An Overview of My Collection – Action Figures

I have to make a move.  Not in a metaphorical, paradigm shifting, transcendental sort of way… just plain and simple terrestrial moving that involves a lot of boxes and packaging tape and swearing and stressing.

One of the upsides to moving (other than the eventual arrival at a study designed just for little ol’ me) is that I get to go through all our family’s collective “old shit” with an eye on repacking and scaling down for the move.  Now, whilst this may sound like a chore to most folks, and indeed for the most part it IS, most folks don’t keep quite as many toys as I do in storage 😉  Thus, when I first went into our storeroom in an attempt to make sense of the chaos I opted for the “easy” start and began the process by sorting out all my old action figures and various toy-like plasticky things first.

I will never forget one particular day in my youth,  returning home from the store after having successfully convinced my mother that I required several bubble packs of shiny new Micro Machines.  I gleefully ripped them out of their packaging and proceeded to wage wars and run limo services and such for a few minutes before I got bored and wondered outside to do some silly “kid’s shit”.  Whilst I was out, my brother (nine years older) happened to notice the new toys and set about posing them in a grand display, all neatly in rows and artfully arranged.  Upon returning to my room and seeing what my brother had done, my young mind was blown and for the first time I comprehended the joy that could be had purely from appreciating the toys as display pieces.  *Moeieeeeee*

I stopped displaying my older figures when I started my “serious” collection, but I was turned back on to the idea when I visited Asia with my boet a while back.  More than a few of the (totally fucking awesome!) collector’s stores they have over that side have massive displays showcasing the owner’s personal collections.  Many of them had special sections dedicated specifically to vintage figures like G.I. Joes, Thundercats and Ninja Turtles.  I liked the nod to the old and made a mental note to keep MY older stuff in mind when next I was looking at what to put on display.

A few boxes in to the process of sorting out the old toys and I realised the magnitude of the task ahead as #TheWife’s enormous desk slowly but surely got covered from one end to the other with militant miniatures.  Naturally, it wasn’t long before I started fiddling with my stuffs and playing about with various configurations.  I decided not to waste such a great opportunity to get some snaps of my beloved classics, so I worked tirelessly for days (and I do mean DAYS) to get all my figures paired up with the correct accessories and in a standing position.  I did all of this whilst staving off the physical symptoms of a terrible flu and monstrous work fatigue (and the purchase of StarCraft II) but BEHOLD!!! It is done and it… is… good! 😀

AT-AT Day Afternoon… The Making Of

I thought this “Making of” video that Patrick Boivin posted on YouTube as a companion to his EXCELLENT and mindblowingly realistic FX video “AT-AT Day Afternoon” had to be shared with ya’ll.  Personally, I must admit that I was completely fooled by the techniques used, thinking that CGI must have been employed… however, apparently even well-trained eyes can be foxed with uber-skills such as those possessed by the talented Mr. Boivin.

Amazing Action Figure Oil Paintings

Holy crap!  This guy is amazing!

Whilst I may not be a huge fan of the overly colourful and heavily stylised look of these paintings, the technique and final product are truly breathtaking to behold.  Of course, the subject matter doesn’t hurt either 😀

I wonder what it smells like on the inside?

If you like this masterpiece, you may want to check out the artists other works at http://www.robertburden.net in his video gallery. It truly is most impressive.

Action Figure Goodness At It’s Finest

I feel that I must share this with you guys.

Absolutely brilliant! I am totally blown away by this as both a Star Wars fan and a fan of special effects.

Iron Man 2 Action Figures!!!

It was during a recent trip to my local toy shop, looking for a gamepad suitable for my little girl that I came across these awesome Iron Man 2 action figures. In all honesty, what got me to take a second look was the price. At only R40 a pop these figures are a real steal, so I immediately scooped myself the War Machine bubble pack and wandered off to see what goodies the wife had gotten for our sprog. As soon as I got to the checkout, I knew I should have grabbed an Iron Man figure aswell as it just makes sense to have the matching set, but I thought I would just wait (like an adult) and come back some other time.

Of course, I spent the night obsessing (like a child) about the possibility of getting to the toy store the next day only to be confronted by an empty shelf where the tantalising, three-inch wonders previously resided. Thus, when I rose from my slumber this afternoon, I fueled up on some strong coffee, bravely opened my door to the chilly Cape Town day and hastened to the toy store to procure myself an Iron Man figurine to accompany my totally bad ass, mini War Machine.

I had decided on the MK VI based on the shots on the back of the War Machine packaging. When actually confronted, however,  with the genuine articles I decided to bide my time so as to make a calculated decision on which version of the suit to purchase (nobody wants TWO Iron Man figures on their monitor 😛 ). Immediately dismissing the shite looking Tactical Assault Drone, I proceeded to pull every MK III and MK VI off the shelves so that I could compare the paint quality of each individual figure. It was only after I had chosen the best MK III AND the best MK VI, as I stood with one in either hand, that I made my decision. As it turns out, the MK III spoke to my soul more, with it’s slightly bulkier aesthetic and heavier use of gold paint (which I felt brought out the detail in the armour, especially the legs).

After taking a few preliminary pack shots for use on this post, I eagerly removed my “little precious-es” from their plastic confines. Of the two characters, it really is the War Machine which shines! Maybe I prefer the darker, black, grey and sliver colour scheme. Maybe its the shoulder mounted cannon and mini-missile launcher, either way this figure rocks! The Iron Man is not bad at all either and is, in fact, the more articulated of the two, which brings me succinctly to my next point of interest… articulation. Both of these figures have ball-and-socket “hip” joints which (along with the rotation afforded by separate chest and torso articulation) allows for a variety of stances, however, the legs are not hinged at all and thus the knees and ankles are locked into position. Strangely, both Iron Man and War Machine are able to rotate their left shoulders a full 360 degrees, but NOT their right shoulders. This puzzles me, but it’s no biggy as I didn’t expect these figures to be articulated much, if at all. Lastly, as mentioned, the Iron Man figure is additionally capable of swiveling it’s head a few degrees left or right aswell as slightly adjusting it’s pitch. All in all, I was able to pose both figures easily and find myself most pleased with the final results.

These figures are available from Toys ‘R’ Us and, as I mentioned before, they cost a measly fourty bones, which is cheap even by South African standards! One last interesting anecdote for y’all… it just so happens that it was, in fact, the last War Machine which I nabbed, there were a whole bunch of Iron Man figures left (at least, at MY local branch) 😀

The 3" Iron Man MK III and War Machine action figures from Hasbro's Iron Man 2 range.

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Some select shots from the shoot I did for this post highlighting various details.

New Tron Legacy Action Figures… ‘n Stuff!

OH HOLY CRAP!!!

I love action figures, and Tron is practically a religion to me… so these is serious geek-gasm material!

Now that you’ve seen that… breathe… breathe.  I would, however, like to go on record as saying that whilst the keyboard might pass, that is the most godawful piece of shit looking mouse I have ever seen, regardless of glowy blue bits.  The headset is pretty sweet though…. oooooohhh, and that black lightcycle would look phat parked next to my Cloud Strife atop his Hardy-Daytona!! Honestly, I would even dig the white one, which looks a little more like the cycles of olde.