Nothing really important here, I just felt like typing. Must be the writer in me. Anywho, I recently decided to try to save $1,000.00 In an effort to do so I'm foregoing buying anything, and I mean anything until I've reached that goal. I'm a little over halfway there at approximately $530.00. Woohoo! So, what should I buy once I'm able to? I'd buy books, but I'm not allowed to do so until I've read 100 of my own books. Quite a lofty feat for me. I love books, but reading them can sometimes take quite a while, as I am usually either:
1. Busy
or
2. Lazy
Nevertheless, I will reach my reading goal. But what to buy, what to buy? It's funny, because I get these grand ideas to go out and buy something but when I actually get to the store the desire kind of dries up. I think this is due to the fact that I see an item, I see the price, I think of how annoying it can be to get said item removed from its box, and then I remember how small an area I have for displaying the things I buy. Or maybe it's just leftover guilt from my ex. Nevertheless, I shall buy something, and when I do, I'll put up a pretty review of it for all you lovelies.
Better go now. My butt's getting numb.
Sam
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Black holes and moat monsters
I’ve decided that the Hampton Roads area is a reverse black hole for toys. See, I used to think that there were just piles and piles of scalpers, collectors, little kids who actually play with toys, and other such characters competing with me for toy stock around here. But, I’ve decided that this just simply isn’t true. You want a for instance? Okay, I’ll give you one. I finally found the 3.75” DC figures. Lots of people are griping about these, but honestly I love these things. Some of the best renditions of superheroes IMHO and on top of that it doesn’t have 500 versions of Superman and Batman…in fact, neither of them have shown up yet. The only figures I can find though are SHAZAM! (or, for the geekier of us, Captain Marvel), Professor Zoom, Adam Strange, and Guy Gardner. Oh, and every once in a while I find the GCPD pack and the Flash and his rogues pack). But I have never ever found any of the others. Never. Ever. But wait, it gets better. Remember how Hasbro took over Marvel Legends? Only seen a few figures here and there from any of the Hasbro sets. In fact, I’ve only seen a few figures here and there from any of the Legends lines since I’ve lived here, and I’ve been here 4 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a complete set of marvel Legends figures. And Star Wars…you might as well forget that. For a while there, if you wanted a pit droid, battle droid, Biggs, or clone trooper you were set. Anything else would cost you your soul. And don’t even get me started on anything past Series One of the DC Universe figures.
So you see, you might come to the same conclusion as I had originally: there are lots of people around here competing for toys. But then I start noticing that that toyline that everyone loves to gripe about not being able to find, GI Joe 25th Anniversary, has made its way to stores in force. For a while I was like everyone else and couldn’t find jack, though I did manage to eventually find one of every figure up until the BAT and Snow Serpent (which I still haven’t found; we’re good for the rest of that wave however). Every time I would go to any store the shelves would be bare. Now, I can’t even look through them without a rain of carded figures falling at my feet, begging me to buy them all (but for 7-8 bucks a pop, it ain’t happening). We’re talking a glut of nearly every figure released, excluding the BAT, Snow Serpent, and Flint v.1. Therefore, I have concluded that toys just don’t come to Hampton Roads. Maybe there’s some sort of government penalty for selling them, which wouldn’t really surprise me given some of the goofiness Virginia is known for, but I can’t find hardly any toys around here. I guess I should be happy though, as it keeps me from spending lots of money and cluttering up my already too cluttered room. Don’t get me wrong, there are toys here. But unless you want Transformers, Joes, or wrasslin’ figures you’re SOL. For goodness’ sake, it took two weeks of searching just to find my wife an Ewok. A friggin’ Ewok! Okay, rant over.
I love Thundercats, even though I only own Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living! My version is the hunched over old man Mumm-Ra who has less articulation than the old He-Man talking toothbrush I used to have as a kid. But man, what a cool figure! If this thing was made today I think parents would sue because LJN made their kids piss themselves! Not only that, but Mumm-Ra is scary without being pretentious like the Living Dead Dolls. It’s like Mumm-Ra knows he’s bad, and therefore doesn’t need to show everyone how bad he is, which is of course the definition of being bad. I’m not really sure how much sense that last statement made, but if you understood it, we’ll categorize it under the “great minds think alike” adage and leave it at that. Nevertheless, hunchback Mumm-Ra is, in my opinion, way cooler than WWE reject Mumm-Ra, even if the latter has glowing red eyes and arms that flop up and down as if in a tantrum.
Along with this Mumm-Ra was a catalog from LJN which featured many of the Thundercats goodies one could whine to their parents about in the hopes of getting some extra junk for their room. Whining didn’t really work with my parents; in fact, whining was often counterproductive to getting what I wanted. But if I could whine and get what I wanted I would definitely be whining for more Thundercats toys, especially this one (borrowed from x-entertainment.com):
I mean, who wouldn’t want an Astral Moat Monster? For that matter, who wouldn’t want an Astral Moat?
Well, I’ve rambled enough. Somebody buy me an Astral Moat Monster!
Sam
So you see, you might come to the same conclusion as I had originally: there are lots of people around here competing for toys. But then I start noticing that that toyline that everyone loves to gripe about not being able to find, GI Joe 25th Anniversary, has made its way to stores in force. For a while I was like everyone else and couldn’t find jack, though I did manage to eventually find one of every figure up until the BAT and Snow Serpent (which I still haven’t found; we’re good for the rest of that wave however). Every time I would go to any store the shelves would be bare. Now, I can’t even look through them without a rain of carded figures falling at my feet, begging me to buy them all (but for 7-8 bucks a pop, it ain’t happening). We’re talking a glut of nearly every figure released, excluding the BAT, Snow Serpent, and Flint v.1. Therefore, I have concluded that toys just don’t come to Hampton Roads. Maybe there’s some sort of government penalty for selling them, which wouldn’t really surprise me given some of the goofiness Virginia is known for, but I can’t find hardly any toys around here. I guess I should be happy though, as it keeps me from spending lots of money and cluttering up my already too cluttered room. Don’t get me wrong, there are toys here. But unless you want Transformers, Joes, or wrasslin’ figures you’re SOL. For goodness’ sake, it took two weeks of searching just to find my wife an Ewok. A friggin’ Ewok! Okay, rant over.
I love Thundercats, even though I only own Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living! My version is the hunched over old man Mumm-Ra who has less articulation than the old He-Man talking toothbrush I used to have as a kid. But man, what a cool figure! If this thing was made today I think parents would sue because LJN made their kids piss themselves! Not only that, but Mumm-Ra is scary without being pretentious like the Living Dead Dolls. It’s like Mumm-Ra knows he’s bad, and therefore doesn’t need to show everyone how bad he is, which is of course the definition of being bad. I’m not really sure how much sense that last statement made, but if you understood it, we’ll categorize it under the “great minds think alike” adage and leave it at that. Nevertheless, hunchback Mumm-Ra is, in my opinion, way cooler than WWE reject Mumm-Ra, even if the latter has glowing red eyes and arms that flop up and down as if in a tantrum.
Along with this Mumm-Ra was a catalog from LJN which featured many of the Thundercats goodies one could whine to their parents about in the hopes of getting some extra junk for their room. Whining didn’t really work with my parents; in fact, whining was often counterproductive to getting what I wanted. But if I could whine and get what I wanted I would definitely be whining for more Thundercats toys, especially this one (borrowed from x-entertainment.com):
I mean, who wouldn’t want an Astral Moat Monster? For that matter, who wouldn’t want an Astral Moat?
Well, I’ve rambled enough. Somebody buy me an Astral Moat Monster!
Sam
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I was gonna write something, but I forgot
Maybe it's because I'm hungry, or because I only got 4 hours of sleep last night, but I totally forgot what I was originally going to write about. Therefore, this will probably be the most nonsensical post I've written in a while...though I do tend to surprise myself.
What is the deal with British writers and their need to be over-the-top offensive? Don't get me wrong, I think that guys like Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, et. al. are great writers, but sometimes I wonder if they could write a story that doesn't include phrases like "two jerks of a dead dog's cock" or anal rape. Are the Brits just repressed, or has their mothering society caused some sort of juvenile regression amongst them? In fact, the tamest of the lot, one Neil Gaiman (who is one of my favorite modern writers) still has that absolutely pointless homosexual love scene between a djinn and some mook in American Gods, complete with vivid detail of certain things splashing on the backs of throats. What in God's name is that all about anyway?
I guess to be fair, not all of their works are really like this, and I'm hyperbolizing a bit. But seriously, could we not read a book that brought up such visceral mental images that one feels the need to consume half a bottle of Rolaids to offset the queasiness in their stomach?
By the way, Transmetropolitan, Preacher, Watchmen, The Sandman...all of these are great series. Wanted? Not so much. I know some people really loved it, but what a terrible book! And now I'm rambling, thus I need to refocus.
Okay, on to better things. I just added a new figure to my Jedi/Sith collection, one Saesee Tiin. Here's a pic of the particular one I have, borrowed from Hasbro Toy Shop:
A decent enough figure, though the articulation is a bit limited. But I don't really mind, since every super-articulated figure out there seems to also suffer from super-loose joints. But that's a blog for another time.
Sam
What is the deal with British writers and their need to be over-the-top offensive? Don't get me wrong, I think that guys like Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, et. al. are great writers, but sometimes I wonder if they could write a story that doesn't include phrases like "two jerks of a dead dog's cock" or anal rape. Are the Brits just repressed, or has their mothering society caused some sort of juvenile regression amongst them? In fact, the tamest of the lot, one Neil Gaiman (who is one of my favorite modern writers) still has that absolutely pointless homosexual love scene between a djinn and some mook in American Gods, complete with vivid detail of certain things splashing on the backs of throats. What in God's name is that all about anyway?
I guess to be fair, not all of their works are really like this, and I'm hyperbolizing a bit. But seriously, could we not read a book that brought up such visceral mental images that one feels the need to consume half a bottle of Rolaids to offset the queasiness in their stomach?
By the way, Transmetropolitan, Preacher, Watchmen, The Sandman...all of these are great series. Wanted? Not so much. I know some people really loved it, but what a terrible book! And now I'm rambling, thus I need to refocus.
Okay, on to better things. I just added a new figure to my Jedi/Sith collection, one Saesee Tiin. Here's a pic of the particular one I have, borrowed from Hasbro Toy Shop:
A decent enough figure, though the articulation is a bit limited. But I don't really mind, since every super-articulated figure out there seems to also suffer from super-loose joints. But that's a blog for another time.
Sam
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Nineties comics and Star Wars lusting
I don’t know what to write, but I want to write something. Okay, I actually know a lot of things I could write, but I can’t narrow down one thing from nerdom. I suppose I could do a sort of smorgasbord of nerdy things, but then I might alienate my readers. Oh well, let the alienation begin.
I miss the nineties comics. Yes, they were filled with gimmick covers, big shoulder pads and, dare I say it, the whole Peter Parker/Ben Reilly “clone saga”. But they also didn’t take themselves too seriously, something I feel modern comics do a bit too often. Of course, comics in the nineties had waaaaaaaaaaay too many crossovers, much like they do today, but the difference was that these crossovers were fun. Anyone remember the crossover in the Amazing Spider-Man called Round Robin: The Sidekick’s Revenge? What a great crossover! Oh, and what about all those great Robin miniseries, especially Robin II: The Joker’s Wild? That miniseries pretty much cinched the Joker as my favorite Batman villain.
And then there was Image. Image is about as far from what it was originally as it can get, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Spawn was pretty lame in many respects, as was Youngblood, Cyberforce, Wetworks, Shadowhawk, etc. And those guys wouldn’t keep a deadline if their lives depended on it. But as lame as those series might have been, they showed heart, something which is sorely lacking from comics these days. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and will always cherish comics. Maybe it’s just a sign that I’m getting older and looking back on the nineties nostalgically, remembering something that never really existed, but I miss those silly comics. If only I could go back and reread them…guess it’s time to look in the back issue bin!
On a side note, I really want the new Millennium Falcon. That thing is friggin’ huge and I have no room for it, but what a beast! Oh, and the TRU exclusive B-Wing is on my lust list as well. So, if anyone has any extra cash lying around…
Guess this post wasn’t as eclectic as I originally thought it would be, but that’s okay. What’s your favorite nineties comic?
Sam
I miss the nineties comics. Yes, they were filled with gimmick covers, big shoulder pads and, dare I say it, the whole Peter Parker/Ben Reilly “clone saga”. But they also didn’t take themselves too seriously, something I feel modern comics do a bit too often. Of course, comics in the nineties had waaaaaaaaaaay too many crossovers, much like they do today, but the difference was that these crossovers were fun. Anyone remember the crossover in the Amazing Spider-Man called Round Robin: The Sidekick’s Revenge? What a great crossover! Oh, and what about all those great Robin miniseries, especially Robin II: The Joker’s Wild? That miniseries pretty much cinched the Joker as my favorite Batman villain.
And then there was Image. Image is about as far from what it was originally as it can get, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Spawn was pretty lame in many respects, as was Youngblood, Cyberforce, Wetworks, Shadowhawk, etc. And those guys wouldn’t keep a deadline if their lives depended on it. But as lame as those series might have been, they showed heart, something which is sorely lacking from comics these days. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and will always cherish comics. Maybe it’s just a sign that I’m getting older and looking back on the nineties nostalgically, remembering something that never really existed, but I miss those silly comics. If only I could go back and reread them…guess it’s time to look in the back issue bin!
On a side note, I really want the new Millennium Falcon. That thing is friggin’ huge and I have no room for it, but what a beast! Oh, and the TRU exclusive B-Wing is on my lust list as well. So, if anyone has any extra cash lying around…
Guess this post wasn’t as eclectic as I originally thought it would be, but that’s okay. What’s your favorite nineties comic?
Sam
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