This Little Piggie...

40: Mellow Chevelle - O

Hot Wheels continue to heat up their 40th year with the second color release of their '70 Chevelle SS Station Wagon in yellow!

As cool as the blue version, this is one muscle car station wagon you do not want to miss!

Yellow with black racing stripes on the hood, this Chevelle also sports a black interior which differs from the white of it's predecessor.

I don't recommend passing on this one - the blue version was difficult for me to find and I don't think Hot Wheels fans are going to pas up this color variation very often either.

I'm glad that even though they changed the color and interior, they kept the five spoke wheels - those are the best looking wheels Hot Wheels currently offers and they really scream "Muscle Car!"

Anyone need groceries...fast?

Nun is the Loneliest Number

My recent post about the new Kabuki action figure from Shocker Toys got me thinking about other comic book craziness from the nineties. And in that decade, it didn't get much crazier than Warrior Nun Areala:

Warrior Nun Areala was a comic book about, well, a warrior nun.

There were actually two different action figures made of Sister Shannon Masters. This one is obviously the Anime version.

I originally had the standard, or comic book, version back in the mid nineties. Until my dog chewed it up one day. A couple years later I won a contest on some toy forum and received this Anime Warrior Nun Areala as my prize. I guess God didn't want me to be without.

"Thunder...Thunder...THUNDER CATS HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I admit, I also had a few Warrior Nun Areala comic books...

...I also admit, I probably still have them here somewhere...but I don't recall the relevance of the bejeweled gauntlet. You are more than welcome to read up on her at her Wikipedia entry if you care.

She came with a big old sword too for demon fighting fun.

What's more spectacular than this comic and action figure is that in my search for info for this post I discovered that a cartoon was actually in the works at one time!



I'd watch it.

Abra-abra-cadabra...

...I want to reach out and grab ya!

This alluring illusionist is Zatanna Zatara from the JLU action figure line representing her Justice League Unlimited animated look.


Zatanna is a magician who can cast magical spells by speaking in reverse. Her father was Giovanni Zatara - the magician who trained a young Bruce Wayne in the magical arts!


This figure is the single carded release of Zatanna. I think her leggings were different (fishnet) if you got her in the three pack release.


The carded release of Zatanna also came with a magic wand, but she can't really hold it very well.


Zatanna has a pretty simple but unmistakable and classic design, and I much prefer this classic magician looking costume over the more super-heroish look she had in the eighties.

Zatanna was a must have figure for me even though I'm only a casual collector of JLU because the character is so cool and fun. I hope she ends up in the DC Universe Classics and DC Infinite Heroes lines really soon!


"Ouy lliw evael a tnemmoc gnillet enoyreve tuoba rouy evol rof ciffiryot!"

Edward and Henrietta - Episode 7

Gavin Scott recently uploaded a new episode of The Adventures of Edward and Henrietta at edandhen.com

Keep an eye out for Jean Grey and Prince Charles in Episode 7: "In Atlantis."


The Adventures of Edward and Henrietta, Episode 7 from edandhen.com on Vimeo.

And in case you missed it, you can read my interview with Gavin by clicking the following links:

Interview with Gavin Scott Part 1

Interview with Gavin Scott Part 2

Interview with Gavin Scott Part 3

You can also follow Gavin on Twitter for up to the minute Edward and Henrietta news!

I'm Bringin' Sectaur Back

Remember the Sectaurs?


These guys were Caleco's answer to the pseudo-science-fiction slash barbarian-warlords toys of the eighties - a Masters of the Universe type insect-human hybrid world of giant bugs and guys with antenna growing from their foreheads!


I had a few of these guys when they came out but they didn't survive in my collection to adulthood. I found Prince Dargon here at the local swap meet a couple weeks ago.

When I had my original Dargon, he came with a giant Dragonfly steed with movable wings. Another cool gimmick Sectaurs incorporated into their steeds was the fact that they were actually puppets - their legs were gloves that your fingers fit into (and I think you could also manipulate the creature's jaws.)

Another awesome part of the Sectaurs toyline was that each figure had a "pet" insect, and where Masters of the Universe figures each had a different action feature, for Sectaurs it was their bugs that had the mad skills!

I found this bug at the same swap meet, from the same seller, a week later. He wasn't Prince Dargon's bug, but buggers can't be choosers. His name is Toxcid and he belonged to the evil Skito. Toxcid's "action feature" is that he can squirt water. That's a pretty cool action feature for a toy bug!

Someday I'd like to get some complete and well conditioned Sectaurs again, but in the meantime I'm glad to have these fine specimin skittering about.

Kabuki Fever

Shocker Toys has just released their Indie Spotlight Comic Book Heroes Series 1 and I was lucky enough to get my hands on Kabuki!

Shocker Toys is focusing this new line of action figures based on independent comic book characters. Series 1 focuses on characters from the 1990s. I was an avid comic book reader and collector at that time, and while I am familiar with Kabuki in a general sense, I never followed any Kabuki comics. So for a character synopsis, I'll had you over to Wikipedia and I'll do what I do best - talk about the toy!

The packaging is designed with the collector in mind. You can easily un-tape the backer card and slide it off the plastic bubble, and re-attach it later for storage or display. This is a real nice collector-friendly touch, Shocker Toys!

In addition to showing the rest of series one's line-up, the back of the card has a nice file-card type bio on the character. Click for a larger image. Okay, now on to the figure itself!

Shocker Toys has designed Kabuki with all the articulation we have grown to expect in six inch comic book action figures. The figure is very similar to a Marvel Legends figure when it comes to articulation, although it does have it's own subtle engineering solutions - for instance, Marvel Legends' female figures tended to suffer from Pampers-Panties, and this problem has been well addressed by Shocker Toys with a good balance of aesthetics and function.

Another high note is that, instead of opened hands and removable weapons, Kabuki comes with two sets of hands. One set holding her weaponry, and one set of fists. Obviously they can be mixed and matched for cool results. The only downside to this is that no other figure could use her weapons, but that's a minor quibble.

The coolest thing about this Kabuki action figure, in my opinion, is her removable mask! Part of the reason I love superheroes is my obsession with masks, and I love that Kabuki has her own mask which can be easily attached and removed (instead of an alternate head or a permanent masked face.)

Kabuki is a well made and well painted figure. She moves easily but isn't too floppy, and holds many great poses.


Her mask stays put and comes off with ease as well.

Her hands are easily snapped on and off and the weapons don't outweigh her causing her to lose balance in action poses.

And because she's in the same 6-7" scale, Kabuki will fit right in to any Marvel Legends or DC Universe Classics collection.

Kabuki also has this cool dragon tattoo on her back! Groovy!

Her hip and torso swivels are really nice and allow for great contrapposto positioning.

With limited knowledge of Kabuki, I wouldn't have necessarily sought her out, but now that I have her I'm glad I do! I'm sold on the quality of this series and may need to get me some more of them soon! Future releases include Dick Tracy and an absolute must for me - The Phantom!

Apparently series one of Indie Spotlight is also known as the Maxx Series. If you collect all seven, you can mail away for a Mr. Gone! That's pretty cool. Each figure in the series also comes with an Isz from the Maxx universe:

Kabuki comes with a female Isz, natch!
If you're a big fan of Kabuki I would not pass this figure up. If you're a casual fan you can't go wrong with her either. She can be ordered from Shocker Toys Website by clicking HERE.

Infinite Friends

So the other day I sent Reis from Geek Orthodox a toy he was longing for that I had lying around. As "thanks" Reis asked if I needed the DCIH Batman (which I did) so he dropped the new DC Infinite Heroes Black and Grey Batman in the mail for me!

I didn't know which colored suit Batman Reis was sending (he's also available in Blue/Grey with the oval symbol) so I was extra happy to find this one in the mail the other day, as it has been my favorite look for Batman for a while now.

Batman is one of the nicer DCIH and I think I know why. The body was designed with a belt in mind. The characters whose costumes lack a belt seem to have elongated torsos. But Batman appears perfectly proportioned.

Okay, here's why we need a DCIH Aquaman stat!

Also this week, Darius of Adventures in Nerdliness and a co-blogger on Amazon Princess said he found a DCIH Wonder Woman and was sending it to me gratis! Wow, whatta pal! I am sending him an art piece in return to show my gratitude.

Wonder Woman is the first female superhero from the DC Infinite Heroes action figure line I have, and she's a really nice figure.

She well proportioned and although there's a lot of quibble about Mattel's DCIH articulation, I think in many cases "less is more," especially when it comes to female action figures.

The torso joint is nice and allows for good body rotation. If I had one gripe, it'd be the lack of elbows. But the nice small feminine hands make up for that (as some of the male DCIH figures tend to have massive paws!)

Diana's face is a good sculpt for her size and the paint application is pretty good.

Wonder Woman did come with a stand, which is the first DCIH figure I've gotten that does. It may be because she's a female character. I think all the DCIH should come with a stand, they all need them!

So, two more DCIH figures bring my tally to:

Infinite Heroes: 6

Infinite Villains: 1

(Those bad-guys better start steppin' up, Hush is feeling a bit outnumbered!)

Oh, and because you demanded it (in your minds...)



You should be ashamed of yourself! ;)