Animation Creation Ep 8 - Sympathy for the Devil

Episode eight of our stop motion animated show features toys and action figures pretty heavily in the second half. It's kind of a mixed bag of toys though. No big GI Joe battle this time. We've got some Japanese monster toys, some Beatles figures, and the Dewback from Star Wars.

If you are short on time, make sure you check out you can't ride him. It's good for a laugh and is full of action figures.




1) Lite-Brite Animation by Derek & Kevin (2:09)
2) The Warden by Kevin (4:19)
3) Snow Prints! by Derek & Kevin (5:03)
4) Brian's Potpourri of Animation by Brian (6:44) - Beatles: Yellow Submarine figures, Shrek, and Toy Story toys.
5) You can't ride him. He's my friend! by Kevin (8:10) - Vintage (1977) Star Wars dewback, GI Joe Cobra La Royal Guards and Ultraman Monster figures
6) Box O' Imps 'n' Demons (11:38)  - Plastic demons (think plastic army men) and an Ultraman Monster.
Commentary featuring Kevin & Derek with Brian (22:52)  - Custom GI Joes talking about how we make the show.

Modern Tygra

Tygra, the Thundercats second fiddle. He's not the kings, because he is adopted. I wonder if adopted people were offended by that episode of the new Thundercats cartoon like they apparently are about the joke in the Avengers movie. In the classic cartoon Tygra used only a whip for a weapon. This whip could shoot fireballs and make him turn invisible. For the newer show they have given him a blaster that he steals soon after the Thundercats learn about technology.

This Tygra figure is pretty decent. He's got good articulation and decent paint. His sculpt is not super detailed, but nice. He has a belt and holster which can hold his blaster. The gun is a little over sized. Perhaps due to safety standard. I'm not sure. The whip is pretty cool. It's very flexible which works nicely. You have some possibility options and it sits pretty naturally in a "in use" kind of pose.

I wish Bandi didn't give these figures such a shiny finish. It looks a little cheap. I also would like to see a little more fur texture in the sculpt. I know they are based on a cartoon, but just a little texture would be nice.

King Hsss - MOTUC

Well, I needed to finish posting the MOTUC figures I picked up in April, and King Hsss was left.This guy is the leader of the Snakemen, and evil faction invented about 3/4 of the way through the vintage toy line to help invigorate sales. I'm not a huge Snakemen fan. I had Tongue Lasher as a kid and just used him as one of Skeletor's men. I did have the vintage King Hsss, but I bought him at a yard sale years after I had parted with my original MOTU collection. (I'm not sure what happened to him... may have sold him at a yard sale.)

Hsss looks like a human wearing snake themed armor (kind of like Serpentor from GI Joe), but as it turns out he can shed his skin to reveal his inner snake. The vintage toy could literally shed his skin because the human body was made of two plastic halves that covered his snake body along with "sleeves" to cover his snake arms. The Classics version has two interchangeable torsos.

Like the vintage figure he comes with a shield and a staff. He's kind of a weird bad guy. What is the advantage of being able to look like a human? Hsss was never in the Filmation cartoon, but played a big role in the later part of the MYP (200x) series. It seems from what little of the storyline that has been revealed, King Hsss would have remained an important character in the season that was never produced. Man-at-Arms would have been making weapons for his army which would be an interesting story, and an upcoming figure.

 Hsss's other torso is made of a bendy material with wires inside so he can be posed. It's kind of cool, although I worry it will wear out one day and the wires will pop out of the plastic. His main snake mouth even has a cool articulation joint.  The human torso does have backwards shoulders which is a problem that has plagued MOTUC from time to time.

I originally passed on King Hsss, but went back and picked him up because later this year I will be getting the Snakemen army builder two-pack as part of my subscription. It is also pretty obvious that they will be releasing some of the other snakemen in the future because the army pack paid for the tooling they need to make several snakemen characters. I wouldn't mind if they never get around to Snakeface. He's one of my least favorite MOTU characters ever.

Stop Motion Ninja Turtles!

So, today is my 30th Birthday. 1982 was a pretty good year... the birth of 3 3/4" GI Joes and Masters of the Universe. I actually was thinking about writing something about MOTU's 30th Anniversary for today. The Might Spector went on sale today on Matty Collector.com as part of the 30th Ann. Line and he might be the most controversial MOTU character so far. But... then I decided I didn't have time to do a lot of writing or photographing today so... Stop Motion TMNT because it's awesome!

I love this video, it's shot for shot the original opening and I love it.




There is also a cool making of video.



Check 'em out.

The Comic Closet

I showed off a little preview of my Toy Room that I am working on a month or two ago, and now I decided to post a couple pictures of the comic closet. These pictures are from right after I finished it up, so it is super neat. It is a lot more messy and full now. This closet was already cedar lined when I bought the house. It had one shelf in the back and it was poorly constructed. I built new shelves and put in the laminate flooring.

The top shelf is where I store games, puzzles, and colorforms from various 80's and 90's franchises. I plan to eventually show off those products at some point here on the blog. The lower shelves are where I store short comic boxes. (I'm not a huge fan of the long boxes) You can see the Star Wars Clone Wars Gunship and a 12" scale Dewback.

There is also a bookcase where I store graphic novels, trade paperbacks, and books about comics and action figures. You can see my Sgt Slaughter Halloween costume in this photo. The binders on the floor have 80's and 90's sports cards and comic cards in them.

Man-E-Faces - MOTUC

We are getting close to May's sale date on Matty Collector.com and I still haven't talked about everyone I picked up in April. Man-E-Faces is another vintage character painstakingly modernized into Classics. I never had Man-E as a kid. I also had a major misconception about him growing up that made me not like him. Since I didn't have the vintage figure I didn't read his mini-comic. I for some reason thought the faces were disguises. It seemed pointless to change your face with that crazy armor and helmet. People would still know who you are.

 If I had read the comic or seen his episode of the Filmation cartoon, I would have known he was a great actor who was magically cursed with these three modes (characters) he could change between. Each form giving him a different sent of abilities.This is a much better back story and makes the different faces serve a better purpose. I still don't really love him... actor turned warrior... I'm not so sure.

The figure looks great and features a turning head to reveal his 3 faces just like the vintage toy. You can also swap that set of faces out for another set. The original set features his human, robotic, and monster faces. The second (new) head features He-Man, Skeletor, and Orko.

Man-E-Faces also comes with a perfect recreation of his vintage blaster. The sculpt on his monster face is awesome. I just love it. The draw back to monster mode for Man-E is that Beastman can use his power to control him.

In his robotic mode Man-E can access sensors to help him track enemies and what not. He's a great figure, but like I said... I'm not a fan of the character. I passed him up once before, but since I was ordering stuff this month and because most fans consider him a must have, I decided to pick him up.

Long day at work...

Well, I was at work until 8 PM today and my contract day ends at 2:55 PM. My students have a big day tomorrow at an underwater robotics event. Since I spent so much time a school today and there isn't a lot of time to write a blog entry. (I have to be on the bus at 7 AM to go to Villanova University) I figured I post a few pictures of my classroom that show off my interests that relate to Action Figure Adventures.

Cardboard Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was a Halloween costume I made one year. It was huge and bulky, but fun to wear. His shoulders rest on my head making it a tall costume. There is a flap in the blue tunic that flips up to look out of. You can also see my Yoda Jedi Master poster which is prominently displayed by the American Flag.











There is also a long shelf in the Woodworking Area that features a 70s/80s Darth Vader carrying case, Mezco Mega-Sized Lion-O from Thundercats, an 80's kids costume Philadelphia Eagles Helmet, an R2-D2 tape deck, and a Episode 1 Obi-wan Kenobi without a lightsaber blade.

Modern Lion-O 2.0

I love the new Thundercats cartoon. It is really well done. Nice visuals, based on the old series, but plenty of new story. I've been collecting a lot of the modern Thundercats toys that Bandi has put out. The most recent wave has been really hard to find. Many stores have their pegs full of the original Lion-O and Mumm-Ra. Plus they have a million Thunder Tanks they can't sell. This has resulted in not restocking and clearance prices. I'm going to be pissed if this cartoon gets killed off because Bandai can't run a good toy line.

Of the new wave, Lion-O 2.0 (as I call him) is the only figure I can find. This Lion-O is pretty much just like the other one, except for his left arm. This arm features a bigger and badder claw shield. As the story goes on in the cartoon Lion-O gain power and armor by collecting stone that get placed into the surface of the shield. In a flash back we learn that his ancestors had a huge mech-like suit of armor when they had all the stones. I just hope we make it long enough in the cartoon to see Lion-O with it.

The figure has decent articulation. He features a Thunder-Lynx magnet in his back. This is a really crappy action feature that activates sounds and weapons on the vehicles and play sets. He comes with a normal left hand, the claw shield, a long Sword of Omens, and a dagger Sword of Omens.

Count Marzo - MOTUC

Count Marzo was a reissue figure last month, and I'm glad I added him to my collection. Marzo was a character in both the Filmation and 200x He-Man cartoon series. This figure is based on his 200x appearances. He has longer hair in 200x (like many characters) but otherwise his face is similar. His outfit is very different between the two shows.

The count features a special hand (which has now been used on at least one other figure) that allows his to hold his magical amulet. This accessory is so important to the 200x storyline that features him. He has very interesting armor that is unique to him. No furry loin cloth for this sorcerer. Count Marzo is the most manga/200x styled of all the classics figures. Scott from Mattel even mentioned that management sort of said no more of that in the classics line after he came out.

Here is a shot of the back of Count Marzo. He has kind of a cool design on his cape. His sword can clip to his hip as pictured in the first photo. There is also a spot on his belt behind the cape where you can clip his amulet. Count Marzo is a nice figure, but not really a must have character. I like him in the cartoon, smaller villains that break up the main story to help make it fell like Skeletor doesn't loose all the time. Wouldn't it get old if everyday Skeletor came up with a plan, attempted it, and failed?

Guide to Star Wars Collectibles

Gus and Duncan's Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectables arrived today in the mail. I have been a big fan of Guz Lopez and his Star Wars collection for a long time. His website was one of the first pages that blew me away as a middle schooler when we first got the internet. On May 4th they ran to book on sale, so I picked it up for 35 bucks. This was a pretty good price for a 984 page book.

This book is a massive tome of Star Wars information. The collectables are organized by type. There is a section for toys, books, models , food, office supplies, apparel and so on. There are all kinds of incredible items that were given to cast and crew members on the films as well as items available to the public. I can't imagine there will ever be a more complete guide. It's amazing how much stuff is in here.

My biggest disappointment with the book is the size of the photos. They are very tiny, making it hard to tell what things are in some of the pictures. With about one hundred thousand items to catalog I can see why the pictures would need to be small, but I'm still a little disappointed. I know their point is to catalog everything, but there are pages of packs of M&M candies that look identical. Do we need those pictures? They are so small I can't tell the difference. I'd rather drop them and show off something more interesting.

The book contains a ton of stuff, and I know Gus and Duncan put a ton of time into creating it. I just don't think that I would have bought it if I saw it in person at Barnes & Nobles. There are preview pics online, but I didn't look at them that carefully. I have a net book, so the previews don't fit on the page well and that makes it hard to tell how things will look in person.

Anyway, I guess if you are a Star Wars completest you'll need this book for your collection. It's cool, but my eye sight just isn't good enough to be able to enjoy it. Here the link if you want to check it out, or order it. I'm glad I didn't pay fifty bucks for it.