Wonder Man & Union Jack

One of the big problems with hard to find exclusives is that when you finally get one and it's not 100% you're reluctant to return it because God only knows when you'll be able to find another one. That's my problem with these guys. They're Toys R' Us exclusives, but they're hard to find because Toys R' Us doesn't really support minimates all that much. They don't restock them that often. So when I found them on the shelves I snatched them up because I really wanted Union Jack to fill out my Invaders line-up. (He also looks awesome.)

But he didn't come with his knife. Now looking at it one way, his knife is a small accessory I might lose anyway and it's almost unnoticable. But on the other hand HE'S SUPPOSED TO COME WITH HIS KNIFE. This is only 99% of the proper figure. Ugh. I think I need to contact Art Asylum over this.

Other than that these guys are great. Union Jack looks great. I'm not a huge fan of Wonder Man's current utilitarian costume, (seriously, dude looks like a utility worker) but it's a good representation of it.

Deadpool (X-Men Legends: Wolverine)

Deadpool started out as a parody of another villian. Slade Wilson is Deathstroke: the Terminator. Wade Wilson is Deadpool.

But in the 90's Deadpool moved away from his parody roots, came into his own as a character and had one of the greatest ongoing comic books ever. It was great, a wisecracking psychotic maniac struggling to overcome his natural impulses and be a hero until he decides that he'll settle for just being a slightly better person who occassionaly does heroic things. Written by Joe Kelly, it was hilarious and moving, both irreverent and touching.

It also kinda cemented Deadpool as an awesome character who was fricking hilarious in the way he interacted with the rest of the Marvel Universe. He's become one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe. So of course they put him in the Wolverine movie. And as a result we get toys of him. In the 3.75" scale. This baby is from the first wave of the movie toys, which for some reason depicts characters as they look in the comic books rather than their drastically different movie appearances.

But I think the movie costumes suck, so things are good. Although I have no idea what that giant sai is supposed to be.

Marvel Minimates Wave 24

They keep getting me to buy the variant figures by making them more awesome than the regular ones. This time the variant is the Tarantula, who is just ridiculous and thus must be owned in minimate form, where ridiculous characters can be cherished because why the hell would you make a minimate version of them?

That pretty much sums up the entire wave actually. I mean Cosmic Spider-Man? The Shocker? It's like they decided to pick up everything I love about the Spider-Man mythos solely for the fact that it's become a huge joke. Also, they finally made a new version of Black-Costume Spider-Man that doesn't cancel out completely the original one they did as a variant way back in the single digit waves.

Of particular interest is the new version of Venom who comes with enough pieces to recreate 3 different costumes.

Big Barda (New Gods: DC Direct)

Why did I buy this toy?
Long story short, I bought the DC Universe Classics Mister Miracle figure and decided I needed a Big Barda figure to round it out. See I'm one of those that think that the two are a package deal. Their story is pretty awesome, but pretty much they're husband and wife who escaped from a life of servitude and opression to become superheroes.

Big Barda came out recently as part of the DC Universe Classics line. But I went with the DC Direct Big Barda that was released as part of the New Gods Line. This is mostly because the Big Barda from DC Universe Classics isn't in the proper scale. In the comic books Big Barda is big. She towers over most others, even her husband. The DC Universe Classics is small, smaller than her husband. Meanwhile the larger scale of the DC Direct figures means that this Barda is larger than the DC Universe Classics figures, and thus is a more proper scale with the line.



Any regrets?
Since I went with the DC Direct figure over the DCU Classics figure I needed to be prepared for less articulation. I'm surprised how much more less I should have been prepared. I really thought the shoulder were ball joints. They aren't. They're peg joints and thus the range of movement is insanely restricted.

Are you happy with your purchase?
Yeah. On the shelf everything looks just right. Barda is bigger than her husband, as it should be.

Astrotrain

Finally, here's the last of my posts about Transformers triple-changers figures. Out of all such figures I own in that category, this is definitely my favorite.

Ever since I first saw Transformers: The Movie in the early 1990s I wanted an Astrotrain figure. He turns into a space shuttle AND a train! That's awesome! While I eventually picked up a reissue of the original figure, I was looking forward to this toy when the Transformers Classics line was announced.

Classics Astrotrain embodies what I was looking for in the line: an update of the original figures with acceptable levels of articulation, with little to no fiddling around with the details. It always aggravates me when Hasbro makes a new toy of an old figure, but totally change the appearance and transformation scheme for no good reason, usually to the detriment of the toy (witness the abomination that is Universe Cheetor clogging your local department store action figure aisles). Sure, Astrotrain converts into a bullet train instead of a locomotive, but that's acceptable as the new alternate mode allows for greater visual consistency in all three forms.

Unlike the original toy, this Astrotrain has tons of articulation. But perhaps more importantly, the figure's arms aren't tiny stubs on weak ball joints like the previous incarnation. I'm afraid to remove the gun from the original figure's fist for fear of breaking the arm off while attempting to do so. Classics Astrotrain's thighs are a bit short, but not too much. And I really like the shoulderpads, which make the figure look more substanstial as a villain.

I know a few reviewers online took exception to this toy because it didn't meet whatever their expectations were, but it meets mine, and I'm happy to have bought this as my first figure from the Classics line.

IG-86

I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars figures. I'm not really that into the expanded universe, the figures ussually have questionable articulation, and I still have bad feelings about some of my purchases back in the 90's. But they're in 3.75" scale (for the most part) and I do like that scale for toys.

When I saw the IG-86 figure and how many joints it had, I thought to myself, I should get that. And I'm glad I did, the thing's like a fricking Chinese Acrobat. (I'm Chinese, it's not as racist a statement as you might think.)


Also, due to the hole in its back for the gun backpack, IG-86 is one of the few non GI Joe 3.75" figures that can wear a GI Joe jet pack.

Kinda about toys, sorta.

Lego Rock Band announced

A lot of people are wondering, "What the hell is the point of this?"

Personally, I can see it. Lego Rock Band's song set is primarily designed to strongly favor pop songs. The revealed songs wouldn't be out of place on a Kidz Bop or NOW That's What I call Music CD. The Rock Band brand is more identified with "ROCKING OUT" as opposed to "GREAT FOR KIDS!" But here's the thing, working at a library that actually has Rock Band sessions for the public: KIDS LOVE THIS GAME. So if you were to offer them the Rock Band Experience coupled with the pop songs they like then you have a hit.

But in order to not offend the "ROCKERS!" that love the primary Rock Band brand and are afraid that a "Pop Lite" Rock Band would weaken their rocker cred, you release Lego Rock Band and say, look guys, you see this: This is essentially Diet Coke. If you drink regular Coke you still get to say you're a hardcore Coca Cola drinker, but they're also letting people who want a smoother beverage get in on the Coke action so they can serve them too.