TRU Heroes

June 8, 2009 | Poe

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This weekend I came across something interesting at TRU. I’m a sucker for guns that fit 6″-scale figures, and I’m always on the lookout for more. I bought a Cannon Spike Cammy just for her Uzi, Walther PPK and Skorpion–and also the knife, which I gave to Movie Masters Joker.

A year or so ago, I came across a line of cheap G.I. Joe knock-off figures at my local pharmacy. While they were only 4″ tall, their weapons are clearly made for 6″-scale figure–one rifle is longer than the figures. While the guns have no paint applications, they’re molded in gunmetal gray, have surprisingly detailed sculpting, and unlike most DCUC weapons, they’re made from stiff plastic. You can see Deathstroke holding the shotgun (maybe a Franchi SPAS-12?) in this shot, and the rifle (which I think is based on a PSG1, but the toymakers added a banana clip it probably can’t actually use) in these shots of a Plan-B Emergency Forces SWAT figure.

Anyway, this weekend I came across a set of these figures under the name “True Heroes.” The back of the package says they’re designed and produced by Toys ‘R Us themselves, which seems odd since they’re the exact same figures available at my pharmacy. Presumably both companies are just buying a generic figure line from some Chinese company (Chap Mei, perhaps?) and using it as a store brand. TRU had both the two-packs I’d seen at the pharmacy (for $3 each) and six-packs for $8. While one pack had all the guns I’d already bought (the rifle, shotgun, and Mp5K), the other one had a plethora of guns I’d never even seen before, including an Uzi that’s even more accurately sculpted than the one that came with Cammy. (more…)

Toy review roundup (via Fanmode)

June 8, 2009 | Poe

fanmode-copy Jeff Parker reviews the Hot Toys Predator Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer and Private Billy Sole 1/6-scale figures. Excerpt: “Well, once again we are in the territory of Dallas and Kane’ where one actor/agent/lawyer has given permission to use his likeness and the other hasn’t …”

Newton Gimmick reviews the Playmates TMNT Mini-Mutants Exoskeleton Shredder figure. Excerpt: “… while it’s obviously inspired by Exo-Squad it has tons of little traits that definitely make it TMNT.”

Dave Van Domelen reviews the Hasbro Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Scout class Rollbar, Dead End, Knock Out, Dirt Boss, Depthcharge and Ransack figures. Excerpt: “… it seems like they used a much more brittle plastic in most of these than the designs would have worked best with.” (See also: 1, 2, 3, 4.) (more…)

Congratulations! You’re a Poester!

June 8, 2009 | Poe

OK, I know I said I was going to have a poll about how I would refer to you, my dear readers, but in reviewing your suggestions, I found nerdbot‘s suggestion of “Poester” so perfect that I didn’t want to risk it losing out.

“Poester” conveys pretty much everything I was looking for. It obviously relates well to the site while not sounding too abstract (like “Articulates”), and it has a nice pun on “poster,” which, obviously many of you are when you “post” comments. And it works better than “Poe-ser” (or as I would have spelled it, Poezer), which, while clever, has some obviously negative connotations I’d like to avoid.

Plus, “Poester” sounds like what Richard Laymer, Rob Schneider’s SNL character of  “Makin’ Copies” fame, would call me. And that’s cool, right? Hello?

Anyway, nerdbot, shoot me an email and I’ll reward you with something keen.

(Also: your regularly scheduled It Figures will be late today. I’ve got the day off and I’m busy cleaning the apartment.)

Show and Tell > Captain Scarlet

June 8, 2009 | Poe

Paul of Toy Bender and Robot’s Pajamas has offered up an interesting pair of figures I’ve never even heard of for today’s Show and Tell.

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These two fellows here are Captain Scarlet and Captain Black from the British television series Captain Scarlet. The show was made by the same people who made the much more famous Thunderbirds, but I’ve always liked Captain Scarlet a lot more. The show features a group of super agents who battle some evil Martians called the Mysterons. Captain Black was once a good guy who was turned evil (and indestructible) by the Mysterons. The same thing happened to Captain Scarlet, but for some bizarre reason he maintained his original personality and therefore he’s on the side of the good guys. This lead to the great gimmick of Captain Scarlet “dying” horrifically at the end of each episode.

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Comic Review > Batman and Robin #1

June 8, 2009 | Poe

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I got on board Grant Morrison’s run on Batman just a month or two before the “Batman R.I.P.” storyline began. I was so fascinated (and sometimes frustrated) with what I read that I went back and bought every issue he’d written since #655.

After a brief interval taken up by the bombastic and exceedingly anticlimactic “Battle for the Cowl,” Morrison is back to writing the Caped Crusader. But this time, it’s Dick Grayson as the Dark Knight, and Morrison’s own controversial creation, Damian Wayne–the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul–as Robin.

I’ll admit I’m one of those people who think you really can’t replace Bruce Wayne. That particular superhero/secret identity dyad is too iconic, like Clark Kent and Superman. At one time, fans might have pointed to Wally West’s Flash or Kyle Rayner’s Green Lantern as evidence that this “legacy” idea can work, but–aside from the fact that Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are back anyway–both of those heroes had their own predecessors in the Golden Age. Unlike them, Bruce Wayne has been Batman since before the very first Flash or Green Lantern appeared in comics. The time to replace Batman was the early Silver Age, before the 1960s TV show cemented Batman and stately Wayne Manor as American cultural icons.

What’s more, it’s largely Morrison’s own fault it’s hard to accept anyone else as Batman now. It was Morrison who created the “Bat-god” in the pages of JLA, and this characterization was carried into the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. As Morrison has suggested in interviews, “Batman R.I.P.” was essentially a mediation on that idea.

The upshot of all this is: enjoy the ride while it lasts, because chances are Bruce will be back in the cowl within a year or two. With that in mind, Batman and Robin is shaping up to be a fun–and profoundly weird–ride. (more…)

ToyFare #144 to debut DCUC Question

June 5, 2009 | Poe

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ToyFare‘s Justin Aclin just announced, via his Twitter account, that next week’s issue will feature the first exclusive photos of the DC Universe Classics Question!

As you may recall, the Question was the winner of a fan voting contest in ToyFare last year. Oh, and be sure to follow Justin on Twitter!

Review > T-800 Pescadero Escape (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

June 5, 2009 | Poe

I’m willing to argue with anyone that Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the high water mark of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career. Between his performance as the cybernetic villain in the first film and the 1991 sequel, he’d become an international superstar with a string of hits including Commando, Predator, Twins, and Total Recall. After T2, Schwarzenegger would veer between serviceable action flicks (True Lies, Eraser, Terminator 3) and bombs (Last Action Hero, Batman & Robin) before giving up acting for the lesser stress of governing the world’s fifth-largest economy. But none of the post-T2 films came close to matching that same mixture of action, storytelling, and good old fun.

Now, as they have so many times before, NECA has answered my prayers–this time for a true Terminator 2 figure, complete with an Arnold likeness worthy of, dare I say it, Hot Toys themselves. According to the packaging, there are five figures in the line (though I’m not sure they’re all out yet): an Endoskeleton, the “Man or Machine” model with the stripped-off cybernetic arm, the demolished “Final Battle” T-800, the “Cyberdyne Showdown” T-800 carrying the minigun, and the subject of this review, the “Pescadero Escape” T-800. I chose this one for the simple reason that he’s the basic, iconic Terminator. (more…)

Meet Gecko!

June 5, 2009 | Poe

Recently, through the magic that is Twitter, I discovered Weirdo Toys–a blog about strange, bizarre toys (usually action figures of some kind). It soon became clear that the site’s owner, Justin, and I shared a fondness for a number of oddities, such as the Madballs Head Poppin’ Action Figures and the Imperial Universal Monsters.

So when Justin Twittered a photo of a purple dinosaur-looking He-Man knock-off, I wrote him to express how awesome I thought the figure was–and to my surprise, he sent him to me!

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A 6″ Mattel Superman/Batman “Public Enemies” line?

June 5, 2009 | Poe

Rob over at Raving Toy Maniac–who I’ve vouched for here before, and is generally a reliable guy for this sort of thing–says he’s heard something about a 6″ line by Mattel based on Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (presumably the upcoming animated film, since DC Direct has already done a bunch of figures based on the graphic novel). (more…)