Back to the Future in Hotwheels' future

We've already gotten a standard DeLoreon in the Hotwheels line-up, and recent news of Mattel obtaining the Back to the Future license pretty much made it a no-brainer, but this image found at the blog T-Hunted (via the Hot Wheels forums) makes it truly official.

Frankly this is all I want or need out of the Back to the Future toyline (even though I already have the Johnny Lightning version,) so I am a happy camper. I can't wait to send this puppy down some orange track!

Buy stuff by me at Zazzle!

Captain America in Entertainment Weekly

In case you haven't yet seen these online, here are a couple of my favorite images from the upcoming Entertainment Weekly issue featuring Chris Evans as Captain America on the cover. Looks cool, and it is VERY geek-tastic to see his original shield!


See more at SuperheroHype.com

Snakes on the Eternian Plain

Another late-comer to the MOTU toyline was Rattlor. A part of the Snake Men sub-sect, Rattlor was a minion of the snake skinned King Hiss.

Rattlor has a really cool and surprisingly detailed design. Unlike many MOTU figures there are no re-used parts, he's an entirely unique sculpt from head to toe. Also, unlike some other Snake Men, Rattlor actually has a snake tail!

Each of the Snake Men had a snake themed action feature. Sometimes these action features were relevant to the species of snake the individual Snake Man represented, as in the case of Kobra Khan.

Rattlor actually has two action features. First, he has beads inside his hollow body, so he 'rattles' like a real rattlesnake when you shake him!

Second, if you push a button hidden on his back behind his tail...

KA-CHA! Rattlor's head springs out for an evil Snake Man strike!

Push his head back in and it locks into place for more surprise striking fun.

It also helps Rattlor get onto roller coasters.

Harley Qwednesday

Our friends over at Under the Giant Penny recently did a post about a keen Batman: Animated Harley Quinn maquette released back in 2004. A beautiful piece beautifully photographed - go check it out!

And kicking around the internet looking for Harley themed images for today's Harley Qwednesday, I found this post at Craftster.org about a Harley Quinn inspired purse some brilliant gal made:


How insanely awesome is that?!?!

By the way, if you plan on going trick or treating as Harley Quinn this Halloween, send me some pics and I'll feature them on the next Harley Qwednesday! Heck, you might as well, because if the pictures end up online I'll probably use them anyways.

Reign of the Supermen

It took 18 years, two toy separate toylines (DC Superheroes and DC Universe Classics,) a HTF Walmart exclusive (Eradicator) and a re-release of an insanely HTF figure (Cyborg Superman) but after finally finding the DC Universe Classics Superboy the other day, I have now completed my Reign of the Supermen collection!

No moment in comic book history (save for the Knightfall series) stands out moreso for my generation of comic book fans than the death and resurrection of Superman. Say what you will about the gimmick of killing off a superhero, but it never held more gravitas than in 1992 when Superman died.

I'm stoked to finally have all these guys together, and it seems even more poignant given that my display is right next to my TV and I am also enjoying the last season of Smallville.

At heart I am an absolute Batman fan, but there's no denying the fact that the big red 'S' stands for something important, and it is and always will be an inspiration to me.

Aliens really Chap Mei hide!

This here refugee from the Mos Eisley Cantina is a generic alien action figure made by Chap Mei in 2001 as part of the Space Quest Mission Squad series.

Chap Mei makes al of the 'generic' action figure sets you find at stores like Rite-Aid, Walgreens and other drug stores with measly overpriced toy aisles. Most of the time they are army figures or police/firemen, but sometimes Chap Mei produce something unique and fun like space creatures or knights or fantasy creatures.

I'd never bought a Chap Mei set or figure new, (I got this guy at the swap meet,) so even though I have seen them around in stores and such I had never actually examined one close up until I found this guy. The quality is surprisingly good, and the figure's design and detail are really top notch for a 'no-name' toy.

Articulation is as simple as an original Star Wars figure; shoulders, hips and neck.

This guy seriously looks like an old-school Star Wars alien, complete with mismatched knee-pads and a pseudo space-suit with hoses, straps and other accouterments all over it. He even has a funky robotic hand! Cooooool!

EDIT: 1/25/2020 I found this at Goodwill:

No date on it, but as you can see this alien was released at some point in this Space Police Mission Squad series along with a suction cup dart gun. Cool!

Harley Qwednesday :: Hello Dollface!

Welcome to another Harley Qwednesday! YAY HARLEY!

Today we take a look at a Harley Quinn dolly. This is my daughter's Harley Quinn dolly. I swear!

Released during the Batman: Animated heyday (marked 1998,) this Harley Quinn doll is about the size of a regular Barbie and originally came with a couple plastic hyenas (which are around here somewhere.) My daughter isn't old enough to have gotten Harley new, I got this doll for her a couple years ago off eBay.

I also got her a Batgirl from the same Batman: Animated dolly line-up.

These are really great dollys - if you're into dollys that is. Well made, they look pretty accurate to their cartoon counterparts and they fit in well with other dollys their size; every little girl should have them in their collection!

Also, some old men. Like Reis, Brian A/Brian B and Chunky B, who are all really big dolly lovers and understand the joys of removing their toys' pants. Don't judge them!

The Secret Sisters

I just heard The Secret Sisters (Laura and Lydia Rogers) on NPR's World Cafe yesterday and I am in love. When they sing their voices literally give me chills. Now I know how Ulysses felt.


Their debut album (produced by T. Bone Burnett) was just released and is available wherever you get music. In addition I HIGHLY recommend you pick up their single release 'Big River' produced by Jack White (of White Stripes fame.)

Their cover of Johnny Cash's Big River (with White on guitar) is a-freakin-mazing! I'm going to be playing it, like, all day today. You can hear it streaming online HERE.

If you have any respect for your ears, check out The Secret Sisters NOW!

Pretty Pretty Princess Scarface

Scarface is ready for Halloween.

Shrek Forever After coming to DVD and Blu-Ray

‘Shrek Forever After’ was the 4th and (we are told, but these things are never final are they?) final sequel in the ‘Shrek’ movie series. A Dreamworks CGI animated movie, it was originally released in theatres here in the US on May 21st 2010 and is available soon on DVD and Blu-Ray. (Shrek Forever After DVD is available at Tesco.)

I admit I haven’t seen a Shrek movie since the second one. Both ‘Shrek’ and ‘Shrek 2’ were great movies, I just didn’t feel the need to get to theatres when ‘3’ and ‘4’ came out. So many other movies are in my ‘rent’ or ‘buy’ queue, so this is a series that has fallen by my radar. It is certainly the kind of movie I would have liked to have seen in the theatre and I honestly don’t know how I missed it, especially with kids. ‘Shrek Forever After’ was released in 3-D, which is of course all the rage right now and a bandwagon I still can’t get myself to jump on, but if any films are perfectly suited for the 3-D treatment it is any CGI animated film as they are created in a virtual 3-D space to begin with.


Me having not seen Shrek 3 or 4 isn’t to say they aren’t great movies. I’m sure the fourth installment: ‘Shrek Forever After’ is as fun and funny as the first couple flicks. With Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Mike Myers as ‘Shrek,’ Antonio Banderas as ‘Puss In Boots,’ and Cameron Diaz as ‘Princess Fiona,’ ‘Shrek Forever After’ finds our ugly Ogre hero going through a sort of mid-life crisis, which leads to Shrek and the rest of his fairyland pals romping along “a moving journey of suspense and big laughs as an unexpected encounter with the mischievous Rumpelstiltskin turns Shrek’s world upside down.”

Sounds like a good time for everyone, doesn't it? Except maybe Rumplestiltskin. You can be sure he gets his in the end!

This post was sponsored by Tesco Entertainment where you can buy DVDs.

Megatron who?

Megatron may be the best known robot who transforms into a gun, but he's not the only one:

I don't know anything about this guy. EDIT: I was lazy when I wrote this, but just took a minute to Google for this guy and apparently his name is Cap Pistol (original, I know.)

He's clearly branded as a Gobot and I know he's legit, but he's nothing like any of the better known Gobots of yesteryear. All plastic and super low-rent, the only marks I can find on him is 'Made in Hong Kong' inside one of his legs. *edit I take that back, it says 'Arco' in his left armpit.

He looks like he's wearing a dapper red cap over his hair and sideburns. Get it? a red cap - Cap Pistol! Hahaha them dudes at GoBots were cleverer(er er er) than I thought! /sarcasm

His face is just a decal, so I imagine that part of him takes a beating over the decades. I am surprised I found him in such good shape at the (you guessed it) swap meet.

Unlike Megatron who transforms into a realistic Walther P-38, Cap Pistol transforms into a spiffy space gun ala Flash Gordon. PEW PEW PEW! Take that Ming!

And he's a real working cap gun too. Fun!

This guy is super kooky and I'm glad I have him now, although I probably would have thought he was the lamest toy ever back in my Gobot collecting youth.

Harley Qwednesday :: Comics!

For the first year or so of the Harley Quinn comic book, Terry and Rachel Dodson were the husband and wife art team (Terry on pencils and Rachel on inks) in charge of bringing Harl to visual life (along with writer Karl Kesel.)

Debuting in December 2000, 'Harley Quinn' was a fun comic with insanely cute art thanks to the Dodsons.

I loved the playfulness of the Dodsons' art - it made the fun of Kesel's scripts that much more...fun.

I collected the series while the Dodsons and Kesel were on it. The Dodsons left first, then after maybe two years Kesel left the title. It got a little more 'serious' after that and wasn't fun any more so I dropped the title.

I'm sure these aren't worth much, but as I recall they were a lot of fun and I recommend any Harley fan pick them up, at least through Kesel's run as writer.

And even if you don't read them, all the covers are fame-worthy!

Harley Qwednesday :: Heeellllooooooo nurse!

First up for today's installment of Harley Qwednesday, an Arkham Asylum video game Nurse Harley.

From MollyMcIsaac.com

And next up is cosplayer Jessica Nova in the more traditional Harley costume.

You can read an interview with Jessica Nova over at Derf's Domain.

Seeya Nextime!

I Like Turtles!

I picked this Raphael up from the swap meet a few weeks back for a couple reasons...

First off, Raphael is probably my favorite of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I like his anger infused, no BS New Yorker attitude.

Second, the red bandanna and relatively nondescript design of this more modern turtle figure (unlike the original TMNT toys, there is no 'R' on Raph's belt and his knee pads and elbow pads are a generic brown, ) means he's more of a throwback to the original Eastman and Laird turtle designs, and could be imagined to be any one of the four.

This Raphael figure is marked '2003' on the base of his foot and was made by Playmates.

I know the toy company NECA released some very 'original comic' accurate TMNT figures but I haven't gotten one yet, so until then this Raph is a pretty close approximation of their original look and fits nicely in my hodgepodge collection of second-hand TMNT toys.