what came first?

While on patrol, Captain Ruger finds a strange egg...

Raising Hell

Doug Bradley is one of my heroes, for obvious reasons.
I'm glad they made a figure of him in human form.

the detritus of pop culture

As modern collectors, we are used to having tons of information at our fingertips.
If Hasbro sneezes, we know about it. But that wasn't always the case.
Check out this scan from an old Tomarts magazine. They were supposed to have a Mr. T figure from the show T and T. But nope, it was not to be. Also, Saving Private Ryan was something they considered for a one-off Gi Joe licensed figure. But nope.

the coming Storm

Been eyeing this up for a long time. finallyhad a TRU coupon and TRU money. Great 3 3/4th scaled ship. The OSM will have a new ride soon.

Still from APOCALYPSE KISS, my new movie!

Check it out!
Ciera Stevens, played by the fabulous Aimee Cassada, reports as devastation occurs.
Follow the filming on Potent Media's Facebook page.

KREOs!

One of the lines that I have been quietly collecting here and there as they have been released is KREO.

What I find fun about them is a number of things.
One, Lego Transformers. Many of us have wanted those for years!
The quality is pretty good, outside of some issues with stress on plastic when you plug things into the hand holes.
Two, it's a new expression of Transformers that I enjoy.
Hasbro has tried a number of different things over the years to get more money out of us - Bot Shots, Robot Heroes, etc. And for me, none of them have really worked. I might buy a pack or two, but it never sticks with me. These little guys work in a way that the other things have not.
You get a fully-functional action figure in a small scale, along with (up until recently) a Lego vehicle you could build for your Kreon TF to ride around in.
This made me think about a story - why would Optimus come with a giant truck version of himself?
In this TF Universe, in my mind, the Transformers CAN'T transform at first. They are human-sized robots who come to the planet Earth and have their war. But it is a much less serious war, as you might expect in a Lego-esque universe. The lasers just kinda push people around, not really hurt them.
Each year of product is like a season of a KREO LEGO TV show. In year one, they come to Earth. In year two, Prime and Megatron need to rebuild after the battling, with Megatron discovering Dark Energon and creating Devastator. Late in the season, Scorpinok arrives, with his technology that allows Kreons to transform. In year three, we have Beast Hunting and more exploration of transforming. Just something fun that doesn't kill your wallet with releases. Hasbro even numbers their blind pack figures so you don't have to go nuts trying to find your favorite characters.

In the upcoming days, I'll be showing off a bunch of the blind packs and some KREO things.
Stay tuned!

The Prime and Megatron shown above are from the year two Prime VS Megatron pack, which also includes a KREO bank for them to fight over, and two buildable mech versions of themselves inspired by the Prime TV series. Fun stuff!

Manglotacular!

Manglors is a line I have been trying to complete for a while.
Such great designs! Shame they are this rubbery crap.
Be nice if someone found a way to bring these back to market somehow.

The Ghosts of Atari

Part of the difficulty in going through old electronics is this - games I only have one of that will just not work any more.
Airlock is the great loss out of these (because I have a blue label Infiltrate). One of the first Atari games I can remember having and playing a great deal. The others I could really care about replacing. No one is going to come over for a weekend gaming session and be crushed because Tunnel Runner has crapped out.

the epitome of 80s fun

when this was your only home option for fighting games at home.

Moderately Geeky podcast is up!

Listen to some guy you know make a couple of toy announcements and talk about his movie projects for a couple of hours.

Volkruin teammates

I love this wave so much.

New Glyos drop announced!

Set your calendar for February 1st.
A teaser pic is up at the blog now in that link.
Glyos is doing a throwback to the early days of toys, with a non-panel-lined wave.
It's going to seem strange at first, but there is a method to the madneSs.

Been years since I picked up an Atari game...

But I found one today at a local "all eras game" store.
Polaris! This used to be in the top half of my want list.
But the internet helped kill Atari collecting for me...once you have access to the ROMS that comprise these games, what are you actually collecting? A plastic case with a sticker.

I still buy them here and there. Hard to beat the experience of the real joystick and a vintage crappy TV. I just don't find games to add to the collection at a reasonable price too often.

Thinking about going back to the store and picking up River Raid II and Guardian...

Any Manta Force fans out there?

It was a UK-only line with some of the most powerful missile-firing mechanisms ever made.
And depicted the horror of battle with aliens and robots in ways that the US could not allow.

Do you know about the M.A.N.T.A. Force?
More info to come in the days ahead.

Unproduced Zibits!

Thanks to the people with websites and bloggers who made videos from Toy Fair and captured these images. Otherwise, they would have been lost to the heavens forever.
Unproduced things must be documented!

The Rocks!

Who's your favorite Rock Monster from RBT?

Star Team!

ZEM and the boys.
What would you name the Scouts, if you had the opportunity?

My new movie, APOCALYPSE KISS!

Check out the poster for my new movie, APOCALYPSE KISS.
Again, not for the kiddies. The teaser is here on YouTube. We start filming next month!

Also, catch me on the Carded Heroes podcast - you should check out their site here - and I'll update you when my episode plays.

Zibits Battle Fortress

With action figure collecting at retail being where it is (i.e. not very interesting to me), and my own impending descent into creating action figures rapidly upon us, I haven't been collecting many new things at retail.
One line that I almost completely ignored was Zibits. Little R/C robots with constructable playsets, the pricepoint was just a little higher than I wanted when they debuted a couple of years back.
Now, with deluxe Transformers at EIGHTEEN DOLLARS AND FORTY NINE CENTS, ten bucks for a little robotic guy you can control isn't too bad!

Above, check out one of the second series items which didn't see full distribution in the US, the Battle Fortress. Senario, the company behind Zibits, tried to give kids a classic action figure line; the robots all have a bio-card and personalities. There's a good amount of color used across the range, and it has a good amount of play value involved.
But what I want to bring up is specifically modern playsets. Phil Reed has recently been talking about playsets over on Battlegrip.com, and here with Zibits, we can see what modern playsets amount to.

What Zibits tried to do was give you a constructable system of ramps and bits so that you could create your own world for the characters to interact. What it winds up as is a bunch of ramps and pieces of cardboard.
Is this what we want in playsets? Or something different overall?

OMFG Series 2

It would be hard for me to imagine someone not knowing about these, but OMFG is a series of mini-figures where artists post designs in the October Toys forums, the community votes on them, and then the figures get made! Super-democratic!

There are a crapton of exclusives on series 2, but if you have missed out so far, series 1 and 2 are available at the October Toys store RIGHT NOW. If you like MUSCLE figures, you need these now.

A more typical pic of me at a convention

With famous people THE GODBEAST and Matt "King of Glyos" Doughty.
I don't know who took this pic, but thanks for doing so. Proof that I exist!

A rare pic of me working at a convention

With the infamous Roxsy Tyler, promoting DEER CROSSING and BOOLEY at a recent MONSTERMANIA convention in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Make sure you stop by and say hello at future shows!
Oh, you didn't know I produce indie films? Check out the official site of Potent Media for more info. NOT FOR THE KIDDIES!

So, who's that with the dummy?

Special credit to Lars from Sidekick Media for capturing me in all my "I'm telling some famous guy his own business" face.

The Sucklord is a personal friend. You need some of his special toy magic, grab some today at http://www.supersuckstore.com/

Mr. Swlabr!

I want this puppet so bad. I've considered using my professional contacts to hit up the credited FX men behind this, but then I would be in one of my own Kobayashi Maru scenarios of debt VS happiness.

Who's that, with the dummy?

Extra nerd points if you get the title reference.

Here's me posing with the Toy Break hammer at a San Diego Comic Con.
The 3rd most-famous hammer in nerdom, behind Mjolnyr and that one hammer Leatherface used on that dude in part one.

So this one time...

my dad, who usually could give a crap about autographs and such, sees that the legendary Clint Howard is supposed to be at a convention I am attending.
He asks me - for the first and only time - to get him an autograph.

The above was Mr. Howard's table. I never saw him at the show.
As far as I know, he actually didn't show up.
Such is the way of conventions.

Botcon 2007!

I was there with some friends. Were you?
AKA the year the Classics boxset included Seekers that everyone swore would sell at retail, but later warmed pegs across the US.

I'm not usually one for autographs...

But honestly, how many times are you going to get to meet THE LEPRECHAUN himself, Warwick Davis, in life?

What have I been waiting for?

go to TOYFINITY.COM and CATCH THE MORDLE.

Into Zorennor

What, you think the team went into Zorennor without a ship?
(Starship Eternia fron New Adventures standing in for the Glyos ship)

Is The Masks the best Twilight Zone?

 

I think about things often. I think it is part of a nerdy existence to do this.
much of my mind is steeped in the past. Where others have experienced the things you see on this blog like Power Lords and RBT and let them go, I find that these things still live on in my mind. One aspect of my mind, shared by many, is the Twilight Zone.

For a few years now, my New Years celebration has been to sit down with my loved ones and watch the TZ marathon on the SyFy channel.
The old friends are back every year - Henry Bemis, the Venutian, the Invaders, the much-hated Bewitchin Pool...and these tales don't get old. They exist outside of time for me.

I remember, roughly between 5th grade and 7th grade, that local UHF station 17 - or perhaps 57 - announced the Zone was coming back.  Maybe I had seen it before that. I do not know. But I know I saw a lot of the episodes in that syndication run. Episodes such as The Dummy would forever be ingrained on my mental landscape. Could there be many worse fates than being trapped in the body of a dummy?

Over time, what you appreciate changes. "the thing on the wing of the plane" seems like thebest to a 10 year old. But one episode that has grown into a favorite - if not my favorite - over the years is "the Masks." An old man is dying, and his family os the worst group of gold diggers you can imagine. But he will make them pay for being dicks. Special Mati Gras masks change their features into horrific monstrosities, and being rich at that point will not help them.

The concept of revenge has fueled many different stories over the years. But as a thinker, my mind goes into what the story does not show. This old man, Jason, felt so mistreated by his family that he obtsined specisl masks that would forever scar them. It's quite tge lengthto go to.
Think about SAW. You have to really want to hurt someone to make a machine that ripscapart someone's jaw. The same applies to this tale of masks and revenge.
Biff Bang Pow decided to commemorate this episode with a figure in the classic Mego style, and I thank them for it.

it's 2013. have you heard about the Glyos initiative?

updates here have been sparse, I know. 2012 was a super busy year for me.
Have you seen Deer Crossing yet? My film work has taken off a bit. Deer Crossing is at every Blockbuster store and most Redbox kiosks now.
Apocalypse Kiss starts filming next month. And big updates are coming soon on everything else I have been working on these last eight months. The world of Glyos and indie toys is about to get some new recruits.