to rock your collection:

• Eradicator
• Black Lightning
• Amazo
• The Riddler
• The Atom

Don’t want to miss your shot at this fan-favorite? If you’re not registered yet for emails, click here and I’ll send you a reminder. You can also follow me on Twitter where I post reminders.
−Matty"

This is good news, and a good show of faith from Mattel to try to assist collectors to complete the line. I look forward to watching eBay prices for the original Wave 5 figures plummet accordingly!
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The Marvel Universe expands - somewhat....

Hasbro continues to pump out the figures in its Marvel Universe line, and amongst the latest half dozen IronSpideyrene variants, there are a couple of new characters and a relevant new version of one that's already been done: Luke Cage, Black Widow and Thor (Modern).

Thor is the pick of the bunch. Great amount of detail in the modern costume, which I quite like. The face isn't a huge improvement over the Secret Wars version - the nose is a tad too big, but this is a good looking figure for the scale. Only small issue here is that one of Thor's helmet wing thingies is slightly askew, but only noticeable on close inspection.

Black Widow is one of the better female figures in the line. The head and face are still a bit lacking in detail for what can be done at this scale but par for the course on what Hasbro is producing across it's various lines. Her eyes aren't painted as level as they could be. She's got a great rifle accessory and her belt and bracelets are nice touches. Next to Thor and Cage she looks puny, but they are the bigger males in the line. A nice addition, but I am definitely looking forward to the 6" version which is coming out later in the year.

I'm not a huge fan of the Modern Age Luke Cage, although realistically I wouldn't expect him to be wearing the tiara anymore. Still, I much prefer the plain black tank top and jeans to the funky cap and hideous oversized necklace thingy, but displaying him without them has its own issues, especially on his back, where the top is barely painted on, quite a mess really. His arms and legs are also strangely mottled, and it's not clear if that's for effect or a production problem. A needed figure for the New Avengers display, but I'm glad he's tall, so he can be stood at the back.

It's nice that they've started to include stands with the newer waves of these figures, but they're a bit big, and annoyingly branded with the character name which makes it harder for us OCD sufferers to swap them around and use them for the characters that need it the most.

All up, while I'd prefer to be collecting my Marvel U figures in 6", I am enjoying collecting this line, and look forward to more new characters to come!

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Mattel Public Enemies: Enemies Indeed

It's been a long time coming, but thanks to various trades, eBay purchases and the kindness of forum friends, I've managed to assemble Waves 1 and 2 of Mattel's Target Exclusive Public Enemies Series, mostly to put together the Brimstone Collect and Connect figure. I'll get to the Brimmy shortly, but let's look at the regular figures first.

I'm less hostile towards these DVD tie-in figures than I was when they were first shown, because if nothing else they are very faithful to the representations of the characters in the Superman / Batman: Public Enemies animated film. Still, the decision, if it was a conscious one, to make these figures in a slightly larger scale to the DC Universe Classics line is really perplexing, and makes most of them pretty useless in terms of cross-display with the DCUC figures.

Silver Banshee and Major Force are the only two figures that have much of a chance of making it into my display, but each has some detracting issues. Banshee may be a tad taller than her DCUC counterparts, but she's still got those horribly skinny upper arms, and also has loose ankles so she tends to fall over on her face alot. Major Force's main issues are colour scheme (accurate to the DVD but not his most common appearance in the comics), a very exaggerated animated face and being a tad tall to pair with archenemy Captain Atom. I'll deal with this last one with flight stands and keep my hopes up for proper DCUC versions of both of these worthy characters.

Black Lightning is pretty pointless as he's been done better and more comic accurate, and Icicle... well, my dog needs a new toy. He might be a dead ringer for the animated version, but the animated version's crap. Mega lost opportunity to do something better with this one.

As for Brimstone? He's certainly not going to the top of the list of my favourite Collect & Connect figures anytime soon, but he's adequate. Unlike most of the DCUC C&Cs, his head is not a separate piece, but joined with the torso, and the figure suffers from the lack of detail in the headsculpt. The slightly translucent material in his limbs is a fun addition. Overall - happy to have him in the back of the collection, but he could have been done better.

So that's the rundown on what I hope is a one-off experiment from Mattel, unless they can find a way to produce figures that make collectors happy, or at least don't tease us with unwanted versions of characters that have yet to be made in the DCUC line.

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Vote on the New Marvel Universe Exclusive

..and then when you get one, send one to me, please!!

After last year's "successful" Nick Fury Marvel Universe Exclusive (so successful in fact that I still don't have one, and am not inclined to sell one of my kidneys to get one on ePay), Marvel and Hasbro are offering us a chance to vote on which figure people will be able to scalp - um.. receive as an exclusive for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited Subscribers.

The choices are: Archangel (X-Force Uniform), Ms Marvel (Karla Sofen version) and Norman Osborn in H.A.M.M.E.R. gear. As someone who is a big fan of X-Force and not so much of Dark Reign, Archangel is my pick for sure. We'll see what the poll has to say. I couldn't find any indication of whether or not the exclusive will be available to non-U.S. suscribers, so that's a wait and see as well.

Here's the link to the poll. Remember: Vote early, vote often and vote Archangel!

You can discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post for a chance to win the March AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

DCUC Wave 14 - Up Close

Mattel has released up close pics of DC Universe Classics Wave 14 at Facebook. This is the Wal-Mart *sob* Exclusive *sob* for 2010.

A few thoughts:

I'm really excited about Alan Scott and Obsidian appearing in this line, but not sold on the open-mouthed headsculpts - must be a father and son thing. It's a personal preference thing, and while it's good to see The Horsemen experimenting with doing something different, I just think it looks weird. Still the overall figures look great - Obsidian in particular is smashing and I hope him appearing in his classic form opens the door for more Infinity Inc. members down the road.

I've read comments about the decision to paint the inside of Hourman's cowl yellow instead of the black we might have expected. Well and good if Mattel checked on what the colour is supposed to be, but it's almost always been drawn either as black or with a shadow, so it looks weird. I suspect this will be an oft-repeated custom change for those that want it to look right. Still, it's Rex Tyler, and it's great to see the GA JSA getting so much love.

As for the other figures: Gold's face doesn't look quite right to me - a bit small or something, but the metallic finish and snap-on attachments look fantastic. Kamandi looks a little more like Kamandi here, but without a truly Kirby-esque headsculpt he still looks a bit more like a generic shirtless construction worker than the Last Boy on Earth. Zatanna's hat is a separate piece - hoorah! She looks great, but I'm still not sold on the yellow vest thingy. Tyr looks great, and while I know he's there for Super Powers nostalgia, he's a Legion villain and that's how I'm counting him.

Ultra-Humanite can only be described as Ultra-Badass. I'd love to see him in scale with the other figures, but regardless he looks amazing, and I can't wait to have him. Which, of course, will be all the more challenging by the nature of my geography, but I was very fortunate to have some great US based help in getting Wave 10, and if the distribution is on the same level I should be able to be looked after by the same great friends again. I sure hope so - despite the nit-picky points above this is a wave I'm greatly looking forward to!

You can see the full set of pics at Matty's Facebook Page, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the March AFB Comment of the Month Contest. ** Remember - this month only an AFB Facebook Fan will be chosen for a second prize, so if you're not a Facebook fan - become one now!

Until next time!

A Bevy of Bowen Busts!

Oh, to have the budget to buy every Bowen Statue and Bust I like, and the room to display them!

With most lines I collect, I tend to have some sort of parameters to keep things in some semblance of control. With Bowen's Marvel products, I try to focus on Mini-Busts of Avengers, Defenders and X-Men, which casts a pretty broad net, but does keep me away from quite a number of great looking pieces that would be otherwise hard to resist. As well as collecting current releases, I love keeping an eye out for reasonable deals on past pieces, and I've managed to snag three recently: Polaris, Jack of Hearts and She-Hulk.

Polaris' iconic green costume is one of my favourites, and it's captured beautifully in this bust. I love the dynamic pose that has been sculpted for the Maid of Magnetism. Lovely paint work here is highlighted by a nice metallic sheen on her bodice and headpiece which adds depth and texture. A Marvel Masterpiece indeed!

Last seen as a corpse being used to Disassemble the Avengers, Jack of Hearts is looking in much better shape in Mini-Bust form. I can only imagine what a bear it must have been for the sculptor to create all the detail on his costume, but it's been done brilliantly. Once again, a combination of metallic and flat paints adds to the depth. The blue used on his sleeves and skullcap is a tad dark for my liking, but doesn't stop this bust from cutting an imposing figure.

Finally, an Avenger with a much more distinguished career: She-Hulk. She's captured here in my favourite version - with Byrne-style hair and her well-known purple and white bikini. I like the pose and most of the sculpt, but her waist is perhaps a tad too improbably thin - but don't tell her I said so! The base is also a tad rudimentary compared to Bowen's efforts in it's more modern pieces. Very nice paint work makes for a great piece overall.

So AFB's Bowen shelves are a tad more full, and yet adding these characters just makes to holes for their missing teammates more obvious! I dare say you should stay tuned for some more additions!

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the March AFB Comment of the Month Contest! ** Remember - this month there is an extra prize for an AFB Facebook Fan, so if you're not a Facebook Fan of AFB, become one now!

Until next time!

Blackest Night makes a Brighter Day for DC Direct

In theory, DC Direct should be able to produce a line of DC Universe figures that would blow it's competitors out of the water. Access to the entire DC Universe and the above-retail price point that allows unique sculpts could be quite an arsenal, but the potential for DCD to deliver a consistent plastic DCU has long been squandered, and so the best to be hoped for from the company is decent Modern Age product that can be worked in to a wider collection of the solid classics Mattel is producing. BLACKEST NIGHT is certainly a cash cow for DC Comics and DC Direct is capitalising on this with pretty good results, and of course the odd heartbreaker thrown in. Wave Three is now out, and here's the rundown:

Larfleeze, alongside Atrocitus and Kry'b from previous waves, is an example of everything DCD can do right. A fantastic, unique sculpt not tied down by common bucks, and an unusual, new alien character with whom scale isn't as major factor. A beautiful headsculpt that captures the King of Greed perfectly, with groovy elongated arms and the requisite orange lantern. The Glomulus pack-in is icing on the already delicious cake - and Glomulus is even articulated! Magic stuff.

As AFB's #1 Aqua-fan (yeah, I know AFB is me, but we've had fights about this one, trust me) I was only going to consider the Black Lantern Aquaman figure if I knew that Blackest Night was the vehicle to his return to the land of the living. Now that the BRIGHTEST DAY teasers suggest strongly this is the case, I'm happy to have this on the Aqua-shelf as a "phase" Arthur went through. Great sculpt here - the face is truly horrid and the legs are bowed in. Very nice zombie - er, Black Lantern work.

Star Sapphire is a rehash of DCD's most recent release in the Green Lantern series, so I'm passing on it, but - ooh..... her purple sections are transparent and glittery! What the heck? This figure isn't setting the world on fire, but as a member of the seemingly inevitable DCD Rainbow Lantern Corps she'll do fine. For some reason this version is quite easy to stand, where as the GL version is topple city. Go figure.

Oh, I mentioned DCD's standard dose of heart-wrenching calamity? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Arisia, long neglected in plastic Green Lantern Corps member, and the uber-disappointing trainwreck of the wave. Apart from the unsurprising fact that scale-wise she'll stand too tall against many previous DCD GL releases, the quality on this figure is lacking. It looks like orange-ish coloured plastic has been used here instead of paint, and that impacts on the feel and quality of the finished product. Nice to have, but instead of finally having one of my grails in my hand, I'm left hoping DCUC gets to Arisia soon. Far from surprising, but painful just the same.

Still, DCD's BLACKEST NIGHT efforts are giving us some great sculpts of some significant Modern Age characters that will work in a GL display for years to come, and I'm grateful for that. I'm not going the Black Lanterns in a big way, but there's some goodies to be cherry picked here. It's just a shame to have to cherry pick from something that should be such a better big picture.

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The Beauty, The Beast and The Boneface

Mattel's Masters of the Universe series continues to pump out the releases, and there's a new batch that have made it over the seven seas safely to my shelves. All in a short space of time, I received Adora, Beast Man and Skeletor. Not close enough though: with Adora on subscription, Beast Man up for re-release on the same time and Skeletor a few days later, I paid three lots of shipping for these - frown!

I don't have the same nostalgia for the Princess of Power characters as I do for He-Man and friends, but Adora fits in He-Man's world, so I'm very happy to have her. She looks great - very clean paintwork and nice colours. The only concern I have here is how she compares scale wise to the male figures. She's taller due to the guys' bunched up pose, but she also seems a little bit bigger all over, so just looks a touch out of place.

I've heard lots of great things about Beast Man, but nothing prepared me for how great this figure is in person. Great colours, great scowling face, and fabulous, fabulous costume pieces. The whip is great fun and creates lots of possibilities for posing. I can see that this figure is very quickly going to become one of my favourites in this series.

With Skeletor finally in my posession, I feel like a real Masters of the Universe collector now. I've never seen the first release, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I was surprised by the amount of green under the yellow on Skeletor's face. That's my only query here, sculpt and the rest of the paintwork are great, and the fun range of accessories are much appreciated. Very happy to be able to stage the requisite He-Man and Skeletor battles!

All up, more Masters of the Universe fun, and I'm keen and ready for more! I just received my Battle Cat, so the MOTUC diorama is about to expand greatly - pics and review soon!

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the March AFB Comment of the Month Contest. ** Remember - it's Orange Month at AFB, and in celebration one commenter AND one AFB Facebook fan will receive a prize.

Until next time!

AFB goes Orange for the March Comment Contest - Bonus Chance for Facebook Followers!

First off, thanks to everyone who commented on last month’s blog posts. Congratulations to “Prowl26” for being our winner! Mr. Prowl – – 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 Prowl his choice of either DCUC Wave 12 Iron or the Secret Wars Thor & Enchantress Two-Pack will be on the way from Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff.

Now to March’s Contest: on offer are two great prizes, either the Marvel Select Thing or the Blackest Night Wave 3 Larfleeze figure. As a bonus to AFB's Facebook followers, one commenter AND one FB follower will be chosen for prizes this month! If you're not a follower of AFB on Facebook, become a fan now!

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!