Late late late League Assignment - SDCC CONtemplation

League Assigment:

CONtemplation.
SDCC 2014 is a wrap. What peaked your interest most this year? What was a disappointment?

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

I’ve learned to take SDCC and New York Toy Fair with a grain of salt. They show a lot and many come to fruition, but many do not. It is usually the ones that don’t get made that pain me the most…this is especially true of Marvel Legends. Every year prototypes get shown that never get made (Iron Man’s Rescue is a prime example).

This year’s SDCC was a little strange. I was hooked to the matrix…I mean the internet, waiting for all the big reveals. They came a little slow and when all was said and done, I was…well…meh!

But there were two big reveals that totally got me doing cartwheels…not easy for a 43 year old.

First – Gentle Giant Jumbo vintage GI Joe – A Real American Hero. I love the Jumbo Kenner Star Wars figures that GG has been doing the last few years. They are 12 inch reproductions of the original 3-3/4 inch figures we all know and love. I really love these because each figure takes me back to a nostalgic memory. Despite the incessant complaining on collector’s forums, I love this things.

So when GG displayed the vintage 12 inch jumbos of the 3-3/4 inch GI Joes launched in 1992, I was again doing cartwheels…with round offs this time.

The first five shown are Snake-Eyes (Commando), Stalker (Ranger), Zap (Bazooka Soldier), Grunt (Infantry), and Rock N Roll (Heavy Machine Gunner).

Photos from YodasNews.com

http://www.yodasnews.com/gentle-giant-3dsystems-booth-sdcc-2014/

The second item that caught my attention was the new Star Wars Black Series 6 inch figures.

I’ve been collecting all of these. Was absolutely thrilled to see the 6 inch Wampa with Luke and Taun Taun with Hoth Han Solo. Bossk and TIE Pilot were outstanding as well but the beast packs were high on my list.

http://news.toyark.com/2014/07/27/sdcc-2014-hasbro-star-wars-black-series-6-comic-con-reveal-images-133954

The only disappointment was Super7 not revealing any new lines. They are coming out with great Kenner vintage style sculpts for many properties. A great lineup already on the way - everyone is waiting for what's next.

Other Leaguers!

Adam seeks out Ghostbusters items

Brian captures some Apes and vintage Batman posters

A different direction with Music and Games

Rich finds KREO Transformers and He-Man updates

Mondo Iron Giants and Mad Max Fury is coming

Retro Robot Reviews checks out all the Turtle stuff

Adam contemplates Transformers and the SW 6 Inch Black Series

League Assignment: The Apocalypse

This week's assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers: The Apocalypse

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers

So this week's assignment is the apocalypse. If you've seen my blog before, you already know that I am a huge fan of the book World War Z and anything that has to do with the Walking Dead. Zombies are a great apocalyptic genre.

Awhile back I built a diorama for the Battle of Yonkers, one of the first military battles against the zombie hoard in World War Z. I used 1:18 scale, or 3-3/4 inch figures. Some were military. Others were assorted figures, with their skin painted grey and red to represent the zombie hordes.

World War Z

If you look closely, you see a few figures that look alike...blue pants and tan shirt and blonde hair. This figure is Mego's Bo Duke from the early 80s Dukes of Hazard line. I needed a zombie horde at 3-3/4" scale. So I searched Ebay and found this:

100 Mego Bo Duke Action Figures - Yes....100. I would never in my toy collecting life would I ever think I would buy a Dukes of Hazzard figure, much less 100 copies of Bo Duke. I ended up painting only a few of them. I figured I could paint the pants and shirt different colors as well as this was the most generic figure I could find. I am happy I purchased it for less than what the same auction and its current listing price.

So that is my sign of the apocalypse - not the WWZ diorama - but actually spending money in my wallet for 100 Bo Duke action figures. Ugh! 

One day I will get around to painting the rest. In the meantime, if anyone needs a Bo Duke figure, let me know.

The apocalypse according to other Leaguers!

Nerdy Life talks about A History of the Apocalypse

Erik Johnson gives us the Daughters of the Apocalypse

Cool and Collected watches The Age of Apocalypse in Movies

Adam Nori reminds us about Donnie Darko

Hot Wheels Stripes Urban Assault Vehicle

Stripes - one of the all time greatest comedies. A bunch of slackers - starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy - become soldiers.

The finale of the movie comes when the soldiers are asked to guard the EM50 - Urban Assault Vehicle. It looks like your everyday RV, but it's loaded for battle.

Anyway, I am not a Hot Wheels or Matchbox collector, but since this is the only collectible that I know of for this movie, I grabbed it. Hoping Super7/Funko or Zica Toys adds Stripes to its retro 3-3/4 inch figure line....along with the EM50.

Gentle Giant Jumbo Kenner Hoth Soldier and Snowtrooper

The Hoth scenes were always my favorite part in the Star Wars history. So I was very excited when the 12 inch Gentle Giant Rebel Hoth Soldier and Snowtrooper which I preordered showed up on my door step on the exact same day.

Can't wait for the rest of them. Wampa, Hoth Luke, Hoth Leia, 21B, and even the Bespin Han since he wore that outfit inside Echo Base.

Hoping Gentle Giant completes the Hoth series with the Rebel Commander and FX-7, and dare we say....a TaunTaun?

Vintage Kenner Star Wars Vinyl Collector Cases

I had the first Star Wars black vinyl collector's case when it was first released. It was also stolen (or lost) years later full of figures. I didn't realize until recently that there were similar cases released for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I had the Darth Vader head collector case and knew about the C3PO, Rebel Transport and Rifle collector cases.

Anyway, my vintage figure collection was stuffed in a USPS box for years. It wasn't until I recently finally made the image of the collection into a custom jigsaw puzzle that I wondered how many I was missing, and how many accessories I was missing.

http://gijigsaw.blogspot.com/2014/05/newest-jigsaw-puzzles-vintage-kenner.html

So I've been on a mission to complete the collection - well at least through Return of the Jedi. I can't even get into Power of the Force at this time. Too expensive, even loose, incomplete. I swear I purchased more of those in the early 90s at flea markets but I must have been wrong.

Anyway, along with completing the collections, I've been buying repro weapons and capes and putting them into the vinyl cases. The Return of the Jedi case is very rare and runs over $100. Occasionally, you can get it between $75-100 on a bidding war that doesn't get out of control.

The insert cards are also rare which shows all the figures. I need to get one for the Empire Strikes back. There were actually two Empire cases released, one with Yoda as the largest image, and one with the Wampa as the largest image.

I realized one case doesn't hold all of the ESB figures released. Missing from this are the Bespin Guards, Lobot and Cloud Car Pilot.

I remember taking my "Star Wars guys" over to friends' houses in the Star Wars black case.

Getting Ready for the Dawn

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

As I've said many times, I was never a big fan of the original Planet of the Apes. I saw the first movie, thought it was a decent movie, and understood it's social commentary, but never gave it much thought afterwards.

I didn't see the 2001 remake with Mark Wahlberg....guess I should consider myself lucky.

But then I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Obviously with it's very realistic CGI effects and the beginning of the story intrigued me as it took place in the present day. Loved that movie.

Then I saw the trailers for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It looks totally bad ass. I am a big fan of the post apocolyptic genre. So I ordered a case of the NECA figures and tried to recreate one of the scenes from the trailer. I also used the HIYA Rise of the Planet of the Apes figures and Ringwraith horses from ToyBiz Lord of the Rings 6 inch collection.

July 11th - you know where I'll be.

My Latest Addiction - Kickstarter Projects - HACKS, Cthulhu, and Elementals

I had heard of Kickstarter, but never really looked into it. I check out the forums on Rebelscum and CoolToyReview daily and saw two very cool action figure Kickstarter campaigns. Both are already successfully funded so now the goal is to unlock the bonus items.

First is the Vitruvian HACKS project from Boss Fight Studios. This is an awesome set of Greek Mythology figures - very articulated and parts that interchange. It started with 4 figures - Spartan warriors, and Medusa and her snake warriors.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/813878470/boss-fight-studios-vitruvian-hacks-action-figures/

The initial goal was 75K but they are now past 165K and if my math is correct, there are already 17 or 18 figures now unlocked with several more on the way. I'm totally loving the snake warriors in this line.

Help them get to 700 backers to unlock another amazon warrior figure,

The other project is based on HP Lovecraft Cthulhu books. Four awesome figures. The project is fully funded and they have hit goals to unblock some other figures. These are totally retro in style and packaging. For more info and a ton of photos, check out their site.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warpo/legends-of-cthulhu-retro-action-figure-toy-line

So if you want some really cool toys and don't want to depend on the big boxes anymore, check these out and support them.

Finally, this project was already successfully funded and finished but there are definitely some great projects to support on Kickstarter.

These are the I-Am-Elemental action figures for girls. I like the style and sculpting and I like what they are doing. My daughter played with Star Wars as much as Disney Princesses and loves LEGO. So would love to see her have a set of these and see how she plays with them.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iamelemental/iamelemental-action-figures-for-girls?ref=nav_search