Let's Share: The Berkley Blog

Action Figure Friday: Seattle! (Sort-of)

We're heading up to Seattle in a couple hours for Ryan's art opening at Schmancy.  Last night I asked Ryan, "Do you have any action figures that relate to Seattle?".  Bad news.  He said no.  So, to make up for this glaring gap in Ryan's action figure collection, today I present a round-up of Seattle based figures that Ryan could consider to plug this gaping hole.

Too depressing.

Too pixelated.  Also, not an action figure.  There are so many bobble-heads in the world!

Eh, not bad.  A real candidate.  Ryan almost has this haircut right now so it might make sense.  

Not so much an actual action figure, but YES PLEASE!

The one Seattle figure I'm truly surprised Ryan doesn't have in action figure form?

ICHIRO!

or

While I don't usually enjoy the sports figures as much, Ichiro is a true class act and I wouldn't mind representing him in my home.  Plus, this:

 

Seattle related action figures I was surprised I could not find:

Sir Mix-A-Lot

Richard Karn

Kenny G.

Fraiser

I had almost given up on Sleepless in Seattle figures but then I found these two heads and figured a creative person might be able to do a few scenes with these:

So, there are options.

Next time I do Action Figure Friday, I'll bring it back around to figures Ryan already owns.  I apologize for this brief interruption.  

Action Figure Friday - Skeletor's Henchmen!

Action Figure Friday is back and, because I really owe you AFF followers, I'm giving you FOUR times the reviewin'. It's also a little early birthday present for America. Because, as you know, the only things that spew patriotism more than Old Navy Flag Tees are old-school action figures of Skeletor's Henchmen.

First up in the bad-boys posse: Beast Man!

As far as actual likeness to the "real Beast Man", this guy comes in fairly close. Close, that is, if you ignore the fact that he seems to be wearing an orange bathing cap and has been drinking too much blue raspberry Kool-Aid.

The erratic spritz of blue spray paint on the breast plate makes him look just crazy enough, don't you think?

Mer-Man:

Well, yeah, so what we have here is obviously a guy who just doesn't make any sense at all. Fact: Cats hate water. Why, then, would they construct an aquatic creature to suddenly have feline-style ears?

Are you seeing it? I'm not seeing it. Ryan is trying to tell me some business about three different Mer-Men and the chronology of the toys, TV show, and comic but to be honest, I stopped paying attention about three words deep. I just know that I have a strange love for all aquatic superheroes and villains and I would prefer if they stayed on the amphibian tip.

Tri-Klops:

As any Action Figure Friday fan knows, I am an extra fan of toys that have interactive parts. I just can't get enough turning of the eyeball dial.

I call this one, "Who, Me? But I'm So Wide-Eyed And Innocent!"

This one is just "Stink Eye":

And, when the mood calls for a crescendo of dramatic flair, "Bloodshot Stink Eye":

Here is the real version of Tri-Klops at Threat Level Two: Stink Eye.

Trap-Jaw:

Aside from a glaring lack of eye-contact, I actually think Trap-Jaw might be the strongest dude in the line-up.

The lack of eye-to-eye conversation makes more sense when you realize that Trap-Jaw is the only one of these henchmen who can't give a thumb's up.

and he keeps gets getting left out of the weekly thumb-wrestling competitions...

Poor guy. At least it looks like he gets to work out at the same gym in the Snake Mountain basement - these guys have some eerily similar physiques.

As a collective legion of doom, I'll give these guys four tentacles. Individually, it's 3, 1, 5, 4.

Oh hello, what's this? I happen to have promotional announcement corresponding directly to these figures? You say that Ryan drew versions of these four characters in the future, attending Skeletor's Wake? Well, that is a funny coincidence.

These original illustrations are available now through July 20th in the Pop Pop! show at the Pink Ghost Gallery. [Scroll down the page - just after the piece by the esteemed Beau Berkley.]

Action Figure Friday: Apollo Creed!

Sometimes I am woman of paradoxes.  I hate potatoes but I love home fries.  I love organization but I hate organizing.  I am married woman with a disdain for most modern R&B but I love "Single Ladies". I like writing Action Figure Friday but I haven't done one in three months. And so on...

One of the biggest paradoxes of all has to be the fact that I really hate boxing yet I love most boxing movies.  I especially love the Rocky movies and even more specifically, I love Apollo Creed.  

You know that Apollo is actually a friendly pugilist when you can put him into poses that say "Hello friend!  Everything is okay!"

In fact, it's tough to get him into any type of fighting position.  I tried my hardest to get a shot of him throwing a punch my way but this is the best I could get:

While he can't throw a decent punch in this articulation configuration, this figure does Apollo justice in all kinds of other ways.  First of all, he's dressed to represent his early glory days and not in that silly Americana get-up he's forced to sport in Rocky IV. [Now, we're not going to mention the fourth installment of that film every again, okay?  Watching that episode in the saga was the worst day of my life.]

Secondly, you can tilt his head at just the right angle so as to give him the peaceful angelic look that he deserves.

=

If you like, you can purchase the Rocky counterpart to this Apollo and relive their special romp on the beach.  In fact, this leads me to admit to you one of the nerdiest things Ryan has convinced me to photograph:

Apollo Creed, the man, gets five stars and Apollo Creed, the action figure, gets five tentacles!

Speaking of the beach, we're headed there tonight to spend Valentine's Day with three sets of our lovely couple friends.  I think we'll play the Newlywed Game which will most definitely ruin any romantic moods that might pop up.  I don't think we've ever played that game without some type of icy silent treatment being issued by one of the competitors.  Three cheers for love!

P.S.  Special birthday wishes to a man who somehow embodies the strength of Apollo and the spirit of the beach!

Action Figure Friday - Marvel Legend Zombie

Happy Halloween from Action Figure Friday!
Today I am pleased to welcome the undead to our bloggy review universe: It's the Marvel Legend Zombie!

 

This guy is looking pretty sassy considering his state of decomposition.  I guess even from the afterlife he's keeping up with male fashion trends for Fall. (I bet you didn't know that Zombies get their fashion advice from about.com).

 

In addition to his snazzy vest and tight pants, you may notice that he is extremely well coiffed.  It's not like he just has been letting his hair grow, either.  Obviously he, or his hairdresser, had to cut his bangs to this sporty short level.

Hey!  I just realized who this zombie is!  Look at this guy and put about 20 years under the ground on him:

 

Eh?  Eh?  I think so.

 

Somewhere along the line our handsome prince must have traded his armor for "workingman" clothes.  Did he have a depressing fall from grace or was he was trying to hide his identity?  Either way, it didn't work out so well for Mr. Valiant. Check the bullet holes in the back.

Yeoch.  Sorry Prince.  The good news?  You did a really good job in Thriller.

 

Even after my outstanding sleuthing and identification,there is one thing about this guy that I just can't make sense of.

 

Why the ultra-bulbous hips? Awk-ward.

Those hips are enough to demote the Prince Zombie to three and a half tentacles.

BONUS! In celebration of round hips and Halloween we're releasing Ryan's "Beach Zombie" as a print today on Etsy.  Hooray!

Action Figure Friday: Medieval Ash

Why didn't we think of this at the beginning of October?!?  Duh - this month of Action Figure Fridays should be Halloween related.  We just realized this last night, so please accept our sincere apologies.

 

No apologies can be made, however, for Army Of Darkness's: Medieval Ash

I like the Evil Dead movies pretty well considering I'm no horror movie buff.  I even became quite a master of the Evil Dead video game for Playstation.  Truthfully, I only really remember Evil Dead II (which is probably my favorite).  For some reason I keep seeing the beginning of Army Of Darkness and then I must fall asleep or completely black out because I never have any recollection of what happens after Ash fights that old lady in the pit.  I suppose my preference for the "scary" film genre leans more towards suspense and less towards gore but I have made exceptions for all the same movies people of my demographic probably enjoy*.

Of course, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell have everything to do with the greatness and unique bends on the genre in the E.D. movies.  It has never hurt, either, that young Mr. Campbell is quite a looker.

This figure is really really well made.  I'd compare him to the Lobster Johnson I did a while ago in that he's got a choppy clay sort of look, he's really heavy, and they'd paid an extraordinary amount of detail to the nitty-gritty.  Look at this watch!  Look at this pant pocket!

 

(Note: I debated including the above pant pocket preference because I couldn't get a photo that represented it as well as it looks in person.  It sort of looks like, er.... Ash has something in his pocket or he's happy to see me.  Really it's all about how they made a bend in the pocket like jeans would really move if you were about to splatter a shotgun round all over a Deadite.)

(Note II: I just realized that Beau also dressed as Ash for Halloween one year - like he did Lobster Johnson - but I don't have any photos immediately available.  I'll update you if I find one.)

One of my favorite details on the guy are his two loose strands of bang hair.  They don't really serve any function and you can't really style them any other way but I appreciate being able to poke around at them.

Fun fact: We have waited in long lines twice to have Mr. Campbell sign his books.  I am not the type of person who likes to wait in long lines for things like autographs but still, there we were with all the other hardcores and our prize for the wait were a couple pretty funny reads and these two pages of personalized Campbell style wit:

 

Actually, I really like Bruce Campbell and I like hearing him talk.  I'm never sure how much of his schtick is an act vs. his real person.  He strikes me as the kind of guy who I would like to invite over for dinner with his wife and family, though.

When he comes over, he might appreciate seeing Ash relaxing over a pile of the crud that he's made us buy.

Oh yeah, and the figure comes with his own Necronomicon (which I spelled correctly on my first try, thank you very much) and an alternate head.  Because of the aforementioned black-outs during the second half of Army of Darkness, however, I have no idea what this Beetlejuice-esque elongated head really means.  It's there if you need it, though.

Yes indeed.  Ash is one handsome crusader (well, with the default head anyway).  It looks like Ryan shopped smart with this one (wink).  Four and a half tentacles.

 

*If you think you are in my demographic and you need some recommendations of horror films, email me.  I have opinions.

 

 

Action Figure Friday: Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Here we go again with another one of these mysterious wrestling figures that Ryan keeps secretly acquiring through trades.  I'm going to try not to repeat myself too much with WWF thoughts [please see my Ravishing Rick Rude review for more on the subject] as I review Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.

 

If you are like me there is only one thing to associate this guy with at first glance.  Yes, of course:

 

equals

 

In general Brutus sports a wardrobe that I would have died to have in the sixth grade and, in some cases, I think I actually did have parts of it.  I would have certainly enjoyed his pink fingerless gloves and a little pink fringe.

 

I had a pair of LA Gear shoes that would have gone PERFECTLY with this ensemble.  You can score those babies on ebay right now if you have been working on your female Beefcake costume.

 

Upon researching these classics I stumbled upon some breaking sneaker news.  LA Gear is bringing back this vintage line of 80s shoes.  Whether or not this is good news, I'm not clear.  I do know that Ryan wore a more masculine variety of this shoe (green and black, I believe) once upon a time too.  I guess it proves we were made for each other.

Now, back to the figure, I do have a few quibbles with the manufacturing company.

 

You couldn't spring for fully painted pants?  How did you have time to get to the more complicated crevices of the nether regions but not a smooth back thigh?  Just curious...

Furthermore, what did you do to this man's face? 

I'm not saying that pro wrestlers of the 1980s are immune from skin infections, but do you have to represent them so obviously?

 

Now, I'm not going to go there on the subject of the mullet.  I think we can all agree that they have been done to death.  I will, however, go there on the subject of faux mullet attachments.

 

Is this a clip-on?!?!  Overall I've thought these wrestling figures are really good representations of the horribleness of the costumes but this one might cross a line.  The poor guy worked hard on this 'do and the sculptors go ahead and make it look fake.  Coupled with the skin defect, I would say Brutus has gotten a bit of a bum rap.

 

Oh well, he still seems pretty cheery in spite of himself.  I'll give him two tentacles for sculpt quality and four tentacles for postive attitude.  Result: Three tentacles!

Action Figure Friday: Chicago Hero

AFF is back!  And to celebrate the good news, I'm going to review one of the most depressing action figures in our collection: the newly acquired Chicago Hero, an exclusive from Chicago Comics.

 

I guess he's not really an action figure so much as a mini-statue but I'm going to review him all the same.  To my knowledge there is no proper action figure for this character so this is the best we get.  When I saw him sitting on the shelf I was curious but when I read about him, I was hooked.  Chris Ware did the drawings for him and Alex Ross did the sculpt.  Wowza!  What a crazy great combo and really, a perfect representation of Ryan's comic interests and mine. 

 

It's really sad to see a superhero cry.  It's even more sad to see an ordinary man in a cape crying.  Either way, I would love to buy this guy a popsicle.

 

From this side he reminds me a little of the Phantom of the Opera. Looking at all these photos I'm kind of going a little nuts that we can't see his face.  Could it be that he's actually doing that thing where you're laughing so hard that it looks like you're crying?  Maybe it's just migraines?  Maybe he's counting to one hundred before he goes to find his hiding grandchildren?

 

If the mayo white isn't doing it for you, Chicago Comics also offers a mustard yellow version.  There was a ketchup red one in the store too, I believe, if you decided you wanted to make a full sandwich.

We both like this figure so much, in fact, he is part of an elite squad that gets to reside in our living room. 

 

(Curio Cabinet still in progress...)

I love this guy's look and sadness.  Actually, I just remembered I also liked the forlorned look on the Wonder Woman I recently reviewed too.  I'm a pretty happy person in general but I do have an affection for misery in music, movies, literature, and I guess now toys too.  Four and half tentacles for this guy!  I don't know why he isn't getting five...maybe because he's not a real action figure?

P.S. In the completely irrelevant department, this image comes up when you google "chicago hero statue":

I thought it was worth mentioning.

Action Figure Friday - Wonder Woman

A quick note before we begin: Voting for the newest Berkley Illustration Etsy animal is still going on in the post immediately after this one. You have one more day to make your voice heard!

Finally, a babe!  I've been wondering when Ryan would give me a lady action figure to rate knowing full well that he has many totally awesome women in his collection.  This one could be considered cheating, however, because I do believe this figure was given to me.

Nevertheless, I give you: Wonder Woman!

(I'm not sure what action figure line she comes from. In fact, I think she came with a book about Wonder Woman's history - specifically her 1940s roots and mythological ties). 

I've realized over the past week that I don't know as much about our statuesque heroine as I thought I did.  Sure, I know about the basics talking points, ie. the Lasso of Truth, her Invisible Plane, her Amazon Island, and her swanky wristbands but why?  Why does she have these things and what, exactly, are they good for?

 

Well, it's been a busy week so I'm sorry to say I still have no idea why or how she got an invisible plane.  For all I know a replica was included in the packaging with this figure and I totally threw it away and now there is a large invisible plane just sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Coincidentally, I just threw a Wonder Woman themed bridal shower for my friend Alicia last Sunday.  (Actually, this figure's appearance in no coincidence at all considering we had put several Wonder Woman figures out for display).  Alicia, like yours truly, is about to wed a mega comics nerd.  It only seemed fitting that I should brace her for the endless nerdtalk that she will be enduring throughout time.  So, in an effort to ease the transition, I made her some vegan Wonder Woman cupcakes as part of the deal.

I included a few photos of the vintage WW as cupcake toppers and, after looking at many variations of her style, I must say that I really appreciate this vintage starry skirt look.  In fact, this really reminds me of something I would have worn five year ago.

 

The skirt is so much more manageable than the granny panties, don't you think?

Okay, I admit.  I do have a soft spot in my heart for the spandex look too.  I'm just saying, if I were to dress as WW for Halloween, I would much rather opt for the 1940s skirted look.  Er, but I would definitely avoid whatever contraption this gal is wearing for support.

As far as P.O.A. (that's points of articulation for those of you who have yet to marry an action figure geek), Wonder Woman is sorely lacking.  In fact, she has the exact same flexibility of your standard Barbie doll.  Her knees bend in that soft rubbery way...

...and her arms are straight and just swing around at the shoulder.  To help illustrate this for you sports fans: She'd be able to signal a touchdown or a 3-pt. field goal but would not be to call face mask or traveling.

Aside from her lack of mobility, the only real downer about this super babe is her bummer facial expression.

Actually, strike that.  I like that she's looking introspective and concerned.  Who says superheroes need to be smiley? Or who says they have to look tough?  I quite enjoy the fact that she is obviously deep in thought and will most certainly hatch a clever plan of attack in the near future.  Hooray for a thinking woman superhero!  Four tentacles.

Action Figure Friday - Lobster Johnson

Good and bad news today:

Good news = Action Figure Friday is back yet again!
Bad news= Our Action Figure Room in our house is still a mess of tupperware and paper bags.  Someday we'll show you the whole thing because we've got some tricks up our sleeves. Ryan and I have decided to compromise (that's the way marriage works, kids!) and he'll display a few less figures than he did before BUT we'll put them out in a more creative way.  I'm not at all against his massive collection, but I do prefer a more distinct lack of clutter. Someday soon all that might make some sense...

[Bonus good news=I've learned how to make text in color!  It is not hard.]

But for now, on to the figure...Please welcome, Lobster Johnson!

L.J. comes from the Hellboy universe and was created by Mike Mignola.  His look is decisively unmodern which is good because he "existed" in the 1930s as a vigilante of sorts.  I'm probably going to hear it from Ryan and Beau (Ryan's brother) because I've been urged to read the Hellboy comics many times and I've never quite made time for it.  Thus, I know much less about our friend Lobster here than I probably should.

One reason I am familiar at all with this chap is because Beau dressed up as him for Halloween a couple years ago.  Please note: Beau is famous for his meticulous Halloween costumes. He is often haunted by anxiety nightmares in July of Halloween arriving and being totally unprepared.  So, when he decided to tackle Lobster Johnson we all knew he'd do a bang-up job.

I wish I had a better full-length photo for you, but you can probably tell that it was awesome.

(This photo is not Beau)

One thing I can really appreciate about L.J. are his goggles.  Goggles just aren't as in vogue as they once were and they have such a classy look.  Case in point, Amelia:

Some other things I like about LobJo are his coloring (very appropriately muted), his sculpt (rather chunky), and the bright lobster claw on his palm.  Seriously, the creators of this figure did a really good job of capturing the look and spirit of Mignola's art.

I'm not sure what's up with the riding pants thigh-triangles but I'm assuming those are loyal to the figure so no lost points.

Maybe they are a defense tactic for when he is swimming?  If he swam on his side at the right angle, people would think he was a shark!  Not terribly likely, but it could work.

My biggest (and perhaps only) beef with this figure are his wrists.  For all the attention to detail on the rest of the figure, why can I see wooden dowels between his forearm and hands?

I tried pushing them in (gently) but that didn't work. And yes, I am fully aware that this might be some type of user error but it's still getting to me.

Dowels aside, I am going to give Lobster Johnson four and a half tentacles.  I really do love the unevenness of his sculpt which makes him look like a painting as well as a crusader.  Beau gets five tentacles for his costume interpretation - especially because he made it all from scratch.  Remind me to show you his Dr. Doom costume sometime soon too...

 

Action Figure Friday - To-Fu No. 029

Well now, this guy is certainly a departure from your normal superhero action figure.  In fact, I'm not exactly sure where the "action" part comes into play.  He is definitely a figure, though.  A figure with a tofu head.  It's To-Fu Oyako, Tofu No. 029, [Yakko To-Fu]!

 

I bought this guy for Ryan a few years ago at the Missing Link toy store in Portland. In fact, I may have purchased him on the same trip as the legendary Squidfire.  I don't know very much about him so I used the informative sticker on the back of his noggin as a Google starting point.

Apparently his taunt of "YOU'LL NEVER GET ME" is accurate as the Devil Robots website is caput and the To-Fu Oyaku site is "coming soon".  It's a very exciting coming soon, however, so I would recommend that you visit in anticipatory glee.

You'll see above that his square head is very helpful for the amateur art student.  It shows the concept of square perspective quite well.  Once you have that down, you can move on to things like this:

 

Let me know how it goes.

The body of To-Fu No. 029 resembles that of the Fisher Price "Little People".  Not the old wood ones, like these:

But there was some kind of later edition that looked like this:

Perhaps they weren't Fisher Price proper?  I wish I could remember more about them because my internet searches have been in vain.  And I don't think that 25 second Photoshop drawing is going to do anyone any favors.  The hand shape is really the connector here.

Moving on...I decided to put a little "action" in To-Fu No. 029 after all:

Please note: He can't do the patented "Yakko Head Side Balance Favor" without a little added weight*.

*Weight sold separately.  Or found in your living room.

This guy is pretty cool and really he's the perfect toy for a couple of crazy ol' vegans.  I like the way he brings tofu to life and doesn't really have any political agenda.  I sure would like to meet some of his To-Fu buddies.  Four tentacles!