G.I. Jigsaw: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

League Assignment - I Have a Dream...

I have a Dream…

Where one day I can display all my collections (and maybe yours too) at an action figure and toy museum.

While there are toy museums, here and there, there are few that focus on action figures. The Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum (http://toyandtrain.com/) in Wheeling, West Virginia is pretty awesome but doesn’t adequately pay tribute to action figures. I mean, there is only one case of Star Wars figures. There should be a freakin’ room for Star Wars.

The Marx Museum (http://www.marxtoymuseum.com/) is pretty cool as well, but obviously only focused on Marx Toys. There is only one action figure museum, the Toy and Action Figure Museum http://www.actionfiguremuseum.com/site/ I discovered and it is in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, somewhere between Oklahoma City and Dallas, TX. It looks cool, and glad someone had the cojanes to build it.

My dream is to build it in a resort/tourist area – Florida, DC, Boulder, CO where there are a lot of kids, or people who fondly remember their childhoods. When people need a break from the beach or the weather isn’t cooperating, they can take their kids to the action figure museum.

While it would have endless cases of figures, I also intend to have large dioramas.

GI Joe – 12 inch and Real American Hero

101st on D Day

Cover Girl

Sideshow Platoon

Star Wars – vintage, modern, 12 inch

Galactic Marines

Jawas Make a Discovery

Marx, Conte, Barzso playsets

McFarlane NFL and NBA

Da Bears

McFarlane MLB and NHL

Washington Capitals

McFarlane Military

McFarlane General

NECA/McFarlane – Aliens, Predator

AVP3?

Gears of War

Mezco Heroes

Gentle Giant Jumbo Star Wars

Simpsons

Lord of the Rings

Battle of Pelennor Fields

Galactic Heroes

Combat Heroes Combat Heroes

Superhero squad

1:18 Scale Military – 21^st Century, BBI, Bravo Team

WWII City Battle

Walking Dead

Avatar

Marvel Legends and Univese:

Marvel Legends

Wolverine vs Hand Ninjas

Hulk 181 - The Introduction of Wolverine

Marvel Icons

X-Men 136

Shogun Warriors

SLUG Zombies

Indiana Jones

LEGO

Transformers

DC Universe

World of Warcraft

Dioramas

GI Joe USS Flagg

Gears of War

Walking Dead

Michonne Walks with the Herd

Marvel Legends vs Sentinels

Hoth

1/6 D-Day

NECA “300” 300

Behind the Scenes

How an action figure gets from concept to market.

Customizers Corner

Packaging Art

Books and Magazines

But it’s not just a dream. I’ve been researching commercial real estate, museum display cases, museum builders, and funding (my own, donations, corporate donations, Kickstarters).

I’m in my early 40s and was in fantastic shape, until my heart short circuited four months ago. So now I have a pacemaker. Why do I say that? You only live once…or in my case, I got a second chance. Go make your dreams happen.

Other Dreams include:

Going Back Home to the First Time

Writing and Making Sci-Fi Movies

Sunday, July 28, 2013

AJ's Toyboarders

I think I skateboarded once or twice in my life...when skateboards were 5 inches wide and had metal wheels. Never got into them later...sometimes I wish I had. Anyway, I do enjoy collecting plastic army men and playsets. This set of skateboarders I discovered reading Playset Magazine:

http://www.playsetmagazine.com/

AJ's Toyboarders http://toyboarders.com/home.htm are about two inches tall, made of small plastic, and the sculpting is very detailed. The packs come with 24 boarders in 8 different poses @ $5.95/pack. So far there are two series with snow and BMX figures coming in the future. Awesome!

Monday, July 22, 2013

San Diego Comic Con Top 10

So the San Diego Comic Con has come and go. I stayed glued to Cool Toy Review, Rebelscum, Action Figure Insider, and ToyNews International looking for the latest updates and teasers in the toy world. It was not disappointing.

So here is my Top 16...why 16? Cause 10 wasn't enough.

Top 10 16 from SDCC

Super 7 Alien figures - These are so cool. Based on the prototype Kenner figures from 1979 that were never released because they were too scary. Ripley, Kane, Dallas, Ash, Big Chap. An Early Bird kit was available at SDCC.
GG Wampa - In scale with the 12 inch vintage figures. This is a must have. Now all we need is a TaunTaun.
Marvel Legends Lineup - Hasbro continues to show off a great 6 inch lineup. Hope they come to fruition. It was nice to not see more Iron Man, Spider Man, Wolverine, and Captain America. I know they will be there, but the more obscure figures were great.
Sideshow Hoth - Han, Luke, TaunTaun, and a freakin Probot at 1/6 scale. Awesome.
McFarlane Walking Dead Series 4 - They look great. Andrea especially looks awesome.
12 inch Walking Dead? Didn't get the manufacturer. Looked like upscaled McFarlane. Keeping fingers crossed.
Sideshow Stormshadow: Assassin - Bad ass! Period.
Gentle Giant Kenner Alien - Along with the vintage Star Wars 12 inch line, GG is recreating the pulled from the shelves Kenner Alien at a full 24 inches.
Thunderbolts Marvel Legends Set - didn't really know the storyline, but this exclusive set is awesome.
Vintage Republic Gunship - live the vintage Kenner packaging. This is my all time favorite Star Wars ship.
Northstar and Aurora - Marvel Universe - don't collect these, but these two are way overdue.
X-Force Nightcrawler - Always a Nightcrawler fan. Not sure where this uniform comes from, but very cool.
Rescue - Pepper Potts in Iron (Wo)man suit at 6 inch scale. I remember getting the Super Hero Squad version of Rescue. My daughter loved it. She kept telling the boys at school there is a girl Iron Man. They didn't believe her. Time to believe people!
Hasbro Marvel Dioramas - Priceless - The full scale battle was amazing.
NECA Dioramas - Priceless - Rambo, Alien, Predator - very cool.
Old Man Logan - Loved this story arc. Too bad it isn't in 6 inch scale. Someday....

And a few disappointment

Series 2 NECA Aliens. No new Marines from Aliens. A Marine sergeant is being released. Supposely it is from the "expanded universe" and the head sculpt pays homage to a brother of a NECA employee who is fighting cancer. I can dig that. And I will buy it. Will probably make a great army builder as well. It just took the wind out of my sales, cause I was so jazzed after Hudson and Hicks. Was hoping for more of the movie Marines.
No Indiana Jones - wasn't expecting anything, but can always hope.
No WD TV Series 5 or Comic Series 3 - Was hoping for a teaser of what's to come. Maybe with Season 4 kicking off. Maggie and Glen for TV Series 5, even Beth with her shotgun. Abraham Ford, Negan, Andrea for Comic Series 3.
No other human characters from Predator – another Dutch – the playdoh Dutch.
Series 3 NECA Aliens - no reveals except via Twitter at the very end.. Bishop, Queen, and intense negotiations with Sigorney for the Ripley rights.

See you at ToyFair 2014.

The First Time

This week's League of Extraordinary Bloggers assignment.

It feels like the first time… Write about your first experience with something.

Took me awhile to figure this one out. Then two things came to mind.

The first...the first time I went to a comic book shop. While growing up, my parents bought me a few comic books, but they eventually disappeared...probably thrown out. I didn't really care to keep them.

I spent a week at my best friend's (Tom) house. There was a comic book shop in his downtown of Hobart, Indiana. I had never been to a comic book shop. The place was called Friendly Frank's! Frank was friendly enough but I guess he probably watched all the kids with a close eye as we lingered way too long...probably afraid of a five finger discount.

Seeing all those comics was pretty cool. Now Tom had two older brothers and comics were strewn throughout the house. After our first comic book shop trip, we made a concerted effort to collect and organize all the comics in his house. We probably gathered about 100, put them in bags, and then put them in a comic box.

The first comics I bought at Friendly Frank's that I can remember.

GI Joe #2

X-Men #163

Vigilante #11

30+ years later, still collecting. This trip changed my life. Love the comics, and love the toys that go along with them. Still trying to snag that SDCC Thunderbolts set for a good price.

The other "first" memory is the first time I went to a toy store with my brother and then by myself. We rode over 5 miles on our bikes, across some very big roads to a place called Child World. It was as big as Toys R Us. It was a dangerous trek for two young boys, probably ages 12 and 10. I had saved my pennies and purchased a Lego space set - it was the All Terrain Vehicle 6927 set. I loved how the command post could be carried by the vehicle or set down. Cool feature.

My parents actually suspected something was up because they bought all our toys (not too many, but enough for a great childhood). They didn't recognize this set.

Finally, I remember making the same trek by myself to grab the Cobra Snow Serpent - to this day, it is still one of my favorite GI Joe figures. The trek was just as dangerous on bikes.

Other Firsts from the League

First trip to Disneyland - and a little somethin somethin more from Random Nerdness.
http://www.randomnerdness.blogspot.com/2013/07/this-weeks-assignment-from-league-first.html

Goodwill Geek's Garbage Pail kid fascination.
http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/07/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-first.html

Friday, July 19, 2013

Marvel Select Rhino vs Spider Man

The Rhino was always my favorite Spidey villain. The Marvel Select Rhino recently released is the absolute bomb. This guy is freakin huge! Well sculpted. A lot of mass. A formidable foe toe Spidey!

Cute and Cuddly....Death

So glad I purchased these off ebay when I did years ago. Can't find them online anymore.

Nothing says cute and cuddly like Aliens, Alien Queens, and Predator.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

League Assignment: Robots

Robots! What a great assignment. Trying to do something different, I figured I would focus on female robot action figures. I referenced my website: http://www.curvesnguns.com .

I take poetic license defining whether these are all really robots of course...or at least give them partial credit if they are not complete robots.

The 12 inch Terminatrix is one of those holy grails that I missed grabbing when it was relatively inexpensive. Can't find it anywhere.

Call: Alien Resurrection