Time After Time

The most recent episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold teamed Batman with Etrigan the Demon in Victorian London, in a story highlighting the origins of The Gentleman Ghost and also teaming Bats with the greatest detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes.

In a moment of unbridled and totally unexpected awesomeness, Batman's tattered costume is fixed by the magics of Etrigan, altered to better reflect the time period and - here's where comic nerds the world over screamed a squee of delight - exactly duplicated the costume worn by Batman in the Elseworlds tale Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is my favorite Batman "what if" (or as DC calls them, Elseworlds) story and if I recall it is the first story under the Elseworlds banner. It places Batman in the Victorian era on the trail of Jack the Ripper and is illustrated with amazing art by Mike Mignola.

So I have my DC Direct Gotham by Gaslight Batman and my DC Universe Classics Etrigan, and I decided to team them up as an homage to one of the coolest episodes of Brave and the Bold yet!

G by G Batman has limited articulation in the manner expected from DC Direct, but he's a beautiful replication of the art of Mike Mignola.

Etrigan has all the articulation of the DCUC figures, and is a beautifully rendered comic version sculpted by the amazing Four Horsemen for Mattel.


What an awesome and unexpected team-up! Thank you Batman: The Brave and the Bold for being so freaking cool.

(Mondo) Gecko Sits And Watches All

We come to the end of TMNT week and the end of my small TMNT collection with Mondo Gecko!

Dig those crazy braces!

Mondo Gecko came with this radical jet powered skateboard for major shreddage.

He reminds me of a cross between Bill and Ted and the Geico Gecko. Excellent!

"Later, skaters!"

Thanks for joining me for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles week. It was fun, and although my TMNT collection is pretty humble, I've grown to appreciate them so much more over this past week.

Tune in next week when Toyriffic brings you our very first super special celebrity interview!

Let Me Be Your Panda Bear

Panda Khaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn!!!!!!!!

This here fuzzy dude is Panda Khan.

TMNT Week continues with the Turtle ally with a Samurai theme and a soft, cuddly, lovable mug.

"Who you callin' cuddly?!?!"

His name is Panda Khan. Like Kubla Khan, or Ghengis Khan, or Kobra Khan, or Shaka Khan, or Ricardo Montalban aka Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!

She Bop, He Bop - a - We Bop!

TMNT Week continues with a rather Boar-ing post.

Bebop-a-Buggly, this guy is UGLY!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Week has already covered Rocksteady, so I figured it's high time I covered his Boar buddy Bebop!

My TMNT toon history is a bit fuzzy, but I think Bebop and Rocksteady started life as street thugs and were mutated with a boar and a rhino. Obviously Bebop was a punk rocker type, with his purple mohawk and his totally tubular eighties plastic shades!

Not to mention that face that not even a mother could love! SNORT!

It's Alright To Be Little Bitty

TMNT week continues! What's that...you didn't know it was TMNT week?

Well, neither did I. But I'm on a roll, and the TMNT figures I've been posting have been pretty well received. With about three more to go, I figured "What the shell!"

But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles week has thus far been lacking one essential component...

Turtles!

And what's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles week without a turtle? I don't know, but I do know what a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is when he's not a teenager...

...he's short!

Actually he's a Toddler Turtle! Toddler Raphael, to be exact.

Toddler Raphael actually came with his brothers in a set of four in 2004. They also had "training weapons" that looked like they were made of padded wood and each matched the turtles' adult weapon counterpart. I got them new, but my daughters loved these guys so I gave them over and I only held onto Raphael (my favorite turtle.) The other three brothers, along with their weapons, are lost forever. They were all the exact same sculpt, with only their bandanas being of different colors.

A cute and fun concept, I hope I can someday track down the other Toddler TMNT...maybe on eBay or something. Until then, Raphael shall roam the earth alone, like a baby Caine from Kung-Fu.

Pretty Fly For a White Guy

Keeping with our recent TMNT theme, Baxter Stockman is another of the early villains from the Ninja Turtles toy and cartoon line.

An obvious hmage to the classic horror film about science gone awry - "The Fly" - Baxter Stockman is a scientist whose experiments went awry, and who turned himself into a fly like mutant creature.

Baxter is cool on a lot of levels. His classic B-Movie horror schtick, his early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles connections...

...and he's pretty FLY for a white guy!

Turn On Your Light, And Stay With Me A While...

...and Rocksteady!

Along with the Mutagen Man figure I posted about earlier I was able to acquire a couple more original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures, including Rocksteady!

It has been a long time since I've seen an original TMNT cartoon so I'm not sure of the exact storyline, but as I recall the Rhinoceros Rocksteady, along with the Boar Bebop were the first two mutated villains in the TMNT cartoon.

All heck broke loose after that with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battling mutated villains from all level of flora and fauna, but Rocksteady is one of the first and holds a fond place in my heart. It's a shame he and Bebop haven't been given their respect in any of the number of TMNT films that have been made. Here's the meeting I would have loved to have been a part of, to punch the movie executive in the face: "Vanilla Ice, yes...Rocksteady, no. OUCH! He bwoke my node!"

Because "Mentally Unbalanced Bouncy Spherical Toys" was just too long...

Check out this crazy disgusting MadBall!

His name is Skull Face, natch. I got him for free, yes FREE!!! from Justin Gammon who, aside from being the only other living Mixed-up Zoo Animal fan on record besides myself, runs the awesome toy blog Weirdo Toys! Justin posted a Madball giveaway and since I have no life outside the internet I was all over it like ugly on a Madball, and was one of the lucky recipients of an ugly gross lovely free toy!

Skull Face here is actually a MadBall Sick. Which means he has a special disgusting feature besides his ugly mug...

There's a clear pocket on his head and just like Charmin, when you squeeze him you get a special surprise!

Squeeze it and the blister bulges with slimey spiders and a little red goo for good measure. YECH!

The spiders squeeze out nice and slow like, so it's almost like they're real. Real gross!!!!!

Thanks Justin for sharing your balls with your fans. You rock and Weirdo Toys is the bomb-diggity!

(P.S. - you can follow Weirdo Toys on Twitter too! DO IT!)

I'm Looking Through You, You're Not The Same!

This ugly cuss is called Mutagen Man.

He's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain character and was originally released in 1990.

The gimmick for this guy is that his innards are free floating inside his "glass" body. You can even fill him up with water (which I did) in order to enhance the effect. I considered filling him with slime, but the slime I have is not transparent enough and would make seeing his innards impossible. I also considered adding some food coloring to the water but decided, for now, to stick with regular old clear cool delicious H2O.

There's a lot of detail on his insides and his outsides too. He even has some little plastic bits floating inside (like a wrench and a little turtle!)

He's like a monstrous snow globe!

I got this TMNT character second-hand recently, so I don't know anything more about him. I do know he's missing an accessory or two (there's a space on his back for what looks like a scuba-tank apparatus) so if anyone has spare Mutagen Man accessories laying around, I'll take 'em!

Wearin' o' the Green

St. Patrick's Day is Tuesday, and the nation is awash in green as folks start their celebrations a little early this weekend.

So to honor the holiday in a manner other than by consuming mass quantities of Guinness and Corned beef (although that will happen too) I bring you the Emerald Archer himself, Green Arrow!

This is the DC Infinite Heroes Green Arrow that is currently available in a three pack and a single carded version. The figure is the same (as far as I know) no matter which way you get him, and mine came to me as a single.

Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen, comes with a compound bow accessory.

So far he is the only DCIH figure I have gotten that comes with any type of accessory. I don't need unnatural accessories for the sake of accessories, but a Green Arrow without his bow is like a Dr. Manhattan without his...well...you know. So I'm really glad GA has it.

He also has a quiver and arrows strapped to his back but they are molded on and non-removable. That's okay and in no way does it detract from the fun factor and coolness factor of this GA.

If Mattel's goal is to only release DC Infinite Heroes figures with relevant and logical accessories I applaud the effort and believe in the adage "less is more."

The hooded costume is an awesome look for Green Arrow and really makes this figure stand out among it's contemporaries. I am a huge fan of his classic look, but I must admit this hooded costume figure is a real treat for the eyes. There are a lot of details too.

The face is also an excellent sculpt. With his domino mask and goatee, Oliver is ready to fire off a few arrows on Friday and spend Saturday at the Ren. Faire with Dinah.

Green Arrow brings our DCIH tally to:

Infinite Heroes: 3
Infinite Villains: 1

Huzzah!

The Mothmobile Prophecies

I've written a few times about the Corgi Batmobile series of the mid 2000s. One of the most exceptional components of the series was the inclusion of comic accurate villain mobiles. One of the final villain mobile releases was also probably the most obscure and difficult to obtain...

The menacing Mothmobile!

The Mothmobile, driven by the not so threatening Killer Moth, is unique in that it is a three wheeled vehicle, with only one wheel at the rear.

All the Corgi releases had an "action feature" of some sort and the Mothmobile is no different: If you push down on the front end, the wings pop out.

The really amazing thing about this series is that they spared no expense. Often toy companies make lower level characters out of existing parts and kind of cobble together an extra, but not true with Corgi. The wheels are even unique all the way down to their Mothcaps. (I wonder how history would have been different had Jason Todd tried to steal those. Get on it, Grant Morrison!)

You can see why it's a three-wheeler, as the rear end tapers to a point.

Even gaudy Killer Moth is well represented piloting his kooky ride!

Mattel is now producing a series of Batmobiles in about the same 1:43 scale. They're nice, but they pale, PALE I say, in comparison to this line of Corgi vehicles in quality, value, playability, creativity...I could go on. Instead I will just go stare at my Batmobile shelf and smile.