Jan 30, 2018

Fake movie trailer got my hopes up...

Besides the late Steve Irwin...
-Hugh Jackman?
Nope...
-Margot Robbie?
No... Think about a knoife...

Well The Australian Tourism Board or something, made an ad in the form of a fake Crocodile Dundee sequel where pretty much every Australian Actor, and Russell Crowe have an appearance...

I feel like an idiot for falling for it and now I kinda want to watch a sequel about Crocodile Dundee's son returning to Australia.

Seriously, how come most of the coolest trailers end up being fake... I fell for this, feel like an idiot and now I'm sharing it but I'm giving you the chance I didn't have...

GTA figures...

After rambling about Funko POPs (just bought a few Hot Topic exclusives because I had Hot Cash about to expire.) I need to look at potential REAL Action Figures... That are NOT Loyal Subjects, whose QC has gotten. Worse. I got a Tygra, which I was going to use as a joke about completing Mattel's line-up, but he's like The Goddess...

So, I began thinking: You know, it would be cool if Diamond Select or McFarlane made GTA toys... OK, Diamond Select is better than McFarlane, cause they know Articulation...
Yes, I've seen the he 2011 Sideshow Collectibles Claude... I weep inside and outside. But I'll be frank, not into Sideshow or Hot Toys stuff.

So I was thinking: a Diamond Select line of GTA figures would be cool.
You'd have Claude, Tommy, CJ, Niko, Luis, Johnny, Trevor, Franklin, and Michael.
Have each character come with certain weapons. And the box should have a definitely not for children and adults Collectibles written in the box to avoid issues with the moronic Breaking Bad Mom.
As much as I'd like to, that would mean no dildo for CJ... Pack the figures, maybe a couple of extra hands, weapons, and a License Plate stand stating city and year:
Like say: Claude has a 2001 Liberty City license plate, while CJ has a 1992 Los Santos plate.

But, this is just a random wish, wondering why hasn't Rockstar allowed this... Heck! I'd even settle for some piss poor QC Loyal Subjects stuff.

Jan 29, 2018

Top 30 Funko POPs I'd like to have (that are unlikely)

I mean, there are certain Characters that haven't been made into POPs that I'd like to see. My Mom would've killed for a Magnum P.I. POP. I'm also aware that Funko tries not to do "Normal looking people" except when they do... Golden Girls, Hillary Clinton, Bob Ross, Donald Trump, The Saved by the Bell ones... I missed out on Cheerleader Kelly Kapowski... Mmmm! Kelly Kapowski...
So here's my list of top 30 series or Characters that I'd like to see on POPs.

30: Knight Rider:
I know most of the fun of Knight Rider is KITT... Which Funko could release and have a KARR repaint. Something similar happens to Michael Knight and Garthe Knight. Toss in Devon and Bonnie and you have a full set. and there's a Baywatch Mitch Buchanon POP...

29: Boy Meets World (and Girl Meets World if necessary):
Let's be honest here: it's all about Cory and Shawn, I MEAN Cory and Topanga Eric and Mr. Feeny. Especially Feeny. A BMW wave could be: Cory, Shawn, Topanga, Eric, Mr. Feeny, and Plays with Squirrels.

28: Full(er) House:
The Characters for these are rather obvious.
If we're going Full House: Danny, Jesse, Joey w/ Mr. Woodchuck, DJ, Steph, and Becky... Cause screw the Olsen Twins.
If it's Fuller House, then DJ with Tommy, Steph, Kimmy, Jackson, Ramona, Max.

27: Urkel (just Urkel):
Urkel made and broke Family Matters. I'd totally get an Urkel. I've seen an Urkel Custom floating around the interwebs.

26: Fresh Prince of Bel Aire:
Y'ALL know my disdain towards Will Smith... But I love Carlton, Geoffrey, Uncle Phil, even Jazz. This one lends itself for variants. Normal Jazz, being tossed Jazz, Normal Suit Uncle Phil, Pillowy mounds of mashed potatoes Uncle Phil. Intro Fresh Douche, School Uniform Fresh Douche,  and Carlton has to be in mid Carlton Dance while holding a candle. Both Ain't Viva come to mind.

25: American Pie:
Nuff'said! If we have Game of Thrones, Freddy and Jason, this is nothing.

24: Metal Gear Solid:
Just the first MGS (Shadow Moses) lends itself for a few variants.
Solid Snake, Stealth Camo Snake, shirtless tortured Snake.
Ocelot, One armed Ocelot
Liquid with and without Trenchcoat, Miller disguise.
Grey Fox and Stealth Camo Grey Fox
Otacon with pissed pants, Stealth Camo Otacon
Then we have Mantis, Wolf, Raven, Meryl...
Heck Colonel Campbell, Mei Ling, and Naomi could have a variant each: Normal colors and Codec colors.
Last but not least Johnny Sasaki.

23: FFVII:
Mentioning games and not mentioning a Final Fantasy here would be wrong. We can get about fifteen figures easily.

22: Mythbusters (the originals):
It's a six figure set: Savage, Hyneman, Kari, Grant, Tori, and Buster.

21: Captain Planet:
It's Captain Planet, what can I say about him?

20: Miley Cyrus:
House of Rants had a Miley fan past stage.  Preferably if it's Tryhard Miley.

19: Ron Jeremy:
We know why he is famous and it would be an interesting POP to have.

18: The Room:
Ohai Funko POPs! If you're making Funko POPs of crappy movies...
Sharknado POP I'm talking about thee. Getting Tommy Wiseau as a POP would be amazing. Either Hai Doggy or I did not hit her would be fine. (Mark would be a great bonus)

17: Cinemassacre:
The Angry Videogame Nerd, Bullshit guy, Board James, maybe variants of the Nerd, one with the gaming accesories, the normal AVGN, and a different pose for AVGN with Shit Pickle.

16: Nostalgia Critic:
If we're having the AVGN, we need his "rival". We could get at least two variants out of NC: Normal outfit, Dictator outfit... OF COURSE!! Bonus Characters could be Malcolm, Tamara, Rob with the Raptor mask, Santa Christ.

15: ALF:
Normal version and flocked version... Seems like an obvious nostalgic choice, but I can't believe he hasn't been made.

14: Mrs. Doubtfire:
There's plenty of potential for variants here, not to mention that it would be nice to have a Robin Williams themed display.

13: CSI:
Mostly because of Horatio Caine, but I'd take a Gil Grissom as well.

12: Highlander:
Connor, Ramirez, Kurgan, Duncan, Richie... You could even have headless variants, like the Bed Stark from 5 years ago. Mom would've bought the hell out of the MacLeod ones.

11: Barney the Dinosaur:
You have Reptar, Godzilla, the upcoming Raptors and Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park, we NEED BARNEY... For reasons...
What? I'm going to find a wae to get the Target Goldblum...

10: Apache Chief...
We have the Wonder Twins, so an excuse to have a six inch Apache Chief POP is not needed... eunuch Chuck and all that.


9:Neon Genesis Evangelion
Some would argue that it would be expensive if the EVAs and some angels are made in the large scale. True, but it would be so awesome. That way we could have the pilots in uniform, and in civilian clothes. If it were up to me, Shinji would be in the Yogurt scene pose. Gendo's pose is obvious. But you get the idea.

8: Jackass:
Think about it... Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius (bonus points if he's dressed as the devil), Steve-O whose back tattoo should be of his Funko Pop self... But it would be a bit hard to see due to the small size of the Pops...

7: Darkstalkers:
A rather small roster compared to say, Street Fighter... 18 figures cover the entire series.

6: Chuck Norris:
Do I need to explain why? It's Chuck Norris!

5: Rambo:
I will be honest here: I don't need a full line Just Rambo preferably First Blood part II Rambo.

4: Bloodsport:
You know the story of the time I *MAY HAVE MET* Jean Claude Van Damme. Well, the scene referenced in that story is the reason why I want a Frank Dux and Chong Li POPs.

3: Spaceballs:
I know the vintage contract with George Lucas, but now Lucas is not the boss of Lucasfilms... I mean it's just Lone Star, Barf, Dot, Princess Vespa, Dark Helmet and Yogurt. A small release on a limited time one off deal thing.

2: Gyakuten Saiban:
And this was to be expected here at the House of Rants. We do love ourselves a little Ace Attorney (hurry up with the English dub, Funimation)
This set can be limited to 6 figures:
Wright, Edgeworth, Judge, Gumshoe, Maya, and Mia in Maya's body.
If a second wave is needed, then Von Karma (both Franziska and Manfred), Godot, Pearl, Coffee victim Wright.

1: Disney's Gargoyles:
If there was an amazing 90s show from Disney Afternoon, Gargoyles fits the bill. You can get a variant for most Characters: The Gargoyles would be Day and Night, Camaros could be in civilian clothes and in his Gargoyle armor. Demons gets a third variant with human version.

Hot damn! My wallet just committed Sudoku about 23 times.

Jan 28, 2018

Odds and ends January 28, 2018... Bob Ross and stuff.

I am in the process of taking pics to reduce the backlog of items coming out of the Toy Chest.
And a lot of them are Marvel Legends (happy 16th Birthday?) Also, I'm learning to Sculpt, so I can make a Toon inspired April and maybe enhance Simbor and other MOTUC customs.

Also, I'm collecting Funko POPs...Go ahead and run it in my face that I went back on my word about not collecting them...

Saw Bob Ross's Funko POPs and ended up buying them.
A friend was selling Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor and bought them as well. Got me a Beastman and Stratos, cause why the Heck not...
An X-MEN colors Deadpool that may or may not be visited by Captain Paintbrush to make a Spector...
I got The Tick and Tempest Storm... Yes, now I have to buy Ponies.
And I'm looking to get a few that Mom would've bought...
Holy Asscrackers, the Thundercats are expensive as hell! Knuckles is even more expensive... Unless I find de wae of de Powerball, I can't get those.
And Celestia dammit I just ordered a Twilight Sparkling Edward Cullen.
Of course I have to get a Spidey and Doc Ock and maybe then I can call it a day, unless...
Whew! There is no Shipwreck, or Duke pops... But there are Destroy and Cobra Commander.

This has gotten too far... I need to nip this in the bud!

So I'm watching The Tick on Amazon. It's pretty entertaining. Sadly, I haven't heard The Tick yell 🥄


I NEED TO HEAR HIS BATTLE CRY!!


Jan 27, 2018

2018 Power-Con exclusive rumors

So, There's a rumor going down the grapevine that Power-Con will have 3 items as the exclusives for 2018. Club Grayskull will get an exclusive... Sorry a pair of exclusives and Collector's Choice will only get one...
You know, the possibility that the polls on the .org were skewed on purpose would gain traction with this rumor. Now, I don't want to believe that they are being skewed on purpose, but it still is a possibility.

I'm also worried about the tight deadline, once again. We're near February and Power-Con is in August. We haven't seen a prototype of the exclusives, so we don't know how far along they are... Which gives us nearly 7 months for these three Exclusive items (some could be multi-packs) or maybe all of them.

So without further Ado, here's my list of potential candidates for the PC Exclusive spots:

Collector's Choice:
Slamurai:
He's a safe choice. White Ninja, enemy of Ninjor... And he was on the card back of the Snake set.

Mini Comics Tri-Klops:
Just like Slamurai, he was teased in card art, so that makes him a high contender.

Snake Troopers:
They're pretty easy to make, assuming Super7 has access to the recent molds. And seriously. Make a two pack of those with different colored Snake heads and people may buy a few.

So, there aren't that many Vintage Characters that they would do. New Adventures characters would be an interesting choice, but the .org has a certain disdain towards New Adventures... And if they can't move Vintage figures like Red Beastman, or Greenamyr, I doubt they'd do NA.

Now let's do Filmation:
Right out of the bat I'll say Adam is coming.
I know that you'll say something like:
"Yo, Nefty! Last year they made an Adam! Why would they make another?"
The answer is simple...
FILMATION  and it's not the same. Yes it would mean flip-flopping on the whole lines are the same thing, but I never bought that Excuse. Also, Both Adams that have been released in MOTUC have been exclusives, so in order to "keep the tradition" Adam III could be used as an exclusive.

FAKER:
THIS ONE is a hard one: Which Faker? True blue Filmation Faker, which is Literally He-Man with glowy eyes, or The Return of Faker official spliced new episode? Where Faker looks like his toy version...
Personally, I lean towards Return of Faker, because Literally He-Man with a new name tag is a bit of a dick move.

Stratos:
Captain Vanilla himself. We ARE getting Hawke this year, so it KINDA MAKES SENSE to release him. Synergy and all that.

She-Ra:
I know that the Boy's Club segment of the .org would hate it, but she's a key Character AND since we are getting a true blue Filmation Hordak, a true blue Filmation She-Ra makes sense.

Count Marzo:
He's not A-list. With existing parts he's almost complete. It fits with the whole variants rule. Also, it's less punitive to those who choose to slip him.

Fisto:
He's popular and doesn't require too much new tooling... A common theme in most of these exclusives.

Jan 26, 2018

It came from the Toy Chest: Big Red Monster.

While Vince McMahon is too busy trying to revive the XFL, no really, he is bringing back the XFL... I'mma review Kane!!!
The Big Red Monster... If you want the easy explanation: the diet Coke version of Undertaker. The whole story is long and complicated. The Kane is from the Ruthless Aggression Era. As you can see by the masked and unmasked heads.

Articulation:
Kane has the standard Figuarts Articulation for a WWE figure. His signature moves are doable... Well most of them. The Tombstone Pile-driver and second part of the Chokeslam require the use of stands that these figures do not have.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
The Big Red Monster is based on his Ruthless Aggression Era look, so there are a couple of tiny details that could've gone wrong but didn't. The various heads allow for choosing almost every version of your favorite Ruthless Aggression look for Kane.
5.0

Accesories:
3 extra heads
Towel
4 extra hands

I gotta be honest here. He's feeling a bit lacking. He could've had an extra head for the burnt look (bad face paint and a partially shaved head.) And maybe an extra hand with a mask attached to it. But he still has a score of 5.0
MJ: Now this is getting interesting.

Overall:
Obviously, he gets a 5.0 as his final score. He's a great figure, and I kinda wish that Bandai were able to make more.

Jan 25, 2018

Action figure woes: crappy eBay sellers.

Buying from eBay can be a gamble. I had bought a Starscream from a vendor "from Australia" the Starscream Came broken and I've spent 2.5 weeks trying to get my money back... I failed, because to get a full refund, I had to pay return postage to China, not Australia, and with Tracking, the cheapest option would have left me with less money than getting the low-ball amount the seller offered.

I think that once the Soundwave arrives, I'll quit TF... Maybe I'll find a way to glue the broken piece, even if he loses transformation capabilities.
It's a bit of a shame, but it is what it is. I was bound to hit a bum seller eventually, but that's a part of the Collector's way of life. It's scuzzbuckets like this seller that make collecting a pain in the ass.

But another reason to quit Transformers: Figuarts Street Fighter...
I know what you're thinking: Nefty, aren't you collecting Storm Collectibles Street Fighter V figures?

Yes, but Figuarts has something that Storm doesn't...

My weak spot...

On Solo and other Star Wars solo movies...

Supposedly the trailer for Solo is coming on Super Bowl Sunday. We will finally see if the Character side stores are truly worth it.
Well, I think they are worth it, if done correctly.
I don't want to see a Yoda movie, because look at Darth Vader. He was all awesome until we discovered he was a whiny kid from Tatooine.
Also, no Darth Vader movie... We've had plenty of him. Pretty much 6.25 movies are DV related.

I've already mentioned that an Obi Wan movie would be nice. Something, something, Kenobi watching Luke from the shadows even saving the young Skywalker from trouble... And I just realized that something similar has happened in comics, but it would be cool to have in an actual movie.

We could also get a Luke movie. Something post Jedi, but way before Force Awakens. It could deal with Luke trying to locate Jedi Artifacts to rebuild the Jedi Order. Maybe have some Palpatine loyalists plotting to kill the Jedi Master and maybe using a certain red headed force sensitive clone, who ends up dying to protect Luke. And Sebastian Stan could play Luke...

We could have a young Leia movie. What I'm thinking is something along the lines of Die Hard in a huge spaceship on a diplomatic mission overtaken by pirates (possibly hired by the EMPIRE to flush out some rebels from the Senate) Leia used her wits and unknowingly some of her latent Force powers.


Just as long as we don't get a Jar Jar movie...


Jan 24, 2018

Marvel vs Capcom Infinitiely nickel and diming you.

finally got to play MVC:I...
And let's get the cat out of the bag: the roster is small-ish for a Marvel vs. Capcom game and having to pay $30 to pad it out sucks a buttload of ass. 30 characters... You get Ultron, but not Sigma... Ah, and the extra $30 is for six Characters... Supposedly, more DLC folks are coming. It's kind of a load of crap that characters WITHIN The Story Mode are only unlockable through DLC. Unlocking Sigma, Black Panther and the Monster Hunter through gameplay would've been fun and left the Non-story characters to become DLC. $40 nets you an incomplete game. Yippee...

Let's get cracking: videogame reviews use a 1-10 scale.

Graphics:
The game uses Unreal engine, but some Character models look awful... Thor, Cap, Chris, Ryu, Thanos, I am looking at you. Others look odd... Ms. Marvel's hair comes to mind. Morrigan looks super cute in this.
Some of the more cartoon you characters suffer standing next to the more realistic ones. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to have 3D models for the Characters, but I'm a Sprite art kind of guy...
8.5

Sounds and music:
The music has remixes of past Character stages, but not all of them are great. I didn't notice that until I was using Ryu and began to him his theme. The voices... Some have changed... Spider-man is no longer Spectacular, he is now Prompto. Chun Li IS now Cassie Cage, Black Panther sounds like he knows de wae.
8.5

Controls:
Good news everyone! The horrible MVC3 control configuration is now gone! The controls are now similar to MVC2!!!
Bad news is that many Characters had changes in their moves. Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick is a QCB Kick instead of charge D, U Kick move. Many lost the Shoryuken command for their uppercuts and now it's double tap down, punch. Spidey's ultimate web throw only works if the opponent is in mid-air. But many got a bunch of new moves. So, training is highly recommended.

The controls themselves are pretty responsive, but sometimes you might accidentally tag out instead of using the Infinity Storm tech.
9.5

Gameplay:
Literally MVC... But back to basics with only two Characters per team. 2-on-2 battles, but with the return of the infinity gems, so this game is a spiritual sequel to Marvel Superheroes!
9.0

Story:
I'm not sure if past games ARE CANON, cause this game kinda treats like the crossover happened barely 3 months ago. Here we get a story mode where the whole convergence is explained and Infinity Gems are the cause and solution to the problem. The weird thing is while there are two separate world's forcibly merged together, the characters kinda act as if both worlds have always been one. That threw me off a little bit.
7.0

Overall:
Marvel vs Capcom: Infinity gets an 8.5 as it's final score. It needed a little Oomph! To reach a nine. And that's ignoring the DLC shenanigans. I feel like Capcom has once again ripped me off.

Jan 22, 2018

Superman's getting his trunks back!

Hell yeah! You douched up Superman and it didn't stick, so now we're back to the traditional, iconic look. I've done my trunks joke with many Superheroes. I've also acknowledged the Strongman background that they have. Yes, it's dated, and some will argue it's unneeded. (I agree to a point except with Superman) Clark Kent NEEDS to have the trunks. It is incredibly enough the ONLY thing that "humanizes him".
We have the Tights that some media have tried to sell as underlong johns from Formal Kryptonian attire. Informally they act like clothing as well... Think tight fitting undershirt s and yoga pants.

Where do the trunks come in? We KNOW that the reason for them to be part of his design is to evoke the image of a Circus Strongman from back in the day. But who also wears trunks? Think strong oily men grappling each other on a giant mat.

So, Wrestling... Why Wrestling? Where was CLARK KENT raised? Smallville, Kansas... Where is Kansas located? In the Midwestern States... What sport is a way of life in the Midwest? Wrestling... Both the Olympic Sport and the Entertainment Wrestling are huge, so, having a young Clark Kent be inspired by these larger than life men who would showcase their strength with the ancient art of Wrestling; isn't that far fetched.

And as you can see it kinda bridges the whole Kryptonian raised on Earth thing. His outfit would honor Both of his worlds. It's a reason that can be justified in the Canon. I could swear I've mentioned this before, but here it is.

That's the only reason I can think of for SUPERMAN being the only Superhero who NEEDS THE STRONGMAN TRUNKS. Batman doesn't need them, Wolverine doesn't need them, Magneto doesn't need them. The only Superhero I can think of that needs them is: The Thing... And that stems from his freakish appearance and super strength, which fit with the Circus aspect of the trunks... Strong and a freak.

Jan 19, 2018

F-You David S. Goyer!!! And team She-Ra is trying so hard to make me hate them.

And There's a few pics of David S. Goyer looking at MOTU Concept art... It's scary...
Masters of the Universe Teela Battle Suit...


That's so wrong, I can't even begin to describe the wrongness of that.

OK, this but more "He-Manny"...
Is it too freaking hard to make a LOTR-esque world, but with a few laser guns added?

You all know that I'm very, VERY worried about the new She-Ra. The creative team behind the show has been hell-bent on making me hate the project... This juicy tidbit, while old, it went under the radar. Saw it on Facebook and now I'm angry... And I'm talking angry enough to commit suicide by slingshooting myself into poorly constructed structures in order to kill the pigs involved in this BS.
Secret is finally out! So excited to spread the news of this amazing new She-Ra reboot of female empowerment... Blah blah blah.
Reboot of female empowerment... Those words worry me. The fact that they are Mentioning female empowerment over the show being a fantasy Adventure kinda puts off some GB2016 vibes and that's not a good thing. The great rebellion is a group of great freedom fighters who happen to be women. This message makes me think that gender politics will be played and there might be some patronizing misandry hidden in the show...

I expected third wave BS being on the show... One thing that bugs me out even more is this:
The reboot is super different from the original haha so I hope people still like it :P

SUPER DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL HAHA...
SUPER DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL HAHA...
That is super scary. If they went super different, then it might not be She-Ra...
Last time her brother went "super different" ended up wearing skinny jeans and sporting a ponytail. Also, what's so funny about straying from the source material? I wish I could stay positive but crap over crap begets more crap.

Jan 18, 2018

Super7 figures coming out in February... Finally!

I have been a staunch defender of Super7... Despite their main focus being hipster crap I don't care about. I was as unbiased as possible while reviewing the flawed figures from Power-Con. I have been more than patient with all the delays. Well, it looks like the wait is coming to an end... February 20 is the estimated date for them to start shipping orders, so I'm guessing by the end of February I'll have 8 MOTU items to come out the toy chest.

I'm still clinging to hope, because I want to ride the MOTUC train until the end. I want Super7 to succeed if it's just to complete the premise of MOTUC of all Characters from all eras. But Super7 NEEDS to iron out the kinks that caused these delays for wave 1 and fix them for Wave 2. There are people angry about the situation and I GET THEM. I UNDERSTAND their anger. I may NOT AGREE WITH THEIR REACTIONS, but I GET IT. (In *most* cases it's justified.) I'm waiting for the figures to arrive before I make any comments on them...

Jan 17, 2018

Possession is 9/10 of the law... Does that involve demonic hats?

It's a me, Cappy! I mean Mario! And you already figured out that this is a Super Mario Odyssey rant.

I normally do the whole review like the Action Figures review, but with a scale of 1-10. There have been a few recent reviews where I simply don't do math. Today is one of those days... Mostly because Nintendo games tend to suffer on the story department... And graphics, but that's cause Nintendo puts gameplay above all those... And in Odyssey the gimmick is what reigns supreme.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really cool game, but if you have played Sunshine, 64, Galaxy, etc. Then you have an idea of what kind of game this is... A 3D Mario game, where you collect X amount of McGuffins to go to the next stage. Unlike earlier 3D games, you're not sent to a hub world. Some moons may send you back to the start of the stage, but more often than not, you get a moon and can keep on going.

Now let's talk about demonic possession and Mario.  One could make a few mental gymnastics and claim that Cappy us some sort of Yokai and is influencing the actions of those he "captures". The gimmick is an excuse to use other characters.



This and GTA Mario were the reasons I got the game... And yes, I sang the Nostalgia Critic's T-Rex song.

I still need to finish the game, but it's easy to get hooked on Mario. The outfits are nice... Right now I have the Undapants Mario but will upgrade into Cosa Nostra Mario to match Pauline's Carmen Sandiego look. Once I beat New Donk City, I'll let ya know more of my thoughts... Seeing that this is the oddest world in Mario.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue... Seems fitting with the wedding theme of the game and it kinda sums up the whole game.
Same old 3D Mario, possession gimmick, Link between world's gimmick would be the borrowed thing and Mario's pants are blue.

I can't review General Leia and Master Luke...

I know it sounds silly. Not being able to review a pair of Star Wars Black series toys that I have reviewed past variants of.
When I took this picture, I started crying like a fool.  Seeing the figures of Han, Leia, and Luke from the beginning of their journey and figures from the end of their journey made me feel a bunch of emotions.
While I wasn't alive when Star Wars premiered, I was able to see the Trilogy on TV and VHS. Saw the first Special Editions at the cinema. All three movies, one after the other. Saw the Prequels at the cinema. As well as Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

I grew up on Star Wars (and many other pop culture series, but I'm talking about Star Wars now) while I wasn't super Hardcore about it, There was a special place in my heart for Star Wars. Luke, Han, and Carrie Fisher are dead. Aside a Force Ghost Luke in Episode IX, I will never see Han, Leia, or Luke ever again. Their story is now over.

It hurts knowing that three friends that in a way have been with me almost all my life, are gone now. The only way I'd be able to see them again is clinging to the past.

I got to commend Hasbro for making me feel intense feelings with 6 action figures.

Jan 15, 2018

If the rights are cleared for the 1987 MOTU MOVIE they need their own sub-line.

But done in Classics scale, Articulation and style. Think about it... We already have 3 movie figures, with the 4th possibly coming in q3 2018. So that's 4 that could be skipped.
First let's see what we have in the character department:
- He-Man
- Teela
- Man-at-arms
- Skeletor
- Evil Lyn
- Beastman
- Sorceress
-Pig Boy
- Air Centurion
- Centurion Shock Trooper
- Chiquita Banana Skeletor
- Lubic (Robe from ending is more "MOTU-esque" than normal Lubic in a trenchcoat)

That's literally 3 Super7 waves... Without adding Monica from Friends and keyboard dude. Redoing Blade, Saurod, Gwildor, and Karg would be a waste of money. Would you spend $140 + Shipping and Handling, and possible taxes for literally 4 figures you already own, just for a small change in MAYBE packaging?
OK maybe one could make a two-pack of the Centurions and add Kevin and Julie to the set, but really there isn't much that can be done with the movie rights other than produce these and maybe ReAction figures.
But I wouldn't bother with pursuing the movie stuff at the moment. Let's get the real figures first, then we can worry about this.

Why do I want to keep Club Grayskull separate from MOTUC?

Tigger Warning: there is some colorful language that Captain America might disapprove of. Mostly PG-13 stuff. Not to mention the usual... My opinions tend to have hyperbole for comedic effect.

Even though, I stated on my previous rant related to the topic, that I wasn't attacking anyone, but that I disagree with the way He-man dot org managed the poll; someone is trying to turn that into an attack on Val Staples.  I shall now borrow a quote from Tommy Wiseau: (and edit it to suit my needs)
I did not attack him, it's not true,  it's bullshit I did not attack him, I did not, Ohai Mark!

Maybe it was the colorful language and hyperbole that may have confused people. Maybe they're overthinking things and seeing penises where there are only bananas. I don't know. Maybe it was the part that I said that there IS A POSSIBILITY that the polls were skewed on purpose. It could happen. (I want to believe that they are not, but stranger things have happened before in this world that have made me wear tinfoil hats at times.)
In any case, my opinion remains unchanged. The polls are bogus and they should be done in a way that eliminates any perceived bias for the sake of fairness and transparency. Now unto the main issue.
Too many variants or undoable figures

Club Grayskull and MOTUC are two separate lines that are on the same scale and share some parts which makes them semi compatible, but not the same. Keeping them separate ensures that BOTH LINES can get the best product possible.

If we count them both as one, you can say goodbye to a "true Filmation Orko". The Orko we already have is Very Filmation-like. Filmation Battle Cat... Not gonna happen since the one we got is similar to Filmation. Same with the PoP gals including the Horde Ladies. Then we have guys like Fisto, or Mekaneck whose Filmation versions are virtually the same as the toy... (I can point out the differences, but for the sake of argument I'm wearing the blurry lenses that blur the lines between Toylines)
Darker skin on Fisto, different head, that looks like a ginger Logger caricature bare left forearm... Is just the beginning on the differences between Filmation Fisto and the MOTUC Fisto. Dylamug can serve both Masters (not flawlessly, but close enough.) With the alternate insignias he can kinda get away with walking on both sides. He's an anomaly, not the norm. Even Filmation Randor is too Hyperdetailed for Club Grayskull.

Also, the Club Grayskull is a limited line by itself. The MOTU Characters in it are few and we have between the existing Matty wave and the upcoming Super7 waves most of the core evil warriors (Just Whiplash is missing... Maybe Two Bad?) And most of the core heroic warriors. (Stratos, Ram Man, Cronger, Adam and Orko complete the group) padding them with the Horde has us short of a Leech, Mantenna, Grizzlor and Modulok.

Classics is a different story. Here we are at the arena of the obscure. Variants have not appeared yet, but they could. Personally, these variants should be reserved to convention exclusives like SDCC (and with a non-attendance version at the Super7 website) like say: Vintage Toy She-Ra vs Catra as SDCC18 Exclusive from Super7 and attendees get a baggie with vac metal swords of power and protection. Those ordered on the website don't get vac metal swords.
Power-Con could do a Slamurai vs Mini Comic Tri-Klops. Just to use some examples.

But let's be honest: Movie variants are currently undoable. I want some of those, but I know they are off-limits. So, adding them to the poll is useless. If we count the Filmation variants as well we have 38 out of 60 (or 39 if we count Catra's cat form) that are either variants or undoable due to the movie issues. That leaves us with: 21 or 22 figures that can be made. So if we want to find the TRUE TOP 60 Unique characters that ARE DOABLE without any rights issues... Wait, I forgot the legal quagmire involving Illumina, so 20-21 figures that can be made. We need to go even deeper in the polls and keep on purging. Which is extra work... Which brings me to my next point.

 It seems that Super7 doesn't have someone knowledgeable enough on MOTU for the D-tier and lower. They can easily swim in the A-B listers easily based on their Club Grayskull selections. Keeping both lines separate allows Super7 to make wiser choices and not have the issues with their waves 1-2 where some Classics figures suffered from Filmationized Hypodetailing... Or even worse wasting money on figures they can't legally make and have those replaced last minute. (The recent poll results are a bit problematic because of this)

Keeping the lines separate, allows more diversity. The separation allowed us to get BOTH Evil Seeds. It can allow us to get the Better Marzo (sadly with underdetailed hair, but I can swap heads). If the lines are blurred, I suspect a backlash from both sides. The cockwombles who have a hatred of MOTUC, but their peepees go hard for Filmation already pitched a fit when Dylamug attempted to play for both teams. They bitched about having to buy shit they don't want to get Dylamug. They'd have a heart attack if MOTUC Wave 3 had Marzo's Chimera, Artilla, Skeleteen, AND Battle Armor Sorceress. THEY ALREADY HAVE THEIR VERY OWN SUB-LINE... Why must the main line, that still has at least 10 NA Characters to deliver just to fullfil the promise Mattel made.

Keeping the lines separate allows the little guys to have a chance to shine, while the big names get refreshed in the Filmation sub-line.  Merging the lines would mean Filmation gets a big portion and everything else fights for scraps. Heck, Filmation WOULD LOSE IF THE LINES WERE MERGED. Think about it: Filmation has 8 figures a year guaranteed.  If they merge they would have to compete with: Mini Comics, New Adventures, 200X, DC Comics, vintage POP, UK comics, Newspaper strips, Concepts, Son of He-Man, Golden Books, and who knows if Nu-She-Ra can be Classicized... That's up to 11 extra teams competing for spots. Now if for the sake of fairness all of those got 1 spot per year, that would leave 5 spots for Filmation. How much winning from 8 to 5...

Even if Club Grayskull was Stylistically identical to MOTUC (which it isn't) I would want to keep those separate just for the sake of allowing the lower tier Characters a chance in the spotlight. Filmation already is the Litmus test of MOTU, they don't need any help. If they make it we will buy (I have too, against better judgement.) They don't need to have the deck stacked in their favor (whether it was accidentally or on purpose)

Jan 13, 2018

It came from the Toy Chest: Stop saying my aunt is hot!

And I mean Marissa Tomei levels of hotness... So, do the math... Marissa Tomei IS Aunt Hottie... This means I'm reviewing a Tom Holland as Spider-man figure. A Marvel Legends Homecoming Spidey figure to be precise... So this is interesting. I own a Tobey Man and a Ton Holland Spidey, but I avoided Andrew Lasagna eating cat Spidey. Why would I do that?

Do I have to explain who is Spidey again?

Articulation:
Since it's Spidey he gets the MVC test...
And I'm a little disappointed here. He can pull off the more difficult MvC stance, that the Marvel Select Spider-man  couldn't the web yo-yo leaves a bit to be desired. If he can't do the yo-yo, then the crawler pose is a fail as well...
3.5
Spidey: Spider-man's tingling.
DP: (in faux Aussie accent) Crikey! The elusive
Spoider-man! They say his stingers are capable of Knocking out a grown man! Good thing I have a healing factor, eh?

Paint and Sculpt:
While Articulation may have shortcomings, the paint and Sculpt on the figure POP!  There's some shading on the web shooters, but there is some slight paint bleeding on the hands. The Sculpt is awesome and I kinda wish a repaint of this figure in Scarlet Spider colors.
4.5

Accessories:
Extra alternate hands (to have two closed fist and two thwip! hands)
Alternate hoodie piece.
BAF piece...


I feel like he needed at least 4 more hands:
Crawling and gripping come to mind.
4.0

Overall:
Homemade costume MCU Spidey gets a 4.0 which is decent but he could've been a bit better. I blame the Vulture BAF.
DP: Let me help you slip into something
sexier and superheroy...
Spidey: I need an adult
DP: I am an adult and a member of NAMBLA.
Spidey: Please be the North American Marlon Brando Look-Alikes...
DP: The other one... North American Mutate Brotherhood of Lethal Assault.
Spidey: whew!
DP: Oh, I'm still going to knock boots with you.

Ultra Street Fighter II the review

I got the game... And this review will be like super short. Why? OK... It's Super Street Fighter II Turbo... The same game from 1994, but with a few changes... Get ready because I'mma blow your mind...
AKUMA!!! is playable.
EVIL RYU!!!! exists now in II and is playable.
VIOLENT KEN!!!!! Exists and is playable... Wasn't he in MUGEN First? Eh, whatever. He's based on the brainwashed Ken from SFII the movie... Spike gimme clips!





Yup, that movie...
There are no bonus stages... Darn!
The endings are slightly different when playing HD Mode...

Other than that it's Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

There's an art book that is currently out of print, which is nice... I'd Dare say this is more awesome than the PS2 Street Fighter anniversary collection that had the censored version of the movie above.

Then we have: The way of the Hado...
It's a tacked on motion controls mini game. The Control is awkward here. It doesn't recognize the motion inputs as well as in practice and you end up flailing your arms like a moron and the game thinks you Hadoken'd when you were trying to Taysumakisenpuukyaku the crap out of your opponent.

No it's not worth the $40 price tag. If it was $30 maybe, but not the whole $40... But then again close to arcade perfect Street Fighter 2 To Go!!

Jan 11, 2018

It came from the... what? The toy... what? The toy chest!

The Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin... Spike, I'm talking about the Wrestler, not the Six Million dollar man...

I'll allow it... So, Stone Cold Steve Austin... Attitude Era Wrestler
, Whose feud with Vincent Kennedy McMahon is Legendary... Rumor has it that Vince was the sixth figure of the WWE Figuarts line, but seems that like Shredder, he was cancelled...

Stone Cold was pretty much the "anti-Hulk Hogan" crude, rowdy, engaged in drinking beer, flipped people off, but somehow he was EVERYWHERE! He was "The Hulk Hogan" of his era. While his other Super popular compatriot... The Rock, ended up appearing in kid shows and Disney Movies, Stone Cold was too hip for that and ended up on Celebrity Deathmatch.

Articulation:
The Articulation on SCSA is similar to the other WWE figures. One set of hands has a peculiar extra point of articulation.
I had forgotten
that I had a ring
The Shoulders still look a bit odd but I haven't made my peace with that yet. The knee braces are Articulated as well, which is pretty neat.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
I feel like this figure captured the essence of Stone Cold Steve Austin pretty well... Slightly better than Triple H, but The Rock is still the one with the best likeness here.
The paints are minimal, but effective.
5.0

Accessories:
2 beer cans
4 extra hands
3 extra heads
Again, I feel like he could've used a bit of an added oomph in the hand department, but other than that he has pretty much everything needed for a SCSA figure. 5.0

Overall:
Stone Cold Steve Austin gets a 5.0 as his final score. It feels nice to have a couple of wrestling superstars to put on the ring for display.
MJ: Shamone, Kane and Taker!
Hurry up and come so I can kick all of your butts!

Jan 10, 2018

MOTU movie is supposed to begin production in April...

Yup... The MOTU movie Supposedly will begin filming in April. No cast, no script... Well, they have Two writers. That useless, comic book hating dick nozzle, David S. Goyer whose S is probably followed by the word Hit) and an up and coming writer... Lindsey Beer, whose credits include the upcoming Barbie movie... The one where Barbie was the villain for mocking Amy Schumer's weight. (I could make a joke about her lack of ethics in comedy by blatantly stealing jokes like Carlos Mencía)

Is the universe trying to make MOTU suck on purpose?  Right now I'd rather have Neitlich at the writing than Goyer. Hell, Kurtzman and Orci, or Akiva Goldman, would be better than Goyer.

In any case, Sony better stop using Roger Sweet's BONG! cause this movie ain't gonna happen.

Jan 9, 2018

Et tu Standor?

Stan Lee has joined the league of Perverts...
Which surprises no one. We knew he was a bit of a perv by the time he made Stripperella.
But now he's being accused by nurses who were taking care of him, of ending groped, sexually harassed and asked to suck on his Excelsior...

I can almost picture the situation:
"Hey there True Believers, Stan Lee here, I want you to suck on my Excelsior until you get a No Prize... Nuff' said!"

And yes, I picture Stan Lee starting each conversation with Hey there True Believers.

It's kinda sad, that the Man who made Marvel has been now reduced to a lecherous old man... Like a Stan Lee shaped Happosai or Muten Roshi.

Now Stan Lee has joined Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Elvis Crespo among others in the League of Perverts...

Mattel is doing What!?

DC figures based on...

Oh my Celestia, yes!!!

Ehhh... At least it's not Clooney... But still if you're making Batman, Keaton is where it's at.
And last but not least...

Sorry Grant Gustin, but THIS IS MY FLASH!!

Apparently, Mattel will release a premium line with these three as their first run test subjects. Think a sort of revival of Movie Masters but "more deluxe" with interchangeable. Hands and a display base.
My fear is that Mattel will go for El cheapo tactics and not make accurate parts and reuse existing pieces for an ehh, Close enough. More info will be revealed on Toy Fair. We better get a Dean Cain Superman and a Helen Slater Supergirl.


Jan 8, 2018

It came from the Toy Chest: Spitting water, banging the Boss's daughter!

Mr. McMahon found himself a new heir in the shape of Triple H. I often mocked the whole marrying into the McMahon clan. I saw it as an OK-ISH, not great, wrestler ensuring his paycheck. But I have to admire HHH for that reason. He is a far better creative guy behind the scenes than Vince himself. Once Vince kicks the bucket, the smart thing to do would be to give the company to HHH.
Time to play the game... Time to play the game... Time to play The Game!!! *Derpy laugh that's supposed to be an Evil Laugh*
And now I can add Motorhead fans to the people who hate me list.

Articulation:
If you saw The Rock, then you have an idea what to expect. But let's just say that he's super Articulated. He can recreate a lot of his popular poses. The abs seem to have slightly better range than The Rock, but one of his legs is a bit too stiff.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
I do have a small issue with his sculpting. Namely the face. The way his bangs fall on his face make his forehead look a bit too square. He looks a bit too Neanderthal-like. I like the metallic gold for the hair, it gives off an ethereal glow to him. As if he was glistening with water and hit by spotlights.
4.5

Accessories:
2 extra face plates
4 extra hands
Water bottle
Sledgehammer

He feels a bit lacking, when compared to The Rock, or the others. But while he feels lacking, he still has a decent amount of accessories.
5.0

Overall:
The Cerebral Assassin gets a 4.83 as his final score. The Sculpt issues did hurt his score. I hope that Mr. McMahon is still coming (and I'm hoping for some Federation era guys, like Macho Man... And some Modern era guys like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton)

If you smell what came out the toy chest...

The Jabroni beating, LALALALALA, pie eating, trail blazing, eyebrow raising, heart stopping, elbow dropping, electrifying the dirty south, so Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth, the most electrifying man in all of sports entertainment, "The People's Champ" The Rock.

But this is not your run of the mill Mattel WWE figure... I've turned Japanese and got myself a Figuarts The Rock...

Do I need to explain Dwayne Johnson's look-alike?


So, let's see how he stacks up against the Mattel version from the Nation of Domination set.

Articulation:
Here Bandai makes Mattel their bitch. The Rock is putting the super in super Articulated. The only gripes I have with the Articulation is that some joints aren't pleasing to the eyes, and that the ab Articulation for bending forward is a bit limited.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
The figure is tiny compared to Mattel's, but it looks like they scanned The Rock's face (circa the time he was on Hannah Montana) and made a digital replica for the mold, while Mattel's looks like an Artist's rendition of The Rock during the attitude era. Paint wise, The Figuarts Rock looks great, even the old Brahma Bull tat looks better than Mattel's tampos. I have a slight issue with his skin tone, it's a bit too light compared to the Mattel version.
5.0

Accessories:
The Rock has...
3 extra heads
Microphone so he can ask you if you smell...
8 extra hands.
For a Figuarts figure he seems to be lacking. His box is so tiny, but compared to the other one, he has tons of stuff. I wish he had come with a bare arm and a hand holding an elbow pad.


Overall:
It's easy to see how The Great One got a Flawless score of 5.0 because he IS that good. The positives easily outweigh the negatives. I guess he's better paired up with other Figuarts wrestling figures. Kinda wish we had figures from the Federation era...
And yes, I'm talking about THAT MAN.
The Rock: Once they come out the Toy Chest
We will layeth the Smackdown...
MJ: Shamone! It's time for me to slap some bitches... Hee hee!

Jan 7, 2018

Being "The Toy Guy" in the family...

Being "The Toy Guy" in the family has its ups and downs... This Christmas and Three Kings Day I've received a couple of toys as gifts from friends and family. Ranging from Hot Wheels to Marvel Legends among other toys and board games
... (Some of the more trollish variety gave me some peculiar toys... As in adult toys if you know what I mean...) I had a backlog of toys, which caused the Advent Calendar... Now I've got about 10-ish toys, not counting the upcoming SFV Chun Li and Akuma Matata... Reptile's waiting for Shao Kahn. Sadly, the TF Masterpiece Starscream I ordered came out broken and I'm waiting for the seller to respond to see what I'll do next.

Got a few repeat items that obviously won't come out the toy chest, but I will try to post the new stuff in a Timely manner. I still have to comment on a few movies I've seen and still waiting for my internet connection to return, so I can finish the Gatchaman movie Review.

It's pretty awesome when friends and family kinda support your hobbies despite not understanding them fully.

The downs are that sometimes, I kinda wish I got the boring adult presents like a wallet, handkerchiefs, or pots and pans kind of stuff so I wouldn't have to Adult and buy those things. Also the awkwardness whenever there's THAT one person who doesn't get it at all and acts like an ass about it. Other than that, it's pretty awesome being "the Toy Guy" in the family. Not to mention being able to keep up with the youngins when gaming... Especially when playing Mario Kart, Smash, or Street Fighter... Screw cod, fnaff, and Minecraft.

Zeo Gold Jason is inferior to Green Mighty Morphin' Tommy.

Stronger than before... Go Zeo! mustard yellow gold... Go Zeo! Bandai corners cut... Zeo! Zeo!
Go go Power Rangers!

You get the idea. This is Jason (who the show added as a last minute curve ball, cause he was totally meant to be Billy. And mostly because Saban let David Yost go and they called Austin St. John to do the role... And no, he wasn't in a gay porn movie)

I LOATHE ZEO... And since I got him for 50% off, I won't complain much... To be honest, I mostly bought him to mock Bandai of America's corner cutting... And to test a gold paint pen.

He's basically the ZEO "extra ranger" to mix things up a bit... Basically Jason is playing Tommy's role before the latter was bumped to leader.

Articulation:
Literally the same as past rangers. I could copy and paste the past review, but that would be lazy. Point is that this guy and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers have the same Articulation.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
This is where Bandai dropped the ball.
They ran out of allotted money or something and they had to cut their losses and chose the extra Ranger to be their sacrifice.
Gold Ranger with a Mustard yellow armor is horrible.
Other than that he's pretty good... Docking one point for the lack of gold color on the GOLD RANGER.
4.0

Accessories:
Mustard staff... That is super gummy. Not even a pair of extra hands or anything...
1.0

Overall:
Mustard Jason gets a 3.33 as his final score. Bandai cheapening out in these guys will en their Doom... TBH, I'd actually ax the Megazords, cause they're pointless.

I noticed after the fact that the paint pen I used is oil based and it left the figure sticky. (That's why there are only 2 pics on the review. I'll try to find a way to reduce the stickiness, otherwise the ZEO trash will go where it belongs...)

Movie review double feature Jumanji 2 and Wolverine's Circus of Musically gifted mutants

Welcome to the Jungle, We got one Jo Bro, we also have Nacho Libre facing off The Rock... Something something Amy Pond and Kevin Hart being Kevin Hart... This movie is to Jumanji What Creed is to Rocky. It's a sequel, but feels like a reboot. I was expecting a turd, to be honest... A children's movie with The Rock and Jack Black? Had flashbacks of The Game Plan, The Tooth Fairy and Nacho Libre... School of Rock was decent enough to get a pass. Nacho needed a bit of an oomph to actually pass.

So, how do we begin to review Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (we had to pay GnR a ton of cash to use the title and song)

Let's go back to the 90s where a kid playing Twisted Metal received the game. He ignores it and it transformation into an Atari game with 32-bit Sprite graphics... And that's where the movie lost me. I can accept a videogames swallowing people (Captain N the Game Master has groomed me well) but an Atari having Sega Saturn graphics... Nuh uh! Flash forward to 2016-17 where 4 average kids filling out the group of teens that need to learn a lesson about themselves and about friendship cliches... The jock, the nerd, the princess and the basket case...No Bender this time.
So Breakfast Club 2.0 is swallowed by the game and the Nerd becomes The Rock, the Jock becomes Kevin Hart, the Princess becomes Jack Black, and the Basket Case becomes Amy Pond channelling Lara Croft.
They get through the usual Jumanji antics, but now Videogame themed and they find the missing fifth player who is now a Jonas Brother.
We get two tributes to Robin Williams. One is a blink and you miss it picture of Williams, the other is another hint cementing the fact that this is a sequel.
At the end rah rah friendship and all that, but it's a rehash of the first movie... WHICH IS TO BE EXPECTED, SINCE JUMANJI'S PLOT FORCES SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE PLAYERS TO REACT TO. Expecting something different to Jumanji is as ridiculous as expecting riveting drama from backdoor virgins number 8. (Not sure if that's a real porn title)
I mean this is the "third" Jumanji movie... If we count Zathura as a "sequel" to Jumanji.

So, the movie retreads a familiar territory. Some of the humor is what saves the movie... Especially Jack Black playing a Teenage girl trapped inside Black's body. On a close second I'd say The Rock playing a nerd trapped inside The Great One's body. On a slightly distant third, I'd place Kevin Hart playing annoying obnoxious black guy. Sadly, Karen Gillian is just eye candy... Sexy Pond Eye Candy.

The Greatest Showman is a Musical...
A Musical with Zac Efron and Zendaya... By 20th Century Fox... Now a Disney Company... We also have Hugh Jackman in another Musical... Hmmm maybe if we offer him to make a Wolverine: the Musical he would return? Did I mention I'm not a fan of musicals? Zac Efron Made me grow tired of Musicals... Thanks to his High School antics.

So, Musical hatred aside, it's basically P.T. Barnum Begins. Sadly, they only touch the Circus and Jenny Kind aspects, not going into the debunker of mediums, or his Political career.

One thing that bugged me a lot about the movie.

Listen to that awesome song... Now did you catch it? They managed to sneak in that cancerous song that once again put Puerto Rico on the spotlight...
I get what they were trying to do by mixing modern sounds with old timey settings, but WHY DID THEY USED THAT ANNOYING SONG?

looks like I'll have to wait until March 13!? to see The Disaster Artist...

In any case both movies were enjoyable, but I'd probably choose The Greatest Showman over Jumanji because it's slightly different and fresher than retreading Jumanji One more time.

Jan 4, 2018

My disagreement with the most recent .org MOTUC Poll set

During the Advent Calendar event, the .org had a SEEMINGLY EXHAUSTIVE poll for characters to be made in THE COLLECTOR'S CHOICE line (aka normal MOTUC). You could vote for all the characters and all the versions and that includes "Filmation versions" of already made MOTUC Figures.
Please tell me you noticed the one thing that raised a HUGE RED FLAG for me...
This is the part where you scream Filmation variants in MOTUC at the screen as if this was an episode of D-d-d-d-dora!
Yup! That's right! Correcto! Filmation variants of existing characters are not meant for Collector's Choice! They belong in the Club Grayskull sub-line! Muy bien!

I'll stop the Dora bit for now. As I was saying, putting Filmation variants (which belong in their own poll) in this poll is a load of crap!  We're down at the lower tiers where the obscure is supposed to get a chance to shine, but we're cockblocking them with Filmation variants. It's like a comedy club has an Amateur Night contest and they suddenly let Dave Chappelle and Gabriel Iglesias compete... Who will win? The amateurs or the "surprise professional comedians"?

The Filmation sub-line is NOT MOTUC... It might be in the SAME SCALE and reuse some generic body parts, but that's about it where the similarities end.  The details of the fur and hair reveal the difference between the lines. Putting Beastman next to Filmation Beastman shows the obvious differences between the lines. It worries me that people aren't seeing the difference between them... Especially people who are supposed to have a background in Art.

Putting the Filmation variants in the poll skewed the results towards Filmation variants, which is a bit unfair, since the  Filmation variants have their own sub-line.
Not to mention that 37 variants of Teela will have more votes than 2 variants of Kayo. It almost feels like the poll was made to bury some wants in order to push Filmation variants.

I know that the .org is Val's site and he can do as he pleases. What worries me is that Val's voice has a bit of weight to him, with the whole dot org and Power-Con thing giving him more power than the average fan... Even if that Fan's blog killed Matty...
Since Val has that power, he should've used it responsibly. A much more responsible set of polls would've been like this:
Round 1: Top Unique characters: This is mostly the free for all for unique characters. No specific version. If you're voting for say, Kayo Tatarus, you're voting for him to get made. Not voting for Toy, cartoon, mini comic, rare Yugoslavian weird coloring bootleg version, just Kayo. If you're voting for Garn, you're just voting for the character. You're not choosing between "Pocahontas" or "Xerxes" Garn. You're voting for ANY GARN to make it.

Round 2: Most wanted Filmation variants: This one is the Club Grayskull poll. Here you vote for your Filmation inspired style figures from the limited pool of characters that can be Filmationized.

Round 3: Variant free-for-all: Here is where you vote for things like Discs of Doom Skeletor, Green Modulok, NU52 Goddess, 200X He-Man, Vintage POP Catra, etc.

Round 4: Choose the outfit for the round 1 winners(or some creative name): here you pick WHICH VERSION of the Round 1 winners should be made in Collector's Choice with MOTUC level of Detail. If Artilla Weaponstronic won round one here you pick between vintage toy or Cartoon. For Garn you pick Filmation or Minicomics, for Miro Filmation or 200X... And so forth.

Then for the final results you pick the top X spots from each poll. While, yes, it's a bit more cumbersome, it delivers a more unbiased set of results, which should be the standard in this sort of polls.

Once again, I know, Val's site, his rules... He can do the polls however he sees fit. I'm simply worried that "the biggest MOTU website" is being biased in polls, when they should be unbiased.

If the poll bias was unintentional, then the results should be discarded and a new set of polls be made to correct the egregious mistake. If done on purpose, then they're being intellectually dishonest and the results should be discarded.

Personally, I'm worried that Super7 takes this poll to heart and screws over the fanbase because they were delivered some faulty information.
I want to believe that this was simply a mistake than there's some shady manipulation going on. I hope that the next set of polls are more unbiased than this last batch.

I didn't want to talk about this, because I KNOW someone will pervert my comments and turn them into an attack. I was asked via a few private messages to talk about this and here I am... To avoid any issues I'll try Condensing my rant into simple terms:
The polls seem to have a pro-Filmation bias. Biased polls are bad. Using results from biased polls is bad. If biased polls were accident, then they should be redone while eliminating bias. If biased polls were on purpose, then polls should be discarded for being bad.

When this sort of poll is intended to be used as a tool to help Super7 choose which Figures should be made, then the poll should be as transparent and unbiased as possible for the sake of fairness. Any sort of bias perverts the purity of the poll. Biases were what crammed Nepthu, Plundor, Dare, and Standor into the line...

Jan 1, 2018

The Switch: the rant...

You know I have a Switch. I couldn't wait for the Wisemen to come. (They'd probably give me socks and underpants as 🎁 🎁 🎁)
Ooh look at me using emojis in 2018! That's so 2016!
So, the idea of being Mario and possessing my enemies like a demon sounds really nice, but I don't have Mario Odyssey. I haven't seen Ultra Street Fighter II or whatever it's called, so my options were rather limited... Super Bomberman, Breath of the Wild, or Farming Simulator something... Shame on me for getting one at the worst possible moment. Also, I haven't seen MVCI anywhere. 😭

I've only breathed the wild so far... Can't believe all that game fit into a tiny little flash cart that is slightly bitter.
But I can play Breath of the Wild while I 💩. OK, I could do that with the WiiU, theoretically speaking, but my bathroom is too far away from the WiiU for that to work. If my WiiU was closer to the Toilet, I could do that too.
In Portable mode, the Switch feels like a super skinny WiiU control pad.

Not a huge fan of docked mode, since I have to disconnect one of the other consoles to use the Switch. But it's REALLY portable even in docked mode... (And I thought the WiiU was portable)

Tabletop mode isn't that bad, but I have a tiny issue with it. It leaves the additional Micro SD memory port exposed.

I'm guessing that I'll use it a lot in Portable
Mode... Because let's face it, the Switch is nothing more than a glorified Handheld device. It's this generation's Gameboy and Super Gameboy rolled into one.

So, let's talk games. There's like 576 games for the console... Or there will be. Aside Nintendo first party games, most of what I've seen on website lists of Switch games is shovelware.
The games that have drawn my attention are:
Untitled Ace Attorney game. (You can put Ace Attorney on a 💩 and it might make me interested in it.)
Double Dragon 4
Bloodstained (cause there are no Castlevania games here)
Kunio-kun world classics collection (and that's a Japan Only game... Dammit)
LA Noire
MegaMan 11
MegaMan X collection
ShaqFu a legend Reborn... Screw you it's Shaq!
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection
Ultra Street Fighter II: the final challengers

That's a lot more than what I have for the WiiU, but I also skipped the first party entries, like Untitled Pokemon game, or Metroid Prime 4.

Ugh... Kinda getting a bit of buyer's remorse here. Some of those games will be available for PS4 and here I am putting them on the Switch list to pad it out. But the notion portable Street Fighter II (alpha3, or Third Strike) with 2 controllers makes the switch almost worth it... I want to believe in Nintendo and I'm glad there's some third party support, but I'm worried that certain publishers are afraid of the Switch being too gimmicky, like the Wii consoles.




Switching things up...

So I have a Switch, yes, I'm planning on revisiting Breath of the Wild on the switch. I got it against better judgement. This will not be a review for the Switch. I am pointing out that a review WILL COME, but by switching things up, I mean that I WON'T DO the 1 rant per day formula. I will try to have about the same number of rants as in 2017, but there could be more or less.

There will be some changes in topics... MOTUC will lose some priority due to Super7 and their issues (mainly the delays) have weakened the flames a bit. My lack of free time may reduce the amount of movie reviews possible. Most of the time I fly from the seat of my Pants...  Every now and then, I plan things like the Advent Calendar. Not sure if I'll do more things like that this year.

Switch games actually don't taste that bad...
Portable Breath of the Wild seems amazing...

The toys that made us and the insignificance of Scott Neitlich...

If you haven't seen the Netflix mini documentary series The toys that made us, do it... There's a He-Man episode... There's some good info, some Neitlichian retconing of the History of the brand... Roger Sweet screaming "Bong!" as a lame catchphrase... And the documentary is 100% Neitlich free... That's right, Toyguru is nowhere to be found. He isn't even mentioned.

As you may know he's severely butthurt about me criticizing his writing. To the point that he made me the Destroyer of Mattycollector and MOTUC. 365 days later and here I am again, dealing with this issue. I could mock him and gloat, but I won't. He totally deserves it, but I can't.

It was a dick move to erase him from MOTU History. I know he's a gigantic tool, but, he DID BRING HE-MAN BACK and made the Ultimate MOTU Line happen (with help of the Fourhorsemen and others whose names are lost to the unreliable nature of Scott's narrator.) Like him or hate him, we wouldn't have MOTUC, OR the Filmation sub-line if it hadn't been for his push for a Marvel Legends like He-Man.

I may have a LOT of disagreements with the man. Especially his toxic behavior with some of the fans. I may think he's a gigantic douchebag for attempting to damage my reputation in the action figure community, but I acknowledge that he was part of the efforts to reignite my passion for MOTU and allowing me to surpass my childhood collection. Pulling a Chris Benoit-esque Erasure of his deeds is a disservice to the Brand's history. But then again, he did undermine the roles of other people who helped MOTUC Happen. It might be a cosmic victory to those who were erased by Scott, but for the sake of fairness, he should've been at least mentioned.

Just to drive the point home, I am not kissing his ass, or praising him. I am simply acknowledging his role in this story and complaining about his Erasure. I even find his story a bit sad. He spent many years trying to portray himself as the Savior of MOTU, but ended up not being worthy of being a footnote.