Yo! - Vinyl Art Figue

Late last week this Yo! arrived on my door step from my friend Eric Stettmeier at Toyriffic. He held a contest to give away two Yo! figures. The idea is to have the winners draw/paint/glue/model whatever to this blank action figure so they can enter the contest being held by 3 Coconut Monkey.

So, I've got my Yo!  The school year is wrapping up which should give me some more free time. Now all I need is an idea.

I've done a few custom figures using a similar product in the past. (Spikor) (Mosquitor) When my little niece was over the other day she was looking at my Yo! She kept calling him "Creepy Baby". I can only assume because he has no eyes.

Grubby - Teddy Ruxpin

Grubby the Octopede is Teddy Ruxpin's best friend. This figure is a little 3.5" treasure from 1986. He is articulated a the neck, arms, and each of his legs. Grubby is the only toy from this series I ever owned. As a kid i enjoyed the live action Teddy Ruxpin show as well as the cartoon. At one point in time, when I was a  kid, I made a platform that fit on his back out of toothpicks and two bent nails that allowed Lego figures to ride on his bac.

Toy Hunters - playable, loose, and quirky

I kind of liked that he was looking for stuff out of the box. I am a mostly loose collector. I do keep some stuff in the package, but it's mostly duplicates. I like to play and pose my toys. I also thought it was funny that Jordan wasn't really interested in any of the fire damaged stuff from the garage. If the box is burnt but the figures are okay just open them. Sell loose mint figures. Maybe the plastic smells like fire? I don't have a sense of smell so I can't tell if something comes from a smoker's home or not.

I didn't think that the 12" GI Joe was very cool for the "big ticket item". It seemed lamb and I would have been pissed as a kid.

As a kid one time I ordered a GI Joe Snow Cat thought the Hasbro Direct mail away stuff with the flag points. They sold out of them and sent me a check for my money back. Being a kid I was so mad. I didn't want the money I wanted that awesome toy.

Not the strongest episode of the season.

Jawas - Vintage Star Wars

The Jawas were one of my favorite aliens from the original Star Wars film. When I saw the figure I had to have a bunch. I'm young enough that I missed them in stores. Like my entire vintage collection, all my Jawas were bought second hand. I didn't even know they came with capes as a kid.

Based on the way they are sculpted the Jawa figure doesn't need a vinyl or cloth cape. Originally, and for only a short time, the Jawas came with vinyl capes like Darth Vader came with. Then they were quickly switched over to the cloth cape that hid their cool details.

In addition to the capes the Jawa also came with a unique blaster. Many figures from the vintage Star Wars line shared guns. But the Jawas in the movie had those cool guns that they used to zap R2-D2.

As a kid, to help bolster the ranks of my Jawas I would use the robe as a figure. The robe is stiff enough that it can stand on it's own. The Jawas have a great scene in the 2nd episode of Action Figure Adventures. If you haven't checked out my stop motion animated show before you might get a kick out of this clip.

Muscle Man Announcer #162

Here are two different colored versions of the Muscle Man Announcer. As a kid I had no idea that they each have a number and a name. I still just describe them and refer to the line as Muscle Men. The Announcer is one of the shorter figures in the line.

Wizard World Comic-Con Philly 2013

Yesterday after picking up that awesome load of Star Wars toys my buddy Greg and I headed out to Wizard World. I didn't buy a whole lot this year, but I'll be posting my toy purchases soon. My number one goal this year was to get my original Legends of the Dark Knight art work signed by artist Barry Kitson. I forgot to take a picture of Barry signing the pages.

As with any Con there were plenty of cool costumes...

Man-Bat (You can't really tell in this photo, but the guy is on stilts)

 

Lego Batman

 

A little girl dressed as Dr. Who and her little brother dressed as K-9

 

This is a picture of myself with Ray Parks (Darth Maul from Star Wars, Toad in X-Men, and Snake-Eyes in GI Joe) after he signed my GI Joe: Rise of Cobra Snake-Eyes figure.

Flea Market Finds #12

Today I got up early and drove to the Dublin Fire House. Twice a year they hold a flea market there. The summer flea market is never as good as the spring flea market they had 2 months ago. I didn't find much there, but I did stop by a couple of yard sales on my way home. At the second yard sale I quickly picked up a Modern Star Wars Tie Fighter that was mixed in with various 2000's toys.

The woman who was running the sale asked me if I liked Star Wars. I replied yes. She said she had some Star Wars stuff in a box in the house that was her's from when she was a kid. I said I might be interested. She brought the box out and it was mix of vintage and modern Star Wars toys. I didn't say anything about it not all being from her childhood. There weren't any vintage weapons that I could see and no rare figures.

I asked what she wanted for the lot. She said to make an offer. I had already paid $2 for the modern Tie Fighter so I offered her $10 for the lot. She accepted, so here is what I got for a total of $12.

 

I bought a complete vintage Tie-Fighter and the modern Tie-Fighter I previously mentioned. I also got a modern Snow Speeder (missing a piece to connect the one gun) and Mace Windu's Jedi Fighter.I might have paid $12 just for the vintage Tie-Fighter.

Here is a vintage Mini-Rig Vehicle (missing some pieces), a Vintage Open Belly Taun-Taun, Vintage Speeder Bike (missing front fins), and a Transformer Jedi Fighter from the Prequel movies. I am so excited to have an Open Belly Taun-Taun complete with saddle and reigns. I'm also glad to have handle bars to a vintage Speeder Bike. I can combine this one with my other Speeder Bike to have a complete bike.

The lot contained 4 Star Wars figures from the goofy game line from a few years ago. I have a couple of them on a shelf at school that a Co-Worker game me for my Birthday one year. I also got three of the little pack in figures that came with action figures a few years ago. There is also this funky little rubbery Yoda.

The lot contained a handful of Prequel figures. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, R2-R9, 

Darth Maul, Arctic Clone Trooper, R2-D2, Clone Trooper, and Mace Windu.

There was also a bunch of modern figures from the Original Trilogy. X-Wing Pilot, Han Solo, Chewbacca (Prisoner Version), R2-D2, C-3PO, 2 Darth Vaders, an Imperial Officer, and the weirdest Jedi Luke I've ever seen. This Luke figure is all contorted like he's being electrocuted I guess. He has a button on his back that makes his arms move. If anyone knows anything about this Luke let me know.

The lot also contained a handful of vintage figures. All of which were in pretty nice shape. Some of these guys will replace the figures in my collection they are so clean. Biker Scout, Tie Pilot, Gamorrean Guard, The Emperor, Chief Chirpa, Boba Fett, Princess Leia (Bespin), Lando (Skiff Guard) and Han Solo (Hoth).

Space Battle: A Fresh Faith

In 1998 my buddies Brian, Derek and I wrote a spoof of the original Star Wars movie called Space Battle. We arrived at the theatre early to see the American Godzilla movie with Matthew Broderick, so we walked across the street to Staples and bought a left-handed note book. Brian begain to write the script as we talked about the story.

We originally planned to make a stop motion animated video of the project. Later on we ruled out that plan and started imagining it as a web comic. It took a long time to create the entire story. Unfortunately I never really figured out a good way to post it online.

 In our spoof Obi-Wan Kenobi is called ODB... remember it was the late 90's and we were in high school. I made this custom pimp Jedi figure out of a POTF2 Lando with a vintage Obi-Wan head. His hat comes from the GI Joe Dreadnok character Gnaugahyde. I spray painted a fine chain gold and glued it to the back of his neck.

Below is my favorite image from Space Battle. This is the heroes escaping from the Death Ball.

Ultraman vs the Rancor

At least once a year, as kids, my buddy Derek and I would do a "Set Up". This entailed getting out all his Godzilla toys and other monsters, posing, and photographing them to tell little stories that only existed in our heads. It was in a time before digital photography so we were limited to a single roll of film. It was very nice of his mom to allow us to use her camera and get the pictures developed for us.

This photo features Ultraman fighting the Rancor in a potted house plant. It's one of my favorites because it has one of the best backdrops we ever had. The trunk and leaves gave it a little more of real feeling compared to most of our pictures taken at random places around the house.

Fighting Foe Men - MOTUC

The Fighting Foe Men... once again the Masters of the Universe subscription service includes a contriversial 3-pack of figures. The Foe Men are not hated in the same way the Star Sisters were (I still haven't opened my Star Sisters), but they are pretty obscure. These three characters come from art work for MOTU themed model kits from the 80's. The artist depicted all new characters driving the vehicles for the box art rather than using He-Man or Man-at-Arms. All three drivers were partcially obscured in the art giving the toys designers a starting point, but some flexibility.

In the MOTUC story these three were pirates that built great war machines. Then when they were defeated by the He-Man of the North (Vikor), he magically froze them in a glacier. Later Hordak would free them to fight with the Horde during the 2nd Ultimate Battleground. So they just sort of jammed these guys into the mythos.

The Foe Men are full of little bits of tribute and history. The team name, The Fighting Foe Men, was a working title for the Masters of the Universe line. The figures come from the model box art. Their weapons and chest logos are based on their vehicles, and their names are homages to the support staff at the 4-Horseman Design Studio. So not the actual sculpters, but the mold makers and prototype painters.

Ditztroyer is the driver to the Roton. He has my favorite head sculpt of the three.  Ditztroyer wears a hood and long blue cape. He is armed with a giant red Roton blaster rifle and a Roton shaped staff. There is a cool little holster sculpted into his cape to hold the staff.

 

Each member of the Fighting Foe Men comes with two chest logos. One is based on their vehicle and the other is an Evil Horde Bat Logo. I don't really see these guys as Horde Members, but they look like goofy super heroes with the vehicle logos on their chests. These logos are examples of liberties the designers took with the characters that are mostly obstructed from view on the box art.

My biggest complaint about Ditztroyer , and it is accurate to that model kit box art, is that he has blue skin like the Gars on his arms and face but has human flesh tone for his torso. It's a little less noticeable when he is wearing his Roton logo. I just don't like that very much.

Dawg-O-Tor is based on the classic Talon Fighter. I feel that Dawg-O-Tor would fit in pretty well with the Palace Guard figures since he is mostly wearing green and has some orange details. He is armed with a Talon Fighter shaped shield and a club that looks like a Talon Fighter Laser. Dawg-O-Tor is my favorite figure of the three, but has the worst name.

The driver on the Attack Track box is pretty clearly a man, but to give tribute to the people that work with the Horsemen they needed a girl. Shield Maiden Sherrilyn's helmet and colors are based on the dude from the box, but converted to a female character. She comes with a funky blue double barreled blaster like the guns from the Attack Track. Her shield is one of the tracks from the vehicle and is molded in clear plastic. Her name is a bit cumbersome and I would just call her Shield Maiden (even though that cuts out the tribute part of the name). I wish her visor was see though like Dawg-O-Tor's. I think it would make her look better and give them some unity.

Here is the team with their Horde Logos on ready to go into battle. Now all we need is the Windraider pilot for the old painted MOTU poster. I kind of hope they tie him into this set with his bio. Even though he wasn't from the models he's a vehicle driver created for promotional art.