Man-E-Winner-Is....

Coming in with a whopping 40% of the vote, the winner of Toyriffic's Man-E-Faces contest is:



Man-E-Confused, submitted by Wes!

Thanks for all the awesome entries. Wes, your Man-E-Faces will be sent out to you sometime in the next week or so - email me your address at bubbashelby@gmail.com

Omega beams so fine, beams so fine they blow my mind Omega!

Had a good swap meet morning today. The best of my haul was this Kenner Superpowers Darkseid I scored for fifty cents!

This Darkseid action figure came out in 1985 as part of the Superpowers toyline. He originally came with a cape, but since I don't think of Darkseid as much of a cape wearer anyways I am okay that I don't have it.

Darkseid has red plastic "piping" that allows light to shine in at the top of his head and give his eyes an Omega Beam glow. Look out Batman!

"Do you exfoliate?"

30 Years ago today, in a theater not so far away...

...we saw these S.O.B.s break the horizon for the first time ever and we were in AWE!

30 Years ago today (May 21st 1980) The Empire Strikes Back debuted in theaters.

The above AT-AT is from Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart.


This book was given to me a few years ago and it is truly a feat of papercraft engineering. Today we'll look at a few Empire Strikes Back pop-ups from the book. The book goes beyond the traditional concept of a pop-up per page and often has pages with huge central pop-ups flanked by mini pop-ups, pop-ups within pop-ups and moving components that actually animate some of the pop-ups as they...well...pop up! The above AT-AT scene is clearly the central pop-up of that section but the section also contains four more separate pop-ups. Cool!


On another page is an example of a smaller pop-up, here showing Luke on his Tauntaun. If you pop open the tab to the left, a Wampa leaps out at them.

On this page you can pop-up Han Solo...

...and if you continue to pop-up the section further...

...Boba Fett appears to freeze Han in carbonite!

As you open up this section the papercraft forms into Darth Vader's helmet, but it's brilliance lies in the fact that the helmet construct itself over an image of Anakin's face!

How cool is that?

Finally, there are light up lightsabers in the final two pop-ups of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. I am only showing Vader here because the image chosen for Luke represents Return of the Jedi, not The Empire Strikes Back. This image of Vader of course represents that thrilling cinematic moment in which Vader reveals his true identity to his son Luke. I still remember that moment, sitting in the darkened theater with my parents. I remember reacting much like Luke did, turning to my parents and saying "Is that TRUE? That can't be true!!!"

What an epic film and a great cinematic and cultural moment to have been a part of. Happy 30th, Empire. May the Force be with you. Always.

Mustang Silly

One of the most famous iterations of the legendary Ford Mustang was it's concept vehicle created in 1962. Although Hot Wheels and Mustang have gone hand in hand since the first set of Hot Wheels hit the orange track, 2010 marks the first time Hot Wheels has created a '62 Concept Mustang.

2010 New Model #28 of 44, this '62 Ford Mustang Concept doesn't look much like a Mustang at all.

The side air intakes are really the only hint that this vehicle spawned the American Icon.

The '62 Concept Mustang was a 2 seater and had a V-4 motor.


It looks more like Speed Racer's Mach 5 than a Mach 1.

Muftak Love

Remember this weird alien sippin' his Gin and Juice during the Cantina Scene in Star Wars?


Back then he was just an unknown background alien with fur, four eyes and a wiener for a mouth.

Today we know him as Muftak.

I came across this action figure at the thrift store. He is actually a Foul Moudama action figure from 2006. But since the figure was missing his boots and his lightsaber, and since I have such an affinity for the Cantina scene, I cut his robe off and made him into Muftak. Muftak proper was actually released as an exclusive mail away action figure during the Power of the Force line, with the later Foul Moudama release being the same figure with Jedi accoutrements added on.

Muftak and Foul Moudama are Talz, a race of aliens from the frozen planet Alzoc III.

Besides appearing in the Cantina scene, the Talz were represented on film by Foul Moudama, a Talz Jedi in the original (and best) Clone Wars animated shorts and more recently in their native garb in an episode of the lackluster Clone Wars series.

The odd kitbash flavor of those first alien creatures to appear and populate the Star Wars universe is what makes them so charming and timeless. The newer stuff is way too slick. Too much computer work and not enough real, visceral, tactile and emotional connection with what's being "made" these days.

Someone had to draw this creature with a pencil, build a costume out of real cloth and maybe real hair, real plastic and stitching and glue and paint, stick a real person in it and make magic happen. Today someone sits in a cubicle and pushes pixels all day. I ask you, is that progress?

Muftak thinks not.

Man-E-Great-Entries!

I had some amazing entries in my Man-E-Contest to win an original Man-E-Faces. So Man-E, in fact, that I can't choose a winner...

...but YOU can!

I will be placing ALL the entries up here today and will add a voting widget to the right of this blog. I will close the polls next Monday May 24th at 9Pm Pacific time and the winner will receive the original Man-E-Faces I promised!

I encouraged folks to enter more than once, and some of you did just that! I have included all the entrants I received, and they are listed here in no particular order.

So vote now and vote often, and may the best Man-E-Win!


Hand-E-Man-E by Thomas.


Leon submitted a few, including Buzz-E-Light-Year...


...Charl-E-Brown...


...Fish-E-Faces...


... and Chick-E-Little. Note how Leon changed the body armor color to suit the faces as well!


Wes submitted a few too, including Man-E-Confused...


...Kevin-Malone-E-Faces from the hit Eternian sitcom The Off-Face...


...Buff-E-Slayer...


...and finally a self portrait called simply Wes-E-Faces.


Here's Man-E-Freezes by Craig.


And Gonk-E-Faces by Charles.


And last but certainly not least, John went the extra mile and gave us Bett-E-Faces (and friends) from the hit TV show Golden Masters!

Thanks everyone for your excellent entries! Good luck!

MIP MUZAs

I just posted about my three newest (and MIP!) Mixed-up Zoo Animals (aka MUZAs) over at my Mixed-up Zoo Animals blog.


Go check them out, if you dare!

Jim Henson :: September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990

One of the Gods of my childhood passed away 20 years ago today.

"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there." - Jim Henson

And how!

God Bless you, Mr. Henson. Thanks for everything!

Now let's all do what Jim would want us to do. Smile :)

Zaturday night's alright for fightin'!

I officially decree that from this day forward the third Saturday in May is officially Zartan Zaturday!

"So sayeth Zartan. So it is written. So shall it be forevermore."

I admit, I didn't follow GI Joe as a kid. I had two, maybe three of the toys, and the cartoon really raised my ire; not one of those "military professionals" could aim worth a dang! Stormtroopers have better aim than GI Joe and Cobra combined! And when a plane or helicopter was shot out of the sky, EVERY SINGLE TIME a parachute would open. You know why you're losing the war, Joe? Because you won't kill the doggone enemy! What kind of military force is that? I ask you!!!!

Inhaleexhaleinhaleexhale....

Sorry.

Nevertheless, I can't deny the effect GI Joe had on the consciousness of my youth. So many GI Joe characters are an indelible part of my generation's cultural landscape today whether or not I had any direct connection to them in childhood. The list goes on and on. Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Flint, Duke, Destro, The Baroness...and of course, the one, the only...ZARTAN!

I remember when Zartan hit the GI Joe scene. Specifically I remember when he hit the toy scene, and thusly the backyard/playground/sandbox scene. I had many friends who considered him the Boba Fett of GI Joe lore; if they needed an unbeatable badass go-to villain they chose Zartan every time.

I admit to admiring his unique look, regardless of my general lack of regard for the line, and of course I admired his color changing feature which is akin to glow-in-the-dark in it's level of coolness.

So when I came across this 25th Anniversary Zartan at Big lots for a mere $4 a couple weeks ago, I knew I had to finally join the Cobra ranks and get this bad boy into my collection. Soon idle chatter with a few fellow bloggers blossomed into the cross-blog event of the century: Zartan Zaturday.

The rest is history.

Originally released around 2008, this updated/retro Zartan doesn't change color, but he does come with a gun, knife, backpack, "Chameleon swamp skier," and two masks.

"Zartan? I don't know no Zartan. I'm Storm Shadow. Word."

"Storm Shadow? Oh yeah, him. I killed him. Yeah, left his body over there. I'm Duke, by the way. A pleasure to meet you. Word."

"Alas poor Storm Shadow, I knew him well."

"Spring Break here I come!"

The original Zartan came as part of a set with a large swamp skier vehicle; you've got to give Hasbro mad props for including a smaller version of Zartan's signature vehicle and giving folks this accessory at the same price as all the other Joes. It may be puny, but it has high play and retro value.

But wait...there's more!

Check out the rest of the Zartan Zaturday participants at the following blogs:

Eclectorama
Geek Orthodox
Branded in the 80s
Dan's Toy Museum
A Year of Toys
Adventures in Nerdliness
Battlegrip
Revenge From the Cosmic Ark

...and if you didn't get in on the fun this time around, there's always next year!

*Special thanks to Shawn of Branded in the 80s for the Zartan Zaturday graphic!

Ztay Tuned...

Coming this Saturday Zaturday to a blog near you!

Eclectorama
Geek Orthodox
Branded in the 80s
Dan's Toy Museum
A Year of Toys
Adventures in Nerdliness
Battlegrip
Revenge From the Cosmic Ark
and of course, Toyriffic

If you want in on the fun, just let me know!

Thanks to Shawn of Branded in the 80s for the graphic!

My future's so bright, I gotta blog Slade

The cartoon Teen Titans featured a lot of colorful antagonists for our youthful heroes to do battle with, but Deathstroke was always the team's primary threat. Funny thing though, they couldn't call him Deathstroke on the show. Too violent? Sissies!

The show worked around the issue and Deathstroke ended up going by his real first name: Slade.

Clever? No.

An acceptable alternative to mommy-appeasing alternatives (Hurtslice? Blackeyeslash? Bellyacheswing?)

Yes.

Moving on...

Slade's look in Teen Titans is much more militaristic than his comic book counterpart. His costume does share some of the traits of his original look though, including the bandoleer and the pouch-belt.

Sadly those bitchin' buccaneer boots didn't make the cut! Oh well.

Slade's mask is more like a helmet here, not the cloth mask he wears in the comics. He still only has one good eye.

The only color on Slade's costume is the orange half of his mask. It's very striking in contrast to the gray and black of the rest of his outfit, which taken all together is a really cool character re-design.

The first TT figures were all stuck in very static straight-up poses, and the scale was all over the place; you can see in Red X that as the line continued the poses became more dynamic. Slade also looks like a midget next to the teenaged Red X.

Unfortunately the Teen Titans toys started weak, and as the toys got better, the line faded away. I may not have been a huge fan of the cartoon, but the character designs were neat and the toys had huge potential.

Even Slade has a lot of charm, for all his faults. He's pretty darn puny compared to his compadres, and he's standing stiff-as-a-board, but he's still a neat little Deathstroke.

Team Skeletor FTW!

Taking a whopping 70% of the votes, Skeletor trounces Hordak in Toyriffic's recent poll!

Hordak was last seen changing into a shower-head to either mask his tears or spy on Mantenna in the locker-room.

Hooray for Team Skeletor! Speech! Speech! Speech!


"Evil-Lyn ain't the only one with a purple pussy!"

Ahem...yes well...thanks for the insight Skeletor.

Now let's celebrate this easy victory by taking a look at Toyriffic's previous Skeletor posts: Original Skeletor, Panthor and re-issue Skeletor, MOTU Classics Skeletor, and Eraser Skeletor!