Monthly Archives: February 2012

2012 NYC Toy Fair News #1

Posted on by

0

The New York City Toy Fair is in full swing and I’m 4968 miles away.  I WISH I could somehow have made the trip but alas, my bike needs a new tire and it’s an incredibly long swim. This year was simply not meant to be. All I can do is scour the info-webs for some of my favorite toy manufacturers reveals and post them here all in one tidy place for you.

Kotobukiya Bishoujo Statues

The much teased Harley Quinn final(?) artwork is on display and as well as teaser art for Mass Effect 3’s Femshep! Koto’s Ivy statue turned out incredible. I’m betting Harley will come out just as polished. I can’t wait to see the final sculpts! Stay updated on Kotobukiya stuff on their Facebook page.

image from kotobukiya 

Mattel has a bunch of new Masters of the Universe Classic figs to show off. I grew up on MOTU and love seeing the line revisited and old familiar faces pop up.Stinkor anyone? Check here to see the full list of everything Mattel has on display as well as release dates.

image from matty collector.com

Who? Who I ask you, doesn’t love LEGOS? My favorite line of LEGOS has been their classic Star Wars line, but my love for super heroes my trump it as LEGO revealed a whole slew of Marvel licensed goodness. From the Avengers to X-Men.. I can already tell my mini-fig collection is going to grow leaps and bounds!

image from LEGO

I have two weaknesses, turtles in a half shell.. and turtle power. The new TMNT toys from Playmates look great! Cool little touches like the scar on Raph’s shell have me really excited to have this guys in hand.

pic from playmates

pic from toynewsi.com

Wow, Square Enix/Play Arts Kai protos of Mass Effect toys look in-cred-i-ble! They consistently somehow wrangle together my favorite properties from Street Fighter and Batman to Metal Gear and Mass Effect.

pic from toyark.com

Speak of Metal Gear and Batman, you can preorder those over at bigbadtoystore.com and urban-collector.com right now!

pic from bigbadtoystore.com

OK, that’s part 1 of my mini coverage Toy Fair 2012. So much good stuff coming in the next few months! With my shelves are already at maximum capacity, I may have to knock out a wall to find a place for it all!

Friday News

Posted on by

0

I love toys, games, comics and art. These are my passions. Today I’ve learned of the passing of someone who greatly contributed to all of those. Adam Adamowicz of Bethesda Games. He was the key concept artist behind the visual goodness of Skyrim and Fallout 3 two of my favorite games of the past 4 years.. among others.  A touching, more fitting tribute can be read here. If you’ve ever sat in awe at the beauty and vastness of Skyrim or pushed yourself to play on for “just one more hour” to see what’s on the other side of that hill in Fallout 3, you should give it a read. Here’s to his friends, family and those who knew him well. R.I.P.

 

 

 

Miller talks “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”

Posted on by

0

words by Miller

The funny thing about racism is… I’m gonna stop right there. The end of that sentence has come from many different perspectives over the years. Somewhat recently, people like Chris Rock, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, and Tina Fey have finished that sentence to the delight of comedy nerds everywhere. Other comedians and comediennes of the less talented variety have simply disguised racism as humor or based their entire acts off of tired stereotypes to get cheap laughs off of stupid people.

Really talented people are aware that the end of that sentence has changed over the years and it changes all of the time. Racism has probably existed for as long as people of varying skin colors have interacted, and it will probably exist in one form or another for as long as people feel like they need an excuse to feel superior to each other. However, as long as it is around, it will also be kinda funny sometimes, too. Perceptive comedians and comediennes are able to poke fun, not just at racism in general but at the particular racism that exists in their world.
Issa Rae is one of those talented people who can identify that particular racism that exists in the world around her and make fun of it in a way that is intelligent, perceptive, and hilarious. However, to say that her brilliant web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” is about racism would be about as accurate as calling the Bible a book about the Middle East.
“The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” (or “ABG”) is a series of 12 episodes (and hopefully more to come) about a young woman named J (Rae), in Los Angeles, who works with a bunch of weirdos and just can’t seem to make it through the day without a few uncomfortable situations and moments that border on bizarre. Basically, it is just like your life, but possibly through the eyes of someone younger, funnier, and of a different race and gender than you. J has a few allies and a few enemies, but mostly her life is just filled with people who make her feel out of place no matter where she goes.
J has an awful job, a painful awkwardness about her, limited skills as a gangsta rapper, and a crush on two boys. One of the boys is black an one of the boys is white, but they are both nice guys who really seem to like her in spite of how awkward she happens to be while she is with them. The black guy, Fred, is a guitar playing coworker who drives J’s nemesis (and boss) Nina mad with jealousy every time he looks J’s way. The white guy, White Jay, is a friend of Fred who J awkwardly meets at a party and begins socializing with to varying degrees of success.
Although the love triangle storyline is nothing new, ABG takes a fresh approach by almost making it impossible to believe that these three people could accomplish any social goal, especially one as complicated as forming a relationship. White Jay takes J to meet Donald Glover (the rapper/comedy genius who stars on “Community” and used to write for “30 Rock”) and tells Glover how he thinks that Donald’s father Danny is such a great actor. Fred spends half the series trying to escape from the clutches of the jealous and possessive Nina while J falls all over herself trying to get him to notice her.
The first few episodes are so glaringly low budget that one might be a little put off, but they are essential (much like the less funny first season of “Parks and Recreation”) in establishing the characters who will make you convulse with laughter by the 5th or 6th episode. You might want to catch this show now before it becomes even more successful and Issa Rae becomes world renowned as a writer and an actress. This show is why the internet is awesome. Catch all 12 episodes on YouTube or on the ABG website so maybe you can find out what the funny thing about racism is too.
Check episodes here!
When Miller isn’t sporting a Windsor and yelling “Objection your Honor, my client doesn’t WEAR underwear..”, he’s stretching out his sweat pants in the luxury of his living room to write down words for your mind grapes. Until next time.

Midweek Toy News!

Posted on by

2

Hey gang! Thought I’d compile a little update/summary of midweek news for dat ass! A few up coming things to look out for and some drop info to boot.

Enjoy!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This Friday, Feb 10th @ 7 pm begins The Four Horsemen’s gallery show, Toypocalypse 2: Futureto at  TT Underground Gallery in New York City. The mighty Horsemen have just posted on their website a sneak peak at the limited edition print that will be sold at the show.

The 11″ X 17″ Outer Space Men print was painted by Nathan Baertsch.  If you’re in the NY area this weekend do yourself a favor and check it out.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Over at the Art Asylum they’ve revealed their upcoming Avengers movie Hulk toy for Marvel Select Toys!  This guy stands at 8.25 inches and will tower over the rest of the gang. While you have to wait until April to grab this ticked off green guy, you can still mosey over here to snatch up some of the Avengers which are already available for preorder.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Round 5 and Jeremy Madl, known as MAD in the art toy community are collaborating on an exciting new and officially licensed collection, Bruce Lee’s Temple of Kung Fu. Release details are pretty scarce except for the tried and true “coming this summer”. In the meantime you can check their official video showcasing MAD at work and get pumped up about it like me!

source Round 5

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 UPCOMING TOY RELEASES!

Speaking of the Four Horsmen, if you collect Masters of the Universe Classics you probably already know this, but if you’ve been wondering exactly when  do anything for you then the date to remember is Wednesday, February 15th at 9 a.m. PT

This info straight off Matty Collectors page.

Masters of the Universe® Classics

  • Sorceress®, Club Eternia® Figure of the Month (included with 2012 Club Eternia® subscriptions): Finally nesting in the MOTUC lineup, the Heroic Guardian of Castle Grayskull™ is without a doubt one of the most fan-demanded figures we’ve offered to date. She comes with fully articulated wings, Staff of Power, Zoar™ bird form and bird perch/removable armor.
  • Fisto™ Club Eternia® Figure of the Month (included with 2012 Club Eternia® subscriptions):: The hard hitting brother of Man-At-Arms® is ready to bring the pain! Comes with swappable heads with and without his 200X-inspired headband, a removable belt, vintage purple sword and — at long last — the missing 200X oversized smasher sword that was cut from the 200X figure at the last minute.
  • Beast Man® (reissue)
  • Stratos® (reissue)

You know, when I was 8 years old, I didn’t even blink at the names of my Masters of the Universe toys… today it’s a little different.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This I’m extremely excited about. Missed their first drop and have been soundly kicking myself since. Here’s the time/date for Hades. Wait, why am i sharing this with you.. it’s just going to make it that much more difficult to get. Oh, and the first 30 to order get a free print as well.

The sacrifices I make.

Pre-Order opens:
– Friday, 17 February 2012
– 9AM Pacific Standard Time (Los Angeles, San Francisco)
Price: US $165.00
Product will be available at:
www.foxboxstudio.com

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

image source Kotous.com

I’m a big Mass Effect fan, I’m also a big Kotobukiya Bishoujo fan. Koto’s version of Liara T’Son looks really great and is available for preorder here! I can’t wait to see what else they do with the license. Please oh please Subject Zero (Jack)…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Square Enix’s Play Arts Kai Batman: Arkham Asylum figures are now available for preorder here. Square Enix’s Play Arts Kai.. or as I shall henceforth call them “Squenixplart-kai”.. eh, on second thought never mind… are well known for making incredibly articulated and detailed figures.  Currently four varieties are available for preorder, Batman x 2, Joker and the lovely (creepy?) Harley Quinn. Roughly $75 a pop.