Random Toy Pic :: Minions

Poison Ivy and her new recruits.

Poison Ivy from 'The Batman' cartoon toyline.

Swamp Thing (s) from the Kenner toyline.

Awesome

From The Source:

"Friday, July 29th, 2011

By DC Comics’ Co-Publishers
Over the past week we’ve heard from fans about a need for more women writers, artists and characters. We want you to know, first and foremost, that we hear you and take your concerns very seriously.
We’ve been very fortunate in recent years to have fan favorite creators like Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, Felicia Henderson, Fiona Staples, Amanda Connor, G. Willow Wilson and Nicola Scott write and draw the adventures of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.
DC Comics is the home of a pantheon of remarkable, iconic women characters like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman and Supergirl as well as fan favorite characters like Black Canary, Katana, Mera and Starfire. We’re committed to telling diverse stories with a diverse point of view. We want these adventures to resonate in the real world, reflecting the experiences of our diverse readership. Can we improve on that? We always can—and aim to.
We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months and will be making those announcements closer to publication. Many of the above creators will be working on new projects, as we continue to tell the ongoing adventures of our characters. We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.
Our recent announcements have generated much attention and discussion and we welcome that dialogue.
Best-
Jim Lee & Dan DiDio
DC Entertainment Co-Publishers"

She made a difference. That's a hero!

For my daughters, I say thank you to everyone who spoke up and thank you to DC Comics for listening.

More fun with (Playmobil) Series 1

As I recently reported, Playmobil Fi?ures (Figures) Series 1 blind-bagged figures are hitting store shelves now. I was super excited to get The Executioner (which I squeezed and squeezed for - hint: feel for his axe (haha that sounds dirty))

Anyways, I also picked up one for my girlfriend's son and one for my daughter too, and here's what they got:

The boy got...Sue Sylvester from Glee?!?!

OK. Well, it's supposed to be some sort of award winner I suppose, and it's supposed to be a dude to boot, but damned if it isn't the spitting image of the Glee club's arch nemesis herself. Sufficed to say the boy wasn't too excited about this one.

The girl fared far better in my opinion. She got this awesome 'Highwaywoman' figure! A sort of female Robin Hood, this brigand babe comes with a musket and a bag for loot (or heads, which is what is in there when she's hanging out with my Executioner, according to my daughter.)

Speaking of whom, I completely forgot to show you under the hood last time. Well here he is. Gotta love that Prince Valiant hairdo, and the face tattoos or face paint (or if you ask my girlfriend, tears of blood like the vampires in True Blood - sheesh!) make him look pretty cool under that morbid red hood!

Uh oh, Sue doesn't stand a chance against these two ne'er-do-wells!

These Playmobile Fi?ures are brand new, and I don't know if a code has been cracked for the blind bags yet, but the ones we have came in bags with the following numbers printed in black on the backs of the packages:

Blue Bag:
Executioner: 14611 0784 008357 5203 01
Sue Sylvester Award Winner: 15111 0506 000206 5203 01

Pink Bag:
Highwaywoman: 15311 0784 000845 5201 01

Not sure if those mean anything, but maybe they'll help, so good luck and happy hunting.

'Red Tails' trailer hits the web

George Lucas' tale of the Tuskegee Airmen finally has a release date (January 2012) and a trailer to boot!

This looks awesome! Although with Lucas involved, you should probably just wait for the 2018 special edition release, wherein the Nazis shoot first.

A real DC Woman kicking ass!

Whether or not you follow comic books or news on the upcoming DCnU very closely, or even care at all about any of that, you would be wise to read this interview with 'Kyrax2' over at the DC Women Kicking Ass blog. Because if nothing else, this woman has passion for something awesome, and if you are reading a toy blog so do you.

I love comic books almost as much as I love my daughters. With one more little girl on the way, I want the future of comic books to be as inclusive to them as humanly possible. I want them to share, or at least understand and appreciate, my love for superheroes and the messages they convey: Truth, Justice, the American Way; With great power comes great responsibility; Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot; all that stuff.

After all was said and done, this line struck me closest to home:

"I’m not just asking for my sake. I have a seven year-old daughter who sometimes reads my trades. She was not, as has been widely reported, dressed as Spoiler at the convention. She was dressed as Raven, from Teen Titans Go!. She is my Lian Harper, and I don’t want to see her brutally and pointlessly murdered. I want her to be like Stephanie Brown, and keep on trying even when life smacks her down again and again. When she encounters personal tragedy, I want to see her transcend it like Barbara Gordon, turning it into strength.

She is DC’s future market, and someday I hope to see more women who are amazing role models for her, not just on the page, but also behind it."

I like male superheroes. And I like sexy female superheroes. I'm a guy. But looks are not the only component of a sexy female, nor is 'sexy' the only valuable component of a woman. And I'm not the only one reading comic books. Girls are too. A lot of them, and damned if there shouldn't be MORE!

I still love comics, and feel a lot of the product out there is outstanding. And yes, maybe a lot of the recent fears are unfounded (none of the 'new 52' have been released yet, so it's still a 'wait and see' situation.)

However I do agree that more needs to be done to include females, gays, and non-whites into mainstream superhero comic books, as well as in action figure toylines for that matter!

Now go, read the article, and have faith: Her daughter dressed as Raven, and she is our future!

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Catwoman through the years

My favorite Catwoman look is the purple one on the far right. I suppose that makes me a leg man.

Playmobile :: Under the Red Hood

Playmobil has gotten in on the act that Lego is making famous by releasing 'Playmobil Fi?ures' (that's how it is spelled on the package) or probably more accurately just plain 'Playmobile Figures.' A local educational toy store just received Series 1, and after looking at all the figures available I just HAD to squeeze and prod the packaging to find:

Aw yeah Plamobil Executioner! How wonderfully morbid is this guy? And of course it would take little to customize this dude into a Mad Monk or a Red Hood or something like that. But in the meantime I think I'll build a gallows or a torture chamber out of Legos for this guy to hang out, I mean 'perfect his craft' in!

Here's a look at all the dudes in Series 1, and I mean that literally...

You see, Playmobil has separated all males and females into their own distinct packages. I'm not usually one for gender role separation when it comes to toys, but for any parent of a boy who has ended up with a Lego ice skater figure or parent of a girl who you would love to finally find that Lego ice skating figure but keep ending up with the viking...well at least this way you have a better chance of making your kid happy. And if your son is okay with a mermaid or your daughter is fine with Zorro, you can just ignore the gender-cliche pink and blue and go for whatever you want!

EDIT: I should add too that these figures come (surprisingly) un-assembled, making figure determination via the squeeze method that much more difficult.

Harley Qwednesday :: Triumvirate of Terror

via HarleyTheHenchWench.Deviantart.com

Imaginext Killer Croc

Oops, wrong Croc!

Ahh that's better!

Do the Bartman!

Holy sweet mother of God if this isn't the greatest thing ever since ever than you haven't been paying attention to life:

If there was ever a time to have a cow, man, it'd be after gazing upon this beauty!

Santa Cruz Skateboards (aw yeah locals!) have teamed up with Matt Groening or 20th Century Fox or their lawyers or whomever is in charge of this sort of thing to bring us the 'Bart Model' skateboard (along with a few other keen Simpsons themed boards!)

Recreating the iconing skateboard Bart Simpson rides at the beginning of every episode of, well, The Simpsons, the Bart Model comes complete with nineties neon colors...

...and Simpsonized decals including one of the iconic Santa Cruz Skateboards Screaming Hand. how freaking insanely cool is that?

I've honestly been wanting a cruzer skateboard for some time now, even though I haven't ridden a skateboard since I was in elementary school. This may be the board that finally gets me into the ER!

And why not? My life is a freaking cartoon as it is. Might as well try some tricks I learned while watching them. Want to join me? The Bart model (as well as other Simpsons themed skateboards) can be purchased at NHSFunFactory.com and may be available at fine skate shops near you.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Playskool Heroes

Holy heroic confusion, Batman, could this really be? Has Spider-Man joined the ranks of the junior JLA?

Well, sort of. You see, Hasbro/Playskool, not to be outdone by Mattel/Fisher-Price, has itself just released kid friendly action figures/playsets ala Imaginext's DC Super Friends line.

Sporting the same type of articulation as the later Imaginext releases (in other words: shoulders, head, hips and wrists,) the first run of these guys (according to the back of the box) includes two-pack figure sets with the likes of Captain America and Wolverine, Hulk and Thor, Iron-Man and Dr. Doom, and the set I picked up; Spider-Man and...

Green Goblin!

Green Goblin has a non removable pumpkin bomb in his hand, and comes with a glider that he can ride - held on by the peg on the glider and the hole on his foot.

'Outta the way, runt. This gliding greenbean is mine!'

'Take your time, Birdman. I prefer to tussle with (Cat) women anyways.'

Almost exactly like the Imaginext superheroes, the Marvel Playskool Heroes figures are a little smaller and 'slighter,' if you will, when played with...I mean compared against...the DC Super Friends Imaginext figures. Which actually works perfectly for a character like Spider-Man who is himself a teenager, and will probably work well with Wolverine too, who is supposed to be short. These guys were at Toys R Us in the preschool toy aisle next to the Imaginext stuff. They are $6.49 for a two pack at my TRU, not a bad deal for two figures, but you know as time goes by Spidey and Iron-Man are going to be packed in with everybody and you'll probably eventually have ten of each! Regardless, I REALLY wanted Captain America and Wolverine, but for some reason that was the only set shown on the box that they didn't have on the shelf.

There are also a couple vehicles which come with different versions of their respective characters - the Iron-Man that came with a car was quite different than the one from the two-pack, while the Spidey that came with a Spider-copter only differed slightly (the spider-symbol may have been the only difference in fact.) At least they are giving us adult collectors...I mean 'kids'...yeah, kids...something unique right out of the gate. That's cool.

On the package it also says to check out www.playskoolheroes.com, but as of this posting there is nothing there but an announcement page.

Oh and one more thing: Playskool / Hasbro - if you are listening...the times they are a'changin' - don't wait until this toyline has been out for years before you give kids a female in the line. Bring them early and bring them often. I promise you won't regret it!

Catwoman Purrrsday :: The Cat

From Batman #1

Harley Qwednesday :: The Quinntankerous

'I love the smell of Smilex in the morning...'

'...it smells like victory!'

Introducing hell on wheels, folks...aka The Quinntankerous!

The other night I decided my Lego Harley Quinn mini figure needed an equipment upgrade, so I retired the Harleymobile and built The Quinntankerous!

The Quinntankerous is of course armed to the teeth. Up front is a movable battering ram...

...while around back there's a cannon and missile launcher, not to mention a handy holder for Harley's hammer.

Never one to overlook safety, I've even added a blast shield that cover's Harley's dome when the cannon goes off.

When I mentioned on Facebook that I was retiring the Harleymobile. Ewan of Chase Variant said "Whatever happens, that boot in the front has gotta stay!!!"

Well originally the butt kicking boot from the Harleymobile was not part of my Quinntankerous design. But I gave it some more thought and finally decided to add it on, this time making it fully retractable.

'Outta the way, roadhawg!'

Watch out Gotham City, Harley has hit the highway!

Harley Qwednesday :: Her face isn't the only thing that's pasty

Friend of Toyriffic and Harley Quinn extraordinaire Elise Archer recently suffered the loss of a loved one and a few other personal setbacks. In getting back on her feet, she is now offering for sale some of her handmade Harley Quinn themed burlesque pasties...oooh naughty!

Limited Edition Harley Quinn burlesque pasties available at Etsy.

Deluxe Harley Quinn burlesque pasties available on eBay.

Pasties not your thing? To each his (or her) own. But if that is the case, you can still support Elise (get it? Pasties...support...boobs....I made a funny!) by making a helpful donation directly to Elise, and get a cool signed photo in return.

Help her out if you can; what goes around comes around. Or...dare I say... 'tit for tat?'.

I need to go change my pants now

The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer is officially online!

Random Toy Pic :: Troops

I found some Lego pieces and mini-figures at the Flea Market last weekend. The Stormtrooper and Dark Stormtrooper helmets were without bodies, but I was able to scrape together color coordinated body pieces to make them complete and they look fine without the chest details.

Finding the Snowtrooper reminded me of how much I loved my original Snowtrooper action figure when I was a kid.

Feels Like the First Time

Other than needing to someday re-acquire a Secret Wars Wolverine action figure, I was pretty sure I had all the Wolverines I needed in my life. Then I saw this Marvel Universe First Appearance Wolverine and just had to add him to the collection!

I'm no big fan of his yellow and blue costume, preferring Wolverine's brown costume over any other. But I have to admit I do prefer the look of his original cowl over the hyper-exaggerated ears of subsequent cowls. The nose and whiskers are a neat touch as well.

Not much else to say about the figure; you either love this look or can do without it. I'm pretty sure all of the figure besides the head are previously released Wolverine parts, and he comes with nothing more than a base (which is nice...ARE YOU LISTENING MATTEL?!?!) He's as good if not better than most Marvel Universe figures quality wise and looks good on my desk at work.

One final note, his lips also look sort of Michael Keaton-esque to me. Imagine if Tim Burton had made a Wolverine movie in '89 instead of Batman? I'd like to visit that alternate universe someday!

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Adam Hughes

No discussion about Catwoman can be considered complete without bringing up the work of one of the greatest Catwoman illustrators of all time: Adam Hughes.

Hughes' Audrey Hepburn inspired Catwoman is one of the most gorgeous women of Gotham City ever to grace a comic book cover!

Meow.