If you have followed my link from HCRealms, welcome to AFi, my “other home” on the internet.  My No Man’s Land experience goes back a few months.  In some of my posts I lamented how my local gaming store was no longer running regular HeroClix events.  I knew I needed to find a new place. Two of my former fellow players, one from that place, Mark, and another I had played with years ago, Randy, both recommended a certain new place.  I emailed them and it seemed like a good place, but I was unsure, as it was an hour away.  Both Mark and Randy had also played against my son, Ben (Ben is 18).

As the day grew closer, Randy and I exchanged FB messages about the No Man’s Land event and the new Batman set (see previous blog).  What I did not tell Randy was that Ben would be coming too.

The day came.  Ben and I left Coventry, headed for Bellingham.  We only missed 2 turns while driving there, and the second one turned out not to matter as we ended up on the correct street anyway.  When we got there, we found a small crowded comic store filled with excited HeroClix players.  We met new people and reminiced with Mark and Randy.  Randy was happily surprised to see Ben.  Reconnecting was cool. (more…)

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The boxes have shipped to stores.  Some to homes.  Some have been opened and the set has been ‘spoiled’ with pictures and stats of what the new pieces can do.  I’m talking about the new release of HeroClix, named “Batman”.

At comic and gaming shops across the land, folks will be buying and playing the new pieces in tournaments.  There are probably some being held this evening if they can sell product at the stroke of midnight.

So who is in the set?

Batman.

(Batman in multiple versions and Bruce Wayne)

Batman Family

(Nightwing, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl, Alfred) (more…)

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So those who know me know that I have a profound love of Transformers.  It’s one of my main focuses in collecting.  The arrival of a new Masterpiece Transformer is a very special day in my household.  To be fair, I have a love/hate relationship with them.  Sometimes they’re absolutely brilliant.  Grimlock, MP-10 Optimus Prime, Megatron.  Genious.  Then there are the ones that test the limits of my patience.  First issue Starscream (what were they thinking?), Rodimus Prime (absolute disaster).  You get my point.

Sideswipe (Lambor for those of you who don’t know) was my very first Transformer, and my very favorite of the original G1 Autobots.  Without going in to the trappings of a long back story, I was both excited and anxious when he and his mold-mate Red Alert were announced.  Would he be everything I’d hoped?  Would it suck?  I’m happy to report he falls in the category of the former.  Big Time.

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MARVEL unveils NEW CHARACTERS AND GAMEPLAY FOR HIT MOBILE AND FACEBOOK GAMES

·      Ghost Rider’s Spec Op 4 Chapter Coming to Marvel: Avengers Alliance

·      Captain America Announced as Next Playable Character for Mobile Brawler Avengers Initiative

·      Connected Marvel XP Promotion Awards Players Across Titles

During the Marvel Video Games Panel today, Marvel revealed several new characters and gameplay additions for its hit mobile and social games.   The announcements include:

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Pictures from the Mattel Booth at NYCC 2012, including a closer look at the Gray Skull blueprints and a message from Toy Guru:

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At NYCC 2012 there was a sneak peek of Batman: Dark Knight Returns part 2, the movie looks great. Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano were on hand to promote the film. Trailer Below:

I spoke to Bruce Timm briefly and asked him about JLU:

Look for the movie on Bluray next year!

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NYCC 2012 is here! Last night Hasbro held a press event instead of having a booth and showcased some of their new product. Afterward they handed out a “goodie-bag”, which included a variety of Hasbro toys. Today I’ll be looking at the Marvel Exclusive Old Man Logan Figure.

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There was a time when my son and I thought there should be animals in HeroClix.  In the set called “DC75″ Beast Boy of the Teen Titans, Doom Patrol and currently being featured on Young Justice, was given 4 forms.  Person, bear, cheetah and T-Rex.

This week WizKids announced that they would revisit the character with 2 new versions.  This time we are getting dolphins and ptyranodons.

Check out WizKids write-up of the various Beast Boy pieces here.

While they share the same cool mechanic with the other 4, being able to switch between the various versions, other HeroClix players are making other plans.  300 point armies of the 5 animal forms.  Armies of dolphins to work with Aquaman and Mera – or Lobo!

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About 6 years ago, in 2006, I started collecting Justice League Unlimited figures which then prompted me to actually watch the show they were based on. I fell in love with both. Collecting became a passion and a hobby that kept me going and interested. The evolution of the show, much like the figures, seemed to have no bounds, just getting better and more interesting. My favorite episode being “Task Force X” which blew my mind storytelling wise, giving us a whole new perspective. It wasn’t just an episode from the villains point of view but villains acting like heroes against the heroes that could be villains, bringing up all types of questions that would be reviewed more intensely later on in the season.

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Earlier tonight I attended the World Premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns part 1 of 2 at the Paley Center for Media in New York City. 2012 will be remembered as one of the best years for superhero movies and luckily this direct to video movie is only another plus in that column. The movie matches the graphic novel beat for beat with subtle differences added by director Jay Oliva.

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They’ve been out for about 10 days, but I only got my brick on Wednesday.  Yes, a brick.  That is the term for buying 1/2 of a case of HeroClix, sealed.  The Justice League set is single figure blind boxed, with 21 different figures: The starting cast of the new Justice League, Justice League Dark, the other solo heroes in the Justice League group of books, and a few surprises.

This is how it looks before you open it.

Inside are 24 individual boxes, saran wrapped into groups of 6.  Each batch of 6 is expected to contain 3 common, 2 uncommon, and 1 rare figure. (more…)

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  Over the past year, Mattel has been slowly but surely releasing the Lions of Voltron, and their respective Space Explorer pilots, much to the delight of Voltron fans everywhere.  I think the wonderful thing about these toys is the fact a company as big as Mattel even made him in the first place.  Sure, there’s a new cartoon on the air now, but this is classic Voltron, a Voltron from my time – The classic Lion Force Voltron.  It’s like a slice of mom’s homemade pie straight from your childhood.  And to answer everyone’s burning question – they did good by him. (more…)

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You might remember last year I made an appeal, followed by two of my infamous open letters in support of MattyCollector.com’s Club Infinite Earths, which was created to fill the void left by the de facto cancellation of DC Universe Classics at retail. I, of course, did subscribe. I also subscribed to Club Eternia and Club Ecto-1.

I left the Voltron sub alone.

Now, it’s time to subscribe again and I’ve decided against both the DC and Masters of the Universe clubs. My reasons are different for each club. Let’s handle the easy one first.

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