A Toy Box Contest!



This contest is officially over. You're welcome to continue to leave comments, but they will not be considered as entry to win. Check back October 1st not only for the winner announcement, but an all new contest.

I've decided to do something fun here at the site. That will be to host a series of contests between now and the end of the year. Specifically, one each month. Of course, with every contest, there will be a submission period, rules and the usual legal jargon.

So here we go!

Want to win the G.I. Joe Classified Snake Eyes and Amazon exclusive Arctic Mission Storm Shadow? It's easy to enter the contest. Simply leave a comment with you favorite moment from the original G.I. Joe cartoon series.


You can say whatever you want, as long as it doesn't contain any lewd, vulgar, perverted or racist comments. All comments are subject to review before being posted, so use your best judgement on what is appropriate. If your comment doesn't appear, it was rejected for its content and your entry to the contest is void.

Entries will be accepted as of this post going live, and through 11:59 PM on September 30, 2020. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on October 1st, 2020. At that time, another contest will also go live.

You must be eighteen (18) or older to enter this contest. The winner will be announced at the beginning of the post for the next contest. At that time, the person will have seventy-two hours to leave a comment with their e-mail address, which will not be published, so that I can get in touch with them. We will work out the shipping arrangements from there.

Shipping is free and all entries across the globe are welcome. However, foreign addresses will be responsible for all applicable taxes and import fees on their end.

Good luck to all!

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: Batman



Why not?...let's do another Prince album / soundtrack.

This is normally the section where I would put the blurb from the back of the VHS. However, believe it or not, the back of the original VHS doesn't give a synopsis of the film. Does it need to? It's Batman!

Instead, I'll tell you about two experiences I had with this film as a young, soon to be, teenager. First, I remember seeing it in the movie theater with my brother. While he didn't seem to enthralled with it, it blew my young mind away. I suppose I had a bit of an advantage as I was big into comics. I soaked up every last bit of the film, taking in all the detail of Tim Burton's dark Gotham City. Though I was too young to appreciate it at the time, all the actors behind the film did superb jobs pulling me into a state of suspended disbelief. These people were Bruce Wayne / Batman, Alfred, The Joker, Alexander Knox and Vicki Vale.

My next experience came in the form of the original VHS which my dad would later purchase for the family (himself). He didn't see it in the theaters with us, but truth be told, I don't honestly know if he saw it on his own. However, when we sat down to watch the movie at home, I couldn't stop talking about all the scenes I knew were coming. I'm sure it got on everyone's nerves. That was the first of many viewings that cassette got.

During this time in my life, I was already a big Prince fan. While I didn't have many of his albums, when I got the chance to pick up a cassette during one of our many Kmart outings, I immediately flocked to this one. Batdance was in consistent rotation on MTV, and I leapt at the opportunity to get a copy of the tune that wasn't recorded on an audio cassette from the TV.

I had to smile as I typed that last paragraph because it actually reminded me of the exact moment in time when I recorded it. I was sitting up for half the night, without my parents knowing of course, waiting impatiently for MTV to play two songs I wanted to record. Nelson's (I Can't Live Without Your Love) And Affection and Prince's Batdance. The stars were aligned perfectly this evening as both songs played within about a half hour of each other.

Unfortunately, the fates also have a way of stepping in to laugh at you. Not being very mindful of song lengths, I didn't really have an eye on the tape. Nelson's song fit just fine on side "A". However, when Prince's Batdance came on, the tape ran out right before the mid-point of the song, and auto flipped to side "B". It still recorded the whole song, and truth be told it was somewhat seamless. Still, there's something to be said about getting midway through a song just to have to flip the tape over to hear the rest.

Anyway, to bring this full circle, back to my Kmart visit. With the above story in mind, you can see why this was an album I was eager to pick up.

Upon playing the album, it quickly became one of my all time favorites. There's only one track I honestly don't like from it, and would replace in a heartbeat with 200 Ballons, the B side to the Batdance single. That song is Scandalous. Can't stand it!

In my adult years, I actually learned the album wasn't supposed to be strictly a Prince album. Instead, Michael Jackson was actually asked to record a set of slower / ballad style songs, while Prince was to provide the uptempo tracks. What ended up happening, as I have heard, is that Michael was too busy with his Bad world tour. While we got a great album out of it in the long run, it's definitely one of those, "Yeah, but what could have been?" moments. I guess we'll never know.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

G.I. Joe Classified: Snake Supreme Cobra Commander - Hasbro Pulsecon 2020 Exclusive

 

I'm not sure what the determining factor was in who received their Snake Supreme Cobra Commander's now, versus those who were told that it would ship in March of 2021. It seems to be anyone's guess, as some people who ordered theirs via the Premiere Member Early Access event have said that their figure has either shipped, while others say theirs states next year.

Mine arrived today. I purchased via the Premiere Member Early Access event and paid via PayPal. Maybe that was the winning combination. I don't know. But, it's here.

It came in a solid brown box with the Hasbro and Pulse logos displayed across the sides. What was a little disappointing was the minimal padding within. The items was thrown in, with two bubble bags on top. The box was too big for the figure to fit snug, which means it bounced around inside during transit. Fortunately, this didn't result in any damage.

Much like their prior exclusive, the Deluxe Snake Eyes, Snake Supreme Cobra Commander is a box within a slipcase. Albeit, not anywhere near as large as Snake Eyes' box was.



The back of the box is a fabulous bit of etching and cuts, but definitely feels like it could easily be torn if you weren't careful.

Snake Supreme Cobra Commander is officially number nine in the series for those keeping track of the specific order of the figures. Me personally, I'm going to display them in this order on my shelf(s).


When you remove the slipcase, you can see that the front of the box actually opens by "splitting" it open down the center. However, this means that the back of the box is potentially very fragile, and with repeated opening and closing, could wear out and tear.


Here's the back of the box, and as noted above, you can see the hinges within it that split apart to open it.


And here's the reveal of the figure inside. Before I go on, does anyone else see the immediate problem with it? Look closely.

Did you spot it?

The plastic chain drooping across the figures chest is broken! I immediately took the above photo and sent it to Hasbro Pulse to see what can be done. Obviously, I don't want to wait until March for a replacement, but I also don't want a broken figure. Downer! I'm sure I could easily fix it with super glue. But the point is I shouldn't have to. This isn't a vintage figure that has seen a lot of use and love. It's a brand new one in the box, direct from the producer.

Let that be a lesson, folks. Sometimes getting it first isn't the best. How many of us found that out with the Xbox 360 and the red ring of death?

Oh well, it is what it is, and it won't stop me from reviewing the figure here.

Because I'll probably have to send the whole thing back to get a replacement, I was as careful as possible to remove everything from the package, keeping every piece of tape intact and in place.

Immediately, the sheer amount of detail in this figure jumps out at you. Despite its flaw, the chest plate is packed with golden painted artwork, flanked on both sides by a total of ten miniature cobra insignia sculpts...and of course, a broken chain. The red, blue and gold play so well off of each other. This is an amazing looking figure!

Even the boots and sword sheath have an incredible amount of detail!

If I had one complaint about the overall design, it would be the cape. It's ridiculously long. It definitely could have been cut off near the heels, or even at ankle height.

With that said, there's a bit of texture on the back of it that really works nicely. it has almost a fake leather type feel to it, while the red side is cloth.

Snake Supreme Cobra Commander comes with a few accessories, which include a sword, two additional hands, his vintage style blaster, a palm size globe and cobra headed scepter. The sword in my package was bent and the blaster a beast to get into the holster.

Problems aside, with the exception of the additional hands, all the items can be stored somewhere on the figure.

Here it is all decked out! Definitely a fan!

While distribution has been an issue for this line, it's good to see that the overall quality has been there. I'm excited to see how this series pans out in 2021. We've already seen a few reveals, but no doubt more will come.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Heavy Metal F.A.A.K. 2 (N2 Toys)



Heavy Metal F.A.A.K. 2
N2 Toys
2000 

As a young aspiring comic book artist back in the late 80's / early 90's, the original Heavy Metal animated movie was an eye opener. This was not your typical Disney animated classic or Looney Tunes short. Not by a long shot. This was realistic looking humans, unique aliens, fantastic mat paintings, meticulously detailed structures and vehicles, all set to a rocking soundtrack and a somewhat confusing story. Still, my mind was blown.

At the time, I had no clue that the film was loosely based on a highly popular adult magazine. Nor have I since ever read an issue of this. However, as a whole, Heavy Metal has massively impacted my life and the way I look at animated films. It's not strictly a children's genre, nor does it need to be. Animation can be used to tell very deep, very mature stories.

Unfortunately, though I waited anxiously, a sequel never emerged. Fortunately, I soon discovered Ralph Bakshi and his amazing films, such as American Pop, Fire And Ice, Wizards and one of my all time favorites from him, Cool World (staring a very young and unknown Brad Pitt).

Fast forward to 2000. Heavy Metal returned to its seemingly underground roots since the cult animated film, becoming pretty obscure to the up and coming generations. However, not to be down for the count, the series tried to reach this new audience via a new channel, video games.

Heavy Metall F.A.K.K. 2 was released in August of 2000, hoping to become the next best third person shooter for the PC. It was met with a lukewarm reception, which didn't do the game any favors for follow up sequels or even a re-release (to date).

N2 Toys even tried to support the game with its limited release of toys in that same year. However, much like the game, these went relatively unnoticed. However, even today the line seems a bit unpopular. Mint on card figures can be found for as low as $5.00. Ouch.

 Julie On Planet Ship

 Tyler

I think what really hurts this line is that they're not action figures. Instead, they are mini statuettes with minimal, if not zero, articulation. Poses are going to be limited. Perhaps this could have been helped if the characters were sculpted in some form of action pose, but they're not. They simply stand straight up from head to toe. Very boring.

 Dr. E. Chiona

 Sawyer Noggin

All and all, between the game itself and these "figures", Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 was not destined to become the next popular...Well, anything.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Another G.I. Joe Classified Run Change

 

Call it a run change. Call it a variant. Call it a royal pain in the....Whatever you want to call it, eagle eye collectors have spotted that there are officially two different versions of the Cobra Trooper from the Target exclusive Cobra Island wave. No, I'm not talking about the recently announced retail version, which was just made available via sites such as Hasbro Pulse and Entertainment Earth.

Both of these versions have been spotted on Cobra Island cards, or boxes, and came across my radar via MCUcollector24. He's identified a Cobra Trooper with a black collar vest, and one with a blue collar.

Thought at first the blue collar one was definitely the more difficult one to come across. As knowledge of it spreads across the collecting world, more and more are surfacing. While prices for the blue variant seem higher than the black, there is no documented proof that any one is more rarer than the other.

What doesn't help right now is that even with the recent announcement of the figure seeing a re-release, prices for a Cobra Trooper are at an all time high. Definitely something to consider if you're going to put yourself to task of hunting down the opposite version of the one you have, or both, if you don't have either one. If it helps with your decision, it's worth noting that the original production photos show a black collar for the figure.

With that said though, my personal favorite is the blue collar version. It just looks "correct". The blue of the shirt should be there. Otherwise, it implies the vest has a collar, which doesn't look right in comparison.

Of course, if you wanted a one of a kind variant, that would have been the recently sold paint error Cobra Trooper sporting an all blue face.

Custom paint job, or one of a kind error? Doesn't matter. Someone bought it for $300.00.

For those of you trying to keep up with the various versions people have found, you may want to check out my initial post about Destro and Beach Head, HERE

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Pre Orders For New Classified Are Up...And Of Course Some Are Gone

 

Holy crap that was intense!

5:00 PM EST hit and I frantically refreshed Hasbro Pulse from my desktop and Target from my laptop. On Pulse, Cobra Infantry and Zartan immediately appeared. Into the cart they went, limit one per customer, and to checkout / sale complete, but no ETA on when they will ship.

 

On a side note, for those of you who want Zartan and Cobra Infantry, but don't want to fuss with Hasbro Pulse, you can also get them from sites like Entertainment Earth. In fact, you can purchase a full case from EE, which will come with two (2) Zartan figures, two (2) Cobra Infantry, one (1) Roadblock and one (1) Scarlett. The latter two are both from the wave one set, with no apparent changes. EE denotes January 2021 as the estimated shipping period, which leads me to believe this will be the same if you ordered from Hasbro Pulse.

While Cobra Infantry will now be on a card without the "Cobra Island" header, it is unknown if the figure will be renumbered. It's also worth noting that Hasbro appears to have removed the goggles, sniper rifle and rank armband which came with the Cobra Island version. In addition, the black vest has been changed to a blue one, and in general, the figure will also be a lighter shade of blue from that of the original release. See the picture below for what I'm talking about.

Target Exclusive (Left) / Retail Release (Right)

If I'm being honest, I like the retail release version better. It's feels more true to the original figure from 1982 / 1983. However, I can also see why fans would be miffed that they were being charged the same price for a figure with less accessories than originally released.

An Item I didn't bother with, because I already have one, was the Deluxe Snake Eyes. Hasbro re-released the figure via their site, also at 5:00 PM, and it sold out fast.

 

 

While I still don't think it's worth twice as much as one figure to get the pack, I can understand why those who missed it the first time would jump on it.

That wrapped it up for Hasbro. However, Target was having no parts of offering up Viper and Firefly. I gave a quick prayer about it. Yeah, I did. Not ashamed to admit that I talk to God about everything. As trivial as action figures may seem in the grand scheme of things, I asked him to intervene if he felt so inclined to.

I continued to refresh, now on two computers. Suddenly, I saw it! Viper! I right clicked and opened it in a new window while scrolling down slightly to reveal Firefly. That link too got clicked to open. With adrenaline rushing, I quickly added both to my cart and ran through the checkout process, agreeing to everything the site was throwing at me without so much as glancing at what I was agreeing to.

SUCCESS! Preorder complete!


I gave a sigh of relief, thanked God and refreshed the G.I. Joe Classified page. Viper and Firefly, SOLD OUT! Wow! In the span of less than a minute! Here we go again with this debacle at Target. There are none currently on ebay, but I'm sure that will change as the evening progresses.

As for me, I've never felt a rush quite like this when collecting figures, and my heart tells me it never wants to again! I also noted the shipping date of January 4 through 7, 2021, which is in line with the above noted case from Entertainment Earth. Guess well be seeing these all next year.

Despite my success in grabbing these two figures, I do admittedly feel sorry for the fans out there. Once again their ability to get these figures seems to be short lived. Maybe Target will get more in. However, history tells me not to be so naive to think that will actually happen.

Viper is yet another one of those army builders that people really want to get, so it's unfortunate that Hasbro has once again sent this kind of figure to Target. However, if there's a glimmer of hope, it's that like the Cobra Trooper, it too will get a re-release shortly thereafter. Of course, that doesn't help many with Firefly, or for that matter, any of the other Cobra Island wave - Which people are still looking for.

During the Pulsecon panel, one of the designers of the Viper made mention that the neck scarf the figure came with denoted its rank. Therefore, is it safe to assume that a re-release later down the road would remove this, such as the removal of the rank armband from the Cobra Trooper? We'll have to wait and see on that one. That is, if the figure even gets a re-release.

Dare I ask, were any of you successful in grabbing these? Have you gotten everything else you wanted from the series, in general?

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

G.I. Joe Classified - For Every Step In The Right Direction, There Is A Giant Leap Back

 

It seems like every time Hasbro shows that they're taking a step in the right direction with G.I. Joe Classified, they immediately take a giant leap back in the wrong direction.

As many of you know, Hasbro Pulsecon featured their second day of panels, and among them was the G.I. Joe team. They excited fans when they announced Zartan was coming to the next wave, and then hit the ball out of the park when they followed this up with a lighter blue version of the Cobra Trooper, now called, Cobra Infantry, coming to Hasbro Pulse and general retail.


Everything was sounding great! Then they showed that they hadn't learned from their mistakes. 

Hot on the heels of that announcement were the Cobra Island wave Firefly and Viper, another highly anticipated troop builder. If you haven't put two and two together yet, the words "Cobra Island" should have clued you in as to where this debacle was going.


That's right. Firefly and Viper will be Target exclusives, which go live today at 5:00 PM.

Go ahead and shake your head for a minute. Hasbro, it seems, will never learn. Attendees of the panel were quick to blow up the feed with their disdain for Target exclusives, calling them ebay exclusives. It would be funny, if it weren't so true and sad.

Well...Good luck to all. Start saving your pennies now for those scalper prices.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Day Two Panels

 

Day two of Pulsecon is live!


Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Day One Panels

 

The exclusives were just part of it. Don't forget that the official Hasbro Pulsecon  panels kick off today at 11:05 AM and run through tomorrow. Today's schedule includes:


You can watch it all live from Youtube.

The other thing to keep in mind is that at 5:00 PM, many, if not all, of the items shown during day one will be available for sale at Hasbro Pulse, as well as, their participating retailers.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Exclusives Available To The General Public Today

 

As many of you know, early access for the 2020 Hasbro Pulsecon items went up yesterday, and oddly enough, not too many of the figures "sold out". As of this morning, the only unavailable items were the Star Wars Black Heroes Of Endor Pack, G.I. Joe Classified Snake Supreme Cobra Commander and Marvel Legends Hellfire Club.

Even then, I use the term sold out lightly, because only a limited quantity of the items were made available for early access. All the remaining product will go on sale today to the general public, giving everyone a chance to get something. With a limit of one per person and a captcha verification process, this prevents the scalpers / bots from running amuck and ruining this for everyone. Additionally, people who bought yesterday should not be able to buy again today, unless they create a new account to scam the system.

Bottom line is everyone will have an equal opportunity to get what they want, but obviously for the best chances you want to make sure you're ready to click that "add to cart" button immediately at noon. All items will appear to ship in March of 2021.

With the exception of t-shirts and hats, the below list are what will be available. Since they've been up since yesterday, you can view them HERE.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Lord Drakkon EVO III Figure
Star Wars The Black Series Wampa
Star Wars The Black Series Heroes of Endor
Star Wars The Vintage Collection Star Wars: The Clone Wars 501st Legion ARC Troopers
Marvel Legends Series Hellfire Club Collection
Marvel Legends Series X-Men Marvel’s Logan and Charles Xavier
G.I. Joe Classified Series Snake Supreme Cobra Commander Action Figure
Ghostbusters Plasma Series Tully’s Terrible Night
Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Trilogy Quintesson Pit of Judgement

I'll try to update this list throughout the day with what has sold out. Blue items will denote they are still available and red will reflect items sold out. So far, Hasbro has handled this incredibly well, putting measures in place to ensure that the fans will indeed come first in this event.

Happy hunting!

***UPDATE***

As noon draws near, this was definitely a bad sign at Hasbro's site. Hope everything gets fixed quick!

***UPDATE 2***

Issue noted above was fixed at noon on the dot and items are selling!

***UPDATE 3***

It's interesting to note that the Transformers Generations item initially changed to out of stock, but then reverted back to in stock. Not sure how or why. Possibly orders got cancelled, payment methods denied, or Hasbro is staggering the pre-order to maximize opportunities. Also, the Logan / Xavier Marvel Legend appears to have disappeared from the page. Not sure what this means either. Is it out of stock? Did the page crash? All I know is that the page is gone, and gets an "Oops" screen when you go to it via Google search.

***UPDATE 4***

The Marvel Legends Logan and Xavier two-pack are back up on the site, and still available. 

***UPDATE 5***

We're about four and a half hours out since everything went live to the general public, and several items are still available. This is rather impressive. I wish I could say I feel bad for the people who rushed to ebay yesterday the moment people started listing things, but you get what you get for being impatient. What's odd are the people who are still buying off of ebay at scalper prices. Hopefully these people are from areas, where these items aren't available. I'd like to hope people who can readily get them aren't that stupid.

***UPDATE 6***

They're in stock, they're out of stock, they're back in stock...I can't keep up with this anymore. The Transformers set has stated it was sold out twice, and came back with pre-orders. I'm not going to track this anymore in this post. Check their website for availability.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Early Acces Exclusives Are Up

 

Though it's a little late, I wanted to make sure everyone knew that the early access Hasbro Pulsecon items are up, and have been for about thirty minutes now. Sorry, I was in line for my Snake Supreme Cobra Commander. Which...

Though it's unfortunate that there was a Premium Membership required to get the early access, I'm happy to see how easy it was to get this figure. I logged in, refreshed the page at noon exactly. Clicked "add to cart", paid, and was done. Order confirmation was received moments later.

In fact, many of the exclusives are still available for early access as I type this. I hate to say this, but if you want any of these exclusives, it may be worth you paying the membership to get them. Everything is limit one (1) per person, so just keep that in mind.

Of course, things are already on ebay, so you can go that route too.

With the exception of the exclusive t-shirts and hats, the items below are what Hasbro made available during early access. Blue denotes that they are still available as of this writing. Red denotes they are sold out for early access, but you can try again tomorrow during the general release.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Lord Drakkon EVO III Figure
Star Wars The Black Series Wampa
Star Wars The Black Series Heroes of Endor
Star Wars The Vintage Collection Star Wars: The Clone Wars 501st Legion ARC Troopers
Marvel Legends Series Hellfire Club Collection
Marvel Legends Series X-Men Marvel’s Logan and Charles Xavier
G.I. Joe Classified Series Snake Supreme Cobra Commander Action Figure
Ghostbusters Plasma Series Tully’s Terrible Night
Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Trilogy Quintesson Pit of Judgement

You can head to the shop, HERE.

I reiterate, all items go on sale tomorrow for the general public. Just because an item is denoted as sold out above doesn't mean you won't be able to get one tomorrow.

I'm actually really surprised to see how many items are still available. I'm wondering if people forgot about the early access, or if they simply don't care. I would have thought for sure that the scalpers would have been all over these.

I am also pleasantly surprised, and eating my words, at how well Hasbro has managed to handle this so far. The exclusives have not been difficult to get with Premium access. I thought for sure I was throwing away $50.00. However, the membership has already paid for itself with the items I purchased today. Not only with the free shipping, but the ease of getting them. Kudos to you, Hasbro.

I'm hopping that many of you will have success with getting what you want, either today, or tomorrow. For curiosity sake, let me know if there was something you were after on this list in the comment section.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Preview

 

Hasbro Pulsecon's preview is up. Did you watch it? What did you think?  Haven't seen it? Watch it below!

Yeah, don't actually watch it. Much like everything Hasbro touches, this preview was a giant failure. It was nothing short of a fifteen minute discussion about a Haslab HeroQuest board game. Viewers were expecting an actual preview of the upcoming events and exclusives. Not a singular focus on one item, that could have been its own panel during the virtual con.

Oh Hasbro. How you love to be a train wreck.

On a side note, the HeroQuest game reached its goal.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: Queen - Flash Gordon



A classic film with a soundtrack from my all time favorite band, Queen? Yes please! It may very well be the first movie I ever watched on Laserdisc, and since then has been one I watch whenever it's available to stream. Flash Gordon is a film I really want to get around to owning one day on DVD.

Flash Gordon, an outer space fantasy adventure, is based on the world famous comic strip, which comes to life with action, romance, comedy, and music by the popular rock group Queen. When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, threatening destruction of the Earth, Dr. Hans Zarkov makes a desperate rocket flight with two unwilling passengers - Flash Gordon, quarterback for the New York Jets, and lovely Dale Arden. Their destination is the planet Mongo, the source of the strange energy waves. Ruling over Mongo with primeval brutality is Ming the Merciless, who must be destroyed. Only one person can do it. He is Flash Gordon. - Back of the original VHS

The soundtrack to Flash Gordon is by no means the best material to come from Queen. In fact, it may honestly be the worst in terms of replay value. It does score high in the experimentation aspect, and also in the overall presentation with its mixture of music along with spoken dialog and sound effects. Now that I type this up, it kind of almost plays like a book on tape - or film on tape if you will. I suppose it also shows the bands versatility as musicians.

The album leads and closes strong with the songs Flash's Theme (later renamed to just Flash on the band's live and compilation albums) and The Hero. In between, it does have some tracks that stand up well on their own. Tracks such as Football Fight, Flash To The Rescue, Battle Theme and The Wedding March. However, for the most part, it can honestly get a little boring.

As someone who listens to every Queen studio album once a year, this album still gets a fair amount of playtime from me. Still, I sometimes cringe as I reach that 1980 era because I know after The Game it's coming up. Like I said, it's by no means their best and it's far from my favorite.

Don't get me wrong, it can be an enjoyable album if played in the right setting. Try sitting back in a chair with your eyes closed, and let the visions fill your head as the story unfolds.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

The Golden Girls (Funko / ReAction Figures)



The Golden Girls
Funko / ReAction Figures
2016

I don't like The Golden Girls. I thought it was a stupid show, and not only that, but one that got me in trouble in the fifth grade. You remember those papers we used to have to write in elementary school which got shuffled off to some faceless set of "judges" who read and assigned a numbered grade to? Yeah, that's how this story goes.

I wrote said paper, and while I don't remember the subject matter, my end result was a rant about how much I hated The Golden Girls. I not only scored a one out of five, but found myself face to face with the school counselor, who was concerned with my level of anger.

Despite my disdain for the series and the backlash it personally caused me for having an opinion about it, I will still give a salute to Funko / ReAction's 2016 convention exclusive set.

The look of each character is significantly captured in each 3.75 figure, which is ironic based on how poorly the sculptors of the Married With Children set did two years later. How they could knock The Golden Girls out of the park and drop the ball so hard on the Bundy family is beyond me. See, here comes that anger again. 

It's also interesting to note the secondary market prices surrounding this particular set. Unlike the Married With Children set, which will set you back a ten spot, this box of hags charming women will easily ding your pocket for $250.00 and up! What gives?

Needless to say, if you're a fan of The Golden Girls, collecting them in action figure form won't be friendly on your wallet.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Hasbro Pulsecon Schedule Announced

 

Hasbro Pulesecon has announced its official schedule. 


 

Everything starts on September 22nd with a sneak peak of things to come. This is followed on the 23rd by early access to all the exclusives, if you paid fifty dollars for a chance to get your hands on them. For everyone else, you'll have to wait until the 24th to see that everything is sold out.

 

Hasbro then kicks off their panels on the 25th and 26th. I foresee this backfiring badly when people take to the live stream to voice their complaints about the handling of the pre-orders, and how many of the viewers couldn't get them.

While I hope everything goes well, statistically speaking, Hasbro doesn't have a positive history of handling product distribution. I really expect this digital convention to go very badly for them as a result. But, I hope I'm proven wrong. We'll find out on the 23rd.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Eternia Dreams Vintage Toy Store

 

Today I had reached my limit. I was tired of sitting at home weekend after weekend and decided it was time to put all of this Covid nonsense behind me a trek out. Though one place was the agenda, two quickly became the journey. However, due to the size of this post, I'm going to have to break them up into two separate articles.

Eternia Dreams in Taneytown is a store I'd learned about from George over at G.I. Jigsaw, and since then had always said I would eventually get there. However, that day kept getting further and further away from a reality, to the point it felt like it wasn't going to happen at all. Fortunately, that was rectified today.

At a glance, Eternia Dreams is a small little shop located in the heart of a tiny town, which if you blinked you'd miss it - Both the shop and town. From the outside, it looks like there couldn't possibly be much going on to the place.

This would equally be your impression if you opened the door and took a quick scan of the place. With just a peek, Eternia Dreams could seem to not have much going on for itself. However, if you were to bail, you'd not only miss out on the amazing things sitting right in the front showroom, but an entire back side to the shop which houses more action figures than I dare say Toys R' Us had on a good day in the late 90's.

Though Eternia Dreams staff will tell you that the store focuses mainly on Masters of the Universe, in the front area of the shop you'll find a whole lot of G.I. Joe, with only a few select pieces from the MOTU line. Despite this lack of He-Man related product from your first steps in, quality is definitely at its peak. I saw not one, but two Eternia playsets (one complete in the box and one loose), as well as, several other key playsets.







Though the Joe figures felt limited to someone like me, three were certainly a lot of vehicles to choose from. Mind you, I'm not saying the figure section was bad by any means. It's just difficult for me to find ones I would particularly want based on what I already have. That's certainly no fault of the stores.



I was interested in picking up the 1982 / 1983 G.I. Joe Carry Case which was sitting on top of this shelf, but was immediately turned off by the price tag the store adhered to the sticker artwork of the case. Mind you, it wasn't the price they were asking that made me turn my nose up, but the sticker itself. I imagined all the damage that would inevitably occur trying to remove it. Definitely not the smartest place to put a price tag. Someone in this particular field should know better.

I also wanted that vintage Joe base on the far left of the shelf above and the tactical battle platform on the right, but had to remind myself that I was distancing myself from "large" toys, due to limited space.



Here's a look at those Eternia Playsets I mentioned early. Beautiful.











 

I made note of the Pop section the store had. As someone who used to be inundated with thousands of these, it was stomach churning to see them all. It was like reliving a nightmare. So glad to be Funko Pop free.





Walking out of the Funko Pop Section gives you your first look at the back room. Perspective wise, the walls hide quite a  bit of the goodness stored back there.


Numerous isles with shelf upon shelf are filled to the brim with vintage toys, all neatly organized by their respective series. You really have to see it to believe it, so take a look.




 

The vintage video game section was much smaller than I thought it would be, and rather disappointing at that. Still, this didn't stop me from looking through and finding a few NES games.


 

The figures which aren't on their original cards get bagged individually in Eternia Dreams tagged baggies. The problem here is that each one has a single hole punched in it for hanging on a peg. Meaning if you want the one in the back, you're taking the whole peg down to get to it. Bad design!













 

Their Star Wars section has quite a lot of figures in it. Unfortunately, the original vintage line is limited, and relatively incomplete (in terms of accessories).

I'm sorry to say it, but if I were ever to consider buying a 1995 and beyond Star Wars figure, I wouldn't pay more than a dollar for any of them.







I was intrigued by the Marvel / DC isle, and made it a point to look through these items a bit to see if there was anything here I wanted. There was not. I would have loved to have found a quick change Batman from the Batman Returns line, or anything from Kenner's The Dark Knight series. They had none of these.

















For a place called Eternia Dreams, it's interesting that they store most of the He-Man related items in the back. You'd think these would be front and center as the store's showpieces. If I'm being honest, I also expected to be blown away by their selection of MOTU stuff. I wasn't. The vintage stuff was mostly incomplete and the remainder was carded "new" stuff, such as, Matty Collector product and the latest Retro line.





Sorry, but this is NOT He-Man.



On a whim, I almost bought, but ended up not, one of these two Sam and Twitch two packs. Back when I collected Spawn figures, these were my favorites. It's sad to see how severely prices have dropped for this line, in general.



After rummaging around a bit, I told the person working there that I had seen on their website that they also sold comics and asked where these were. I was told that these unfortunately were not available right now, but would be soon as they were in the process of buying and installing shelving for them. Downer.

With that, I told them I was done, checked out, paid and hit the road.

Overall Eternia Dreams was okay. Definitely more 90's toy oriented than 80's. However, the selection was still pretty good. Probably my biggest disappointment with everything was that most of the toys in baggies were incomplete. That just doesn't do it for me as a toy collector. If I'm going to spend the money, I'm going to do it right and get a complete figure.

I also felt the staff really wasn't all that engaging. The person working there was friendly. Answered all my questions. However, they never interacted with me on their own volition. Everything was initiated by me. I suppose that's not a deal breaker. However, part of going to a vintage toy store is to interact with people who share the same hobby and passion as you. To talk about the toys, listen to the stories and in general feel welcome as not only a place to shop, but spend time. I didn't really get that welcoming feeling at Eternia Dreams. It felt like I was at a retail store.

To me, coming here was good for getting out of the house. However, on the same hand, I don't feel like I necessarily bought anything that I wanted or needed right away. I think the biggest take away for me was that, in all honesty, I'd rather just shop on ebay and save myself the time of not driving long distances to potentially find something I want. I'd rather just log in, find what I want at the price I'm willing to pay, and call it a day.

With that said, I'm not saying Eternia Dreams was a bad shop. Far from it. I'm sure a lot of collectors would find a lot of things here that they are interested in. Prices were fair and options were vast. Again, I just wish it was more of an interactive experience with the staff as opposed to just being left to wander through isles. Product is important, but first and foremost, a store like this has to have passion and heart. I didn't find any of that here.

But I did find this stuff...

Storm Shadow (V3) got on my radar thanks to G.I. Jo Classified's Arctic Mission Storm Shadow. Otherwise, I probably never would have added him to my want list.

General Flagg (V2), was actually not the version of this figure I wanted (I wanted V1), but I decided I would grab him while I saw him. He's a relatively annoying figure to find with his hat. This was the only complete version of the four figures I found at Eternia Dreams, all V2.


My NES collection has slowed down considerably since I initially started. There are several games I would still like to track down to complete my brother and I's childhood collection. This bundle contains three of those, Ice Hockey, Excitebike and Ghosts 'N Goblins.

Gunsmoke and Dragon Warrior II were picked up because they're super fun games to play - Even though I never owned them as a kid.






And with that, I wrap up my trip to Eternia Dreams.


Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.