April 2011
4 posts
Toy Review: Generations Warpath
Transformers: Generations Warpath “BOOM! KA-POW!” No, that’s not me looking for a new expletive to replace “awesome”. That was two of the catch phrases that the Generation One Transformers character, Warpath used during the cartoon’s initial run. It was his trademark. Like Seaspray’s gurgle, or Sky Lynx’s pompuous English accent, or...
Blog Post: There is ALWAYS Someone Geekier than...
Ozine Fest: Day 1 and 2 So I’ve spent two days at this year’s Ozine Fest and I’m happy I took the time to visit another convention. I may not be the ideal demographic for this particular event, but from what I could see, the crowd was having a good time. The lines alone this morning was enough to tell me how popular Ozine Fest is. I was there around 6PM Yesterday, in...
Toy Review: Reveal the Shield Wreck-Gar
Transformers: Reveal the Shield Wreck-Gar One of the images from the 1986 animated film Transformers: The Movie that really stuck in my head was the face of the Junkion (a native of the Planet of Junk, duh) leader, Wreck-Gar, with starlight glinting in his eye after he says “You check in, but they don’t check out.” It was during the “Junkions Attack” scene and...
Toy Review: McDonalds' Rio Happy Meal Toys
McDonald’s Happy Meal Rio Toys Whee! I’ll admit to being bummed out when I first found out that McDonalds and Disney had dissolved their decade-long partnership in 2006. That meant those great Happy Meal toys from 101 Dalmations, Tarzan, Atlantis and all the other great giveaways. But if that never happened, we never would have gotten the Spectacular Spider-Man set, or those...
March 2011
13 posts
Toy Review: Revoltech Predator
Revoltech Predator It’s been some time since I last bought a Revoltech figure. I started with Danboard but quickly moved onto the Fräulein Revoltechs, including the TV and Movie versions of Gurren Lagann’s Yoko, Pocco, among others. After I got completed the four Transformer figures (Hot Rodimus, Starscream, Megatron, and Convoy) I stopped the line. I had gotten most of the...
Toy Review: Pursuit of Cobra Shock Troopers
Pursuit of Cobra Shock Troopers It’s been awhile since I first started with the G.I. Joe: Pursuit of Cobra (PoC) line, but since then I’ve collected quite a few figures. During the Thor Movie toyline launch (I know I’ve mentioned this in the past 4 reviews, but I got a butt load of toys on that day), I lined up for one of the sets of PoC figures that included the...
Blog Post: Metro Comic Con 2011
Metro Comic Con 2011 Another Con! Looking forward to this one. It’s usually a much smaller event without the ancilliary stuff going on, like cosplay and gaming events. That means a more relaxed environment to actually browse through comics… Details at http://slangards.i.ph/ Posted via email from Articulated Hippopatami | Comment »
Toy Review: Savage Frost Giant & Loki
Savage Frost Giant and Loki To cap off our unofficial Thor week here (I’ve reviewed Marvel’s Destroyer and the 4” Frost Giants so far) I’ll be taking a look at the new Marverl Universe Giantic Battles set, Savage Frost Giant and Loki. It’s been awile since Hasbro’s last assortment of Gigantic Battles figures, and I honestly thought we’d never see...
Toy Review: Marvel’s Frost Giants
Marvel’s Frost Giants When I attended last week’s launch of the Thor Movie toy line, I went a bit nuts: Among the things I piled into my goodie bag were several of the Thor toys that were available at the distribution tables. I reviewed the 8” Marvel’s Destroyer toy a few days ago, but there were loads more. Because I collect so many lines and scales, I had to cherry pick among the 4”...
Toy Review: Marvel's Destroyer
Marvel’s Destroyer Now that the X-Men mania has died down and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man are done, we’ve got other Marvel franchises to keep us up to our ears in comic book geekiness. First up is Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth coming up in May. To whet our appetites, Playkit, Hasbro, and Toy Kingdom decided to launch the Thor movie toy line a bit...
Movie Review: Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch Thanks to the beautiful people at Newworlds.PH, I got 2 tickets to the advanced screening of Zack Snyder’s new flick, Sucker Punch. I’ve been looking forward to this movie ever since I first saw Gentle Giant’s solicitation photos from the last years big toy cons. Those statues of Baby Doll, Amber, and Sweet Pea still make me drool. When the posters arrived on...
Blog Post: Thor Movie Toys Launch
Philippine Launch of the Thor Movie Toy Line Philippine Launch of Thor Movie Toys Toy Kingdom Megamall (Basement, Building A, SM Megamall) Saturday, March 19-20, 2011 If you’ve never been to a Cybertron PH/Playkit toy event, now’s your chance.As with every distribution of this kind, the day starts when the mall opens at 10 AM. When the the distribution sheet arrives (sometime...
Toy Review: Cyborgic Rex
4D Master Cyborgic Rex Sweet! During Toy Kingdom Podium’s 3-day sale last weekend, I got several new toys at 20% off. Ok, 19% (standard 10% off on all white tags + 10% off on the resulting 90% of the list price for any Toy Kingdom card holders who buy in the first 2 hours of the sale = 19%). Yeah it gave me a headache the first time someone explained it to me, too. Anyway, among those...
Toy Review: King Bumi
King Bumi This is another of the Fisher Price figures that my girlfriend got me at the last Christmas Toy Fair. It’s probably one of my favorite toys in the entire collection because of the huge fun factor built into it. If you’re a fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon, then you’re probably a fan of the Earthbenders. How can you not love the Earth...
Toy Review: Padme Amidala (Snow Bunny Costume)
Padme Amidala Gah. I’ve been avoiding the Star Wars section of the toy stores for the longest time. For a guy who is currently collecting five different toylines and dabbling in countless others, this line is torture; great looking sculpts, huge fun factor, awesome playsets, and a built-in army building potential. It’s the baby beauty pageant to my Pedobear. This here is the...
Toy Review: Marvel Select Juggernaut
It’s the Juggernaut, bitch! That’s right. It’s the Juggernaut, bitch. Cain Marko, step-brother of Professor Charles Xavier, weilder of the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Yadda yadda yadda. I won’t go into it anymore since, hey, he’s the Juggernaut, bitch. If you feel like it, read more about him here. Bitch. Ok, Ok. I’ll stop now. It’s...
February 2011
8 posts
Toy Review: Zombie Kong
4D Master Zombie Kong Someone once pointed out to me that my buying habits are skewed towards the way Americans shop. Pinoys, will usually target one toy when they set out to do some toy hunting. They will seek out that toy, and failing to procure it, they will go home, perhaps frustrated, but with that money still in their pocket. I can’t do that. What usually happens is I’ll target...
Toy Reviews: Reveal the Shield Lugnut
Reveal the Shield Lugnut Ah, Transformers Animated (TFA). Fan boys may hate it for its heavily Anime-inspired style and obvious targeting of a younger audience, but you couldn’t deny the appeal of the TFA toyline. The Deluxe Class toys, like the fantastically designed Blurr, got a lot of the attention, but my favorites were from the Voyager size class. Blitzwing and Wreck-Gar were...
Toy Review: POC Wave 3 Snake Eyes
Pursuit of Cobra Commando Snake Eyes It has been awhile since my last GI Joe review. With the mediocrity of the of Rise of Cobra toy line it’s no wonder that it’s one of the lines that I lost track of. With few exceptions (Desert Ambush Scarlett), most of the figures that came out after the movie were pretty terrible (*ahem* Cover Girl *cough*). I still can’t understand...
Toy Review: Special Ops Jazz
Special Ops Jazz Sometimes I think that Hasbro must have some kind of multiple personality disorder. How else do you explain the number of sub lines in their top franchise, Transformers? I could appreciate the Generation 1 (G1), Cybertron, Energon, Armada lines. They were all matched to corresponding cartoon series. They were also out only one at a time, one after the other. These days,...
Toy Review: Airbending Aang
Airbending Aang No, I’m not reviewing another one of those Spin Master toys from that AWFUL movie. I think The Blue Spirit was the only figure from that line that I had any interest in whatsoever. This Aang is from the Fisher Price (which is really just Mattel for kids) toy line of several years ago; the one that was based on the original material before M. Night Shymalan got his...
Toy Review: Knightfall Batman
DC Universe Classics Knightfall Batman It was the summer of 1993, right after the death of Superman, and the biggest news in comics was “Knightfall”, the downfall of the Dark Knight. After having his back broken by Bane, Bruce Wayne was replaced by Jean-Paul Valley, also known as the assassin for the Order of Saint Dumas called Azrael. Valley, clad in some slick duds that he built himself...
Toy Review: Windcharger
Reveal the Shield Windcharger Good things come in small packages. The same apparently goes for Transformers toys. I’ve been a fan of the Scout Class since I first picked up Scout Class Elita One (a repaint of Energon Arcee) way back in my first year of toy collecting. The beauty of this size class is that they are just big enough to allow for some design flexibility while remaining...
Toy Review: Reveal the Shield Decepticon Legends
Reveal the Shield Decepticon Legends The Decepticons are badly outnumbered in Legends Class assortments from Hasbro’s various Transformers lines these past few years. Not only were there no bad guys included in that first set of classics inspired Generation 1 (G1) Legends, the new Reveal the Sheild (RTS) Legends wave has a 2 to 4 ratio. So while you can currently turn your desk...
January 2011
10 posts
Toy Review: Henkei! Megatron
Henkei! Megatron Ever since I got my Voyager Optimus Prime from Toy Kingdom, I’ve wanted to pick up this figure as well. Problem being that I had paid something like Php 800.00 ($16.00 US at the time) for the figure and Megatron was going for Php 2,000.00 and up at hobby shops. I just could not bring myself to put down that kind of cash, especially since I’m not big fan of...
Toy Review: Marvel Superheroes Happy Meal Toys
McDonald’s Marvel Superheroes Happy Meal Toys! Having learned my lesson about Happy Meal Toy collecting, I usually just buy the entire set in one go as soon as I know they’re out. Otherwise, you’re going to be stuck with every figure in a set EXCEPT the one that was sold out that first day. This often leaves me with 5 or 6 “Burger McDo” sandwiches (cheap sausage burgers with...
Toy Review: Marvel Legends Red Hulk Wave
Long LONG review of the Marvel Legends Red Hulk Wave! Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/reviews/item/97 on Feb 3, ‘09 I’ve been wanting this wave since I heard about it. Mostly because of the Build-A-Figure was a Hulk figure, but also because the line up has some really great characters that haven’t had any plastic love from previous Marvel Legends...
Toy Review: Reveal the Shield Autobot Legends
Reveal the Shield Autobot Legends Back in 2009, I lucked into the Legends Class Transformers that were based off the classic designs of Beachcomber, Brawn, Bumblebee, Cosmos, Hot Rod, Hound, Jazz, Warpath, and Wheelie. This was fortuitous because they were only on the pegs for a short time due to limited numbers, high demand, and a markdown that came a few days after they were shelved. Even...
Toy Review: Knock off Cybertron Seeker
Robots Deformation Cybertron Seeker While most knock off versions of Transformers toys are fine examples of the old adage, “You get what you pay for,” I do find some relatively high quality stuff now and again. Those who troll the bowels of the El Dorado that is Divisoria know that there are quite a few bootleg toys that are worth the money those pirates will charge you for...
Toy Review: Masterworks Galactus
Marvel Universe Masterworks Galactus If you’re serious about toy collecting, you need to get on board with certain realities. The most important being, this hobby costs money. Some serious scratch. It’s not like gardening or pet rock breeding or cow pat throwing. Collecting the fantastic plastic can drain your finances like nothing else. This hobby never stops. For instance,...
Movie Preview: Sucker Punch
Movie Preview: Sucker Punch If I was asked to pick just one movie to see this year, I’d have to say it was Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. If you have haven’t heard of this film, well then you really should stop what you’re doing, log on to YouTube and watch the shit out of the scrumptulescent trailer: [widget:widget_ChKFC1295046007062] That should really tell you all you need to...
Movie Review: RPG Metanoia
Movie Review: RPG Metanoia It’s funny that after almost two decades in this country, it’s only now that I’ve found a film that I can truly get behind as something that sets itself apart from the pack of asinine action flicks and truly banal dramas that the local studios have turned out year after year. What is even more remarkable is that I should find it playing during the Metro...
2 tags
Blog Post: TS118's Super-Sized DMD
TS118’s Super-Sized Dynamic Modular Diorama The level of geekery that people get up to never ceases to amaze me. Even with all the toys and DVDs that are in my collection, I am considered by most of my peers to be a MODERATE geek. I don’t have the entire history of the Marvel Universe memorized. I can’t recite passage and verse from the Wheel of Time books. Hell, I can’t...
December 2010
10 posts
Toy Review: Steamhammer and the Constructicons
Steamhammer with Constructicons You’d think that my review of Grimstone an the Dinobots would mean that I’d decided to drop the Power Core Combiners from my pull list of Transformer toys, but I’m you’d be wrong. Though I really was disappointed by that first wave 4 set, the second one was enough to keep me on the hook. Steamhammer and the Constructicons is the second...
Toy Review: Grimstone & the Dinobots
Grimstone and the Dinobots “Grimstone and the Dinobots”. It sounds like one of those cartoons from the 80’s they liked to show on Saturday mornings. Either that or a rock band. It’s neither, however. Grimstone and the Dinobots is a boxset of Transformers availble at toystores now. It’s part the new Transformer subline called the “Power Core...
Toy Review: Marvel Legends Deadpool & Warpath
Deadpool & Warpath Ah, Mr. Liefeld. Although he is generally the target of scorn because of his douche bag behavior and his blatant disregard for proportion and anatomy, you have to hand it to the man. Rob Liefeld took some third rate characters (the cast of The New Mutants) of the Marvel Universe turned their book into an undeniable success. He created many characters in that book that...
Toy Review: Marvel Heroes Self-Vending Buildable...
Marvel Heroes 2-Inch Self-Vending Buildable Figures Ah, to be a kid again. I remember weekends, going to the grocery store with my mom, waiting for her while she was at the check out counter, staring intently at the various vending machines by the door. These magic machinces, with their glorious treasures, dispensing all varieties of sinfully sweet temptation and disposable plastic frivolty,...
Toy Review: Black Widow & Winter Soldier
Marvel Legends TRU 2-pack Black Widow & Winter Soldier We’ve already gone over the first exclusive Toys ‘R’ Us 2010 2-pack, the Valkyrie & Hulk set, now we’ll take a look at the only figure I actually voted for during the 2009 Fan’s Choice Poll; Black Widow. Hasbro decided to pair Black Widow up with Winter Soldier in one of their ret-cons, which...
Marvel Legends Valkyrie & Hulk
Marvel Legends Valkyrie & Hulk I have to admit, the breadth of my comic knowledge is very narrow, mainly limited to the brief time that I collected them back in the 90’s. As such, I had no idea who Samantha Parrington is and how she was related to Bruce Banner until I put my considerable Google-Fu and Wiki-jutsu skills to the work. Apparently, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie had been...
Toy Review: Marvel Icons Daredevil
Marvel Icons Daredevil 12” figures are really the realm of display collectors, which is the biggest reason I don’t collect many of them. Most 1/6 scale figures are delicate pieces that aren’t meant to be posed a lot. Though the detail is normally excellent, you’re not going to risk putting one of these into a backflip. Back in the day, Toy Biz took a stab at the 1/6...
November 2010
7 posts
Toy Review: Transformers Animated Blackout
Transformers Animated Blackout Conflict. All our favorite bad guys love it. It’s fuels war, business and high school. It ends friendships and businesses relationships alike. It’s apparently one of the reasons we lost season 4 of the great Transformers Animated series; Hasbro and Cartoon Network couldn’t come to terms. More than any other attempt since the original series,...
Get a Free Comic at National Bookstore, Rockwell!
Says hey look! Another comic event! Sunday, December 5 · 1:00pm - 5:00pm National Book Store, Power Plant Mall Get a FREE comic book! Get a FREE sketch by top graphic novel artists! Get a chance to win prizes by just showing up…no purchase necessary! Get 20% OFF on all graphic novels at the event only. Get a chance to win a sketch by Leinil Yu with any graphic novel at the event...
Toy Review: Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet
Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet I spend my weekends wearing someone else’s head now. Ever since I came back from this year’s Toy Kingdom Warehouse sale, I’ve been wearing someone else’s face. Looking out through another beings eyes, speaking in a borrowed voice. I feel like Zues killing the father, and taking up his mantle, his strength. No I haven’t gone and...
Blog Post: Richwell Trading & Toy Town Warehouse...
Just got this in my inbox: Dear Friends, Christmas is around the corner and we would like to invite you to our annual sale. It will be located in #6 Calle Industria, Libis , QC . Up to 80% off on branded childrens products – toys, baby products, shoes & clothes. Regular items will also be available with discounts. Dates are from Nov 14, 20, 21, 27-29, Dec 4-6, Dec 11-13, Dec...
Toy Review: Marvel Universe Ghost Rider
Marvel Universe Ghost Rider I’ll admit that I didn’t really know anything about Ghost Rider before the debut of the second series in 1990 with , Howard Mackie and Mark Texiera. Hence, my image of Ghost Rider has always been more Hell’s Angel than Evel Knievel. That’s not to say that I don’t look forward to toys that depict the Johnny Blaze version of the...