Geeky miscellany...

I just thought I would post some of the random acquisitions I've made over the past few weeks. No theme in this post. I have a bunch of Lego waiting in the wings (more Ultra Agents, Lego Movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy).

Transformers Skrapnel and Reflector

G.I. Joe Collector's Club Cross-Country

Marvel Legends Iron Man

Gentle Giant Darth Malgus mini-bust

Disney Vinylmation Chip and Dale as Ewoks

A Winter Soldier's Tale...

So, I wasn't going to ever buy another non-Iron Man Marvel Legends figure, but I thought it would be nice to have a Marvel Now version of Captain America...

This led to picking up a Steve Rogers from Captain America: The Winter Soldier... then a Winter Soldier... then a Baron Zemo... Since I had three of the "build a figure" pieces for the SHIELD Mandroid, why not finish it up? Finding a Black Widow with the torso piece is currently impossible (who has the time to hunt), so I found a nice seller on eBay who had the torso for cheap. With the Red Skull and his Cosmic Cube, I finished the set. So much for not getting any more Marvel Legends.

I was also lucky enough to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night, while on vacation. What a great movie. Really great. It was the best G.I. Joe movie I ever saw.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I am still trying to master my mobile phone camera (I WILL figure out how to focus eventually).
 

From the comics - Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Captain America

From the movie - The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers

SHIELD Mandroid

Boba Nostalgia

Each year (recently) Hasbro has been offering mail-away figures for their Star Wars line. You send in a bunch of UPC codes off the backs of other Star Wars action figures, plus a couple of bucks for shipping and handling, and they send you an exclusive figure. This year, in conjunction with the release of the new Vintage line, they offered a throwback Boba Fett. This is an entirely new sculpt made to look exactly like the original mail-away figure from 1979-80, except this one can actually fire the missile out of his backpack! Check out the comparison between the new mail-away (left) and the 1979 orginal (right). Spot on!

Figure Review: Polar Sharc Submarine w/Ice Storm

I had to be torn away from the Top 25 Mythbusters moments special on the Discovery Channel to write this, but here I am. I am very excited to be reviewing the G.I. Joe Polar Sharc Submarine from the Rise of Cobra movie line.

The third wave of "Alpha-class" vehicles was cancelled after Hasbro tempted us with beautiful pictures and the chance to pre-order from our favorite on-line shops. The wave was mostly repaints, but one beautiful new, unique mold, movie-specific vehicle was part of the wave and is now in my greedy little hands. The product seemed to have trickled out to our neighbors in the north, and thanks to fine, enterprising Canadians on eBay, I now have the vehicle I was most looking forward to from the wave.

The Polar Sharc is a small "fighter sub" that was an integral part of the final battle in the movie. The mold is quite nice, the paint applications and color scheme are great and the detailing is top-notch. One nice little detail is the window on the bottom of the sub in addition to the canopy. My biggest complaint is that it is tiny! I think these were pretty large in the movie, and a bigger vehicle that could hold two figures would have been nice. It's a great futuristic design with a high swoosh-factor, make it bigger! My other complaint revolves around the stickers, I know this is a kid's toy, but the stickers for this were so small that applying them required magnification devices that worked at the angstrom level and tweezers.

The driver that comes with the vehicle is "Ice Storm", nice sculpt, good paint (love the metallic silver details). He looks exactly what you would expect an arctic sailor to look like (Helly Hansen-type jacket, high collar, snow pants, knit cap with a brim). He is just a bit too generic for a Joe, no personality really comes through that you would expect. If you need a plain arctic Coast Guardsman, Ice Storm is your man. (Overall Rating: Sharc 4/5, Ice Storm 3/5)

Figure Review: DC Direct Stargirl

Welcome to my first action figure review of many to come! I am going to try and post quick reviews of action figures as I get them (before they move off of my desk and sadly head off to cold storage in the basement).

I wanted to take a quick look at the recently released DC Direct JSA Series 2 Stargirl action figure. Stargirl, a.k.a. Courtney Whitmore, a creation of the illustrious Geoff Johns, has had her own comic serires (Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.), been part of the Justice Society of America for a long time, appeared in the animated show Justice League Unlimited (with her own figure from Mattel), and even had a live action appearance in Smallville.

We now finally have a comic accurate version of Stargirl to put along side of the other members of the Starman legacy (will we ever get a Mikaal Tomas, Prince Gavyn or Farris Knight figure? most likely not). The design is based on the JSA cover paintings of Alex Ross, with a pose typical of the more statue-like Ross interpretations of DC's heroes and villians. The blue metallic paint really works well and brings the figure to life. The attention to detail is nice with different reds used for the gloves and the Cosmic Converter Belt. There is something about the facial sculpt that strikes me a bit odd, but I can't put my finger on it (maybe the odd smile). Overall, I think this interpretation captures the character very well, and is a worthy addition to anyone's DC collection. (Overall Rating: 4/5)