Batman Head Swap: An Actual Toy Blog

Batman: Brave and the Bold was scary for many reasons: it had a light tone, it was not a Timm-verse Batman, and Oswald from “The Drew Carey Show” was BATMAN!!! The toys were even scarier, they weren’t in scale with JLU and they had crazy peg-holes, PEG-HOLES!!!!! The magic of the show won fans  over, its great stories and diverse cast had viewers of all ages coming back. And for some of us, the magic of the show managed to make the toys fun to collect.

Granted I only own 5 Brave and the Bold figures, but still much like they show I was surprised by how much I liked them. The toy-line is still going pretty strong and is much easier to find than other Mattel lines. New figures are hitting the pegs, and one in particular caught my eye. It has a removable cowl! Revealing Bruce Wayne is the Batman!

Top 11 Movies of 2011, for me anyway…

Please note the opinions and views expressed in this blog are my own and you

should agree with them.

“Mexico: A Toy-velogue” or “An American Geek in Mexico”

My girlfriend and I recently took a week long trip to Mexico, the Motherland. I call it the Motherland because both my parents are Mexican, and while I was born and raised in the USA, I was brought up with a rich Mexican heritage and speak fluent Spanish. So naturally I’ve been to Mexico several times before, but never Mexico City or its surrounding areas. My family is from the north of Mexico and that’s pretty much all I knew of the place.   On this trip I expected fun, relaxation and adventure (the fun version that American tourists have when "discovering" a nice restaurant as described in a guide book). What I didn’t expect was to be hounded by toys and geek culture. My first encounter being at a KFC near our hotel in Puebla. They were offering Justice League toys with the kids meals, called Chicky Packs. Pictured below are the images from the offending KFC. Not pictured is the fact that KFC’s in Mexico also sell chicken butts, and no I didn’t have any, they’re too spicy.  

All-Star Superman Premiere Coverage!

Earlier this evening I attended the All-Star Superman movie premiere hosted at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, presented by Warner Home Video. The film is obviously based on the Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely comic of the same name, the latest in  a string of direct to video animated films set in the ever-expanding DC Universe. It will be released on DVD/Blu-Ray and multiple media formats on February 22nd. The source material for the film is one of the most highly acclaimed and well-regarded comic books in recent history. A crossover hit into the mainstream media if ever there was one. Unfortunately, as well-versed as I try to be in comic-books and chic sub-cultures in general, I had overlooked this title. Afraid of buying into the hype, I avoided reading it. But, being a man that always judges a book by its cover, I was always highly intrigued by the cover art of the now hard to find first issue.                                                                                      

Told by an Idiot…

I consider myself rather misanthropic. Or at least I try to be. I find most people annoying, especially when you get to know them. Don’t get me wrong I can hate people on a purely superficial level but where’s the fun in that? You can’t really bad-mouth strangers? Well, you …

Toy Diet

I’m not a very prolific toy blogger, mainly because toys and subculture have taken a backseat to life. My philosophy on life has always been, “Life is a series of disappointments with achievements spread thin throughout.” No grand philosopher said that, maybe Spock, but I’m pretty sure I made it …

JL: Crisis on Two Earths Review and Q & A

Earlier this evening I attended what was considered the  "world premiere" of the film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan. Although it has been widely available illegally on the internet, this was the first official screening of the film, before it’s debut on multiple media formats Feb. 23rd. In attendance were the writer of the film Dwayne McDuffie, voice director of the film Andrea Romano, and actor James Woods. The film tells the story of the titular Justice League facing evil versions of themselves in a parallel universe, and really, what more could you want? This film is the latest in a series of direct to video films featuring characters from the DC Universe. The script was written many years ago to be used as a back-door pilot film for the Cartoon Network show Justice League: Unlimited. The script was never produced, until finally executive producer Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series, JLU, JL: The New Frontier), a long time champion of the script, got it off the shelf and into production.  

Action-Figures cured my Warts!

The title of my blog isn’t just to get your attention, nor is it a submission to the National Enquirer, in fact it’s quite true. Let me entreat you to my history with action figures and the amazing miracle they would later produce…               The 80’s and Early to mid 90’s:   My journey with action figures started at a very young age, 2 or 3 to be exact. I collected and played with Real Ghostbusters action figures. Believe it or not I have a vague memory of what had to have been my 3rd or 4th Christmas on Earth, and the excitement of opening the Ecto-1. Much like a drug addict I graduated to crazier and more elaborate drugs: Ninja Turtles then Power Rangers and eventually Star Wars. And with what I would describe as my “ecstasy” phase there were several intermittent figure lines sprinkled within that time-frame: GI Joe, Thundercats, Darkwing Duck, Batman, Jurassic Park, embarrassingly Space Jam, even worse still Lost in Space: the movie and countless more dalliances. I created adventures and specific personalities for almost all my figures and gave new names and characteristics to any repeats. One can only have so many Han Solo’s before the evil twin routine grows old.