Happy New Year and LOEB Obsessions

Yes - I know it is mid-March but for most of the country, the weather is reminiscent of New Year's Day. Plus, I have been on my ass when it comes to posting. The holidays were brutally busy - all for good reasons - but busy nonetheless. Lots of traveling. When all that was done, I took a deep breath, tired from all the activities, and didn't do anything with my blog. Been wanting too, but procrastinating nonetheless.

So here we are - thanks to Brian at Cool and Collected and the rest of the League of Extraordinary Bloggers - I have managed been re-energized.


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

My latest obsession is.....The Muppets.

While I have a lot of obsessions when it comes to toy collecting, right now I am obsessed with the story of the Muppets - and Jim Henson. I always loved the Muppets as a kid. I loved the Palisades Muppet action figures though I didn't buy any when they were at retail. I loved the movies - my daughter and I watch the Muppet Christmas Carol at least three times during Christmas - we are anxiously awaiting Muppets Most Wanted, and I started reading a biography on Jim Henson last week that is very fascinating.

So let's start with the Palisades action figures which were sold between 2002-2005. Liked the look of them just never bought them. I procrastinated buying any via ebay for a long time, but finally caved. So far I have series 1 and 2 and the Lab, Pigs in Space, and Electric Mayhem band playsets. And Janice from Series 6 since I wanted to complete the band. It will be awhile before I complete this collection - completing may be a bridge too far, but I will try. The holy grail in this set is the backstage playset with Rowlf the dog, which usually starts around $900 on Ebay.

Since my daughter is a big fan, I purchased us the Muppet Encyclopedia from DK. It tells the story of almost every Muppet ever created and which movie/show they were in.

Finally, I purchased the Jim Henson Biography by Brian Jay Jones. It is 500 pages long and extremely detailed. Henson's journey is very fascinating. I am only on page 186 around the time Sesame Street started. The interesting part of his early journey is that he wanted to be in television....somehow, anyhow...since it was a new medium. He saw an advertisement looking for teenagers to be puppeteers for a television show. He studied every book at the library and did a crash course on puppetry for a week and got the part. Since television was a new medium, content was still developing. He got his Muppets onto primetime for 5 minute blocks and lots of commercials.

It was also amazing that he wanted to get out of puppetry and go into set and stage design - but the Muppets were so successful, it was hard to walk away. Makes you wonder how many of us are in careers that we fell into, not necessarily part of the plan.

But herein lies the secret to success...why do adults love the Muppets? It's never been just about the kids. Jim Henson loved chaotic and crazy antics. Muppets were always exploding and screaming - not docile the whole time. Everyone loved them - and loves them to this day.

So my latest obsession - Muppets and their history. And if anyone has some Palisades Muppets they want to get rid of, let me know.

Other obsessions:

https://jathniel-velazquez.squarespace.com/journal/3/10/2014/my-latest-obsession-welcome-back-to-the-league

http://thedustyshelf.weebly.com/the-league.html

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2014/03/league-assignment-my-latest-obsession.html

http://calvinscanadiancaveofcool.blogspot.ca/2014/03/what-are-you-obsessed-with-these-days.html

http://www.nerdcantina.com/1/post/2014/03/my-latest-obsession-scarrrrrrrrry-stuff.html

http://aceduck.com/2014/03/13/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-my-latest-obsession/

http://coolandcollected.com/binge-watching/

http://www.poprewind.com/the-league-my-latest-obsession/

http://reallyratherrandomguy.blogspot.com/2014/03/league-post-my-latest-obsession.html

http://toyriffic.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-latest-obsession-krml-league-of.html

http://vikkiverka.blogspot.com/2014/03/forever-alone-fandom.html

http://that-figures.blogspot.com/2014/03/feature-loeb-my-latest-obesssion.html

Walking Dead "Little Green Army Men"

Previously mentioned in some of my blog articles, I have always been a big fan of little plastic army men. I had several Marx sets as a kid, and love what Conte, Barzso, and Toy Soldiers of San Diego have done over the years. One of the cool things about Marx was they built playsets around movies and television shows.

Most of the modern companies still focus on historical military settings (Romans, WWII, Civil War, etc). There are few modern sets (Armies in Plastic is delving into this area), and I would love some Vietnam and Korean War era playsets as well. Only Barzso licensed a playset in the last 10 years - The Last of the Mohicans Playset was amazing.

http://gijigsaw.blogspot.com/2013/01/barzso-last-of-mohicans-playset.html

Treehouse had a great set of "Aliens" plastic figures, including a playset of the atmosphere processor.

Anyway, without licensing tie ins, there just aren't any 54mm army men playsets or figures coming out...

...but wait, slowly but surely, Skybound comics and Gentle Giant are building a zombie army around the very popular Walking Dead comic book.

The first figure set was the sword wielding heroine Michonne with her two zombie pets, including real chains to leash them. This was released as a 2012 San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) exclusive.

A few months later, Gentle Giant released a 14 figure zombie horde pack. There are seven poses, molded in two colors, light green and brown. The packs were sold out on the Gentle Giant website almost immediately. 

For SDCC 2013, three figure packs were released as exclusives with each pack having a main character figure and a zombie figure. These sets included Rick Grimes + zombie, his son Carl Grimes + female zombie, and f-bomb dropping bad guy, Negan with his barb wire wrapped baseball bat Lucille + zombie. These were released by Skybound, the comic company that publishes Walking Dead.

Also for SDCC 2013, one of the zombie horde figures was recast in blue plastic and painted with blood spatter to simulate the prisoners in the prison story line prevelant in the comic book and television show.

So what's next? Who knows? I could see more comic con exclusives. Would love another zombie horde pack with more character figures.

GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!

With the annual Army-Navy football game coming up this weekend, I'll be rooting for my alma mater, West Point, even though we lost 11...or 12 in a row to Navy. Unacceptable.

Anyway, in honor of the game, I will post a photo of one of the first things I ever bought on Ebay back in 1999 - a Kenner Starting Lineup figure of Army's Glenn Davis, 1946 Heismann Trophy winner. Ah, the glory days, when the service academies won Heismann's and National Championships.

For more info on Glenn Davis, check out his info on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Davis_(American_football)

Apparently the figured is autographed as well. I have no idea if it is real or not, no COA - but I don't care. Pretty cool to have if you ask me.

Gentle Giant Jumbo Kenner Star Wars 4-LOM

He was originally released as Zuckuss back in 1980 until some fanboys figured out androids should have alphanumeric naming standards. This guy has a C3PO protocol droid body with a bug head. Anyway, 4-LOM was a bug like alien bounty hunter released as a Proof of Purchase mail in order figure.

Regardless, this bounty hunter is 4-LOM. The other Zuckuss is next up to bat from Gentle Giant and the bounty hunter series from Empire Strikes back is complete.

This is one figure I never had as a kid. I didn't realize how cool his rifle is. Other than that, the figure is pretty plain, but still cool looking.

McFarlane's 10 Inch Daryl Dixon Figure from Walking Dead

Obviously, I am a huge fan of the Walking Dead. The 5 inch figures rock! McFarlane recently released a 10 inch Daryl Dixon - one of AMC's most popular characters....maybe the most popular.

I like the figure a lot. I wish it was 12 inches, just so it could fit in with other figures for diorama purposes. Still, the sculpting and paint application is pretty cool. The crossbow itself is very detailed. There is very little to no articulation, enough to hold the crossbow. As a display piece, very awesome. Hope they make more.