Dec 28, 2011

Brace yourselves 2012 is coming!

Let's look back at 2011 before moving on to 2012!

-The Royal family of Eternos has been completed! Queen Marlena and Cringer made their Debut in MOTU... as toys.
-Speaking of Mattel, they finally got Filmation Rights! (and Shadow Weaver is the Frist Filmation figure but is a sub exclusive)
-Hannah Montana is Finally over!
-I became a brony.
-Gilbert Gottfried is no longer the AFFLAC! mascot
-Thor rocked, Green Lantern sucked!
-Thundercats got rebooted... and it is AWESOME!!
-We were all left behind, or Rapture did not happen (Hercolubus all over again...)
-Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jon Il Kicked the bucket!
-Beavis and Butt-Head made a comeback, it's like they never left!
-I caved in and bought Tri-Klops from a resseller, then Matty was selling him for $10...

2012 might be the last year of this world (or the Mayan Calendar...) so let's see what it brings! Happy New Year Everypony! In the Mean time here's Kim Jong Il!

Dec 25, 2011

It Came From The Toy Chest: The MOTU Jack Skellington

Scareglow: The Evil Ghost of Skeletor that has caused a lot of confusion for years... has finally arrived. He was originally released on November 2009 along with the Reissue of He-Man. Sadly I could not buy Scareglow... and was OK with it because I was still in a "Just get a FEW characters and call it a day" mentality. Also my Teela hadn't arrived, so I didn't know how Good these figs were... So here's the deal with Scareglow: He's like a Ghost Skeleton that Glows in the dark and induces fear... Like Scarecrow from Batman... In the Masters of the Universe Classics, he's the Ghost of a Bounty Hunter who was obsessed with penetrating Grayskull... The Castle, not the King... King Grayskull was already dead for a couple of hundred or thousand years... So that's pretty much Scareglow in a nutshell... I guess I should get on with the ratings part, but I cannot. I need to discuss what he brings to the game: A Skull head, a Cool Cape,Pole Ax, a key and a Grayskull Relic that holds the Key. Yes he does share the generic buck! Skeletor's to be precise.... So if you have a Skelly, you know what to expect with Scareglow.
Now I will do the ratings part, so 1 = crap and 5 equals awesome.

Articulation:
Same old, same old. Nothing new here... His joints are pretty tight, yo!
4.5
Paint and Sculpt:

Look at Scareglow... Notice something weird? If you owned the Vintage Toy you will not see anything odd, cause he looks Just like you remember... Now, if you did NOT own one as a kid, like me, you Will notice something odd... His head does not match the body! His head is a nice rendition of a Skull... Even nicer than Skeletor's, the body? it reminds me of the Kobra Kai Halloween costume...

Oh look! Scareglow!
Well, the Skull is awesome, far more creepier than Skeletor's. The rest of him is pretty much Skeletor! His cape is frayed at the bottom and awesome!
Paintwise, well he's Glow in the dark "white" with the black areas tampographed on in order to simulate the skeleton body, so little paint apps on him. The cape is translucent and has a bit of a purple paintjob that fades into nothingness.
3.5
Accessories:
He's got the pole ax, the relic and the Key. The last two are new additions from the 4 Horsemen. The Mini Grayskull atop the Relic is AMAZING!!
4.5

Overall:
4.17
for Mr. Scareglow... He glows in the dark, looks a bit like Skullomania and is the ghost of an evil Dog the Bounty Hunter... What's NOT to like?

Christmas is already over.

Yeah!
We didn't get to celebrate together!
Yeah!

Sorry, I got a little carried away with that Shenmue Joke...
Scareglow will be the last It Came From the Toychest this year... Cause Mattel screwed up with Demo-Man... They were unable to release him from China on-time...
I'm one ranticle short out of completing the 120th Article of the year... (OK I'm 2 short, but Screglow's ICFTC will bump one off) but this December seemed a bit Off! Not too much Holiday Spirit this year!! Oh yeah! We're 362-ish days from THE END OF THE WORLD!!

Wha?? No video? No Ice Age 2 Reference?

Eh, that will do!

I dunno, but even Christmas movies this year were a little lame... The only saving grace so far was the Cleveland Show making a Die Hard Parody!


Filler Video Warning!!

Ooh! I almost forgot! Mattel also sent me a map of Etheria!! If it would've had a Hamburglar He-Man too it would have been an awesome Christmas Miracle!! So not all Matty's messups are bad!

So happy Whatever the Heck you celebrate!

Dec 15, 2011

Holy crap! GI JOE Retaliation looks like it's NOT Going to suck!

Holy crap! I CAN smell what the Rockblock is cooking!

The Joes are on the run, Cobra rules America, MORE NINJAS!! What's not to love!?

On the other hand not everything is great in Sequel Land...


Men in Black 3 is uh... looking a bit meh... Not sure if the disappointment that was MIIB has something to do with it, or the fact that it's been so long since the last MIB Movie (the aforementioned MIIB) that I no longer care about it... I need something to cheer me up...



OK, THIS WORKS as a perfect Pick me up!



So the entire trailer was a set up for a Urinary Tract infection joke?
I'll end this with a Dark Knight Rises teaser:



No more Mad Dog Bale Bats... Woohoo!

It came from the Toy Chest: SHORYUKEN! TIGER UPPERCUT!


Street Fighter 2 packs from Jazwares!! I know what you're thinking: Isn't that the same company that made some sub-par Street Fighter figs during the twilight of SOTA's tenure with Street Fighter? Yes, yes they are... Well This Two-Pack as you might have guessed is composed of Ryu and Sagat. Kinda based on the Street Fighter Animated movie than any of the games. It's been like what, 20 years of Street Fighter? Do I need to go in depth about Ryu and Sagat?
OK Ryu is the main character of Street Fighter... Travels the world in order to become a stronger Warrior. Sagat on the other hand was the Final Boss of the First Street Fighter. He was defeated by Ryu and that huge scar on his chest is a reminder from that battle. He wants a rematch against Ryu.

As always 1 = crap and 5= Awesome.

Articulation:
Both Ryu and Sagat have the same amount of Articulation Points:
-Head is on a Ball joint (Pops off easily, watch out)
-Arms are on a rotating hinge.
-Same thing for the elbows
-hands only rotate (No hinges here... probably cause they are removable.)
-Torso rotates on some sort of ball joint (gives Ryu and Sagat a Little back and forward movement) The joint is underneath the pecs.
-Legs are on a rotating hinge, but the range of movement in not that great. Also Legs tend to Pop off.
-The Knees are on a rotating hinge. (Both Ryu and Sagat's right knees are mega loose)
-The Feet are in a rotating hinge joint as well.
The Articulation in Theory is not that bad. 16 points on a 3 3/4" figure is NOT That bad. A bit less than a 25th Anniversary GI Joe figure. The Problem lies in the Execution. Some of the basic poses CAN be recreated, but others cannot be recreated either because the figure's range of motion does not allow it or because the figure's legs start to pop off and fall.
I'd have to give them a 2.5 for that.
From Nefty's House of Rants

Paint and Sculpt:
I am severely torn on this issue. There are a lot of details in some areas, like wrinkles and folds on Sagat's pants and on the joints on his fingers but at the same time his bandages seem way underdetailed. On Ryu's case his gi has folds, wrinkles and creases that give him a detailed look, but at the same time both the dangling parts of his belt AND bandanna lack the creases and detailing that the parts that are sculpted to the body have. Also what's with the Leifeldian Manboobs on Ryu?
Now the Paintjob is a bit problematic.
On Sagat's case there is a nice reddish shading on his body (that matches his scar) which gives his muscles some tone but it was applied erratically across the figure. Some his arms are more reddish than the biceps and it looks odd.
On Ryu's case his neck is a bit Orange... Almost Hogan Orange. while the gi has some nice light blue shading. It seems that my Ryu has a half painted Bandanna. On Ryu's belt there are some Kanji tampographed on it. (The same ones that the NECA SF4 Ryu has as well.)
Also on both figures the joints are of a different color than the rest of the figure (only on the flesh areas.) They tried to cover it up by painting the joints, but sadly the secret is revealed once you move the figures around.

As I said, this is where I am very torn cause the sculpt is Pretty good, not Perfect but pretty good, while the paints are a bit below average...
I think that for this review only I shall separate Paint and Sculpt.

Paint:
Ryu: 3.0 Sagat 2.5
Sculpt:
Ryu: 3.0 Sagat:3.5

Accessories:
1 Extra pair of hands for each character. That way you can have both characters with closed fists or opened hands. The Ryu hands are meant to be Hadoken hands. the lack of swivel in them makes them a bit useless for that. Sadly no energy blasts or character specific accessories like Ryu's duffelbag.
3.0
Overall:
Ryu: 2.875 Sagat: 2.875
From Nefty's House of Rants

While they are a HUGE improvement over their past efforts, there's still a LOT of room for them to improve. At least they're MORE Accurate than the last time Street Fighter was in Joe Scale... made by Hasbro... Although Sagat was pretty Accurate... Now, the one positive thing I can think of is MK vs SF can be actually made at least in toy form since Jazwares also makes the MK figures... and these guys seem to have their limbs detached from their body so easily that Fatality displays could be easy to make!

Dec 8, 2011

It came from the Toychest: Bubbles of Power!

As spoiled by the Swift Wind Review, my Third Matty Item from the November sale is Bubble Power She-Ra! Or as Mattel tentatively called her: She-Ra 2.0!
What's so great about this She-Ra? Horse Riding Powers! If you bought Swift Wind and did NOT buy this She-Ra...

Exactly!
Also this is the First She-Ra Variant, like Battle Armor He-Man... But this time she is Slightly closer to the Toy design... but we're still far off from the Toy design... I guess Starburst She-Ra will be the one based on the toy... As it can be seen she's got additional armor, removable of course so you can take the Filmation head off the first She-Ra an pop it in this one to have a Filmation She-Ra that can ride horses... Or Green Tigers if you feel inclined to do so! She also has a Toy accurate Tiara to be worn on a holeless head! She also has the Second version of the Vintage Toy Sword... which was reused on Starburst She-Ra... (Not the one I was hoping for, but Whatever...) I'm forgetting the bubble blower that gives Bubble Power She-Ra her name...

I should go unto the review part where 5 is good and 1 is crap!

Articulation:
Unlike her 1.0 Counterpart this She-Ra has a Softer Skirt and slits on its sides that allow a Greater range of Motion. she also, like BG Teela has a waist twist! Everything else is standard MOTUC Female Articulation... (Still no ab crunch like the males, but it's more visually pleasing that way...) and her super soft cape does not get in the way when posing her on Swift Wind... unlike her red 1.0 cape which is a lot more rigid than this one.
4.5
Paint and Sculpt:
The Four Horsemen did a LOT of improvements on She-Ra! Adding some Toy details on her bracers and boots, making her Leaf pattern smaller and less Weed looking... I wish I would have bought a Second one to Customize into a Toy Accurate She-Ra cause her "Leaf" almost looks like the Toy Spiral...

Paintwise She has no visible slop or paint chipping off. She's I'd dare say Perfect, but there is ONE small flaw, or huge flaw... Your Mileage may vary...

She-Ra is a Jabroni beating, lalala pie eating, trailblazing, eyebrow raising, heartstopping, elbow dropping electrifying rebel Etheria has seen!
My She-Ra has her right Eyebrow painted like she's doing "The People's Eyebrow" Suddenly Holey head She-Ra is starting to look more appealing...
4.5
Accessories:
Like I said, She-Ra has her Toy Sword, Her shield makes a comeback with a Pink Bubble Power gem and a cooler paintjob... The CombAxe makes a Comeback. I did mention the Toy accurate Tiara for her... Sadly this time you cannot Flip it over and have the Tiara work as a mask and stay there. Now The Bubble Launcher is the most intriguing thing. I Never had the Original Bubble Power She-Ra and I don't Recall my cousin having her... If she did she probably lost the Bubble launcher really fast... the same way she lost her sword of protection and most of my power swords... (Thank goodness for the Weapon packs!) Well I don't know if the launcher works, but it looks a lot like the vintage one... (As much as I love POP, that was a weapon that went straight into the parts baggie #2! Too frou-frou for my display...)
4.0

Overall: 4.33 for Bubble Power She-Ra. She is Not a bad figure on her own, but she's overshadowed by her intended purpose of swapping the Filmation head and cape from the First She-Ra unto this one to have a Filmation She-Ra that can Ride Swift Wind.

It Came from the Toychest: Whoa! That's one big Pony!

And this Pony is not small or mine... OK I own this Pony but it is not one of the 'My Little' variety... I'm talking about Swift Wind everypony! Wait... I just received a Letter from the Royal Palace of Eternos! OK, let's see...
Apparently I cannot use the following terms in this review:
10 seconds flat, 20% Cooler, everypony, somepony, anypony, and any other thing that references My Little Pony... So no She-Ra weed/Leaf thingie as Swift Wind's cutie Mark...
Swift Wind what can I say about him: He's Basically She-Ra's Battlecat, but in winged Unicorn form... Ah! I know what I can say... Remember the Trollestia Review? Sorry Spector, but I made a Swifty Reference there, so I must link to that to explain the whole Swift Wind thing...

In the 80s Swifty was White in the Toon, Pink as a Toy... Mattel later made a variant of Swift Wind called Royal Swift Wind! He was White, but not the Toon version. Fast Forward to the MOTUC era, with a Filmation She-Ra made due to it appearing on the Princess of Power Style Guide, but the Filmation Swift Wind not appearing meant that we were getting Toy Swift Wind... The Pink One... Mattel in their Infinite Wisdom decided to Make a Swift Wind Poll to choose Which version of Swift Wind would show up in the Line... Classic Pink or Royal White.
Royal Swift Wind vote... Probably due to some people fearing that a pink horse would make them "less of a man" or something... Then Mattle threw that result out of the window and Made Filmation Swift Wind instead!Looks like I've talked about it already...
So let's see what Swift Wind brings to the table:
Horse Body, Wings, a saddle and his mask with the horn attached to it...
You can ALMOST make a Spirit out of him if it wasn't for 3 things:
The wing holes, the lack of the small headdress Spirit wears AND the non-Removable "Necklace-like thing" Sorry, my terminology on horse related stuff is very limited... but in any case, you JUST can't strip down Swift Wing and call him Spirit... Either a Mattel oversight or a trick to sell you more horses...

Now unto the ratings part: 1 =bad 5 =good... I bet you already know this, but I have to mention it in case of new readers...

Articulation:
This probably will be the Standard on MOTUC Horses... but let's discuss it in depth:
Head moves up and down, so does the neck, but it also has a little side to side movement.
His wings are one a hinged peg that can rotate 360 degrees AND the wings can flap due to the hinges. His tail is on a hinged joint that kinda functions like a ball joint. His legs have 3 POA Each. (a hinged joint) So let's see: about 16 POA Not bad for a horse that used to be a statue!
4.5
Paint and Sculpt:
This horse is veiny! You can see a LOT of veins in this sculpt, which is very important because there's a QC issue plaguing Swift Wind... Incorrectly assembled legs (Two right legs or 2 left legs) and the veins are the key to noticing this flaw. Also his feathers are very detailed and I think each feather is different from the other... Oh and his hair is Windblown like his rider's...
Paintwise Swift Wind is almost flawless... with a bit of paint rub on his neck, due to the necklace-thing...

Special thanks to Eric DeLima for the pics with the flawed Swifty legs.
4.5*
Accessories:
Technically that would be the saddle... which is part of Swift Wind... I have to admit that Mattel dropped the ball here. Here was the perfect chance to make a 2 in one figure, cause unlike Battle Cat, a 100% Naked Swift Wind could have worked as a Spirit (even if he did Not have the headpiece...) Two removable pegs of white plastic and making the neck thing removable...
On the other hand with the excess of wrong legged Swiftys, I guess it's a good thing that they did...
3.0

Overall: 4.0* for Mr. Wind... I know what you're saying: Wait a minute he hasn't mentioned She-Ra in all of this! Of course not! I'm saving that for her Bubble Power Review!... and yes, BP She-Ra CAN Ride Swift Wind in a lady-like manner and in a manly fashion... Something that Miss Rigid Skirt cannot do!

*=Assuming that Swift Wind has no QC issues...
Mandatory Godfather Joke... Neitlich started it when he said that Swift Winds's head was NOT removable to avoid this joke...

It came from the Toy Chest: Follow my Hose nose...

Snout Spout has arrived, it's true it's true! The Etherian/sometimes Eternian Firefighter is here... A product of Horde Science... Basically capturing a random dude and doing experiments on the poor sucker... Well Snout Spout is one of those Horde Experiments...
Before I start with the review, I must say one thing. I ABSOLUTELY and completely HATEHATEHATEHATE! Snout Spout. Part of my hate towards him is the sad dopey elephant look on his face. The 200X Version of him made this loser a badass! MOTUC obviously went back to vintage, but some tweaks were made... He doesn't look as dopey as the vintage figure. His Backpack, while Mostly Vintage inspired got an extra element added to him (a side tank.) His Fire Axe got no real update but he got his own Hydraulic Spreader? (Jaws of Life) that kinda looks like an Elephant's face... and his trunk is Bendy!

With all that said let's move on to the ratings part where I say 1 = bad and 5 = good
Articulation:
Same old from your average MOTUC... Joints are pretty tight and all that... You're all waiting for me to give you the scoop on his trunk... I wouldn't fool around with it too much if I were you... The Material seems rather soft almost Foamlike. (found a small crack on the trunk...) 4.5 (not counting the crack...)

Paint and Sculpt:
Same old same old here. Basic He-Man buck, new gloves loincloth and boots... Aside that, the head is very vintage Looking, but as I said, the slight changes to his brow make him look a lot more cooler!
Paintwise Snouty is flawless... OK mine had two flaws: Due to his loincloth being ultra soft, some black paint chipped off his belt (already fixed) also he lacked some of his muscle shading, which I fixed by giving him a new paintjob:
4.0

Accessories:
The Ax and the Jaws of Life!
What can I say about the Ax: It's an Ax/Pick/wrench that can also be used to hold Snouty's trunk when firing the water... (If he HAD an action feature) Now the "Jaws of Life" They are kinda cool, but I probably won't display him with them for 2 reasons:
#1 It Makes Clamp Champ less interesting and for #2, see #1

3.0

Overall: Snout Spout gets a: 3.83 ( +.25 for free Stickers)
While he IS an amazing figure... which is a huge triumph for Snout Spout due to my hatred towards him, he still feel like he needed some more "oomph!" in him... I'm not saying they should have made him like the staction, which I would have liked. Yes the did made the brow to make him slightly more fierce and the backpack was updated... WITH THE VINTAGE BUTTON AND CAP where you filled him with water. (Which work pretty well on him.) but I still feel like he Lacks "something"... I dunno how to describe it.

Dec 3, 2011

12 Christmas Movies and/or Specials. Let's see...

Which movies I'd love to watch on Christmas... Since it's December and pretty much everyone is with a little Christmas Spirit inside...

Let's Start with #12:

Jingle All the Way... It's Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Sinbad in a Holiday rush that many of you had gone through... Last Minute Christmas Shopping Spree... It's like a shark frenzy... and while the movie is kinda crappy it does have its moments...

#11:

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas...
As you can see I'm talking about the Animated special and not the Jim Carrey Movie. My eart grows 3 sizes every time I see this special!

#10:

The Nightmare Before Christmas: I bet that all the emo kids at Hot Topic have stopped cutting themselves long enough to pay attention... Yes, I like the movie, yes I still hate the TNBC fandom... I knew I should have gone with Batman Returns instead, even if it's almost cheating...

#9:

Gremlins!
What, it's setting IS on Christmas... OK I guess Phoebe Cates knows how to ruin a good Holiday...

#8:

The Santa Clause:
Tim Allen Kills Santa, now he IS Santa. Since I've been Santa Claus before, I can relate to the movie... and I don't LIKE Tim Allen...

#7:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: The Rankin/Bass Special.
Of all the Rankin/Bass Specials, Rudolph's is the one I remember the most... I'm not a fan of Frosty the Snowman.

#6:

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York...
Or the Talkboy commercial movie...

#5:

Surviving Christmas...
I know it's not a well received movie and Most of the time I want to punch Ben Affleck in the face, but it kinda brings me a warm fuzzy feeling inside...

#4:

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus:
I should hate this movie... It's Basically Zack and Cody (playing the same character) having a war against Santa... Like a crappy Home Alone knock-off... I think it's that it's so crappy that it's good the reason why I kinda like this movie.

#3:

The He-Man, She-Ra Christmas Special... I know that you're not surprised to see this, since most of my rants involve Masters of the Universe somehow... Full of filmationy He-Man and She-Ra goodness, with a touch of Christmas!

#2:

Home Alone... No, it's not cheating... this one is in Chicago while the Last one was in New York... There are only 2 Real Home Alone movies... nothing more... Trust me on that...

#1:

Yippie Kay-yay Mother****er! Die Hard IS my Number One Christmas movie!! Action adventure and tons of Alan Rickman with his Snapey voice long before being Snape! Some people would say, hey! that's cheating! I say... I don't care... Watching Die Hard right now!

Nov 26, 2011

It Came from the Toy Chest: Peeping Tom, Dumpster Diver, Bounty Hunter

Tri-Klops: He seems to be the Jack of all Trades for the Evil Forces of Skeletor!
The first Figure I bought from a reseller... Yeah I know that I'm not a big fan of resellers, but since Mattel seems to avoid reissuing Tri-Klops so "international fans" such as Myself could buy him... Mattel missed out on my money this time. Now onto Tri-Klops:
NO! I will NOT post a gif of Tri-Klops holding He-Man from the Diamond Ray of Disappearance...
Now what can I say about him... HE has 3 eyes... like a Cyclops, but with 3... Tri, clops...
Well, he's one of Skeletor's big five:
Evil Lyn, Trap Jaw, Beastman, Mer Man, and Tri-Klops so that's important. In the new Masters of the Universe Classics he's a Bounty Hunter, some type of inventor/doctor/scientist cause he reprogrammed Faker (after a Dumpster diving session at the Royal Palace) He rebuilt Kronis into Trap Jaw and also is the creator/user of the Doom Seekers. I shouldn't forget his high skill in sword fighting.
His Visor helps him to see great distances, around and through objects AND he can shoot concussive blasts like somebody I know...

Hookay in any case let's get it on with the review:
As you can see, he uses the male buck... He is the originator of the left wrist that Randor, Keldor, Adam, Thunderpunch He-Man, and Hamburglar He-Man use... Speaking of Adam... Pop the Adam head on Tri-Klops' Body and put He-Man's armor on... A little red paint on the Loincloth and swapping the boots with the DCUC vs MOTUC He-Man and you get the closest thing to a Filmation He-Man as you can get in MOTUC...

Now unto the figure himself. Unlike later figures, Tri-Klops' design takes cues from the vintage toy, but is not a 100% replica of the vintage toy in MOTUC scale and Articulation. He gets extra details on his face and Armor that were not on the vintage toy. The only thing from the vintage toy that I miss is the strap on his back to keep the armor a bit steady.

What Tri-Klops brings to the game in MOTUC:
His Sword, a Doomseeker, a Warrior Ring just like the 80s toy... No, I did not take Pictures of the warrior Ring... It's on my TO DO list... Maybe when my Scareglow arrives... The Warrior ring does not fit my fingers, so it went straight to the parts baggie... His sword I already mentioned vaguely in the Weapons Pack 1 Review. Now a DoomSeeker would be something nice to throw in a weapons pack especially in silver.

I think I should move on to the ratings part... 1 = poop and 5 = awesometastic!

Articulation: Nothing new to see here... One partially loose ankle... 4.0
Paint and Sculpt:
I think this figure has ZERO flaws in this department: No visible sops in paint, everything nice and clean... yay. Sculptwise, well the Horsemen went above and beyond expectations: Love the cyber details on the eyes, the kunai on his back are mini TK swords! Heck when the Visor pops off (NOTE: It should not pop off when playing properly with Tri-Klops.) he even has cybernetic parts on his eyes that link to the visor... he kinda looks like Doc Ock without the visor...
5.0

Accessories:
I already said, sword, DoomSeeker + Stand and the Grayskull Warrior Ring.
Honestly, the star of the show is the Doom Seeker. Dunno how they Retro-styled it but it works... The Wind Raider color scheme DOES work on it, but personally I prefer Silver... Incredibly enough I am NOT tempted to paint this one in silver... The Warrior Ring... I have to talk about it. It glows in the dark, does not fit my fingers and it opens up a secret compartment that NOTHING fits in it...
3.5
Overall:
Tri-Klops gets a 4.17 that it's not too bad, but personally I think that the Warrior ring is truly a waste of accessory. Sure it's a throwback to the vintage line, but this is something that the toys cannot use.

Nov 24, 2011

Odds and ends: Waiting for Matty's Black Friday Sale

I'm gonna go for Scareglow this Black Friday on Matty... Sadly I have to wait until 4:00, not Noon (or 13:00 for me) but at Midnight Pacific Time... which Translates to 4 AM...In the case of New Yorkers: Big Apple 3 AM...

and this is the music they'll use...



The Hamburglar was retired from the McD Line-up, but there's a NEW Hamburglar in Iowa!
Sadly he surrender himself to the Authorities... I wonder if Officer Big Mac was the one Arresting him...
The guy broke into a McD to make himself a hamburger... Dude! Everyone KNOWS McNuggets are all the rage

You knew this was coming...

Megyn Kelly... is basically clueless. It's a chemical weapon. While it has a similar chemical as one found in some food products, it is NOT a food product... but I'm not going to talk about that...

Now that's an EPIC Burn!! Especially if it comes from Martha Freaking Stewart!


That's all for Today... Roughly 4 hours left until more WSOD for me! Whee!

Nov 23, 2011

Let's get our kettles with warm water and a glass of cold water just in case!

Looks like Ranma 1/2 TV Special is REALLY happening... Here's some clips of it!


Sadly I don't see Ryoga anywhere...

I wonder if the Panty Raider will make an appearance...

I hope Happosai makes it...

Nov 22, 2011

Odds and Ends: Don't stuff the turkey yet!

OK, Thanksgiving's coming and I wanna take a look at some stuff before it happens...
Mattel is FINALLY shipping my BP She-Ra, Swift Wind and Snout Spout...

Stealth Camouflage!? Nope! Chuck Testa! Nope! Chinese guy who makes Camouflage Paintings to render himself almost invisible... Problem is that he has to stand there without moving... DAMN!


Yahoo! caught me off-guard today with a random article: Where's Miley Cyrus Been? The answer is I have no idea what she's been up to ever since she hit the Salvia Bong... (and my assistant follows her on Twitter...) I think I can Find Carmen Sandiego faster than I could Find Miley...

I knew that she did a tour a couple of months ago, but I've pretty much stopped caring since she's no longer on TV and stuff... I guess that Forever being so short helped her slip off the radar... I'm still waiting for the 2012 Hannah Montana Revival tour... or at least Beavis and Butt-head to poke fun at Hannah or Miley...

Now let's move on to more recent and slightly more relevant things: Justin Bieber is getting a Paternity test... just to prove that he did NOT have sex with a girl...

Hey! It's a mandatory Bieber clip for the non Bielebers...
This whole paternity issue would've been better if it had been on Maury:

What she hopes to hear...

What Bieber hopes to hear.

Either way, that girl is screwed... If she DID have sex with Bieber, then it's statutory rape cause she was over 18 and he was... is a minor. If she DID NOT have sex with Bieber, he could sue for defamation of character and stuff...

Stuttgart, Arkansas is a town like no other... There is an obsession...

Yup! Duck Hunting... Apparently that's the Holy Grail of Duck Hunting... To me on the other hand the Holy Grail of Duck Hunting is:

Nov 21, 2011

The Most Obvious Videogame Crossover that still hasn't happened:

Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat... Why hasn't it happened!? I mean Capcom has crossed over with, Namco, SNK and Marvel while Mortal Kombat has battled the DC Universe.
Yet the big two haven't faced each other in a fighting game... (Neither have Marvel and DC but that's a story for another rant...)

Now From the MK Side, we have Ed Boon who'd LIKE to do it... Sadly it seems that the Capcom half ain't ready for a crossover with Mortal Kombat

Now I'm going to state the Obvious: 2 Games... When Capcom and SNK crossed over they did it that way, and they're doing it the same way in SF&Tekken Crossover games. Scorpion's Classic Unmask and Burn could be a nice Hyper Combo in the veins of Dhalsim's Yoga Inferno.
or Liu Kang's MK1 Pirouette Uppercut Fatality could be turned into a Crawler Assault type of Hyper combo.

(Obviously made a bit more over the top since it's a hyper combo)
All that Capcom has to do is make a super cool crossover game, personally I'd prefer if they went with a more crazy and over the top game (like the MVC series) but using old school 2-on-2 matches.


On the other hand Nether Realm Studios' half could go ALL MK with the Street Fighters.
Heck! Some of their Hyper moves could be borderline Fatalities.
Dhalsim's Yoga inferno could work similar to Scorpion's Classic Fatality. The Shun Goku Satsu could be Akuma's Fatality.

Ryu's could be a Shin Shoryuken that slices the opponent... (Story reason, something something dark energies from MK's realm affecting the lighter Capcom Realm characters)


That way everyone wins. Hopefully talks could start once this SF&Tekken thing ends... My guess is that Capcom doesn't want to do it... Street Fighter is more Superior than Mortal Kombat Mentality and all that... While I Prefer Street Fighter over Mortal Kombat, I Definitely think that this crossover would IS more anticipated than Tekken... Cause SNK is now out of the picture.

The closest thing we've got to SFvsMK or MKvsSF was the KAK from MK Armageddon... Now we need this for real!! C'mon Capcom!!

Nov 17, 2011

Marvel VS Capcom 3 made my fingers bleed!!

I went on a ride and fought for the fate of two worlds. Got my butt kicked a LOT of times... Phoenix Wright takes some time to master... Well to be fair I never played MVC3 before... Wasn't going to buy MVC3 with Ultimate MVC3 coming soon... (well it already came, but you get my point... I guess)

I can't stop loving this hyper move (even if it's a huge pain in the ass to set up)
Also I love beating opponents with X-23... (not cause X is an easy character to use, but cause her voice sounds like an angry Twilight Sparkle... yeah, Ponies are my new Hannah)
The game feels familiar, yet different... A LOT Different...
Due to the changes in the controls characters have some older moves switched... This hurt me a lot while playing as Spidey... Looks like I'll have to relearn how to use him before venturing online... They switched the Web swing, but added a nifty Web zip... also the Maximum Spider seems a lot more badass now.
Heck! Even plain vanilla Ryu got a couple of new moves... Yeah, Hadoken guy has some new moves... How about that?

Semi controllable Shinkuu Hadoken!!

Also for a Final boss we get something bigger than Apocalypse:

Bigger Than Cyber Akuma...

Bigger than Onslaught

Bigger and badder than Abyss

FREAKING GALACTUS!!


It was inevitable... I kinda expected him in MVC 2 but what the heck, The Big G is here (Surprisingly no Silver Surfer...)

I should go more in depth into the review now that I've gushed all over the game... Remember that I NEVER PLAYED the Vanilla version of MVC3... Since this is a game review, the scale is from 1 to 10...

Story: A dimensional rift or something is making the "Capcom Universe" and the Marvel Universe to have people cross among the dimensions. Doctor Doom, being the incredibly nice guy he is, contacts the nicest guy in the Capcom Universe... Albert Wesker... They basically join forces and leech off Energy from Galactus in order for Capcom to invade Marvel and Viceversa... Sadly the likes of Ryu, Spider-Man, Chris Redfield, Captain America, Phoenix Wright, and Wolverine are trying to put an end to this evil plan... Now I'm not so sure if the previous games are in continuity, but that's pretty much the story...
4.5 It's the most coherent set up to have a crossover of this magnitude, but since it's a fighting game... the endings become a non-canonical mess... some of them are incredibly weird and would make sense in the character's universe (Mostly from the Capcom side)

Graphics: Obviously this is a PS3 and XBOX 360 game, so the Graphics, by default are better than a PS2 Game. The good old sprite-based games have been left behind. As a fan of sprite art, I think that this decision sucks. On the other hand, Capcom reuses those old sprites more than Mattel reuses buck pieces... ZING! They went with 3D models cause of SF IV and all that, which helps in making Alternate looks less than simple palette swaps (in some cases) Also the Street Fighter 4 Characters look a bit better in this MVC3 Style than their SF4 counterparts... a bit "cleaner" and more reminiscent of the MVC2 and earlier sprites... but 3D
8.5

Gameplay:
Hoo boy, where to start: I'll start with the controls. The MVC series has suffered through various changes throughout each sequel.
I shall show them as if they were on a normal arcade joystick with the settings as if they were the ones from the Arcade version (on MVC 1 and 2)
W=Weak, M = Medium, H= Hard, P = Punch, K = Kick, S = Special, and A = Attack

MVC (1)
WP MP HP
WK MK HK
Traditional Street Fighter Style Controls, if you played Street Fighter, you can play this one quite easily.
MVC 2
WP HP Assist 1
WK HK Assist 2
I guess you have noticed something: "Where's the medium Punch or Medium Kick Button?" well the Assist buttons ate them... you have 2 partners now... you need one button to summon him/her/it on the fly... The Medium attacks still exist in the combos... by pressing the WP or WK.

MVC3
WA MA Assist 1
HA SA Assist 2
First thing I noticed was that there are no specific punch or kick buttons... What the heck is this SA Button... Special Air Launch... (To start Air combos) This control scheme almost feel like the one from Tatsunoko vs Capcom, but modified to fit the MVC3 style... Simpler, but not necessarily easier... Remember when I said earlier about releasrning how to use Spidey and stuff, this is why.
Old Spidey Web Swing (MVC 1 and 2)
▼◄ Kick
New Spidey Web Swing (MVC3)
◄▼◄ Any Attack (except SA)
If I do: ▼◄ Attack, I do a Web throw...
Ironman's smart bombs changed from a Punch + Kick attack into a Shoryuken type of move (►▼► Punch) which still keeps throwing me off a bit.

It might seem like nitpicks, but after MORE THAN eleven years of having some moves ingrained into our brains by a series of commands, changing the commands DO throw us off...
Once you get that out of the way, the controls are pretty responsive.
and the game is pretty much the same thing we've had since the past 11 years with MVC 2... An insane orgy of flashy attacks in order to drain the energy out of your opponent's bar. As you can see on the previous MVC3 videos, there's flashy, crazy and over the top.
8.5 The changes in controls bother me a bit... Made me shift form an average player to a total newbie.

Sounds/Music: Most of the themes from returning characters (and Capcom newcomers) are remixes from previous themes or from the game they come from. X-23 has some lyrics in her theme, which is kinda weird... First time I heard it I almost crapped my pants.
Voices are pretty good... I think none of the original voices from previous MVC games made a comeback...
Wolvie ain't Cal Dodd anymore... Christopher Daniel Barnes ain't Spidey anymore... Yes Greg Brady, Prince Eric from Little Mermaid are Spidey... Now we have Josh, Spectacular Spider-Man/Young Ocelot Keaton as Spidey, which is OK except his annoying WEB SWING battle cry... Yes, again with the web swing... X-23 is Tara Twilight Sparkle/Timmy Turner/Bubbles Strong... Cause she was X-23 in Wolverine and the X-Men is why they skipped Andrea Libman as X-23...
So, this means that Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie AND Twilight Sparkle have been X-23.
I love Tara's voice but she sounds too much like Twilight Sparkle... Maybe If X-23 sounded more like Pinkie Pie she'd be more Adorable...

On the other hand Jennifer Hale is playing Jean Grey... Dammit! This ruins my chances of having Black Cat in a MVC game... On the Capcom side things are a bit better: The VAs from SFIV and RE5 return to voice their characters. So, aside the annoyingness of Spidey's Web Swing... and X-23 sounding too much like a pissed off Twilight Sparkle, the sound Department gets an 8.0

Fun Factor: (offline) Like I've said before, I'm more of an anti-social player so the online mode does not motivate me much at all... I did got in a few battles online... Beginner's lobby, my ass!
OK, so back to the offline mode. there's the arcade mode, mission mode and training mode (haven't played offline versus... being an anti-social gamer and all that)
SO, arcade is very simple: Beat the crap out of various sets of characters until you reach Galactus and kick his enormous planet eating butt!
Training is where you can practice the moves and stuff.
Mission Mode is like Training mode, but with certain goals...
Offline the game gets a 7.5 While Galactus is easier than Onslaught, some of his moves are a tad too overpowered.

I'm not rating it online cause your mileage may vary.
Now for the overall score of Ultimate MVC 3:
7.4 It's not bad, but for a game that fans have been waiting for 11 years feels like it's missing something... besides Jill and Shuma Gorath... hate that Capcom is once again using Jill and Shuma Gorath as DLC, since they could've just added them to the disc since this is "an expansion" to Normal MVC3.

Nov 12, 2011

MOAR PONEHS!!

Dear Princess Celestia:
I just have noticed that Hasbro is releasing other Ponies aside the Mane Six.
Aside from Cheerielee, I have no idea who those ponies are!
Your Faithful Student that is NOT Twilight Sparkle.

Well, since Hasbro WANTS to make ponies, how about Popular ponies from the show? And maybe a few NON-Ponies... Well, here's my list of My Little Pony Characters that I'd like to see in the Normal Scale with rooted hair... not talking about the Blindbag ponies, cause now they're making more characters there... I recall seeing a Rarity in Blanka colors:


Big Macintosh:
Applejack and Applebloom's eldest brother... He's a Brony... DO I want him?
eeyup!



The one called 'Derpy Hooves' by the Fans: Also known as 'Ditzy Doo' by Hasbro.
Why is 'Derpy' Popular? I think it's the derpy face... She's now the Waldo/Wally in Season 2...


Nightmare Moon/Luna: Yes, I know that Target has a pair of "Canterlot sets" that have a Luna (with a non-rooted hair Celestia), but those Lunas are not accurate to the show. (They're closer to the Season 1 look, but not too accurate.) Maybe a Season 2 Luna with extra pieces to give her the Nightmare Moon Disguise (cause this toyline cannot have any villains... apparently)


While we're at it how about a Princess Celestia that is NOT a Frigging Giant: Oh yeah I went there... Note that I'm NOT asking for a Cartoon Accurate Celestia, which would be even better, but "Retailers" want PINK Celestia... It's too weird That Celestia is as big as Twi's Balloon...


Zecora the Zebra: While not technically a Pony, she is a pretty popular character. Being a mystic Zebra that speaks in rhyme, also was the first target of Pinkie Pie's bigotry... (cause the Pink...ie Pie believed her to be EVIL!!)



The Great and Powerful TRIXIE:
Another character that would be fun to have, but suffers from the Nightmare Moon problem... No "baddies on a girl's line" issue... That's what reduced Catra to a "Jealous Beauty" and made parents rebel against The Misfits from JEM... Truly Outrageous! (Sorry, I HAD to do it!)


Gilda the Griffon: Another Baddie that will most likely NOT get made... Why does everything that has girls as their main audience cannot have bad guys in it?

and at last but not least a character that will NEVER EVER Happen, even if all the bronies in the universe begged for him:

DISCORD!! Probably because he's "evil" and a mismatch set of parts... but Hasbro will NOT do him...

There are other background ponies that would be fun to have, but this list is about those I'd like to see... Sure there's Granny Smith, Snips, Snails, "Doctor Whooves", Truly Toon accurate versions of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash (with the shorter hair and proper mane/tail colors) or Applejack with the hat and freckles and a Pinkie Pie with more curlier hair... Even Vinyl Scratch aka 'DJ Pon-3'

Nov 10, 2011

It came from the Toychest: Now Everypony can Fly to the Castle

Here's Twilight Sparkle's Twinkling Balloon!



That's how Important it is! It's THE Very first thing you see on the Intro!
It contains
Twilight Sparkle (Minus not Owlowiscious, comb and saddle)
Spike
a Cardboard cutout of Rarity
The Balloon...

Great now I'm being mocked by Chicken Pie! LOL

OK... Sheesh! For a Party Pony she sure is Grumpy!

Vehicle reviews can't be the same as a standard figure review, cause it's a frigging vehicle! Luckily we Have 2 Figures in it to Review!
Twilight, you CAN read the detailed Twilight Sparkle review for the single packed Twilight to get more into my thoughts. This Twilight Sparkle gets a different score, due to the different nature of her accessories:
Overall Twilight Sparkle Score: 2.67 (without the Pony Curve) Using the Pony Curve She gets a 3.67 Having Spike and Her Balloon helped her Out a lot! (in the Accessories Department)

Now for Spike! The Missing character or should I call him The New Rainbow... Dash?


Well what can I say about this Baby Dragon?
Articulation: Zilch, Nada, the big goose egg!
Paint and Sculpt: What can I say about the sculpt? He looks pretty accurate (except the whole quadruped pose cause Spike seems to be a bipedal dragon) There are tiny details on his sculpt that are hard to catch on Camera like on his knees, which is kinda cool for a MLP toy (with their soft sculpts and partial lack of detail). The paintjob needed to be 20% cooler. There's a bit of slop on his torso, near his legs. you won't be able to see it unless you grab him, flip him over and look at it!
Accessories: Technically he comes with none but I believe that the Rarity Carboard cut-out is his.

That's why...
I can't officially rate him as a figure since he's pretty much an accessory. A Decently sculpted Accessory to a line of Ponies with 1 POA... He pretty much is like Cringer... As a toy on his own is almost useless, but once you pair him with Prince Adam or in Spike's case, Twilight Sparkle... they complement each other! Also there is something about him that makes me enjoy him... been carrying and playing with him almost non-stop for 9 hours... Heck as I'm writing this review, I'm goofing off with Spike!


Cardboard Rarity Cutout:
It's just used to show the girls that Twilight is meant to go in the balloon...
She is Cartoon Accurate AND Having Rarity IN the balloon is IN Canon... Roll the clip Mr. Awesome MLP Accessory!

I still can't get over Celestia being The Sorceress... Kinda Freaky when I watch 200X...

I think I've delayed the inevitable Long enough! Unto The Balloon itself...
If you've been watching the videos and look at the Toy, you'll notice something...
No, not Spike checking out Rarity... Take a good look at the balloon and at the balloon in the videos...
Trollestia Strikes again!
She switched ALL The colors! But this palette is Less Girly... What is going on!?
As you can see it IS pretty accurate to the show version, colors aside. The only 2 liberties in the sculpt are due to the electronics for the action features. It plays a bit of a melody (MLP based) AND it lights up.

As seen there...
Also it has a cute Telescope for Twilight study Friendship from afar. (Or for Spike to check out Rarity's flank...

Now for the ratings part: Which I kinda skipped on Spike, but HAVE to do with the Balloon itself.
Paint and Sculpt:
The Sculpt is pretty detailed. It IS cartoon accurate but with an extra bit of detail. As I said before, the Only liberties taken with the sculpt were to fit the Electronics. From the bottom of the balloon to the Basket is where the colors are NOT cartoon accurate. The balloon does NOT have slop, but a bit of yellow paint was scratched off one of the stars on the basket, when I accidentally knocked it over... (due to it being top heavy, it tends to fall with the slightest bump.)
4



Accessories:
While the Balloon is technically an "Accessory" It DOES come with 2 figures. so here we have a 5

Action Feature:
While I normally disregard action features, I can't do that with this Balloon, cause the Action Features are REALLY Important! I'm still trying to figure out if the tune that the balloon plays IS from Friendship is Magic or from an older MLP show... The twinkling lights effect is cool, but the Nightlight option is so Adorable!

I give it 2 FLuttershys in the cuteness scale...
But That's NOT the action Feature's score... It gets a 3. I enjoy the song and the lights are cute, but it's yet another MLP toy with a light and sound trick...

Overall:
The Balloon gets a: 4
Here's a Pic to show Size Comparison between Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia and the Balloon.

Nov 8, 2011

It came from the Toy Chest: Trying to figure out something witty about NA and MOTU

Flipshot is here! Oops! I mean Icarius is here... Finally we have a Galactic Protector from New Adventures in our shelves! Now we need some 87 Movie characters (like Gwildor, Blade, or Saurod) and we complete ALL the factions in MOTUC... but I'm not here to talk about that: This is Flipshot's time to shine... Screw Legalese, he was is and always will be Flipshot... In your face Battle Fist!
Before I start with Flipshot I want to show you something... Matty has a Create a Character contest... It ends in December, yet they only started to show ads for it on the October MOTUC items... (He arrived in November) so how would that give me to design a character and submit an entry IF the Contest was available to everywhere outside Continental US?
Very Little... We should've been getting this ad since Man-E-Faces!!
With that out of the way let's deal with Flipshot!
Where to start with Flipshot:

He shows up at 0:31 in the video... He's on the far left. and once again at 0:56... he's the second to last on the right.
Alright, he's a space pilot and he can also fly with his wings. Obviously he's like a Futuristic Icarus... but this one does not crash and die!

He also looks like a certain Actor... (Yes, I could've gone the easy route and use a recent picture of him for a joke, but I really want to show that MOTUC Flipshot DOES look like a young Val Kilmer... The same way Bow looks a bit like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride)
Then again his vintage toy also looked like a certain actor...

But the toy has a vibe from another Toy from another line... (and IIRC not from Mattel)


-Now, What have we learned?
-Icarius is Flipshot
-Good!
-He always looked like an actor
-Yes! And most importantly
-He's a Pilot from NA
-Right! Now that you know the stuff that makes Flipshot Special, let's hear it!
-Are you quoting Rainbow Dash?
-Uh let's get on with the Review shall we?

(as always 1 = crap and 5 = Awesome!)
Alright! Once we get Flipshot out of the package this is what we have:

At First glance he DOES have a GI Joe vibe, or a Centurions vibe. I'll be honest and admit that the NA visuals were part of what kept me avoiding it for years... So I understand some folks feeling that he looks from another line... Once we get Extendar, Rio Blast and other characters from the Vintage Era that are not Barbarian Looking he will blend in a LOT better! I already talked on how his non-helmeted head looks a lot like Val Kilmer. Some people See Arnold in it, others Jean Claude Van Damme... I'm glad that we don't see Dave Coulier in him... (I hope Hydron Looks like Tom Cruise!!)

The visor is pretty cool, but you have to be careful since it pops off quite easily! It moves up and down, which helps getting the most out of the Helmet head...

OK I lied... You can also get some more if you remove the visor... Heck with some creative part swapping and Repainting you could Make a Megaman out of Flipshot... if NA isn't your cup of tea...
He's GOT A TON of NEW stuff... in tooling parts and accessories! His Winged backpack has two articulation points, so you can adjust the wings. His arm mounted missile launcher has removable missiles AND it kinda functions as a shield when he has no missiles!

As said in the pic, with some creative posing, Mr. Flipshot gets two Melee Weapons! Now this is what I call getting a bang for your buck!

Now with that said here's the ratings:
Articulation:
Standard MOTUC Artic here: Nothing new... Well he has a Bow styled Crotch and the material is very soft, so there IS a decent range of movement for Flipshot! His Torso Armor is very soft and DOES NOT Restrict the movement of the Torso at all... Head Articulation is slightly restricted. (but mostly cause of the way the figures are made... No MOTUC can look forward while flying... yet)
5.0
Paint and Sculpt:
Paintwise, Mr. Flipshot has a little bit of slop and a mole on his left cheek (helmet head) but it is Noticeable if you look for it... Also the piece joining the foot to the leg has no paint on it. (The joint is gray while the boot is silver... Not THAT noticeable but it's there...) Now the Sculpt... Not counting the Accessories (Backpack, Weapons) Flipshot DOES have a lot of new parts: The Arms are new, The Crotch and Armor are New, the shin part of his boots are new, the Feet part is reused from Bow...
4.5
Accessories:
He's got an extra head, the Arm mounted Missile Launcher, Missiles, Backpack and two extra Missiles... so he's got plenty of stuff AND you can display him with ALL of his accessories including his Extra head if you pose him in a certain way.
5.0
Overall:
He gets a NICE 4.83 I think right now he's gotten THE BEST rating out of all the MOTUC I've reviewed. Including Battle Cat and Panthor!!

A little note before ending the article. FLipshot works a LOT better when displayed in a flying pose. His backpack can be a bit heavy and when posed in some ways it CAN make the figure fall back. Unlike Randor or He-Ro, Flipshot has no Cape to use as a "Third Leg".

Nov 4, 2011

Odds and Ends Nov 4: 2011

Dear Princess Celestia:
This week I learned that the humans are being assimilated into Pony Culture. So much that some of their biggest news publications have talked about it.
Your Faithful Student,
That is Not Twilight Sparkle!

Ho-Ly Crap! The Ponies made it to the front page on the Wall street Journal! Game Informer had a letter with a fellow Brony defending the awesomeness of the show... Yeah it might seem a bit girly but these ponies are AWESOME!!

Sharing Kindness is an easy feat... Fatality!

Bieber denies he had sex... with girl that claims he's the father of her child. I dunno what's worse... The girl claiming that Bieber is the father of her child. Or Bieber having to claim he didn't have sex... with that girl. Cause we're sure he's watching My Little Pony with Selena Gomez... I know that he's been checking out Selena's Cutie Mark...


The next mini article requires a bit of Creativity... I could Go the Easy way with this:

It's not Sam Jackson related, but the clip is related to the Article... It's time for SNAKES on WEIRD PLACES!!
Just what I needed... Snakes on the ATM! Another reason for me to fear some more stuff... First it was Snakes on Grandma's house, then snakes on the toilet, followed by Snakes on a plane, now snakes on the ATM... What's next Snakes on my trousers!? OK I walked straight into that one... Long story short. Guy goes to ATM on Spain, tries to withdraw money,Surprise! It's a Snake! Kinda like in Resident Evil games...

Nov 1, 2011

Take That! Hold it! Objection!

I'm feeling the Phoenix Rising from the ashes, No I ain't talking about Jean Grey... Once again I'm talking about Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: the movie. I vaguely mentioned it in an article with Bear Grylls acknowledging his pee drinking...

Well, the movie seems to be getting made...

My brain exploded twice! when I saw this...

After this Phoenix Wright Business I should take a cold shower... On second thought I should not... More pics can be seen here... There is only one thing that has been a disappointment for me...

Ryoga is probably lost...

Probably lost as well...
Still don't have an idea of what I'm talking about? Ranma 1/2 in Live Action... Luckily it's made in Japan and the Ranma 1/2 WTF factor will probably remain as intact as the budget allows...

Once again I see myself writing something Mattel related... Don't worry Mr. Neitlich, this time it's Barbie Related... Another adult collector barbie stirs up some controversy... She's inked! *Le Gasp!* think of the little children! OK, ass-backwards reactions like this justify the reason why Mattel employees treat their customers like morons...
The Tokidoki Barbie is a Gold Label item... Remember the Twidoll reviews?
The Twi dolls are Pink Label... The lowest of the Barbie Collectible Totem pole...
The Tokidoki Barbie is a Gold Label item... What do these mean?
Platinum Label is the TOP of the Totem. Their production numbers are allegedly less than 1,000 dolls.
Gold Label is the second most valuable level with less than 25,000 dolls. The "Controversial Barbie" is a Gold Label Item... (already sold out on Barbiecollector.com)
Silver Label are a step above Pink and they CAN be found on retailers, but not all 50,000 of them... SOME make it to retail...
Pink Label are widely available, but in lesser amounts than normal plain old barbie dolls marketed for girls.

The "Controversy" is just a bunch of people who don't understand the adult collectors and think that because it is released under the Barbie Brand, then it IS for girls.

Oct 27, 2011

Beavis and Butt-Head's second coming... huh huh I said coming!

Today was the first Episode of Beavis and Butt-head since uh, 1997 huh huh! The question is was it worth it? Let's find out!
Ok let me start with the Noticeable changes: NO Disclaimer...

This is missing from the new show...
They seem to be slightly smarter... but still dumb enough to be Beavis and Butt-Head...
Everything else is good old school Beavis and Butt-Head. They still poke fun at videos, but now they also do MTV shows as well... Sadly the videos seem to be much more abridged this time...

They poked fun at this...

This...

A bit of this, although it almost felt like ASS KISSING Jersey Shore...
They did a True Life Addicted to porn session, but I can't find a video of that episode...
and a video that I forgot to catch the name of... something with a kid and a bunch of monsters and stuff...
They even managed to make fun of this OUTSIDE the couch segments



Other than a few recent references it's just like we've traveled back in time to the mid-90s!
If you loved B&B in the 90s, they haven't changed one bit... (Mike Judge sounds a bit off, but it's been roughly 14-16 years since he's worked on B&B) So far Beavis and Butt-Head do not suck!

Oct 25, 2011

Hey What The!? Looks like Beavis and Butt-Head are geniuses

Compared to these guys:
Alrighty before I give you a list of dumbasses that Make Beavis and Butt-Head look Smart, here's a small warning:

OK, Dumbass Number 1: This thief who tries to carjack a car and locks himself in! How the heck do you lock yourself inside a car and have NO WAY OUT!? That's INSANE!?

Dumbass #2: China's Goverment! They're trying to limit Entertaining Television and promote more Educational and Cultural TV. While I agree on limiting some of the crap shown on TV, but Seriously? Stopping the bootlegging/media-piracy capital of the world? Hah! Unless the whole Goverment goes on a crazy mega-censoring spree... It's not like some of the weird/strict policies hasn't come back and bite the Chinese in the ass...

Dumbass #3: Obviously MTV, for killing the Music, now they have to rely on Beavis and Butt-Head in order to bring back old fans and convert them into Snookis

The only winner here is VH1!

Pop up Videos has made a comeback! HECK AND YES!!

Oct 20, 2011

It came from the Toy Chest: Stand back! There's a Hurricane coming through!


Just cause I used The Hurricane's tagline, doesn't mean I'm actually going to do a review of THAT Hurricane... I've already used that type of joke with Raven, Question, and Leech... I really need new people writing the comedy bits! I can't *bleep* work like this! Whoa! for a moment there I felt like Christian Bale...
Looks like I can't keep beating around the bush... THIS is what I'm going to review...

well, the MOTUC version of him, anyway...
As always 1 = bad and 5 = good...

Articulation:
Hurricane Hordak IS pretty much Standard Hordak but with something similar to the Filmation Arm cannon!

Here he gets a 3.5

Paint and Sculpt:
Ooh... the part I did want to avoid is inevitable right now...

I think it was more of a ball dropping sound...
I mean for all the crying about tooling budget that Mattel does, yet they bothered to spend tooling money on a new armor for Hordak to replicate a Vintage dial that NO LONGER WORKS! Not only that, but as I said in the linked post, they're doing it wrong! The arm cannon looks cool, the hurricane attachments look awesome... his Thunder balls look veiny and...that sounds so freaking wrong... his sword-like pincer thing looks like it even has points of articulation... (it does not)... So aside the dial, everything is awesome, sculptwise...
The paint is OK... Except the Vac-Metal parts. I WAS OK with them on the Mo-Larr review, cause it was on the weapons and Mo-Larr was an Exclusive for SDCC. While I don't Have
Preternia Dissguise He-Man, I'm OK with Vac Metal ON The Cosmic Key... Heck! I want a Vac Metal set of swords for He-Man and She-Ra! What I'm NOT OK with is Vac Metal on MOTUC Armors... They kinda look... Tacky. HH's Armor clashes with He-Ro, Bow, She-Ra, Randor and any other character that wears golden armors. OK, so I Hate Vac Metal Armors, I'll deal with that later... (Except if we get a God Skeletor)


but one thing I can't stand is the flaking off. My Hurricane Hordak was flaking gold everywhere... A few minutes after handling him I kinda looked like this:

Not Cool, Mattel, Not cool at all. At this rate, we'll get Buzz saw Hordak and HH would just be partially de-Vac-Metallized.
2.0

I should've gone with a: "Looks like our killer is... From Mattel!" joke.
Accessories:
He has the 3 attachments just like you remember. Sadly, they don't Spin just like you remember... Mattel kinda forgot how to make a free turning drum inside the arm. Other than that, he's got nothing... Best part: Roboto's pieces and Trap Jaw's pieces work on him... so in a way, he has access to 10 Accessories! Shame that they didn't add an Extra Hand...
4.5

Overall:
He gets a 3.33 Mostly cause of the severe flake off... I had to take matters into my own hands. I decided to give him a new paintjob... First I needed to get rid of the remaining Vac Metal... Otherwise the paint would flake off... A Hot Wheels collector/customizer told me that oven cleaner ate Vac Metal. So I ovencleaned the heck out of him. Here's a tip: Wear gloves!
Tip #2: HH's Torso is black underneath the Vac Metal, while the armor is gold.

A slight Paintjob change later has made me LOVE this figure A LOT MORE!! Even the dial looks a lot better in black!

Oct 16, 2011

It came from the Toy Chest: He sucks... No really, he does!


Look, Kurt, I know that every time that you hear that someone sucks;it does NOT mean that we're talking about you! Besides, aren't you supposed to be playing Lex Luthor down at TNA? I'm gonna talk about MOTUC LEECH! Whose Action feature in the 80s was sucking! That's why he Sucks! Kinda like Real Leeches but this Leech is a slug according to Mattel's bio...
I think I should move on to the revies, cause the big red bat on his chest makes him a hordesman and we kinda know about the Evil Horde...

Articulation:
He's a Male MOTUC figure, so he has the standard Articulation. Yes he sports a new Torso piece, but the Articulation is the same. He cannot look up due to his head sculpt, but his suction cupped hands HAVE Extra articulation!! (Like Bow)
4.5
Paint and Sculpt:
Sculpt: He's Pretty Much Vintage Leech, Running through the Classicizer Machine. Thank the Toygods that his Suction Cup mouth was lost in the process... (Wish I could say the same thing about the dials.) My Leech luckily has very little slop. Noticeable slop spot is on the back of his head, but since the head looks glossy it is almost invisible when light hits him...
5.0
Accessories:
He comes with a Horde Crossbow and a Suction cupped Net... I dunno if the Crossbow is supposed to look like that, but mine looks a tad asymmetrical. The Net... I'll be honest, I sent it straight to the MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONah! cause it didn't do anything for me... also that's treading into Netossa Territory... what's next Snout Spout trying to Steal Clamp Champ's thunder?
3.5

Overall: 4.33 Leech is an AWESOME Figure that helps bolster the ranks of the Horde... (Mantenna, Mantenna, Mantenna!!) and he looks FREAKING SWEET!! Yes some people (myself included) would have preferred a second head looking like the Staction, but the whole Head Ban and Anime Hyper Detailed crap would not allow it...

Oct 15, 2011

IT came from the Toychest: Nants Ingonyama Bagithi Baba


No it's not Simba or Lion-O... It's Chief Carnivus!
-Who?
Chief Carnivus, he's a 200X Character, leader of a humanoid cat Tribe, the Qadians... like the cat headed Palace Guard...
-Oh... Still, who is he?
He's a friend and ally of Randor. He was turned into a SnakeQadian hybrid by King Hssss...
-Nope, still don't get him.
He's Mattel's way to poke fun at the Thundercats, the same way Stonedar and Rokkon poke fun at the rock lords and the Meteorbs do so to Transformers...
-Why didn't you say so in the first place?
Cause I made that part up? In any case, Chief Carnivus is representing the 200X Era in MOTUC, like King Grayskull, Zodak, Marzo, and the Faceless One... That's 5 figures, while New Adventures only has Optikk and Val Kilmer on the 17th...
Chief Carnivus, he's a good guy, a Lion... No, this review will NOT have any Goofy/Pluto Chief Carnivus/BattleCat jokes...
As Always: 1 bad and 5 good...

Articulation:
Standard Male MOTUC figure based on Beastman's body... But his legs feature the new furry piece for "boot wearing furries" (Chief C, Grizzlor, etc.)
4.5
Paint and sculpt:
As I said, he shares the Beastman buck but with a few new pieces.
He's got 2 Gripping hands: Right hand that can grip normal stuff and a left hand that can grip stuff with a thicker handle (like Whiplash's phallic spork). His feet are brand new and slightly more Cat-like. His loincloth is new and has a sort of snaky cat thing on it... could be reused for the 200X Hssss! (I guess)
Paintwise he's a bit sloppy. (Mostly on the rivets though, but that's almost expected.)
4.0
Accessories:
a Two pieced Armor (Cape + Armor) A Sword and a Shield:
The Shield apparently is inspired by the Central Tower of the Vintage Eternia Playset... Cool!
His Scimitar-like sword... Just look at it and tell me that you can't see the resemblance to another sword...


The Cape and Armor are "Generic looking" so that gives them plenty of customization options!
4.0
Overall:
He gets a 4.17 cause he's a LOT better in person than the pics make him look. The Thundercat fan in me kinda wishes he had a Dagger version of that sword as well...

Oct 13, 2011

HOLD IT!! OBJECTION!! TAKE THAT!!

Phoenix Wright is coming to ULTIMATE MVC3!!
I want to squeal like a Schoolgirl in a Bieber Concert...

Yes, I know, I can't squeal like a Schoolgirl cause I ain't one and I will never be caught on a Biebr Concert... but you get the idea...

It's official... I NEED THIS GAME!!
It's a short post, but it's FREAKING PHOENIX WRIGHT!!

Oct 11, 2011

It came from the Toychest: Reboots can be weird at times

DC rebooted their universe (halfassedly) and things are a bit confusing...

This second video pretty much covers my thoughts on Returning Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.

If I like Oracle so Much, Why am I reviewing a Babs Batgirl figure? Cause it's Freaking Barbara Gordon as Batgirl!

I think that I might've gone a bit overboard with the Batgirl Clips... but It's Batgirl!
1= bad and 5= good...
First, this Batgirl seems to be a repaint of her DC Superheroes Counterpart. My figure came with her right limbs ULTRA Warped! Now with that said I'll move on to the actual reviewing.

Articulation:
Since she's a DCSH figure at heart, her articulation is roughly the same as a DCUC (cause DCSH was Mattel's first attempt at copying ML) One weird thing that I must note is that she seems to either lack articulation at the waist, or I got another Mattel figure who lost a POA due to Frozen joints...
3.0 (If the joint is stuck) 3.5 (if she lacks that POA)
Paint and Sculpt: Being a DCSH figure gives Batgirl some advantages that their DCUC brethren do not have... (Hint: it sounds kinda like: More detailed Scuplt!) Her right hand is molded to hold a Batarang! The paint on her is 99.9% flawless. The only slop that I could find was on her face. Also I think her hair could've been a tad more reddish... This IS Barbara Gordon...
4.5

Accessories:
A Stand and a Poster... No Batarang!? Dammit Mattel! She has a hand sculpted to fit a batarang... you should've given her a Batarang!!
2.5
Overall: 3.33
Warped limbs, no Batarang, possibly stuck joint... If she TRULY lacks that POA, then she'd get a 3.5
Poor QC is what keeps bringing these wonderful toys down...
and then they wonder why Club Infinite Earths didn't sell enough subs... There's no need to be the Worlds Greatest Detective to figure that one out...