Thundercats 2011 Wilykit

But before we get to that.

Big Daddy Darth from Plastic Mayhem left a comment to my last post.

“I liked the MAXX…but I liked the Isz figures that came with him even more…lol Those damn things are creepy!”

And being that I didn’t remember to photograph him for the last post…here ya go!

(Creepy?  Yes.  Awesome?  Yes!)

This next figure is the only Thundercat from the new line, that I did not purchase at Toys R Us.  I happened to find this one at Target.  It seems that the Targets and Wal-Marts within a reasonable distance from where I live, do not have any Thundercats figures.  Yet, they are at every Toys R Us that I’ve been to.

I had to make a choice on either Wilykit here, or Tygra(I wanted to get both).

Her only accessories are her flute, and a hover board, like her brother’s.  I’m happy with this figure overall, but for some reason, there seems to be something off with her face.  It’s not that the paint or sculpt is bad, she just looks a little off from her appearance in the show, while the other figures are spot on.

Just like her brother’s, her board also has concealed fire power!

My Wilykat figure’s board has trouble keeping the guns concealed, but Wilykit’s board keeps them firmly in place.  But that’s fine, because it’s the figure itself, that matters to me.

I’m sure all of you are aware that next Sunday is Easter.  Well, today I had the opportunity to see one of my favorite commercials ever!  Two times, actually!  It was the Cadbury Creme Egg commercial!  The Cadbury Creme Egg is one of my favorite candies ever!  So, like the dork that I am, I snapped a few shots of the commercial while it was on my television screen.  I know it would have been better timing to post this next weekend, but knowing me, I’d end up forgetting.  Writing about it early is much better than writng about it after the day has passed.

(How friggin’ cute is that?!)

On a side note, I still have a pack of the Eggs(the miniature variety[not the Cadbury Mini-Eggs, but mini Creme Eggs]), still in my freezer from last Easter.  I wanted to do a mini-review of them here, but I never got around to it.  I’m surprised that I didn’t even eat one over the course of the year.  But I think my mind just wanted to see how long I would be able to resist them, because as I said earlier, I really do like these.  I’m sure they’re still good, and I may as well eat them before they actually do go bad.  So, I’ll make it a point to do so, from now through Easter Sunday(maybe I’ll do the long overdue review!).

(The company’s spokes-bunny, also known as The Cadbury Bunny)

The Maxx Action Figure

I believe that this is a series 3 figure from the early days of McFarlane Toys.  This was in the days before McFarlane started making figures of sports stars and video games.  In the early days, McFarlane toys made a lot of(if not entirely), Image Comics characters, mostly from Spawn(McFarlane’s creation).  I bought him around 1999-2000, from a small comic book store in the Bronx(when I lived down there).  The store owner wanted $40 for it, mint-in-box.  I chatted with him as he rang me up, and he thought that I was crazy to buy it and open it.  Sam Kieth is my favorite artist of all time, and buying his creation in plastic form was a no-brainer.

His accessories were the headdress that he wears in “The Outback”, and an Isz.  The most common is the white one(which is the one I got, but did not photograph…oops!).  There were also black ones, and an exclusive that had 2 white and 2 black.  There was also a “Bag of Iszs”(which I believe were a McFarlane club exclusive), the bag contained a bunch of white, black and red iszs(I would love to locate a bag of these guys).

Anyway, this is yet another of my favorite figures(top 5).

Some of my Favorite Non-Sports Trading Cards

You know I collect toys, video games and comics.  And you may have noticed I collect trading cards as well.  Like comic books, I get a few trading cards here and there.  Growing up, and up until 8 or 9 years ago, like comics, I used to regularly purchase trading cards.  My first taste of collecting cards, was like most young boys, with baseball cards.  My older brother and my step brother gave my younger brother and I a couple of binders full of baseball cards.  If I would’ve kept those, I’d have around 10 Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards.

Over the years, cards I collected ranged from basketball to hockey to non-sports cards.  Back in the day, not only did Topps have all of the major sports licenses, but they also had all of the popular movie licenses, as well as the licenses for all the properties us kids were into.  Which means, there was quite a selection.  Through the years, technology has advanced, and there are always some type of new “chase” cards out there.  I remember when holograms were all the rage.  Now we have game-worn jersey cards, sketch cards, hell, back in the early nineties, there were Punisher insert(chase), cards that smelled like gun powder!  But enough with the history, let me show you some of my favorite non-sports trading cards!

I bought this for $5 at a sports card store in Westchester Square, in the Bronx.  I know Wizard routinely had trading cards sealed in a bag with the magazine during their early days.  But I don’t remember if these were for incentives for store owners if they ordered a certain amount of the magazine every month, or what.  It came straight from wizard sealed in a serial numbered case.  There was a Maxx promo card that did come with the magazine, but the artwork was different, and even though the information and card number were the same on both card backs, the paragraphs written on the back were different as well.  Here’s the regular card to compare with the one above(sorry, I didn’t scan the card backs).  And this card is also one of my favorites, even though I’m using it as a reference.

 We all remember Garbage Pail Kids, right?  Well in recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the series.  I say this because over the last 8-9 years, I have noticed newer series in Wal-Mart and Target.  Back in the eighties, GPK were your standard sticker/trading cards.  Now-a-days, there are all sorts of chase cards with varying gimmicks.  I got a few foil cards, and one of them is my second favorite GPK of all time.  And being that this card is foil, it just makes it that much cooler.  And for those of you wondering, Split Kit is my favorite(if you’re reading this and have an extra Split Kit, let me know if we can work out a deal).

Next, we have a card, whose subject matter is a staple of MAD magazine(which I’ve been reading since I was 8 years old).  Spy vs. Spy is one of my favorite features of MAD.  Remember when holograms were all the rage in the trading card and comic book communities?  Well, this card is from that era.  This is hologram #3 of 3.

Next up, is one of my most favorite Wacky Packages cards.  For those of you who don’t know, Wacky Packages is a trading card series that the Topps Company started in the 1970s.  Wacky Packages are parody cards of everyday brand name products. For example instead of Cherry Coke, they have Cherry Croak, and instead of Sweet n’ Low, they have Snot n’ Blow.  This one is a parody of McDonald’s Big Mac, and it’s a magnet insert card(#7 of 9), and it really works(it’s basically a cheap thin refrigerator magnet).

Last up for tonight, we have another foil card.  I remember where I acquired this one, but I have no idea where it originated from.  Was it inserted with a magazine?  Is it promotional?  It’s The Savage Dragon punching some guy’s head right of of his shoulders!  I think it’s a really cool card and the art work is bad-ass, but, I would really like to know it’s origins.  Of course, if you know, drop me a line.

This is just a small sample of cards from my collection.  If you liked this, let me know.  Maybe it’ll be another regular feature!

My Favorite Comic Book Covers #2 (The #1s)

Okay.  I had fun doing the last comic book cover entry, so I will continue to write posts about them.  The title of this post refers to the first issue of a comic.  This installment will feature six comics!  It was hard to narrow it down, but I could always write a part 2.  Let’s get to it!

X-Men Vol.2 #1

This was a huge deal when it hit shops in 1991.  Jim Lee was just starting to get huge, and with 3 or 4 variant covers, this was a hot item.  Of all of the covers for this issue, this is the only one I own.  This one folds out to reveal a larger picture(maybe I’ll dig it out at a later date and show you).  This cover stands out, because it takes up the whole canvas.  There’s no borders, or pricing, or artists and writers names on the cover, just a small Marvel Comics logo.  I love the logo and Jim Lee was definitely at the top of his game when he drew this!  I got this(along with a handful of other comics with covers done by Jim Lee), signed at one of he few Big Apple Comic-Con’s I attended around 2001-2002.  There was no limit set,and I waited behind people with stacks of books.  I also ended up getting him to sketch Logan for me(eventually you’ll get to see that too).  A really awesome cover from a really awesome guy!

The Maxx #1

That first shot is the glow-in-the-dark cover of the first issue for The Maxx.  The one below it is the more common one(I also have the 3-D version but the cover isn’t all that different and it’s not in 3-D).  Sam Kieth is my all-time favorite artist.  He has done some pretty weird stuff, and this is no exception.  I own all 35 1/2 issues, and the story combined with Kieth’s artwork is mind blowing.  And while the show on Mtv was pretty good, just as with books, the comics are better.  I was pretty bummed out that he had to cancel his appearance at a convention that I went to, but Sergio Aragones was there, so it wasn’t a total loss(more on that at another time).  In the future we’ll see his renditions of Batman, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, The Hulk and many more, all in his trademark style.

The Punisher #1 (mini-series)

When I started collecting comics, The Punisher quickly became my favorite.  This is the first issue of the 4 part(really 5 part) mini-series.  While Mike Zeck was the penciler for the interior art (issues 1-4), he and Phil Zimelman painted the covers.  These books have a certain style that’s just incredible.  I remember looking at the price guides and seeing these issues going for like 40-50 dollars.  This was years before graded comics were even heard of, so prices for ungraded copies are now considerably lower.  I had always wanted this mini-series, and I effectively hunted every issue down during my early twenties.  To this day, they remain some of the most unique renditions of The Punisher that I have ever seen.

The Savage Dragon #1

When Image Comics formed in 1992, they had a lot of hype going for them.  Here was a company that was formed by some of the top artists in comics.  The Savage Dragon here, is the creation of Erik Larsen.  You could guarantee that everyone in my age group at the time was buying up every issue of every new comic they released.  Back in those days, I was a sucker for the first issue of any comic.  I guess I was thinking if it was a number 1, it would be worth big bucks in the future.  While these books aren’t rare or expensive, I have great memories of the times they were first released, and that means more to me than the value of a comic.  The guy is a human dragon hybrid with a fin on his head…what’s not to like?

Beetlejuice #1

Now while this isn’t the copy I had then, I can still remember where I picked up this issue first.  I believe we were visiting my step mom’s mother in the hospital, and my brother and I were allowed to get an item from the gift shop(probably just to shut us up and keep us occupied).  Obviously, the comic above was my choice.  This is based on the Beetlejuice animated series, and like others before it, the quirky style called to me.  I can remember pouring over this series trying to draw what I was seeing.  Please give it a read before you turn your nose up at me.  🙂

Stupid #1

This was supposed to be a series that actually made fun of Image properties.  Sadly, there were no further issues after this initial release.  Hilary Barta was the artist for this series, and I love his style.  Barta worked as an inker( a tracer[that was a joke, sorry Hilary]), and penciler for quite a few titles in the 80s.  Here we see how he exaggerated Spawn’s cape.  A few pages in, his cape is actually stapled to the page, it’s quite funny.  Barta’s style compliments the comedy contained within.  Here is the “Where’s Aldo” work he did at the end of this comic.

I absolutely love it!  There is so much going on, and again his style is intriguing.  I wish they went along with further issues, because look at what would have been next.