Guy Gardner

Screw Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner is the best Green Lantern ever. Unfortunately the only way to get his DC Universe Classics figure is in a $100 5 pack with 4 other Green Lanterns I don't want.

See, I have a dream of one day having DCUC figures of the core 5 of the JLI. (Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice) And maybe Elongated man. But I'm not Spending $100 to get 4 abritrary figures I don't need to complete that dream. Thank God for ebay.

I got this one reasonably priced ($25) compared to the set price. I like the figure and as a stand alone it's great. Unfortunately next to the Booster & Beetle I already have he seems a tad big. His head in particular, but the way they depicted his vest and boots make him seem very bulky. He also looks a tad cartoonish compared to Booster.

2009 Christmas Haul (Late, Yeah, I Know)

Yes, it is now November 2010. Better late than never, huh? I got some pretty great stuff last Jesus Day, and since I've taken my sweet time covering these items, I'll try to keep it short here.



Green Arrow here is a gift from Action Ranger Timmy. Only his shoulders, crotch, and upper legs are reused from the standard male base body that Mattel utilizes for these figures whenever possible, so that from the get-go earns the figure high marks in my book. The new details are great, and he's got bonus articulation in the wrists to accommodate fancy archery poses. The only true shortcoming with the figure lies in in its accessory. The arrow is permanently attached to the bow, and the shaft of the arrow is way too short. Regardless, it's one of the best figures from DC Universe Classics.



Mario gave me the classic Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle, also from DC Universe Classics. While there's far more parts reuse going on here than with Green Arrow above (in fact, the head, the belt, and the BB gun accessory are the only pieces unique to this figure), I like it far more. Part of the reason is that when standing at rest Green Arrow is kind of awkward-looking, while Blue Beetle is fun to pose in a variety of positions. While I technically already got this figure when I acquired Green Lantern (same base body, of course) Blue Beetle is a superior figure: he has a more interesting color scheme, the belt makes the midsection look more proportionate, and the head sits higher on the neck, making it look far more realistic than the stump-necked Hal Jordan figure. As a result of all these facets, Beetle here has since become one of my absolute favorites of the line. As a side effect, my satisfaction with the execution here has partly contributed to making me far less interested in buying any further DCUC figures that trot out that same old base body. Come on Mattel, give us more unique sculpts!



Late last year I had another one of my periodic Star Wars phases. Given I was surprisingly short on Imperial grunt forces, my brother provided me with some Stormtroopers. Naturally, these figures use the same mold (which makes perfect sense, unlike in some other action figure lines I could name), but one of them specifically represents a Spacetrooper briefly seen in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon enters the Death Star hangar bay, complete with breathing apparatus, large rifle, and removable helmet. Whatever, I'll take any canonical excuse that allows me to troop-build without having to by multiples of the exact same figure.



The real prize during last year's Christmas was the brand new AT-ST Hasbro put out, also courtesy of my brother. I wanted one ever since Kenner's Star Wars: Power of the Force line launched in 1995, but it always eluded me for some reason. My disappointment in never acquiring one of the few vehicles from any toy line I still desired was alleviated when Hasbro released this all-new larger sculpt of the AT-ST, loaded with cool features including super-articulated legs, interchangeable cannons, and a bonus AT-ST Driver figure. The cockpit alone (which seats two figures instead of one, as the original version did) is filled with enough fantastic details to make it one of the coolest toys released in 2009. It's certainly impressive, and holds an honored place in my collection, standing right next to my Millennium Falcon (with my Infinite Heroes Batman standing on top of the entrance hatch, funnily enough).

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Okay, it's not the best likeness of the Piper, or even his most iconic costume, but hell, it's a small vinyl figure of Rowdy Roddy Piper. This dude:



Also, it only cost 50 cents because I found it in the discount bin of a discount store. I tried to look fore other gems, but then a staple stabbed me under my finger nail and I lost the will to do anything.

If you're wondering, there are better Piper figures out there. You know, like the one where you find out from the profile that he's Destro's brother and helping train the Iron Grenadiers. So technically Roddy is a terrorist in the GIJoe universe.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Clockwork Man

It's one of the Clockwork dudes from "The Girl in the Fire Place." my favorite story from Season 2 of the new series. It's an interesting figure.

And a good interesting. It has limited articulation, no mid-thigh or bicep swivels, but that sort of works considering the robotic nature of the character. Unfortunately there's no mid-torso swivel either, and that would have been nice to see.

Accessory wise, that blade weapon in its arm can be removed. And even more interesting, that mask face is an actual mask. You can remove it to reveal the clockwork robot underneath.

And that's pretty fricking cool.

Doctor Who ebay Lot: Weeping Angel

Remember, they only stay frozen if someone is looking at them. So whatever you do, don't blink.

Don't Blink.

Don't even blink!

Whoops. Yeah, these are awesome. Sure their legs have no articulation and are just a solid base, but who cares.

Target Gift Cards: Puppet, Lego, Voice Changer

So the current set of Christmas Gift Cards are out at Target now. You have your normal ones with maybe a small novelty like a lenticular picture or the weird finger puppet card as seen up top. You put your fingers in there and your fingers now act as the bear's arms. And he can give you a hug!

But even more interesting are the other two. One is an electronic voice changer. You press a button to record your voice and then each of the elves on the card are actually other buttons that will distort the recording by shifting the pitch or speeding it up. It's actually kind of fun. And it's called "Elfin' Around". When I bought it the cashier did a double take because she thought it said "Effin' Around."

And the other one, the one I'm marking out about, is a Lego set. Yes. It's a gift card that doubles as a Lego set. (Or to be more accurate the box that the Lego set comes in.) It contains the 31 Legos required to build a Lego version of Target's mascot Spot.

What I find fascinating about this is that you don't pay extra for these gift cards. So you get one, put $5 on it, and then give it to someone. Not only do they get a gift card to Target, they also get a bonus toy! Or, if you're more cynical and mercenary, you get a bunch of them, put $5 on each (that's the minimum amount required) and then you've got a bunch of free toys and some gift cards that you then spend at Target at your leisure....

And here is where it gets diabolical. Since you can use your gift card to buy other gift cards, you just buy one and then use the amount on there to buy another one, repeat. Although you risk being known as an ass and possibly being banned from the store. Also, you prevent your fellow toy collectors from getting in on this deal. So use this information wisely.

I did clear my store out, but I'm actually planning on giving them to kids. So I'm not 100% evil.

Batmobile

The Batmobile was disturbingly easy to find compared to the other geek based Hot Wheels I've picked up. Mario tells me it's based on the Brave and the Bold cartoon and it looks nice. A lot better than the one from The Batman cartoon which I've passed on when I've seen them on shelves.

I still say that if I didn't know it was the Batmobile based on the packaging telling me so that I would be able to figure out on my own though. These days I need a bat symbol on it to tell the difference.

Anyway, how did it do on the track. Well originally I thought it had a Did Not Finish, being to light to get through the loop, but then I made a small adjustment to the track set-up and bam, it worked. It didn't go very far, but it worked. Actually this made me realize that this new track set up might result in previous DNF Hot Wheels being able to complete hte launch. So I sent them all down the track again and wouldn't you know, except for the Go Kart they all were able to be launched from the track. So here's the new results for the Hot Wheels track launch.