Action figures, Movies, Games, TV shows, things I like, Things I hate, weird news old or recent... they're fair game for my rants.
DISCLAIMER: OPINIONS POSTED ARE EXAGGERATED FOR COMEDIC EFFECT!! Got it?
Still waiting on She-Ra, the Evil Robot copy of her brother and Randor's Creepy brother... So instead of reviewing an old Hasbro GI Joe fig, I'm reviewing a couple of DCUC figs.
As you can see these guys seem to be Toys R' Us exclusives (even though I've seen some of these All Star figs outside of TRU... Weird) The Bat package suffered an accident... Slipping on banana peels actually does work.
Here you can see all the accessories of all 3 figs: The clear blue stand, the pin and their personal accessories. (Nightwing has his sticks, GL has his Power Battery and Batman has a grappling hook and a Batarang.)
My humble DCUC collection... Kinda needs a Superman, doesn't it?
Now unto the Review part: As always 1= crap and 5 equals awesome!
I hate the hinge/cut joint on the thighs. I said it on the SF4 toy review. I hate it even more on the DCUC toys. Instead of having the cut near the hinge like the SF4 toys, the cut is mid thigh. Other than that the Articulation is really good. (Similar to MOTUC) Single joints in knees and elbows but I kinda wish they were double jointed. Copy/pasted from Flash since these figures share the same joints. Batman loses some range in movement/posing because of the stiff cape.
Nightwing 4.0, Green Lantern: 4.0, Batman 3.5
Paint/Sculpt: Again this is Mattel so Little Paint Apps and maximum reuse. Less paint means less chances to screw up. Incredibly enough they have a couple of Personalized Parts: Batman has his belt, gloves and lower legs. Nightwing has his Upper back with the stick holders, his lower arms and lower legs also different from the base body. Green Lantern's only new piece is his Ring hand.
Nightwing: 4.0, Green Lantern 3.5, Batman: 4.0
Accessories:
Already talked about the Stand and the pin, so I won't go at them once more.
So I'll talk about the individual accessories:
Nightwing: He's got his sticks to fight crime and he can either hold them on his hands or place them on his back.
Green Lantern has his Power Battery, but no Green energy constructs to showcase the power of his Ring. So I'm stuck with having GL at his weakest or not using his accessory.
Batman: How can I say this? He's got a Batarang... It's warped as hell, so that means a Thermal water shower for it. He's got a grappling gun... With an abnormally soft grappling hook, The gun is also soft AND its splashed with silver flecks... Kinda looks like a negative dalmatian. Last but not least the rope on his grappling hook is barely as long as a GI Joe fig. (the little joes...)
So, the scores on Accessories are:
Nightwing: 3.0, Green Lantern 3.0, Batman: 2.5
Overall scores:
Nightwing: 3.67
Green Lantern: 3.5
Batman: 3.0
Out of those 3 my favorite figure scored the lowest, mostly because the ideas for his accessories were good, but executed poorly. I'm really surprised how much I'm enjoying tinkering with Green Lantern, the plainest of the three figs.
Behold some extra pics for fun! Click on them to see them full size.
It's true! He is dying and being revived most of the time in MK games. He was the only non-boss MK I character left out from the MK vs DCU game. This JCVD tribute/ joke character really has the deck stacked against him.
Poor Johnny lost his trademark move (The Groin Punch) shortly after dying for the first time...
At least Johnny can deal with all those pent up frustrations in MORTAL KOMBAT!!
Why do I like Johnny Cage? -I have a soft spot for joke Characters. Luckily Cage is not a sucky Joke Character. -He's a tribute to Jean Claude Van Damme. -He's the most normal of the original MK characters... (He's not some superepowered ninja,a thundergod, a shaolin monk, or a member of the Special Forces) but does not seem out of place like certain Policeman from MK3 that I won't mention by name. -Groin punch! Yes, it's an immature move that gave birth to the term being Johnny Caged; but it's fun to use in Kombat. -He is just plain awesome!! He Kept the Hard sounding C in MORTAL KOMBAT... -Avoided most of MK: Annihilation by committing suicide at the beginning of the film. -Stole Liu Kang's chance to Kill Goro in MK: Shaolin Monks.
By now you've probably noticed that I'm an action figure collector. Various of my topics here are related to them, including the It came from the Toy Chest reviews. Also, my MOTUC Keldor is coming and I want to do that review fairly. Hence the point of this rant. Accessories. I can understand the reason why some toys are lacking in accessories. Budget reasons, the toy isn't meant to have one, etc. Now what I don't understand is the lack of proper accessories on Keldor, Namely his dueling blades.
I can understand not having a melty face Keldor on the toy, but replacing his swords with vintage Power Sword halves... It's bad and wrong! It's badong! Problem is that so far Mattel WON'T make the 200X Skeletor/Keldor Swords. Their reasoning is that those swords ARE the vintage Power Sword with "anime Hyper Detail". Wait there's more! Those swords ARE NOT the vintage sword, just a pair of bootlegs that Keldor made. Wait, what? On the other hand Teela,Randor, Whiplash, Merman, Hordak, even He-Man can get their 200X Weapons... (Just don't ask for a 200X He-man head with an achy breaky 200X mullet.) The "reason" why everyone else except Keldor can get their 200X weapons is: The 200X weapons on MOTUC have no Vintage version, thus they are "classicsized" in order to be on the line.
Now toning down the detail of those swords could've worked, but Mattel is being stubborn... (Something that they know pretty well and excel at it.) Now that I got that out of the way, let's move on with the rest of the accessory rant.
Joe collectors actually have it pretty good in that department. Those Joes come with a boatload of accessories, sometimes too many for the figure. Having a Joe figure without accessories is a rarity that only occurs in multi packs or in figs with vehicles. I understand that their small size allows them to have a more than decent amount of accessories.
Now let's move on to the bigger guys: The 6-7 inchers. I love ML (well until Hasbro dropped the ball And the floor where the ball was dropped.) and the little guys that replaced ML do not come with enough accessories to justify the scale change. ML was accessory lacking for many figures, except that it went BIG when it gave accessories. Earlier waves began with a customized stand for each character. Cap had a piece of a busted tank, his shield and a US flag. Iron Man had a piece of a Stark Satellite, Human Torch had a flaming base, Ghost rider had his bike, etc. Figures that needed accessories got theirs. Punisher had a Machine Gun and a pistol, Blade had his weapons and a Bike. Thor had his Hammer. The Thing (variant) even had his trench coat hat and glasses. With the advent of the Build A Figure, characters lost their personal stands, but those who needed accessories still got them. Chuck X had a chair (Reuse from the X-men movie line.) Kitty Pryde got Lockheed, Hawkeye got a couple of Arrows and his working bow.
I'll admit that some figs had decent accessories, others were given the shaft. I mean with so many characters that can shoot energy beams and stuff, Why weren't some of these made. Biggest Accessory sin in ML: Psylocke with NO Psi-Knife... That's her Trademark Weapon. It's like making a clawless Wolverine or a Hammerless Thor. But ALL of these guys had a very special accessory: The free Comic. Since I'm somewhat of a comic book collector as well... WAS... now I only buy occasionally (thanks to Joe Quesada for making me quit...) The freebie is awesome! Since Hasbro got ML the paint apps, comic, and accessories have gone almost the way of the dodo. Other than the characters on the Two Packs. (some with swappable heads to make different characters and to force you into buying a second one.) Accessories on Hasbro ML are pretty much zero (besides the BAF piece)
As I said on the SF toy review. Those figs would've benefited from a few accessories. Heck even a Generic SF IV stand would've been cool. Energy blasts or character Specific accessories. The NECA TMNT had their weapons, shuriken/Ooze canister, a pre-mutated turtle, alternate hands, AND a Build A Diorama piece.
Now back unto Masters of the Universe Classics. Some characters got the short end of the stick in the accessory department, because of tooling budget issues. (even if the accessory was already tooled) I'm talking about Battle Armor He-Man. He has his armor and 3 swappable chestplates representing the battle damage and his Axe... No Power Sword. King Randor did not get his Vintage spear, but received the 200X Scepter! This kinda clashes with the "reason" that Keldor did not get his blades. But I've learned that Mattel does not use logic and common sense on these things.
DCUC... I've avoided most of this line because I'm not much of a DCU fan. When the line started I still was into ML and the DCUC seemed Inferior (Less Articulation, less paint apps, very little accessories, not even a free Comic Book like the Previous DCSH line.) As I said with Flash: He could've used a better stand, or something. Yes some characters DO come with accessories, but those are usually rare. I mean there is a ton of Green Lanterns and only 2 came with Energy constructs IIRC. Also I'm not sure how many come with their Power Battery. 2 Essential GL accessories and not all the GLs might have them.
There is one reason why I loved the Jakks WWE figures, the accessories. Most of the figures ended up on the Custom fodder bin, but the Accessories ended up on my displays. I kinda regret not buying the Meat Carcass from Rocky. It would've been awesome for some displays.
I wish accessory packs made a comeback. Hopefully the Weapons Packs will help me even out SOME of the lacking accessories on my MOTUC figures... Wait! maybe there IS a method to Mattel's madness... Now if they made the 200X Keldor Blades I'd be so happy...
I don't get it... They're not naked... She's on a bikini and he's on Tightie Whiteies. Point is that he claims she's stealing his bit. Also that she should sign a "Naked Cowboy Franchise Agreement" Most of his licensed franchisees pay $5000 a year or $500 a month. Wait what? People pay this guy in order to sing badly in their underwear? Then again he did the gig and trademarked it. Can this Not really naked Cowgirl defend her gig under parody? We'll see. Not that I really care though...
Drunk driving you're doing it... right, wrong? I honestly have no idea... New Zealand drunk driver cracks another beer while trapped in his car. Ok, the dude was drunk and driving. He flips his car over and when he can't get out of the vehicle he simply drinks more beer. Obviously when the cops found him he was over the legal limit in NZ. Now he had to pay a fine and is banned for driving for 10 months. Now a scene like this must be in one of those Seth Rogen comedies...
Amanda Bynes: Thespian no more... Good luck in whatever you're gonna do... You will be missed... Now if certain 20 something would retire... Not gonna say any names, or make reference to any of her movies. All I can say is that SCRAM is supposed to look ugly... and it's like a scarlet letter for drunks... and No you can't drive drunk unless the car is KITT or Herbie...
Okay? So Linda McMahon is a candidate for the U.S. Senate... Weird... Owen Hart's Widow is suing Linda McMahon so McMahon/Hart feud goes deeper than kayfabe... long story short. Mrs. Hart is pissed that WWE keep using Owen's image and wants cash for it. Strange thing is that this pops up while Mrs. McMahon is running for a seat in the Senate. Wasn't this Hart/McMahon feud settled in 2000?
Hopefully Linda will establish Mandatory Titantron entrances for every Senator, representative, etc. Still, I think it would be 100 times more awesome/funny if Vince was running for Senator... Politician Royal Rumble...
She's trying too hard to make sure that Hannah stays dead and buried. The only problem I see is that she's on borderline trashy and classless.
She's allegedly going from a "girl next door" to a "sexy goth-like" look.
Her music has also evolved from the sweet bubble gum Hannah Music to this new Miley edgy music. So her outfits seem to be "matching" her new musical style.
Here's the thing: Miley COULD dress edgier WITHOUT looking trashy. She did that when she sang with Bret Michaels... I wonder if Miley will make an appearance in the next Rock of Love... not as a contestant...
Now, all this "Wholesome squeaky clean Hannah image" stuff kinda bothers me. Hannah Montana/Miley Stewart is not exactly squeaky clean as people believe.
Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana is incredibly bitchy, maybe more than Miley Cyrus. Just watch Hannah Montana. She's bitchy/rude towards her brother, her friends, even her dad...
Forcing her friends and relatives into weird situations because things don't go her way.
-Using her friends as substitutes to sneak to a party while grounded.
-tricking her father and her bodyguard to fly across the country in order to shut up a rival.
-bribing DMV a employee in order to get a Driver's License for Hannah after failing as Miley.
-trying to get people fired from their jobs because it isn't convenient for her. (Mikaela, her rival from a movie with Jake Ryan. Her grandmother from the School Cafeteria.)
-Harassing/threatening her best friend's ex boss into re-hiring her friend just cause she couldn't stand her best friend working for her.
-Humiliating her brother in National Radio and not really trying to correct the mistake.
-attempting to humiliate a "mean girl" on National TV.
-Stealing a Hannah Wig from a fan in order to get celebrity perks at a store.
... among other things. So is Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana that squeaky clean? I think not...
Bribes, getting fake IDs, threatening other peoples' jobs!? Worst thing is that her father lets her get away with some of this stuff. True that other times she gets grounded, but a grounding doesn't stop Miley S./Hannah from doing what she wants.
It's important to note that Robbie Ray Stewart and Miley Stewart's lives morphed into a distorted version of the lives of Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus.
Does Miley Cyrus behave like Miley Stewart? I don't know, in fact I think that other than dressing in a mildly inappropriate way; Miley Cyrus is tamer compared with her TV counterpart.
The point of this long-winded rant is that Miley is trying to distance herself from Hannah Montana the wrong way. This change was premature and way too obvious/"shocking" with signs of trying too hard...
I really thought that with Hannah Montana ending that I wouldn't have to mention Miley that often... Seems I was wrong... Miley should stop trying too hard to get attention. That is what causes the crap that people talk about her. The very same crap that she needs to filter out with an Ear Tattoo.
Miley Cyrus: Now Stay Dead dammit! Billy Ray Cyrus: Uh, Mile? You know that you're strangling a fan dressed up as Hannah Montana... right? Miley Cyrus: Oh sweet niblets!
It's been a while since I've posted stuff here, busy with offline stuff (prepping for some other ranticles/reviews for the blog as well.) and the whole She-Rapocalypse... While waiting for the MOTUC toys to arrive here's one little toy that I've been dying to own and review...
It's DC Universe's very own Flash! (Number II) I'll admit that I haven't read a DC comic in years and Barry Allen was dead about the time I started to read, but he's the Flash I knew from the Super Friends and stuff. He's my very first DCUC character... (If Wal-Mart finally stocks the Batman and Robin two pack, Barry won't be alone...) That's him on his package and yes this is the All Star re-release so he is not part from whatever wave he was in DCUC.
If you notice the packaging, Mattel ingeniously made it look like he's running fast.
Now unto the review: As always 1 = crap and 5 = Totally awesome toy that I want to be buried with when I kick the bucket.
Articulation:
I hate the hinge/cut joint on the thighs. I said it on the SF4 toy review. I hate it even more on the DCUC toys. Instead of having the cut near the hinge like the SF4 toys, the cut is mid thigh. Other than that the Articulation is really good. (Similar to MOTUC) Single joints in knees and elbows but I kinda wish they were double jointed. Yes he looks pretty awesome in that pic, like he's running very fast, doesn't he? To tell you the truth he fell right after I took the pic... In the words of Carlito Caribbean Cool: That's not cool!
4.0
Paint/Sculpt:
This is a Mattel Toy. Like Hasbro they LOVE reusing blank bodies. Flash is using one of the DCUC bodies. (If I get a second DCUC character I can go on in detail about this.) I know that his boots are not part of the standard body. Mostly because of the little wings and the grooves on Barry's boots for better traction. He's pretty much molded in red and everything else is painted.
Minimal paint apps are used here for the non red stuff and some shading in the red parts so he doesn't look too toy-like. There's little to zero paint app errors here.
4.0
Accessories:
Here's where the DCUC pales in comparison to good old ML, MOTUC, Even WWE figs.
The Flash has a pin celebrating DC's 75 years AND a generic clear blue stand.
That's it. No clip on streaks of color simulating his super speed, or a personalized stand that looks like he is running super fast.
2.0
Overall score: 3.33
Don't get me wrong, Flash on his own is an amazing figure. The problem is that Mattel is giving us very little with each figure, while the costs increase.
Now If they made an Apache Chief I'd so buy him...
Kinda wished I was a DCUC fan when Mattycollector released the Wonder Twins... Without Gleek.
OK I just want the main cast of the Superfriends... Just to make fun of Aquaman... (Sorry Aquaman fans, but in my book he rates lower than Marvin and Wendy... They're lower than The Wonder Twins and they're really low on the coolness scale.)
but apparently He's... off the hook. YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!
After 8 years and Kingdom of the Crystal Callista Flockheart's face! Harrison ford marries a Skeleton! No biggie. Han Solo just tied the knot... He really did take his time!! Hopefully he'll take more time and delay the possibly awful fifth Indiana Jones movie.
While Kung Foo' Kid is the highest grossing movie of last Weekend, I went with the better choice... The A-Team. I want to make an unbiased review of the movie, but the A-Team fanboy in me is making it hard. The movie was entertaining, full of over the top action. The violence was almost like an 80s TV show but with a bigger budget. The big question is IS IT GOOD? The answer is much tougher. IF you liked the show, then YES IT'S GOOD! If you hated the show (Like Roger Ebert), you shouldn't bother with the movie.
The plot of the movie is based on the show's premise (updated to the 21st Century.) The Team is no longer involved in 'Nam, Now they're Gulf War Vets. During the movie you'll see the Crime they didn't commit, the Team being sent to prison, their escape, etc. It's an origin Story. Not really spoiling anything that isn't told in the first few seconds of the TV series opening theme song.
The chemistry among the Team is there. The Love-Hate relationship between Murdock and BA is present. The characters are pretty much the same as the TV versions but slightly updated for the film. Many of the little things from the show are in the movie. The van is present in the movie. B.A.'s fear of flight and the sneaky ways to get around it are in it too. Random destruction where almost everyone comes out unscathed is here as well. Murdock's craziness is ramped up to a hundred. Face is still horny as heck (no sex in the movie). There's a cameo of TV Face and Murdock in the movie. I missed it unfortunately. Even though the story seems mildly dark, The A-Team feels really lighthearted. Obviously most of the funny moments belong to Murdock played by Sharlto Copley. The A-Team song can be heard a couple of times during the movie. I know it's not that big of a deal, but It really helped encase the whole A-Team feeling.
Long story short. The movie feels like a huge budget longer Episode of The A-Team.
Story: In faithfulness to the source Material I'd give it a 4.5/5 (obviously some points are lost for adapting the story to a more modern time and one plot element that I will not spoil, but it involves B.A.)
Acting: The entire movie is an over the top mess celebrating the TV show. These characters are over the top almost cartoony. Yet the performance of the actors was Top Notch. Not Oscar worthy material since this movie was a popcorn flick based on a cartoony over the top violent TV show. 5/5.
Music: Most of it was forgettable except the parts that THE A-Team Theme showed up. 3.5/5
Overall score 4.33 As I've said a million times. Support the A-Team, don't support that Remake from the evil spawn of the Fresh Prince.
It started with four ladies living together in one house. Now all that's left is the naive one. A stroke took away Rue McClanahan, known to the world as Ms. Blanche Deveraux from Golden Girls. I don't know what to say about this. I love watching Golden Girls reruns whenever I can. Now it's kinda odd knowing that Dorothy, Blanche and Sophia are dead.
On other news I did find the first two seasons of Golden Girls for 10-13 bucks, so I've got plenty to remember them by.
Why is this wrong? -I'll begin with the simplest reason of all. The actor must look as close as possible to the character he/she is representing. This is important to already established characters. -changing race for no reason at all is stupid. Although the actor playing Aang looks a lot like the cartoon counterpart in The Last Airbender; I still think it was wrong to cast a white kid for a obviously Asian role. -Why MUST he be black? There is no real reason to have a black Spidey. Peter Parker, the character is not defined by being white. I cannot deny that, but that does not mean that he HAS to be black. This proposal has no real reasoning behind it. Just wanting to have a black hero. I'm pretty sure that I'd be called racist if I made a Shaft movie with Billy Ray Cyrus as Shaft. Or a Fresh Prince of Bel Air with the entire Banks family being black, but Will is played by Rob Pattinson. A White War Machine... They should've replaced Terrence Howard with Steve Buschemi... -While we're at it, Why does he HAVE to be a man? Or have Spider Powers? It just doesn't make sense... Unless this is a long elaborated set up for a Black Uncle Ben/rice joke.
So now Oklahoma inmates will look like Clowns I kid you not. Hot Pink Shirts and Yellow/White striped Pants make the inmates more noticeable. Here's my question, wouldn't the criminals ditch the clown suits when they escape?
Cowabung- oh @#$% No! The Great Satan of movies is going to blow up the TMNT. That's right boys and girls, The Evil Franchise rapist Michael Bay is going to produce the next TMNT movie. Good thing he seems to be busy raping Optimus Prime's exhaust one more time. As long as he doesn't want to direct it, we have a sliver of hope hat it will not suck...
Coke and Mentos mobile away!
Not exactly practical, but pretty awesome. It's propelled by Mentos and coke... Speaking of which...
90s Mentos ads rocked!
♪Do do do dooo, do waaaah!
It doesn't matter what comes, fresh goes better in life, With Mentos fresh and full of Life! Nothing gets to you, stayin fresh, stayin cool, With Mentos fresh and full of LIFE!!! Fresh goes better! Mentos freshness! Fresh goes better with Mentos, fresh and full of life!♫ Mentos! The Freshmaker!
On another sad note Dennis Hopper passed away last Saturday. He was in Easy Rider, Waterworld, Super Mario Brothers, Speed, among other movies. He also did voiceovers in videogames.
He played Porn Director Steve Scott in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He will be missed.
Capcom's Street Fighter had various versions released throughout the years... Now NECA was the last company to give it a try. Unfortunately the NECA curse has struck again. The line is dead after two waves. Luckily I was able to find a Ryu and Ken.
The Ansatsuken "brothers". Unfortunately it's the Alternate Color versions, but I wasn't going to miss out on Ryu (Like I did back when SOTA made Street Fighter toys.)
The poseability on this figures rivals Marvel Legends. YES! Double joints on arms and knees! Their scale is 7" so they match MOTUC. Unfortunately they are larger than the 6" SOTA Street Fighter figs.
They can pull off almost any pose from the games. (Hadoken is not perfect but on a2D perspective it looks just right.) Ken stood like that without any assistance for a little while. He could stay that way on a sturdy, stable surface.
Now for the ratings: Again 1=waste of plastic and cash. 5= Ultra awesome toys!
Articulation:
As I said earlier these guy match Marvel Legends in Articulation; so they get a 4.5 rating.
Why not 5? I dislike the hinge joint/cut on the crotch and thighs. It's an alternative to the ball joint that works, but I find it less aesthetically pleasing.
Accessories: Here they got the short end of the stick. While they have alternate hands for other poses, in Ken's case they're not enough. While Ryu gets two "Hadoken" hands as alternates, Ken gets one Hadoken hand and one Thumbs up hand. They have no Alternate Heads like their SOTA counterparts, or extra accessories like the Flaming Dragon Punch for Ken or the Duffel bag for Ryu. So Ken gets a 4 and Ryu a 4.5.
Sculpt/Paint Job:
Their sculpts are ALMOST similar. They resemble their Street Fighter IV counterparts a lot. I can say that the upper part of their Gi is different. Ryu's is frayed while Ken's look all nice and crisp. The kanji on Ryu's belt are sculpted. Also the pants legs on Ryu look all worn out unlike Ken's. The bodies have a lot of detail. Now the paint jobs on the other hand leave a lot to be desired. Ryu had some flesh colored spots on his hair. On both figures the paint washes are rather erratic. so Ken gets a 4.5 and Ryu gets a 4.
Ryu gets a 4.33 while Ken gets a 4.33 Draw game... If I had to pick favorites then Ryu is the better figure. If I had found a Ryu with a slightly better paint job, he would've won.
It's such a shame that NECA killed teh lien so quickly. All we got was Ryu, Ken, C.Viper, Guile, Chun Li, Akuma. Hopefully I'll be able to find an Akuma somewhere.
