Arctic Backdrop

Here’s my new foam backdrop.I tried my best to get the right shades of Grey,White and Black to get that arctic look and while it’s not a perfect representation i’m pretty happy with it.

Custom Backdrops and Dioramas

Lately i’ve been spending some time on some pretty cool sites,trying to familiarize myself with the world of customizing and building dioramas.I found a great site that gives a small tutorial on how to create your own dioramas and backdrops out of pink insulation foam.I immediately took to it and now i’m hooked.Basically what you do is draw your design on the foam and then retrace everything so that you leave an impression,giving it depth.I free handed the cracks and walls  and used a ruler to make the horizontal brick lines and door.The floor was made the same way.After everything has been retraced you can prime it with black paint and ultimately when that dries, give it the final paint job. Here is my first ever foam backdrop diorama.Let me know what you think!

Backdrop

Floor

Backdrop and Floor Painted

Finished Product

1994 Spawn: Overtkill 2/20 – 2/26

This is hands down the biggest,chunkiest,widest and heaviest action figure in my collection!I remember Overtkill mostly from the SNES Spawn game i used to play and after reading up on him in the comic that came with the figure, he seems to be a real cool character/villain.Overtkill is a Cyborg/hit-man for the Mob and one of Spawn’s biggest rivals.The action figure is a little exaggerated as far as size goes though not that far off from what he looks like in the comics.He comes with two weapons, a parking meter and his head.The parking meter fits in his right hand nicely and looks pretty cool although i wish  he would have come with a gun of some kind.Overtkill’s head acts as a missal that actually launches off of his body when a small button on his back is pressed .Overall a great figure and display piece!

1994 Overtkill

1994 Spawn: Medieval Spawn

I was never a huge fan of  Spawn but i’ve always liked the way he looked.I remember years back picking up the HBO animated Spawn  series on VHS and the SNES and Dreamcast   video game’s were pretty sick too.Since i wasn’t collecting comics at the time Spawn’s were released i relied mostly on T.V. and other media like video games to better familiarize myself  with the character.So after being given the green light by my better half to pick up some toys online for valentines,i decided to go with the line of Spawn figures that started it all.I believe these were the first series of Spawn figures ever to be released by McFarlane and while the sculpt,paint and design are just amazing,the same can’t be said about the quality.The figure itself is very chunky and the articulation,while limited,is still on par with pretty much every other action figure released in the 90′s.His sword fits snugly  in his right hand and his shield clips on to his left arm without any problems.The problem pieces on this figure are his shoulder pads,cape and rubber chain belts.The shoulder pads are removable and have to be in order to attach his cape.Alone the shoulder pads are a little loose but not that much of a problem,it’s when you try to attach the cape when everything pretty much goes to you know what.The cape on this figure just does not stay on,and when the cape comes off so do the shoulder pads.It got to be pretty annoying to say the least.The other issue i had with this figure was with the two little chain link belts attached to his waist.These problem pieces are made out of an extremely soft rubber and have little pegs at both ends that fit into Spawn’s skeleton buckle and back.They tend to fall out if you handle the figure too much and to put the soft little rubber pegs back into their respective tiny holes is friggin’ tedious.Some people remove them and place them in Spawn’s hand to be used as a weapon of sorts but I’d much rather leave them be.Both of these problems could be fixed with a little Crazy Glue but being that these are the first Spawn figures to ever hit the market i really don’t want to mess with the integrity of the design.Even though this toy has it’s flaws ,it’s still pretty iconic IMO and makes for a bad a#$ display piece.

1994 Medieval Spawn

The comic book that comes with these figures are not very long but do sport some amazing artwork as well as a glimpse into the characters background.

1994 Todd McFarlane’s SPAWN

Taking a break from G.I. Joe,i’m pretty happy about my recent Valentine’s gift as i have been looking to pick up some SPAWN figures as of late and these arrived today! I’ll take some pics of them loose later on this week.Until then,enjoy some pics of  Medieval Spawn and Overtkill carded

1994 Todd McFarlane's Medieval Spawn and Overtkill

G.I. Joe ROC Gung-Ho 2/13-2/19

Every now and then i look at these amazing little over articulated  3 3/4  G.I. Joe figures of mine and think to myself  how much fun it would  have been to have these as a kid!I mean with all the different ways you can pose these  figures  now a days and the seemingly endless amount of accessories included with them just makes my imagination go nutsos!I don’t actually play with my toys like i did as a kid  but when figures like this Gung-Ho come along, i come dangerously close to losing all inhibitions lol!As a kid this figure would have been the one that went on solo missions,overcoming absurd obstacles and single handedly  taking out waves of  Cobra troopers in a balls out Joe rescue attempt!The 1980′s version of Gung-Ho is a classic but the figure’s design never did the cartoon version of him any justice.The 25th Ann. Gung-Ho was o.k. but slightly over- exaggerated in the muscles department whereas this ROC version,IMO,knocks it out of the park!

G.I. Joe ROC Gung-Ho

 

G.I. Joe ROC Copperhead

As we get closer and closer to the summer release of G.I. Joe Retaliation,my wants to snag up as much as i can from the first movie grows.Funny how these compulsions occur in stages.And it’s not just ROC Joe’s i’m after,i missed out on a lot of the 25th stuff  so i’ll be hunting those down as well.Pretty much anything G.I. Joe related will be on my radar the next few days.Here we have Copperhead.This was one of my favorite characters  in the old A.R.A.H. series mainly because of his color scheme and design.I never had his action figure as a kid but loved it to death.I think Hasbro did a great job in recreating Copperhead without straying too far from his original design.Also note that when i say this figure has arguably the biggest “guns” in the ROC line,i’m not talking about his weapons.I mean look at the size of  this guy’s arms LOL! It’s a shame they couldn’t incorporate this guy into the ROC film,he might have been great.

G.I. Joe ROC Copperhead

G.I. Joe ROC Wal-Mart Exclusive Gung-Ho Vs. Copperhead

I’ll be posting  pics of these guys loose over the weekend.I must say  Copperhead looks great and my first post will probably be on him!

G.I. Joe ROC Gung-Ho Vs. Copperhead

G.I. Joe ROC Rip Attack Tiger Snake w/Street Viper

This was sitting next to the Snake Eyes Jet Storm cycle on sale so i picked it up as well.You can’t beat paying 8 bucks for two vehicles and two figures.This is the Cobra Tiger Snake and it comes with the Street Viper figure.I’m not too crazy about the color scheme but i love the design.The figure is pretty cool too!

 

Cobra Tiger Snake

 

G.I. Joe ROC Rip Attack Jet Storm Cycle w/ Snake Eyes

First of all let me give you all a  second to catch your breath after reading the ridiculously long title of this post 1…2…3…better?  O.K. now that we’ve got that squared away we can move on to my thoughts on this product.The first thing you’ll notice about the packaging is the lack of toy visibility.I must have passed by this box  a gazillion times in the past at my local department stores,not because of the price but because  of what i perceived it to be.The only visible piece of the product is a trigger mechanism which IMO  mislead buyers(including myself) into thinking this was just a mere G.I. Joe ROC nerf-like hand gun  or something to that effect.Sure, upon closer inspection and after looking at the back of the box all the specs are available to read and look at but if your anything like i am then you’re probably going to give this a quick glance and then focus on the more visible items on the shelves and pegs.What this box fails to convey to potential buyers are the incredibly cool contents and amazing action figure included.

G.I. Joe ROC Rip Attack Jet Storm Cycle w/ Snake Eyes

Here’s the Jet Storm Cycle out of box and ready for some Rip Attack action!The way the mechanism works is self  explanatory 1)you yank the rip attack cord  2)pull the trigger and 3)watch Snake Eyes high tail it across your living room floor(it’s alot faster on hard surfaced floors but still works on carpets and rugs) !I have had more fun with this motorcycle at the age of 34 and can appreciate the gimmick more than i  would have  as a kid LOL!

All gimmicks aside,contrary to what a lot of people have said and written about this motorcycle in past reviews,i think it’s pretty sick.It’s durable,heavy with thick rubber wheels and stands alone even with the Snake Eyes figure mounted.While this cycle may not look as sleek or hip as the Arashikage,it still has that military and aerodynamic vibe to it and kind of reminds me of a futuristic version of the 80′s RAM cycle .The Arashikage cycle is cool but IMO looks more like a racing bike or something you would take out for a pleasure spin whereas the Jet storm  is all about business.

What really shines about this set IMO is the Snake Eyes figure that comes with it.Again,It wouldn’t have hurt Hasbro to make this guy visible in the package.I absolutely love this version of  Snake Eyes.A lot of times, figures that are included with motorcycles are permanently stuck in one position or have limited articulation.Such is not the case with this one.The only difference between this figure and the individually carded ones is that he comes with no weapons or figure stand.Other than that he is fully articulated and comes with  a pre-cut file card as well.The  solid black paint on this figure is awesome and to me looks better than the carded ROC  movie version of Snake Eyes.This set really should have been called “Snake Eyes w/Rip Attack Jet Storm Cycle” 

Here he is sporting my POC Snake Eyes’ sword and sheath!

If you hurry out to Toys R Us now these sets are on sale and can be bought for 4 -5 bucks a piece.The figure alone is worth that much IMO and if your looking to fill holes in your Joe collection go out and grab this set now before it’s too late!