More B-Day Goodies!

These two super cool items were given to me by my sister as a birthday gift and i’m super thankful to her for it!She’s always looking out for her little bro and i don’t know what i would do without her!Thank you soooo much!The Spidey shirt features a camouflage emblem which is a nice touch.The book features a who’s who of Marvel characters that are or have been affiliated with the Avengers in the past.There are over 200 full color photos and write ups on not just the heroes,but villains as well!

Birthday cash,nothing to spend it on!

I must say that i did have a great B-Day overall,spending it with the fam at an amazing little out of the way park over the weekend.I also received a little bit of  birthday cash and decided to pick up a couple figures that had been on my radar,and then check out the local hobby shop as well as Toys R Us to see what they had.Now,i’m not the type of collector that goes out of the way to find what i’m looking for.Usually if Wal Mart doesn’t have something then i might check out the local Target or nearby pharmacies but that’s about it.I rarely go to TRU or hobby shops for that matter.Today i decided to go against the grain and traverse crappy little “under construction” roads to see what TRU had to offer seeing as how the Comic shop had pretty much nothing in the way of action figures…although i was impressed at how they were able to make their floors so sticky.Anyways,TRU disappointed with a bunch of wave 1 Retaliation Joes,hoards of 6 inch figures and overpriced playsets.A big W.A.G.(Waste Of Gas)(Waste-A-Gas) My bad  Luckily my trusty Wal-Mart still had 600 rows of  Superman  MOS figures left as well as the 3 3/4  Drak Knight  figures that just refuse to leave the party.And some may argue that Wal-Mart also has sticky floors and i would say to them “True,but they also have the best deal on single rolls of  GV toilet paper.”

Lanard CORPS! – Hugo “Shadow” Ortiz

Every once in a while a couple of Lanard CORPS! figures manage to sneak their way into my collection and such is the case with  Shadow!Hugo “Shadow” Ortiz is affiliated with the covert ops branch of the CORPS and is a decent looking figure for the price.

 Lanard has provided a cool site http://www.thecorpshq.com/ for serious and/or casual collectors  of CORPS! figures.You’ll be able to access certain pages like the one shown below,of every member of the CORPS! team including the villains.You’ll only be able to access character bios if you become a member,which isn’t that big of a deal but it is nice to get a feel for a figures background.

G.I. Joe 25th Ann. – Serpentor (DVD pack)

While not 100% cartoon accurate, the 25th ann. DVD pack Serpentor  does a decent job of  coming fairly close to the 80′s animated  version.The figure could have benefited from a few green paint apps here and there,but the overall sculpt is solid.I also love the fact that his head piece is removable,but hate the fact that he is bald.Some have said in the past that this was Serpentor soon after being created,and that his hair hadn’t grown in yet.Not sure how true that is.

Superman MOS-Superman (mega tire blaster)

I don’t know what it is about these pint sized (3 3 /4 more or less)  Superman figures that keep pulling me in.I’ve stated before how this may be a result of  previously not owning any Superman figures which in turn has led me to suffer a withdrawal of sorts,but i stand corrected.I really like these figures!Yes i would have loved to see a bit more articulation but remember,this is not a Marvel Universe figure nor is it a POC/Retaliation Joe with loads of accessories.These are fun little Superman figures meant to be collected by the handful and played with in the back seats of  family vans/cars  while mom does her usual errand running.I guess it’s  the kid in me that can truly appreciate these figures for what they are.I must admit to whizzing Supes around ,with arms straight up in simulated flight like i was friggin’ 8 years old again.MY THOUGHTS:Again we have pretty much the same sculpt as the split cycle version except for the face sculpt which seems to look a bit different this time around and a lighter shade of blue on the outfit.I love the paint on this line of figures and mega tire blaster Superman delivers in this department as well.I’m really digging the many variations of  Superman and the use of different  outfit designs.The included accessory is more of a gimmick and can only really be used by hand and not while the figure is holding it.Another big difference lies in the cape,as this one is made of a transperant plastic rather than of cloth like the split cycle version has.The plastic seems a bit flimsy and is comperable to the plastic used for the lenses on a set of  3d glasses.The cape casts a reflection of the figure when photographed at certain angles,an effect that translates nicely when taking pics.If i had to give these figures a numericle rating from  1-10  based on what most collectors want out of an action figure,then i would give them a solid 6 .

These next couple of pics go out to fellow blogger Figure Fan Zero ,who btw has an awesome action figure blog with a lot of good reads at  http://figurefanzero.com/  .He dug the   vs.Hulk pic in my last  Superman  Man of Steel  post ,inspiring me to snap a few more      

And yes..those are my creepy man child fingers thrusting Superman into action to deliver a straight right hand cross onto Marvel Legends series 1 Hulk’s incredibly fugly grill!

OUCH!

Secret Wars III

Superman MOS – Superman (split cycle) loose

I gotta start this off by saying that i do not consider myself a toy reviewer.I’ll point out a couple of things here and there collectors may or may not like,but that’s about it.So if  this write up starts to come off as some kind of an educated toy review,totally disreguard because it’s just me trying to sound smart.That said,i will also confess to never owning any of the contemporary Mattel 3 3/4 DC figures.In fact the closest i’ve come to those are a couple of Generator Rex figures Mattel released a while back,but that’s about it.The limited articulation on alot of  the 3 3/4 DC stuff was a huge turn off for me and i wasn’t about to pay 15 bucks for the 6″ stuff. I’m not very hip to the DC universe of figures but i’ve always wanted a decent Batman and/or Superman figure in the 3 3/4 scale.When the last Batman film released i was hoping to get some cool figures out of it, but only got those dinky little 5 dollar ones that showed up on the pegs at stores i didn’t even kniow sold action figures. I literally tripped over these figures on my walks around the block with my daughter.Needless to say i wasn’t biting.Now it seems Mattel is doing the same with these Superman MOS (Man of Steel) figures,and at first i wasn’t going to bite,then i bit …and i’m glad i did.At first glance this figure didn’t blow me away.In fact i think  what blew me away more was the  concept of  finally owning a Superman figure.I was a bit star struck to say the least.I mean, this guy could essentially kick every figure in my collection’s ass into next week with the exception of my Avengers Hulk figure and even that’s a toss up.Superman MOS would be catapaulted into the number one spot atop my  ”most powerful action figures” list.MY THOUGHTS: I’ve come to terms with the lack of articulation in the legs only because the arm sculpts/articulation make up for it imo.Another plus lies in the facial sculpt which manages to capture some of Henry Cavill’s appearance but also has an old kenner vibe to it with the blue dotted eyes.The overall sculpt is pretty solid and while you can’t pose much of his lower half,the arms can be positioned in ways to make for some really cool display stances.The paint and new suit design is on point,textured and has somewhat of a glossy finish to it.I love the cloth cape BUT BE CAREFUL when taking this figure out of the package.For some reason,Mattel has placed a small plastic tag that keeps the cape in place while in the package and if you attempt to pull the figure out of the package without taking this small plastic tag off,it will pull on the cape  leaving a small little annoying hole at the bottom of  it.The whole motorcycle gimmick is pretty a much a wash and it’s pretty difficult to make the figure hold it while it’s put together.Other than those small gripes,i  love this figure for what it is.BTW-At first glance i didn’t think these would be in scale with any of my other figures so i posted a couple of example pics for size comparison.