I passed on the Bat Sub when it first came out.  But I had a Target gift card eating a hole in my wallet shortly after Christmas and the Bat Copter caught my eye.  I loved the Beetle Ship (see previous review).  The parts were fun.  This had lots of parts.  And seemed to reuse the central module from the sub.  Bonus, it was on sale.  I think I paid $16.99 for the Beetle Ship.  The Bat Copter rang up at $12.99.  It was my kind of deal.

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I made a toy run on my way home this evening.  I do not go very often any more.  Never seems to be anything out there.  And I always have a ton to do these days (teaching my son to drive for one).  There at Target was a bunch of JLU 3 packs.  NBC used to have a slogan, "If you haven’t seen it, its new to you."  They were using it for summer re-runs.  I guess you could call these Mattel summer re-runs.

The Captains Arrive

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Today marks my wrap up of my Gen Con 2010 reports. Thanks to those who have been reading these, commenting, emailing, tweeting and whatnot.  It’s appreciated.

I wanted to use my blog here at AFi to share my passion for gaming. I think that gaming has a lot of crossover appeal to the toy collecting audience, and I wanted to share the gaming gospel so-to-speak. I dig video games. I have a PS2 and an XBOX360 and a library of games that I love. However, for me, nothing beats actually sitting across the table from someone and playing out a battle upon a tabletop. I love the social aspect of gaming in person.

One of the things that’s so awesome about Gen Con is it that’s place where gamers from all over the world gather together to game. Everyone is from different social, religious, economic, ethnic, etc backgrounds and those things can all be put aside, even for just a few hours, to enjoy the commonality of playing a game we love.

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Today I am continuing my series of reports on the recent Gen Con gaming convention held over August 5 – 8 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This time out I’ll be looking at Dream Pod 9 and their Heavy Gear line of products and WorldWorks Games who make the finest in PDF terrain around! Keep reading!

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Welcome to my third report on Gen Con, the largest gaming convention in North America, which was held this past August 5-8 in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you missed them, Report #1 can be found here, and Report #2 here.

FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES

In this installment I am going to be taking a look at Minnesota-based Fantasy Flight Games (aka FFG). FFG has been one of my favorite game publishers for several years now both from the perspective of a gamer and from my time as a game retailer. Everything about FFG has always been top notch. Not only do they make incredible games, but they’ve dabbled in movies, graphic novels and recently opened the Fantasy Flight Games Event Center gaming and retail space.

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Welcome back to my Gen Con 2010 Report. This is part 2. If you missed part one (covering Wizkids and Hydra Miniatures) you can check that out right here. Today we’ll be looking at Catalyst Game Lab and Flying Frog Productions and what cool stuff they had on display at Gen Con 2010!

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I know, I know.  I love Star Wars, as many of you out there undoubtedly do.  Hasbro has given us some great figures, box sets, and even vehicles like the awesome new AT-AT.  However, even though their scale is tailor-made for it, Hasbro has publicly stated time and again that playsets just aren’t in the cards.  We can discuss the reason for this heartbreaking decision until the proverbial cows come home (to produce blue milk, no doubt), or we can do something about it. 

That’s pretty much how this little venture started.  A local friend and artist simply named “Talker” and I got to talking over drinks one night, and decided that our shelves needed, nay – demanded we do something about it, and the partnership was formed.  He’s amazingly talented with wood.  He’s got 30 years experience and all the tools needed, and he cranks out shapes and plans faster than anyone.  We agreed on our first project – The Cantina, and started drawing up plans, gathering materials, the usual stuff (all the pics after the jump!)

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I spent this past Friday and Saturday at Gen Con, aka The Best Four Days in Gaming.

Gen Con was started by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax back in 1968. It was originally held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Technically, it started the year before in Gygax’s home, but became a public event in ’68. From these modest beginnings the show has grown to around 28,000 (in 2009) making it the largest gaming convention in North America.

It’s a lot to take in, especially in two days. I walked the exhibit hall, saw the sights and tried to discern, out of all the new products shown or announced, what would be the new hotness.

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"I can’t see buying many of these."

"With only a couple of exceptions, this line looks really cheap, like some Lanard The Corps! figures."

Those were my initial reactions upon seeing the first Toy Fair images of Mattel’s DC Universe Infinite Heroes line back in 2008. I was less than impressed, to say the least.

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Frequent readers know I have a thing for the Batman Brave and Bold line.  Earlier this week we were alerted to the fact that this humongous Bat Bot was available for the ridiculous price of $6.99.  Yes, less than the cost of a basic figure for the same line ($8.99).  I was intrigued.  Then our new Man of Action included the Bat Bot in his first blog.  I had to go looking for it.  A day or so later, I found it at Target.  The last one.  And the sign on the shelf actually said: "Bat Bot $6.99".  There was an employee in the same isle.  I had to ask.  I had to know.  Was this for real?  "Is there a place I can scan this for its price before I get to the register?" I asked?  The employee had a scanning device on his belt!  (Kind of like Batman would.)  Sure enough, it came up as $6.99.  I talked to him for a few minutes about the line, thanked him, and told him I was going to buy it immediately, before they corrected the price.  At the register I was still apprehensive if it would ring up at the shelf price.  But it did and I walked out with the Proto Bat Bot for $6.99.

This toy has everything.  Lights.  Sound.  A voice doing two phrases.  It’s chest opens up to reveal a giant cannon.  It has 6 missiles that fire.  It is also in the largest package I’ve ever bought for this line.  If we go by package size, this toy should be $19.99 or maybe even more.  My 16 year old son pointed out to me that the voice was Adam West.  He has renamed the toy as "The Adam West Bot".  Very cool, but I was uninspired.  Until tonight.  This evening I started "snapping" and attaching pieces and I just kept going.  I was in the zone.  And here it is.  The Ultimate Bat Bot.

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So I kinda lost my McFarlane Where the Wild Things Are figures in a little custody battle. That set of toys represents my favorite McFarlane product to date. The property was a fantastic choice and they hit it out of the park with the sculpts. I can’t think of another collection that brings me as much joy just to sit and stare at. And, unlike many other toy lines that eventually get taken out of the display rotation, the Wild Things stay put. Well, things got kinda shaken up for me this year and not the least grievous thing to happen was hearing this at the end of a particular conversation: “I want the Wild Things.”

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OK, so this blog is about two (three?) years later than I had promised. Yeah, yeah, I know, I am a slacker. In writing this, I realize I have never put this story down on paper.  It’s always been told to others, with much dramatic effect, so hopefully that won’t get lost on the written page.

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Bigfoot. Sasquatch. I’ve always been fascinated by the legend and stories of this creature that supposedly lives in various forms all over the world. I’m not sure what got me interested in it, but ever since I was a little kid, I found whatever books, documents, stories, and research papers, basically anything I could find on the subject.  All the skeptics and scientists that say Bigfoot didn’t exist, and all the friends who thought I was just plain crazy, all that never made that much of a difference to me.  I always dug the idea of this unseen primitive beast who manages to stay hidden despite all of society’s technology and advances.

It was always just a hobby; I never had any real plans to actually go out in the woods hunt for one, considering that growing up in the deserts of Phoenix kinda made that impossible. Plus, some of the freaky stories of encounters I had read made me think there was no way I would ever sit huddled by myself in a tent at 2 am and listen for proof of Bigfoot.” Terrifying animal screams breaking the silence, followed by sounds of branches being torn down by something huge and powerful, all that in the dead of night? Yeah, no thanks. I’ve had my share of strange things happen in the forests of Northern Arizona and that was more than enough for me. I settled for staying up late reading personal accounts of sightings, from books with nightmare-inducing language like "Here are the true facts you should know about the controversial creature that may be lurking near your town – at this very moment." Nice, huh?

OK, so this creature, this monster, it’s not just a goofy creation of good ‘ol USA hillbillies; it has been seen in many countries worldwide and in all sorts of frightening forms. It’s known as Yeti in the Himalayas, Yeren in China. The Yowie-Whowie in Australia.  In Native American culture, the creature goes by the name Chiye-tanka (roughly translated to great elder brother) or "the big man".  And in Missouri, the MoMo – the Midwest’s version of Sasquatch.  It apparently has orange eyes, a large pumpkin-shaped head, three-fingered claws and leaves three-toed footprints, and, unlike the shy Bigfoot, this aggressive creature was known to kill dogs and terrorize humans. Sounds fantastic, yes? There were actually plans for a MoMo action figure by Nevermore Creations, but the line was eventually canceled.

Sightings of the Momo (short for Missouri Monster) have been reported since the 1940s, but it was the 1972 sighting in Louisiana, Mo, that attracted all the press. Since then, there have been sightings in 29 counties throughout the state. But mysterious creatures aren’t the only topic of local folklore; that area has had its share of oddities dating back to the 1940s. UFOs, strange floating lights at night, fireballs in the sky, mysterious deaths. The haunted Zombie Road. The phantom man of River Road. A woman’s unexplained midnight screams from an abandoned lime kiln along the Salt River. And this – during the winter of 1954, a couple was found dead in a car along the roadside. The woman sat on the passenger side and seemed to be asleep. The man looked like he was hiding, curled up under the steering wheel and was completely naked.  His clothing was found on the highway, 20 feet behind the car and folded neatly. Their deaths listed as "asphyxiation", even though the window on the driver’s side was open in ten-degree-below-zero weather. And here you thought Missouri was just full of meth labs.

At this point you’re thinking, ok, great, so there’s some weird stuff and a Bigfoot-type monster hanging out in Missouri, so what doe this have to do with me, right? Trust me, we’re just getting started…

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As Gen Con looms ever closer (the show starts tomorrow, and runs through Sunday), I wanted to talk briefly about another game that I’m really looking forward to: AE Bounty.

AE Bounty (short for Alien Encounters: Bounty), from Darkson Designs, is a miniatures skirmish game in a science fiction setting. This will be Darkson Designs second miniatures game. Their first game was AE WWII (Alternate Events: WWII) which was also a skirmish level (individuals fighting, as opposed to squads or armies) miniatures game in the Weird War genre.

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Hello AFI!  As a fan & reader of the site for a long time, I consider it a pleasure & a priviledge to be here. A liitle about me before we begin – I am a former video game designer, toy designer/producer, and a professional model builder. I’ve been writing for another toy site for the better part of ten years, and AFI is definitely a big promotion for me!  Thanks to all the Men of Action, Toy Otter, and Julius for the warm welcome I received at Comicon!

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the newest toys hitting shelves this weekend. First is are some new offering for Mattel’s Brave & The bold. Singly carded is B’Wanna Beast (accompanied in the case by a correct color Blue Beetle) and boxed is the sweet Proto Bat-Bot.  Toy Guru told me that the Proto Bat-Bot was designed internally at Mattel, but was so liked by the folks at Cartoon Network that it will appear on the show! Lights, sounds and firing missiles round out this kid-friendly toy.

Next up shipping from Walmart.com is the long-awaited Iron Man Mk. V 6" exclusive. Nice to finally get this figure, which shows a marked improvement compared to Hasbro’s previous 6" offerings.  I’m sure they’ll start appearing on Walmart shelves very soon.  Last but not least, that fantastic Jabba the Hutt exclusive has surfaced at WalMart.  Here’s a pic of the one I picked up the other day in my collection .

Thanks for the read, be back soon with more new stuff & some thoughts. Please feel free to drop me a line with requests or questions! i’ll also be doing a giveaway soon in conjunction with Mr. Julius Marx with sets of Starro Spores for those who couldn’t make it to Comicon this year.
Captain Collector

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I just got home from a little excursion to PulpFest 2010 in Columbus, Ohio.

PulpFest is a convention dedicated to the history, preservation and collecting of the pulp fiction stories of the early 20th century. Characters such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, Tarzan, and more made their first appearances in the pulps.

Pulps got their name because of the cheap paper that was used to produce them. There were magazines from every genre imaginable: science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective stories, westerns and even romance. They all told stories that captured the imaginations of Americans for decades until they fell out of favor with the publication of the first paperback books around World War II. They finally faded away altogether with the advent of television, which quickly became the chosen entertainment of the land.

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