Voltron - Geeky Hockey

Check out this awesome Voltron themed Hockey Jersey! It's beautiful.  This guy named Dave has a blog he post his geeky ideas on. He has so many designs and ideas related to ice hockey that he started a 2nd blog called Dave's Geeky Hockey. He designs various hockey jerseys based on pop culture properties. If the idea goes over well and he finds out that the property owner is not going to hunt him down he creates and custom team order through Rink Gear.

You can order any name or number on the jerseys. I went with "VOLTRON" and #84. The name is pretty obvious, and the number is because the Voltron Cartoon came out in America in 1984.

Usually after the custom team order is place the jerseys are no longer available. It looks like this jersey is actually going to be carried on Voltron.com. So, if you missed it, you can still get a hold of it. It has a great embroidered chest logo and smaller embroidered numbers to represent the lions individual numbers. They are much more espensive though Voltron than Dave. He doesn't make any money off of them when he sells jerseys.

Flea Market Finds #4

Okay, I didn't think that I was going to make it to the Flea Markets this weekend. Luckily things worked out and I was able to make it. Saturday was the the annual Flea Market at the Dublin Fire House. I have great childhood memories of hunting for toys at Dublin. In fact, I even sold a lot of my toys as I grew out of them at Dublin. I sold my He-Man, Thundercats, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, and many other toys there to get money to buy GI Joes and Star Wars toys. Now I buy the stuff I once sold at flea markets.

 I picked up three of the 2000's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was happy to pick Leonardo. This is the third Ralph and 2nd Donny I have of this release. Now I have weapons for my turtles, and the duplicates will get thrown in the tub of toys I have for kids to play  with when people come over who have children.

I also picked up Splinter, Shredder, and a Foot Soldier. Splinter's tail is broken, but since I'm just going to display them, I'll glue it back on. In any way I got a lot of accessories in case I ever find a figure in better shape.

The General Lee! I'm not a huge Duke's of Hazzard fan... meaning I don't really collect stuff from the show, but I couldn't pass it up. The show is a classic, but I never really watched that much of it.  I remember a friend of mine in nursery school having this toy and we used to have GI Joes drive around in it.

The Tumbler or the current movie Batmobile. I actually really dislike this vehicle as the Batmobile. I can see Batman needing a tank like vehicle for certain situations, but for this to be the original vehicle of Batman as presented in the current movies seems ridiculous to me. How do you maneuver though crowded city streets in something this big. Of course, it's the Batmobile, so I couldn't leave it behind.

There is a button on the back that makes the vehicle open up and then launches the Bat-Pod. Why not call it the Batcycle? 

Another great weekend of toy hunting. I picked up all this stuff for $7.75. I think it's a pretty decent haul.

Sketch Cards

There is a local church youth group that hosts events for teens every Friday and Saturday night. This weekend is Comic Con themed. The youth center was decorated in superhero posters, the coffee table covered in comics, and they were watching the direct to DVD Marvel and DC movies. I did up some sketch cards that they could us as prizes for the trivia games and Marvel vs Capcon tourney. They had some comics and candy for prizes also.

 Batman and Space Ghost

 Domo and Trendy Skeleton

 Flash and Wonder Woman 

(I really need a skin tone sharpie marker)

 Hulk and Wolverine

 Naruto and Spongebob

 Batgirl and Green Lantern

 Spiderman and Cyclops

 

Mario and Sonic 

(tried to do flesh with an orange marker... looks weird)

My Favorite ones: 

Leonardo and Ironman

Thunder Punch He-Man

Thunder Punch He-Man was offered from Matty Collector as a quarterly variant. This means that he is a previously released character offered with some new parts of equipment. Obviously this release pays homage to the vintage Thunder Punch figure.

The new parts TP He comes with are his harness / armor, shield, cap ring, closed fist, and punch effect. He also features a much paler complication. He's actually more pale than the Prince Adam figure.

The vintage figure had an action figure that fired a cap when placed in a compartment in his backpack. This was the “thunder” to his punch.

TP He's armor and shield feature vac-metal like his original release. The cap ring (which is fake this time) can be clipped into the shield or placed in his backpack. He also comes with a clear yellow power sword.

Another slight change between the standard He-Man and TP He-Man is his arm bands. Just like the original Thunder Punch figure, this one features the same arm band on each arm. His armor is also not removable.

As previously mentioned, his backpack can be opened so you can place the cap ring inside. Since the action feature doesn't work, even if you bought a real cap... I don't really care that the backpack opens up. It's kind of cool, but seems like extra tooling and sculpting that could have been spent on something else, like the weapons we lost from other figures. In fact, I thought there was originally going to be a screaming head for TP He-Man. I'm not sure. I'd have to look for old forum posts and pictures. (I did a quick search online and didn't see anything, maybe I'm going crazy)

I really like how he turned out, and I was not a fan of the original figure as a kid. The torso on the vintage figure was always weird to me. I enjoyed being able to take a picture where He-Man is punching the screen. It happened during the opening and in several episodes of the Filmation cartoon.

Voltron – Yellow Lion & Hunk

April brought us the second installment of the Club Lion Subscription. The Yellow Lion and Hunk action figure. We now have one arm and one leg for Voltron. Once again the lion includes a blade weapon that it can hold in it's mouth. The pilot figure, Hunk includes a key that opens the cockpit of the lion and works as a figure stand (but not really... the pin seems to small).

Like the Red Lion, Yellow is an amazing toy. Great articulation, huge size, and some cool features. Yellow Lion also has the same draw backs. The auto transformation feature makes the lion spring from leg mode back to lion. It doesn't snap back to a complete stance, so you have to use your hands to pose the lion anyway. The springs in the legs make it hard to reach some poses. On the upside, I feel like it will be harder to bump the legs of the yellow lion while in leg mode that the legs on the lions that form Voltron's arms. The fear here is that the lions will partially spring back into lion mode while all connected. The size of the Yellow Lion is very impressive. Below is a comparison photo of the Red and Yellow Lions

Hunk, like his lion, is large. I was a little worried that he would share parts with the rest of the pilots, but Mattel took the right route. Hunk is taller and bulkier than Lance.

Hunk comes with both a helmeted and unhelmeted head. They look good and resemble his appearance in the 80's cartoon. The 80's hunk action figure was the only Voltron pilot I owned as a kid. I don't know where he is these days, perhaps my parents' attic. So no comparison shot this time. Just like Lance, the figure looks like he has great articulation, but his range of motion just isn't that great.

All in all, they are both a great buy to a collector who wants to display their figures, more so than play with them. I can't wait to get Voltron. It looks like they used more glue this time, Hunk's helmet isn't going anywhere.

* I had to position the helmet so his face was hidden to make it look like he's holding his helmet.

200x He-Man Chest Harness

As I mentioned in Flea Market Finds #3 I picked up an extra 200x He-Man with the hopes of using his chest harness (armor?) on a MOTUC He-Man.  I tried it on him, and it looks great for photos, but doesn't really fit. I couldn't totally clip the armor onto the figure. The straps go through the loops, but they don't reach the little bumps that lock it in place.

He looks cool though. I'd love it if Mattel would release a 200x He-Man head with the longer hair. Maybe packed in with a 200X style young Prince Adam.

As I was messing around with harness I noticed that the two harnesses were not the same between the two versions of the figure I have. Both came from yard sales, so I don't really know anything about them. The sculpt and paint is exactly the same on every other part of the two figures.

Was Mattel getting crap for having an Iron Cross on the figure? Or did MYP change the chest logo design for the cartoon, followed by a production change at Mattel? I don't know. I was in college during the 200z run and wasn't paying attention to the line. I saw the figures in stores when I was hunting down GI Joe vs Cobra figures, and almost bought one or two but never did. I also caught a few episodes of the cartoon when they were on tv. Let me know in the comments if you have any information about this variation.

GI Joe Tactical Battle Platform

If you saw my Toy Room Preview #1 you know I have several of the GI Joe play sets. I just picked up a Transportable Tactical Battle Platform (TBP) parts lot off ebay. It actually arrived today and I'm very happy with it. The base is nice and light gray. All the tabs seem to be in good condition. I will be using it to replace the badly yellowed base to the one in my collection.

As a kid, my friend Sean had the TBP, and I loved it. It's got a landing pad, computer center, giant gun station, missile launcher, and crane. You can also add string to the four hooks on it's base and have the GI Joe Tomahawk Helicopter pick it up and transport it.

Flea Market Finds #3

Even though it was kind of a rainy day, I headed over the bridge to New Jersey. I wandered around the flea market in a light drizzle. Due to the rain their were not a lot of venders. Kind of lousy day. I picked up a 200X He-Man for $2. Kind of lame since I already have him. I'm not sure if his harness fits on a MOTUC He-Man or not, but I thought maybe it would and then I might make a 200X style He-Man.

Bat-Towel

Every crime fighter needs to keep a towel in their utility belt in case  they take a dive while on patrol. This is a Batman bath towel from the late 80's. It looks like the copyright is 1988, but it's hard to read fine print on the fuzzy side of a twenty year old towel.

Based on the style and age I'm guessing the art work was done by Jim Aparo. He did tons of licensing artwork for the Batman franchise as well as art in may issues of the comic. I actually got to meet Jim one time and have his sign a few books. That was back in the early 90's. I don't know if the Knight Fall storyline had even started yet in the monthly books... then again maybe it was right after it started. I'd have to dig through a box of comics to figure it out.

Close up of the artwork on my 80's Batman towel. It's little kid bathroom sized. I think it even came with a wash cloth. It's not a beach towel so to speak.

Flea Market Finds #2

This weekend I went out  toy hunting again. Different flea market, but great results.

I used to have a huge collection of vintage MOTU figures. He-Man was the best in the 80's. As I grew out of playing with toys and started collecting toys I sold off certain toys to buy others. My entire He-Man collection was sold off at yard sales so I'd have cash to by Star Wars and GI Joe figures.

I own a couple vintage MOTU figures that I picked up here and there years after I dumped my collection. I got back into MOTU in a big way since I got my hands on MOTU Classics and the animated show on DVD.

Yesterday when I saw Trap Jaw, Ram Man, Mekaneck with half of his armor, and the chair from Castle Greyskull I had to get them. There were a few other MOTU figures like Zodak, Spikor, and Rockkon but they were all broken in one way or another, so I left them behind.

They were all scattered between three boxes of random action figures. I also dug a Ghostbuster and Thundercats toy out of the box.

Peter Venkman points out a Class 5 full roaming vapor to Hachiman. I never had the original release of Peter, so he'll look good with my Egon and Ray. Still looking for Winston. Thundercats, like MOTU was a line I had tons of toys from, but when they stopped making them and the cartoon was no longer on, my interest faded and they were sold so I could buy other toys.

I'm pretty proud of my $5 haul.

Nightmare before He-Man

Facebook shows me t-shirts from Teefury.com all the time in the little ads off to the side. I finally saw one I liked so much that I bought it. I'm always a little hesitant about buying shirt online because I'm kind of picky about the feeling and sizing of the shirts I wear. Assuming they use the same band for all their shirt, I now know that their shirts are okay.

This shirt is such a great blend of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Skeletor from He-Man & MOTU. Two things I really enjoy. Stop Motion Animation and 80's cartoons. I also feel that people will not ask you to explain it if they don't know because it's just and image. Sometimes if a shirt is a nerdy joke and has text you get suck educating people on a pop culture property they missed.

Shirts on Teefury are only available for one day, but you can look at all the old ones on their gallery.

Operation: Final Broadcast

As I mentioned in my last post... I have reposted the ending of Animation Creation Episode 6. Now if you want to check out my epic GI Joe battle you can with audio. There is also an action figure battle during the commentary that is worth checking out. This animation was a big part of planning Action Figure Adventures as an animated series. It mixed toys with a real world environments made up of objects out of scale to the toys. (The giant slipper and computer) Several of the figures used in this video ended up in Action Figure Adventures. The computer is once again the bag guy base in AFA. As we planned AFA some of the rules changed a little. The figures no longer "shoot" their guns, because they are toys after all.






Some of the GI Joes featured in the video include: Snake-Eyes, Firefly, Hawk, Leatherneck, Beachhead, Chuckles, Jinx, and Footloose. Not all the accessories the guys use are the correct ones for the figures. I'm well aware of that. Sometimes it was because certain equipment was needed, other times it was just that  I like to look of a certain backpack or gun. Sometimes weapons had to be subbed in because I don't own the correct weapons.

Pretty much all the voice actors in this video are heard somewhere in AFA. We did make sure we had a lot more actors for the second show because having characters repeat voices hurt this video a bit.

Animation Creation Ep6 – Life During Wartime

Well, it looks like we got in trouble for using copyrighted music on this one, You Tube disabled the audio.You can see from this episodes banner that it features several action figures.

I may try to re upload the end of the episode this weekend. I did highlight the segments that use toys. Wuzzle Puzzle features a Dragon Ball Z figure and a toy from the Beatles: Yellow Submarine movie. You can watch it without the audio if you's like. It only had music playing over it. It starts at 2:52 if you want to check it out. The main thing I want to show you guys, and the part I will try to repost is Operation: Final Broadcast. This pieces is a long action sequence featuring GI Joe action figures. There is quite a range of characters featured in this portion. Snake-Eyes, Alpine, Quick Kick, Jinx, and others. There is also an army of Cobra Solders, Vipers, Tele-Vipers, and B.A.T.S.  It starts right around 13:00. Unfortunately with the audio disabled you miss out on dialogue and sound effects. I'll probably also repost the commentary because they are fun and feature action figures. In fact this commentary section features Greedo from Star Wars and a bunch of Cobra Troopers out to get Harrison Ford.

1) Last-Minute Filler Animation by Derek & Keith
2) Wuzzle Puzzle by Brian & Kevin
3) Sticks+Stones (and flashlight) by Derek
4) Nucleus Abort! by Greg
5) Outside World by Derek
6) Operation: Final Broadcast by Kevin
Commentary featuring Kevin & Derek
with Greg & Harrison

Flea Market Finds #1

I love going to yard sales and flea markets looking for figures. Back when I was still working on my vintage GI Joe and Star Wars collections I tried to go out most weekends during the spring, summer, and fall. It was a nice day, but a little chilly with the wind.

At first I was really disappointed. I only found one item and it wasn't really that great.

I picked up this carded James Bond Jr. Helicopter.. My dad is a helicopter mechanic, so I've always had a soft spot for whirlybird toys. I don't own any other toys from the Bond Jr. line, but I did watch the cartoon a lot.

I wondered around some more and finally found a few things that made the trip worth my while. I picked up Sgt. Slaughter v3. This is the version that had a removable hat and came with the Warthog tank. He was one of my favorite figures as a kid. This one has super tight joints, so he will replace the well played with figure in my collection. I picked up an Action Marine figure from the last year of the original 3 ¾ inch GI Joe line. I picked up a little Unicron figure, he's an interesting character from Transformers being the main villain from animated movie. I scored a Max Rebo and organ from the late 90's Star Wars line. The original Rebo Band are some of my favorite vintage Star Wars characters. I also picked up a pack of Warhammer models. I used to really enjoy painting lead/pewter figures so I couldn't leave them behind.

I snagged everything for $12. I think it's a pretty good day at the Flea Market.

Unofficial Cartoon Guide to He-Man & MOTU

I've been a fan of James Eatock's TheHe-Man and She-Ra Blog for a while now, and one of the things he teases readers with a lot is his book, “The Unofficial Cartoon Guide to He-Man and The Masters of the Universe.” By tease readers, I mean that he talks about it but you can't buy it because it's out of print. He's been talking about it getting reprinted, and even has a poll about it on his blog.

Last week when I was at my usual comic shop, Cyborg1 in Doylestown, PA, I noticed they had a copy on the shelf where they keep bundles of clearance back issues. I picked it up right away and was shocked to see it was marked down to five bucks!

When I when to pay I mentioned to James, the owner, that I had been looking for this book for a while and that it was out of print. He told me it was my lucky day. Someone had asked him to order it a while back a flaked out on him. So I scored a real cheap copy.

I've started reading it. Very informative and interesting. I wish it has a few pictures, especially of the characters created specifically for the cartoon. I understand why they were not included though. He gives an overview of the episode and rates them. He talks about the characters and toys featured in the episode as well as the things I find the most fascinating... reused animation, and the abilities of He-man as he performs new amazing tasks.

If you are into the MOTU cartoon make sure you respond to the poll and pick up a reprint.