Celebrating our 15th anniversary with the second part of the one from our 13th anniversary! Yeah, that makes sense.

...has it been 15 years? Maybe? But only two years since we checked out the previous issue, which again, is a halfway decent turnaround for around here! From 2017, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #31, "Mind Games, conclusion: Metamorphose" Written by Robert Venditti, art by Patrick Zircher. And I had to upload this variant cover by Barry Kitson!

Last time, we saw villain Hector Hammond helpless at the hands of little yellow gremlins; I didn't realize I had seen them before: the Kroloteans! I remember them from an episode or two of Young Justice. The Kroloteans' "Master Engineer" apparently caused Hammond's mutation, to turn him into a weapon for their plans for dominance, but before he can be harvested or kidnapped or whatever, Hammond grins: his call for help got through, to Hal Jordan. Bonus: Hal was hanging out with Superman at the time, it's a two-fer!

The Kroloteans try to use Hammond's powers on the heroes, with the usual fantasy perfect lives. Hal is there with his brother's family, whom I believe were killed when Coast City first went up, and Carol. Hal knows it isn't real, and knows he has to go get the real thing, so he can still use his ring to get the head Krolotean's remote control, which frees Hammond. Supes is pissed at his memories of his parents being used against him, and treats one of the little aliens a bit roughly; then Hammond explodes all the Kroloteans' heads!

Hammond refuses to be controlled anymore, but also seems to have had enough of life as a big head, and tries to use Superman to kill himself. Hal deflects enough of Superman's heat vision to injure Hammond, but not fatally. Before passing out, Hammond again calls Jordan his hero; I can't tell if he wanted to die or not. The prison doctor doesn't know how to help Hammond; and before they leave, Hal asks Superman a really dumb question:

Rushing to Coast City, Hal tries to figure out what to tell Carol to win her back; then is stopped on her doorstep by an emergency call, and reluctantly takes off. Good, Carol deserves better. 

Hammond should've held out for the Master Engineer to get him a MODOK chair. Seriously, my neck hurts just looking at him.

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Every year I think I've miscounted this.

I've checked four times, and it's still the twelfth anniversary of this blog! I keep thinking it's more or less than that. I don't really have anything prepared for the occasion; since I've got another of my craft projects lined up for the weekend.

Still, we're not even halfway through the year and we've got 31 Marvel Legends so far! And that's after avoiding a couple. But we've completed three Build-a-Figures already: Okoye, Sasquatch, and Cull Obsidian. The Cull wave was at Wal-Mart last week, and I splurged on all six at once. I liked that Black Widow more than I had thought I was going to, and that's not my favorite Black Knight head, my Youngest liked it. The Wife has the new Thor, although she far prefers his Ragnarok look.

I do have about half a movie Thanos, and a single Lizard piece still unattached. I haven't seen Mysterio yet in the area, but might not go all-in on Lizard; and unless I luck into a very cheap Iron Spider, Steve Rogers, and Taskmaster, that Thanos isn't going anywhere.

As far as comics go, in the next couple days I'll have to sit down and put together another bingo card for the next Lilac City Comicon! I didn't get all of the above at the con; but I'm still not quite to a bingo! I should get to work on that now. Ooh, what comics do I want, what a grind.

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"Future's Mend."

Eight years running, and no one's traveled back in time to stop me yet. So we'll probably keep going a while longer.

I'm looking forward to seeing X-Men: Days of Futures Past this weekend, although I thought I remembered Claremont or Byrne saying they regretted that story for the damage it did: instead of learning from the example of a tight, two-issue story; other creators followed the example of a seemingly inescapable horrible future and to kill off characters whenever possible for the sales boost. I don't think DC's the New 52: Futures End is bringing anything new to the table. In fact, the "Batman builds Brother Eye, and is pretty much responsible for the OMAC's killing a ton of people" plot was done a few years before the reboot, sometime after Identity Crisis, and it was just awful then.

First time I've had my DC figures out for a bit, then. I would've had this done earlier, but it took me forever to find the DC Direct Batman Beyond figure--which is a little oversized for use with DCUC, but I still like it. Makes him seem tougher.


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"Doom for Your Right to Party."

What's a great occasion for a party? How about our seventh year of blogging! And what better way to celebrate than by a week of low content! Stick around while I try to move 90% of my crap over the weekend, then try to get all situated in my new home. Have fun and be back soon!
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New Bastards up at Poe's!

Did I mention I finished a Build-a-Figure recently? Well, he's in today's Bastards of the Universe strip at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation! And Poe also has a contest running for a Play Arts Kai Joker figure, so what are you waiting for? Go, schnell!

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New Bastards up at Poe's!

Since today's 80-pager post was written back in November last year, here's something of more recent vintage: a new Bastards of the Universe up at Poe's! This time, we recap several months of ongoing storylines that you may have missed...or that I may not have gotten around to actually doing. Either or.
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It's "The End" when I say it's the end...

Whoof. We covered 29 last issues in last week's "The End" posts; and believe you me, I still have plenty of last issues for next year. In fact, I actually have one done already, since I didn't want to have two 2099 posts, so it will keep. But between those, and yesterday's Year in Toys, I thought this would be a good day to completely phone it in recap what all we do around here.

I kind of want to re-tag them, but every Wednesday we have a Homemade post, usually with whatever action figure I just bought, or making fun of current comic books. Sometimes it's a single panel, sometimes it's four pages. No telling.

Since August, every Thursday has been 80-Page Thursdays, which is kinda self-explanatory. No 100-Page Monsters, no 64 page annuals, just 80-pagers. (OK, I admit we'll probably hit a point where I'm not picky about 84 page books.) I think the majority have been DC, but we'll see more from other companies soon.

Mid-April will be the third annual Retro Toy Week, and we'll check out more of the older toys from my collection--not super old, but it's interesting to see how figures from even a few years back hold up today.

Next Monday, we'll get back to the Terminus Factor, the 1990 crossover annuals from Marvel.

The rest of the time? Comics! Old ones, new ones, good ones, bad ones. Time to read some now...

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New Bastards up at Poe's!

New Bastards of the Universe at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation! This one's for Geeks for Tots, a great cause that helps you out as well! Check it out, and get cracking on the donations!

Also Infinite Hollywood is going BIG: they're matching donations! (When you make a donation, they make one as well!) Let them know when you donate too!
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Still on the DC reboot, but elsewhere:

New Bastards of the Universe at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation! "Reboot, Reuse, and Recycle." My kids leave the TV on Nick too much, so I know that title's an altered version of the recycling song from iCarly. I'm secure enough in myself to cop to that...

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Time to use the 'blatent hornblowing' tag again...

New Bastards of the Universe up at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation! Check it out: it's got a couple of recent purchases from around here.

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You don't have to hum 'Oh Tannenbaum' while you read it, but I won't stop you...

I don't think I have a new Christmas strip for this year, but we do have a very special holiday Bastards of the Universe at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation! Check it out, and merry whatever!

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There's still time!

You still have until, I don't know, noon PST on Thursday the 11th, to enter the "Build your own Bastards" contest! Leave a comment with your own Bastards lineup (on the "Homeless Bastards" strip) and one lucky winner will walk away with a loose Marvel Legends Beta Ray Bill, a carded Toy Story 3 Twitch, a carded Conan the Adventurer, and a loose and saddleless Battlecat! And the Warlord #4 I mentioned! Now's good, so enter, and check out Poe's new exclusive while you're there!


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Build Your Own Bastards!

Articulated Discussion is currently down for repairs (come back soon, TAO!) but the ever-gracious Poe Ghostal gave the Bastards of the Universe a new home at his Points of Articulation! Homeless Bastards no more! And thanks again, Poe!

To celebrate, head over there, and enter the "Build your own Bastards" contest! Leave a comment with your own Bastards lineup, and one lucky winner will walk away with a loose Marvel Legends Beta Ray Bill, a carded Toy Story 3 Twitch, a carded Conan the Adventurer, and a loose and saddleless Battlecat! I mentioned over there, Warlord fans, you're out of luck: getting either a vintage Remco, or newer DC Direct...or even the new JLU one, for that matter...didn't cost out.

But, I'm throwing in a quarter-book copy of Warlord #4, from the Bruce Jones/Bart Sears relaunch. Spoiler warning: it's terrible.

Sears had gone with a sketchier, less-polished style; that I didn't care for as much as his earlier Justice League Europe work; but he wasn't the main problem. The storyline was the real killer, here.

Kind of a neat costume, though, even with the magic/techy "Sword of Truth" and Travis without his usual beard.

Tomorrow: hopefully, some info on a possibly forthcoming Bastard! Maybe.

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