Joint Junkie

Hugo

2012-02-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

It bothers me that movie audiences would rather see Twilight: Breaking Dawn than a movie like Martin Scorsese's Hugo.

As of February 20, 2012, the film has grossed a little over 67 million dollars in North America and another 40 or so overseas. That against an estimated 150 million budget, officially makes it a flop. In contrast, Twilight: Breaking Dawn grossed just under 140 million dollars on its first weekend of release. How’s that for a sad commentary on the state of the human race.

Then again, I think it’s partly due to the fact that Hugo didn’t seem to have a proper marketing hook. I mean, after seeing the trailer, could you say what this movie was about?

Taikongzhans Dian Ying Ban Di San (Ironhide)

2012-02-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

Remember that Power Robot 1 that I reviewed several months back? Well, this is his big, black brother. Instead of Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime, the bootleggers over in China have taken the mold for Dark of the Moon's Leader Class Ironhide and done it again. And guess what? It's even better than the last one!

I actually got this figure before I found my Leader Class Ironhide. A friend of mine was able to pick one up for me at 168 Mall in Divisoria and haggle the price down some. Usually they go for Php 3,000-3,500 in Greenhills according to the scuttlebutt on the forums, and I'd have paid that much (I'm no good at haggling - I just don't have the patience or the EQ for it) but he was able to get it for Php around Php 2,500. Slightly more expensive than the Dian Ying Ban Di San 1 figure, but still below the suggested retail price of the original Leader Class figures.

There haven't been any changes with the box since the first figure was added to my collection. It's still as unwieldy as it is impressive. Since they copied the graphics aesthetics (not to mention ganked the photos and art) from the original Hasbro Dark of the Moon line's boxes, it's really not all that fascinating except for it's size.

The box's size, however, is remarkable. Check this out:

Yup, that's a Leader Class Ironhide right there next to it. It's easily 3 times as big, maybe more.

The package has all kinds of phrases over it like:

3 modes!
Biggest Power Robot Toy!
Glowing Weapon Lihgts!
Blasting Battle Sounds!
Ultimax Super Cannon Flips into Action!
Any Meng Lie Weapon Works with Power Robot!

Most of these are actually true, with the exception of maybe the first and last, but we'll get into that in a bit. First let's just wallow in it's magnificence for a moment, shall we?

Aaaah.

This thing is a beast! It's noticeably heavier than the Dian Ying Ban Di San 1 toy, and seems to be in a slightly larger scale. And guess what? Unlike Hasbro (who keep devolving their toys), these particular bootleggers seem to be improving from release to release. This guy's got almost all of the original's joints and action features (as opposed to the first one that was missing all of them plus his knee joints). The only one that I halfway missed was the moving face plate and the secondary actuation lever at the back of his head.

First off, he's got both his arm cannons, and they look and work exactly the same as they do on the Leader Class figure: Pull his smokestacks back and they pop out. They even got the colors one each of them right, with the blue plastic and the gold highlight.

Unfortunately, quality control isn't perfect, as with all bootleg toys. In this case, it's missing the bar that connects the blaster on his left arm with the panel that covers it. The bar is what allows the smokestack mechanism to work, pushing the panel up. Without it, you need to open the panel manually and then pull the lever. Oh, well. At least it's not an obvious flaw.

He's also packing heat in his pants. He's not just happy to see you.

Like the cannons, the knife in his left leg is functional, detailed, and painted. The trap door mechanism works and the pegs fit securely into the holes on the blade. The handle also fits perfectly into his fist. It's just as awesome as the official release, only he's bigger.

His right leg houses a removable missile launcher. This one of the pieces you need to be careful about. Like the Leader Class figure, the launcher isn't secure in it's place. If you nudge it, it will fall. If it falls with the release lever down, the missile will rocket out of the launcher and under the nearest piece of heavy furniture. This is an invariable constant of the universe and steps must be taken to prevent the said event.

If you do decide to remove the thing, you can also place it in his hand as a kinda-sorta-not pistol. He also comes with a bonus that was not available with the Leader Class figure: an up-sized version of the Dark of the Moon Voyager Class Ironhide's Mechtech weapon!

It sounds more exciting than it really is.

It doesn't really add anything to the proceedings. The thing's too blasted big for his arm, so it's hard for him to hold the weight. The construction of the weapon doesn't match the construction of his arm, so he can't really hold it in a decent position. And don't forget... It's ugly.

The action feature, however, does work.

Speaking of action features...

Ta dah! His Ultimax Super Cannon!

I mentioned on my review of the original that the chest cannon refused to stay open. Well, that's not really a problem here. I just wiggle around the button or lever awhile and presto! Something inside gets stuck and I've got a robot with a chest-mounted Gatling gun.

To be frank, the fact that it stays open is probably just a fluke of quality control, rather than an intuitive re-design on the part of the bootleggers. And there's a trade-off.

Not only did they scrub off any Autobot and GMC symbols from his chassis, they also cleaned out his mouth. Instead of "Ironhide here!", the guys in China had to use some generic sound effects to skirt copyright laws. Now all he really says is "Let's go, Dangers!" or something to that effect. The rest of the playbacks are things like ricochets, laser blasts, swords clanging, etc. There's even an alarm clock ringing. I shit you not.

The transformation process from robot to vehicle is exactly the same as the original Hasbro toy.

You'll notice the biggest difference right away. They've replaced the General Motors' GMC with a red EWD. What does that mean? "Extremely Wise Dork?" "Explosively Wet Diarrhea?" "Early Wombat Defense?"

I really don't know.

They've also removed the "Road Armor" logos and any Autobot insignia. However, there's still that silver paint on the front, a see-through windshield, clear headlights, and translucent turn signals. Not bad for a fake!.

You only really understand the size of this bastard once you get him next to the real toys. Here it is next to both the Leader Class and Voyager Class figures:

It's HUGE!

He is a little shorter than the Uber-Optimus though.

If I had to choose though, I'd say Ironhide was the one to get. Not only does he not have as many quality issues and sacrifices as Prime did, he's also made in a bigger scale! Because his vehicle mode is smaller than Prime's, but the plastic available to make him is still the same amount as the first toy, Ironhide is the one that is closer to 1/18th scale.

What does that mean? Well it means that he's the right size for G.I. Joes!

What's better is that he has a hole on his roof the original doesn't have to accommodate the Mechtech gun. You could probably use it to mount some proper chain guns up there. Sweet!

There's really nothing about this figure that can make me feel anything but glad that I bought it. It really is worth the money I paid (and more). If Hasbro had made it, I probably still would have gotten it. I'd have cried and eaten sky flakes for about 3 months, but it really would have been worth it.

Transformers Cybertron Con Singapore!

2012-02-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

I'm probably not alone in wishing I had more money to spend. Times like this I wish I could travel more. Like to Singapore. For the Transformers Cybertron Con.

Sigh.

Transformers Cybertron ConDate: March 11-14,2012
Venue: Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore

Also, experience Transformers the Ride (The Ultimate 3D Battle) now open at Universal Studios in Singapore.

If you guy's do have the means to visit, do us a favor and take lots of photos. We like to life vicariously through the internet.

News courtesy of Cybertron Philippines

Leader Class Ironhide

2012-02-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

Being a Transformer nut has it's ups and downs. On one side of the coin, the franchise is enjoying a fairly good run after Michael Bay's reboot movies (the last of which was Dark of the Moon) and we've seen a resurgence of product coming out of the Hasbro factories these past few years. On the other hand, it also means that there's a lot of product left on the shelves after the hot ticket items are swept out by the consumers. Distributors are finding it hard to give Deluxe Mudflaps and Leader Class Bumblebees away.

Another downside is the fact that you've got to compete with a lot more people to get at those hot items. You're not only up against kids, but collectors and those wily re-sellers as well. If you hear about one of these HTF (hard to find) items showing up somewhere in the metro, you had better drop what you're doing and high tail it to whatever corner of Manila your source pointed you to. Chances are, if you're not there within the day (sometimes, within the hour), your shit out of luck.

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Tamashii Stage Act 5 Mechanics Base Stand

2012-02-09T05:50:00.000-08:00

I’m not a big collector of Japanese import toys. It’s not that I have anything against them or that I’m blindly biased towards the more western oriented Hasbro. It’s just that they’re so damned expensive.

Take Bandai’s Super Imaginative Chogokin, or S.I.C., line. This is a group of figures that depict characters from the Kamen Rider franchise (a weekly staple of Japanese television since 1971). In 2001, Bandai took the S.I.C line switched from boring mini statues to fully articulated figures. Since then, they’ve produced over 50 figures.

Since the iconic Rider is usually depicted in the show as having unsurpassed martial prowess, it behooves Bandai to include stands that allow you to pose your Rider in those eponymous poses. Hence the Tamashii Stage series of figure stands.

Terra Nova

2012-02-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a kid, I was the nerd who loved dinosaurs. I would spend hours in our local library with my nose buried deep in The Dinosaur Dictionary just looking up creatures like diplodocus and styracosaurus. Though I could never find the toys at my local toy store, I loved the cartoons Dinoriders, Dinosaucers, and Denver the Last Dinosaur (the Denver theme song is going to be playing in my head for the next few hours now that I’ve mentioned it). I can’t express how much I loved The Land before Time and later, Jurassic Park when they came out.

Today’s generation doesn’t seem so interested in the past as much as it is in the present, and I don’t really see dinosaurs in popular media much anymore. You see the occasional documentary on the Discovery or History channel, or get the odd show like Jurassic Fight Club, but on the whole, interest of these prehistoric beasts is down.

This is why I’m so glad we now get to watch TV series like Terra Nova.

Underworld: Awakening

2012-02-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Underworld and Underworld: Evolution are two of my favorite movies. Not only are they movies about vampires and werewolves, they are movies about a war between vampires and werewolves. Not only are they movies about a war between vampires and werewolves, they are movies about a war between vampires and werewolves who are organized and use guns and have a thing for skin-tight leather and trench coats.

Plus, they both have Kate Beckinsale in the starring role that requires her to wear the aforementioned skin-tight leather.

Summer Komikon 2012!

2012-02-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

For more information, visit the Komikon Facebook Page.

Haywire

2012-01-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

It’s feels like forever since I’ve seen a smart action suspense flick. You just don’t get a lot of movies like Sneakers or Heat, especially in today’s market where the big draws are the beefcake like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Vin Diesel.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy testosterone-y movies as much as the next nerdy dork with no measurable upper body strength (sometimes even more than most as in the case of DOOM), but the films that I watch over and over again are ones like Ronin that require you to pay attention.

Pescadero Escape Terminator

2012-01-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on June 19, '09

I will admit it. I enjoyed Terminator: Salvation.

It is what it is; a popcorn movie. Something to watch when you need to kill 2 hours. I like it much the way I like Michael Bay’s Transformers; it’s not the original, but if you separate it completely from the franchise and treat it as a completely seperate quantum reality where logic is not necessary and canon isn’t the rule of law, then you’re golden. You can sit back and enjoy the fluff.

Watching McG’s little action movie didn’t so much as make me want to see more of THAT universe, it made me want to go home and watch James Cameron’s original one. Those were the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. The days when terminators were Terminators, and not slow slabs of junk with bandanas. When effects were state of the art and supported the story. When T-800’s walked over a field of human skulls, and Arnold schwars… Arnold Shwarzeb… The Governator straddled that Harley like there was no tomorrow…

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Drag Me to Hell

2012-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on June 13, 2009

It’s been awhile since I’ve actually been scared while watching a horror movie. After 20 years worth of watching films from all over the world, I’ve become understandably jaded. I don’t cringe during The Sixth Sense, I don’t faint during The Ring, and I thought The Blair Witch Project was a piece of crap that should never see release in any other form ever again. When a friend comes up to me and tells me the latest J-horror film is really REALLY scary, my standard reaction is, “meh.”

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Generation 1 Legends Class Figures

2012-01-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on June 12, '09

It’s estimated that the human brain stores info on an internal hard disk drive that has about 1000 terrabytes of storage space. For those of you that don’t know the difference between RAM and ROM, that’s a lot. I, on the other hand, seem to be an older model, running with some thing like a few hundred gigs. There’s only so much that will stick, and it’s hard to find what I need when I need it. I may need to start a new filing system or something.

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Revenge of the Fallen Sideswipe

2012-01-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on June 11, '09

You got to applaud Michael Bay. Hack director or not, he knows his shit when it comes to making money. Instead of upfront payment as a director, the man now demands a slice of net profits. That means whatever money one of his movies brings in after the studio expenses, he gets a percentage. For “Pearl Harbor” it was 50%. Who knows how much how much it was for the Transformers movie or for the sequel.

He gets the same kind of deal for the toyline. According to Forbes, The Bayman gets an estimated 8% royalty on Transformer toy profits. Imagine the kind of moolah that brings in? Every time you go to the toy store and pick up a new movie toy, a few pesos are going into this doink’s pocket.
It’s almost enough to make me want to return my Sideswipe.

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Autobot Ambush! Dirge vs. Roadbuster

2012-01-16T07:16:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on June 11, '09

I reviewed the Springer vs. Ratbat boxset a while back and alot of the same things can be said of this one. Thanks to Hasbro’s need to clear the shelves for the coming of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, Playkit, the local distributor was able to get a ton of cheap Transformers and give everyone a chance at figures that we weren’t able to score when the first movie came out.

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Knowing

2012-01-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/ on Apr 13, '09

Let me say that the director of "Knowing", Alex Proyas, is one of my favorite filmmakers. If you've seen his earlier films, than it's highly likely you're also infatuated with this guy. Despite bleak and decidedly dark tones to his movies, they always have a silver lining. When Eric Draven says "It can't rain all the time", or when John Murdoch steps out into the sunlight at the end of "Dark City", you can't help but sigh.

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Bome Special Edition: Maya Natsume

2012-01-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com on Apr 2, '09

I've been waiting for this one for awhile now.

About a year ago I bought the regular edition from one of my fellow PTK members. Broken cowlick or not, it's a really nice edition to my small anime girl statue collection. Plus, because of the broken hair piece, I was able to get it below 1000 bucks, with a free bootleg version to compare it to. Trust me, it looks about 20 time better after putting them side by side.

I always wanted the "Special Edition" version, and had it in my toy pipeline for a time, but things went pear-shaped and I had to pass on it. One of those "demn, I wish I had gotten it when I had the chace" moments a new toy collector is plagued with. Luckily, I'm much better off now, and wouldn't you know it, Great Toys had one mint in box on sale.

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SmileGuard Marvel Heroes Toothbrushes

2012-01-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

It’s gotten to the point where my collector detector is always on now. No matter where I am, I’m always on the lookout for some kind of toy to buy. I bought a miniature tricycle that’s about 1:18^th scale while my girlfriend and I were shopping in a souvenir shop. I picked up several silly looking figures made of native materials at a prison in Palawan. In Sorsogon I got a not so little whale shark made of wood. My G.I. Joes use it for anti-submarine operations.

The other day, I was in National Bookstore in Galleria and found these: SmileGuard Marvel Heroes Toothbrush Travel Kits.

McDonald's Monsters vs. Aliens!

2012-01-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com on Mar 27, '09

Until the official movie toys hit our shores, Happy Meals are our soulution to that animated movie toy fix! McDonald's may have lost the Disney license for making American kids fat, but Dreamworks seems to have no qualms with promoting burger guzzling.

The newest Happy Meal set is from the new Dreamworks animated film, Monsters vs. Aliens. Personally I can't wait to see this movie. I love the trailer, and if they seem to have come a long way from Shark's Tale. Kung Fu Panda re-screen anyone?

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Stikfas Master Assassin

2012-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com on Mar 27, '09

This was the figure that brought me back to the Stikfas fold. How can you not love a killer in black and purple? It worked for Skywarp. It worked on Shadowblade Megatron. Worked on Nemesis Prime. Just as good for a featureless, stick figure!

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Stikfas Beta Female Dragon Warrior

2012-01-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com on Mar 27, '09

Many people who've seen my Stikfas collection don't get the appeal of the toy line. They see a plain looking figure, with no paint, no details, and a completely un-refined form. The toys look a lot like stick figures; simple, featureless, boring.

But like old Sponge Bob says, "Imagination!"

Stikfas is like a successor to classic toy lines like legos or Linkin Logs. You get a box with a mess of parts and you can build something all your own. You can follow the rules and build what's on the box... or you can have fun and build anything from the parts. You start tossing pieces from different sets in a big tub, jumbling all the parts together, then digging through them for the one that will complete your masterpiece.

That's the appeal.

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Revenge of the Fallen Scouts

2012-01-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Of all the sizes of Transformers today, I think the Scout Class is by far my favorite. They are just the right size to allow you to play with them at your desk, transform in a reasonable amount of time, and allow for some decent articulation. Legends Class figures are cute, but many have horrible articulation and can’t really do anything. Leader Class figures are expensive and their “Level 4″ transformations are way too involved to go over it regularly. Scout Classes are just right.

Which is why when I was given the chance to buy either the new Deluxe movie toys or these new Scout robots, I chose these.

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Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on 06/2/09

If you read any of my reviews of the toys from the first movie, you’ll not that I’m not really a fan of the line. There are alot of things they try that doesn’t really work. The original Voyager Starscream, the Voyager Ironhide, and the abyssmal Leader Class Megatron, which frankly belonged in the bargin bin it ended up in. As the second movie approached, Hasbro needed to get rid of the their leftover stocks, so local distributors got a great deal on the toys which translated to very, very happy kids and collectors here in the Philippines.

Among that sea of blah product, I found the original Transformers the movie Leader Class Optimus Prime. This was the one Transformers Movie toy that I could not stop playing with. It had all these great things going for it. Heft, electronics sound and lights, articulation, a spring-loaded projectile launcher, rubber tires, a a great look that was worthy of the name “Prime”.

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Terminator: Salvation

2012-01-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Theatrical poster for Terminator: Salvation

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on 05/28/09

When I heard about another Terminator film being done I was apprehensive. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines wasn’t worthy of the the series, which started with the original in 1984 and continued with Judgement Day in 1991. Considering how director James Cameron pushed the envelope on both of those movies in terms of action, drama, and special effects, the third installment was a poor substitute. I mean why would Skynet go from a hulk like Arnold, to a bad-ass metamorph like Robert Patrick, to a crappy girl Terminator who can remote control cars? I fail to see the logic in that progression.

Likewise, while I watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it’s not wowing me. All melodrama, very little action, and if you watch The Big Bang Theory, you’re probably familiar with Sheldon and Leonard’s debate about Summer Glau’s character. “T-800 > T-1000 > Nubile Teenage Killer Robot” does not really compute. Hmm… Nubile Teenage Killer Robot. NTKR? The only thing the series really has going for it are Glau, Headey, and Jacobsen. And their hotness is overpowered by the suck of that 90210 guy and Shirley Manson.

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Fraulein Revoltech: Yoko (Movie Version)

2012-01-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on 05/27/09

What’s better than one redhead in a bikini and hot pants? Two redheads in bikinis and hot pants with really big guns!

Having already bought the TV Version of Yoko, I couldn’t resist getting the second, more “mature” Kaiyodo release. Apparently, this version is supposed to be Yoko after several years. She’s grown into her role (whatever that is - I really need to watch this series) and filled out her - ahem. Well, you know. Just look at the pics.

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Fraulein Revoltech Yoko (TV Version)

2012-01-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on 05/27/09

I don’t buy very many anime figures. Mostly because I’m not a fan of a lot of the TV series these toys are often based on. Japanese storytelling sensibilities are the complete opposite of Western storytelling, and as a kid who spent most of his Elementary school days in the library, wading through aliterations to Japanese mytho-historical figures can be tedious. Compound that with either overly exuberant fan-subs with often vague allusions to Japanese pop-culture or barely intelligible translations from Chinese pirates who downloaded the mpeg from a Pakistani, who copied it from some Russian who recieved it via email from his Pinoy Multiply contact, who got it through torrent from some geek in his basement in Arkansas who burned it from the original courtesy of a Japanese friend.

It’s just too much trouble.

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Nitro Bumblebee

2012-01-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

Along with Cyberfire Bumblebee, I recently picked up Nitro Bumblebee, another one of the dozens of Dark of the Moon figures that went on sale before the holidays. Again, I paid Php 500.00 (approx. $11 US) for it, about 30% off the retail price, about a week before they dropped it to 50% off. I’m not complaining. It was one of those on my list marked for eventual purchase.

While not as immediately wowsome as Cyberfire Bumblebee, this figure’s got a few things going for it. Not the least of them is its Mad Max looks. The car mode looks like something that you’d build for the Transcontinental Road Race in Death Race 2000.

Cyberfire Bumblebee

2012-01-05T12:28:00.000-08:00

I’d hate to be the guys at Habro.

A few weeks ago The Institute for Global Labour and Human rights tagged with one of their reports that alleged inhumane conditions of workers at their Transformers factory in China. According to the report, the employees of the factories are working insane hours for slave wages. Hasbro responded with a press release that they’d already looked into these allegations and the factory was, in fact, up to standard and that the NGO’s claims were not substantiated by the inspection.

It’s funny since in my experience, the Transformers line has been Hasbro’s most consistent in terms of quality control. I rarely find a Transformer toy with problems that aren’t the result of some tool mishandling it in the store. The Dark of the Moon line is no exception. Even if I largely skipped this series, it wasn’t because of paint issues (I mostly just thought that the movie, characters, and toys sucked).

Aerial Rivals & Team Leaders

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.i.ph/ on 05/21/09

Here’s another review of another Target exclusive boxset, the Transformers Universe Legends Class 5-Packs; Aerial Rivals and Special Team Leaders.

For those of you who aren’t giant Transformer geeks, Hasbro started classifying their Transformer toys by complexity, size and price when the Cybertron line came out. They had classes before then (back in G1 days it was limited to the small, medium, and not-so-large bots), but since 2005’s toys, they’ve been pretty standardized. They had the “Legend” at $3, “Scout” at $7, “Deluxe” at $10, “Voyager” at $20, “Ultra” at $25, “Leader” at $35, and “Supreme” at $45 (values are approximate and vary quite alot).

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Battle Beneath the Streets

2012-01-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at slangards.i.ph at 05/20/09

There’s this blogger that makes a living off being online. Alot of people say this must be a dream job, just sitting back, writing about shit, going places, meeting people, but the reality is, he puts a hell of a lot of work into marketing himself online. The dude needs to be everywhere and needs to maintain an online presence at all times. He is a member of every social network out there and quite a few forum boards in related hobbies. He has an email list, micro-blogging accounts, and contacts up the wazoo. All of this he has to keep track of and keep updated so that traffic to his blog is constant.

Hasbro is a lot like that. Toy molds cost money. Lots of it. They want to make the most of any one mold. Repaints is one way of doing that, but there are others as well. One would be re-issues. Another is the “exclusive” release. The one I particularly enjoy is the boxset.

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Autobot Salvage

2012-01-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at slangards.i.ph on 05/13/09

I’m not looking forward to Michael Bay’s new Transformers movie. He took my favorite toy line as a kid and made it something vapid and insipid. Instead of robot explorers discovering Earth and befriending humans, we got posturing CG contructions and an annoying human “lead”. His movie was devoid of any of the indelible imagery of the 1986 animated film.

Ok, ok. I’ll give him Megan Fox.

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Stealth & Burning Lockdown

2011-12-31T04:23:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at slangards.i.ph on 05/12/09

There are some characters in cartoons that are iconic and only get released once a line. In the usual scheme of things, Optimus Prime is one of those. Once you’ve made an Optimus figure, you’re pretty much done. You can add battle damage, or paint him white, or on the rare occation, maybe paint him white and call him Ultra Magnus, but for the most part, toy manufacturers don’t get a whole lot of re-use from him

Then there are some characters in cartoons that just beg to have extra figures made of them. Take Snake Eyes from GI Joe. He is just one of those characters that Hasbro loves. They don’t have to hire some writer to create a whole ‘nother backstory for some character. They just have to take the old one and slap it on the back of a card. They don’t even need to hire anyone to re-design the toy. They can take the original color, and just paint on a camoflage design and just like that, they’ve filled another spot in the next case assortment.

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Soul Reaver's Kain

2011-12-30T04:15:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at slangards.i.ph on 05/12/09

Let me get this out of the way right now; This is easily one of the worst action figures I’ve ever bought.
Whew. Glad that’s off my shoulders. Truth to tell I was really exited when I saw this availble on the PTK boards selling for a really sweet price. Sure it was loose, but it had the original packaging (which I promptly threw away). Sure it was one of those “will-not-break-set” sales, but the other figure was the NECA Raziel figure which was really easy to sell (helped largely by my glowing review of it apparently). Considering it’s a pretty obscure character that was never really easy to find here, the price was nothing to complain about and this review is in no way a reflection on the seller (thanks again, dude). I should have known what I was buying.

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Greatest Battles: Sinister vs. Gambit

2011-12-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

When we were kids, I got my sister good and hooked on X-Men. If I found myself short on cash and could not get that month’s issue, chances are I could con her into buying it. All I had to do was tell her that the arc was about Rogue and Gambit.

My sister being a girl, she was more into the quasi-romantic shenanigans of the Cajun Charmer and the Southern Belle than she was into the social commentary or splash pages. Most of her collection is the stuff after Lee launched the book back into the spotlight, where Joe Mad and Chris Bachalo took the book to new heights. I was content to let her collect the main titles while I focused more on the secondary Mutant books like Generation X.

Star Trek

2011-12-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at slangards.i.ph on 05/9/09

I’ve been a trekkie long before I was a SciFi nut. My dad, having been a fan of the original series, watched The Next Generation (TNG) every week when I was growing up and me and my sister would thrill at the exploits of the Federation officers of the Enterprise-D. As a fan brought up on Picard and the NCC-1701-D, I never felt the same way about the crew of the Enterprise as I did about Picard, Riker, and Data. To me they were just some old farts puttering about in some tuna with rockets. The original series (TOS) was really pretty boring to anyone fed on action blockbusters from Scharwarzenneger and Stallone. We wanted stories about Klingons, the Borg, those annoying Ferengi… not episodes about Tribbles.

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Ashura jo no Hitomi (Ashura)

2011-12-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

I’ve always had an interest in Japanese culture. Not just what you find in their animation, but their traditions and customs. The gateway drug that brought me in of course was their martial arts. One heard about karate more than one heard about kung-fu when I was growing up, despite the late night “Kung-Fu Theatre” that showed on local television. As I grew up and found access to more stuff, it became anime, taiko music, or horror films. From where I was growing up as a Filipino-American, Japanese culture seemed so exciting and exotic.

Kabuki is one of those traditions that are completely out there from an American (and Filipino perspective). It’s a slant that we just don’t have in our art or our storytelling. Western culture is all about the fast beginning: “hook them in the first five minutes or lose them” thinking. Japanese storytelling conventions include the slow boil of a start and then quick, flashy action and satisfying endings. Kabuki is all about the flash, especially in Edo, where Ashura jo no Hitomi (Eyes of Ashura Castle) takes place.

Shadowland Daredevil

2011-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

If I were honest, I'd say I liked the 2003 Daredevil film. It wasn't the bees knees that Ang Lee's Hulk was, but it made me want to learn more about the character. But since I know that the fan boys will skin me alive for saying that, pretend I didn't say anything.

Comics wise, I've only got maybe a handful of issues of Hell's Kitchen's own dark knight. None of them are part of the Shadowland story arc where he defeats the ninja cult, The Hand, and becomes their leader, establishing a base of operations in New York. That arc came out much later and I can't really give you an opinion on it.

The Marvel Universe figure, though, that I can tell you about.

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The Immortals

2011-12-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

It was a very good weekend, movie-wise. I thought that Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was already pretty good and sustained my thrill over its whole runtime. I enjoyed it immensely. But after seeing that with friends on Saturday, I also had a movie date with my girlfriend. As it was my turn to pick a movie (i.e. there weren’t any good Tagalog movies on), I chose something I’d missed out on: The Immortals.

Though I’d been looking forward to his movie for awhile, I have to admit that I didn’t really know much about it. I knew it was done in the style of Zach Snyder’s 300 (was full of digital color manipulation and shot mostly on a green screen stage with the backgrounds filled in later). I knew it was based on Greek mythology and starred Mickey Rourke, who seems to be making a name for himself as the go to guy for asshole villains. I knew it was directed by one of those guys who went around being referred to with one name (Tarsem). That’s it.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

2011-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

I’m not really a big fan of Tom Cruise the person as he’s been portrayed in the press. He comes off as a nutjob crackpot with a quirky religion. I still can’t believe he divorced Nicole Kidman and married Katie Holmes. That scene on the Oprah show where he’s dancing on a couch? If I knew someone like that in real life, I’d be highly suspicious around them, afraid they might snap at any second. I’m still waiting for the inevitable news that he’s pulled a Mel Gibson on some ass of a tabloid photographer.

Tom Cruise the action hero, though? Him I can get behind. Who can forget Maverick in Top Gun? Minority Report was awesome (it wasn’t Dick, but then there isn’t an adaptation of his work that is, so why bother to compare?). Have you seen Collateral? I recommend it. Cruise as a smooth, cold-blooded killer is great. He’s played cops, samurais, Nazis, spies, sports agents, vampires, and one over-weight Jewish studio executive. All with the aplomb and talent of a real movie start.

He’s pretty eclectic in his choice of roles, but there is one character that he keeps coming back to: Ethan Hunt, IMF agent.

Mandalorian Warrior & Pre Vizsla

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

It suddenly occurs to me that I still haven’t seen the end of the last season of Clone Wars. This seems like a grievous oversight for a consummate couch potato like me. As a geek, I should be glued to the nearest TV set, salivating while I wait for the latest episode to air. Instead, I’ve found myself lazily awaiting the DVD collection of the season 4 episodes.

Until that time, I’ve bided my time re-watching the first three seasons of the cartoon. In the second season of the show, Obi Wan Kenobi traveled to the planet Mandalore to visit his old flame, Satine, the Duchess of the fifth planet of the system. During a three episode arc, Kenobi uncovers a sinister plot to overthrow the Duchess. Behind the coup was a group of rebels known as the Death Watch. These terrorists wore the traditional Mandalorian Armor, which casual fans recognize as the armor that Boba Fett (or his father Jango Fett) wears in the movies.

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Star Trek Galaxy Collection

2011-12-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

I first came across Playmates’ Star Trek line back in 2009 when the reboot movie was first released. The first time I saw them, it was no wonder I passed. If I remember correctly, their price point was around Php 350.00 or 400.00 and nothing about their design, sculpting, or poseability warranted that kind of scratch. They were low quality figures with not much thought put into them.

When the distributor dropped the price to around Php 100.00 a figure, I still didn’t bite. One of the selling points of the 3 ¾” “Galaxy Collection” figures was that they came with parts you could add to the Transporter Room and Enterprise Bridge Playsets (each sold seperately) to expand your Star Trek display. Problem was, these extra parts were NOT included in the assortments sold outside the mainland US. This included the Philippines.
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Transformers Vault

2011-12-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

If you look back on reviews I posted on multiply.com and slangards.i.ph, you’ll probably notice that most of them are of Transformers.

I’m a big Transformers fan. Though not as rabidly obsessive as some (no, I can’t quote from the Japanese continuities or name all the members of The Wreckers), that doesn’t mean I love the characters any less. When a friend of mine first put me on to this book, Transformers Vault: The Complete Transformers Universe - Showcasing Rare Collectibles and Memorabilia from Abrams Books, I was immediately convinced that I must have it for my library (when I say library, I really mean one shelf).
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Transformers Prime Arcee

2011-12-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

The thing about the Transformers: Prime toy line that makes it so much fun is the fact that they look so much like their models in the TV show. One of the big disconnects back in the days of Generation 1 (the 1980’s cartoon that originated the franchise) was the fact that the designs of the toy line had little resemblance to the characters from the show. Big, burly bruisers like Ironhide became misshapen mutants with no heads when the toys appeared in stores. With the improvement in materials and design, however, coupled with increased competition, we’ve gotten to a point where the toys can come very close to the robots you see on screen.

We saw this improved likeness during the whole Armada/Energon/Cybertron trilogy, but when Transformers: Animated rolled around, it got pretty amazing. The new Prime toys share that same closeness with the CGI models, but without the far out anime look of its predecessor. While the robot forms still are pretty organic-looking, the vehicles look more traditional.

Transformers: Prime Bumblebee is one of those toys that wouldn’t look out of place alongside a Transformers Universe Hound or a Henkei Mirage in vehicle mode, but looks like he should belong next to a Transformers Animated Blurr in robot form. Among the other Prime toys I bought a few weeks back, the other that shares that same aesthetic is Arcee.

Movie Jetstorm and Wingblade

2011-12-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/ on Mar 25, '09

When you really get down to it, the Transformers movie had only a few robots to sell. Despite being long, there are only 10 mechanicals that are introduced. I can imagine the things going on in Hasbro's corporate meetings. "That's only one wave of figures! What to do... what to do...

"I know! let's make 'em shiny and sell em as a 'premium' line! oh, crap... did that... I know! Re-color the bots and sell them as different characters? did it... G1 inspired paint! did it... can't we make up some new bots weren't in the movie! did that, too and not enough money to make any more molds...

"Shucks! but we've got another two years till the sequel? What are we gonna do?"

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Darth Tater & Spud Trooper

2011-12-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/ on Mar 23, '09

There are various niche markets out there that cater specifically to the odd eccentric. There are products out there for girls and boys, geeks and hipsters, people who write furrie fan fiction, or auto-erotic asphyxia practitioners. It's sort of a variation on the Internet's rule 34.

So it should come as no surprise that Playskool makes Mr. Potato Heads that appeal to the huge fan base that Star Wars enjoys.

They already treated us to single packs of R2-Pootatoo (beep beep boop!), Darth Tater, and the Spud Trooper, but they also gave us this Walmart Exclusive set, Darth Tater & Spud Trooper in a Collector Tin!

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Won't Last a Day Without You

2011-12-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

So after braving Twilight: Breaking Dawn, the next flick my girlfriend asked me to see with her was Won't Last a Day Without You, the second Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson vehicle after Catch Me, I’m in Love (which I also went to see earlier this year – can you say wha-pah?). I wasn’t as reluctant as I was with Breaking Dawn because at least Ms. Geronimo is far easier on the eyes than Stewart.

Still, I never relish going to see Tagalog films. If you’ve never seen one, then you really can’t understand. People rant about how cliché Hollywood has become, how unapologetically derivative films are nowadays, but you don’t know how bad it can get until you’ve experienced the standard Pinoy movie. About the only cinema that can top us with cheesiness is India’s Bollywood, and at least they occasionally come out with a movie that just awesomes your socks right off (i.e. Endhiran). It’s been awhile since I’ve had my socks awesomed off by a Pinoy movie (I’m not going to count RPG Metanoia because it’s not a live action film).

The Art of Thor

2011-12-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

I really loved Marvel’s Thor when I saw it earlier this year in theaters. My appreciation for the movie grew once I got a copy of the DVD, and could watch it at leisure but I was disappointed that the disc only featured commentary with director Kenneth Branagh. Where were the “Making of” featurettes? The stories about how hard it was to build those gorgeous sets? The explanations about the inspiration behind the costumes? What about the anecdotes about the evolution of the various props?

None of these were present on the DVD that was available in the region, and I don’t own a Blu-ray player (the Blu-ray edition has more features, but I’m still not ready to abandon my DVD collection and start building another in a completely different format). It looked like I was shit out of luck.

Taikongzhans Dian Ying Ban Di San

2011-11-29T15:01:00.000-08:00

I don’t really frequent Divisoria, a market district at the heart of Manila. It’s a maze of tiny, cramped alleys with thousands of vendors selling everything from cheap surplus clothes to semi-used sex toys (ok, maybe not used, but I’m sure there isn’t a woman on Earth who wants to buy a vibrator from a cart on the sidewalk). If I do go to one of the malls In the area, I try and go on a weekday, early in the morning. Weekend afternoons are awful for a guy like me (who’s anti-social tendencies border on agoraphobia), and it gets exponentially more crowded the closer we get to the holidays.

Every now and then, though, I make a Divi run to hunt down the odd knock-off Transformer that I just can’t get anywhere else. The Taikongzhans Dian Ying Ban Di San is one of those toys.

Transformers: Prime Bumblebee

2011-11-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

It’s sad that the programming you hear about online doesn’t always make it to Philippine network television. If it does, it’s usually several years after they series aired in the country of origin. Not only is this bad from fans of the big franchises, but it means that the chance that distributors will import merchandise based on these properties is just about nil. The G.I. Joe Resolute figures didn’t even see retail shelves and the new Thundercats figures can only be had through online stores.

Even though the newest Transformers show, Transformers: Prime, debuted more than a year ago on The Hub in the States, it still hasn’t seen local airwaves. It’s no surprise that the distributor’s orders for Wave 1 of the new toy line based on this series weren’t as large as they were for the Dark of the Moon movie line. Most stores are only getting two or three boxes of the figures, and they’re quickly selling out.

Transformers: Prime

2011-11-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

I was initially rather skeptical about Transformers: Animated when it first was announced. Coming off the disgust I had for the first movie, I didn’t have much faith that the cartoon that Cartoon Network was fielding would be any better. For one thing, it used that same overly-exaggerated aesthetic that every show they had used so far, and it was obviously targeted towards a very young market. Happily, the series turned out really great, and I ended up liking it immensely. So much that I collected nearly all the figures from the show (or at least as many as were available locally).

When Transformers: Prime was announced, I again had my doubts that it would be worthy of the franchise I loved. This time, they’d dropped the Japanimation look and went back to the computer generated images that they’d used in Transformers: Beast Wars. While I love Pixar as much as the next guy, it’s not because they use CGI to make their cartoons. It’s because they write unbelievably good stories that are entertaining and heart-wrenching, and because they are awesome animators. Most shows that have used CGI for TV series have neither good stories, nor good animators.

Transformers: Prime has both.

BPI & Toys 'R' US Big Toy Sale

2011-11-23T04:48:00.000-08:00

Glorietta Activity Center, November 24 to 26, 2011

Lego ▪ Nerf ▪ Transformers ▪ Bakugan ▪ Fastlane ▪ Hotwheels ▪ Matchbox ▪ Thomas & Friends ▪ Leap Frog ▪ Play Go ▪ Lisa Frank ▪ vtech ▪ Disney ▪ You & Me ▪ Barbie ▪ Bruin

Exclusive for BPI cardholders:
For a minimum single receipt of P2,000 using ANY of your BPI Card.
Choose from: 1 Fastlane Die-cast car or 2 tubs UOI Dough (5 oz. each)

Present your BPI Card (BPI Express Credit, BPI Express Teller or BPI Express Cash).
Present your original charge slip (minimum single receipt of P2,000) at the redemption area.

REAL 0% S.I.P. on a 3-month term using your BPI Express Credit

6th Christmas Toy Fair & 1st Philippne Die cast & Custom Car Show

2011-11-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

6th Christmas Toy Fair & 1st Philippne Die cast & Custom Car Show
aka: The Christmas ToyCon

December 16-18, 2011
SM Megatrade Hall 1
www.toyconph.com

MaxiCollector's Black Friday Sale

2011-11-22T06:09:00.000-08:00

MaxiCollector's Black Friday Sale

Nov 25,2011
One day outdoor selling at Bonifacio High Street
Open from 11am to 12 midnight

(All stores will have the same Sale on Nov 25)

Highlights:
-Hundreds of items on sale (up to 50% off)
-Sideshow Exclusives will be up for sale
-Previously Sold out items will be up for sale

Vinyl + Splash: The Ultimate Collectible & Comic Convention

2011-11-22T06:07:00.000-08:00

Vinyl + Splash: The Ultimate Collectible and Comic Convention
Saturday, November 26, 2011 at
TopShelf, 5F of Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street
Gates open at 10:00 a.m.
Admission is FREE!

For more information, visit www.fullybookedonline.com

Twilight: Breaking Dawn – A Rant

2011-11-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

So someone suggested on Plurk the other day that the reason that critical reception and audience reaction to Breaking Dawn on www.rottentomatoes.com is so disparate (28% and 92% respectively as of this writing) is that the only people who actually go to see it are people who are fans of the popular series of romance novels by Stephanie Meyer. Other people have the sense to avoid anything having to do with the franchise like they would a fat, naked plague carrier with large, exploding pustules all over his body.

I am not one of those people.

Now I could say that I watched Breaking Dawn so that I could write about my ordeal and hence, warn others away from this awful example of the deteriorating collective intelligence of the human race, or say that I was forced at knifepoint into the theater as an elaborate form of torture designed to pry the location of that $100,000,000.00 in gold I stashed away after that heist in Singapore, but the truth is that I, like so many before me, went because my girlfriend wanted to see it.

Spider-Man & Captain Britain

2011-11-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite comics back in the 90’s was Excalibur. I had started comics with the dark and heavy stories in Uncanny X-Men, but Excalibur’s brand of light-hearted humor, rollicking action and curvedly-lined artwork really drew me in. I started the title right around the time when Alan Davis returned to pencil and write with issue #42, and finding myself in love with the stories, collected all the back issues that I could.

After the epic Anti-Phoenix story-arc that concluded in Excalibur #50, Davis took a break and there were a few issues with some filler material. One was #53 by Scott Lobdell and James Fry.

Vote for GeekOut.ph!

2011-11-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

Re-posting Bim's post from GeekOut.ph because we're all pathetic geeks at GeekOut who need the attention desperately!

Vote for us now! Then come back and vote for us in 2 hours! We'll give you candy! Click HERE to vote!

Power Man and Iron Fist

2011-11-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

There’s something absolutely great about the B-list of the big comic book companies. Like those oh-so-bad-they’re-good B-movies, geeks love their B-list characters, often times trying to out-do one another on which geek has the most unheard of favorite. Oh, your character was only found in one story arc back in 1969 as a rookie sidekick of Captain Sledgehammer? Well, my character was a 1976 villain who only appeared on one panel of a special edition issue you could only get if you were able to cut out and complete proofs of purchase from 7 region exclusive comics! And one of those was only available in Tibet! I lost a toe to frostbite!

Thankfully, not all B-listers are that obscure.

Komikon 2011!

2011-11-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

Obligatory write-up goes here.

6th Christmas Toy Fair

2011-11-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

6th Christmas Toy Fair
& 1st Philippine Die Cast & Custom Car Show

December 16-18, 2011
SM Megatrade Hall 1
www.toyconph.com

Daredevil vs. Bullseye

2011-11-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Oh, man!

The Marvel Universe Greatest Battles 2-Packs are the place to be these days if you're a 3.75" superhero collector! They’ve come a long way in just a couple of years. Time was we were satisfied with the likes of the Thor & Enchantress, Hawkeye & Piledriver, or Storm & Nightcrawler sets from the first Secret Wars series. Hasbro suckered us into buying easy re-colors by including a re-tooled figure that represented a missing character in our Marvel Universe line up. Well, they’re still doing that, but damned if they aren’t doing it better!

We saw a drastic change in the toy designs from the last wave of Greatest Battles 2-Packs. Wolverine vs. Silver Samurai and Deadpool vs. Taskmaster were real works of art. Most of the figures were entirely new bodies, and even if Taskmaster re-used some parts, he was given enough accessories to differentiate him from everything that had gone before. Even the X-Force and Classic Avengers box sets didn’t hold a candle to those 4 figures.

Richwell Kidz Kraze Toy Sale

2011-11-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Tower Heist

2011-11-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

In 1998, I was delighted that Jackie Chan star was rising in the American market. That rise culminated with his role in Rush Hour, a fun action-comedy with co-star Chris Tucker. The two stars had a chemistry that was almost as good as Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s in the Lethal Weapon series, but a lot lighter. Rush Hour’s director, newcomer Brett Ratner, also shot to stardom and went on to helm two sequels.

After the success of that franchise, Mr. Rattner decided that he had the filmmaking chops to direct more serious movies. In 2002, he directed Red Dragon, a “prequel” to The Silence of the Lambs which was well received. However, his X-Men: The Last Stand, was pretty awful, especially having had the benefit of the momentum that Bryan Singer had given that franchise with his first two films. Rattner’s entry lacked any of the gravitas that Singer’s treatments gave the material and instead went for a quantity over quality approach, flinging more mutants, more action, and more special effects at the audience.

After that, I felt Rattner was a director to avoid.

Warriors of Virtue - Supporting Cast

2011-11-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

Back when I lived in the States, yard sales were a big part of my weekends. My family was never well off and I honestly loved those Saturdays with my Mom cruising around the subdivision visiting neighbors who were trying to clear up some space in their homes, looking for things we needed around the house. Aside from household items and clothes, most of my toys came from these yard sales as well. I was always ecstatic when I found an almost complete Transformer or some G.I. Joe that was missing from my strike team.

These days, yard sales are pretty much a thing of the past; or at least the kinds of finds that I remember from back in the day are. Most people who want to sell things just do it on eBay. Collectables like toys are virtually gone from thrift stores now, since you can find a buyer willing to pay a much higher price for them online. I guess that’s why I enjoy toy hunting so much. It’s the only time I really get that same feeling I remember from when I was a kid.

Warriors of Virtue - The Rooz

2011-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

I can’t say that I ever expected to buy these toys (I'd never seen the movie), but when Playkit brought them in at a price point of Php 50.00 (you read that correctly: a little over $1 US each), I could hardly ignore them. At Php 50.00 my perceived value of most any toy increases about 20 times.

Think about it like a character attributes in a role playing game. You have your basic toy attributes: popularity, sculpting, accessories, articulation, construction, paint applications, play value and cost. High end toys like those 1/6^th scale beauties may score high on sculpting and paint, but low on play value and their cost is prohibitive for most of the population. On the other hand, discount toys may not be popular, and they may have crappy articulation, but that price makes them far more attractive to an average shopper.

This was evident last weekend when I stopped by the Toy Kingdom Warehouse Sale, where the Warriors of Virtue “Rooz” were flying off the shelf faster than the discount Transformers.

My Little Pony Happy Meal Toys

2011-11-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

It would be something of an understatement if I said that I don’t normally review stuff like My Little Pony on this blog. Though I collect more action figure lines than most people, my toy runs don’t usually take me to the girls’ section of the toy store for some pretty well thought out reasons: girls’ toys suck.

This is not a new idea. I have a sister and I bet if I asked her she’d agree that I had the better toys as a kid. She used to borrow my Castle Grayskull all the time and G.I. Joe would often go out with Jem whenever Rio was out moping (size doesn’t matter to her apparently). It wasn’t really a mutual partnership though. There wasn’t much I could do with The Holograms (though Optimus Prime and the Autobots played several gigs with their accessories). About the only toys of hers that I occasionally borrowed were her My Little Pony figures (only the BOY ponies - you could tell them by their manly handkerchiefs) to use as horses for my Joes.
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Batman: The Brave and the Happy Meal Toys

2011-11-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

When McDonald’s released the Smurf set, I only picked up Papa Smurf. Since they gave up the Disney license (probably a good business move on their part, but it still sucks from my point of view), I just haven’t really liked any of the toys they’ve been fielding. Not even the recent Kung Fu Panda 2 toys really got me going. I just picked up two of them, Baby Po and The Balance of Justice set, only because you can never have enough panda in your life.

But when someone told me that they had Bat man toys, I dropped my lunch plans and bought myself a few Burger Mcdo sandwiches.

It was not worth it.

Read more »

The Xavier Toy Convention 2011!

2011-11-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Nov. 12 & 13, 2011
9:00 AM - 6:10 PM
Ground Flr, Cortina Sports Complex (you need to walk ALL THE WAY around the school to the back.)
Xavier School, San Juan

For more information, please visit their facebook page: The Xavier Toy Convention or call 0917-819-2509

Bunraku

2011-11-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

I came at Bunraku with only one preconception: that anything that starred Ron fucking Perlman has got to be worth an hour and a half of my time. The posters promised a mishmash of western, samurai, sword and sorcery and action genres. I’d never heard of this director, Guy Moshe, but if he’d put together this cast, it had to be for something good.

The name of the movie came from a traditional form of puppet theatre in Japan which inspired the highly stylized sets, which were meant to resemble paper cutouts. While I agree that they look highly stylized, and that they resembled cutouts, I wouldn’t say that the cinematic experiment was successful. All I could think about was where are the shadows? Where’s the texture? Kung Fu Panda 2 used simulated paper puppet animation for its flashback scenes and that shit was awesome. Nothing about this movie comes close to that description.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Evil Dead Re-Watch

2011-10-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

Shortly after my graduation from the UP Fine Arts program, I started losing my taste for “art films.” While I wouldn’t trade my time in Diliman for anything, I realized after that I’m just not as deep as my classmates were. I don’t have the patience to sit through most independent films without reaching for the control and fast forwarding it to the “good” parts (i.e. the scenes with nudity).

If I’m going to spend my time watching anything, it’s going to be something that entertains me; which is why most of my DVD library includes genre pictures: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror movies.

Which brings me to The Evil Dead.

Poster for a special screening of The Evil Dead the Alamo Drafthouse by artist Olly Moss.

Toy Kingdom Warehouse Sale Year 5!

2011-10-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Is it Friday yet?

SDCC 2011 Marvel Legends Modern Heroic Age Thor

2011-10-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

It’s been 2 years now since the Walmart Nemesis series of Marvel Legends figures disappeared from Toy Kingdom shelves. Since then, it’s been pretty lean for 6” Marvel collectors, and we’ve had to subsist on the occasional 2-packs and the exclusive movie figures. But the wait is finally over.

2012 will mark the re-introduction of the 6” line of Marvel figures. We’ve already got a line up for waves 1 and 2 and have seen the prototypes at the recent New York Toy Fair. Constrictor, Klaw, Hope, Madame Hydra, Drax, and Fantomex are getting a shot at 6” immortality, while Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Thor figures are set to anchor the line. Hasbro will also be continuing the Build-A-Figure concept with a Terrax figure scheduled for the first wave, followed by an Arnim Zola for the second. Wave 3 is already being worked on with new versions of Punisher, Archangel, and US Agent.

Yay!

To give us an early taste of 2012, Hasbro released a Modern Thor during the San Diego Comic Convention in exclusive packaging.

Trese: Last Seen After Midnight

2011-10-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

If I had to single out one moment when I first decided to give comics another chance it was when I got to the end of Our Secret Constellation, the fourth case in Trese: Murder on Balete Drive. It’s rare that a story hits me like that, but the first collected edition of Budjette Tan’s and Kajo Baldisimo’s story about a bad-ass, pre-pubescent (or short and petite enough to pass for it) was one of those that just felt so real to me, even if it was a fictional account of a fictional character’s future history. Plus, I'm a sucker for bad-ass, pre-pubescent girls who fight demons and the only other writer who caters to that fixation of mine is Joss Whedon.

It’s been about two years since Trese: Mass Murders, the third of the collected editions. That’s a long wait for a fan boy, but it’s nothing I’m not used to. Hell, I started the Wheel of Time series back in 1992 and I’m still waiting to find out what happens to everyone. Since the third book though, the guys have gained a sizable following, won the National Book Award for Graphic Literature, and made fans of notables in the field like Andrew Wheeler and *gasp* Neil Gaiman. I was as excited as anyone to read the next book so I dragged myself out of bed and attended the Trese: Last Seen After Midnight Book Launch a few weeks ago.

Apocalypse

2011-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

More than any other enemy, Apocalypse is the most antithetical to the X-Men's dream of equality. He subscribes to the Darwinian belief that strength grants one the right to rule over the weak. Unlike Magneto who you could believe was attempting to save his brothers through domination, Apocalypse did it because he believed that the strong were the inheritors of the Earth and should subjugate the weak. Survival of the fittest, be it mutant or not.

That ethos really fit in with the X-Factor book where he was introduced in, since that was the time when the "Mutant Problem" really came to the fore in the Marvel Universe. Everyone was worried about evolution and what the appearance of Homo Superior meant for regular old Homo Sapiens. He was the perfect foil for X-Factor, who were publicly known at the time as a team of mutant-hunting humans but were really superheroes looking to protect innocent people from the mob.

And the great thing about him was that in his mind, he wasn't evil at all. He was just trying to ensure the survival of the species.

Many of my favorite story arcs from the 80s and 90s featured the ancient En Sabah Nur. The transformation of the lame Angel into the badass Archangel. There's the whole thing with Ship, Apocalypse's sentient Celestial starship who became the home of X-Factor, and later to Cable. Which leads to the whole Askani Son storyline and X-Cutioner's Song.There was Rise of Apocalypse, which detailed his rise to power in ancient Egypt. Oh, and let's not forget Age of Apocalypse, where he gets his wish and we see a world where the strong have survived. Quite frankly, it's still my benchmark for a great read.

Hasbro Toyfair 2011!

2011-10-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

4th Quarter is usually a wallet buster for everyone, but somewhat moreso for the toy collector. We've got the Collecticon, the Toy Kingdom Warehouse sale, the Richwell Year-end sale, the Toytown (now Toys 'R' Us) Year-end sale, the CADs Year-end sale, the December Toyfair and a bunch of others. The majority of these however are clearance sales and conventions that are populated by the same sellers you see in Greenhills. The stock that is available is usually stuff they've been trying to unload for awhile. It's a great chance to get a bargain, but if you're looking for something new, it's not the place to be.

The place to be is the Hasbro Toy Fair.

If you're in the market for new toys, then this is a good bet. Hasbro and Playkit normally save a bunch of releases for distribution on this day. If you're a Marvel Universe, GI Joe, Star Wars, or Transformers fan, then keep an eye on the local collector forum boards to find out what's coming this year.

I'll also be updating this page as news comes in from Cybertron Philippines.

And if you're looking for a geek fix, check out the Joint Junkie geek calendar.

Real Steel

2011-10-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

In the words of the protagonist: “Ok, that was awesome”.

There are no words that express my feelings about the film Real Steel more aptly than those four. In my head, that litany was chanted as every new bout unfolded on screen. When Ambush steps into the ring with the bull? Awesome! When Noisy Boy is un-boxed and then steps into the ring with Midas? Awesome! When Atom wins his first fight? AWESOME.

Ahsoka

2011-10-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t wowed at all by the Clone Wars movie when it premiered in August of 2008. I was too enamored of the great 2003 micro-series by Genndy Tartakovsky to really get into this newcomer with its odd-looking aesthetic and less impressive animation. I mean you start with Mace Windu going up against an army of droids and an earthquake machine all by himself, The Arc Troopers assaulting a tower on Muunilinst, and that intense chase scene with General Grievous hounding Shaak Ti and go to Anakin Skywalker and some dorky kid babysitting a baby Hutt?

For the love of Geebus, Why?

When the Clone Wars series started, I still felt pretty much the same. After three seasons however, the series has grown on me. There’s a lot to appreciate about it, not the least of which is that it doesn’t totally suck like the Episode 1-3 arc did. Everything missing from those three movies is here: prolonged, dynamically shot fights, interesting aliens, huge battle scenes, believable acting. It still took awhile to warm up to Anakin’s annoying Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, but I think she’s finally convinced me with Season 3.

Toys 'R' Us Big Toy Sale at Galleria this Week!

2011-10-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Just heard about this today. Might just wait for the Toy Kingdom Warehouse sale instead.

Toys 'R' Us Big Toy Sale!
October 6-13, 2011
Activity Area
Robinsons Place Metro East
Cainta, Rizal

October 13-16, 2011
Activity Area
Robinsons Galleria
Ortigas Center
Pasig City

5th Annual Toy Kingdom Warehouse Sale!

2011-10-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

So it’s about that time of year again: time for toy hunters to save up their money and trek out to Megamall to check out Toy Kingdom’s annual Warehouse Sale.

Here’s a screenshot from the Megatrade Hall’s website:

McDonald's Spectacular Spider-Man Happy Meal Toys

2011-10-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 20, '09

Ever since McDonald's dropped the Disney license, I haven't been very excited about their toys. Let's face it, when one of the traditional hand drawn flicks from the studio or one of the ultra cool Pixar flicks came out, fans would go to McDo (MickeyD's to Americans) after the movie and buy some plastic memories.

Nowadays, the toys don't seem to measure up. Not only are the sets of characters in mediocre movies like those of the sub par Dreamworks cartoons, but quality has gone downhill as well. Toys feature less and less articulation, cheap gimmicks, etc. As much as us fans might want it, We'll never get another batch of "Changebles" or those great 101 Dalmatians or the Titans from Hercules. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Still, they don't make 'em too bad either...

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Wolverine & Forge 2-Pack

2011-10-07T17:00:00.001-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 12, '09

I changed my mind about Hasbro. Since they got the Marvel license in 2006, they have been constantly improving their product. Their first attempts at the legends line was dismal (Emma Frost anyone?), but subsequent efforts have proved to be excellent figures. From Ronan on, they did quite a job. Mr. Fantastic, Doom, and Surfer more than made up for the duds, and Invisble Woman wasn't that bad either. I loved the Fin Fang Foom wave and the Ares and Red Hulk waves were great (even if they were exclusives) with excellent figures and a variety of characters.

This year, it looks like Marvel is going to be concentrating on it's 3.75" scale Marvel Universe line. In the meantime they'll be releasing Marvel Legends two-packs to whet our appetites. The last batch to be released in retail stores here were the Elektra/Ronin, Ultimate Captain America/Nick Fury, and Wolverine/Forge sets. The only one I was able to lay my hands on was the last one.

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Collecticon Day!

2011-10-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Of course I won't be there because I got to get my Trese Book 4!

Have a great weekend, guys!

Cable

2011-10-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

Cable is a child of the 90’s comic scene if ever there was one. The issues of that decade were full of MORE: More guns, more muscles, more pockets, more buckles, more padding, more straps. Everything was X-TREME!!! (“x” replaced “ex” because that was also considered X-TREME!!!) back then. He is, of course, the brainchild of Mr. 90’s himself, Rob Liefeld, the guy comic nerds love to hate. However, it was his work was the reason that New Mutants finally gained an audience after a long period of low sales.

In March of 1990, Liefeld introduced Cable as the new mentor of the team. A “man of action” who could act as the opposite of Xavier (the Mutants old teacher), Cable was decked out in metal and spikes and straps and leather. He carried around guns that massed more than he did, and had no qualms about hurting people who got in his way.

Later, after Liefeld had left Marvel, many more layers were added on to Cable. He was a hard ass because that was what was required to survive in the future where he grew up. He had deep seated abandonment issues and was older than his father (Cyclops of the X-Men) because of all the time hopping he did. Though he was something of a loner, he had deep feelings for certain people like Domino, his ship’s computer (named The Professor), and Cannonball. He had long standing history with Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Deadpool, Apocalypse and a bevy of other characters.

And he also had an evil twin, but that's a long story.

Trese Book 4: Last Seen After Midnight Book Launch!

2011-10-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

There are very few things I get my inner fanboy on for, but the comic book series Trese is on top of that short list.

The series details the adventures of Alexandra Trese, an investigator of all things supernatural. When the Manila PD have a problem with the various mythic denizens of the city, they call on Trese and her bodyguards, The Kambal, to help sort things out.

It's sort of like CSI, but so much more fun.

I've been buying the collected editions regularly since first stumbling onto the series several years ago, and have been waiting for word about when book 4 was coming out. Imagine my chagrin when I found out I'd missed the announcement on Budjette Tan's various blogs.

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Dark of the Moon Roadbuster

2011-10-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

When I first heard that The Wreckers were going to be in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, my reaction was basically, “So, what?”

The Wreckers were a creation of Simon Furman (a Marvel UK writer of the Transformers comic book) and first appeared in 2006, long after I’d quit the Transformers comics. They were a commando team of Autobots tasked with destroying ten of the Decepticons’ best warriors. Their original roster was mostly made up of Autobots that didn’t make the cut in the American version of the series, but later, they were joined by the three Autobot triple-changers, Springer, Broadside and Sandstorm. There are several other arcs that feature the team, and they’ve been absorbed into some of the other continuities as well.

Still, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I’d have preferred it if we saw the Dinobots instead. Or Omega Supreme. Hell, if we saw an army of Starscream clones it would have made me as excited as porcupine humping a pineapple.

In the movie, The Wreckers are a group of warrior mechanics (say what?) who all transform into pimped out NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevrolet Impala stock cars with machine guns and rocket launchers (for no real reason that’s given during the film). They’re left with the Autobot’s space shuttle because “they’re assholes.”

City Strike Beachhead

2011-09-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

I went on and on about the Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes, but let me tell you, he got top marks largely because he was Snake Eyes. Like Wolverine, or Batman, that name brings a lot to the table. If I had to choose one Pursuit of Cobra figure though that stood out from the rest through merit alone, I'd have to say it was Beachhead.

Though he doesn't have the cache that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have, he's always been a favorite Joe of mine. Because I was a dumb kid, I always imagined he was a ninja too (duh, mask), so he was always the one I'd send on missions with my Snake Eyes when I was a kid, loading them up with all sorts of guns and swords and having them kick Cobra's ineffectual ass.

I'm no longer sure how it happened (it's been maybe a year since the Pursuit of Cobra line arrived) that he became a pegwarmer, but somehow there was a huge gap in the supply between the other figures in the first few waves and the Beachhead figures. The rest of the toys were sold in sets, while Beachhead was regulated to the toy aisles in Toy Kingdom Megamall. There was one shelf dedicated to the line and almost all the figures on it were Beachheads.

Beachhead was the reason that I got started with the Pursuit of Cobra line. I saw this figure and the Firefly figure in photos when the line had first started. The photographer had placed them in a diorama simulating an urban environment and jeez, they looked good.

For the life of me, I could not understand why no one was buying this awesome figure.

Invincible Iron Man

2011-09-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 11, '09

Not only am a sucker for marketing, I'm also a sucker for hype. A certain toy goes on sale and the collector forums start buzzing and I'm running for the nearest Toy Kingdom with my wallet in one hand, and a handy tote bag for haulage in the other. That's basically what happened with this thing.

Now a Masterpiece Transformer is one thing, but I wasn't sure I wanted to drop P9,000 on a Hot Toys Iron Man Mark III. I'm a big fan of the movie, of Robert Downey Jr. and of toys, but 9 grand is a heck of a lot of scratch. Still, I wanted a centerpiece to my Iron Man collection and I read on the boards that the Hasbro 12" Movie Iron Man was going on sale to clear space for new stock.
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InterAction Wall-E (and EVE)

2011-09-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 10, '09

He's a 7" version of Wall-E that says "Waaaaall-Eeeee". How can you go wrong?

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Marvel Legends Silver Surfer (Hasbro Ronan Series)

2011-09-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 10, '09

In the world of toy collecting, you win some and you lose some. And sometimes fate decides to use you as a punchline.

When I first found Silver Surfer on the Toy Kingdom shelves, I was overjoyed. I had found the two hardest figures to secure from the so-so Hasbro Marvel Legends Ronan Build-a-Figure wave! At Suggested Retail Price! Hoarders be damned! Now I could lay back and wait for the rest of the figures (which are more so... than SO!) to go on sale.

I am fate's bitch.

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Watchmen

2011-09-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Mar 6, '09

I hadn't heard of Watchmen until they announced that the movie was finally out of development hell. It was a comic written by the prolific writer Alan Moore, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons that was a cult hit back in the heyday of comics. It's since earned a title of being one of the best stories ever written.

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Jim Lee's Cyclops

2011-09-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

It really sucks that the first few batches of Marvel Universe figures were such poor looking toys. By the time the line's designers had gotten their shit together the Philippine distributor had given up on the brand as a lost cause and started lowering their orders for it.

By the time Series 2 started hitting toy stores here (the better designed H.A.M.M.E.R. Files) the number of figures on the shelves had been drastically cut. Having missed several waves, many of the casual collectors decided to sell off their Marvel Universe figures, unwilling to pay the prices needed to complete the line.

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The Stars My Destination

2011-09-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Feb 26, '09

"Why? Why reach out to the stars and galaxies? What for?

"Because you're alive, sir."

- Gully Foyle in The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Despite being a sci-fi nut since grade school, I'd never heard of Alfred Bester until I spotted this book in the bargain bin at National Bookstore, Morayta. At only P30.00, it was a steal (especially since I saw the same book in Megamall for P395.00). It's a nice paperback edition from Gollancz SF, an imprint of Orion Books in the UK, and part of the Masterworks of Science Fiction series; 10 titles by authors like Pohl, Dick, and Vonnegut. The three I found look great on my shelf...

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DC Universe Classics Green Lantern's Light!

2011-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

I told myself I wouldn't do it. I said I wouldn't buy even one. But in the end, the urge took over and I gave in.

I bought a Green Lantern.

After that first Green Lantern, it was only a matter of time before I got another and another and another, and I knew this. I knew it would happen and I did it anyway. Now I'm stuck in the middle of a 6" corp that is missing far too many members. There's still Kyle Raynor. There's still Abin Sur. What about Sodam Yat? Boodika? Katma Tui? Then there are those beautiful Collect 'n' Connect figures Kilowog and Stel. Not to mention all the ones in the new Green Lantern Classics line.

Damn you, Mattel.This is worse than collecting Iron Man figures!

Batman: Arkham Asylum Series 2

2011-09-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

I’m an idiot.

I had a little extra cash this month and since it had been awhile since I went toy shopping, I caved and bought the first thing I saw at the comic book store: a set of the Batman: Arkham Asylum Series 2 figures from DC Direct.

Hasbro Distribution on Sept. 24 at Megamall!

2011-09-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the awesome people at Cybertron Philippines and Playkit, as well as the folks at Hasbro and Toy Kingdom, there are going to be some happy collectors this Saturday.

You guys know the drill by now. Line starts at 10 am sharp as soon as TK opens (and sometimes before), the priority lists come out before 11 am. You sign your name, indicate what you want, and get your number/s. Come 1 pm when the stocks arrive, you come back to the distribution area and wait for your name to be called. If you're not there and they run out of stocks, you're out of luck.

Venue: Toy Kingdom SM Megamall
Date: September 24 2011 (Saturday only)

Here's a list of stuff set to arrive on Saturday courtesy of the organizers:

Marvel Universe Wave 4 set of 5 - 2,499.75
Commander Steve Rogers
Darkhawk modern armor
Namor (Green Speedo + trident)
Ultron
X-23
Marvel Universe Wave 5 set of 5 - 2,499.75
Tony Stark (Unmasked Extremis Armor)
Iceman
Absorbing Man
Astonishing Wolverine
Magneto (Ultimates Costume)
Costco Exclusive Optimus Prime vs. Cyber Metal Armor Shockwave - 2,999.75

Star Wars Vintage Set of 5 - 2,499.75
Return of the Jedi Boba Fett
Return of the Jedi Keyan Farlander (B-Wing Pilot)
Return of the Jedi Tie Fighter Pilot
Return of the Jedi Han Solo
Return of the Jedi Princess Leia (Slave Outfit)

Star Wars: Ultimate FX Lightsaber - Price to follow

Armor Charge Iron Man and War Machine - 999.75

Unfortunately, I've already blown my wad on other things this month (stoopid Arkham Asylum figures and Thor Omnibus *grumble grumble*) so I won't be going to this one. Hopefully, I can score some singles of the Universe waves on the secondary market.

NECA Commando vs. Ninja! Rad vs. Ryu!

2011-09-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at slangards.multiply.com on Feb 19, '09

Of the toy companies currently vying for my attention, none grab my attention like NECA can. Their shelf in Toy Kingdom is by far my favorite section and I always make a stop there to see if anything new has come out.

I follow this brand because of the quality of their figures. Just check out the TMNT classic figures from 2008. That line was voted best toy of the year, beating out many more well established lines and franchises. While NECA started slow with alot of (arguably) boring statuary, their God of War figures blew me away with some serious articulation.

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Jollibee Kiddie Meal Beast Wars

2011-09-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on slangards.multiply.com on Feb 19, '09

These toys are crap. period.

Why the hell did I buy them then, you ask? Because I'm a sucker for marketing. I'm the sort of guy who will go to a fast food joint, order a value meal, and then when the counter jockey says "would you like to get a liter of cola for only P20.00 more?", I say, "why, yes, I would in fact like to give you P20.00 more for a liter of sugar".

This is probably the reason I'm fat.

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Saw & Claw Set

2011-09-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

I love finding totally random stuff when I make the rounds. I found today's set at Lanz Toys & Collectibles at St. Francis Square here in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. I have no idea what these accessories were meant for or if they're boot legs. Not even sure what the Chinese characters on the card say. I imagine they're for some 6" or 7" fireman toy as the package suggests.

No way to tell really.

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Bootleg Oversized Soundwave

2011-09-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

"Soundwave, superior".

At least that was the opinion of the Decepticon Communications Officer during the 1986 animated feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (not to be confused with 2007’s Transformers). He must have had balls of adamantium, too, because the son of a bitch prefaced the phrase with “Constructicons, inferior.”

The Best of ANIME 2011!

2011-09-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

The Best of ANIME 2011

September 17 - 18, 2011

Function Room 4 & 5, 3rd Level
SMX Convention Center
Mall of Asia Complex
Pasay City, Philippines

For more information visit www.facebook.com/BestOfAnime

Marvel Universe X-Force Box Set

2011-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, the new Marvel Universe Super Hero Team Box sets began showing up around toy stores. By far the most popular was the X-Force 3-pack, which disappeared pretty quickly. When re-stocks arrived soon after, the X-Force sets were scooped up within a week while the Classic Avengers and Fantastic Four sets lingered on shelves at Megamall’s Toy Kingdom.

I honestly don't see what all the fuss is all about.