Strimus the Struthiomomus

Today I'm posting about another dinosaur from Playskool's awesome Definitely Dinosaurs line. Strimus the Struthiomomus is a long necked blueish/gray dinosaur. This thunder lizard has a yellow bill and stand on its hind legs. Strimus features four points of articulation. These swivels are located where the arms and legs meet the torso. I bought this toy at a yard sale in late elementary school when I had a "Dinotopia" diorama set up in my basement. I never had the caveman figure that originally came with the dinosaur.

The dinosaur toys from this line are easily identifable by the little logo hidden on them somewhere.

Green Lantern

This Hal Jordan Green Lantern figure came from one of the Toys R Us DC vs MOTU packs. He came packaged with Masters of the Universe character Zodac. Hal has a nice sculpt and a beautiful paint job. He came with a clear plastic green gun construct. He has all the standard DC Universe articulation. Hal has many shared parts with other heroes, but his parts are all effectively used.

Darth Vader - Vintage Star Wars

Darth Vader, one of the greatest film villains of all time. This is a figure every boy owned in the late 70's and early 80's. It's a classic. I always wished he had just a little more bulk to him, but how can I really complain? For the time of his original release he's action figure perfection.

I was born in 1982, so by the time I knew what Star Wars was the toys were out of the stores. I thought his name was Dark Vader when I was in first grade. I didn't see Star Wars until I was in 2nd grade, and then it change my life and became an obsession. So my Vader was probably bought 2nd hand at a local comic shop, but I'm not sure. I never had his lightsaber so he was armed with a red toothpick from my Grandmother's house. That toothpick is still more intimidating than the piece of plastic he came with, but it doesn't retract.

Lisa Hayes - Robotech

I bought this Lisa Hayes figure based on the anime Robotech years ago because she's compatible with other 3 3/4" action figures. She is dressed in a white flight suit with blue and yellow details. Her articulation is almost identical to the vintage GI Joes. Originally she came with a helmet and gun, but I don't have them.

The Toonseum - Pittsburgh

As previously mentioned I was out in Pittsburgh at the end of the week for a work conference. I was excited about making the trip because it would give me a chance to visit the Toonseum again. I have always been a big fan of all forms of animation, but the Toonseum is responsible for my obsession with collecting animation cels. I had a few before my first visit, and I even donated a few to their collection that visit. Then seeing some of their awesome collection inspired me to collect more. I've collected more cels than I can easily display. I hate "hoarding" collections and not being able to share them. I love having my collections out on shelves or in display cases so they can be enjoyed.

After finding out I was taking a friend's spot at the conference I went though the extra cels in my collection and put together a sizable stack to donate to the Toonseum. This time I planned to donate cels from He-Man, She-Ra, Brave Starr, Mighty Mouse, Filmation & Real Ghostbusters, Droids, and a commercial for Trix cereal.

When we had a free moment from the conference I convinced my colleague to take a cab with me to the museum. He was rather reluctant... he's not as much of a nerd as I am. When we got there I was surprised to find the sign below hanging in the window and the door locked.

They were changing over exhibits and were closed. We stood outside for a moment, and luckily and employee opened the door to ask me if she could help me. I said that I was hoping to see Joe because I had art to donate. A moment later we were able to go in a see Joe Wos,  Executive Director of the Toonseum. Joe  greeted us and was very excited to see the cels. He mentioned that the He-Man cels would be helpful for an exhibit they are working on putting together. Despite being in a state of transition we were able to look around. I get to see part of the Akira exhibit, I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see it because I didn't think I was going to make it to Pittsburgh during the time period the exhibit was open.

Pittsburgh was fun and I hope to get back again soon.

Simpsons in stop motion

Well I guess I'm making a tradition out of posting a stop motion video I like from the internet on my birthday. Last year I posted about a stop motion version of the TMNT cartoon opening. This year I'm sharing a Simpsons couch gag animated by the people from Robot Chicken.

Iceburg - GIJoe Collectors Club

When I got home from work today I found my GI Joe Collectors Club member's exclusive figure in the mailbox. This year's figure is Iceberg. This is the third year in a row where the club has made a 25th Anniversary style figure of one of the vintage figures that was never produced in the Anniversary line. Previously whey released Dial-Tone and Footloose. While Iceberg is alright, I'm not as happy with him as the past two. His head sculpt is perfect, but his body is a little weird to me. The Snow Serpent fur collar is kind of bulky. It makes his shoulders look huge compared to his waist. It's not as obvious in the pictures, but in person his hips are kind of funky. His legs stick out far from his waist and he doesn't stand very well.

 While his uniform is modeled after Iceberg V1 his accessories have a lot of nods to V2. The original Iceberg only came with one very long barreled white rifle. The second release of the character came with a snow board, a spring loaded missile launcher, and couple of guns, and a couple of knives.

 Collector's Club Iceberg came with a file card, snow board, missile launcher, missile, knife, two guns, a two piece backpack, and a figure stand. The backpack when clipped together can hold the snow board and missile launcher. Iceberg has a working sheath on his leg for the knife.

Double Edged Sword - MOTU Cel

Today's post focuses on two more animation cels from He-Man & the Masters of the Universe that I plan to donate to the Toonseum. Both cels come from episode MU 42 called "Double Edged Sword". In the episode Man-At-Arms is looking for a piece of gemstone that is used as a power source. A young boy named Chad who is trying to learn how to use a gun so he can fight in the royal guard discovers a piece of Eternium while missing his target. His grandfather contacts King Randor because he knows the Eternium is rare. The boys Grandfather isn't a big fan of fighting and teaches Chad about power and fighting.
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Here is the cel and pencil drawing of Chad taking aim.

Grandpa is actually made of three cels. His head, torso, and chair are all seperate drawings.

The pencil sketch of his hover chair is pictured below.

Lou Scheimer, who was the head of Filmation thought it was important to teach children about right an wrong with his cartoons. Many of his shows like He-Man and Brave Starr included lessons at the end of the episode. There is a gallery at the Toonseum named after Pittsburgh native Lou Scheimer and if they ever do an exhibit focusing on Lou's desire to make the world a better place through cartoons I hope they display these two cels.

He-Man moves the Moon - Cel

I spent a lot of time this weekend going through my animation cel collection. I have a pretty large collection of production cels from various cartoons, but mostly He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. A good friend of mine from work got sick (nothing major) and so I'm taking his spot at a conference at the end of the week in Pittsburgh, PA. While I'm out there I plan on visiting and donating more art work to the comic and cartoon museum, the Toonseum.

This image of He-Man is actually made up of three cels. He-Man's body, his lower face, and his left hand. It's interesting to see how they can save time and money by only redrawing his facial expression.

This cel is from episode MU 91 "Jacob and the Widgets". In this episode He-Man battles robotic sea serpents and saves a valuable crystal hidden in the Widgets caves from Merman. The caves were flooded by Merman and if He-Man can't stop the water the Widgets fort will be destroyed.

To reverse the rising water in the Widget's fort He-Man flies a special Windraider to the Moon and pushes it to reverse the tide. Conveniently Man-At-Arms built a Windraider with rocket boosters earlier in the episode. Below is a screen capture of He-Man moving the moon.

Below you can see just the top cel that shows He-Man's eyes and nose don't change. His mouth and chin are redrawn several times to create the shot.

General Traag - Vintage TMNT

General Traag is the leader of Krang's Rock Soldier Army. His action figure was one of my favorite villain figures I had as a kid. He's a large bulky figure covered in rocky textures and little creatures hidden in his sculpt. He has snakes and spiders sculpted onto his body, even some spider webs. Some of them aren't even painted.

Traag wears a green helmet, green trunks, and a belt. He came with three accessories. The General came with a blaster, a large laser rifle, and a knife (not pictured). I forgot how hard it was to put weapons in his hands. The plastic used for this figure is super hard. His hand sculpt is very tight. This makes it difficult to slip the handles into his action grip. My original Traag was sold years ago, but not to long ago my Mom picked up a hand full of turtles for me at a yard sale. I know this is going to sound weird, but I always liked the fact that Traag had has a hinge joint in his one elbow. This was a type of articulation rarely seen in the Turtles line.