Odds and ends Jan 31 2011.

These are the NEW Thundercats!

Where to begin:

Tygra: A Gun!? What in the blue Hell!? He's still got his whip... Suit is reminiscent of the older one, but more brown-ish...

Cheetara: She looks a bit more Cat-like. Still don't understand the practicality of her new suit. It's more fan-service prone... but for a high-speed runner such as her the low cut big breasted look would be more harmful...

Panthro: What have they DONE TO YOU!? I can deal with the color and clothes change. Heck I love the scars, but the Mutton chops!? Come on!

Snarf: While kinda Snarflike he evokes a Pikachu-esque feeling...

Lion-O: They got the colors right... PANTS! Of course they HAD to put on pants on Lion-O... He looks like a teen here... I wonder if they're eliminating the man-child angle on Lion-O... There is something about him that is bugging me... That hairstyle and eyes remind me of someone...

can't put my finger on it...
Speaking of Final Fantasy 7 check this out:

HOLY CRAP! I'd like one of those, but as a display piece... I wouldn't be able to use one of those...

Now back to Thundercats... The new series starts in July and the toys are supposedly for December... I need to see how the 8" "Classic" Thundercats look. (The ones based on the vintage show... Pantless Lion-O FTW!)

It Came from the Toy Chest: Don't you know who he is?

He won't be introduced unless it's with a video...

Now that you know who he is... Let's start with the Juggernaut... Bitch! review.

Well Here he is. You can see all the stuff he comes with. Most of these Fury files stuff is inside the Top secret envelope... It's kinda cute, but that leaves Juggy pretty much accessory-less... Notice the cool stand BTW... Reminds me of the 25thA GI JOE Stands.

I actually like the letter. It's a shame that they're using a generic hand written font, but the letter is kinda cool.

Now for the Review Part: 1 = crap 5 = awesome...

Articulation: Hookay! Let's begin... He's got about 22 PoA. Decent for a big bulky 3 3/4" figure. He can be posed in various poses even with the limitations of a super bulky body. 4.5

Paint and Sculpt: Juggy's got a decent sculpt. I believe he shares some pieces with Hulk. Can't be 100% sure since I don't have a Hulk. He has plenty of new pats. His bicep bands are new pieces attached to a traditional Bicep. The wrist and knuckle pads seem new. The helmet is full of detail. There are dents and scratches on the "metallic" parts of his suit. On the paint depratment, things are looking quite good.There is shading on his suit and his helmet has a metallic finish. There is no muscle shading on the parts that have exposed flesh. 4.5

Accessories: There's the Fury files and the stand. The Helmet is removable, but not in the way I expected. 3.0

Overall: 4.0 If his helmet was truly removable he would've gotten a better score. No removable Helmet, no weakness for Juggernaut...

It Came From The Toy Chest: Busting makes me feel good!

Who you gonna call?

HE-MAN! HE-MAN!

No, but nice GB 2 Reference...

Well the cat is out of the bag... Or in this case the ghost is out of the trap...

It's the GB 2 inspired 4 pack Toys R Us Exclusive... Thanks to the Mattel Voucher it was a tad cheaper for me to get...

This is one of the few packages that I'd like to keep... Well as of mow my GBs are back in it until I get a shelf made for them... They still look good inside their package. Unlike other 2 Packs from Mattel that don't promote Mattycollector, this one does.

Once I got the busters out of the pack I noticed something... Part sharing... I'm OK with Part sharing on Comic book lines, or Masters of the Universe, because it's fantasy depicting 100% purely fictional people... (Except a certain Lt. Spector...) Now this GB line is based on the movies. and all 4 actors who played the GBs don't exactly share the same body type... At least Slimer doesn't share parts with the busters.

The only differences between them are the heads and that Venkman has a different lower leg sculpt. Other than that they're all the same in the sculpt department. Slimer is Translucent green... Hopefully not like The Goddess...

The Proton Packs are not removable. The trap can open and close. So far the only ghost they can hunt is Slimer.

Now for the review part: As always 1 is crap and 5 is awesome...

Articulation: The guys are very articulated.

20 PoA for Winston, Ray and Egon and 18 for Peter.

4.0 (Egon, Ray and Winston) 3.5 Peter

Paint and Sculpt: On the sculpting Mattel has made a revelation: the Four Horsemen didn't work as much on the line as we believed. (They revealed this AFTER the subscription, which I believe is a sneaky move.) In any case whoever did these figures did a good job on them.

The headsculpts capture the actors likeness pretty well. Venkman and Zeddemore resemble Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson... (For some Reason the Winston head has a mustache sculpted but unpainted... looks a bit off.) Satantz and Spengler also resemble Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis, but something feels off. with them.
Paintwise there is very little slop. Aside from a dark smudge on Ray's face everything looks fine.

4.5

Accessories: Can't count the Proton packs since they're fused to the bodies. There is the Trap. It can open and close. There is Slimer with his 6 PoA and stand. They have the Santa hats:

3.0

Figs Overall: 4.25 (Egon, Ray and Winston) 4.0 Peter

Whole package Overall: 3.75

The lack of accessories once again hurt the score. Come on No Proton Streams!? One Trap, no PKE Meter. Not even Ray's goggles!?

Then Again Mattel has been awful with accessories in the individual releases. Matty's GB1 Wintson had the Trap. GB1 Egon has the PKE Meter, GB1 Peter has THE Proton Stream... Mattel has no plans on releasing a GB accessory pack. Basically if you want proton streams you
HAD to buy 4 Venkmans. Ghosts? They're pack ins with the multiple variants of the GBs...

Oh yeah The only non-GB releases are Walter Peck and soon Louis Tully possessed by Vinz Clortho. No Gozer, no Vigo, Heck not even a Janosz Poha... Too many GBs and no Ghosts to bust might kill teh lien...

I went a bit on a small rant there... The pack is not bad... It's good, but not great... The pros that it has over the Matty individual releases are:

-Cheaper than Matty's GBs (counting shipping)

-All the guys are unslimed/marshmallowed, etc. (unlike Matty's GB that tricked you into buying slimed AND unslimed Egon and Peter... for having a variant)

Cons:

-Even Less accessories

-They cheaped out on Winston

It came from the Toy Chest: Marvel's Possible Japanese Porn Star

I caved in and bought another of the 3 3/4" Spidey figs... It's my favorite Spidey Villain... Doctor Octopus!!

Where to Start... He looks like a bit like Ultimate Doc Ock, but not quite. He has the color scheme of Classic Ock. and a Douchebag goatee. Also he has 8 translucent tentacles.

5 Classic and 3 with "Ultimate" attachments. One looks like a the end of a vacuum cleaner, the other looks like a tazer gun and the third is a buzz saw. (That really spins)

The tentacles are stuck to a backpack that is removable. (There is supposedly a variant with 4 metal tentacles) but still looking like a douchebag.

He comes with some playing cards and a decoder. It's like Rock-Paper-Scissors with a twist.

Biggest Gripe is the Crotch. It has the worst 2 POA of the whopping 8 PoA on the figure.

I ranted a bit now for the review part:

As always 1= crap 5 = awesome

Articulation:

Ok he's got 8 PoA... Come on Hasbro! You can do a LOT better than that... I've got other Hasbro toys with plenty of Articulation... 1.5

Sculpt & Paint:

I have to be fair here The guy has a nice detailed sculpt, but He doesn't look like Doctor Octopus. The paint is a bit sloppy. 2.0

Accessories:

The tentacles can be counted as such since they can be removable. He's also got the card game thing. 3.0

Overall: 2.17 I honestly want to LIKE this toy, but no matter how I look at it all I can see is FAIL written all over him. It hurts me to call a Doc Ock toy a CRAPPY toy... Then again this toy may have a future in the Japanese Porn industry...

SoundWave Superior Toy Chest Inferior

Wait what!?

Puny Fleshbag, this review shall be done by Soundwave...

Yeah, Whatever... I'll take the day off then...

I am the best Cybertronian toy out there... I am much cooler than those inferior loincloth wearing Barbarians that plague this website.

Whoa! Wait a minute! Once again... Stick to the basics Soundwave!

You are not the Boss of Me! Soundwave Superior...

Yeah, yeah! I know! "Soundwave Superior! Everything else Inferior!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWb43IB3W-c

Using the guidelines from the flashbag. 1 = Inferior and 5 = Soundwave

Articulation:

I can Move and make many poses. Also I can transform into a car.

Inferior Humans may have troubles transforming me. If you find the third Boom Box Form then you are Superior like Soundwave

Paint and Sculpt: Again, I am Superior. No visible paintslop. I still resemble the Holy G1 Soundwave

Ohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoho!

Why are you laughing Fleshbag?

Accessories is the next section and you do not have any Ravage, Lazerbeak, Frenzy, or Rumble... So I guess here "Soundwave Inferior... Lame Barbarian Toys Superior..."

I still have my blaster and transform into 3 modes... That gives me enough to be Almost Superior... (4.33)

Sonofa... For a $10 Soundwave, you can be such a pain in the ass... You're even worse than Serpentor and Cobra Commander!

It came from the Toy Chest Death of Superman Edition

Superman died in the 90s. Big ass event to lure people into buying comics...

His "death" Spawned 4 Supermen.

Eradicator: A crazy AI from the Fortress of Solitude who became sentient and mimicked Kal-El

Superboy: A clone who can be described as the love-child of Supes and Luthor...

Cyborg Superman: A pastiche of the Fantastic 4 Origin gone wrong.

Steel:

No... No... NO!!!!!

Put that thing away!!

Steel is the DC pastiche of Ironman, who is worshiped by Shaq...

I have Two out of 4 of the "supermen" who fought for the mantle...

I'll start with Superboy.

As Always 1 = crap and 5 = Awesome...

Not even out of the package and there's some trouble... Warped Leg. Nothing that a little hair dryer can't fix.

Articulation: Seems like the Standard DCUC Articulation on Superboy. No need to go into detail... 4.5

Paint and Sculpt: There's a couple of new things here... Sculptwise. Arms are new, boots as well. The Extra belt on his leg is a piece glued in The Belts on his waist are like the MOTUC Loincloth... Paintwise the figure is flawless. I don't see any signs of Slop on him... even if he has a lot of intricate details like the zippers on his jacket, or the buckles on his belts. 5.0

Accessories: Trigon's Arm, and a pin... 3.0

Overall: 4.17

Once again not having true character specific accessories hinders their score. I know I said that I'm beating a dead horse, but Mattel shouldn't be too stingy with the accessories. These figures are already overpriced for what they are...

Now for the second half of the Review: Mongul and Cyborg Superman Super Enemies two pack.

A picture is worth a 1000 words. Right now this package gets a 0.0 out of 5 I bought it because of Cyborg Superman... Now THIS HAPPENS!?

To be fair here's what I would've given it if it hadn't broken on me.

Articulation: Same as Syouperman and every other DCUC with a cape... 4.0 assuming his leg hadn't broken.

Sculpt & Paint: Holy crap! For a Superman reuse this guy has a LOT of NEW Parts!

Cape, Upper Torso, Right Upper Leg, Left leg, Right Arm, and head! The Paint job is really good... No visible slop, though the line that separates the silver from the blue in the torso is a bit hazy. 4.5

Accessories: Zilch! Nada! The big goose egg!

Overall: 4.25 IF his leg hadn't broken

Mongul: Don't care about the guy.

HE's got pretty much,new EVERYTHING.

Articulation: Similar to a standard DCUC. Left Ankle seems to be stuck... 3.5

Paint and Sculpt: He looks "Hyper-detailed" Lots of rivets, his suit looks like some sort of segmented Armor. Looks like a Reuse from the DCSH era... Paint is a bit sloppy on some of the rivets but other than that he looks OK. 4.5

Accessories: Nothing!!

Overall: 4

Package overall: 4.13 IF my Cyborg Superman's leg hadn't broken.

It's a nice pack, but not necessary if you already own the DCSH Cyborg Superman and Mongul.

I got to give a shout out to Mattel CS Rep. Jane for helping me out with my Cyborg Superman dilemma.

JAPANESE Openings for American stuff...

I just saw the Japanese Opening for GI Joe: A Real American Hero.

That made me think: "What else has Japan done to my American cartoons?" Pretty much the opposite of "What has America (Mostly 4Kids) done to this Anime!?"

This one has no animation, but the song is there... no change apparently. Whew!

The Second Intro is a LOT better than the first one and it's more X-Men-y than the first one... The first one feels more videogamey... and in Classic Japanese fashion, Random English words are mixed into the lyrics... CRY FOR THE MOON!

A narration... I learned to say Batman in Japanese... Battoman!

Tony Stark wasn't so lucky... He got a J-Pop song... but that's a lot better than:

♪I

I am

I am Iron Man

I am Iron Man

(guitar solo)

I am Iron Man♫

Apparently, there are three options:

Songs switched with a weird/cool/crappy version... (I'm still feeling sorry for Rock the Dragon... Cha-La Head-Cha-La is a lot better...)

Adding narration to the normal intro/Translating it to the local langauge.

Screw the original opening... Let's make one that makes the show look like crap.

Basically the same crap we do to their anime...

I have to admit that it's a bit unsettling seeing Japan keep the Real American Hero tag, when pretty much the rest of the world shuns that part from the opening... Heck they even censor COBRA from the opening...

At least there is no Japanese He-Man Opening... There is a Chinese She-Ra opening though...

Diamonds are Forever, Hannah Montana is not

Where to start... Yesterday the Hannah Montana Forever Series Finale aired and obviously I tuned in. It was another 1-hour long special, Luckily no Jackson/Rico/Sienna "chorus" intermissions... Now the premise of the episode was that Miley and Lilly are finally going to college, but Miley gets a movie offer in Paris, France... not Paris, Texas; that she can't refuse. A Spielberg flick starring Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise?? Since when he's socially relevant to today's tweens? I think that maybe Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom (who is referenced a lot of times in the show) or Hell Spielberg's golden boy and former Disney Channel star Shia LaBeouf are more relevant than the wacky Couch Jumper.

Be Warned that there will be Spoilers...

In Typical Hannah Montana style, Miley does not tell Lilly about the movie and cranks up the Mega Bitchyness factor so she can do the movie. Plan backfires and Lilly gets pissed off at Miley.

Since this is Disney, they magically make up and decide to go to Paris... Seems too simple, right? Let's add Oliver to the mix... (Remember him? The third part of the Miley, Lilly, Oliver Trio? The one who became part of a band and went on tour for the S3 season Finale? Lilly's boyfriend? The dude who is played by Mitchell Musso?) He mentions to Lilly that it's cool for her to go to Paris this time with Miley, cause it's a great experience. But what is she going to do if Miley gets another offer, and another one after that? Lilly decides to stay and go to college... (Smart move!) In the end it appears that Miley rejects the offer (after staying a few days in Paris) and decides to go to college with Lilly. The end... There was a small subplot with Jackson, but it was the highlight of the show, so I won't Spoil that. (Feeling bad about his GF having a better job than him... Job hunting, Physical comedy + Jason Earles... usual stuff)

Now the Rant:

First the Good:

Jason Earles: While his sub-plot is minimal, his comedic timing is top notch as always. Now there's one scene in particular where I could feel the emotions that Jackson was feeling at the time.

Emily Osment: Half of the Conflict is her character, Lilly. This season they've tried very hard to make Lilly something more than "Miley's Sidekick". Hopefully this is part of some Crazy ploy to promote Emily Osment.

The Bad:

Miley Stewart: Yes the rant is about the character, not the Actress... (I've ranted enough about Ms. Cyrus...) While most of the characters had some growth in this season (her included) the writers regressed Miley to a near-Season 1 Miley with the childish actions she took with this forced conflict.

The Writing:

Before I'm pelted with microphones and Hannah wigs, hear me out. The episode had nice moments, BUT the conflict seemed forced. The idea of Friendship above all is great, but it felt forced and tacked on... (with the whole Miley/Lilly conflict.) Also the happy ending with Miley and Lilly together WITHOUT skipping a year of college felt forced.

Now my thoughts on the whole season:

Pre-Unmasking:

Nothing new here, same old, same old.

Post Unmasking:

Wasted Potential. Using the Flashback filler episode before the Ending... (90-minute Hannah Ending Spectacular Special?) The very little reaction to the reveal on the Miley side (Except the episode where Mammaw felt left behind because of the reveal.) I'm ignoring that this is Miley's second HUGE Unmasking... which made the TV reveal a lot less poignant.

I suppose this is the last Time I use the Hannah Montana tag... Hopefully Miley will give me more fuel for ranting...

It came from the Toy chest Without Honey Nut Cheerios

Finally Buzz-Off has come to my hands... Where do I start with Buzz-Off?

I never liked the Vintage Buzz-Off as a kid... He looked bland and uninteresting... The balloon-like head and weird Vampire fangs never did it for me. He also couldn't hold his weapon correctly... Then came the 200X revival of He-Man...

Here Buzz-Off is more insectoid and Cool looking... Sure the toy had a few issues (couldn't stand unless you had it humping the air with a massive hip thrust, hair trigger Axe tip...)

Now we have the MOTUC Buzz-Off. Of course it was obvious that he was going to look a lot like his vintage counterpart. Maybe a 200X head with his vintage axe and 200X Halberd... Well we got ALL THAT except the 200X head... Remember the 200X head ban?

Funny story is that the 4 Horsemen DID make a 200X head... So Basically Mattel is saying Alpha Mike Foxtrot to the 200X heads... If you've seen the A-Team movie you'll get the message... If Not then Alpha Mike Foxtrot means: Adios Motherf-

Let's move on with the review...

As Always My reviews are 1-5 in which 1 = crap and 5 = Awesome.

Articulation:

Basic MOTUC Articulation although he has ball jointed wings and the tiny insect legs from 200X are ball jointed as well.

4.5

Sculpt and Paint:

This figure borrows a LOT from Whiplash. (Head, Lower Arms, hands and backpack are different from Whippy) SO no complaints on the sculpt. (Aside from the 200X head Ban, which I'm trying to ignore and Judge Buzz-Off for what he has, not on what he SHOULD have.) The wings are SUPER cool with the vintage technobits looking incredibly cool on the wings.

Paints on the other hand they're a bit sloppy. Dark globs of paint on his chin and the back of his head is not painted completely. also Who the Heck thought that his tiny insect legs should be YELLOW?

3.5

Accessories:

The Willy Wonka Helmet (That Actually fits on him without falling off... 26+ years to figure it out? Damn!) The Vintage Axe (that soon will belong to my Customized Wun-Dar) and the 200X Halberd are really cool... Ok, maybe not the Wonka Helmet... It's well made but it looks extremely dorky. I'm starting to tolerate the Vampire Liza Minnelli head a bit, but I would've preferred an alternate 200X head.

4.5 (ignoring the lack of a 200X head.)

Overall: 4.17

I am Pleasantly surprised with Buzz-Off. I was planning on going full-on 200X like repaint like I did with Whiplash. Heck I even bought some Model Magic to customize a hybrid head... (adding the little chin spikes on Buzzy) Funny thing is that I didn't and do not want to.

OK... I DID paint the tiny legs... They were bugging me a lot!

2011 what to expect... odds and ends.

No Hannah Montana Finale in 2010... Stretched out to 2011. Not cool Disney, not cool.

Another December in which my Mattycollector.com order seems to be MIA. Problem is that I have to wait AFTER the January date to open a complaint and see if I can get a replacement. Not cool Mattel... Not Cool at all.

-On the Other hand Robot Chicken's got the Return of Mo-Larr, and Matty is rereleasing (or reselling old CS stock of) Mo-Larr: Eternian Dentist. Where's the Triklops, Scareglow, or Mossman reissues dammit!

-Oh yeah Mephisto is no Longer the EIC of Marvel... I mean Joe Quesada is no longer the EIC of Marvel... His Replacement? Axel Alonso... I have nothing to say about Alonso... But This means that Joephisto is now full-on Chief Creative Officer... The Spider-Rapist is now the keeper of Marvel Continuity... If Freddie Krueger was Real I'd say he's making me live in a nightmare world right now...

-THQ and Mattel are going to be working on some games... Apparently MOTU is in the "To Do List". Aside from the Smackdown! Games and some crappy NES/SNES/Gameboy games my experience with THQ is rather limited... Who knows what the future will bring.

-Soon we will know the Mysterious Female MOTUC figure for May... Here's hoping for it to be one of the "3 mothers"... (Marlena, Sorceress or Queen Angella)