Christmas Fallout 2011

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas!  I must have been good, because I did very well this year!  Here’s everything(minus gift cards and cash).

I was like my kid-self this past Christmas.  I love opening presents, and I’m sure a lot of you can relate to that.  I got most everything I wanted, and some other stuff that wasn’t on my list, that I’m happy to have received.  Let’s look a little closer.

I finally got a Wii!!  This was the big gift from my wife.  This Wii is black and came with New Super Mario Bros.(as well as a music cd, which I haven’t checked out yet).  My wife also got me Punch-Out!!, and her parents got me (The Legend of Zelda) Skyward Sword.  My friend Mike got me the Genesis games you see, as well as Kung-Fu for the NES.  It looks like I’ll be busy for a while!  🙂

In the clothing department, I also did well.  But most of these items were things that I needed.  I got a pair of Dearfoams moccasins(slippers), driving gloves, socks(you can never have too many socks), sweat pants and a couple of t-shirts( one from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a really sweet “Facts You Need to Know About Chuck Norris” shirt).  Although clothes weren’t really appreciated(you all know what I’m talking about) on Christmas during my childhood, they are greatly appreciated now!

The Walking Dead, Book 2, was my secret Santa gift from the X-Entertainment gift exchange(thank you so much velouria_78!) that a few of us who post  on X-E took part in.  This is the hard cover edition, and I can’t wait to start reading it!  While I’m up to date with the tv show, I have only read the first collection(Book 1).  Next to that is a Reveal the Shield, Legends Class, Optimus Prime.  This line has been scarce in my parts, but my wife, somehow, found a place that still had some.

And here’s everything else.  We have a case of Saranac “24 Beers of Winter”, of which I am on my second Chocolate Lager as we speak(it’s pretty good, not too chocolatey or sweet, it’s quite strong though).  I also got a nice Old Spice gift set.  This has everything to keep me clean and smelling good for a little while, plus maybe it’ll turn me into that cool guy in their commercials(and I’m not talking about Ray Lewis either).  My wife(she’s so awesome!), also got me a Remington(they don’t make just guns), grooming kit(I hinted that I wanted this, but didn’t think I’d get it).  You’ll also notice some Slim Jims, a head massager, Werther’s Originals, a few rubber bracelets, some car air-fresheners, some vhs Transformers episodes, Paul Mitchell shampoo/conditioner and a Snoopy toothbrush holder and rinse cup(which is in my bathroom right now, but will end up going into storage with the rest of the Christams decorations in a week or so).

Also, between my wife and myself, we got $160 in cash, a $25 Applebee’s gift card and a $25 Regal Cinemas gift card.

I hope you all got what you wanted, and had a great time as well!  Please feel free to discuss your Christmas in the comments, as I love to hear about stuff like this.

Vote for Me!

Recently, I submitted a picture of an action figure nativity scene over at Hey! Look at My Toys!, for a contest.  At Reis’ suggestion, I am asking everybody to go over to Hey! Look at My Toys!, and vote for me(if you have not voted yet).  You can click on the link above, or you could click the link on my side bar.  The 3 submissions that get the most votes, will win toys!  As of right now, I have 4 votes, and will need a lot more to place in the top 3.  Reis misspelled my name on his side bar.  It reads Lason L., instead of Jason L.  But if you have any trouble, here’s what my submission looks like.

TMNT Days #4, The Finale

I saved the best for last.  Not only is it my favorite character, but it’s my favorite representation of that character as well.

My wife bought this for me(at my request), for my birthday back in 2008.  I believe it cost around $14.99 at the time, which is a bargain compared to what some people are now asking for them.

TMNT is one of my favorite toylines as well as my favorite comic series(the early Mirage stuff is the best).  And these figures are the nicest representations of the Turtles I have ever seen.  Don’t get me wrong…I got into TMNT the same way most of you did.  I was about 9 years old when the cartoon and subsequent toyline came about.  It was when I started to get heavily into comics(when I was around 11 or 12), that I was introduced to the real Turtles.  And these figures are spot on from how they looked in those old comics.  Each Turtle came with their trademark weapons, a few accessories(like extra hands etc.) and a piece of a base that, when all connected together, made a nice diorama of a city street.  I’d like to get the other 3 and open all of them.  But as of right now, I don’t see any reason to open it.  It looks nice in the package(NECA did a great job on this as well), and I really don’t have any more room to display stuff(I may have to start swapping out figures every now and then).

TMNT Days #3

First we saw a 25th Anniversary TMNT figure.  Then we saw a figure from the original series.  And today we’ll be checking out a figure from one of the live action movies.

Princess Mitsu was a character from the third live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.  While it’s the weakest of the first three movies, I still like it!  Even though it’s a movie figure, it’s still on par with the cartoon figures.  It still has a file card for the character inside, and still has the Pizza Points as well!

The princess comes with various weapons and the sceptor that sent the Turtles back in time.  On the back we also get to seee a still of the Turtles from the movie.  And the only figures advertised on the back, are ones that are tied to the movie(with the Turtles looking the best).  You should be able to find this relatively cheap, as it’s not anywhere near rare or popular figure.

The next(and last) carded TMNT figure will also have a difference from the other three(I didn’t orginally notice this).

TMNT Days #2

Who’s next?

This is an April O’Neil from 1990.  I won this in a lot of TMNT stuff on Ebay, about a year or so ago.

As you can see from the figure assortment on the back, TMNT was huge at this time.  Unlike the 25th anniversary figures, the artwork on the front of this card features only April.  With the newer cards, there are a few different characters on the front, and every card is the same.  There were a few variations of this figure with no stripes on the pants, or different color stripes on the pants.  The one I have is the most common variation.  It’s not one of the Turtles, but I’m happy to have it in my collection.

Look at that!  2 days in a row!!  🙂

TMNT Days #1

For the next few posts(four to be exact), I will be spotlighting some TMNT figures from my collection.  The figures that will be featured share 2 things in common.

1.)- They are all from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe.

2.)- They are all still(and will remain), in their packages.

I remember finding one peg of these 25th anniversary figures at Toys R Us in the summer of 2009.  My choices were Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Rocksteady.  I originally chose Raphael, because I never had him as a kid, and, at the time, he was absent from my collection.  On my way to the registers, I decided to go with Donatello, as he always been my favorite(for a short time, at the beginning, Mikey was my favorite).

The only differences that I’ve noticed(without opening the figure), is the included dvd(these only came with the 4 Turtles, and each featured one of the first four episodes), and slightly different artwork.

I also find it funny that Playmates went with the “naked” Shredder for this release.  You can bet, that if I see any more of these, I’ll be sure to snatch them up(no extreme mark-ups), as the only time I saw these was at the time I bought this figure.

While Christmas Shopping…

I was out and about doing some Christmas shopping, and I saw this at the comic shop, sitting on the shelf for cover price.

I had to get it.  There were many different covers for this issue, and even though this is the second printing, this is a pretty awesome cover.  As you can see, this particular cover was done by Kevin Eastman(co-creator of the Turtles).  There was an “incentive”(I don’t have the specifics) cover that was done by Sam Kieth that I want(because he’s my all-time favorite artist, if you didn’t already know that), but since it was short-printed, it’s commanding no less than $20.

All of the different covers are awesome, and it’s kind of pointless to own 10+ of the same comic with different covers(although if I had the disposable income, I would own one of each).  I haven’t read it yet, but from what I’ve peaked at, it should be as entertaining as any of the older Turtle books that I’ve read in the past.  I’ll keep you posted.

Cybertronian Soundwave

I’ve been sitting on this for a little while.  Obviously.

I have a backlog of toys that need to be opened and reviewed.  Out of the six or so Transformers I have on deck, this is the one I was most anxious to get to.  Soundwave here, like a few others, is in his Cybertronian mode(like the others, I believe this is based on the version in “The War for Cybertron” video game).

And he looks freakin’ sweet!

While in robot mode, he is reminiscent to his G1 look.  But in his alternate mode, that’s not the case.  Just look.

It does look pretty intimidating.  If I didn’t know that this was a Transformer, I would think that it was a retooled Thundertank(which is awesome).  This isn’t as iconic as his G1 walkman mode, but it’s still very cool.  As is this…

His gun and shoulder cannon can be stored behind his chest/windshield.   Very cool indeed.

I rounded up the rest of my Soundwaves for a group shot, just because I thought it would be fun.  But I’ll let you be the judge.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Today is the day to reflect and remember what we are thankful for.  I am thankful for my wife, my family, my friends, my freedom, everyone who visits/has visited here and of course the toys.  Eat, drink and be merry.  Watch some football(let’s go Packers!).  Load up on turkey and drift into a tryptophan coma.  I hope all of you were able to catch at least a little bit of the Macy’s Thansgiving Day Parade(great again, as always).  Again, Happy Thanksgiving all!!

 Anyone remember this Guy?  🙂

Wizard #37, September 1994

I scored this for a buck at the Albany Comic-Con.

I’m sure most of you know what Wizard magazine consisted of, but for those of you that don’t know…let me give you a brief explanation.

This was the self-proclaimed “Guide to Comics”(the last issue was for March 2011, and is now a web-only publication).  It’s first issue debuted in July of 1991, and quickly became almost like a bible for comic books.  The early issues were jam-packed with anything you wanted to know about any comic.  And those were my favorite issues.  Basically every hot artist at the time did covers for Wizard.  Like Todd McFarlane, Sam Kieth and Rob Liefeld(I’m not a fan of his work).  A lot of the older issues came with premiums as well(trading cards, comics, special offers).  These earlier issues were also about 3-4 times thicker than the later issues.  In any event, it was fit to be called the “Guide to Comics”.

Now, I’m not going to review every freakin’ page of this magazine.  But I will show five of my favorite pages from the magazine(this could lead to future installments, as I have a few other early issues in my collection).

(1.

Envelope art is awesome!  I’ve sent my fair share of mail with drawins on the envelope, but nothing of this quality.  These envelopes took time and talent!  This was a feature I looked forward to every month during the magazines early days.

 

(2.

Mortal Kombat II was such a bad-ass game when it came to the arcade(or deli or pizza place).  This was the advertisement for it’s home console/portable release.  The Super Nintendo version would be my choice…for sentimental reasons.

This issue was not short on video game ads.

 

(3.

Homemade Heroes was another regular feature that I looked forward to.  It’s really cool to see custom action figures from almost 20 years ago.   I’m no fan of Mystery Science Theater, but it’s cool to see custom figures from the show.

 

(4.

I like Spawn, and was a huge fan back in the day.  But this was not the main reason that I selected this as one of my favorite pages from this magazine.  The word “almost”, is why I chose it.  Back in the early years of Image Comics, they were known to have delays and erratic schedules for a lot of their titles.  In my opinion, this is suitable for framing.

 

(5.

The top 100 list.  This would give you some insight to which were the hottest books at the time.  For every issue  you may have read at the time, there were a lot others that you may have had no prior interest in, but got them because of this list.  When trades for books on this list went down, we always used the price guide in the back of the mag to see what would be a fai trade.  The price guide was reduced to a mere few pages in later issues.

 

It sucks that you can no longer find Wizard on the racks, but it’s a great trip to look at these older issues.  Does anyone have any memories from this great magazine?

And since I made it a point to mention the premiums, and showed the magazine in the bag stating what the promos are, here’s what was within the polybagged offering.

I couldn’t make out the name, and didn’t feel like searching online for it.  So I guessed that it is called Brute Babe Infinity(but I could be wrong).   The issue number is the infinity symbol, so that’s different, but the comic itself doesn’t do anything for me.

Now these promos are worth talking about.  Here we have a four card spread(I don’t want to call it an uncut sheet, as there’s an ad for the series onthe back, instead of the usual card backs), and a chromium-foil Gen 13 card.  I have a few other foil promo cards from other issues, but I must say that I was disappointed when these stopped coming with the magazine.  Sure, they had some promo cards(non-foil or gimmicky), in future issues, but they just weren’t the same.