An amazing book...

Picked up a copy of "Mego 8" Super-Heroes: World's Greatest Toys!" by Benjamin Holcomb this week. What an incredible and beautiful book! If you are any kind of Mego fan, DC or Marvel fan or toy collector, this is a must buy. It's a brilliant mixture of reference book, nostalgia, history and art. Seriously, this should be the templet all other toy book authors follow.

I can't say enough good things about this. I hope Halcomb continues to write/create because fans and collector need more books like this. Details and history or Meco Corp., manufacturing, how they stocked the warehouses, how they dealed with DC and Marvel, selling product to retailers like Kresgee. Beautiful photos of mego figures, every imaginable packaging variation. Foregin releases. God it's some cool stuff.

Here's hoping for a follow up book(s) We need a Comic Action Heroes/Pocket Heroes book, plus 12" megos and other Mego superheros. Hell, foreign Mego too. Keep 'em coming.

Toys Toys Toys

The new GI JOE: Rise of Cobra movie toys are out and I snagged 4 at Toys R Us yesterday afternoon. I'm still not sure what my feelings on the movie are. Part of me thinks it nails that "feel' of the old GI Joe cartoons. That mix of military with some James Bond supervilliany and mad science mixed in. The other half just sees those silly-ass accelerator suits (I hope those are a minor set piece and not the backbone of the film).

But regardless of the film's quality, most of the toys look to kick some serious ass. I grabbed Snake Eyes and Destro, along with the 2 Toys R Us exclusive figures, Barbecue and Firefly.


My favorite of the bunch and it not even a movie figure. Barbecue is one of my favorite original Joes ("The Viper is Coming...") and one of the best of the newer 25th Anniversary figures. Movie BBQ is a repaint of the 25th version, done in black, yellow and silver. The yellow seems like an odd choice, but all together, it looks fantastic. BBQ looks good with the movie figure and also fits in nice with the 25th Joes as a repaint. Comes with the original BBQ gear (backpack, foam gun, hose and axe); with a assault rifle and shotgun added.


Another non-movie character. Firefly is equipped to the hilt. Comes with goggles, ammo pouch with clips, machine gun, explosives, and a backpack that holds a knife, flashlight, multi-tool and gas canister. Great details all around. Firefly looks good in the vest armor. I'm not sure if this is a cobbled together figure from other parts, or a straight repaint, but its very cool.


Destro
Pretty cool redesign of the classic character. Figure is nicely detailed and sturdy. The weapons have pegs so they can holster to Destro's hips, but they have trouble staying on thanks to the bottom on the coat.
Warning, the filecard give a spoiler of the mask's origin in the movie.


Snake Eyes
A solid figure. Retains the classic Snake Eyes design. In fact, it looks like another 25th Ann. Joe. Snake looks beefier in the movie trailers, while the figure looks slender in comparison. The visor is a separate piece of dark, glossy plastic glued to the head, which is a nice detail. Snake comes with an Uzi, sword and backpack.

Last weekend I picked up the new TF2 Optimus Prime. I had planned to pass on the big figures this time around, figuring that there was no reason to re-buy characters I had bought when the first movie came out. I was super wrong.



The new leader sized Prime is amazing. I guess I never realized how off model the original toy was until I opened the new version. The new Prime is a beautiful figure with tons of detail and articulation. I haven't had the balls to transform him, though. It looks terrifyingly complicated. That level of puzzle solving is usually reserved for summoning Pinhead.

Lastly I picked up the last 3 Masters of the Universe figures on eBay, from various sellers. After the god-awful experiences with Mattel's Matty Collector site in trying to order these guys, I had decided to drop the line. I figure Mattel owes me about 3 hours of my life back trying to buy their wares on their cluster-fucky website. And while I hate backing eBay scalpers, I kept my patience and managed to buy each figure at cost after the fact. I guess that's the key, wait a few weeks, let the scalpers turn a quick buck and then once eBay's flooded with a character, find a seller trying to dump their figures. Zodak, Merman and Hordak, like the previous releases are beautiful figures. I have no regret about the $28 price tag on these, just the nightmare of dealing with Mattel. So, if you had given up on the line, I do recommend searching these out, but stand fast on pricing. Get them at cost.

Revenge of the...Kick-ass!

Caught the 12:01 showing of Transformers 2 last night/this morning. I'd hoped to get a quick post in when I got home, but I was beat.

Anyway, this was pretty freakin' awsome. I'd say if you enjoyed the first film, you'll enjoy this one too. If you're a Transformers fan, you might even enjoy it more than the first. There's a lot of mythology introduced (Matrix, Space Bridge, Pretenders, Triple-Changers, Combiners, Energon). The effects were insanely good. Lots more robot onscreen-time. Nice interactions between Megatron and Starscream. Autobots and humans working together. It's really starting to feel like a fully realized Transformers world. A place where a guy can pat a truck on the hood and say "How's it going, Ironhide?" with a straight face. Thats pretty damn cool.

The movie is not without it's flaws. It's a little too long, mainly due to some military build-up/deployment scenes. They feel like padding for a movie that really needs none. But other than that, I had no real gripes. Once things get rolling (and beleive me, they waste no time), it a balls-to-the-wall couple of hours. I'm sure it'll have its haters and I'm sure Bay will get bashed, but I really loved it. It's what I was hoping for and expecting, while also exceeded my expectations. It made the "8 year old me" jump for joy.

Dr. G

Back in the saddle...Dr. G returns

Hey! It's been a while.

A lot has happened since I last posted:
-Winter has turned to a lovely Spring and Spring into a hellish, 98 degree, humid donkey-hole.
-Late Night's got a new host.
-A new crew boldly went where no man had gone before, again.
-Geektarded turned 2 years old in May (missed my own damn birthday!).
-The blog broke 50,000 hits (I never figured I'd break 100).
-And there's a new dog here in Geektarded Base-1...



Lady-B (Miss Brandy, if yo' nasty). A big 'ole pile of Beagle lovin' who'd been sitting patiently at the animal shelter for 6 weeks, until I ran across her.

As far as the reason for the absence... well, it involved a time traveling rain barrel and a plan to thwart the assassination of Martin Sheen, who had been mistaken for a time traveling JFK.

That combined with the new-American standard 50-hour work week, a wicked-lower back injury from moving some stupid-ass sleeper sofas, helping a loved one recover from surgery and the general ass-kickery of life, caused me to play the role of dead-beat blogger.

But, I'm back at HQ, I'm dusting off the Joke-A-Tron 5000 and loading her up with some new cartridges and we'll have some fun...


Well, if you own a TV or done any shopping, then you probably know "Transformers 2: Transform Harder" comes out next week. I'm pretty frickin' excited for the new movie and have been eyeing the new toys for the last couple of weeks. My will broken, I finally bought 2 figures this afternoon (Toys R Us is having a BYGO1/2 OFF sale; basically 2 for $18)

I went purely by what looked cool and snagged "Breakaway" (Autobot jet who love to fly fast and bomb the shit outta the bads) and "Sideways" (Decepticon-sports car-courier-pussy who rather hide behind the stronger 'Cons).




I'll say this, the new toys look great. I have no clue who's in the movie and who's a "toy only" character. I'm assuming Sideways is in the flick because he has the 14 billion parts-look of the movie designs. Breakaway has the movie style, but has cleaner lines and boxier forms.



Breakaway has a nice, solid, human-like form (does that make sense? In other words he looks like a robot and not a spider shitting a tire) He's got a cool gattling gun wrist cannon that you can spin. Really a nice figure. My only complaint is the package photo has some nice silver metallic paint which has been replaced by a cheaper looking blueish plastic on the actual toy. Aside from that, a great toy. I can see this mold getting repainted a couple times.



Sideways, the cowardly sport car. I'm really digging the design. One of the most surprising things is that he can stand on the spindly legs with the tiny feet. He look really good in the silver/black/red color scheme and has a nice bot mode. Toss in the saw blade wheel and you got a winner.



One thing that surprised me on both figures: no stupid missile launching nonsense. Hate those things. All in all, both are winners. So go buy some. Hasbro and Michael Bay's got bills to pay.

I leave you tonight with a sneak peak at some footage from the new Live Action Star Wars TV series. Looks like Lucas has got another winner on his hands...

The Wrath of Con

Yesterday, some friends and I took it on the road to Kansas City (specifically Overland Park) for Planet ComicCon. For us Midwestern Plains-types, this is probably the biggest Con in the area and it's always a good time. We did have one factor against us, a big 'ole snowstorm heading towards KC.


Our wheelman, Robb.


The Gang that Couldn't Sit Straight. Tracie, Monty and Tim.


Mound City for gas, snacks and...


A Major Award. "Robot Converters" from the "Energy Club"...huh? Basically it's a handless Optimus Prime, with Inferno's head. Top it off with some in-pack Laffy Taffy, Sweet Tarts and Smarties and you got a souvenier, baby!


We faced some icy roads on the way in and there were probably a dozen cars off the road on the last 8 miles of the trip in.


And we're here! There was a nice, big crowd, lots of dealers and celebrity guests and some excellent costumes.


Alien posing for photos.



Kick-ass Iron Man Mark I armor! I actually thought thay had a movie prop on display until I walked up to snap a pic and the armor started walking towards me.



Leaving and the snow hits the fan


The roads out of KC were terrifying. Lots of clinching and gallows humor. But once out of KC it cleared off and was smooth sailing the way home.


Got some great deals. Cheap trades...


Tons of 25 cent comics from a place called "Clint's Comics" (If I remember correctly). Tons of new and old stuff, most in excellent condition. I coulda came home with a couple of longboxes easily if common sense hadn't stepped in.


Great toys too. Snagged some reproduction Star Trek Megos, some loose JLU animated villians, a Jack Kirby Orion figure and a couple of DC classics.



Another excellent Con. "WE WILL RETURNNNNNNNN!!!"

PS My travel companions were 75% of the Comicbook Crossfire Podcast and they will have a special ComicCon podcast with some great interviews and footage of the trip coming soon. Be sure to check them out at
Comicbook Crossfire Podcast

Starship Anti-Child Abuse Troopers 3: Marauder

I think I just had an aneurysm...

Hulk VS.

Hulk VS. Thor and Hulk VS. Wolverine. 2 Movies. 1 DVD. All kick-ass!

Marvel and Lionsgate's newest direct to DVD animated feature dropped into stores recently. I'm sure I'm not the only Joe who saw the short run times on both of these and had a red alert go up. But the reasonable price, the decent looking animation and the PG-13 rating made me take the gamble. The verdict: Awesome. I think the "mini-movie" format is the way to go. Why pad out a weak story into an 80 minute feature, when you can do 2 lean, mean action packed stories? The animation and voice acting were top notch on both and I was completely wrapped up in each movie.

Hulk Vs. Thor.
The basic set up is once a year, after Odin has feasted on a basket teriyaki buffalo wings and queso dippers, he must take a week long nap to recharge. During that time, Loki and all the wacky Asgardians critters lay siege and Thor and his Amazing Friends must turn back the tide. But this year a wild card has been thrown into the mix, the Hulk. What follows are some big battles, Thor and Loki's Bogus Journey and loads of cool cameos by Thor comic regulars.
Now, I'm pretty much a casual Thor fan. I like him, but mainly as part of a team. This movie changed my mind on that. This is how Thor should be done. Big, epic fantasy. Bring on more of this!

Hulk Vs. Wolverine
Logan is called in to stop the rampaging Hulk. Wolvie and Hulk fight and some Weapon X regulars like Sabertooth, Deadpool, Omega Red and Deathstrike are thrown into the mix. The result is one of the best translations of the Wolverine to the screen that I have even seen.
My inner 10 year old was bouncing of the walls during this one. Wolveine was perfect. It's the first time I've ever seen him portrayed as the pint-sized beserker - outside of comics. Sabertooth, Deathstrike, Omega and Deadpool were perfection. And the violence! Finally, these characters get to cut loose on-screen. Wolvie slashes and stabs and the blood and limbs fly.

I'd give both 5 out of 5. This is some of the best comics-to-animation out there and it's the perfect format, length-wise. We need more like these. Bring on Ghostrider, Punisher, Deadpool ... anybody. Just do it like this.

I will say watch Thor first (the tender foreplay) and finish with Wolverine (the Haitian Chili dog).

Breaking news!
Based on the success of the Hulk Vs. DVD sales, Lionsgate has announced the following sequels at NY Comic Con:


-Dr. G