Together forever - in plastic

Their love story on the TV show may have come to a tragic end, but at least Lee Adama and Anastasia Dualla can remain together in plastic, thanks to this Battlestar Galactica 2-pack from DST.

I’m sold on this line of figures because I love the series, but I’ve never been sold on the headsculpts in terms of resemblance to the characters – I think they’ve nailed Helo and maybe Tyrol but not come near many of the others, although I have to say that from the solicits for Series 4 that Roslin and the Old Man look pretty good. The Apollo headsculpt, however, is off the mark for me, although it seems to work better than the last version (if it is in fact different..) and sadly the Dualla headsculpt looks alot more like “generic African American woman” than the lovely Kandyse McClure.

It’s a shame the faces don’t quite hit the mark, because the bodies on this line of figures are very solid. The detail on    the uniforms is brilliant and they pose well and stand easily.

One of the most outstanding features of figures from DST is the wide range of character-specific accessories that come with each figure, and this two-pack has a great range, including Dualla’s headset (not that I’ve worked out how to attach it) and Apollo’s grandfather’s law book which plays an important part in one episode. There’s also a bunch of officialish-looking Galactica documents and folders and a pair of boxing gloves for Apollo.

These two make impressive additions to the BSG collection, and I’m looking forward to the Boomer / D’Anna 2-pack, Series 4 and the recently announced Starbuck & Leoben 2-pack to add to it further. Not planning on getting the Razor series at this stage – blasted budgets and the like!

I’m trusting there’s going to be a Series 5, since the collection isn’t going to be complete without Tigh and Baltar at least…. and I might suggest Gaeta and Tori?

Until next time!

Previews Picks for October

This post is slow off the mark, partly because I've been on holidays, and partly because this month's Previews offerings are pretty measly. A better title for this might have been "slim pickings for October", because there really isn't much that lights my candle in the Toys and Oddities section this month. There is, however, plenty to poke fun at, so let's get started:

I Want: Battlestar Galactica Series 4 Action Figures includes Adama (finally!), Roslin (finally!) and..... President Lee Adama? Glad to see that the headsculpts for Adama and Roslin are more spot-on than some previous waves, but sad to see that a spot that could have been taken by one of BSG's many deserving supporting characters has been filled by a basically one off version of a character that we're already getting two versions of. Hopefully this means there's alot of life left in the line, because I'm not leaving until I get my Tigh, Baltar, Cally and Gaeta, thank you.

I Wish: Bowen Statues Abomination Statue is another amazing effort from Bowen Statues. Abomination isn't a character I'm going to break my bank for, but dang these are amazing. I also like collecting pictures of these things because it makes my humble purchases look more normal when I show this big babies to my wife. Everyone wins.

I Wish It Was Better: Christopher Reeve as Superman Statue is something that should have been done a long time ago. After the fairly impressive likeness of Lynda Carter in the LC as WW statue one might have expected the DCD statuemeisters to nail Reeve as well, so it's disappointing to see that they've missed the mark. It's nearly there but misses some of Chris' distinctive features. To be fair, not something I would be buying anyway, but it's a shame that the Reeve fans aren't getting quite the joy that the Lynda Carter fans did, because, well..... the Reeve fans tend to be a bit more normal, and it's nice to see the normal people win........

I Wish It Wasn't So Momentous: The LiveWire figure from Superman / Batman Series 1 Gazillion is a BIG DEAL because it's the "First Ever Livewire Figure!!". Fine, great, but I think it says alot that this is worthy of a shout-out in Previews. It's a good design and on my "buy" list, but is it really newsworthy? Meh. Also interesting to see another version of an Aquaman that would seem to be on his way out. Not that I'm ever going to complain about an Aquaman figure, but it is interesting...

I Wish It Wasn't Real: The Spirit Movie 12" Figure - getting a movie figure before we get a comic-accurate figure, particularly after Cooke's excellent effort with this character? Frowns, everyone. Frowns, frowns. Oh plus, the dude looks like he's squatting to take a dump. Nothing is screaming winner here for me.

I Wish I Could Have this for Christmas: Electronic Star Trek Tribble Toy. Come on, who doesn't want a noise-making Tribble!! One of the silliest but most memorable episodes of The Original Series is now this silly but memorable interactive toy. This definitely belongs on my novelty shelf in my office!

I Don't Know What To Wish About: The Tonner Dolls Malificent ...... thing. I know this doesn't fall into the realm of what most of us would be interested in, but I just thought it was worth putting this.. interesting creation here as a visual reminder that the same people who make the Tonner Superhero dolls make.... this. Enough said.

Like I said, it was a bit of a catalogue of yawns this month. At least I'll be saving some money in a few months time!

A Face I Almost Recognise: BSG Series 2

I've got a few posts backed up at the moment, and while it's school holidays here (school in Oz is broken up into four terms of 9-10 weeks each with a 2 or 3 week break in between each except for Summer (Dec-Jan) which is a much longer break) there's alot to be done around the house, and in a couple of days I'm on double Daddy-duty as Mrs AFB is going off for a work thing, so I'm going to try to teach the kids to garden so that I can catch up with all this toy stuff. Presently they are enthusiastically into weeding, but can't yet discriminate between between plants and weeds. Wish me luck.

First cab off the rank of backed up toys is Series Two of the new Battlestar Galactica figures. This series features Starbuck, Kat, flight gear Helo and a non-blood-splattered Cylon (my blood-splattered Cylon just arrived today with my SDCC Exclusives, watch this space, but wasn't around at the time of photographing).

The good: There is good consistency across the line so far, with everyone pretty much in scale (most accomplished by sharing body sculpts, but hey, whatever gets you there.) The pilot uniforms are particularly detailed. The figures are all easy to pose and stand well on their own. Each of the figures, even the Cylon, comes with extra sets of hands. I particularly like the hands with playing cards that Starbuck and Kat come with! Starbuck also comes with a cigar which is another fun accessory.

The Cylon figure is brilliant, although I did find it a little hard to get him/it to stand upright. It cuts an imposing figure above the other characters.

The bad: with the amount that DST is saving by reusing bodies in this line, you'd think they could really pay attention to the headsculpts and make sure they're spot on. Kat is the best likeness here by far, and I'd put Helo up there too if he didn't have that vacant stare. It's a shame that Starbuck, much like Apollo in the first wave, disappointingly misses the mark. It's encouraging to see that the sculpts for Adama and Roslin (Wave 4) look to be much more spot on, but it's a shame to have two of the biggest characters in the series practically unrecognisable.

The range of characters covered so far in this series, including supporting characters like Hotdogs and Kat, speaks well for the future of the line, although "President Lee Adama" in Wave 4 seems like a bit of filler. I'm very hopeful for a Wave 5 consisting of Baltar, Tigh (with eyepatch variant) and perhaps Cally and Gaeta before we see this come to an end.

I just hope I can recognise them.

Anyone want to help a mate out?

Gotta love Con exclusives, especially when you live a bizbillion miles away from all of the cons! Action Figure Insider has given the heads up on a couple of exclusives that this Aussie (by marriage) lad is drooling over, but the household coffers probably aren't up to funding an overseas trip just to get them. I just thought I'd put these out there in case any of AFB's tens of loyal readers (actually it seems like we're building up to more than that but I'll be cautious in my estimating) are feeling super generous in the con season.

Firstly, I loves my new Battlestar Galactica and related figures, even if the 2nd wave of DST toys is taking FOREVER to come out and the 3rd wave seems to have lost the plot a bit with the inclusion of Razor characters before we have key players like Cmdr. Adama, Roslin, Tigh or Baltar.....

But I digress - my BSG collection simply won't be complete without the groovy DST SDCC Exclusive Blood-Spattered Cylon!! Colour me weird, but why does this one appeal to me 100 times more than the non blood-spattered version?? Maybe we don't want the answer to that.

And then there's the Alex Ross Flash Gordon. I know that lots of folk have "issues" with Ross' seeming need to remake everything he likes into his own image, but I'm a bit of a Flash Gordon tragic (Flash!! Ah-ahhhhhhhhhh...!! - need I say more??)

This exclusive is "Classic Flash" in his football gear - complete with football!! Even better, it's in the 7" scale so will fit right in with Ross JUSTICE figures. That sounds cynical, but I really do want this figure. Even though it's Ross. It's Flash Gordon. That wins. Just.

Last year my LCS managed to get in the Star Trek TWOK SDCC Exclusives so I'm hoping they can help me. Dang it's hard to be on the other side of the world at this time of year!

I just keep reminding myself that my mother and I get along much better on different continents.......

Flash!! Ah-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Many thanks to AFI for the news and pics)

Battlestar Galactica Wave 1

I am a huge fan of the modern Battlestar Galactica series, and was really excited to hear that DST was producing figures from the show, but didn't preorder when I saw the solicits as it just didn't seem that they'd nailed the headsculpts (I'm hedging my bets on the upcoming Heroes line for the same reasons). When DST has done an overall outstanding job with the headsculpts on the Star Trek products it's hard to see why they can't do it elsewhere.

When I saw Apollo and Caprica Six in my LCS I decided to pick them up, as Six in particular looks much better in person than in the solicits. Satisfied with the results, I then decided to chase down the rest of the wave.

I'm going to name Chief Tyrol as my favourite figure in the wave. Probably the best headsculpt. Apollo is a bit of a disappointment in that category as it just doesn't capture the actor.

Apart from Six, each figure comes with a good range of accessories - rifles, handguns. a med kit for Tyrol and helmets for Apollo and Hotdogs which are well constructed and look great when on.

I could take or leave Hotdogs and Sam Anders, but their inclusion the first wave is very promising in terms of the range of characters that are going to be offered in this series. However if we don't get a Roslin and Adama soon I think I'll riot!

My biggest complaint about the BSG figures is that you have to go to the four corners of the earth to get the whole wave, what with multiple company-specific exclusives in one wave. All extra fun when you're doing it from Aussieland! However, this first effort is good enough for me that I'll do the chasing thing again for Wave Two!