Shadows of the Empire Wave 1

The arrival of Shadows of the Empire was huge and I was the perfect age for it. My friends and I started a Star Wars Club at school that year and we brought our newest figures to play with at recess. We all shared any new information we could with each other about the story whether from the comics, the book (which was a BIT outside of our reading level), or the video game. We loved it. I loved it. Especially the new characters. I really liked the idea of a Wookie Bounty Hunter and the specialized Coruscant troopers but what really resonated with me was seeing somebody who looked like me in Star Wars. Dash Rendar.

Now, in my almost mid 30's, my hair has settled into more of a strawberry blonde but as a kid, I had dark red hair. And as you could guess, I was teased about it all the time. Seeing someone with hair like me be a hero in Star Wars and look so cool doing it was a huge lift to my self esteem as I began to approach double digits.

I was also a fan of Prince Xizor. The seedy underside of the galaxy has always appealed to me in Star Wars. Learning about this high and mighty crime boss was thrilling.

And of course, everyone loved getting to see more of the awe inspiring Boba Fett.

I didn't have all of the figures as kid, but I definitely had the big three. Boba was in an earlier wave and I picked up Dash and Prince Xizor on the same trip to the store. I picked up what would be my first Leia figure not much later. Now, I'm more than happy to have the entire wave.

Comments

Funko Savage World Thundercats Wave 2

2018 was an exciting time for me because we finally received Thundercats in the same scale as Masters of the Universe! It was a dream come true for myself and, I'm sure, many other children of the 80's. The excitement was unfortunately short lived as the factory that Funko worked with screwed up the plastics used on hip articulation. Many figure arrived with broken or soon to be broken crotches and Funko was dealt a pretty serious black eye. However, they worked hard to fix that issue but that also pushed back Wave 2 of Thundercats over a year. During that time, they went ahead with a mass market retail approach for a DC Comics universe in the Savage World style. While there were some nice toys in this line, especially the Bat Cave, the overall appeal to general audiences didn't seem to be there. A lot of planned Savage World lines seemed to get axed because of the gamble not paying off. Thankfully, Thundercats Wave 2 made the cut and began arriving this past quarter...

Toy Biz DC Superheroes Flash v2, Hawkman, Two Face

I started getting back into the DC Superheroes line early last year. Even though the Kenner Super Powers line is superior in a lot of ways, this line has a nostalgic value for me. Recently, I was able to add three more figures to my collection: Hawkman, Two Face, and the second version of the Flash! Version 2 is a HUGE upgrade over Version 1. V2 Flash doesn't rely on a wind up action feature so it actually has arm articulation. Now Flash can actually do some better posing... let alone throw a punch! V2 Flash also comes with a Quicksilver/Silver Surfer-esqe platform. It even moves forward on its own if you pull it backwards. Toy Biz vs Kenner. The Kenner figure is obviously the better choice. Just one look at his weapon and his head sculpt and that is obvious. However, there is a dumb charm to the Toy Biz figure and I'm happy to have him. I really like this Two Face figure. He has a winding feature for flipping his...

Replacement MOTU leg connectors by Rama and Amos Del Retro

Back in February, I came across a post on one of the Masters of the Universe Facebook fan pages about replacement leg connectors from a group in Argentina. I had already known about the screw and o-ring method, thanks to He-Bro - http://he-man.us/Innovations/BrokenLegs.html , and I had used it on a broken Teela earlier this year. It worked well but it doesn't feel permanent. I have a feeling that I will have to replace that sometime soon in the near future. Plus, I am having to actually damage the figure by screwing eye hooks in their legs. Anyway, these new leg connectors felt like something worth looking into. If you go to their website, www.stands-rama.com , they have a tutorial posted on how these work: Now, my spanish isn't great but I kind of got the idea of how these work. Heat the legs, push the connectors through the crotch and attach. Seems easy enough. I searched for some more tutorials and found this one from Toy Palloi: And this one from Michael Mercy: ...

30th Anniversary Tribute to the New Adventures of He-Man

This year marks the 30th Anniversary to the New Adventures of He-Man. I never cared for the show as a child. It was just too different: different themes, different characterizations, different characters, different voices, different settings, etc. It was just too much change to accept. I did like the action figures. I still remember when my brother and I found He-man and Skeletor at a Kay Bees. We loved them and even bought a Flipshot because we thought it was Man at Arms. As the years went on, it really bugged me that I didn't care for the show. I mean, what is not to like? You've got He-man... fighting Skeletor... in space... with a lightsaber. I was a big Silverhawks fan so this screamed awesome to me. The DVD sets were released in the early 2000s so I decided to give it another try. Unfortunately, I still didn't care for it. With this being the 30th Anniversary of the line, I made the firm decision to actually sit down, watch the show, and withhold my biases. The...

Mega Bloks Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016 - Lord Zedd and Custom Squatt

So, 29 Blind Bags later, I completed the official collection with Lord Zedd. I've really enjoyed this series. Sure it is not the most detailed or articulated but there is just a certain fun factor that radiates from these figures. And now that it is complete, my focus has turned to what customs I can create. I've already posted about Rita Repulsa. By Zedd, she looks pretty great. Now I've added another custom with Squatt. It was challenging finding which lego pieces would best reflect the character. Here are my current Evil Space Alien leaders. I still have a few more in the works.

Ubernerd, Beyond Loserdome

Search This Blog