League Assignment: Would You Rather?

http://coolandcollected.com/the-league-of-extraordinary-bloggers/

Pop Quiz...

Your wife, mom, significant other threatens you to get rid of half your stuff – clean this crap up and stop spending our kids’ college money.

Would you rather… give up:

Vintage 12 Inch GI Joes or Vintage A Real American Hero GI Joes

My answers in red - Real American Heroes - cooler vehicles

Vintage Transformers Collection or Vintage He-Man Masters of the Universe Collection

He-Man - never had either, seems cooler

McFarlane Sports (Your City) or Kenner Starting Lineup (Your City)

Kenner Starting Lineup - larger variety

McFarlane Walking Dead or NECA Gears of War

Gears of War - figures with mass. Even though Walking Dead is my passion these days. This was a tough one.

Vintage Kenner Star Wars Action Figures or All Hasbro Star Wars Action Figures since the original 93

The original 93.

Vintage Kenner AT-AT or Vintage Kenner Millenium Falcon

Millenium Falcon

McFarlane Aliens and Predators or NECA Aliens and Predators

NECA Aliens - they have Colonial Marines

Toybiz Marvel Legends or Hasbro Marvel Legends

Toybiz - they set the standard

Build a Figure Sentinel or Build a Figure Galactus or Build a Figure Apocalypse

Sentinel - any day of the week and twice on Sunday

Gentle Giant Jumbo Kenner Collection or Marx Military Playset Collection

Mark Playsets - vintage fun

Toybiz Lord of the Rings Collection or LEGO Lord of the Rings Collection

Toybiz - unbelievable detail and range of figures

NECA Lord of the Rings Balrog or Mattel Shogun Godzilla

Balrog - cooler, harder to find.

Simpsons World of Springfield Collection or Hasbro Galactic Heroes Collection

Galactic Heroes. This would be a tough one.

Other Leaguers!

Brian questions quantity versus quality - http://coolandcollected.com/would-you-rather/

Dex asks - Pinky or Leather - http://aeiouwhy.blogspot.com/2014/05/league-post-would-you-rather.html

Derek asks which blog? http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2014/05/league-post-would-you-rather.html or http://reallyratherrandomguy.blogspot.com/2014/05/league-post-would-you-rather.html?

NECA Pacific Rim Series 3

I finally saw Pacific Rim when it came out on DVD/Blue-Ray months ago. It was better than I expected and I am hoping for a sequal. NECA just released Series 3 of the Jaegers (robot fighters). The Kaiju monsters haven't appeared yet on toy store shelves.

Series 3 includes Coyote Tango and Cherno Alpha. Pretty cool looking battle bots. If I ever pick up the Kaiju, I think it is time to build a diorama. Cherno Alpha looks kind of ....interesting....but cool, nonetheless.

More Call of Duty Mega Bloks Sets

Last week I gave an update on my newest collecting vice - Call of Duty Mega Bloks sets. Not only are the sets cool - but the packaging is outstanding as well. I've become a big fan of great toy packaging art.

Anyway, Toys R Us often puts these building sets (sometimes even Lego) on Buy 1 - Get 50% Off. So I finished off the Call of Duty collection. Looking forward to Series 3.

Hoping for a mega sale so I can pick up a bunch of the zombie packs. 

NECA Aliens - Series 2

NECA has done some great things with the Aliens license. In Series 1, they released Hicks, Hudson, and a brown tinted alien. Series 2 had some interesting surprises, which included a blue tinted alien (which is what most of us expected from the Aliens movie), the Alien from the movie ALIEN, and Sergeant Craig Windrix.

Sergeant Who? That's what I was thinking until I heard the back story on this figure. One of the sculptors who works at NECA had a brother who was battling Stage 4 cancer. This figure was an homage to him. I thought that was pretty cool.

About two weeks after hitting the toy store shelves, Mr. Windrix passed away. What a great legacy for a great fighter.

Walking Dead - Enter Negan

For those of you that read the Walking Dead comic book, bad guy Negan has become a fan favorite. His colorful and multiple ways of using the F-word, several times in each sentence is down right hysterical...and personally, I don't think there is a need for it in most pop culture - but Kirkman and company hit the nail on the head with this character.

Anyway, this scene is taken from Issue #100 where Negan has Rick and company captured, and is playing "eeny meeny minoy mo" to see which survivor he is going to make an example of.

In this diorama, I used Tyreese instead of Heath. Also used the TV Series 1 Rick because he is the only Rick figure whose knees bend. Looking forward to the Comic Series 3 Rick coming this June.

The Negan figure was offered directly from Skybound on Black Friday of 2013. There are two kinds of figures - color and black and white. Each one retails for $25. Grab this one before he's f-in gone. 

http://shop.thewalkingdead.com/Exclusive-McFarlane-NEGAN-Action-Figure-Full-Color.html

http://shop.thewalkingdead.com/Exclusive-McFarlane-NEGAN-Action-Figure-Black-White.html

The League Asks - What is your super power?

What is your superpower?

http://coolandcollected.com/the-league-of-extraordinary-bloggers/

I guess my power would be Toy Smuggler. What does that mean? I can get toys into the house for my daughter without her seeing it all the time.

Since I am a toy collector, I have sometimes a completest for my daughter’s collection. She is 9 and loves LEGO Friends and Monster High dolls. Anytime I am at the store, I scan the aisles for anything new and buy them. Of course, I don’t want to spoil her and just hand out toys all the time, so I buy them for future special occasions. I can get these into the house and hide them without her knowledge.

Of course, my grandiose plans came to an epic crash a few weeks ago, when my wife asked me to “clean out” the basement closet to make room for other stuff. Inside the closet were several Monster High dolls and LEGO Friends sets, along with some Beanie Boos. I cleaned out the closet while my wife and daughter were attending a cousin’s talent show.

Instead of hiding them again, I just displayed the Monster High dolls on the guest room shelf. I wondered how long it would take her to notice. She doesn't play with Monster High anymore so I figured they could stay there, mint in package. That didn't last long. She wanted to open them all, but so far it’s only been three.

I still hid the LEGO Friends sets.

The two Beanie Boo owls were placed high up on her stuffed animal shelf. Same deal. I wondered how long it would take her to notice. About 4 days. Not bad.

Anyway, sneaking in toys for my daughter has become a super power. How did I get so good? Years of sneaking my own toys in of course. Now where do I hide that 40 inch Godzilla?

:-P  

Funko Game of Thrones

Ah yes - Game of Thrones. I'll be honest, I liked the look of these figures when they were first announced, right before Toy Fair in February, but I hadn't watched the show or read the books.

Since I take the bus to and from work (northern Virginia into DC) almost every day, I've had the opportunity to catch up on some shows during my commute. I finished Season 3 of Breaking Bad. With the announcement of these Game of Thrones figures, I figured I'd give the show a shot.

Love. It.

So many characters. So many story lines. My favorite character is Tyrion. I hope Funko keeps this line going for awhile. It was originally only released in Barnes and Nobles stores. Larger distribution is happening as we speak.

Legacy Collection Series 1 includes Danerys Targeryan, Tyrion Lannister, The Hound, Jon Snow, Ned Stark and the White Walker.

Legacy Collection Series 2 will include Jamie Lannister, Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Danerys Targeryan 2, Robb Stark, and Khal Drago.

McFarlane Walking Dead Collection

This is one I will have to redo. When I took the picture, I couldn't find my Comic Series 2 figures (Glenn, Penny, the Governor). Since then, I also got the Daryl Dixon on chopper motorcycle. Anyway, here is the cast so far from McFarlane's Walking Dead figures - TV and Comic.

LEGO Friends and the Zombie Apocolypse

One of my favorite mash-ups. My daughter's LEGO Friends figures, the LEGO Modular Building Series, and Diamond Select Walking Dead Minimate zombies. Weapons from LEGO Lord of the Rings included for "braining" the zombies.

With the zombie-pocolypse in full swing, there is only one thing to say - You Go Girls!

NECA Aliens - Hudson - Xenomorph 2 Pack

NECA did a great thing last year....coming out with 6 inch, detailed versions of Hudson and Hicks from the movie Aliens. Series 1 included the two Colonial Marines and a brown tinted Alien. In order to expand on the offerings, without having to invest in new molds and manufacturing resources, two 2-packs were released in the last few months.

The 2 packs include Hicks-battle damaged Xenomorph and now a Hudson-battle damaged Xenomorph. Each of the Marines in the 2 packs now includes a helmet as well as a different face sculpt.

The Hudson-Xenomorph 2 Pack is now hitting the shelves at Toys R Us. It is a nice set and will go well with building a Marine-Xenomorph army.

Here's hoping NECA releases some more Marines. If we only get two (three if you include Windrix), that would be a shame. However, I'll take what I can get.