This picture was posted on the G.I. Joe forum Hisstank.com the other day and it made me wish, yet again, that I had a time machine:
DCUC Wonder Twins Packaging in all its Glory
Poe is away doing whatever it is he does on Poe Base Alpha, so it’s up to me the Power Pal known as Paul to bring you this extra juicy video from Mattel:
Yep, it’s the promised Wonder Twins San Diego Comic Con ’09 exclusive packaging in action. This is clearly a cool package with some awesome lights and sound effects. What do you say, Mattel fans? Does it beat last year’s King Greyskull’s cool packaging? I’d say it comes close at the very least, but I guess that depends too on if you’re more a He-Man fan than a DC fan.
Show and Tell > Paul’s Batmania
After doing my Robocop Show and Tell the discussion seemed to focus more on Batman than Robocop. Well, here’s my Batman collection Show and Tell inspired by that conversation. For my Show and Tell, I’m going to do something a bit different. I’m going to show and tell as usual, but there’s a little bit more to the story than what I’ve got here. For the rest of the story, head on over to my blog Toy Bender to get the rest of the scoop. Think of it as the director’s commentary over there. (more…)
Show and Tell > Kenner’s Robocop by Paul
Poe and I have many things in common. We’re both incredibly sexy, we both can bench 300 pounds, and we both love the old Kenner Robocop line from the late ’80s. For today’s show and tell I pulled my beloved Robocop line out of storage to both share and educate. First up is the regular old Robocop:
Good old Peter Weller here has the classic five points of articulation, features a removable helmet, and a stupid cap firing mechanism on his back. He’s also supposed to have a gun that plugs into the side of his leg. It’s one of my favorite features and unfortunately I lost the gun. It was one of my biggest toy accessory losses I had as a kid. (more…)
Paul’s Peg > Slave Leia!
While cruising around the internets I recently ran across a picture of a upcoming Star Wars figure, or at least it’s a rumored figure at the moment.
It’s funny that I was just thinking the other day that they should do an updated Slave Leia. My old one is too tall and doesn’t have enough articulation. Well, it looks like I’ve got what I wanted! Maybe next time I’ll dream about bikini girls washing my car…
…anyway, Leia here looks great (despite the crappy picture), but she is the perfect example why super articulation doesn’t always look the best on female characters. You see, horny dudes usually design female characters so they are nearly nude, which makes the cuts where the points of articulation look very odd. It’s easier to hide articulation on characters with plenty of clothes, like figures of dudes.
I also like the sitting position add on. How else could you get a figure to look good laying around on a throne like Leia does in the film? If this is the real deal, I can’t wait for this figure to come out.
Paul’s Peg > A Truly Great G.I. Joe Custom
The above monster figure is an example of one of the coolest ideas for a custom toy I’ve ever seen and it’s based on something that I hold near and dear to me. You see, the above figure is from an part of a series of episodes of the G.I. Joe cartoon entitled Pyramid of Darkness. In a sort of rip off of Gremlins there are these little furry animals that are suddenly changed into the horrific whip cracking aliens you see here. They’re never really explained in the series and they pretty much sums up why the G.I. Joe cartoon was stupidly awesome.
They also represent something that I thought was weird when I was a kid. Why didn’t they make figures of them? Of course as I got a bit older I realized that it was best that they didn’t, but when Pyramid of Darkness came out I was still pretty little and I embraced all the super weird over the top sci-fi elements found in the cartoons. Now that I’m older, I’m more into the military element of G.I. Joe, but I like that it can be fluid and sometimes incorporate the more fantastic.
Kudos to the customizer, for perfectly capturing something that might otherwise shrugged off as stupid or not worthy of being in the G.I. Joe universe.
Thanks to: HissTank.com
Show and Tell > AT-TE by Paul
When news came out that Hasbro was making an AT-TE I knew I had to have it. This thing is exactly what I would have wanted when I was a kid. It has lots of cool features like firing missiles, a motorized lamp, electronic lights and sounds, and it fits lots of figures. One thing that really helps to make a truly great vehicle or playset, in my opinion, is the ability to hold multiple figures and boy does this AT-TE hold figures.
As you can see, I prefer the Phase I armor of the clone trooper. I have plenty of the Phase II troopers that would look great in this puppy, including some awesome loose clone commanders, but for now I’m stuck on the Phase I. In fact I might buy even more to pack into this thing. (more…)
Paul’s Peg > The New Wal-Mart Exclusive Evolutions Packs
Some images have been released showing off the three new Star Wars Evolution three packs that are exclusive to Wal-Mart. The packs are a new Rebel Pilots pack, a new Imperial pilot type of pack, and finally a commando themed pack.
I fell off the Star Wars collecting bandwagon, but recently got back on when I was reunited with my Star Wars collection. I have really gotten into picking up pilots, so these Wal-Mart exclusives are probably going to end up in my collection. I can’t pass up the opportunity to have another A-Wing pilot or another lady Rebel.
Paul’s Peg > “A Brief Retrospective on Lightsaber Toting Figures” or “Kids Have it Too Easy”
While going through my collection of open Star Wars figures, it suddenly came to me that kids have it really great when it comes to having figures to clash lightsabers. Back in my day there were only three official Star Wars figures that had lightsabers: Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader. You may have had multiple versions of Luke, but if you wanted to reenact a lightsaber scene that didn’t involve coloring a toothpick and putting it in the hands of a Stormtrooper, then you had to go with those three choices. These days, there’s a virtual cornucopia of lightsaber wielding figures to choose from.
Before we proceed let me pause for a moment. I’m not saying that kids couldn’t make other figures into evil or good lightsaber battlers. Kids have tons of imagination and can include other figures into their play worlds. Hell, I literally had Steelheart of the Silver Hawks marry Green Lantern at one point in my childhood for one of my “plots” and I also managed to use Encyclopedias to fill in for the Death Star trash compactor. What I’m getting at here is that there’s one thing between having fun as a kid by mixing all your figures and another where you’re trying to fit the stories you make up into the same world of the movies you’ve seen roughly a billion times. (more…)
Paul’s Peg > The G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and Marvel Universe News Brief
Paul here with more Star Wars and G.I. Joe news. This time I threw in a Marvel Universe tidbit, to make it a kind of Hasbro themed…. in a way.
Sideshow’s Exclusive Crimson Cobra Commander – If you go to San Diego Comic Con this year and want to buy Poe nice gifts, be sure to keep an eye out Sideshow’s Crimson Cobra Commander. Hope you pre-ordered him!
The Creator’s of G.I. Joe Resolute Answer Fan Questions – There’s a nifty video interview with the creator’s of G.I. Joe: Resolute. If you have a burning question about the series, they might have answered it, so check it out.
Alley Viper Review – My online friend Last Best Angry Man got himself a new Alley Viper and it is amazing. I can’t wait for that dang seven pack to become available… and they better release him in some other form so I can squad build. (I can’t afford to army build.)
Nick Fury Mail-Away Deets – In order to get Nick Fury from the Marvel Universe line of figures, you’re going to have to pay to get Marvel’s online comic subscription service. Strangely enough, Poe offered his insights on these kinds of services recently.
Galactic Hero Max Rebo! – For those of you who like Galactic Heroes, there will be a Jabba’s sail barge cinema scene that features an ultra cute Max Rebo. So awesome.