I'm Playing With

Adam Creighton

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I like toys. I'm secure in my maturity (or lack thereof). And toys were meant to played with. So, yes, I open rare and exclusive items, and mess with them, "Toy Story" style. Hard-core toy collectors should probably not read this blog.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Captain America, McCain, and Obama

This may not be the smartest way to make a return to this blog, but dammit, it's topical.

I'm just tired of this round's political ugliness and transparent side-stepping of issues, and felt it might be time for a purist arbiter to weigh in.

I've had this idea for a gag in mind since the Republican and Democratic candidates for the presidency were announced, but didn't think I'd be able to get toys of the candidates. When I saw Jailbreak Toys was going to produce figures for Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, I jumped at the chance for what may be the world's first toy-propped presidential race editorial.

The gag's been long-delayed, thanks (I think) to Jailbreak's massive swing to the Obama camp, so much so that their company site is now all about him. That made it easy to order the Obama figure, but the McCain figure -- while their own product -- was nowhere to be found. I Finally got it from the excellent EntertainmentEarth.com folks, and while I'm glad to finally get the gag out the door, it's only got a few days worth of legs.

More irritating is the quality of the McCain and Obama figures. Besides being gunked with sticky crap out of the box, they've each got one wicked loose arm, which made posing them a beast. Worse, they don't bend at the waste -- so no sitting option, they gotta stand or lie down, which complicated the gag quite a bit (I use poseability in hips and knees quite a bit to cheat scale between actors).

So, they're good for the gag, but probably won't have much life in my collection.

The Captain America is the standard version for which I previously used a variant. The sculpt was made by the excellent (and affable) Dave Cortez. The Red Skull is also from this same "Marvel Face-Off" double set, and was sculpted very nicely by Phil Ramirez.

The flag is from the Marvel Select World War II Ultimate Captain America (a cool-looking, but minimally poseable sculpt).

The fonts (Badaboom and Letter-O-Matic) are from Blambot Comic Fonts and Lettering.

Product picts for the political figs are below. The Red Skull is going to be in an upcoming gag, so I'll save personal product picts until then. If you can't wait, check out picts at MarvelLegends.net.

(As an ironic aside, a boatload of the Obama figures were sold by Jailbreak Toys in a fundraiser for him; but all of the figures are manufactured in China.)

Labels: Hasbro, Jailbreak Toys, Marvel Legends

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Professor X

Professor X from the Toy Biz Marvel Legends line

Let's face it, Professor X (aka Charles Xavier) is a pretty powerful dude (if you have any doubts, play the excellent X-Men Legends video game).

But his bedside manner leaves a bit to be desired. Poster child leader of the X-Men, Cyclops (aka Scott Summers), found out he had a brother (Havok, aka Alex Summers). Turns out the good ol' professor might have known about Alex, but neglected to tell Scott.

But that's not enough Summers in the world, so we need to factor in Scott's/Alex's daddy Corsair (aka Major Christopher Summers), thought dead, but not so much. (Yes, I know things have changed.)

But that's not enough Summers in the world, so Marvel saw fit to add Vulcan (aka Gabriel Summers). Who Professor X and one-time lover Moira MacTaggert (for a dude in a wheelchair, the professor gets around) knew about, but neglected to mention to Scott and Alex.

Feel like a soap opera yet?

This particular post was inspired by the recent start of the X-Men: Emperor Vulcan miniseries. Gabriel is a bit peeved at Scott, Alex, Christoper, and Charles. And the rest of creation. He has issues.

I dig this toy. This is a fully articulated figure (a la sculptors Sam Greenwell and Phil Ramirez) from the Toy Biz Marvel Legends "Galactus Series". Great sculpt and deco, and there's something about a fully-articulated guy in a wheelchair (and believably constrainable, non - gold - techy - hoverchair - wheelchair) that I like.

I like the Cerebro helmet accessory, but like the helmet for Ant-Man (from the Marvel Legends "Giant Man Series"), it's a bit snug, and I keep worry about scarring the paint or head sculpt. Still cool, though.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Optimus Prime and Mojo

Optimus Prime from The War Within morphing into Robot Heroes Optimus Prime, a la Mojo.

Above is what happens when I get impatient to post in my toy blog.

Fact is, I like a lot of specific stuff. Chief among them are Transformers and comic books. And I like messing with continuity. It riles the fanboys.

Transformers are the new hotness (at least for those with no sense of history) so I wanted to play with a couple of the recent toy incarnations while I wait for the DVD release of the Michael Bay movie next month.

The big guy on the left ("starting Prime") is The War Within comic book Optimus Prime from Hasbro's Titanium Series die-cast line (and yes, you've seen him before). He's a great sculpt, but as I've mentioned before, in robot form, a bit loose on the joint front, so he's pose ability challenged -- most of the set-ups with him involve amazing feats of balance on my part.

The whiney, perceptive Optimus at the end ("Ending Prime") is from Hasbro's Robot Heroes line. All of the G1 stuff from that line rocks.

Mojo is a Build-a-Figure (BAF) from the Toy Biz Marvel Legends series 15 (aka "The Mojo Series"). Mojo is from the X-Men comic book mythos, and is a great character that parodies licensing and commercialism. This is a cool (and creepy) sculpt from Phil Ramirez that's well designed and decoed for Mojo himself, his chair / throne thingy, and the spider legs that are attached. I only wish his "tail" was pose able, rather than fixed plastic (makes a good handle, though).

The "sequel" statement is multi-layered. There's more coming from me with Mojo -- I've been planning something with him for several months, and am now just waiting on some specific things to show up on my doorstep. And, there's going to be a Transformers II movie. And the HD DVD barb comes out of a bit of a PR whoopsie related to HD DVD, Blu-ray, and Transformers.

So there's all of that. Plus I got to play with some photo morphing software, which worked well enough for being free (after rebates), but has some poor design shortcomings that will keep me from using it for most of my work.

Labels: comic books, Hasbro, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, Transformers

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is a smelly elf.

I'm nothing if not juvenile.

There's no way some version of this gag hasn't been done, but I couldn't find it, and my posed Mr. Sinister inspired me for this follow-up (you should check that post out to get the full gag).

I actually went back and forth on whether to use the German for "excuse me" ("Entschuldigung") or "I'm sorry" ("Es tut mir Leid"). While I like the sound of "Entschuldigung" better, I liked the "tut" in "Es tut mir Leid" (yes, a brainy juvenile is a frightening thing).

This figure is from the Marvel Legends "Galactus Series" (aka, "Series 9"), and is a Sam Greenwell / Phil Ramirez sculpt. I really like the sculpt and pose ability -- even Nighty's third toe / "pose able dew claw" is ... pose able. As are each of the two toes and two fingers on each appendage. The thumb, unfortunately, not so pose able.

The face is well done, though I wish it had more of a "I'm-a-happy-go-lucky swashbuckler elf" look, rather than a "I'm still pissed Chuck Austen inserted his biases to muck with my religious origin background".

My only other gripe is the hip joints rest out a big wide, which is only really noticeable if someone points them out. Like I just did. Because I like to share.

The text font is Blambot's Letter-O-Matic, and the "BAMF" font is their Umberto font. I wanted to use their "Oh Crap!" font (for an additional double entendre), but it didn't look as good.

I am so juvenile ...

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz

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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Mr. Sinister ...

Marvel Legends Mr. Sinister figure

Much as I love my Captain America / Halo crossover, Cap's still dead, the Halo 3 beta (and here; and here) is about to end, and this particular blog needs a new entry.

Enter the ToyBiz Marvel Legends incarnation of Mr. Sinister, one of the X-Men's main baddies.

Great paint job, and a lot of pose ability, with this particular offering having solid joints (which I really appreciate; a bunch of my collection came loosey-goosey out of the box). The cape is some rubbery material, and has the trademark "I veally vant to suck your blood" collar and torn fringe-ish look.

And this is another Dave Cortes sculpt, and has fantastic detail. That dude is amazingly talented.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz

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Friday, May 11, 2007

Captain America & Master Chief

Page 1 of farcical Marvel Captain America and Halo Master Chief crossover. Captain America is shot.

Page 2 of farcical Marvel Captain America and Halo Master Chief crossover. Master Chief realizes he may have made an error.

Halo is wicked hot. The beta for Halo 3 starts Monday. Halo gets a comic book series this summer from Marvel. Captain America was recently shot and killed, and we're not yet sure what up (sorry if I ruined it for you, but it was in the New York Times, kids).

And crossovers are hot. Like the New Avengers / Transformers crossover that's also coming this summer.

And Marvel keeps mentioning Halo and Xbox. Like in Avengers: Initiative #2 (how blatant is that?).

So, I've merged grassy knoll theory with a crossover that should happen, but in my imaginings has gone horribly awry. I'm guessing there's a subset of intersected geeks that will find this funny. That subset will get the additional homage on page 1.

The Captain America is the unmasked variant from the Marvel Legends Face-Off Series 1. This is a great, well balanced and painted sculpt (another great one from Dave Cortes). I can seriously pose him in more positions without him falling over, because of the weighting. I'm not crazy about the lack of mobility of the head (couldn't get it to "snap back" from the sniper shot), and it'd be nice if the waist rotated.

The Master Chief is the original Halo figure from the Joyride Studios Series 1. They know how to sculpt these things (other than the knees, on this particular model; but John's a cyborg, so they get latitude).

I think my theory of a second shooter holds water ...

Labels: comic books, Halo, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, variant, video games

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Moon Knight and Man-Thing ...

Moon Knight fighting Man-Thing

One of my pet peeves is speculators. Folks who buy things on the speculation they'll go up in price, and then sell them for a higher margin.

This arguably nearly destroyed the comic book market in the 1990s, and it's pretty bad in the toy market -- and pretty obvious with the Marvel Legends line of toys.

I'm a fan. I get characters I like and sculpts that are cool. I'm not interested in paying a premium for toys I'm going to open, play with, and do animated films with.

A couple of the (multitude of) figures I've wanted recently are Man-Thing and Moon Knight. But not the "regular" Moon Knight (who, oddly is in a black, Batman-esque suit). No, I wanted the "variant" Moon Knight (who's wearing his correct silver duds).

I was never able to find the correctly attired MK in the stores, but I've recently been sucked into the eBay Marvel Legends aftermarket, and had been bidding on figures I want, with (usually) low ceilings. Just to see if I got lucky.

I scored this bad-boy for $13.01, which, though not the $8 I'd have rather paid for it, is way better than the $25 it regularly goes for on the aftermarket.

And Marvel's Man-Thing is just a weird, cool character (like Deathlok or Beta Ray Bill) from an older Marvel Legends series, and I got him for way less than MK. And he beat out DC's Swamp Thing by just a few months in 1971. That's worth something, right?

On the technical side, these are both good sculpts. All of the joints are good, though Man-Thing's got a tendency to drift in his midriff, which is probably to be expected (he is made of swamp muck, after all).

Moon Knight's got lots of jointage, and comes with a staff and nunchakus (which look to be recycles from the Daredevil Face-Off figure). The attention to detail is nice, and the add-on rubber belt also has a loop on the back (under the cape) for storing the nunchakus. Nice!

Man-Thing was sculpted by Phil Ramirez, and Moon Knight was sculpted by rockstar Dave Cortes.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, variant

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Monday, April 2, 2007

The Kingpin

Kingpin action figure from the Marvel Legends Face Off series

This is the variant Kingpin from the Marvel Legends Face Off series. This is the cat that goes with the variant Daredevil I've got wailing on Bullseye.

Yes, I continue to take my variants out of their packaging. Then pose them. Then mock them. Repeatedly. Because I care for them.

This is actually a very good sculpt and paint job, and I prefer it to the standard white (comparatively serene) mold and paint job.

The downside is he's a hefty rotund sculpt, so posing is restricted by his center of gravity. His massive center of gravity.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, variant

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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

marvellegends.net

OK, so maybe I'm not playing with this. More like coveting somebody who is playing.

marvellegends.net is a gallery of one guy's personal collection of toys -- Mostly Marvel Legends and other Marvel toys. And a lot of variants.

You can get high-quality picts of these things other places, but his placing the series (or multiple series) side by side to show relative scale is pretty useful in determining that part of the authenticity of the sculpts.

His display alone is wicked cool, and he also has news updates about toys, toy shows, and links to comics and videos made with the toys.

And despite my dissatisfaction with the Hasbro takeover of the Marvel Legends line, I did learn from marvellegends.net (a la the New York Toy Fair) there will be a WWII Captain America and Hydra soldier in the "Marvel Legends Queen Brood Series" (Series 3). I'm hoping the Hydra soldier is based on the unreleased ToyBiz prototype, but the Cap is going to be hard pressed to top the Marvel Select version (other than on the articulation front).

The site's built in frames, which totally sucks, but the content is great, so check it out, and benefit from another man's obsession with toys.

Labels: comic books, coming soon, Marvel Legends, variant

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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Daredevil / Bullseye

Matt Murdock's not OK with that whole Karen Page thing ...

Bullseye killed Matt Murdock's (Daredevil's) main squeeze Karen Page in Daredevil vol. 2, #5.

I thought this death was kind of a cast-off deal, and really, if you were DD, wouldn't you be pissed?

This is a variant Daredevil from the Marvel Legends Face Off series, taking out his anger on a Marvel Legends Bullseye (also a variant from the Galactus series).

The font is "Letter-O-Matic" from Blambot Comic Fonts and Lettering.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, variant

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Civil War: Captain America and Spider-Man

I snapped this pict based on the current Civil War nastiness going on in the Marvel Comics.

Peter Parker has finally pulled his head out and joined the Secret Avengers, but he's a little late to the game and everyone knows who he is. Cap's been known to be Steve Rogers for a long time, which makes his fighting the whole Super Hero Registration Act interesting.

These are both variant versions of the Marvel Legends Icons line from ToyBiz (now Marvel Toys), before the line was handed over to Hasbro.

Labels: comic books, Marvel Legends, Toy Biz, variant

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