Ray Harryhausen turned 90 years old on June 29th.

If the name isn’t familiar to you, Harryhausen was the master of stop motion animation, creating a bounty of some of the most imaginative motion pictures of the 50s, 60s and 70s. While crude by today’s CGI standards of cinematic effects, Harryhausen’s work was nothing short of magic on the screen.

I grew up watching Harryhausen movies on TV and in the theater, and still enjoy his creations today. From the alien attack in Earth vs the Flying Saucers, the fiece Ymir of 20 Million Miles to Earth to Jason and the Argonauts and the various Sinbad movies, Ray Harryhausen brought his fantastical creations to life one painstaking frame at a time.

As a tribute to his genius, I want to share this video montage of his creations with you all.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Harryhausen. Thanks for the magic.

Share:

I can feel it in the air, San Diego Comicon 2010 is closing in. There is no denying that SDCC has become the king of cons and it generates its own special kind of excitement and anticipation. But SDCC’s proximity and another recent event in my life got me thinking about the very first comic book convention I ever attended. One where I actually went for the comics!

(more…)

Share:

A couple of weeks ago, I headed down to Las Vegas to attend our first Licensing Show, and to see if there was anything that might catch our eyes to add to the Bif Bang Pow! arsenal. One of the meetings we had was to discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs’ near 100 year old Lord of the Jungle, Tarzan, and the ‘ol ape man got me thinking. In these troubling economic times of down sizing and minimizing our lives, there’s a fitting trend in the toy world that’s long been missing, perfect for 2010: the mini play set. Fifteen years ago you couldn’t walk into a toy store without dozens of options to choose from. And many of the little worlds on big cardboard backing cards were made by the same company at one time, a company that stood loud and proud for a brief period, but made some gems that still impress to this day. Come with me now through the plastic scented mists of time and let’s revisit an old friend, Trendmasters.

(more…)

Share:

Ok so this is one day late, but still relevant. I just wanted to share something for all the AFi dads out there…

Some fathers fish, or hunt with their sons. Others camp, or work on cars, or more sadly, don’t do much of anything together at all. But my own father, he and I always had three things we shared – playing sports, basketball and baseball in particular; a love for the Chicago Cubs, and my collecting of toys.

(more…)

Share:

A couple of columns back I wrote about Privateer Press’s upcoming Voltron Miniatures Battle Game that is launching in July. In that I mentioned that the game was a fully-compatible spin-off with another game from Privateer called Monsterpocalypse.

Monsterpocalypse is a table-top miniatures game of giant monster combat. It’s every kaiju movie come to life on your dining room table. It features pre-painted miniatures of a whole host of giant monsters (as well as smaller support units) from a variety of different factions. There’s also models of various buildings that serve as objectives and sources of power ups for your (or your opponents) monsters.

(more…)

Share:

I’ve been collecting toys for longer than I care to admit. 

Most of the time when I was a kid you found out about a new toys was to be surprised by it when you saw it in a store. Back then (and we’re talkin’ the 70s here) there were only a few ways to hear about toys before they hit stores. The biggest ones for me were the Christmas catalogs from Sears, Montgomery Wards and JC Penney, the BEST catalog (now defunct catalog-based store chain) and, especially,  the Heroes World ads that ran in comic books at the time.

(more…)

Share:

A new movie-based action figure line has recently hit the toy store shelves, and with it came the requisite round of internet complaining.

Complaints ranged from the sculpting, to the paint apps, to the articulation. Comments ranged from "some of the worst executed tiny line figures ever" to "horrendous" to "the fact that they have a sticker on the front stating that they are ‘highly articulated’ is totally bogus" to "they look like they’re carved from soap"

(more…)

Share:

DC Direct made a handful of figures for the animated movie Superman:Doomsday.  At one point, we heard that Warner DC Animated movies after that would only come from Mattel.  Mattel tried its hand at this with Superman/Batman:Public Enemies.  Mattel decided to do these in an animated style in the 6 inch (DC Universe Classics) scale and 3.75 inch (DC Infinite Heroes) scale.  Collectors of the DCUC line complained because they would have preferred the figures to be done in the comic style of the DCUC line.  The 3.75 inch line was more comic and less animated in style and seemed to have been better received.  But did Mattel miss the more obvious scale and style to do an animated line in?  Their other current DC offering – JLU?

Maybe.  The trick would have been coming up with characters or variations on characters that JLU collectors did not already have that were in the movie.  Given the broad spectrum, of character used, I think they could have.

(more…)

Share:

Join me once again for an obsessively in-depth look at one of the gang from Toy Story 3:  Chunk!

(more…)

Share:

So now Voltron’s coming back, eh?

The 80s renaissance continues as a new animated series, Voltron Force, was announced this week along with an accompanying toyline from Mattel.

Now, I was never a huge Voltron fan. I’m typically not into giant robots (which is odd, considering how much I loved Shogun Warriors back in the 70s). I watched the original series on and off. I never picked up any of the toys. Yet, I am finding myself looking forward to this new series and toyline. There’s another upcoming piece of Voltron merchandise that I am really looking forward to.

Beating everyone to the punch in this Voltron resurgence is game company Privateer Press, makers of the popular miniatures games Warmachine, Hordes and Monsterpocalypse.

(more…)

Share:

Join me for a look at all the currently available toy versions of Twitch, from the upcoming  "Toy Story 3!"

(more…)

Share:

I’m getting older.

There’s been definite signs. They’re impossible to miss, as much as I have tried to.

My continued interest, nay, obsession with toys isn’t one of them.

There’s the expected like forgetting things more often than I used to. Becoming tired sooner than I used to. My body aches more often (and easier) than it used to. I find myself making involuntary noises when I sit or get up off the sofa. Things like that.

But, something I’ve noticed lately is that I have found myself looking back more than I look forward when it comes to entertainment.

(more…)

Share:

No, you’re not seeing things, that is a 6" Snake Eyes action figure!

Click on for the full scoop!

(more…)

Share:

For the first time in its proud history, the Phoenix Comicon was held in Phoenix this year. Previously, our local con had been held at venues in surrounding cities like Glendale and Mesa. Well, we’ve finally arrived. No disrespect to past locations but holding Phoenix Con at the beautiful and impressive Phoenix Convention Center was a big deal. Everybody said the same thing: it actually felt like a convention this year! I was only able to attend Thursday’s "Preview Night" and Friday’s session. But even that abbreviated attendance provided a good geek fix!

(more…)

Share: